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Excerpts from
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December 17, 2010, marks the 75th anniversary of the first flight of the
DC-3 series of air transports. It truly was the aircraft that created
practical commercial air transportation. The Ford Trimotor, the Boeing 247
and the DC-2 paved the way. However, the DC-3 series was the first to
provide commercial aviation with a financially viable aircraft on which to
build profitable operations in a broad spectrum of markets. And, it was
produced in greater numbers than any other aircraft used in commercial air
transportation. Other aircraft have eclipsed the DC-3 series in
performance, comfort and profitability. Yet, there are large numbers
operating regularly and profitably 75 years after the first flight. |
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FOKKER and the USAAS T-3 COMPETITION In
April 1923 in the U.S. aviation press, there appeared several articles on
the Dutch Fokker F.V airliner. It was described as a logical successor in
the line of earlier Fokker transport aircraft. Of these, the F.IV, or Air
Service T-2, was already well known in the U.S. for its world endurance
record and long distance flights. Its nonstop transcontinental flight had
yet to come. Foothold in the U.S. In the early 1920s,
Anthony Fokker put a lot of energy and cost into selling his hardware in
the U.S. A branch of his Dutch company had an office at 286 Fifth Ave. in
New York with Robert B.C. Noorduyn in charge. With WWI still fresh in
people’s minds, the branch was named Netherlands Aircraft Manufacturing
Co. (NAMC), omitting the Fokker name, which was also dropped from the
Dutch firm’s title at the time: N.V. Nederlandsche Vliegtuigenfabriek (NVNV).
Originally the Fokker name was printed only on the branch’s letterhead,
although later on the well known logo was added. After his initial visit
to the U.S. in 1920-21, Fokker was encouraged by some orders for his
aircraft and especially the U.S. Army Air Service proved to be a rather
promising customer. Although the designated quality standard of the U.S.
clients gave Fokker and especially Noorduyn a number of hard edges in the
delivery of their aircraft, sale efforts stayed strong. |
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1895,
Lord William Thomson Kelvin, mathematician, physicist and president of the
British Royal Society, declared: "Heavier-than-air flying machines
are impossible," and, in that year, Percy S. Pilcher built gliders
that successfully flew. Among notable births were Sir Hudson Fysh,
Australian aviator and co-founder of Qantas; and aircraft designers and
industrialists John Knudsen Northrop, Leroy Grumman, and James
"Dutch" Kindelberger. |
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The was designed in
1946 and was a complete flop. A few years later, during the Korean War,
she was a resounding success and was the first jet night fighter in
history to down an enemy jet aircraft. No other jet night fighter can make
that claim and in fact that record, which was set some 57 years ago, has
yet to be equaled. She was as fat as a pig and slower than any self
respecting fighter aircraft had a right to be. The F3D, please allow me to
translate the Navy jargon for you. The F3D was a Fighter and the Third
fighter that the Navy had bought from Douglas Aircraft. It was really a
simple and defining designation system. Years later, when someone thought
that they had a better system, she was redesignated as an EF10B, which is
sort of meaningless. |
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Called
both the "Winged Colossus of Santa Monica" and the
"Guardian of a Hemisphere," the XB-19 was essentially conceived
in 1930 on the drawing boards of Army Air Corps engineers at Wright Field.
Though budgets for development of new bomber aircraft were nonexistent in
the early depression years, some visionaries foresaw a future need for the
development of a long-range, heavy-bombardment aircraft. The General Staff
disagreed, and thus when funds finally became available, only twin-engine
bombers of limited range were purchased. (Among these were the B-18 and
B-23 bombers which Douglas produced in quantity. Though obsolete before
WWII, they served the Air Corps well during the lean years.) By 1935,
however, approval had at last been granted for the development of
four-engine bombers. Origins In
the fall of 1935, specifications for an airplane that would surpass all
others in range, payload and equipment were sent to a number of aircraft
companies. |
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The P-51D/K Mustangs of the The
interest of Dutch Military Aviation (ML) in the Dutch East Indies in the
P-51 Mustang dates back to 1941. Urgent attempts by the Netherlands
Purchasing Commission (NPC) to buy sufficient fighters for the ML resulted
in a request to the U.S. government for delivery of 100 Bell P-39
Airacobras. The request was turned down but accompanied with the message
that the Royal Air Force (RAF) would supply 100 P40Es from their
consignment. It is unclear why, but the ML did not accept this offer
immediately and requested on July 10, 1940, to acquire 100 fighters of
North American Aviation’s NA73 type instead. Again the U.S. government
refused but stated that the offer of the 100 P-40s was still valid, but
would expire on October 15, 1941. The ML again requested Airacobras, which
was refused again. When the Japanese forces attacked the Dutch East Indies
in December 1941 the ML still had no modern fighters. Mustangs after all Flying
to Java |
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The Final Flight of Ensign Paul Blair
At
the southern end of Manhattan Island in Battery Park, about 150 yards from
the South Ferry subway station on the IRT line, there stands the East
Coast Memorial, a battle monument commemorating some 4,611 fallen
soldiers, sailors, marines, coast guardsmen, merchant marines and airmen
who gave their lives in the western waters of the Atlantic Ocean during
WWII. The monument is a silent sentinel commemorating all WWII servicemen
who went missing in action in the Western Atlantic, later deemed KIA, who
perished in America’s great struggle against fascism, never to return to
their native land. The monument is appropriately oriented toward the
Statue of Liberty, sitting as it has for over a century, proclaiming
America’s commitment to freedom for all who seek refuge on her soil.
Inscribed on the western wall of the battle monument, among the names of
other honored servicemen, is a simple engraving: "Ensign Paul B.
Blair - USN Reserve - Texas." The simplicity and dignity of the
monument and its simple inscription is a metaphor for the man himself. |
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For
those of us who recall the period, a boom in general aviation was to take
place following World War II. It was anticipated that returning airmen
would trade their wartime aircraft, flown in hostile skies, for light
planes flown over peaceful American terrain. The return of many veteran
pilots, aviators and airmen was to be the catalyst behind the figurative
statement "an airplane in every garage," and it gave impetus to
artists’ conceptions of smiling families flying to vacation destinations
in futuristic light planes. Aviation magazines of the day reinforced this
vision by depicting modern-day housing developments with a runway and
individual taxiways leading up to each new home. |
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