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Articles by Robert Guttman
Godzilla vs. The Magnificent Lightning
Viewers of the latest Godzilla film, Godzilla Minus One, may wonder if the airplane that plays a pivotal role in the climax really existed. The answer is, yes. The airplane is the Japanese Kyushu J7W Shinden, known as the “Magnificent Lighting.” During the late 1930s and early 1940s, Europeans and Americans tended to characterize Japanese aviation technology as derivative, imitative or downright plagiaristic.
This Was a Tin Blimp, Not a Lead Zeppelin
To this day the U.S. Naval Airship USS ZMC-2 remains unique in the history of lighter-than-air craft. Most airships fall under one of three basic construction formats: rigid, non-rigid or semi-rigid. However, the ZMC-2 employed a completely different construction method with a rigid, metal-covered envelope. The most common airship type is the non-rigid, epitomized by today’s Goodyear blimps.
Does Britain's WWI B.E.2c Deserve its Bad Rep?
For more than a century the Royal Aircraft Factory’s B.E.2c has been denigrated as one of the worst aircraft ever made. Even during World War I, when it was on active service with the British Royal Flying Corps (RFC), the B.E.2c was condemned as a death trap that lacked the speed and maneuverability to evade attack as well as any effective armament with which to defend itself.
This Beechcraft Airliner Fell Victim to WWII Surplus Aircraft
When World War II ended, many aircraft manufacturers anticipated an increased demand for new commercial airliners. The Beech Aircraft Company of Wichita, Kansas, was no exception. Walter Beech, the company’s co-founder and president, had been producing outstanding aircraft since 1925 when he, along with Lloyd Stearman and Clyde Cessna, founded the Travel Air Manufacturing Company. Travel Air proved so successful that the Curtiss-Wright Corporation merged with it in 1930.
The Spiteful Was Better Than the Spitfire, But Even That Wasn't Good Enough
The little-remembered Spiteful was the last iteration of the famous and long-lived line of Supermarine Spitfires. It was also noteworthy as the fastest British piston-engine fighter to enter production, although few were built before the project was cancelled. The Spiteful had taken too long to develop and did not reach production until World War II was over and jet-powered fighters were coming into use.
Hump Drivers Review: A Pilot/Artist Tells Tales
by Arthur La Vove, Schiffer, 2021, $24.99. Many firsthand accounts have been written by pilots who flew during World War II. Hump Drivers, however, stands out by having been written by a pilot who was also a journalist. Born in 1909, Arthur La Vove was an experienced airline pilot well before WWII began. He had also studied journalism at Columbia University, had worked as a reporter and was a talented artist.
Air Battle for Moscow, 1941-1942 Review: An Untold Story of World War II
by Dmitry Degtev and Dmitry Zubov, Pen & Sword, 2021, $34.95. Innumerable books have been written about the 1940 Battle of Britain. Almost nothing has been published in the West concerning the equally pivotal World War II aerial campaign waged over Moscow between Germany and the Soviet Union during 1941 and early 1942.
The Douglas XB-19 Was the Biggest Bomber in the World—and a Big Failure | Historynet
Mechanics "prop" an engine on the Douglas XB-19 to clear oil from the lower cylinders. (Warren M. Bodie Collection) It is somewhat ironic how well-known the XB-19 was in its own time, considering how obscure it has become since. When first flown on June 27, 1941, the Douglas Aircraft Company’s creation was not only the largest bomber in the world, it was also the the largest airplane ever built.
To War in a Stringbag: Book Review
To War in a Stringbag by Commander Charles Lamb, Royal Navy, DSC, DSO To War in a Stringbag is the extraordinary autobiography of an extraordinary naval aviator, Commander Charles Lamb, who experienced combat from the first days of World War II until the final stages of the Pacific campaign.
France's Big Flying Boat
A French Latécoère 631 moors at the English Channel port town of Hythe. PA Images/Alamy Robert Guttman The Latécoère 631 may have been the ultimate flying boat airliner but its service record left a lot to be desired. Prior to World War II most large, long-range multiengine airliners were flying boats.
