In Flight USA Article Categories
In Flight USA Articles
House Lawmakers Call For Federal Intervention On Avgas Claim in CA
Warner's Mines More Aviation Gold from it's Archives
By S. Mark Rhodes
Warner Archives keeps cranking out great chestnuts from its vaults and making them available as a “Made to Order” disc. The latest releases are four great aviation melodrama/thrillers.
Bombardier is a 1943 film concerning the training program for bombardiers of the United States Army Air Forces. The film, starring Pat O’Brien as Major Chick Davis and Randolph Scott, is solid action with a plot revolving around the central clash of whether specific bomber training was necessary as a component of the USAAF. In the course of the film, Major Davis manages to demonstrate the superiority of high altitude precision bombing which allows for the creation of a training academy for bombardiers. As with many of these films, the trivia is particularly fascinating; reportedly this film’s plot reflected some of the debate about the role and effectiveness of specialized bombing during World War II. Much of the film was shot at Kirtland Air Force Base, which employed some of the cadets as extras. Bombardier has many near documentary elements reflected in it’s approach to the subject matter. Most interesting of all is the film’s prologue which is delivered by Brigadier General Eugene Eubank who was the commander of the first heavy bombardment group of the US Army Air Forces to see combat in World War II. In this prologue, General Eubank praises the bombing crews, which “must vindicate the greatest responsibility ever placed upon an individual soldier in the line of duty.”
FAA Programs Still in Limbo as Congress Departs
Wrong Way Corrigan - A Last Bit of Fun Before World War II
By Alan Smith
In October of 1925 when 18-year-old Douglas Corrigan went for a ride in a Curtiss Jenny, he had no idea that in thirteen years he would be both famous and notorious. What the ride did was change his goal in life from being an architect to living in the growing world of aviation. He started taking flying lessons every Sunday and after twenty Sundays he soloed. The government rules and regulations of aviation were still forming and Corrigan soon had a pilot’s license in hand. He also had good mechanical talent gained from a few years in the construction business. When his parents divorced, he had quit school and gone to work to earn money. His father was a construction engineer and Douglas had learned a lot from him.
Claude Ryan and his partner B.F Mahoney were building airplanes as the Ryan Aeronautical Company at the California airfield where Corrigan learned to fly and also had a shop in San Diego. They offered Corrigan a job as a mechanic at their San Diego operation when they decided to shut down their factory near Los Angeles and move south. It was 1927 and Corrigan saw about a half dozen partially built airplanes in Ryan’s San Diego plant. They just sat there because of cancelled orders. Corrigan went to work wondering how long this job would last.
FAA Shut Down Looms
EAA: User Fee Idea Just Won't Go Away
See Burt Rutan (and his new book) At Wick's Booth at AirVenture
Voice Your Opinion: GPS Interference by LightSquared
House Lawmakers Call on DOT to Shelve Plan to Disable BARR
13th Annual Olympic Air Show
Story and Photos by Paul Tannahill
Despite less than ideal weather conditions the 13th annual Olympic Airshow went on June 18-19 without any major incidents. Hosted by the Olympic Flight Museum, and held at the Olympia Regional Airport, in Olympia, Wash., the show has become a Fathers day weekend tradition for many aviation enthusiasts in the Northwest.
First Female Civilian Air Traffic Controller in the U.S.
By Carl E. Chance
Editor, WingsOverKansas.com
Mary Chance was one the country’s first recognized air traffic controllers. According to Andrew Pitas, former historian with the Air Traffic Controllers Association, Mary Chance VanScyoc was one of the country’s first recognized female civilian air traffic Controller’s in the United States. She played a vital role as one of many pioneer female aviation controller’s during World War II, representing well over 40 percent of the controller workforce.
Restoration of Glacier Girl, Part 3
Reprinted by permission of the Arkansas Educational Television Network
In Flight USA has run the story of Glacier Girl in three parts. The first part, the history of Glacier Girl, ran in the May Issue. The second part covered The Recovery of Glacier Girl and ran in the June issue. Here we present the third part that tells the story of the Restoration of Glacier Girl. This story leads us to AirVenture, July 25-31, where Glacier Girl will be on display.
