Aviation History

Wop May, Vic Horner, and the Forty-Below Mercy Flight That Carried Diphtheria Antitoxin to Fort Vermilion

In January 1929, pilots Wop May and Vic Horner flew diphtheria antitoxin to Fort Vermilion, Alberta at 40 below zero, proving the airplane was essential northern infrastructure.

The Travel Air Mystery Ship, the National Air Races at Cleveland, and the Civilian Racer That Shocked the Aviation World in Nineteen Twenty-Nine

In 1929, a secretive civilian monoplane from Wichita won the first Thompson Trophy Race, outrunning U.S. military fighters and accelerating the end of the biplane era.

The Douglas World Cruiser Chicago, the Nineteen Twenty-Four Around-the-World Flight, and the Biplane Hanging in the National Air and Space Museum

In 1924, two U.S. Army biplanes became the first aircraft to fly around the world - completing 27,553 miles in 175 days with open cockpits and minimal instruments.

The de Havilland Mosquito, the Wooden Wonder Nobody Wanted, and the Aircraft That Outran Everything the Luftwaffe Had

The de Havilland Mosquito was an unarmed wooden bomber that outran every Luftwaffe fighter and became the most versatile British warplane of World War II.

Operation Tidal Wave, the Ploesti Refineries, and the Five Medals of Honor Earned in One Afternoon Over Romania

On August 1, 1943, 178 American B-24s flew one of the costliest missions in bomber history, earning five Medals of Honor in a single afternoon over Romania.

Major Richard Bong, the P-38 Lightning, and the Forty Aerial Victories That Made America's Ace of Aces

Major Richard Bong's 40 confirmed aerial victories in WWII remain the all-time American record - a story of extraordinary skill, quiet character, and tragic timing.

John Alcock, Arthur Brown, the Vickers Vimy, and the June Night in Nineteen Nineteen That First Crossed the Atlantic

Eight years before Lindbergh, John Alcock and Arthur Brown completed the first nonstop transatlantic flight on June 14–15, 1919.

Joe Moser, the One Hundred Sixty-Eight Airmen at Buchenwald, and the Note That Got Them Home

In August 1944, 168 Allied airmen including P-38 pilot Joe Moser were sent to Buchenwald concentration camp - and a smuggled note got 156 of them out.

Flak Bait, the Martin B-26 Marauder That Flew Two Hundred Seven Combat Missions, and the Smithsonian Restoration Bringing America's Most Battle-Scarred Warbird Back to Life

Flak Bait, a WWII B-26 Marauder with 207 combat missions and over 1,000 patched holes, is being carefully restored by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

The Vought F4U Corsair, the Bent Gull Wing the Navy Rejected and the Marines Made Famous in the Pacific

The Vought F4U Corsair was rejected for carrier duty in 1943, adopted by Marines, and became one of WWII's most feared fighters with 2,100+ aerial victories.

The Tillamook Blimp Hangar, the Navy Blimps That Hunted Japanese Submarines off the Oregon Coast, and the Storm Damage That Tested Whether One of Aviation's Most Remarkable Living Relics Would Stand Another Season

The Tillamook Air Museum is nearing a reopening after severe storm damage to its historic 1942 blimp hangar - one of the largest wooden structures ever built.

The Overachiever, the F One Seventeen Nighthawk, and the Four Conflicts That Earned Its Place at the Smithsonian

The F-117 Nighthawk 'The Overachiever' - combat veteran of four conflicts across 14 years - has joined the Smithsonian's permanent collection at Udvar-Hazy.

The Night Witches, the Polikarpov Po Two Biplane, and the Soviet Women Who Bombed Germany's Eastern Front from Open Cockpits

The Soviet 588th Night Bomber Regiment - the 'Night Witches' - flew 23,000 combat sorties against Germany in open-cockpit biplanes, becoming one of WWII's most feared air units.

The Memphis Belle, the B-17 Flying Fortress That Gave the Eighth Air Force Its First Real Heroes, and the Fifty-Year Fight to Save Her from Rust and Rain

The Memphis Belle B-17F Flying Fortress - the first American bomber crew to complete 25 combat missions over Europe - is fully restored and on display in Dayton, Ohio.

The Gee Bee R-1 Super Sportster, the Granville Brothers of Springfield, and the Thompson Trophy Season That Made the Most Dangerous Racing Airplane in America Famous

The Gee Bee R-1 Super Sportster won the 1932 Thompson Trophy at 252 mph - the fastest and most dangerous racing airplane of its era.

Tex Johnston, the Boeing Dash Eighty, and the Barrel Roll Over Lake Washington That Boeing Tried to Hush Up

On August 7, 1955, Boeing chief test pilot Tex Johnston barrel-rolled the prototype 707 twice over Lake Washington - a calculated act that helped sell the jet age to American airlines.

Doc, the Boeing B Twenty-Nine Superfortress, the Desert at China Lake, and the Sixteen-Year Volunteer Restoration That Brought Her Home to Wichita

Doc, a Boeing B-29 Superfortress built in Wichita in 1944, returned to flight on July 17, 2016 after a 16-year volunteer restoration - one of only two airworthy B-29s in the world.

Dick Rutan, Jeana Yeager, the Voyager, and the Nine Days That Proved an Airplane Could Fly Around the World on One Tank of Gas

In December 1986, Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager flew the Voyager nonstop and unrefueled around the world in 9 days - a record no comparable aircraft has broken since.

Chuck Yeager, the Bell X-1 Named Glamorous Glennis, and the October Morning Over the Mojave When a West Virginia Farm Boy Became the First Human Being to Fly Faster Than Sound

On October 14, 1947, Chuck Yeager became the first person to fly faster than sound, piloting the Bell X-1 over the Mojave Desert with two broken ribs.

Bob Reeve, the Mud Flats of Valdez, and the Man Who Taught Himself to Land on Glaciers

Bob Reeve pioneered glacier landings in 1930s Alaska through methodical self-taught technique, reshaping bush flying and founding an airline that lasted half a century.

Three Carriers, Forty Aircraft, and NATO's Final Maritime Strike Exercise of Twenty Twenty-Six

NATO's Neptune Strike 26-4 deploys three carrier strike groups, 40 aircraft, and 17 nations in the alliance's final major maritime exercise of 2026.

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, the 'Jug' That Flew Home with Two Hundred Bullet Holes, and the Georgian Engineer Who Built Pilots an Airplane They Could Actually Survive

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was the most-produced American fighter of WWII, built by a Georgian engineer whose philosophy of excess saved thousands of lives.

The Concorde, the Last British Airways Supersonic Flights on October Twenty-Fourth Two Thousand Three, and the Day Commercial Aviation Chose to Fly Slower

On October 24, 2003, the last Concorde touched down at Heathrow, ending commercial supersonic passenger flight - a capability the industry has not recovered in the 23 years since.

The Bristol Blenheim, John Romain and the Aircraft Restoration Company at Duxford, and the Restoration That Had to Be Done Twice

The world's only flying Bristol Blenheim lives at Duxford - rebuilt twice by the Aircraft Restoration Company after a 2003 crash destroyed the first restoration.

The Akutan Zero, the Five Weeks It Sat Undiscovered on Aleutian Tundra, and the Intelligence Find That Changed How America Fought the Pacific Air War

How a crashed A6M Zero found on Aleutian tundra in 1942 gave U.S. forces the intelligence data that reshaped Pacific air combat tactics.

Phoebe Fairgrave Omlie, the Teenage Wing Walker Who Rode Out the Barnstorming Era and Helped Build the Aviation Infrastructure That Followed

Phoebe Fairgrave Omlie went from teenage wing walker to the first woman in a senior U.S. federal aviation post, building infrastructure that shaped American aviation for generations.

Operation Tidal Wave, the B-Twenty-Four Liberators Over Ploesti, and the Five Medals of Honor That Made August First, Nineteen Forty-Three the Most Decorated Day in American Aviation

On August 1, 1943, 178 B-24 Liberators attacked Nazi oil refineries at Ploesti - the single most decorated combat action in American aviation history.

Operation Chastise, Barnes Wallis's Bouncing Bomb, and the Night 617 Squadron Shattered the Dams of the Ruhr

On the night of May 16, 1943, nineteen Lancaster bombers used a spinning cylindrical mine and improvised precision tools to breach the industrial heart of Nazi Germany.

Jimmy Stewart, the B-24 Combat Missions Nobody Made Him Fly, and the Hollywood Star Who Insisted on the Hard Way

Jimmy Stewart flew 20 B-24 combat missions over Nazi Germany - missions nobody ordered him to fly - and a new film opening November 6, 2026 finally tells that story.

Howard Hughes, the New York World's Fair Nineteen Thirty-Nine, and the Three Days Nineteen Hours That Circled the Globe in Nineteen Thirty-Eight

On July 14, 1938, Howard Hughes landed at Floyd Bennett Field after circling the globe in 3 days and 19 hours, nearly halving the standing world record.

Don Sheldon, the Ruth Glacier, and the Talkeetna Bush Pilot Who Opened Up Denali

Don Sheldon of Talkeetna Air Service pioneered glacier flying in the Alaska Range, completing an estimated 5,000 glacier landings that opened Denali to modern mountaineering.

Clyde Pangborn, the Miss Veedol, and the Jettisoned Gear That Made the First Nonstop Pacific Crossing Possible

On October 4–5, 1931, Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon Jr. made the first nonstop transpacific flight - 4,500 miles in 41 hours - after deliberately jettisoning their landing gear over the Pacific.

Bessie Coleman, the Aviator's License No American School Would Issue, and the French Flight School Where She Became the First Black Woman to Fly

Bessie Coleman became the world's first Black woman to earn an international aviator's license in 1921 - after every American flight school refused her because of her race.

Art Scholl, the Super Chipmunk, and the Flat Spin Over the Pacific That Ended the Best Aerobatic Career Hollywood Ever Hired

Art Scholl was the best aerobatic pilot of his generation - his death filming Top Gun on September 16, 1985 left four quiet words in the credits.

Wop May, Vic Horner, and the January Mercy Flight That Carried Diphtheria Antitoxin to Fort Vermilion

In January 1929, pilot Wop May flew diphtheria antitoxin 350 miles through -40°F cold to save children in Fort Vermilion, Alberta - proving the airplane was infrastructure, not adventure.

The Douglas World Cruiser Chicago, the 1924 Army Air Service World Flight, and the Smithsonian Biplane That Circled the Earth Before Anyone Else Did

On September 28, 1924, the Douglas World Cruiser Chicago completed the first circumnavigation of the globe by aircraft - 175 days and 27,553 miles after departing Seattle.

The de Havilland Mosquito, the Aircraft the Air Ministry Said They Didn't Need, and the Wooden Wonder That Outran Everything the Luftwaffe Could Put in the Air

The de Havilland Mosquito was a WWII bomber built from wood, rejected by Britain's Air Ministry, and faster than most Luftwaffe fighters it encountered.

The de Havilland Comet, the Square Windows, and the Metal Fatigue Investigation That Changed How Every Pressurized Airplane Is Built

How the de Havilland Comet's fatal 1954 crashes revealed that square window corners cause fatigue cracks - and permanently shaped how every pressurized aircraft is built.

Roscoe Turner, the Gilmore Lion, and the Golden Age Speed Races That Turned Aviation Into a National Obsession

Roscoe Turner won the Thompson Trophy three times in the 1930s, flew with a lion, and turned air racing into the spectacle that built World War II's fighter fleet.

Ormer Locklear, the First Wing Walker, and the Hollywood Night Dive That Ended the Most Dangerous Career in Early Aviation

Ormer Locklear became America's most famous aviator in 1919 by walking on the wings of flying biplanes - and died doing it at 28.

John Alcock, Arthur Whitten Brown, the Vickers Vimy, and the Irish Bog That Ended the First Non-Stop Atlantic Crossing

John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown completed the first nonstop transatlantic flight on June 14–15, 1919, crossing from Newfoundland to Ireland in 16 hours and 27 minutes - eight years before Lindbergh.

Harriet Quimby, the Blériot XI Monoplane, and the April Morning She Flew the English Channel While the World Was Still Counting the Dead from the Titanic

On April 16, 1912, Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly the English Channel solo - hours after the Titanic sank and almost no one noticed.

Douglas Bader, the Crash at Reading That Took Both His Legs, and the RAF Fighter Pilot Who Led the Battle of Britain Without Them

Douglas Bader lost both legs in a 1931 crash at Reading Aerodrome and went on to command a RAF fighter wing in the Battle of Britain.

Doc the B-29 Superfortress, the China Lake Desert Rescue, and the Wichita Homecoming That Returned the Last Bomber to the Sky

The 29-year story of how Tony Mazzolini found B-29 'Doc' in the Mojave Desert and returned her to the Wichita skies where she was built.

Captain Al Haynes, United Flight Two Thirty-Two, and the Forty-Five Minutes Over Iowa When a DC-Ten Flew Without Hydraulics

On July 19, 1989, United Flight 232's crew flew a crippled DC-10 to Sioux City using only engine thrust after losing all hydraulic control - saving 185 lives.

Black Thursday, the Second Schweinfurt Raid, and the Day the Eighth Air Force Bled Over the Ball Bearing Factories

On October 14, 1943, the Eighth Air Force lost 60 B-17s and 650 airmen over Germany, forcing a reckoning with America's daylight precision bombing doctrine.

Wrong Way Corrigan, the Curtiss Robin Called Sunshine, and the Twenty-Eight Hours Nobody Could Prove Were an Accident

How Douglas Corrigan flew from New York to Dublin in 1938 after the CAA denied his transatlantic permit three times - and maintained his alibi for the rest of his life.

The Supermarine Spitfire, R.J. Mitchell's Dying Design, and the Summer of Nineteen Forty That Justified Everything

How R.J. Mitchell designed the Supermarine Spitfire while dying of cancer - and why his elliptical-winged fighter changed the course of 1940.

The Pan American China Clipper, Juan Trippe's Pacific Gamble, and the November Morning That Shrank the Pacific Ocean

On November 22, 1935, Pan American's China Clipper became the first aircraft to complete a scheduled transpacific airmail crossing, covering 8,000 miles in seven days.

The Northrop YB-49 Flying Wing, the October Twenty-First First Flight of Nineteen Forty-Seven, and the Political Cancellation That Could Not Kill Jack Northrop's Dream

The Northrop YB-49 flying wing first flew October 21, 1947 - a revolutionary bomber canceled under disputed circumstances that became the direct ancestor of the B-2 Spirit.

The North American X-15, the Fifty-Mile Line, and the Research Program That Flew Where Aviation Ends and Space Begins

The North American X-15 flew 199 missions to the edge of space, generating engineering data that still shapes modern aircraft and commercial spaceflight regulation.

The Lockheed P-38 Lightning, Operation Vengeance, and the Admiral Who Died Because He Was Never Late

How eighteen P-38 Lightnings flew 435 miles in radio silence on April 18, 1943, to intercept and kill Japan's greatest naval strategist.

The Hughes H-4 Hercules, the Senate Circus of Nineteen Forty-Seven, and the Single Mile That Proved Every Critic Wrong

The Hughes H-4 Hercules flew exactly once on November 2, 1947 - one mile at 70 feet above Long Beach Harbor - and proved every critic wrong.

The Five Eighty-Eighth Night Bomber Regiment, the Nachthexen, and the Soviet Women Who Flew Wood and Canvas Against the Wehrmacht

The Soviet 588th Night Bomber Regiment flew over 23,000 combat missions in wood-and-canvas biplanes - and terrified the Wehrmacht enough to earn a nickname.

Flak-Bait, the Martin B-26 Marauder That Flew Two Hundred and Seven Combat Missions, and the Smithsonian Restoration Bringing the Last Complete Marauder Back to Life

Flak-Bait, a Martin B-26 Marauder that flew 207 combat missions over Europe - more than any other American aircraft in the theater - is the sole surviving complete Marauder and is currently being restored at the Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.

Don Sheldon, the Ruth Glacier Amphitheater, and the Talkeetna One-Man Air Force That Opened Denali to a Generation of Climbers

Don Sheldon pioneered glacier landings in the Alaska Range from Talkeetna, Alaska, building the air-access foundation that made modern Denali mountaineering possible.

Chuck Yeager, the Bell X-One Glamorous Glennis, and the October Morning the Machmeter Needle Went Off the Scale Above the Mojave

On October 14, 1947, Chuck Yeager flew the Bell X-1 Glamorous Glennis to Mach 1.06 above the Mojave Desert, becoming the first pilot to break the sound barrier in level flight.

Cal Rodgers, the Vin Fiz Flyer, and the Eighty-Four Days It Took to Cross a Continent Nobody Said You Could Cross

In 1911, Calbraith Perry Rodgers became the first person to fly across America - 84 days, 4,300 miles, and a rebuilt aircraft that barely resembled the one that left New York.

'Daredevil Lindbergh,' the Curtiss JN-4 Jenny, and the Barnstorming Years That Built the Pilot Who Crossed the Atlantic

Before crossing the Atlantic, Charles Lindbergh spent years as a wing walker and barnstormer, building the skills and judgment that made the 1927 flight possible.

Wiley Post, the Winnie Mae, and the Nineteen Thirty-Three Solo Flight Around the World

In July 1933, one-eyed pilot Wiley Post flew the Winnie Mae solo around the world in 7 days, 18 hours, and 49 minutes - and changed aviation forever.

The Memphis Belle, the B-Seventeen That Flew Twenty-Five Missions Over Europe, and the Seventeen-Year Restoration That Brought Her Home to Wright-Patterson

The Memphis Belle completed 25 combat missions over Nazi-occupied Europe in 1943 and now stands fully restored at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base after a 17-year effort.

The Granville Brothers Gee Bee Super Sportster, Jimmy Doolittle's Thompson Trophy Run, and the Fastest and Most Dangerous Racer of the Golden Age

Jimmy Doolittle set a world closed-course speed record of 252.686 mph in the Gee Bee R-1 at the 1932 National Air Races - then walked away from racing forever.

Tex Johnston, the Dash Eighty Barrel Roll, and the Day a Test Pilot Sold an Airliner Upside Down Over Lake Washington

On August 7, 1955, Boeing test pilot Tex Johnston rolled the Dash 80 prototype twice over Lake Washington - and changed commercial aviation history.

Operation Tidal Wave, the Low-Level Ploesti Raid, and the Five Medals of Honor Won in a Single Mission

On August 1, 1943, 177 B-24s flew a low-level strike against Ploesti's oil refineries - earning five Medals of Honor in a single afternoon.

Operation Chastise, Barnes Wallis's Bouncing Bomb, and the Night Six-One-Seven Squadron Skimmed the Water to Break the Dams

Nineteen Lancasters flew at sixty feet above black water on May 16–17, 1943, to breach Germany's Ruhr dams in Operation Chastise.

Operation Chastise, Barnes Wallis and the Bouncing Bomb, and the Night 617 Squadron Split the Möhne Dam

On the night of May 16, 1943, RAF 617 Squadron breached two German dams using Barnes Wallis's revolutionary spinning bomb in one of WWII's most precisely engineered air raids.

MQ-25A Stingray Controlled from USS Ronald Reagan, Bringing Unmanned Refueling to the Carrier Deck

The Boeing MQ-25A Stingray was successfully controlled from a shipboard ground control station aboard USS Ronald Reagan, validating the carrier-based command link for the first time at sea.

Jimmy Angel, Auyan-Tepui, and the Gold-Chasing Bush Pilot Who Gave His Name to the World's Highest Waterfall

Jimmy Angel, a Missouri barnstormer-turned-bush pilot, discovered the world's highest waterfall from a cockpit in 1933 and later crash-landed on top of it.

Earhart Expedition Rules Out Wreckage - Howland Island Mystery Deepens

An $11 million deep-sea expedition ruled out its best sonar lead near Howland Island, leaving the fate of Earhart's Lockheed Electra unresolved after 88 years.

Doc, the B-29 Superfortress, and the Wichita Volunteers Who Brought the Second Flying Superfortress Home from the California Desert

Doc, a 1945 Boeing B-29 Superfortress, returned to flight on July 17, 2016, after a 29-year volunteer restoration in Wichita - one of only two airworthy B-29s remaining.

Bessie Coleman, the Flight Schools That Turned Her Away, and the French License That Made Her the World's First Licensed Black Aviator

Bessie Coleman became the world's first licensed Black aviator in 1921 by doing what no American institution would allow - learning to fly in France.

Beryl Markham, the Percival Vega Gull, and the Night She Flew the Atlantic the Hard Way

On September 4, 1936, Beryl Markham became the first woman to fly the North Atlantic solo from east to west - the hard direction, against the wind.

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, Alexander Kartveli's Heavyweight Champion, and the Eight-Ton Jug That Outlasted Everything the Luftwaffe Threw at It

The P-47 Thunderbolt was WWII's most-produced American fighter - 15,686 built - and its air-cooled radial engine made it nearly impossible to shoot down.

The North American XB-Seventy Valkyrie, the Mach Three Cold War Bomber Preserved at Wright-Patterson, and the Fatal Publicity Photo That Took Its Sister Ship

The North American XB-70 Valkyrie - America's only Mach 3 nuclear bomber - never flew its intended mission, but its sole surviving airframe at Wright-Patterson remains one of aviation's most arresting artifacts.

The Grumman F6F Hellcat, the Aircraft Built to Beat the Zero, and the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot

The Grumman F6F Hellcat was engineered specifically to defeat the feared Mitsubishi Zero and went on to claim 5,163 aerial victories in World War II.

The Gimli Glider, Air Canada Flight One Forty-Three, and the Dead-Stick Arrival That Became the Most Remarkable Landing in Commercial Aviation History

On July 23, 1983, a unit conversion error left Air Canada Flight 143 without fuel at 41,000 feet - and a glider pilot in the left seat brought it home.

The First Solo Shirt Cut, the Open-Cockpit Tradition Behind the Framed Cotton on Every Flight School Wall, and the Moment That Separates Every Pilot From Who They Were Before

The aviation shirt-cut tradition began in the 1930s as a functional communication tool in open-cockpit biplanes - here's the origin story and why it has endured for nearly a century.

The de Havilland Mosquito, the Wooden Wonder the Air Ministry Rejected, and the Unarmed Bomber Fast Enough to Outrun the Focke-Wulf

The de Havilland Mosquito was a twin-engine wooden bomber that outran German fighters and became the most versatile warplane of World War II despite being rejected by the Air Ministry.

That's All, Brother, the Douglas C Forty-Seven Skytrain That Led the D-Day Airborne Invasion, and the Fifty-Year Search That Found a Missing Lead Ship in a Boneyard

The C-47 that led the entire D-Day airborne formation spent fifty years lost in civil registries before a CAF volunteer researcher tracked it down and flew it over Normandy again.

Soviet Supersonic: A Tu-one-forty-four Gets a Second Life at Zhukovsky

Russian volunteers are actively restoring a Tu-144D supersonic jet at Zhukovsky airport near Moscow, ahead of an anticipated return of the MAKS airshow.

Roscoe Turner, the Laird-Turner Meteor, and the Lion Who Won Three Thompson Trophies

Roscoe Turner won three Thompson Trophy races between 1934 and 1939, making him the most decorated closed-course air racer in National Air Races history.

Ormer Locklear, the First Wing Walker, and the Hollywood Night Dive That Killed Aviation's Greatest Daredevil

Ormer Locklear invented wing walking as a maintenance fix in 1918, became Hollywood's first aviation stuntman, and died on camera at 28 before the barnstorming era he created had peaked.

Harriet Quimby, the English Channel, and the Flight the Titanic Buried

Harriet Quimby became the first woman to cross the English Channel solo in April 1912 - a record-breaking flight history nearly forgot because of the Titanic.

Eddie Rickenbacker, the Hat-in-the-Ring Squadron, and the Race Driver Who Became America's Ace of Aces

Eddie Rickenbacker became America's top WWI ace with 26 victories, earned the Medal of Honor in a solo attack on seven German aircraft, and survived 24 days adrift in the Pacific at age 52.

Carl Ben Eielson, the Nanuk Rescue Mission, and the Bering Sea That Swallowed Alaska's Greatest Bush Pilot

Carl Ben Eielson proved Alaska could be crossed by air, flew the first trans-Arctic flight in 1928, and died on a Bering Sea rescue mission in 1929 at age 32.

Alberto Santos-Dumont, Airship Number Six, and the October Nineteenth Flight That Turned Paris Into a City Holding Its Breath

On October 19, 1901, Alberto Santos-Dumont flew Airship Number Six around the Eiffel Tower - proving for the first time that a machine could fly to a chosen destination.

The Supermarine Spitfire, the Elliptical Wing That Changed Air Combat, and the Designer Who Never Lived to See What His Aircraft Did to the World

The Supermarine Spitfire's revolutionary elliptical wing design and the tragic story of R.J. Mitchell, who died before his aircraft defined the Battle of Britain.

The Nineteen Twenty-Four World Flight, the Douglas World Cruisers, and the Eight Men Who Proved an Airplane Could Circle the Globe

In 1924, eight U.S. Army Air Service aviators became the first to fly around the world, covering 27,553 miles in 175 days aboard four Douglas World Cruisers.

The Memphis Belle, the B-17F That Sat in the Tennessee Rain for Fifty Years, and the Restoration That Finally Brought Her Home

The Memphis Belle B-17F survived 25 combat missions over Europe in 1943, then spent 50 years deteriorating outdoors before a landmark restoration brought her inside permanently at the NMUSAF.

Edwin Musick, the Martin M-130 China Clipper, and the Pan American Survey Flights That Opened the Pacific

How Edwin Musick's meticulous 1935 survey flights across 8,200 miles of open ocean made transpacific commercial aviation possible - and what it actually took to pull it off.

Dick Bong, America's Ace of Aces, Forty Kills, and the Day He Died That Nobody Noticed

Major Richard Bong, America's all-time top ace with 40 aerial victories and the Medal of Honor, died in a P-80 jet test flight the same morning the atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima.

Bob Reeve, the Mud Flats at Valdez, and the Glacier Pilot Who Landed Where Every Other Bush Pilot Turned Around

How Bob Reeve arrived in Valdez in 1932 with $12 and invented glacier landing techniques that defined Alaska aviation for half a century.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince, and the P-38 That Vanished Over the Mediterranean

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry - pilot, author of The Little Prince - flew Saharan mail routes, survived a Libyan Desert crash, and vanished on a P-38 reconnaissance mission on July 31, 1944.

Wop May, the Mad Trapper of Rat River, and the Arctic Manhunt That Brought a Bush Pilot Into Minus Fifty to Chase a Ghost

In February 1932, bush pilot Wop May flew into Arctic winter to help end Canada's largest manhunt for the Mad Trapper of Rat River.

The Winnie Mae, Wiley Post's Lockheed Vega, and the One-Eyed Oilfield Worker Who Circled the Globe Alone and Discovered the Jet Stream Before Anyone Knew What to Call It

How a one-eyed Oklahoma roughneck flew a wooden Lockheed Vega around the world twice and discovered the jet stream before science had a name for it.

The Voyager, Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, and the Last Great Aviation First

On December 23, 1986, Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager landed at Edwards Air Force Base after completing the first nonstop, unrefueled flight around the world aboard the Voyager aircraft.

The Vought F4U Corsair, the Bent Wing Bird the Navy Rejected, and the Marines Who Gave It a War to Fight

The Vought F4U Corsair was rejected by the Navy for carrier operations yet became the most feared propeller-driven combat aircraft of World War II in the hands of Marine aviators.

The Granville Brothers, the Gee Bee Super Sportster, and the Most Dangerous Race Aircraft of the Golden Age

The Gee Bee R-1 Super Sportster set a 252 mph Thompson Trophy record in 1932 - and the one man who flew it to its limit immediately retired from racing.

The Doolittle Raiders, the Silver Goblets, and the Last Toast in Dayton

How 80 men flew B-25 bombers off a carrier deck to bomb Tokyo in 1942 - and kept a 71-year promise to honor their fallen.

Roscoe Turner, the Thompson Trophy, and the Air Racing King Who Flew with a Lion

Roscoe Turner won the Thompson Trophy three times - a record no pilot has matched - and defined an era of American air racing that shaped the fighter planes of World War II.

Glacier Girl, the P-38 Lightning Buried Under Two Hundred and Sixty-Eight Feet of Greenland Ice, and the Ten-Year Restoration That Brought a Lost Squadron Fighter Back to the Sky

How a P-38 Lightning buried under 268 feet of Greenland ice for 50 years was excavated in 1992 and restored to flight by October 2002.

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, the Jug That Brought Pilots Home on Half an Engine, and the Aircraft That Proved American Industrial Power Could Win the Air War Over Europe

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was the toughest single-engine fighter of World War II - a 17,000-pound giant designed to absorb catastrophic damage and still bring its pilot home.

The Martin B-26 Marauder Flak Bait, the Smithsonian's Most Battle-Scarred Bomber, and the Two Hundred Two Missions That Made Her a Legend

Flak Bait, serial 41-31773, flew 202 combat missions and took 1,000+ documented hits over occupied Europe - more than any other American aircraft in WWII.

The MacRobertson Air Race, the De Havilland Comet Built in Eighty-Eight Days, and the Eleven-Thousand-Mile Dash from England to Melbourne That Showed the World What Aviation Was Becoming

The 1934 MacRobertson Air Race sent 20 aircraft on an 11,300-mile dash from England to Australia, producing the DH.88 Comet and proving commercial aviation's global future.

The Gates Flying Circus, the Curtiss Jennies That Crossed a Thousand Fairgrounds, and the One Man Who Turned Barnstorming Into a Business

How Ivan Gates turned post-WWI surplus planes and unemployed pilots into America's most famous barnstorming operation, putting over a million people in the air.

The Douglas SBD Dauntless, the Torpedo Squadrons Who Cleared the Sky Above Midway, and the Five Minutes That Sank Four Japanese Carriers in June of Nineteen Forty-Two

How five minutes of SBD Dauntless dive bombing on June 4, 1942 sank three Japanese carriers and permanently shifted the balance of the Pacific War.

SpaceShipOne, Burt Rutan's Feathering Reentry, and the Mojave Desert Morning That Privatized Human Spaceflight

How Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne used aviation-first engineering to win the 2004 Ansari X Prize and permanently expand what aviation can claim as its territory.

Operation Tidal Wave, the B-24 Liberators That Flew Into the Flak at Fifty Feet, and the Five Medals of Honor Won Over Ploesti on August First Nineteen Forty-Three

On August 1, 1943, 178 B-24 Liberators attacked Nazi-controlled oil refineries at treetop level in the costliest and most decorated single-day mission in Army Air Forces history.

John Alcock, Arthur Brown, and the Vickers Vimy That Crossed the Atlantic Eight Years Before Lindbergh

The first nonstop transatlantic flight was completed by John Alcock and Arthur Brown on June 14, 1919 - eight years before Lindbergh.

Doc, the Last B-Twenty-Nine Superfortress Off the Wichita Line, the Twenty-Nine Year Volunteer Restoration, and the July Morning She Flew Again

Doc, the last B-29 Superfortress built in Wichita, flew again on July 17, 2016 after a 29-year, 300,000-volunteer-hour restoration effort.

Carl Ben Eielson, the Rescue Flight to the Nanuk, and the Night Alaska Lost Its Greatest Bush Pilot

Carl Ben Eielson pioneered Alaska aviation in the 1920s, flew the first transarctic flight in 1928, and died on a November 1929 mercy mission to a fur-trading ship locked in Siberian pack ice.

Bessie Coleman, Queen Bess, and the Chicago Manicurist Who Learned French to Earn the World's Most Hard-Won Pilot Certificate

Bessie Coleman became the first African American and first person of Native American descent to earn an international pilot's license in 1921, after every American flight school refused her.

The Supermarine Spitfire, the Schneider Trophy Bloodline Behind Its Elliptical Wing, and the Man Who Designed It Knowing He Wouldn't Live to See It Fight

R.J. Mitchell designed the Spitfire's iconic elliptical wing from a decade of Schneider Trophy racing, completing the prototype while dying of cancer at 42.

The SR-71 Blackbird, the Transcontinental Speed Record of January Nineteen Ninety, and the Last Morning the Fastest Airplane in the World Ever Flew

On January 26, 1990, the SR-71 Blackbird set a transcontinental speed record of 2,124 mph on its final flight before retiring to the Smithsonian.

The Glacier Girl, the P-38 Lightning Buried Under Two Hundred Sixty-Eight Feet of Greenland Ice, and the Eleven-Year Restoration That Brought Her Home Sixty Years Later

How a P-38F Lightning abandoned on the Greenland ice cap in 1942 was recovered from 268 feet of glacial ice and restored to flight 60 years later.

The Dornier Do 335 Pfeil, the Push-Pull Fighter That Outran the War, and the Only Survivor at the Smithsonian

The Dornier Do 335 Pfeil was the fastest piston-engine fighter of WWII at 474 mph - and only one complete example survives, at the Smithsonian.

The Dole Derby, the Pineapple Prize That Put Fifteen Planes Over the Pacific in Nineteen Twenty-Seven, and the Ocean That Swallowed Most of Them

The 1927 Dole Derby sent fifteen aircraft from Oakland to Honolulu for a $25,000 prize - and cost ten lives, reshaping American aviation regulation forever.

The de Havilland Mosquito, the Wooden Wonder That Flew Faster Than the Luftwaffe's Answers

The de Havilland Mosquito was a twice-rejected wooden aircraft that became WWII's most versatile combat plane - outrunning enemies it was never supposed to fight.

Tex Johnston, the Barrel Roll Over Lake Washington, and the Day Boeing's Chief Test Pilot Sold an Airplane the Only Way He Knew How

On August 7, 1955, Boeing test pilot Tex Johnston rolled the 707 prototype twice over Lake Washington - a calculated gamble that may have sold the jet age.

Pilâtre de Rozier, the Château de la Muette, and the October Morning in Seventeen Eighty-Three When a Man First Left the Ground

On October 15, 1783, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier became the first human being in recorded history to leave the ground, rising 84 feet above Paris in a tethered Montgolfier balloon.

