September 2012

Cover, Contents & Departments

Viewport, Letters, What’s Up, Soundings, In the Museum

Above & Beyond, Flights & Fancy

Sightings, Reviews & Previews, Credits, Forecast, Moments & Milestones

Features

Secret Pete

At the Reno air races, pilots know that to go fast, you have to stay cool. That’s where Pete Law comes in.

By Preston Lerner

The Astronaut Question

How long will humans remain better than robots at expiration?

By James R. Chiles

Cancelled: Princess, Dethroned

A British aircraft company could not give up the ship.

By Stephan Wilkinson

How Things Work: Space station Steering

Pilots on board. And they can fly that thing.

By Roger Mola and Tony Reichhardt

Burt Rutan’s Favorite Ride

The Boomerang could be the safest twin ever built.

By Steve Shapiro

I Was There “The Tremendous Potential of Rocketry”

Jimmy Doolittle remembers the birth of the U.S. space program.

By William D. Putnam and Eugene M. Emme

Airmen Down

Rescue aircraft are different today, but “surrender” is still a dirty word.

By Stephen Joiner

Not Fade Away

Saving a hangar that housed Curtiss trainers and vought Corsairs.

By Richard Mallory Allnutt

Wonderful Ones

At the nation’s air and space museum, 15 singular-and well loved-airplanes.

By Patricia Trenner