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 […]
January 17, 2023
Today in MSFS, I’m at the Aerodrome de Saint-Cyr-l’École in Versailles to tell the story of the famous French aviatrix Hélène Boucher and her airplane, the Caudron C.430 Rafale. Boucher is France’s version of Amelia Earhart – equally iconic and equally tragic in the French imagination. Charles Lindbergh’s solo crossing of the Atlantic, from New […]
January 6, 2023
Today in Microsoft Flight Simulator, I’ll be flying the Beechcraft Model 17 “Staggerwing”, widely regarded as one of the world’s most enviable private airplanes. Walter Beech was born in 1891 in Pulaski, Tennessee, and flew in the U.S. Army during World War I. After the war, he joined Swallow Airplane Company as a test pilot. […]
February 10, 2023
Today in Microsoft Flight Simulator, I’ll be flying the Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny”, the first mass-produced aircraft in America and a favorite of the old-time “barnstormers”. And to help frame the story, I’m at a small dirt airstrip outside of Americus, Georgia in May 1923, where a 21-year-old Charles Lindbergh is buying his first plane – […]
January 3, 2023
Today in Microsoft Flight Simulator, I’ll be flying the Grumman F6F Hellcat, the most successful carrier-based Allied fighter of World War II. And to tell that story, I’m aboard the USS Essex (CV-9) just off the eastern coast of the island of Luzon in the Philippines, on the morning of October 24, 1944. Just a […]
December 18, 2022
Today is a two-fer. For my next MSFS trick, I’ll be flying the classic British WW2 fighter, the Spitfire. But not just any Spitfire, mind you, the one-of-a-kind “Black Spit” of the Israeli air force. I’ll explain the story behind the 57 Black Spit in a second, but first, let’s get this thing started. Starting […]
December 18, 2022
Today in Microsoft Flight Simulator I’ll be flying the Fouga CM.170 Magister, the world’s first 2-seat jet trainer, which starting in the 1950s played a key role in transitioning several air forces from piston to jet aircraft – and also fought in a number of “brush wars”. I’ll start the story here at Toulouse’s Blagnac […]
December 18, 2022
Today in Microsoft Flight Simulator, I’m flying the de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth, the airplane that trained thousands of pilots from across the British Empire to take to the air in World War II. Born in 1882, Geoffrey de Havilland was the second son of a village pastor. At an early age, he displayed a […]
December 17, 2022
Welcome to Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport, where today in Microsoft Flight Sim I will be flying the Junkers Ju 52, one of the world’s first modern airliners, which became an icon of the Nazi regime. Tempelhof was Berlin’s main airport from 1927 to the 1970s, and was a main site of the 1948 Berlin Airlift. I […]
December 17, 2022
Welcome to Munda, in the Solomon Islands, where I’ll be checking out the iconic the F4U-1 Corsair in its natural WW2 habitat, in Microsoft Flight Simulator. As some of you may recall, I’ve actually been to Munda, where I did an extensive post on the World War II campaign there and at nearby Guadalcanal. Now […]