Military Archives - Page 124 of 180

Louisiana B-52s Head to Guam

By U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Katherine Holt, 2nd Bomb Wing Public Affairs Aviators, maintainers and Boeing B-52H Stratofortress aircraft from Louisiana’s Barksdale Air Force Base went to Andersen AFB, Guam, this week to demonstrate the United States’ continued commitment to stability and security in the Asia-Pacific region. Global Strike Command’s deployment of bombers to Andersen not only […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1894 – Birth of Bernard Artigau, French World War I flying ace; he also was a pioneering commercial pilot who served in World War II. 1914 – South Africa’s Norman Spratt conducts the first dogfight in history; flying a Sopwith Tabloid, he forces down a German Albatros C.I two-seater, an amazing achievement as his Sopwith […]

Air Force Museum Gets C-21A

By Sarah Swan, National Museum of the U.S. Air Force One of the U.S. Air Force’s first C-21A landed at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force today at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. The Learjet C-21A, a twin-engine jet, was the military version of the Learjet 35A business aircraft. It provided airlift […]

PHOTOS: MAKS 2013 Opening

This year’s MAKS International Aviation and Space Salon opened Tuesday at an airport near Moscow with a variety of military aircraft displays and demonstrations. The event, which runs through Monday, has been held every odd year since 1993 and has become a popular place for aviation-related companies from Russia, China and other countries to do […]

Ramstein Air Show Disaster Remembered

In a quiet, wooded patch of land in view of the flightline, community members gathered for a heartfelt ceremony today at Ramstein Air Base in Germany to mark the 25th anniversary of one of the worst air show disasters in history. About 100 people — a mix of those who were at the air show […]

Dambusters: Triumph, Tragedy

The faces of all the air crew who took part in the Dambusters raid of World War II have been published for the first time, but what happened to the squadron after the famous mission? The stunning success of Operation Chastise secured Royal Air Force 617 Squadron and “bouncing bomb” inventor Barnes Wallis their place in history. […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1877 – Birth of Charles Stewart Rolls, British motoring and aviation pioneer. Together with Frederick Henry Royce, he co-founded the Rolls-Royce, a company that first makes automobiles and later, after Rolls’ death, airplane engines. 1913 – Russian Army Lt. Pyotr Nesterov performs the first loop-the-loop with a Nieuport IV in Kiev. The complete circle and […]

Inaugural Air Show Set for St. George

Fighter jets, fire engines, hot rods and helicopters will be among the attractions on display at the inaugural Wings and Wheels event, scheduled Sept. 7 at the Western Sky Aviation Warbird Museum at the St. George Airport in Southern Utah. Sam Wood, one of the event organizers, said the goal is to create a “family […]

A Look Back at the Loop

It’s 100 years since the first ever “loop'” was performed in a plane. Despite the doubts of his peers, Russian pilot Pytor Nesterov performed the feat, on Sept. 9, 1913 (Aug. 27 by the calendar then used in Russia). He flew a loop in a Nieuport IV monoplane with a 70-hp Gnome engine over Syretzk aerodrome near […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1740 – Birth of Joseph-Michel Montgolfier, who, with brother Jacques-Étienne, invents the Montgolfière-style hot air balloon; the brothers succeeded in launching the first manned ascent. 1925 – In a record that would stand until Feb. 24, 1983, Farman Parker of Anderson, Ind., becomes the world’s youngest pilot to fly solo. Born on Jan. 9, 1912, he flies at […]