With a big, nine-cylinder Pratt & Whitney strapped to the front, this 5,100-pound workhorse boasts a useful load of around 2,000 pounds, and it’s built to operate out of short and rough airstrips.
Continue reading The R-985 Powered de Havilland Beaver: Arguably the Best Bush Plane Ever
On January 15, 1937, the Beechcraft Model 18 made its first demonstration flight at the factory in Wichita, Kansas, and it continued in production for thirty-two years. This low-wing, all-metal, twin-engine monoplane was originally intended as a six-to-eight-passenger executive or feeder airline transport. As the years passed, however, the Model 18 was adapted to many uses and, in all, thirty-two different versions were produced.
This post is from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
Continue reading A Look at the Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior Beechcraft D18S Twin Beech
Vought’s OS2U Kingfisher first took flight on March 1st 1938. This observation floatplane, conceived as a replacement for the Curtiss SOC Seagull biplane floatplane, operated from American Navy battleships, cruisers, and even a few destroyers via catapult and from shore bases around the world during World War II. In so doing the slow but steady Kingfisher earned the sobriquet “Eyes of the Fleet.” While the every single one of the 1,519 OS2Us Vought and the Naval Aircraft Factory built was so slow it had trouble getting out of its own way, some elements of its design and the methods used to build them were radically advanced and would be seen on tens of thousands of subsequent aircraft. Continue reading Vought’s R-985 Powered Kingfisher Floatplane Was Slow, But It Saved Many WWII Crews
Gene McNeely started flying airshows in 1986 and has been a stalwart presence on the AeroShell aerobatic team, flying a Wasp-powered North American T-6. He can only guess at his total flying time behind the engine: “I would say 15,000 hours…probably more than that.” He does remember exactly how he got there, though. “I got out of the Navy and…started cropdusting, and the first engine I sat behind was the [Pratt &Whitney] R-985, which we’d adapted to the Stearman,” he recalls.
Continue reading Inside the Wasp Shop with the Aeroshell Aerobatic Team & Covington Aircraft
The Ag-Cat is a standout amongst the best reason composed horticultural airship yet assembled and has been in practically constant creation since 1959.
Continue reading A Brief History & Look at the Grumman G-164 Ag-Cat
Though the 1928 Ford Tri-Motor aircraft, also called the “Tin Goose,” is no time machine, the pilot and passengers agreed the 30-minute ride on the first commercial aircraft and mass-produced airliner gets close enough.
Continue reading The Tri-Motor R-985 Powered ‘Tin Goose’ Still Soars
With a big, nine-cylinder Pratt & Whitney strapped to the front, this 5,100-pound workhorse boasts a useful load of around 2,000 pounds, and it’s built to operate out of short and rough airstrips.
Continue reading The R-985 Powered de Havilland Beaver: Arguably the Best Bush Plane Ever Built