Vi Cowden during her service with the WASPs in the 1940s.

History of Flight

We Represented All Women

During World War II, WASPs proved that an airplane couldn’t tell the difference between a male and female pilot.
By Jonna Dootlittle Hoppes

Victory Through Air Power proved no victory for Walt Disney, but at least Seversky (right) got some screen time.

Oldies and Oddities: The Disney War Plan

By Stephen Joiner

Inconel X, a ferociously strong nickel alloy, gives the X-15 its gun-metal black color. Inconel was chosen for the airplane

Why We Miss the X-15

Not only was it the fastest. It may have been the best flight research program ever.
By Linda Shiner

John Glenn’s transcontinental F8U flight led to his selection as an astronaut.

John Glenn's Project Bullet

By George C. Larson, member, NAA

The USS <i>Akron</i> takes a morning flight over Maxwell Army Air Field in Alabama, June 13, 1932.

Lighter Than Air

An illustrated history of balloons and airships.
By Tom D. Crouch

The YB-49 demonstrated that putting jet engines on an airframe designed for piston engines made the aircraft faster but not better.

Above and Beyond: Too Much, Too Soon

By General Robert L. Cardenas, U.S. Air Force (Ret.) As told to James P. Busha

A paper fan shows an aerialist ascending.

In The Museum: Fashion Lighter Than Air

By Tom D. Crouch

Eric Brown at the Berkshire Aviation Museum. (Homepage photo: His 1969 Royal Navy Portrait)

A&S Interview: Captain Eric Brown

Holder of the Guinness World Record for most types of aircraft flown
By Rebecca Maksel

Viewport: July 20, 2009

By J.R. Dailey

Boeing B-47

The Dawn of Discipline

A B-47 pilot remembers when an airplane—and Curtis LeMay—stiffened the spine of the Strategic Air Command
By Walter J. Boyne

Two decades after the scare, a zeppelin over the Thames was a fact of life. Here, the Graf Zeppelin, a commercial passenger ship, plies London’s skies.

Fear of Floating

Diagnosis: Collective Panic Attack. Cause: Count von Zeppelin.
By Dan Vergano

“Efforts to keep down our air power were begun as soon as the sound of the cannon had ceased on the Western Front in 1919,” said Mitchell (second from right).

The Billy Mitchell Court-Martial

Courtroom sketches from aviation's Trial of the Century.
By Rebecca Maksel

Crew members Russ Holmes, Jack Ruggles, William Vanderkloot, Ron Williams, and John Affleck (left to right) stealthily flew Churchill and other VIPs to crucial meetings around the globe.

Travels with Churchill

A World War II flight engineer dishes on the most “I” of the VIPs he flew with.
By Graham Chandler

At a 2008 motorcar and aircraft show in West Sussex, England, The Six and its pilot, Julian Firth (in white flightsuit), greet dignitaries such as Norman Turnball (left), the aircraft’s flight engineer from 1959 to 1964.

The Six

If Lockheed’s Constellation was the hare, the Douglas DC-6 was the oh-so-reliable tortoise.
By Kara Platoni

Major Dan Cherry (right) and Lieutenant Hong My, in Vietnam last year.

Above and Beyond: My Enemy, My Friend

Dan Cherry and Hong My met in the skies over North Vietnam in 1972, then again 36 years later.
By Dan Cherry

The Convair B-36A in flight.

B-36: Bomber at the Crossroads

It was the biggest warplane ever to wear an American star, and in the summer of '49 the Peacemaker found itself a war--in Washington.
By Daniel Ford

Among the locals helping the Wrights were Tom Beacham (second from right) with young son John and his dog Bounce.

Present at Creation

From five witnesses came a family tradition to honor the moment the airplane was born.
By Tom Crouch

Operation Vittles was a military miracle: The Allies delivered 2.3 million tons of supplies to Berlin.

Moments & Milestones: The Hungry City

By George C. Larson, member, NAA

At the R.E.P. factory in Buc, France, around 1911, workers test the strength of a monoplane wing by inverting it and filling it with sand.

Then & Now: Under Stress

By Paul Hoversten

Introduced in 1935, the Heinkel He 111 bomber was one of the Condor Legion’s most potent weapons.

