Design of the first United States jet powered bombers began in 1944 but the final shape for the Boeing B-47 was only finalised after American engineers learned of German aeronautical research into swept wings. In early 1946 a contract was awarded for two XB-47 prototypes and the first one flew on 17 December 1947. Eventually…

Along with the Lockheed Constellation and Super Constellation and Douglas DC-6 and DC-7 the Boeing Stratocruiser represented the peak of piston engine airliners. They dominated the world’s airways during the 1950s until the arrival of the first jet airliners and exuded an aura of romanticism and luxuriousness that 707s and 747 simply don’t have. The…

In January 1959 French and German aeroplane manufacturing companies created the Transporter Allianze to design and build a new medium range short take off and landing transport to serve with French and German military forces, replacing the ageing Nord Noratlas cargo aeroplanes. The first Transall flew in 1963 and the first production run of 50…

In 1954 the Soviet government ordered a very large helicopter for military and civil use. In military use it would carry large numbers of troops, supplies or rocket launchers and other heavy weapons and in civil use it would be used in remote areas for transport and as a flying crane. The Mil design bureau…

My sister and I have one thing in common (apart from our parents). We both buy boxes of jumbled up, odd shaped pieces and then bang our heads against the proverbial brick wall trying to figure out how to put them together. In her case it is jig-saw puzzles, in my case it is plastic…

Design of the Lockheed Constellation began in 1939 with orders placed by two United States airlines for a 40 seat airliner to fly on domestic routes. However, by 9 January 1943 when the first Constellation made its maiden flight, they were needed as military transports and taken over by the USAAF. Twenty two had been…

When the United States Air Force was developing its long range strike force of nuclear bombers capable of reaching Russia it was able to reduce the fuel capacity of those bombers (and thus their size, cost and vulnerability) by using the new technique of air-to-air refuelling that had been pioneered in Britain. The basis of…