Military

The Shearwater Aviation Museum in Shearwater, Nova Scotia, unveiled its latest exhibit Thursday in Canada. It’s a vintage torpedo bomber, one that used to bomb forests in New Brunswick with water. It’s the last of the Grumman TBM Avenger aircraft. They were originally built as torpedo bombers, but converted by the Royal Canadian Navy for […]

1803 – Frenchman André-Jaques Garnerin takes off from Paris to Clausen, Germany, with his Montgolfière balloon; he covers the distance of 245 miles by the next day. 1889 – Birth of Frank Widenham Goodden, chief test pilot for the Royal Aircraft Factory. 1935 – Italy invades Abyssinia, using aircraft during the invasion, beginning the Second Italo-Abyssinian […]

1916 – Zeppelin LZ72 (L31) is shot down by a British fighter over Potter’s Bar, near London, killing Heinrich Mathy, Germany’s foremost airship captain. 1921 – Birth of Albert Scott Crossfield, American naval officer and test pilot; he became the first man to fly at Mach 2. 1939 – First flight of the Ilyushin Il-2, […]

1881 – Birth of William Edward Boeing (born Wilhelm Edward Böing), American aviation pioneer who founded The Boeing Co. 1910 – Hendon Aerodrome, the present day site of the Royal Air Force Museum, in Middlesex (North London), is opened by Louis Blériot. 1947 – First flight of the North American F-86 Sabre (sometimes called the […]