travel air biplane

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• 1929 Travel Air 4000

In 1924, Lloyd Stearman, Clyde Cessna, and Walter Beech formed the Travel Air Manufacturing Company in Wichita, Kansas. Their first effort was the Travel Air 1000, which was designed along the lines of the famous Curtiss Jenny.

A later model, the Travel Air 2000, was built with horn-balanced control surfaces, which were copied from the famous Fokker D-VII fighter from World War I. Because of the close resemblance to the Fokker, the 2000 was used in many 1930s war movies and became known as the “Wichita Fokker.”

The Travel Air 4000 was introduced in 1929 and is similar in design to the model 2000 but without the horn-balanced control ailerons. The pilot sits in the rear cockpit with room for two in the front. It represents a classic example of the round-engine biplane: slow-flying and graceful. A beautiful aircraft from a romantic era.

In 1930, the Curtiss Wright Corporation purchased the Travel Air Company. After the final model 6000 was developed, Stearman, Cessna, and Beech would go on to contribute much to American aviation history with their own individual companies.

Specifications

• Year Built — 1929
• Wingspan — 34’8″
• Cruise Speed — 85 mph
• Top Speed — 130 mph
• Gross Weight — 2,412 lbs
• Engine — Wright J-5 Whirlwind (223 hp)

Kermit’s Comments

This aircraft was built in 1929 and was restored by Kelly Mason in Washington State with a lot of attention to detail. I acquired it in 1996. Due to the long distance it had to travel, the aircraft was shipped by truck to Florida, where it was re-assembled and flown here at Fantasy of Flight. It is powered by a Wright J-5 Whirlwind engine, which was the same famous engine-type that powered the “Spirit of St. Louis” and Lindbergh across the Atlantic.

In 1997, this aircraft was used by the US Postal Service to help commemorate the first day issue of a series of airplane stamps. With the local Postmaster on board, I delivered the first ever airmail in the history of Polk City! Probably the last as well.

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1929 Travel Air E-4000 - NC648H

Location: pioneer airport, recent articles.

May 24, 2024

April 25, 2017

November 03, 2016

September 15, 2016

August 11, 2016

EAA’s 1929 Travel Air E-4000 open-cockpit biplane (NC648H, serial number 1224) is among the last flying examples of the aircraft that launched American aviation and earned Wichita, Kansas, the title of “Air Capital of the World.”

The Travel Air Company was formed January 1925 in Wichita, Kansas by former employees of the Swallow Aircraft Manufacturing Company. Starting with a 900 square foot factory and six employees, the company grew by 1929 to 650 employees working two shifts in a state-of-the-art aircraft production facility. About 1,800 Travel Air aircraft were built in less than half a decade. Most were biplanes, using 16 basic designs. The company was unable to survive the Great Depression and was absorbed into the Curtiss-Wright Aeronautical Corporation. Travel Air officers included Clyde Cessna, Walter Beech, and Lloyd Stearman, who later formed their own well-known aircraft companies.

The Travel Air E-4000 model was designed to compete with inexpensive World War I surplus Standards and Curtiss “Jennies.” Its major feature was a forward cockpit wide enough to accommodate two passengers (at least by 1929 standards!). Its rugged landing gear used rubber “bungee” shock cords, allowing landings on unimproved fields.

EAA’s Travel Air was among the last produced. Built in July of 1929, it sported a Wright “Whirlwind” J-6, five-cylinder engine, producing 165 horsepower. Bill Shank, one of America’s first civilian airmail pilots, was the plane’s first owner and the Shank family operated it from Indianapolis, Indiana for almost 30 years.

The aircraft was later donated to EAA and fully restored by EAA staff and many volunteers, including Gene Chase and Jim Barton. A more reliable, seven-cylinder, 220 horsepower Continental R670-4 engine was installed with a ground adjustable Hamilton Standard propeller. This engine/propeller combination was used on thousands of Stearman trainers during World War II. The aircraft was fitted with Schweizer release hooks for banner towing. Its original, narrow wheels were replaced with wider ones, offering better flotation on soft ground.

The airplane is now in regular flight service at EAA’s Pioneer Airport. Each flying season it delights Aviation Museum visitors with the sights, sounds and thrills of open-cockpit biplane flight.

Aircraft researched by EAA volunteer Fred Stadler.

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s/n 185 Reg: N2937 // Pending

s/n 185 Reg: N2937 Pending

1927 Travel Air 4000

Aircraft faq.

• 2864.7 Hrs. TTSN
• 264.7 Hrs. since restoration
• Continental W-670
• 264.7 Hrs. SMOH

Propeller(s)

• Hamilton Standard J5404
• 264.7 Hrs. SPOH
• King KX-155 Comm
• King KT-76A Transponder
• Last annual 1/2019
• Spokane, Washington

Additional Info

This 1927 Travel Air 4000 s/n 185 left the factory with a temperamental OX-5 engine.  It was flown in Texas for 10 years before crash landing and was stored in a farmers barn for over years.  It was purchased and restored by Jim “Speed” Williams in 1995 and restored over a seven year period flying again for the first time in 65 years in 2002.  The restoration incorporated many improvements including the installation of an air-cooled Continental R-670.

N2937 is the oldest Travel Air flying in the United States and Is painted to commemorate the 1927 National Air Races from New York to Spokane which were attended by over 100,000 people.

Sales may be subject to local Sales Tax / V.A.T. / G.S.T.

Aircraft maybe subject to prior sale, lease, and/or removal from the market without prior notice.

Specifications subject to verification upon inspection.

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From 1931 to 1953, Andy Stinis performed skywriting in this airplane for Pepsi-Cola. During those years, skywriting with smoke was a premier form of advertising, and Pepsi-Cola used it more than any other company. Pepsi-Cola acquired the airplane in 1973 and used it for air show and advertising duty until retiring it in 2000. Peggy Davies and Suzanne Oliver, the world's only active female skywriters since 1977, performed in it.

The Pepsi Skywriter is one of more than 1,200 Travel Air open-cockpit biplanes built between 1925 and 1930. Popular and rugged, Travel Airs earned their keep as utility workhorses and record breakers. The design was the first success for three giants of the general aviation industry, Lloyd Stearman, Walter Beech, and Clyde Cessna, who in 1925 established the Travel Air Manufacturing Company in Wichita, Kansas.

The Pepsi Skywriter is one of more than 1,200 Travel Air open-cockpit biplanes built between 1925 and 1930. Travel Airs were popular and rugged aircraft that earned their keep as utility and record-breaking workhorses and saw service around the country as crop dusters, barnstormers, and as private planes for the sportsman pilot. For 40 years, pilots flew the Pepsi Skywriter across the United States for the Pepsi-Cola Company delivering a unique form of advertising known as skywriting.

Three future giants in the aircraft industry, Lloyd Stearman, Walter Beech, and Clyde Cessna, came together as young aviation enthusiasts in Wichita, Kansas, to build the Travel Air. During 1923 and 1924, Stearman and Beech worked at the Swallow Aeroplane Manufacturing Company as chief designer and vice president/test pilot respectively. The Swallow aircraft met with success, but Stearman and Beech lobbied to try a design with a steel tube, instead of wood, framework. When management declined, Stearman, Beech, and William Snook left Swallow to start their own company, and brought in Clyde Cessna, a successful farmer who liked to build airplanes. They incorporated the Travel Air Manufacturing Company in January 1925 and immediately designed a three-place, open-cockpit, fabric-covered biplane with a Curtiss OX-5 90 hp engine. Stearman had the steel for the tubing tested to his satisfaction at the Agronomy Department at Kansas State Agricultural College, as there were no aviation standards yet in place. Steel tubing braced the cockpit and steel wires braced the fabric-covered spruce spar wings and ribs. Steel was also used for the rudder and elevator leading and trailing edges, and the horizontal stabilizer leading edge, while the vertical stabilizer was spruce. Spruce strips were used to fair the outside of the fuselage and the turtledeck was spruce. Beech wanted redundant control cables running from the cockpit back to two elevators control horns. The landing gear was a standard duralumin speader bar between vees with bungee shockcords.

Travel Air #1 had a striking look with its fully enclosed cowling for the OX-5 engine, balanced ailerons on the upper wing that overlapped around the edge of the wing, and a blue fuselage with silver wings. Ira Beach made the first test flight on March 13, 1925. Travel Airs performed well in the 1925 Ford Reliability Tour and National Air Transport purchased a Model B for its airmail contract work. OX-5 A and B models became Model 2000s in March 1928 with ATC number 30. The Wright J-4 and J-5, significant radial engines that dramatically improved the performance and reliability of aircraft, were then offered on the airframe and, after 1928, those aircraft became the Model 4000. The 4000 found popularity with better performance and versatility through a wide variety of engine, wing, passenger seat, and landing gear combinations. The Speed wing, for example, was a shorter wing with a new airfoil that made the aircraft faster and required a recertification of the airplane to a D-4000. Ted Wells, later the designer of Beech's Staggerwing, owned the first D-4000 that also sported the first NACA cowl built by Travel Air. By early 1927, both Stearman and Cessna had left Travel Air, leaving Walter Beech in charge, and the newest Travel Air was a cabin monoplane. In 1929, Beech allowed the large Curtiss-Wright Company to absorb the company as a division, but it could not survive the depression, and closed in September 1932.

In 1929, NC434N, serial number 1340, was built as an E-4000, meaning it had a J-6-5 engine and most likely B wings (not the original "elephant ear wing). The D4D model officially arrived in February 1930 with a Wright J-6-7 (Wright R-760-ET) 240 hp engine (the second "D" in D4D) that improved the cruising speed to 110 mph with a range of 520 miles, and the aircraft's ceiling rose to 14,000 feet. N434N received the Speed wings and J-6-7 engine in 1930 and was recertificated as a D4D. Andy Stinis, of the Skywriting Corporation of America, purchased the aircraft in 1931 and flew it out of Floyd Bennett Field, Long Island, New York.

