Civilian Archives - Page 50 of 175

On This Day in Aviation History

1899 – Birth of Walter Irving Newby Grant, Australian World War I flying ace. 1928 – Famed Canadian bush pilot Clennell “Punch” Dickins (shown) leaves on his 12-day survey of the eastern Arctic and covers more than 3,900 miles in 37 hours of flying, often navigating by the sun. 1947 – A Norwegian Air Lines Short […]

Global Hawks Lead NASA Hurricane Mission

Story and photo by NASA The first of two unmanned Global Hawk aircraft landed at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Va., on Aug. 27 after surveying Hurricane Cristobal for the first science flight of NASA’s latest hurricane airborne mission. NASA’s airborne Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel, or HS3, mission returns to NASA Wallops […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1783 – Jacques Alexandre César Charles flies the first balloon filled with gas rather than fire-heated air; he uses hydrogen produced by pouring 489 pounds of sulfuric acid on 1,000 pounds of iron. The balloon has a diameter of 12 feet. 1923 – An Air Union Farman F.60 Goliath crashes near East Malling, Kent, England, […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1894 – Birth of Antonio Chiri, Italian World War I fighter ace. 1930 – Wolfgang von Gronau and crew ditch their Dornier Wal D-1422 flying boat on the Hudson River, completing the first east-to-west crossing of the Atlantic from Germany to New York. 1944 – First flight of the Martin AM Mauler (shown), a U.S. […]

Sudan Rebels Shoot Down UN Helicopter

By The Associated Press A rebel commander shot down a U.N. helicopter Tuesday in rural South Sudan, said a government spokesman. The U.N. has confirmed the crash of one of its helicopters and said it was investigating the cause. The U.N. mission said on Twitter that an Mil Mi-8 cargo helicopter crashed near Bentiu, which is […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1784 – The son of a Scottish minister, James Tytler, makes the first manned balloon hop in England when his hot-air device makes a brief uncontrolled ascent with Tytler in the basket to an altitude of a few hundred feet. 1913 – Birth of Yoshio Fukui, Sino-Japanese War and World War II Japanese flying ace. 1944 […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1882 – Birth of Raymonde de Laroche (born Elise Raymonde Deroche), French aviatrix and the first woman in the world to receive an airplane pilot’s license. 1916 – Austro-Hungarian World War I aces Julius Arigi and Johann Lasi score their first five victories, in a Hansa-Brandenburg C.I, on a single mission. 1951 – The USS Essex […]

USAF Reactivates Training Squadron

A storied fighter squadron at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida will be reactivated to help train Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor pilots. During a reactivation ceremony on the base, U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Derek Wyler will assume command of the 2nd Fighter Training Squadron. The ceremony will begin at 10:02 a.m. — not 10:01 […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1879 – Birth of Claude Grahame White, English pioneer of aviation, and the first to make a night flight; he founded Grahame-White Aviation Co. 1918 – First flight of the Nieuport-Delage NiD 29, a French single-seat biplane fighter. 1942 – U.S. Marine Corps Major John Lucian Smith (shown) scores the first aerial victory by a […]

CAF to Hold Air Power Expo at New Site

Story and photo by the Commemorative Air Force The Commemorative Air Force (CAF) is bringing “hands on” history to Dallas Oct. 3-5 when the world’s only flying Boeing B-29 Superfortress, “FIFI,” the famous North American P-51C “Tuskegee Airmen” and over a dozen other World War II military aircraft take center stage at their first event at Dallas […]