Plane Tales

Delving back into my RAF Pilot’s Logbook, Form 414, it’s time for the annual instrument rating and prepare for our first deployment to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus.  Whilst the ‘High Ups’ sorted everything out for a major detachment, I’m left doing QRA but at last we are heading south for the Mediterranean. My journey, however, is in the opposite of a supersonic fighter jet!

The ancient island of Cyprus.

Our little corner of the ancient island of Cyprus.

A miniature and modern version of the usual meze that we often enjoyed.

Images under Creative Commons licence and others with thanks to Peri Reis and Cyprus Beat.

This story harks back to the 300th APG show and was rewritten for the Plane Talking UK live show near Heathrow Airport.  It is the story of a crippled Airbus A300 that barely survives a missile attack and the excellent work by a phenomenal Flight Deck crew.

The DHL A300 that was struck.

The landing.

The damage done to the A300’s left wing.

Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to dodmedia and Airbus Flight Safety.

The Convair 990 was a financial disaster that cost General Dynamics one of the largest corporate losses in history but thanks to some fascinating aerodynamics it was also the world’s fastest subsonic airliner.  This is the story of a little known airliner and the transonic design that allowed it to cruise at Mach 0.97!

Convair CV 990 displaying anti-shock bodies on the top surface of its wings as it sits on the ramp at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center.

Listener Ramiro Couto takes a selfie in front of the NASA Convair 990 that now resides near the Mojave Airport.

The Convair 990 near the Mojave Airport showing off its anti shock bodies which allowed the aircraft to take advantage of the Whitcomb area rule.

Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the San Diego Air & Space Museum, NASA and listener Ramiro Couto.

Growing up in poverty, life in Germany following WWII was hard, but for one young man, dreams of starting a new life as a pilot in America seemed beyond imagination.  However, through strength of character and determination, Dieter Dengler would achieve his goal only to have his short career brought to an abrupt end when he was downed flying a secret mission over Laos at the start of the Vietnam war.  The story of his subsequent capture, torture and his ultimate fate is a remarkable story.

Dieter after his escape.

Dieter and Colonel Eugene Deatrick, the man who spotted him in the jungle of Laos.

Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the US Navy and draykov.

From one of the lesser known Bee Gee’s records comes a bizarre title for a seasonal song that brings to mind the story of Captain William Wincapaw, a native of Friendship in Maine.  In his early days of flying float planes around Rockland Harbour he often used the many lighthouses of New England to help him navigate in poor weather.  His fondness for the families who tended these lighthouses and Coast Guard stations, often in the most remote of situations, led him to begin a Christmas tradition that continues to this very day.

Captain William Wincapaw.

Delivering Christmas presents.

Images under copyright to the Friends of Flying Santa.  To donate please go to the Friends of Flying Santa website.

After WWII many American pilots were employed by the growing Chinese airline industry flying from poorly equipped airfields in China.  The weather was often difficult and the terrain dangerous but on Christmas day 1946, struggling to get back to their base at Lunghwa airfield tragedy would strike… not once but three times.  This is the awful story of that night in Shanghai.

A CNAC Curtis C46.

Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to CNAC archives and National Museum of the USAF.

The very next installment of my flying logbook stories has me attempting my first arrester wire engagement, paying tribute to the Bell Rock Lighthouse and meeting the USAF’s 527th Aggressor Squadron for combat training.

Armed Phantoms of No 43 (F) Squadron, RAF Leuchars.

Three F-5E Tiger II aircraft from the 527th Tactical Fighter Training Aggressor Squadron, RAF Alconbury.

Bell Rock lighthouse under construction.

Bell rock lighthouse as I remember it!

Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Me, the USAF, Derek Robertson and Robert Stephenson.

In the 1970’s, Germany was in the grip of a terrorist nightmare, led by a far left militant group known as the Red Army Faction or the Baader-Meinhof Gang.  Their most audacious act was, with the aid of Palestinian terrorists, to hijack a Lufthansa Boeing 737 named Landshut.  For the passengers and crew this was the start of a 5 day nightmare during which they were subjected to awful treatment and murder.  This is the story of flight 181.

Hanns-Martin Schleyer in captivity following his abduction.

Landshut during the hijacking.

The route Landshut was forced to take.

 The hostages and GSG9 team arrive safely back in Germany.

Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Ken Fielding, Devilm25 and the Bundesarchiv.

Wilheim Böing, emigrated to the United States in 1866 and, after becoming a wealthy lumber merchant, sent his son William to an elite school in Switzerland and then Yale University.  Now named Boeing, William followed his father into the timber business and in his spare time became one of America’s first pilots.  Soon he was putting his wealth and engineering background to the development of his first aircraft, the Boeing and Westervelt B&W1.  This was the start of the enormously successful company that was to conquer the world of aviation and develop such iconic aircraft as the B17 Flying Fortress and the Boeing 747.

A replica of the B&W seaplane.

A 1928 map of the USPO airmail routes.

The Boeing Model-40 airmail aircraft.

A prototype B-17, the Boeing Y1B-17.

Boeing’s first commercial jet airliner, the 707.

The Boeing 747, being displayed to the public for the first time.

Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the San Diego Air & Space Museum Archive, KudzuVine, United States Post Office Department, Seattle Municipal Archives, USAF, Jon Proctor and Scandinavian Airlines Service.

Two men who risked everything to save their aircraft and, because of their bravery, were awarded their countries highest honour.  These are stories which truly invoke the often misused sobriquet, hero.

Jimmy Ward of No 75 (New Zealand) Squadron.

The hatch that Jimmy climbed out of and the holes he made to crawl over to the blazing engine.

Henry Erwin, recipient of the Medal of Honor.

“Red” Erwin in 1995.

The B-29 Superfortress.

Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Arghya1999, the Royal Air Force, US Air Force, Senior Airman Christopher J. Matthews and the US Gov.