Aircraft
Albatros Flugzeugwerke GmbH
The Albatros Flugzeugwerke produced their first aircraft in 1912, the Albatros L.3, a single-seat scout type. This was followed by the L.9, a single-seat scout type designed by Claude Dornier, who later was to join the Zeppelin Company as their chief designer. The Albatros company, co-founded and owned by Dr Walter Huth, had been in existence since 1909 and was…
Most Recent
The Cold War – Financial Cost
“All modern aircraft have four dimensions: span, length, height and politics. TSR-2 simply got the first three right.” The TSR-2 was planned to replace the Canberra light bomber from 1965. Although explicitly not intended to replace the V-bomber, the TSR-2 was designed to be capable of long-range penetration of enemy…
Westland Aircraft Works
Another detail tour-de-force by Koike with a painting which shows off all the rigging, radiator ribs, bomb racks and other little bits of the Short Type 184, the first aircraft in history to successfully torpedo a ship. While Koike seldom shows “action” in his recent work, the hint of things…
Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa
The Ki-43 was the most widely-used Army fighter, and equipped 30 sentai (groups) and 12 chutais (independent squadrons). The first version, Ki-43-I, entered service in 1941, the Ki-43-II in December 1942, the Ki-43-II-Kai in June 1943, and the Ki-43-IIIa in summer 1944. The aircraft fought in China, Burma, the Malay…
OKB-1 EF 131
EF-140 – Russian built EF-131 with 2 RR Nene (flown in 1948) From late 1944 the Red Army overran many sites where German aircraft engineers had been working on jet aircraft and engines. The largest group had been in the employ of the vast Junkers Flugzeug und Motorenwerke in the…
Fieseler Fi 156Â Storch
The ungainly Storch was one of the earliest STOL (short takeoff and landing) airplanes. It served in large numbers across Europe and Africa wherever the German army fought. In 1935 the German Air Ministry announced competition for an army cooperation aircraft, one specifically designed to operate from very confined areas.…
Sopwith Pup
Pilots who flew faster, more famous, more sophisticated airplanes have been known to wax poetic discussing the tiny Sopwith Pup, some even claiming it was the most perfect flying machine ever made. Objectively, it likely was the most delightful and easy to fly aircraft of the 1914-18 conflict. Though underpowered…