Two officers from the operational test community are among the six pilots in the first Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II pilot training course after an Air Education and Training Command decision to start training at northwest Florida’s Eglin Air Force Base in January. Lt. Col. Benjamin Bishop, the 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron director of [...]
1915 – The first British tactical bombing raids in support of ground troops made in Menin and Courtai, Belgium. 1932 – First flight of the Junkers Ju 52/3m, a tri-motor transport that flew into the 1980s. 1956 – Dan Perkins, engineer at Britain’s Royal Aircraft Establishment, makes his first flight in an inflatable airplane in Bedfordshire, England. It takes 25 minutes to inflate [...]
Glass cases are polished and shining. Walls are hung with photos and memorabilia. The Norton Air Force Base Museum in San Bernadino, Calif., is nearly ready for its big day on Wednesday. The occasion is the grand opening of the museum. “The base closed in 1994, so this is something that is long overdue,” said Bob Edwards, [...]
For the first time in a decade, the B-17 Flying Fortress will cast its fearsome shadow over Brownsville, Texas. “Texas Raiders,” a 67-year-old, four-engine heavy bomber flown and maintained by the Commemorative Air Force’s Gulf Coast Wing in Houston, will be the biggest star at this weekend’s Air Fiesta 2013, which celebrates 50 years of CAF [...]
The Millville, N.J., Army Air Field Museum will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2013 with a commemorative fundraising event, “WWII Day in Millville,” from 3 to 6 p.m. Sunday at The Levoy Theatre, 126-130 N. High St. The event will include film presentations and an hors d’oeuvres reception with beer, wine and desserts. It and [...]
Cheyenne Matthews wants to be a pilot. So, naturally, the 16-year-old junior at St. Augustine High School in Florida was thrilled to be part of a group of 31 girls from her school’s Aerospace Academy who got to meet acclaimed aerobatic pilot Patty Wagstaff on Tuesday at Northeast Florida Regional Airport. “She’s definitely a huge inspiration,” [...]
An Indian Navy Chetak helicopter with four personnel on board crashed into the sea off the Vishakhapatnam harbour on Tuesday. Two crew members were rescued while the fate of two others is unknown, officials said. The chopper, an Indian-built version of the Aerospatiale Alouette III, was said to be on a training sortie when it [...]
1923 – Aeronautical pioneer Igor Sikorsky sets up the Sikorsky Aero Engineering Corp. in the U.S. Sikorsky left Russia in 1917 when revolution threatened his work and his life. 1936 – First flight of the Supermarine Spitfire (shown above). The single-seat fighter would play a major role in World War II, with more than 20,300 being built over the following [...]