Glacier Girl during restoration in Roy Shoffner’s hangar in Middlesboro, Kentucky.Restoration of Glacier Girl began in January of 1993, after all shipments of aircraft parts from the dig were finally gathered together. The restoration was being done in Roy Shoffner’s (project financier) hangar in Middlesboro, Kentucky. Under supervision of Bob Cardin (project coordinator for the 1992 expedition) warbird specialists began their task by disassembling the massive center section. After initial deconstruction of the plane began, it was evident that damage was more extensive than what appeared on the surface. The more they took apart, the more damage they found. The plane had to be taken apart down to the smallest manageable pieces, making sure each piece was marked for later identification. Parts were then cleaned and checked for functionality to determine if it could be used again, repaired for use, or replaced entirely. Damaged parts served as templates for construction of replacements.
Recovery of Glacier Girl, Part 2
Reprinted by permission of the Arkansas Educational Television Network
In Flight USA will run the story of Glacier Girl in three parts. The first par, ran in the May issue and told the history of Glacier Girl. In this issue we run Part 2, The Recovery of Glacier Girl, and finally in the July issue we will cover the Restoration of Glacier Girl. This story leads us to AirVenture, July 25-31, where Glacier Girl will be on display.
On July 15, 1992, fifty years to the day after his rescue, 74-year-old Brad McManus stood on the ice cap surrounded by the recovered pieces of his late friend Harry Smith’s P-38, as chronicled in the documentary “The Lost Squadron,” and was flooded with memories of his wartime experience and the lifetime friendships that he held dear to his heart. A new mission was about to begin.
How do you get a P-38 out of the ice? Simple…melt the ice!
Well, maybe not as simple as that, seeing how it was 268 feet of ice. Basically, you start with a six-digit budget, followed by transporting tons of equipment that include arctic survival gear and heavy construction machinery, and top it all off with adventure-minded individuals willing to take the hardships and risks associated with one-of-a-kind expeditions to a hostile environment. That’s what it took to recover a P-38 from “The Lost Squadron.”
Eddie Stinson: a True Pioneer in the Early Years of Aviation
By Alan Smith
Stinson 108-3, the last Stinson design. (Larry Westin)Edward (Eddie) Stinson was born in 1894 in Ft. Payne Alabama. Nine years later, he learned of the success of the Wright brothers in their mission to build and fly a powered airplane at Kitty Hawk North Carolina and his fascination with aviation was born.
At age 16, he dropped out of school, and headed for St. Louis where two men were building their own powered aircraft. There he convinced them that he should be their test pilot. He didn’t mention that their kite-like airplane was the first airplane he’d ever seen. He did manage to get it into the air but stalled and crashed, destroying one wing. The two gentlemen of St Louis decided aviation was not for them and gave Eddie 
Stinson Detroiter, the first Stinson. (PilotFriend)the wrecked aircraft as payment for his attempt to fly it.
Dark Horse Unearths an Aviation Comic Chestnut with the Rick Masters Series
By S. Mark Rhodes
(Dark Horse Comics)Dark Horse Comics has recently released Volumes 1 and 2 collecting the very early comic adventures of the Buddhist superhero called The Green Lama. Within these volumes there is buried an interesting aviation comic titled Rick Masters. Within the narrative of the comic, Masters is a former WWII ace who was discharged from the army having been labeled by the military as an “invalid” (the term the comic uses). Masters, a predictably capable and resourceful aviator re-invents himself as a kind of mercenary/adventurer/aviator who teams up with his Native American cohort/partner Twin Eagles (AKA “Mike”) who is an ace mechanic and a first-rate aviator in his own right.
Masters was created by Walter Gardern (with workmanlike art by Ira Turner) as a dashing creation seemingly inspired by dashing stars of the silver screen during the 30s and 40s such as Errol Flynn. Masters’ adventures started out as pretty much standard issue stuff dealing with saboteurs, smugglers, gangsters and the like. Eventually though they moved into a slightly more sci-fi realm traveling back in time and testing out early versions of “flying squirrel suits.” In this way, the strip was apparently influenced by some of the scientifically advanced pulp fiction stuff like Doc Savage and G-8 and his Flying Aces that were forerunners of traditional comics.
