Military Archives - Page 121 of 180

On This Day in Aviation History

1908 – The first military passenger in an airplane, U.S. Army Major Gen. George Owen Squier, flies just over 9 minutes with Orville Wright. 1918 – More than 1,200 French and U.S. fighter planes are brought together for the Battle of Saint-Mihiel. At the time, it is the largest force of aircraft assembled for a single operation. […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1893 – Birth of James Martin, British engineer; he later co-founds a leading manufacturer of aircraft ejection seats. 1911 – Robert Grant Fowler takes off in a Wright biplane from San Francisco, Calif., to Jacksonville, Fla., for a coast-to-coast journey across the U.S.; it will take him four months to complete it. 1962 – A […]

A Look Back: the F-16 VISTA

Born as an in-flight simulator, the General Dynamics F-16 VISTA (Variable Stability In-Flight Simulator Test Aircraft) had the task to simulate the performance of the newest fighter jets. It was built around a standard production F-16D Fighting Falcon airframe and introduced many features which a classic F-16 didn’t have. In fact, the airframe included a larger capacity hydraulic […]

Arkansas Fighter Wing Shedding A-10s

The first two of 20 Fairchild-Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft left from the U.S. Air Force 188thFighter Wing, based at an Air National Guard base in Arkansas, Tuesday morning, according to Maj. Heath Allen. Allen says two of the aircraft are en route to the Moody Air Force Base in Georgia, where they will become part […]

NASA Launches Drone to Study Storms

NASA scientists are using former military surveillance drones to help them understand more about how tropical storms intensify, which they say could ultimately save lives by improving forecast models that predict a hurricane’s strength. The unmanned Global Hawk aircraft were designed to perform high-altitude, long-endurance reconnaissance and intelligence missions for the Air Force. Two of […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1895 – Birth of Leslie Leroy Irvin, American stuntman and early parachutist; he will make the first free-fall parachute jump in 1919. 1919 – The Schneider Trophy race is flown at Bournemouth, England and while an Italian Savoia S.13 is the only finisher, its pilot is disqualified for missing a turning buoy. When judges ask Guido Janello to complete another lap, […]

Historic Air Races Rock Reno This Week

Fifty years after racing planes first took to northern Nevada’s skies in 1964, the National Championship Air Races begins this week at Reno-Stead Airport with a one-of-a-kind celebration of flight. Boasting a full slate of top-notch entertainment and aerobatics and promising one of its most competitive and high-profile racing fields in recent memory, “the world’s […]

Boeing Set to Deliver Last C-17 to USAF

Lynne Jungers has been thinking about this moment for the last two years. The longtime Boeing Co. customer relations manager — who has seen former President Bill Clinton, the late Bob Hope and dozens of dignitaries visit the C-17 Globemaster III at its East Long Beach, Calif., assembly plant — is bracing herself for Thursday, […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1892 – Birth of Ferruccio Ranza, World War I Italian fighter ace and high-ranking officer in World War II. 1912 – Jules Vedrines wins the Gordon Bennett Trophy by flying a world record speed of 108 mph in his Deperdussin Monocoque monoplane (shown above) at Chicago, Ill. 1943 – Italian battleship Roma is sunk by two German radio-controlled glide […]

CAF Red Tail Center of Museum Display

It’s been nearly 70 years since the end of World War II, yet it can still teach some valuable lessons, according to Mark Hanson, the curator of Chanute Air Museum, located on the former Chanute Air Force Base in Illinois. Nearly 1,000 school children will get a lesson in how a group of African-American fighter […]