Skywriting, defined as the process of writing a name or message with smoke from an aircraft against a blue sky, began in England after World War I, the brainchild of Major John C. Savage, RAF. His first successful demonstration was at the Derby at Epsom Downs, in May 1922, when Captain Cyril Turner wrote "Daily Mail" above the track. Turner then came to the United States in October 1922 and wrote "Hello U.S.A." above New York City. Allan J. Cameron, along with Leroy Van Patten established the Skywriting Corporation of America at Curtiss Field, an American branch of the Savage's original company. They acquired the patents for mixing the writing gas the United States, and, although it was nothing more than light oil fed through the exhaust system, they controlled the market for years. In 1923, using the Skywriting Corporation, the American Tobacco Company launched the first and very successful skywriting advertising campaign for Lucky Strike cigarettes. Pepsi-Cola Corporation became one of the longest-running contractors of skywriting; in the late 1930s and mid 1940s, it contracted or owned a total of 14 aircraft. In 1940 alone, it contracted for 2,225 writings over 48 states. Andy Stinis flew for Pepsi-Cola from 1931 to 1953.

In 1973 Alan Pottasch and Jack Strayer of Pepsi began a search for old skywriters and found N434N still with Andy Stinis. They intended to display it at the Pepsi corporate headquarters in Purchase, New York, however, Strayer, a former skywriter, soon persuaded Pepsi to install navigation and communications equipment and tour it once again. In 1977, Strayer hired Peggy Davies as a second pilot and then, in 1980, when Davies became a Pepsi corporate pilot, Strayer hired Suzanne Asbury. Pepsi also gave the aircraft a bright red, white, and blue paint scheme. Strayer died in 1981 and, in 1982, Steve Oliver joined Asbury as a second pilot for the Pepsi aircraft fleet that included N434P, another 1929 Travel Air. In 2000, Suzanne and Steve Oliver suggested that the aircraft should be retired for safety's sake, and Pepsi-Cola Company donated it to the National Air and Space Museum. The Pepsi Skywriter is currently displayed at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport.

This object is on display in Aerobatic Flight at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA .

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Curtiss-Wright CW-A14D (Travel Air 4000) Single-engine Two-seat Biplane, U.S.A.

Archive Photos 1

1927 Curtiss-Wright "Travel Air 4000" (NC3242) at the 1995 Hawthorne Air Faire, Hawthorne, CA (Photos by John Shupek)

1929 Curtiss-Wright "Travel Air 4000" (NC8700) at the 1995 Hawthorne Air Faire, Hawthorne, CA (Photos by John Shupek)

1929 Curtiss-Wright "Travel Air 4000" (NC8700) at the 2000 Torrance Airshow, Zamperini Field, Torrance, CA (Photos by John Shupek)

• Travel Air 2000
• Role: Biplane aircraft
• Manufacturer: Travel Air, Curtiss-Wright
• Designer: Lloyd Stearman
• First flight: 13 March 1925
• Introduction: 1925
• Primary user: Private owners, aerial sightseeing businesses
• Produced: 1925-1930
• Number built: Approx 1,300

The Travel Air 2000/3000/4000 (originally, the Model A, Model B and Model BH and later marketed as a Curtiss-Wright product under the names CW-14, Speedwing, Sportsman and Osprey), were open-cockpit biplane aircraft produced in the United States in the late 1920s by the Travel Air Manufacturing Company. During the period from 1924-1929, Travel Air produced more aircraft than any other American manufacturer, including over 1,000 biplanes (some estimates range from 1,200 to nearly 2,000).

Design and Development 2

Primary Design and Development

The original Travel Air Model A was engineered chiefly by Lloyd Stearman’with input from Travel Air co-founders Walter Beech, Clyde Cessna, and Bill Snook’largely as a metal-framed improvement of his immediately previous design of the wood-framed, metal-cowled Swallow New Swallow biplane, with elements of the best fighter aircraft of World War I, the metal-framed German Fokker D-VII. Most subsequent Travel Air biplanes were derived, directly or indirectly, from the original Model A.

An interim design, the Winstead Special was derived by the Winstead brothers from an initial metal fuselage frame developed at Swallow by Stearman and Walter Beech, and subsequently discarded by Swallow. The rejection of the metal frame concept, by Swallow president Jake Moellendick, triggered the departure of Stearman and Beech, and the creation of Travel Air. The types shared a common structure of a conventional single-bay biplane with staggered wings braced by N-struts. The fuselage was of fabric-covered steel tube and included two open cockpits in tandem, the forward of which could carry two passengers side-by-side.

In common with the Fokker D-VII, the rudder and ailerons of first Travel Air biplanes had an overhanging "horn" to partially aerodynamically counterbalance the aerodynamic resistance of the controls when deflected, to provide a lighter control feel, and a more responsive aircraft. This gave Travel Airs their distinctive "elephant ear" vertical tails, and the similarly counterbalanced ailerons were also referred to as "elephant ear" ailerons’leading to the airplane’s popular nicknames "Old Elephant Ears" and "Wichita Fokker." Some subsequent models were offered without the counterbalance, providing a cleaner, more conventional appearance and less drag. Elevator forces were trimmed out by use of an inflight-adjustable horizontal stabilizer.

Like other aircraft in the Travel Air line, it was available with a variety of different, interchangeable wings, including a wing shorter and thinner than the rest known as the "Speedwing" designed, as the name suggests, for increased cruise speed. Travel Air entered a specially-modified Model 4000 (designated 4000-T) in the Guggenheim Safe Aircraft Competition of 1930, but it was disqualified.

Compared to other civilian ("commercial") open-cockpit biplanes of the era, Travel Airs were noted for their quality of construction, reliability, durability, speed, efficiency, payload and passenger capacity (two passengers in a small bench seat in the front cockpit, plus pilot in the rear cockpit’versus most biplanes of the era, which could only accommodate a single passenger in the front cockpit). They were also noted for superior comfort and easy flying. These various distinguishing characteristics led Travel Air to outsell all rivals by 1929.

Steam-powered

In 1933 a Travel Air 2000 was modified by George and William Besler where the usual inline or radial gasoline piston engine was replaced by an oil-fired, reversible 90° angle V-twin angle-compound engine of their own design, which became the first fixed-wing airplane to successful fly using a steam engine of any type. The Beslers are thought to have sold the plane to the Japanese in 1937.

Curtiss-Wright Production

Following Travel Air Manufacturing Company purchase in August 1929 by Curtiss-Wright, the Model 4000 continued in production into the early 1930s as the CW-14, and the range was expanded to include a military derivative dubbed the Osprey. This was fitted with bomb racks, a fixed, forward-firing machine gun, and a trainable tail gun. These aircraft were supplied to Bolivia and used during the Gran Chaco War, which eventually led to Curtiss-Wright’s successful prosecution for supplying these aircraft in violation of a U.S. arms embargo.

Operational History 2

In addition to a wide range of normal aircraft applications, and conspicuous use in a minor South American war, Travel Air biplanes also saw extensive use in early motion pictures.

Normal Operations

During the 1920s and very early 1930s, Travel Air biplanes were the most widely used civilian biplanes in America (not counting war-surplus military trainers re-purposed for civilian use) ’ with the arguable exception of their chief competitors, WACO biplanes. Travel Air production ended in the mid-1930s, under the Curtiss-Wright Corporation.

Initially, Travel Air biplanes were very widely used for executive transport, wealthy-sportsmen adventures, air taxi and air charter service, light air cargo transport, and some bush flying. Many were also used in barnstorming: exhibition and stunt flying, selling recreational rides, and early air racing.

Commercial operators found the Travel Air biplanes very versatile and useful, owing to their substantial payload, simple and reliable systems, rugged construction and (for the times) substantial speed and efficiency.

Towards the end of their useful lives (the late-1930s through the early 1970s), they were heavily used for the harsh work of bush flying and cropdusting, and Travel Air biplanes were among the most heavily used cropdusters in America’perhaps second only to the World War II surplus Stearman Kaydet biplanes also designed by Lloyd Stearman.

Today, most remaining Travel Air biplanes are regarded as treasures, having been carefully restored at substantial cost, and are used sparingly and carefully for personal recreation and/or modern-day barnstorming (exhibition flying and selling rides).

Military Operations 2

The Osprey, a Travel Air biplane variant by Curtiss-Wright, was armed with bomb racks and machine guns, and supplied to Bolivia, who used them in the 1933 Gran Chaco War with Paraguay (in violation of a U.S. arms embargo, for which Curtiss-Wright’s was eventually successfully prosecuted). Numerous plane-makers attempted to get their aircraft into the war, for publicity, and the Osprey initially benefited the most from this international competition. Fitted with single machine guns fore (fixed) and aft (moveable), and bomb racks, the rugged, reliable Ospreys were the preferred mounts of the Bolivian pilots’of several competing aircraft supplied. The resulting heavy use led to high losses’half of the original 12 units being lost in accidents or action, another five or so were employed, though precise outcomes are unclear, owing in part to repairs on some of the "lost" aircraft, which were returned to service. However, the action brought favorable publicity and credibility to Curtiss-Wright aircraft.

Movie Industry 2

Travel Air biplanes were widely used in 1920s/1930s war movies, particularly to represent the airplanes they were patterned after: Germany’s Fokker D-VII fighter, the top fighter of World War I. In the motion picture industry, they were known as "Wichita Fokkers." In fact, Hollywood’s demand for Travel Air biplanes was so intense that Travel Air’s California salesman, Fred Hoyt, coaxed Travel Air co-founder and principal airplane designer, Lloyd Stearman, to come to Venice, California in 1926 to exploit the movie industry demand for his aircraft by starting a short-lived independent Stearman Aircraft Company which re-opened back in Wichita in 1927.

Some of the many movies using Travel Air biplanes (2000 and 4000, in particular) included:

• Wings (1927) (Lauded for its technical accuracy, it won the first-ever Academy Award for Best Picture)
• Flying Fool (1929) (Pathè film, one of the early leading roles for William Boyd, later famous as Hopalong Cassidy)
• Hell’s Angels (1930) (Howard Hughes’ extravagant war epic)
• The Dawn Patrol (1930)
• Heartbreak (1931)
• Ace Of Aces (1933) featured five Travel Air Model Bs, and numerous other planes.
• Hell in the Heavens (1933)
• Flying Devils (1933)
• Murder in the Cloudsquick (1934) featured NC406N
• Model B: Travel Air Model A fitted with a Wright J-6 piston engine.

