Stephen Joiner

Stephen Joiner writes about aviation from his home in southern California.

Over Vietnam in 1966, a Douglas A-1 flies cover on a rescue mission.

Airman Down

Rescue aircraft are different today, but "surrender" is still a dirty word.

Jamie Stowell, the sole female cadet, enjoyed her turn at a .50-caliber machine gun. “I’m not a gun nut,” she says. “But oh my God! It’s just astonishing power.”

Two Days in the Life of a B-24 Crew

Take a fantasy flight in a real, live Liberator

It lacks the glamour of Canaveral, but for Cal State students, an engine test stand in the desert beats the classroom.

The Mojave Launch Lab

A community of alternative rocketeers who may one day dominate the space biz.

Kevin Lacey, here with a repossessed Citation VII, gets the job done by striking an effective balance between folksy and wily.

Grab the Airplane and Go

How to repossess an airliner without getting shot, or thrown in jail, or beat up, or slammed into a wall, or...

In 1958 the first TV news helo, KTLA’s Telecopter, debuted in L.A.

Zoom Shot

One day in L.A., a helicopter changed television news forever.

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