Time
Explore Air & Space articles by century or aviation era.The story of aviation from early flight to the modern era
Good news for flying-phobes
It’s often said that flying is one of the safest ways to travel, and the numbers bear it out. According to the most recent statistics from the International Air Transport Association, there were only 0.13 fatalities per million airplane passengers last year.That means air travel was about eight tim...
July 06, 2009 |
By Tony Reichhardt
Celebrating a Spanish Civil War hero
Frank Tinker, the Arkansas-born pilot who became the most famous American mercenary in the Spanish Civil War, will be honored on the centennial of his birth at a ceremony in De Witt, Arkansas, on July 11. The event is being organized by Tinker's niece, Marcia Tinker Morrison, and the Grand Prair...
July 02, 2009 |
By Tony Reichhardt
Ploughshares Into Swords
Air Tractor of Olney, Texas, a legend-in-its-own-time builder of cropdusters, or agricultural aircraft, has converted its popular AT-802 Air Truck into a counter-insurgency, close-air support, and surveillance warbird-wannabee. The armored AT-802U, which debuted at the June Paris Air Show, was arme...
July 01, 2009 |
By Pat Trenner
Where the Wild Things Are
We’re about to get a peek at the solar system’s
final frontier.
July 2009 |
By Guy Gugliotta
The Six
If Lockheed’s Constellation was the hare, the Douglas DC-6 was the oh-so-reliable tortoise.
July 2009 |
By Kara Platoni
Travels with Churchill
A World War II flight engineer dishes on the most “I” of the VIPs he flew with.
July 2009 |
By Graham Chandler
The Billy Mitchell Court-Martial
Courtroom sketches from aviation's Trial of the Century.
July 2009 |
By Rebecca Maksel
Fire Hazard
Where there’s smoke, there’s pollution. How can airport firefighters green it up?
July 2009 |
By Sam Goldberg
Unmanned Traffic Jam
To the Federal Aviation Administration, civilian
UAVs are the new barbarians at the gate.
July 2009 |
By Douglas Gantenbein
Fear of Floating
Diagnosis: Collective Panic Attack. Cause: Count von Zeppelin.
July 2009 |
By Dan Vergano
The Dawn of Discipline
A B-47 pilot remembers when an airplane—and Curtis LeMay—stiffened the spine of the Strategic Air Command
July 2009 |
By Walter J. Boyne
Too Much, Too Soon
July 2009 | By General Robert L. Cardenas, U.S. Air Force (Ret.) As told to James P. Busha
A&S Interview: Captain Eric Brown
Holder of the Guinness World Record for most types of aircraft flown.
July 2009 |
By Rebecca Maksel
Flight Over the Hudson
Wilbur Wright was a prudent man. Before flying over New York City’s harbor on the morning of September 29, 1909, Wright fastened a red canoe to the underside of his Model A biplane, figuring the canoe would transform the Model A into a makeshift floatplane should he need to make a water landing.
Wr...
June 29, 2009 |
By Diane Tedeschi
Test pilots aren't as much fun as fighter pilots
...or so thought Gemini/Apollo astronaut (and former test pilot) Michael Collins, as quoted in the 1970 book, First on the Moon:
I like fighter pilots. I really do. They're good guys. As a group, I like them better than I like any other group. They're very independent people. They're not just talke...
June 25, 2009 |
By Tony Reichhardt