Ormer Locklear, the Wing-Walker Who Invented Barnstorming, and the Night Hollywood Filmed His Last Dive

Ormer Locklear invented barnstorming in 1919, became one of America's most famous men, and died on a Hollywood film set on August 2, 1920, at age 28.

Operation Chastise, Guy Gibson's 617 Squadron, and the Night Barnes Wallis's Bouncing Bomb Destroyed the Ruhr Dams

How Barnes Wallis's spinning bomb and 617 Squadron's precision flying destroyed two of Germany's most critical dams in a single night in 1943.

Major Richard Bong, the P-38 Lightning Over New Guinea, and the Wisconsin Farm Kid Who Became America's Ace of Aces

Richard Bong of Poplar, Wisconsin earned 40 aerial kills flying a P-38 Lightning over New Guinea - a record no American pilot has ever broken.

Glenn Curtiss, the Grande Semaine d'Aviation at Rheims, and the American Motorcycle Racer Who Beat Europe on Its Own Soil to Win the World's First International Air Trophy

Glenn Curtiss beat Louis Bleriot by six seconds at the 1909 Rheims air meet to win the world's first international air trophy - and reshape American aviation.

Bob Reeve, the Valdez Mudflats, and the Pilot Who Turned the Glaciers of Alaska Into His Personal Airport

Bob Reeve turned Alaska's tidal mudflats and glaciers into a commercial freight operation in 1932, building one of aviation's most unlikely empires from nothing.

Wrong Way Corrigan, the Dublin Landing Nobody Was Supposed to Believe, and the Transatlantic Flight Filed as a Trip to California

On July 17, 1938, Douglas Corrigan filed a flight plan to Los Angeles, flew east for 28 hours, and landed in Dublin - then claimed he got turned around.

The Vought F4U Corsair, the Bent-Wing Bird the Navy Gave to the Marines, and the Fighter That Owned the Sky Over Guadalcanal

The Vought F4U Corsair was the fastest American single-engine fighter of WWII, earning an 11:1 kill ratio after the Navy handed it to the Marines for being too dangerous to carrier-land.

The Second Schweinfurt Raid, Black Thursday of October Fourteen Nineteen Forty-Three, and the Sixty Aircraft That Changed the Arithmetic of Strategic Bombing

On October 14, 1943, the Eighth Air Force lost 60 B-17s and 594 airmen in a single afternoon over Schweinfurt, ending unescorted deep-penetration bombing over Germany.

The Rutan Voyager, Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, and the Nine Days Without Landing That Closed the Book on Aviation's Last Great First

On December 23, 1986, Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager landed at Edwards AFB after flying 24,987 miles around the Earth on a single load of fuel - aviation's last great first.

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, Hub Zemke's Wolfpack, and the Fighter Group That Refused to Give Up the Jug

The P-47 Thunderbolt was the heaviest single-engine fighter ever mass-produced, and the 56th Fighter Group made it the highest-scoring outfit in the Eighth Air Force.

S.F. Cody, the Wild West Showman Who Made the First Powered Flight in Britain, October Fourteen Nineteen Oh Eight

On October 14, 1908, S.F. Cody - a Wild West showman from Iowa - made the first officially recognized powered flight in Great Britain, covering 1,400 feet over Laffan's Plain.

Roscoe Turner, the Gilmore Lion, and the Thompson Trophy Pilot Who Made the Golden Age His Personal Stage

Roscoe Turner won the Thompson Trophy three times - a record never matched - by combining theatrical showmanship with genuine pylon racing skill.

Frank Luke Jr., the Arizona Balloon Buster, and the Seventeen Days That Made Him America's Most Lethal Fighter Pilot of the First World War

Frank Luke Jr. compiled 18 aerial kills in 17 days in WWI, earning Eddie Rickenbacker's declaration that he was the greatest individual fighter of the entire war.

Flak-Bait, the Martin B Twenty-Six Marauder That Flew Two Hundred Two Combat Missions, and the Smithsonian Restoration Counting Every Patch

Flak-Bait, a Martin B-26 Marauder, flew 202 combat missions in WWII - more than any other Allied aircraft - and carries over 1,000 patches as proof.

Calbraith Perry Rodgers, the Vin Fiz Flyer, and the Eighty-Four Day Journey Across America That Nobody Won and Nobody Forgot

In 1911, Cal Rodgers flew a fragile Wright biplane 3,200 miles across America in 84 days, surviving 60-plus crashes to prove a continent could be crossed by air.

Wiley Post, the Winnie Mae, and the Solo Circumnavigation That a One-Eyed Oklahoma Oilfield Worker Completed in Seven Days Eighteen Hours

Wiley Post flew solo around the world in 1933 with one eye, a failed autopilot, and a propeller repaired in the Soviet wilderness - completing the flight in 7 days, 18 hours, 49 minutes.

The Piper Comanche, the Hurricane Agnes Flood That Ended Its Production, and the Owner Community Keeping Thousands of Classic Retractables Flying Fifty Years After the Factory Closed

The Piper Comanche's production was ended not by design failure but by a 1972 flood - and its owner community has kept thousands of classic retractables airworthy ever since.

The North American XB-Seventy Valkyrie, the Mach Three Bomber America Canceled Before It Flew a Mission, and the White Giant That Waits for You at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton

America's Mach 3 nuclear bomber was canceled before flying a combat mission, yet its research legacy shaped every high-speed aircraft that followed.

The Memphis Belle, the B Seventeen That Came Home to Rot in a Memphis Park, and the Thirteen-Year Restoration That Gave Her Back Her Dignity

The Memphis Belle's 13-year restoration at Wright-Patterson rescued WWII's most famous bomber from decades of outdoor decay in a Memphis city park.

The Grumman F6F Hellcat, the Akutan Zero the Navy Dragged Out of an Alaskan Bog, and the Fighter Designed Around the Enemy's Own Weaknesses

How a Japanese Zero found upside-down in an Alaskan bog gave American engineers the intelligence to design the F6F Hellcat and flip the balance of Pacific air power.

The Granville Brothers Gee Bee Model R, the Thompson Trophy Races, and the Most Dangerous Airplane That Ever Won a Race at Cleveland

The Gee Bee Model R Super Sportster was the fastest piston aircraft in America in 1932 - and arguably the most dangerous machine ever to win the Thompson Trophy.

The Curtiss Jenny, the Government Surplus Sale That Flooded America With Warplanes, and the Barnstormers Who Flew Them Into Every Cornfield in the Country

How the Curtiss JN-4D Jenny - sold as government surplus after WWI for as little as $200 - sparked the barnstorming era and introduced aviation to everyday Americans.

October Thirteen, Nineteen Seventy-Two, the Fairchild Over the Cordillera, and the Controlled Flight Into Terrain That Became One of Aviation History's Most Haunting Stories

The 1972 crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 was not a mechanical failure - it was a dead reckoning error in the Andes that helped define CFIT risk for every generation of pilots since.

Joe Foss, the Guadalcanal Wildcat Ace, and the Farm Kid Who Matched Rickenbacker's Record Over the Solomon Islands

Joe Foss, a South Dakota farm kid who watched Lindbergh land as a boy, flew a Grumman Wildcat over Guadalcanal in 1942–43 to tie Eddie Rickenbacker's record of 26 aerial victories.

Jimmy Angel, El Rio Caroni, and the World's Tallest Waterfall on the Devil's Mountain

Jimmy Angel was a Missouri barnstormer who discovered the world's tallest waterfall in 1933, then crash-landed on its summit in 1937 - leaving his plane there for 33 years.

Harriet Quimby, the Bleriot Eleven, and the Channel Crossing the Titanic Buried in the News

On April 16, 1912, Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly the English Channel - a milestone buried by Titanic headlines the very next morning.

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, the Seven-Ton Fighter Pilots Called the Jug, and the Radial Engine That Brought Them Home

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt became WWII's most-produced American fighter - over 15,600 built - and the most survivable combat aircraft of the war.

The Lockheed Constellation, Howard Hughes, and the Triple-Tail Queen That Made Transatlantic Flight a Routine Act

The Lockheed Constellation cut New York-to-Paris travel to 13 hours in 1946, redefining transatlantic flight through pressurization, range, and a design born from Howard Hughes's audacious 1939 spec.

The Dole Race, the Ten Lives Lost Over the Pacific, and the Summer of 1927 When Aviation Ambition Outran Aviation Sense

The 1927 Dole Air Race sent eight aircraft toward Hawaii for a $25,000 prize and cost ten lives when ambition outpaced training and airworthiness.

The China Clipper, Captain Edwin Musick, and the Pan American Flying Boats That Bridged the Pacific One Island at a Time

How Pan American's Martin M-130 flying boats and Captain Edwin Musick conquered 8,000 miles of open Pacific to launch the first scheduled transoceanic air service in 1935.

The Aichi M6A1 Seiran, the Submarine-Launched Floatplane Built to Strike America, and the Only Survivor Hanging at the Udvar-Hazy Center

The Aichi M6A1 Seiran was a WWII Japanese submarine-launched floatplane built to bomb the Panama Canal. The only survivor hangs at Udvar-Hazy.

The 1924 Army World Flight, the Four Douglas World Cruisers, and the First Circumnavigation of the Globe by Air That America Somehow Forgot

On September 28, 1924, three U.S. Army biplanes completed the first aerial circumnavigation of the globe - three years before Lindbergh's solo Atlantic crossing.

Ormer Locklear, the First Wingwalker, and the Night a Hollywood Stunt Killed Him on Film

Ormer Locklear invented wingwalking by accident in 1918 and became Hollywood's first aerial stuntman before dying on camera before 100,000 witnesses.

Operation Vengeance, the P-38 Lightning Ambush Over Bougainville, and the Codebreakers Who Handed America Japan's Greatest Admiral

On April 18, 1943, sixteen P-38 Lightnings flew 400 miles over open ocean to ambush and kill Japan's most powerful admiral using a decoded schedule.

Bob Reeve, the Glacier Pilot of Valdez, and the Mud Skis That Opened Alaska's Mining Country to the Sky

Bob Reeve arrived in Valdez, Alaska in 1932 with $30 and built the most accomplished glacier flying operation of Alaska's golden age of bush aviation.

Bessie Coleman, the Chicago Manicurist Who Taught Herself French to Earn the License Every American School Refused Her, and the Airshow Dream That Outlived Her Death

Bessie Coleman became the first Black American to earn an international pilot's license in 1921 after learning French and training in France when every American school refused her.

'That's All Brother,' the C Forty-Seven That Led the D-Day Airborne Drop Over Normandy, and the Boneyard Where She Waited Seventy Years for a Second Mission

How researcher Matt Scales tracked down serial 42-92847 - the C-47 that led the entire D-Day airborne assault - and how the CAF flew her over Normandy 75 years later.

The Vought F4U Corsair, the Inverted Gull Wing That Terrified the Pacific, and the Bent-Wing Fighter the Navy Almost Refused to Let Off a Carrier Deck

The F4U Corsair's inverted gull wing solved a propeller-clearance problem and produced the Pacific War's most feared fighter, known to Japanese pilots as 'Whistling Death.'

The Schneider Trophy, Lady Houston's Hundred Thousand Pounds, and the Seaplane Race That Built the Spitfire

The Schneider Trophy seaplane races of the 1920s–30s produced the aerodynamic knowledge that built the Spitfire - and one woman's £100,000 kept that chain unbroken.

Robin Olds, Operation Bolo, and the MiG Trap That Gutted North Vietnam's Air Force in Twelve Minutes

On January 2, 1967, Colonel Robin Olds destroyed seven North Vietnamese MiG-21s in twelve minutes by making his F-4 Phantoms look like easy prey.

Punch Dickins, the Barren Lands Survey of Nineteen Twenty-Eight, and the Fokker Super Universal That Mapped Canada's Unmapped North

In 1928, Punch Dickins flew 4,000 miles over Canada's unmapped Barren Lands in a single-engine Fokker with no radio, earning the McKee Trophy and opening the Arctic north to aviation.

Jacqueline Cochran, the Bendix Trophy She Won When Nobody Expected Her to Win It, and the May Morning at Edwards When She Broke the Sound Barrier in an F-86 Sabre

Jacqueline Cochran was the most decorated aviator of the 20th century - over 200 records, the first woman to break the sound barrier, and architect of the WASP program.

Chuck Yeager, the Bell X-One Glamorous Glennis, and the October Morning in Forty-Seven When a Kid from West Virginia Punched Through the Sound Barrier

On October 14, 1947, Chuck Yeager became the first person confirmed to fly faster than sound, reaching Mach 1.06 at 43,000 feet over the Mojave Desert.

The Rutan Voyager, Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, and the Nine Days on One Tank of Fuel That Circled the World

How Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager flew the Rutan Voyager around the world nonstop in December 1986, landing with just 18 gallons to spare.

The MacRobertson Air Race, the de Havilland Eighty-Eight Comet Built in Ten Months, and the Day a KLM Airliner Nearly Beat Every Racing Plane to Melbourne

The 1934 MacRobertson Air Race from England to Australia pitted purpose-built racers against a commercial airliner - and the result reshaped the future of aviation.

The Grumman F6F Hellcat, the Fighter Built to Kill the Zero, and the Day David McCampbell Shot Down Nine Japanese Aircraft Before Running Out of Ammunition

The Grumman F6F Hellcat achieved a 19-to-1 kill ratio in WWII and produced the top-scoring U.S. Navy ace in history, David McCampbell, who downed nine aircraft in a single sortie.

The Boeing Three-Oh-Seven Stratoliner, the First Pressurized Airliner, and the Day It Sank in Elliott Bay Before the Smithsonian Could Save It

The Boeing 307 Stratoliner was aviation's first pressurized airliner - and its sole survivor had to sink in Elliott Bay before it could reach the Smithsonian.

The B-29 Superfortress 'Doc', the China Lake Bone Yard Where She Sat for Forty Years, and the Volunteer Army That Flew Her Home to Wichita in Twenty-Sixteen

The B-29 'Doc' spent over 40 years abandoned at China Lake before volunteers flew her home to Wichita and restored her to flight in 2016.

The 1911 Wright Model B replica and what the first mass-produced airplane tells us about how far we've come

An airworthy Wright Model B replica - America's first mass-produced airplane - is currently listed on Aircraft For Sale and featured by Flying Magazine as a top pick.

Operation Chastise, the Upkeep Bouncing Bomb Barnes Wallis Refused to Stop Building, and the Night Nineteen Avro Lancasters Went to the Ruhr

Operation Chastise on May 16–17, 1943 sent nineteen Lancasters to breach the Ruhr dams using Barnes Wallis's revolutionary bouncing bomb and some of the most demanding low-level flying in aviation history.

Douglas Corrigan, the Curtiss Robin He Bought for Three Hundred Twenty-Five Dollars, and the Wrong-Way Atlantic Crossing That Nobody Could Ever Prove Was on Purpose

On July 17, 1938, Douglas Corrigan departed Brooklyn bound for Los Angeles and landed in Dublin, Ireland - the wrong-way Atlantic crossing nobody could prove was intentional.

Douglas Bader, the Woodley Aerodrome Crash That Cost Him Both Legs, and the Wing Commander Who Led Spitfires Into Battle on Tin Legs

Douglas Bader lost both legs in a 1931 aerobatic crash at age 21, fought his way back into the RAF, and led Spitfire wings over occupied Europe during World War II.

The X-Fifteen, the Mach Six Point Seven Speed Record No Powered Aircraft Has Broken Since, and the Rocket Plane That Handed the Space Shuttle Its Blueprint

The X-15 set the all-time air speed record of Mach 6.72 in 1967, and its thermal, control, and reentry data directly shaped Apollo, the Space Shuttle, and every hypersonic vehicle in development today.

The Question Mark, the Fokker Trimotor Over Southern California, and the Six-Day Endurance Record That Proved Aerial Refueling Could Change Everything

On January 1, 1929, five Army Air Corps airmen flew a Fokker trimotor over Southern California for 150 hours to prove aerial refueling could transform military airpower.

The Night Witches, the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, and the Soviet Women Who Flew Plywood Biplanes Against the Luftwaffe Every Night for Four Years

The Soviet 588th Night Bomber Regiment flew over 23,000 combat sorties in plywood biplanes against Nazi forces from 1941 to 1945, earning the name 'Night Witches.'

The Lockheed P-38 Lightning, the Fork-Tailed Devil That Ruled Two Oceans, and the Twin-Boom Fighter Richard Bong Flew to Forty Kills

The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was the most distinctive American fighter of WWII - a twin-boomed, twin-engined design that dominated the Pacific and carried America's top ace to 40 kills.

The Gee Bee Model R, the Granville Brothers of Springfield, and the Racing Machine That Taught the Golden Age What Too Fast Really Means

The Gee Bee Model R set a world speed record of 252 mph at the 1932 National Air Races - and claimed the lives of nearly everyone else who flew it at the limit.

The Dornier Do Three Thirty-Five Pfeil, the Push-Pull Twin That Was the Fastest Piston Fighter of World War Two, and the Only Complete Survivor at the Smithsonian Udvar-Hazy Center

The Dornier Do 335 Pfeil was the fastest piston fighter of World War II, and the only complete example survives at the Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy Center.

The de Havilland Mosquito, the Wooden Wonder the Luftwaffe Could Not Catch, and the Aircraft Built from Furniture That Changed the Air War Over Europe

The de Havilland Mosquito outran German fighters, flew on wood instead of aluminum, and became the most versatile combat aircraft of World War II.

The Bristol Beaufighter, the Night Intruder That Terrified the Axis, and the Radar-Equipped Hunter That Rewrote the Rules of Darkness Over Wartime Europe

The Bristol Beaufighter was WWII's radar-equipped night hunter - combining airborne interception technology with devastating firepower to change the mathematics of nocturnal air war.

Jimmy Angel, the Gold-Seeker's Map, and the Flamingo That Sat on Top of the World for Thirty-Three Years

On October 9, 1937, American aviator Jimmy Angel landed his Flamingo monoplane atop Venezuela's Auyán-tepui mesa - and couldn't get it back off for 33 years.

Hawker Hurricane MkI R4118, the Last Combat-Veteran Hurricane Still Flying, and the Twenty-Year Hunt That Brought Her Home from India

Hurricane R4118 is the only Battle of Britain combat veteran still airworthy - found in a field in India after decades and restored to flight in 2004.

Frank Luke, the Arizona Balloon Buster, and the Seventeen Days That Made the Most Feared American Pilot of the First World War

Frank Luke destroyed 18 enemy observation balloons and aircraft in 17 days of WWI combat, becoming America's deadliest and most feared pilot over the Western Front.

Daredevil Lindbergh, the Nebraska Aircraft Corporation, and the Barnstorming Years That Built the Pilot Who Flew to Paris

Before crossing the Atlantic, Charles Lindbergh spent years as a barnstorming wing walker - the unforgiving apprenticeship that built the most famous pilot in history.

Cal Rodgers, the Vin Fiz, and the Eighty-Four Days It Took to Drag Aviation Across America

In 1911, Cal Rodgers flew a grape-soda-sponsored biplane from Brooklyn to the Pacific in 84 days, surviving 15+ crashes to complete the first transcontinental flight in history.

Bob Reeve, the Glacier Pilot of Valdez, and the Painted Tire Tracks That Opened Alaska's Mining Country

Bob Reeve pioneered glacier landing techniques in 1930s Alaska using painted tire tracks and systematic risk assessment, eventually founding Reeve Aleutian Airways.

The Schneider Trophy, Reginald Mitchell's Supermarine Racers, and the Speed Competition That Built the Spitfire's DNA

The Schneider Trophy seaplane races of 1913–1931 directly produced the engineering breakthroughs behind the Supermarine Spitfire and Rolls-Royce Merlin engine.

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, the Jug That Came Home Bleeding, and the Wolfpack Pilots Who Took the Fight to the Luftwaffe Over Europe

The P-47 Thunderbolt was WWII's most-produced American fighter - a rugged, powerful aircraft that defined the air war over Europe through toughness, altitude, and aggressive tactics.

The Memphis Belle, the B-Seventeen That Completed Twenty-Five Missions, and the Forty-Year Neglect That Almost Took What the Luftwaffe Could Not

The Memphis Belle survived 25 WWII combat missions over Nazi Europe, then spent 30 years decaying outdoors in Memphis before a landmark restoration saved her.

The Hughes H-4 Hercules, the Eight-Engine Flying Boat That Flew Once, and the Evergreen Aviation Museum Where It Still Lives

The Hughes H-4 Hercules flew exactly once on November 2, 1947, yet it remains the largest flying boat ever built and survives today at McMinnville's Evergreen Aviation Museum.

The Gimli Glider, the Metric Conversion That Silenced Two Jet Engines, and the Slip That Saved Sixty-Nine Lives

On July 23, 1983, a metric conversion error left Air Canada Flight 143 with half its required fuel at 41,000 feet - 69 people survived because a captain knew how to slip a jetliner.

The Ford Tri-Motor, the Tin Goose That Built Commercial Aviation, and the Transcontinental Air Transport Lindbergh Line That Proved Passengers Would Pay to Fly

The Ford Tri-Motor launched commercial aviation in 1929 by proving American passengers would pay to fly - and exposing what the industry still needed to do it safely.

The Douglas DC-Three, the Midnight Phone Call That Built Commercial Aviation, and the Gooney Bird That Has Never Stopped Flying

The Douglas DC-3 made commercial aviation profitable in 1936 and still flies today - the aircraft that reshaped how the world moves people.

The Battle of Midway, the SBD Dauntless, and the Five Minutes That Turned the Pacific War

How five minutes of dive bombing on June 4, 1942 - and the torpedo crews who made it possible - turned the tide of the Pacific War at Midway.

Ormer Locklear, the First Wing Walker, and the Hollywood Floodlights That Ended the Man Who Made It Famous

Ormer Locklear invented wing walking, became America's most famous barnstormer and aerial movie star, and died at 28 when Hollywood floodlights caused spatial disorientation during a filmed spin.

John Alcock, Arthur Brown, the Vickers Vimy, and the Sixteen Hours Over the North Atlantic That History Somehow Forgot

John Alcock and Arthur Brown completed the first nonstop transatlantic flight in June 1919 - eight years before Lindbergh - in an open-cockpit biplane through ice and zero-visibility cloud.

Jacqueline Cochran, the Bendix Trophy, and the Sound Barrier No Woman Had Ever Touched

Jacqueline Cochran broke the sound barrier in 1953, won the Bendix Trophy, and commanded the WASP - the most decorated pilot in history, male or female.

Harold Gillam, the Lockheed Electra, and the Last Flight of Alaska's Most Daring Bush Pilot

Harold Gillam was Alaska's most legendary bush pilot until a 1943 crash in the Coast Range claimed his life at age 39 during a solo rescue attempt.

Chuck Yeager, the Bell X-One, and the Broken Ribs He Hid from the Flight Surgeon the Morning He Flew Through Mach One

On October 14, 1947, Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 with two cracked ribs and a piece of broomstick - a story of calculated risk and cold nerve.

Bessie Coleman, the French Flight School That Would Take Her, and the Barnstormer Who Refused to Fly for a Segregated Crowd

Bessie Coleman became the first African American and first person of Native American descent to earn an international pilot's license in 1921, after learning to fly in France when every U.S. flight school refused her.

Wiley Post, the Winnie Mae, and the First Solo Circumnavigation of the Globe

Wiley Post flew around the world alone in 1933, then pioneered the pressure suit and jet stream research that shaped every pressurized aircraft flying today.

The Supermarine Spitfire, R.J. Mitchell's Race Against Time, and the Elliptical Wing That Saved Britain

R.J. Mitchell designed the Supermarine Spitfire while dying of cancer at 42 - his elliptical wing kept the aircraft competitive from 1936 to 1954.

The Fokker D.VII, the Armistice Clause That Named It Specifically, and the Biplane That Changed What Diplomats Had to Know About Air Power

The Fokker D.VII was the only aircraft ever named by designation in a major international armistice - and the story of why reveals how air power changed warfare forever.

The Cornfield Bomber, the F-106 Delta Dart That Recovered Its Own Spin and Belly-Landed in Montana While Its Pilot Floated Down Under a Parachute

On February 2, 1970, an F-106 Delta Dart recovered its own flat spin after the pilot ejected and belly-landed itself in a Montana cornfield with the engine still running.

The Chance Vought F4U Corsair, the Inverted Gull Wing, and the Marine Corps Legend the Navy Could Not Land on a Carrier

The F4U Corsair was rejected by the Navy for carrier use, handed to the Marines, and became the most feared propeller-driven fighter in the Pacific.

Tex Johnston, the Dash Eighty, and the Barrel Roll Over Lake Washington That Sold the Boeing Seven Oh Seven to the World

On August 7, 1955, test pilot Tex Johnston barrel-rolled the Boeing 707 prototype over Lake Washington - a calculated move that launched the jet age.

Samuel Langley, the Great Aerodrome, and the Potomac Dunking Nine Days Before Kitty Hawk

On October 7, 1903, America's best-funded flying machine program crashed into the Potomac - nine days before the Wright Brothers succeeded at Kitty Hawk.

Roscoe Turner, Gilmore the Lion, and the Thompson Trophy Pilot Who Made Air Racing America's Favorite Spectator Sport

Roscoe Turner won the Thompson Trophy three times, flew with a lion, and made aviation something every American felt belonged to them.

Hurricane R4118, the Battle of Britain Veteran That Spent Forty Years in a Maharajah's Shed, and the One-Man Quest That Brought It Home

Hurricane R4118 flew approximately 50 Battle of Britain combat sorties, spent 40 years in an Indian shed, and was restored to flight in 2004.

Harriet Quimby, the Purple Flying Suit, and the English Channel Crossing the Titanic Almost Erased from History

Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly the English Channel on April 16, 1912 - a landmark swallowed by Titanic headlines the very same day.

Dick Rutan, Jeana Yeager, the Voyager, and the Nine-Day Nonstop Circumnavigation That Landed on Eighteen Gallons

On December 23, 1986, Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager landed at Edwards after flying nonstop around the world in Burt Rutan's Voyager - with 18 gallons to spare.

Claire Chennault, the American Volunteer Group, and the Shark-Mouth P-40s That Held the Line Over Burma Before America Entered the War

Before Pearl Harbor, 100 American volunteers flew shark-mouthed P-40s under Claire Chennault's unconventional tactics to hold the line over Burma and China.

Bob Reeve, the Valdez Mud Flats, and the Glacier Pilot Who Ran an Airline on Tidal Cycles and Axle Grease

Bob Reeve built a glacier-flying operation and a regional airline from $40 and a can of axle grease, using Valdez harbor mud flats as his runway in the 1930s.

Wrong Way Corrigan, the Beat-Up Curtiss Robin, and the Twenty-Eight Hour Flight Nobody Could Officially Explain

On July 17, 1938, Douglas Corrigan flew 28 hours and 13 minutes from Brooklyn to Dublin - officially claiming he meant to go to Los Angeles the whole time.

The Shirttail Cut, the Open-Cockpit Biplane Ritual That Became Aviation's Greatest Rite of Passage, and the Walls at Flight Schools That Have Been Collecting First Solo Names for Ninety Years

The shirttail cut began as functional communication in open-cockpit biplanes and evolved into the most enduring rite of passage in civilian flight training.

The North American X Fifteen, Joe Walker's Two Flights Above the Kármán Line, and the Hypersonic Research Program That Shaped Every Spacecraft That Lands on a Runway

The X-15 flew 199 hypersonic research missions, sent two pilots above the Kármán line, and shaped every spacecraft that lands on a runway.

The Grumman F6F Hellcat, the Akutan Zero, and the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot That Ended Japanese Naval Air Power

How a crashed Japanese Zero in the Aleutians led directly to the F6F Hellcat's 19-to-1 kill ratio and the destruction of Japanese naval air power.

The de Havilland Mosquito, the Wooden Wonder the Air Ministry Turned Down, and the Restoration Science That Keeps the Last Flying Examples in the Air

The de Havilland Mosquito outran every Luftwaffe fighter sent after it - here's the engineering story and the restoration science keeping the last flying examples airworthy.

The Bockscar, the Fuel Pump That Failed Before Takeoff, and the B-Twenty-Nine at Wright-Patterson That Ended the Second World War

The B-29 Bockscar dropped the second atomic bomb on August 9, 1945, despite a broken fuel pump, a 45-minute rendezvous delay, and three failed bomb runs over its primary target.

The Avro Lancaster, the Four Merlins That Rose from the Wreckage of the Manchester, and the Sixty-Foot Bomb Run That Breached the Dams of the Ruhr

The Avro Lancaster emerged from a failed twin-engine bomber to become WWII's most capable heavy bomber, culminating in the technically precise 60-foot dam-busting raid of May 1943.

Robin Olds, Operation Bolo, and the Fighter Pilot Who Flew Two Wars and Went Looking for a Third

Robin Olds was a WWII double ace who designed Operation Bolo on January 2, 1967 - the most decisive air engagement of the Vietnam War, destroying 7 MiG-21s with zero American losses.

Operation Vengeance, the P-38 Lightning Ambush of Admiral Yamamoto, and the Longest Fighter Intercept of the Pacific War

On April 18, 1943, sixteen P-38 Lightnings flew a 435-mile dead reckoning intercept that killed Admiral Yamamoto and altered the course of the Pacific War.

Lincoln Beachey, the Niagara Falls Flight, and the Wings That Failed Over San Francisco Bay

Lincoln Beachey was the most famous pilot in the world in 1915 - until a structural failure over San Francisco Bay killed him at 28 before 300,000 witnesses.

Jimmy Doolittle, the Full Flight Laboratory, and the Fifteen Minutes at Mitchel Field That Taught Pilots to Trust the Gauges

On September 24, 1929, Jimmy Doolittle completed the first fully blind flight at Mitchel Field, proving that instruments - not instincts - could safely guide pilots through clouds.

Don Sheldon, the Ruth Amphitheater, and the Glacier Pilot Who Put Talkeetna on Every Climber's Map

Don Sheldon pioneered glacier landing techniques in Alaska's Ruth Amphitheater, transforming Denali mountaineering and building the operational foundation every expedition team still relies on today.

Clyde Pangborn, the Miss Veedol, and the First Nonstop Transpacific Flight That Ended With No Gear and a Belly Landing in Washington Apple Country

On October 5, 1931, Clyde Pangborn completed the first nonstop transpacific flight - 4,500 miles from Japan to Washington State, without landing gear.

Charles Lindbergh, the Curtiss JN-4 Jenny, and the Barnstorming Apprenticeship That Built the Pilot Who Crossed the Atlantic

Before Paris and the ticker-tape parade, Charles Lindbergh spent three years barnstorming Midwest pastures - the unglamorous apprenticeship that built the pilot who crossed the Atlantic.

Cal Rodgers, the Vin Fiz, and the First Coast-to-Coast Flight Across America

Cal Rodgers completed the first coast-to-coast flight across America in 1911, covering 3,200 miles in a Wright biplane with no instruments, no weather service, and no map - just a railroad to follow.

Wiley Post, the Winnie Mae, and the Solo Around-the-World Flight That Stumbled Into the Jet Stream

Wiley Post's 1933 solo circumnavigation in the Winnie Mae didn't just break records - it stumbled onto the jet stream and changed how every pilot flies today.

The Schneider Trophy, the Supermarine S.6B, and the Seaplane Races That Built the Spitfire

The Schneider Trophy seaplane races (1913–1931) produced the specific engineering breakthroughs in airframes and engines that directly created the Spitfire and Rolls-Royce Merlin.

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, the Eight-Ton Jug That Laughed at Flak, and the Ground Attack Role That Changed the War in Europe

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was the most-produced American fighter of WWII, armed with eight .50-caliber guns and built to bring pilots home from missions other aircraft couldn't survive.

The R One Hundred and One, the Hillside at Beauvais, and the Night Britain's Imperial Airship Programme Died

On October 5, 1930, Britain's flagship airship R101 crashed into a French hillside, killing 48 and ending the nation's entire airship programme overnight.

The Messerschmitt Me Two Sixty-Two, the Schwalbe, and the Blitz Bomber Order That Cost Germany the Sky

The Me 262 was the world's first operational jet fighter - and Hitler's decision to redesign it as a bomber may have cost Germany air superiority.

The Hawker Hurricane, the Three Oh Three Polish Squadron, and the Battle of Britain Fighter That Shot Down More Germans Than the Spitfire

The Hawker Hurricane, not the Spitfire, shot down more than 55% of Luftwaffe aircraft destroyed over Britain in 1940 - and its most effective squadron was Polish.

The Gimli Glider, the Metric Conversion That Silenced Both Engines at Forty-One Thousand Feet, and the Drag Race Already Underway on the Runway When Air Canada One Forty-Three Came Down Without Power

On July 23, 1983, a unit conversion error left Air Canada Flight 143 with less than half its required fuel - and both engines silent at 41,000 feet over Canada.

The Consolidated B Twenty-Four Liberator, the Strawberry Bitch at Wright-Patterson, and the Forgotten Workhorse That Built More History Than Hollywood Ever Told

The B-24 Liberator was WWII's most-produced American warplane, and the Strawberry Bitch at Wright-Patterson is the last surviving B-24D combat veteran.

Ormer Locklear, the First Wing Walker, and the Hollywood Floodlights That Killed Him Over an Oil Field in Nineteen Twenty

Ormer Locklear became the world's first professional wing walker in 1919, died filming a Hollywood night sequence in 1920, and helped plant the seed for American aviation as we know it.

Flak-Bait, the Martin B-Twenty-Six Marauder, and the Smithsonian Conservation That Kept the Most Battle-Tested Airframe in American History from Disappearing

Flak-Bait flew 207 combat missions over occupied Europe - more than any other American aircraft in WWII - and the Smithsonian's conservation choice is what makes it irreplaceable.

Bob Reeve, the Valdez Mudflats, and the Glacier Landings That Built Alaska's Backcountry

How Bob Reeve turned tidal mudflats into a runway in 1932 and pioneered glacier landing techniques that defined Alaska backcountry aviation for generations.

Bessie Coleman, the East Texas Cotton Picker Who Crossed an Ocean to Earn the License America Refused to Give Her

Bessie Coleman became the first Black American and first American woman of color to earn a pilot's license in 1921, crossing the Atlantic after every U.S. flight school turned her away.

