Aviation History

Aviation History Magazine is an authoritative, in-depth history of world aviation from its origins to the Space Age. Aviation History offers air enthusiasts the most detailed coverage of the history of manned flight, with action-packed stories and illustrations that put the reader in the cockpit with pilots and military (army, navy, and marine)aviators to experience aviation’s greatest dramas.

AVIATION HISTORY ONLINE • You’ll find much more from Aviation History on the web’s leading history resource: HistoryNet.com

MAILBAG

LINCOLN-PAGE CHICKEN COOP FIND

BOG SPITFIRE RECOVERED

QUIET RETURN OF BRAND X

727’S LAST PASSENGER FLIGHT

WANTED: LOST AVENGER, $20,000 REWARD

14-YEAR-OLD FLYBOY

X-15’S FIRST FLIGHT

WRIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME • KENNETH CHILSTROM’S CHARMED AVIATION CAREER INCLUDED TEST-FLYING AXIS AIRCRAFT DURING WORLD WAR II AND LATER THE XP-86 SABRE PROTOTYPE

THE LAST TYPHOON • A FAMED GROUND-POUNDER—THE SOLE SURVIVING COMPLETE EXAMPLE OF ITS TYPE—HAS BEEN RETURNED TO DISPLAY IN BRITAIN

FIRST TO MACH 3 • BELL’S X-2 “STARBUSTER” EXEMPLIFIED THE PROMISE AND PERILS OF SUPERSONIC FLIGHT RESEARCH

STYLE • We visit a home that flies in the face of convention, an octocopter ready for takeoff and a watch that steps back in time.

X-CITING TIMES

THE INDESTRUCTIBLE ACE • U.S. NAVY FIGHTER PILOT ALEX VRACIU DOWNED 19 JAPANESE AIRPLANES, BUT IN THE PROCESS LOST THREE HELLCATS, EARNING HIM A REPUTATION AS “GRUMMAN’S BEST CUSTOMER”

AK-47 OF THE AIR • STILL GOING STRONG AFTER 60 YEARS OF SERVICE, THE ROCK-SOLID MIG-21 SUPERSONIC FIGHTER GAINED A FEARSOME REPUTATION DESPITE ITS LACKLUSTER COMBAT RECORD

DROPPING THE ORANGE BEAST • THE FIRST SUPERSONIC FLIGHT WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE WITHOUT THE HELP OF COUNTLESS SUPPORT PERSONNEL, INCLUDING THE MAN WHO OVERSAW THE PROJECT AND PILOTED THE X-1’S B-29 MOTHER SHIP

FORGOTTEN WHIRLYBIRD • MAITLAND BLEECKER BEAT IGOR SIKORSKY TO THE PUNCH BY DEVELOPING A FULLY CONTROLLABLE HELICOPTER IN 1930, ONLY TO SEE HIS INVENTION ABANDONED FOR WANT OF A $90 PART

SABREJET SECRETS • INADEQUATE TECHNICAL INFORMATION CONCERNING MODIFICATIONS TO THE FABLED F-86 LED TO A SERIES OF MAJOR TAKEOFF ACCIDENTS

REVIEWS

CHASING THE DEMON

BELL X-2

TUPOLEV TU-16

SEVEN AT SANTA CRUZ

ROYAL BAVARIAN JAGDSTAFFEL 23

SKY GIRLS

VOUGHT SB2U VINDICATOR

MYSTERY SHIP • Can you identify this rotor-less helicopter? See the answer below.

Going Up?