August 2020

Flight Journal

The Aviation Adventure - Past, Present & Future

Flight Journal2 min read
Pacific Survivors
For America, WW II began and ended in the Pacific. From Pearl Harbor, the war moved quickly from island to island, many of these obscure volcanic atolls no one ever heard of: Guadalcanal, Rabaul, Emirau, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and so many more. T
Flight Journal1 min read
Flight Journal
Executive Editor Debra Cleghorn Editors Gerry Yarrish, Matt Boyd Bud Anderson, James P. Busha, Ted Carlson, Robert S. DeGroat, John Dibbs, Jim Farmer, Paul Gillcrist, Phil Haun, Randy Jolly, Frederick Johnsen, Geoffrey P. Jones, Ron Kaplan, Peter Ler
Flight Journal3 min read
Airdrop
flight@airage.com facebook.com/FlightJournal instagram.com/Flight_Journal_magazine Flight Journal, Air Age Media 11 Grumman Hill, Ste. 5, Wilton, CT 06897 On April 28, the US Air Force Thunderbirds and the Navy’s Blue Angels flight demonstration squa
Flight Journal9 min read
Sole Survivors
When Pearl Harbor was attacked, I was home at the time. It was a Sunday, and we heard it on the radio like everybody else. I was living with my parents and working for American Airlines at LaGuardia Field. We were outfitting planes to go overseas, co
Flight Journal2 min read
The Legend Of Maj. Paul "Pappy" Gunn
"Pappy" Gunn had served in the U.S. Navy for twenty years before retiring to start airlines in Hawaii and the Philippines. When Pearl Harbor was attacked, he returned to the service — and received a Distinguished Flying Cross for flying in medical su
Flight Journal6 min read
Dueling In The Fast Lane
The European theater held more surprises for the Allies than the Pacific theater did. The Germans were leaders in developing state-of-the-art weapons, and if the war had lasted into 1946, it might have held some very lethal surprises for New York Cit
Flight Journal1 min read
A Weapon Misused
The Messerschmitt Me 262A Schwalbe aka “Swallow” was the first operational turbojet in the world, and it first flew in July 1942. By the time it was in mass production, if the Allied bombing efforts hadn’t been persistent, it might have swayed the wa
Flight Journal1 min read
Jet Killers
The 339th Fighter Group flew P-51 Mustangs out of RAF Fowlmere with great success. When the war ended and the final totals were recorded, the group had destroyed 692 enemy aircraft (air and ground). But what made them stand out was the fact that they
Flight Journal13 min read
BUTCHER BIRD VS. HELLCAT & CORSAIR
During WW II, we in the military were not allowed to save notes, keep diaries or take pictures, and being a Boy Scout type, I lived by the rules. Now, decades later, when I’m called to write about some of my flight experiences, I wish that I had bent
Flight Journal11 min read
Macchi 202 Vs. P-38l
Gen. Francesco Fagiolo, then Sottotenente of the Italian 360a Squadriglia CT, was the first fighter pilot in his unit to engage the P-38. Stationed in North Africa in November of 1942, the Italians knew nothing of the soonto-be-famous Lockheeds until
Flight Journal1 min read
Mc.202 Folgore: Pretty But Outclassed
Italy’s finest WW II fighter was a sleek, good-looking machine with the kind of esthetics expected of an artistic people who produce world-class racecars. But the Darwinism of aerial combat paid little benefit for appearance, as the MC.202 fared poor
Flight Journal2 min read
It's a Kinner
For the general aviation population, the Kinner name is associated with a family of low-power radial engines. This may be true, but Kinner activities were far from being limited to engine production. From 1932 to 1937, Kinner produced a line of monop
Flight Journal10 min read
Memoirs of a JAPANESE FIGHTER PILOT
Peering out of the Navy Club window, I begin to realize how beautiful Tokyo looks in springtime. The cherry blossoms are in full bloom and the locals are sitting outside, eating their lunches and enjoying the sunny day. Seated in front of me is a man
Flight Journal5 min read
Flying The “George”
By 1944, the tide of the Pacific War had begun to turn. Instead of advancing, the Japanese were now on the retreat. Faced with several major defeats and an increasing number of new, advanced Allied fighters such as the P-38 Lightning and the Corsair,
Flight Journal2 min read
“Madman” Genda
Minoru Genda was the innovative mastermind behind Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. What was “Madman” Genda really like? He earned that nickname because of his outspoken views on the supremacy of aircraft over battleships. Ryoichi Yamada came to know h
Flight Journal1 min read
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Flight Journal2 min read
Scooter!: The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk Story
Specialty Press A single-seat subsonic carrier-capable attack aircraft developed in the early 1950s, the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk was used extensively by the US Navy and US Marines. A relatively lightweight aircraft the Skyhawk had a top speed of more tha
Flight Journal3 min read
Flying The P-51 In Combat
I shot down my first Bf 109 during the first daylight raid on Berlin by American B-17s on March 4, 1944. I was flying a P-51B with the birdcage canopy. The weather was extremely bad, and many of the B-17 groups had aborted, with the exception of a co

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