The Vought F Four U Corsair, the Bent-Wing Bird the Navy Called Unfit for Carriers, and the Marines Who Made It the Most Feared Fighter in the Pacific

Rejected by the U.S. Navy as unfit for carriers in 1942, the Vought F4U Corsair became the Pacific's most feared fighter in Marine Corps hands - and its enemies named it Whistling Death.

The Northrop YB-49 Flying Wing, the Contract That Was Killed Before It Could Fly, and the Moment Jack Northrop Learned His Design Had Lived On as the B-2 Spirit

The Northrop YB-49 flying wing was canceled in 1949 amid political controversy, but its 172-foot wingspan and design principles survived forty years to become the B-2 Spirit.

The MacRobertson Air Race, the de Havilland DH.88 Comet, and the Douglas DC-Two That Carried Passengers to Second Place

The 1934 MacRobertson Air Race proved a commercial airliner could nearly match purpose-built racers - and reshaped the future of flight.

The Last East Coast Orion, the Warlocks of VXS One, and What Thirty Years of Quiet Science Looks Like When It Lands at the Boneyard

On September 22, 2026, the U.S. Navy's last active East Coast P-3 Orion - a classified research aircraft flown by the secretive Warlocks of VXS-1 - made its final landing at the Davis-Monthan boneyard.

The Hump, the Air Transport Command's Himalayan Airlift, and the Aluminum Trail That Still Scatters Across the Kachin Hills

How the Air Transport Command flew 650,000 tons of supplies over the Himalayas between 1942 and 1945, and why those missions still shape military aviation today.

The Dornier Do 335 Pfeil, the Push-Pull Fighter That Could Touch Four Hundred and Seventy Miles Per Hour on Pistons, and the Only Complete Airframe Left in the World at the Udvar-Hazy Center

The Dornier Do 335 Pfeil reached 474 mph on piston power alone - the fastest of its kind - and the only complete airframe survives at Udvar-Hazy.

Frank Luke, the Arizona Balloon Buster, and the Eighteen Days That Made America's Most Ferocious Pilot and Ended Him at Twenty-One

Frank Luke destroyed 18 enemy targets in 18 days of WWI combat, becoming America's most ferocious ace and earning the Medal of Honor before dying at 21.

Dick Rutan, Jeana Yeager, the Rutan Voyager, and the Nine Days That Flew the World on a Single Load of Fuel

Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager completed the first nonstop, unrefueled circumnavigation of Earth in December 1986, landing with just 18 gallons of fuel to spare.

Carl Ben Eielson, the Hamilton Metalplane, and the Siberian Ice That Swallowed Alaska's Greatest Bush Pilot

Carl Ben Eielson pioneered Alaska airmail and crossed the Arctic Ocean in 1928 - then vanished over the Bering Sea on November 9, 1929, at age 32.

The Hughes H Four Hercules, the Spruce Goose That Was Never Spruce, and the Oregon Museum Built Around the Largest Flying Boat Ever Built

The Hughes H-4 Hercules flew once in 1947 - 70 feet high, 26 seconds, one mile - and is the largest wooden aircraft and flying boat ever built.

The Grumman F Six F Hellcat, the Carrier Fighter Built Around a Captured Zero, and the Nineteen-to-One Kill Ratio That Broke Japan's Naval Air Power for Good

The Grumman F6F Hellcat achieved a 19-to-1 kill ratio in WWII, accounting for 75% of all U.S. Navy aerial victories in the Pacific theater.

The Gee Bee Model R, the Granville Brothers' Barrel in the Sky, and the Thompson Trophy That Made Jimmy Doolittle Walk Away from Racing Forever

The Gee Bee Model R won the 1932 Thompson Trophy at 252 mph and became the defining image of American air racing's golden age - and its deadliest lesson.

The Douglas SBD Dauntless, the Freshwater Aircraft Graveyard at the Bottom of Lake Michigan, and the Training Carriers That Preserved What Saltwater Would Have Destroyed

Over 100 WWII aircraft lost during carrier training on Lake Michigan survived 50+ years of cold freshwater, yielding some of the finest restored warbirds in existence.

Tex Johnston, the Barrel Roll Over Lake Washington, and the Boeing Dash Eighty That Sold the Jet Age to the World

On August 7, 1955, Boeing test pilot Tex Johnston barrel-rolled a jet transport prototype over Lake Washington and sold the jet age to the world.

Operation Vengeance, the P Thirty-Eight Lightning, and the Sixteen American Fighters Who Hunted the Most Dangerous Admiral in the Pacific

On April 18, 1943, sixteen P-38 Lightnings flew a 435-mile dead-reckoning intercept to kill Admiral Yamamoto, changing the course of the Pacific War.

Jacqueline Cochran, the Girl Who Got Her License in Three Weeks, and the Thousand Women Who Flew Everything the Army Had

Jacqueline Cochran earned her pilot's license in three weeks, commanded over 1,000 women pilots in WWII, and became the first woman to break the sound barrier.

Howard Hughes, the Lockheed Fourteen Super Electra, and the Around-the-World Speed Record That Halved the Planet in Nineteen Thirty-Eight

On July 14, 1938, Howard Hughes landed at Floyd Bennett Field after circling the globe in 3 days, 19 hours, and 8 minutes - cutting the previous record in half.

Wrong Way Corrigan, the Curtiss Robin, and the Transatlantic Flight Nobody Was Supposed to Know About

On July 17, 1938, Douglas Corrigan flew from Brooklyn to Dublin after filing a flight plan for Los Angeles - then blamed a faulty compass for the detour.

Wiley Post, the Winnie Mae, and the One-Eyed Oklahoman Who Found the Jet Stream, Flew Solo Around the World, and Built the Pressure Suit That Every Astronaut Would Wear After Him

Wiley Post flew around the world twice, discovered the polar jet stream, and invented the pressure suit that made space travel possible - all on $1,800 and one eye.

The Schneider Trophy, the Supermarine S-6B, and the Floatplane Races That Handed Britain the Engine That Won the Battle of Britain

How a pre-war floatplane racing series - saved by a private widow's check - became the crucible that produced the Spitfire and the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine.

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, the Milk Jug That Skeptics Said Was Too Big to Fight, and the Wolfpack Pilots Who Flew It to the Top of the European Kill Boards

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt overcame deep skepticism about its size to become the top-scoring fighter in the entire European theater of World War II.

The Purdue Expedition, Earhart's Electra, and Eighty-Nine Years of Questions Over the Pacific

Purdue University is backing a new deep-sea expedition to investigate potential wreckage from Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Electra, nearly 89 years after her 1937 disappearance over the Pacific.

The North American XB-70 Valkyrie, the Mach Three Bomber That Rode Its Own Shockwave, and the Dayton Hangar That Holds the Only Airframe Left After the Mojave Took the Other One

North American's XB-70 Valkyrie flew at Mach 3 riding its own shockwave, was cancelled before combat, and only one of two airframes survives today.

Operation Chastise, Barnes Wallis and the Bouncing Bomb, and the Night 617 Squadron Flew at Sixty Feet to Break the Ruhr Dams

On May 16–17, 1943, nineteen Lancaster crews flew at sixty feet over black water to destroy the Ruhr dams - a story of precision engineering and extraordinary cost.

Doc, the B-29 Superfortress Rescued from the California Desert, and the Decade of Volunteer Work That Put Her Back in the Wichita Sky

Doc, a 1944 B-29 Superfortress rescued from the Mojave Desert, flew again over Wichita on July 17, 2016, after a decade of volunteer restoration work.

Clyde Pangborn, the Gates Flying Circus, and the First Nonstop Crossing of the Pacific

How barnstormer Clyde Pangborn went from inverted flight at county fairs to completing the first nonstop transpacific flight in 1931.

Cal Rodgers, the Vin Fiz Flyer, and the Forty-Nine Days That Opened the American Continent to Aviation

Cal Rodgers completed the first transcontinental flight in 1911, surviving 84 days, 16 crashes, and near-total aircraft rebuilding to reach the Pacific.

Bob Reeve, the Valdez Mudflats, and the Broke Drifter Who Invented Glacier Flying Because He Could Not Afford a Real Airport

Bob Reeve invented glacier flying in 1932 from necessity - broke and resourceful in Valdez, Alaska - and built an airline that ran for nearly six decades.

The Vought F Four U Corsair, the Bent-Wing Bird the Navy Rejected, and the Whistling Death That Haunted the Pacific

The Vought F4U Corsair was rejected by the U.S. Navy for carrier operations yet became one of the most feared combat aircraft of the Pacific War.

The Memphis Belle, the B Seventeen F That Flew Twenty-Five Missions Over Nazi Germany, and the Fifty-Year Decline That Almost Cost Her Everything Before Wright-Patterson Restored Her

The Memphis Belle B-17F completed 25 combat missions over Nazi Germany in 1943, survived decades of outdoor neglect, and was fully restored at Wright-Patterson in 2018.

The Lady Be Good, the B-24 Liberator That Flew Itself Into the Libyan Desert, and the Nine Men Who Bailed Out Over the Wrong Country

The Lady Be Good vanished into the Libyan desert in 1943 and sat undisturbed for 16 years - a navigation failure that still instructs pilots today.

The Doolittle Raid, the B-25 Mitchells Off the USS Hornet, and the Eighty Seconds That Changed the Pacific War

On April 18, 1942, sixteen B-25 Mitchell bombers launched from the USS Hornet and struck Tokyo, cracking Japan's myth of invulnerability and setting in motion the chain of events that led to Midway.

The Dole Air Race, the Pineapple Derby of Nineteen Twenty-Seven, and the Seven People the Pacific Never Gave Back

The 1927 Dole Air Race sent 8 aircraft 2,400 miles across the open Pacific to Hawaii - only 2 arrived, and 7 crew members were never found.

The Cornfield Bomber, Captain Gary Foust, and the F One Oh Six Delta Dart That Flew Itself Home to a Montana Cornfield

On February 2, 1970, an F-106 Delta Dart recovered from an unrecoverable flat spin without its pilot and belly-landed itself in a Montana cornfield.

The Bell XP-59 Airacomet, the Fake Wooden Propeller on a Jet Airplane, and the Mojave Morning That Started American Jet Aviation

On October 1, 1942, America secretly flew its first jet-powered aircraft - the Bell XP-59A Airacomet - at Muroc Dry Lake, California, with a dummy wooden propeller bolted to the nose as cover.

Robin Olds, Operation Bolo, and the Twelve Minutes Over North Vietnam That Shattered the MiG Twenty-One Force

On January 2, 1967, Colonel Robin Olds led 78 F-4 Phantoms in a deception mission that destroyed seven MiG-21s in twelve minutes without a single American loss.

Ormer Locklear, the First Man to Walk on Wings, and the Hollywood Night Flight That Ended the Most Dangerous Career in American Aviation

Ormer Locklear invented wing walking from a loose radiator cap in 1918 and became America's most famous aviator - until a Hollywood night flight killed him at 28.

Glacier Girl, the Lockheed P-38 Lightning Buried Under Two Hundred Sixty-Eight Feet of Greenland Ice, and the Ten-Year Recovery That Brought Her Back to the Sky

How a WWII P-38 Lightning buried under 268 feet of Greenland ice for 50 years was located, excavated, and restored to flight in 2002.

Dick Rutan, Jeana Yeager, the Voyager, and the Nine Days in December When the Last Great First in Powered Flight Got Done

On December 14, 1986, Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager completed aviation's last great first - a nonstop, unrefueled flight around the world in the Voyager aircraft.

Carl Ben Eielson, the Icebound Schooner Nanuk, and the Arctic Storm That Claimed the Man Who Opened Alaska to the Air

Carl Ben Eielson opened Alaska to air travel in the 1920s before dying at 32 during a 1929 Arctic rescue mission over the Bering Strait.

Bessie Coleman, the First Black Woman to Earn an International Pilot's License, and the Journey from a Texas Cotton Field to the Skies Over France

Bessie Coleman became the world's first Black woman to earn an international pilot's license in 1921, after crossing the Atlantic when every American flight school refused her.

The Phantom Flogger: An Unmanned MiG-23 and the Ghost Flight That Crossed NATO Airspace in 1989

On July 4, 1989, a pilotless Soviet MiG-23 flew itself across five countries before crashing into a Belgian home - a Cold War incident with lasting lessons for pilots.

The North American X Fifteen, the Kármán Line, and the Rocket Plane That Taught America How to Fly in Space

The North American X-15 flew 199 research missions from 1959 to 1968, setting records that still stand and building the engineering foundation for every U.S. crewed spacecraft that followed.

The Hawker Hurricane, the Battle of Britain, and the Fifty-Five Percent Nobody Remembers

The Hawker Hurricane destroyed roughly 55% of Luftwaffe aircraft during the Battle of Britain - more than the iconic Spitfire - yet history has largely forgotten it.

The Granville Brothers, the Gee Bee Super Sportster, and the Springfield Barrel That Made the Thompson Trophy Both Beautiful and Deadly

The Gee Bee Super Sportster was the fastest propeller-driven aircraft in America in the early 1930s - and its extreme design left fingerprints on every WWII fighter that followed.

The Gimli Glider, Air Canada One Forty-Three, and the Fuel Error That Turned a Boeing Seven Sixty-Seven Into a Sailplane

On July 23, 1983, a metric unit conversion error left Air Canada Flight 143 with less than half its required fuel, forcing a dead-stick landing in a Boeing 767.

The Douglas DC-3, the Midnight Phone Call That Built It, and the Gooney Bird That Carried Airborne Troops Into Every Major Air Drop of the Second World War

The Douglas DC-3 revolutionized air travel in 1936, then became the C-47 that carried paratroopers into Normandy and earned Eisenhower's designation as one of four weapons that won WWII.

The de Havilland Mosquito, the Wooden Wonder of World War Two, and the Unarmed Bomber That Outran Every Fighter Hitler Had

The de Havilland Mosquito proved that speed alone could replace defensive armament, flying over 36,000 wartime sorties with loss rates far below the heavy bomber force.

The Bockscar, the Luck of Kokura, and the B Twenty-Nine That Nearly Ran Dry Before It Could Land

The Bockscar nearly didn't survive its own mission on August 9, 1945 - a story of mechanical failure, a shielded city, and a crew running on fumes over the Pacific.

The Airbus A350F, the First Flight of the Freighter Built to Retire the Seven Forty-Seven and Seven Seventy-Seven Cargo Kings

The Airbus A350F completed its first test flight from Toulouse, becoming the first credible twin-engine challenger to Boeing's dominance in the heavy freighter market.

Jacqueline Cochran, the Orphan Who Outflew Everyone, and the Sound Barrier Nobody Believed a Woman Would Break

Jacqueline Cochran rose from poverty in the Florida Panhandle to become the first woman to break the sound barrier and hold more aviation records than any pilot in history.

Harriet Quimby, the English Channel in a Bleriot Eleven, and the Maritime Disaster That Stole Her Greatest Moment

On April 16, 1912, Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly the English Channel - then lost her moment in history to the Titanic disaster the night before.

Fritz von Opel, the Opel RAK One Rocket Glider, and the Forgotten Frankfurt Flight of September Thirty, Nineteen Twenty-Nine That Planted the Seed of Everything That Followed

On September 30, 1929, Fritz von Opel flew a 16-rocket delta-wing glider for 75 controlled seconds over Frankfurt - the forgotten flight that seeded modern rocketry and jet combat aircraft.

Chuck Yeager, the Bell X-1 Glamorous Glennis, and the Mojave Morning That Broke the Sound Barrier Forever

On October 14, 1947, Chuck Yeager flew the Bell X-1 Glamorous Glennis past Mach 1 over the Mojave Desert - with two broken ribs and a piece of broomstick in the cockpit.

Bob Reeve, the Valdez Mudflats, and the Glacier Landings That Built Alaska's Aleutian Airline

Bob Reeve arrived in Alaska in 1932 with $11 and a wheel-equipped plane, pioneered systematic glacier landings, and built Reeve Aleutian Airways into a 50-year institution.

Wrong Way Corrigan, the Curtiss Robin Nobody Believed Could Cross an Ocean, and the Twenty-Eight Hour Mystery That Never Got an Honest Answer

In July 1938, Douglas Corrigan flew from Brooklyn to Dublin in a leaking, fuel-soaked Curtiss Robin - then claimed he misread his compass.

Wiley Post, the Winnie Mae, and the One-Eyed Oklahoma Roughneck Who Flew Around the World Alone

Wiley Post flew around the world twice, discovered the jet stream, and built the first pressure suit - all with one eye and no high school diploma.

Whistling Death, the Vought F4U Corsair, the Bent-Wing Bird the Navy Rejected and the Marines Never Gave Back

The Vought F4U Corsair was too fast and too difficult for carrier operations - so the Navy gave it to the Marines, who turned it into one of the most effective fighters of World War II.

The Mitsubishi A Six M Zero, the Akutan Island Windfall, and the Secret Tests That Taught American Pilots How to Win the Pacific Air War

How a single crashed Zero fighter recovered from Alaskan tundra in 1942 revealed the vulnerabilities that reversed American fortunes in the Pacific air war.

The Memphis Belle, the Boeing B-17 That Led America's First Twenty-Five, and the Fourteen-Year Restoration That Finally Gave Her the Home She Deserved

The Memphis Belle completed Europe's first publicly recognized 25-mission bomber tour in May 1943; a 14-year restoration at Wright-Patterson unveiled her in 2018.

The Grumman F Six F Hellcat, the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot, and the Day American Naval Aviation Took Back the Pacific Sky

The Grumman F6F Hellcat reversed American fortunes in the Pacific, earning a 19-to-1 kill ratio and destroying Japan's carrier air arm.

The Gates Flying Circus, Ivan Gates, and the Traveling Airshow That Barnstormed America Into Loving Flight

How the Gates Flying Circus barnstormed America with war-surplus biplanes in the 1920s, turning curious farmers into the next generation of pilots.

The Douglas World Cruisers, Lowell Smith, and the First Around-the-World Flight in September Nineteen Twenty-Four

The first flight around the world was completed on September 28, 1924, by three U.S. Army Air Service crews in Douglas World Cruisers - 26,345 miles in 175 days.

The China Clipper, Edwin Musick, and the Pan Am Flying Boats That Opened the Pacific to Commercial Aviation

How Pan Am's China Clipper and pilot Edwin Musick opened the Pacific to commercial aviation starting November 22, 1935.

Eddie Rickenbacker, the Hat-in-the-Ring Squadron, and the Twenty-Four Days on a Pacific Raft That Proved the Ace of Aces Was Built Different

Eddie Rickenbacker earned 26 aerial victories in WWI then survived 24 days adrift in the Pacific - the defining story of the Ace of Aces.

Alcock and Brown, the Vickers Vimy, and the First Nonstop Crossing of the Atlantic Eight Years Before Lindbergh Got the Glory

John Alcock and Arthur Brown flew nonstop across the Atlantic in 1919, eight years before Lindbergh, in an open cockpit with primitive instruments.

The Swamp Ghost, the B-17 That Sank Into a Papua New Guinea Swamp in Nineteen Forty-Two, and the Sixty-Four-Year Recovery That Brought It to Pearl Harbor

The B-17E known as the Swamp Ghost crashed in a Papua New Guinea swamp in 1942 and was recovered 64 years later, nearly intact, due to rare bog preservation conditions.

The Gimli Glider, Air Canada Flight One Forty-Three, and the Dead-Stick Landing That Saved Sixty-Nine Lives When the Math Was Wrong

On July 23, 1983, a metric conversion error drained Air Canada Flight 143 of fuel at 41,000 feet - and a glider pilot's instincts saved all 69 people aboard.

The Douglas SBD Dauntless, the Dive Bomber That Turned the Tide at Midway, and the Seventeen Survivors Every Naval Aviation Museum Should Make You Stop and Stare

Slow, underpowered, and nearly obsolete, the SBD Dauntless sank three Japanese fleet carriers in five minutes at Midway on June 4, 1942.

The de Havilland Mosquito, the Wooden Wonder Nobody Asked For, and the Aircraft That Proved a Plywood Bomber Could Outrun Every Fighter Germany Had

The de Havilland Mosquito was a WWII British bomber built from birch plywood that outran Luftwaffe fighters - a private venture the Air Ministry initially rejected.

Roscoe Turner, Gilmore the Lion, and the Three Thompson Trophies That Made the Golden Age's Most Outrageous Pilot Its Greatest Racer

Roscoe Turner won the Thompson Trophy three times between 1934 and 1939, setting a record no pilot ever broke - in an era that was simply too dangerous to last.

Pappy Boyington, VMF-214, and the Black Sheep Squadron That Became the Most Feared Marine Fighter Unit in the Pacific

Gregory 'Pappy' Boyington led VMF-214, a squadron assembled from castoffs, to 97 aerial victories in 84 days - and was shot down over Rabaul before learning he'd earned the Medal of Honor.

Harold Gillam, 'Thrill-Em No-Kill-Em,' and the January Nineteen Forty-Three Crash That Ended Alaska's Most Storied Bush Flying Career

Harold Gillam flew Alaska's most brutal conditions for fifteen years before a January 1943 crash in the coastal mountains claimed the territory's most storied bush pilot.

Claire Chennault, the American Volunteer Group, and the Shark-Mouthed P Forty Warhawks That Held China's Sky Before America Entered the War

How a retired Army captain's unconventional tactics turned 112 volunteer pilots and shark-mouthed P-40 Warhawks into the most effective fighter unit in Asia.

Chuck Yeager, the Bell X-One Glamorous Glennis, and the October Morning in Nineteen Forty-Seven When a Fighter Pilot with Broken Ribs Punched Through the Sound Barrier

On October 14, 1947, Chuck Yeager flew the Bell X-1 to Mach 1.06 over the Mojave Desert - with two broken ribs and a sawed-off broomstick in his pocket.

Wiley Post, the Winnie Mae, and the One-Eyed Oilfield Worker Who Flew Solo Around the World and Found the Jet Stream

Wiley Post lost his eye in a 1926 oil field accident, used the settlement to buy an airplane, and went on to fly solo around the world and discover the jet stream.

The Lake Michigan Wildcats, the Freshwater Carrier Fleet, and the Warbird Restorations That Rose from the Bottom of the Great Lakes

More than 100 WWII aircraft sank during carrier training on Lake Michigan - and decades later, cold freshwater kept many of them intact.

The L Eight Ghost Blimp, the Two Navy Airmen Who Vanished Over San Francisco Bay, and the Mystery That Has Never Been Solved

On August 16, 1942, a Navy K-class blimp landed itself in a California street - its two-man crew gone without a trace, no distress call, no bodies ever found.

The Enola Gay, the Fifty-Year Road to Restoration, and the Smithsonian Exhibit That Cost a Director His Job

The Enola Gay's story spans the most consequential bombing mission in history, decades of outdoor neglect, a painstaking restoration, and a museum controversy that cost a director his job.

The Douglas World Cruisers, Lowell Smith, and the First Flight Around the World in Nineteen Twenty-Four

In 1924, eight U.S. Army Air Service pilots completed the first aerial circumnavigation of the globe in open-cockpit Douglas World Cruisers, covering 26,345 miles in 175 days.

The Chance Vought F Four U Corsair, the Bent-Wing Bird the Navy Didn't Want, and the Marine Squadrons That Turned It Into the Most Feared Fighter in the Pacific

The F4U Corsair was rejected by the Navy for carrier use, given to the Marines, and became the most feared fighter in the Pacific - serving through two wars across 13 years of production.

The Airbus A Three-Fifty Freighter, the Maiden Flight You Can Watch Live This Monday, and Why the Air Cargo Race Matters to Every Corner of Aviation

Airbus streams the A350F maiden flight live on September 29, 2026 - what to watch, what it means, and why the cargo industry matters to all of aviation.

Operation Tidal Wave, the Low-Level Ploesti Raid, and the Five Medals of Honor Earned in a Single August Afternoon

On August 1, 1943, five U.S. bomb groups flew a 50-foot attack on the Ploesti oil refineries, earning five Medals of Honor in a single afternoon.

Don Sheldon, the Ruth Glacier, and the Mountain House Where Alaska's Greatest Bush Pilot Made His Promise to the Mountain

Don Sheldon of Talkeetna, Alaska spent two decades flying climbers onto Denali's glaciers and built the historic Mountain House on the Ruth Glacier in 1966.

Castelion's Blackbeard Hypersonic Missile and the Race to Put Low-Cost Hypersonics on Navy Carrier Jets

NAVAIR released footage of Castelion's Blackbeard hypersonic missile on an F/A-18F Super Hornet, advancing the U.S. Navy's push for affordable, carrier-deployable hypersonic strike capability.

Beryl Markham, the Bush Pilot from Kenya, and the East-to-West Atlantic Crossing Nobody Expected Her to Finish

Beryl Markham completed the first solo nonstop east-to-west Atlantic crossing on September 4–5, 1936, flying 3,600 miles in 21 hours against prevailing headwinds.

The Lockheed P Thirty-Eight Lightning, Richard Bong and the Ace of Aces, and the Fork-Tailed Devil That Ruled the Pacific Sky

The Lockheed P-38 Lightning produced America's greatest ace, executed the killing of Admiral Yamamoto, and flew further than any Allied fighter of WWII.

The Gates Flying Circus, Clyde Pangborn, and the Barnstormer Who Flew Nonstop Across the Pacific in Nineteen Thirty-One

Clyde Pangborn completed the first nonstop Pacific crossing in 1931, flying 4,558 miles in 41 hours after deliberately dropping his landing gear over open ocean.

Harriet Quimby, the First Woman to Fly the English Channel, and the Titanic News That Buried Her Greatest Triumph

On April 16, 1912, Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly the English Channel - a landmark achievement largely buried by the sinking of the Titanic.

Wrong Way Corrigan, the Curtiss Robin He Nursed Across the Atlantic, and the Navigation Error Nobody in America Ever Believed

On July 18, 1938, Douglas Corrigan landed in Ireland claiming he'd followed the wrong end of his compass - a story no one believed and everyone loved.

The Pitts Special, Curtis Pitts, and the Little Biplane That Built American Aerobatics

The Pitts Special biplane transformed American aerobatics into a world-class program - and Aviat Aircraft in Wyoming still builds new ones today.

The Memphis Belle, the B-17 That Came Home Twenty-Five Times, and the Restoration That Finally Gave Her a Roof After Sixty Years

The Memphis Belle B-17F completed 25 combat missions over occupied Europe in 1943 with all ten crew members surviving, then spent decades deteriorating outdoors before a 13-year restoration brought her to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

The Lockheed P Thirty-Eight Lightning, Operation Vengeance, and the Sunday Morning Intercept That Killed the Architect of Pearl Harbor

The Lockheed P-38 Lightning redefined American air power in WWII - from an impossible design brief to the mission that killed the architect of Pearl Harbor.

Roscoe Turner, Gilmore the Flying Lion, and the Three Thompson Trophies That Made Air Racing America's Greatest Show

Roscoe Turner won the Thompson Trophy three times - in 1933, 1934, and 1938 - a record no pilot before or since has matched in American air racing history.

Operation Chastise, the Bouncing Bomb Barnes Wallis Built Against All Odds, and the Night 617 Squadron Cracked Open the Ruhr Valley

On the night of May 16, 1943, 19 Lancaster bombers flew at 60 feet over black water to deliver a weapon nobody believed could exist.

Frank Luke, the Arizona Balloon Buster, and the Seventeen Days That Made America's Most Reckless Ace a Legend

Frank Luke recorded 18 aerial victories in 17 days in September 1918, becoming America's deadliest balloon buster and the AEF's second-highest scoring ace.

Don Sheldon, the Talkeetna Glacier Pilot, and the High-Altitude Landings That Made the Ruth Amphitheater His Personal Runway

Don Sheldon pioneered routine glacier landings in the Alaska Range, completing 500+ rescues and supply missions into terrain that stopped other pilots cold.

Doc, the B-29 Superfortress, the China Lake Desert, and the Eighteen-Year Grassroots Restoration That Brought Wichita's Own Bomber Back to Life

How an 18-year grassroots restoration brought Doc, a 1944 B-29 Superfortress, from a desert weapons range back to airworthy flight over Wichita.

Dick Rutan, Jeana Yeager, the Voyager, and the Nine Days That Put Every Mile of Earth Beneath One Set of Wings

On December 14, 1986, Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager departed Edwards AFB and flew nonstop, unrefueled around the world in 9 days, 3 minutes, and 44 seconds.

The Vought F4U Corsair, the Inverted Gull Wing the Navy Rejected, and the Marine Pilots Who Made It Immortal Over Rabaul

The Vought F4U Corsair's inverted gull wing solved a critical propeller clearance problem - and gave the Marines their most iconic fighter of World War II.

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, Hub Zemke's Wolfpack, and the Fighter That Refused to Step Aside for the Mustang

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt ended WWII as America's most-produced fighter, with the 56th Fighter Group destroying more enemy aircraft than any other group in the Eighth Air Force.

The North American X-Fifteen, the Hundred-Mile Altitude Mark, and the Research Aircraft That Taught Apollo How to Come Home

The North American X-15 set speed and altitude records that still stand today while generating the hypersonic research data that made Apollo and the Space Shuttle possible.

The Granville Brothers, the Gee Bee Model R, and the Thompson Trophy That Proved the Most Dangerous Airplane of the Golden Age Could Be Flown

On September 4, 1932, Jimmy Doolittle flew the Gee Bee Model R to a 252.6 mph Thompson Trophy victory - then retired from racing on the spot.

The Curtiss SB2C Helldiver, the Eight Hundred Change Orders That Almost Killed It, and the Restorers Keeping the Pacific's Most Troubled Dive Bomber Alive

The Curtiss SB2C Helldiver survived over 800 engineering changes and a reputation its own crews despised to deliver more combat ordnance than any other Allied carrier dive bomber in the Pacific.

The Akutan Zero, the Aleutian Bog, and the Captured Fighter That Taught America How to Beat Japan's Most Feared Airplane

How a downed Japanese Zero fighter recovered from an Alaskan bog in 1942 gave the U.S. Navy the intelligence it needed to turn the tide of the Pacific air war.

Tex Johnston, the Barrel Roll Over Lake Washington, and the Day Boeing's Test Pilot Proved the Jet Age Could Fly Itself Upside Down in Front of the World

In August 1955, Boeing test pilot Tex Johnston barrel-rolled the 367-80 prototype over Lake Washington in a move that helped seal the jet age for Boeing.

Saburo Sakai, the Five-Hundred-Sixty-Mile Flight Home from Guadalcanal, and the Zero Ace the Pacific Could Not Kill

On August 7, 1942, Japanese ace Saburo Sakai flew 560 miles home over open ocean with a fractured skull and a destroyed right eye - a story of survival that defines human limits in the cockpit.

Jimmy Doolittle, the Hooded Cockpit at Mitchel Field, and the Blind Flight That Proved Instrument Flying Could Work

On September 24, 1929, Jimmy Doolittle flew the first fully instrument-guided flight in history - the 15-minute test that made modern IFR flying possible.

Dag Hammarskjöld, the Douglas DC-Six Albertina, and the Ndola Crash That Has Never Been Explained

The 1961 crash of UN-chartered DC-6B Albertina, which killed Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld near Ndola, remains officially unexplained 65 years later.

Clyde Pangborn, the Gates Flying Circus, and the Forty-One Hours Over the Pacific That the Barnstorming Era Made Possible

How barnstormer Clyde Pangborn's years hanging off biplanes above county fairs gave him the skills to complete the first non-stop transpacific flight in 1931.

Carl Ben Eielson, the Fur Ship Nanuk, and the Arctic Search That Cost Alaska Its Greatest Bush Pilot

Carl Ben Eielson pioneered commercial aviation in Alaska before disappearing over the Bering Sea on November 9, 1929, sparking one of aviation history's most dangerous search operations.

Cal Rodgers, the Vin Fiz Flyer, and the First Flight Across America

In 1911, Cal Rodgers flew a grape-soda-sponsored Wright biplane from Brooklyn to Long Beach in 84 days, becoming the first pilot to cross the United States by air.

Wop May, the Mad Trapper of Rat River, and the Winter Manhunt That Put a Bush Plane at the Center of the Most Desperate Chase in Canadian History

How bush pilot Wop May's 1932 aerial reconnaissance during the Mad Trapper manhunt laid the foundation for modern search-and-rescue aviation.

Twelve Strike Eagles Come Home from the Middle East Wearing Their Deployment on the Nose

Twelve F-15E Strike Eagles from Mountain Home AFB returned to RAF Lakenheath on September 16, 2026, after a six-month Middle East deployment, each jet wearing distinctive crew nose art.

The Voyager, Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, and the Nine Days That Circled the Earth Without Once Touching the Ground

On December 14, 1986, Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager flew a homebuilt composite aircraft called Voyager around the entire Earth - nonstop, unrefueled - in nine days.

The Martin M-130 China Clipper, Captain Edwin Musick, and the Week Pan American Stitched Two Continents Together Across the Pacific

On November 22, 1935, Pan American's China Clipper made the first scheduled commercial transpacific flight under Captain Edwin Musick, covering nearly 8,000 miles to Manila in seven days.

The Fairey Swordfish, the Night Raid on Taranto, and the Biplane That Crippled a Battle Fleet and Stopped the Bismarck

How the obsolete Fairey Swordfish biplane crippled Italy's battle fleet at Taranto in 1940 and delivered the torpedo that stopped the Bismarck in 1941.

The Dole Air Derby, James Dole's Twenty-Five Thousand Dollar Bet, and the Eight Planes That Raced into the Pacific

In August 1927, eight planes raced 2,400 miles across the Pacific for a $25,000 prize - only two returned, and the disaster reshaped how aviation approached oceanic flight.

The B-29 Doc, the Sixteen-Year Volunteer Restoration in Wichita, and the Superfortress That Flew Again After Half a Century in the Mojave Desert

The B-29 'Doc' survived decades as a weapons range target before a 16-year volunteer effort returned her to Wichita's skies on July 17, 2016.

Ormer Locklear, the King of the Wing Walkers, and the Night a Movie Camera Captured the Death of the Man Who Invented Mid-Air Stunts

Ormer Locklear invented wing walking and mid-air aircraft transfers in 1919, became Hollywood's first aerial stuntman, and died on camera at age 28.

