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david leigh-smith
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On This Day…December 21st

December 21, 2018 · in News · · 16 · 2.1K

Great modeler’s reference of a F4U-1 Corsair of No. 16 Squadron, Royal New Zealand Air Force, being serviced at Green Island (now Nissan Island), Bougainville, 21 Dec 1944.



Squadron Commander Samson flew a Farman MF-II for its first night bombing mission when it attacked a German artillery installation in Ostend on 21st December, 1914 - flying from St Pol, Dunkirk.

A SdKfz 251 halftrack left disabled after the battle at Baraque de Fraiture in Belgium during December 21st and 22nd 1944 against American forces in the Battle of the Bulge.


1915 - 21st December; Claudius Dornier tries to test fly the giant German Zeppelin-Lindau RsI hydroplane on Lake Constance in Germany, but it fails to reach enough speed to takeoff.


Pan American Boeing 747 ‘Maid of the Seas’ is blown up in mid-air by a terrorist bomb over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. 243 passengers, 16 crew and 11 people on the ground are killed.

General Dynamics F111 (Aardvark) flew for the first time on Dec 21st, 1964. It was the worlds first aircraft with variable geometry wings.

December 21, 1970 - Tan Son Nhut, Vietnam. Red Cross worker Christine Foerster of Florida tosses ditty bag up to C-119 pilot Capt. Bert H. Blanton.

Reader reactions:
7  Awesome

16 responses

  1. Love the Corsair shots.

    • Thanks Rob, I have to say that finding shots that you haven’t already found in the ‘no comment’ or ‘ Friday Briefing’ has been a challenge at times. You, my friend, are a star on this site. Without doubt.

  2. Outstanding, David.

    I was in Glasgow for my first visit with my new Scottish In-Laws & family when the Pan Am plane was bombed and landed (mostly) in Lockerbie. Such a sad time. Three days later we drove back to Dover on our way back to Germany and had to detour around the crash site. The biggest impact hole was large enough to park all our 1st Squadron tanks inside it. (52 M1s) A true tragedy of our time. I have ZERO tolerance for terrorists. They are the scum of the earth, along with child molesters.
    The Aviation Week magazine cover shows (to me) the most beautiful airliner EVER ... the Constellation. I've flown in several of them, but that was back right after dinosaurs ruled the earth. Ha! At least, that's how old my Wife says I am!

    What a beautiful photo of the F-111s, too.

    Great photo set, my friend!

    • And relax...

      1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

      • Ahhhh. The Connie; my favorite is the "Super G" version. It has an elongated fuselage and nose plus tip tanks on the wings. It's a real beauty and quite graceful looking. I think I mentioned this before; in case I didn't, the Lockheed Constellation and the P-38 share something in common. If you find a photo or drawing of the P-38 wing and the Connie wing, you'll see that they have the same shape. The added engines & the he size is different, basically. It was one of the successes of both planes. It was a very efficient wing. Of course, I like the P-38 as well! LoL!

        2 attached images. Click to enlarge.

  3. I have to say the lines of the Constellation for me rival the form of the Spitfire. There is a beautiful elegance about her that is almost art rather than engineering.

    Rob, the colour photo of her is GORGEOUS.

    Thanks,

    David

  4. Buenas fotos y carteles . Dioramas con los Corsair. Impresionante F-111 ¡que aerodinámica!.
    He llegado a ver en Barajas un Constellation y eran gigantescos en aquellos años ,aunque si lo aparcamos al lado de un A-380 parecería un caza.

  5. Well you did it again !

    And provided me with an inspiring post. I have been thinking about building up a few FAA Corsairs and F6F Hellcats. After seeing your post and some F4U pictures I have never seen before you have set the wheels in motion for another series of Iron Werks builds.

    I have several decal sheets for planes that you normally don't see built up that often.



    And I might even toss in a few from Argentina since I'll have the assembly line up and running.

    Thanks again David !

    This posting was extra special for me.

    Things are going well here across the "Pond".

    Merry Christmas my friend.

  6. Awesome, Louis. I like the NMF ones with the blue tail. It'll be cool.

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