Civilian Archives - Page 143 of 175

WWII Through the Eyes of a Youth

We are thrilled to share a feature story from the current issue of Flight Journal from longtime MAN contributor Jim Newman! He notes, “Throughout my 43 years in the U.S., on finding that I grew up in England during the war years, people will ask ‘What was it like? Did you see German aeroplanes?’ Even […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1794 – Establishment of the first airship company in the French Army who use a balloon named Entreprenant for reconnaissance of the Austrian forces at the Battle of Fleurus. Two companies of balloon observers are formed, but disband the following year. 1944 – The first U.S. Army Air Forces Boeing B-29 Superfortress arrives at Calcutta, India, after an 11,530-mile trip from Kansas, which includes stops at […]

Missouri Man Recalls Flying for ‘Pappy’ Boyington

Retired U.S. Marine Corps Col. Ed Harper is a true-blue example of the soldiers of World War II. He sits back in his easy chair at his Lake Saint Louis home on one of those sunny days when winter battles with spring recalling how he was just 18 when he and the rest of America […]

Travel Air Lands at Montana Aviation Museum

Once it was called the “Limousine of the Air,” the private plane of choice for the likes of Wallace Beery, whose acting career bridged the silent and sound movie era. But the Travel Air 6000 became the bread and butter of flying in these mountains of Montana and Idaho for Johnson Flying Service. Now Missoula has […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1916 – French World War I ace Jean Navarre score his first kill, a German Aviatik north of Fismes, France. As one of the pioneer flying aces, he would be credited with twelve confirmed aerial victories. 1924 – The Royal Canadian Air Force is formed. 1935 – First flight of the North American T-6 Texan (shown above); more than 15,000 of these trainers are later built. 1954 – Last […]

New Zealand Air Show Thrills Crowds

An estimated 30,000 people will be ironing out the kinks in their necks after spending the weekend gazing at the sky at the Omaka Classic Fighters Airshow near Blenheim, New Zealand. Airshow organiser Graham Orphan said that despite rain on Saturday, the crowd was out in force for the seventh biennial airshow at the Omaka […]

A380s Fly in Formation over Sidney

Two Airbus A380s made a dramatic tandem flight over the famous Australian landmark Sydney Harbour Bridge today to launch the new Qantas-Emirates partnership, hailed by the Australian carrier as a “seismic shift” in aviation. The tie-up, approved last week by Australia’s competition watchdog, allows the two airlines to combine operations for an initial period of five years, […]

Canadian Museum Gets Starfighter

Thomas Hinderks felt like a kid at Christmas when two shipping containers delivered pieces of a Canadair CF-104D Starfighter aircraft to the Alberta Aviation Museum in Edmonton, Canada, Friday morning. After waiting almost 18 months to acquire the Cold War-era plane from the Netherlands, the museum’s executive director didn’t hesitate to sling himself up six feet […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1912 – Hanna Reitsch, German test pilot, was born; she was a test pilot on the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka and Dornier Do 17 as well as one of the few pilots to fly the Focke-Achgelis Fa 61, the first fully controllable helicopter. 1939 – The Curtiss YP-37 (shown above), a single-engined fighter based on the company’s […]

Making the Jump to Jets: One Pilot’s Story

Diving from 17,000 feet, the airspeed increasing to more than three times what I’m used to in a Cessna 172, my instinct to pull out of the back side of a 6,000-foot-vertical loop is premature and aggressive — an understandable reaction to the visual sense of unprotected free-fall. As the front-seat pilot, I sit so […]