Flight Journal - June 2020

In this issue

P-51 Mustang: American Icon; Flying the North American P-51 Mustang: A Triple Ace Reports From the Cockpit; Mustang Vs. Thunderbolt: a 78th Fighter Group Combat Pilot's Inside Analysis; Battle of the Superfighters: F-14D Tomcat vs. F/A-18E/F Super Hornet; Tog Gun: Maverick: The Iconic '80s Aviation Action Classic Returns to Thrill a New Generation; The Secrets of Truk Lagoon: Project Recover Locates Three Missing World War II Aircraft; Magnificent Monocoupe: The 110 Special

Battle of the Superfighters

F-14D Tomcat vs F/A - 18E/F Super Hornet

10+ mins

The iconic '80s aviation action classic returns to thrill a new generation

Can you believe it’s been 34 years since we first saw Tom Cruise catapult off a carrier deck and up into the danger zone as Lieutenant Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in Top Gun? That jet-propelled ode to air-to-air combat in the jet age is without question one of the most iconic films of the 1980s—so much so that in 2015 the Library of Congress deemed it to be “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” enough to be archived in the National Film Registry! It was also the highest-grossing film of 1986, which probably has more to do with why Paramount Pictures and producer Jerry Bruckheimer have been trying for a decade to get a sequel off the deck—and now they have.

3 mins

FLYING THE NORTH AMERICAN P-51 Mustang

A triple Ace reports from the cockpit

10+ mins

Mustang VS Thunderbolt

A 78th Fighter Group combat pilot’s inside analysis

7 mins

The Secrets of Truk Lagoon

Project Recover locates three missing World War II aircraft

5 mins

Clipwing Monocoupe

The Monocoupe Corp. built only seven Monocoupe 110 Specials (or 110 SPL), also called the Clipwing Monocoupe. The most famous was flown by legendary airshow pilot Woody Edmundson, who, in 1946, replaced the original 145 hp Warner Scarab engine with a 185 hp one that had an inverted flight carburetor and an Aeromatic propeller. He nicknamed the plane Little Butch and flew it for the next 19 years.

2 mins

A good landing is one you can walk away from

No, this is not a scene from any movie where the hero staggers away from a “good landing” on Mindoro, Philippine Islands, after being shot down by a Japanese Zero; it is an actual photo of Lt. S. F. Ford walking away from a virtually new Lockheed P-38L-5-LO Lightning that he crash-landed, probably some time after January 1945.

1 min

And in the end ... friends

Piloting one of 21 Fw 190s of II. Gruppe, Jagdgeschwader 1, Oberleutnant Wolfgang Kretschmer, during the March 6, 1944 Berlin Air Raid, took part in the noon head-on attack on the 13th Combat Bomb Wing. As he emerged from the rear of the B-17 formation, he instinctively glanced back at the receding enemy bombers and saw the one he had attacked, rear up and out of control. Others, trailing smoke or losing height, were obviously in trouble. The German pilot turned back to the front to find that the rest of his unit had disappeared. He was alone. Undaunted, Kretschmer pulled a tight turn and sped after the enemy bombers, determined to deliver a follow-up attack from the rear.

2 mins

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Flight Journal Magazine Description:

Flight Journal is like no other aviation magazine in the world, covering the world of flight from its simple beginnings to its high-tech, no-holds- barred future. We put readers in the cockpit and let them live the thrill and adventure of the aviation experience, narrated by those who know the technology and made the history. The spectacular photography – from air-to-air shots to rarely seen archival photos–enhances each and every story. Each issue brings the stories of flight–past, present and future – to life.