The Heinkel He 176 and the morning of June twentieth, nineteen thirty-nine, when a man first flew on rocket power alone
On June 20, 1939, Erich Warsitz flew the Heinkel He 176 - history's first aircraft powered by rocket alone.
Taildraggeraviation history
Pangborn, Herndon, and Miss Veedol - the first nonstop flight across the Pacific, and the man who climbed out on the wing to save it
How Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon flew the first nonstop Pacific crossing in 1931 - and climbed onto the wing mid-flight to survive it.
TaildraggerBetty Skelton, Little Stinker, and the inverted ribbon cut twelve feet off the grass
How Betty Skelton flew her Pitts Special 'Little Stinker' inverted through a ribbon 12 feet off the grass and became aviation's First Lady of Firsts.
TaildraggerThe Great Marianas Turkey Shoot and the June nineteenth, nineteen forty-four day the Hellcats broke Japanese naval air power
On June 19, 1944, U.S. Hellcats destroyed roughly 350 Japanese aircraft over the Philippine Sea, ending Japanese naval air power for good.
TaildraggerCal Rodgers and the Vin Fiz, the first man to fly across America in nineteen eleven
In 1911, Cal Rodgers became the first person to fly across America in the Vin Fiz, surviving 49 days and 16 crashes.
TaildraggerValery Chkalov and the ANT-25, the transpolar flight from Moscow to Vancouver, Washington that began June eighteenth, nineteen thirty-seven
How Valery Chkalov and the ANT-25 flew nonstop over the North Pole from Moscow to Washington State in June 1937.
TaildraggerCharles Blair, Excalibur Three, and the lone Mustang that flew across the top of the world
How Charles Blair flew a red P-51 Mustang solo across the North Pole in 1951 using sun-compass navigation.
TaildraggerThe Spruce Goose and the twenty-six seconds Howard Hughes flew the biggest airplane ever built
The Spruce Goose flew just 26 seconds on November 2, 1947 - here's the story of Howard Hughes' birch-built H-4 Hercules.
TaildraggerThe Vulcan howl and XH558, the last Avro Vulcan to fly the airshow circuit
Radio Hangar explores The Vulcan howl and XH558, the last Avro Vulcan to fly the airshow circuit.
TaildraggerEddie Rickenbacker, the race-driver ace of aces, and the twenty-four days adrift in the Pacific that nearly finished him
How WWI ace Eddie Rickenbacker survived 24 days adrift in the Pacific - and why he believed willpower, not equipment, decided who lived.
TaildraggerAmelia Earhart and the Friendship, the gold trimotor that crossed the Atlantic on June seventeenth, nineteen twenty-eight
Radio Hangar explores Amelia Earhart and the Friendship, the gold trimotor that crossed the Atlantic on June seventeenth, nineteen twenty-eight.
TaildraggerThe Cleveland National Air Races and Jimmy Doolittle winning the first Thompson Trophy in the Travel Air Mystery Ship, nineteen twenty-nine
Radio Hangar explores The Cleveland National Air Races and Jimmy Doolittle winning the first Thompson Trophy in the Travel Air Mystery Ship, nineteen twenty-nine.
TaildraggerThat's All, Brother and the C-forty-seven that led the D-Day invasion, rescued from a Wisconsin boneyard the week before the scrappers came
Radio Hangar explores That's All, Brother and the C-forty-seven that led the D-Day invasion, rescued from a Wisconsin boneyard the week before the scrappers came.
TaildraggerThe Origin of Airline Names and Why Some Carriers Are Airways, Some Are Lines, and Some Are Just Air
Why some carriers are 'airlines,' some 'airways,' and some just 'air' - the maritime and railroad roots behind aviation's oldest words.
TowerThe B-fifty-two Stratofortress and twenty retirement attempts it outlived to become America's most-deployed bomber
The B-52 Stratofortress has outlived roughly 20 retirement attempts and may serve until age 100, thanks to its overbuilt airframe and standoff-weapon mission.
TowerThe Boeing B and W Seaplane and the first airplane Bill Boeing ever built, June fifteenth, nineteen sixteen
On June 15, 1916, Bill Boeing test-flew the B&W seaplane himself - the first airplane Boeing ever built.
TaildraggerBob Hoover and the glass of iced tea he poured while rolling a Shrike Commander
How Bob Hoover poured iced tea while barrel-rolling a Shrike Commander - and why that trick proved he was aviation's smoothest hand.
TaildraggerThe Boeing seven forty-seven SP and the short fuselage that flew farther than anything in the sky
The Boeing 747SP sacrificed fuselage length to achieve ultra-long-range nonstop flights no other airliner could match in the 1970s.
TowerThe Dixie Clipper and the first scheduled transatlantic passenger flight on June seventh, nineteen thirty-nine
On June 7, 1939, the Dixie Clipper made history as the first scheduled transatlantic passenger flight from New York to Europe.
TaildraggerThe glass noses of Soviet jets and the Cold War avionics gap that put a man where a radar should be
Soviet bombers featured glass noses because the USSR lacked compact radar technology, placing human navigators where Western jets mounted radar.
Tower