Like other Travel Air aircraft, Model 4000 variants were distinguished by letters prefixed (or occasionally affixed) to the basic designation to denote different engine and wing fits. These letter codes included:

Engine Codes

• A: original wing with "elephant-ear" ailerons
• A: Axelson engine
• B: "Standard wing" with Frise-type ailerons and three fuel tanks
• C: Curtiss engine
• D: "Speedwing"
• E: Revised "standard wing" with a single fuel tank
• K: Kinner engine
• L: Lycoming engine

Travel Air Models

• Travel Air 2000: first production model
• SC-2000: Powered by a 160-hp (119-kW) Curtiss C-6 engine
• Travel Air 3000: Powered by a 150-hp / 180-hp (112-kW / 134-kW) Hispano-Suiza Model A or Model engine.
• Travel Air 4000: Powered by a 220-hp (164-kW) Wright J-5 engine
• A-4000: Powered by a 150-hp (112-kW) Axelson engine
• B-4000: Powered by a 220-hp (164-kW) Wright J-5 engine
• BC-4000: Floatplane version
• B9-4000: Powered by a 300-hp (224-kW) Wright J-6-9 engine
• C-4000: Powered by a 170-hp (127-kW) Challenger engine
• E-4000: Powered by a 165-hp (123-kW) Wright J-6-5 engine
• K-4000: Powered by a 100-hp (75-kW) Kinner K5 engine
• SBC-4000: Floatplane version
• W-4000: Powered by 110-hp (82-kW) Warner Scarab engine
• Travel Air 8000 (aka 4000-CAM): Powered by a 120-hp (89-kW) Fairchild-Caminez 447 engine
• Travel Air 9000 (aka 4000-SH): Powered by a 125-hp (93-kW) Ryan-Siemens engine
• Travel Air 11: D-20000 powered by a Wright J-6 engine

Curtiss-Wright Models

• CW-14C Sportsman: Version with 185 hp (138 kW) Curtiss Challenger engine (1 built).
• CW-A14D Deluxe Sportsman: Three-seat version with 240 hp (180 kW) Wright J-6-7 engine and NACA cowling (5 built).
• CW-B14B Speedwing Deluxe: Version with 300 hp (220 kW) Wright J-6-9 engine (2 built).
• CW-B14R Special Speedwing Deluxe; Single-seat racer built for Casey Lambert with supercharged Wright R-975 engine (1 built)
• CW-C14B Osprey: Militarized version with Wright R-975E engine
• CW-C14R Osprey: Militarized version with Wright J-6-9 engine
• CW-17R Pursuit Osprey: CW-B14B with uprated engine; possibly not built

Military Operators 2

• Bolivia: 20 purchased 1933-34.
• Colombia: 3 CW-C14R Osprey from 1932.
• Ecuador: 2 CW-14Rs purchased 1931.
• Panama: 2 acquired 1931.
• El Salvador: 3 from 1933.
• Venezuela: 3 CW-14Rs purchased 1932.

Curtiss-Wright CW-A14D (Travel Air 4000) Specifications 3

General Characteristics

• Capacity: 2 passengers
• Length: 23 ft 6½ in (7.17 m)
• Wingspan: 31 ft 0 in (9.44 m)
• Height: 9 ft 1½ in (2.78 m)
• Wing area: 248.0 ft² (23.03 m²)
• Empty weight: 1,772 lb (804 kg)
• Gross weight: 2,870 lb (1,302 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × Wright J-6-7, 240 hp

Performance

• Maximum speed: 155 mph (249.44 km/h)
• Range: 600 mi (966 km)
• Service ceiling: 16,000 ft (4,877 m)
• Initial climb: 1,000 ft/min (5.08 m/s)
• Shupek, John. The Skytamer Photo Archive , photos by John Shupek, copyright © 1995, 2000 John Shupek
• Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Travel Air 2000

• May 8, 2019

Photograph:

Travel Air 2000 VH-UGY (c/n 287) at Mascot, NSW in about 1928 (Frank Walters collection)

Country of origin:

United States of America

Description:

Three-seat sporting biplane

Power Plant:

One 67 kw (90 hp) Curtiss OX-5 eight-cylinder VEE liquid-cooled engine

Specifications:

• Wingspan [upper]: 10.6 m (34 ft 8 in)
• Wingspan[lower]: 8.77 m (28 ft 8 in)
• Length: 7.37 m (24 ft 2 in)
• Height: 2.72 m (8 ft 11 in)
• Wing area: 27.59 m² (297 sq ft)
• Max speed: 161 km/h (100 mph)
• Cruising speed: 137 km/h (85 mph)
• Landing speed: 64 km/h (40 mph)
• Rate of climb: 168 m/min (550 ft/min)
• Ceiling: 3,048 m (10,000 ft)
• Range: 684 km (425 miles)
• Fuel capacity: 159 litres (35 imp gals)
• Oil capacity: 15 litres (3.33 imp gals)
• Empty weight: 605 kg (1,335 lb)
• Useful load: 383 kg (845 lb)
• Payload: 172 kg (380 lb)
• Loaded weight: 989 kg (2,180 lb)

The Travel Air 2000 was a three-seat biplane built as a cross-country type of ‘outstanding quality’, of rugged construction with a lively performance, and as an efficient work aircraft.  It was built in some numbers by the Travel Air Manufacturing Company in the late 1920s and was referred to affectionately as “Old Elephant Ears”.  The type remained in production until early 1930 when the Company, like others, was absorbed into the Curtiss-Wright organisation in the face of the Great Depression.

Travel Air Inc was formed in January 1925 by Walter Innes Jr, Lloyd Stearman, Walter Beech, and Clyde Cessna, names which later became famous in the field of aviation.  The first Travel Air was the 1000, a three-seat open-cockpit aircraft with a Curtiss OX-5 engine. It was followed by the similarly powered 2000.  In 1925 19 Model 2000s were built, 46 in 1926, and 530 in 1928. Production continued for a period at the Company’s facility in Wichita, Kansas.

The Curtiss OX-5 engine was a liquid-cooled V-8 unit and was the first American-designed aircraft engine to enter mass production, with over 12,000 examples being built.  It had a displacement of 8.2 litres (503 cub in) and weighed 177 kg (390 lb).  Max power was 67 kw (90 hp) at 1,400 rpm and 78 kw (105 hp) for short periods at 1,800 rpm.

In its day the 2000 portrayed many aircraft from World War I in Hollywood movies.  Some saw service as crop dusters, and others were converted to take more powerful radial engines.  The fuselage framework was welded chrome-moly steel tubing shaped with wood fairing strips and fabric covered.  The wing panels were built of laminated spruce spars with spruce and plywood built-up ribs and were fabric covered.  A few Model 2000s were fitted with floats.  Development lead to the 3000 and 4000, the former having the eight-cylinder Hispano-Suiza Model A engine of 112 kw (150 hp) and the latter the nine-cylinder Wright Whirlwind J-5 radial engine of 164 kw (220 hp).

One example VH-UGY (c/n 287) has been registered in Australia, receiving its Certificate of Registration C3669 on 20 March 1928 to Airways of Australia in Melbourne, VIC.  It was fitted with a 67 kw (90 hp) Curtiss OX-5 engine.  It subsequently had a number of owners, including G M Stephenson of Essendon, VIC in January 1931; F W Beck of Melbourne in 1932; and H D Neville of Elsternwick, VIC in February 1933.  The airframe was obtained in February 1934 by Patrick Moore-McMahon of Hurstville, NSW and it was named “ Wings of Song ”.  In 1934 the engine was changed for a 164 kw (220 hp) Wright Whirlwind radial which basically converted it to Travel Air 4000 configuration.  The aircraft was entered in the 1936 Brisbane to Adelaide Air Race with a violin as company, the pilot giving violin recitals at stopping points until he was forced to withdraw when the aircraft became bogged in Victoria.

Ownership was transferred to J H Bowden of Kogarah, NSW in February 1942, and in May that year to T A Barrett of Orange, NSW.  During 1942 the Department of Civil Aviation directed that all civil aircraft be painted in camouflage and carry RAAF style red-white-blue fin flashes. The aircraft was removed from the Civil Register in April 1944.  In 1966 its remains were located at Orange, NSW, where it had been burnt. For a period the wings were stored in a shed in Orange but their ultimate fate is not known.

In the United States Orlando Helicopter Airways of Deland, Florida, produces the Travel Air 2000 in kit form using modern technology and a modern reliable powerplant, this aircraft looking similar to the original but having numerous improvements.  Engines up to 224 kw (300 hp) have been installed.

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Travel Air 4000

Project description.

Role:  Biplane aircraft

National Origin: United States

Manufacturer: Travel air, Curtiss-Wright

First Flight: 1925

Primary User: Private Owners, aerial sightseeing businesses

Number Built: 1300

The Travel Air 2000/3000/4000 (originally, the Model A, Model B and Model BH and later marketed as a Curtiss-Wright product under the names CW-14, Speedwing, Sportsman and Osprey), were open-cockpit biplane aircraft produced in the United States in the late 1920s by the Travel Air Manufacturing Company. During the period from 1924–1929, Travel Air produced more aircraft than any other American manufacturer, including over 1,000 biplanes (some estimates range from 1,200 to nearly 2,000).

Travel Air biplanes were widely used in 1920s/1930s war movies, particularly to represent the airplanes they were patterned after: Germany’s Fokker D-VII fighter, the top fighter of World War I. In the motion picture industry, they were known as “Wichita Fokkers.” In fact, Hollywood’s demand for Travel Air biplanes was so intense that Travel Air’s California salesman, Fred Hoyt, coaxed Travel Air co-founder and principal airplane designer, Lloyd Stearman, to come to Venice, California in 1926 to exploit the movie industry demand for his aircraft by starting a short-lived independent Stearman Aircraft Company (re-opened back in Wichita in 1927).

