Main Categories Archives - Page 96 of 270

C3B: The Original Stearman

When the name Stearman is mentioned in aviation circles, the first thought that comes to mind is of the popular World War II PT-13, PT-17 and N2S biplane military primary training planes that introduced thousands of military pilots to flying. However, for the most part, those airplanes were actually Boeing Model 75 Kaydets. The Stearman […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1862 – Edward Porter Alexander, first Confederate balloonist, goes aloft in the “Silk Dress” balloon to view the Battle of Gaines Mill, ascending several times and returning with valuable intelligence regarding the position of the Union Army; it is the only successful Confederate observation of the Civil War. 1899 – Birth of Juan Terry Trippe, […]

Frustrated Iraqi PM Buys Russian Fighters

Frustrated by the slow process of acquiring American air power hardware, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has turned elsewhere. He told the BBC’s Arabic Service that Iraq has “bought second-hand fighters from Russia and Belarus that will arrive in a few days’ time.” Al-Maliki’s government is trying to counter a rapid advance by The Islamic […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1893 – Birth of Cosimo Rizzotto, Italian World War I flying ace. 1909 – The first commercial sale of an airplane in the U.S. is made as Glenn H. Curtiss sells one of his planes to the Aeronautic Society of New York for $7,500. This action spurs the Wright brothers to begin a patent suit to […]

Osprey Training with the USMC

The VMMT-204 Raptors have been leading the charge in training Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey crews for almost 10 years, since U.S. Marine Corps aviation units began transitioning from the venerable Sikorsky CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter to the MV-22 in 2005. Having long outgrown some initial issues common to the introduction of an advanced, next-generation aircraft, […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1923 – First glider flight in the Soviet Union is made by Konstantin Konstantinovich Artseulov. 1942 – The third of the “Thousand Bomber Raids” of the Royal Air Force is mounted against Bremen; the raid, boasting more than 950 aircraft, marks the last operational sortie of the Avro Manchester, the unsuccessful forerunner of the widely […]

B-2 Bomber to Get Upgrades

The U.S. Air Force’s Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit is receiving a technological upgrade to allow the service’s bat-winged, nuclear capable bomber to fly through 2058. Air Force officials have started planning the modernization overhaul to include digital nuclear weapons and a new receiver that allows the bomber to receive messages in the event of a nuclear detonation, said […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1867 – Roberto Adolfo Chodasiewicz, a Polish-born Argentinian military engineer, demonstrate the operation of balloons with James Allen on the first aerostatic flight in South America. 1916 – Death of Victor S. Chapman, a French-American World War I pilot, dies in his Nieuport 16; he is the first U.S. airman to be killed in action. […]

91-Year-Old Fighter Vet Flies Spitfire

A 91-year-old former fighter pilot took the controls and looped the loop when he was given the chance to fly his first Spitfire. Neville Croucher, from Chartham near Canterbury, England, survived 800 combat hours in the cockpit of Hawker Hurricane fighters during World War Two. He was given the chance to fly a Supermarine Spitfire at […]

War’s Ultimate Weapon

By Budd Davisson There’s a certain amount of elitism attached to what we do here at Flight Journal: all of our focus is on aircraft and their pilots. In fact, as you worked your way through the preceding articles to this final page, you probably couldn’t help but glory in the deeds accomplished by those […]