Civilian Archives - Page 29 of 175

On This Day in Aviation History

1891 – Birth of William Joseph Baynes Nel, South African World War I flying ace. 1943 – German submarine U-489 is sunk by a Short Sunderland flying boat of 420 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force, southeast of Iceland. The Sunderland also is shot down and five of the 11-man crew are killed. 1973 – The first […]

Last Surviving Dambusters Pilot Dies

The last surviving pilot from the Dambusters raids has died at the age of 96. Les Munro died on Tuesday morning in hospital in Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty in his native New Zealand. His death means there are just two survivors from the 1943 bombing raids on Germany’s Ruhr dams: George “Johnny” Johnson, from […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1890 – Birth of Francis Dominic Casey, Irish World War I flying ace. 1921 – Lt. John A. Macready of the U.S. Army Air Corps finds a new use for airplanes when he sprays a patch of ground infested with caterpillars. This practice becomes known as crop dusting. 1945 – First flight of the Kyushu J7W Shinden […]

Russian Chopper Crashes During Air Show

A Russian air force helicopter has crashed in front of thousands of spectators at an air show east of Moscow, killing one of the pilots, in the latest in a string of military crashes involving military aircraft. The Mil Mi-28N attack helicopter was participating in the show at Dubrovichi air field near the town of […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1891 – Birth of Alan Douglas Light, British World War I flying ace (as observer) and airship pilot who also served in World War II. 1913 – Alys McKey Bryant becomes the first woman pilot to fly in Canada, over Vancouver, in a Curtiss-type pusher biplane. 1944 – A Boeing B-29 Superfortress named “Ramp Tramp” was […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1909 – Orville Wright makes an evaluation test flight from Fort Myer, Fla., to Alexandria, Va., with Benjamin Delahauf Foulois, breaking previous speed, altitude and cross-country duration records. Wright flys at 42.5 mph, 400 feet, and for 10 miles. The U.S. Army later purchases this Wright Model A Military Flyer and names it “Signal Corps […]

NMUSAF Debuts Historic Display App

Visitors to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force often ask if it’s possible to get inside the aircraft on display. With the help of technology, online visitors have the chance to see the interiors of many historical icons. Among the most recent additions to the free ACI Cockpit360º app, available from the museum and AeroCapture […]

CNN Rides EAA’s Ford Tri-Motor

They call this airplane a time machine. At nearly 90 years old, Ford Tri-Motors are museum pieces. They’re the world’s first all-metal, multi-engine commercial airliners. Really, it’s hard to believe they still let these things fly. They’re too historic. But the so-called Tin Goose was flying at last week’s aviation festival at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, so, […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1888 – Birth of Rosina Ferrario, the first Italian woman to obtain a pilot license. 1914 – The first torpedo drop by a British aircraft is carried out by Arthur Murray Longmore from a Short Admiralty Type 81 (Short Folder), a British two-seat floatplane. 1938 – Harold Lee Neely, flying a Sversky P-35, achieves a […]

Aerial Banner Company Turns 70

Like saltwater taffy and “Watch the tramcar please,” a single-engine Piper Cub airplane pulling an advertising banner above the shoreline is a Jersey Shore tradition. Some of the planes have been flying from Cape May Point north, sometimes as far as Sandy Hook, since 1945. Paramount Air Service — the nation’s oldest and largest aerial advertising firm — is […]