bush flying story
Harold Gillam was Alaska's most technically disciplined bush pilot - and his final flight in January 1943 became one of the territory's most haunting stories.
Taildraggeraviation history
Doc's Homecoming: The B-29 Superfortress Rescued From the California Desert
How Doc's Friends spent 16 years and 300,000 volunteer hours rescuing a B-29 Superfortress from the Mojave Desert and returning it to Wichita's skies.
TaildraggerThe Curtiss NC-4: The Flying Boat That Crossed the Atlantic Before Lindbergh
The Curtiss NC-4 crossed the North Atlantic in May 1919 - eight years before Lindbergh - carrying six Navy men 1,500 miles by dead reckoning alone.
TaildraggerThe Night Witches and the Five Eighty-Eighth Night Bomber Regiment
The Soviet 588th Night Bomber Regiment - the Night Witches - flew 23,000 WWII combat sorties in fabric biplanes, navigating at night by compass and clock alone.
TaildraggerThe Rutan Voyager: Nine Days, No Fuel Stops, and the Last Great Aviation First
On December 14, 1986, Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager completed the first nonstop, unrefueled flight around the world in the Rutan Voyager, covering 25,000 miles in nine days.
TaildraggerThe Vought F4U Corsair: The Bent-Wing Bird the Navy Rejected and the Marines Made Famous
The F4U Corsair went from Navy reject to one of WWII's most feared fighters - built around a massive engine, refined by Marines, and flying combat missions into 1969.
TaildraggerWiley Post and the Winnie Mae - The One-Eyed Pilot Who Flew Around the World Alone
Wiley Post used a $1,800 workers' comp settlement to learn to fly, then circled the globe twice, discovered the jet stream, and invented the pressure suit.
TaildraggerWrong Way Corrigan and the Flight Nobody Could Prove Was On Purpose
On July 17, 1938, Douglas Corrigan flew from New York to Ireland on a flight plan filed for Los Angeles - and spent 57 years insisting it was a compass error.
TaildraggerSix Two One Zero Kilohertz: The Last Hours of Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan
On July 2, 1937, Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan vanished over the Pacific during their final approach to Howland Island - a radio failure that aviation still learns from today.
TaildraggerQatar's Boeing Seven Forty-Seven and the Bridge to a New Air Force One
Qatar's donated Boeing 747-8 has now carried President Trump, serving as a bridge aircraft while Boeing completes the long-delayed VC-25B replacement.
TowerCount Zeppelin and the LZ-One - The Day the Age of Giant Aircraft Was Born
On July 2, 1900, Ferdinand von Zeppelin's LZ-1 made its first flight over Lake Constance - predating the Wright Brothers by three years and launching the world's first commercial airline.
TaildraggerThe Lockheed Constellation - The Most Beautiful Airliner Ever Built
The Lockheed Constellation revolutionized transatlantic travel with its pressurized cabin, 300+ mph cruise speed, and unmistakable triple-tail silhouette - and a design story that's as compelling as the aircraft itself.
TaildraggerWop May and the Mercy Flight - From the Red Baron's Shadow to the Frozen Bush of Northern Alberta
How Wilfrid 'Wop' May survived being chased by the Red Baron in 1918 and went on to complete a life-saving mercy flight through the Canadian wilderness in 1929.
TaildraggerBlack Thursday - The Second Schweinfurt Raid and the Day the Eighth Air Force Bled
On October 14, 1943, the Eighth Air Force launched 291 B-17s against Schweinfurt's ball bearing factories and lost 60 aircraft and 600 men in a single day.
TaildraggerSR-71 Blackbird - The Preflight Ritual That Made Pilots Into Systems
The SR-71 Blackbird's preflight wasn't just about the aircraft - it was a full physiological preparation protocol that treated the pilot as mission-critical hardware.
TowerBilly Mitchell and the Ostfriesland - The Twenty-One Minutes That Proved Airpower Could Win a War
On July 21, 1921, Army Air Service bombers sank the German battleship Ostfriesland in 21 minutes, validating Billy Mitchell's controversial claim that airpower had made the battleship obsolete.
TaildraggerLindbergh Before the Atlantic - The Barnstorming Years That Built a Legend
Before crossing the Atlantic, Charles Lindbergh spent years as a barnstormer, building the real-world skills that made his historic 1927 flight possible.
TaildraggerThe 1956 Grand Canyon Mid-Air - The Collision That Gave Us the FAA
The 1956 Grand Canyon mid-air collision killed 128 people and directly triggered the creation of the Federal Aviation Administration - reshaping every clearance, squawk code, and radar handoff in use today.
TaildraggerTACA Flight One-Ten - The Deadstick Seven Thirty-Seven That Landed on a New Orleans Levee
On May 24, 1988, TACA Flight 110's crew deadsticked a powerless Boeing 737 onto a Louisiana levee, saving all 45 people aboard.
TaildraggerThe Douglas DC-Three - The Midnight Phone Call That Built Modern Aviation
The Douglas DC-3 transformed commercial aviation in 1936 and went on to serve in WWII, the Berlin Airlift, and Vietnam - with hundreds still flying today.
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