The Gremlin Special and the hidden valley rescue that used a glider snatch off a jungle floor
The 1945 Gremlin Special crash in New Guinea's hidden Baliem Valley led to one of WWII's most daring rescues using glider snatch recovery.
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 P-thirty-eight Lightning and Operation Vengeance, the four-hundred-mile intercept that killed Admiral Yamamoto
How sixteen P-38 Lightnings flew 400 miles at wave-top height to intercept and kill Admiral Yamamoto in 1943.
Fifi the B-twenty-nine Superfortress pulled from a Navy bombing range and restored to fly again
How volunteers rescued the B-29 Fifi from a Navy bombing range and restored her to flying condition against impossible odds.
The Tupolev Tu one forty-four and the Soviet supersonic transport that hit Mach two on May twenty-sixth, nineteen seventy
On May 26, 1970, the Tupolev Tu-144 became the first commercial transport aircraft to reach Mach 2, a milestone in the Cold War supersonic race.
The Grumman F6F Hellcat and the fighter built from a captured enemy's secrets
How a crashed Japanese Zero in Alaska's Aleutian Islands gave Grumman the intelligence to build the F6F Hellcat and turn the Pacific air war.
Patty Wagstaff and the three straight national aerobatic titles that rewrote the airshow world
Patty Wagstaff won three consecutive US National Aerobatic Championships from 1991-1993, forever changing competition aerobatics.
The North American F-hundred Super Sabre and the first production fighter to go supersonic in level flight on May twenty-fifth, nineteen fifty-three
The F-100 Super Sabre became the first production fighter to exceed Mach 1 in level flight on May 25, 1953, changing military aviation forever.
The Fairey Swordfish biplanes that attacked the Bismarck on the night of May twenty-fourth, nineteen forty-one
Nine obsolete Swordfish biplanes attacked the battleship Bismarck on May 24, 1941, and every one survived.
The Navy Curtiss NC-4 and the first aircraft to cross the Atlantic, arriving in Lisbon on May twenty-second, nineteen nineteen
The Navy Curtiss NC-4 completed the first transatlantic flight on May 22, 1919, a milestone most people wrongly attribute to later aviators.
Hurricane R four one eighteen and the Battle of Britain veteran pulled from India and restored to fly again
Hurricane R4118, a Battle of Britain combat veteran with 49 sorties, was recovered from India and restored to airworthy condition.
Amelia Earhart lands in Ireland and becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic on May twenty-first, nineteen thirty-two
On May 21, 1932, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, landing in Ireland after nearly 15 harrowing hours.
Charles Lindbergh and the Spirit of Saint Louis lifting off from Roosevelt Field on May twentieth, nineteen twenty-seven
On May 20, 1927, Charles Lindbergh departed Roosevelt Field in the Spirit of Saint Louis for the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight.
Harry Hawker and Mackenzie-Grieve and the transatlantic attempt that ended in the North Atlantic on May nineteenth, nineteen nineteen
On May 19, 1919, Harry Hawker and Kenneth Mackenzie-Grieve ditched in the North Atlantic, failing to cross but proving it could be done.
Wrong Way Corrigan and the nine-dollar airplane that accidentally crossed the Atlantic
Douglas Corrigan 'accidentally' flew from New York to Ireland in 1938 after being denied permission three times.
Bill Odom and the Labor Day crash that killed the Cleveland National Air Races
The 1949 Berea crash that killed pilot Bill Odom and two bystanders ended the Cleveland National Air Races and reshaped airshow safety forever.
The Bristol Blenheim and the twenty-year resurrection of Britain's forgotten bomber
The Bristol Blenheim flew Britain's first offensive mission of WWII, then vanished - until one man spent 31 years bringing her back.
The Mount Saint Helens eruption of May eighteenth nineteen eighty and the volcanic ash cloud that grounded the Northwest and changed aviation forever
The 1980 Mount Saint Helens eruption exposed aviation's vulnerability to volcanic ash and sparked the global warning systems pilots rely on today.
Alcock and Brown and the sixteen hours that crossed the Atlantic for the very first time
Alcock and Brown completed the first nonstop transatlantic flight in June 1919, eight years before Lindbergh, in an open-cockpit biplane.
Robin Olds and the fighter ace who tricked North Vietnam's MiGs with Operation Bolo
Robin Olds scored 17 aerial victories across two wars and masterminded Operation Bolo, the most successful air-to-air mission of the Vietnam War.
The Ijmuiden disaster and the B-twenty-six Marauder crews who redeemed the Widow Maker
The B-26 Marauder went from the most feared bomber in the Army Air Forces to the lowest combat loss rate of any American bomber in Europe.