Aviation History

A Boeing 707 sitting on the tarmac belonging to SABENA Airlines in 1961

The Boeing 707 was one of the first jet powered intercontinental aircraft, it had four engines and one of the most interesting features of the aircraft were it's swept wings and tail surfaces. Spec...

Sabrina Patricia Jackintell (FAI) sitting her Grob G102 Astir CS glider

Sabrina Patricia Jackintell, World Record Holding Aviatrix

Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways…Chardonnay in one hand…chocolate in the oth...

Buffalo Airways Lockheed L188 Electra aircraft in flight

The Sole Surviver

This is an interesting story about an aircraft accident that occurred over the Amazon jungle and the sole survivor of that accident. The aircraft involved was a Peruvian airline Lockheed Electra L1...

The U-2 "Dragon Lady" in flight on a reconnaisance mission.

Gary Powers and the U-2 Program

The wreckage of the U-2 flown by Gary Powers over the Soviet Union an downed near Sverdlovsk The Aftermath Of The Downing The CIA's first indication that something was wrong with Power's mission oc...

Jack Northrop's first flying wing aircraft called the N-1M.

The Flying Wing

Early adoption of the Flying Wing occurred in 1908 but achieved some success in 1940 when Jack Northrop built the N-1M Flying Wing aircraft. Following that success Northrop Aircraft Company went on...

A map of the first US non-stop transcontinental flight in 1923

The First Non-Stop US Transcontinental Flight

In early May of 1923 two Army Air Service lieutenants departed from Long Island, NY en route to San Diego, CA in a Fokker T-2 to complete the first non-stop transcontinental airplane flight. The 26...

A photograph of Lt. JG David S. Ingalls, USN pilot and the very first US Navy Fighter Ace in 1918

The First US Navy Ace

The U.S. Navy has traditionally had a lot of excellent fighter pilots who performed extremely well in World War I, World War II, and in the Vietnam War. But did you know who was the very first U.S....

The Shootdown of Tiger #620

Being a test pilot is a dangerous job sometimes, and unusual events occur on a regular basis. In this case a test pilot shoots himself down but survives.

The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force in the Second World War

Riding A Spitfire

The Spitfire is the most famous and beloved aircraft of World War II. Its unique design and superior agility in dog fighting gave the British Royal Air Force a decisive advantage over the German Lu...

A Rolls-Royce Nene-powered Armstrong-Whitworth-A.W.52-TS363 installed in a British "Flying Wing" aircraft in 1949

How To Exit An Aircraft Quickly

Until the closing days of the Second World War the only way to exit a fatally damaged aircraft was to jump through a door or hole, or after removing the canopy to roll the aircraft upside down and ...

Image of the seating in a Boeing RB-47H reconnaisance aircraft

A "Ferret" Mission

I had the honor of serving in the USAF from 1960 through 1965 as a Russian Linguist. This was during one of the most interesting periods in the history of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. Most c...

An aerial shot of bombed out Berlin shortly after the end of World War II

The First Cold War Crisis

The Berlin airlift of 1948-1949 was a test of the will of the Allies in the face of strong Soviet interference with the Marshall Plan and access to Berlin. Not to be intimidated nor deterred, the A...