CCTV specialist AD Group is sponsoring the ambitious ‘Vulcan to the Sky’ project designed to return an original Vulcan V-bomber to flight and allow the majestic delta-wing design to once again wow the crowds at public air displays. As part of its support for the project, AD Group plans to supply a state-of-the-art FlightVu digital video recorder - and associated CCTV cameras - from its subsidiary AD Aerospace to provide valuable in-flight footage of this historic aircraft. To reach a position where Vulcan XH558, which left RAF service in 1993, is only weeks away from obtaining a CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) permit-to-fly is the end result of an eleven year restoration project. An outcome which has only been made possible by the hardwork of a network of volunteers and funding from business and private donations.

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MINNEAPOLIS (April 30, 2008) — The Lindbergh Foundation announced today that in connection with its 31st annual Lindbergh Award Celebration in May , several one-of-a-kind items will be available for on-line bidding. Kelley Welf, Director of Communications for the Foundation, confirmed that online bidding for twelve unique items is opening today at www.lindberghfoundation.org , and will close for on-line bidding on May 15 at 4 p.m. CDT. John King, Co-Chairman of King Schools and Chairman of the Lindbergh Foundation Board of Directors, noted, “The Foundation wants the global audience of aviation enthusiasts to have its chance to participate in an auction that would otherwise have been limited to attendees of our Celebration in Atlanta. This auction—like our work at the Lindbergh Foundation—is just too special to keep to ourselves.” Miles O’Brien, CNN Correspondent and Lindbergh Foundation Director, referred to the offering he’ll be hosting and added, “I’m looking forward to meeting the lucky bidder who’ll spend some time with us here at CNN studios in our ‘behind the scenes tour and lunch.’ It’s a great chance to support the Lindbergh Foundation’s work and have some fun doing it!”

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SEATTLE, April 28, 2008 — Boeing [NYSE: BA] and the Museum of Flight (MoF) joined together on April 15 to honor the work of Wong Tsoo, the company’s first engineer and an early aviation and aerospace pioneer. They were joined by a delegation of educational leaders from the National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) in Taiwan where Tsoo taught from 1955 to 1965. The highlight of the event came when NCKU presented Boeing with a bound copy of Tsoo’s recently re-discovered lecture notes from the university. A copy will reside in the company and the MoF’s archives.

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Washington D.C., April 24, 2008 — The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] is contributing $5 million to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington, D.C. to be used in support of the design and construction of the museum. Boeing is the largest donor to date for the NMAAHC. The museum was established in December 2003, when President Bush signed legislation establishing the museum as part of the Smithsonian Institution. It will be built on a five-acre site on Constitution Avenue between 14th and 15th Streets, NW. The museum is scheduled to open in December 2015 at a cost of about $500 million. Boeing leaders joined Rep. Norman D. Dicks (D-WA); Cristián Samper, Acting Secretary of the Smithsonian; and Lonnie G. Bunch III, Founding Director, NMAAHC, in making the announcement today.

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Starting Thursday April 24, visitors to the National Air and Space Museum will get a glimpse of six aircraft representing a cross section of modern unmanned flight technology in the new “Military Unmanned Aerial Vehicles” exhibition. UAVs are used by all four military branches for missions ranging from reconnaissance and surveillance to attack and each branch is represented in this exhibit: Predator, DarkStar, X-45A (Air Force); Shadow 200 (Army); Dragon Eye (Marine Corps); and Pioneer (Navy). Likewise, a wide variety of technologies are on display: jets, piston-driven props and electric motors for propulsion; and surveillance radars, precision bombs and missiles for combat use.

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As part of May’s Museums and Galleries Month the Royal Air Force Museum has teamed up with online auction house Top Lots to offer an exclusive experience behind the scenes at the Museum’s Cosford site. A must for any aviation enthusiast this exclusive day will allow the successful bidder and a guest to witness the ground-breaking conservation and preservation work undertaken by the staff of the Michael Beetham Conservation Centre at the Royal Air Force Museum, Cosford. Two lucky guests will be able to see the work that goes in to conserving and maintaining historic aircraft in an area not normally open to the public; talk to a conservator about the work that they are undertaking; and take private photography of the workshop.

