Beriev Be-200 and A-42 (Unusual Aircraft Collection)

From the 1920s until the 1950s many airliners, cargo planes and naval patrol aircraft were flying boats.

It was a US Navy Curtiss NC-4 flying boat which made the first transatlantic crossing in 1919, though the trip took 19 days and required many stops for refuelling and repairs.    Other famous flying boats from this period include the Sikorsky S-38, Boeing Clipper, Grumman Goose, Consolidated Catalina, Short Sunderland and Martin Mars.   These aircraft provided an extra safety factor when flying over water, and could also get to islands or coastal towns which didn't have airports.   However, after World War Two the development of reliable land-based aircraft with long range reduced the advantages of the amphibians, and in western countries flying boats are only used as water bombers against forest fires, and as short-range tourist planes.   The only countries still operating them as military patrol aircraft are Japan and Russia.

The Beriev design bureau is a Russian aviation company which continues to produce flying boats.   In this photograph you can see their large A-42 Albatross naval patrol aircraft in formation with the Be-200 Altair water bomber at their test facility near the Russian resort town of Gelendzhik on the Black Sea.   They have also developed a small piston-engined flying boat called the Be-103 Snipe, which flew with its larger stablemates at the 2006 Gidroaviasalon ("hydro-aviation exhibition") at Gelendzhik.   Although all these aircraft have been flying for some years, the company has had little success finding customers to buy them, and their future survival is in doubt.

F-16 Fighting Falcon Aggressors (World Fighter Aircraft Collection)

A pair of "aggressor" F-16C Fighting Falcons at Nellis Air Force Basetaxying out during Operation Red Flag 07-2.

The Red Flag military exercises are carried out four to six times each year and function as the air force equivalent of the navy's "Top Gun" aerial combat training school.   Aggressors have non-standard color schemes which are supposed to approximate those of Soviet aircraft during the lateCold War.   They operate as the "red forces", either attacking or defending targets against the "blue forces" consisting of American aircraft and their allies.   The exercises involve not just fighters, but all types of aircraft, including bombers, strike aircraft, aerial refuelling tankers and airborneearly warning planes.

Although the F-16 isn't the most capable aircraft in the USAF inventory, it operates as an aggressor in order to give the friendly force experience in attacking and evading a variety of aircraft types, each with different operating characteristics.

F-16 Fighting Falcon Aggressors (World Fighter Aircraft Collection)

A pair of "aggressor" F-16C Fighting Falcons at Nellis Air Force Basetaxying out during Operation Red Flag 07-2.

The Red Flag military exercises are carried out four to six times each year and function as the air force equivalent of the navy's "Top Gun" aerial combat training school.   Aggressors have non-standard color schemes which are supposed to approximate those of Soviet aircraft during the lateCold War.   They operate as the "red forces", either attacking or defending targets against the "blue forces" consisting of American aircraft and their allies.   The exercises involve not just fighters, but all types of aircraft, including bombers, strike aircraft, aerial refuelling tankers and airborneearly warning planes.

Although the F-16 isn't the most capable aircraft in the USAF inventory, it operates as an aggressor in order to give the friendly force experience in attacking and evading a variety of aircraft types, each with different operating characteristics.

W3A Sokol Helicopter (Unusual Aircraft Collection)

A W3A Sokol ("falcon") helicopter of the Czech Air Force does a water bombing display at the 2006 Czech International Air Fair.

The Sokol was built by the Polish company PZL (short for "state aviation works"), which also made the very popular PZL-104 Wilga short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft.   The Sokol has received many export orders from countries like Germany, Italy, Russia, South Africa, Vietnam and South Korea.  Some are used by civilian operators and there are military versions performing duties such as search and rescue, medical evacuation, flying command and control, and even acting as a gunship with two 23mm cannon and other weapons mounted on pylons.

Sopwith Camel (World Fighter Aircraft Collection)

The Sopwith Camel was the most effective British fighter of world war one, credited with shooting down almost 1300 enemy aircraft, more than any other Allied fighter.

A saying of the time was that the Camel would give you either "A wooden cross, a red cross or a Victoria cross", meaning either a grave marker, a serious injury tended by Red Cross medical staff, or the highest British military decoration.   The saying came about because of the flying characteristics of the Camel, which were treacherous for an inexperienced pilot but advantageous for a skilled pilot.

Like most fighter aircraft of this time, the Camel had a rotary engine, which meant that the engine cylinders were arranged in a circle and then the propeller was fixed directly to the engine.   When the engine was running all of the cylinders and the propeller were spinning around at several hundred RPM.   In contrast, many World War Two aircraft usedradial engines, where the cylinders remain stationary and spin a shaft to which the propeller is fixed.

The torque of a rotary engine makes the fuselage of the aircraft rotate as a reaction to the turning of the engine.  If the pilot tries to turn the aircraft he has to fight against the torque when turning in one direction and he is helped by the torque when turning in the other direction.   So the Camel would turn right very rapidly, but only slowly to the left.   If a pilot wanted to turn 90 degrees to the left it was often quicker to turn 270 degrees to the right!

Almost all of the weight in the Camel was within the first seven feet of the aircraft and this magnified the torque effect, allowing the Camel to turn right about twice as fast as any other fighter, a considerable advantage when dogfighting but a problem when trying to fly normally.   If the pilot stalled the plane then it would immediately spin, and the Camel was known for killing pilots who entered a spin.   The Camel's maneuverability was further enhanced by another design feature which would normally be considered a flaw - it was very tail-heavy and the nose kept trying to push upwards.   It was hard work for the pilot to counteract this, but it meant that the Camel would perform loops very easily, another advantage in combat.