Aviation Eras
Periods of innovation in the history of aviation from early flight to the modern age
The First Air Force Mission
In 1916, eight Curtiss biplanes from the U.S. Army’s 1st Aero Squadron—the country’s entire air force—flew into Mexico for their first military action.
March 19, 2009 |
By Tony Reichhardt
Giving the WASPs their due
You don’t see much bipartisanship in Washington these days, but yesterday all 17 female members of the U.S. Senate, Democrats and Republicans alike, introduced a bill (S. 614) to award the Congressional Gold Medal to the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs. The medal, previously given to groups...
March 18, 2009 |
By Tony Reichhardt
TXT-Speak at the FAA
The Web site of the Federal Aviation Administration, like most government sites, is pretty tame, but can be an interesting browse for prop-heads. For instance, clicking around the Flight Delay Information map, you’ll learn that at New York’s JFK International, “Disabled Aircraft…causing departure d...
March 11, 2009 |
By Pat Trenner
False start
Aerospatiale's Concorde made its maiden flight 40 years ago this week, a half-hour hop out of Toulouse-Blagnac Airport on March 2, 1969.What heady days those were for aviation and space. Not a month earlier, the Boeing 747 had made its first flight. And a month and a half prior to that, the Saturn ...
March 05, 2009 |
By Mike Klesius
The first solo flight
Wondering who wrote the first description of flying over a landscape, I came across this charming passage by Jacques Charles, French scientist and inventor of the hydrogen balloon. Charles wasn't the first to fly—that honor goes to Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlandes, who fle...
March 04, 2009 |
By Tony Reichhardt
Oldies and Oddities: The Bonneville Jet Wars
A California hot-rodder took on the feuding Arfons brothers in the 1960s.
March 2009 |
By Preston Lerner
Woe Canada
The only thing that kept Canada from beating the U.S. to a jet airliner was Canada.
March 2009 |
By Graham Chandler
Supersonic Sales Call
If you want a customer to spend $10 billion on your jet fighters, you gotta bust some Mach.
March 2009 |
By Jorge and Karen Escalona
Thuds, the Ridge, and 100 Missions North
How the Republic F-105 got good at a mission it was not designed to fly.
March 2009 |
By Carl Posey
Above & Beyond: Shooting Up a Shooting Star
There's more than one way to dump extra fuel before landing.
March 2009 |
By Lieutenant Colonel Alfred (Joe) D’Amario, U.S. Air Force (ret.)
Pay-Per-Loo
Michael O'Leary, head of Ireland's low-cost airline Ryanair, let slip on Friday that he was considering charging passengers to use the onboard lavoratories. "We are looking at...putting a coin slot on the toilet door," O'Leary told reporters, suggesting a British pound coin per restroom visit.Other...
February 27, 2009 |
By Pat Trenner
He's Got A Point
Chesley Sullenberger and his crew have been duly credited for their successful ditching in the Hudson River. But a British pilot writes in a recent issue of Flight International:
"The crew that carried out the Hudson ditching are testimony to the fact that training pays." Well, I've only been doing...
February 26, 2009 |
By Pat Trenner
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A&S Interview: Sully’s Tale
Chesley Sullenberger talks about That Day, his advice for young pilots, and hitting the ditch button (or not).
February 18, 2009 |
By Linda Shiner
The Art of War
The paintings of Tom Lea, Life magazine's artist-correspondent during World War II.
February 06, 2009 |
By Rebecca Maksel
A&S Interview: Georgy Mosolov
A top Soviet-era test pilot talks about his favorite MiGs and his friend Yuri Gagarin.
January 22, 2009 |
By Tony Reichhardt
A Smashing Success
How the Ranger probes’ moon crashes helped pave the way for Apollo.
January 21, 2009 |
By Paul Hoversten
Cities From the Sky
Sherman Fairchild, the photographer who transformed aviation
January 12, 2009 |
By Rebecca Maksel