The War Between the Wars

In the skies over Spain, pilots and airplanes rehearsed for World War II.
By Carl Posey

In addition to guarding the National Air and Space Museum’s treasured trophies, Alex Spencer is responsible for the British military aircraft holdings, and the 13,000 artifacts that make up the flight matériel collection.

In the Museum: The Bodyguard

By George C. Larson

Viewport: A Battle for Hearts and Minds

From the desk of the Director of the National Air & Space Museum
By J. R. Dailey

Restoration: Beech Staggerwing

A true story with an O.Henry ending.
By Mark Huber

KTLA’s fleet, mid-1960s. Telecopter 2 sports red livery. (KMPC News’ helicopter broadcast on the radio.) From left: Silva, Morby, and Telecopter pilot Larry Scheer.

Zoom Shot

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

The 1935 Explorer II mission was a daring ascent into the stratosphere by Captain Albert Stevens (second from left). Edward Dawson Cochley of Wabash, Indiana, sent this photo of his grandfather, great-grandmother, grandmother, and uncle, who was involved with the flight.

Photos from the Attic

From the collections of Air & Space readers, personal moments in the history of flight.
By airspacemag.com

A world traveler, the dapper Julian founded Black Eagle Airline in 1946 to ferry goods between North and South America.

The Black Eagle of Harlem

The truth behind the tall tales of Hubert Fauntleroy Julian.
By David Shaftel

X-15: The Hollywood Version

Charles Bronson starred. The Pentagon had a few minor corrections.
By airspacemag.com

Pilots of the Sopwith Camel complained that the engine, guns, fuel tank, and pilot were clustered too close. They didn

What the Red Baron Never Knew

Computer analysis of World War I aircraft shows precisely why some were deadly and others, death traps.
By Peter Garrison

George Mosolov toured the National Air and Space Museum in 2007.

A&S Interview: Georgy Mosolov

A top Soviet-era test pilot talks about his favorite MiGs and his friend Yuri Gagarin.
By Tony Reichhardt

Stinson SM-6000B, Stearman 4DM Speedmail, Stearman C3B (above, front to back.)

You’ve Got Mailplanes

Square-tail Stearmans, straight-wing Wacos, and Hisso Jennies top the roster of antique airplanes at a captivating grass strip in Iowa.
By John Fleischman

The Airplanes of James Bond

After 46 hours watching all 22 films, our list numbers more than 150.
By The Editors

Animals Aloft

Aviation can sometimes be downright inhuman.

Above & Beyond: Shooting Up a Shooting Star

There's more than one way to dump extra fuel before landing.
By Lieutenant Colonel Alfred (Joe) D’Amario, U.S. Air Force (ret.)

Canadian newspapers trumpeted the glories of the Avro C102 Jetliner, which made its first flight in 1949 at Malton Airport in Toronto.

Woe Canada

The only thing that kept Canada from beating the U.S. to a jet airliner was Canada.
By Graham Chandler

Craig Breedlove

Oldies and Oddities: The Bonneville Jet Wars

A California hot-rodder took on the feuding Arfons brothers in the 1960s.
By Preston Lerner

Briefcase in hand, a passenger weighs in at London’s Croydon Aerodrome before a flight to Scotland in 1934. The checks were necessary to ensure the airplane wasn’t too heavy for takeoff.

Then & Now: A Weighty Matter

By Roger A. Mola

A worker does a final paint touchup before the Gee Bee

Bring Back the Brute

A GeeBee racer in flyable condition? Don’t do it.
By ROBERT BERNIER

The winner of the first Schneider Trophy race was France with a Deperdussin. The replica can float; the original won the race in 1913 with a speed of about 46 mph.

Racing Planes of Fame

A visit to the Planes of Fame Air Museum in Chino, California is a tour through the history of air racing.
By Linda Shiner

Cities From the Sky

Sherman Fairchild, the photographer who transformed aviation

Airplanes, not automobiles, cruised the Malecon on parade day in 1953 to mark the 40th anniversary of Parla

The Country Where Nobody Flies

Did Cuba abandon its private pilots or did they abandon Cuba?
By Rafael Lima

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July 2009

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Air & Space Interview

A&S Interview: Captain Eric Brown

Holder of the Guinness World Record for most types of aircraft flown

New Worlds

Confidence Booster

This little known Apollo artifact caused astronauts to rest a little easier.