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Editorial: Elections Have Come and Gone
By Ed Downs
It is traditional in many publications to use December editorial space to talk about the year that has just flown past. To be sure, that is a fine tradition, but perhaps the future is a topic of more interest and need. Aviation is entering some challenging times, and we need to take some positive steps to make sure the most unique aviation structure in the world remains healthy. But first, let’s just do some griping!
2012 was an election year to be remembered. Unfortunately, that remembrance is most likely not going to be because of the important issues that were covered or principles of government being argued. Instead, we will remember some of the most negative campaigning in this country’s history. But even more disappointing, was the manner in which politicians and pollsters divided up the country into opposing voting groups, or “classes.” Rich were pitted against poor; the middle class was pitted against both income “classes.” Age groups were defined and divided, with political “pitch” ads catering to each group as if in opposition to another age group. Certainly ethnic groups were carefully “classed” and addressed as if they lived in different countries. Women were focused upon as if their America was completely different from the one that men live in. This writer is sure that there is, somewhere, a set of stats that breaks America down by shoe and hat size, characterizing folks with big feet and small heads as voting in a particular style and needing to see particular political ads. The old axiom of “divide and conquer” is alive and well. The fact is, the divisiveness of 2012 has been the policy of politicians at all levels for some years and we must assume that it will continue, until we voters finally stand up and call for a stop.
Skies to Stars - December 2012
The Christmas Star
By Ed Downs
The holiday season offers a huge number of both aviation and astronomical topics to write about. From the aviation standpoint, gift giving is made easy. Pilots will love anything that has to do with their flying activities or cherished flying machine. We are an easy “gift buy” group. Astronomy also has a firm connection with the Christmas season, with the Star of Bethlehem (the Christmas star) playing a major role in virtually every aspect of holiday decorations, lore and tradition. The biblical reference in Mathew 2:2 begins our tradition of “the Star in the East” and the holy journey of the three Magi, referred to as “The Three Kings” in late medieval times. It would be hard to imagine the Christmas tradition without this celestial miracle. A quick search in this writer’s biblical concordance comes up with no less than 10 references to the stars. And, it must be remembered that many biblical historians believe the Magi were astrologers, skilled in many arts and sciences, having familiarity with the prophecies of Daniel. While today astrology is considered a completely different subject than astronomy, they were once one and the same, and perhaps the oldest of all scientific understandings by ancient civilizations. Indeed, the stars are an integral part of the holiday season.
Funeral For Tuskegee Airman To Be Held at University
Amelia Earhart Memorial: Help Bring the Lockheed Electra 10E to The Museum of Flight
By Herb Foreman
Amelia Earhart in front of her Electra 10-E.Recently, my friend Carol Osborne, as aircraft historian and author of a book regarding Amelia Earhart and her quest to be the first woman to circumnavigate the Earth called and asked me to become involved in a campaign to secure a Lockheed 10E similar to the one Earhart flew for the Seattle Museum of Flight. Her call brought back my memories as a child of 11 years in 1937 when President Franklin Roosevelt called for the Navy to do all it could to located Earhart’s downed plane along with her navigator, Fred Noonan off the coast of Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean. Seventy-five years have gone by and the search still continues.
Golden Age Race Winner with a Fine Irish Name
By Alan Smith
Benny Howard’s Mister Mulligan, 1935 winner of both Bendix amd Thompson trophies. (San Diego Air and Space Museum)As air racing’s Golden Age of the 1930s went on, the design of new racers continued to lead advancement in both military and civil aviation. In 1935, Benny Howard’s high wing monoplane Mister Mulligan was a classic example of this. With Gordon Israel as co-pilot, Howard won the cross country Bendix from the West coast to Cleveland and then with Harold Neumann as pilot, Mulligan went on to win the Thompson Trophy. The Bendix trophy was won partly because Howard and Israel used on-board oxygen for the first time and stayed above the weather. The oxygen system was another racing innovation passed on to other designers in the military and civil aviation world.
1935 was really Benny Howard’s year of triumph. Not only did Mulligan win both the Bendix and the Thompson, but Neumann also won the Greve Trophy in Howard’s little Mike racer.
The Thrill of Flying with the Blue Angels
By Russ Albertson
Ernie, the C-130 Herclues used by the Blue Angels. (Russ Albertson)The U.S. Navy Blue Angels have thrilled hundreds of millions of spectators at airshows across the country since 1946. The team demonstrates seemingly effortless precision in all their maneuvers as they fly the beautiful Boeing F/A-18 Hornets just inches apart. The team was established just after WWII as the U.S. Navy saw its budget diminishing. The Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Chester Nimitz, directed his staff to find a way to promote Naval Aviation and keep the public aware of the need for a strong military. The Navy Flight Exhibition Team was born in 1946. Lieutenant Commander Roy “Butch” Voris, a Navy Ace in WWII, was selected as the first flight leader and the team acquired the name “Blue Angels” when one of the first pilots on the team saw a reference to the Blue Angel Nightclub in a magazine.
