Civilian Archives - Page 47 of 175

On This Day in Aviation History

1912 – At Yokosuka Naval Air Technical Arsenal, Japan, Lt. Yozo Kaneko makes the Imperial Japanese Navy’s first flight, piloting a Farman seaplane for 15 minutes and reaching an altitude of 100 feet. 1912 – John Henry Towers achieves an American endurance record by rigging extra gasoline tanks to a Curtiss A-2 seaplane, allowing him […]

‘Otto,’ Fireworks Thrill Air Show Crowds

If you’ve frequented major American airshows in the last 25 years, chances are you’ve seen Otto The Helicopter, a 1985 Schweizer 300 with its canopy done over in clown face. Roger Buis is Otto’s second pilot; he and his wife Pauline bought the act in 1999. Buis has a pocket full of helicopter and fixed-wing ratings, an A&P certificate and […]

First Woman to Solo Around World Dies

In the mid-1960s, Geraldine “Jerrie” Mock was seen at airports around the world, dressed in a blouse, skirt, high heels and pearls. But she was not on business trips or working as a flight attendant. Dubbed “the flying housewife,” Mock was a pilot on a quest to make aviation history. On April 17, 1964, after a […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1896 – Birth of Ian Henry David Henderson, Scottish World War I flying ace. 1916 – Zeppelin LZ72 (L31) is shot down by Lt. V Tempest of the Royal Flying Corps over Potter’s Bar, near London, killing Heinrich Mathy, Germany’s foremost airship captain. 1931 – First flight of the Junkers Ju 49 (shown), a German […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1882 – Birth of Charles Lanier Lawrance, American aeronautical engineer and early proponent of air-cooled aircraft engines. 1932 – First flight of the Blackburn B-5 Baffin (shown), a British biplane torpedo bomber; derived from the Ripon, it uses a radial engine for power. 1936 – The German airlift of Spanish Nationalist troops from Spanish Morocco to […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1892 – Birth of Frank Alberry, Australian World War I flying ace. 1922 – First flight of the Thomas-Morse R-5 (shown), an American single-engined parasol monoplane racer. 1940 – Royal Australian Air Force Avro Ansons L9162 and N4876 of No. 2 Service Flying Training School collide in mid-air and became locked together in flight. A successful […]

Canadian Lancaster Home After British Tour

Her entrance was unmistakable. Hamilton’s Avro Lancaster bomber, nicknamed Vera because of its flight initials, VRA, displayed on the fuselage, swooped from behind the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Ontario right at noon Sunday to signal she was home. Hundreds of people gathered for the plane’s homecoming whooped and cheered, eager for the 1940s-era bomber to […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1909 – The first airship flight in the Austro-Hungarian Empire takes place when brothers Alexander and Anatol Renner lift off their “Estaric I,” a 32-meter-long, 24-horsepowedr, single-prope airship. 1965 – Death of James Fitzmaurice, Irish aviation pioneer; he was a member of the crew of the Bremen, a Junkers W 33 which made the first […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1909 – Birth of John C. “Pappy” Herbst, American World War II ace; he became the second highest-scoring fighter pilot in the China-Burma-India Theater. 1932 – Lewis Alonzo Yancey sets an autogyro altitude record of 21,500 feet in a Pitcairn PCA-2. 1959 – A U.S. Navy Martin P5M-2 Marlin, patrolling out of NAS Whidbey Island, […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1895 – Birth of Hans Joachim Wolff, German World War I flying ace. 1918 – Lt. David Ingalls claims his fifth victory, becoming the only U.S. Navy ace of World War I. 1942 – First flight of the Canadian-built de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito (shown), a British multi-role combat aircraft. 1966 – Marina Solovyeva sets a new women’s airspeed record of 1,270 […]