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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

USN P2V Neptune "Truculent Turtle" landed in Columbus, Ohio (USA) OTD in 1946 after 11,236-mile nonstop flight from Perth, Western Australia. See my 2022 book “The Turtle and the Dreamboat" for more on this and another historic flight the same week. (Naval History & Heritage Command photo) #avgeeks

Black and white photo of dark P2V Neptune patrol plane in flight.

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

"Sportsmen penetrate the wilds in their Travel Airs." A Travel Air biplane with a Wright Whirlwind engine, from a company ad, 1930. Artist unknown. #avgeeks

Illustration of open cockpit biplane in flight, side view.

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The White Sox and every other AL club during #ww1 had a US Army sergeant. This sketch gets the details wrong but the spirit right. Learn more in my book Battlefields: The Chicago White Sox and the Great War, from @bloomsburyacademic.bsky.social. — Evanston (IL) News-Index, April 13, 1917.

Ink sketch of ballplayer in flannels with rifle over his shoulder, sun rising behind.

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

P2V Neptune, VFW post, Baltimore, Ohio USA, 2022 — #avgeeks

Color photo of Neptune, US Navy gray, No. 3 beneath cockpit, parked on grass, threatening skies beyond.

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Reposted by Jim Leeke

Casey Drottar @caseydrottar.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

My goodness, what an incredible moment. After Justin Verlander secured the final out of his career, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch came out of the dugout...to summon Verlander's daughter out to embrace her dad on the mound.

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Detail from an ad for the National Air Tour, also called the Ford Reliability Tour, June 27, 1927. (Detroit Free Press, artist unknown) — #avgeeks

Illustration of high-wing monoplane flying toward viewer, with another beneath each wing, single word Reliability below.

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

A 2022 article from the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch about my book The Turtle and the Dreamboat. A fascinating aviation story to research and write.— #avgeeks

How a flying 'Turtle' brought worldwide attention in 1946.
So to speak
Joe Blundo
Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY NETWORK
The airplane was called the "Truculent Turtle," it had a kangaroo on board and its unplanned landing after a record-setting flight briefly made Columbus the focus of international attention in 1946.
Local author Jim Leeke tells the story in "The Turtle and the Dreamboat: The Cold War Flights That Forever Changed the Course of Global Aviation" (Potomac, 248 pages, $29.95).
The Turtle, a twin-engine P2V Neptune built by Lockheed as a land-based patrol bomber for the Navy, lumbered off a runway in Perth, Australia, on Sept. 29, 1946. It was piloted by Commander Thomas Davies, a Cleveland native.
Overloaded with more than 8,000 gallons of fuel, a four-man crew and the kangaroo (included largely as a publicity stunt), there were fears it wouldn't even get off the ground, let alone establish a nonstop record by flying 11,236 miles to Ohio.
"They were aiming for Washington
D.C., and didn't have quite enough gas," Leeke said in an interview. "The Turtle pilot said he stopped (in Columbus) because he didn't want to land in a pasture in West Virginia." ...

Although not officially a competition, the Turtle was in a kind of contest with the Army's "Pacusan Dreamboat," a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber of the type that dropped the atomic bombs on Japan.
The Turtle and the Dreamboat were both seeking to establish new frontiers in long-distance flight, not to mention impress government brass who were in the midst of planning to create the U.S. Air Force as a separate branch of the military.
The Army and Navy "were trying to prove their capabilities," Leeke explained.
The Dreamboat, piloted by Col. Clarence Irvine, took off from Honolulu on Oct. 4, 1946, flew over the North Pole - a rare and much riskier undertaking in those days - and landed in Cairo on Oct. 7, after a 39-hour flight that covered about 9,500 miles. The crew included navigator James T. Brothers of Dayton.
The media followed the progress of both flights intensely, which meant all eyes were on Columbus when the Turtle landed here after 55 hours in the air.
"The fliers were surprised by the size of the crowd," Leeke writes. "Uniformed Navy shore patrolmen struggled to hold back a surge of spectators..."
Columbus Mayor James A. Rhodes, a future governor of Ohio, greeted the crew and proposed that the kangaroo be given to the Columbus Zoo. (It went instead to the National Zoo in Washington.)
Leeke, 72, an Ohio State University graduate who served in the Navy and has worked as a journalist and written several books, said despite the Turtle's distance record (which stood until 1962), the Dreamboat's flight over the pole probably had the greater impact on aviation.
"Those (polar) air routes are still in
use today."
Both planes flew for a few more years before being decommissioned.
The Dreamboat was scrapped; The Turtle is in the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida.
Joe Blundo is a Dispatch columnist.

Photo of aircraft on tarmac. Caption: "The "Truculent Turtle," a Navy Lockheed P2V Neptune twin-engine patrol bomber at Port Columbus airport after a flight from Australia. FILE PHOTO"

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Beautiful little Alexander Eaglerock A-14, Concourse B, Denver International Airport, 2018. — #avgeeks

Sleek green, red and yellow biplane suspended from ceiling.

