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Stories about: Vintage Aviation

Chiron in the Sky: The Tragically Spectacular Story of the Bugatti Model 100
Chiron in the Sky: The Tragically Spectacular Story of the Bugatti Model 100

2 Mar 2024, 16:22 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / After three decades of success in Grand Prix racing and building luxury grand touring cars, Ettore Bugatti was ready to bring his talents to aviation.

 
91 Years Ago, America’s First Purpose Built Aircraft Carrier Hit the High Seas
91 Years Ago, America’s First Purpose Built Aircraft Carrier Hit the High Seas

25 Feb 2024, 20:44 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / On the anniversary of this historic warship's operational birth, we owe our thanks to the crew who served onboard our deepest thanks.

 
Not Flashy, Not Stylish, This Taylorcraft DCO-65 Is an Affordable Warbird Lookalike
Not Flashy, Not Stylish, This Taylorcraft DCO-65 Is an Affordable Warbird Lookalike

25 Feb 2024, 18:48 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / As a member of Taylorcraft's much beloved Model D line, this airplane is at least blood-related to genuine warbirds from World War II

 
Straight Outa Nanchang: This Chinese CJ-6A Air Force Trainer Has Made Its Way to the West
Straight Outa Nanchang: This Chinese CJ-6A Air Force Trainer Has Made Its Way to the West

23 Jan 2024, 20:17 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / Though it might look like a plane straight out of the Pacific theater of World War II, the CJ-6 wasn't introduced to trainer service until 1960.

 
USS United States: The Supercarrier That Started Beef Between the Air Force and Navy
USS United States: The Supercarrier That Started Beef Between the Air Force and Navy

11 Jan 2024, 17:30 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / Even after 70 years, some aspects of the military-industrial complex have never changed. Eisenhower tried to warn us, after all, if only we'd listened.

 
Canadair CL-13 Sabre: Started by the Yanks, Made an Absolute Beast By Canada
Canadair CL-13 Sabre: Started by the Yanks, Made an Absolute Beast By Canada

24 Dec 2023, 20:36 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / The story of the Canadair Sabre is one written through Canada's ambitions to rely only partially on American imports during the Cold War.

 
Curtiss P-60: How the Iconic P-40 Warhawk’s Last Gasp at Relevance Ended in Failure
Curtiss P-60: How the Iconic P-40 Warhawk’s Last Gasp at Relevance Ended in Failure

20 Dec 2023, 22:20 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / This is the story of the Curtiss P-60, a Warhawk's airframe given a liberal dose of upgrades and modifications to try and extend its service life indefinitely.

 
Myasishchev M-55: A Retired High-Altitude Soviet Spy Plane That Might Make a Comeback
Myasishchev M-55: A Retired High-Altitude Soviet Spy Plane That Might Make a Comeback

1 Dec 2023, 03:58 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / This is the low-down on the mysterious Myasishchev M-55, the distinctly Soviet answer to a high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft.

 
Legit P-51D Mustangs Are $3 Million Luxury Items, This 70% Scale Replica Is a Real Bargain
Legit P-51D Mustangs Are $3 Million Luxury Items, This 70% Scale Replica Is a Real Bargain

21 Nov 2023, 21:25 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / For the eccentric aviator slightly less wealthy than a multi-multi millionaire, the Stewart S-51D Mustang is your white whale, your holy grail.

 
Convair 990 Coronado: How a Failed Airliner Found a Robot Tank Buddy at NASA
Convair 990 Coronado: How a Failed Airliner Found a Robot Tank Buddy at NASA

17 Nov 2023, 22:41 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / This is the story of the Convair 990 Coronado, a failed commercial passenger jetliner that had a miraculous second renaissance working for NASA.

 
This ’44 Beech D-17S Staggerwing Is the Ancestor of All Modern Private Jets, It’s for Sale
This ’44 Beech D-17S Staggerwing Is the Ancestor of All Modern Private Jets, It’s for Sale

13 Nov 2023, 20:35 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / Today, this D17 looks this fantastic thanks to a full engine-out restoration by Rare Aircraft Ltd in Faribault, Minnesota.

 
This Culver PQ-14 Radio Target Plane Was Too Nice to Shoot Down, Now It Can be Yours
This Culver PQ-14 Radio Target Plane Was Too Nice to Shoot Down, Now It Can be Yours

5 Nov 2023, 18:37 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / With only 75 hours in the air since its restoration and an award list that includes accolades at the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh event, what's not to like?

 
Avro Canada Jetliner: How the World's First Jet Airliner Almost Came From Ontario
Avro Canada Jetliner: How the World's First Jet Airliner Almost Came From Ontario

31 Oct 2023, 03:11 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / Had it not been for the demise of the CF-105 Arrow the C102 Jetliner would have been the greatest missed opportunity in Canadian aviation history.

 
T-28 Trojan: The American Trainer Plane That Could Outclimb a Mustang
T-28 Trojan: The American Trainer Plane That Could Outclimb a Mustang

27 Oct 2023, 17:50 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / Thanks to its antiquated and relatively easy-to-maintain engine, operating costs for a T-28 are far lower than newer turboprop military trainers.

 
20 Years Ago Today, the Concorde Supersonic Airliner Bid Its Final Farewell
20 Years Ago Today, the Concorde Supersonic Airliner Bid Its Final Farewell

24 Oct 2023, 18:32 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / Concorde made its final flight from New York's John F. Kennedy Airport across the Atlantic to London's Heathrow Airport twenty years ago today.

 
This Avro Anson Once Hunted German Submarines for the RAF, Now It's for Sale
This Avro Anson Once Hunted German Submarines for the RAF, Now It's for Sale

24 Oct 2023, 17:47 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / First flown in 1935 and designed by Avro's chief engineer Roy Chadwick, the Anson didn't serve nearly as glamorous of a role in the RAF as a Spitfire.

 
Operation Desert Storm: The Greatest Assembly of Military Aircraft of All Time
Operation Desert Storm: The Greatest Assembly of Military Aircraft of All Time

20 Oct 2023, 03:37 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / With the exception of World War II, Desert Storm was unique in its complete and utter domination in the air by the victorious parties.

 
Allison V-1710: How America's First Muscle Engine Conquered the Skies and the Drag Strip
Allison V-1710: How America's First Muscle Engine Conquered the Skies and the Drag Strip

19 Oct 2023, 20:01 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / This is the story of the Allison V-1710. And if the comparison between a WWII aero engine and the in a 60s muscle car, trust us, it'll all make sense in time.

 
Blackbird on Steroids: How the Convair Kingfish Was Almost a Better, Faster SR-71
Blackbird on Steroids: How the Convair Kingfish Was Almost a Better, Faster SR-71

14 Oct 2023, 22:01 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / In the timeline where the U.S. Air Force and the CIA picked the Convair Kingfish over Lockheed's A-12/SR-71 program, they would've had an even crazier jet.

 
B-50 Superfortress: The Cold War U.S. Air Force's Idea of a Hot Rod Bomber
B-50 Superfortress: The Cold War U.S. Air Force's Idea of a Hot Rod Bomber

13 Oct 2023, 00:13 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / Today, only five of the 370 B-50 airframes produced survive. Including one at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.