Aviation History

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...

Project Excelsior

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...

A Boeing 707 Death Spiral

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, 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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.

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...

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 ...