Some of the many movies using Travel Air biplanes (2000 and 4000, in particular) included:

• Wings  (1927) (Lauded for its technical accuracy, it won the first-ever Academy Award for Best Picture)
• Flying Fool (1929) (Pathè film, one of the early leading roles for William Boyd, later famous as “Hopalong Cassidy”)
• Hell’s Angels  (1930) (Howard Hughes’ extravagant war epic)
• The Dawn Patrol  (1930)
• Heartbreak  (1931)
• Ace Of Aces  (1933) featured five Travel Air Model Bs, and numerous other planes.
• Hell in the Heavens  (1933)
• Flying Devils  (1933)

General characteristics

• Capacity:  2 passengers
• Length:  23 ft 7 in (7.19 m)
• Wingspan:  31 ft 0 in (9.45 m)
• Height:  9 ft 10 in (3.00 m)
• Wing area:  248.0 sq ft (23.04 m2)
• Empty weight:  1,772 lb (804 kg)
• Gross weight:  2,870 lb (1,302 kg)
• Fuel capacity:  58 US gal (48 imp gal; 220 L)
• Powerplant:  1 × Lycoming R-670, 22hp

Performance

• Maximum speed:  155 mph (249 km/h; 135 kn)
• Cruise speed:  132 mph (212 km/h; 115 kn)
• Stall speed:  56 mph (90 km/h; 49 kn)
• Range:  530 mi (461 nmi; 853 km)
• Service ceiling:  18,000 ft (5,500 m)
• Rate of climb:  1,000 ft/min (5.1 m/s)

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Main Navigation

Travel air 2000, hours and location.

Highlights:

• A three-seater, open-cockpit, general-purpose biplane built by the Travel Air Manufacturing Company of Wichita, Kansas from 1927 to 1930
• Travel Air Manufacturing was founded by Walter Beech, Clyde Cessna and Lloyd Stearman
• Known as "old elephant ears" because of its balanced ailerons
• Frequently represented Fokker D.VIIs in First World War flying films because of a superficial resemblance (which earned it the name "Wichita Fokker")
• Purchased by Walter M. Lowney Company, a Montreal chocolate-maker, it was an early example of a Canadian business aircraft
• Very similar to the Waco 10
• First flight was in March 1925 (model 1000)

Image Gallery:

The first production Travel Air B established such a good reputation in the First National (Ford) Air Tour in 1925 that the company sold nineteen the same year. In 1928 the model B was designated the Model 2000. Orders increased until 1930, when Model 2000 production ceased, with 1 550 built.

In Canada the Travel Air was used for training and some charter work. One was used as a corporate aircraft by the Walter M. Lowney Co. Because of their classic design, many Model 2000s have been restored and are still flying.

It is not surprising that the Travel Air was a good airplane considering that Walter Beech, Clyde Cessna, and Lloyd Stearman were all involved in its design and production. Because of a superficial resemblance to Fokker D.VIIs, Travel Airs frequently represented Fokkers in the First World War flying films of the 1920s and 1930s, earning them the nickname “Wichita Fokker”.

Current Location:

General Aviation Exhibition, Canada Aviation and Space Museum

Provenance:

This Travel Air 2000 was manufactured in 1929 and was purchased, along with another 2000, in September of that year by Janney Aircraft and Boats Limited of Kingston, Ontario. The company's owner, Ernest Lloyd Janney, had been commander of Canada's first air force, the Canadian Aviation Corps. Legend has it that Janney flew one of his 2000s over the main streets of Kingston, barely clearing the rooftops. A painting by Canadian artist Don Connolly portrays the Museum's 2000 in this story.

In 1930, the 2000 was acquired by Hamilton's J. Aspden, who rebuilt it. It had a few other private owners before it was withdrawn from use in July 1941 due to wartime restrictions.

Strangely - and apparently without being reported to the proper authorities - the aircraft's original 90 hp OX-5 engine was at some point replaced by a 100 hp Curtiss OXX-6 engine.

In 1958, the 2000 was purchased by Keith Hopkinson of Goderich, Ontario; in September 1968, Mrs. K. G. Hopkinson sold it to the Museum. Conservation staff restored the aircraft between 1999 and 2010.

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Travel Air Manufacturing Company

Cessna provided the woodworking tools, although most of the construction was steel tubing. Stearman contributed designs; Beech ran the assembly line and demonstrated the models in air races. Olive Ann Mellor was the bookkeeper and secretary who handled all correspondence, maintained records, and conducted transactions, eventually becoming officer manager and then personal secretary to Beech.

With orders increasing, Travel Air signed a five-year lease that included a storefront at 535-537 West Douglas in November 1925 and vacated the properties on Waco and West First. The front of the building housed the woodworking; the back was for metal work, and a section to paint the blue and silver logo. The board of directors was encouraged by their success in the first year and purchased 11 acres for $200 per acre, east of town on Central Avenue and began construction on a new facility. Cessna became president, contributing $25,000 of his own money for the operations; and the company had 30 employees. The company expanded to 471 West First Street along the Arkansas River.

The Model A, a biplane, was the company's first effort, which had a high, semi-cantilever wing, and carried five passengers. Designated Model 5000, it became popular with one of the nation’s first airline companies, National Air Transport, which ordered eight at a price tag of $128,676. The following year the plane, named the Woolaroc , won the Dole Race from California to Hawaii.

Cessna continued to pushed for monoplane designs, believing they were the direction for the future. He rented space in downtown Wichita and worked on his monoplane, which was introduced in the summer of 1926. By late 1926 the company purchased six acres of a landing field near East Central and Webb road, and began design and construction of a new facility. The nearby land was used for test flights and demonstrations.

Travel Air filled the need for the growing individual and business airplane. Its planes, both biplanes and monoplanes, were used by airlines—mail and passenger routes—and private business use. In January 1927 Cessna left Travel Air to form another company to produce his monoplane cantilever wing model. He sold his 179 shares of stock for $90, and left under amicable terms. Beech and Stearman continued with the primary production of biplanes. In 1927 the city acquired a flying field adjacent to Travel Air's land, which it used as an airstrip on the air mail route from Chicago to Dallas. By that time the city was thriving with aviation production, with seven aircraft companies, and Wichita’s Chamber of Commerce began to use the phrase, “Air Capital.”

In September 1927 the company acquired land for a second factory building to the east of the first. During the next two years the company was producing 25 aircraft each week. Model 6000 monoplane was known as the “Limousine of the Air, popular with celebrities like Wallace Beery.

Beech developed his concept for the Model R monoplane. He believed in the value of publicity and entered planes in national competitions. The design of this low wing racing plane was kept secret during production, creating much anticipation. The actual designers were Ted Wells, Walt Burnham, and Herb Rawdon, who joined Travel Air after Cessna’s departure. Beech kept the Model R secret until time to end the National Air Races in Cleveland. Two models were built: one with a new Chevrolair inline engine and one with a Wright radial engine. The inline engine did not perform as hoped but both were flown to Cleveland. Walter helped deliver one of the planes. As soon they arrived in Cleveland, he rolled them into the hangar and closed the doors and covered the windows. The plane with the radial engine, piloted by Doug Davis, easily won the free-for-all speed contest, the Thompson Cup. Another Travel Air plane finished sixth, and the Mystery Ship with inline engine finished seventh. At the same event Louise Thaden finished first in the Women’s Air Derby, flying a new Travel Air. Oil companies like Texaco and Shell purchased sponsorships. In the first Women's Air Derby of 1929, seven of the competitors flew Travel Air planes. Pilot Louise Thaden placed first in the race in her Travel Air.

Travel Air factory had units A, B, C, D, and E, in order of construction. A, a hangar structure with curved roof, and B were completed by 1928. In A fuselages were assembled and painted. In B wings were assembled. In C, built in 1929, experimental work was done including that of the Mystery Ships. D was a hangar structure with curved roof completed in 1929. E, completed in summer 1929, tied the other four together and was identified by its rows of clerestory windows. An administration building was located north of A. The complex became known as Travel Air City.

By 1929 there were 650 employees working two shifts in the state-of-the art aircraft production facility. They had built about 1,800 aircraft in fewer than five years, mostly biplanes using 16 basic designs. The Travel Air E-4000 was designed to compete with World War I surplus. The two-seater biplane featured a forward open cockpit, powered with a Wright “Whirlwind” J-6 five-cylinder engine producing 16 horsepower. Yet in summer 1929 sales began to slow along with the economy. In August Curtiss and Wright merged with Travel Air. The new corporation was made of Wright Aeronautical, Keystone/Loening, Curtiss Flying Service, and Travel Air. Curtiss-Wright Corporation eventually became the largest air manufacturer in the U.S. Beech and Stearman went on to formed other aircraft companies in Wichita.

Entry: Travel Air Manufacturing Company

Author: Kansas Historical Society

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Date Created: January 2012

Date Modified: January 2019

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The Story of Travel Air Makers of Biplanes and Monoplanes Paperback – July 3, 2013

Purchase options and add-ons.

• Print length 82 pages
• Language English
• Publication date July 3, 2013
• Dimensions 8 x 0.19 x 10 inches
• ISBN-10 1937684172
• ISBN-13 978-1937684174
• See all details

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Periscope Film LLC (July 3, 2013)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 82 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1937684172
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1937684174
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.6 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8 x 0.19 x 10 inches
• #664 in Air Travel Reference (Books)
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Simple Flying

Travel air s-6000-b: the plane that flew delta's first passengers.

Just over nine decades ago, Delta Air Lines performed its first-ever passenger flight . The plane that conducted this milestone service was the Travel Air S-6000-B propellor plane, which the carrier took on in 1929. Here is a look at the veteran aircraft.

Plenty to offer

The monoplane was recognizable with its high wings. It could hold six people altogether, and the Wichita, Kansas-based Travel Air expected airlines to place two pilots at the front and four passengers behind. However, according to the Delta Flight Museum , Delta only deployed a single pilot. Therefore, another passenger could sit beside the aviator to allow for five customers on board.