Operation Chastise, the Bouncing Bomb, and the Night 617 Squadron Flew for the Ruhr Dams at Sixty Feet

How Barnes Wallis's precisely engineered bouncing bomb and 617 Squadron's low-level attack on Germany's Ruhr dams on May 16–17, 1943 redefined what airpower could accomplish.

Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge, Fort Myer, and the September Seventeen Crash That Cost Aviation Its First Life in Powered Flight

On September 17, 1908, Lt. Thomas Selfridge became aviation's first powered-flight fatality - and his role in early aviation was far larger than most history books acknowledge.

Bockscar, the B-Twenty-Nine at Dayton, the Fuel Pump That Quit Before Takeoff, and the Mission to Nagasaki That History Almost Forgot

Bockscar dropped the Nagasaki atomic bomb on August 9, 1945, with a broken fuel pump, a 45-minute detour, and fuel remaining for exactly one final bomb run.

Bessie Coleman, Queen Bess, and the Atlantic She Crossed to Get the License America Refused to Give Her

Bessie Coleman became the world's first Black licensed pilot in 1921, crossing the Atlantic to earn credentials that every American flight school had refused her.

The Strelzyk and Wetzel Families, the Homemade Balloon, and the Night They Flew Over the Iron Curtain

On September 16, 1979, two East German families crossed the Iron Curtain in a homemade hot air balloon, covering 28 km to freedom in Bavaria in under 30 minutes.

The Memphis Belle, the B-17 That Came Home from Twenty-Five Missions, and the Thirteen-Year Restoration That Rescued Her from Four Decades of Neglect

The Memphis Belle completed 25 combat missions over occupied Europe in 1943, then spent four decades deteriorating outdoors before a 13-year restoration saved her.

The Hughes H-4 Hercules, the Spruce Goose That Only Flew Once, and the Eight Engines Waiting Quiet in McMinnville

The Hughes H-4 Hercules flew exactly once - 70 feet above Long Beach harbor on November 2, 1947 - and remains the largest flying boat ever built.

The Gee Bee Super Sportster, the Granville Brothers' Flying Barrel, and the Thompson Trophy That Doolittle Won and Nobody Else Could Keep Alive

The Gee Bee Super Sportster won the 1932 Thompson Trophy at 252 mph in Jimmy Doolittle's hands - and killed nearly everyone else who tried to fly it.

The de Havilland Mosquito, the Wooden Wonder the Air Ministry Turned Down Twice, and the Prison Raid That Showed What Two Men and a Fast Airplane Could Do

The de Havilland Mosquito was rejected by the Air Ministry twice before becoming WWII's most versatile combat aircraft - built almost entirely from wood.

The Curtiss JN-4 Jenny, the Fifty-Dollar Biplane, and the Army Surplus Sale That Launched the Barnstorming Era

How the $50 Army surplus Curtiss JN-4 Jenny launched the barnstorming era and introduced millions of Americans to flight.

Richard Bong, America's Ace of Aces, and the Forty Kills in a P-38 Lightning That No American Has Matched Since

Richard Bong scored 40 aerial kills in a P-38 Lightning during WWII - a record no American pilot has matched in any conflict since.

John Alcock, Arthur Whitten Brown, and the Sixteen Hours Over the Atlantic That Nobody Said Could Be Done

On June 14, 1919, John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown completed the first non-stop transatlantic flight, crossing 1,890 miles in 16 hours and 27 minutes - eight years before Lindbergh.

Harriet Quimby, the Bleriot Eleven, and the English Channel Crossing the Titanic Buried

On April 16, 1912, Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly the English Channel solo - a milestone the Titanic disaster nearly erased from history.

Bob Reeve, the Mud Flat Runways of Valdez, and the Glacier Pilot Who Invented a Way to Fly Where No One Had Gone Before

Bob Reeve turned Valdez tidal mud flats into a runway in 1932 and pioneered commercial glacier landing in Alaska using seal oil and methodical improvisation.

Wiley Post, the Winnie Mae, and the Solo Flight Around the World That One Eye Never Should Have Made

Wiley Post flew solo around the world in 1933 with one eye, a mechanical autopilot, and an elastic cord - then built the first pressure suit in aviation history.

The Vought F4U Corsair, the Inverted Gull Wing, and the Fighter the Navy Rejected Before the Marines Made It Famous

The F4U Corsair was rejected by the U.S. Navy for carrier operations in 1942, then became one of WWII's most lethal fighters - and stayed in combat through Korea.

The North American XB-70 Valkyrie, the Mach-Three Bomber That McNamara Cancelled, and the One Survivor Standing in the Dayton Museum That Still Stops People Cold

The XB-70 Valkyrie - America's only Mach-3 strategic bomber - was cancelled by McNamara, lost one airframe in a midair collision, and survives today in Dayton.

The Lady Be Good, the B-24 That Flew Past Its Base in the Dark, and the Desert Mystery That Took Sixteen Years to Solve

The Lady Be Good, a WWII B-24 Liberator, was found intact in the Sahara 16 years after a faulty radio compass led its crew to bail out 240 miles inside the desert.

Operation Chastise, the Bouncing Bomb, and the Night Six-One-Seven Squadron Broke the Ruhr Dams

On 16 May 1943, RAF 617 Squadron flew nineteen modified Lancasters at 60 feet to breach the Ruhr dams in one of aviation's most precisely engineered raids.

Lincoln Beachey, the Man Who Owned the Sky, and the Death Dive That Stopped a World's Fair

Lincoln Beachey was the most famous aviator in America before his death at 28 - his flying redefined what aircraft could do and built public trust in aviation.

Frank Luke, the Arizona Balloon Buster, and the Seventeen Days That Made the Second-Greatest Ace of the First World War

Frank Luke Jr. scored 18 aerial victories in 17 days in 1918, making him the second-highest American ace of WWI through the most dangerous attack runs of the war.

Flak-Bait, the Martin B Twenty-Six Marauder That Flew Two Hundred Seven Combat Missions, and the Smithsonian Restoration That Took Decades to Complete

Flak-Bait, a Martin B-26 Marauder, flew 207 combat missions in WWII - more than any other American aircraft - and now sits at the Smithsonian bearing every mark it earned.

Edwin Musick, the Martin M-130 China Clipper, and the Eight Thousand Miles of Open Pacific That Pan American Airways Crossed in November of Nineteen Thirty-Five

On November 22, 1935, Edwin Musick flew the Martin M-130 China Clipper from California to Manila, completing the first scheduled transpacific air crossing in history.

Claire Chennault, the American Volunteer Group, and the Shark-Nose P-40 That Fought a War Before America Did

The Flying Tigers flew combat against Japan before America entered WWII, led by a tactical genius the Army had discarded and proven right.

Battle of Britain Day, September Fifteen, Nineteen Forty, and the Afternoon Keith Park Committed the Last Reserve

On September 15, 1940, Keith Park committed Fighter Command's last reserve and held the sky over Britain - the day Hitler's invasion plan effectively died.

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, the Jug That Wouldn't Die, and the Air War Over Europe No One Could Win Without It

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was the heaviest single-engine fighter America fielded in WWII, and its toughness and firepower saved the Allied strategic bombing campaign over Europe.

The Lockheed P-38 Lightning, Richard Bong, and the Twin-Boom Fighter That Became America's Deadliest Weapon Over the Pacific

The Lockheed P-38 Lightning's twin-engine range made it America's deadliest Pacific fighter and carried Richard Bong to 40 aerial victories.

The Hughes H-4 Hercules, the One Flight in Long Beach Harbor, and the McMinnville Museum Built Around the World's Largest Flying Boat

The Hughes H-4 Hercules - the largest flying boat ever built - made one 26-second flight in November 1947 and now stands preserved in McMinnville, Oregon.

The Grumman F6F Hellcat, the Akutan Zero, and the Carrier Fighter Built to Kill What It Had Already Studied

How a crashed Japanese Zero in an Alaskan bog gave American engineers the intelligence to build the F6F Hellcat - the Pacific War's most lethal carrier fighter with a 19-to-1 kill ratio.

The First Solo Shirt-Cut, the Tandem Cockpits That Started the Tradition, and the Ceremony Happening on Every Flight Training Ramp in America

The solo shirt-cut tradition traces directly to open-cockpit biplanes of the early 1900s - here's the real history behind the ceremony happening on ramps across America.

The Dole Air Race, the Two Thousand Four Hundred Miles of Open Pacific, and the August of Nineteen Twenty-Seven That Nobody in Oakland Could Forget

The 1927 Dole Air Race sent eight planes from Oakland to Hawaii across 2,400 miles of open Pacific - only two finished, and seven people never came home.

The Beechcraft Starship, the All-Composite Canard That Beechcraft Spent Half a Billion Dollars Building, and the Certification Legacy That Changed How Every Modern Composite Aircraft Gets Approved

The Beechcraft Starship sold only 53 aircraft and cost up to $500 million to develop, but its certification work built the regulatory foundation for every composite GA aircraft flying today.

Tex Johnston, the Dash Eighty, and the Barrel Roll That Sold the Boeing Seven Oh Seven

On August 7, 1955, Boeing test pilot Tex Johnston rolled a prototype 707 twice over Lake Washington - a moment that became one of aviation's most legendary stories.

Ormer Locklear, the Wing Walker From Fort Worth, and the Hollywood Night That Killed the Greatest Showman in Barnstorming

Ormer Locklear was barnstorming's greatest showman - a Fort Worth carpenter who turned wing walking into art before dying on camera in 1920.

Jimmy Doolittle, the Guggenheim Full Panel, and the September Morning at Mitchel Field That Made Blind Flying Possible

On September 24, 1929, Jimmy Doolittle completed the first fully hooded instrument flight at Mitchel Field, proving pilots could navigate safely without any visual reference to the outside world.

Igor Sikorsky, the Vought-Sikorsky Three Hundred, and the September Morning That Built the Helicopter

On September 14, 1939, Igor Sikorsky flew the VS-300 in Stratford, Connecticut, proving the single-main-rotor design that defines nearly every helicopter built since.

Harold Gillam, the Weather Witch of Alaska, and the January Mountain That Stopped the Best Bad-Weather Pilot in the North

Harold Gillam was Alaska's most feared bad-weather pilot - until a January 1943 mountain in southeastern Alaska ended his legendary career and stranded five survivors for 32 days.

Doc the Boeing B Twenty-Nine Superfortress, the Sixteen-Year Desert Rescue, and the Wichita Volunteers Who Put Her Back in the Air

Doc the B-29 Superfortress spent 44 years in the Mojave Desert before volunteers restored her to flight in 2016 - one of only two airworthy examples of the Pacific War's decisive bomber.

Chuck Yeager, the Bell X-One Glamorous Glennis, and the October Morning at Muroc When the Sound Barrier Broke

On October 14, 1947, Chuck Yeager became the first person to exceed Mach 1 in the Bell X-1 Glamorous Glennis - with two cracked ribs and a piece of broomstick.

Bessie Coleman, the Caudron Brothers' School in France, and the First License No American School Would Issue

Bessie Coleman became the world's first Black female pilot in 1921 by crossing the Atlantic to train in France after every American flight school refused her admission.

The Schneider Trophy, R.J. Mitchell, and the Racing Seaplanes That Built the Spitfire

How fifteen years of Schneider Trophy seaplane racing - and the genius of R.J. Mitchell - directly produced the Supermarine Spitfire that defended Britain in 1940.

The Night Witches, the Soviet Women Who Flew Fabric Biplanes into Flak at Night, and the Po-Two That Haunted the German Eastern Front

The Soviet 588th Night Bomber Regiment flew over 23,000 combat sorties in fabric biplanes against Nazi Germany, haunting the Eastern Front from 1942 to 1945.

The Memphis Belle, the B-17 That Flew Twenty-Five Missions Over Occupied Europe, and the Restoration That Finally Brought Her Indoors at Dayton

The Memphis Belle completed 25 combat missions over occupied Europe in 1943 and now stands fully restored at the National Museum of the USAF in Dayton.

The de Havilland Mosquito, the Wooden Wonder, and the Unarmed Bomber That Outran the Luftwaffe

The de Havilland Mosquito was a twin-engine wooden bomber rejected by the British Air Ministry in 1938 that became one of the most versatile and survivable aircraft of World War II.

Tenerife, the Deadliest Runway in Aviation History, and the Communication Failure That Changed How Every Pilot Talks to ATC

The 1977 Tenerife runway collision killed 583 people and permanently changed how pilots and controllers communicate - here's what every pilot needs to know.

Pancho Barnes, the Happy Bottom Riding Club, and the Mojave Watering Hole Where the Right Stuff Was Poured in a Glass

Pancho Barnes built the Happy Bottom Riding Club near Edwards AFB, creating the human infrastructure behind the golden age of American flight test.

Flak Bait, the Martin B-26 Marauder, and the Smithsonian Restoration Bringing Two Hundred and Two Missions Home

Flak Bait, the most combat-experienced American bomber in the European Theater, completed 202 missions and bears over 1,000 field-repair patches - now being fully restored by the Smithsonian.

Cal Rodgers, the Vin Fiz Flyer, and the Forty-Nine Days It Took to Cross America

In 1911, Cal Rodgers flew a 35-horsepower biplane from Brooklyn to California in 49 days, proving a coast-to-coast crossing was possible despite 15 crashes and no navigation aids.

The North American X Fifteen, the Rocket Plane That Flew to the Edge of Space and Back, and the Eight Pilots Who Earned Astronaut Wings in an Aircraft

The North American X-15 flew 199 missions to the edge of space, set speed and altitude records that still stand, and shaped every hypersonic and space vehicle that followed.

The Granville Brothers, the Gee Bee Racers, and the Most Beautiful Dangerous Thing That Ever Flew Over Cleveland

The Granville Brothers built the fastest - and most dangerous - racing aircraft of the 1930s, winning the 1932 Thompson Trophy at 252 mph.

The Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the Butcher Bird That Shocked the RAF, and the Restoration Putting Germany's Best Piston Fighter Back in the Air

The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 was Germany's finest piston fighter - how it shocked the RAF in 1941, how Britain accidentally captured one intact, and why fewer than a dozen fly today.

The Douglas DC-3, the Midnight Phone Call That Saved Commercial Aviation, and the Gooney Bird That Refused to Quit

The Douglas DC-3 made commercial aviation profitable for the first time in 1935, defined Allied air transport in WWII, and still flies revenue cargo routes on every inhabited continent today.

The De Havilland Chipmunk, the Tandem Trainer That Taught a Generation of RAF Pilots, and the Nineteen Fifty-Six Example That Belongs in Your Hangar

A 1956 de Havilland Chipmunk - former Canadian military trainer with full aerobatic capability - is currently listed on Aircraft For Sale.

The Curtiss NC-4, the First Aircraft to Cross the Atlantic, and the Navy Flying Boat at Pensacola That Beat Lindbergh by Eight Years

The Curtiss NC-4 completed the first transatlantic air crossing in May 1919 - eight years before Lindbergh and two before Alcock and Brown.

September Eleventh at Twenty-Five Years, and the Photo That Holds Everything Aviation Has Become

Twenty-five years after September 11 reshaped aviation forever, a look at what the attacks cost, what they built, and where the next era of flight is headed.

Roscoe Turner, the Lion Named Gilmore, and the Three Thompson Trophies That Made the Last Great Air Racer of the Golden Age

Roscoe Turner's three Thompson Trophy wins remain unmatched after 80 years, making him the definitive figure of golden age American air racing.

Operation Vittles, the Berlin Airlift, and the Candy Bomber Who Dropped Chocolate Into the Ruins of a Divided City

Operation Vittles proved a blockaded city of 2.5 million could be sustained entirely by air - and produced one of aviation's most unlikely heroes.

Don Sheldon, the Ruth Glacier, and the Talkeetna Glacier Pilot Who Built a Hut at the Foot of Denali

Don Sheldon pioneered glacier landing techniques in the Alaska Range across three decades, and his methods remain the standard for high-mountain bush flying today.

Dick Rutan, Jeana Yeager, and the Nine Days Voyager Flew Around the World Without Landing

Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager completed the first nonstop, unrefueled circumnavigation of the globe in December 1986, flying 24,986 miles in nine days aboard the homebuilt Voyager.

The Vought F4U Corsair, the Inverted Gull Wing That Grounded the Navy and Made the Marines Legendary Over the Solomons

The Vought F4U Corsair was grounded from carrier duty by the U.S. Navy - then handed to the Marines, who made it one of WWII's most feared fighters.

The North American XB Seventy Valkyrie, the Mach Three Bomber That Was Obsolete Before It Flew, and the One Airframe Dayton Keeps for the Rest of Us

The XB-70 Valkyrie was America's Mach 3 nuclear bomber - a Cold War engineering triumph made strategically obsolete before its first prototype ever flew.

The Messerschmitt Me 262, Hitler's Bomber Obsession, and the Jet Fighter That Almost Changed the War

The Me 262 was the world's first operational jet fighter - 100 mph faster than any Allied aircraft - yet Hitler's bomber obsession delayed its deployment long enough to neutralize its potential.

The Dole Air Race, the Pineapple Derby of 1927, and the Pacific Ocean That Swallowed Six Planes in a Single Afternoon

The 1927 Dole Air Race sent eight planes from Oakland toward Hawaii and killed ten people - a cautionary story about what happens when optimism outpaces preparation.

The Curtiss JN-4 Jenny, the Government Surplus Sale of 1919, and the Two-Hundred-Dollar Biplane That Sold America on Flying

How the U.S. government's 1919 surplus sale of 6,400 Curtiss JN-4 Jennies created the barnstorming era and introduced a million Americans to flight.

The Alaska Capstone Program, the Bush Pilots Who Tested ADS-B First, and the Accident Rate That Made the FAA Take It Seriously

The 1999 Alaska Capstone Program proved ADS-B surveillance could work in the world's most demanding operational environment, directly shaping the FAA's 2020 nationwide mandate.

Richard Bong, the Ace of Aces, and the P Thirty-Eight Lightning That Carried America's Greatest Pilot to Forty Kills Over New Guinea

Richard Bong scored 40 aerial victories in WWII - more than any American pilot in history - before dying in a jet accident on August 6, 1945, the same morning as Hiroshima.

Operation Chastise, the Bouncing Bomb, and the Night Guy Gibson Led Sixty Feet Above the Ruhr Valley

On May 16, 1943, 19 Lancasters from 617 Squadron flew at 60 feet in the dark to breach Germany's Ruhr Valley dams using a spinning bouncing bomb.

Jimmy Doolittle, the Guggenheim Full Flight Laboratory, and the September Morning at Mitchel Field That Made Instrument Flying Possible

On September 24, 1929, Jimmy Doolittle completed the first fully blind flight at Mitchel Field, NY, proving instrument flying was a reproducible skill - not a gamble.

Harold Gillam, the Alaska Bush Pilot Who Flew in Weather That Kept Everyone Else on the Ground, and the January Crash That Claimed the Man They Called Thrill Em

Harold Gillam flew Alaska's deadliest routes in weather that grounded every other pilot - until a January 1943 crash in southeastern Alaska ended a legendary career.

Glacier Girl, the P Thirty-Eight Lightning Buried Under Two Hundred Sixty-Eight Feet of Greenland Ice, and the Fifty-Year Recovery That Put a Warbird Back in the Sky

Glacier Girl is a WWII P-38 Lightning recovered from 268 feet of Greenland ice after 50 years and restored to flight, taking to the skies again in 2002.

Charles Lindbergh, the Spirit of St. Louis, and the Thirty-Three Hours That Rewrote What Aviation Could Be

On May 20, 1927, Charles Lindbergh flew 3,600 miles from New York to Paris alone in 33 hours - a crossing that permanently transformed aviation.

Wiley Post, the Winnie Mae, and the Solo Flight Around the World That Nobody Thought One Man Could Fly

Wiley Post flew solo around the world in 1933 - one-eyed, in a plywood monoplane - and in doing so helped discover the jet stream.

The Supermarine Spitfire, R.J. Mitchell's Race Against Time, and the Elliptical Wing That Defined a Generation

R.J. Mitchell designed the Supermarine Spitfire's revolutionary elliptical wing while dying of cancer at 42 - and the aircraft outlived him to define the Battle of Britain.

The Hawker Hurricane, the Battle of Britain's Forgotten Workhorse, and the Fighter That Shot Down More of the Luftwaffe Than Any Other Aircraft in the Sky

The Hawker Hurricane shot down 55% of Luftwaffe losses in the Battle of Britain, outnumbered the Spitfire two to one, and saved England - then history forgot it.

The Gee Bee Racers, the Granville Brothers of Springfield, and the Flying Barrel That Could Win the Thompson Trophy and Break Your Heart on the Same Afternoon

The Gee Bee R-1 won the 1932 Thompson Trophy at 252 mph, outpacing military fighters by nearly a decade - and claimed the lives of nearly everyone who flew it.

The de Havilland Comet, the Square Windows That Grounded the World's First Jet Airliner, and the Metal Fatigue Discovery That Changed Every Pressurized Aircraft That Came After

The 1954 Comet disasters near Elba revealed the hidden mechanics of metal fatigue and permanently transformed how every pressurized airliner is designed and certified.

The Curtiss NC-4, the First Transatlantic Flight, and the Flying Boat That History Left at Pensacola

The Curtiss NC-4 completed the first transatlantic flight on May 27, 1919 - eight years before Lindbergh - yet its crew remains largely forgotten.

Ormer Locklear, the First Wing Walker, and the Hollywood Film That Screened His Fatal Dive

Ormer Locklear invented wing walking in 1917, became America's most famous aviator, and died on film in 1920 when a director's promised light cue never came.

Operation Tidal Wave, the Low-Level Strike on Ploesti, and the Five Medals of Honor Won on the Worst Sunday the B twenty-four Ever Flew

On August 1, 1943, 164 B-24 Liberators flew a low-level strike on Romania's Ploesti oil refineries, producing five Medals of Honor in a single mission - a record never equaled in U.S. military history.

Navy Carrier Pilots, Repeated G-Forces, and the Brain Injury Study Congress Is Now Demanding

Congress is calling for a long-term study into whether repeated catapult launches and arrested landings are causing cumulative brain injuries in Navy carrier pilots.

Flak Bait, the Martin B-26 Marauder That Flew Two Hundred Seven Missions, and the Restoration Putting America's Most Battle-Worn Bomber Back Together

Flak Bait, serial number 41-31773, flew 207 combat missions over Europe - more than any other American aircraft in the ETO - and is now being fully restored at the Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy Center.

Elrey 'Jepp' Jeppesen, the Little Black Notebook, and the Approach Charts That Every Pilot on Earth Flies From Today

The Jeppesen approach charts every pilot uses today trace directly to a handmade notebook a 23-year-old airmail pilot kept over the Rocky Mountains in 1930.

Bob Reeve, the Glacier Pilot of Valdez, and the Mudflat Runway That Started the Most Dangerous Flying Career in Alaska

Bob Reeve arrived in Valdez, Alaska in 1932 with nine dollars and invented glacier landing techniques that transformed arctic aviation forever.

Bessie Coleman, the Manicurist from Waxahachie Who Learned French to Earn the License America Refused to Give Her

Bessie Coleman became the world's first Black woman to earn a pilot's license in 1921 by learning French and crossing an ocean to train in France after every American school refused her.

Wop May, the Fort Vermilion Mercy Flight, and the January Run Through the Alberta Wilderness That Saved a Town from Diphtheria

In January 1929, WWI ace Wop May flew 250 miles through subarctic Alberta to deliver diphtheria antitoxin and save children in isolated Fort Vermilion.

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, the Jug, and the Fighter That Could Take Everything the Enemy Threw and Still Bring You Home

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was WWII's heaviest single-engine fighter - renowned not for elegance but for absorbing punishment that should have killed it.

The North American XB-70 Valkyrie, Mach Three Over the Mojave, and the One Airplane at Dayton That Stops Everyone Cold

The North American XB-70 Valkyrie flew at Mach 3 and rode its own shockwave over the Mojave, but strategic politics and a fatal midair collision ensured only one would survive to reach a museum.

The Last DC Eights Still Flying Freight and the Kinshasa Runway Excursion That May Have Grounded One Forever

A Douglas DC-8 freighter suffered a nose gear collapse after a runway excursion at Kinshasa's Ndjili Airport in early September 2026, potentially ending one of fewer than 20 airworthy examples of the type.

The Douglas SBD Dauntless, the Five-Minute Strike at Midway, and the Dive Bomber That Changed the Course of the Pacific War

On June 4, 1942, the Douglas SBD Dauntless destroyed three Japanese fleet carriers in roughly five minutes at Midway, ending Japan's naval dominance in the Pacific.

Roscoe Turner, the Lion in the Cockpit, and the Three Thompson Trophies That Made the Most Outrageous Racer of the Golden Age

Roscoe Turner won the Thompson Trophy three times between 1934 and 1939, making him the most decorated and most theatrical pilot of aviation's golden age.

Operation Vengeance, the P-38 Lightning Intercept, and the Mission That Shot Down the Architect of Pearl Harbor

On April 18, 1943, eighteen P-38 Lightnings flew 435 miles at wave-top height in radio silence to intercept and kill Japan's top naval commander using decoded communications.

Jacqueline Cochran, the Sound Barrier, and the Woman Who Held More Aviation Records Than Any Pilot in the World

Jacqueline Cochran rose from a shoeless Depression-era childhood to hold more aviation records than any pilot in history, male or female.

Gail Halvorsen, Operation Little Vittles, and the C-54 Pilot Who Dropped Candy Over a Blockaded Berlin One Wiggling Wing at a Time

How a Utah C-54 pilot's unauthorized candy drops over blockaded Berlin became Operation Little Vittles and helped the West win the Cold War's first standoff.

Dick Rutan, Jeana Yeager, Voyager, and the Nine Days That Proved the World Could Be Circled Without a Drop of Fuel

On December 14, 1986, Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager flew Voyager nonstop around the world in nine days without refueling, completing one of aviation's last great firsts.

Clyde Cessna, the Rago Wheat Field, and the Twelve Crashes That Built the Most Recognized Name in General Aviation

Clyde Cessna taught himself to fly through a dozen crashes in a Kansas wheat field - and those failures built the most recognized name in general aviation.

Chuck Yeager, the Bell X-1, and the Morning at Muroc Nobody Was Supposed to Talk About

How Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier on October 14, 1947 - with two broken ribs, a broomstick, and the calm of a man built for exactly that moment.

Bob Hoover, Stalag Luft One, and the Focke-Wulf He Stole to Fly Himself Home

Bob Hoover escaped a German POW camp in spring 1945 by stealing a Focke-Wulf 190 he had never flown - launching one of aviation's greatest careers.

The MacRobertson Air Race of Nineteen Thirty-Four, the de Havilland DH Eighty-Eight Comet, and the Night the People of Albury Lit the Field

The 1934 MacRobertson Air Race from England to Australia produced two legends: a purpose-built wooden racer that won, and a commercial airliner guided down by car headlights.

The Hughes H-four Hercules, the Single Flight Over Long Beach Harbor, and the Wooden Giant That Proved Howard Hughes Right

The Hughes H-4 Hercules flew exactly once on November 2, 1947 - one minute over Long Beach Harbor that proved a wooden giant could fly.

The Hawker Hurricane, Sydney Camm's Forgotten Champion, and the Fighter That Actually Won the Battle of Britain

The Hawker Hurricane destroyed 55% of German aircraft in the Battle of Britain - more than the Spitfire - yet history gave the glory to its more glamorous stablemate.

The Grumman F Six F Hellcat, the Akutan Zero, and the Nine-Kill Mission That Made America's Greatest Naval Ace

How a crashed Japanese Zero in an Alaskan swamp shaped the Hellcat's design - and fueled the most lethal air combat record in US Navy history.

The Gimli Glider, the Metric Conversion Error That Starved Both Engines at Forty-One Thousand Feet, and the Dead-Stick Seven Sixty-Seven That Landed on a Go-Kart Track

On July 23, 1983, a unit conversion error drained both engines of a Boeing 767 at 41,000 feet - and only extraordinary airmanship saved 69 lives.

The de Havilland Mosquito, the Wooden Wonder, and the Bomber That Outran Every Fighter the Luftwaffe Could Put in the Air

The de Havilland Mosquito was a twin-engine unarmed wooden bomber the Air Ministry rejected - then feared losing to its own speed.

The 1924 Army World Flight, the Douglas World Cruiser, and the Eight Men Who First Circled the Earth by Air

In 1924, four U.S. Army biplanes and eight men became the first to fly around the world, covering 27,553 miles in 175 days across 28 countries.

Operation Chastise, the Bouncing Bomb, and the Night 617 Squadron Flew at Sixty Feet to Break the Ruhr Dams

On May 16, 1943, nineteen Lancaster crews flew at sixty feet above dark water to destroy Germany's Ruhr Valley dams in aviation's most daring precision raid.

Lincoln Beachey, the Man Who Owned the Sky, and the Two Hundred Fifty Thousand People Who Watched Him Fall into San Francisco Bay

Lincoln Beachey was the most celebrated aviator of the early aviation era - a San Francisco daredevil who performed for an estimated 17 million Americans before dying in front of 250,000 at the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition.

Harold Gillam, Thrill 'em Spill 'em, and the January Mountains That Took Alaska's Most Fearless Bush Pilot

Harold Gillam flew Alaska's worst weather for 14 years without losing a passenger - until a 1943 crash in the mountains above Ketchikan ended his legendary career.

Frank Luke, the Balloon Buster of the Meuse, and the Seventeen Days That Made the Most Efficient Ace in American History

Frank Luke Jr. shot down 18 enemy targets in 17 days in 1918 to become America's most efficient WWI ace and the first aviator to earn the Medal of Honor.

Flak Bait, the Martin B-26 Marauder, and the Smithsonian Restoration of the Last Surviving Medium Bomber from the European Air War

Flak Bait, the last surviving Martin B-26 Marauder, flew 202 missions over Europe and is now being preserved at the Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy Center.

Wop May, the Mad Trapper of Rat River, and the Manhunt That Changed Bush Flying Forever

In January 1932, bush pilot Wop May flew a Bellanca monoplane over the Northwest Territories in the first aerial manhunt in North American history.

Wiley Post, the Winnie Mae, and the Solo Flight That Changed Everything We Know About the Upper Atmosphere

Wiley Post's 1933 solo world flight broke a record and produced the first airborne evidence of the jet stream, shaping aviation to this day.

The Vought F4U Corsair, the Bent-Wing Bird the Navy Turned Down, and the Carrier Approach the British Solved

The Vought F4U Corsair was rejected by the U.S. Navy for carrier operations in 1942, yet became WWII's most celebrated fighter - with the British solving its notorious approach problem.

The USS Abraham Lincoln, a Thailand Port Call, and the Aviation Demands of Life on the Boat

The USS Abraham Lincoln departed Thailand after a five-day port call, returning to Indo-Pacific operations - a news peg that opens a window into the world's most demanding aviation environment.

The Memphis Belle, Robert Morgan, and the Twenty-Five Mission Horizon Over Nazi Europe

The Memphis Belle was the first B-17 crew to complete 25 combat missions over Nazi Europe, a milestone that reshaped morale across the entire Eighth Air Force in 1943.

The Douglas D-558 Skyrocket and the first flight to Mach 2

On November 20, 1953, Scott Crossfield became the first person to fly at Mach 2, reaching 1,291 mph in the Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket over the Mojave Desert.

The Convair B-36 Peacemaker, Six Turning Four Burning, and the Cold War Giant Holding Court at Wright-Patterson

The Convair B-36 Peacemaker was the largest combat aircraft ever mass-produced, holding nuclear deterrence watch from 1948 to 1959 with a 230-foot wingspan.

Tex Johnston, the Dash Eighty, and the Barrel Roll That Launched the Jet Age

On August 6, 1955, Boeing test pilot Tex Johnston barrel-rolled a 100,000-pound prototype jet over Lake Washington - and in doing so, sold the airplane that launched the jet age.

Ormer Locklear, the First Wing Walker, and the Night the Floodlights Blinded the Greatest Stuntman in Aviation

Ormer Locklear invented wing walking in 1919 out of necessity - not showmanship - and became barnstorming's defining figure before dying at 29 on a Hollywood film set.

Korean Air Lines Flight Zero Zero Seven, the INS Mode Switch That Was Never Set, and the Cold War Night That Gave Every Pilot GPS

On September 1, 1983, KAL Flight 007 was shot down by a Soviet fighter after a single navigation mode error sent 269 people 300 miles off course - and directly triggered civilian GPS.

Jimmy Doolittle, the Hooded Cockpit, and the Blind Landing That Gave Every Pilot the Gift of IFR

On September 24, 1929, Jimmy Doolittle flew the first fully blind flight at Mitchel Field, demonstrating the instruments that became the foundation of modern IFR.

Glacier Girl, the P-38 Lightning Buried Under Two Hundred Sixty-Eight Feet of Greenland Ice, and the Recovery That Brought Her Back to the Sky

Glacier Girl is a P-38F Lightning recovered from 268 feet beneath the Greenland ice cap and returned to flight in 2002, sixty years after an emergency landing during Operation Bolero.

Charles Kingsford Smith, the Southern Cross, and the Fokker Trimotor That First Crossed the Pacific

In June 1928, Charles Kingsford Smith flew a heavily overloaded Fokker trimotor from Oakland to Brisbane, becoming the first crew to cross the Pacific Ocean by air.

Bessie Coleman, the Chicago Manicurist Who Had to Cross an Ocean Just to Learn to Fly

Bessie Coleman became the world's first licensed Black pilot in 1921 - but only after every American flight school turned her away.

The SOFIA Observatory, the Modified Seven Forty-Seven, and the Flying Telescope That Changed What We Know About the Moon

NASA's SOFIA program flew a modified Boeing 747-SP as a functioning infrared telescope from 2010 to 2022, culminating in the discovery of water on the Moon's sunlit surface.

The Republic P Forty-Seven Thunderbolt, the Jug That Should Not Have Worked, and the Two Hundred Bullet Holes That Proved Alexander Kartveli Right

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was the heaviest American single-engine fighter of WWII and the most-produced American fighter aircraft in history, with 15,686 built.

