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 Hangar
Aviation history and storytelling with Taildragger. Warbird restorations, legendary pilots, famous flights, and the stories that shaped aviation from the Wright Brothers to the Space Shuttle.
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 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 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.
Bob Hoover, the Iced Tea Barrel Roll, and the Test Pilot Who Stole a Focke-Wulf One Ninety to Escape a German Prison Camp
The story of Bob Hoover - POW escapee, X-1 backup pilot, and the airshow legend who poured iced tea during a barrel roll.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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 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 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.
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.
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.
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.