Aviation Eras
Periods of innovation in the history of aviation from early flight to the modern age
Monster Bomber
At the Pima Air and Space Museum, the B-36 is the largest U.S. warplane ever rebuilt.
August 2010 |
By The Editors
A&S Interview: Story Musgrave
The veteran astronaut is the only person to fly on all five space shuttle orbiters.
August 2010 |
By Diane Tedeschi
Product Placement Worth its Salt
Of all the high-end executive transports to choose from -- Gulfstream, Lear, Cessna Citation, Beech Super King Air, Sikorsky, Eurocopter -- Sony opted for the Piaggio Avanti for its summer blockbuster, "Salt," starring Angelina Jolie as a battering ram.The catfish-shaped turboprop makes a cameo app...
July 29, 2010 |
By Pat Trenner
Amelia Earhart's Irish Sojourn
On May 20, 1932 Amelia Earhart set off in her Lockheed Vega from Newfoundland intending to fly to Paris. Nearly 15 hours later, she landed in Robert Gallagher's cow pasture in Ballyarnott, in Derry, Northern Ireland, instead, thereby becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.Mrs. Gal...
July 12, 2010 |
By Rebecca Maksel
The Sun Also Sets
...which is why any solar-powered airplane designed to circle the globe has to be able to fly at night, too.Switzerland's Solar Impulse team checked that off their to-do list yesterday.Next up in 2012: an Atlantic crossing in a more advanced prototype to be built next year.
July 09, 2010 |
By Tony Reichhardt
Aviation's "It" Girl
Airplanes and The Movies came of age at the same time, and Harriet Quimby—best known as the first American woman to earn a pilot's license—had a keen interest in both. In fact, by the time she fatally crashed her Blériot XI on this day in 1912, there was little the adventure-loving 37-year-old hadn...
July 01, 2010 |
By Tony Reichhardt
Truck Killer
For one mission in Vietnam, the best aircraft for the job was a bomber from World War II.
July 2010 |
By David Lande
The Last Gunslinger
The F-15C is the only dedicated dogfighter left in the U.S. military fleet. Why isn't the Air Force replacing it?
July 2010 |
By Michael Behar
Tribute to an Aviation Journalist
If you read airplane magazines, you've seen Howard Levy's photographs.
July 2010 |
By The Editors
Climate Control
Irving Langmuir tried to change the world one storm at a time.
July 2010 |
By Sam Kean
Medevac From Luzon
A small band of helicopter pilots risked their lives to rescue wounded soldiers during World War II.
July 2010 |
By Roger Connor
The World War II History of the Wright Military Flyer
The two-seat biplane looks somewhat flimsy. Sure, it was cutting-edge in 1909 when the Wrights demonstrated it for the U.S. Army Signal Corps at Fort Meyer. But how would it fare during World War II?Fortunately, the Wright Military Flyer never had to compete in any dogfights. But it did travel from...
June 14, 2010 |
By Rebecca Maksel
The Battle of Britain Beacon
To mark this year's 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, the Royal Air Force Museum has begun initial planning for a new exhibition building, tentatively called the Battle of Britain Beacon.The 350-foot-tall structure (taller than Big Ben, the Statue of Liberty, and the United States Capitol...
June 01, 2010 |
By Rebecca Maksel
