The Rolls-Royce Merlin Owner’s Workshop Manual is a detailed look into the development, engineering and evolution of the legendary aero-engine that powered the both the British Spitfire and American P-51 Mustang. Rolls-Royce built over 150,000 Merlins by the time production stopped and a significant number of them still exist in museums and private collections around…
Guy Martin’s Spitfire is a British documentary about the recovery and rebuild of a rare MK1 Spitfire from the French beach where it was crash landed in 1940 by RAF pilot Squadron Leader Geoffrey Stephenson. The Spitfire had slowly been buried under generations of beach sand so the recovery operation took weeks of digging and…
The story behind the creation of the Jeep is a fascinating one, in fact it’d make an excellent film if we could somehow convince the movie studios to lay off all this vampire nonsense. As the Second World War descended over Europe, the USA began to ramp up its own military capabilities, by 1940 the…
Barn finds come in all shapes and sizes, but very rarely do they come pre-fitted with a Rolls-Royce Merlin V12. After last week’s popular feature of a barn find Messerschmitt BF 109 (technically a Hispano Aviación HA-1112) we did some further digging and quickly realised that old warbirds have been slowly coming out of the…
It isn’t everyday we stumble across a barn find quite as remarkable as this Messerschmitt BF 109, or more accurately, this Hispano Aviación HA-1112. It isn’t commonly known that the Spaniards built licensed copies of the Messerschmitt from 1942 onwards, although they weren’t produced in any significant numbers till after the war due to constraints…
The P-51B Mustang was the variant fitted with the British V12 Merlin engine, the aircraft had originally been fitted with the Allison V12 but it wasn’t up to the task and pilots were frequently outperformed by their German rivals. The Merlin gave the Mustang a whole new lease on life, it was now significantly better…
The Avro Lancaster is a heavy bomber developed by the British during the Second World War and built in very large numbers – 7,377 had taken to the skies by the time the Avro Lincoln replaced it. The overwhelming majority of Lancasters were powered by four Rolls-Royce Merlin engines – arguably one of the best aero-engines…
Pistol Packin’ Mama was a B-17 Flying Fortress that saw use during the Second World War as a training aircraft for female pilots known as WASPs (Women Airforce Service Pilots), over 1,000 female pilots had been accepted into the program by the end of the war and they had flown every type of American military…
The NATO Royal Navy Sweater is a staple of the British military, the Army has an olive green version that many people are more familiar with, but the basic design of both has remained unchanged since before WWII. Due to the fact that the sweater is made from 100% wool, it’s fantastic at conserving body…
WWII in Colour – The Air War is a one and a half hour documentary covering the use of aircraft throughout the Second World War, as a bonus the footage is all in colour – which seems to bring it home in a way that black and white never really does. Recently I’ve been working my…
The USS Shenandoah was the first of the great American airships, it was closely based on the German Zeppelin bomber L-49, built just after WWI and still viewed as one of the most important dirigibles of the era. With a gross weight of 36 tons, a total length of 68ft, a cruising speed of 70mph and…
The Sopwith Camel is a remarkably important aircraft, it was first flown in 1917 when the pace of advancement in aircraft design was moving at breakneck speed and for time the Camel was the best fighter in the sky. Its odd name was coined from the side profile appearance of the hump that was built…
