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Area 51 Spy Plane, Other Aviation Tales

It looks like an upside-down bathtub with wings, pretty odd for a spy jet that was among the nation’s most highly classified pieces of military hardware. As I stand in front of the plane code-named Tacit Blue at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, near Dayton, Ohio, I’m reminded that it still holds a bit of […]

Kansas Museum to Get Upgrades

The Kansas Aviation Museum in Wichita, Kans., will receive some badly-needed building improvements, thanks to a Wichita City Council vote Tuesday. The council unanimously approved a $1.8 million project to provide handicapped-accessible restrooms and modern heating and air conditioning to the historic museum, housed in the old city airport terminal at 3350 S. George Washington […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1898 – Birth of Robert Wallace Farquhar, British World War I flying ace. 1920 – Pierre van Ryneveld and Quintin Brand set out in a Vickers Vimy from Cairo to cross Africa by air from north to south. 1935 – First flight of the Mitsubishi A5M “Claude” (shown), a Japanese carrier-based fighter aircraft; it is […]

Turkey Accepts First Boeing AEW&C 737

U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing has silently delivered the first airborne early-warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft to Turkey under a program that was launched more than a decade ago. Now, however, the buyer and the seller are wrangling over penalties for delays. The defense procurement agency, the undersecretariat for defense industries (SSM), and the Turkish Air […]

Lockheed Plans Civil Version of C-130

Lockheed Martin has filed for a type design update with the Federal Aviation Administration for a civil-certified variant of its C-130J airlifter. The civil variant of the Super Hercules will be designated the LM-100J — the first civilian model of a C-130 since the L-100, which was produced between 1964 and 1992. “The LM-100J is a natural […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1894 – Birth of Arthur Thomas Drinkwater, Australian World War I flying ace. 1928 – First flight of the Boeing F3B (shown), an American biplane fighter and fighter-bomber. 1943 – Death of Reinhold Knacke, German World War II night fighter ace; while shooting down a British Halifax bomber, Knacke is shot down and killed by one of the Halifax’s gunners. […]

Black Eagles Slated for Singapore Airshow

South Korea’s military aerobatic team will attend Asia’s largest air show in Singapore next week with a squadron of eight T-50B trainer jets, the Air Force said Monday. The Black Eagles aerobatic team departed Jeju International Airport on the southern resort island on Saturday to participate in the Singapore Airshow, slated for Feb. 11-16 at […]

NATO Partners Fly Iceland Exercises

Fighter jets from NATO and partner countries began to conduct a wide range of air defence-related flying activities over Iceland on Monday in the first event of its kind to be held on the island. The Iceland Air Meet 2014 (IAM2014) brings together participants from NATO members Iceland, Norway, the Netherlands and the United States, […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1883 – Birth of Jacob Earl “Jake” Fickel, U.S. major general and flying instructor; he also is credited with firing the first recorded gunshot ever from an airplane. 1951 – Pan Am World Airways Capt. Charles Blair flies a North American P-51 Mustang (christened “Excalibur III”) non-stop from New York to London to test the jet stream, […]

Pilot Helps Capture Southern Snowstorm

If it weren’t for Birmingham, Ala.-based helicopter pilot Brian K. Coshatt, you never would have seen Birmingham’s snowpocalypse the way you did. You can thank Coshatt for giving you perspective. Over the past three days, Coshatt piloted the helicopter that AL.com and some local television stations used to get journalists up in the air, above all the […]