The First Transoceanic Flights
By Alan Smith
Everyone knows about Charles Lindbergh and his 1927 flight from Long Island NY to Paris, but there were others that took on the Atlantic challenge and he was not the first to cross the Atlantic. The London Daily Mail had put up a fifty thousand dollar prize for the first non-stop crossing by air, and a number of pilots had their eye on that. The first actual Atlantic crossing had been made by a U.S. Navy NC-4 Curtiss flying boat in early 1919, but it was far from non-stop and took weeks with engine and navigation problems. In June of 1919, two British teams were at St John’s, Newfoundland with converted biplane bombers. They had shipped the planes over to Newfoundland to attempt West to East crossings with prevailing winds as a tailwind.
Harry G. Hawker and McKenzie Grieve planned to try with a Handley-Page bomber powered by four Rolls Royce engines, while John Alcock and navigator Arthur W, Brown were preparing a Vickers Vimy twin-engined bomber that had been built too late to be used in WW I. Both crews, of course, were thirsting for the Daily Mail prize, and both were making preparations at Lester’s Field near St John’s.
The History of Glacier Girl: Part 1
Reprinted by permission of the Arkansas Educational Television Network
Owned by Rod Lewis this flight of the P-38 Glacier Girl flown by Steve Hinton, and the two F7F Tigercats flown by Stewart Dawson and Rod Lewis, were photographed from the ramp of an Alaska ANG C-130 over Pyramid Lake, Nevada during the Reno National Championship Air Races last September. (Jim Dunn)Editor’s Note: In Flight USA will run the story of Glacier Girl in three parts. This first part is the history of Glacier Girl. In the June issue of In Flight USA, Part 2 will cover The Recovery of Glacier Girl, and finally in the July issue we will cover the Restoration of Glacier Girl. This story leads us to AirVenture, July 25-31, where Glacier Girl will be on display.
As “Europe first” was the policy declared by then President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Operation Bolero began its phase in history as a massive buildup and movement of Allied aircraft into the European theatre. It was Tuesday, July 7, 1942, just seven months since the attack on Pearl Harbor that had thrust the U.S. into the war.
The most daring aspect of Operation Bolero was the actual flight overseas in stages, refueling in Labrador, Greenland and Iceland. Only the second of many flights to come during this operation, none of the pilots of what has now become known as “The Lost Squadron” knew their flight to England would end on the ice cap in Greenland.
Wild Weather at Sun 'n Fun
By Ed Downs
Photos Courtesy of EAA
(EAA Photo)This April edition of In Flight USA is going to press just as information is being received regarding a severe storm, now being reported as an F1 Tornado that hit the Sun ‘n Fun Fly-In and Air Show site at Lakeland’s Linder Regional Airport. It is now known that some 15 attendees and/or exhibitors received injuries ranging from minor scrapes and abrasions to broken bones. Forty to 50 aircraft were seriously damaged or destroyed. These aircraft included those on display by vendors and many visitor airplanes, including homebuilts and classics. Numerous vendor tents and displays were destroyed. The staff at In Flight USA wishes to extend our best wishes for a speedy recovery from personal injuries and a 
(EAA Photo)successful financial recovery from the enormous financial strain such a disaster places on all affected.
Our April cover, the Legend Cub, an S-LSA manufactured by American Legend Aviation of Sulfur Springs, Texas, represents a snapshot of the courage and tenacity of the vendors who have been hit hard by this storm. Dave Graham, Director of Marketing for American Legend, commented, “We knew storms were on the way and secured everything the best we could. When it did hit, there was little warning. Our team rushed inside our display tent and hung on for dear life. I can now say that I have soloed a tent!”
The Official Word From Sun 'n Fun: All Safe, Property Damage Extensive
As of In Flight USA’s deadline on Friday, April 1, there were only minor injuries suffered by people on the ground, however, damage to aircraft and property was extensive following a severe weather system that ravaged the Lakeland area on Thursday, March 31.
Bird Dog
By Russ Albertson
During WWI, with the introduction of the airplane in combat, aerial reconnaissance was now free ranging and commanders could get a far better idea of enemy troops facing them. The Piper L-4 Grasshopper served as the U.S. Army spotter plane in WWII and remained in service until 1949 when the Army put out a contract for an all-metal plane to replace the Piper.