Canada's Rugged, Reliable Noorduyn Norseman Bush Plane
The dependable Noorduyn Norseman bush plane has consistently answered the call since it was introduced in 1935. Here a Norseman operated by Chimo Air Service flies west of Red Lake, Ontario, in 2017.
Why Japan's Forgotten Four-Engine Bomber Never Saw Combat
A Nakajima G8N Renzan being evaluated at Wright-Patterson AFB dwarfs a Beech C-45. U.S. Navy Robert Guttman The Nakajima G8N four-engine bomber arrived too late in World War II, when Japan had already gone over to the defensive. In view of the vast area of the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II, it is somewhat ironic that the four-engine, long-range strategic bomber is conspicuous by its near absence from Japan’s operational inventory.
Hump Pilot: Defying Death Flying the Himalayas During World War II
Hump Pilot: Defying Death Flying the Himalayas During World War II By Nedda R. Thomas, History Publishing, Palisades, N.Y., 2014, $18.95. There are few personal accounts by World War II cargo plane pilots, and fewer still of those who flew “over the Hump,” the Allies’ name for the air supply route from northern India to China via the Himalayas.
Was This Strange Jet the Best Fighter the U.S. Air Force Never Bought?
The F-107A hit Mach 1.03 on its September 10, 1956, first flight. Courtesy of Erik Simonsen Robert Guttman Odd though the North American F-107A looked, it was a promising candidate to become the Air Force’s frontline fighter-bomber. North American Aviation’s F-107A was the last fighter created by the makers of the iconic P-51 Mustang of World War II, the F-86 Sabre of the Korean War and the F-100 Super Sabre of the Vietnam War.
Telescoping-Wing Airplanes: An Unusual Approach to Variable Geometry
The Makhonin Mak-10 rests with its telescoping wings retracted. HistoryNet Archives Robert Guttman Before jets sported swing wings, an early Russian designer took a novel approach to variable-geometry wingspans in a series of French-built airplanes. The notion of altering the geometry of an airplane’s wings in flight to enhance its performance has long interested aircraft designers.
Aviation History Book Review: Lockheed XF-90
Lockheed XF-90: Penetration Fighter by William J. Simone, Ginter Books, 2020, $39.95. The period from 1945 through 1960 saw a proliferation of diverse and exotic aircraft designs. Among the most memorable and influential, if not successful, was the Lockheed XF-90.
Mystery Ship: January 2021
Can you identify this attack aircraft? For the answer, click here!
Mystery Ship: January 2021
The Vultee XA-41 The Vultee XA-41 was originally ordered by the U.S. Army Air Forces in October 1941 as a dive bomber, in response to Germany’s vaunted Junkers Ju-87 Stuka. After the Stuka’s vulnerability was demonstrated in combat, however, the AAF ordered the XA-41 re-configured as a low-level attack plane. By the time the XA-41 finally made its first flight in February 1944, the AAF decided that it preferred twin-engine aircraft such as the Douglas A-20 and A-26 for the attack mission.
How Freddie Laker Took On the Big Airlines and Won
Air entrepreneur Freddie Laker is in a characteristically jubilant mood at London’s Gatwick Airport on September 25, 1977, the day before the inaugural flight of his transatlantic Skytrain service. Mirrorpix via Getty Images Robert Guttman The maverick British entrepreneur rocked the airline industry with his no-frills approach and low-cost transatlantic flights. To the aviation world Sir Freddie Laker was truly a legend in his own time.
Military History Book Review: The Bloody White Baron
The Bloody White Baron: The Extraordinary Story of the Russian Nobleman Who Became the Last Khan of Mongolia by James Palmer, Basic Books, 2009, $18.99 (paperback). People have long had a perverse fascination with leaders who breach the bounds of sanity in the pursuit of power, and the subject of James Palmer’s new book, The Bloody White Baron, is a prime candidate to join the pantheon of sociopaths.