Stay informed:  Sign up for our  daily aviation news digest .

A Wright J6 Whirlwind engine powered the plane to offer a range of 500 miles at a speed of up to 90 mph. However, it wasn't the only the technical capabilities of the Travel Air S-6000-B that appealed to the airline and its customers.

The aircraft was billed as a flying limousine when it was introduced. It was painted in black and international orange livery while passengers inside were kept warm in the insulated, wood-paneled cabin.

Moreover, passengers sat in woven wicker seats and relied on hand holds instead of seatbelts. They could even roll down the windows for a breath of fresh air.

Best for business

A brochure titled Fly for Business and Why promoted flights on these planes for those looking to travel for business purposes. The company highlighted the comfortable experience that could be had if passengers would hit the skies on the aircraft.

The brochure said the following, according to the Delta Flight Museum .

"Delta Air Service ships are the safe, swift Travel Air enclosed cabin planes, equipped with 300 horsepower Wright Whirlwind motors. They bring a new luxury and comfort to air travel, undreamed of even five years ago,"

Delta legend C.E. Woolman, who was the company's general manager at the time, spoke highly of the abilities of the plane. There was undoubtedly plenty on offer for those on board the aircraft.

Woolman said the following, as shared by the museum.

"[The planes have] accommodations for five passengers and pilot, toilet facilities, and space for hand luggage. In cold weather the cabins are warm and comfortable and with the interesting feature of scenic observation of the surrounding country, afford the ideal means of modern travel."

Time to hit the skies

Altogether, Delta flew with three S-6000-Bs. Two units were acquired from Fox Flying Service, while one was purchased directly from the manufacturer. The cost of buying a new edition of the plane was $13,500, which is approximately $205,200 today. Registrations C8878 (MSN 988), C9905 (MSN 1072), and C9930 (MSN 1081) all subsequently joined the operator's fleet.

It was C8878 that conducted the first-ever passenger flight for Delta. Previously, the airline was focused on crop-dusting operations to help protect the cotton fields of the southern states in the US against the boll weevil insect. This creature was proving to be a significant pest.

Nonetheless, the operator was now ready to take services to the next level. The first route was a flight between Dallas, Texas and Jackson with stops in Shreveport and Monroe, Mississippi. Operations started on June 17th, 1929.

The 427-mile flight took five hours to complete, including stoppage and lunch breaks. Subsequently, the S-6000-B helped Delta become the first carrier to offer an air service between Dallas and Jackson. 

J. D. "Johnny" Howe was the pilot of this inaugural flight, and he was the perfect person for the job. He had six years of experience in the skies and previously worked as an agent for the Travel Air Company. Notably, he was also one of the first people in the US to gain a commercial pilot's license.

There was only one passenger on this first trip, Delta's operations manager, John S. Fox. However, he was welcomed with joy from Jackson Mayor Walter A. Scott on his arrival to the city.

On the way back, there were more passengers on the plane. As Cox returned after an overnight stay in Jackson, he was joined by a group of Jackson officials.

Return on investment

Notably, this return trip saw Delta's first-ever paying passenger. While the fliers took a break in Monroe, they picked up W.C. Walsh, a factory representative for the motor car powerhouse, Dodge Brothers. He joined the traveling party to head to Dallas.

Fares on the route between Dallas and Jackson were $47.25 ($708 today) one away. The price was $90.00 ($1,349 today) for a return. The aircraft made the round trip three times a week. It headed to Jackson on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and traveled west on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. 

During the same year that Delta first purchased S-6000-B, it also took on the Travel Air 2000. However, this biplane was in use for flying lessons, charter operations, and company travel.

Delta installed radio sets on the S-6000-B at the beginning of 1930, with a test flight on January 8th. The operation departed Monroe and circled the city while receiving messages from as far as New York. This move was a significant achievement for the time.

Despite the groundbreaking adventures of the S-6000-B, Delta only flew it for just over a year. With tight competition and the arrival of the Great Depression, the carrier suspended passenger operations until 1934. Therefore the plane was retired by the end of October 1930. Nonetheless, this aircraft helped the airline on its way to becoming one of the most recognizable brands in aviation .

What are your thoughts about the Travel Air S-6000-B? What do you imagine it was like to fly on such an aircraft? Let us know what you think of the plane in the comment section.

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Delta Air Service Travel Air 6B Sedan

Unique Plane

Restored 1931 Curtiss-Wright 6B Sedan painted in International Orange and black of the earlier 1929  Travel Air S-6000-B . Tail number NC8878 celebrates the Travel Air that flew Delta’s first passengers on June 17, 1929. Curtiss-Wright acquired the Travel Air Manufacturing Co. in August 1929.

One of only four 6B Sedans still intact. Built in 1931, and carried executives of a pipeline company for the next decade. Fought fires in Montana for 31 years, from 1941-1972, hauling smoke jumpers and supplies.

More Images & Videos

To see more images and videos of this aircraft visit:  Travel Air Info

Click here to explore a 360 view of the aircraft's interior.

Restoration

Delta Captain Doug Rounds completed initial restoration with family and friends from 1975 to 1983. Delta purchased the plane in 1985, and put it on display at headquarters in Atlanta.

Our aircraft restoration team made improvements in 1997-2000: replacing brakes; rebuilding engine; rewiring instrument panel; installing intercom system, Becker transponder and VHF transceiver. New carpet, leather sidewalls, ceiling panels and lighting gave interior a 1930’s vintage look.

Special Events

Flew to EAA's AirVenture  in 2000. Awarded “Antique Transport Runner-Up” for excellent restoration.

Recreated Delta's first flight to celebrate 70 th and 75 th passenger service anniversaries in 1999 and 2004. Flew from Dallas-Love Field in Texas, to Jackson, Mississippi, with stops in Monroe and Shreveport, Louisiana.

TRAVEL AIR FACTS

More Information

1985 “Delta’s Travel Air” Brochure :  Details about plane’s manufacturing and initial restoration.

Flickr : Photos of Delta's Travel Air

Travel Air Restorers Association : More about vintage Travel Airs—and those who love them!

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What was air travel like in the USSR? (PHOTOS)

An Ilyushin Il-62 Classic plane, the first Soviet intercontinental jet airliner, of Aeroflot at Vnukovo airport.

Officially, Soviet civil aviation was born in 1923, when ‘Dobrolyot’, a  voluntary air fleet society, was set up to transport passengers and mail. In 1932, Dobrolyot was transformed into the Main Civil Air Fleet Directorate, known as Aeroflot, which became the official (and only) airline in the USSR. By that time, the Soviet Union had developed its own aircraft: U-2, PS-9, K-5.

Routes were not numerous: flights connected Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Kharkov, Odessa, Leningrad and Kiev. Vladivostok or Yakutsk could be reached only with stopovers.

This is how the first passengers of a U-2SP airplane traveled in 1940:

Civil aviation began to develop in the Soviet Union for real only after the Great Patriotic War. In the 1950s, Aeroflot received jet aircraft, and flying became much faster and more pleasant: if in the 1930s a flight from Moscow to Nizhny Novgorod took four hours, now it was just an hour and a half.

The Tu-104 jet aircraft had its maiden flight on the Moscow - Omsk - Irkutsk route in 1956. Smoking was allowed on board (on foreign flights, smoking on board was allowed until 2000).

In the 1960s, air traffic connected not only the capitals of the Soviet republics, but regional centers, too. The number of airfields mushroomed all over the country. For example, from Voronezh (an industrial center in southern Russia) there were flights to almost a hundred cities.

Voronezh Airport.

In 1976, Aeroflot became the world's first airline to have carried over 100 million passengers in a year.

Yakutsk airport.

By the early 1960s, Moscow had four airports: Vnukovo, Bykovo, Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo. The capital was considered the country's main transport hub - it connected more than 200 cities in the Soviet Union. This is what Domodedovo airport’s terminal looked like in 1965:

Domodedovo airport, 1965.

So how much were tickets? The Moscow Passenger Transport directory for 1990 lists the following ticket prices from Moscow: to Sochi, 31 rubles (about 3,400 in present-day rubles, or $50), to Leningrad, 18 rubles (1,900 rubles, or $29), to Vladivostok, 134 rubles (14,600 rubles or $220). These prices are quite comparable with today's air fares, but one should bear in mind that the average monthly salary of a specialist in the USSR was 170 rubles, so far from everybody could afford to fly. That said, flights within regions or between regional centers were much more affordable.

The ticket price included meals (that were served on real china plates) and a baggage allowance. Each passenger could check in 20 kg for free, plus carry-on luggage. On small aircraft, like the An-2, and helicopters, luggage was limited to 10 kg.

Passengers dine on board Tu-104, the first Soviet passenger jet.

Children under 5 could travel for free, while those aged between 5 and 12 were entitled to a 50 percent discount. During the academic year, from October to May, the same discount applied to all schoolchildren and students. All prices were fixed. War veterans were entitled to free air tickets twice a year.

A flight attendant serves passengers on board a Tu-104 aircraft in 1958:

A baby on board Soviet Tu-104.

Tickets were sold at special air travel terminals. Getting a ticket to a popular destination like Anapa or Sochi was not always easy. 

July 1, 1958. An employee of Aeroflot answers a phone call.

An interesting fact: until the 1970s, plane tickets could be bought without a passport – they were not issued with a particular name. Passengers were only required to produce an ID when checking in at the airport.

In Moscow, check-in could be done both at the airport and at the air travel terminal onLeningradsky Prospekt (Leningradsky Avenue) in Moscow. Inside, it looked like a regular airport terminal, except that there were no planes. From there, special express buses transported registered passengers to the relevant airports. In those days, there were few cars in Moscow and the journey only took an hour and cost less than 1 ruble (100 present-day rubles, or $1.5). Similar buses ran between the city's four airports for transit passengers, offering a very convenient and fast service.

Moscow, 1966. The terminal interior view.

