This original USAF training film from 1960 gives a 20 minute introduction to the art of dogfighting in fighter jets – otherwise known as Air Combat Maneuvering. At the beginning of the 1960s jet fighters were still relatively new, the first having been flown only 15 or so years prior. That said, men had been…
The story of the Sopwith Dove cannot be told without first talking about the Sopwith Pup – the Dove being the far less common two-seat variant of the WWI fighter plane. The Sopwith Pup The Sopwith Aviation Company never particularly liked the name Pup, it was a nickname given to their single-seat fighter plane by…
Flying the Lindbergh Trail runs approximately an hour in length, it (unsurprisingly) follows Charles Lindbergh’s journey down the length of Central and South America in one of the 150 Sikorsky S-42s owned by Pan American Airways. It appears to have been filmed in the late 1930s or 1940s by the look of the cars on the streets, and…
This is the original United States Army Air Forces training film for trainee pilots of the North American B-25 Mitchell – a tough-as-nails bomber that served in every theater of World War II and stayed in active service for over 40 years. Over 10,000 B-25 Mitchells were built and there are many airworthy examples still…
The Last African Flying Boat is a vintage documentary covering the recreation of an aerial tour from Egypt to South Africa by flying boat. The film includes footage of the first flying boats in Africa as well as more modern examples, and the insight into the difficulties of traveling across Africa are well documented. The…
The Blackburn Buccaneer was developed in the 1950s as a carrier-borne strike aircraft with a long range – capable of carrying a nuclear payload under enemy radar at speeds of Mach .85. In order to fit the Buccaneer onto the smaller carriers used by the British, the tail and nose could both fold inwards, and…
Meet The Skyrunner The Skyrunner is the world’s first flying buggy – thanks to its ram-air parafoil wing which can be attached ready for flight in 3 minutes or less. The added benefit of this is that you have a deployed parachute above you at all times during flight, so an engine failure results in a…
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…