This Odd Airplane Was Designed by a Podiatrist
Dr. Cloyd Snyder's Arup S-2 "Flying Heel Lift" takes flight. NASA Robert Guttman During the interwar years, a Midwestern podiatrist designed one of the most radical aircraft ever to take wing. By the 1920s, the basic configuration of the airplane as we know it today was pretty much settled: an elongated fuselage with vertical and horizontal control surfaces at the tail, and wings, with ailerons for lateral control on their trailing edges, joined to the fuselage near the center of gravity.
Why Britain's World War II Turret Fighters Failed
Squadron Leader Philip Hunter (in the aircraft marked PS-A) leads a quartet of Boulton Paul Defiant Mk.I fighters of No. 264 Squadron during the summer of 1940. IWM CH884 Robert Guttman Arming a fighter plane with nothing more than a four-gun turret proved unique—but not brilliantly successful. The German pilot could scarcely believe his luck as he approached a British fighter west of Dunkirk on May 27, 1940.
The Fighter Built for Two
After a calamitous combat debut, the Bristol Fighter became a formidable mainstay of the Royal Air Force during World War I— and into the 1930s. Any discussion of World War I air combat usually brings to mind the image of nimble single-seat fighters engaged in dogfights above the trenches, aircraft such as the S.E.5, Sopwith Camel, Nieuport and Spad. At the time, however, the single-engine, single-seat aircraft was not yet universally acknowledged as the optimum air combat weapon.
Costly Assault Vehicle
The crucible of World War II displayed the glider’s potential—and revealed its limitations. Although the glider was among the earliest forms of aircraft, its military possibilities were not explored until the 1930s and not put to real practical use until World War II. The glider is also unique so far among combat aircraft in that its operational use was limited solely to that conflict.
Louis Breguet in World War I
By the time World War I ended on November 1, 1918, the airplane was universally recognized as a weapon that no modern nation could afford to be without. It has since been largely forgotten, however, that when the war began four years earlier, the airplane was still considered little more than a toy. One particular unarmed reconnaissance flight, performed on September 3, 1914, may have done more than any other incident to change that perception.
The Missile With a Man In It
Armed with wingtip AIM-9B Sidewinder missiles, two Lockheed F-104A Starfighters from the 83rd Fighter Interceptor Squadron tighten up their formation over San Francisco Bay circa 1958. Lockheed Martin By Robert Guttman The breathtakingly sleek Lockheed F-104 Starfighter was designed for a purpose that was too far ahead of its time Few aircraft have left such contradictory impressions as the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter.
The Wacky Wing on This 1910 Airplane Actually Worked
Jacques-Jules Sloan sought stability with his Bicurve’s unique wing arrangement and counter-rotating propellers. Courtesy of the Kees Kort Collection By Robert Guttman At a time when the basic elements of aircraft design were still being sorted out, this forgotten airplane sported a different sort of wing. The early days of aviation saw the creation of numerous aircraft of such bizarre appearance that they frequently leave modern observers wondering what their designers could have been thinking.
Japan's Failed Cutting-Edge Floatplane
The Kawanishi E15K, dubbed “Norm” by the Allies, never lived up to expectations. HistoryNet Archives By Robert Guttman The Kawanishi E15K incorporated a variety of advanced features in an aircraft type that was on its way out. During the 1920s and ’30s, the Imperial Japanese Navy became fixated upon how to defeat a numerically superior U.S. Navy if war broke out in the Pacific.
Fokker’s Fabulous Flying Coffin
Captured in November 1918, this Fokker D.VII was given to the Smithsonian Institution by the War Department in 1920. The airplane was fully restored by the National Air and Space Museum in 1961. NASM/Eric Long By Robert Guttman The D.VII’s introduction on the Western Front shocked the Allies and boosted German morale.
Armament: France’s ‘Fleet in Being’
Like the United States and Great Britain, France was an early proponent of naval aviation. In 1912, in fact, the French navy modified the old cruiser Foudre into a seaplane depot ship. The following year a hangar was added, transforming the old warhorse into the nation’s first seaplane carrier. The ship served throughout World War I before being decommissioned in 1921. In addition to their own sea trials, the French were keen observers of developments in other navies.
