Aviator Nat Browne had a plan he figured would enable his single-engine Fokker Universal to fly from Seattle to Tokyo before anyone else could do it. Browne’s Universal was modified to remove steel tube wing struts and part of the landing gear, using flying wires and simplified gear struts instead. It was the end of […]
Of Wings & Things
Prime movers for airplanes
There comes a time in the life of every airplane when it cannot feasibly move under its own power. Ways of towing aircraft have been varied and ingenious since the early days of aviation. When tailskids ruled the day, hand-operated, two-wheel dollies could cradle the skid, permitting manual movement of the airplane over typical airfield […]
Of Wings & Things returns
This is the inaugural relaunch of a grand tradition, the wonderful and eclectic “Of Wings & Things” column created in 1972 by aviation historian and renaissance man Peter M. Bowers. For more than three decades, Pete blended a series of photographs with his encyclopedic knowledge of aviation to create an interesting story in each column. […]
The Bowers ‘Namu II’ returns to Seattle
Most people remember the late Peter M. Bowers as the designer of experimental aircraft, an eminent aviation historian and the writer of “Of Wings & Things” in General Aviation News. He is perhaps best remembered for the single-place FlyBaby, but did you know that he also created a two-place mid-wing design in the 1970s? The […]
Travel Air
By PETER M. BOWERS. This is a classic Of Wings & Things from the 1980s. GAN continues to run the late Mr. Bowers’ columns for the enjoyment of his readers. The Travel Air biplane, introduced in 1925, is the most numerous example of the pre-1930 antiques still flying. Although there were well over 40 different […]
Novel idea: Loening builds amphibian that outperforms its predecessors
By PETER M. BOWERS. Aeronautical engineer and manufacturer Grover C. Loening came up with a novel idea for a military amphibian in 1923. Using the same engine, his amphib could outperform the standard two-seat observation planes that the U.S. Army and Navy were using. There had been plenty of previous amphibians, but they were clumsy […]
A powerful decision
By PETER M. BOWERS. This is a classic Of Wings & Things from the 1980s. GAN will continue to run the late Mr. Bowers’ column for the enjoyment of his readers. One of the major decisions for any airplane designer is powerplant. Sometimes the choice is made for the designer when the customer who ordered […]
Neither rain nor sleet…
By PETER M. BOWERS. Regularly scheduled air mail service was inaugurated in Europe in March 1918, and in the United States, two months later, on May 15. While international operations didn’t get under way in the Western Hemisphere until 1920, the first officially recognized Canada-to-US mail flight took place on March 3, 1919. A notable […]
A simple matter? Building a reduced-scale replica presents its own challenges
By PETER M. BOWERS. One of the popular areas of the homebuilt aircraft movement is the designing and building of reduced-scale replicas. For the most part, these are reproductions of well-known single-seat fighters which, when built, are right in the size-weight-power range of the typical single-seat homebuilt. However, this is not just a simple matter […]