The Doolittle Raid and sixteen B twenty-fives that changed the course of the Pacific War
The Doolittle Raid of April 1942 launched sixteen B-25 bombers from a carrier deck to strike Tokyo and alter the course 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.
Wrong Way Corrigan and the most famous navigational mistake that fooled absolutely nobody
Douglas Corrigan flew a patched-up Curtiss Robin from New York to Ireland in 1938, claiming it was a navigational error nobody believed.
The Gee Bee Super Sportster and the most beautiful deathtrap in air racing history
The Gee Bee Super Sportster was the fastest and most dangerous racing airplane of the 1930s, built by five self-taught brothers in a converted dance hall.
Chuck Yeager and the broken ribs that almost kept him from breaking the sound barrier
How Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier on October 14, 1947, with two broken ribs and a nine-inch piece of broom handle.
Doc the B twenty-nine Superfortress and the sixteen-year restoration that defied the impossible
The 16-year restoration of B-29 Superfortress 'Doc' from desert hulk to flying warbird is one of aviation's greatest preservation stories.
The death of the Red Baron on April twenty-first, nineteen eighteen
The Red Baron died on April 21, 1918, after breaking his own combat rules - and over a century later, his killer remains disputed.
Tex Johnston and the day Boeing's test pilot barrel-rolled a jet airliner over Lake Washington
How test pilot Tex Johnston barrel-rolled Boeing's only jet airliner prototype over Lake Washington in 1955 - and helped launch the jet age.
Bob Hoover and the greatest stick-and-rudder flying the world has ever seen
Bob Hoover, called the greatest stick-and-rudder pilot ever by Jimmy Doolittle, redefined airmanship through six decades of flying.
How a beat-up Mustang in the Texas desert launched the warbird airshow movement
How five Texas pilots who bought a forgotten P-51 Mustang in 1957 launched the warbird preservation movement that saved thousands of WWII aircraft.
The de Havilland Mosquito and the impossible quest to fly the Wooden Wonder again
The decades-long quest to return the de Havilland Mosquito to flight demanded lost woodworking skills, wartime materials, and extraordinary determination.
The Lafayette Escadrille forms on this day in nineteen sixteen
On April 20, 1916, the Lafayette Escadrille formed as American volunteer pilots joined France's air war a full year before the U.S. entered WWI.
The de Havilland Mosquito and the wooden wonder that outran everything in the sky
The de Havilland Mosquito was a wooden WWII aircraft that outran fighters, carried bomber payloads, and became the most versatile combat plane of the war.
The Berlin Airlift Easter Parade of nineteen forty-nine
The 1949 Easter Parade delivered nearly 13,000 tons of supplies to blockaded Berlin in 24 hours, breaking Soviet resolve.
The Pan Am Pacific Clipper's secret flight around the world after Pearl Harbor
After Pearl Harbor, Pan Am's Pacific Clipper flew 31,500 miles around the world because its Pacific route home no longer existed.
Wrong Way Corrigan and the greatest wink in aviation history
Douglas Corrigan flew a beat-up Curtiss Robin from New York to Ireland in 1938, claiming he read his compass wrong.
Bob Hoover and the greatest airshow act nobody could explain
Bob Hoover's dead-stick airshow routine in a stock twin-engine Shrike Commander remains the most extraordinary demonstration of airmanship ever performed.
Bob Hoover, the pilot's pilot who stole a Focke-Wulf from the Nazis
Bob Hoover escaped a Nazi POW camp, stole a Focke-Wulf 190, and became the greatest demonstration pilot in aviation history.
Glacier Girl and the P thirty-eight pulled from beneath two hundred sixty-eight feet of Greenland ice
The story of Glacier Girl, a WWII P-38 Lightning recovered from 268 feet beneath Greenland's ice cap and restored to flying condition.
Jerrie Mock becomes the first woman to fly solo around the world
On April 17, 1964, Jerrie Mock became the first woman to fly solo around the world in a Cessna 180 named Spirit of Columbus.
The Cornfield Bomber, the F one oh six that landed itself
The true story of an F-106 Delta Dart that recovered from a flat spin and landed itself in a Montana cornfield in 1970.