The Soviets' Giant Intercontinental Turboprop Airliner
By Robert Guttman 8/7/2019 • Aviation History Developed from the Tupolev Tu-95 “Bear” strategic bomber, the Tu-114 Rossiya airliner set records as the world’s fastest turboprop aircraft. The peculiar passion that Russians seem to harbor for huge aircraft can be traced all the way back to 1913, when Igor Sikorsky built the Russky Vityaz, the world’s first four-engine airplane and the largest in the world at that time.
Drones: The Hollywood Connection
By Robert Guttman 6/23/2017 • Aviation History Magazine Actor Reginald Denny was instrumental in launching the target drone, and his factory launched a new star. Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), better known as drones, have generated plenty of controversy in recent years. In addition to questions surrounding their employment in military strikes, the explosive growth of drones in hobbyist circles has forced the FAA to formulate rules governing their private use.
A Flying Railroad Car Made From Stainless Steel
By Robert Guttman 6/16/2017 • Aviation History Magazine The E.G. Budd Company dubbed its stainless steel cargo plane the Conestoga, but “Pullman” might have been more apt. During World War II, the United States became the “Arsenal of Democracy,” supplying vast numbers of vehicles, ships, aircraft and weapons to the U.S. armed forces and Allied nations. Not surprisingly, shortages of certain strategic raw materials were anticipated.
The Navy’s Flying Cannon
By Robert Guttman 4/1/2018 • Aviation History Magazinee Built to counter the German U-boat threat in World War I, the Naval Aircraft Factory N-1 never fulfilled its purpose. In a peculiar contravention of American capitalist principles, the U.S. Navy established its own aircraft production facility—the Naval Aircraft Factory—in Philadelphia in October 1917. Its first product was the Curtiss H-16 flying boat, 150 of which were produced under license.
How did you land a plane on a Navy ship in 1911? Very, very carefully
Naval aviation certainly has come a long way since the U.S. Navy committed to purchasing its first aircraft, a Curtiss A-1 Triad (so named because it could operate on land, water and in the air), on May 8, 1911. That first Navy amphibian sported a 75-hp V-8 engine capable of pushing it to a maximum speed of 60 mph. Today, a Navy F/A-18 Hornet boasting twin turbofans will max out at nearly 1,200 mph.
Yakovlev Yak-15: Stalin’s Stopgap Jet Fighter
By Robert Guttman 1/16/2019 • Aviation History Magazine Yakovlev’s simple approach to developing the Soviet Union’s first jet fighter worked remarkably well. As World War II drew to a close, all the major combatants except the Soviet Union were readying new turbojet-powered fighters for operational use. That state of affairs was unacceptable to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.
The Navy veteran better known as ‘Pete the Groin Crusher’
By: Stephanie Farr, The Philadelphia Inquirer 3 minutes ago Pete Schiavo, "The Groin Crusher," estimates he's massaged about 10,000 groins to help patients recover from coronary surgery.
That time the Navy decided to build a flying cannon
By: Robert Guttman, Aviation History Magazine 3 minutes ago Lewis machine gun and a 61B Davis Gun mounted on HS-1 flying boat, in Anacostia, Washington, D.C. (U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command) In a peculiar contravention of American capitalist principles, the U.S. Navy established its own aircraft production facility — the Naval Aircraft Factory — in Philadelphia in October 1917. Its first product was the Curtiss H-16 flying boat, 150 of which were produced under license.
The First Fighter
By Robert Guttman 12/19/2018 • Aviation History Magazine The Vickers’ “Gun Bus” pointed the way to the future of fighter aircraft, but was soon left in the wake of more advanced designs. The Vickers F.B.5 has the distinction of being the first airplane designed from the outset as a fighter, built in quantity and deployed in a fighter squadron equipped with a single aircraft type. But its appearance was not much like what we would think of today as a fighter.
