Technicalities May Cause F-16 Line to Stop
On the 45th anniversary of the F-16 lightweight fighter’s first flight, Lockheed Martin faces the very real prospect of turning off “Fighting Falcon” production as prospective customers like Pakistan struggle to clear the U.S. government’s regulatory and funding processes. After assembling more than 4,500 F-16s in almost 140 different configurations, the Fort Worth, Texas, production […]
On This Day in Aviation History
1896 – Birth of Gregory Hamilton Blaxland, Australian World War I flying ace. 1915 – World War I’s Battle of Neuve Chappelle opens. The assault on Neuve Chappelle is based, for the first time in the history of warfare, on maps prepared solely by photographic reconnaissance. The battle also includes the first attempt at air […]
Iconic Firepower: Seeing Eye Bombs
In 1908, novelist H. G. Wells wrote The War in the Air, anticipating aerial fleets scourging enemy populations with weapons of undreamt power and accuracy. As an amateur scientist, he probably knew something about cathode-ray tubes, although he probably did not realize how they would ultimately influence aerial warfare. A century en route Experiments with […]
On This Day in Aviation History
1888 – Birth of Edward Darby, British World War I flying ace. 1934 – Juan de la Cierva lands an autogyro on the Spanish Navy seaplane and ballon carrier Dédalo. It is the first time an autogyro lands on a Spanish ship. 1942 – The Royal Air Force commits Supermarine Spitfires to the defense of Malta for […]
Hybrid Airship Set for First Flight
The longest aircraft in the world is preparing for its first test flight in a few weeks’ time. The Airlander 10 is a cross between an airship and an airplane. It generates lift aerostatically through being filled with helium, and aerodynamically thanks to its unique-looking wing shape. Because it’s heavier than air, the 20-ton craft can land […]
On This Day in Aviation History
1873 – Death of Charles Ferson Durant, the first successful American aeronaut. 1915 – Birth of Kaj Birksted, Danish World War II flying ace with the Royal Air Force and Danish high-ranking officer post-WWII. 1955 – Trans-Canada Airlines introduces the Vickers Viscount airliner into regular service, making it the first North American airline to use […]
NASA Sets Sights on Supersonic Jet
The return of supersonic passenger air travel is one step closer to reality with NASA’s award of a contract for the preliminary design of a “low boom” flight demonstration aircraft. This is the first in a series of ‘X-planes’ in NASA’s New Aviation Horizons initiative, introduced in the agency’s Fiscal Year 2017 budget. NASA Administrator […]
On This Day in Aviation History
1896 – Birth of Dan Able Kimball, American World War I pilot, executive of rocket engine producer Aerojet Engineering Co. and secretary of the U.S. Navy. 1926 – A quartet of Royal Air Force Fairey IIIDs commanded by Wing Commander Conway Walter Heath Pulford begin a long-distance flight from Cairo, Egypt, to Cape Town, South […]
SR-71 Pilot Recounts Career
Brian Shul was burned so horribly after his aircraft crashed in the Vietnam jungle that doctors in Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, expected him to die. But Shul’s body refused to give in. He was shipped to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, where he underwent 15 surgeries by doctors who told him […]