Incidentally, although the Soviet Union had regular international flights (to the U.S., Europe, and Asia), an ordinary citizen could not buy a ticket for these flights. In Soviet times, only a few people who had exit visas could travel abroad . 

Vnukovo, 1983.

So, who was allowed to fly on those flights? Cultural figures, officials, athletes, and of course, foreign tourist groups. If on domestic flights, there was no division into different classes of service however on international routes Aeroflot did try to meet the best of western standards.

Tu-144, 1973.

By 1990, Aeroflot was already transporting more than 140 million passengers annually. By that time, the country had some 1,500 airfields, mostly in the regions. Incidentally, there are less than 300 of them remaining nowadays. 

Sheremetyevo-2, 1980.

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AIR & SPACE MAGAZINE

The notorious flight of mathias rust.

Ronald Reagan was president, there was still a Soviet Union, and a 19-year-old pilot set out to change the world

Tom LeCompte

ON A MILD SPRING DAY IN LATE MAY 1987, military analyst John Pike was at the U.S. embassy in Moscow on business when he looked out the window and saw a small airplane circling over Red Square. Gee, that’s peculiar , thought Pike. There’s no private aviation in the Soviet Union. Hell, there’s no private anything.

The aircraft belonged to West German teenager Mathias Rust—or, more accurately, to Rust’s flying club. In a daring attempt to ease cold war tensions, the 19-year-old amateur pilot had flown a single-engine Cessna nearly 550 miles from Helsinki to the center of Moscow—probably the most heavily defended city on the planet—and parked it at the base of St. Basil’s Cathedral, within spitting distance of Lenin’s tomb. Newspapers dubbed the pilot “the new Red Baron” and the “Don Quixote of the skies.” The stunt became one of the most talked-about aviation feats in history. But it was politics, not fame, that motivated Rust.

There is nothing in Rust’s neat two-bedroom apartment outside Berlin—no mementos, no photographs, no framed newspaper headlines—nothing at all to indicate that for a few short weeks 18 years ago he was the most famous pilot in the world. But the memory of the flight has stayed fresh. “It seems like it happened yesterday,” says Rust, now 36. “It’s alive in me.”

As a child in Hamburg, Rust had been preoccupied by two things: flying and nuclear Armageddon. Belligerence and distrust marked East-West relations of the time. U.S. President Ronald Reagan seemed to be on a personal crusade against the Soviet Union. Many Germans were on edge. “There was a real sense of fear,” Rust says, “because if there was a conflict, we all knew we would be the first to be hit.”

To many Europeans, Mikhail Gorbachev’s ascendancy to the Soviet leadership in 1985 offered a glimmer of hope. Glasnost , his policy of transparency in government, and perestroika , economic reforms at home, were radical departures from the policies of his predecessors. So when the U.S.-Soviet summit in Reykjavik, Iceland, in October 1986 ended without an arms reduction deal, Rust felt despair. He was particularly angered by Reagan’s reflexive mistrust of the Soviet Union, which Rust felt had blinded the president to the historic opportunity Gorbachev presented.

Rust decided he must do something—something big. He settled on the idea of building an “imaginary bridge” by flying to Moscow. If he could reach the Soviet capital, if he could “pass through the Iron Curtain without being intercepted, it would show that Gorbachev was serious about new relations with the West,” says Rust. “How would Reagan continue to say it was the ‘Empire of Evil’ if me, in a small aircraft, can go straight there and be unharmed?” Rust also prepared a 20-page manifesto he planned to deliver to Gorbachev on how to advance world peace.

Rust had taken his first flying lessons only a couple of years before his decision to fly to Moscow. A data processor at a mail-order trinket company, he spent all of his money (and some of his parents’) flying. But by the spring of 1987, he had barely 50 hours of licensed flight time, and had completed just a handful of cross-country trips.

“I thought my chances of actually getting to Moscow were about 50-50,” Rust says, noting that in 1983, the Soviets blew Korean Airlines flight 007 out of the sky after it strayed into Soviet airspace near the Kamchatka Peninsula; all 269 persons aboard were killed. “But I was convinced I was doing the right thing—I just had to dare to do it.”

To prepare himself for his mission, he planned a practice flight to Reykjavik, the site of the doomed arms talks. It would be “a long time flying over open water with very little navigation aids,” says Rust. “I figured if I succeeded, I would be able to cope with the pressure of flying to Moscow.”

Rust meticulously planned his route and signed out a 1980 Cessna Skyhawk 172 from his flying club for three weeks. The four-seat airplane was equipped with auxiliary fuel tanks that boosted the aircraft’s range by 175 nautical miles to 750 nautical miles—range he would need in order to safely reach Reykjavik, and later Moscow. The club didn’t ask him where he was going, and Rust didn’t say. He packed a small suitcase, a satchel with maps and flight planning supplies, a sleeping bag, 15 quarts of engine oil, and a life vest. As a final precaution, Rust packed a motorcycle crash helmet. The helmet was for his final leg to Moscow, “because I didn’t know what [the Soviets] would do, and if I was forced down it would give me extra protection [in case of a crash].”

On May 13, 1987, Rust took off from Uetersen Airfield, outside Hamburg, and flew for five hours across the Baltic and North seas before reaching the Shetland Islands. The next day he flew to Vagar, on Denmark’s Faröe Islands, in the middle of the north Atlantic. On May 15 he flew to Reykjavik.

Rust spent a week in the Icelandic capital. He visited Hofdi House, the white villa that was the site of the Reagan-Gorbachev summit. “It was locked,” Rust says, “but I felt I got in touch with the spirit of the place. I was so emotionally involved then and was so disappointed with the failure of the summit and my failure to get there the previous autumn. So it gave me motivation to continue.”

On May 22, Rust set out for Finland by way of Hofn, Iceland; the Shetlands; and Bergen, Norway. He landed at Malmi airport in Helsinki on May 25. Since leaving Hamburg, he had covered nearly 2,600 miles and had doubled his total flight time to more than 100 hours. He had proven to himself he had the flying skills he needed, but he still had doubts about his nerve. His resolve constantly wavered: Yes, it was something he had to do/No, it was crazy.

The night of May 27 was a restless one for Rust. In the morning he drove to the airport, fueled the Cessna, checked the weather, and filed a flight plan for Stockholm (“My alternate if I chickened out,” he says), a two-hour trip to the southwest.

At about 12:21 p.m., Rust took off. Controllers at Malmi had him turn west toward Stockholm, asking him to keep the airplane low to avoid traffic. Although the Cessna was equipped with a transponder, a device that transmits a response to radar interrogation and thus helps to identify an aircraft, Helsinki controllers didn’t assign him a setting, so he turned the device off—the controllers would track Rust’s airplane by the reflection of radar signals off its metal skin. Rust held course for about 20 minutes, at which point controllers radioed to say he was leaving their control area. Rust thanked them and said goodbye.

He continued toward Stockholm for several minutes; then, as he closed in on his first waypoint, near the Finnish town of Nummela, he chose. “All of a sudden, I just turned the airplane to the left [toward Moscow],” he says. “It wasn’t really even a decision…. I wasn’t nervous. I wasn’t excited. It was almost like the airplane was on autopilot. I just turned and headed straight across [the Gulf of Finland] to the border.”

At the Tampere air traffic control facility in Finland, controllers noticed Rust’s near-180-degree change of course. As the radar blip headed south and then east across the water, passing through restricted Finnish military airspace, controllers tried to contact him and failed. At about 1 p.m., Rust’s airplane disappeared from radar screens. Fifteen minutes later, a helicopter pilot radioed that he spotted an oil slick and some debris on the water near where Rust’s airplane was last detected. A search-and-rescue operation was activated—only to be called off when news of Rust’s landing reached Finland. (Years later Finnish aviation authorities investigated a series of incidents in which airliners mysteriously disappeared from Tampere radar screens while in the same area.)

Meanwhile, at a radar station in Skrunda, now in the independent state of Latvia, Soviet military personnel were also tracking Rust. All foreign aircraft flying into the Soviet Union were required to get a permit and to fly along designated corridors, and Rust’s was not an approved flight. As the unidentified aircraft neared the coastline at around 2:10 p.m. Moscow time (an hour ahead of Helsinki), three missile units were put on alert.

From Helsinki, Rust’s flight plan was simple: Turn to a heading of 117 degrees and hold course. As he crossed his first waypoint, the Sillamyae radio beacon near Kohtla-Jarve, on the coast of the now-independent state of Estonia, he climbed to 2,500 feet above sea level, a standard altitude for cross-country flight, which would keep him about 1,000 feet above the ground for the entire route. He trimmed the airplane out and flew straight and level. He also put on his crash helmet. “The whole time I was just sitting in the aircraft, focusing on the dials,” says Rust. “It felt like I wasn’t really doing it.”

Soviet controllers continued to monitor the unidentified airplane’s progress. Now that it was well inland, army units in the area were put on high alert and two fighter-interceptors at nearby Tapa air base were scrambled to investigate. Peering through a hole in the low clouds, one of the pilots reported seeing an airplane that looked similar to a Yak-12, a single-engine, high-wing Soviet sports airplane that from a distance looks very similar to a Cessna. The fighter pilot, or his commander on the ground, perhaps thinking the airplane must have had permission to be there, or didn’t pose any threat, decided the airplane did not require a closer inspection.

Not long after being seen by the Soviet fighter pilot, Rust descended in order to avoid some low clouds and icing. For a brief period, his blip disappeared from Soviet radar screens. Once the weather cleared, Rust climbed back to 2,500 feet, and an image of the unidentified airplane appeared on the radar screen in a new sector, one whose commander ordered two more fighter-interceptors to investigate.

Now nearly two hours into his flight, Rust says the sun was shining when he saw “a black shadow shooting in the sky and then disappear.” A few moments later, from out of a layer of clouds in front of him, an aircraft appeared. “It was coming at me very fast, and dead-on,” Rust recalls. “And it went whoosh !—right over me.

“I remember how my heart felt, beating very fast,” he continues. “This was exactly the moment when you start to ask yourself: Is this when they shoot you down ?”