Military History Book Review: Journey to a Revolution
By Robert Guttman 11/14/2018 • Military History Magazine Journey to a Revolution by Michael Korda, Harper Collins Publishers, New York, N.Y., 2006, $24.95. Fifty years have now passed since the tragically unsuccessful rebellion of the Hungarians against the Stalinist government imposed upon them by the Soviet Union.
Military History Book Review: Halsey’s Typhoon
Halsey’s Typhoon: The Epic Story of a Fighting Admiral, an Epic Storm and an Untold Rescue by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin, Atlantic Monthly Press, New York, 2007, $25. On December 18, 1944, Admiral William F. Halsey’s Third Fleet suffered one of the worst defeats in the history of the U.S. Navy. Three destroyers were lost, a dozen other warships crippled and 146 aircraft destroyed. In addition, 793 sailors lost their lives—more than twice the number lost in the Battle of Midway.
Military History Book Review: Red Mutiny
More than a century has passed since sailors aboard the Imperial Russian Navy battleship Potemkin deposed their officers and challenged Tsar Nicholas II. In Red Mutiny, Neal Bascomb has taken a fresh look at the events of June 1905 absent the political bias of previous historians. The author doesn’t depict the mutiny as a mere isolated naval incident, but places it squarely in the context of the times.
Military History Book Review: Garibaldi
During the 1960s, it became the fashion among college students to display the image of the Argentine-born communist revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara. Although his actual achievements amounted to little outside of Cuba, Che’s flamboyant and romantic persona appealed to the equally flamboyant and romantic sensibilities of the young. In some respects, however, Che was merely aping the style of a far more successful man from the prior century: Guiseppe Garibaldi.
Military History Book Review: Andean Tragedy
Andean Tragedy: Fighting the War of the Pacific, 1879–1884 Once, while working on a freighter docked at Matarani, Peru, I mentioned to a native that our next stop was to be Arica, Chile. “Oh, no,” he corrected me. “That is Arica, Peru. We are going to take it back someday.” To a South American, the War of the Pacific was not between the Allies and the Japanese, but between Chile and two of its neighbors, Bolivia and Peru.
Britain’s ‘Bloody Paralyzer’
The first really large bombers to be produced in substantial numbers and employed in massed formations in a coordinated strategic offensive, the Handley Page O/100 and O/400 set the basic layout for both British and American bomber design. That pattern can be directly traced from the Handley Page bombers to the Royal Air Force’s V-bombers and the U.S. Air Force’s Boeing B-52.
Germany’s Cockeyed Kites
Assembled for flight, the Arado Ar-231 looked more misassembled. The floatplane folded neatly for storage, but it performed poorly both on the water and in the air. In their quest to give U-boats eyes in the sky, the Nazis developed and tested two small sub-carried spotter aircraft. When it comes to creating extreme aircraft—both good and bad—it’s difficult to outdo Nazi Germany.
Bristol Brabazon
The largest airplane ever built by Britain was also among the most controversial. In December 1942, even as World War II was still raging, the British government felt sufficiently confident of victory to form a committee to determine what types of aircraft Britain’s airline industry would require after the conflict.
Antonov's Heavy Hauler for Hire
The Antonov State Company outdid itself at thinking big with the An-225 Mriya, the world’s largest airplane. There’s no getting around the fact that Russia is a big country. Perhaps that explains why Russians seem to have always been obsessed with big airplanes. Ever since 1914, when Igor Sikorsky set a world altitude-with-payload record with his giant Ilya Muromets, the world’s first four-engine production airplane, Russians have been building airplanes of ever greater size and payload capacity.
Flying Container Ship: The XC-120
The Fairchild XC-120 “Pack plane” featured an intriguing modular transport design that never achieved full maturity. Fairchild’s C-119 was one of the most utilitarian military cargo planes of the post-World War II era. First flown in 1947 and unofficially known as the “Flying Boxcar,” it featured a large and capacious fuselage suspended from a twin-boom airframe. More than 1,100 C-119s were built, and they served in a variety of roles with great success in both the Korean and Vietnam wars.
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