Plane of the Week: Stipa-Caproni

Experimenting--it's a perfectly normal phase in every aircraft's life. Some just never quite grow out of it. If ugly ducklings could fly (they can't until 12 weeks of age, by the way), they might be called Stipa-Caproni. At least if they were Italian ducks. What's a little more certain is for many, this aircraft is [...]

By |June 2nd, 2017|Plane Of The Week|Comments Off on Plane of the Week: Stipa-Caproni

Plane of the Week: The Erco Ercoupe

Between aisles of herringbone suits and wool neckties sat the ERCO Ercoupe. The small, twin-tail metal plane with a bubble canopy caught everyone’s eye. The 1945 Manhattan department store advertisement read, “Macy’s the world’s largest store, within a matter of days, will bring you America’s first certified spinproof plane!” The World’s Safest Plane Ercoupe took [...]

By |May 19th, 2017|Plane Of The Week|Comments Off on Plane of the Week: The Erco Ercoupe

Plane of the Week: Supermarine Spitfire

I’ve written about the Battle of Britain before where I mentioned that 500 of the Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots were from other countries, including Ireland. Many of those pilots flew Supermarine Spitfires, and one particular Irish pilot was very well known for his Spitfire flying abilities. They called him Spitfire Paddy. The Supermarine Spitfire [...]

By |March 17th, 2017|Plane Of The Week|Comments Off on Plane of the Week: Supermarine Spitfire

Plane of the Week: Sikorsky X-Wing

Is it a plane? Is it a helicopter? Is it both?! The Rotor Systems Research Aircraft (RSRA) X-Wing, produced by Sikorsky Aircraft, is certainly an odd bird. First produced in in the 1980s, this plane was an experimental hybrid of both a helicopter and a fixed-wing aircraft. Only two were built by the Sikorsky Aircraft [...]

By |November 11th, 2016|Plane Of The Week|Comments Off on Plane of the Week: Sikorsky X-Wing

Plane of the Week: Howard Hughes’ XF-11

Let it be said: every pilot knows all too well the name of Howard Hughes. In a time when the long-running, American trend of neglecting the notion of a singular job title was beginning to catch momentum, Howard Hughes was world-famous aviator, aerospace engineer, entrepreneur, filmmaker, and philanthropist. As a man who represented extreme wealth [...]

By |April 22nd, 2016|Aviation History, General Aviation, Plane Of The Week|Comments Off on Plane of the Week: Howard Hughes’ XF-11