Thanks to our loyal Aviation News Scout, Doc Edwards (L) of Deming, NM, we have the following collection of videos memorializing not just Bud Andersonand what he accomplished in his now classic WWII fighter, but how his and the plane’s unique legacy continues on – – – long after he and his fellow Air Corps/Forcepilots finished their life-and-death task of finally winning over the embattled skies over Europe in 1945.
Then Capt. Bud Andersonunder his P-51 “Old Glory” Prop Blades during WWII – 1943
This first short video (7:06) summarizes the EAA’s Tribute to Colonel Anderson:
And there’s more (19:54) here:
Click here to go directly to Bud Anderson’s Homepage on his website.
The MAKS International Aviation and Space Salon is the official title of Russia’s annual International Air Show . . . just per chance the name, “Salon” threw you off the headline’s meaning.
Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin, lauded his nation’s new entry into the Air Power world of their new SU 35 5th Generation Fighter. It was manufactured by the country’s renown aircraft maker, Sukhoi. The annual event opened Tuesday (July 20, 2021) in Zhukovsky, outside of Moscow.
Several Russian aircraft manufacturers unveiled other prototypes and currently operational aircraft, including new fighter jets, one that features stealth capabilities and other advanced characteristics, which, like the U.S. F-35, will be offered to foreign buyers.
The event also included competitions and air demonstrations by other visiting countries as well as by the host nation.
The following are some insights into the big Air Show events by way of several videos produced by Russian’s International Television platform, RT. RT’s sister News agency, available via the Internet, also with International distribution, is known as RUPTLY or Daily Motion (streaming TV).
Stay posted for our usual coverage of the world’s largest Airshow event, held each year in Oshkosh, WI, AirVenture 2021, which is occurring simultaneously with this Russian MAKS “Salon” 2021. AirVenture is usually personally covered by a number of FASF members, who are also active members of the event’s host, the EAA.
The below MAKS video is only 2:06 long and is summary of Rotary and Fixed Wing as well as Fighters doing their aerobatic maneuvers on air show day 2.
And, here below, are some clips of the opening day’s Air Show, 23:16 long, including various airborne ships strutting their capabilities:
And for those of you who love Rotary Wing Aircraft, here is a 8:22 long Russian Helicopter manufacturer, Rosoboronexport’s, pitch for these novel ships, including the latest offshore Mi-171A3; multipurpose (including fire-fighting) Ka-32A11M; and Ansat-M, passenger Ka-62 and the military combat ship, the Ka-52K:
For Aviation History Buffs, and for those of us blessed enough to have lived at the time, here is a short (10:10) video of that world-class UK Air Show, one at which our Advisor, Peter Westacott, (2nd from Bottom on Advisors’ Page) often officiated.
Yes, we’re talking about that blazingly fast Mosquito Bomber-turned-Fighter, first built by de Havilland in 1940, yet designed two years earlier – – – even before GB entered the war in Europe. And, long before the more recent Green Revolution, the amazing airplane was actually made primarily of wood – – – both plywood and balsa wood.
Like the famed U.S. P-51 Mustang and Supermarine Spitfire, it rapidly became one of those more iconic aircraft seen weaving through the skies over Europe in defense of the Allies and their forces. For many years, it was the fastest operational ship, hitting well over 400 MPH with its twin Rolls Royce Merlin engines making their distinctive humming sound. Here is a video of that great fighting machine courtesy of Kermit Weeks(Fantasy of Flight Museum). (It is only 12:21 long.)
As those of us who try to stay abreast of the latest military aviation news well know, there is constant rumoring about what might be afoot in international Research and Development programs towards being the first nation to foist a 6th Generation Jet Fighter on the world stage.
Here, below, is a quick 10:38 minute long video clip of what w might expect on the American scene:
And, here’s another peek at what’s going on behind that “TOP SECRET” obscurity barrier. This “Military Notes” video tell its “computer generated voice-over” story in only 6:15 minutes, with an extra add-on of some 1:50 seconds unnarrated current USAF flight line video coverage.
