by Nick Anderson | May 27, 2021 | Plane Tales
Podcast (pt): Download
A favourite old tale of the checkered history that brought about the Phonetic Alphabet and Op Brevity Code… retold.
A early radio
Send three and fourpence!
An early Army signals book
N for November
The NATO Phonetic Alphabet
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to the US Army, an Unknown cartoonist, US Mint, Matthäus Mérian, Daiju Azuma, Screenland, Elmer Eustice Bucher, Generali, Master of Jean Rolin II, Mcj1800 and the Auckland Museum.
by Nick Anderson | May 20, 2021 | Plane Tales
Podcast (pt): Download
Air Law is something that all pilots must have some knowledge of or they wouldn’t be awarded a licence or certificate… it’s required knowledge. Having said that, it’s a long way from being simple and even a qualified Air Transport pilot will only have scratched the surface. In the Air Force, one might have assumed that things would have been pretty tight and mutiny unheard of.
Let me set you straight!
Early balloons
An aircraft Commander
The Signals Corps in a balloon basket
The Freeman Field mutiny
Lt Bill Terry
The RAF in Karachi
The RAF mutiny
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Library of Congress, US Army,the RAF and the RAF Museum.
by Nick Anderson | May 16, 2021 | Plane Tales
Podcast (pt): Download
The Vulcan bomber only had ejector seats for the two pilots… the rear crew made do with an escape slide, a level if inequality that killed many and resulted in questions being asked in Parliament. This is the story of the Vulcan and a look at the USN Skyknight which had a similar escape system.
The rear crew compartment of the Avro Vulcan
Malta
Malta
The Vulcan
The Vulcan air brakes
The crash site
Avro Vulcan XV770
The Vulcan rear crew escape hatch
The F3 Skynight
Skynight bailout trials
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Isaac Bee, Anton Zelenov, NASA, DFST, RuthAS, the RAF, Roland Turner, US Navy, Ultra7 and the USAF.
by Nick Anderson | May 8, 2021 | Plane Tales
Podcast (pt): Download
The noise of flying machines can be a source of joy or annoyance. Let’s have a look at what makes that noise and how much progress has been made over the years!
The F-84F Thunderbirds team
The XF-84H ‘Thunderscreech’!
The Boeing Dash 80, prototype of the B707
Noise creating vortices coming from an airliner’s flaps
The Bypass section of a RR Trent
A possible Airbus blended body design
An APU exhaust
The Gyrodyne Rotorcycle
Images are displayed under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Dreamstime.com – Airbus, the USAF, Boeing Dreamscape, David Monniaux and the US DOD.
by Nick Anderson | Apr 29, 2021 | Plane Tales
Podcast (pt): Download
The final few letters of a look at aviation through the alphabet.
A model of the original Flettner 282 Helicopter
Flettner helicopters have the unfortunate potential to decapitate the unwary!
A cutaway of the Spitfire with it’s remarkable Rolls Royce Merlin V12 engine.
The Allison V-1710 V12 engine
The Daimler-Benz DB600 V12.
The X Planes
The Napkin ring
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Raobe001, Ball wallpaper, the National Archives UK, the Smithsonian archive, the USAF, NASA,
by Nick Anderson | Apr 19, 2021 | Plane Tales
Podcast (pt): Download
After last week’s tale, here are a few more letters of the Alphabet to ponder on!
The Martin Baker Mk7A seat with adjustable rocket pack!
The US Army working under flares
Aircraft registrations
Working on the RR Merlin engine
The aircraft convenience!
Varig Flight 820
The Queen’s Flight
Rolls Royce
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Martin Baker, US Army, Richard Stone, David, Sapeurs Pompiers de Paris and the MOD.
