The newly renovated Army Flying Museum held its official re-opening yesterday with their patron, HRH Prince Michael of Kent as guest of honour. I wrote about the changes in March, but this event gave me a chance to actually see the new facilities and exhibits… and there’s...
The USA’s National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida, has released its very own customised version of Monopoly. You gotta love it! National Naval Aviation Museum–Opoly (it just rolls off the tongue!) is full of aircraft, exhibits, history and a trip through the largest Naval Aviation museum...
The Horten name and flying wing concept was on show last week at the Aero Friedrichshafen show in Germany. Seventy-five years after the Horten brothers designed a flying wing in response to Herman Goering’s demand for a bomber that could carry a 1,000 kg bomb load for...
The Army Flying Museum in Hampshire will be re-opening its doors on the 1st April after a four month, £2.59 million makeover. The museum’s collection, which features fixed & rotary wing Army aircraft from WW1 to the present, is now supplemented with new exhibits, better lighting, a...
Saturday 2nd March will mark 50 years since the maiden voyage of Concorde from Toulouse, south-west France. Concorde was manufactured jointly by French firm, Aerospatiale in Toulouse and the British Aircraft Corporation in Filton (near Bristol), but it was in Toulouse that Concorde 001 took to the...
So where do old Boeing 747 Jumbos go to die?¹ Well, most of them wind up in the aircraft “boneyards” scattered around the world, some are cannibalised for parts, and a few end up as ornaments, attractions or exhibits. Yesterday, I reported on one that is destined...
As part of its 100th anniversary¹ celebrations, British Airways (BA) has announced it will be painting a Boeing 747 in the much-admired design of its predecessor British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC). The livery from the 1964 – 1974 BOAC era will adorn a B747, reg: G-BYGC. The...
The wreck of an aircraft discovered in 1996 near Papua New Guinea could turn out to be the Lockheed Electra 10E in which Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan disappeared on July 2, 1937. William “Bill” Pennington Snavely, Jr certainly thinks it could be, but he is reluctant...
Air Astana, the national carrier of Kazakhstan, has taken delivery of its first Embraer E190-E2 aircraft, and used the opportunity to promote the cause of an endangered species – the Snow Leopard. The aircraft, which arrived today at Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport in Astana after a series...
It’s been a few years since I last visited the Royal Air Force Museum in Hendon, North London, and I certainly haven’t visited since the recent Lottery Heritage funded re-development for the 100th Anniversary of the RAF this year. Ridiculous really, since I live in North London!...
I’d always been aware of the Messerschmitt 410 but had ‘parked’ it in my mind as a mostly developmental aircraft with low numbers going into production for specialised roles, and that’s the way I still thought of it when I found this one a few years ago...
The Royal Air Force (RAF) may be British, but the French consider it a dual-citizen since it was born during World War One in the Pas-de-Calais, and they too are celebrating its 100th Anniversary with special exhibitions and a Douglas Bader trail. The RAF was formed in...
The Vulcan to the Sky Trust is inviting the public to add their names to Avro Vulcan XH558 – the longest serving Royal Air Force Vulcan bomber, and the last to fly. It’s a time-limited opportunity for anyone to place their chosen name on a set of...
It wasn’t just any civilian*, it was one of America’s most famous celebrities at the time, Charles A. Lindbergh. Lindbergh, famous for making the first solo non-stop transatlantic flight from New York to Paris in his single-engined Spirit of St Louis aircraft in 1927, wasn’t supposed to...
This is a niche blog about technically-minded travel. It reflects my own interests in the mechanical, technical, historical, engineering, transport and military world.
COPYRIGHT © MECHTRAVELLER 2016-2025, including all images unless indicated otherwise.
