John Herschel Glenn Jr. passed away today, aged 95. While he is especially famous for being the first American to orbit the Earth, he led a very rich aeronautical career as a fighter and test pilot, and was three times a US senator.
Born in 1921, Glenn joined the US Navy after Pearl Harbor and was eventually transferred to the US Marine Corps. He flew a fiorst tour of operations flying R4D transports, the US Navy version of the famous C-47, and later a second tour on the F4U Corsair fighter.
During the Korean War, he completed a first tour of operations flying F9F Panthers before joining a US Air Force exchange program and flying 27 missions on the F-86 Sabre, with which he claimed 3 victories over MiG-15 jet fighters in the final days of the conflict.
He later became a test pilot and made the first supersonic transcontinental flight over the US, flying an F8U-3P Crusader on 16 June 1957. Continue reading
P-51C Mustang “Tuskegee Airmen” is Back in the Air
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The P-51C “Tuskegee Airmen” operated by the CAF Red Tail Squadron was damaged eight months ago in a landing accident in Dallas, TX. The aircraft was taken to AirCorps Aviation for repairs and flew again on December 1st with Doug Rozendaal at the controls.Rozeendaal reported that “there were no issues with the test flight and the aircraft flew great”.
Bob Hoover in 2004. (Photo D. Ramey Logan (CC BY-SA 3.0))
Legendary pilot Bob Hoover passed away today aged 94. He is often considered as one of the greatest pilots of all times.
Born in 1922, Hoover became a fighter pilot and flew 59 combat missions before being shot down in 1944. He was captured and spent 16 months in German prisons before escaping by stealing a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter. After his return to the USA, he became a test pilot and was chase pilot to Chuck Yeager during the flights that lead to breaking the sound barrier. He left the military in 1948, but flew many ground attack missions during the Korean War as a civilian consultant for North American Aviation. He performed test flights on the FJ-1 Fury, F-86 Sabre and F-100 Super Sabre among others. Continue reading
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Dr Larry Howard’s Sopwith Pup replica recently flew in Spokane, Washington. The aircraft is powered by a Le Rhône engine and is identical to original Sopwith Pups, except for modern magnetos. Its construction required eight years of work.
The National Museum of WWII Aviation, based in Colorado Springs, recently announced on its Facebook page that the P-38F Lightning “White 33” (s/n 42-12652) will fly again on Monday, weather permitting.
This will make it the 10th airworthy P-38 Mightning in the world, and only one of two with functioning turbochargers.
The B-29 known as Doc successfully completed its second flight since being restored to airworthy status.
Doc’s second flight lasted approximately 52 minutes at an altitude of four to five thousand feet on a flight pattern east of Wichita, Kans. The historic warbird took off from McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita just after 10 a.m. Central Time and landed just before 11 a.m, Saturday, Oct. 1.
The Hawker Hurricane Mk XII (s/n 5481) registered C-FDNL flew again on Sunday October 2 in Scone, Australia. The aircraft was restored by Vintage Fighter Restorations.
It is painted in the colours of Hurricane Mk I V6748 of the Royal Air Force’s No 46 Squadron de la Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain. P/O J. D. Crossman was shot down and killed by German fighters flying this aircraft on 30 September 1940.
The P-51D Mustang “Janie”. (Photo Geoff Collins (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0))
A P-51D Mustang crashed this Sunday afternoon in Topcroft near Norwich in the United-Kingdom. The passenger, a man in his eighties, was killed in the crash. The pilot was seriously injured and was airlifted to the hospital.
The accident aircraft is P-51D Mustang “Janie”, owned and operated by Maurice Hammond from Hardwick the former RAF airfield where the accident took place. The causes of the accident are not yet known.
The Friends of the Norwegian Starfighter’s CF-104D in 2012 during a taxi demonstration in Bodø, Norway (Photo Rob Schleiffert (CC BY-NC 2.0))
The Friends of the Norwegian Starfighter’s ex-Norwegian AF, Canadian-built CF-104D Starfighter flew again for the first time in 33 years on September 28 in Bodø, Norway. The restoration of the aircraft began in 2003, culminating with this week’s first flight with Eskil Amdal at the controls.
You can enjoy the unique “howl” made by the Starfighter in these videos of the flight.
F-104 Starfighter 637 first flight ENBO / Bodø
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The Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar’s Messerschmitt Bf 109E “White 14” recently made its first engine tests. The aircraft was built in 1939 and lost in 1942 on the Russian front. It was salvaged in 1992 and changed hands several times before reaching the UK where it is being restored and should fly again soon.
The de Havilland Mosquito T Mk III TV959 restored by AvSpecs for Paul Allen’s Flying Heritage Collection made its maiden flight today from Ardmore airport in New Zealand. The pilots for the first flight were David Phillips and Keith Skillings. The flight lasted thirty minutes and the Mosquito was escorted by Spitfire ZK-WDQ, acting as the chase aircraft.
The Grace Spitfire, one of the few remaining airworthy twin-seat Spitfires, suffered minor damage during the rollout after landing on September 15. Nobody was hurt and recent updates show that the aircraft suffered only minor damage.
Spitfire Mk IX BR601 of the Collings Foundation recently performed its first flights after restoration by the Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar. This aircraft is considered as the second production Mk IX and was restored accordingly.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.worldwarbirdnews.com/2016/09/02/collings-foundation-spitfire-mk-ix-performs-first-post-restoration-flights/
L. to r. : Tom Rees, Lionel Morris and Manfred von Richthofen.
On 17 September 2016, the families of Manfred von Richthofen and of his two first victims will meet and toast together in memory of their ancestors. Although Richthofen had already claimed two aerial victories, his first confirmed victory came on 17 September 1916 when he shot down the F.E.2b flown Tom Rees and Lionel Morris near Marcoing in Northern France. Rees was killed during the dogfight and Morris managed to land the aircraft before dying of his wounds.
Following this first victory, Richthofen ordered a small silver cup from a Berlin jeweller to commemorate the victory. The inscription read: “1. Vickers 2. 17.9.16”. This was the first of 60 such cups which he ordered up until September 1917, at which time the jeweller declined further orders due to a wartime silver shortage.
To commemorate the centenary of the event, representatives of all three families will meet to commemorate the deaths of Captain Rees and Second Lieutenant Morris, and the moment the Red Baron began his path in military history, drinking from a replica goblet commissioned by Whitgift School in Croydon.
Permanent link to this article: https://www.worldwarbirdnews.com/2016/09/01/families-of-red-baron-and-of-his-first-victims-to-toast-together-in-their-memories/
John Herschel Glenn Jr. passed away today, aged 95. While he is especially famous for being the first American to orbit the Earth, he led a very rich aeronautical career as a fighter and test pilot, and was three times a US senator.
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