Military Archives - Page 76 of 180

U.S. Army Begins Grounding Kiowas, May Sell

The U.S. Army has started grounding some of its Bell Helicopter OH-58 Kiowa Warriors and is now seeking buyers for the aircraft, including possible foreign customers. “We assume that these aircraft would be at a price point [that some countries] can afford,” Maj. Gen Lynn Collyar, commanding general of army aviation and missile command, said […]

Sikorsky S-92 Named Presidential Helicopter

Sikorsky Aircraft, a unit of United Technologies Corp., won an initial $1.24 billion contract to develop and build six new U.S. presidential helicopters, the first step toward a fleet of 21 new aircraft by 2023, the Pentagon announced on Wednesday. The award capped years of efforts by the U.S. Navy to replace the current fleet […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1893 – Birth of Karl Paul Schlegel, German World War I fighter ace and balloon-buster. 1912 – A Wright biplane, flown by U.S. Army Lt. Thomas De Witt Milling at College Park in Maryland, becomes the first airplane to be armed with a machine gun. 1917 – Royal Air Force ace Maj. Edward “Mick” Mannock claims his first (of 61) victories. […]

Bell 407 Becomes Light Attack Platform

U.S. helicopter pilots and maintainers couldn’t stop gawking at NorthStar Aviation’s new light-attack helicopter, the 407MRH, at the Army Aviation Association of America’s annual conference in Nashville, Tenn., this week. “This is amazing,” Spc. Jessica Sanford, 26, an unmanned aerial vehicle maintainer who previously worked on OH-58 Kiowa Warrior armed scout helicopter, gushed on Tuesday […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1888 – Birth of Johann Frint, Austro-Hungarian World War I flying ace. 1935 – First flight of the Curtiss P-36 Hawk (A model shown), also known as the Curtiss Hawk Model 75, a single-engined American fighter. 1937 – German Zeppelin LZ-129, the Hindenburg, catches fire and explodes while attempting to dock at Lakehurst Naval Air […]

Boeing Delivers 100th Navy Growler

The U.S. Navy formally took delivery of the 100th Boeing EA-18G Growler during an elaborate Monday ceremony in which the company stumped for Congress to buy beyond the Navy’s current program of record of 138 aircraft. The Navy submitted a request to the Congress to purchase 22 additional jets in its unfunded priorities list earlier […]

Sikorsky Unveils CH-53K for Marine Corps

The latest version of Sikorsky’s venerable CH-53 heavy lift helicopter, the next generation K model, was unveiled Monday in a West Palm Beach, Fla., ceremony. The aircraft, which the U.S. Marine Corps expects to begin operational service in 2019, is being dubbed the King Stallion. “The rollout of the CH-53K helicopter introduces a new era in […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1904 – Birth of Royal Air Force Squadron Leader Robert Kronfeld, AFC, Austrian-born gliding champion and sailplane designer; he became a British subject and an RAF test pilot. 1918 – Death of Giovanni Nicelli, Italian World War I flying ace, killed in action. 1926 – First flight of the Wright XF3W (shown), an American racing biplane for the U.S. Navy. 1968 – A Grumman Gulfstream […]

USMC Flying Last N Model Hueys

For Marine Corps aviators at Robins, the past week has been a bit nostalgic. That’s because the Corps’ fleet of UH-1N Huey helicopters is being replaced with the newer UH-1Y model. The first of the new upgraded, four-bladed variants is scheduled to be delivered to Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 773 this summer. But before that […]

Lockheed U-2 Blamed for ATC Outage

A traffic control center in California Wednesday that led to delays and cancellations of hundreds of flights across the country, sources familiar with the incident told NBC News. On Wednesday at about 2 p.m., according to sources, a Lockheed U-2 spy plane, the same type of aircraft that flew high-altitude spy missions over Russia 50 […]