Civilian Archives - Page 25 of 175

Rare C-46 Belly Lands In Canada

One of the last flying C-46 Commandos was likely written off in an off-airport landing in Canada’s Northwest Territories on Friday. A Buffalo Airways Commando suffered engine trouble on a cargo flight from Yellowknife to Norman Wells. The crew tried to divert to Deline, NWT, but apparently didn’t make the airport. The aircraft was belly […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1893 – Birth of Jean Pie Hyacinthe Paul Jerome Casale, French World War I fighter ace and test pilot for Blériot. 1918 – Lt. David Ingalls claims his fifth victory, becoming the only U.S. Navy ace of World War I. 1949 – First flight of the North American T-28 Trojan (A model shown), a piston-engined trainer used by the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy; later, it is used […]

France to Keep Concordes

Officials at the French Museum of Air and Space at Le Bourget say their Concordes are not for sale, effectively quashing the recently unveiled plan to buy one of the airplanes and restore it to flying condition. “These two aircraft are part of the national heritage,” the Museum said in a news release on Monday. “As stated […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1802 – Frenchman Andre-Jacques Garnerin makes the first parachute descent in England, jumping from a balloon over London. 1945 – Birth of Bjarni Valdimar Tryggvason, Icelandic-born Canadian engineer, Royal Canadian Air Force pilot and NRC-CSA astronaut. 1953 – North Korean pilot No Kum-Sok defects, bringing his Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 with him to Seoul and collecting a $100,000 (U.S.) reward. 1967 – First flight […]

Group Plans Concorde Flight by 2019

A group of ex-Concorde pilots and other supporters says it has the financial backing to return one of the retired supersonic airliners to flight. Club Concorde says unidentified financial backers have committed almost $190 million U.S. to buy or lease an airframe and restore it to airworthy condition. In a separate arrangement, a single U.K. investor […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1912 – Igor Sikorsky made a 90-minute night flight in his S-8 Malyutka, a two-seat biplane trainer. 1916 – Jan Nagórski (Ivan Nagurski) performs the first loop in a flying boat; the aircraft is a Grigorovich M-9 (type shown). 1930 – Birth of Thomas Patten Stafford, an American former U.S. Air Force officer, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. 1952 – Death […]

Work Continues on ‘Memphis Belle’

One of Warbirds News’s regular readers, Frank Johnson, recently visited the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, and was lucky enough to get a tour of the main restoration hangar. The building is actually inside the active area at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, on the other side of the fence to the public […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1893 – Birth of Juan Pablo Aldasoro, Mexican aviation pioneer and aircraft designer. 1939 – First flight of the Bristol Bolingbroke (shown), a maritime patrol aircraft used by the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II. Built by Fairchild-Canada, it is a variant of the Bristol Blenheim MkIV bomber. 1954 – A Tupolev Tu-4 bomber of the USSR drops a 40-kiloton atomic weapon […]

Jet Pilot Crashes, Dies During Air Show

Family members tell WBIR-TV Jay Gordon of Louisville, Ky., died Saturday when his plane crashed during an air show in Scott County, Tenn.. Gordon’s nephew Blake Dunlap told WBIR authorities found his uncle’s body last night. Gordon was the only person on board the single-engine plane when the crash happened. He was participating in the […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1912 – Jules Vedrines wins the Gordon Bennett Trophy by flying a world-record speed of 108 mph in his Monocoque Deperdussin monoplane (shown with crew) at Chicago, Ill. 1929 – First flight of the de Havilland DH.80A Puss Moth, a British three-seater high-wing monoplane. 1973 – Death of Sergei Konstantinovich Tumansky, Soviet aircraft engine designer. […]