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B-17 ‘Champaign Lady’ Resto Progressing

WarbirdsNews has received the latest installment from the restoration team working to return “Champaign Lady” back to flying condition. The Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress, based around the remains of Golf model serial 44-85813, is coming together in leaps and bounds now, following nearly a decade of hard work repairing/remanufacturing the various components and subcomponents. The team has chronicled […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1897 – Birth of Erich Löwenhardt, third-highest German fighter ace with 54 victories during World War I (behind only Manfred von Richthofen and Ernst Udet). 1916 – Flying his new fighter Nieuport 11, World War I Italian ace Francesco Baracca scores his first victory, holing the fuel tank of an Austrian Hansa-Brandenburg C.I and wounding […]

B-25 Visits Future Home of Aviation Museum

A gigantic iron bird the color of gunmetal is causing quite the squawk at the Nut Tree Airport in Vacaville, Calif., and folks behind the Jimmy Doolittle Center, for one, are enthused. More than likely because they’ve got an impressive warbird, a World War II B-25 Mitchell nicknamed “Tondelayo,” nesting just inside the Copart hangar […]

USMC Uses Tablet to Land Helicopters

U.S. Marines recently landed Kaman K-MAX and MD Helicopters MH-6 Little Bird helicopters autonomously using an iPad-like mini-tablet device during a demonstration at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., Navy and Corps officials said. “With one touch of a mini-tablet in their hand, they have been able to autonomously land a full-size helicopter onto an unprepared […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1891 – Birth of William James Alexander Weir, Australian World War I flying ace. 1913 – Death of Emmanouil Argyropoulos, Greek pioneer aviator, in a captured Ottoman Blériot XI during the Balkan Wars; apart from being the first Greek aviator who performed a flight over his homeland, he also became the first casualty in Greek […]

Goodyear Tests New Zeppelin

It’s a new era for Goodyear’s iconic blimp. You could call it the Age of the Zeppelin. Cue the guitars! The Ohio-based tire and rubber company started testing its next-generation airship last month at Goodyear’s airfield near Akron, Ohio. Yes, this is an actual Zeppelin airship, made in partnership with the German company that dates […]

Seattle’s Museum of Flight Adds Wildcat

What do you do with a military airplane that’s too old even for the reserves? In the case of a World War II General Motors FM-2 Wildcat, you turn it into a playground attraction. Then, of course, you wait for aviation historians to realize its importance, restore it and hang it in a museum. That last […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1898 – Birth of Geoffrey William Hemming, British World War I flying ace. 1904 – Gabriel Voisin successfully flies a modified Archdeacon glider at Berck sur Mer, Picardie, in northern France; Voisin added a canard to the design and his longest flight on this day is 25 seconds. 1933 – Two British aircraft, a Westland PV-3 and a Westland […]

Smithsonian’s NASM Displays to Be Updated

Some of the most iconic artifacts of aviation and space history are getting an updated display for the 21st century, with the Apollo moon landing as the centerpiece. For the first time since its 1976 opening, the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum plans to overhaul its central exhibition showing the milestones of flight. The […]

‘D-Day Doll’ to Star at California Air Show

As the 70th anniversary of the Normandy invasion looms, an airplane that dropped paratroopers into that epic World War II battle will greet visitors at this week’s Riverside Air Show in California. “Being able to sit in the seat that an 18-year-old (paratrooper) sat in 70 years ago, ready to jump (into combat), is kind […]