BT-14 of the 52nd School Squadron

The uniquely shaped air base in the background is it’s home : Randolph Field. Photo taken in the pre-urban sprawl year of 1940. Now the area around Randolph is home to thousands.

It’s time for a Clipper-rama

Boeing’s first three 314’s bob along the shores of Lake Washington in 1939. In the next photo, taken the same year, the fourth 314 is seen tied alongside log rafts on the Duwamish River next to Boeing’s plant in Seattle.

Excellent shot of a Marine Corps F4B (9242) and its stalwart pilot

EP-2H after an eventful arrival at NAS Whidbey Island in the 1970’s.

The nose wheel failing on landing resulted in a nice furrow through the runway concrete courtesy of the wheel-less nose strut. Assigned to Composite Squadron Eight (VC-8) based at NAS Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico, this unfortunate Neptune (148338) was repaired and eventually made its way back home.

PBY of VP-6

VP-6 took their sweet time in getting to Hawaii, but the fact they could do it at all was a major achievement in aviation. Average speed during their 21 hour, 45 minute flight? 115 MPH (so says the handwritten caption on the back).

Spotless FJ-2 Fury (132093), VMF-312

The squadron flew the Fury for a few years of the 1950’s from their home base at MCAS Miami.

Let’s visit the 1930’s flightline at Wheeler Field in the Territory of Hawaii

There are A-3 Falcons and A-12 Shrike’s of the 26th Attack Squadron. The 6th Pursuit Squadron is still flying P-12’s.

Brand new B-25 Mitchells, 34th Bomb Squadron

For those in peril on the sea (or a local lake)

Survival training in the late 1940s. Here is the scenario: this crew of a “downed” PBY Catalina are no doubt “miles behind enemy lines” and their only hope of salvation is the timely arrival of a rescue aircraft. Naturally, they utilize every trick in the survival kit to attract rescuers.

Luckily for them, an eagle-eyed PBY pilot from their own squadron has them in sight.

Swooping in just when all hope was lost…

It was a close call, but help has arrived – and no doubt just in time for lunch.

So, this training was accomplished on Lake Washington, a body of water upon whose littoral there was once NAS Seattle (both the men in the raft and those in the PBY are, of course, from said air station.) A lot has changed since then: the naval base is no more, and the forested slopes along the lake are crammed with houses.

Another spiffy ad

Webp.net-resizeimage (30)

For $20,000 bucks you too can be in the vanguard of future aviation

These gotta be good struts…

Overnight, Charles Lindbergh was the omnipotent god of all things aviation. If his plane had Aerol Struts, then you knew those were the best struts in the galaxy.

Pretty tough to argue with Pennzoil on this one

The A-36 Apache

Though often thought of as the same plane with a different name, the A-36 Apache differed considerably from its more common P-51 Mustang cousin.

Fairey’s Metal Airscrews

Vernon L. Burge of the “Government Aero Corps.”

Burge was one of the first members of the Aeronautical Division, US Signal Corps, and was also one of America’s earliest pilots, having been taught to fly when he was an army corporal in the Philippines. Promoted to sergeant, and much later, to colonel, Burge had an interesting and long career.

The aircraft may look ridiculous…

…but Mr. Claude Grahame-White was a serious engineer and an accomplished pilot. The Aero-Limousine seen here didn’t catch on, but other Grahame-White designs did.

Rohrbach Metall Flugzeugbau

Located in Berlin, Rohrbach were innovators in the use of metal in early aircraft designs. They also paid for some great ad work.

F4U Corsair Fans May Disagree…

…but the aircraft sure looked a lot better with a “bubble” type canopy.

Barling NB-3

The Nicholas-Beazley Barling NB-3 made a lot of claims, including that it was “spin-proof.” Not “virtually” spin-proof, but the whole works. Whatever their claims, they had nifty ads.

Hughes XH-17

Your October 31, 1952 copy of “Hughes News” featured the roll-out of the XH-17 helicopter. If you have not seen the videos of this beast aloft, I urge you to do so. It still holds the record for the largest rotor system even built.

Inland Aviation

Inland Aviation of Kansas was only around a few years, but they built some excellent aircraft such as the Inland Sport seen here. One of its principal features was side-by-side seating. You knew the modern age had arrived when whatever it was you invented for transporting people from one place to another gained the ability for two of those people to sit side-by-side. Apparently, sitting next to your sweetie also keeps one’s hair in place — even when you’re going so fast blurry lines indicating speed are emanating from your windscreen.

A pair of small posters announcing big news in 1930. Meet me in St. Louis at the World Air Fair, the International Aircraft Exposition. There’s also the All-American Airshow in Detroit. Added bonus: you only have to wait six weeks between the two shows.

A Handsome Pair of F4B-2’s

Despite belonging to different squadrons, these Boeing F4B’s are taken up for a drive by what appears to be the same pilot. 8799 is from VF-5, and 8636 is from VF-6.

Boeing F4B-1 (8133)

Seen here undergoing some heavy maintenance at NAS Anacostia. Those tubes beneath the aircraft? I will take a guess that they are used for laying down a smoke screen.