From below and to the left, a Soviet MiG-23 fighter-interceptor pulled up beside him. With nearly three times the wingspan and more than 10 times the weight of Rust’s Cessna, the MiG seemed huge. Designed to fly at more than twice the speed of sound, the swing-wing fighter had to be put into full landing configuration—gear and flaps extended, wings swung outward—in order to slow it enough to fly alongside the Cessna. Its nose rode high as it hovered at the edge of a stall.

“I realized because they hadn’t shot me down yet that they wanted to check on what I was doing there,” Rust says. He kept watching the Soviet airplane, “but there was no sign, no signal from the pilot for me to follow him. Nothing.” Soviet investigators later told Rust that the MiG pilot attempted to reach Rust over the radio but there was no response. Only later did Rust realize that the Soviet fighter could only communicate over high-frequency military channels.

After the two pilots had eyed each other for a minute, the Soviet pilot retracted the jet’s gear and flaps. The MiG accelerated and peeled away, only to return and draw two long arcs around the Cessna at a distance of about a half-mile. Finally, it disappeared.

From both the registration number painted on the side of the airplane (D-ECJB) and the West German flag decal on its tail, the MiG-23 crew should have been able to tell that Rust’s aircraft was neither a Yak nor Soviet. Marshall Sergei Akhromeyev, chief of staff of all the Soviet armed forces, admitted in a 1990 interview cited in Don Oberdorfer’s book From the Cold War to the New Era that the fighter pilot’s commander either did not believe the pilot’s report or did not think it was significant, so the information was never passed up the chain of command.

At 3 p.m., with the weather improving, Rust entered a Soviet air force training zone where seven to 12 aircraft—all with performance characteristics and radar signatures similar to Rust’s—were being used in training exercises such as takeoffs and landings.

Rust’s altitude probably helped him appear harmless. Had he attempted to evade radar, as many later speculated he did, the Soviets likely would have taken more aggressive action to stop him, but even in that scenario, the Soviets’ options for dealing with him were fairly limited. Since the KAL 007 tragedy, strict orders were given that no hostile action be taken against civilian aircraft unless orders originated at the very highest levels of the Soviet military, and at that moment, Defense Minister Sergei Sokolov and other top military commanders were in East Berlin with Gorbachev for a meeting of Warsaw Pact states.

As a security procedure, Soviet radar has aircraft under its control regularly reset their transponder codes at prearranged times. If a pilot failed to make the switch, his airplane’s radar signature would look “friendly” one minute and “hostile” the next, after the ground had switched over. On the day of Rust’s flight, 3 p.m. was one of those times. As Rust proceeded, a commander looking over the shoulder of a radar operator—apparently thinking Rust’s radar return was that of a student pilot who had forgotten to make the transponder switch—ordered the officer to change the Cessna’s radar signature to “friendly.” “Otherwise we might shoot some of our own,” he explained.

By 4 p.m., Rust crossed radar sectors near Lake Seliger, a popular summer retreat near the town of Kushinovo, about 230 miles from Moscow. As the radar return for the Cessna popped up on a new set of radar screens, controllers once again took note of the unidentified aircraft. Once again a pair of fighter-interceptors was launched to investigate, but according to a Russian report on Rust’s flight, commanders considered it too dangerous for the airplanes to descend through the low cloud deck, so visual contact was never made. Rust was now a little more than two and a half hours away from his destination.

About 40 miles west of the city of Torzhok, another radar controller saw the signal for Rust’s airplane and assumed it was one of two helicopters that had been performing search-and-rescue operations nearby. On his radar screen, he flagged it as such, and once again Rust’s airplane was marked as a “friendly.”

Rust flew on, leaving the Leningrad military district and entering that of Moscow. In the handoff report, the Leningrad commander related to his Moscow counterpart that his controllers had been tracking a Soviet airplane flying without its transponder turned on. But the report said nothing about tracking an unidentified airplane from the Gulf of Finland, nothing about fighter-interceptors intercepting a West German aircraft, and nothing about an unidentified aircraft on a steady course to Moscow. As such, the report set off no alarms.

For Rust, the flight was going flawlessly. He had no problem identifying the landmarks he had chosen as waypoints, and he was confident that his goal was within reach. “I had a sense of peace,” he says. “Everything was calm and in order.” He passed the outermost belt of Moscow’s vaunted “Ring of Steel,” an elaborate network of anti-aircraft defenses that since the 1950s had been built up as a response to the threat of U.S. bombers. The rings of missile placements circled the city at distances of about 10, 25, and 45 nautical miles, but were not designed to fend off a single, slow-flying Cessna.

At just after 6 p.m., Rust reached the outskirts of Moscow. The city’s airspace was restricted, with all overflights—both military and civilian—prohibited. At about this time, Soviet investigators would later tell Rust, radar controllers realized something was terribly wrong, but it was too late for them to act.

As Rust made his way over the city, he removed his helmet and began to search for Red Square. Unlike many western cities, Moscow has no skyline of glittering office towers that Rust could see and head for. Unsure where to go, Rust headed from building to building. “As I maneuvered around, I sort of narrowed in on the core of the city,” he says. Then he saw it: the distinctive turreted wall surrounding the Kremlin. Turning toward it, Rust began to descend and look for a place to land.

“At first, I thought maybe I should land inside the Kremlin wall, but then I realized that although there was plenty of space, I wasn’t sure what the KGB might do with me,” he remembers. “If I landed inside the wall, only a few people would see me, and they could just take me away and deny the whole thing. But if I landed in the square, plenty of people would see me, and the KGB couldn’t just arrest me and lie about it. So it was for my own security that I dropped that idea.”

As he circled, Rust noticed that between the Kremlin wall and the Hotel Russia, a bridge with a road crossed the Moscow River and led into Red Square. The bridge was about six lanes wide and traffic was light. The only obstacles were wires strung over each end of the bridge and at its middle. Rust figured there was enough space to come in over the first set of wires, drop down, land, and then taxi under the other wires and into the square.

Rust came in steeply, with full flaps, his engine idling. As planned, he came in over the first set of wires, dropped down, and flared for landing. As he rolled out under the middle set of wires, Rust noticed an old Volga automobile in front of him. “I moved to the left to pass him,” Rust says, “and as I did I looked and saw this old man with this look on his face like he could not believe what he was seeing. I just hoped he wouldn’t panic and lose control of the car and hit me.”

Rust passed under the last set of wires and rolled onto the square. Slowing, he looked for a place to park. He wanted to pull the airplane into the middle of the square, in front of Lenin’s tomb. But surrounding St. Basil’s Cathedral was a small fence with a chain strung across it that blocked his way. Rust pulled up in front of the church.

He shut down the engine, then closed his eyes for a moment and sucked in a deep breath. “I remember this great feeling of relief, like I had gotten this big load off my back.” He looked at the Kremlin clock tower. It was 6:43 p.m., almost five and a half hours since he’d left Helsinki.

He got out of the Cessna. Expecting to be stormed by hordes of troops and KGB agents, Rust leaned against the aircraft and waited. The people in Red Square seemed nervous or stunned, not sure what was going on. Some thought Rust’s airplane might be Gorbachev’s private aircraft, or that it was all part of a movie production. But once the crowd realized that Rust and the Cessna were foreign—and that he’d just pulled off one of the most sensational exploits they had ever witnessed—they drew closer.

“A big crowd had formed around me,” Rust says. “People were smiling and coming up to shake my hand or ask for autographs. There was a young Russian guy who spoke English. He asked me where I came from. I told him I came from the West and wanted to talk to Gorbachev to deliver this peace message that would [help Gorbachev] convince everybody in the West that he had a new approach.”

The atmosphere was festive. One woman gave him a piece of bread as a sign of friendship. According to Rust, an army cadet told him that “he admired my initiative, but that I should have applied for a visa and made an appointment with Gorbachev—but he agreed that they most likely would not have let me.”

Rust did not notice that KGB agents were moving through the crowd, interviewing people and confiscating cameras and notebooks. More than an hour after the landing, two truckloads of armed soldiers arrived and roughly shoved the crowd away. They also put up barriers around the airplane.

Three men emerged from a black sedan and introduced themselves. The youngest, an interpreter, politely asked for Rust’s passport and whether he was carrying any weapons. They then asked to inspect the aircraft. After a few more questions, they asked Rust to get into the car. The mood, Rust says, was still very friendly, almost mirthful. The Cessna was hauled to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport and disassembled for inspection. Rust was taken to Lefortovo prison, a notorious complex the KGB used to hold political prisoners.

Given the level of planning put into the flight, as well as the number of obstacles that had apparently been overcome, the Soviets could not believe that this was the work of one man, much less an idealistic boy. Investigators believed Rust’s journey was part of a much larger plot. Take the date itself, May 28. It was Border Guards Day. Many speculated Rust chose that day thinking the border would be more lightly defended, or perhaps to maximize the embarrassment the flight would cause the military. “I didn’t know about it,” Rust says. “I said, ‘I’m a West German. How should I know about your holidays?’ It was just a lucky circumstance.” His interrogators also accused him of obtaining maps from the CIA or the German military, but when the Soviet consul general in Hamburg was able to obtain the same maps from a mail order company, as Rust had, the interrogators relented.

Rust’s investigators showed him photographs of the bridge he’d landed on. In the photos, many sets of wires stretched across the bridge, each about six feet apart. They asked Rust how he could possibly land with so many wires in his way. Perplexed himself, Rust explained that when he landed he could see only three sets of wires. Upon further investigation, the Soviets learned that the morning of the day Rust landed, a public works crew had removed most of the wires for maintenance; they were replaced the next day. “They said I must have been born with a shirt”—a Russian expression meaning born lucky.

One German periodical published a story saying Rust did the stunt on a bet. Another reported that he did it to impress a girl. Yet another said he did it in order to drop leaflets seeking to free nonagenarian Rudolf Hess, Hitler’s lieutenant, from jail. The Communist newspaper Pravda accused Rust of being a patsy in an international plot in which he was supposed to have been shot down and killed in order to provoke an international incident. However ridiculous the rumors were, the Soviets methodically looked into every allegation.

