Click on image above to see this spectacular 2:16 Minute video.

Famous aviation videographer, Texan, Scott Slocum, has once again captured some breathtakingly beautiful footage of the recently restored WWII North American F-51named Brat III.  The Cavanaugh Flight Museum’s P-51D made it first successful flight test after a four year laborious restoration.  The ship boasts the same historically correct wartime colors as the “Brat III,” when the ship was piloted by Lt. Jjalmar Johnsen of the 401st Fighter Squadron, 370th Fighter Group in the 9th Air Force.  Photos of where the reconstruction work was done can be seen at Ezell Aviation’s Facebook page.  

And then, below, watch the fighter on its official rebirth flight after the four year long restoration in Addison, Texas.  Just click on the image below to see the short 1:50 minute test flight.

 

 

We can thank the BBC for this fine short (5:30 Minute) video of the world renowned SR-71 speed demon in action – one that shows us what went into flying this sophisticated and spectacular machine to its all-time aviation speed records. Records not broken to this day.

While we all know the veritable Jenny and how it all started with that challenging 90 MPH biplane of its day, less than 50 years after the events of 1916 and 1917 here in Columbus, New Mexico, the FAS was flying that identical early mission, but this time with an aircraft that cruised at the outer reaches our earth’s atmosphere, actually in space, and at three times the speed of sound, or some 2,400 MPH! Watch this unarmed high-powered Jet in action as it fulfilled that same earlier in the century FAS mission of Reconnaissance and surveillance. To experience this video simply click on the photo of the RS-71 above.

Do you know the history behind our famed Air Force Ones?  Few of us seem to remember, but the story is truly fascinating if not intriguing.  The only “Air Force One” retired aircraft not on display within the walls of a museum, this first to bear the distinctive title, sits out on the cleared desert landscape of Avra Valley Airport, near Marana, AZ, about 25 miles Northwest of Tucson, AZ.  It has been parked there for over 44 years, as of this writing, not even still the property of the United States, but privately owned by a businessman from Idaho, Mel Chrysler, who purchased the airplane without realizing it was once our nation’s most important VIP aircraft.  He had the winning bid at the auction in which 5 Lockheed Constellation ships were sold by the USAF.  He intended to employ the beautiful airliners in his large scale crop dusting enterprise. However, Mr. Chrysler discovered that, of the five planes, Columbine II was in the worst condition.  Accordingly, he initially intended to canibalize the craft for the parts needed to make the other four ships airworthy.  However, those plans changed when the crucial historical significance of this scrapped and once famous airliner was discovered.  To watch the full story, simply click on the first photo up above and watch the short (5:00 minute) video documentary about this historic aircraft – and the plans for its historical preservation.  Then click on the second composite photo to see the 9 minute 1953 CBS TV show, “What’s My Line,” in which Ike’s long time pilot was the mystery guest.

NEW POST – April 15, 2015: 

Thanks to Mr. Jim Pulliam, an FASF site follower, we have discovered that you can help this noble Columbine II Restoration Project by going to the site erected for this purpose.  Here is is: https://www.columbineii.org/

A breathtaking preview of the next FLYING LEGENDS AIR SHOW to be held Saturday and Sunday, July 12 and 13th, 2014, at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford, Cambridgeshire, GB.

This preview trailer presents a collection rarely (if ever) seen of both the enemy planes of WWII and those of the heroic pilots who succeeded in saving the world from Axis domination during the last World War.  Some of the more primitive pre WWII aircraft you’ll see airborne here were those which foreshadowed the new military application of what the Wright Brothers had so clumsily introduced only a few score years before the vast conflagration that erupted throughout the Continent – and the Far East – not that long after the “War to End All Wars” finally terminated in 1918.

Video by Vimeo – [Viewing requires either a Microsoft Media Player or a Flash Player.]

This video portrays a brief (3:34) history of aviation in 3D animation. While there are many contributions to aviation that could not be included, this video shows many of the substantial advancements that propelled aviation to what it has become today.

Created by Aaron Bristow
Produced by Adam Evans
Additional 3D and texture creations by Rob Guest, Preston Powell and Paris Miller

Visit UVU at its home website if you’re interested in becoming a pilot or working in aviation.
Or see the UVU interactive museum here.

Music in this Animated History of Aviation was by Capo Productions.

 This promotional video for Beechcraft’s T-6C and AT-6 was filmed in Yuma Arizona in coordination with still photographer, Paul Bowen. The aerial camera platform was the B-25 from Planes of Fame, Chino, CA. The camera used was the Arriflex Alexa. Beautifully and artistically shot in striking HD video. Just click on the above photo and it will take you to directly to the Vimeo website’s short (less than two minute film) exposure to this new namesake of the veritable WWII North American Aviation T-6 series “Texan” trainer (a T-6G “Texan” in flight is seen below), the WWII counterpart of the indomitable Jennie Trainer of WWI.

[One thing is abundantly clear from the Beechcraft video:  The newest T-6 is hardly intended to be just a pilot training platform, as were its predecessors, the Jennies and the Texans.  This new machine has an obvious alter ego role as a potential jet-prop driven combat aircraft.  It would appear that the Drone era has not yet fully taken over from the airborne pilot.  RL]

AirVenture 2010

In flight, the crew of a Pan Am Clipper destined for New Zealand receives a secret emergency radio message, which causes the plane to suddenly change its destination.  Follow this five minute video showing why this took place –

and what transpired in early December of 1941.