March 18, 2008

Hindenburg Premiere (Jun, 1936)

Filed under: Aviation — @ 2:03 am
Source: Popular Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jun, 1936
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Giant Zeppelin Offers Luxury in Air Travel

Pronounced airworthy in its first test flights, the 812-foot German dirigible, LZ-129, shortly will be placed in transatlantic service between Germany and the United States. The big zeppelin has a passenger capacity of forty, with all modern conveniences for travel. Finely appointed staterooms, a dining room and large promenade deck are among its features, introducing new luxury into air travel. The LZ-129, which will be named “The Hindenburg,” measures 135 feet from gondola to the top of the great bag and has a gas capacity of 6,609,000 cubic feet. It has a lifting power of 210 tons and a cruising speed of eighty miles per hour. A quantity of freight and mail will be carried in addition to the passengers and crew.

Flying Gold Out of Tibet (Nov, 1936)

This seemed sadly topical.

Flying Gold Out of Tibet

Planes Invade Land of the Lamas CARRYING millions of dollars worth of gold out of Tibet by airplane is the job of a young American who has become a cabinet minister in the Government of the Panchen Lama.

Until the present, Tibet, remote and inaccessible, has resisted all encroachments of the Machine Age.

Now, the Panchen Lama, back on the throne after a 12-year exile in China, has decided to modernize the country with radios, automobiles, hydro-electric plants, and other inventions.

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March 15, 2008

How The Flying Saucer Works (Mar, 1956)

How The Flying Saucer Works

If you haven’t seen saucers yet, you will—and they’ll be built to Air Force specifications.

By Willy Ley

Editor’s Note: Ever since 1950 when TRUE The Man’s Magazine discussed existence of flying saucers, the world press has been continuously interested in the flight possibilities of disc-shaped aircraft. The most recent Air Force report on flying saucers, issued in November 1955, states that there are rational explanations for practically all the so-called flying saucer “spottings.” Most interesting portion of the Air Force report to many readers, however, was the section dealing with America’s plans for building a disc-shaped aircraft capable of vertical flight and easy maneuverability. To bring you more details on exactly how such a craft would operate, we have asked the world-famed authority on rockets and guided missiles, Willy Ley, to visualize for us how the craft now under development for the U.S. Air Force might be constructed in the light of what is now known about jet propulsion and vertical flight. Mr. Ley’s observations are based on conversations with VTO authorities in the U.S. and on a lifetime of research in jet propulsion and rocket-powered flight.

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March 12, 2008

Six Hours to Europe in Stratosphere Liner (Apr, 1933)

Filed under: Aviation — @ 12:33 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Apr, 1933
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Six Hours to Europe in Stratosphere Liner

Traveling three times faster and with greater safety than planes operating in the ordinary air lanes, great air liners of tomorrow will drone through the purple darkness of the stratosphere to connect the principal cities of the world in the space of a few hours, is amazing prediction of Prof. Piccard, conqueror of the upper atmosphere.

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Ping Pong Balls Make Plane Buoyant (Nov, 1936)

Filed under: Aviation — @ 12:30 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Nov, 1936
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Ping Pong Balls Make Plane Buoyant

MORE than 10,000 ping pong balls were in the wings and tail of the Vultee airplane in which Harry Richman, orchestra leader, and Dick Merrill, former Eastern Air Lines pilot, flew from New York to London on Sept. 3. Their unique purpose was to supply buoyancy to the airplane in the event that engine trouble caused a forced landing at sea.

The tiny celluloid balls added less than 30 pounds weight to the plane, but pre-flight tests indicated that their combined buoyancy would support the plane on the water indefinitely. The flying team ordered 30,000 balls but dealers could supply only 10,000.

March 11, 2008

Early UAV’s (Mar, 1956)

Air Photos Take Themselves
RECONNAISSANCE photos taken from pilotless, radio-controlled planes called drones promise to be a valuable means of obtaining intelligence of enemy movements on battlefields of the future. Pictures shown here were taken at the Army Electronic Proving Ground, Ft. Huachuca, Ariz.

March 8, 2008

New Rotowing Aircraft Designed For Vertical Take-Off (Nov, 1936)

New Rotowing Aircraft Designed For Vertical Take-Off
THE Rotowing, an airplane of unusual design, has been invented by Virgil Kutnar, of San Francisco, Calif. It is designed for taking off in vertical flight without any forward motion. Experiments with a small model have encouraged Kutnar to attempt the construction of a full sized plane. A sprocket chain attached to the motor supplies the power for turning the rotowings. A regulation motor and propeller cause forward flight.

March 4, 2008

BALLOONS to Deliver Mail to Planes (Nov, 1931)

BALLOONS to Deliver Mail to Planes

PAUL P. HORNI, of Newark, N. J., has recently been granted patents on a device which holds promise of supplying the intermediate towns along the air routes with air mail service.

The device consists of a pair of captive balloons which are separated but bound together with a spreader bar. The balloons may be permitted to rise to any desired height, where the mail plane flying between them may pick up the mail sacks which are held above the center of the spreader bar.

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LOS ANGELES RACES Prove Air THRILLERS (Sep, 1933)

LOS ANGELES RACES Prove Air THRILLERS
More and more power and less refinement of streamline design is the cry of present day designers as proved by contesting planes in great 1933 Los Angeles Air Races. Flown across country by an eye witness this up-to-the-minute account of the past year’s aviation progress summarizes records, achievements and points out the races’ thrills.

by JAMES BOWLES

ROARING across the continent in 11 hours, 30 minutes, Col. Roscoe Turner not only clipped 63 minutes from his former east-west trans-continental speed record, but he inaugurated something new in the way of planning his route.

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February 28, 2008

Air Liners Have Berth Facilities (Jun, 1934)

Air Liners Have Berth Facilities

GIANT air cruisers, equipped with comfortable sleeping quarters, will soon take flight, to mark another forward step in aviation. Each plane will have six compartments which may be converted into upper and lower berths.

These berths are longer than those in standard railroad sleeping cars and are furnished with reading lights, individually controlled air heat and the customary berth accessories. When not used for sleeping purposes, the berths are made into comfortable lounge type chairs as shown in photo, left.

February 27, 2008

ICE-ISLAND in Mid-Atlantic Proposed (Oct, 1932)

ICE-ISLAND in Mid-Atlantic Proposed

SEADROMES for ocean landing fields are not a new idea, a steel ‘drome designed by Edward Armstrong, recently described in these pages, being well on the road to practical acceptance. But the proposal to build seadromes of ice, recently advanced from Germany, seems fantastic until one realizes that the idea has already passed the experimental stage with flying colors.

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February 26, 2008

MAN-MADE TORNADOES DRIVE ODD PLANE (May, 1936)

MAN-MADE TORNADOES DRIVE ODD PLANE

Following successful ground tests of a wooden model, a Stillwater, Okla., inventor has begun construction of a full-sized airplane of radical design that he expects to show unprecedented speed. The craft’s twin propellers will blow a tornado of air through a pair of cylindrical ducts, shaped to enhance the propulsive effect obtained, so that its two 100-horse-power motors will do the work of much larger power plants in standard planes.

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