Flight Journal

There is something fundamentally different about the Spitfire compared to American fighters that transcends the elegance of its elliptical wings and beautiful lines. It’s the powerful old black and white photos of bombed-out buildings and British cit

ONE OF ONLY NINE MK V SPITFIRES still flying worldwide, the Royal Air Force Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’s Spitfire Mk Vb AB910 is a truly remarkable example of its type. A combat veteran with an amazing pedigree, this incredible aircraft flew o

“Taxiing out to the runway in AB910 you need to weave to see around the long nose, which blocks the view ahead. The aircraft feels light and skittish on the ground, more so than later Spitfires. You need a yachtsman’s awareness of where the wind is b

Harry Ballance Jr. has no memory of his father’s Stinson SR5A or any of the Stinsons his father owned. Born in 1939, he was too young to comprehend the beauty or significance of the Reliant series of elegant, high-wing commercial/private aircraft mad

The now combat-tested F-35A has become ubiquitous around the world, and the aircraft can be found residing as the top dog of choice within the various air forces. Born in controversy as are almost all new programs, the F-35 continues to be manufactur

September 30, 2022 marks the 80th anniversary of the death of perhaps the finest fighter pilot of World War II: Hans-Joachim Marseille. This article focuses only on September 1942. It was truly a month like no other for in this month, Marseille rewro

ON A SWELTERING DAY LAST AUGUST, liquid-cooled Merlin and Allison V-12s and an air-cooled Pratt & Whitney R-2800 radial engine idled impatiently at the east end of the Military Aviation Museum’s (MAM’s) beautifully maintained, 5,000-foot grass runway

The Vintage Aviator Ltd. (TVAL), in Wellington, New Zealand, has reproduced one of the most significant fighters from the Great War. This time the focus was on an iconic German aircraft, the Albatros D.Va, which was the machine of choice and the last

IF, IN 1945, SOME FARSIGHTED INVESTOR had suggested purchasing and hoarding war surplus aircraft as a guaranteed way to make your fortune, you would have considered him a crackpot of the first order. Now, advance yourself to the 21st century: next to

A bomber crew from the 1st Bomber Wing make final preparations for their next mission in “Button Nose,” a late model B-17G S/N 43-37704 (MS-G) that served its short career with the 535th Squadron at Ridgewell, England, during the summer of 1944. At t