Main Categories Archives - Page 216 of 270

Who Was First? The Wrights or Whitehead?

Here it comes again: the Great Who Flew First Debate. This time it is courtesy of Jane’s All the World Aircraft, considered to be one of the world’s encyclopedic, not-to-be-doubted sources of aviation information and their radical shift in which they de-throne the Wright Brothers and enshrine Gustav Whitehead as the first to achieve powered […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1918 – Ensign John McNamara makes the first U.S. Navy attack on a submarine. 1926 – Willy Messerschmitt, a graduate of Munich Technical College and already an experienced designer of light aircraft and sailplanes, forms the Messerschmitt aircraft company. 1928 – Jim Lovell, American astronaut, was born. James “Jim” Arthur Lovell, Jr., is most famous as the commander of Apollo 13, which […]

Old Planes Keep Flying as Dreamliners Stay Grounded

Japan’s All Nippon Airways will delay retiring four aircraft to help maintain services already hit by the grounding of its entire fleet of troubled Boeing 787 Dreamliners, Kyodo News reported on Saturday. International regulators grounded all Dreamliners in January after a battery on a Japan Airlines 787 caught fire and forced an ANA flight to make […]

Navy to Cut Four Carrier Air Wings, Training Schedules

Due to spending cuts, U.S. Navy aircraft will be sent into long-term storage, training will be limited to a simulator and the daily routine will shift to admin work. And it may begin as soon as April. These are the latest details from Naval Air Forces, which is planning for the standdown of four carrier […]

Georgia Museum to Shed 32 Warbirds, Missiles

For the first time in its 29-year history, the Museum of Aviation at Georgia’s Robins Air Force Base is downsizing. The museum is getting rid of 29 planes and three missiles, which is about a third of its total collection. Museum Director Ken Emery said the move is largely due to U.S. Air Force personnel cuts […]

FAA Issues Tower Closure List

As if the aviation scene here in the U.S. hasn’t already experienced its share of sequester-related cuts (think Blue Angels and Thunderbirds), the Federal Aviation Administration has some of its own: today it released the highly anticipated list of airport tower closures. Robert Goyer at Flying Magazine posted an excellent story, along with the complete […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1903 – James S. Russell, U.S. Navy admiral and pilot, is born. He was instrumental in the capture of the Aleutian, or Koga’s, Zero, a Japanese fighter plane which crash-landed on Akutan Island, Alaska Territory, during World War II. It was captured intact in July 1942 and became the first flyable Zero acquired by the U.S. during the war. 1919 – The first regular […]

Marine F-35B Conducts First Vertical Landing

Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121 watched in amazement and satisfaction as the Corps’ first operational F-35B Lightning II squadron conducted its first Short Take Off-Vertical Landing operations aboard Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz., on Thursday. Maj. Richard Rusnok, an F-35B Lightning II test pilot, conducted VMFA-121’s first short landing and takeoff as well as […]

Florida Air Show a Swan Song for Thunderbirds

Brevard County, Fla., hosts its share of festivals — at the park, on the beach, in the water and up in the air. The 36th annual Tico Warbird AirShow takes flight today through Sunday at Space Coast Regional Airport in Titusville. The headlining Air Force Thunderbirds will make their first appearance at the event. However, it […]

Lion Air’s Malindo Launches Maiden Flights

Malindo Air, a new low-cost carrier owned partly by Lion Air, launched its first two flights on Friday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The airline’s first flight was from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu at 1:30 p.m. using a Boeing 737-800 belonging to Lion Air, who own 49 percent of the carrier. The other flight was from […]