Aviation History - July 2016

2 AH july 2016

JULy 2016

features

ON THE COVER: Two Lockheed F-117 Nighthawks line up for aerial refueling during a training mission out of Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. The stealthy

“Black Jets” bombed enemy targets with impunity in the 1991 Gulf War and in 1999 during the Kosovo conflict (story, P. 20). Cover: Lance Cheung/Legion Photo.

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departments

20 THE BLACK JET

The first U.S. warplane to feature top-secret stealth technology,

Lockheed’s F-117 gained a reputation as the world’s most

invisible aircraft. By Charles W. Sasser

28 PACIFIC THUNDERBOLT ACE

P-47 proponent Colonel Neel Kearby pushed his luck too far

in pursuit of Eddie Rickenbacker’s shootdown record.

By John Stanaway

36 NIGHT OWL

Heinkel’s radar-laden He-219 Uhu night fighter was designed

from the ground up to play in the dark. By Stephan Wilkinson

44 THE TONDERN RAID

On July 19, 1918, seven Sopwith Camels struggled aloft from

an improvised aircraft carrier to bomb German zeppelin sheds

in Denmark. By Don Hollway

52 AUTOGIROS AT WAR

RAF Rota pilots played a vital yet unheralded role in the

Battle of Britain. By Bruce H. Charnov

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now you see it

A Lockheed F-

Nighthawk from the

49th Fighter Wing flies

over New Mexico.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: ©JOHN M. DIBBS/THE PLANE PICTURE CO.; SAN DIEGO AIR & SPACE MUSEUM: NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE U.S. AIR FORCE; COURTESY OF WOLFGANG MUEHLBAUER

14 AVIATORS

“Matty” Laird designed

and built custom air

racers during aviation’s

golden age.

By Edward H. Phillips

16 RESTORED

Quantico’s SBD Dauntless

spent nearly half a century

underwater.

By Mark Carlson

19 LETTER FROM

AVIATION HISTORY

58 REVIEWS

63 FLIGHT TEST

64 AERO ARTIFACT

5 MAILBAG

6 BRIEFING

12 EXTREMES

E.G. Budd’s stainless steel

cargo plane featured a

retractable tail ramp.

By Robert Guttman

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