Thoughts on Commercial Aviation for the Wings of History (WOH) Museum
by Mark Lindberg, May 2021 Successful “Commercial Aviation” begins with the revenues exceeding the expenses of operations, and then those profits determining a competitive return on invested capital. A component of the equation that represents invested capital would include the aircraft. An early example would be the Wings of History American Eagle. While using the […]
Tuskegee Airmen
Interview with ‘Woodie’ Spears, Tuskegee Airman Tuskegee Fighter Pilot, the late Lt. Leon ‘Woodie” Spears was born in Colorado in 1924. He earned his wings on June 24, 1944, with the class of 44F at Tuskegee, Alabama. He was an original “Red Tail” serving with the 301st Fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group. He mastered the […]
A Personal History of Reid Hillview Airport
By Jim Meide The first time I ever saw the Reid Hillview airport was around 1959. My father was stationed at Moffet Field at the time, in Squadron VF-124. The front line fighter they were using then was the Chance Vought F8U Crusader, the Navy’s first 1000 mph fighter. Reids Hillview Airport circa 1958 […]
A Century of Flight
For thousands of years, the speed limit of transportation was no faster than Paul Revere’s famous ride in 1775. And the Pony Express quickly gave way as the steam and internal combustion engines multiplied “horsepower” for another century. But even the best locomotive was hard-pressed to average 50 mph with frequent stops. Pushing the Flight […]
What About Steam ?
From Scientific American ( September 1933 )… A Steam Driven Airplane Two brothers, William J and George Besler recently installed a reciprocating steam engine in a conventional Travelair biplane, and a number of successful flights have been made at the Oakland, CA airport. The power plant is illustrated in these columns by photographs and a […]
The Spirit of St. Louis
Ninety-two years ago, on May 20, 1927, a 25-year-old airmail pilot named Charles A. Lindbergh departed Roosevelt field in New York and flew a modified Ryan monoplane solo to Paris, France. The flight lasted only 33 hours, but Lindbergh had enough fuel to fly over 40 hours if he drifted off course and found […]
The RAF brings the War to Berlin
War comes to Berlin, August 1940 The late August weather in Berlin was cool for the time of year, but despite the chilly weather, the morale of the Berlin public was high. One year had passed since the Second World War in Europe had begun. Less than a month before the Berlin public had celebrated […]
Doolittle Raid-April 1942
At the beginning of 1942, America and its British ally were the underdogs fighting a two-front world war. After losing Singapore (and Tobruk in North Africa), Winston Churchill described 1942 as one of the darkest years in British history. The United States military was still a small fraction of the combined and combat experienced Germans […]
Battle of Britain
The following article was written many years ago by a young history teacher, Nick Tallentire, and his friend and artist, D.C. Penny. Mr. Tallentire collaborated with his friend, D.C. Penny, to create this fascinating, illustrated narrative of the Battle of Britain, presented exclusively in these web pages. This is the story of England’s great WW2 […]