Marina Raskova, the Five-Eighty-Eighth Night Bomber Regiment, and the Soviet Women Who Terrified the Luftwaffe in Open-Cockpit Biplanes

The Soviet 588th Night Bomber Regiment - all-female crews in open-cockpit biplanes - flew over 23,000 combat sorties against Nazi Germany, earning the name 'Night Witches.'

Jimmy Angel, the El Rio Caroni, and the Waterfall Nobody Believed Existed

How barnstorming bush pilot Jimmy Angel discovered the world's tallest waterfall and crash-landed atop an ancient Venezuelan mesa in 1937, leaving his plane behind for 33 years.

Howard Hughes, the H-4 Hercules, and the One-Mile Flight That Silenced a Nation

On November 2, 1947, Howard Hughes flew the world's largest airplane - the H-4 Hercules - one mile across Long Beach Harbor, vindicating years of ridicule and an $18 million gamble.

Flak-Bait, the Martin B-26 Marauder, and the Thousand-Patch Restoration at Udvar-Hazy

Flak-Bait flew 207 combat missions in WWII - a record no American aircraft has matched - and its ongoing restoration at Udvar-Hazy preserves every patch as evidence.

Dick Rutan, Jeana Yeager, the Voyager, and the Nine Days That Proved You Could Circle the Earth Without Stopping

On December 14, 1986, Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager completed the first nonstop, unrefueled circumnavigation of the Earth, landing after 216 hours aloft in an aircraft built by hand in a desert hangar.

The Grumman F Six F Hellcat, David McCampbell's Nine-Kill Mission, and the Aircraft That Won the Pacific Air War

The Grumman F6F Hellcat achieved a 19-to-1 kill ratio in WWII and enabled Commander David McCampbell's record nine-kill mission on October 24, 1944.

The Douglas World Cruisers, the 1924 Army World Flight, and the First Time Anyone Flew Around the Planet

On April 6, 1924, four Douglas World Cruisers left Seattle on the first aerial circumnavigation of the globe - a 175-day, 27,553-mile mission that reshaped American aviation.

The Dornier Do Three-Thirty-Five Pfeil, the Push-Pull Fighter Nobody Copied, and the Only Survivor at Udvar-Hazy

The Dornier Do 335 Pfeil was the fastest piston-engine fighter ever evaluated by Allied test pilots - and only one of the 37 built still survives.

Gail Halvorsen, the Candy Bomber, and the Little Parachutes That Fell on Berlin

How Lt. Gail Halvorsen turned two sticks of chewing gum into Operation Little Vittles, dropping over 23 tons of candy on blockaded West Berlin.

Douglas 'Wrong Way' Corrigan, the Curtiss Robin, and the Atlantic Crossing Nobody Was Supposed to Know About

How Douglas Corrigan spent 11 years chasing government approval to fly the Atlantic, then crossed it anyway on July 17, 1938 - and spent the rest of his life denying it.

Don Sheldon, the Talkeetna One-Man Air Force, and the Glacier Landings That Opened Denali to the World

Don Sheldon pioneered glacier landings on Denali in the 1950s, transforming mountaineering logistics and becoming the legendary bush pilot of Talkeetna, Alaska.

Bristol Type 170 Freighter, the Plane That Carried Your Car Across the English Channel

The Bristol Type 170 Freighter - pioneer of cross-Channel car ferry aviation - has reached a landmark restoration milestone at Aerospace Bristol's historic Filton site.

Wade McClusky, the SBD Dauntless, and the Five Minutes at Midway That Broke the Japanese Navy

On June 4, 1942, Lt. Cdr. Wade McClusky's decision to keep searching over empty Pacific waters led to a five-minute attack that sank three Japanese carriers and turned the tide of the war.

The North American X-15, the Fifty-Mile Threshold, and the Eight Pilots Who Crossed from Aviation into Space

Eight military pilots flew the X-15 above 50 miles in the 1960s, earning astronaut wings and defining the altitude threshold still encoded in U.S. commercial space law today.

The Navy's Ten-Thousand-Pound Carrier Drone and the Unmanned Strike Machine Rewriting Military Aviation

The U.S. Navy has formally asked defense contractors to propose autonomous carrier-based strike aircraft capable of carrying up to 10,000 pounds of ordnance - a landmark step toward unmanned combat aviation.

The Focke-Wulf Fw One-Ninety, Kurt Tank's Butcher Bird, and the Landing in Wales That Gave Britain Its Most Valuable Air Intelligence of the War

How a German pilot's navigational error in June 1942 handed Britain its most valuable aviation intelligence of the entire war.

The Douglas DC-3, the Phone Call C.R. Smith Made at Two in the Morning, and the Airplane That Made Commercial Aviation Pay

The Douglas DC-3 was the first airliner to make commercial aviation profitable on passenger revenue alone - and it's still flying nearly 90 years later.

The de Havilland Comet, the Square Windows Near Elba, and the Water Tank Investigation That Changed Every Airliner Built After It

The 1954 de Havilland Comet disasters revealed how square window corners caused fatal metal fatigue, permanently transforming pressurized aircraft design worldwide.

The B-29 Doc, the China Lake Desert, and the Sixteen-Year Volunteer Restoration That Brought a Superfortress Back to Wichita

The B-29 Doc sat abandoned in a California desert for four decades before a 16-year volunteer effort brought it back to flight over Wichita in 2016.

The Aichi M-Six-A Seiran, the I-Four-Hundred Submarines, and the Floatplane Designed to Strike America from Beneath the Sea

The Aichi M6A Seiran was a WWII Japanese floatplane designed to fold inside a submarine and strike American targets - the sole survivor hangs at the Udvar-Hazy Center.

Richard Bong, the P thirty-eight Lightning, and the Forty Kills That Made America's Ace of Aces

Richard Bong flew 40 aerial victories over the Pacific in a P-38 Lightning, becoming America's greatest fighter ace - and died in a California test flight on August 6, 1945.

Ormer Locklear, the Texas Wing-Walker, and the Hollywood Searchlights That Killed the Man Who Invented Barnstorming

Ormer Locklear invented wing-walking out of in-flight necessity in 1917, became America's first aviation celebrity, and died at 28 during a Hollywood night-dive stunt in 1920.

Cal Rodgers, the Vin Fiz Flyer, and the Forty-Nine Days It Took to Cross a Continent

In 1911, Cal Rodgers became the first person to cross America by air - 84 days, ~4,300 miles, and no instruments - after forfeiting the prize he set out to win.

Beryl Markham, the Percival Vega Gull, and the Solo Atlantic Crossing That Beat the Ocean Going the Hard Way

On September 4, 1936, Beryl Markham became the first person to fly solo non-stop from England to North America - east to west, against the prevailing winds, alone.

USS Abraham Lincoln, Two Hundred Eighty-Six Days at Sea, and the Toll of Combat Carrier Aviation

The USS Abraham Lincoln completed 286 consecutive days at sea, including seven months of combat operations, before arriving in Thailand on September 2, 2026 - a deployment that tests both aircraft and aviators to their limits.

The Supermarine Spitfire, R.J. Mitchell's Dying Design, and the Elliptical Wing That Saved Britain

R.J. Mitchell designed the Spitfire's revolutionary elliptical wing before dying of cancer in 1937, never seeing his aircraft save Britain in 1940.

The Martin M-130 China Clipper, Edwin Musick, and the Island Hop That Opened the Pacific

On November 22, 1935, Pan American's China Clipper completed the first transpacific airmail flight under Captain Edwin Musick, opening scheduled commercial service across the Pacific.

The Hughes H-4 Hercules, the Senate Hearings That Called It a Flying Lumberyard, and the One Minute Over Long Beach Harbor That Proved Them Wrong

The Hughes H-4 Hercules flew just once in 1947, but its single minute over Long Beach Harbor silenced Senate critics and left an enduring mark on aviation engineering.

The Curtiss JN-4 Jenny, the Nineteen Nineteen Surplus Sale, and the Two-Dollar Ride That Introduced Rural America to Flight

How a 1919 government surplus sale of WWI training aircraft for as little as $200 each launched barnstorming and gave rural America its first taste of flight.

Operation Chastise, the Avro Lancaster, and the Sixty-Foot Attack Run That Cracked the Ruhr Dams

On the night of May 16, 1943, RAF 617 Squadron flew at 60 feet above German reservoirs to deliver a spinning bomb that breached two dams and reshaped strategic bombing.

John Alcock, Arthur Whitten Brown, the Vickers Vimy, and the Sixteen Hours Over the North Atlantic That History Forgot to Celebrate

Eight years before Lindbergh, John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown crossed the Atlantic non-stop in an open-cockpit biplane - and most people have never heard their names.

Commander David McCampbell, the Grumman F6F Hellcat, and the Single Mission That Made America's Deadliest Naval Aviator

On October 24, 1944, Commander David McCampbell and one wingman intercepted 60 Japanese aircraft over the Philippine Sea, producing the most lethal single aerial mission in U.S. naval history.

Bessie Coleman, the Nieuport Biplane, and the French License No American School Would Give Her

Bessie Coleman earned her pilot's license in 1921 after every American flight school refused her - so she crossed an ocean and trained in France instead.

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, Alexander Kartveli's Jug, and the Seven-Ton Fighter That Brought Pilots Home When Nothing Else Should Have

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was the heaviest single-engine fighter of WWII - and its near-indestructibility made it one of the most effective combat aircraft ever built.

The Navy's Carrier Autonomous Combat Aircraft, Catapult Launches, Arrested Landings, and What It Means When a Machine Traps on a Moving Deck

The U.S. Navy has issued a Request for Information for a carrier-based autonomous combat aircraft capable of catapult launches, arrested landings, and carrying up to 10,000 lbs of weapons.

The Gee Bee Model R, the Granville Brothers of Springfield, and the Barrel-Shaped Racer That Won the Thompson Trophy and Killed Almost Everyone Who Flew It After

The barrel-shaped Gee Bee Model R-One hit 252 mph to win the 1932 Thompson Trophy - and killed nearly every pilot who flew it after Doolittle walked away.

The Douglas SBD Dauntless, the Six Minutes Over Midway, and the Dive That Turned the Pacific War

On June 4, 1942, Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers the Navy had already written off sank three Japanese fleet carriers in six minutes and turned the Pacific War.

Phoebe Omlie, the Memphis Wing-Walker, and the Transport License No Woman in America Had Held Before Her

Phoebe Omlie became the first woman to hold a U.S. federal transport pilot's license in 1929, starting as a barnstorming wing-walker before shaping national aviation policy.

Lieutenant Bush, the Grumman Avenger Named Barbara, and the September Second Bailout Over Chichi Jima

On September 2, 1944, a 20-year-old Navy pilot named George H.W. Bush completed his bomb run over Chichi Jima with his engine on fire, bailed out, and floated four hours before a submarine rescued him.

Jimmy Doolittle, the Guggenheim Laboratory, and the September Morning That Invented Instrument Flying

On September 24, 1929, Jimmy Doolittle flew a complete circuit under a canvas hood at Mitchel Field - the first fully blind flight, and the foundation of every IFR approach flown since.

Harriet Quimby, the Bleriot Eleven, and the Channel Crossing the Titanic Stole from History

On April 16, 1912, Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly the English Channel - a feat buried by the Titanic disaster that same week.

Harold Gillam, the Lockheed Ten Electra in the Alaska Wilderness, and the Crash That Ended the Legend of the Pilot Nobody Could Kill

Harold Gillam - the Alaska bush pilot no crash could kill - died in January 1943 trying to walk to help after putting his passengers down on a frozen mountain.

Flak Bait, the Martin B-26 Marauder, and the Two Hundred and Two Missions That Made the Most-Flown American Bomber of the European War

Flak Bait, a Martin B-26 Marauder, flew 202 combat missions over occupied Europe - more than any other American aircraft in the entire European Theater.

Douglas Bader, the Tin Legs, and the RAF Wings They Took Away and Couldn't Keep

Douglas Bader lost both legs in a 1931 crash, proved he could still fly to operational standards, was discharged on a technicality, then returned in WWII to lead RAF fighter squadrons.

Doc the B Twenty-Nine Superfortress, the Decades at China Lake, and the Wichita Volunteers Who Flew Her Home

Doc the B-29 Superfortress returned to flight on July 17, 2016, after decades in the California desert - one of the most significant warbird restorations in American aviation history.

Charlie Brown, Franz Stigler, and the Bf One-Oh-Nine That Flew the Damaged B-17 Home

In December 1943, a Luftwaffe pilot chose mercy over victory over the North Sea - and the two men who lived it didn't find each other again for 46 years.

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, the Jug, and the Pilots Who Flew a Flying Tank to Dominance Over Europe

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was the most-produced American fighter of WWII - a massive, armor-laden aircraft engineered to bring pilots home from the worst the Luftwaffe could deliver.

The North American P-51 Mustang, the Laminar Flow Wing, and the Merlin Marriage That Won the Air War Over Europe

The P-51 Mustang became WWII's finest piston-engine fighter through bold engineering decisions, a revolutionary wing, and one test pilot's honest memo.

The Memphis Belle, the First B-17 Crew to Complete Twenty-Five Missions Over Europe, and the Thirty-Five Year Restoration That Finally Brought Her Home to Dayton

The Memphis Belle - the first B-17 crew to complete 25 combat missions over occupied Europe - is now fully restored and on permanent display in Dayton, Ohio.

The MacRobertson Air Race, the De Havilland Comet, and the Eleven Thousand Miles from Mildenhall to Melbourne

The 1934 MacRobertson Air Race flew 11,300 miles from England to Australia in under three days, reshaping the future of long-haul commercial aviation.

The B-29 Doc, the Wichita Volunteers, and the Three Hundred Thousand Hours That Brought a Superfortress Back to Life

How 300,000 volunteer hours over 13 years brought B-29 Doc back to the sky over Wichita in 2016 - one of only two flying Superfortresses left on Earth.

Tex Johnston, the Dash Eighty, and the Barrel Roll That Sold the Jet Age

On August 7, 1955, test pilot Tex Johnston barrel rolled Boeing's 707 prototype over Lake Washington - and sold the jet age.

Ormer Locklear, the First Wing-Walker, and the Klieg Lights That Ended the Man Who Survived Everything Else

Ormer Locklear invented wing-walking in 1919, became America's most famous aviator, and died on a Hollywood film set blinded by klieg lights during a night stunt.

Operation Chastise, the Dambusters, and the Bouncing Bomb That Broke the Ruhr Valley Dams

On May 16, 1943, nineteen RAF Lancasters flew at 60 feet in darkness to breach Nazi Germany's Ruhr Valley dams in one of history's most precisely executed aerial missions.

Korean Air Lines Flight Zero Zero Seven, the Soviet Su-15, and the Navigation Error That Put GPS in Every Cockpit

The 1983 Soviet shoot-down of KAL Flight 007 killed 269 people and directly led to President Reagan opening GPS to civilian aircraft worldwide.

Don Sheldon, the Cessna on Skis, and the Thirty Years of Glacier Flying That Made Talkeetna the Gateway to Denali

Don Sheldon pioneered the glacier landing techniques still used in Alaska today, flying ski planes into the Alaska Range professionally for thirty years from Talkeetna.

Cal Rodgers, the Vin Fiz Grape Drink Biplane, and the Eighty-Four Days It Took to Cross a Continent

In 1911, Cal Rodgers crossed the United States in 84 days on just 60 hours of flight experience, becoming the first pilot to fly coast to coast.

Bessie Coleman, the Caudron Biplane in France, and the License No American School Would Give Her

Bessie Coleman became the world's first Black female licensed pilot in 1921 after sailing to France when every American flight school refused her application.

Wiley Post, the Winnie Mae, and the Solo Circumnavigation That Proved One Man Could Circle the Globe Alone

Wiley Post's 1933 solo flight around the world in under eight days remains one of aviation's most overlooked achievements - completed by a one-eyed Oklahoma roughneck who pioneered the autopilot, the pressure suit, and the jet stream.

The Dornier Do 335 Pfeil, the Fastest Piston-Engine Fighter of World War Two, and the Only Surviving Example on Earth at the Smithsonian Udvar-Hazy Center

The Dornier Do 335 Pfeil was the fastest piston-engine fighter of World War Two, and the only surviving example is on display at the Smithsonian Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia.

The Chance Vought F4U Corsair, the Bent-Wing Bird the Navy Rejected, and the Marine Aces Who Flew It to Dominance over the Pacific

The F4U Corsair compiled an 11-to-1 kill ratio over Japanese fighters despite being rejected for carrier ops - the full story of the bent-wing bird.

Richard Bong, the P-38 Lightning, and the Forty Kills No American Fighter Pilot Has Ever Matched

Richard Bong shot down 40 Japanese aircraft over the Pacific - a record no American fighter pilot has matched in over 80 years - and died the same morning the atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima.

Marina Raskova, the Night Witches of the Soviet Five-Eighty-Eighth Regiment, and the Glide Attack That Made German Soldiers Fear the Sound of Silence

The Soviet 588th Night Bomber Regiment flew obsolete biplanes in silence over German lines - and became one of WWII's most effective and feared combat units.

Jimmy Doolittle, the Guggenheim Fund, and the First Blind Flight at Mitchel Field That Proved Instrument Flying Could Save Aviation's Future

On September 24, 1929, Jimmy Doolittle completed the first fully blind flight at Mitchel Field, NY, proving instrument flying could make commercial aviation viable in all weather.

Flak Bait, the Martin B-26 Marauder, and the Two Hundred Two Missions That Made Her the Most Combat-Decorated American Aircraft of World War Two

Flak Bait, the Martin B-26 Marauder that flew 202 WWII combat missions, remains the most battle-proven American aircraft of the war - and its Smithsonian restoration tells that story in aluminum.

Cole Palen, Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, and the Living Museum That Refused to Let the First Generation of Flight Die

How one man's obsession with flying WWI-era aircraft kept the first generation of flight alive at Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in New York.

Bob Reeve, the Valdez Mud Flats, and the Glacier Landings That Built Alaska from the Sky

How Bob Reeve built Alaska's air supply network from a tidal mud flat and glacier landings, guided by one enduring rule: go home slow.

Wrong Way Corrigan, the Curtiss Robin, and the Trans-Atlantic Flight That Was Definitely an Accident

In July 1938, Douglas Corrigan flew from Brooklyn to Dublin in a plane denied transatlantic clearance and spent 57 years insisting it was an accident.

The Tuskegee Airmen, the 332nd Fighter Group, and the Red Tails Who Flew to Berlin

The 332nd Fighter Group flew over 15,000 combat sorties in WWII, built an exceptional bomber escort record, and dismantled the official Army doctrine that said Black men were unfit to fly.

The Granville Brothers, the Gee Bee R-1, and the Race Plane That Defined the Golden Age of Air Racing

The Gee Bee R-1 won the 1932 Thompson Trophy at 252.6 mph - and its story reveals how civilian air racing built the foundation for WWII combat aviation.

R.J. Mitchell, the Schneider Trophy, and the Spitfire He Never Saw Go to War

How R.J. Mitchell's decade of Schneider Trophy racing produced the design language that made the Spitfire Britain's defining fighter of World War II.

John Alcock, Arthur Whitten Brown, the Vickers Vimy, and the First Nonstop Crossing of the Atlantic

On June 14, 1919, John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown completed the first nonstop transatlantic flight - eight years before Lindbergh, in a converted bomber with failed instruments.

Hurricane R Four-One-One-Eight, the Battle of Britain Veteran Found in an Indian Hangar After Sixty Years, and the Restoration That Put a Real Combat Aircraft Back Over England

Hurricane R4118 flew 49 combat sorties in 1940, vanished to India for decades, and was restored to flight in 2004 as one of warbird aviation's most documented recoveries.

Eddie Rickenbacker, Twenty-Six Kills Over France, and the Twenty-Four Days on a Pacific Raft That Would Have Killed Anyone Else

Eddie Rickenbacker survived WWI aerial combat, a catastrophic airline crash, and 24 days adrift in the Pacific - an unmatched record of resilience in aviation history.

Carl Ben Eielson, the Hamilton Metalplane, and the Search in the Siberian Ice That Cost Alaska Aviation Its Father

Carl Ben Eielson pioneered Alaska's airmail routes and crossed the Arctic Ocean before dying in a 1929 mercy mission over Siberia at age 32.

Wop May, Vic Horner, and the Mercy Flight to Fort Vermilion

In January 1929, Wop May and Vic Horner flew diphtheria antitoxin 700 miles to Fort Vermilion, Alberta in brutal cold, completing in two days what would have taken dogsled teams three weeks.

The Shirttail Cut, the First Solo Tradition, and the Strip of Fabric Every Flight School in America Has on Its Wall

The shirttail cut is aviation's oldest training ritual, tracing directly to tandem-cockpit instruction when an instructor's tug on the fabric was the primary means of physical communication.

The North American X Fifteen, Pete Knight's Mach Six Point Seven, and the Speed Record for a Winged Aircraft That Has Stood for Nearly Sixty Years

Pete Knight flew the X-15 to Mach 6.7 on October 3, 1967 - a speed no winged aircraft has matched in nearly 59 years, and a record built on engineering that still shapes aerospace today.

The Flying Tigers, Claire Chennault, and the American Volunteer Group That Fought Japan Before the War Began

How 100 American pilots resigned their commissions and defeated the Japanese Air Force over Burma and China before the US officially entered WWII.

The Douglas World Cruisers, the Army Air Service's Nineteen Twenty-Four Flight Around the World, and the Two Planes That Made It Home

In 1924, two U.S. Army Air Service biplanes completed the first aerial circumnavigation of the globe - 175 days, 363 hours, and 26,345 miles in open cockpits.

The de Havilland Mosquito, the Plywood Bomber the Air Ministry Said No to, and the Wooden Airplane That Outran Everything the Luftwaffe Could Put in the Sky

The de Havilland Mosquito - built of wood, crewed by two, carrying no guns - recorded the lowest loss rate of any aircraft in RAF Bomber Command during World War II.

Roscoe Turner, Gilmore the Lion, and the Three Thompson Trophies That Nobody Has Ever Matched

Roscoe Turner won the Thompson Trophy three times in the 1930s - a record no pilot has ever matched - and flew coast to coast with a lion named Gilmore.

Queen Bess, the French License, and the Woman Who Had to Cross an Ocean to Find a Flight School That Would Take Her

Bessie Coleman became the world's first Black woman to earn an international pilot's license in 1921 after crossing the Atlantic to train in France when every American school refused her.

Operation Chastise, the Bouncing Bomb, and the Night 617 Squadron Breached the Ruhr Dams

How 617 Squadron's nineteen Lancasters breached the Ruhr dams on May 16-17, 1943, using Barnes Wallis's revolutionary bouncing bomb.

Operation Chastise, the Bouncing Bomb Barnes Wallis Refused to Abandon, and the Night Nineteen Lancasters Flew at Sixty Feet into the Ruhr

On the night of May 16, 1943, nineteen Lancasters flew at sixty feet to deliver Barnes Wallis's bouncing bomb and breach two of Nazi Germany's most critical dams.

Jacqueline Cochran, the Sound Barrier, and the Cotton Mill Girl from the Florida Panhandle Who Became the Most Decorated Pilot in American History

Jacqueline Cochran rose from a dirt-floor childhood in the Florida panhandle to become the first woman to break the sound barrier and the most decorated pilot in American history.

Ivan Gates, the Gates Flying Circus, and the Quarter-Million Americans Who Paid Five Dollars to Touch the Sky

Ivan Gates turned barnstorming into a scalable business empire that put over a quarter million Americans in airplanes - more than any government program of the era.

Doc, the B-29 Superfortress That Spent Decades as a Firefighter's Target in the California Desert and the Sixteen-Year Restoration That Brought Her Home to Wichita

How a fire-scorched B-29 abandoned at China Lake became one of two airworthy Superfortresses after a 16-year, 300,000-hour volunteer restoration in Wichita.

Wiley Post, the Winnie Mae, and the One-Eyed Pilot Who Flew Around the World Alone

Wiley Post, a one-eyed Oklahoma oilfield worker, flew solo around the world in 1933 and pioneered pressure suit technology that became the foundation for modern spacesuits.

The Spruce Goose, Howard Hughes, and the One Flight That Proved the Critics Wrong

How Howard Hughes built a 320-foot wooden flying boat, silenced Congress with a single 26-second flight, and created the most ambitious aircraft ever constructed.

The North American P-51 Mustang, the Packard Merlin, and the Engine Swap That Changed the Air War Over Europe

How a five-paragraph memo by an RAF test pilot led to the engine swap that transformed the P-51 Mustang into the war-winning fighter of World War II.

The Heinkel He One Seventy-Eight, Erich Warsitz, and the Morning the Jet Age Was Born

On August 27, 1939, test pilot Erich Warsitz flew the Heinkel He 178 for six minutes - the first turbojet-powered flight in history - five days before World War II began.

Ormer Locklear, the Texas Carpenter Who Invented Wing-Walking, and the Night Dive Over Los Angeles That Killed the Most Famous Barnstormer in America

Ormer Locklear invented wing-walking in 1917 as a mechanical fix, not a stunt, and died on camera at 28 performing a night dive for a Hollywood film in 1920.

Operation Vengeance, the P-38 Lightnings over Bougainville, and the Morning America Killed Admiral Yamamoto

On April 18, 1943, sixteen P-38 Lightnings flew a precisely calculated intercept mission over Bougainville and shot down Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, architect of Pearl Harbor.

Memphis Belle, the B-17 That Sat Outside in Memphis for Thirty Years, and the Restoration That Brought Her Back Before She Was Lost Forever

The Memphis Belle completed 25 combat missions in 1943, spent decades deteriorating outdoors in Memphis, and was saved by a landmark restoration unveiled May 17, 2018.

Harriet Quimby, the Bleriot Eleven, and the English Channel Crossing the Titanic Erased From History

Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly the English Channel on April 16, 1912 - a milestone nearly erased by the Titanic sinking the night before.

Elinor Smith, the Four East River Bridges, and the Seventeen-Year-Old Who Flew Where Nobody Expected Her to Fly

On October 21, 1928, seventeen-year-old Elinor Smith flew a Waco biplane under all four East River bridges, launching one of American aviation's most celebrated careers.

Don Sheldon, the Talkeetna Mountain Man, and the Glacier Landings That Built a Legend in the Shadow of Denali

Don Sheldon was the Talkeetna bush pilot who flew the Alaska Range for thirty years, pioneering glacier landing techniques that still define mountain flying today.

Cal Rodgers, the Vin Fiz, and the Forty-Nine Days That Crossed America

In 1911, Cal Rodgers flew coast-to-coast in 49 days aboard a grape-soda-sponsored Wright biplane - crashing 15+ times, flying with a broken arm, and changing aviation forever.

The Vought F4U Corsair, the Bent-Wing Bird the Navy Rejected and the Marines Turned Into the Most Feared Fighter in the Pacific

Rejected by the Navy and handed to the Marines, the Vought F4U Corsair became the Pacific War's most feared fighter with an 11-to-1 kill ratio.

The Two-Hundred-Dollar Jenny, the War Surplus Sale of Nineteen Nineteen, and the Summer America First Looked Up

After WWI, the U.S. Army auctioned thousands of surplus Curtiss JN-4 Jennies for as little as $200, launching the barnstorming era that brought flight to rural America.

The Tuskegee Airmen, the Red Tails of the Three Hundred and Thirty-Second Fighter Group, and the Record No Luftwaffe Fighter Could Break

The Tuskegee Airmen's 332nd Fighter Group flew over 200 WWII bomber escort missions with an exceptionally low loss rate - a record earned through discipline, not circumstance.

The Shuttle Training Aircraft, the Modified Gulfstream Two That Taught Shuttle Commanders to Fly a Twenty-Two-Degree Glide Slope Before Anyone Let Them Near the Orbiter

NASA's Shuttle Training Aircraft - a modified Gulfstream II - prepared shuttle commanders for the orbiter's 22-degree, no-go-around final approach using real aerodynamics in real airspace.

The Jug, the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, and the Eight-Ton Fighter That Brought Pilots Home When Nothing Else Could

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was the most produced American fighter of World War II - a massive, punishment-absorbing machine that brought pilots home when nothing else could.

The Heinkel That Got Lost Over London, the Raid That Couldn't Find Berlin, and the Navigation Error That Cost Germany the Battle of Britain

How a single German navigation error on August 24, 1940 triggered the chain of decisions that redirected the Luftwaffe away from the RAF's airfields - and saved Britain.

Operation Chastise, the Bouncing Bomb, and the Night Six One Seven Squadron Cracked the Ruhr Dams

On the night of May 16–17, 1943, 617 Squadron's Lancaster bombers flew at 60 feet to breach the Ruhr Valley's dams using Barnes Wallis's revolutionary bouncing bomb.

Jimmy Doolittle, the Covered Cockpit, and the September Morning in 1929 When Blind Flight Stopped Being a Theory

On September 24, 1929, Jimmy Doolittle completed the first fully instrument-guided flight under a canvas hood at Mitchel Field, proving blind flight could be a system, not a stunt.

Dick Rutan, Jeana Yeager, and the Nine Days the Voyager Flew Around the World Without Landing or Refueling

How Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager flew 26,366 miles around the Earth without landing or refueling - nine days in a cockpit two feet wide.

Chuck Yeager, Glamorous Glennis, and the Morning the Sound Barrier Stopped Being a Barrier

On October 14, 1947, Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 with two broken ribs and a broom handle - the complete story of how it happened.

Bob Reeve, the Glacier Pilot of Valdez, and the Broke Stunt Flyer Who Invented a New Kind of Flying on the Tidal Flats of Alaska

How Bob Reeve arrived in Depression-era Alaska with $75 and invented commercial glacier flying on the tidal flats of Valdez.

Beryl Markham, West With the Night, and the First Solo East-to-West Atlantic Crossing That the World Nearly Forgot

Beryl Markham made the first solo east-to-west Atlantic crossing in 1936, flying 21 hours against the prevailing winds in a single-engine Percival Vega Gull.

Wop May, the Mad Trapper of Rat River, and the Arctic Manhunt That Put a Bush Pilot in the Sky Over the Northwest Territories in Nineteen Thirty-Two

How bush pilot Wop May flew a ski-equipped Bellanca Pacemaker through 55-below-zero temperatures to track the Mad Trapper of Rat River during Canada's most extraordinary wilderness manhunt in 1932.

The Schneider Trophy, the Supermarine S Six B, and the Air Race That Gave Birth to the Spitfire

The Schneider Trophy seaplane races of the 1920s and 1930s directly produced the engineering breakthroughs that made the Supermarine Spitfire - and Britain's survival in 1940 - possible.

The North American X-15, the Rocket Plane That Flew to Space, and the Eight Pilots Who Earned Astronaut Wings Without Ever Riding a Capsule

The North American X-15 holds the all-time speed record for a winged aircraft and sent eight pilots to space - records that have stood for nearly sixty years.

The Memphis Belle, the B-17 Flying Fortress That Came Home a Hero and Sat in the Rain for Fifty Years, and the Twenty-Five-Thousand-Hour Restoration That Finally Did Right by Her

The Memphis Belle flew 25 combat missions over Europe in 1943, then sat neglected outdoors for decades before a 25,000-hour volunteer restoration returned her to glory.

The Douglas SBD Dauntless, the Dive Bomber That Sank Four Japanese Carriers at Midway and Won the Pacific War in Four Minutes

The Douglas SBD Dauntless sank four Japanese fleet carriers at Midway on June 4, 1942, in four minutes that permanently shifted the balance of power in the Pacific War.

The de Havilland Mosquito, the Wooden Wonder Nobody in Whitehall Wanted, and the Raid That Blew Open a Prison in Amiens to Free the French Resistance

The de Havilland Mosquito - rejected twice by the Air Ministry - became WWII's fastest bomber and flew the daring Operation Jericho prison raid in February 1944.

PRU Pink and the Spy Spitfires That Flew Without Guns

The RAF's unarmed, pink-painted Photo Reconnaissance Unit Spitfires gathered the intelligence that shaped Allied strategy across every major WWII campaign.

Operation Bolo, Robin Olds, and the Twelve-Minute Ambush That Handed Seven MiG-21s to the Wolfpack

On January 2, 1967, Brigadier General Robin Olds led 28 F-4 Phantoms disguised as an F-105 strike package into an ambush of their own design, destroying seven MiG-21s in twelve minutes without a single American loss.

Lowell Smith, the Douglas World Cruisers, and the One Hundred and Seventy-Five Days It Took to Fly Around the World When Nobody Had Ever Done It

On September 28, 1924, two U.S. Army Air Service biplanes completed the first aerial circumnavigation of the Earth - 27,553 miles in 175 days.

Katherine Stinson, the Flying Schoolgirl Who Looped at Night With Roman Candles and Was Turned Away When the War Needed Pilots

Katherine Stinson set cross-country distance records, performed night aerobatics with Roman candles, barnstormed Japan and China, and was still rejected by the Army in WWI.

Glacier Girl, the Lockheed P-38 Lightning the Greenland Ice Cap Swallowed in Nineteen Forty-Two and Gave Back Fifty Years Later

The complete story of Glacier Girl - the P-38 Lightning buried 268 feet under the Greenland ice cap in 1942 and restored to flight in 2002.

Bessie Coleman, Queen Bess, and the International Pilot License America Refused to Give Her

Bessie Coleman became the world's first Black woman to earn an internationally recognized pilot's license in 1921 after every American flight school refused to train her.

Aircraft Transport and Travel, the De Havilland DH Four, and the Morning in Nineteen Nineteen When You Could Finally Buy a Ticket and Fly From London to Paris

On August 25, 1919, a passenger boarded a converted WWI bomber at Hounslow Heath and flew to Paris, launching scheduled international commercial aviation.

Voyager, Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, and the Nine Days They Flew Around the World Without Landing or Taking On a Single Drop of Fuel

How Voyager and its crew flew nonstop around the world without refueling in 1986 - the design, the risks, and the record.

