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 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 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 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.
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.
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.
Noel Wien, the Careful Norwegian Who Flew Fairbanks to Nome in Nineteen Twenty-Five and Wrote the Rules Every Bush Pilot Still Lives By
How Noel Wien flew Fairbanks to Nome in 1925 and wrote the careful-pilot rules every bush pilot still lives by.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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 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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.