The Last Missing WASP

Trailer for a forthcoming documentary by Dan Crowell, a former dive boat skipper turned underwater cinematographer and TV producer. The film will chronicle the search for Gertrude Tompkins Silver, who flew for the all-female World War II unit known as the Women Airforce Service Pilots. On October 26, 1944, Tompkins took off from Los Angeles’ Mines Field in a P-51 Mustang and was never seen again—the only WASP still unaccounted for. The action focuses on an October 2009 diving survey of Southern California’s Santa Monica Bay, organized by the Missing Aircraft Recovery Team (MAST), in conjunction with other search groups. See the article on MAST in our September 2010 issue. Video: Dan Crowell/Deep Explorers (8:44)

Latest Videos

Preview thumbnail for video'Test Flying the XF-90

Considered one of the most appealing fighters ever built, Lockheeds XF-90 enjoys a first-rate reputation with aviation enthusiasts something of a surprise, given that only two were ever built. While researching and writing Lockheeds Missing Link for our June/July 2008 issue, authors Jorge and Karen Escalona compiled rare footage of the XF-90 at Muroc (now Edwards) Air Force Base in California in 1949. The footage, which has no sound, includes scenes of the first XF-90 prototype being trucked to Muroc, and a brief glimpse of engineers attaching ribbonlike strips to the wing to gauge airflow patterns during preflight tests. Also seen are ground crews affixing Jet-Assisted Takeoff (JATO) canisters to the aircraft (to provide additional thrust) before Tony LeVier, Lockheeds chief test pilot, takes it for a spin. The Escalonas write: The XF-90s dashing good looks earned it movie-star status throughout the 1950sfar beyond its operational lifeattracting readers and advertisers to prominent aviation periodicals and comic books of the time. Video: Courtesy Jorge and Karen Escalona

Test Flying the XF-90 (3:45)

Preview thumbnail for video'The Pogo Landing

The Pogo Landing (0:12)

Preview thumbnail for video'Codex on the Flight of Birds

Codex on the Flight of Birds (2:10)

Preview thumbnail for video'Operation Tumbler-Snapper

In the spring of 1952, the U.S. Defense Nuclear Agency conducted a series of atomic bomb drops and tower shots at the Nevada Proving Ground, code-named Operation Tumbler Snapper. One of Tumbler-Snappers objectives was to see how soldiers and military equipmentincluding one of only two Lockheed XF-90 fighters ever builtreacted to the detonation. Jet aircraft (including the XF-90 and some F-47s) were seen to be less damaged by the atomic blast than were the bombers (a B-45, a B-29, and some B-17s). This excerpt from a contemporary U.S. Air Force documentary about the Tumbler-Snapper program focuses on the airplane testing. Source: Internet Archive/ US Dept. of Energy

Operation Tumbler-Snapper (5:15)

Preview thumbnail for video'Wright B Over Manhattan, 1912

In the winter of 1912, Frank Coffyn filmed the first silent motion pictures of New York ever taken from an airplane.Coffyn, a member of the Wright Exhibition Team, equipped the Wright Model B with the first-ever airplane pontoons, and barely missed the ice floes bobbing in New York Harbor as he lifted off. He mounted a camera rigidly between the seats, its view changing as the nose of the airplane moved. Coffyn began with an overflight of the Statue of Liberty and produced the first aerial motion pictures of the monument and Ellis Island. He then passed over the round structure of Fort Jay, a military prison on Governor's Island, and circled to Battery Park at the tip of New York, coordinating his banks and turns by watching the flutter of a length of string tied to the cross wire of his Wright B. For his dramatic final demonstration, Coffyn flew under both the Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridges before landing with the wind at his back for speed and coasting to the dock at Battery Park. The clip ends with footage of Coffyn some 31 years later, as he reminisced about the golden days of the Wright team. Video: National Air and Space Museum

Wright B Over Manhattan, 1912 (8:31)

Preview thumbnail for video'Teddy Roosevelt Goes Flying

The Wright exhibition team was performing at an air meet in St. Louis when pilot Arch Hoxsey crossed paths with Teddy Roosevelt on October 11, 1910. At the time, Roosevelt was campaigning for Missouris state Republican party. In this silent clip, Roosevelt initially refuses Hoxseys invitation to fly, but changes his mind. One can only imagine what Roosevelt was thinking as Hoxsey put the biplane into three steep dives, pulling up sharply each time. Video: Library of Congress

Teddy Roosevelt Goes Flying (3:36)

Preview thumbnail for video'Ace Drummond (1936)

The title of this Universal release comes from the comic strip of the same name, which was loosely based on the exploits of World War I ace Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, "the inspiration of youthful airmen the world over." The legendary pilot was much in the public eye in the 1930s, having joined Eastern Air Lines in 1934. In this 13-part serial, Drummond is portrayed by big band singer John King, who has an unnerving habit of bursting into song while bystanders look on adoringly. Watch the other chapters of Ace Drummond at the Internet Archive. Internet Archive

Ace Drummond (1936) (20:21)

Preview thumbnail for video'Great Restorations

Where else in the space of a few hundred square yards could you find the oldest Boeing airplane flying, a 1945 Grumman Widgeon amphibian, a 1956 de Havilland Chipmunk, and a 1929 Hamilton metalplaneall beautifully restored to flying condition? Only at the National Aviation Heritage Invitational at the Reno air races. Here's a preview video of the treasures that will be competing at Reno this year for the title of most accurately restored vintage aircraft. Video: LiveAirshowTV

Great Restorations (6:59)

Preview thumbnail for video'Chuck Yeager Press Conference, 1953

By 1953, six years after the Bell X-1 first went supersonic, that airplane and others were routinely flying at more than twice the speed of sound. On December 17, 1953the 50th anniversary of the Wright brothers first powered flight at Kitty HawkMajor Yeager sat down at the Pentagon for an informal press briefing to discuss his own Mach 2.43 flight in the X-1 five days earlier. Video: Department of Defense, Courtesy National Archives and Records Administration

Chuck Yeager Press Conference, 1953 (2:41)

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