Daniel J Wheatcroft

@Aviation_History
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Aviator, Author and Historian

๐“๐ก๐ž ๐Œ๐š๐ ๐ข๐œ ๐๐ฎ๐ฆ๐›๐ž๐ซ

2๏ธโƒฃ6๏ธโƒฃ๐ŸŽฏ

Eddie Rickenbacker finished the Great War as the leading American ace with 26 victories.

This set an important psychological bar for the new aces that would follow in WWII. Richard Bong was the first US pilot to match and exceed Rickenbackerโ€™s feat in April of 1944.

๐Ÿ“ธ: SPAD XIII in 94th Aero Sqn colours

๐…๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐…๐ซ๐ข๐๐š๐ฒ

#IWMDuxford #iwmduxford #B17 #b17 #MastersoftheAir #mastersoftheair

๐…๐š๐ซ-๐„๐š๐ฌ๐ญ ๐…๐š๐ฆ๐ž

The Fairey Firefly was somewhat late on the scene after a protracted journey from blueprint to prototype. Entering operational service after D-Day, the type saw some action in ETO before becoming a real workhorse in PTO, taking on both Japanese ground targets and fighter aircraft. She was the first British machine to overfly Tokyo.

The type continued in FAA service until the mid-1950s, seeing action in the Malayan Emergency and Korean War.

๐‡๐š๐ซ๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐ซ ๐‡๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ฌ๐š๐ฒ

In 1972, following a bird strike, Air Cdre Peter Taylor ejected from XV794 over West Germany

The aircraft continued to fly for 38 minutes after he ejected, before crashing โœ…

The aircraft was shot down by an English Electric Lightning to avoid WWIII โŒ

Itโ€™s a good story - but the truth is that the aircraft was ultimately downed by fuel starvation

๐Ÿ“ธ: GR3 at #iwmduxford

Westland Lysander

๐…๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐–๐ข๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐Ÿ’-๐–๐ข๐ซ๐ž

โžก๏ธ ๐’๐๐€๐ƒ ๐’.๐—๐ˆ๐ˆ๐ˆ First Flight 4 April 1917

Max Speed 114 Kts
Ceiling 22,300 ft

โžก๏ธ ๐Œ๐œ๐ƒ๐จ๐ง๐ง๐ž๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ƒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฅ๐š๐ฌ ๐…-๐Ÿ’ ๐๐ก๐š๐ง๐ญ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ˆ๐ˆ First Flight 27 May 1958

Max Speed 1280 Kts
Ceiling 60,000 ft

The conquest of the air over 41 years

๐“๐ก๐ž ๐…๐š๐ฌ๐ญ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐…๐ฎ๐ซ๐ข๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ

In 1943 the engineering genius of Sir Sydney Camm would produce a โ€˜Furyโ€™ once again - the ๐น๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฆ / ๐‘†๐‘’๐‘Ž ๐น๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฆ

โžก๏ธ This new Fury would prove to be one of (and the last of) the fastest single-engined piston aircraft ever to fly, flashing along at around 460 mph

โžก๏ธHer Bristol Centaurus 18-jug radial developed a storming 2500 HP

โžก๏ธ Furies operated with foreign air forces into the 1960s and although arriving too late for WWII, they saw extensive action in Korea

๐“๐š๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ฒโ€™๐ฌ ๐“๐ž๐ซ๐ซ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ฒ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐“๐ฐ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ž ๐Œ๐ข๐ง๐ฎ๐ญ๐ž๐ฌ

โšก๏ธ XM135 is famous as the aircraft that was inadvertently โ€˜air testedโ€™ in 1966 by Engineer Officer Wg Cdr โ€˜Taffyโ€™ Holden.

After the throttle went through the afterburner gate, Taffy could not reduce power before having to make the decision to get airborne.

Without helmet, radio, or canopy, and with the gear locked down, Taffy flew for 12 minutes, landing from the third approach.โšก๏ธ

#englishelectric #rafhistory #NoOrdinaryJob