History Archives - Page 5 of 7 - Golf Hotel Whiskey

Aviation’s equivalent of Tutankhamun’s tomb found in Egypt’s desert

Not long ago, we mentioned an article about resurrecting lost RAF spitfires in Burma, a fairly questionable quest given that country’s wet and humid climate but the Daily Mail has just reported aviation’s equivalent of finding Tutankhamun’s tomb in the form of a well preserved RAF Kittyhawk P-40 lost over the deserts of Egypt.

Apparently, Flight Sergeant Dennis Copping from Scotland, who was part of a fighter unit based in Egypt during the North Africa campaign against Rommel, must have lost his bearings while flying the damaged Kittyhawk to another airbase for repair. After crash landing, he then took whatever he could salvage from the aircraft and wandered into the desert.

Since the crash site is about 200 miles from the nearest town and no human remains have been found at the site, its believed that the pilot’s decomposed body may lay anywhere within a 20 mile radius of the aircraft (Copping is not known to have any close living relatives).

Seventy years later, an oil worker exploring the region discovered the aircraft, which happens to be close to a smuggling route from Sudan and Libya – meaning the area is not the safest place to be. As for the aircraft itself, its heading home to Britain as the RAF Museum at Hendon, north London, is planning to recover the aircraft for exhibition in the future and hopefully before anyone else rediscovers it and strips it for souvenirs or scrap.

Below are just a few of the amazing pictures of the crash site that you can see more of on the Daily Mail’s website.

The Hindenburg disaster’s 75th anniversary

Exactly 75 years ago on May 6, 1937, the Hindenburg burst into flames over a Lakehurst New Jersey field and of the 97 people onboard, 36 people died (including one member of the ground crew) – mostly due to jumping from the cabin when it was still several stories high. What caused the explosion remains a hotly debated mystery with plenty of different theories circulating.

There are plenty of claims that the Hindenburg’s “flammable covering” was the main reason why the airship was destroyed in less than a minute. However, Airships.net has a detailed article filled with photos of the disaster to explain that the Hindenburg was only the last in a “long line of hydrogen airships destroyed by fire” thanks to highly flammable hydrogen gas and studies have shown that the Hindenburg’s covering might not have been flammable at all. In fact, the pictures on Airships.net seem to show the hydrogen behind the cover catching on fire first.

Meanwhile, Aerospaceweb.org also has a detailed discussion of the disaster which also mentions a crew member named Eric Spehl who was suspected of being a saboteur due in part to his girlfriend’s connections to an anti-Nazi organization. According to the theory, Spehl, who was an amateur photographer well acquainted with flashbulbs, could have used bulbs powered by a battery as an ignition source to start the fire. However, Spehl also died in the explosion and could not defend himself from any accusation. And while the sabotage theory was pushed by the Captain and his family (no doubt to deflect any potential blame), its been largely discounted.

That leaves static electricity or a leak as the most probable cause. Moreover, its also possible that the Captain released hydrogen gas on purpose or by accident to rush a landing – something that would have been prohibited in incremental weather due to the risk of a fire. Likewise, a puncture could have occurred causing a gas release.

Either way, below is a great Hindenburg documentary posted on YouTube that is well worth watching by fans of airships

Resurrecting RAF Spitfires in Burma

Last Saturday, there was an article in The Telegraph about Spitfires (apparently Mark XIVs) buried in Burma (now Myanmar) that could turn out to be in near mint condition as they were buried inside their crates. Apparently, David Cundall, a 62 year old farmer from Scunthorpe, North Lincs, had spent 15 years and made over 12 trips to Burma at a cost of £130,000 in order to eventually locate them at a former RAF base there using radar imaging technology.

With Burma now opening up to the outside world, Prime Minister Cameron secured a deal on his recent trip there that will allow for the aircraft to be dug up and returned to the UK. In fact, a UK team is expecting to begin the excavation soon which will cost around £500,000 and is being funded by the Chichester-based Boultbee Flight Acadamy.

Originally, the Spitfires had been shipped to Burma and then transported by rail to the RAF base during the war but advances in technology along with the emergence of better combat aircraft jets meant that they were never used and were simply abandoned before the end of the war. According to Cundall:

“They were just buried there in transport crates. They were waxed, wrapped in greased paper and their joints tarred. They will be in near perfect condition.”

On the other hand, they have yet to dig up aircraft and I do have to wonder just what kind of condition they will be in given Burma’s no doubt hot, humid and wet climate.

Meanwhile, Paul Bertorelli recently wrote about the find on AVWeb and pointed out that recent auctions and for-sale offerings have valued the Merlin versions between $2 and $3 million while documented combat history makes one even more valuable. Of course, there will likely be a cost to restore the aircraft plus they will need to get them out of Burma.

Nevertheless and if all goes well, Cundall hopes to not only get his money back but to be able to put together a flying Spitfire squadron for air shows – a sight that would be worth seeing and no doubt worth all of his troubles.

Doolittle Raid on Tokyo 7th anniversary

Last week was the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic while today is an important military aviation anniversary as its the 70th anniversary of the so-called Doolittle Raid on Tokyo using B-25 bombers and led by then-Lieutenant Colonel James “Jimmy” Doolittle. All 16 aircraft used in the raid were lost, either crash landed or were wrecked with one ending up in the Soviet Union where its crew was interned. In addition, 64 out of 80 crew members were rescued with 3 of the 8 captured by the Japanese being executed while more than 250,000 Chinese civilians were reportedly executed for “helping” the raiders to escape.

And while damage from the raid was minimal and paled in comparison to later air raids on Japan using B-29s, it served as a badly needed morale booster for the USA after Pearl Harbor.

The EAA website has also posted this short contemporary newsreel about the raid on its website:

In addition, the National Museum of the US Air Force in Ohio is having a Doolittle Tokyo Raiders reunion that will be attended by all five of the remaining crew members from the raid who are still alive. World War II aviation buffs might want to check out the reunion webpage on the museum’s website which contains videos of previous Doolittle Raider reunions, relevant photos and an audio of a 1980 interview with Jimmy Doolittle.

Awesome Harrier documentary

Hat tip to Jon Ostrower’s FlightBlogger blog for finding and posting this wonderful and very thorough (almost 1 hour long) British documentary about the development of the vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) Harrier. The documentary begins with the earliest VTOL concept, the Hawker Siddeley P.1127 and then moves on to the Harrier GR.1 and the US Marine Corps AV-8A along with the Harrier’s use in the 1982 Falklands War and its eventual evolution into the McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II.

Unfortunately, the name of the documentary is not posted on YouTube but I assume its from the BBC and part of an aircraft documentary series.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjRdNwcWsZE&w=480]

The coolest aviation (and marketing) video on the web

Hat tip to Paul Bertorelli for finding and posting a link on AVweb to this really cool animation and very clever marketing video depicting the history of aviation. The video begins with Leonardo da Vinci’s flying dreams and does not even get to the Wright Brothers until about 1 minute into it. At the very end, the video turns out to be a marketing piece for Utah Valley University’s Aviation Science program. Talk about a great way to attract would be students and future pilots!