The Women Airforce Service Pilots that served during World War II are set to receive a Congressional Gold Medal. Former WASP, Bernice “Bee” Haydu talks about her experience and meets with Holly Hutchinson, a modern-day female pilot. Please excuse the advertisement on the CBS video.
John Slemp’s photo of the WASPS has been made into a Commemorative Print available through the Aerographs store. Order your copy today!
Many thanks to those who have served, are serving or are planning to serve.
Where would we be without you?
If you have colleagues or friends who are business aviation people, you can find the perfect gifts for them at Aerographs.
Some ideas
Order now for best selection!
If you’re attending NBAA in Atlanta this month, you’ll see John Slemp’s Vintage Aviation Photography gracing the walls of the Atlantic FBO, the home of the static displays. Here’s a preview: – click photos to enlarge.
Our drawing winner, Jim Way sent this note:
Your photos are great. So many quality images makes it difficult to make a selection.
However, I think I’ve settled on the Ford Tri-Motor Rudder black-and-white. I’m a fan of the more abstract images and this one looks great.
Thanks Jim, and we’re glad someone with a good eye won the drawing! Good luck to those entering in August!
Fully restored, nearly 70 years old, and absolutely beautiful. Available in prints, coasters and T shirts
From Wikipedia-
The Ryan STs were a series of two seat, low wing monoplane aircraft built by the Ryan Aeronautical Company. They were used as sport aircraft, as well as trainers by flying schools and the military of several countries.
Design and development
T. Claude Ryan was the founder of the Ryan Aeronautical Company, the second incarnation of a company with this name, and the fourth company with which he had been involved to bear his name[1] (the first, Ryan Airlines, was the manufacturer of the Ryan NYP, more famously known as the Spirit of St. Louis). He began the development of the ST (for “Sport Trainer”, and also known as S-T), the first design of the company, in 1933.[2]
The ST featured two open cockpits in tandem in a metal semi-monocoque fuselage of two main frames – one steel, the other half of steel and half of aluminium alloy (alclad) – to take the loads from the wing spars and six more alclad frames; and alclad skin.[3] It had wings in three sections of hybrid construction; the centre section integral with the fuselage had tubular steel spars, the front spar a simple tube with an external brace to the upper fuselage, and the rear spar in the form of a parallel chord truss.[3] The two outer wing panels had wooden spars and alclad ribs, with diagonal rods bracing the wings internally. Alclad sheet was used to form the leading edges, and fabric covered the whole structure. When attached the outer wings were braced with flying wires to the fixed conventional landing gear and landing wires to the upper fuselage.[3]
Five STs were built[4] before the follow-on ST-A (also S-T-A) (A for Aerobatic) was developed with a more powerful engine. A single ST-B was produced, this being an ST-A with only one seat and an extra fuel tank where the front cockpit normally was; this aircraft was subsequently converted back to ST-A standard.[5] The ST-A was further developed as the ST-A Special, with an engine of increased power.
In 1937 the ST-A Special was developed into a military version, the STM (also ST-M) series. Changes included wider cockpits to enable military pilots to enter and exit while wearing parachutes, and provision for a machine gun on some examples[4]. Variants in the series included the STM-2P single-seat version armed with a machine gun delivered to Nationalist China; and the STM-S2, which could be fitted with landing gear or with EDO Model 1965 floats.[3][6]
A U.S. Navy Ryan NR-1 at NAS Jacksonville, 1942.
After the ST-M came the ST-3, a substantial redesign in 1941 partly brought about by the unreliability of the Menasco engines fitted to STs to that point. The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) had purchased several dozen ST-M variants under various designations and had Ryan Aeronautical re-engine most with Kinner R-440 radial engines.[4][7] The USAAC found the modification to be beneficial and asked Ryan Aeronautical to design a variant with this engine as standard, and with airframe modifications considered desirable from in-service experience. The ST-3 that resulted featured a longer and more circular wider fuselage, this being suggested by the circular radial engine. Other changes included a revised rudder, balanced ailerons and elevators, and strengthened main landing gear with the legs spaced further apart. The streamlining spats covering the mainwheels, found on ST series aircraft to that point, were deleted as well.[1] The ST-3 served as the basis for military versions ordered by the USAAC and the United States Navy (USN).[4]
The ST-3 gave rise to another model developed in 1941 and early 1942, this was the ST-3KR (for Kinner Radial). The ST-3KR had a more powerful Kinner R-5 engine fitted and became the definitive model; more than 1,000 military versions were built during World War II as PT-22 Recruits.[4] The final variant was the ST-4, which was a version of the ST-3 with a wooden fuselage, developed in case a shortage of “strategic materials” (i.e. of metal) developed. Such a shortage did not eventuate and the ST-4 was not put into mass-production.[4]
The first Ryan ST flew for the first time on 8 June 1934[1] and production began the following year, when nine aircraft were delivered.[7] Except for 1937 (when 46 aircraft were built), production rates remained low for several years, at about one aircraft every two weeks. This changed in 1940 when deliveries to military forces began in earnest; production that year was just under three aircraft per week.[7] Total production of civil and military aircraft prior to the entry of the United States into World War II amounted to 315.[7][8] Another 1,253 military versions were produced in 1942 and 1943, for a total of 1,568 aircraft of all models.
