Military Archives - Page 113 of 180

South Korea May Buy F-35s

A task force formed by South Korea’s defence ministry to re-examine its fighter jet requirements is likely to reaffirm the need for a stealthy fifth generation fighter, giving a boost to Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II program, according to several industry sources familiar with the tender. The task force was formed last month after a separate […]

P-51 Doing Its Part to Help Vets

It was an experience U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Jason Deming said he couldn’t say no to. “This is bucket-list stuff right here,” he said. Deming was referring to taking a ride in a North American P-51D Mustang World War II fighter airplane, named “Charlotte’s Chariot,” as part of a Wounded Warrior Association (WWA) trip […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1895 – Birth of Clyde Edward Pangborn, also known as “Upside-Down Pangborn;” he was an American aviator, stunt pilot and the first person to fly non-stop across the Pacific Ocean along with Hugh Herndon, Jr. 1931 – Royal Air Force Squadron Leader O.R. Gayford and Flight Lt. D.L.G. Bett land their Fairey Long-range Monoplane after […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1908 – Birth of Karl Hermann Gotthard Handrick, German gold-medal Olympian and flying ace during the Spanish Civil War and World War II. 1937 – Hanna Reitsch sets a world record for helicopters when she flies a Focke-Wulf Fw 61 67 miles from Stendal, Germany, to Berlin. 1951 – Japan Airlines flies its first post-World War […]

C-17 Flight Nostalgic for Father, Son

Story and photo by U.S. Air Force Sr. Airman Tom Brading, Joint Base Charleston Public Affairs For one family, the term “like father, like son” has never been more true. Any father would be proud to watch their son be a part of the arrival of the last Boeing C-17 Globemaster III to Joint Base […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1912 – Harry Hawker wins the British Empire Michelin Cup for endurance and Altitude . He flies for 8 hours and 23 minutes in a Burgess-Wright airplane. 1919 – Birth of Frank Piasecki, American engineer and helicopter aviation pioneer; he later pioneers tandem rotor helicopter designs and creates the compound helicopter concept of vectored thrust […]

Swiss F/A-18 Crashes, Crew Killed

Swiss military officials said Thursday that they expected to recover the body of one of the two-man crew from a crashed McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet by the end of the day. The man’s body, which has not yet been identified, and the flight data recorder have both been located but had not yet […]

Army Aviation’s Humble Start

It was 11:05 a.m, and U.S. Army Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker of the American 94th Aero Squadron decided to fly one last mission. On that date, Nov. 11, 1918, nobody was supposed to be flying over the battlefields in France, but Rickenbacker wanted to see what the front looked like when at peace. For close to […]

P-51, Crew Lost Off Texas Coast

A World War II-era North American P-51 Mustang airplane owned by a Texas museum crashed in shallow water near Galveston on Wednesday, killing the two people on board, the U.S. Coast Guard said. Petty Officer Steve Lehmann said the captain of a charter boat notified authorities after seeing the vintage P-51 Mustang, known as the […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1906 – The first officially witnessed unaided takeoff and flight by a heavier-than-air aircraft in Europe is made by Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos Dumont in his own airplane, the N° 14 bis, winning the Archdeacon prize at Bagatelle in France, flying a distance of 197 feet. 1913 – Birth of Shui-Tin “Arthur” Chin, Chinese-American pilot […]