Eerie Flight was “Slick” Goodlin’s description of his 19 minutes in the XS-1. He and the plane, above, were dropped from the belly of a B-29 at 27,000 feet. Once, to feel it out, he shot the XS-1 up to 550 mph. This summer he’ll try to crash the sonic barrier. He predicts 1,000 mph. (See Bell’s XS-1, MI, Oct. ‘46.)

view additional pages

Building AMERICA’S Largest Plane

Alfred W. Lawson, pioneer figure in aviation, who built the first commercial cabin passenger plane and the first tri-motored ship with heated cabin and sleeping berths, reveals to Modern Mechanics readers his plans for a 125-passenger air liner weighing 50 tons which he is now building in his New Jersey factory.
Read the rest of this entry »

I guess the kamikazes weren’t such a surprise then.

view additional pages

Jap Pilots Ride to DEATH on Flying Bombs

By Ray Holt

The current conflict between Japan and China has brought out an amazing revelation of the methods by which Japanese pilots assure air bombs reaching their target by putting a man inside to steer them. Why? Read the reasons in this article, and you’ll have a better understanding of Japanese psychology toward the machines of war.

IMAGINE yourself strapped within a hollow chamber inside a huge air bomb, surrounded on all sides by high explosives. In front of you is an airplane type rudder which steers the tail unit of the bomb. Windows in the nose enable you to see ahead. You’re loaded into the bomb, which is placed in its nest under the fuselage of a bombing plane. The bomber takes off, soars above a target—say, an ammunition dump of the enemy. Up above you, the pilot of the plane pulls a lever. Read the rest of this entry »

view additional pages

These SKIMMERS Go Anywhere

THE Wright boys would blink in astonishment at some of the weird rigs taking to the air these days. Air-Cars, Sky-Boats, Flying Jeeps, Hovercraft—they’re revolutionizing the Age of Flight.

Most of these craft are based on two new devices: the ducted fan and the air cushion.
Read the rest of this entry »

Orange Ribbon Locates Airplanes Forced Down in Woods

IN CASE OF FORCED LANDING THE PILOT RELEASES 800 FEET OF WIDE ORANGE RIBBON WHICH RESTS ON THE TREE TOPS SHOWING THE PLANE’S LOCATION TO SEARCHING AIRMEN,THOUGH CONCEALED BY TREES.

Chicago to Have World’s Most Powerful Aerial Beacon

A TWO billion candle power high intensity arc light, the biggest lamp ever mounted as an aerial beacon, soon will be projecting its beam into the sky from a tower atop one of Chicago’s tallest skyscrapers. The light, the gift of its inventor, Elmer A. Sperry, famous inventor of the high intensity arc, the gyroscopic compass, gyroscopic helms-man, is to be named the “Lindbergh Beacon,” as a permanent memorial to the colonel’s famous one-man flight to Paris. Read the rest of this entry »

view additional pages

Helicopters for Everybody

The Hoppicopter is evolving into a comfortably single-seat helicopter that will supply you with cheap air transportation.

By Frank Tinsley

BACK in the 30’s, a Seattle aeronautical engineer named Horace T. Pentecost became convinced that he could design a set of personal wings. As an engineer and student of aviation history, Pentecost was well aware of the shortcomings of man-made flapping wings, so he gave the problem an entirely different solution. In place of rosy pinions, he substituted the whirling blades of the modern helicopter. His first machine, designed for army paratroopers, was intended to supplant the clumsy and uncontrollable parachute. Read the rest of this entry »

view additional pages

Jet Pilots Fly in Bed

THE United States Air Force is putting its flyers to bed so that they can’t go to sleep!

If that seems sort of cryptic to you, be assured that it should. For it’s only a complicated way of saying that a prone position bed for pilots to reduce the possibility of blackouts and ease the strain of sitting has been developed at the Aero-Medical Laboratory of the – Air Materiel Command in Dayton, Ohio. Gravitational pull and flying fatigue are the pilots’ worst enemies. Read the rest of this entry »

TRICOPTER SKYHOOK

It’s as simple as an ox yoke and it serves a very similar purpose.

By Frank Tinsley

WHEN a heavy hauling job comes up the idea has always been “Put in more horses.” Now, Raymond A. Young, an ex-Navy aeronautical engineer, has made it possible to harness helicopters in teams. His harness, as uncomplicated as an ox yoke, is a tubular framework that holds the working whirlybirds far enough apart to give them rotor room.
Read the rest of this entry »

This certainly wouldn’t have any problem landing in the Hudson…

THIS PLANE BLOWS UP

BLOW it up and then fly it. That’s all there is to taking off with the new Inflatoplane developed by Goodyear Aircraft Corp. Deflated, the plane can be carried in the back of a station wagon. Wing, tail, assembly and pilot’s seat are made of Airmat—joined layers of inflatable rubber-coated nylon fabric.

The rubber craft can be pumped up in a few minutes and requires less air pressure than is used in four auto tires. A two-cycle, 40-hp engine mounted above the wing powers the little ship, which requires more than 300 ft. to take off. It is said to have a lot of bounce to the ounce.

view additional pages

Copter Cops

By Frank Tinsley

TODAY’S high-speed turnpikes require ground-bound traffic police to take to the air and graduate to the status of “Copter Cops,” mounted in a vehicle that could speed safely above the car-choked roads and provide a bird’s eye view of driving conditions and dangers. Such a vehicle could go far beyond the utility of the present patrol car. It could control traffic speed, clear jams at bottle- necks, perform emergency rescue work and provide fast aerial ambulance service, plus offering a more efficient pursuit of criminals.
Read the rest of this entry »

“Commuter” helicopter pictured at right and below is claimed to be the world’s first successful two-place co-axial rotary wing aircraft. The all-metal blades line up fore and aft above the aluminum tear-drop fuselage and all controls are contained in a single unit. In recent public tests it performed vertical take-offs and landings and turned on its own axis while hovering. The pilot is Stanley Hiller, Jr.