[edit] Operational history
Most civil aircraft in the ST series were delivered in the United States, although a few were exported to South Africa, Australia and various countries in Latin America. An example of the ST-A was procured by the USAAC in 1939 for evaluation as the XPT-16. This was followed by 15 YPT-16s, the first time the USAAC had ordered a monoplane trainer. These were the first of more than 1,000 Ryan STs to serve the USAAC, its successor the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) and the USN.[9][10]
A large number of STMs were exported in the 1930s and early 1940s (prior to the entry of the United States into World War Two) to various Air forces, with the biggest customer being the military of the Netherlands East Indies (NEI, now Indonesia). The NEI Army and Navy took delivery of 84 STM-2s and 24 STM-S2s in 1940 and early 1941.[1][7][8][11] Another 50 STM-2Es and STM-2Ps were exported to Nationalist China, while others were exported to Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Nicaragua.[4]
After the Japanese invasion of the NEI many Ryans in that country were pressed into combat, especially in reconnaissance roles, and large numbers were shot down or destroyed on the ground.[12] Surviving STM-2s and STM-S2s that were not captured by the Japanese were shipped to Australia, where 34 entered service in the Royal Australian Air Force as trainers. Many of those that survived until the end of World War Two were then placed on the civil register in Australia and elsewhere, and some are still flying almost 70 years after they were built.
ST – Prototype and first model, fitted with a Menasco B4 engine of 95 hp; five built.
ST-A – Improved ST designed for aerobatics, fitted with a Menasco C4 engine of 125 hp; 73 built.[15]
ST-A Special – Improved ST-A, fitted with a Menasco C4S engine of 150 hp; 10 built.[16]
ST-B – Single-seat variant of ST-A with extra fuel tank in place of front cockpit; one built, later converted to ST-A.
STM – Military version of ST-A Special with wider cockpits, some with provision for a machine gun; 22 built.
STM-2 – Variant of STM for Netherlands East Indies Army and Navy; 95 built.
STM-2E – Variant of STM delivered to China, fitted with a Menasco C4S2 engine of 165 hp; 48 built.
STM-2P – Single-seat variant of the STM-2E with provision for a machine gun, also delivered to China; 2 built.
STM-S2 – Variant of STM-2 with interchangeable wheel landing gear or floats for Netherlands East Indies Navy; 13 built.
ST-W – Experimental conversions, with a Warner Scarab radial engine; one converted from USAAC YPT-16 with Scarab of 125 hp; one converted from USAAC PT-20A with Super Scarab of 160 hp.[5][7]
ST-3 – Variant with new fuselage shape and a Kinner B-5 radial engine of 125 hp; one built.
ST-3KR – Variant of ST-3 with a Kinner R-5 radial engine of 160 hp, one built.
ST-4 – Variant of ST-3 manufactured with wooden fuselage; one built.
General characteristics
Performance
Using several prints from a particularly distinctive aircraft is a great way to establish the a theme for your decor.
Each image is available in many sizes to fit any budget and any size space.
Blue Skies!
-Slemper
P.S. Get these prints in a variety of sizes, but frame them identically to further the unified theme! Black mats make them particularly dramatic.
John Slemp has been busy. . .
He’s been shooting great photos at the EAA AirVenture in OshKosh Wisconsin, (this year’s event was so rainy it’s unofficially called “Splosh-Kosh.”)
He’s got great photos and great stories as soon as we can lock him up in a room with a computer long enough to write some posts for this blog . . .
John Slemp (in red) after lying prone in the mud to get the perfect shot at Splosh Kosh
Here’s a quick note from John
Here we are “returning to base” after the first shoot last Tuesday morning. Next to me is Eric Varndell, the Global Marketing Manager-Aviation Tires for Goodyear. That’s mud and water all over me, as the shot required a prone position in a grassy (muddy/wet) area. No worries though, as we got the shot . . . Jeff Monter, the agency creative director is behind Eric (wearing an Aerographs hat!), and Mark (who prints and distributes the calendars) is seen over my shoulder, carrying the ladder. All in all, it was a great week! We went to breakfast right after this.
Meanwhile, join us in congratulating Jim Way, who won a 24 x 24″ fine art print of the Douglas SBD-5 Wing & Speed Brakes.
