It was a little after 6 a.m. on Sept. 9, 1942. A tiny seaplane with red balls painted on its wings was making its way through the skies over Brookings, Ore. At the controls was a young man named Nobuo Fujita; behind him, in the observer’s seat, looking intensely at the ground, was another, named [...]

The last remaining Avro Vulcan V bomber will be taking to the skies at the annual Weston-super-Mare Air Day on England’s Bristol Channel coast this summer. The iconic aircraft, used by the Royal Air Force between 1956 and 1984 and known as XH558, will take to the skies above the resort on June 22. The aircraft [...]

1883 – Birth of Jan Kašpar, first Czech aviator, aircraft constructor, designer and engineer. 1917 – A Curtiss H-12 Large America flying boat of the Royal Naval Air Service destroys the first hostile submarine to be sunk by an aircraft without any form of assistance. Flight Sub-Lieutenant C.R. Morrish on a patrol from Felixstowe sighted [...]

With Afghan troops increasingly leading combat operations on the ground, the Afghan Air Force’s fledgling helicopter fleet based in Kabul has learned new techniques to support them from the air. The U.S. Army’s 101st Combat Aviation Brigade started a new training program at Bagram Air Field for Afghan helicopter pilots to learn how to perform [...]

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is selling some of his abstract art, and buying a historic rocket. The eclectic Seattle billionaire has procured a rare Wernher von Braun-designed V-2 rocket, the first human-made object to fly into outer space. Allen’s Flying Heritage Collection — located at Paine Field in Everett, Wash. — is taking possession of the rocket on Monday. The Mittelwerk [...]

1895 – Birth of Georg Wulf, German aviation pioneer, test pilot and aircraft designer. He was a co-founder of the Focke-Wulf aircraft company. 1924 – During its first aerial circumnavigation of the world, the westbound U.S. Army Air Service flight of Douglas World Cruisers arrive in northern Japan, completing the first crossing of the Pacific Ocean by airplane. 1943 – Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress ”Memphis Belle” (shown above) of the [...]

China’s first jet-powered stealth unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), the Lijian or “Sharp Sword,” was recently spotted undergoing taxiing tests in that country. Analysts interpreted the sighting as indicating that the Lijian’s maiden flight is imminent. The Lijian prototype rolled off the assembly line late last year after three years’ joint development by Hongdu Aviation Industry [...]

Any news photographer that has been in the business for a decent length of time may say to you that he or she has “seen it all and done it all” or that “there is nothing new that hasn’t been shot already.” Until this week, you could also paint me with that same brush. But [...]