December 13, 2022
Today in MSFS I’m checking out a rather odd bird called the EA-7 Edgley Optica, and I’m doing it at the location where it was developed, Old Sarum Airfield near Salisbury in southwest England. The Optica is the brainchild of British designer John Edgley, who envisioned it in the 1970s as a slow-flying alternative for […]
December 13, 2022
Today in Microsoft Flight Simulator, I’m going to be flying the Beechcraft G35 V-tail Bonanza, a plane with a notorious reputation that gained it the nickname “Doctor Killer”. There’s a particular reason why I’m doing it today: 63 years ago, on February 3, 1959, a G35 Bonanza flying here, out of Mason City Municipal Airport […]
December 13, 2022
Today in Microsoft Flight Simulator, I’m going to be flying an airplane that played an important but often forgotten role in the early history of aviation, the Dornier Do J “Wal”. Claude Dornier, born in 1884, was the son of a French wine merchant and his German wife. He grew up in Bavaria and graduated […]
December 13, 2022
Here’s a quick installment from Microsoft Flight Sim, about an airplane that – unless you live in the UK and trained for the RAF – you may never have heard of: the Grob G115E Tutor T1. Why is the Grob Tutor interesting? Because since 1998 it’s been the primary elementary training aircraft for the UK […]
December 13, 2022
Today in Microsoft Flight Simulator, I’m going to fly an important World War II airplane you probably never heard of: the Bücker Bü 131 Jungmann, which served as the primary trainer for the German Luftwaffe. I’m going to fly it from the airport at Braunschweig (Brunswick), which was very close to where German pilots secretly […]
December 13, 2022
Today on Microsoft Flight Simulator, I’m flying a rather unusual airplane developed just before World War II, which aimed to make flying as easy as driving a car: the ERCO Ercoupe 415C. What’s so odd about it? It’s easy to miss. No rudder pedals. To understand why the Ercoupe has no rudder pedals, and was […]
December 13, 2022
Alright, I’ve messed around and figured out how to fly the “Darkstar” from the new “Top Gun” movie in Microsoft Flight Simulator. Let’s take a trip. The flight I’ll be taking will be from the Top Gun academy at Miramar, near San Diego, to Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington, DC. If I do everything […]
December 13, 2022
Today in Microsoft Flight Simulator I’m going to be checking out the Fokker Dr.I triplane, made famous in World War I by “The Red Baron”. For anyone who missed it, you might want to check out my earlier post on the French-build Nieuport 17, which offers a good backdrop for this new post today. The […]
December 13, 2022
Today in Microsoft Flight Simulator, I’m going to be flying – and telling the story of – one of the most important airplanes in the history of aviation: the Piper J-3 Cub. The Piper Cub was designed in 1930 by Clarence G. Taylor. He and his brother Gordon formed Taylor Brothers Aircraft Corp. with the […]
December 13, 2022
Welcome back to Microsoft Flight Simulator for a ride in the US Navy’s main carrier fighter plane in the years just before World War II, the Grumman F3F-2. To set the scene, I’m onboard the USS Essex (CV-9), off the east coast of Oahu. It’s not a perfect match, but the Essex is a pretty […]