BLOHM UND VOSS REMEMBERED - Hans Amtmann concludes his account of his time as a designer with the German Blohm und Voss company in the late 1930s/early 1940s, a period which spawned the asymmetric Bv 141, the P-163 with wingtip cockpits and the P-21 5 tailless twin-jet fighter
VINTAGE NEWS - The latest preservation news from Michael Oakey
CRITICAL MASS - Michael O'Leary reports on a highly-modified Hawker Sea Fury which is being upgraded to go head-to-head with the hottest Reno unlimited pylon racers
AFRICAN QUEENS - Alec Lumsden recounts an African adventure undertaken by Vickers Victorias of 216 Squadron in 1933
SOUTHERN COMFORT - A pristine Beech C-45 Expediter which has become a familiar sight at airshows is photographed and described by Paul Harrison
TESTED AND FAILED - In his continuing series on accidents during flight-test and development, Derek Collier Webb concludes his account of prangs that befell several Avro Lincolns that were pushed beyond their performance envelopes
SANTA MONICA CAT - Michael O'Leary reports on a rare Grumman F8F-1 Bearcat, now back in the air after tens of thousands of man-hours in restoration
DE BRUYNE'S FLYfNG BEETLE - Richard Riding looks at the peculiar de Bruyne-Maas Ladybird of the 1930s, a one-off British ultralight that probably incorporated too many innovative ideas in its design for its own good
LIMITED EDITIONS - Despite several changes of wings and engine, Gloster's handsome little Gnatsnapper fighter never gained the approval of service test pilots at Martlesham Heath — although it did eventually find a useful role as an engine testbed, as related by Philip Jarrett 
FIFTY YEARS OF FORMULA 1 - The creation of Formula 1 air racing in the USA just over 50 years ago spawned an exciting range of high-performance midget racing aircraft. Eric Tegler concludes his account of these extraordinary little winged wonders
PERSONAL ALBUM - A selection of photographs taken in 1947 by Maurice Marsh, depicting mostly military aircraft nearing the end of their lives
FROM ERK TO NAVIGATOR - The gulf between National Serviceman radar engineer and Regular RAF navigator was a wide one in the years after World War Two, but it was crossed by Bryan McElney, who served in both capacities
CROYDON RE-AWAKENING - Photographs taken at Croydon Airport on January 4, 1946
PRESERVATION PROFILE - John King reveals the history of D.H.84 Dragon ZK-AXI, preserved in airworthy condition by Smiths Tech-Air in New Zealand
MILES MISCELLANY - Photographs of some rare Miles aircraft at Woodley in the 1940s
CROSSWIND - John Maynard's comment column
THE ACES - Australian-born World War One ace Robert Little is this month's subject
A POINTLESS EXERCISE - In 1912 Salisbury Plain was the scene of the Military Aeroplane Competition, in which the War Office sought to select a suitable aircraft for the British Army. J.M. Bruce describes an event which proved a great disappointment
ARMCHAIR AVIATION - More reviews of new books and videos
LETTERS FROM READERS - We continue to welcome the avalanche of letters and enquiries we receive from readers every day but, regrettably, owing to pressures of magazine production, our full-time editorial staff of just three people cannot guarantee to answer every one

FRONT COVER - Dick James and Robert Odegaard's North American P-51D Mustangs both carry variations on the name Donna — not surprisingly, the names of their wives! Dick's aircraft, 44-74417/N6327T Donna-mite, is ex-RCAF, while Robert's 44-74404/N151 RJ Dazzling Donna was built up from parts of at least 20 P-51s. Photographed by MICHAEL O'LEARY - at last August's Confederate Air Force Southern Minnesota Wing airshow, they also feature on this month's CENTRE-SPREAD Below, Steve Hinton, president of The Air Museum "Planes of Fame", flying the museum's Republic P-47G Thunderbolt 42-25234 near Southern California's San Gabriel Mountains. It has been finished to represent the P-47D of 8th Air Force ace "Bud" Mahurin.