This maybe the first and only time that many of us will ever get genuinely excited about a coffee table. Largely because it’s a 465 pound 1930s-era Continental R-670 radial engine with a glass top fitted (so it counts as furniture). The Continental R-670 is an 11 litre air-cooled radial engine capable of up to…
This aluminium Spitfire model measures in at 60.5cm long x 75.5cm wide x 17cm high, and it’s been designed to either sit on its own retractable landing gear, or be mounted on a metal plinth (supplied). The model has a fully detailed cockpit with a sliding canopy, intricately detailed rivet stamps across the wings and fuselage,…
The Boeing PT-17 Stearman started production in 1934, over 10,000 were made in the lead up to WWII and the majority of American and Canadian pilots did some or all of their early flight training in one. The large radial engine was uncowled on most PT-17s but some owners choose to add a cowling after…
The De Havilland Gipsy Moth, and its De Havilland siblings, were amongst the most important aircraft in the world during their production – and for quite a while after. Initially the airframes were manufactured by De Havilland, then paired with inline-4 cylinder engines built by Cirrus. These Cirrus power units used out of production World…
This 1925 documentary was created by the Engineering Division of the US Army as an introduction to the Air Service – the US Air Force wasn’t formed as its own branch of the military until 1947. The silent film runs at just under 35 mins long and it includes some remarkable footage, including machine gun…
The Boeing 314 Clipper was developed as a long-range flying boat capable of crossing the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean with a capacity of 77 daytime passengers and 36 nighttime passengers, with the seats being convertible into bunk beds. The first flight of the prototype 314 Clipper took place on the 7th of June 1938, piloted…
Spitfire! is a wonderful documentary that actually talks to some of the men and women directly involved with the iconic fighter aircraft’s design and construction – including a lady who accidentally ended up clinging to the tail of a Spitfire as it took off and had to circle back around to the airdrome. The film was…
The Lockheed YF-12 Interceptor was the aircraft that would go on to become the SR-71 Blackbird – one of the most famous of all the Skunk Works projects. The YF-12 was capable of Mach 3 and above, it set 9 world records for speed and altitude in a single afternoon (later surpassed by the SR-71),…
The Human Fly Challenges The Skies Of Mojave is a short documentary from 1975 showcasing the world’s first real life superhero – Rick Rojatt. Rojatt was a Canadian stuntman and sausage maker who became second only to Evel Knievel throughout the 1970s for worldwide fame and notoriety as a stuntman and daredevil. The first attempt…
Typically it’s not advisable to sit inside a jet engine, in fact I’m told it’s one of the first things they teach you when you get a job loading suitcases into commuter planes. This Boeing 737 engine cowling has been removed from a decommissioned jet and rebuilt by the team at Fallen Furniture in their Bath,…
A Century In The Sky is a timeline of the history of Boeing, the American aerospace giant that’s turning 100 years old this year. The 20th century saw the invention of powered flight in 1903, and the next 97 years were characterised by the lightning fast development of aircraft – often further accelerated in times of war…
In 1942 during some of the heaviest fighting of the Second World War a team of engineers at de Havilland were hard at work developing a jet-powered aircraft that they hoped would help turn the tide of the war and bring an end to the bloodshed. The jet engine had only been invented 5 years…
