The P-40 Curtiss Kittyhawk The P-40 Kittyhawk – goes well, downhill. The aircraft type flown by Nicky Barr in RAAF 3 Squadron had a long and colourful history that commenced with its original contract. Worth $12.9 million in 1939, it was the largest American aircraft manufacturing order since 1918. Competitors cried foul, citing better aircraft […]
National Air and Space, Dulles Out near Dulles Airport, Virginia, about 40 minutes by car from Washington, DC, is an important new Smithsonian aerospace facility, the huge Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (left). A shuttle bus ($5 to $7 per person) runs between the National Air and Space Museum in Washington and the Udvar-Hazy. One of […]
USN WW II dive and torpedo bombers Book review by Fred Lane Tillman B and R.L. Lawson. US Navy dive and torpedo bombers of WW II. MBI Publishing: St Paul. 2001. Paperback 128 pp with index and photographs.US$24.95. This highly interesting book, together with a companion piece, US Navy Fighters of WW II, vividly […]
USN WW II Fighters book review by Fred Lane Tillman B. and Lawson R.L. US Navy fighters of WW II. MBI Publishing: St Paul. 1998. Paperback 96 pp with index and photographs. US$20.00 This volume preceded the excellent US Navy WW II dive and torpedo bombers. It is an equally gripping and well-written tale by […]
Sea Fury: Australian War Memorial The RAN Hawker Sea Fury Mk11, airframe number VW232, side number 109, on display in the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, has an interesting history. Although painted in 805 Squadron Korean War colours and sporting repairs consistent with possible ground fire, other evidence points to it never having served in Korea. […]
Boeing aircraft factory and museum Psst! Wanna see the biggest American airliners being constructed in the biggest shed in the world? Go North, young man, from San Francisco to Seattle, the traditional home of the Boeing Aircraft Company. Boeing web site Visitor information is on http://www.futureofflight.org/visitUs/planVisit.html#tourInfo. Boeing charges US$10 for a booked tour or US$5 […]
805 Squadron In a moving ceremony hosted by the Maritime Commander Australia, RADM Geoff Smith AM RAN, and attended by the Chief of Navy VADM David Shackleton AO RAN, 805 Squadron Commanding Officer CMDR A.C.(Tony) Dalton RAN read 805’s new commissioning warrant at 1830, Wednesday 28 February 2001. On the tarmac outside the squadron’s sparkling […]
A TARCAP with Belfast During the Korean War, HMAS Sydney supplied spotter aircraft for TARCAP (Naval Gunfire Support, shore bombardment). Early one day Belfast reported unfriendly fire from the Chinnampo Estuary area, so HMAS Sydney launched a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed “Duckshoot Alpha” Sub Lieutenant in the forenoon of 8 December 1951. Belfast performs a RAS […]
RAN Helicopters by Anthony HaighThis essay was a distinguished entry in the 2002 Naval Officers Club Literary Prize competition. Considering the relatively short time it has been around, the development of the Australian naval helicopter as a maritime weapons system has been impressive. Over a fifty-year period, and through nine different types, it has developed from […]
Australia’s maritime air power by Tom Lewis This essay was awarded first prize in the Naval Officers Club Literary Prize competition, 2003. It was published in the Naval Officers Club Newsletter Number 54, 1 September 2003, pp 1, 4-7. LEUT Tom Lewis (right) receives his $500 cheque from Vice President CDRE John DaCosta. In early […]
