Aviation History

F-8 Crusader aircraft in flight over the ocean off the coast of California

Jud, you're on fire!

John M. White | Jan 5, 2024
Sometimes the truth really is stranger than fiction!It's June 21, 1963, and a routine ferry flight of a US Navy F-8 Crusader from California to Hawaii meets up with a KC-97 aerial refueler out over the Pacific to receive some additional fuel. US Air Force KC-97 4-engine refueling aircraft in flight.This was... View Article
An image of one of the three X-15 hypersonic aircraft hanging in the Milestone of Flight gallery of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.

The X-15 Test Program

John M. White | Dec 15, 2023
Read about the test program completed by the North American Aviation X-15 hypersonic rocket airplane, and it's many achievements in advancing high-speed aircraft and spacecraft. View Article
NASA Researcg Test Pilot Neil Armstrong with the first North American X-15, 56-6670, on Rogers Dry Lake after a flight in 1960. His right hand is resting on the ball nose sensor.

The World's First Hypersonic Rocket Plane - The X-15

John M. White | Dec 8, 2023
Scott Crossfield prepares for a flight in the North American Aviation X-15AThe X-15 is a mid-wing monoplane with dorsal and ventral fin/rudders and stabilators. The wing has no dihedral while the stabilators had a pronounced -15 degree anhedral.Dihedral of the wing of an aircraft is the upward angle from the horizontal... View Article
A photograph of the North American X-15 rocket powered aircraft

The Amazing Story of the X-15: A Revolutionary Spaceplane

John M. White | Dec 1, 2023
 North American Aviation, Inc., X-15A-1, 56-6670, at Los Angeles Division, October 1958. (Air Force Flight Test Center History Office)Since the first flight of the Wright Flyer on December 17, 1903, aeronautical engineers focused their efforts on designing aircraft that would fly at ever-increasing speed and at higher and higher altitudes.On... View Article
Newspaper boy in New York City in the 1950s getting ready to deliver his newspapers

The Bridge of Spies

John M. White | Nov 24, 2023
The Bridge of Spies is a story about the exchange of Rudolf Abel and Francis Gary Powers during the Cold War. Both the US and the USSR wanted their spies returned to them, so a swap took place in the early morning hours of February 10, 1962. View Article
The U-2 "Dragon Lady" in flight on a reconnaisance mission.

Gary Powers and the U-2 Program

John M. White | Nov 17, 2023
The wreckage of the U-2 flown by Gary Powers over the Soviet Union an downed near SverdlovskThe Aftermath Of The DowningThe CIA's first indication that something was wrong with Power's mission occurred even before he was due to land at Bodo. Remember, Powers and all U-2 pilots maintained strict radio silence... View Article
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