Aviation History

An F-105F Thud Wild Weasel preparing for Rolling Thunder in Vietnam 1960s

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...

Lt. Lester J. Maitland, pilot, and Lt. Albert F. Hegenberger, navigator, chosen to successfully cross the Pacific to Hawaii

The Hegenberger System

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...

Clarence Leonard "Kelly" Johnson, Aircraft Designer Extraordinaire

A Skunk Of A Different Kind!

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...

The B-24D, Liberator, Serial Number 41-11819, named "Raunchy", landing at Benghazi, Libya 1943

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...

Operation Baby Lift

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...

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...

“MiG Sweep,” by Keith Ferris. Colonel Robin Olds uses a Vector Roll to gain firing position on a MiG-21 fighter.

OPERATION BOLO

"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...

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

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 (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...

Jacqueline "Jackie" Cochran, Aviatrix Extraordinaire pilot and entreprenuer

Jacqueline Cochran, Aviatrix Extraordinaire! - Part Two

This is the story of an amazing aviatrix who over her aviation career accomplished more than most pilots do in a lifetime. Follow Jackie as she goes from learning to fly in 1932 to starting her own...

A photograph of Jackie Cochran in 1932 at Roosevelt Field, Long Island, NY from a glass negative

Jacqueline Cochran, Aviatrix Extraordinaire!

Bessie Mae Pittman a/k/a Jacqueline "Jackie" Cochran, hairdresser extraordinaire in Saks Fifth Avenue Stores. Meet one of the most interesting female pilots with a career lasting over four decades ...

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...