Of course, most of you know what took place to make world history on March 16, 1916, but the successor to that early Curtiss JN-3, Jenny, also a special SR (Surveillance-Reconnaissance) aircraft, the Lockheed RS-71 Blackbird, also made its mark on aviation history.
NASA Model of SR-71 Touches down with Drogue Chute
While the Jenny flew into history by engaging in the first sustained U.S. combat operations using airplanes in March 1916, 74 years later, or 31 years ago today, the First Aero Squadron’s SR-71 Blackbird also flew into the history books. Here, below (only 00:24 sec. long), is the Blackbird flying very slowly with its landing gear extended for landing:
It was on March 6, 1990, that the SR-71 made the fastest flight by an airplane from Los Angeles, CA to Washington DC – in record-breaking time . . . and that record still stands unbroken to this date.
It made that flight in only 64 minutes!
Pilots Ed Yielding and Joseph Vida flew that transcontinental flight from Los Angeles, California, to Washington, DC, in a blistering 64 minutes – – – with an average speed of 2,144.8 MPH.
Here are some interesting facts along with several videos of that initially retired in 1990 First Aero speed machine, which was later put back into the skies by Congress in 1995, but later, in 1997, when it was finally cut from the USAF inventory by President Bill Clinton, effective in 1998.
Below is a short video (1:15 long) explanation at the Smithsonian SR-71 Display, but the moderator, Peter Jakab, Chief Curator at the Smithsonian Air & Space Center, made two misstatements. Can you detect either of them?
In 1976, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird broke the world’s record for sustained altitude in horizontal flight at 25,929 meters (85,069 feet). The same day another SR-71 set an absolute speed record of 3,529.6 kilometers per hour (2,193.2 miles per hour), approximately Mach 3.3. Both of these distinguished records still stand unchallenged.
And here’s Scott Willey, also at the Smithsonian, describing the coast-to-coast record (:45 sec.):
And, another video (1:13 long):
And now, some “sonic booms” behind several classic photos of the Blackbird in flight (:47 sec.):
If you’d like to see more about this all-time record-breaking flying machine, just enter “SR-71 Blackbird” in our FASF website’s search field to your right, and you’ll find much more interesting information, photos, and videos of the successor to the FAS Curtiss JN-3 of 1916. There are at least four other posts about this famous blackbird.
Here’s another short (5:21) video by a former Blackbird pilot, Colonel Rich Graham, on what goes into flying the speed machine.
A Louisiana native, Lemoineis a graduate of the A.B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University in New Orleans. After graduating college, Lemoinejoined the Air Force Reserve where he flew the F-16 and accumulated one thousand hours including a combat tour in Iraq.
Mover later transferred to the Navy Reserve where he flew F/A-18A+ Hornets for four years. He currently flies the 737-800 for a legacy U.S. airline and T-38As for the Air Force Reserve as an Adversary Pilot.
In 2011, Lemoinereceived his Instructor Certification in Survival Krav Maga and his Brown Belt in 2012. He is also a Louisiana P.O.S.T. – 1 certified Law Enforcement Officer and former National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians certified EMT-Basic.
Lemoine lives in New Orleans with his two rescue dogs Sniper and Kaiser Von Ruff. When he’s not flying or writing, he enjoys volunteering with local law enforcement, working out, and running with his two dogs.
C.W. started a YouTube channel in 2018, hosting a weekly show called “MONDAYS WITHMOVER.” Since then, the channel has grown to over 293,000 subscribers.
This post is comprised of two (2) videos by “Mover” of FAS U-2 operations; Part I and Part II. Both videos consist of his interview with his friend, “Splint,” which first describes how “Splint” became a U-2 Pilot. Both video interviews are about a half-hour each.
Thanks to Tuan Tamvan and his YouTube series, we get the opportunity to watch the incredible F-22 Raptor do things heretofore unimaginable. Prior to this fighter’s entry into the new 5th Generation class of air weapons, the faster the fighter, the less maneuverable it was. But this new machine turned those old rules of combat expectations on their ears. And it is not just fast, but it can cruise supersonically without the use of its afterburner! It can fly straight up and then hang there as though a helicopter, then choose to slide backward and yet still controllably maneuver while in that “slide.”
But enough chatter, it’s time to see this all for yourself.
