CATEGORIES

F7F Tigercats Over North Korea

Grumman's svelte postwar killer

Vietnam Bombing Mission

What movie was that?

The A-20 Havoc Story - An Unknown Warrior

A Unknown Warrior

Pilots Who Have Shot Down Airplanes From All Three Axis Powers

Pilots who have shot down airplanes from all three axis powers

Record Setting Transcontinental Glider Flight

Frank Hawks at the End of a Rope

Dragon's Jaw

An Epic Story of courage and Tenacity in Vietnam

Right Place, Right Time

How luck and fate allowed me to survive my missions.

Never Stay Still

Geoffrey Wellum: The Battle of Britain’s Youngest Warrior.

Sharp-Shooting Hellcat

“Mac” McWhorter runs up the score.

Jugs Vs. Jets

P-47 pilot scores the ultimate kill.

Out For A Sunday Ride

Civilian Pilots Caught in History’s Path.

Perennial Bad Guy: The MiG-21 65 Years Old And Still Kickin' Butt

If the United States has developed fighters that have staying power over many yearsthe venerable F-4, F-15, and F-16 come to mindthen the Russian MiG-21 must surely share that space. The MiG21 made its public debut in a Soviet air display in 1956. Known as an air-to-air missile fighter, the MiG-21 can also wage war with an internally mounted 23mm cannon. Some like to call the MiG21 the AK-47 of jet fighters. Like the famed short Soviet rifle, the MiG-21 has proven to be both lethal and long-lived around the world.

Shooting Blanks Top-Secret Cold War Recce Missions

Right after the war ended, I learned to fly in a Piper Cub before I went into the Air Force. I started out in Stearmans, even though they were phasing them out. They just lined us up according to height, and the shortest one-third of the guys got into Stearmans. I was happy because I wanted to fly the Stearman, and we got a lot more acrobatics than the guys in the AT-6 did. I eventually flew the P-51s at Williams Field in Phoenix, Arizona. I was 19 years old and just having a ball, and it only got better from there because they had the F-80 Shooting Stars at Williams Field. I was selected to go into a reconnaissance squadron and flew the RF-80, which was a reconnaissance version of the F-80, out at March Field in California. I actually liked recon work better than the fighters because we were flying all over the United States taking pictures. The poor fighter boys would just go to the gunnery range, shoot into the sand, and head back.

Which Way Did They Go?: Midway's Mysterious Tragedy Is Solved By A $10 Bill

There is one mystery concerning the June1942 Battle of Midway that has long confoundedhistorians: Why did not even one Hornet divebomber attack the Japanese carrier force? Reportedly, they were on the same course as theplanes from Yorktown and Enterprise and took off at the same time. Numerous official and unofficialexplanations all came down to simple bad luck.There is no denying that luck and chance playeda major role at Midway. In the case of HornetsAir Group 8, however, so did bad judgment, poorleadership, and arrogance. It was a simple $10 billthat provided the missing clue to the mystery.

Reliable Reliants Stinson's SR-5 Straight Wing

The 1930s had more than its share of dichotomies that, from this end ofhistorys telescope, make little sense. The stock-market crash of 1929 seta record depression in motion that numbed America for most of the nextdecade. To make matters worse, nature decided to make mid-America intoa dust bowl, where real estate in one state often found its way to another.

Curtiss SC-1 Seahawk

The image captured here is exceptionalfor more reasons than one.

the future of aerial warfare

are hyper-sophisticated fighters actually needed? 

Kingfisher To The Rescue

Balancing himself carefully on the root of the OS2U Kingfisher’s right wing, Chief Aviation Radioman Ruben Hickman waited for the opportunity to grab the cable and hook suspended from a crane aboard the heavy cruiser USS Baltimore.

The Flying Heritage Collection F6F-5 Hellcat

The Flying Heritage Collection (FHC) at Paine Field, Everett, Washington, proudly displays and flies Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat Bureau Number 79863, the 11,008th Hellcat accepted by the U.S.

A Tale Of Two Mules

CLASSICS

In A Tiny Corner Of A Huge World: What Are The Chances?

TAILVIEW

When Plumbing Fixtures Ruled The Skies

Humor and American Ingenuity at Work.

Flying Jackets

History’s love affair with the aviator’s best friend.

Burma Banshees

The 90th fighter squadron in the CBI. 

Running With The Devil

Becoming an ace with “Satan’s Angels”

Government Gets Something Right

Super Light Titanium Timepiece Loses Only One Second Every 20 Million Years.

Cosmic Connections

A Circular Bit of History

Vanished Hero

THE MYSTERY OF LT. COL. ELWYN RIGHETTI

Artificial Intelligence For Beginners

AI, Aviation, and Human Destiny

China Blitzer

Combat Over The Hump