On June 23, 1987, the Soviets completed their investigation. Shortly afterward, prosecutors charged Rust with illegal entry, violation of flight laws, and “malicious hooliganism.” Rust pleaded guilty to all but the last charge. There was, he argued, nothing malicious in his intentions.

On September 4, after a three-day trial, a panel of three judges found Rust guilty of all charges and sentenced him to four years at Lefortovo. The prison, though starker and more restrictive than a labor camp, ensured Rust’s safety. He spent his time there quietly and was afforded special privileges: He was allowed to work in the garden and receive visits by his parents every two months.

On August 3, 1988, two months after Reagan and Gorbachev agreed to a treaty to eliminate intermediate-range nuclear weapons in Europe, the Supreme Soviet, in what Tass described as a “goodwill gesture,” ordered Rust released from prison.

According to William E. Odom, former director of the National Security Agency and author of The Collapse of the Soviet Military , Rust’s flight damaged the reputation of the vast Soviet military and enabled Gorbachev to remove the staunchest opponents to his reforms. Within days of Rust’s landing, the Soviet defense minister and the Soviet air defense chief were sacked. In a matter of weeks, hundreds of other officers were fired or replaced—from the country’s most revered war heroes to scores of lesser officers. It was the biggest turnover in the Soviet military command since Stalin’s bloody purges of the 1930s.

More important than the replacement of specific individuals, analyst John Pike says, was the change Rust’s flight precipitated in the public’s perception of the military. The myth of Soviet military superiority had been punctured, and with it the almost religious reverence the public had held for its armed forces.

For decades, Soviet citizens had been led to believe “the West was poised to destroy them…that if they let their guard down for an instant that they would be obliterated,” says Pike. It was this thinking that helped perpetuate the cold war. Rust’s flight proved otherwise: The Soviet Union could suffer a breach without being destroyed by external forces. Ultimately, of course, it would be internal forces that would do the job.

The flying club’s Cessna changed hands several times (in 1988, it was listed for sale in Trade-A-Plane ) before ending up with a Japanese developer who intended to make it an attraction at an amusement park. That project went bankrupt and the airplane disappeared. ( Editors note, May 17, 2024. The plane was eventually found and can be seen at the German Museum of Technology in Berlin .)

Rust never piloted an airplane again. In fact, he spent many years trying to distance himself from his famous flight. In 2002 he founded a mediation service designed to “fight violence by providing proper redress,” for which he has spent a lot of time in the Middle East, mostly in Palestinian territories, but to help pay the bills Rust also works for a London-based investment firm.

Though frustrated that he never got to meet Gorbachev, he takes satisfaction in having had a small but important impact on relations between the superpowers. Four years after his “mission,” the forces that his flight helped to strengthen dissolved the Soviet Union, and the cold war ended.

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Electric air taxi maker Archer Aviation gets key FAA sign-off

The Federal Aviation Administration has granted  Archer Aviation  a key certification that gets the electric air taxi maker closer to eventually flying travelers, the company said Wednesday.

Archer is making electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, or eVTOLs, and  won orders  and backing in 2021 from  United Airlines , which says the new technology could reduce carbon emissions.

Carriers have been investing in or ordering eVTOL aircraft, which take off and land vertically like helicopters and whose developers say they can cut down on emissions in congested areas. United, for example, says passengers could take them to and from the airport in big cities, such as between Manhattan and United’s hub in Newark, New Jersey.

“Today we have received the Part 135 certification, which allows us to effectively become an airline so we can carry passengers,” Archer CEO Adam Goldstein told CNBC.

The process has taken Archer about two years: It submitted more than 2,000 pages of documents and 14 manuals outlining operational procedures, training and maintenance.

Now Archer has to get its four-passenger aircraft, called “Midnight,” certified by the FAA, which the company is currently working on, Goldstein said. That could put the air taxis into service as early as next year, the company estimates. Goldstein said he couldn’t give an exact time frame but when asked about certification delays on variants of older aircraft, he noted that Archer’s aircraft are much simpler with far fewer components than commercial jets.

Archer’s demonstrator aircraft, Maker, can fly up to 60 miles at top speeds of 150 mph. The company’s Midnight aircraft has a range of 100 miles, though Archer aims to use it for shorter distances.

United is working with Archer on what it would look like to enter the electric aircraft into service.

“This is not something that is a push of a button,” said Andrew Chang, managing director of United Airlines’ venture arm. “It’s matching how quickly [Archer] can progress the operational side and how to fit that within our airport hubs.”

Archer has partnered with automaker  Stellantis  to produce hundreds of the electric air taxis.

Archer’s rivals have also made strides.  Joby Aviation  received its Part 135 certificate two years ago, has a partnership with the U.S. Air Force, and has won orders and backing from  Delta Air Lines . On Tuesday, Joby said it plans to  acquire  the autonomy division of autonomous aviation company Xwing.

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Russia's Su-34 Fullback Nightmare Is Now Getting Worse

Summary: Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Moscow has reportedly lost around 330 aircraft, including the advanced Su-34 "Fullback" fighters.

-Ukraine's use of Western-developed weapons, notably the U.S.-delivered Patriot air defense missile system, has significantly contributed to these losses.

-The Su-34, an evolution of the Cold War-era Su-27 Flanker, officially entered service in 2014 and is known for its distinctive platypus nose and side-by-side cockpit.

-Despite its advanced capabilities and robust armament, the Fullback has proven vulnerable in the conflict, with numerous videos showing its destruction.

-The ongoing war threatens to further deplete Russia's stockpile of these crucial aircraft.

Russian Su-34 Fighters: Vulnerable in Ukraine's Conflict

Since invading Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has reportedly lost some 330 aircraft. Moscow’s fighter airframes have proven vulnerable to Ukraine’s stockpile of advanced Western-developed weapons. 

Ukrainian officials claimed that nine Russian jets were destroyed in May alone. While these numbers cannot be independently verified, the U.S.-delivered Patriot air defense missile system has certainly aided Kyiv’s ability to take down Moscow’s top-tier fighters, including the Su-34 . Nicknamed the “Fullback” by NATO, this all-weather supersonic fighter has been an essential asset for Russia for many years.

Introducing the Su-34 Fullback

The Soviet-era Su-34 fighter derived from the Su-27 Flanker during the Cold War. While the Su-34 took its maiden flight before the collapse of the USSR, evolving requirements imposed by the Russian Aerospace Forces pushed back the fighter’s official introduction to service until 2014. 

The Fullback’s several unique characteristics include a platypus nose and side-by-side cockpit. Aside from these external characteristics, the jet retains its predecessor’s basic layout, engine, construction, and wing structure . The jet is powered by a pair of Saturn AL-31FM1 engines, which give it a top speed of Mach 1.8 and a service ceiling of around 56,000 feet.  

The Fullback can lug more than 17,000 pounds of weapons across a dozen hardpoints positioned underwing and beneath the fuselage. The jet can also carry a wide range of precision-guided and unguided bombs and rockets, including KAB-500 laser-guided bombs. As detailed by Airforce Technology, the jet can also carry Vympel R-27, Vympel R-73, and NPO-R-77 missiles used primarily for defense against adversarial aircraft if detected by the rear-facing radar.

Two distinct variants of the Fullback have been produced, both of which Russia exports to foreign client states. The Su-34FN is the maritime strike fighter version of the Fullback, equipped with anti-submarine warfare systems, a Sea Snake radar, a radio sonobuoy system, and other unique attributes. Since this model is designed to elevate the fighter’s naval warfare capabilities, it is highly sought out across the globe.

How Has the Fullback Fared in Ukraine?

The Kremlin may claim that its Su-34 fighter is essentially invulnerable, but the platform’s performance in Ukraine suggests otherwise. As explained by Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat, "Our experience suggests that after Russian planes are downed and destroyed, the occupiers do not dare come closer – this is the case across the northern, southern, and eastern fronts. The closer the aircraft armed with guided bombs approach, the farther those bombs can reach into our defenses." 

Countless videos have circulated in recent months purporting to show the destruction of Russian fighters, including Fullbacks. As the war rages on with no end in sight, Moscow’s Su-34 stockpile will surely dwindle further.

About the Author: Maya Carlin 

Maya Carlin , National Security Writer with The National Interest, is an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has by-lines in many publications, including The National Interest, Jerusalem Post, and Times of Israel. You can follow her on Twitter: @MayaCarlin . 

All images are Creative Commons. 

Air Canada flight with 389 passengers forced to land back at Toronto airport after takeoff

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A routine Air Canada flight from Toronto to Paris was forced to return to Pearson Airport on Wednesday evening after the aircraft began experiencing engine issues just a few minutes after takeoff. 

According to flight tracking data website Flight Aware , the aircraft, a Boeing 777-200LR (twin-jet), was performing flight AC872 and took off from Pearson Airport at 8:46 p.m. 

Shortly after departure, the flight crew reported an engine issue, which cut the flight's journey short and ultimately forced it back to Pearson Airport. 

Flight radar shows the aircraft looping above Toronto before heading back to the airport. Air Canada says the aircraft was immediately inspected by airport response vehicles after landing. 

The aircraft was forced to return back to Toronto less than two hours after takeoff. Photo: Flight Aware . 

Thankfully, the aircraft was able to taxi back to the gate on its own, and despite there being 389 passengers onboard, no injuries were reported. 

As a result of the issue, the airline says the aircraft will be taken out of service for thorough evaluation. Affected passengers were rescheduled on a flight that took off early Thursday morning at 1:32 a.m. and landed at Charles de Gaulle Airport at 2:38 p.m. local time. 

This isn't the first time an Air Canada flight was forced to return to Pearson Airport shortly after takeoff in recent weeks.

Air Canada flight lands back at Toronto airport after mid-flight engine issue https://t.co/oMQYkjCvNL — blogTO (@blogTO) May 29, 2024

On May 27, a flight bound for New Delhi, India — also coincidentally serviced by a Boeing 777-200LR (twin-jet) — was forced to land back in Toronto less than two hours after takeoff due to engine issues. 

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