Civilian Archives - Page 152 of 175

Boeing Completes ‘Uneventful’ 787 Test Flight

Boeing completed what it called an uneventful flight on Saturday of a test 787 Dreamliner, its first since the airplanes were grounded more than three weeks ago after a series of battery-related problems. The test flight to gather detailed information on the airplane’s lithium-ion batteries lasted two hours and 19 minutes, taking off from and returning […]

8,000th Van’s RV Takes Wing

Van’s Aircraft celebrated a milestone this week as the 8,000th confirmed RV kit airplane made its first flight. The airplane, an RV-7A built by Stephen Watson from Santa Clarita, Calif., took flight on Monday. At the completion of the flight, the builder proclaimed: “She flew like an RV.” Watson, who works at the Jet Propulsion […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1918 – During U.S. Navy tests of a converted Curtiss N-9 biplane as an unpiloted flying bomb equipped with a Sperry automatic control, Lawrence Sperry takes it up to prove airworthiness of the design. It crashes, but the pilot is unhurt. 1932 – Birth of Alfred Worden, American test pilot and astronaut who was the command module pilot for the Apollo 15 Moon mission, one of […]

Donation Moves Trident Passenger Jet Resto Along

A North East England flooring franchise has stepped in to help the restoration project of the last 1960s Trident 1C passenger airplane in the world. Franks the Flooring Store has donated a carpet to fit-out the whole interior of the Hawker Siddeley HS 121 Trident, which is being worked on at the North East Aircraft Museum […]

Pima Forum to Highlight Huey History

The exciting history of the Bell UH-1 Iroquois, better known as the Huey, will be explained by the men and women who experienced it firsthand at this month’s Huey Forum, Feb. 23-24, at the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Ariz. Pilots and air and ground crew members who have flown the Huey during […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1890 – Birth of Gottfried von Banfield, most successful Austro-Hungarian WWI naval aeroplane pilot, known as the ‘Eagle of Trieste.’ He may have been the only flying ace who flew a flying boat to five or more victories. 1933 – Jim Mollison flies a de Havilland Puss Moth from the United Kingdom to Brazil, via Senegal, across the South Atlantic. He becomes the […]

Washington State Aviation Museum Packs Up Exhibits

The sound of packing tape stripped over boxes, the whirring of machines and the beeping of heavy trucks made a cacophonous symphony Tuesday at Pearson Air Museum in Vancouver, Wash., as volunteers and employees worked feverishly to turn the facility over to the National Park Service on what they said was very short notice. NPS […]

Photo of the Day: NASA’s B-52, X-24A

In this historical photo from the U.S. space agency, the X-24A lifting-body research aircraft begins its rocket-powered flight after being launched from the wing of NASA’s B-52 mothership during a 1970 research flight. NASA B-52, Tail Number 008, is an air launch carrier aircraft, “mothership,” as well as a research aircraft platform that has been […]

Flying the Feathered Edge: The Bob Hoover Project

As Kilo Foxtrot Films writes, “WW II veteran, prisoner of war, accomplished test pilot, pace plane for the Unlimited Reno races, air show pilot … Bob Hoover is considered by many to be one of the founding fathers of modern aerobatics. Jimmy Doolittle called him ‘…the greatest stick and rudder man who ever lived.’ Flying […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1925 – Clyde V. Cessna, Walter Beech and Lloyd Stearman founded Travel Air Manufacturing Co. 1919 – Birth of George Preddy, U.S. World War II fighter ace, top P-51 Mustang ace of WWII and sixth on the list of all-time highest scoring American aces. 1932 – The first air-to-air clash of the Shanghai Incident takes place between five […]