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Balboa Park — The San Diego Air & Space Museum now offers a way for the public to search the contents of its Library & Archives’ extensive collection of items related to aviation, space history and technology. AeroCat, the Museum’s new online catalog, offers immediate Internet access to thousands of items and can be searched through the Museum’s website at www.sandiegoairandspace.org. “We’re excited about sharing these invaluable resources. We have now made available the Museum’s collection 24-hours a day and this will be especially gratifying for international inquiries,” said the Museum’s head archivist, Katrina Pescador. “The Library & Archives will come alive for researchers and aviation enthusiasts around the world.”

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WASHINGTON, D.C., April 07, 2008 — The Boeing Company today announced that it is sponsoring a flyover of four historic military airplanes in honor of U.S. airmen who died during World War II and in subsequent conflicts. The event will take place on Thursday, April 10, at 1:15 p.m. The airplanes will take off from Andrews Air Force Base, will cross the airspace around Ronald Reagan National Airport (which will close briefly to accommodate the event) and will circle the Air Force Memorial before returning to Andrews. Spectators will be able to view the flyover from the grounds of the memorial (accessed by car via I-395 and Columbia Pike) as well as from multiple points along the Potomac River in Arlington and Washington, D.C.

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The Yorkshire Air Museum’s new Bomber Command exhibition Against the Odds received a flying start on Wednesday 19th March when it was officially opened by Sir David Jason OBE, widely regarded as one of Britain’s most popular actors. An Honorary Member of the Museum and aviation enthusiast, Sir David arrived in some style by flying in by helicopter for this auspicious occasion, to the delight of over 1000 visitors who turned up for the occasion. Sir David graciously signed many autographs before going on to ‘inspect’ a contingent of new Royal Air Force recruits from nearby RAF Leconfield and some cadets from 2388 (Castleford) Air Training Corps. After being shown into the new exhibition, Sir David chatted to several veterans of Bomber Command who have had a long association with the Museum, and he was clearly moved by hearing of their often harrowing experiences.

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HALF MOON BAY, CALIFORNIA (March 24, 2008) — A spectacular showcase of 2,000 magnificent machines running the gamut from super cool cars, custom motorcycles and one-of-a-kind woodie busses to tricked out trucks, antique engines and tractors, and historic military aircraft will be among the mesmerizing displays at the 18th Annual Pacific Coast Dream Machines Show, Sunday, April 27, 2008 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Half Moon Bay Airport. The show benefits the Coastside Adult Day Health Center. Hundreds of aviation wonders are expected to be on display — stylish homebuilts, classics from the 40’s and 50’s, exceptional vintage warbirds, and sport and ultralight aircraft. See a spectacular display including “Heavenly Body” — an exquisitely restored B-25 Bomber from World War II, a V-22 Osprey Marine Corps vertical take-off aircraft, a Grumann F-7 Tigercat, several P-51 Mustangs, a Hawker Seafury British Fighter, a P-40 “Flying Tiger”, T-6 and T-28 military trainers, YAK Russian fighters, Hiller Aviation Museum’s vintage DC-3, world-renown aerobatics pilot Eddie Andreini and lots more. Helicopter and bi-plane rides will be available for $50-$100.

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The History Press, the UK’s leading publisher of special interest and local history books, whose portfolio already contains such well-known names as Tempus and Spellmount, has announced a significant investment in the field of aviation publishing with the launch of a new imprint, Lancaster. Headed by Tom Ferris, a former director of Midland Publishing, this is the first time there has been an imprint within the company solely dedicated to books in these areas.

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RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT — Explore a small world filled with villages, a train drag race and scale model railroads. Look for a miniature Hawaii complete with Pearl Harbor and Waikiki. Examine an HO-scale winter wonderland. Visit Junior Train Town. Discover how to set up a basic model train layout or take an advanced molding clinic. Inspect a supersonic spy plane — the SR-71 Blackbird. It’s all at Wings ‘n’ Rails at the Virginia Aviation Museum, Saturday, March 29, and Sunday, March 30, 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. No trip to Oahu is complete without seeing Pearl Harbor and Waikiki. Dave Conyers has created his own version based on his make-believe Honolulu Kailua and North Shore Railway. Look for his Black Pearl and aircraft carrier in Pearl Harbor.

