John Derry and the nineteen fifty-two Farnborough disaster that rewrote airshow safety forever
The 1952 Farnborough airshow disaster killed 31 people and fundamentally changed how every airshow in the world manages spectator safety.
Taildraggeraviation history
The Kee Bird and the B-twenty-nine they almost flew out of Greenland after forty-seven years on the ice
The Kee Bird B-29 sat on a frozen Greenland lake for 48 years before a team nearly flew her home — then lost her to fire.
TaildraggerThe Montgolfier brothers and the first public flight of a hot air balloon on June fourth, seventeen eighty-three
On June 4, 1783, the Montgolfier brothers launched the first public hot air balloon flight in Annonay, France, launching the age of human flight.
TaildraggerWiley Post and the one-eyed Oklahoma oilfield roughneck who flew around the world and invented the pressure suit
Wiley Post lost an eye in an oil field accident, then flew around the world twice and invented the pressure suit.
TaildraggerWrong Way Corrigan and the transatlantic flight nobody was supposed to make
How Douglas Corrigan pulled off aviation's greatest stunt by 'accidentally' flying to Ireland instead of California in 1938.
TaildraggerAir France Flight zero zero seven at Orly and the Atlanta art patrons who never came home on June third, nineteen sixty-two
The 1962 crash of Air France Flight 007 at Orly killed 130 people, including 106 Atlanta art patrons, and reshaped a city's cultural identity.
TaildraggerEddie Rickenbacker and the twenty-four days on a life raft that should have killed America's Ace of Aces
How Eddie Rickenbacker, America's WWI Ace of Aces, survived 24 days adrift in the Pacific in 1942.
TaildraggerThe de Havilland Mosquito and the wooden airplane that outran everything the Luftwaffe could throw at it
The de Havilland Mosquito was a wooden WWII bomber so fast it needed no guns, becoming the most versatile Allied combat aircraft.
TaildraggerThe Gimli Glider and the Boeing seven sixty-seven that ran out of fuel at forty-one thousand feet
How a metric conversion error left Air Canada Flight 143 without fuel at 41,000 feet, and the glider pilot who saved 69 lives.
TaildraggerCharles Rolls and the first nonstop double crossing of the English Channel on June second, nineteen ten
On June 2, 1910, Charles Rolls completed the first nonstop round-trip flight across the English Channel—and died flying 39 days later.
TaildraggerJackie Cochran and the orphan from Muscogee who became the fastest woman alive
Jackie Cochran rose from barefoot poverty to become the most decorated female pilot in history, breaking the sound barrier and leading the WASP program.
TaildraggerMax Conrad the Flying Grandfather and the solo ocean crossings in a Piper Twin Comanche
Max Conrad crossed the Atlantic dozens of times in Piper Comanches, setting world records that proved light aircraft could go anywhere.
TaildraggerThe Cornfield Bomber and the F-106 that landed itself in a Montana field after the pilot punched out
The true story of an F-106 Delta Dart that recovered from a flat spin and landed itself in a Montana field after its pilot ejected.
TaildraggerThe de Havilland Mosquito and the wooden wonder they said would never work
The de Havilland Mosquito was a wooden WWII bomber that outran fighters and changed aerial warfare despite being rejected by the Air Ministry.
TaildraggerThe Grande Semaine at Reims in nineteen oh nine and the week that invented the airshow
The 1909 Grande Semaine d'Aviation at Reims, France was the event that invented the modern airshow format we know today.
TaildraggerThe Memphis Belle B-seventeen restoration and the thirteen-year effort to save America's most famous bomber
The Memphis Belle's 13-year, 55,000-hour restoration returned America's most famous WWII bomber to her mission-25 condition.
TaildraggerDoc the B-twenty-nine Superfortress and the sixteen-year restoration that brought a Mojave Desert hulk back to the sky
The 16-year restoration of B-29 Doc transformed a desert hulk into one of only two flying Superfortresses in the world.
TaildraggerTex Johnston and the barrel roll over Lake Washington that sold the jet age
How test pilot Tex Johnston's barrel roll of Boeing's Dash 80 over Lake Washington in 1955 launched the commercial jet age.
TaildraggerThe de Havilland Mosquito and the wooden wonder that outran every fighter in the sky
The de Havilland Mosquito was a WWII bomber built from wood that outran every fighter in the sky and became the war's most versatile aircraft.
TaildraggerThe Focke-Wulf one ninety and the first flight of the Butcher Bird on June first, nineteen thirty-nine
The Focke-Wulf 190 first flew on June 1, 1939, and became one of WWII's most feared fighters thanks to Kurt Tank's radical radial-engine design.
Taildragger