Aviation History
![An F-105F Thud Wild Weasel preparing for Rolling Thunder in Vietnam 1960s](http://aviator-sunglasses.net/cdn/shop/articles/F-105F_Thud_Wild_Weasels_and_Rolling_Thunder.jpg?v=1718730793&width=960)
The F-105G Wild Weasels provide highly effective in suppressing SAM and AAA sites in North Vietnam, but not without a cost. The Wild Weasel crews were under constant danger from SAM missles and Fla...
Read more![The cockpit of a PA-11 Piper Cub aircraft like the one the boys flew on their transcontinental round trip in 1966.](http://aviator-sunglasses.net/cdn/shop/articles/PiperPA-11_Cockpit.jpg?v=1716482412&width=550)
Two young brothers, 17 and 15 years of age, take a Piper Cub across the United States from New Jersey to California in 1966, the first two young people to ever make that flight.
Read more![Lt. Lester J. Maitland, pilot, and Lt. Albert F. Hegenberger, navigator, chosen to successfully cross the Pacific to Hawaii](http://aviator-sunglasses.net/cdn/shop/articles/Hegenberger_and_Maitland_pilots_developing_instrument_flying.jpg?v=1715863150&width=2592)
A young aeronautical engineering US Army Air Corps pilot devised an ingenious system to guide aircraft down through inlement weather to a safe landing. His system was called the "Hegenberger System...
Read more![Clarence Leonard "Kelly" Johnson, Aircraft Designer Extraordinaire](http://aviator-sunglasses.net/cdn/shop/articles/JOHNSON-Clarence-L.-Kelly.jpg?v=1709217315&width=1838)
Aviation history is replete with incredible men and women who brought to life the amazing world of aviation. Among them was an incredible aeronautical engineeer who designed and built some of the m...
Read more![A photo of Bessie Coleman standing on the wing of her Jenny in 1922](http://aviator-sunglasses.net/cdn/shop/articles/Bessie-Coleman-and-her-Jenny-1922.jpg?v=1711117051&width=578)
Bessie Coleman Soars Across the Sky
The 1920s and 1930s were the heyday of early aviation, but African Americans were excluded from all of the fun. That is, until a smart, attractive African American girl decided she just wouldn't ac...
Read more![The B-24D, Liberator, Serial Number 41-11819, named "Raunchy", landing at Benghazi, Libya 1943](http://aviator-sunglasses.net/cdn/shop/articles/B-24D_Liberator_41-11819_Raunchy.jpg?v=1713360900&width=960)
The Disappearance of the "Lady Be Good"
On April 4, 1943, a Consolidated B-24D Liberator with a crew of 9 departed an airfield in Libya on a night mission to bomb Naples, Italy. Discover the story of how the aircraft and crew disappeared...
Read more![Operation Baby Lift Lockheed C-5A Galaxy 68-0218 lifts off from Tan Son Nhut Air Base, South Vietnam, 4 00 p.m., Friday, 4 April 1975.](http://aviator-sunglasses.net/cdn/shop/articles/Lockheed_C-5A_Galaxy_68-0218_lifts_off_from_Tan_Son_Nhut_Air_Base_South_Vietnam_4_00_p.m._Friday_4_April_1975..jpg?v=1712774059&width=604)
Operation Baby Lift was a humanitarian effort undertaken by the US government to save South Vietnamese orphans from the North Vietnamese. Like so many other government programs, this one did not en...
Read more![Mt. Everest as seen from the south.](http://aviator-sunglasses.net/cdn/shop/articles/Everest_as_seen_from_the_south..jpg?v=1712170176&width=604)
The History Of Mountaineering and Aviation
In 1933 a British Expedition to photograph Mount Everest from an airplane was undertaken to map the mountain to help determine a possible route to the summit. It required exceptional pilots and air...
Read more![The Maker of Pilots: Willa B. Brown](http://aviator-sunglasses.net/cdn/shop/articles/Lt._Willa_Brown.jpg?v=1711029305&width=446)
The Maker of Pilots: Willa B. Brown
Willa B. Brown, Aviatrix and Maker of Pilots Willa Beatrice Brown was born on January 22, 1906, to Eric Brown (an African American father) and Hallie Brown (her Native American mother) in Glasgow, ...
Read more![The Montgolfier brothers first free flight balloon carrying a human being November 21, 1783.](http://aviator-sunglasses.net/cdn/shop/articles/Montgolfier_balloon.jpg?v=1710512229&width=1252)
A reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci's ornithopter he envisioned for manned flight. Leonardo da Vinci made the first real studies of flight in the 1480's. Da vinci had over 100 drawings that illust...
Read more![“MiG Sweep,” by Keith Ferris. Colonel Robin Olds uses a Vector Roll to gain firing position on a MiG-21 fighter.](http://aviator-sunglasses.net/cdn/shop/articles/MiG_Sweep_by_Keith_Ferris._Colonel_Robin_Olds_uses_a_Vector_Roll_to_gain_firing_position_on_a_MiG-21_fighter..jpg?v=1709762081&width=1382)
"Mig Sweep" painting by Keith Ferris This painting is a depiction of the McDonnell F-4C21-MC Phantom II depicting the aircraft making a Vector Roll to gain a firing position on an enemy North Vietn...
Read more![A Boeing 707 sitting on the tarmac belonging to SABENA Airlines in 1961](http://aviator-sunglasses.net/cdn/shop/articles/Boeing_707-329_OO-SJB_Sabena_Flight_548._Guy_Van_de_Merckt.jpg?v=1708697310&width=800)
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...
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