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Nashua, N.H.- March 10, 2008-Daniel Webster College today announced that its Intercultural Student Association will sponsor a program featuring members of World War II’s Tuskegee Airmen on Thursday, March 27 in the College’s Collings Auditorium at 7:00 p.m. The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of dedicated, determined young men who came together from all corners of the United States to enlist as the nation’s first African-American military airmen. Each possessed a strong personal desire to serve the United States to the best of his ability at a time when many believed African-American men lacked intelligence, skill, courage, and patriotism. Even as each member accepted the call to arms and proudly applied his skill and determination, the Tuskegee Airmen fought two wars - one against a powerful enemy overseas and the other against bigotry and racism at home and abroad.

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FORT WORTH, Texas – The American Airlines C.R. Smith Museum is celebrating its 15 th anniversary in style, opening for 2008 with a fresh new look, expanded exhibits and a dramatic wall-size mural that can be seen from Highway 360 and even from the air by some passengers landing at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Since opening in July 1993, the C.R. Smith Museum, named for aviation pioneer and long-time American Airlines leader C.R. Smith, and located just south of DFW Airport at Highways 360 and 183, has welcomed more than 1.1 million visitors. But none has ever experienced quite the breadth and excitement of what the revitalized museum has to offer. “What we’ve done is build on an already great museum to take this remarkable facility to a new level of excellence,” said Jeffrey Johns, the C.R. Smith Museum’s Associate Director and Chief Curator. “With improvements to our theater, a new energy-efficient lighting system, and expanded exhibits with interactive displays, we’ve significantly enhanced the museum as an educational resource for everyone, but most especially children.”

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Once they were boyhood heroes. Now airmen who foiled Hitler’s invasion plans are too often left out in the cold. Matt Clark met one of the ‘few’ and a York artist who has taken him under his wing. AS CHURCHILL famously said after the Battle of Britain: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” These days the few are even fewer and in Yorkshire there is believed to be only one left. William ‘Terry’ Clark who lives in Wheldrake near York is 89. Back in 1940 he was one of the young airmen who selflessly helped to defend our skies against Nazi tyranny. He is an unsung hero because for many, the conflict conjures thoughts of dashing young men, barely out of school, who pitted their wits in Spitfires against the Luftwaffe. But that is only half the story and in any case Hurricane pilots would argue that their aircraft was more effective. Neither of them was much use at night and that is when the likes of Mr Clark earned their pay.

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When Avro Vulcan XH558 returned to the skies on 18th October 2007, it was widely expected that a major sponsor would come forward to support her return to the Air Display circuit this summer. Unfortunately, potential sponsors have drawn in their purse-strings and the chances of seeing this iconic & truly awesome ‘V’ bomber fly through the Summer of 2008 are in jeopardy. With a fixed overhead of three month’s work required to ready the aircraft and its crew for air displays, the lack of funding is now critical if she is to be ready for the display season. Dr Robert Pleming, Chief Executive of the Vulcan to the Sky Trust explains: “We plan to restart the test-flight programme at the beginning of March, but we will need £150,000 in our hands beforehand, plus confidence that we will continue to raise at least £50,000 per month after that.”

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Washington, DC: There are still 79,000 Americans missing from World War II. Of these, approximately 430 Americans are still missing from the China-Burma-India Theatre. Active searches in India concluded with the closure of the Barrackpore and Kalaikunda Cemeteries as the remains were concentrated to the Punchbowl on Oahu, HI and the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines. This repatriation of remains was concluded in January 1948. The last active searches in the India-Burma Zone were conducted in the summer of 1949. In August 1974 an Indian Army Patrol was dispatched to a US aircraft crash site reported by a hunter in Northeast India. These remains were transferred to a CILHI (Central Identification Lab - Hawaii) team in August 1977. It was not until recent lobbying by private citizens from the families of the US Army Air Force B-24 “Hot as Hell” crew that this issue was brought to the attention of the Government.

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A classic warbird not in the VWC collection (yet?) is the B-25 “Mitchell”. It served impressively in more theatres of war than any other aircraft in WWII. Not only was it flown by RCAF pilots during the war (in RAF units), but it also served in the RCAF in a variety of roles for almost two decades afterwards – few realize how actively or extensively, especially in Training Command, where I first met it. At one time we had well over 100 scattered throughout the RCAF, coast-to-coast, and I alone flew more than 60 different airframes.

