ON THE COVER:
All the optimism of young USAAF WWII pilots is expressed in this photograph of 1st Lt. Earl J. Davis of the 118th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron on the wing of his Bell Airacobra. He would go on to become the OIC of the unit while operating in China. The photograph was taken by fellow pilot 1st Lt. Fred Poats during 1943 in Aiken, South Carolina, and is courtesy of Robert Bourlier

FEATURES:

HINOMARU HELLCAT
Unusual story of how the Japanese received a downed US Navy Grumman F6F-5 / by Marshall Wainwright

MONONGAHELA MITCHELL MYSTERY
How did a USAF B-25 completely disappear in a 1960 accident? / by Howard Carter

TORNADO DOWN!
The first jet bomber versus jet fighter aerial combat during the Korean War / by Adam Stanton

COST OF WAR
Allied and Axis aircraft destroyed, captured, or damaged during WWII / by Michael O’Leary

RETURN TO HOOD RIVER
We visit the annual WAAAM fly-in / by Roger Cain

DEPARTMENTS:

MESSAGE FROM PUBLISHER

WARBIRD & CLASSIC REPORT
All the latest vintage and veteran aircraft news along with how Yanks Air Museum rescued a Waco UPF-7 / by Doug Fisher

LOG ENTRIES
How aviators became authors during aviation’s Golden Age / by Mark Bingham

FRIDAY NIGHT OLDIES
Kodachromes of surplus ex military aircraft / by Doug Fisher

DOWN MEMORY’S RUNWAY
Interesting American aircraft from aviation’s past / by Adam Stanton

AIRLINES
News and views from the readers of Air Classics