The Aviation Historian Magazine Issue 17 Retour à l'édition précédente

Issue 17 includes a couple of unusual perspectives on familiar subjects, including the Egyptian Air Force’s involvement in the 1956 Suez Crisis: 60 years on, Middle East aviation specialist Tom Cooper has scrutinised recently-released Egyptian official records to form an unprecedentedly accurate picture, from the “other side”, of one the Cold War’s most important episodes. Another little-known subject is covered by Australian civil aviation historian Phil Vabre, who explains how the flying-boats working on the 1930s Empire Air Mail Scheme were kept airworthy along a route stretching 12,000 miles. Paul Fiddian profiles the high-octane life of Stefan Karwowski, the star airshow pilot who shone briefly in the 1980s before tragedy intervened. Our cover story details the first — and only — World Congress of Flight, held at Las Vegas in 1959; with low-level runs at Mach 1 by a B-58 Hustler and a B-52 nuclear bomb practice-round airburst, it was a shattering experience. On a more sedate note are previously unpublished photographs taken by the late John Stroud of his 1947 flight from Croydon to Belfast in a BEA Junkers Ju 52/3m; and recollections of flying Dakotas across the Channel from a former Skyways Coach-Air pilot. Other stories include the wrangling over a possible RAF name for the General Dynamics F-111K; an air-racing Spitfire Mk XIV and the opening of a three-part series on the Luftwaffe’s efforts to develop ingenious anti-bomber weapons. All these stories, and many more, are illustrated with high-quality archive photographs and bespoke artwork.