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