Description
Renowned for its in-depth articles from 250 specialist authors worldwide, The Aviation Historian is a quarterly journal that is valued and respected for its superb high-quality archive photography and specially-commissioned drawings, profiles and information graphics. Conceived and produced by a four-person team who between them have clocked up 84 years’ experience on aviation-history magazines, the journal combines traditional attention-to-detail with a modern tone.
Covering military and civil aviation from before the Wright Brothers to the dawn of spaceflight, this compact-format square-spined quarterly journal is designed to take its place alongside the most treasured books on your shelves. Making new discoveries in your favorite field of interest is always exciting, whether you’re a history aficionado, a modeler on the hunt for new projects, or both.
The Aviation Historian provides great reading and first-class reference material to feed your passion. It truly is “aviation history for connoisseurs."
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Table of Contents
EDITOR’S LETTER
AIR CORRESPONDENCE
THE BLAME GAME
Professor Keith Hayward FRAeS takes an in-depth look at the political fallout from the controversial cancellation of the Vickers V.1000/VC7 jet transport in 1955
THE LAST SEAGULL
In 1959 former RAAF Supermarine Seagull Mk V A2-4 was returned to airworthy status for a pleasure-flying life on the ocean wave. James Kightly details the aircraft’s full history
THE MOLOTOV EXPRESS
With the help of contemporary documents Ray Flude explores the part played by two particular aircraft in establishing the vital wartime “air bridge” between Russia and its allies
NEW YEAR ON SKYLINE RIDGE
In 1966 Jonathan Pote was working as a medical student in Laos when he was invited to celebrate Meo New Year at Sam Thong — accessible only with the help of Air America
MR CODY & MR ROE: TWO REMARKABLE MEN
Philip Jarrett opens a two-part series in which he compares the working methods, struggles and achievements of two of Britain’s greatest air pioneers: Samuel Cody and A.V. Roe
BEIRUT: LEBANON’S PROPLINER PARADISE
Our regular series based on newly-discovered rolls of film taken by aviation journalist John Stroud continues with his 1955–56 visits to Lebanon’s thriving hub of airliner activity
BUNNY POWER!
David G. Powers traces the history of US Navy development squadron VX-4, and explains why it adopted an all-black F-4 Phantom — with Playboy bunny logo — as its flagship
YOUNG JAPAN
In 1931 two inexperienced Japanese aviators set off from Tokyo in a biplane bound for Rome — 8,500 miles away. Kōji Yanagisawa chronicles their epic 92-day adventure
AN EYE FOR DETAIL: A PROPER FIREBOMBER!
Next up in Juanita Franzi’s series on unusual airframes and their markings is a much-travelled Avro Lancaster and its proposed conversion into a water-bomber in Canada
MACHTRAINER
Dutch aviation historian Nico Braas describes how Fokker’s post-war determination to build the world’s first dedicated jet trainer led only to poor sales and a tragic setback
LOCAL HERO
The heroic actions of 1st Lt Royce Stephens, recipient of the first Distinguished Flying Cross to be awarded during the Berlin Airlift, are commemorated by Andreas Metzmacher
THE HOT SEAT
Nick Stroud investigates the USA’s late 1960s AERCAB project, devised to develop a jet-powered “flyaway” ejection seat as part of an attempt to reduce pilot losses in Vietnam
ARMCHAIR AVIATION
LOST & FOUND
PIERRE’S MAGICAL MYSTERY TOURER
Little is known about the nine Bristol Tourers sent to the USA in the early 1920s; Michael O’Leary pieces together the story of what happened to at least one of them
OFF THE BEATEN TRACK