FABULOUS FORMATION

The Air Museum displays the evolution of American aeronautical design

On 18 May, Steve Hinton, president oF The Air Museum Planes of Fame, put together a most interesting formation flight. "Basically, what I want to do," said Steve "is to get a flight of fighters together to show the advances in American aviation in a time period of less than 15-years." Utilizing a Boeing P-26A (tlown by Steve), Seversky AT-12 (flown by John Maloney), NAA P-51D Mustang (flown by Kevin Eldridge), and NAA F-86 Sabre (flown by Chris Fahey), Steve did just that. Going from the open cockpit, fixed-gear Peashooter, we progressed to the closed cockpit, semi-retractable gear Seversky, to the piston elegance of the Mustang, and then to the Sabre with its jet power, swept-wing, etc. It is really hard to believe that the advancements happened in such a short period of time. "I guess it takes a war to get all that done," said veteran pilot Clay Lacy. "Imagine if we could introduce advancements to general and commercial aviation in a similar time period."

Copyright Challenge Publications Inc. Aug 2006
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