If you haven’t signed up for our newsletter, do it today and you’ll be entered for next month’s drawing for a 24 x 24 print of your choice!
The Ford Trimotor is a very distinctive piece of Americana, as well as aviation history
From Wikipedia -
Imagine your decorating your home or business with a few of these. There are 13 images in the Trimotor collection, click here to see them all!
The story of the Ford Trimotor begins with William Bushnell Stout, an engineer who had previously designed several aircraft using principles similar to those of Professor Hugo Junkers, the famous German manufacturer.
Stout, a bold and imaginative salesman, sent a mimeographed form letter to leading manufacturers, blithely asking for $1,000 and adding: “For your one thousand dollars you will get one definite promise: You will never get your money back.” Stout raised $20,000, including $1,000 each from Edsel and Henry Ford.
In the early 1920s Henry Ford, along with a group of 19 other investors including his son Edsel, invested in the Stout Metal Airplane Company. In 1925, Ford bought Stout and its Hugo Junkers-influenced aircraft designs. Ford adapted the traditionally single engined Stout design with three Wright air-cooled radial engines. After a series of test aircraft and a suspicious fire causing the complete destruction of all previous designs, the 4-AT and 5-AT emerged. The Ford Trimotors used an all-metal construction — not a revolutionary concept, but certainly more advanced than the standard construction techniques in the 1920s. The aircraft resembled the Fokker F.VII but it was all metal allowing Ford to claim it was “the safest airliner around.” Its fuselage and wings were constructed of aluminum and corrugated for added strength although the drag reduced overall performance. This has become something of a trademark for the Trimotor. Transcontinental Air Transport, which later became part of Trans World Airlines, used the aircraft to begin its transcontinental air service from San Diego to New York in 1929.
Although designed primarily for passenger use, the Trimotor could be easily adapted for cargo hauling as the seats in the fuselage could be removed. To increase capacity, one unusual feature was the provision of “drop down” cargo holds in the lower inner wing sections of the 5-AT variant.
One 4-AT with Wright J-4 200 hp engines was built for the Army Air Corps as type C-3, and seven with Wright R-790-3 (235 hp) as type C-3A. The latter were upgraded to Wright R-975-1 (J6-9) radials at 300 hp and redesignated C-9. Five 5-ATs were built as C-4 or C-4A.
The original (commercial production) 4-AT had three air cooled Wright radial engines. It carried a crew of three: pilot, co-pilot and stewardess as well as eight or nine passengers (up to 12 passengers could be accommodated in special configurations). The later 5-AT had more powerful Pratt & Whitney engines. All models had aluminum corrugated sheet metal body and wings. However, unlike many aircraft of this era, extending through World War II and later, the aircraft control surfaces were not fabric covered, but were of corrugated aluminum. As was common for the time, the rudder and elevator were controlled by wires that were strung along the external surface of the aircraft. Similarly, engine gauges were mounted externally, on the engines, to be read by the pilot looking through the windscreen. Another anachronism was the use of the hand-operated “Johnny Brake.”
Like his cars and tractors, these Ford aircraft were well designed, relatively inexpensive, and reliable (for the era). The combination of metal structure and simple systems lead to a reputation for ruggedness. Rudimentary servicing could be accomplished “in the field” with ground crew able to work on engines using scaffolding and platforms. In order to fly into normally inaccessible sites, the Ford Trimotor could be fitted with skis and floats.
The rapid development of aircraft at this time (the vastly superior Douglas DC-2 was first conceived in 1932), along with the death of his personal pilot, Harry Brooks, on a test flight led to Henry Ford losing interest in aviation. While Ford did not make a profit on its aircraft business, Ford’s reputation lent credibility to the infant aviation industry, and Ford helped introduce many aspects of the modern aviation infrastructure, including paved runways, passenger terminals, hangars, airmail, and radio navigation.
In the late 1920s, the Ford Aircraft Division was reputedly the “largest manufacturer of commercial airplanes in the world.” Alongside the Ford Trimotor, a new one-passenger commuter aircraft, the Ford Flivver or “Sky Flivver” had been designed and flown in prototype form but never entered series production. The Trimotor was not to be Ford’s last venture in aircraft production. During World War II, he built the largest aircraft manufacturing plant in the world at the Willow Run, Michigan plant and assembled thousands of B-24 Liberator bombers under license from Consolidated Aircraft.
Using several prints from a particularly distinctive aircraft is a great way to establish the a theme for your decor.
Each image is available in many sizes to fit any budget and any size space.
Blue Skies!
-Slemper
P.S. Get these prints in a variety of sizes, but frame them identically to further the unified theme! Black mats make them particularly dramatic.
Send your young aviator back to school in style. Here are four ideas, there are lots more on the Aerographs web site.
