Airdrop

Flight Journal, Aug 1999

Brazil's museums

I would like to make a correction on Claudio Lucchesi's note on "Flybys" in the June 1999 issue.

With all due respect to Capt. Rolim Amaro, president of TAM Airlines and one of the great names in the aviation industry in Brazil and in the world, Capt. Amaro's museum in Americana is definitely not the first "well-equipped museum" in Brazil-although I am sure it will be very well done, as is everything Capt. Amaro does.

Established in 1974, the Aerospace Museum in the Afonsos Air Force Base in Rio de Janeiro is a large and wellequipped/maintained air and space museum. If you read "Great Aircraft Collections of the World," by Bob Ogden (Gallery Books, W.H. Smith Publications, 112 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016), you will see two pages dedicated to the Museum. It is on the grounds of the former Air Force Aviation School, which was relocated when the modern Air Force Academy was opened in the mid-'70s.

Another collection of interest is the Brazilian Navy's Museum da Aviacao Naval (Naval Aviation Museum) inside the Naval Air Station in S. Pedro D'Aldeia, some 80 miles north of Rio de Janeiro. The Brazilian Navy is the real pioneer in aviation in Brazil, for the very first Brazilian to hold a pilot license (Brevet no. 1) was a Navy lieutenant. The Naval Aviation School was created in 1913.

I would appreciate a correction be published in the next issue of Flight Journal. I don't want your readers to get the wrong impression of Brazil's heritage of aviation (remember, Alberto Santos Dumont, a Brazilian, was the first man to really take off from the ground and fly, as recorded in the FAI's books). [email]

Capt. Wilson Roque

Brazilian Naval Reserve (Ret.)

Spooky

As a new subscriber to Flight Journal, I found your June '99 issue most enjoyable, especially the article "Dragon Tales" by Col. Ed Frey. In the 'SOs, as a new attache in Paris, France, I experienced a similar fate-the F-86 to the "Gooney."

If Col. Frey flew the AC-47 as well as he writes, then he conquered the "beast" quite well and did a lot of good in Vietnam.

I hope he does more articles (or a book) and that he was awarded proper decorations for his unusual tour in Vietnam.

Ray Lancaster

Stephenville, TX

We also look forward to more articles from Col. Frey.

Auto classification

The Cessna 195 article in the June 1999 issue contained an automotive comparison that pulled me up short: " ... another foray into the world of Packard/Dusenberg/Lincoln Zephyr."

I concede that my knowledge of vintage automobiles greatly exceeds that of vintage aircraft, but that is like lumping the Spitfire, Mustang and Piper Cub into the same class; some Lincolns of the '20s and '30s yes, but not the Zephyr.

By the way, the correct spelling of the second of the three automobiles is Duesenberg.

Howard V. Scotland Jr.

Past president

Antique Automobile Club of America

Cheyenne, Wyoming

We stand corrected. Sorry we offended you. BD

No "t" required

In the April 1999 issue, an article in "Flybys" refers to the Compter "Swift" (page 14). Surely, it is Comper "Swift" (no "t" with Comper).

I used to fly the Comper Swift occasionally when I was living in England in the '30s. [email]

John T. Bent

USA

The "t" is silent. BD

Lincoln Beachey

I greatly enjoyed the article on Lincoln Beachey in the April 1999 issue. I was disappointed, however, in that it did not show his monoplane in its "before" condition.

Also, I question the conjecture in the "Fall of Hawks" caption (page 42) that Beachey performed outside loops. Credit for being the first to do that goes to Lt. James Doolittle, at that time a test pilot for the U.S. Army Air Corps at Mc Cook Field, Dayton, Ohio.

After a few days of developing the correct procedure and polishing it, Doolittle performed the first officially observed outside loop in a 435hp Curtiss P-lB "Hawk" pursuit plane on May 25, 1927.

I enclose a photo of Beachey's fatal monoplane that was built for him by Warren Eaton of Chicago, who also built the "Little Looper." When this photo was taken, the monoplane was still in its test stages; note that the rear fuselage is uncovered. It was flown this way, but the covering was complete at the time of the crash.

Peter M. Bowers

Seattle, WA.

Once again, Professor Pete has reached into his treasure-trove of information and given us the correct facts. Thanks. BD

Correct team members

In your April 1999 issue, I was surprised and pleased to see an article on the Sikorsky S-16 in "Flybys." Might I suggest, however, a correction to "... the main team members involved in the S-16 restoration."

The caption should have included the following people: project director Pete Peterson and volunteers Sergei Sikorsky, Pete Peterson, Harry Pember, Harry Hleva, Phil Spalla, Don Dickmann, Dick Sykes, Rich Carlson, Theodore Coley, John Curtiss, William Digney, John Drignet, Vincent Hardy, Stuart Kerr, Victor Politi and John Smithonick.

These people constructed the S-16 to the highest standard of excellence and should be recognized.

Phil Spalla

Director of Sikorsky Archives Inc.