Major Richard Bong, America's all-time top ace with 40 aerial victories and the Medal of Honor, died in a P-80 jet test flight the same morning the atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima.
TaildraggerThe Supermarine Spitfire's revolutionary elliptical wing design and the tragic story of R.J. Mitchell, who died before his aircraft defined the Battle of Britain.
TaildraggerThe Vought F4U Corsair was rejected by the Navy for carrier operations yet became the most feared propeller-driven combat aircraft of World War II in the hands of Marine aviators.
TaildraggerThe Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was the toughest single-engine fighter of World War II - a 17,000-pound giant designed to absorb catastrophic damage and still bring its pilot home.
TaildraggerThe P-47 Thunderbolt was the heaviest single-engine fighter ever mass-produced, and the 56th Fighter Group made it the highest-scoring outfit in the Eighth Air Force.
TaildraggerThe Vought F4U Corsair was the fastest American single-engine fighter of WWII, earning an 11:1 kill ratio after the Navy handed it to the Marines for being too dangerous to carrier-land.
TaildraggerJoe Foss, a South Dakota farm kid who watched Lindbergh land as a boy, flew a Grumman Wildcat over Guadalcanal in 1942–43 to tie Eddie Rickenbacker's record of 26 aerial victories.
TaildraggerThe P-47 Thunderbolt was WWII's most-produced American fighter - a rugged, powerful aircraft that defined the air war over Europe through toughness, altitude, and aggressive tactics.
TaildraggerThe F4U Corsair was rejected by the Navy for carrier use, handed to the Marines, and became the most feared propeller-driven fighter in the Pacific.
TaildraggerThe Hawker Hurricane, not the Spitfire, shot down more than 55% of Luftwaffe aircraft destroyed over Britain in 1940 - and its most effective squadron was Polish.
TaildraggerThe Republic P-47 Thunderbolt overcame deep skepticism about its size to become the top-scoring fighter in the entire European theater of World War II.
TaildraggerThe Douglas DC-3 revolutionized air travel in 1936, then became the C-47 that carried paratroopers into Normandy and earned Eisenhower's designation as one of four weapons that won WWII.
TaildraggerThe Hawker Hurricane destroyed roughly 55% of Luftwaffe aircraft during the Battle of Britain - more than the iconic Spitfire - yet history has largely forgotten it.
TaildraggerThe Vought F4U Corsair was too fast and too difficult for carrier operations - so the Navy gave it to the Marines, who turned it into one of the most effective fighters of World War II.
TaildraggerMore than 100 WWII aircraft sank during carrier training on Lake Michigan - and decades later, cold freshwater kept many of them intact.
TaildraggerThe Vought F4U Corsair's inverted gull wing solved a critical propeller clearance problem - and gave the Marines their most iconic fighter of World War II.
TaildraggerBob Hoover survived being shot down over France, escaped a German POW camp in a stolen Focke-Wulf 190, and became the greatest airshow pilot in history.
TaildraggerThe de Havilland Mosquito was rejected by the Air Ministry twice before becoming WWII's most versatile combat aircraft - built almost entirely from wood.
TaildraggerOn 16 May 1943, RAF 617 Squadron flew nineteen modified Lancasters at 60 feet to breach the Ruhr dams in one of aviation's most precisely engineered raids.
TaildraggerThe F4U Corsair was rejected by the U.S. Navy for carrier operations in 1942, then became one of WWII's most lethal fighters - and stayed in combat through Korea.
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