Terry Pappas became an US Air Force pilot in 1971 and went on to fly the legendary Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, and later flew for NASA. He has over 10,000 flying hours. Terry retired from NASA in Oct 2011 and now lives in Houston, Texas. This SR-71A, serial number 61-7975, was the aircraft flown by Terry Pappas and…Continue reading Terry Pappas’ SR-71 Blackbird
After a landing accident in Arizona in July 2017, Spitfire Mk Vb JG891 was shipped to England and flew again on July 6. She is currently decorated as JK879, a No 249 Squadron aircraft flown from Malta by Flt Sgt John G. “Jack” Hughes (RCAF).
I’m currently working on something rather different from my usual material: the Extra EA-330SC, although this might eventually be modified to become the EA-330LT two-seater. I haven’t decided yet which version I prefer. What do you think: does the single-seater look better than the twin-seater Extra EA-300/330?
One of the most elegant aircraft ever built, the DH.88 Comet is notably famous for winning the 1934 McRobertson air race from London to Melbourne. Three Comets entered the race, which was won by Charles Scott and Tom Campbell Black in G-ACSS, painted red and nicknamed “Grosvenor House”. Jim Mollison and his wife Amy (born…Continue reading The de Havilland DH.88 Comet
I’m currently working on the Brewster Buffalo, and starting with the best variant: the F2A-2. Reading about the Buffalo and gathering documentation has been quite interesting. The Buffalo is generally considered as a failed design, but it actually was quite a decent fighter, as the Finns amply proved ! Its bad reputation seems to owe…Continue reading Work in progress: Brewster F2A-2 Buffalo
France was one of the first customers of the P-40, placing an order of 100 Hawk 81A-1, later increased to 230 aircraft. However, these aircraft were not delivered before France fell in June 1940 and these aircraft never entered French service. After the invasion of North Africa in late 1942, the groupe de Chasse II/5,…Continue reading The Curtiss P-40 in French service
I was reading about the new Ford Mustang GT Eagle Squadron, a specially-decorated Mustang bearing the colours of EN783, a Spitfire Mk V flown by ace Steve Pisanos of No 71 (Eagle) Squadron. I was amused to see that the team that created this very special car used a few of my profiles (not just…Continue reading Promoted by Ford ?
“Hot Stuff” was a B-24D-1-CO Liberator of the 330th Bomb Squadron, 93rd Bomb Group and the first 8th Air Force bomber to fly 25 combat missions. It flew its 25th mission on 7 February 1943, three months before the famous “Memphis Belle” did the same. After flying another 6 missions, the bomber and its crew…Continue reading B-24D Liberator “Hot Stuff”
After the previous post dedicated to the Spitfire Mk VIII in the Southwest Pacific, here are profiles of the Mk VIII in Australian service. These profiles were created for the book Squadrons! No.20: The Spitfire Mk. VIII in the Southwest Pacific – The Australians by Phil Listemann. 1. Spifire Mk VIII A58-526 (MT552) “Avagrog” of No…Continue reading Australian Spitfires Mk VIII in the Southwest Pacific
The Royal Air Force and South African Air Force were some of the operators of the Curtiss Hawk 75, the export version of the P-36 Hawk. In RAF or SAAF service, these aircraft were called Mohawk. Here are a few examples, created for Phil Listemann’s book Squadrons! No. 17 – The Curtiss Mohawk. This Mohawk…Continue reading Mohawks of the British Commonwealth