Flak Bait, the most combat-experienced American bomber in the European Theater, completed 202 missions and bears over 1,000 field-repair patches - now being fully restored by the Smithsonian.
TaildraggerRichard Bong scored 40 aerial victories in WWII - more than any American pilot in history - before dying in a jet accident on August 6, 1945, the same morning as Hiroshima.
TaildraggerThe Vought F4U Corsair was grounded from carrier duty by the U.S. Navy - then handed to the Marines, who made it one of WWII's most feared fighters.
TaildraggerOn May 16, 1943, nineteen Lancaster crews flew at sixty feet above dark water to destroy Germany's Ruhr Valley dams in aviation's most daring precision raid.
TaildraggerThe de Havilland Mosquito was a twin-engine unarmed wooden bomber the Air Ministry rejected - then feared losing to its own speed.
TaildraggerThe Vought F4U Corsair was rejected by the U.S. Navy for carrier operations in 1942, yet became WWII's most celebrated fighter - with the British solving its notorious approach problem.
TaildraggerOn November 2, 1947, Howard Hughes flew the world's largest airplane - the H-4 Hercules - one mile across Long Beach Harbor, vindicating years of ridicule and an $18 million gamble.
TaildraggerThe F4U Corsair compiled an 11-to-1 kill ratio over Japanese fighters despite being rejected for carrier ops - the full story of the bent-wing bird.
TaildraggerOn the night of May 16–17, 1943, 617 Squadron's Lancaster bombers flew at 60 feet to breach the Ruhr Valley's dams using Barnes Wallis's revolutionary bouncing bomb.
TaildraggerRejected by the Navy and handed to the Marines, the Vought F4U Corsair became the Pacific War's most feared fighter with an 11-to-1 kill ratio.
TaildraggerThe Grumman F6F Hellcat downed over 5,000 enemy aircraft in the Pacific with a 19-to-1 kill ratio, built to beat the Zero.
TaildraggerThe Hawker Hurricane, not the Spitfire, downed the majority of Luftwaffe aircraft in the Battle of Britain - here's the full story.
TaildraggerThe Night Witches flew plywood Po-2 biplanes on up to 18 silent night bombing runs, becoming WWII's most feared women aviators.
TaildraggerThe story of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt - the eight-ton 'Jug' that outdove enemy fighters and brought its pilots home riddled with holes.
TaildraggerRadio Hangar explores The Lockheed P-38 Lightning, the Fork-Tailed Devil With Two Booms and Two Engines That Outran Everything and Brought Its Pilots Home.
TaildraggerThe Night Witches flew wood-and-canvas biplanes on silent night raids against German lines - here's their story.
TaildraggerThe F4U Corsair was rejected by the Navy as too dangerous for carriers, then became a legendary Marine fighter with an 11-to-1 kill ratio.
TaildraggerFlak-Bait, the B-26 Marauder that survived 207 combat missions, is being conserved - not restored - at the Smithsonian with every scar intact.
TaildraggerHow Claire Chennault's Flying Tigers used shark-nosed P-40 Warhawks and unconventional tactics to beat Japanese airpower over Burma and China in 1941-42.
TaildraggerHow Kelly Johnson's twin-boom P-38 Lightning became WWII's 'fork-tailed devil' and why it still stops the show at Oshkosh.
Taildragger