Any Crash You Walk Away From

During the recent Flying Legends air show at Duxford, England, one pilot got it horribly wrong during a formation flying manoeuvre, and collided with the formation leader. But what follows is some of the best flying I have ever seen, as both pilots regained enough control to save themselves, with the total loss of only one aircraft. Here is the story and video at wired.com. More video from different angles is here and here. The destroyed aircraft was one fine looking machine. It's a great loss, but the old saying, "Any crash you walk away from...," is always true.

Merlin Engine

A few days ago, I mentioned Bud Wolfe, the U.S. pilot who crashed in Southern Ireland while flying for the RAF. Several pieces of Wolfe's Spitfire have been excavated from the peat bog in which has rested since 1941. The most impressive find so far has been the Merlin engine, which is damaged but largely intact. And no, it is too badly damaged to ever run again.

DC-3

The DC-3 turned 75 this week. It's hard to believe that there are still many (an estimated 400) of the venerable old birds still flying worldwide, such as with Buffalo Airways in the North West Territories. Every single one of those aircraft were build during an eleven year production run between 1935 and 1946. That means the youngest of the operational airframes is already 64 years old. Incredible! They just don't make them like that any more.