Nicknamed the HammerHead, the P.1HH looks like a mythical beast flying through the sky; and, naturally, it’s status in modern aviation is a mysterious one, indeed. The “P” stands for Piaggio Aerospace, the multinational aeronautical engineers headquartered in — you guessed it — Italy. Piaggio, though lesser known in the states than some American manufacturers, [...]
Grumman Avengers assemble! While it was no bombshell in terms of its beauty, don't let that fool you: despite its rather homely looks, this torpedo bomber saw some major wins. During its operational use during WWII, nearly 10,000 of them were produced. Who's the beauty queen now? Design and Development At a brief point in aviation history, the Douglas [...]
The Pietenpol Air Camper has been on my mind for quite some time. What is really remarkable about this plane to me is the fact that it can be built by pretty much anyone with a few tools, a few thousand dollars, and some time. The Pietenpol Air Camper was the vision of Bernard Pietenpol [...]
It’s a boat! It’s a plane! It’s an… amphibious aircraft! The Beriev Be-200, manufactured by Irkut Corporation, was designed by the Beriev Aircraft Company. The intention was to design an aircraft that served multiple purposes, such as fighting fires, acting in search and rescue efforts, serving as passenger transportation, and more. Design and Development The [...]
Even centuries-old aircraft will look somewhat familiar to modern aviation enthusiasts. Early aviation engineers discovered pretty quickly there was a certain, standard structure for aircrafts that seemed capable of sustaining flight. Before there were documented stories, there were legends of men adhering bird-like wings to their arms, complete with plucked feathers and ancient glue-like substances. And [...]
The Post-WWII years included a critical shift in aviation history—even more so than the war itself was. This point, starting in the mid-to-late-40s, saw the transition from propeller-driven warplanes to jets. The Vought F6U Pirate was one of the early ones. The F6U, the result of developmental work during WWII, was Vought’s first jet fighter. [...]
The bright yellow finish of the Piper J-3 Cub is nothing short of immediately recognizable. In my opinion, it may be one of the most recognizable planes in the sky, or at the very least, the most recognizable single engine plane. My opinion is that it only competes with the Cessna 172, in regard to being [...]
The Grumman X-29 is not your typical plane. Its unconventional design is like none other, and its testing and development was meant to experiment with a few different aircraft technologies. Developed by Grumman, two were produced and flown by NASA and the U.S. Air Force. Other than the forward sweeping wings, this plane featured canard [...]
The National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. considers it one of the most significant aviation-related artifacts in their entire collection; it is the Vin Fiz, the peculiarly-named flyer designed by the iconic Wright Brothers. In 1903, the Wright Brothers designed and successfully flew the first Wright Flyer — the world’s first heavier-than-air, powered [...]
Just imagine it: You’re waking from a long sleep and the man sitting next to you, the man you remember talking with before you fell asleep, now has the head of a horse. He neighs at you as if to say “Good morning! We’re about the land.” You blink, confused, and look around to discover [...]
