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 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 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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.