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FEATURES

Fettered Eagles
By Walter J. Boyne
Why did eight promising aircraft fail to make it past the prototype stage?

Ford’s Forgotten Aviation Legacy
By C.V. Glines
From 1909, when his son Edsel installed a Model T engine in a Blériot, Henry Ford’s ambitions turned toward flight “for the great multitude.”

Japan’s Panama Canal Buster
By John J. Geoghegan
Floatplane bombers launched by WWII’s largest subs could have dropped biological weapons on the U.S. or wrecked the Panama Canal.

Alcock and Brown’s Great Adventure
By Chris Fasolino
On June 14, 1919, two British airmen took off from Newfoundland in an open-cockpit biplane. Their goal: the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, nonstop.

Ace Under Three Flags
By Jon Guttman
After flying the Yak-3, WWII French ace of aces Marcel Albert enthused, “There was no comparison with the D.520, the Spitfire or even with the previous Yaks.”

ONLINE EXTRAS

Discussion:

Many promising aircraft never made it past the prototype stage, for a wide variety of reasons. Walter Boyne profiles a handful of these “Fettered Eagles” beginning on P. 20 of this issue. Drawing from the long history of also-ran aircraft, what are your candidates for great planes that never went into production?