Thrill Em Chill Em Gillam, Harold Gillam and the Alaska Bush Pilot Who Flew Blind Through Weather That Grounded Everyone Else

The story of Harold Gillam, the Alaska bush pilot who mastered instrument flight and flew through weather that grounded everyone else.

The X B Seventy Valkyrie, the Mach Three Bomber That Folded Its Wingtips to Ride Its Own Shockwave, and the Lone Survivor Standing in Dayton

Radio Hangar explores The X B Seventy Valkyrie, the Mach Three Bomber That Folded Its Wingtips to Ride Its Own Shockwave, and the Lone Survivor Standing in Dayton.

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, the Jug, and the Eight-Ton Fighter That Brought Its Pilots Home With Cylinders Shot Away

The story of the P-47 Thunderbolt, the eight-ton 'Jug' whose air-cooled toughness brought WWII pilots home from impossible damage.

The Lockheed C-130 Hercules First Flight, August Twenty-Third, Nineteen Fifty-Four, and the Ugly Duckling Kelly Johnson Swore Would Ruin the Company

The Lockheed C-130 Hercules first flew on August 23, 1954 - and Kelly Johnson swore the 'ugly' cargo plane would ruin Lockheed. He was wrong.

The Grumman F6F Hellcat, the Ace Maker Built to Kill the Zero, and the Ironworks Fighter That Won the Pacific in Nineteen Months

The Grumman F6F Hellcat downed over 5,000 enemy aircraft in the Pacific with a 19-to-1 kill ratio, built to beat the Zero.

The Gimli Glider, Air Canada One Forty-Three, and the Brand-New Boeing Seven Sixty-Seven That Ran Out of Fuel at Forty-One Thousand Feet and Was Landed on a Drag Strip by a Glider Pilot

How Air Canada Flight 143 ran out of fuel at 41,000 feet in 1983 and was glided to a safe landing on a Manitoba drag strip.

The Candy Bomber, Gail Halvorsen, and Operation Little Vittles Over Blockaded Berlin

The story of Gail Halvorsen, the Candy Bomber who dropped chocolate on parachutes to blockaded Berlin's children during the 1948 airlift.

Flak-Bait, the Martin B-26 Marauder That Flew Over Two Hundred Missions and Should Have Killed Its Crews, Now Being Pieced Back Together Rivet by Rivet at the Smithsonian

How the B-26 'Flak-Bait' flew a record 207 missions and why the Smithsonian is preserving her scars instead of restoring her.

Douglas Bader, the Legless RAF Ace Who Lost Both His Legs to a Reckless Roll and Came Back to Fly Spitfires and Hurricanes in the Battle of Britain

How RAF ace Douglas Bader lost both legs in a 1931 crash, then flew Spitfires and Hurricanes in the Battle of Britain.

Cal Rodgers, the Vin Fiz, and the Forty-Nine Days It Took to Fly Across America When Nobody Had Ever Done It

In 1911, Cal Rodgers flew the Vin Fiz coast to coast in 49 days - the first flight across America - despite dozens of crashes.

Wiley Post, the Winnie Mae, and the One-Eyed Oilfield Roughneck Who Flew Around the World Twice and Found the Jet Stream Before Anyone Knew It Was There

How one-eyed Oklahoma roughneck Wiley Post flew solo around the world and discovered the jet stream in a wooden airplane.

The Vought F4U Corsair, the Bent-Wing Bird the Japanese Called Whistling Death, and the Fighter the Navy Sent to the Marines Before It Ever Earned the Carrier Deck

The story of the F4U Corsair, the 'Whistling Death' fighter too wild for carriers that the Marines turned into a legend.

The Hacienda, Bob Timm and John Cook, and the Sixty-Four Days a Cessna Stayed in the Air Over Las Vegas Without Ever Landing

How two men kept a Cessna 172 airborne for nearly 65 days over Las Vegas in 1958–59, setting a flight endurance record that still stands.

The Boeing Three Oh Seven Stratoliner, the Clipper Flying Cloud, and the Only Survivor That Ditched in Elliott Bay and Came Back From the Bottom

The Boeing 307 Stratoliner was the first pressurized airliner - and its lone survivor sank in Elliott Bay in 2002 before being rebuilt again.

That's All, Brother, the Lead C-47 of the D-Day Airborne Assault, Rescued From a Boneyard Conversion Line and Flown Home by Volunteers

How 'That's All, Brother,' the C-47 that led the D-Day airborne assault, was rescued from a scrap line and flown home by volunteers.

Pancho Barnes, the Fastest Woman in the World, and the Happy Bottom Riding Club at the Edge of the Sound Barrier

How Pancho Barnes became the fastest woman in the world and built the desert club at the heart of the supersonic age.

Operation Chastise, the Dambusters, and the Bouncing Bomb Barnes Wallis Skipped Across the Water at Sixty Feet in the Dark

How the RAF's 1943 Dambusters raid used Barnes Wallis's bouncing bomb to breach the Ruhr dams at just sixty feet.

Noel Wien, the Quiet Barnstormer Who Flew North of the Arctic Circle With No Map, No Radio, and No One Ahead of Him

How Noel Wien became the first pilot to cross the Arctic Circle in Alaska - and why his caution made him a legend.

Clyde Pangborn, Miss Veedol, and the First Nonstop Flight Across the Pacific, the Belly Landing in Wenatchee Nineteen Thirty-One

How Clyde Pangborn walked the wing of Miss Veedol over the Pacific in 1931 to complete the first nonstop transpacific flight.

The Spruce Goose, Howard Hughes and the Eight-Engine Flying Boat That Flew One Mile One Time and Now Fills a Whole Building in Oregon

The Spruce Goose flew just one mile for 26 seconds in 1947, yet still holds the record for the longest wingspan of any aircraft ever flown.

The Piper J-3 Cub, the Little Yellow Airplane That Taught America to Fly and Trained the Men Who Won a War

The story of the Piper J-3 Cub, the $1,000 yellow airplane that taught America to fly and trained most WWII pilots.

The Night Witches, the Five Eighty-Eighth Night Bomber Regiment, and the Women Who Idled the Engine and Glided Down Out of the Dark to Bomb the German Line

The Night Witches flew 23,000+ night bombing sorties in plywood biplanes, gliding silently onto German lines on the WWII Eastern Front.

Roscoe Turner, Gilmore the Lion, and the Waxed-Mustache Showman Who Won the Thompson Trophy Three Times

How Roscoe Turner, the showman with a lion co-pilot, became the only pilot to win the Thompson Trophy three times.

Jimmy Doolittle, the Blind Flight of Nineteen Twenty-Nine, and the Foggy Morning a Man Took Off, Flew, and Landed Without Ever Once Looking Outside

How Jimmy Doolittle's 15-minute blind flight in 1929 invented instrument flying and changed aviation forever.

Glacier Girl, the Lost Squadron, and the P-38 Lightning They Cut Out From Under Two Hundred Sixty-Eight Feet of Greenland Ice

How Glacier Girl, a P-38 Lightning, was cut from under 268 feet of Greenland ice and flew again 50 years later.

Doc, the B-29 Superfortress Left to Rot as a Bombing Target in the Mojave and Brought Back to Life by Volunteers in the Same Wichita Plant That Built Her

How a WWII B-29 named Doc went from a Mojave bombing target to one of only two airworthy Superfortresses, restored by volunteers in Wichita.

Bob Reeve, the Mudflat Pilot of Valdez, and the Stainless Steel Skis That Put an Airplane Down on a Living Glacier

How broke bush pilot Bob Reeve used tidal mudflats and homemade steel skis to land airplanes on Alaskan glaciers and build an airline.

Alcock and Brown, the Vickers Vimy, and the First Nonstop Flight Across the Atlantic in Nineteen Nineteen

How John Alcock and Arthur Brown flew a converted Vickers Vimy bomber across the Atlantic nonstop in 1919, eight years before Lindbergh.

Voyager, Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, and the Nine Days That Flew Around the World Without a Single Drop of Fuel Taken On

How Voyager made the first nonstop, unrefueled flight around the world in 1986, landing with under 50 pounds of fuel to spare.

The North American XB-70 Valkyrie, the Six-Engine Mach Three Bomber That Outlived Its Own Mission and Now Fills a Hangar in Dayton

The XB-70 Valkyrie was a Mach 3 bomber made obsolete by missiles; the last one survives at the Air Force museum in Dayton.

The Lockheed Constellation, the Connie, and the Triple-Tailed Airliner Howard Hughes Ordered in Secret to Fly Higher and Faster Than Anything Else in the Sky

The story of the Lockheed Constellation, the triple-tailed airliner Howard Hughes ordered in secret to fly higher and faster than anything in the sky.

The Hawker Hurricane, the Forgotten Hero of the Battle of Britain, and the Airplane That Killed More German Aircraft Than Everything Else Combined

The Hawker Hurricane, not the Spitfire, downed the majority of Luftwaffe aircraft in the Battle of Britain - here's the full story.

The de Havilland Mosquito, the Wooden Wonder Built by Furniture Makers, and the Unarmed Bomber That Outran the Fighters Sent to Kill It

How the wooden de Havilland Mosquito, built by furniture makers, outran WWII fighters and flew a dozen combat roles.

Tex Johnston, the Barrel Roll Over Lake Washington, and the Day a Test Pilot Rolled the Boeing Dash Eighty in Front of Every Airline in the World

How test pilot Tex Johnston barrel-rolled the Boeing Dash 80 over Lake Washington in 1955 and sold the world on jets.

Robin Olds, the Wolfpack, and Operation Bolo, the Day the Phantoms Wore the Thunderchief's Clothes and Sprung the Trap Over Hanoi

How Robin Olds and the Wolfpack disguised F-4 Phantoms as bombers and destroyed seven MiG-21s in twelve minutes over Hanoi.

Ormer Locklear, the Dance of Death, and the Wing-Walker Who Climbed Out of the Cockpit and Never Really Came Back

Ormer Locklear invented professional wing-walking and the deadly plane-to-plane 'Dance of Death' - until a 1920 film stunt killed him at 28.

Operation Tidal Wave, the Low-Level B Twenty-Four Raid on the Ploesti Oil Refineries, August First, Nineteen Forty-Three

Radio Hangar explores Operation Tidal Wave, the Low-Level B Twenty-Four Raid on the Ploesti Oil Refineries, August First, Nineteen Forty-Three.

Flak-Bait, the B Twenty-Six Marauder That Flew Two Hundred Seven Missions and Is Being Put Back Together Piece by Piece at the Smithsonian

How Flak-Bait, a B-26 Marauder, flew 207 combat missions in WWII and is now being conserved piece by piece at the Smithsonian.

Cal Rodgers and the Vin Fiz, the First Flight Across America in Nineteen Eleven

How Cal Rodgers and the Vin Fiz made the first flight across America in 1911, surviving 16 crashes over 49 days.

The Travel Air Mystery Ship, Doug Davis, and the Secret Wichita Monoplane That Beat the Army and Navy at Cleveland in Nineteen Twenty-Nine

How the Travel Air Mystery Ship, flown by Doug Davis, beat the Army and Navy at the 1929 Cleveland air races.

The Night Witches, the Polikarpov Po-2 Biplanes That Cut Their Engines to Glide Silent Over the German Lines, and the Women Who Flew Eighteen Bombing Runs a Night

The Night Witches flew plywood Po-2 biplanes on up to 18 silent night bombing runs, becoming WWII's most feared women aviators.

The Memphis Belle, the B Seventeen That Flew Twenty-Five and Went Home to Prove It Could Be Done

Radio Hangar explores The Memphis Belle, the B Seventeen That Flew Twenty-Five and Went Home to Prove It Could Be Done.

The Douglas World Cruisers and the First Flight Around the World in Nineteen Twenty-Four

In 1924 the US Army Air Service flew Douglas World Cruisers around the globe in 175 days - the first flight around the world.

The Douglas DC-3, the Gooney Bird That Taught the Airlines How to Make Money and Then Went to War

How the Douglas DC-3 made airlines profitable for the first time, then won a war as the C-47 Gooney Bird - and why it still flies today.

Queen Bess, Bessie Coleman, and the Texas Sharecropper's Daughter Who Sailed to France to Earn a Pilot's License America Wouldn't Give Her

How Bessie Coleman, a Texas sharecropper's daughter, sailed to France in 1920 to earn the pilot's license America denied her.

Otto Lilienthal, the Glider King of Berlin, and the Man Who Jumped Off a Hill Two Thousand Times So the Wright Brothers Wouldn't Have To

How German engineer Otto Lilienthal proved human flight was possible - and gave his data away so the Wright brothers could finish the job.

National Aviation Day, August Nineteenth, and the Birthday That Became a Holiday for Everyone Who Flies

National Aviation Day falls on August 19 each year, marking Orville Wright's birthday and celebrating a century-plus of powered flight.

Glacier Girl, the P Thirty-Eight Lightning Pulled From Two Hundred Sixty-Eight Feet of Greenland Ice, and the Lost Squadron That Waited Fifty Years to Fly Again

How a P-38 Lightning buried under 268 feet of Greenland ice for 50 years was recovered and restored to flight as Glacier Girl.

FIFI, the B Twenty-Nine Superfortress the Confederate Air Force Pulled Off a Desert Missile Range and the Twenty Million Dollar Rebuild That Kept Her Flying

How FIFI, a B-29 rescued from a desert missile range in 1971, became the world's last flying Superfortress - and the rebuild that saved her again.

Charles Kingsford Smith, the Southern Cross, and the First Flight Across the Pacific in Nineteen Twenty-Eight

Radio Hangar explores Charles Kingsford Smith, the Southern Cross, and the First Flight Across the Pacific in Nineteen Twenty-Eight.

Bob Reeve, the Glacier Pilot of Valdez, and the Man Who Landed on Ice Nobody Thought You Could Touch

How Bob Reeve, the Glacier Pilot of Valdez, invented Alaska glacier flying from $2 and a stainless-steel bar top.

Beryl Markham, The Messenger, and the Night She Flew the Atlantic the Hard Way From East to West in Nineteen Thirty-Six

How Beryl Markham became the first person to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic east to west in 1936, into the wind.

Vulcan X H Five Five Eight, The Spirit of Great Britain, and the Volunteers Who Coaxed a Cold War Delta Back Into the Sky

How volunteers and public donations returned Avro Vulcan XH558, the last flying Vulcan, to the sky from 2007 to 2015.

The Thirteen Black Cats, the Stunt Pilots of Burdett Field, and the Price List That Turned Barnstorming Into a Business

How the Thirteen Black Cats organized at Burdett Field in 1925 and used a fixed price list to turn barnstorming into a real profession.

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, the Jug, and the Eight-Ton Fighter That Could Take a Beating and Still Bring You Home

The story of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt - the eight-ton 'Jug' that outdove enemy fighters and brought its pilots home riddled with holes.

The Hardest Day, August Eighteenth, Nineteen Forty, and the Battle of Britain's Bloodiest Afternoon Over Kent

On August 18, 1940 - the Battle of Britain's 'Hardest Day' - the RAF and Luftwaffe suffered their heaviest single-day losses over Kent.

The Gimli Glider, Air Canada Flight One Forty-Three, and the Boeing Seven Sixty-Seven That Ran Out of Fuel at Forty-One Thousand Feet and Landed on a Drag Strip

How Air Canada Flight 143 ran both engines dry at 41,000 feet in 1983 and glided to a safe landing on a drag strip.

The Gee Bee Model R, the Granville Brothers' Flying Barrel, and Jimmy Doolittle's Two Hundred Fifty-Two Mile-an-Hour Gamble Over Cleveland

How Jimmy Doolittle tamed the deadly Gee Bee Model R to win the 1932 Thompson Trophy at 252 mph - then walked away for good.

Swamp Ghost, the B Seventeen E That Sat in a New Guinea Swamp for Sixty-Four Years Before Coming Home to Pearl Harbor

The Swamp Ghost is the world's only intact B-17E, recovered from a New Guinea swamp after 64 years and now displayed at Pearl Harbor.

R.J. Mitchell, the Supermarine Spitfire, and the Dying Designer Who Drew the Elliptical Wing While the Clock Ran Out

How a dying R.J. Mitchell designed the Supermarine Spitfire's elliptical wing and died in 1937, before it saved Britain.

Pancho Barnes, the Happy Bottom Riding Club, and the Fastest Woman in the World Who Poured the Drinks for the Men Who Broke the Sound Barrier

How Pancho Barnes, the fastest woman alive in 1930, built the desert club where test pilots gathered before breaking the sound barrier.

Operation Tidal Wave, the Low-Level B Twenty-Four Raid on the Ploesti Oil Fields, and the Wrong Turn That Cost the Bloodiest Day the Bombers Ever Flew

Operation Tidal Wave, the August 1, 1943 low-level B-24 raid on Ploesti, became the costliest U.S. air mission of WWII.

Glenn Curtiss, the Fastest Man on Earth, and the Motorcycle Racer Who Flew the June Bug and Then Taught the Navy to Land on a Ship

How motorcycle racer Glenn Curtiss became the 'Fastest Man on Earth,' invented the flying boat, and gave the U.S. Navy its first aircraft.

Eddie Rickenbacker, the Race Driver Who Became America's Ace of Aces, and the Twenty-Four Days on a Raft That Almost Erased Him

How race driver Eddie Rickenbacker became WWI's top American ace, then survived 24 days on a Pacific raft in 1942.

Voyager, Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, and the Nine Days They Flew Around the World Without Stopping or Taking On a Drop of Fuel

In 1986, Voyager flew nonstop around the world unrefueled - here's the full story of that record-setting nine-day flight.

The Vought F4U Corsair, the Bent-Wing Bird the Japanese Called Whistling Death, and the Gull Wing Born to Swing the Biggest Propeller in the Fleet

How the F4U Corsair's inverted gull wing, 2,000-hp engine, and whistling scream made it one of WWII's greatest fighters.

The Night Witches, the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, and the Women Who Glided Wood-and-Canvas Biplanes Over the German Lines With the Engine Cut

The Night Witches flew wood-and-canvas biplanes over the German lines at night with their engines cut - here's their story.

The Memphis Belle, the B Seventeen That Flew Twenty-Five and Came Home to Rot Before Dayton Brought Her Back

The Memphis Belle flew 25 missions, rotted for decades in the open, then took 13 years to restore for Dayton.

Tex Johnston, the Dash Eighty, and the Barrel Roll Over Lake Washington That Sold the Jet Age

How Boeing test pilot Tex Johnston barrel-rolled the $16 million Dash 80 prototype over Seattle in 1955 and sold the world on the jet age.

Roscoe Turner, the Wedell-Williams Racer, and Gilmore the Lion Cub Who Flew the Air Races With a Parachute of His Own

How showman-pilot Roscoe Turner won three Thompson Trophies flying the Wedell-Williams racer - with a lion cub named Gilmore riding along.

Operation Vengeance, the P Thirty-Eight Lightnings That Flew Four Hundred Miles Over Open Water to Kill the Admiral Who Planned Pearl Harbor

How 16 P-38 Lightnings flew a 1,000-mile dead-reckoning ambush to kill Admiral Yamamoto, the mastermind of Pearl Harbor.

Just Jane, the Avro Lancaster November X Six One One, and the Two Lincolnshire Farmers Who Bought a Bomber to Bring Their Brother Home

Radio Hangar explores Just Jane, the Avro Lancaster November X Six One One, and the Two Lincolnshire Farmers Who Bought a Bomber to Bring Their Brother Home.

Ivan Gates, Clyde Pangborn, and the Gates Flying Circus, the Barnstormers Who Sold a Million Dollar Rides Off the Wing of a War-Surplus Jenny

How Ivan Gates and pilot Clyde Pangborn built the Gates Flying Circus and flew a million Americans on their first flights.

Eric Winkle Brown, the Little Scot Who Flew Four Hundred and Eighty-Seven Types and Put the First Jet on a Carrier Deck

How Eric 'Winkle' Brown flew 487 aircraft types and made the first jet carrier landing in history.

Double Eagle Two, the Helium Balloon That Crossed the Atlantic on This Day in Nineteen Seventy-Eight After a Century of Men Died Trying

On August 17, 1978, Double Eagle II became the first balloon to cross the Atlantic, ending a century of failed attempts and 13 deaths.

Cal Rodgers, the Vin Fiz, and the Eighty-Four-Day Crawl Across America That Only Counted as a Race Because a Man Refused to Quit

In 1911 Cal Rodgers flew the Vin Fiz coast to coast in 84 days, becoming the first person to cross America by air despite missing the prize.

Bob Reeve, the Mudflat Pilot of Valdez, and the Man Who Made Skis Slide on Wet Alaska Tideland to Reach the Mines No One Else Could Fly

How Bob Reeve turned Alaska's Valdez mudflats into a runway with metal-shod skis and became a legendary glacier pilot.

Wiley Post, the Winnie Mae, and the One-Eyed Oklahoma Roughneck Who Flew Solo Around the World in Seven Days

How one-eyed Oklahoma roughneck Wiley Post flew solo around the world in under 8 days and pioneered the autopilot, pressure suit, and jet stream.

The Shuttleworth DH.88 Comet Racer Grosvenor House Nosed Over at Old Warden

The Shuttleworth Collection's DH.88 Comet 'Grosvenor House,' the world's only airworthy original, nosed over landing at Old Warden - pilot unhurt.

The Gee Bee Model R, Jimmy Doolittle, and the Flying Barrel That Won the Thompson Trophy and Terrified Every Man Who Ever Strapped Into It

How Jimmy Doolittle tamed the Gee Bee Model R - aviation's most feared racer - to win the 1932 Thompson Trophy and a world speed record.

The Douglas DC-3, the Gooney Bird That Made the Airlines Pay and Never Really Stopped Flying

How the Douglas DC-3 became the first airplane to make airlines profitable - and why it's still flying freight nearly 90 years later.

The Berlin Candy Bomber, Gail Halvorsen, and the Two Sticks of Gum That Turned a C Fifty-Four Into a Wiggle-Winged Miracle Over Tempelhof

How Gail Halvorsen's two sticks of gum sparked the Berlin Candy Bomber legend during the 1948-49 Berlin Airlift.

Ormer Locklear, the King of the Wing Walkers, and the Texas Lieutenant Who Climbed Out of the Cockpit and Never Really Came Back

Ormer Locklear, the King of the Wing Walkers, invented wing walking and the mid-air plane change before dying on film in 1920.

Operation Chastise, the Dam Busters of Six Seventeen Squadron, and the Bouncing Bomb That Skipped Across a German Reservoir at Sixty Feet in the Dark

How the Dam Busters of 617 Squadron used a bouncing bomb to breach Germany's Ruhr dams at 60 feet in the dark on 16 May 1943.

Joe Kittinger, Excelsior Three, and the Step Off the Edge of Space on August Sixteenth, Nineteen Sixty

On August 16, 1960, Joe Kittinger stepped from a balloon 102,800 feet up and set records that stood for 52 years.

Flak-Bait, the Martin B-26 Marauder That Flew Two Hundred and Seven Missions and Never Killed a Crewman, Now Being Rebuilt Rivet by Rivet at the Smithsonian

How the B-26 Marauder Flak-Bait flew ~207 combat missions without losing a crewman - and why the Smithsonian is conserving her rivet by rivet.

Doc, the B-29 Superfortress That Sat Twenty Years as a Desert Bombing Target Before Three Hundred Thousand Volunteer Hours Brought Her Back to the Sky

How a B-29 named Doc survived 20 years as a desert bombing target and flew again after 300,000 volunteer hours.

Cavanaugh Flight Museum, Kilo Alpha Delta Sierra at Addison, and the Warbird Hangar Where They Actually Fly the Airplanes

The Cavanaugh Flight Museum at Addison, Texas keeps its warbirds airworthy - a living museum where fighters still fly.

Butch O'Hare, the Grumman Wildcat, and the Six Minutes Over the Lexington That Saved a Carrier and Named an Airport

How Butch O'Hare downed five bombers in six minutes to save the USS Lexington - and why Chicago's airport bears his name.

Bessie Coleman, Queen Bess, and the Farm Girl From Texas Who Sailed to France to Earn the License No One in America Would Give Her

How Bessie Coleman sailed to France in 1920 to become the first Black woman and first Native American woman to earn a pilot's license.

The Schneider Trophy, R J Mitchell's Supermarine S Six B, and the Little Silver Seaplane That Broke Four Hundred Miles an Hour and Fathered the Spitfire

How R J Mitchell's Supermarine S.6B won the Schneider Trophy and broke 400 mph in 1931, laying the groundwork for the Spitfire.

The Piper J Three Cub, Lock Haven Yellow, and the Little Yellow Airplane That Taught More Americans to Fly Than Anything Before or Since

How the Piper J-3 Cub - 65 horsepower, Lock Haven Yellow, and endlessly forgiving - taught more Americans to fly than any aircraft in history.

Tex Johnston, the Dash Eighty, and the Barrel Roll Over Lake Washington That Sold the World on the Jet Airliner

Radio Hangar explores Tex Johnston, the Dash Eighty, and the Barrel Roll Over Lake Washington That Sold the World on the Jet Airliner.

SR Seventy-One Blackbird Tail Number Nine Seven Two, the Last Flight That Set Four Records Los Angeles to Washington in Sixty-Four Minutes and Landed Straight Into the Smithsonian

On its final flight in 1990, SR-71 Blackbird tail 972 set four world speed records flying LA to DC in 64 minutes, then retired to the Smithsonian.

Pardo's Push, the Two Phantoms Over North Vietnam, and the Day One Fighter Pilot Flew Another One Home on His Own Windscreen

How Captain Bob Pardo used his F-4 Phantom's windscreen to physically push a crippled fighter out of North Vietnam in 1967.

Noel Wien, the Cautious Dane of the Arctic, and the Bush Pilot Who Flew to Siberia and Lived to Grow Old

How Noel Wien became Alaska's greatest bush pilot and the first to fly commercially between North America and Asia - by being careful.

KA114, the de Havilland Mosquito, and the Wooden Wonder That Flew Again After Sixteen Years Because One Man in New Zealand Built the Molds From Scratch

How KA114 became the first flying de Havilland Mosquito in 16 years, thanks to one man in New Zealand who rebuilt the molds by hand.

Wiley Post, the Winnie Mae, and the One-Eyed Oklahoman Who Flew Around the World Alone and Went Looking for the River of Wind in the Sky

How one-eyed pilot Wiley Post flew solo around the world, discovered the jet stream, and invented the pressure suit.

The Spruce Goose, Howard Hughes, and the One Mile Over Long Beach Harbor That Silenced Every Man Who Said She'd Never Fly

On November 2, 1947, Howard Hughes flew the wooden Spruce Goose one mile over Long Beach Harbor, proving critics wrong.

The Question Mark, the Fokker That Stayed Up for a Hundred and Fifty Hours Over Los Angeles, and the Army Fliers Who Invented Aerial Refueling One Dangling Hose at a Time

In 1929 the Army's Question Mark stayed aloft 150 hours over Los Angeles, proving aerial refueling and changing airpower forever.

The Lockheed P-38 Lightning, the Fork-Tailed Devil With Two Booms and Two Engines That Outran Everything and Brought Its Pilots Home

Radio Hangar explores The Lockheed P-38 Lightning, the Fork-Tailed Devil With Two Booms and Two Engines That Outran Everything and Brought Its Pilots Home.

The Douglas World Cruisers of Nineteen Twenty-Four, Chicago and New Orleans, and the First Airplanes Ever to Fly All the Way Around the World

In 1924, four US Army Douglas World Cruisers set out to circle the globe - and the Chicago and New Orleans became the first aircraft ever to fly around the world.

Swamp Ghost, the B Seventeen E Flying Fortress That Sat Sixty-Four Years in a New Guinea Swamp Before Anybody Could Get Her Out

Radio Hangar explores Swamp Ghost, the B Seventeen E Flying Fortress That Sat Sixty-Four Years in a New Guinea Swamp Before Anybody Could Get Her Out.

Operation Tidal Wave, the Low-Level Ploesti Raid of August First, Nineteen Forty-Three, and the Day the Liberators Came in Under the Treetops

Operation Tidal Wave was the daring August 1, 1943 low-level B-24 raid on Ploesti's oil refineries - costly, heroic, and strategically incomplete.

Harold Gillam, Thrill Em Chill Em Spill Em, and the Alaska Bush Pilot Who Could Fly Weather Nobody Else Dared Until the Storm That Finally Caught Him

How Alaska legend Harold Gillam pioneered instrument flying, never lost a passenger for 15 years, and died in a 1943 crash.

Glamorous Glennis, the Bell X-1 That Broke the Sound Barrier, and the Little Orange Bullet Now Hanging in the Rafters of the Smithsonian

How Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 Glamorous Glennis on October 14, 1947 - and why she now hangs in the Smithsonian.

The Memphis Belle, the B-17 That Flew Twenty-Five and Came Home, and the Thirteen-Year Restoration That Pulled Her Back Off the Scrap Heap and Into the Museum

How the B-17 Memphis Belle survived 25 combat missions in 1943, nearly rotted on a scrap heap, and was saved by a 13-year restoration.

The Gee Bee Model R Super Sportster, the Granville Brothers' Flying Fuel Tank, and Jimmy Doolittle's Terrifying Ride to the Thompson Trophy

The story of the Gee Bee Model R and how Jimmy Doolittle rode the most dangerous racer in America to a 1932 Thompson Trophy win.

The Flying Tigers, the P Forty Warhawk, and the Shark-Toothed Fighters That Held the Sky Over Burma When Nobody Else Would

How the Flying Tigers and their shark-toothed P-40 Warhawks defended Burma against a superior enemy in 1941-42.

The Douglas DC-3, the Gooney Bird That Taught the World to Fly at Night and Refused to Ever Really Retire

The Douglas DC-3 first flew in 1935, made passenger air travel profitable, won a war, and 90 years later still refuses to retire.

The Cornfield Bomber, the F One Oh Six Delta Dart That Recovered From a Flat Spin, Landed Itself in a Montana Field, and Sat There Idling While Its Pilot Floated Down Under a Parachute

The Cornfield Bomber: how an F-106 recovered from a flat spin, landed itself in a Montana field, and flew again for years.

Roscoe Turner, Gilmore the Flying Lion, and the Powder-Blue Showman Who Won the Thompson Trophy Three Times

Roscoe Turner won the Thompson Trophy three times, flew with a lion named Gilmore, and helped drive early aviation technology.

Operation Chastise, the Dambusters, and the Bouncing Bomb That Skipped Across a Reservoir to Break the Dams of the Ruhr

How the RAF's 1943 Dambusters raid used Barnes Wallis's bouncing bomb to breach the Ruhr dams - and what it cost.

Ivan Gates, Clyde Pangborn, and the Gates Flying Circus, the Barnstorming Outfit That Sold a Million Dollar Rides at a Dollar a Head

How Ivan Gates and Clyde Pangborn built the Gates Flying Circus, sold dollar airplane rides, and flew the first nonstop crossing of the Pacific.

Flak-Bait, the Martin B Twenty-Six Marauder That Flew Two Hundred Seven Missions and Refused to Die, and the Smithsonian Restoration Piecing Her Back Together One Riveted Panel at a Time

Flak-Bait, the B-26 Marauder that flew a record 207 combat missions, is being conserved at the Smithsonian exactly as she came home.

Bob Reeve, the Valdez Mudflats, and the Stainless-Steel Skis That Turned a Tidal Bog Into the Only Runway a Glacier Pilot Needed

Radio Hangar explores Bob Reeve, the Valdez Mudflats, and the Stainless-Steel Skis That Turned a Tidal Bog Into the Only Runway a Glacier Pilot Needed.

Bessie Coleman, Queen Bess, and the Chicago Manicurist Who Sailed to France to Earn the Wings Nobody in America Would Give Her

How Bessie Coleman, a Chicago manicurist, sailed to France in 1920 to become the first Black woman in the world to earn a pilot's license.

Adlertag, Eagle Day, August Thirteenth, Nineteen Forty, and the Morning Hermann Goering Promised to Wipe the RAF From the Sky in Four Days

Adlertag (Eagle Day), August 13, 1940, was the Luftwaffe's failed knockout blow against the RAF at the start of the Battle of Britain.

The Vought F4U Corsair, the Bent-Wing Bird They Called Whistling Death, and the Fighter the Navy Almost Gave Up On Before the Marines Made Her a Legend

The F4U Corsair was rejected by the Navy as too dangerous for carriers, then became a legendary Marine fighter with an 11-to-1 kill ratio.

The Schneider Trophy, the Supermarine S Six B, and the Seaplane Races That Built the Engine That Would Save Britain

How the 1931 Schneider Trophy and the Supermarine S.6B forged the wing and engine that became the Spitfire and Merlin.

The Night Witches, the Five Eighty-Eighth Night Bomber Regiment, and the Women Who Cut Their Engines and Glided a Wood-and-Canvas Biplane Down Onto the German Line

The Night Witches flew wood-and-canvas biplanes on silent night raids against German lines - here's their story.

The Gimli Glider, Air Canada One Four Three, and the Night a Boeing Seven Sixty-Seven Ran Out of Fuel at Forty-One Thousand Feet and Landed Dead-Stick on a Drag Strip

How Air Canada Flight 143 ran out of fuel at 41,000 feet in 1983 and glided to a dead-stick landing at Gimli.

The Enola Gay, the Silverplate B Twenty-Nine, and the Restoration Fight That Split a Nation Before She Ever Reached the Museum Floor

The Enola Gay's 20-year, 300,000-hour Smithsonian restoration saved the B-29 amid a bitter national fight over how to display her.

Ormer Locklear, the Human Fly of the Barnstorming Age, and the Night the Flares Didn't Cut Over DeMille Field

The story of Ormer Locklear, aviation's first great wing walker, and the searchlight signal that failed on the night he died.

Operation Vengeance, the P-38 Lightning, and the Four Hundred Thirty-Five Mile Ambush That Killed the Admiral Who Planned Pearl Harbor

How P-38 Lightning pilots flew a 1,000-mile ocean route to ambush Admiral Yamamoto on April 18, 1943 in Operation Vengeance.

FedEx Paints a Boeing 777 Freighter in Nineteen Seventy-Three Colors as Memphis Renames Its Airport for Fred Smith

FedEx unveils a retro 777 Freighter livery honoring its 1973 Falcon 20 roots as Memphis renames its airport for founder Fred Smith.

