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Aviation History

Captain Charles F. Blair, Jr., Pan American Airways pilot and aviation pioneer

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.

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The cockpit of a PA-11 Piper Cub aircraft like the one the boys flew on their transcontinental round trip in 1966.

Flight of Passage

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.

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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...

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The BLB Oxygen Mask and Aviation

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...

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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...

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A photo of Bessie Coleman standing on the wing of her Jenny in 1922

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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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...

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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.

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...

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Mt. Everest as seen from the south.

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...

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The Maker of Pilots: Willa B. Brown

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, ...

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The Montgolfier brothers first free flight balloon carrying a human being November 21, 1783.

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...

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“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...

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