Military Archives - Page 112 of 180

Washington Warbird Museum to Move

Story and photo by Heritage Flight Museum The Heritage Flight Museum, located at Bellingham (Wash.) International Airport, has announced that it will be moving its aircraft and collections to its hangar at Skagit Regional Airport. “The people of the community have been fantastic and we regret our need for departure,” said Heritage Flight Museum Executive […]

F-35 Achieves Live Missile Launch

Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II executed its first live-fire launch of a guided air-to-air missile over a military test range off the California coast on Wednesday. The AIM-120 advanced medium range air-to-air missile (AMRAAM) was fired from an F-35A (AF-6) conventional take-off and landing variant fighter operating from the F-35 Integrated Test Facility at Edwards […]

Fire Scout Makes First Flights

A larger and more powerful version of Northrop Grumman’s Fire Scout unmanned helicopter made its first two flights on Thursday, the U.S. Navy said as it plans to start using the new aircraft next year. The MQ-8C Fire Scout took off and flew for 7 minutes in its first flight at Naval Base Ventura County […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1869 – Birth of William Adger Moffett, American pilot and architect of U.S. naval aviation; he was later known as the “Air Admiral.” 1926 – Death of Harry Houdini (born Erik Weisz in Budapest, later Ehrich Weiss or Harry Weiss), an American stunt performer noted for his sensational escape acts and an early aviator. 1944 […]

F-35 Drops First Laser Weapon in Test

The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II fighter jet dropped a 500-pound bomb this week, hitting a tank at Edwards Air Force Base in California and marking the first time the new warplane, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter, has fired a laser-guided weapon, the Pentagon said Wednesday. An F-35 B-model jet released the Guided Bomb Unit-12 […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1896 – Birth of Kenneth Malise St. Clair Graeme Leask, a British World War I flying ace and later a high ranking officer in the Royal Air Force. 1908 – Henri Farman makes the first cross-country flight in Europe, in a Voisin, flying between the French towns of Châlons and Reims. 1918 – Flying a […]

English Museum’s Jets Focus of Show

A unique collection of Cold War aircraft belonging to a Westcountry museum in England is to feature on a BBC program documenting jet technology throughout the stand-off. Film crews have visited Classic Air Force’s new museum in Newquay, which boasts the largest collection of Cold War aircraft outside of America, in preparation for the BBC2 […]

The Crash of Independence 08

Sometimes, a 99.96% success rate isn’t good enough. That’s how often the Air Force’s MC-12W Liberty spy planes arrive overhead when needed by U.S. troops on the ground in Afghanistan. The twin-turboprop planes are modified versions of the Hawker Beechcraft Super King Air 350. Their crew of four includes a pair of pilots and a pair of backseat […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1897 – Birth of Frederick Stanley “Freddie” Gordon, New Zealand World War I flying ace. 1936 – Jim A. Mollison takes off from Harbour Grace in Newfoundland, Canada, to Croydon, England, to set a west-to-east North Atlantic crossing record in a Bellanca 28-90 Flash (shown above). 1956 – Operation Kadesh, an Israeli military effort to […]

‘Memphis Belle’ Visits Florida

The four-engine bomber bristling with machine guns brings to mind the anxiety of the men who ran Hitler’s gauntlet in the skies over Europe in the bleak days of World War II. The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress was a mass-produced piece of American military history, but only a handful remain. One is right here in […]