Aircraft Types
Powered and unpowered aircraft, including fixed-wing, hybrid, rotary and lighter-than-air
Too Hot to Handle: McDonnell XP-67 Moonbat
Man cannot zoom by blended wing alone; he must have an engine that, well, works.
January 2011 |
By Stephan Wilkinson
Then and Now: From Airships to Waterslides
The world's largest free-standing building gets a second lease on life.
January 2011 |
By Roger A. Mola
Above and Beyond: The Iditarod Air Force
Not all the action in dogsled racing is on the ground.
January 2011 |
By John Phillips
Not Your Father's Blimp
What looks like Ronaldo's nightmare is in fact the world's largest soccer ball airship, built by E-Green Technologies of Kellyton, Alabama. Why, you ask? It seems everyone's crazy about airships these days, for everything from military surveillance to tourism. E-Green just signed a deal with NASA's...
December 17, 2010 |
By Tony Reichhardt
Flying Bathtubs Sell Like Hotcakes
The nation's first mass-produced lightplane started as a homely, humble homebuilt.
November 2010 |
By Giles Lambertson
Alberto's Big Race
As prizes go, this was a big one. In 1901, French oil tycoon and aviation patron Henry Deutsch de la Meurthe put up 100,000 francs (equivalent to more than $500,000 today) for the first airman who could fly a 7-mile circuit starting from a park in Paris, rounding the Eiffel Tower, then returning to...
October 19, 2010 |
By Tony Reichhardt
You've Got (Balloon) Mail
In September 1870, not long after the start of the Franco-Prussian War, the city of Paris was under siege by Prussian soldiers. By the 19th, the German army had blocked all communication into or out of the city. There was nothing worse, wrote French journalist Francisque Sarcey, than to "live cut o...
October 13, 2010 |
By Rebecca Maksel
Looking for the High Life
In the wake of several misleading news headlines, researchers at Cranfield University in the U.K. have had to set the record straight: No, they're not looking for aliens in Earth's atmosphere.But they are looking for microbes floating around in the stratosphere, at altitudes up to 22 miles. The...
October 06, 2010 |
By Tony Reichhardt
The Curse of the Cargomaster
Readied to transport the first U.S. ICBMs, the Douglas C-133 had a peculiar habit. It kept crashing.
September 2010 |
By John Sotham
The Curious Case of Edgar Mix
The celebrated aeronaut found Earth-bound life difficult to navigate.
September 2010 |
By Rebecca Maksel
Barnstorming in the Blood
One of the world's most inventive pilots makes everything old look new again.
August 2010 |
By Debbie Gary
Build-It-Yourself Helicopters
If you have 700 hours to spare and can shim a rotor assembly to within .001 of an inch, here's a hobby for you.
August 2010 |
By James R. Chiles
