The Lake Michigan warbirds and the Navy trainers pulled from freshwater graves to fly again
Dozens of WWII Navy trainers rest on Lake Michigan's bottom, and the remarkable recoveries are producing airworthy warbirds decades later.
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 Battle of the Coral Sea and the carrier duel where warships never saw each other
The Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942 was the first naval battle fought entirely by aircraft, where opposing fleets never saw each other.
Mathias Rust and the teenage Cessna pilot who landed in Red Square
In 1987, 19-year-old Mathias Rust flew a rented Cessna 172 from Helsinki to Moscow's Red Square, exposing Soviet air defense failures and reshaping Cold War politics.
Lincoln Beachey and the dive that silenced the man who owned the sky over San Francisco Bay
Lincoln Beachey, the most famous pilot of aviation's early era, died in a wing failure dive over San Francisco Bay in 1915.
The Hindenburg disaster at Lakehurst and the thirty-seven seconds that ended the age of the airship on May sixth, nineteen thirty-seven
The Hindenburg disaster at Lakehurst on May 6, 1937 destroyed the world's largest airship in 37 seconds and ended rigid airship travel forever.
Wrong Way Corrigan and the transatlantic flight nobody was supposed to believe
Douglas 'Wrong Way' Corrigan flew from New York to Dublin in 1938, claiming he meant to go to California - and never admitted otherwise.
The Tu-144 crash at the nineteen seventy-three Paris Air Show and the six seconds that destroyed the Soviet supersonic dream
The 1973 Tu-144 crash at the Paris Air Show killed 14 people and effectively ended the Soviet supersonic airliner program.
Alan Shepard and the fifteen minutes that put America in space on May fifth, nineteen sixty-one
On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American in space during a 15-minute suborbital flight that changed the course of history.
William Rankin and the forty-minute fall through a thunderstorm at forty-seven thousand feet
In 1959, Marine pilot William Rankin ejected at 47,000 feet and survived 40 minutes inside a thunderstorm.
The XB-70 Valkyrie mid-air collision and the photo shoot that killed two pilots at Mach three's doorstep
The 1968 XB-70 Valkyrie mid-air collision killed two pilots during a routine GE publicity photo shoot over the Mojave Desert.
The ghost of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 and the dead flight engineer who kept showing up in other airplanes
The true story of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401, the crash that changed cockpit procedures forever, and the ghost sightings that followed.
The Galloping Ghost and the Reno Air Race disaster of twenty eleven
The 2011 Galloping Ghost crash at Reno killed 11 people and ultimately ended unlimited air racing at Stead Airport.
Eric Winkle Brown and the Royal Navy test pilot who flew more aircraft types than anyone in history
Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown flew 487 aircraft types and made 2,407 carrier landings, records no pilot will likely ever break.
Amy Johnson and the solo flight from England to Australia that began on May fourth, nineteen thirty
On May 4, 1930, Amy Johnson became the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia in a secondhand biplane with just 75 hours in her logbook.
Pancho Barnes and the fastest woman alive who built a desert saloon for test pilots
Pancho Barnes broke speed records, organized Hollywood stunt pilots, and built the legendary bar where test pilots gathered after breaking the sound barrier.
Just Jane the Avro Lancaster and the two brothers who bought an airfield to honor the one who never came home
The story of Just Jane, the Avro Lancaster that two Lincolnshire brothers spent decades restoring to honor their brother lost over Nuremberg in 1944.
Oakley Kelly and John Macready and the nonstop transcontinental flight that nearly killed them both on May third, nineteen twenty-three
On May 3, 1923, Lieutenants Oakley Kelly and John Macready completed the first nonstop transcontinental flight across the United States.
Saburo Sakai and the four-hour flight home with a bullet through his skull over Guadalcanal
How Saburo Sakai flew nearly five hours home with a bullet in his skull after being shot over Guadalcanal in 1942.
The Douglas World Cruiser Seattle and the crash on April thirtieth, nineteen twenty-four that almost ended the first flight around the world
On April 30, 1924, the Douglas World Cruiser Seattle crashed into an Alaskan mountainside, nearly ending the first-ever flight around the world.
The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and the seven-ton fighter they called the Jug
The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was WWII's heaviest single-engine fighter, devastating in both air combat and ground attack roles.