Air Enthusiast is no more

overscan (PaulMM)

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
27 December 2005
Messages
16,317
Reaction score
18,572
It appears that Air Enthusiast is ceasing publication from issue 131.

This is obviously bad news for unbuilt projects enthusiasts as a number of excellent articles by Tony Buttler, Mike Pryce and others have run in Air Enthusiast, and there is no obvious alternative home for them.
 
Thats true Scott, there's APR, but Air Enthusiast was obviously a bigger circulation and could afford to pay for articles.

Pometablava - Fana is interesting but is in French. If they release an English language version, maybe....
 
The "Aviation Francais Magazien" ceased this year with number 14, too. But it is
promised, that it will be revived with a new title and a new format, similar to AE,
aound autumn this year. Ok, it'll be in french, too, but better than nothing, I think.
Let's learn french ! Rousseau, Archibald, get ready to prepare our first lessons !
And don't forget the weekly tests ! Who fails, will be locked out from the forum for
the next week ! ;D

But it really seems to be a bad year fro aviation magzines ... :(
 
OK

First lesson

Repeat after me :

1) Dassault a construit les plus beaux chasseurs du monde ;D

2) Le Beaune est le plus bon vin du monde :)

3) (for the French girls) Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ?

I am totaly impartial when I said Le Fana is the best French aviation magazine ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ::)
 
That's true, Overscan, unfortunately for most readers Le Fana is in French. However, nowadays, it's the only magazine were unbuilt designs can be regularly found and there is plenty of foreing writer articles. So I don't know which the probability of seeing Tony Buttler's publishing at Le Fana, but technicaly speaking, at least it is possible.
In my opinion there is too much warbird restoration articles on it because I'm not interested on it. But for rest of the contents, which are very comparable to how it was Air Enthusiast in the past, well worth a subscription for whose that can read French.

Bad news for unbuilt projects enthusiasts started at Air Enthusiast when regular unbuilt project research vanished from its contents from 2001 and only that extreme high quality articles from Tony Buttler escaped. Since I cancelled my subscription, I have bought less than 10 issues in 7 years, but not only for the lack of unbuilt design coverage, I find either the whole edition quality and interest of contents are poor. It is my personal feeling but, for some reason, it seems that at Keypublishing nobody cares about Air Enthusiast's future.

Overscan, as you said, there is no obvious alternative home in English but Air International or International Air Power Review (only for military projects) could work.
 
Wings & Airpower ceased also publications early this year.
It often published excellents accounts about unbuilt projects.

A bad time for projects enthusiast.

But we have this great forum to fil the gap .

I dont know, but maybe there's a possibilty for a long article (a few pages)
a few times a year about a single subject ?
 
Certainly its possible, but Air Enthusiast did pay for articles and there's little chance of Secret Projects Forum paying authors for their work. Perhaps a way to sell PDFs through the site might work, but judging by Scott's experience the numbers willing to pay would probably be very low.
 
Uh, and you'll notice that No 100 is the last issue in the regular series of Aerofan.... There will be "specials", but I think no more than two per year. As for Air Enthusiast, apart from the Tony's articles, they disregarded the unbuilt projects since at least four years. And sincerely, apart from David Nicolle's series on the First Arab-Israeli war, I've not been able to find any of really remarkable there since a couple of years or so. I agrre, though, that losing AE is a disgrace. Only possibility is that Air Classics starts to talk unbuilt, but I doubt. Fundamental problem is that, great modellers lurking in this forum notwithstanding, aviation history magazines are bought for the 70 per cent by modellers, and only by 30 of people interested in history per se. And unbuilt projects require more skills (and imagination, and research, ultimately WORK) that doing the nth Spit or Phantom II. A notable exception is the Lufwaffe '46 segment, but that is another story, a phenomenon that has a lot to do with the Nazi memorabilia market.. Just an example: I own a copy of the 1932 photographic album depicting the voyages of LZ127. I payed it 100 euros four years ago. The seller told me that the prospective buyers asked him first the date of publication: once he aswered by mistake "1933". The other immediately offered 500 euros..... ::)
 
Fot those interested in german aviation projects, there's "Flugzeug Classic", which
in most issues covers a project, too. No, I won't start german lessons now ! ;)
But I agree, most aviation magazines spend too much room for stories, that were
already told too often, the nth article about hte F-4, F-16 or the like.
 
