Chuck Yeager and the X-1 that punched through the sound barrier with two broken ribs
How Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in 1947 with two broken ribs and a sawed-off broomstick.
Taildraggeraviation history
Max Conrad the Flying Grandfather who crossed oceans in a Comanche
Max Conrad flew a Piper Comanche across the Atlantic over 100 times and set a 7,100-mile solo record that still astounds pilots.
TaildraggerThe Gimli Glider and the seven sixty-seven that ran out of fuel at forty-one thousand feet
The full story of the Gimli Glider, the Boeing 767 that ran out of fuel at 41,000 feet and glided to a dead-stick landing in 1983.
TaildraggerKee Bird and the B-twenty-nine that burned on the Greenland ice after fifty years of waiting
The Kee Bird B-29 survived 48 years on a frozen Greenland lake only to burn minutes before its rescue flight in 1995.
TaildraggerThomas Fitzpatrick and the drunk Marine who landed a stolen airplane on a New York City street twice
Thomas Fitzpatrick stole two airplanes and landed them on a Manhattan street two years apart to win bar bets.
TaildraggerAmy Johnson and the seventy-five-hour pilot who flew solo from England to Australia in a Gipsy Moth called Jason
Amy Johnson flew solo from England to Australia in 1930 with just 75 hours of flight time in a de Havilland Gipsy Moth named Jason.
TaildraggerEugene Bullard and the American who had to cross an ocean to earn his wings
Eugene Bullard, America's first Black combat pilot, had to leave his country and fly for France to earn his wings.
TaildraggerThe Memphis Belle restoration and the thirteen years it took to save America's most famous bomber
The Memphis Belle's 13-year restoration at Wright-Patterson AFB saved America's most famous WWII bomber from decades of decay.
TaildraggerJackie Cochran and the orphan from Sawdust Road who outflew every man in the sky
Jackie Cochran rose from poverty to hold more aviation records than any pilot in history, male or female.
TaildraggerJimmy Angel and the bush plane stranded on top of the world's tallest waterfall
How bush pilot Jimmy Angel crash-landed on a Venezuelan mesa in 1937 and accidentally gave the world's tallest waterfall its name.
TaildraggerThe Gimli Glider and the seven sixty-seven that ran out of gas at forty-one thousand feet
The Gimli Glider incident turned a Boeing 767 into history's largest glider after a metric conversion error left it without fuel at 41,000 feet.
TaildraggerThe 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.
TaildraggerThe nineteen fifty-two Farnborough disaster and the de Havilland DH one ten that changed airshow safety forever
The 1952 Farnborough airshow disaster killed 31 people and fundamentally transformed airshow safety rules worldwide.
TaildraggerAmelia 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.
TaildraggerTex Johnston and the barrel roll that sold the Boeing seven oh seven over Lake Washington
How test pilot Tex Johnston's unauthorized barrel roll over Lake Washington in 1955 helped launch the Boeing 707 and the jet age.
TaildraggerThe B-fifty-two Stratofortress and the bomber that refused to die
The B-52 Stratofortress has survived 15 retirement proposals and will fly past 2040 thanks to cost, versatility, and a massive upgrade program.
TowerBessie Coleman and the woman who crossed an ocean just to learn to fly
Bessie Coleman became the world's first Black woman to earn a pilot's license by traveling to France after every U.S. flight school rejected her.
TaildraggerCharles 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.
TaildraggerLincoln Beachey and the man who owned the sky until San Francisco Bay took him back
Lincoln Beachey was America's first airshow pilot, drawing crowds of 250,000 before his death at 28 changed aviation safety forever.
TaildraggerBeryl Markham and the solo westbound Atlantic crossing that nobody remembers
Beryl Markham became the first woman to fly solo westbound across the Atlantic in 1936, a feat harder than Lindbergh's or Earhart's crossings.
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