Aviation History
![Lieutenant Byron Quinby Jones, Aviation Section, Signal Corps, United States Army.](http://aviator-sunglasses.net/cdn/shop/articles/Lieutenant_Byron_Quinby_Jones_Aviation_Section_Signal_Corps_United_States_Army..jpg?v=1721923711&width=550)
Byron Q. Jones Aviator and Inventor
Byron Quinby Jones was a major contributer to the begginings of the U.S. Air Force starting back in 1913. Among his many accomplishments were to be the first military pilot to stall an aircraft and...
Read more![The Freeman Field Mutiny 477th Bomb Group members in front of a B-25](http://aviator-sunglasses.net/cdn/shop/articles/The_Freeman_Field_Mutiny_477th_Bomb_Group_members_in_front_of_a_B-25.jpg?v=1721408182&width=660)
In 1945 a group of 101 African-American Officers challenged the "Separate But Equal" view of their base commander, resulting in the The Freeman Field Mutiny.
Read more![The Curtiss-Wright P-40L Warhawk was armed with FOUR .50-caliber machine guns.](http://aviator-sunglasses.net/cdn/shop/articles/The_Curtiss-Wright_P-40L_Warhawk_was_armed_with_FOUR_.50-caliber_machine_guns..jpg?v=1720630534&width=602)
1st Lt. Charles Blakesly Hall, U.S. Army Air Corps
Its July 2nd, 1943, and the pilot of a P-40 Warkawk takes careful aim at a German Luftwafe fighter targeting B-25 bombers over Sicily. Soon the German aircraft is streaking earthward to its death. ...
Read more![O-1 Bird Dog in flight with pilot searching for the enemy in Vietnam.](http://aviator-sunglasses.net/cdn/shop/articles/O-1_Bird_Dog_in_flight_with_pilot_searching_for_the_enemy_in_Vietnam..jpg?v=1719423743&width=1884)
The Forward Air Controller in Vietnam
Discover the crucial role the Forward Air Controllers (FACs) in the Vietnam War performed, and the aircraft they flew. Experience the danger these pilots faced, and the impossible missions they fle...
Read more![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![Captain Merlyn Hans Dethlefsen, Air Force Medal of Honor Recepient](http://aviator-sunglasses.net/cdn/shop/articles/Captain_Merlyn_Hans_Dethlefsen_Air_Force_Medal_of_Honor_Recepient.jpg?v=1718199698&width=576)
Courage Above The Skies Of North Vietnam
It's March of 1967, and four Republic F-105 "Thud" Wild Weasel IIIs are on a daylight raid over Hanoi. Read the story of Capt. Dethlefsen who won the Air Force Medal of Honor.
Read more![Captain Charles F. Blair, Jr., Pan American Airways pilot and aviation pioneer](http://aviator-sunglasses.net/cdn/shop/articles/Captain_Charles_F._Blair_Jr..jpg?v=1717767863&width=480)
Charles F. Blair Jr., Aviation Pioneer
Aviation is full of firsts, and Pan American Captain Blair set several himself. A naval aviator who flew flying boats, Capt. Blair advanced transocean flying with flying boats.
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![The BLB Oxygen Mask and Aviation](http://aviator-sunglasses.net/cdn/shop/articles/Drawing_of_the_BLB_Oxygen_Mask_submitted_with_a_Patent_Application.jpg?v=1715176839&width=434)
The BLB Oxygen Mask and Aviation
The history of hypoxia is closely related to high-altitude aviation physiology and became a problem as aircraft in the 1930s and beyond began flying at higher and higher altitudes. The BLB oxygen m...
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...
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