Civilian

1892 – Birth of Edwin Harris Dunning, who later flies for Britain’s Royal Naval Air Service and becomes the first pilot to land an aircraft on a moving ship. 1914 – First flight of the Vickers F.B.5 (Fighting Biplane 5 and known as the “Gunbus”), a British two-seat, World War I military biplane. It is the first aircraft purpose-built for […]

1911 – The LZ 10 Schwaben, a German rigid airship, enters commercial service; it will go on to become the first commercially successful passenger aircraft. 1918 – Awdry Morris “Bunny” Vaucour, British World War I flying ace, dies in a “friendly fire” incident when an Italian Hanriot pilot shot down Vaucour’s Sopwith Camel. 1923 – Birth of Ralph Dayton Albertazzie, U.S. Air […]

Bill Martin takes exception with the title of a book about Lt. Col. William Lambert of Ironton, Ohio, that labels the aviator as America’s “forgotten” aviation ace of World War I. Lambert, who passed away in 1982, flew the Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5a for the British Army’s Royal Flying Corps. “I don’t think people really forgot […]

The space inside the cockpit of the Beechcraft T-34A Mentor trainer belonging to the Cactus Air Force Wings and Wheels Museum is about the same as inside as a standard refrigerator shipping box. Maybe a foot or two shorter. And narrower. There are 20 or so gauges and dials on the dashboard, some with familiar […]