Cool old airplanes for rent at Gillespie Field, Aero Drive, in the Serra Mesa area of San Diego

1941 North American SNJ-4 Texan. This aircraft was the advanced trainer for WWII aviators.

http://barnstorming.com/

NC674H was built in November of 1929. It was owned by a detective agency in Chicago that used it to transport a gangster-sniffing bloodhound.

http://barnstorming.com/documents/44.html

Where is my flying platform? The damn things were perfected in 1956... what happened to them?

Hey! It's got wheels, and therefore I'm not compromising my standards! Who knew I could stretch an "Anything cool with wheels" philosophy so far and wide?

You'll notice the interesting tanker in the lower left corner, must have been detached from a semi truck?

from the LIFE archives.

For the other flying saucers that they made in the 1950's look at these three http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/02/proof-that-man-can-design-flying.html

Couzinet 70, photographed in 1932

I've never seen a desing like it.. looks cool! from http://community.livejournal.com/dieselpunk/269123.html via: http://my-ear-trumpet.tumblr.com/

Uncle Bob the Corsair pilot, heroes don't always die in battle

HAMB member MAZOOMA wrote about his Uncle Bob, I have to repost it.

Uncle Bob with his Corsair.

He was killed one month after I was born when an airman in another Corsair, who my uncle was training over Riverside, clipped my uncle's wing. The other pilot bailed out and parachuted to safety.

Uncle Bob stayed with his plane because it was headed into a school playground. He managed to guide what was left of his plane into a dirt lot killing him instantly. I still have the letters from eye-witnesses that were mailed to my grandparents saying how they could see him struggling to get the plane away from the crowded playground. Many people from the neighborhood where the crash took place made the drive to Monrovia where his funeral was held. All came to pay their respects for a man they would never meet.

Via: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=446547&page=14

Dauntless in formation

Proabably from Mega Moto, I'm not sure
I mistakenly called it a Corsair, and then had two guys correct me, and they didn't agree on what these are... either Avengers or Dauntless

proof that man can design flying saucers that work

The Avro flying saucer

Above via: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=428585&page=561

Above via: http://piccole.rispostesenzadomanda.com/

Well the top one has tires, and that gets it on the blog... but it needed company so the bottom image got to ride along

Both from the cool stuff found at http://megamoto.tumblr.com/

Auto-gyro, or gyro copter

top photo from http://megamoto.tumblr.com/

Above: Amelia Earheart and an Autogyro close up

the propeller pulls it through the air, the helicopter blades weren't powered and started spinning as the plane acquired forward momentum, and provided lift... notice that there aren't wings on the planes in the top and bottom photos. .

a helicopter works by forcing the rotor blades through the air, pushing air downwards, the autogyro rotor blade generates lift in the same way as a glider's wing by changing the angle of the air as it moves upwards and backwards relative to the rotor blade. The free-spinning blades turn by autorotation; the rotor blades are angled so that they not only give lift, but the angle of the blades causes the lift to accelerate the blades' rotation rate, until the rotor turns at a stable speed with the drag and thrust forces in balance. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autogyro

Howard Hughes, genius with a bit of an issue... but he really was on his game early on

Abandoned stuff website

the LeTourneau electric arctic land trains has a great write up recently on http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2009/11/19/54-wheel-drive-the-letourneau-electric-arctic-land-trains-that-put-australian-road-trains-to-shame/

Above, the Kee Bird, which was the subject of an awesome recovery effort when private funding got it up and running, and moving, but old electrical wiring shorted, and the whole thing burned to cinders on film while a documentary was being filmed, it is so worth seeing!

For the story: http://www.rb-29.net/HTML/03RelatedStories/03.03shortstories/03.03.09contss.htm

Check out the stories on all of these at: http://www.artificialowl.net