Explore the world of aviation through the eyes of Chas Downs, a talented artist with a passion for capturing aviation and nautical subjects in acrylics on gessoboard.
A Boeing-built Stearman N2S-3 in U.S. Navy markings, painted to indicate it was used for instrument training. Also given the designation PT-17, these widely produced biplane trainers were used by all the U.S. military services and many foreign countries to train pilots during the war. After that they were often used as crop-dusters and appeared in air shows.
Naval Aircraft Factory N3N-3 flying over the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis in the 1950s. Used as both land and water-based trainers during WW II, a few were retained to give Midshipmen aviation orientation flights until their retirement in around1960.
Navy basic trainers of WW II--the "Yellow Perils."
Depicted is NS-1, a Ford Tri-motor 5-AT-101-D operated by the Aeronautical Branch of the Department of Commerce for the Bureau of Standards Radio Section, as it lands at Newark Airport, Newark, New Jersey, during March 1933. NS-1 was completely equipped for instrument flying to show that the latest in commercial airliners could utilize the new blind landing system installed at Newark Airport, one of the first commercial airports in the country to so equipped. James L. Kinney, Aeronautical Branch test pilot, Charles Lindbergh, and several senior airline pilots participated in these tests, which were carried out despite stormy and inclement March weather. In conjunction with other successful tests, the more than 200 blind landings made by NS-1 demonstrated to the public the basic principles that resulted in the development of practical ILS systems. Delivered new on May 13, 1931, NS-1 accumulated 1633 hours flying for the Department of Commerce until July 15, 1935.
NS-1: A Ford Trimotor Demonstrates Blind Landing System at Newark Airport
United States Post Office Airmail Routes
Curtiss JN-4H modified with a Hispano-Suisse engine
This “Hisso Jenny” was used by the Post Office as an airmail plane flying from the College Park Airport around 1919.
The National Bureau of Standards, Washington Institute of Technology, Aviation Branch, Department of Commerce and the U.S. Navy all participated in blind landing testing at CPA
A two-seat Curtiss R-4L (39365), produced prior to WW I as a bomber trainer was upgraded with a Liberty engine and used by the Post Office as a mail plane. Outfitted with coils under its wings, it was used for landing tests at CPA.
Curtiss R-4L
Fleet Models 1 and 2
Operating at the College Park Airport, the WIT continued in pioneering development of radio navigation aids under various contracts. George Brinckerhoff tested some of these devices under contract with WIT. He operated a Fleet Model 8, which was equipped with a blind flying hood over the rear cockpit, as well as a Fleet Model 1 and a Model 2. The Brinkerhoff Flying Service operated several different aircraft types at College Park Airport, including Bird, Fleet, Piper and Stinson models.
On May 1, 1934, Navy Lt. Frank Akers took off from Anacostia NAS in a Berliner-Joyce OJ-2, and performed a blind landing at College Park. The Navy had a contract with WIT to provide the instruments necessary for such experiments.
Berliner-Joyce OJ-2
AVIATION PIONEERS AT COLLEGE PARK, MD
Early production Ercoupe 415 flying over the Erco factory in Riverdale, Maryland, circa 1942.
Militarized were Ercoupes evaluated by the Army Air Corps, one for observation duties as the YO-55, and two were tested as PQ-13 target drones.
The unique ERCO Ercoupe 415
Military Aviation Art: The Grumman Duck (J2F)
A Columbia-built Grumman J2F-6 “Duck” amphibian sits at NAS Patuxent River during 1949. Used for general utility and search-and rescue until supplanted in the early 1950s by helicopters, the J2F-6 was the last biplane type aircraft in U.S. military service (except for trainers).
USAF Grumman J2F-6 acquired from U.S. Navy stocks 1n 1946. The only biplane aircraft acquired by the United States Air Force after it became an independent service, these J2F-6s were used for search and rescue in Alaska until helicopters capable of operating under these extreme conditions were developed.
The ubitiquous Grumman Duck, the J2F series) was developed for the U.S. Navy in the 1930s, it served through WW II and into the post-war period before being rendered obsolete by the development of the helicopter.
