There’s a reason the Hamilton Metalplane reminds you of a Ford Trimotor. The original Ford 3-AT Trimotor, as well as the Hamilton aircraft, were worked on by a young aircraft designer named James McDonnell — yes, that James McDonnell.
Of Wings & Things
de Havilland’s diminutive Fox Moth
If front-line British warplanes advanced with the global state of the art from the 1930s into the postwar 1940s, some smaller utility aircraft remained delightfully unfazed by the eternal quest for speed or modernity. Such was the case with de Havilland’s diminutive Fox Moth biplane.
SPAD for two
While the French SPAD single-seat fighters were ace-makers, disappointing performance and maneuverability in the two-seat derivatives failed to justify their use as a fighter. Instead, the two-seat versions earned a niche in the war as bomber and reconnaissance aircraft.
The one and only Boeing XB-15
Only one Boeing XB-15 bomber prototype was built, yet it provided the giant aircraft manufacturer with design ideas that shaped the famous B-17 and Model 314 Clipper airplanes.
The Douglas Dolphin
The Douglas Dolphin, launched at the beginning of the Great Depression, was a niche machine that would serve airlines, business leaders and, ultimately, the military.
The Stinson trimotor
The Stinson Aircraft Company carved its own niche in the market by selling its trimotors at low prices to airlines in the 1930s.
The art of B-29 test beds
A mystery about nose art on B-29s used for research and testing is solved.
The Tommy Scout: From war to sport flying
The Thomas-Morse S-4, known as the Tommy, was a plane at the intersection between aircraft development during World War I and Roaring Twenties sport flying.
Japanese piloted bomb showed desperation and resolve
A 1945 Navy report said Ohka “presents the most difficult target our surface forces and aircraft have encountered in the war to date. It is also potentially the most dangerous antishipping weapon to be devised, being a guided missile with the best possible control — a human being.”