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…

Due perhaps to its reputation which is a hangover of its days as a kit maker on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain, the name Kovozavody Prostwov does not inspire in modellers the same feeling of confidence that some other kit makers enjoy. Those days appear to be behind this company and the most…

We take it for granted now, but surely the shape of Lockheed P-38 is one of the strangest shapes to emerge from the design offices of any 1930s aviation company and serve during World War II. It was the logical but unusual result of the need to create the most efficient two engine single seat…

The Convair 880 is a gorgeous looking but rather sad airliner. It was designed by Convair to compete with the new jet airliners being designed and build by Boeing and Douglas, the 707 and the DC-8. Convair hoped to compete by building a smaller and faster airliner so while the Convair 880 cruised at about…

John Northrop began work as a garage mechanic with little formal education but, like many of his generation, a fascination with flight. As a mechanic he acquired the experience and knowledge that made him a skilled and innovative designer in later life. He worked for the Loughead Brothers when they started building aeroplanes in California…

The L-1011 was the last in a long line of Lockheed airliners and the only successful Lockheed jet powered airliner. It began life in 1968 to meet an American Airlines requirement for a large capacity short-to-medium range airliner which also led to the design and construction of the Douglas DC-10 which eventually won that contract.…

Development of the Gnat began as a private venture by the British manufacturer Folland to produce a small light weight fighter, one of the holy grails of fighter design that has rarely been successful. The prototype was completed in 1955 and the first flight occurred on 18 July 1955. Six development Gnats were ordered in…

The Titan was the United States’ second generation Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. Development began in October 1955 before the first generation Atlas missiles had been test flown. The Titan had two stages and could deliver much heavier payloads of atomic weapons more accurately over greater distances. The first Titan was delivered in June 1958 and flown…

In 1932 the French Air Ministry issued specifications for a five-seat night bomber and received eight proposals from five companies. The Bloch design for an all metal cantilever high-wing monoplane was selected as the principal bomber in the four seater class for the Armée de l’Air (the Farnam design was also selected to fill a…