Coca Able Peter Tokyo Nan Item Canada King
Podcast (pt): Download
A humorous look at the history of the Phonetic Alphabet and brevity codes.
Image with thanks to https://m.johnlewis.com/mclaggan-smith-educational-‘nato-alphabet’-mug/p2725715
Written in the Blood of the Innocent
Podcast (pt): Download
The tragic loss of Alaska Flight 261 and the negligent events that led up to the crash.
The recovered jackscrew. The spiral “wire” wound around the threaded portion is the remains of the acme nut internal screw thread that was stripped from the nut.
Images under Creative Commons with thanks to Ken Fielding and the NTSB.
300
Podcast (pt): Download
A special Plane Tale to celebrate the Airline Pilot Guy’s 300th anniversary show, centering on the Airbus A300.
Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Alex Beltyukov, and Warner Bros.
The Charger
Podcast (pt): Download
The story of the development of the first Supersonic airliners. The non existent Boeing, the successful Concorde and the disaster that was the TU144, Charger!
Boeing 2707 mockup.
The TU144 flying at the 1973 Paris Air Show the day before it crashed.
The last ever flight of Concorde G-BOAF.
Images under Creative Commons licence, – Adrian Pingstone, Ralf Roletschek, RuthAS and Bill Abbott.
Billy Barker
Podcast (pt): Download
The remarkable exploits of the Canadian fighter ace who fought in World War 1. He remains the most decorated hero in the history of the Canadian armed service.
Col Barker, VC, in one of the captured German aeroplanes against which he fought his last air battle in 1919.
Images under Creative Commons licence, Canadian Copyright Collection held by the British Library, Barker, Wm. G and For Valour – The Air VCs Chaz Bowyer.
From Four to One
Podcast (pt): Download
A late night take off dissolves into a nightmare for a cargo crew flying a venerable Lockheed Electra as, one by one, their engines fail.
Image under Creative Commons licence,