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

LIM-2 Midget, Polish version of MiG-15UTI Midget trainer, MAPS Air Museum, North Canton, Ohio USA — #avgeeks

Color photo of small jet aircraft, unpainted, on tarmac. Placard: "The PZL-Mielec SD LIM-2 Midget is the Polish license built version the Soviet two-seat Mikoyan-Gurevich (MiG) -15UTI Midget jet trainer. The MiG-15 Fagot is the single seat fighter version. The MiG-15 Fagot was a jet fighter developed for the USSR by Artem Mikoyan and Mikhail Gurevich. The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 Fagot was one of the first successful swept-wing jet fighters, and it achieved fame in the skies oyer Korea, where early in the war, it outclassed all straight-winged enemy fighters in most applications. The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 Fagot also served as the starting point for development of the more advanced Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 Fresco. Because Mikoyan-Gurevich never mass-produced the transition training versions of the later MiG-17 Fresco or MiG-19 Farmer, the MiG-15UTI Midget remained the sole Warsaw Pact advanced jet trainer well into the 1970’s."

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

“IA-35 Huanquero: a bimotor that symbolised an Argentine aeronautic ambience of the 1950s.” — #avgeeks

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Interested in playing (or watching) women’s tackle football in Columbus Ohio? Or check out teams near you.

Poster announcing 2027 tryouts for Columbus Chaos women's football.

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

What do you make of the batplane, #avgeeks?

Detail from comic book cover, showing Batman's aircraft in flight, with bat signal in sky behind.

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I'm informed it's #SabreSaturday. Saw this colorful F-86D/L only Wednesday at MAPS Air Museum, North Canton, OH USA.

USAF F-86 with yellow markings. Placard: "The North American F-86D Sabre (sometimes called the "Sabre Dog" or "Dog Sabre") was a transonic jet all-weather interceptor. Based on North American's F-86 Sabre day fighter, the F-86D had only 25 percent commonality with other Sabre variants, with a larger fuselage, larger afterburning engine, and a distinctive nose radome. Gun armament was eliminated in favor of a retractable under-fuselage tray carrying 24 unguided 2 inch Mark 4 rockets. The F-86L was an upgrade conversion of F-86D with new electronics, extended wingtips and wing leading edges, revised cockpit layout, and uprated engine. Only 981 of the F-86Ds were converted to this configuration."

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Shoe ad with #comic-strip characters playing #baseball! Mutt batting, Jeff catching & shoe magnate as ump. Bases are loaded, with two down & full count, because everyone is running with the pitch. How many players do you recognize? — Washington Times, June 18, 1912, Library of Congress.

Comics characters playing baseball in park, fans cheering.

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Movie actor Woody Strode helped integrate the NFL. "Signed his contract with the Rams on May 7, 1946 ... played semi-pro football before signing with the Rams. A 31-year-old rookie, Strode played just one season before moving on to play in the Canadian Football League." — Pro Football Hall of Fame

Black and white photo, shot from low angle, of actor Woody Strode (Spartacus, Sergeant Rutledge), wearing uniform and leather helmet, No. 65 on dark jersey, football in right hand.

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

A Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star jet trainer at the MAPS Air Museum in North Canton, Ohio USA. My first visit there. — #avgeeks

Red-white-and-blue jet aircraft, parked with open canopy, Thunderbirds painted in script across the fuselage, blue sky with cirrus clouds beyond.

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Johnny Unitas’ Baltimore Colts jersey. Worth a trip to Canton! Enjoying learning more about him and his HOFer teammates and coach while working on my Big Daddy Lipscomb bio for @mcfarland.bsky.social.

White football jersey with blue No. 19 and stripes at top of sleeves.

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Researching my Gene Lipscomb biography today in Canton. His coach and six Baltimore Colts teammates are enshrined here. “Big Daddy” isn’t, but a case can be made that he should be.

Color photo of the entrance to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Grumman Goose, designed as an "air yacht,” at the National Air and Space Museum in Virginia, 2025. They don’t get more gorgeous than this. #avgeeks

Photo of a black and yellow, high-wing, twin-engine amphibious plane, parked in museum.

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

That time of year again. (Artist: Robert Edgren, NY Evening World, 1918. Detail from larger cartoon.)

Ink sketch of helmeted player carrying football, about to stiff-arm opposition.

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

A favorite image of flier Frank Hawks, from his 1931 tour of the UK, Europe and Scandinavia. "Flygplan Texaco no 13 med pilot på Malmen." (Airplane Texaco no. 13 with pilot at Malmen). My Hawks biography should be out next year from @tamupress.bsky.social. Photo: Swedish Air Force Museum — #avgeeks

Black and white photo of pilot standing at nose of striped, low-wing monoplane, with hangar and cloudy sky behind.