Don’t forget to keep your speakers turned on and to use this video’s hi-res imagery at your full-screen setting. Tuan’s video is only about 11:00 minutes long.
Yours truly had both his son, Eric,and daughter, Catherine, solo on their fourteenth (14) birthdays. It was in a sailplane, making it a legal event. (One must be 16 to solo a powered aircraft.)
I did this, based upon my own experience soloing an airplane (not a glider), back in 1944, when I was 15 (I’d fibbed about my age), and while the comparative social chaos of WWII was still a convenient reality.
That kind of experience one doesn’t readily forget, it’s the kind that can easily etch into one’s mind a great emotional and joyous thrill, one that can also readily render one’s life forever – and beneficially – lifted.
I don’t know anyone who’s been privileged to have had this unique experience help shape their life who hasn’t felt changed for the better – – – from that day forward.
For some reason, one of the greatest and virtually universal personal changes wrought, is that of a significant upsurge in the soloing flight student’s self-image, and self-confidence. That, along with the sheer thrill from the immense sense of freedom in one’s hands, is unforgettable.
At the least, I felt obliged that my own children should have that same exhilarating adventure.
In any event, this (below) TEDx video event features a young lady, Leah Ochs, who was encouraged to make this University of Nevada presentation by one of our Nevada based FASF members, aviation authors, and one of our FASF news scouts, Tiffany Brown.
Tiffany’sown maternal grandmother, Trixie Ann Schubert, was an aviator, acclaimed journalist – and an active member of the 99’s, the International organization of women pilots – – – whose first president was Amelia Earhart.
Before her untimely death in 1965 at only 42, Trixie had been busily writing a new book,”WORLD FLIGHT,” the almost completed rough transcript of which was discovered in Tiffany’smother’s attic. This unexpected family discovery instigated a new quest for Tiffany.
As she worked to piece together her grandmother’s manuscript, Ms. Brown began the tedious process that led to her own first published book. But, to learn more about that you’ll need to read that recently published work: “Fate on a Folded Wing.”
Surprisingly, I met Tiffany by way of having been a dear friend of that same grandmother, Trixie Ann Schubert, who tragically perished in a 1965 airplane crash, along with the internationally recognized globe-circling aviator, Joan Merriam Smith. This tragic accident that took these extraordinary young women’s lives is very much the topic of Tiffany’srecently published book. It helped her come to know her own grandmother, who had been killed many years before Tiffany was even born.
The extreme care with which Ms. Brown researched not just her own grandmother’s life, but that of Joan Merriam – and the events leading up to, and then after the test flight ended in the crash, is impressive. I read Tiffany’snew book when it was still fresh off the presses, and found it both fascinating – and almost impossible to put down. Like her own grandmother, a principal subject of the book itself, Tiffany is clearly a creative word-crafter in her own right.
The book has already garnered a five star rating on Amazon.
A major focus in Tiffany’s book, her grandmother, Trixie Ann, was an exceptionally gifted woman. Before her death in 1965, she had (and the following is a quote from Tiffany’s book) an amazingly varied career in writing: ” . . . editor of a weekly newspaper, radio announcer, news writer for The Milwaukee Journal, AM, FM and TV stations, an aviation columnist, and as a freelance correspondent in America, Europe, Asia and Africa.” Trixie had also raced internationally and in the famous All Women Transcontinental Air Race (popularly known as the “Powder Puff Derby”) here in the states.
Well over half a century later, thanks to the Internet, and long after Trixie Ann had died, one of Trixie’s three children, Heidi (Schubert) Syslo (who I had last known as only a sub-teenager), and who I had not seen, nor heard anything about, since her mother’s death, suddenly and most serendipitously popped back into my life.
Heidi became an active member of the FASF.
She had grown up, married, and become a mother.
One of Heidi’s children was none other than, Tiffany Brown.
Tiffany’s own life exhibits some of the very traits that made her own grandmother such an extraordinarily talented and accomplished woman.
Small world?
So, without further ado, let’s see why your daughter should learn to fly and airplane (12:09):
Remember: Audio turned on, and why not go to full screen to enjoy this short presentation?
