August 2011 Archives

What do you get if you have a journalist and/or author setting up camp in an airport terminal? A hopeful revival in airport fiction

Man and Boy author Tony Parsons became the writer in residence at London's Heathrow in early August to talk to airport staff and travellers for inspiration to write a new work of fiction.

Architect and philosopher Alain de Botton took part in the project in 2009 and wrote a book called A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary which shows the different human emotions, events, and experiences that occur within a busy environment and how many fail to appreciate what goes on right infront of us.

What do you think of Parson being a writer-in-residence? Did you see him? Did you speak to him? Is it an invasion of privacy? Would you make an interesting character for his novel?

This blog post was written by freelancer Rebecca Springate.

A nine-year-old has fascinated US war veterans and the public with his homemade website of the Bell UH-1 Iroquois nicknamed the Huey Helicopter.

Kevin Dutton's fascination began after a helicopter landed in his school four years ago.

Kevin began collecting its memorabilia and created the website as a school project which has gone on to prove immensely popular, and he has been overwhelmed with messages of praise.

One Vietnam veteran wrote: "Long after those of us who flew the Huey are gone, we will depend on young men like yourself to educate the public about the Huey."

It seems refreshing that a young boy wants to share his Huey fascination. Who knows what his future holds? When did your fascination for aviation begin.

Kevin Dutton's Huey website

Aircraft Profile: Bell UH-1 Huey

 In the archive

Bell aims to bring the Huey to a wider audience

The Huey's New Clothes

Originally called the Bell UH-1 Iroquois - How the Huey got its nickname

Letter: Please rescue historic Huey

Images 

Buy this image of a Huey from Flightglobal's Image Store

See this image by AirSpace user flyvertosset

This blog post was written by freelancer Rebecca Springate

Remember when you could smoke in the aircraft cabin? Remember when the cockpit door was always open and you could request to go and have a chat with the pilot? Remember when you could show up five to 10 minutes before your flight, purchase your ticket and go, and air hostesses were hired for their looks over their other attributes?

Well sadly, it's all a bit before my time, but the 1960s was a different era. Flying was the fun part of getting to your destination, if you can believe that. Imagine a world without security checks?

Air travel was for the few not for the many. Air fares were extortionate back then.

A new television series is about to start in the US called Pan Am on ABC this Autumn and will land on UK screens on BBC2 sometime soon.

Sleepy Hollow actor Christina Ricci who plays stewardess Maggie said: "A big part of the flying experience during the era of "Pan Am" was the stewardesses.  

"These stewardesses were looked at as glamorous symbols." And little girls aspired to being one when they grew up.

Pan Am facebook page  

Is this a Mad Men (HBO) spin off? Maybe yes, but as long as the writer gets everything right and the storyline and dialogue is believable, then it won't receive such criticism as the writer of the UK's The Hour about a British newsroom set in the 1950s who had to admit "anachronisms".  

To accompany this week's magazine features on defence helicopters here are a few defence helicopter features from the Flightglobal archive.

1995: Apache wins UK heli battle

1995: A clash of cultures - Apache vs Eurocopter Tiger - Read Flight's report about how France "deplores" the UK's choice of the Westland/McDonnell Douglas WAH-64D Apache Longbow as its next attack helicopter, suggesting it is a "negative signal toward Europe".

Helitech 95 preview

1994: The year of the tiger... about Netherlands newly created air mobile brigade

2 Dec 1980: RAF Chinook arrives in UK

1985: The Westland issue: Europe races to meet Westland deadline 

1985: Comment - Confusion over Westland

This weeks features include:

How to enjoy aircraft: Pore over old aircraft photographs, revisit the news and features written at the time by Flight since 1909, wander around aircraft museums admiring aircraft restorations.

But perhaps the most fulfilling way, for the aviation-minded, is to experience them still gracing the skies.

An experience many would describe as bringing tears to their eyes, goosebumps and tingling of the hairs at the back of the neck as they watch these iconic engineering feats grace the skies once more and often on the air show circuit.

In the UK, the RAF's Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and the Shuttleworth Collection restore vintage aircraft so that thousands of spectators can still enjoy them in all their flying glory.

The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight performs flypasts at notable events, such as the recent wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, with its old warbirds; the Lancaster, Hurricane and Spitfires. Continue reading ... 

Browse the Flightglobal Image Store: Buy hundreds of vintage aircraft images as prints or even jigsaws at the Image Store

AirSpace images: browse the collection of archive images:

• pre-1914,
• 1930s military,
• aircraft from 1939-1945