The team, led by Lt.Cdr. Voris, chose the best pilots he could find to fly the Grumman F-6F five-piston engine Navy carrier fighter. The F-6Fs were painted dark blue with gold trim, which was changed to dark blue and yellow as the team transitioned to the F-8F Bearcat in August, 1946. The team started with four aircraft flying the signature “Diamond” formation and later added two “Solo” aircraft. The team has flown 10 different aircraft and received their first jet, the Grumman F-9F Panther, in 1949, and today the team flies the Boeing F/A-18 Hornet. The Hornets are at the end of their carrier arrestment service life. The Hornets are modified by the team with an inverted fuel pump to ensure uninterrupted fuel flow for extended up-side down flying. Other modifications include the removal of the nose cannon, the addition of a fluid smoke system, stop watch, and an adjustable tension spring to the control stick, …and of course that beautiful Blue and Gold paint scheme!
Contrails: Escape From Plenty
By Steve Weaver
Autumn in West Virginia. (Steve Weaver)Autumn has worked its way down the slopes of the Appalachians and colored the leaves in the foothills of West Virginia, the place where I was born and where I now spend the six warm months each year. Looking down the bank outside my window into the slow drifting waters of the Buckhannon River I can see flotillas of gaily colored leaves making their way downstream to the place they will come to rest and slowly turn to soil.
It’s said that autumn is a time to reflect and I think that must be so, because I find I do most of my deep (deep being a relative word here) thinking about life in general, and my life in particular, during this time of year.
A few days ago in such a state, I started pondering how the business of selling airplanes has changed in the last dozen years or so and about how completely my life has changed during the same period.
Mister Mulligan: Golden Age Race Winner with a Fine Irish Name
By Alan Smith
Benny Howard’s Mister Mulligan, 1935 winner of both Bendix and Thompson trophies. (San Diego Air & Space Museum)As air racing’s Golden Age of the 1930s went on, the design of new racers continued to lead advancement in both military and civil aviation. In 1935, Benny Howard’s high wing monoplane Mister Mulligan was a classic example of this. With Gordon Israel as co-pilot, Howard won the cross country Bendix from the west coast to Cleveland and then with Harold Neumann as pilot, Mulligan went on to win the Thompson Trophy. The Bendix trophy was won partly because Howard and Israel used on-board oxygen for the first time and stayed above the weather. The oxygen system was another racing innovation passed on to other designers in the military and civil aviation world.
1935 was really Benny Howard’s year of triumph. Not only did Mulligan win both the Bendix and the Thompson, but Neumann also won the Greve Trophy in Howard’s little Mike racer.
Piper, Bimini Bay Resort Target Breast Cancer
Candidates Need to Focus on General Aviation Benefits
Space Shuttle Endeavour Tours California then Comes Home to Los Angeles
Space shuttle Endeavour ended its flight career Sept. 21 as it toured California on the back of NASA’s modified 747 carrier aircraft, landing at Los Angeles International Airport after its final ferry flight into history.
Airshow Performer Jerod Flohr Attains Lifelong Dream, Debuts at Watsonville
The 2012 Watsonville Fly-In and Airshow in California was the first weekend in September. Did you make it to the show? It was a great one. They featured great display aircraft, great food, and of course, some of the most well known Airshow pilots on the West coast. Their performers included
Time For Embry-Riddle’s Wings & Waves Air Show, Oct. 13-14
CANCER PATIENTS TO BENEFIT FROM UNIQUE DONATIONS AT NBAA2012
Pioneering Experimental & Jet Aircraft At Planes of Fame, Oct. 6
T-6 Class Gets Stronger at Reno 2012
By Alan Smith
Nick Macy on way to Gold race victory. (Victor Archer)As the only “one design” class at the National Championship Air Races, high performance in the AT-6 class has, for years, been primarily dependent on pilot skill that minimize wasted distance on the oval race course and puts one airplane into the lead. There are, however, permitted airframe “cleanups” that, when properly done, can significantly increase the top speed of a T-6.
For example, the stock T-6 wing skins are riveted in place with domed rivets. For racing, these are replaced with flathead rivets flushed into the wing. Landing lights are removed and the wing fiberglassed back to the main spar. There are many other small things that can be done to reduce drag and increase speed. And, of course, a racing T-6 has been repainted in vivid colors and is highly polished. I have been told, by some racing T-6 owners, that even selecting the right polishing compound can have a positive effect.
The DH98 Mosquito lives again!
CABA Training Event Set for Oct. 5
Happy 91st Birthday, Paul Poberezny!
World Remembers Neil Armstrong: One Small Step… For All Mankind
Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon during the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, died on Saturday, Aug. 25, following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures.