Military

1888 – Birth of Dr. Ernst Heinkel, German aircraft designer and manufacturer. 1920 – First aircraft flight across the Sahara Desert is flown by French Joseph Vuillemin of the Aéronautique Militaire. 1966 – Air India Flight 101, a Boeing 707-437, crashes into the south west face of Mont Blanc in France; all 106 passengers and 11 crew are killed. Sixteen years earlier, Air India […]

A trio of historic World War II airplanes, plus another that predates American combat in the war by more than a decade, will wing it to Florida’s Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport for a stopover next week and aviation buffs couldn’t be happier. First up is a visit Monday through Wednesday by two heavy bombers from the […]

1899 – Birth of George Pearson Glen Kidston, British record-breaking aviator and motor racing driver. 1909 – First flight of the Blériot XI (Thulin A variant shown), a light and sleek monoplane constructed of oak and poplar and cloth-covered flying surfaces; it becomes one of the most successful monoplanes designed and built before World War I. 1944 – Off […]

1889 – Birth of Harry George Hawker (shown), Australian aviation pioneer and co-founder of Hawker Aircraft. 1918 – Canadian World War I fighter ace George Robert Howsam scores four victories with his Sopwith Camel. 1931 – First flight of the Bristol Type 118, a British two-seat biplane prototype for overseas markets. 1933 – Jean Mermoz lands his Couzinet 70 “Arc […]

The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, the companion facility to the National Air & Space Museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a free open house on Saturday. The center, with its two huge hangars — the Boeing Aviation Hangar and the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar — display thousands of […]