Flight Journal2 min read
Foto Joes
From the very onset when the airplane was thrust into the combat role, military commanders on the ground quickly realized they needed hard-copy evidence of future targets, troop buildups and battle damage assessment from previous bombing raids. The b
Flight Journal1 min read
Are You Ready to Fly?
SAVE $20 Flight Journal covers the whole spectrum of aviation and places you right in the cockpit with those who were there making history. We want to make sure you aren’t missing out on all the ways you can enjoy the content you are passionate about
Flight Journal2 min read
“Fatal Fang” Flies Again
WHEN WARBIRD PILOT Mark Todd pulled back on the stick and left the runway at Chino Airport on November 30, 2023, it was the first time that “Fatal Fang,” the P-63A-7 acquired by Yanks Air Museum founder Charles Nichols in 1977, had flown in 40 years.
Flight Journal14 min read
THE GOOD, THE BAD, & THE UGLY
You had to be better than just a good stick as an Army aviator to be selected to fly the Mohawk in Vietnam. The enemy on the ground was bad enough to contend with, but the ever changing weather, mountainous terrain and political infighting between mi
Flight Journal8 min read
BRISTOL BULLDOG Flies Again
Developed in the late 1920s, the Royal Air Force’s Bristol Bulldog entered service in May 1929. The single engine, single seat biplane fighter was the RAF’s frontline fighter through most of the 1930s. Bulldogs were exported to Denmark, Estonia, Finl
Flight Journal3 min read
An Icon Aloft
THE YEAR WAS 1928 and the concept of the airplane was changing radically. While barnstormers still landed rickety surplus biplanes in pastures to hop passengers, those days were waning fast. Utility was driving designs to be faster and sleeker. But,
Flight Journal2 min read
Bulldog 2.0
SO MANY OF THE AIRCRAFT featured in Flight Journal over the years are the result of herculean efforts by a select number of talented individuals who rescued these aircraft from what would have been their final resting places: A Battle of Britain Supe
Flight Journal8 min read
The Mission, The Honor, And The Thrill
Major Joshua “Cabo” Gunderson, who served as the U.S. Air Force’s F-22 Demonstration Pilot until the end of 2022, described the first time he flew the Raptor in formation with a P-51 Mustang as a part of the USAF Heritage Flight as “surreal.” “You pi
Flight Journal11 min read
Straight-wing Heroes
The increasing numbers of MiG-15s based just north of the Yalu River in the fall of 1950 caused great concern with the Far East Air Forces (FEAF), and when these sweptwing fighters started coming south of the river in November 1950, air superiority a
Flight Journal11 min read
Double Ace!
The tropic air thrummed with the pulsing drone of Pratt & Whitney radials as 34 Grumman F4F-4s descended into the traffic pattern of Guadalcanal’s grass field known as Fighter One. It was April 26, 1943, and the Wildcats of Navy Fighter Squadron 11 l
Flight Journal10 min read
Killer Cameras
I was faced with a dilemma back in 1940. I wanted to become a fighter pilot, but the Army Air Corps wanted me to get a college education first. Thankfully, a rather simple situation presented itself to me in June 1941. The Royal Canadian Air Force (R
Flight Journal1 min read
Flight Journal
Editorial Director Louis DeFrancesco Executive Editor Debra Cleghorn Bud Anderson, James P. Busha, Ted Carlson, Eddie J. Creek, Doug DeCaster, Robert S. DeGroat, John Dibbs, Robert F. Dorr, Jim Farmer, Paul Gillcrist, Phil Haun, Randy Jolly, Frederic
Flight Journal2 min read
Deciphering The Mig
During its 32-month debut in the Korean War, the MiG-15 remained a mystery. Due to superior training and effective tactics, the F-86 pilots were however very successful in combat against it. During the war, the U.S. offered a $100,000 reward for any
Flight Journal3 min read
Sole Survivor
AS A SOLDIER DURING WORLD WAR I, Don Luscombe became fascinated with aviation. It wasn’t until 1927 that Don produced his first airplane: a side by side, high-wing Monocoupe. Throughout the 1920s and ’30s, Luscombe developed a series of Monocoupes th
Flight Journal1 min read
Big Bossman
Previously owned by Mike Brown, “Big Bossman” is one of three flyable Tigercats in the world and about only 10 or so remain in existence. “Big Bossman,” now known as the silver-painted “La Patrona,” was the first F7F ever to race at the National Cham
Flight Journal10 min read
Knockout Punch!
