The Lockheed P-38 Lightning and the Fork-Tailed Devil That Ruled Two Oceans
The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was WWII's most distinctive fighter - twin-engine, twin-boom, and with the range to change the outcome of the Pacific war.
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.
Don Sheldon and the Mountain House - The Glacier Pilot Who Built a Home at the Roof of Alaska
Don Sheldon pioneered high-altitude glacier flying in the Alaska Range, built a wilderness hut at 5,800 feet by airlifting materials in a Cessna 180, and left behind a tradition that still defines Talkeetna flying today.
Jimmy Doolittle's Blind Flight and the Fifteen Minutes That Invented IFR
On September 24, 1929, Jimmy Doolittle completed the world's first fully blind flight at Mitchell Field - the 15-minute demonstration that invented IFR.
Operation Tidal Wave and the five Medals of Honor won in one afternoon over Ploesti
On August 1, 1943, 177 B-24 Liberators flew at treetop level into the most defended target in Europe, earning five Medals of Honor in a single afternoon.
The Gates Flying Circus and the Upside-Down Pilot Who Flew a Million Americans
How the Gates Flying Circus flew over a million Americans in the 1920s and built the cultural foundation for commercial aviation.
Harold Gillam, the Ghost Pilot of Alaska, and the Thirty-One Days in the Mountains Above Ketchikan
Harold Gillam, Alaska's legendary Ghost Pilot, vanished in January 1943 near Ketchikan - and four survivors endured 31 days in the wreckage before rescue.
The Curtiss NC-4 and the Forgotten First Crossing of the Atlantic
On May 16, 1919, the Curtiss NC-4 became the first aircraft to cross the Atlantic Ocean - a feat that history has largely handed to someone else.
The SBD Dauntless and the five minutes that turned the Pacific War at Midway
On June 4, 1942, a fuel-starved squadron of SBD Dauntless dive bombers sank three Japanese fleet carriers in roughly five minutes, permanently shifting the balance of power in the Pacific War.
SBD Dauntless Bureau Number Twenty-One Oh Six, the Battle of Midway veteran they pulled from the bottom of Lake Michigan
How SBD Dauntless BuNo 2106, a Battle of Midway veteran, spent 50 years in Lake Michigan and was recovered and restored.
The Heinkel He 176 and the morning of June twentieth, nineteen thirty-nine, when a man first flew on rocket power alone
On June 20, 1939, Erich Warsitz flew the Heinkel He 176 - history's first aircraft powered by rocket alone.
Pangborn, Herndon, and Miss Veedol - the first nonstop flight across the Pacific, and the man who climbed out on the wing to save it
How Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon flew the first nonstop Pacific crossing in 1931 - and climbed onto the wing mid-flight to survive it.
Betty Skelton, Little Stinker, and the inverted ribbon cut twelve feet off the grass
How Betty Skelton flew her Pitts Special 'Little Stinker' inverted through a ribbon 12 feet off the grass and became aviation's First Lady of Firsts.
The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot and the June nineteenth, nineteen forty-four day the Hellcats broke Japanese naval air power
On June 19, 1944, U.S. Hellcats destroyed roughly 350 Japanese aircraft over the Philippine Sea, ending Japanese naval air power for good.
Cal Rodgers and the Vin Fiz, the first man to fly across America in nineteen eleven
In 1911, Cal Rodgers became the first person to fly across America in the Vin Fiz, surviving 49 days and 16 crashes.
Valery Chkalov and the ANT-25, the transpolar flight from Moscow to Vancouver, Washington that began June eighteenth, nineteen thirty-seven
How Valery Chkalov and the ANT-25 flew nonstop over the North Pole from Moscow to Washington State in June 1937.
Charles Blair, Excalibur Three, and the lone Mustang that flew across the top of the world
How Charles Blair flew a red P-51 Mustang solo across the North Pole in 1951 using sun-compass navigation.
The Spruce Goose and the twenty-six seconds Howard Hughes flew the biggest airplane ever built
The Spruce Goose flew just 26 seconds on November 2, 1947 - here's the story of Howard Hughes' birch-built H-4 Hercules.
The Vulcan howl and XH558, the last Avro Vulcan to fly the airshow circuit
Radio Hangar explores The Vulcan howl and XH558, the last Avro Vulcan to fly the airshow circuit.
Eddie Rickenbacker, the race-driver ace of aces, and the twenty-four days adrift in the Pacific that nearly finished him
How WWI ace Eddie Rickenbacker survived 24 days adrift in the Pacific - and why he believed willpower, not equipment, decided who lived.
Amelia Earhart and the Friendship, the gold trimotor that crossed the Atlantic on June seventeenth, nineteen twenty-eight
Radio Hangar explores Amelia Earhart and the Friendship, the gold trimotor that crossed the Atlantic on June seventeenth, nineteen twenty-eight.