I have no objection to another article on the F-16 or F-4, PROVIDED it provides something new. 90% of aviation articles seem to be lazy recycling of well-known facts.
 
Sad news ..... :(
Will proposed a Fana in english ..... ;)

(back to the article on Mirage Mach 4 ... in french .... who want's the article in english ? )
 
"..PROVIDED it provides something new. 90% of aviation articles seem to be lazy recycling of well-known facts."

And often well-known errors :mad:

If an article features a theme, that is interesting for me, I think, I would try to read it,
even it is in chinese or kisuhaeli. Of course, the joy of reading will be lost then, but at least
the informations would come through.
Even more language lessons ?

But, Mirage 4000, please be careful ! Point 1 and 2, ok, but 3 ? Always keep in mind, that
we cannot be sure, that all of our members are over 18 years old. So we can easily talk
about the probability of killing an aircraft (and its pilot) with a missile, or the death toll
for a B 61 nuclear bomb, exploding in a height of 1000 ft above a populated area, but your
point 3 is absolutely intolerable for our youth ! ;D
 
Jemiba,
I toke 2 years of German lessons to read the 4 volumes of Die Deutsche Luftüstung 1933-45 ;)...and if I could have more spare time I'd like to learn some Russian to read their excellent books and articles. But I admit that English is the modern Latin and that should be the choice for Global comunication.

About Lark's idea of producing some kind of SPF review I think it's a great idea. Thanks to modern computers it could be easely edited and finished as a pdf. Thanks to internet it should be very easy to work in group. The pdf could be freely downloadable from this site. Or much better, a high quality printable file could be emailed or CD distributed to subscribers at low price in order to pay the server's subscription.

Cheers,

Antonio
 
Well, you're absolutely right and today I deeply regret, that during my school days I was
using my french lessons for everything else, than to learn french ! So I'm trying today, to
improve my knowledge of this language, when, scientifically, I'm not in the best age for
learning any more ! What I've tried to say was, that the most important point are the
informations, and if there's a choice between several languages then, I would opt for english,
too.
But it's never to late and when I'll start into our holidays tomorrow, I'll take a french dictionary
with me . ;)
But the idea of publishing articles here has a lot of appeal to me, too ! It would be worth a try,
I think. There won't ever be large sums of money, but I think, many of us already have worked
out special themes for themselves, but often too large to be posted completely in a forum like this.
Won't it be a good idea, to offer such things for a low price here, payable to Paul ? In many cases,
these articles would never be published at all otherwise. The only problem I see is , as usual, the
copyright. For strictly private use, the source of photos and drawings doesn't matter, but here
it would be different. Don't know, if strict limitation to members would be a solution ? Probably
not ... We need a lawyer, I think !
 
;D Jemiba you read the French ... what's the problem with the Point 3 ? ;D

Well friends

Very sad news if we lost the english magazines ... :(
 
overscan said:
It appears that Air Enthusiast is ceasing publication from issue 131.

This is obviously bad news for unbuilt projects enthusiasts as a number of excellent articles by Tony Buttler, Mike Pryce and others have run in Air Enthusiast, and there is no obvious alternative home for them.

Isn't it possible that the death of Air Enthusiast might be good news for Air International?

Air Enthusiast began as a spin off of Air International. It would not be unreasonable to expect that the historical and unbuilt content of AE would be merged into AI?
 
Isn't it possible that the death of Air Enthusiast might be good news for Air International?

Air Enthusiast began as a spin off of Air International. It would not be unreasonable to expect that the historical and unbuilt content of AE would be merged into AI?

Problem is that AE almost completely ceased to publish unbuilt projects articles....
 
Since the editorial team is shared with Flypast maybe Key Publishing has chosen to back the magazine with the most circulation? Many newsagents stopped selling AE years ago and only recently they started stocking it again but maybe the profits aren't good enough to continue printing it. Whatever the reason it wil be a sad loss.

There is another British mag that might fit the unbuilt project market, Aeroplane Monthly. With the resources of old archives, a strong techincal background (the monthly Datafiles are very good) and varied articles every month I feel they have the better basis for project articles. It is the best British historical monthly by far. Key publishing seem to focus more on the latest developments and present day but Air International have taken steps with historical articles and profiles of older aircraft in recent months.
 
