Civilian

After more than six years of painstaking restoration work, “City of Savannah,” a Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress owned by the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, will be dedicated on Wednesday. The achievement was accomplished by museum volunteers following the bomber’s acquisition from the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum in 2009. The January 28th […]

1889 – Birth of Harry George Hawker MBE, AFC, Australian aviation pioneer and co-founder of Hawker Aircraft. 1931 – First flight of the Bristol Type 118, a British general-purpose military aircraft, a two-seat biplane prototype for overseas markets. 1943 – Death of Edmond Eugene Henri Caillaux, French World War I flying ace. 1952 – The de Havilland Comet 1 (1A shown) becomes […]

1897 – Birth of Carlo Francesco “Francis” Lombardi, Italian World War I flying ace; he would also become an aircraft and automobile designer who made several post-war record breaking flights. 1917 – First flight of the Nielsen & Winther Type AA (shown), a single-seat, Danish-designed fighter. 1944 – Launch of Operation Steinbock (Baby Blitz), a nocturnal World War II Luftwaffe offensive against […]

A U.S. Army trainer plane from World War II, close to going airborne for the first time in 70 years, will make that “maiden voyage” from California’s Modesto Airport. The Vultee BT-13 Valiant was in pieces, spread between three hangars at the airport, when Jason Reid purchased it from the Commemorative Air Force there. When he’s […]

1898 – Birth of George Donald Tod, American World War I flying ace. 1915 – The first aircraft to be launched from a submarine (U-12) is a Friedrichshafen FF.29, a German two-seat floatplane. 1931 – Italian Gen. Italo Balbo leads the first formation flight across the South Atlantic; 12 Savoia-Marchetti S.55s land in Rio de […]