Enterprise's First Free Flight, August Twelfth, Nineteen Seventy-Seven, the Day a Wingless-Looking Brick Fell Off the Back of a Boeing Seven Forty-Seven and Glided Home to a Dry Lakebed

On August 12, 1977, Space Shuttle Enterprise made its first free flight, proving a pilot could glide an orbiter to a landing.

Don Sheldon, the Talkeetna Glacier Pilot, and the Super Cub That Kept Landing on the Side of Denali Until Everybody Was Off the Mountain

How Alaskan bush pilot Don Sheldon landed a Piper Super Cub high on Denali to rescue injured climbers in May 1960.

Doc, the B Twenty-Nine Superfortress Found Rusting in the Mojave as a Bombing Target and Flown Home to Wichita by the Same Town That Built Her

How a B-29 named Doc went from a Mojave bombing target to one of only two airworthy Superfortresses, restored by the town that built her.

Charles Kingsford Smith, the Southern Cross, and the Thirty-Four Hours Over Open Pacific That Nobody Had Ever Dared Fly Before

In 1928, Charles Kingsford Smith flew the Southern Cross across the Pacific for the first time - a 7,000-mile journey no one had dared before.

Captain Jepp, Elrey Jeppesen and the Ten-Cent Black Notebook That Became the Charts Every Instrument Pilot Still Flies Today

How airmail pilot Elrey 'Jepp' Jeppesen turned a ten-cent notebook into the Jeppesen charts every instrument pilot still flies today.

A Russian Mi-24 Hind Flies as the Enemy at Twenty Nine Palms, and Why the Marines Want It There

A Russian Mi-24 Hind flew as the enemy in a Marine Corps exercise at Twenty Nine Palms - here's why the Marines wanted it there.

Ye Olde Pub, Franz Stigler, and the Crippled B Seventeen a German Fighter Pilot Refused to Shoot Down Two Days Before Christmas

On December 20, 1943, German ace Franz Stigler refused to shoot down a crippled B-17 and escorted it to safety instead.

Voyager, Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, and the Nine Days a Flying Fuel Tank Circled the Whole World Without a Single Drop From Anybody

How Voyager flew around the world nonstop and unrefueled in 1986, the last great milestone of atmospheric flight.

The Spruce Goose, Howard Hughes' Hughes H Four Hercules, and the One Minute Off the Water at Long Beach That Silenced Everybody Who Called Her a Boondoggle

The story of Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose, the wooden flying boat that flew just once in 1947 and outlived every critic.

The Republic P Forty-Seven Thunderbolt, the Jug, the Eight-Ton Fighter Built Around a Turbosupercharger That Brought Its Pilots Home Full of Holes

The P-47 Thunderbolt, the heavy 'Jug,' was built around a turbosupercharger and became WWII's toughest fighter-bomber.

The de Havilland Mosquito, the Wooden Wonder Built in Furniture Shops That Outran Every Fighter Sent to Catch Her

How the de Havilland Mosquito, built from wood in furniture shops, became WWII's fastest bomber and outran every fighter sent to catch it.

Swamp Ghost, the B Seventeen E That Sat in a New Guinea Swamp for Sixty-Four Years Before Anybody Brought Her Home

The Swamp Ghost is a B-17E bomber that sat in a New Guinea swamp for 64 years before recovery - now the only intact combat B-17E in the world.

Pardo's Push, the March Nineteen Sixty-Seven Morning a Phantom Pilot Used His Own Windscreen to Shove a Crippled Fighter Out of North Vietnam

On March 10, 1967, Captain Bob Pardo pushed a crippled F-4 Phantom out of North Vietnam using his own windscreen - the legendary Pardo's Push.

Gail Halvorsen, the Berlin Airlift, and the Candy Bomber Who Wiggled His Wings Over Tempelhof

How pilot Gail Halvorsen became the Candy Bomber of the Berlin Airlift, dropping candy on handkerchief parachutes over Tempelhof.

Daredevil Lindbergh, the Barnstorming Years Before the Atlantic, When a Bashful Kid From Minnesota Learned to Wing-Walk and Jump for a Living

Before the Atlantic, Charles Lindbergh spent four barnstorming years wing-walking, parachuting, and teaching himself to fly a surplus Jenny.

Clyde Pangborn, Miss Veedol, and the Night Two Broke Men Threw Their Landing Gear Into the Pacific to Fly Nonstop From Japan to Wenatchee

How Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon made the first nonstop transpacific flight in 1931 by jettisoning their landing gear.

Cal Rodgers, the Vin Fiz, and the Forty-Nine Days a Wrecked Wright Biplane Crawled Across America to Win a Prize It Never Collected

In 1911, Cal Rodgers flew the Vin Fiz across America in 49 days and 19 crashes - the first coast-to-coast flight, though he never won the prize.

Bob Reeve, the Glacier Pilot of Valdez, Who Turned a Tidal Mudflat Into a Runway and Landed on Glaciers to Supply the Gold Mines

How Bob Reeve, the Glacier Pilot of Valdez, used tidal mudflats and homemade skis to supply Alaska's gold mines by air.

Beryl Markham, The Messenger, and the Night She Flew the Atlantic the Hard Way, East to West, Straight Into the Wind

Radio Hangar explores Beryl Markham, The Messenger, and the Night She Flew the Atlantic the Hard Way, East to West, Straight Into the Wind.

The Thirteen Black Cats, the Hollywood Stunt Flyers Who Put a Price on Every Way to Nearly Die, and the Printed Menu That Sold Danger by the Item

How the Thirteen Black Cats turned 1920s Hollywood stunt flying into a business with a printed price list for every deadly aerial trick.

The Night Witches, the Five Eighty-Eighth, and the Soviet Women Who Cut Their Engines and Glided Wood-and-Fabric Biplanes Over the German Lines in the Dark

How the Soviet 588th 'Night Witches' turned an obsolete wood-and-fabric biplane into a fearsome night bomber on the Eastern Front.

The Gee Bee R One, Jimmy Doolittle, and the Flying Barrel That Set a Speed Record Nobody Else Dared to Chase

How Jimmy Doolittle flew the deadly Gee Bee R-1 to a 296 mph world record in 1932 - then walked away from racing for good.

The Douglas D C Three, the Gooney Bird, and the Airplane the World Kept Flying Long After Everybody Tried to Retire Her

The Douglas DC-3 first flew in 1935 and still hauls freight worldwide 90 years later - here's why it was never truly replaced.

The Chance Vought F4U Corsair, the Bent-Wing Bird the Japanese Called Whistling Death, and the Long Fight to Get Her Onto a Carrier Deck

The F4U Corsair earned the name 'Whistling Death' for its shrieking dive, and overcame carrier rejection to become one of WWII's deadliest fighters.

Roscoe Turner, the Red Lion, and the Waxed-Mustache Showman Who Flew a Pet Lion Cub Around the Pylons at Cleveland

Roscoe Turner flew a real lion cub as his copilot and won the Thompson Trophy three times - a record no pilot ever matched.

Pancho Barnes, the Happy Bottom Riding Club, and the Desert Bar Where Every Test Pilot Who Broke the Sound Barrier Learned to Fly Low

The story of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club, the desert bar where sound-barrier test pilots learned to be human.

Glacier Girl, the P Thirty-Eight Lightning the Greenland Ice Cap Swallowed for Fifty Years Before a Georgia Pilot Melted Her Back Out

How a P-38 Lightning buried under 268 feet of Greenland ice for 50 years was melted out, restored, and flown again as Glacier Girl.

Douglas Bader, the Legless Spitfire Ace Who Argued His Way Back Into the Cockpit and Fought the Battle of Britain on Two Tin Legs

How Douglas Bader lost both legs in a 1931 crash, flew Spitfires in the Battle of Britain on two tin legs, and scored 20.5 victories.

Don Sheldon, the Talkeetna Glacier Pilot Who Landed a Super Cub on the Side of Denali to Bring Climbers Home

How Talkeetna bush pilot Don Sheldon landed a Super Cub uphill on Denali's glaciers to rescue climbers and map the mountain.

Doc, the B-29 Superfortress They Pulled Off a Desert Bombing Range and Fifteen Years Later Flew Home to Wichita

How the B-29 Superfortress 'Doc' was rescued from a desert bombing range and restored to flight in Wichita after 15 years.

Bessie Coleman, Queen Bess, and the Texas Sharecropper's Daughter Who Sailed to France to Earn the License Nobody in America Would Give Her

How Bessie Coleman sailed to France in 1920 to become the first Black woman in the world to earn a pilot's license.

Alcock and Brown, the Vickers Vimy, and the Nineteen Nineteen Night Two Men Flew Nonstop Across the Atlantic Eight Years Before Lindbergh

How Alcock and Brown made the first nonstop transatlantic flight in 1919, eight years before Lindbergh reached Paris.

The Schneider Trophy, Supermarine's S Six B, and the Floatplane Race That Secretly Built the Spitfire

How the Schneider Trophy floatplane race and Supermarine's S.6B secretly forged the engineering behind the Spitfire.

The Grumman F6F Hellcat, the Ace Maker Grumman Built Around the Reports Coming Home From the Pacific

How the Grumman F6F Hellcat, built around combat reports from the Pacific, destroyed Japanese naval air power with a 19-to-1 kill ratio.

The Gossamer Condor and the August Morning a Bicycle Racer Pedaled the First Human-Powered Airplane Around a One-Mile Course

How the Gossamer Condor won the Kremer Prize on August 23, 1977, achieving the first human-powered controlled flight.

The Flying Tigers, Claire Chennault's P-40 Warhawks, and the Shark-Toothed Fighters That Bought China Time Before America Was Even in the War

How Claire Chennault turned the outclassed P-40 into a war-winner with the Flying Tigers over China, months before America entered WWII.

Tex Johnston, the Dash Eighty, and the August Afternoon in Nineteen Fifty-Five He Rolled a Jetliner Over Lake Washington in Front of Everybody Who Could Fire Him

How Boeing test pilot Tex Johnston barrel-rolled the Dash 80 prototype over Lake Washington in 1955 and helped launch the jet age.

Swamp Ghost, the B-17E That Sat Fifty Feet Deep in a New Guinea Swamp for Sixty-Four Years Before Anybody Brought Her Home

The story of Swamp Ghost, a B-17E that sat 64 years in a New Guinea swamp before its 2006 recovery and preservation in Hawaii.

Ormer Locklear, the Curtiss Jenny, and the Wing Walker Who Taught America to Look Up

How wing walker Ormer Locklear and the surplus Curtiss Jenny turned 1919 America into a nation that looked up at the sky.

Operation Chastise, the Dambusters, and the Sixty-Foot Night Barnes Wallis's Bouncing Bomb Broke the Ruhr Dams Open

How the RAF's Dambusters used Barnes Wallis's bouncing bomb to break the Ruhr dams flying at 60 feet in the dark.

Noel Wien, the Open-Cockpit Hisso Standard, and the Nineteen Twenty-Five First Flight From Fairbanks to Nome Across Country No Map Had Ever Drawn

In 1925, Noel Wien flew an open-cockpit Hisso Standard 500 miles from Fairbanks to Nome across Alaska no pilot had ever seen.

Flak-Bait, the B Twenty-Six Marauder That Flew Two Hundred Seven Missions and the Smithsonian Restoration That Refuses to Make Her Look New

Flak-Bait flew 207 combat missions in WWII - and the Smithsonian is preserving her battle damage instead of restoring her to shine.

Bob Hoover, the Shrike Commander, and the Dead-Stick Iced Tea Routine That Turned Energy Management Into Art

How Bob Hoover flew a dead-stick Shrike Commander and poured iced tea mid-roll to teach the pilot's most vital skill: energy management.

Beryl Markham, The Messenger, and the Nineteen Thirty-Six Solo Flight the Wrong Way Across the Atlantic

How Beryl Markham became the first person to fly solo nonstop east-to-west across the Atlantic in 1936, into the wind.

Alberto Santos-Dumont, the Fourteen-Bis, and the Little Brazilian in Paris Who Flew Around the Eiffel Tower for a Bet

How Alberto Santos-Dumont made Europe's first witnessed powered flight in 1906 and shaped aviation history.

The Winnie Mae, Wiley Post, and the One-Eyed Oklahoma Pilot Who Flew a Wooden Lockheed Vega Around the World Twice and Then Went Looking for the Stratosphere

How one-eyed pilot Wiley Post flew the wooden Winnie Mae around the world twice and pioneered the pressure suit and jet stream.

The Spruce Goose, Howard Hughes, and the One-Mile Hop Off Long Beach Harbor That Silenced Every Man Who Said She'd Never Fly

How Howard Hughes flew the Spruce Goose one mile off Long Beach in 1947 to prove his critics wrong.

The Republic P Forty-Seven Thunderbolt, the Seven-Ton Fighter They Called the Jug That Brought More Men Home Than Any Fighter Had a Right To

How the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, the seven-ton 'Jug,' became WWII's toughest fighter and brought more pilots home than any of its rivals.

Pardo's Push, the Nineteen Sixty-Seven Day an F-Four Phantom Crew Used Their Own Jet's Nose to Shove a Crippled Wingman Out of North Vietnam

How F-4 pilot Bob Pardo used his jet's nose to push a crippled wingman out of North Vietnam in 1967 - one of aviation's boldest maneuvers.

Jerrie Mock, the Spirit of Columbus, and the Ohio Housewife Who Flew a Single-Engine Cessna Solo Around the World in Nineteen Sixty-Four

Radio Hangar explores Jerrie Mock, the Spirit of Columbus, and the Ohio Housewife Who Flew a Single-Engine Cessna Solo Around the World in Nineteen Sixty-Four.

Doc, the B-29 Superfortress the Navy Used for Bomb Practice, and the Wichita Volunteers Who Spent Sixteen Years Bringing Her Back to the Sky

Radio Hangar explores Doc, the B-29 Superfortress the Navy Used for Bomb Practice, and the Wichita Volunteers Who Spent Sixteen Years Bringing Her Back to the Sky.

Chuck Yeager, Glamorous Glennis, and the Broomstick That Broke the Sound Barrier With Two Cracked Ribs

How Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier on October 14, 1947 - flying with two cracked ribs and a broomstick to close the hatch.

Charles Kingsford Smith, the Southern Cross, and the Nineteen Twenty-Eight Fokker Trimotor That Beat the Pacific in Three Impossible Hops

How Charles Kingsford Smith and the Southern Cross made the first trans-Pacific flight from the US to Australia in 1928.

Bob Reeve, the Valdez Glacier Pilot Who Turned a Tidal Mud Flat Into a Runway and Landed Miners on the Roof of Alaska

How Bob Reeve turned a Valdez tidal mud flat into a runway, pioneered glacier landings, and invented Alaska bush flying.

Wrong Way Corrigan, the Patched-Up Curtiss Robin, and the Nineteen Thirty-Eight Flight to Ireland That Everybody Knew Wasn't a Mistake

How Douglas 'Wrong Way' Corrigan flew a patched-up Curtiss Robin from Brooklyn to Ireland in 1938 and called it a navigation error.

The XB-70 Valkyrie, the Six-Engine Mach Three Bomber That Folded Its Wingtips in Flight and Now Sits Alone at Dayton After a Camera Killed Her Sister

Radio Hangar explores The XB-70 Valkyrie, the Six-Engine Mach Three Bomber That Folded Its Wingtips in Flight and Now Sits Alone at Dayton After a Camera Killed Her Sister.

The Vought F4U Corsair, the Bent-Wing Bird They Called Whistling Death and Why That Gull Wing Was an Accident of Geometry

The F4U Corsair's iconic gull wing wasn't styling - it was geometry solving a 13-foot propeller problem. Here's the full story.

The Night Witches, the Five Eighty-Eighth Night Bomber Regiment, and the Women Who Glided Silent Over the German Lines in Wood-and-Canvas Biplanes

The Night Witches flew 23,000 night sorties in wood-and-canvas biplanes, gliding silently over German lines on the WWII Eastern Front.

The Bristol Blenheim, Duxford, and the Restoration That Flew, Crashed a Month Later, and Was Built All Over Again

The last airworthy Bristol Blenheim was rebuilt three times over nearly 40 years, surviving two crashes to fly again at Duxford.

Jimmy Doolittle's Blind Flight of Nineteen Twenty-Nine and the Foggy Bottom Cockpit That Taught Airplanes to Fly Without Looking Outside

How Jimmy Doolittle's 1929 blind flight proved airplanes could fly safely on instruments alone, launching the modern age of IFR aviation.

Gail Halvorsen, the Candy Bomber, and the Wiggle of the Wings That Turned a C Fifty-Four Skymaster Into Hope Over Berlin

How pilot Gail Halvorsen became the Candy Bomber, dropping chocolate on handkerchief parachutes to children during the 1948 Berlin Airlift.

Don Sheldon, the Talkeetna Glacier Pilot Who Landed a Super Cub on the Side of Denali and Made a Career Out of Flying Into the Places Nobody Else Would Go

How Alaska bush pilot Don Sheldon mastered glacier landings on Denali and flew hundreds of daring rescue missions in a fabric Super Cub.

Beryl Markham, The Messenger, and the Night She Flew the Atlantic the Hard Way, East to West Against the Wind

How Beryl Markham became the first person to fly the Atlantic solo east to west, from England to North America, in September 1936.

Wop May, Vic Horner, and the Nineteen Twenty-Nine Open-Cockpit Mercy Flight That Carried Diphtheria Serum Six Hundred Miles Into the Alberta Cold

In January 1929, pilots Wop May and Vic Horner flew diphtheria serum 600 miles into Arctic Alberta in an open-cockpit biplane.

The Rutan Voyager, the Paper Airplane With a Hundred-Foot Wingspan That Flew Nine Days Around the World Without Stopping for Fuel

The story of the Rutan Voyager, the featherweight aircraft that flew nonstop around the world in 1986 without refueling.

The Memphis Belle, the B-Seventeen That Beat the Twenty-Five Mission Odds and the Thirteen-Year Restoration That Brought Her Back at Dayton

How the B-17 Memphis Belle beat the odds to finish 25 missions in 1943 and survived a 13-year restoration to stand in Dayton today.

The Gimli Glider, the Air Canada Boeing Seven Sixty-Seven That Ran Out of Fuel at Forty-One Thousand Feet and Glided Dead-Stick Onto an Old Drag Strip in Manitoba

How Captain Bob Pearson glided a fuel-starved Air Canada 767 to a dead-stick landing at Gimli in 1983.

The Gates Flying Circus, Clyde Pangborn, and the Barnstorming Troupe That Sold a Million Americans Their First Airplane Ride

How the Gates Flying Circus and pilot Clyde Pangborn gave a million Americans their first airplane ride in the 1920s.

The Douglas World Cruisers and the Nineteen Twenty-Four Flight That Carried Four Open-Cockpit Biplanes All the Way Around the World

In 1924, four US Army biplanes attempted the first flight around the world - two survived to complete the 26,000-mile journey.

The Douglas DC-3, the Twin-Wasp Airliner Born From a Phone Call That Made the Airlines Pay Their Own Way and Then Carried an Army to War

How the Douglas DC-3 made airlines profitable, won a war as the C-47, and became the longest-serving working aircraft ever built.

The de Havilland Mosquito, the Wooden Wonder Built by Furniture Makers and Piano Companies That Outran Every Fighter in the Sky

The de Havilland Mosquito was a wooden WWII bomber built by furniture and piano makers that outran the Spitfire and became a legend.

The Airport Dog, the FBO Mascot Who Runs the Ramp and Knows Every Tail Number That Rolls Through the Gate

The airport dog is a fixture of general aviation ramp culture - a greeter, judge of character, and living link to a century of flying tradition.

Operation Chastise, the Dambusters, and Barnes Wallis's Bouncing Bomb That Skipped Across a Reservoir to Break the Ruhr

How Barnes Wallis's bouncing bomb and 617 Squadron's Lancaster crews broke Germany's Ruhr dams in the May 1943 Dambusters raid.

Douglas Bader, the Legless Spitfire Ace Who Crashed on a Dare, Talked His Way Back Into a Cockpit, and Made the Germans Threaten to Take His Tin Legs Away

How RAF ace Douglas Bader lost both legs in a 1931 crash, flew Spitfires on tin legs, and became a Battle of Britain hero.

Doc, the B-29 Superfortress That Spent Forty Years as a Bombing Target in the Mojave Before a Handful of Volunteers Brought Her Back to the Sky

Radio Hangar explores Doc, the B-29 Superfortress That Spent Forty Years as a Bombing Target in the Mojave Before a Handful of Volunteers Brought Her Back to the Sky.

Cal Rodgers and the Vin Fiz, the Grape-Soda Biplane That Crossed America in Eighty-Four Days and Arrived Held Together by Almost Nothing

In 1911, Cal Rodgers flew the Vin Fiz biplane across America in 84 days, crashing dozens of times to become the first to cross the continent by air.

Blue Skies and a Blue Stearman, the Boeing Trainer That Taught a Generation to Fly and Still Rules the Barnstorming Circuit

The Boeing Stearman Model 75 trained a generation of WWII pilots - and its tailwheel lessons still make modern pilots better today.

Alcock and Brown, the Converted Vimy Bomber, and the First Nonstop Flight Across the Atlantic Into an Irish Bog

How John Alcock and Arthur Brown made the first nonstop transatlantic flight in 1919, crash-landing a converted bomber in an Irish bog.

The Vought F4U Corsair, the Bent-Wing Whistling Death, and How the Navy's Hardest Airplane to Land Became the Marine Corps' Favorite Fighter

How the Vought F4U Corsair went from 'unsuitable for carriers' to the Marine Corps' legendary Whistling Death fighter.

The Southern Cross, Charles Kingsford Smith, and the First Flight Across the Pacific from California to Australia

In 1928, Charles Kingsford Smith flew the Southern Cross across the Pacific from California to Australia - aviation's greatest overwater feat.

The Lockheed Constellation, the Triple-Tailed Connie That Howard Hughes Ordered in Secret and Kelly Johnson Shaped Into the Most Beautiful Airliner That Ever Flew

The story of the Lockheed Constellation, the triple-tailed airliner Howard Hughes ordered in secret and Kelly Johnson shaped into a legend.

The Gee Bee R-One, Jimmy Doolittle, and the Flying Beer Barrel That Won the Thompson Trophy and Scared Its Own Pilots

How Jimmy Doolittle won the 1932 Thompson Trophy in the deadly Gee Bee R-1 - then walked away from racing forever.

Roscoe Turner, the Powder-Blue Showman Who Flew With a Lion Named Gilmore and Won the Thompson Trophy Three Times

How Roscoe Turner, his lion Gilmore, and a self-made uniform led to three Thompson Trophy wins and aviation immortality.

Robin Olds, the Handlebar Mustache, and Operation Bolo - the Day the F-Four Phantoms Pretended to Be Bombers and Ambushed the MiGs Over Hanoi

How Robin Olds and his F-4 Phantoms disguised themselves as bombers to ambush North Vietnamese MiGs on January 2, 1967.

Pardo's Push, the Two F-Four Phantoms Over Laos, and the Day One Fighter Pilot Flew a Crippled Jet Home on His Own Windscreen

How Captain Bob Pardo pushed a crippled F-4 Phantom nearly 100 miles over Laos in 1967 using his own windscreen.

Ormer Locklear, the Wing Walker Who Stepped From One Jenny to Another in Midair and Then Died on Camera Chasing the Shot

How barnstormer Ormer Locklear pioneered midair plane changes and died filming a stunt for The Skywayman in 1920.

Operation Vengeance, the P-Thirty-Eight Lightning, and the Long Odds Shot That Killed the Man Who Planned Pearl Harbor

How 16 P-38 Lightnings flew 400 miles to intercept and kill Admiral Yamamoto on April 18, 1943, arriving one minute early.

Flak-Bait, the Martin B-Twenty-Six Marauder That Flew Two Hundred and Seven Missions and Refused to Die, Now Coming Back to Life Piece by Piece at the Smithsonian

Radio Hangar explores Flak-Bait, the Martin B-Twenty-Six Marauder That Flew Two Hundred and Seven Missions and Refused to Die, Now Coming Back to Life Piece by Piece at the Smithsonian.

Blackbird 972, the SR-71 That Flew Los Angeles to Washington in Sixty-Four Minutes on Its Way to a Museum Hook in the Smithsonian

On March 6, 1990, SR-71 Blackbird 972 flew Los Angeles to Washington in 64 minutes on its final flight to the Smithsonian.

Bessie Coleman, Queen Bess, and the Texas Cottonpicker Who Crossed an Ocean to Get the Pilot's License America Wouldn't Give Her

Bessie Coleman crossed the Atlantic and learned French to earn the pilot's license America denied her, becoming the first Black woman to fly.

Wiley Post, the One-Eyed Oklahoma Roughneck Who Flew the Winnie Mae Solo Around the World and Then Built a Rubber Suit to Touch the Stratosphere

Wiley Post, a one-eyed Oklahoma roughneck, flew solo around the world in 1933 and pioneered the pressure suit and jet stream.

Voyager, Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, and the Nine Days Around the World on One Tank of Gas

In December 1986, Voyager flew nonstop around the world without refueling - the story of the last great first in aviation.

The XP-82 Twin Mustang, the Two-Fuselage Fighter That Refused to Fly Until They Turned the Propellers Around, and Tom Reilly's Ten-Year Resurrection of the Last One in the World

How Tom Reilly spent a decade rebuilding the world's only airworthy XP-82 Twin Mustang - and why its propellers spin the way they do.

The Spruce Goose, Howard Hughes' Eight-Engine Flying Boat That Flew Exactly Once and Now Lives Under One Roof in McMinnville, Oregon

The Spruce Goose, Howard Hughes' all-wood flying boat, flew once for under a minute in 1947 and now lives in McMinnville, Oregon.

The Shuttle Training Aircraft, the Gulfstream That NASA Turned Into a Flying Glider Simulator to Teach Astronauts How to Dead-Stick a Hundred-Ton Spaceship Onto a Runway

How NASA turned a Gulfstream II business jet into the Shuttle Training Aircraft to teach astronauts the impossible one-shot landing.

The Piper J-Three Cub, the Sixty-Five Horsepower Taildragger That Taught America to Fly and Then Went to War as the Grasshopper

The Piper J-3 Cub taught most of America to fly on 65 horsepower, then went to war as the L-4 Grasshopper artillery spotter.

The Curtiss JN-4 Jenny, the Fifty-Dollar War Surplus Trainer That Put a Whole Generation of Barnstormers in the Air

How the $50 war-surplus Curtiss JN-4 Jenny launched the 1920s barnstorming era and put a generation of Americans in the sky.

The 1929 Women's Air Derby, Louise Thaden's Travel Air, and the Cross-Country Race the Newspapers Sneered at as the Powder Puff Derby

How Louise Thaden won the 1929 Women's Air Derby, the cross-country race newspapers mocked as the Powder Puff Derby.

Pancho Barnes, the Fastest Woman in the World Who Built the Happy Bottom Riding Club and Fed the Men Who Broke the Sound Barrier

How Pancho Barnes went from fastest woman alive to running the desert club where test pilots celebrated breaking the sound barrier.

Otto Lilienthal, the Flying Man of Berlin Who Jumped Off a Hill Two Thousand Times to Prove the Air Would Hold You Up

Otto Lilienthal made over 2,000 glider flights in the 1890s, proving human flight was possible and inspiring the Wright brothers.

Operation Chastise, Barnes Wallis and the Bouncing Bomb, and the Night Six Seventeen Squadron Flew at Sixty Feet to Break the Dams of the Ruhr

How Barnes Wallis's bouncing bomb and 617 Squadron broke the Ruhr dams flying at 60 feet in the dark on the night of May 16–17, 1943.

Neil Williams and the Folded Wing, the Aerobatic Champion Who Rolled a Crippled Zlin Inverted to Hold His Own Broken Spar in Place All the Way Down to the Grass

How British aerobatic champion Neil Williams saved a Zlin with a folded wing in 1970 by flying it inverted and landing upside down.

Carl Ben Eielson, the North Dakota Schoolteacher Who Flew Alaska's First Airmail in an Open-Cockpit de Havilland and Then Vanished Over the Siberian Ice

How North Dakota schoolteacher Carl Ben Eielson flew Alaska's first airmail, crossed the Arctic by air, and vanished over Siberian ice.

A Higher Call, Franz Stigler and Charlie Brown, and the Crippled B Seventeen a German Ace Escorted Out to Sea Instead of Shooting It Down

On December 20, 1943, German ace Franz Stigler escorted a crippled B-17 to safety instead of shooting it down - the true story behind A Higher Call.

Wrong Way Corrigan, the Curtiss Robin That Flew to Ireland by 'Mistake,' and the Twenty-Eight Hours That Made Him a Folk Hero

How Douglas 'Wrong Way' Corrigan flew a $310 Curtiss Robin across the Atlantic in 1938 and blamed a backwards compass.

The Night Witches, the 588th Night Bomber Regiment and the Wood-and-Canvas Biplanes Soviet Women Flew With the Engine Cut

Radio Hangar explores The Night Witches, the 588th Night Bomber Regiment and the Wood-and-Canvas Biplanes Soviet Women Flew With the Engine Cut.

The Gee Bee R One, the Flying Barrel the Granville Brothers Built Around an Engine, and the Day Jimmy Doolittle Rode It to Victory in the 1932 Thompson Trophy

How the Granville Brothers built the deadly Gee Bee R-1 around a huge engine, and how Jimmy Doolittle rode it to win the 1932 Thompson Trophy.

The Fort Myer Trials, the Wright Military Flyer, and the Summer the U.S. Army Finally Bought an Airplane

In August 1909 the U.S. Army bought its first airplane, the Wright Military Flyer, for $30,000 after the deadly Fort Myer trials.

The Douglas DC-3, the Gooney Bird That Made the Airlines Pay Their Own Way and Then Flew Off to War as the C Forty-Seven

The Douglas DC-3 was the first airliner to profit on passengers alone, then won a war as the C-47 - and it's still flying today.

Tex Johnston, the Barrel Roll Over Lake Washington, and the Day a Test Pilot Bet Boeing's Future on a One-G Maneuver

In August 1955, test pilot Tex Johnston barrel-rolled Boeing's one-and-only 707 prototype over Lake Washington and helped sell the jet age.

Glamorous Glennis, the Bell X One That Broke the Sound Barrier With a Sawed-Off Broomstick and Now Hangs Over the Front Door of the Smithsonian

How Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 on Oct 14, 1947 - with two cracked ribs and a sawed-off broomstick.

Glacier Girl, the P Thirty-Eight Lightning Dug Out From Under Two Hundred and Sixty-Eight Feet of Greenland Ice and Flown Again After Fifty Years in the Dark

How a P-38 Lightning was recovered from 268 feet of Greenland ice and restored to flight 50 years after the Lost Squadron went down.

Clyde Upside-Down Pangborn, the Gates Flying Circus, and the Fifty-Cent Ride That Sold America on Flying

How the Gates Flying Circus and Clyde 'Upside-Down' Pangborn sold America its first airplane ride for a nickel and shaped a generation of pilots.

Cal Rodgers, the Vin Fiz, and the Forty-Nine-Day Wreck of a Crawl Across America to Win a Prize He Never Collected

In 1911, Cal Rodgers flew the Vin Fiz coast-to-coast in 49 days - the first flight across America, achieved after the prize was already lost.

Bob Hoover, the Green Shrike Commander, and the Cup of Iced Tea He Poured While Rolling a Twin-Engine Airplane Upside Down

How Bob Hoover poured iced tea while rolling a twin-engine Shrike Commander upside down - and what it teaches every pilot about energy management.

Bent Wing Beauty, How the F Four U Corsair Earned Its Inverted Gull Wing

The F4U Corsair's inverted gull wing wasn't styling - it solved the ground-clearance problem created by its massive engine and propeller.

Voyager, Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, and the Nine Days Around the World Without a Single Drop of Fuel Taken On

How Voyager and its crew flew nonstop around the world in 1986 - no landings, no refueling, and 18 gallons to spare.

The Schneider Trophy, the Supermarine S Six B, and the Seaplane Races That Gave the World the Spitfire

How the Schneider Trophy seaplane races and the Supermarine S.6B gave birth to the Spitfire that saved Britain in 1940.

The Gossamer Albatross, Bryan Allen, and the Human-Powered Flight Across the English Channel on Nothing but Two Legs and a Twenty-Two-Foot Propeller

How Bryan Allen pedaled the Gossamer Albatross across the English Channel in 1979, achieving the first human-powered crossing.

The de Havilland Mosquito, the Wooden Wonder Built by Furniture Makers That Outran Every Fighter in the Sky

Radio Hangar explores The de Havilland Mosquito, the Wooden Wonder Built by Furniture Makers That Outran Every Fighter in the Sky.

The Cornfield Bomber, the F One Oh Six Delta Dart That Flew Itself Down to a Gentle Landing in a Montana Field After the Pilot Had Already Punched Out

The Cornfield Bomber is an F-106 that recovered from a flat spin and belly-landed itself in Montana in 1970 after its pilot ejected.

Operation Black Buck, the Single Avro Vulcan and the Eleven Tankers That Flew Eight Thousand Miles to Drop One Stick of Bombs on a Falklands Runway

How the RAF sent one aging Avro Vulcan and eleven tankers nearly 8,000 miles to bomb Port Stanley in the longest raid ever flown.

Douglas Bader, the Legless Ace Who Flew Spitfires on Two Tin Legs and Got His Spares Parachuted In by the Enemy

How RAF ace Douglas Bader lost both legs, flew Spitfires on tin legs, and had the enemy parachute him a spare.

Doc, the B-29 Superfortress That Sat in the Mojave as a Missile Target for Forty Years, and the Wichita Volunteers Who Spent Sixteen Years Bringing Her Back to the Sky

How Doc, a B-29 that sat 40 years as a desert missile target, was restored to flight by Wichita volunteers over 16 years.

Bessie Coleman, Queen Bess, and the Ticket to France She Bought Because No School in America Would Teach a Black Woman to Fly

How Bessie Coleman became the first Black woman to earn a pilot's license - by learning French and sailing to France when no U.S. school would teach her.

