1889 – Birth of Bartolomeo “Meo” Costantini, Italian World War I flying ace and post-war racing driver and manufacturer. 1932 – American aviation pioneer Ruth Nichols sets a new altitude record for a diesel-powered aircraft, 19,928 feet, in a modified Lockheed Vega. 1945 – Death of Otto “Bruno” Kittel, German World War II flying ace (shown above). On his 583rd combat [...]
An unprecedented 12,427-mile charity flight from the coast of Russia to South Africa in an Antonov An-2 Russian biplane will be reaching the end of its journey in Lanseria next week. Following the completion of the ‘From Ocean to Ocean’ trip, the aircraft, known as ‘Anoushka,’ or ‘Little Annie,’, will be based full-time in Africa to [...]
A Navy Reserve aviation squadron credited with saving more than 1,840 New Orleans-area residents in the flooded chaos that followed Hurricane Katrina has become a casualty of military spending cuts. Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 77, or VAW-77, will be ceremonially disbanded next month, the Navy confirmed Wednesday. Its six E-2C Hawkeye airplanes and many of its personnel already [...]
American Airlines and US Airways officially announced an $11 billion merger on Thursday morning. The new company, which will be based in Fort Worth, will have more than 6,700 daily flights to 336 destinations in 56 countries, the carriers said. “Today we are proud to launch the new American Airlines — a premier global carrier [...]
So how do you get a warbird safely from one side of the world to the other? Well, in the case of Jerry Yagen’s recently restored de Havilland Mosquito, known as KA114, it’s being disassembled and placed into a shipping container for it’s trip home to the U.S. New Zealand warbird experts Avspecs Limited rebuilt the twin-engined [...]
1898 – Birth of Eberhard Mohnicke, German World War I flying ace. 1903 – The world’s first successful heavier-than-air aircraft engine, which will power the Wright brothers‘ first airplane in December 1903, runs for the first time in Dayton, Ohio. 1935 – The U.S. Navy’s last rigid airship, the USS Macon, loses its upper fin off Point Sur, Calif., sinks to the surface [...]
Hawaiian Airlines’ parent said Monday that it has named its turboprop interisland subsidiary Ohana by Hawaiian, and said the service operated by contractor Empire Airlines will launch this summer with flights to Molokai and Lanai. Honolulu-based Hawaiian Holdings Inc. is launching the new carrier with two 48-seat ATR42 turboprop aircraft, which will be covered in designs by Hilo [...]
Harry Hansen was a Continental Airlines co-pilot in 1961 flying from Dallas to Abilene when his captain pointed down to a decrepit airplane parked next to a farmhouse near Lake Worth. An aficionado of old aircraft, Hansen was intrigued. After the flight, he learned that the farmhouse was on Amon G. Carter Sr.’s Shady Oak [...]