Those criticising the lack of "projects" articles in Air Enthusiast should note that the editor wasn't sitting in his office rejecting nice articles on unbuilt projects. The "unbuilt projects" focussed issues actually tended to sell well, so there was no reason for Air Enthusiast not to publish such articles if they were available.
 
It will be missed. *sigh* I'm showing my age, I remember when what was then "Air Enthusiast" split into "Air International" and "Air Enthusiast Quarterly". I wonder if "Air Enthusiast" might have lasted longer if it had remained a quarterly?
 
Quarterlies have even more problems in newsstands....
 
I think lots of things have changed since those days. Most importantly, aircraft enthusiasts are a declining breed unfortunately, as new aircraft become rarer.

This will probably be a little more controversial but I think the quality of articles in general has declined, though there are clearly some excellent writers around still.

I can give you many examples where I have an excellent article on an aircraft from Air International in the 1970s, or from Wings of Fame or WAPJ, and yet you can open a magazine today and find an article on the same aircraft where you'll learn less than by reading Wikipedia.

You can open a magazine on the shelves this month and read an article by a respected journalist on the Su-30MKI and find the same old nonsense about it having a VEH-3000 HUD when photographs clearly show its actually an Elbit SU 967.
 
aircraft enthusiasts are a declining breed unfortunately, as new aircraft become rarer
I agree. It also explains our interest in projects - when every Farnborough had a dozen new aircraft that was enough novelty to keep the flames stoked. When there is one new aircraft a decade, we need to raid the archives...!

I think the quality of articles in general has declined
I also agree - Air International, for example, used to have much more depth, now it and others are more 'a picture and a paragraph'. Even the pull-out booklets that purport to be in-depth rarely are, just more nice colour pics.

I think it is economics that lies at the root of all this, plus (possibly) the smaller number of ex-industry/services writers, who had a better 'knowledge base' for their articles, and possibly an assumption of ignorance where readers are concerned.

So, is aerospace journalism dumbing down, or is it the audience, or both?
 
Yes - where Air International had articles written by designers themselves, by test pilots and the like, with real gems of information, now an "in depth" booklet on the F-16 tells you nothing that hasn't been said a dozen times before.
 
Trouble with french is that the language is not attractive because it seems overly complicated to foreign students.

When one read that letter O include EAU, and AU... and don't start about "les poules du couvent couvent..." ;)

Trouble is, we can't simplifiy our language because of old farters of the Academie Française. Mind you, each time a foreign word is introduced in french, the green light of this assembly is needed... and they never consider popular opinion.
For example, Internet was translated L' Internet, when everyone in France say "Je vais sur Internet", and not "sur l'Internet" which sound truly ridiculous. ::)

Remember pin's craziness 15 years ago ? L'Academie Française decided that french translation should be "Epinglette". :D

Teachers are no better, fearing a "loss of cultural identity" if a grammatical simplification was made ::)

Is it just me, or didn't Spain simplified a bit its grammar some years ago ?

Condoleances for Air Enthusiast...
 
Is it just me, or didn't Spain simplified a bit its grammar some years ago ?

There was some debate about simplification but, at the end nothing was changed.
We also have ridiculous proposals from our Academia: They dedided that we have to use the word "cederrón" when refering to a CD-ROM ;D.

I don't mind about Language because they naturally evolve and nobody can stop or direct Evolution. That's why nobody talks Latin today.
 
Archibald said:
Trouble with french is that the language is not attractive because it seems overly complicated to foreign students.

Is French one of them there languages with gender? Never could wrap my mind around the notion that there needs to be different words for "the" based on whether some inanimate inorganic object is male, female, neuter or other.
 
Well, this is depressing and this thread also explains why I haven't been able to find Wings & Airpower anymore at Borders. I also agree completely about Air International as well.

Well, this is probably a result of "Globalization" to a certain extent. Periodicals, that for the most part, were confined to their country of origin, now have to compete with periodicals from all over the world. This probably also effected the writers, in the sense that before they would have sold their articles to multiple publications to get distributed around the world, but now they sell it to one periodical that already is around the world.