The Swamp Ghost, the B-17E That Ditched in a New Guinea Swamp in Nineteen Forty-Two and Waited Sixty-Four Years to Come Home

The Swamp Ghost, a B-17E that ditched in a New Guinea swamp in 1942, sat untouched for 64 years before its recovery.

The Republic P Forty-Seven Thunderbolt, the Seven-Ton Jug That Could Dive Faster Than Any Piston Fighter and Fly Home Full of Holes

The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was WWII's heaviest single-engine fighter - a 7-ton 'Jug' built to dive faster and survive more than any rival.

Roscoe Turner, the Waxed Mustache, and the Lion Cub Named Gilmore Who Flew the Air Races Strapped Into His Own Parachute

How showman Roscoe Turner and his flying lion cub Gilmore won three Thompson Trophies and helped sell America on aviation.

Pardo's Push, the F-4 Phantom That Shoved a Crippled Wingman Halfway Out of North Vietnam With Nothing but a Windshield and a Tailhook

The true story of Pardo's Push, when an F-4 pilot used his windshield to shove a crippled wingman out of North Vietnam in 1967.

Operation Chastise, the Dambusters, and the Bouncing Bomb Barnes Wallis Skipped Across a Reservoir to Break the Ruhr Dams

How the Dambusters used Barnes Wallis's bouncing bomb to breach Germany's Ruhr dams in 1943 - the physics, the flying, and the cost.

Noel Wien, the Standard Biplane With No Brakes, and the First Man to Fly the Alaska Bush Where There Were No Maps

How Noel Wien flew a brakeless 1924 Standard biplane across an unmapped Alaska and wrote the rulebook for bush flying.

Jacqueline Cochran, the Orphan From the Florida Panhandle Who Outran Every Man in the Sky and Became the First Woman Through the Sound Barrier

How Jacqueline Cochran rose from a Florida sawmill camp to set more aviation records than any pilot in history.

Flak-Bait, the Martin B-26 Marauder That Flew Two Hundred and Seven Missions and Came Home, Now Being Pieced Back Together at the Smithsonian

Flak-Bait, the B-26 Marauder that survived 207 combat missions, is being conserved - not restored - at the Smithsonian with every scar intact.

Alcock and Brown, the Vickers Vimy, and the First Nonstop Flight Across the Atlantic Into a Bog in Ireland

In June 1919, Alcock and Brown flew the first nonstop transatlantic flight, eight years before Lindbergh.

Wiley Post, the One-Eyed Oklahoma Roughneck, the Winnie Mae, and the Solo Flight Around the World That Also Found the Jet Stream

How one-eyed pilot Wiley Post flew solo around the world in 1933, discovered the jet stream, and helped invent the pressure suit.

The Vought F4U Corsair, the Bent-Wing Bird the Marines Called Whistling Death and the Navy Said Would Never Land on a Carrier

Radio Hangar explores The Vought F4U Corsair, the Bent-Wing Bird the Marines Called Whistling Death and the Navy Said Would Never Land on a Carrier.

The Memphis Belle, Twenty-Five Missions Over Europe, and the Thirteen-Year Restoration That Brought Her Back From the Scrap Line to the Museum Floor

The story of the Memphis Belle, the B-17 that flew 25 missions over Europe and survived a 13-year restoration to reach the museum floor.

That's All, Brother, the C-47 That Led the D-Day Sky Train, Rotting in a Wisconsin Boneyard Until a Historian Read Her Serial Number

How 'That's All, Brother,' the C-47 that led the D-Day airborne assault, was saved from a Wisconsin scrapyard and restored to flight.

Robin Olds, the Handlebar Mustache, and Operation Bolo, the Day the Wolfpack Tricked Seven MiGs Out of the Sky Over Hanoi

The story of Robin Olds, his legendary mustache, and Operation Bolo - the 1967 trick that downed seven MiGs over Hanoi in 12 minutes.

Elrey Jeppesen and the Little Black Book That Turned the Deadly Airmail Runs Into the Charts in Every Cockpit

How airmail pilot Elrey Jeppesen turned a 20-cent notebook into the approach charts flown in nearly every cockpit on Earth.

Chuck Yeager, the Bell X One Glamorous Glennis, and the Cracked Ribs He Hid From the Flight Surgeon the Morning He Broke the Sound Barrier

How Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier on Oct 14, 1947 with two cracked ribs and a sawed-off broom handle nobody knew about.

The X B Seventy Valkyrie, North American's Mach Three White Bird, and the Lone Survivor That Sits in Dayton After a Camera Killed Its Twin

The XB-70 Valkyrie was a Mach 3 bomber; only one survives after a 1966 photo-shoot collision destroyed its twin. Here's the full story.

The Wright Brothers, Ohio to Kitty Hawk, and the Six-Second Grocery-Store Photograph That Almost Never Got Taken

How two Ohio bicycle makers solved control - not power - to achieve the first flight at Kitty Hawk on December 17, 1903.

The Swamp Ghost, the B Seventeen E That Ditched in a New Guinea Marsh in Nineteen Forty-Two and Sat in the Reeds for Half a Century

The Swamp Ghost is a B-17E that ditched in a New Guinea swamp in 1942 and sat intact for 50 years before recovery.

The Only Flying Blenheim, Graham Warner's Twenty-Year Fight, and the Duxford Bomber That Crashed Twice and Came Home Anyway

The only airworthy Bristol Blenheim survived two crashes and three rebuilds over nearly 40 years to fly again at Duxford.

The North American X Fifteen, the Rocket Plane That Flew to the Edge of Space on Stubby Wings and Taught Us How to Fly Where the Air Runs Out

The North American X-15 flew to Mach 6.7 and the edge of space, pioneering the hypersonic and reentry technology behind every spacecraft that followed.

The Gee Bee Model R, the Flying Beer Keg the Granville Brothers Built for Speed, and the Nineteen Thirty-Two Afternoon Jimmy Doolittle Wrestled It Around the Cleveland Pylons

How Jimmy Doolittle tamed the deadly Gee Bee Model R to win the 1932 Thompson Trophy and set a 296 mph world speed record.

The Ford Trimotor, the Tin Goose Henry Ford Built From Corrugated Metal, and the Birthday That Gave America Its First Real Airliner

How Henry Ford's corrugated-metal Ford Trimotor, the 'Tin Goose,' became America's first practical airliner and taught a nation to fly.

The de Havilland Mosquito, the Wooden Wonder Built From Furniture Glue and Spruce That Outran Every Fighter the Germans Could Throw at It

The de Havilland Mosquito was a wooden WWII aircraft so fast that enemy fighters couldn't catch it, serving in nearly every combat role.

The Curtiss Jenny, the Ninety-Horse War-Surplus Trainer That Sold for the Price of a Used Car and Carried the Whole Barnstorming Era on Its Wings

How the war-surplus Curtiss JN-4 'Jenny' gave 1920s America its first taste of flight and launched the barnstorming era.

The Candy Bomber, Gail Halvorsen, and the Wiggling Wings That Dropped Chocolate Into a Starving Berlin

How pilot Gail Halvorsen became the Candy Bomber, dropping chocolate on parachutes to children during the 1948 Berlin Airlift.

Roy Brown, Wop May, and the Morning the Red Baron Fell Over the Somme

How the Red Baron really fell on April 21, 1918 - and why the evidence points to a gunner on the ground, not Roy Brown.

Glenn Curtiss, the June Bug, and the Fourth of July in Nineteen Oh Eight When America First Measured a Man Flying

On July 4, 1908, Glenn Curtiss flew the June Bug over a kilometer before official judges - the first publicly documented flight in America.

Bob Reeve, the Glacier Pilot of Valdez, and the Stainless-Steel Skis That Landed Gold Miners on the Ice

How Bob Reeve, the Glacier Pilot of Valdez, used homemade stainless-steel skis to land on Alaska's glaciers and supply remote gold mines.

Wrong Way Corrigan, the Patched-Up Curtiss Robin, and the Twenty-Eight Hour Flight to Ireland He Swore He Never Meant to Take

How Douglas 'Wrong Way' Corrigan flew a patched-up Curtiss Robin from Brooklyn to Ireland in 1938 and blamed a compass.

The Vought F Four U Corsair, the Bent-Wing Whistling Death, and the Gull Wing Born From a Propeller Too Big for the Ground

How the Vought F4U Corsair's inverted gull wing solved a propeller problem and made it one of WWII's deadliest fighters.

The USS Forrestal Fire of July Twenty-Ninth, Nineteen Sixty-Seven, Chief Gerald Farrier, and the Ninety Seconds That Rewrote How the Navy Fights Fire

How the 1967 USS Forrestal fire killed 134 sailors and permanently changed how the U.S. Navy fights fire at sea.

The Night Witches, the Five Eighty-Eighth Night Bomber Regiment, and the Women Who Bombed the Germans From Plywood Biplanes With the Engine Switched Off

The Night Witches flew plywood biplanes over Nazi lines at night with engines off - one of WWII's bravest aviation stories.

The Lockheed Constellation, Howard Hughes's Triple-Tail Queen of the Skies and the Airplane That Made the Whole Country Feel Small

The Lockheed Constellation was Howard Hughes's triple-tail airliner that shrank America and the Atlantic before jets ended its reign.

The C-2A Greyhound's Last Flight and the End of Sixty Years of Carrier Onboard Delivery

The C-2A Greyhound flew its final flight on July 28, 2026, ending 60 years of carrier onboard delivery for the U.S. Navy.

Tex Johnston Rolls the Dash Eighty, the Day Boeing's Chief Test Pilot Barrel-Rolled a Jet Transport Over Lake Washington to Sell the Jet Age

Radio Hangar explores Tex Johnston Rolls the Dash Eighty, the Day Boeing's Chief Test Pilot Barrel-Rolled a Jet Transport Over Lake Washington to Sell the Jet Age.

Roscoe Turner, the Powder-Blue Colonel, and Gilmore the Lion Cub Who Rode Shotgun Through the Golden Age of Air Racing

Radio Hangar explores Roscoe Turner, the Powder-Blue Colonel, and Gilmore the Lion Cub Who Rode Shotgun Through the Golden Age of Air Racing.

Ormer Locklear, the King of the Wing Walkers, and the Night the Arc Lights Killed Him Over DeMille Field

How Ormer Locklear, the King of the Wing Walkers, pioneered plane-to-plane transfers and died filming a night stunt in 1920.

Flak-Bait, the B Twenty-Six Marauder That Flew Two Hundred and Seven Missions and Came Home Every Time

How Flak-Bait, a B-26 Marauder, flew a record 207 combat missions in WWII and survives today at the Smithsonian.

Don Sheldon, the Talkeetna Glacier Pilot Who Landed a Piper Super Cub on the Side of Denali to Pull Climbers Off the Ice

How Alaskan bush pilot Don Sheldon pioneered glacier landings on Denali and flew death-defying high-altitude rescues in a Piper Super Cub.

Doc, the B Twenty-Nine Superfortress Pulled From a Desert Bombing Range and Flown Home to Wichita

How volunteers pulled the B-29 Doc from a desert bombing range and spent 18 years restoring her into the world's second flyable Superfortress.

Bessie Coleman, Queen Bess, and the Barnstormer Who Crossed an Ocean to Learn What America Would Not Teach Her

How Bessie Coleman crossed an ocean and learned French to become the first Black woman in the world to earn a pilot's license.

The Swamp Ghost, the B Seventeen E That Sat in a New Guinea Swamp for Sixty-Four Years Before Anybody Brought Her Home

The story of the Swamp Ghost, a B-17E that sat in a New Guinea swamp for 64 years before its 2006 recovery to Pearl Harbor.

The SR Seventy-One Blackbird's Last Flight, March Sixth, Nineteen Ninety, and the Sixty-Four Minute Dash Across America That Ended in a Museum

On March 6, 1990, an SR-71 Blackbird crossed the US in 67 minutes 54 seconds on its final flight to the Smithsonian.

The Ohka, the Yasukuni Betty, and the Cherry Blossom Suicide Bomb Hanging in the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

The Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka at the Udvar-Hazy Center was a rocket-powered suicide weapon - here's its grim history and why it matters.

The Gee Bee R One, the Granville Brothers, and the Fat Little Racer Jimmy Doolittle Rode to the Thompson Trophy at Cleveland in Nineteen Thirty-Two

How Jimmy Doolittle tamed the deadly Gee Bee R-1 to win the 1932 Thompson Trophy and set a world speed record at Cleveland.

The Douglas DC-3, the Gooney Bird, and the Airplane That Made the World Small Enough to Fly Across

How the Douglas DC-3 made air travel profitable, won a war as the Gooney Bird, and still flies for a living today.

The B Twenty-Five That Hit the Empire State Building, the Fog Over Manhattan on July Twenty-Eighth, Nineteen Forty-Five, and Betty Lou Oliver, the Woman Who Fell Seventy-Five Stories and Lived

On July 28, 1945, a B-25 bomber hit the Empire State Building in fog - and elevator operator Betty Lou Oliver survived a 75-story fall.

Pardo's Push, the F Four Phantom That Shoved Another Fighter Out of North Vietnam on Its Tailhook

The true story of Pardo's Push: how an F-4 pilot used his windscreen and a tailhook to shove a fuel-starved Phantom out of North Vietnam in 1967.

Operation Tidal Wave, the Ploesti Raid, and the Day the Liberators Went in at Chimney Height Over Hitler's Oil

The 1943 Ploesti raid sent 178 low-flying B-24 Liberators against Hitler's oil, earning five Medals of Honor at a staggering cost.

Operation Chastise, Barnes Wallis's Bouncing Bomb, and the Night Six-Seventeen Squadron Skipped a Weapon Across the Ruhr to Break the Dams

How 617 Squadron used Barnes Wallis's bouncing bomb to breach the Ruhr dams in 1943's Operation Chastise.

Daredevil Lindbergh, the Wing-Walking Kid Who Barnstormed the Great Plains Four Years Before He Ever Saw Paris

Before crossing the Atlantic in 1927, Charles Lindbergh spent four years barnstorming the Great Plains as a wing-walker and parachute jumper.

Carl Ben Eielson, the Schoolteacher Who Flew Alaska's First Airmail and Vanished on the Ice off Siberia

How schoolteacher Carl Ben Eielson flew Alaska's first airmail, crossed both poles, and vanished on the Siberian ice at age 32.

Cal Rodgers, the Vin Fiz, and the Forty-Nine Day Crash Across America to Win a Prize He Never Collected

The story of Cal Rodgers and the Vin Fiz, the first airplane to cross America in 1911, after 49 days and countless crashes.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery, the Aeropostale Mail Pilot Who Wrote The Little Prince and Vanished Over the Mediterranean in a P Thirty-Eight

The story of Antoine de Saint-Exupery, the Aeropostale mail pilot who wrote The Little Prince and vanished over the Mediterranean in 1944.

Voyager, the Rutan Brothers, and the Nine Days Around the World on a Single Tank of Gas

How Voyager and the Rutan team flew nonstop around the world in 1986, landing with just 18 gallons of fuel to spare.

The Vought F4U Corsair, the Bent-Wing Whistling Death, and the Fighter the Navy Almost Gave Up on Before the Marines Made It a Legend

The story of the F4U Corsair, the gull-winged 'Whistling Death' the Navy nearly abandoned before the Marines made it a WWII legend.

The Piper J-3 Cub, the Little Yellow Taildragger That Taught America to Fly and Trained the Men Who Won a War

How the 65-horsepower Piper J-3 Cub taught America to fly and trained the pilots who won World War II.

The Memphis Belle, the B Seventeen That Flew Twenty-Five and Came Home, and the Thirteen-Year Restoration That Put Her Back Together at the Air Force Museum

The Memphis Belle survived 25 WWII missions, then a 13-year restoration returned the famous B-17 to display at the Air Force Museum in Dayton.

The Gimli Glider, Captain Bob Pearson's Dead-Stick Sideslip Onto a Drag Strip After Air Canada Ran a Boeing 767 Out of Fuel at Forty-One Thousand Feet

How Captain Bob Pearson glided a fuel-starved Air Canada 767 to a dead-stick landing at Gimli using a slip every student pilot learns.

The Gates Flying Circus, Ivan Gates and Upside-Down Pangborn, and the Barnstorming Outfit That Sold a Million Americans Their First Ride

The Gates Flying Circus gave over a million Americans their first airplane ride and helped turn a nation onto flight in the 1920s.

The Flying Tigers, Claire Chennault's American Volunteer Group, and the Shark-Mouthed P Forty Warhawks That Held the Sky Over Burma Before America Was Even in the War

How Claire Chennault's Flying Tigers used shark-nosed P-40 Warhawks and unconventional tactics to beat Japanese airpower over Burma and China in 1941-42.

The de Havilland Comet's First Flight on July Twenty-Seventh, Nineteen Forty-Nine, and the Square Windows That Taught the World How Metal Really Breaks

The de Havilland Comet launched the jet age on July 27, 1949, then its square windows revealed the deadly lesson of metal fatigue.

The Bristol Blenheim, the Only One Left Flying, and the British Light Bomber That Was Restored Three Times Because Her People Refused to Let Her Die

Radio Hangar explores The Bristol Blenheim, the Only One Left Flying, and the British Light Bomber That Was Restored Three Times Because Her People Refused to Let Her Die.

Roscoe Turner, Gilmore the Lion, and the Powder-Blue Showman Who Won the Thompson Trophy Three Times at Cleveland

Colonel Roscoe Turner won the Thompson Trophy three times, flew with a pet lion, and became aviation's greatest showman.

Eugene Ely, the Curtiss Pusher, and the Wooden Platform Off a Cruiser That Gave the Navy Its First Airplane

How Eugene Ely flew a Curtiss Pusher off USS Birmingham in 1910 and landed on USS Pennsylvania in 1911, inventing naval aviation.

Bob Reeve, the Glacier Pilot of Valdez, and the Tidal-Flat Runway That Taught a Broke Barnstormer to Land on Ice

How broke barnstormer Bob Reeve turned Alaska's tidal mud and moving glaciers into runways and became aviation's legendary Glacier Pilot.

Beryl Markham, the Vega Gull Messenger, and the Night She Flew the Atlantic Backwards Into a Nova Scotia Bog

How Beryl Markham became the first woman to fly the Atlantic solo east-to-west, crash-landing in a Nova Scotia bog in 1936.

Wrong Way Corrigan, the Curtiss Robin, and the Twenty-Eight Hour Mistake That Flew From Brooklyn to Dublin

How Douglas 'Wrong Way' Corrigan flew a $310 Curtiss Robin from Brooklyn to Dublin in 1938 and called it an accident.

The Republic P Forty-Seven Thunderbolt, the Jug, and the Seven-Ton Fighter That Brought Its Pilots Home Full of Holes

How the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt 'Jug' - a seven-ton fighter - outdove enemies and brought its pilots home riddled with holes.

The Night Witches, the Polikarpov Po Two Biplane, and the Women Who Cut Their Engines to Glide Onto a Target in the Dark

The Night Witches flew obsolete Po-2 biplanes into WWII combat, cutting their engines to glide silently onto targets in the dark.

The F Eighty-Six Sabre, MiG Alley, and the Day the Shooting Stopped Over the Yalu

The F-86 Sabre dominated MiG Alley in the Korean War until jet combat ended with the armistice on July 27, 1953.

The Douglas World Cruiser Chicago, the 1924 First Flight Around the World, and the Open-Cockpit Biplane Still Hanging in the Smithsonian

The 1924 Douglas World Cruiser Chicago made the first flight around the world - and still hangs in the Smithsonian today.

The Douglas SBD Dauntless, the Slow But Deadly Dive Bomber, and the Five Minutes at Midway That Turned the Whole Pacific War

How the slow, homely Douglas SBD Dauntless sank four Japanese carriers at Midway and turned the Pacific War in five minutes.

That's All, Brother, the C Forty-Seven That Led the D-Day Invasion and Was Nearly Turned Into a Turboprop Before the CAF Pulled Her Out of the Boneyard

How the C-47 that led the D-Day airborne invasion was rescued from a turboprop conversion line and restored to fly over Normandy again.

Sixty-Four Days Aloft - The Hacienda Cessna One Seventy-Two That Refused to Land Over Las Vegas

In 1958-59, two men kept a Cessna 172 airborne over Las Vegas for 64 days without landing - a record that still stands today.

Pancho Barnes, the Fastest Woman on Earth, and the Happy Bottom Riding Club at the Edge of the Sound Barrier

How Pancho Barnes became the fastest woman on earth and built the desert club where test pilots broke the sound barrier.

Ormer Locklear, the Man Who Walked the Wings, and the Curtiss Jenny Barnstormers Who Sold America Its First Airplane Ride

How barnstormer Ormer Locklear and the surplus Curtiss Jenny sold America its first airplane ride after World War I.

Jimmy Doolittle's Blind Flight of Nineteen Twenty-Nine, the Fog Lab at Mitchel Field, and the Morning a Man Flew From Takeoff to Landing Without Ever Seeing the Ground

On September 24, 1929, Jimmy Doolittle flew from takeoff to landing entirely on instruments, launching the age of instrument flight.

Don Sheldon, the Talkeetna Glacier Pilot, and the Cessna One Eighty That Landed on the Ruth Amphitheater to Pull Climbers Off Denali

How Talkeetna bush pilot Don Sheldon flew an ordinary Cessna 180 on skis onto Denali's glaciers to rescue stranded climbers.

Bessie Coleman, Queen Bess, and the Black Barnstormer Who Crossed an Ocean to Get the License America Wouldn't Give Her

How Bessie Coleman crossed the Atlantic to become the first Black and Native American woman to earn a pilot's license.

The Spirit of St. Louis, Lindbergh's Wicker-Seat Gamble Across the Atlantic, and the Full-Scale Ryan Hanging in the EAA Museum at Oshkosh

Radio Hangar explores The Spirit of St. Louis, Lindbergh's Wicker-Seat Gamble Across the Atlantic, and the Full-Scale Ryan Hanging in the EAA Museum at Oshkosh.

Betty Skelton, the Little Stinker, and the First Lady of Firsts Who Cut the Ribbon Upside Down, Told From the Aerobatic Rows at Oshkosh

How Betty Skelton and her red Pitts Special 'Little Stinker' broke aviation's barriers with inverted ribbon cuts and 17 records.

Voyager, the Rutan Brothers, and Jeana Yeager - the Homebuilt That Flew Around the World Without Stopping, Told From the Canard Rows at Oshkosh

Radio Hangar explores Voyager, the Rutan Brothers, and Jeana Yeager - the Homebuilt That Flew Around the World Without Stopping, Told From the Canard Rows at Oshkosh.

The Travel Air Mystery Ship, the Airplane Walter Beech Hid From the Army, and the Day a Civilian Racer Humiliated the Military at Cleveland

How the 1929 Travel Air Mystery Ship beat the U.S. Army and Navy at Cleveland and pushed American aviation toward the monoplane.

The Gee Bee Super Sportster, the Granville Brothers' Flying Engine, and the Barrel-Chested Racer That Terrified a Generation and Came Roaring Back at Oshkosh

The Gee Bee Super Sportster earned a killer reputation, but Doolittle and Delmar Benjamin proved it was demanding, not evil.

The BRRRRT Act and the Congressional Fight to Keep the A-10 Warthog Flying

A bipartisan bill, the BRRRRT Act, aims to halt the A-10 Warthog's retirement until a certified replacement is operational.

Louis Blériot, the Channel Crossing of July Twenty-Fifth, Nineteen Oh Nine, and the Little Monoplane That Proved England Was No Longer an Island

On July 25, 1909, Louis Blériot flew a 25-hp monoplane across the English Channel, ending England's age as an unreachable island.

Lincoln Beachey's Wingwalkers and the Nine-Day Girl - Gladys Ingle, the Thirteen Black Cats, and the Mid-Air Wheel Change Told From the Vintage Rows at Oshkosh

How Gladys Ingle of the Thirteen Black Cats changed an airplane wheel in mid-air, and why barnstorming built modern aviation.

Doolittle, Fitch, and the B-25 Mitchells Roaring Off a Carrier Deck - The Tokyo Raid Told From the Warbird Ramp at Oshkosh

The 1942 Doolittle Raid launched 16 B-25 bombers off the USS Hornet to strike Tokyo, a mission that reshaped the Pacific war.

The Gates Flying Circus, Ivan Gates, and Upside-Down Pangborn - the Barnstorming Outfit That Sold America Its First Airplane Ride a Dollar at a Time

How the Gates Flying Circus sold over a million Americans their first airplane ride for a dollar and launched the barnstorming era.

Glacier Girl, the Lost Squadron, and the P Thirty-Eight Lightning They Dug Out From Under Two Hundred Sixty-Eight Feet of Greenland Ice

How Glacier Girl, a P-38 Lightning, was recovered from 268 feet of Greenland ice 50 years after crash-landing and flew again in 2002.

Wiley Post, the Winnie Mae, and the One-Eyed Oklahoma Boy Who Flew Solo Around the World

How Wiley Post, a one-eyed Oklahoma pilot, flew the Winnie Mae solo around the world in 1933 and pioneered the pressure suit.

The Beechcraft Staggerwing and the Backward Biplane That Outran Every Airplane in Its Class

The Beechcraft Staggerwing's backward-staggered wings made this 1930s luxury biplane faster than fighters - here's the real story.

Don Sheldon, the Talkeetna Mountain Pilot, and the Glacier Landings That Wrote the Book on Bush Flying

How Alaska bush pilot Don Sheldon pioneered glacier landings on Denali and rewrote the rules of backcountry flying.

Curtis Pitts, Betty Skelton, and the Little Biplane That Taught the World to Roll

How Curtis Pitts and pilot Betty Skelton turned a homemade Florida biplane into the airplane that taught the world to roll.

Benny Howard, Mister Mulligan, and the Homebuilt Racer That Won Both the Bendix and the Thompson in a Single Year

How Benny Howard's homebuilt Mister Mulligan won both the 1935 Bendix and Thompson trophies - the only airplane ever to do it.

The Gee Bee Super Sportster and the Flying Barrel That Jimmy Doolittle Rode to Three Hundred Miles an Hour

The story of the Gee Bee Super Sportster, the barrel-shaped racer Jimmy Doolittle flew to 296 mph in 1932 - and why it wasn't the murderer history claimed.

The de Havilland Beaver and the Bush Pilots Who Told de Havilland Exactly What to Build

How Canadian bush pilots wrote the spec for the de Havilland Beaver in 1947, creating a floatplane that still works worldwide today.

The Curtiss JN-4 Jenny and the Ninety-Dollar Surplus Trainer That Turned a Generation of Pilots Loose on America

How $50 surplus Curtiss JN-4 'Jenny' biplanes launched the barnstorming era and put ordinary Americans in the sky.

Chuck Yeager, Glamorous Glennis, and the Morning the Bell X One Broke the Sound Barrier

How Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 on October 14, 1947 - with two cracked ribs and a sawed-off broomstick.

Wrong Way Corrigan and the Flight to Ireland He Swore He Never Meant to Make

How Douglas 'Wrong Way' Corrigan flew a patched-up Curtiss Robin from New York to Ireland in 1938 and blamed his compass.

The Wooden Wonder Reborn - How Glyn Powell's Molds and the Avspecs Team Brought the de Havilland Mosquito Back to the Sky

How Glyn Powell's hand-built molds and New Zealand's Avspecs team returned the de Havilland Mosquito to flight after 16 years grounded.

The Night Witches - How the Soviet 588th Flew Canvas Biplanes to War in the Dark

How the Soviet 588th Night Bomber Regiment - the 'Night Witches' - flew obsolete canvas biplanes on 23,000+ night raids in WWII.

The Douglas DC-3 and the Gooney Bird That Outlived Every Airplane Built to Replace It

The Douglas DC-3 first flew in 1935, made airlines profitable, helped win WWII as the C-47, and still flies today.

The Bent-Wing Bird - How the Vought F4U Corsair Earned the Name Whistling Death

How the Vought F4U Corsair's bent inverted gull wing solved an engineering problem and earned it the fearsome name Whistling Death.

Roscoe Turner and Gilmore the Lion - The Racing Pilot Who Flew With a Cat in the Cockpit

How showman-pilot Roscoe Turner flew with a pet lion named Gilmore and became the only man to win the Thompson Trophy three times.

Pardo's Push - The F Four Phantom Pilot Who Flew Another Fighter Home on His Windshield

How F-4 pilot Bob Pardo pushed a crippled Phantom nearly 90 miles to safety over Vietnam in 1967, a feat known as Pardo's Push.

Ormer Locklear, King of the Wing Walkers, and the Night Dive Over DeMille Field

The story of Ormer Locklear, the first wing walker, who invented aerial stunting in barnstorming's golden age before dying at age 28.

Neil Armstrong the Aviator - The Navy Panther, the X-15, and the Pilot Behind Tranquility Base

Before Apollo 11, Neil Armstrong was a Navy combat pilot and X-15 test pilot - and that flying is what got him to the moon.

Glacier Girl and the Lost Squadron - The P Thirty-Eight Pulled From Two Hundred Sixty-Eight Feet of Greenland Ice

How a P-38 Lightning buried under 268 feet of Greenland ice for 50 years was recovered and flew again as Glacier Girl.

Douglas Bader, the Tin-Legged Ace Who Flew the Battle of Britain on Two Artificial Legs

How RAF ace Douglas Bader lost both legs in a 1931 crash and still flew the Battle of Britain on two artificial legs.

Don Sheldon, the Talkeetna Glacier Pilot Who Landed a Super Cub on the Roof of Denali

How Alaskan bush pilot Don Sheldon mastered glacier landings on Denali in a Piper Super Cub, saving stranded climbers and pioneering ski-plane flying.

Calbraith Perry Rodgers and the Vin Fiz - The First Flight Across America

How Cal Rodgers flew the Vin Fiz coast-to-coast in 1911, surviving 16 crashes to become the first person to fly across America.

The Vought F4U Corsair: The Bent-Wing Bird the Carriers Didn't Want

The Vought F4U Corsair overcame early carrier rejection to achieve an 11-to-1 kill ratio in the Pacific and serve through the Korean War, with over 12,600 built across eleven years.

The Swamp Ghost: The B-Seventeen That Slept in a Papua New Guinea Swamp for Sixty-Four Years

The Swamp Ghost is a B-17E bomber that crash-landed in a Papua New Guinea swamp in 1942 and sat preserved and largely intact for 64 years before recovery.

The Question Mark: Six Days Over Los Angeles and the Endurance Flight That Proved Airpower Could Stay Up Forever

How a 1929 six-day endurance flight over Los Angeles proved aerial refueling was operationally viable and laid the strategic foundation for American airpower in World War II.

The Night Witches: Soviet Women Who Bombed the Wehrmacht in Open-Cockpit Biplanes

The all-female 588th Night Bomber Regiment flew over 23,000 combat sorties in WWI-era Po-2 biplanes, earning the German nickname 'Night Witches.'

Roscoe Turner, the Thompson Trophy, and the Man Who Turned Air Racing Into Theater

Roscoe Turner won the Thompson Trophy three times - the only pilot in history to do so - combining elite flying skill with deliberate, strategic self-promotion during aviation's golden age.

Punch Dickins and the Barren Lands: Opening the Canadian North by Air

In 1928, bush pilot Punch Dickins flew a 3,900-mile survey of Canada's unmapped Barren Lands, earning the McKee Trophy and opening the Northwest Territories to regular air service.

Operation Tidal Wave: The Low-Level Mission to Ploesti and the Five Medals of Honor

Operation Tidal Wave on August 1, 1943 sent 178 B-24 Liberators against Romania's Ploesti oil refineries at treetop level, producing five Medals of Honor in a single mission.

Lincoln Beachey and the Death Dip: The Man Who Taught America to Look Up

Lincoln Beachey was America's greatest early aviator, whose death-defying stunts from 1910 to 1915 transformed the airplane from curiosity to cultural icon.

Glenn Curtiss, the Gordon Bennett Trophy, and the Patent War That Nearly Grounded American Aviation

Glenn Curtiss won history's first international air speed race in 1909, invented naval aviation, and built the trainer that gave WWI pilots their wings - all while fighting the patent war that nearly grounded American aviation.

Doc the B-Twenty-Nine Superfortress: From the Mojave Desert to the Kansas Sky

Doc the B-29 Superfortress spent 42 years abandoned in the Mojave Desert before volunteers returned her to the Kansas skies where she was born.

Beryl Markham and the Night Atlantic: The Solo Flight That Went the Hard Way

Beryl Markham was the first person to fly solo nonstop from England to North America on September 4, 1936, battling headwinds alone for 21 hours and 25 minutes.

The SR-71 Blackbird's New York to London Record: One Hour and Fifty-Four Minutes at Mach Three

On September 1, 1974, the SR-71 Blackbird crossed the Atlantic in 1 hour 54 minutes - a record no aircraft has broken in over 50 years.

The North American P-51 Mustang: The Fighter That Saved the Eighth Air Force

How the P-51 Mustang's Merlin engine and 1,100-mile range broke the Luftwaffe and rescued Allied strategic bombing from catastrophic failure in 1944.

The Grumman F6F Hellcat: The Fighter Engineered to End Zero Supremacy

The Grumman F6F Hellcat reversed American fortunes in the Pacific by out-engineering the Zero, achieving a 19-to-1 kill ratio and accounting for over 60% of all naval air victories.

The Dornier Do 335 Pfeil: The Fastest Piston Fighter Nobody Got to Fight

The Dornier Do 335 Pfeil was the fastest piston-engined fighter of WWII, reaching ~475 mph - but only around 40 were ever built.

The Dole Derby: The Race to Hawaii That Swallowed the Pacific

The 1927 Dole Derby offered $35,000 in prize money for a nonstop flight from Oakland to Honolulu, but the race became one of aviation's most sobering disasters.

The China Clipper: Pan American's First Crossing of the Pacific

On November 22, 1935, Pan Am's China Clipper completed the first scheduled transpacific flight, covering 8,000 miles from California to Manila in 59 hours and 48 minutes of flying time.

Ormer Locklear and the Airplane Transfer: The Texan Who Built Barnstorming Into an Art Form