Civilian

On This Day in Aviation History

On This Day in Aviation History

1909 – Birth of Valentina Stepanovna Grizodubova, one of the first female pilots in the Soviet Union and a World War II pilot. 1913 – First bombing attack against a surface ship: Didier Masson and Captain Joaquín Bauche Alcalde, flying for Mexican Revolutionist Venustiano Carranza, dropped dynamite bombs on Federalist gunboats at Guaymas, Mexico. 1961 – A Convair B-58 Hustler (shown above) cruises at a speed of 1,302 […]
Former US Government VIP Jet to be Auctioned

Former US Government VIP Jet to be Auctioned

Aviation buffs looking for something besides an old warbird or the latest Gulfstream to add to their collections might want to consider this: a former U.S. government DC-9. Why? Well, this McDonnell Douglas bird, known as a VC-9C, once served as Air Force Two. That’s right, in it’s heyday, N681AL hauled vice presidents around for […]
Air India Launches Dreamliner Test Flights

Air India Launches Dreamliner Test Flights

Air India has launched test flights of its Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, which have been fitted with new battery packs following battery fire incidents in January, as the first of these sophisticated planes was flown from Mumbai to Delhi via Ahmedabad. By Friday, two Dreamliners will be test-flown several times daily between Delhi and Amritsar […]
On This Day in Aviation History

On This Day in Aviation History

1888 – Birth of Francesco Baracca, Italy’s top fighter ace of World War I, credited with 34 aerial victories. 1926 – Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett make the first flight over the North Pole in a Fokker F.VIIa-3 m. Their total distance from Spitzbergen, Norway, is 1,600 miles. 1943 – A German night fighter crew defects to the U.K., flying a Junkers Ju 88R-1. The defection gives British scientists and tacticians access to a Lichtenstein airborne interception radar for […]
Florida Museum Monument to Honor Tuskegee Airmen

Florida Museum Monument to Honor Tuskegee Airmen

More than 65 years after flying fighter planes over Europe, the Red Tail pilots of the Tuskegee Airmen will have a monument designed to honor their World War II exploits while inspiring kids to seek careers in aviation. “It’s like a dream come true,” said retired Red Tail pilot Leo Gray on Tuesday during a groundbreaking ceremony […]
Warbirds to Fill Thunderbirds Slot at USAF Academy Ceremony

Warbirds to Fill Thunderbirds Slot at USAF Academy Ceremony

The sequester won’t stop a beloved tradition after all. For a time, it was looking like this year’s U.S. Air Force Academy’s graduating cadets would not get to have a flyover at their commencement ceremony in Colorado Springs, Colo., due to the sequester grounding the Thunderbirds demonstration team. But now two museums, one local and one […]
On This Day in Aviation History

On This Day in Aviation History

1891 – Birth of James Robert Smith, Canadian World War I flying ace. 1914 – A civilian pilot, René Caudron, makes the first French shipboard takeoff in an airplane from a ramp constructed over the foredeck of the seaplane carrier Foudre, using a Caudron G.3 amphibian floatplane. 1937 – Lt. Col. Mario Pezzi of Italy’s Regia Aeronautica […]
Crews Begin Recovery of Grumman Wreckage

Crews Begin Recovery of Grumman Wreckage

A crew on Tuesday began recovering pieces of a Grumman G-44 Widgeon that crashed in the Hudson River near Germantown, N.Y., last Thursday. The crash killed the pilot and sole occupant, Michael Braunstein, 72, of Copake. Todd Gunther, the investigator in charge for the National Transportation Safety Board, said about one-quarter of the wreckage has been […]
On This Day in Aviation History

On This Day in Aviation History

1912 – An American Wright biplane, flown by U.S. Army Air Corps Lt. Thomas De Witt Milling at College Park, Md., becomes the first aeroplane to be armed with a machine gun. 1917 – British ace Capt. Albert Ball (44 victories) of the Royal Flying Corps is killed in a crash following a dogfight with Lothar von Richthofen (younger brother […]
Forest Service Announces Next-Gen Air Tanker Contracts

Forest Service Announces Next-Gen Air Tanker Contracts

Neptune Aviation’s three new British Aerospace 146 fire-bomber jets were left sitting on the runway when the U.S. Forest Service announced contracts for seven “next-generation” firefighting aircraft on Monday. The contractor, based in Missoula, Mont., recently won contracts for six of its Lockheed P2-V Neptune propeller-powered bombers and one BAe 146 on short-term agreements with the […]
Air Age Media ©
WordPress Image Lightbox Plugin