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

"The tide of #war ebbs and flows apparently, but #baseball goes on #forever." (New Orleans States, September 28, 1918.) — #ww1 #fww #sport

Newspaper clipping:
BALL SUPPLIES SAVED FIRST BY YANKS
Next to Equipment, Americans, French. Take Diamond Outfit
PARIS, Sept. 28—Next to rifle, ammunition, and canteen. American soldiers seem to rank baseball supplies among the list of the necessities of life in the front lines. At least such was the decision of a Yankee unit operating with the French forces lately. It happened that this unit got into a very hot corner and the order came to retreat.
The necessity for haste made it impossible for the men to carry much with them in the way of personal belongings, but when they arrived at a station out of immediate danger it was found that the baseball paraphernalia had been saved, while many kinds of personal belongings had been sacrificed.
The balls and gloves had beer furnished hy the Y. M. C. A. and the men took it upon themselves to carry them in preference to their own little luxuries.
As soon as the unit had reached a quiet place the supplies were turned over to the Y. M. C. A. secretary, who was immediately called on to re issue them for a game. The tide of war ebbs and flows apparently, but baseball goes on forever. — New Orleans States, September 28, 1918.

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Frank Hawks' speed plane Texaco 13, a Travel Air "Mystery Ship." Discovered this photo as I researched his biography, due out next year. — Belleville (Ill.) Daily News Democrat, October 13, 1930. — #avgeeks

Black and white news photo of striped low-wing monoplane, flying low over a simple house or outbuilding.

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Nice find yesterday. Integrated #baseball, six months after #ww1. (Baltimore Afro-American, May 9, 1919)

Newspaper ad: "BASEBALL BASEBALL BASEBALL
BLACK SOX, Colored Champions of the South.
—Vs.—
NAVAL OVER-SEĄ BASE HOSPITAL TEAM
OF HAMPTON RHODES, VA.
Champion Navy Team of Atlantic Seaboard
SUNDAY, MAY 11, 2 P. M. WESTPORT B. B. PARK
Come out and see Uncle Sam's Sailor Boys in action.
10 Minutes ride from Baltimore and Liberty Sts.
The management desires to state that new seating capacity has been installed. Special reservation for ladies."

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

The navy issued The Bluejackets’ Manual in boot camp. Decades later I bought a vintage 1917 edition while writing about WWI. Then someone gave me a different copy. More keep showing up. Maybe I’m a collector now.

Color photo of six editions of the same book, in different sizes, bindings, and shades of blue.

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

“Isn't it interesting how fascists always steal the word ‘freedom?’” — Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Screen shot of Christopher Plummer in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, outside the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, Dayton, OH USA, 2025. — #avgeeks

Black and white photo of a jet aircraft, mounted on pole, angled diagonally into a cloudy sky.

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

The old #ArtDeco terminal in Columbus, OH USA. The P2V Neptune called Truculent Turtle landed here in 1946, after a record nonstop flight from Perth, Western Australia. It’s displayed now at the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola FL. Learn more in my 2022 book from Potomac Books. — #avgeeks

Copy of The Turtle and the Dreamboat by Jim Leeke, with yellow brick 1929 terminal and tower behind.

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

I’ve never seen a USN warship look so awful. But the focus has to be on the aircraft, a carrier’s whole reason for being. Disgraceful that the “War Department” left these sailors out there so long.

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Found this cartoon while researching my bio of 1920-30s American aviator Frank Hawks. The new plane was a Northrop Gamma named “Sky Chief,” a low-wing, all-metal monoplane. But the cartoon actually resembles his earlier ship, Texaco 5. (San Francisco News, June 14, 1932. Artist: Cloyd Sweigert)

Small cartoon of pilot with hammer atop a high-wing monoplane. Text: "Bullet plane capable of 240 m.p.h. is being built for Capt. Frank Hawks."

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Love vintage signs. Spotted this one in Berea KY in 2018. Hope it's still there!

Rusted red vertical sign saying simply SKATE, attached to side of building.

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Love this image of Gene "Big Daddy" Lipscomb that I discovered today while researching his biography. Taken at LA Rams rookie camp, University of Redlands, 1954. See alt text for caption.

Small boy in helmet and clutching a football stares up at Gene Lipscomb wearing Rams helmet and #78 jersey. Text: "THE LEASTEST AND THE MOSTEST—Dougie Verdieck, the smallest “rookie” in the Rams camp at Redlands, looks skyward at the biggest, the gigantic end Gene Lipscomb. Dougie is the young son of University of Redlands grid coach Jim Verdieck. Lipscomb is 6 ft. 6½ in. tall, and weighs 288 pounds." (San Bernardino Daily Sun, July 17, 1954)

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Can’t imagine why it had a vibration problem. 🙄 — #avgeeks

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Alas, I’ve never seen a seaplane at the beach. — #avgeeks

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Jim Leeke @jimleeke.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Trimotor Tuesday! Amazing machines, only a handful still flying. EAA “Tin Goose,” Chillicothe, Ohio USA, 2024 — #avgeeks

Ford Trimotor parked on tarmac, sky-blue nose and accents, Eastern Air Transport and EAA logos on fuselage, RIDES painted on underside of right wing, fluffy clouds in blue sky above.

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Reposted by Jim Leeke

The Onion @theonion.com · 29/04/2026

Supreme Court Overturns ‘Right v. Wrong’ theonion.com/supreme-court-overturn…

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