April 3, 2023
Today in Microsoft Flight Simulator, I’m going to be flying the DHC-4 Caribou, a short-takeoff-and-landing (STOL) cargo plane that played a vital role supporting combat troops and covert operations during the Vietnam War. In 1956, the U.S. Army put out a request for a new airplane that could carry a DC-3’s load of supplies or […]
March 27, 2023
Today in Microsoft Flight Simulator, I’ll be attempting to fly Howard Hughes’ giant H-4 Hercules. Constructed almost entirely out of wood, it was for a long time the largest airplane ever built, and flew only once. Why was it built? Read on … In an earlier post, I described Howard Hughes’ early career, and the […]
March 25, 2023
Today in Microsoft Flight Simulator, I’m flying the Hughes H-1 Racer, the superbly streamlined airplane that the eccentric tycoon Howard Hughes built and flew to set several world speed records. The story of this plane really begins in 1908, when Howard’s father, Howard Hughes Sr., patented a new drill bit that proved essential to the […]
March 18, 2023
Today in Microsoft Flight Simulator, I’m in Korea to fly the Bell 47, the iconic helicopter from the TV show M*A*S*H, and the first helicopter ever to be certified for civilian use. The Bell 47 was produced by Bell Aircraft, founded by Larry Bell in 1935. Bell was known for producing highly innovative if not […]
March 13, 2023
Today in Microsoft Flight Simulator, I’ll be flying the Russian MiG-21, a Cold War icon that was produced in larger numbers than any other supersonic jet fighter in the world. The MiG-21 was produced by the Soviet state design bureau led by Artem Mikoyan (right) and Mikhail Gurevich (left). Founded in 1939, the bureau achieved modest success […]
February 15, 2023
Today in Microsoft Flight Simulator, I’ll be flying the Farman F.60 Goliath, the world’s first civilian passenger airplane, on its historic route from Paris to London. And to tell this story, I’m using a mod that recreates the two airports, Le Bourget and Croydon, as they looked in the 1930s. Le Bourget (below) was the […]
January 31, 2023
Today in Microsoft Flight Simulator, I’m flying the DHC-2 Beaver, the closest thing Canada has to a national airplane. DHC stands for de Havilland Canada. In another post on the Tiger Moth, I mentioned how the British-owned de Havilland company established a Canadian subsidiary, starting in 1928, to manufacture the Moth for the overseas training […]
January 28, 2023
Today in MSFS I’m checking out the Cessna L-19 “Bird Dog”, starting off at the Bien Hoa Air Base in Vietnam. The L-19 was introduced in 1950 as a light, 2-seat observation, artillery spotting, and liaison airplane for the Army after the Air Force split away on its own. The L-19 is similar is aerodynamic […]
January 18, 2023
Today in Microsoft Flight Simulator, I’m flying the Bede BD-5J, the world’s smallest jet, famous for being flown by Roger Moore as James Bond in Octopussy. The BD-5J is very popular at airshows, so I’m flying it today out of Oshkosh (Whitman Regional Airport, KOSH) in Wisconsin. The BD-5 was designed in the late 1960s […]
January 17, 2023
Today I reenacted French aviator Louis Blériot’s historic 1909 crossing of the English Channel, in Microsoft Flight Simulator. Louis Blériot was a French engineer who invented the first practical headlight for automobiles. After building a successful headlight business, he turned his attention to the experimental field of aviation. The Blériot XI, built in 1909, was […]