It would seem that APR and whatever we write ourselves or pay for the research through groups such as those that exist at this forum will be a major part of "periodicals" of the future.
 
Sundog said:
Well, this is depressing and this thread also explains why I haven't been able to find Wings & Airpower anymore at Borders.

For real, I was wondering about that myself. They always had some interesting stuff in there. I wonder if you can still get the CD-ROM back issue discs.
 
Air Power and Wings on CD and available?, where?

That's the future for me!

eAerospace mags are the best for me. Cheaper and ecological than paper editions. You don't need a dedicated room to store your collection (an external HDD is enough) and information is easy to recall (Windows Vista and MacOS 10.4 can search into pdf's, that it's really useful).
Reading info on a 20" TFT it's very confortable.

I have discovered emags at http://www.zinio.com but no aerospace magazines are still available for the moment.
 
Wings and Airpower CD's/DVD's are available here.

It would be great if they went back and put their 1970's issues on CD. That's where I'm missing most of their issues, although I still have one or two issues from 1977. :D
 
Air Enthusiast is sadly dying while Le Fana is alive and kicking hard:

To give an example: do you remember's that superb article from Jemiba?

Another example:

Just received Number 454 today from my susbcription and I can enjoy the following

Douglas XB-42, XB-43, 1004 (first DC-8 designation) and 1015 "Cloudster" II. René J. Francillon. pg 14 to 29. Fully illustrated.

Tupolev Tu-16. Second Chapter. Vladimir G. Rigmant. pg 68 to 77. Fully illustrated and model comparative tables.

And to be published in Number 455: Le SO 4060!! (Can't wait for it). This time is true...are those Dassault Mach 4 projects next?. I hope so.


Le Fana faces the same problems, even with a lower potential mass of readers...then, why Air Enthusiast is dying...?. It's a pity. :'(
 
Behind Le Fana you have La Riviere communication group. That's why Le Fana could fly I think.
For the story of Dassault Mach 3/Mach 4 secret fighter program, hope for the end of 2007. The paper is finish :) :) :). Think you will astonish by the design of this fighters, faraway of the Mirage III/IV. Start the Nord CT41/Nord Ramjet programs ;)
 
Suggestion for an article in Le Fanà, if I not dare too much ... ;) :
what about a comprehensive review on the proposed second and third (yes) Force de Frappe bombers?, not only by Dassault (documentation exists, somewhat dispersed in multiple works) but from, for example, Breguet (Minerve proposal is illustrated in Cuny's "Les Avions Breguet") and I think others as well...
 
Skybolt said:
Suggestion for an article in Le Fanà, if I not dare too much ... ;) :
what about a comprehensive review on the proposed second and third (yes) Force de Frappe bombers?, not only by Dassault (documentation exists, somewhat dispersed in multiple works) but from, for example, Breguet (Minerve proposal is illustrated in Cuny's "Les Avions Breguet") and I think others as well...

I strongly back this demand! There's only small bits of informations scattered everywhere, but they promise much!
I think about this Br.1190, a nuclear strike Atlantique 1, of which two variants were drawn, one at ultra low-level, other with stand-off cruise missile.
Or this giant Jaguar Br.1170, with two Olympus... or the "french navy Vigilantes",
I mean SO-4060M and Mirage IVM...
 
Archibald said:
Skybolt said:
Suggestion for an article in Le Fanà, if I not dare too much ... ;) :
what about a comprehensive review on the proposed second and third (yes) Force de Frappe bombers?, not only by Dassault (documentation exists, somewhat dispersed in multiple works) but from, for example, Breguet (Minerve proposal is illustrated in Cuny's "Les Avions Breguet") and I think others as well...

I strongly back this demand! There's only small bits of informations scattered everywhere, but they promise much!
I think about this Br.1190, a nuclear strike Atlantique 1, of which two variants were drawn, one at ultra low-level, other with stand-off cruise missile.
Or this giant Jaguar Br.1170, with two Olympus... or the "french navy Vigilantes",
I mean SO-4060M and Mirage IVM...

You should really request the details on the CV-58 Verdun class to put the larger Naval strike aircraft into context.
 

Similar threads

Back
Top Bottom