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Life & Death Aboard a B-17 [VIDEO]

Soon after entering World War Two, the U.S. launched Boeing B-17 “Flying Fortresses” and Consolidated B-24 “Liberators” from bases in England’s eastern countryside. Americans bombed their targets during the day and the British at night. The B-17 was manned by a crew of 10 and bristled with machine guns. Up to 1,000 of these heavy […]

Fairey Rotodyne Compound Gyroplane

The Fairey Rotodyne was a 1950’s British compound gyroplane designed and built by Fairey Aviation and intended for commercial and military uses. The Fairey Rotodyne’s first flight was on 6 November 1957. The first transitions to horizontal powered flight were begun in April 1958. Initial problems with tip jet reignition at altitude were solved by […]

Restoring an F4F Wildcat [VIDEO]

Salvagers recovered a World War II-era Grumman Wildcat that crashed into Lake Michigan. Now, a team of specialists at the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo, Michigan are restoring the plane. Great video by Discover UK with a surprise “bonus” ending that details how to make a cigar box banjo!

Gen. Chuck Yeager on Flying P-51 Mustangs

As we mourn the passing of an aviation legend, we share this article Gen. Chuck Yeager wrote for Flight Journal. I shot down my first Bf 109 during the first daylight raid on Berlin by American B-17s on March 4, 1944. I was flying a P-51B with the birdcage canopy. The weather was extremely bad, […]

BMW Electric Wingsuit reaches 186mph!

BMW partnered with German automaker Designworks and Peter Salzman, a professional skydiver and BASE jumper to test fly a chest-mounted twin jet power pack. After 3 years of testing in an indoor wind tunnel, Salzman dropped from a helicopter at 10,000 feet and reached 186mph on the inaugural flight—about 3X faster than a standard nonpowered […]

Last Dogfight of WW I

Did you know that on April 11, 1945 the last aerial combat of WW II was fought between a U.S. L-4 Grasshopper and Luftwaffe Fieseler Storch over Vesbeck, Germany? Here’s the story, in the words of the Grasshopper pilot, Lt. Merritt Duane Francies, U.S. Army, Retired, 5th Armored Division, 71st Field Artillery, 9th Army. “I […]

One Lucky Bastard!

I grew up during an exciting time for aviation. My first recollection of flying was at about 10 years old when I shook Lucky Lindbergh’s hand. In fourth grade I won a model airplane contest, and the prize was my first ride in an open cockpit plane. I had no goggles. When I raised my […]

Veterans Day and Me: A Personal Essay

Although Veterans Day has the stated purpose of remembering the vets and those in uniform, in reality it means different things to different people. For some it is the half-off sales that surround us. For me, it reminds me of one of those could-of-should-ofs that will always haunt me: I never served in the armed […]

Veteran’s Day–Their warrior spirit lives on

The mechanical warriors of WW II will always be with us in one way or another, but the day is coming when those brave young men who sat at the controls and gambled their lives for freedom will be gone. They may be much older now and moving more slowly, but if you corner them […]

Flying the B-47

For many, the B-47 Stratojet was the most impressive aircraft of the day. It was the Air Force’s first jet powered bomber and it took replaced the propeller and jet driven B-36 Peacemaker. For this article, the multi-faceted Walt Boyne, known as a familiar face on many TV aviation documentaries as the former Director of […]