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MCMINNVILLE, Ore. – Sat, Mar. 1, 2008 - In honor of Women’s History month, the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum is recognizing women in aviation with special activities throughout the day. The museum is honored to host a special presentation, activities and informational booths featuring women in aviation. The celebration begins at 10 a.m. with fun crafts and activities and informational booths from community organizations like the Girl Scouts, Women in Aviation and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Festivities will continue with an 2 p.m. presentation by Mary Feik. Throughout her career, Feik has flown over 20 different aircraft including the P-51 Mustang, P-47 Thunderbolt, P-38 Lightning, P-80 Shooting Star, B-17 Flying Fortress and B-29 Superfortress.Mary Feik is a former aviation engineer. She first became interested in aviation at the age of seven when a Barnstormer came through her hometown area in a Curtiss JN-4 biplane. She rode in the aircraft and was enthralled.

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After reading the Vintage Wings of Canada piece on the Silver Dart I was reminded of Douglas McCurdy and that he and I did his last flight together! McCurdy died in Montreal on June 25th, 1961 at the age of 74. Only two years before he had witnessed the emotional re-enactment, in “Silver Dart II”, of his historic flight at Baddeck. In that same year he was made an honourary Air Commodore in the Royal Canadian Air Force by Air Marshal Hugh Campbell.

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MINNEAPOLIS, Feb. 12, 2008 — Ted Turner, chairman of the Turner Foundation and founder of CNN, the world’s first live, in-depth, around-the-clock news television network, will be the recipient of the 2008 Lindbergh Award in recognition of his dedication to the environment. The Jacoby Group will be the Foundation’s third recipient of the Lindbergh Corporate Award for their commitment to sustainable and environmentally sensitive development. A gala will be held at The Ritz Carlton, Buckhead, in Atlanta, Ga., on Saturday, May 17, 2008. Turner and Jacoby will speak at the 2008 Lindbergh Award Celebration, which includes a reception, silent auction, program and dinner. “As the largest landowner in the country, Ted Turner is making a huge contribution toward not only protecting the environment from development, but also promoting the conservation and re-introduction of native species on his land,” said Foundation Chairman John King. “Mr. Turner has been extraordinarily successful in his business ventures. His efforts on behalf of the environment have been equally monumental, and combined with his recent business endeavor to provide clean energy solutions for commercial and industrial clients make him an ideal recipient for the Lindbergh Award.” The Lindbergh Award is presented annually to individuals who have made significant contributions over many years toward improving our quality of life by balancing technological advancements and the preservation of our environment.

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Early indications from the RAF Events Participation Committee reveal that several aircraft from the legendary Battle of Britain Memorial Flight will be allocated to support forthcoming events at the Yorkshire Air Museum. At Battlegroup North, the increasingly popular ‘war gaming weekend’ and historic military vehicle gathering, we have been allocated the magnificent Lancaster, the ultimate symbol of victory in the air war of WWII, on Saturday 10th May, and the following day the Dakota, probably the most successful aircraft type in aviation history, will grace the skies of Elvington. These flypasts will be the icing on the cake of what promises to be another spectacular occasion, following last years record breaking event which saw some 200 military vehicles on display, alongside fascinating Living History diorama’s and the amazing tabletop war games, showing precision modelling at it’s finest. These complex games of strategy allow participation from visitors and once again some of the best exhibition and participation games from around the country will be on show.

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European legislation will see the final flight of a British-registered passenger Douglas DC-3 on 13 July this year. Although currently approved to operate by the UK Civil Aviation Authority, this will not be the case when EU-OPS becomes law at 0001 hours on 16 July 2008. Although the regulations also affect other classic aircraft in the Air Atlantique fleet, including he de Havilland Dragon Rapide and Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer, because they are significantly smaller than the DC-3, the regulations which they must meet are far less onerous. These aircraft can be expected to continue to fly on.

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MCMINNVILLE, Ore – Thurs., Feb. 14, 2008— The Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum IMAX Theater is unveiling the story of a legendary expedition Lewis & Clark: Great Journey West. This film begins its showing on Oregon’s Birthday – Feb. 14. The film will play at the Evergreen IMAX Theater until May 2008. Follow in the footsteps of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their historic exploration of America when Lewis & Clark: Great Journey. With sweeping panoramas of the rugged American West and stunning aerial photography, one of the greatest adventures in American history comes to life.

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The Typhoon was brought in by road on Tuesday 22nd Jan and moved into the Milestones of Flight Exhibition Hall the following day. Engineers from RAF Conningsby and RAF St Athens assembled the aircraft. It is currently on display ‘on the ground’ but will be permanently suspended at the front of the viewing gallery in March.

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