DESIGNED TO BE A LAND-BASED, medium altitude bomber, the B-25 was tasked with one of the War’s most spectacular missions. On April 18, 1942, 16 heavily laden B-25s took off from the USS Hornet’s pitching deck and headed towards Japan. Led by Lt. Col.
Flight Journal2 min read
Survivors
ALMOST ALL OF THE AIRCRAFT featured in this issue are combat survivors and represent a broad range of purpose and missions. However, their uniqueness didn’t exempt any of the men who flew them from the never-ending perils and danger of aerial combat.
Flight Journal1 min read
Cannon Nose Experiments
When a run of-the-mill B-25 went into combat in the Pacific, it carried an assortment of flexible .50-and .30-caliber machine guns in its Plexiglas nose. This was not a heavy-duty punch by any means, but the aircraft’s role was as a medium-altitude b
Flight Journal9 min read
Long Way To Victory
THE BOMBING CAMPAIGNS OVER EUROPE AND JAPAN were as different as tea and sake, with one exception: Mustangs were the escort of choice for both—and for obvious reasons. While the B-17s and B-24s reigned supreme over fortress Europe, the distances in t
Flight Journal11 min read
Rescued At Sea
IN THE COLD, crisp spring air at 18,000 feet on March 30, 1945, First Lt. Dan Meyers suddenly found himself flying in a cloud, in an otherwise blue and completely cloudless sky. The mysterious fog was generated by the engine failure of his P-51D Must
Flight Journal11 min read
Jet Age Warrior
IN ONLY 30 MISSIONS, Capt. Ralph S. Parr downed 10 enemy aircraft, becoming the 11th double jet ace on the last day of the Korean War. Having just landed from a combat mission, the four of us were walking casually from our squadron’s sandbagged revet
Flight Journal2 min read
An Illustrious History
The “Big Bossman” Tigercat was conceived as U.S. Navy Bu No. 80503. The aircraft began life as a F7F-3, and it rolled off the Grumman plant assembly line at Bethpage, New York, being accepted on July 31, 1945. It was ferried to the Lockheed plant at
Flight Journal1 min read
Flight Journal
Editorial Director Louis DeFrancesco Executive Editor Debra Cleghorn Bud Anderson, James P. Busha, Ted Carlson, Eddie J. Creek, Doug DeCaster, Robert S. DeGroat, John Dibbs, Robert F. Dorr, Jim Farmer, Paul Gillcrist, Phil Haun, Randy Jolly, Frederic
Flight Journal5 min read
Devil Dog TIGERCAT
ALTHOUGH CONCEIVED IN 1941, by the time the twin-engine Grumman F7F Tigercat hit the streets, it never saw action in WW II. The XF7F prototypes first flew in December 1943, and the first production models were delivered to the Marines in April 1944.
Flight Journal1 min read
“Miss Pick Up” 》A Luscious Legacy
To commemorate the brave wartime crews operating in dire conditions over the English Channel, UK-based PBY-5A Catalina G-PBYA was repainted as USAAF 5th Emergency Rescue Squadron OA-10A 44-33915. While the majority of the scheme was easy to reproduce
Flight Journal1 min read
Flight Journal SUBSCRIBER ALERT!
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Flight Journal4 min read
Tigercat Driver
ONE KOREAN-ERA VETERAN PILOT who flew F7Fs in action was the late Maj. Carroll E. “Snuffy” Brown, USMC (Ret.), who joined the Marines in 1942. In his career, he flew the Dauntless, Helldiver, Hellcat, Corsair, SNB, Tigercat, Duck, R4D, R5D and eventu
Flight Journal1 min read
Letter to Loved Ones
44-33915 co-pilot Second Lt. Theodore J. Langan was just 21 years old when he and his crew were lost at sea. After their dramatic rescue, Ted wrote a letter home to his brother describing their experiences: “… the next day [Sunday, April 1] we had th
Flight Journal1 min read
Are You Ready to Fly?
SAVE $30 Flight Journal covers the whole spectrum of aviation and places you right in the cockpit with those who were there making history. We want to make sure you aren’t missing out on all the ways you can enjoy the content you are passionate about
Flight Journal1 min read
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