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NASA C-130, Global Hawk Take on Ice

By NASA For the first time, a NASA airborne campaign will measure changes in the height of the Greenland Ice Sheet and surrounding Arctic sea ice produced by a single season of summer melt. NASA’s Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules research aircraft flew from the Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Va., to Greenland Wednesday where […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1869 – Birth of William Adger Moffett, American pilot and architect of U.S. naval aviation; he was later known as the “Air Admiral.” 1926 – Death of Harry Houdini (born Erik Weisz in Budapest, later Ehrich Weiss or Harry Weiss), an American stunt performer noted for his sensational escape acts and an early aviator. 1944 […]

ATV + Parasail = SkyRunner

Has the “flying car” finally gotten off the ground? Sales for an innovative vehicle called the SkyRunner began today with its public debut at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show in Florida. More of a beefed-up paraplane than a roadable aircraft like the Terrafugia Transition, the SkyRunner is a single-seat all-terrain-vehicle with a rear-mounted propeller that attaches to […]

F-35 Drops First Laser Weapon in Test

The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II fighter jet dropped a 500-pound bomb this week, hitting a tank at Edwards Air Force Base in California and marking the first time the new warplane, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter, has fired a laser-guided weapon, the Pentagon said Wednesday. An F-35 B-model jet released the Guided Bomb Unit-12 […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1896 – Birth of Kenneth Malise St. Clair Graeme Leask, a British World War I flying ace and later a high ranking officer in the Royal Air Force. 1908 – Henri Farman makes the first cross-country flight in Europe, in a Voisin, flying between the French towns of Châlons and Reims. 1918 – Flying a […]

Dream Chaser Makes First Flight

A privately owned prototype space plane aced its debut test flight in California but was damaged after landing when a wheel did not drop down, developer Sierra Nevada Corp. said on Tuesday. The Dream Chaser is one of three space taxis under development in partnership with NASA to fly astronauts to the International Space Station […]

English Museum’s Jets Focus of Show

A unique collection of Cold War aircraft belonging to a Westcountry museum in England is to feature on a BBC program documenting jet technology throughout the stand-off. Film crews have visited Classic Air Force’s new museum in Newquay, which boasts the largest collection of Cold War aircraft outside of America, in preparation for the BBC2 […]

The Crash of Independence 08

Sometimes, a 99.96% success rate isn’t good enough. That’s how often the Air Force’s MC-12W Liberty spy planes arrive overhead when needed by U.S. troops on the ground in Afghanistan. The twin-turboprop planes are modified versions of the Hawker Beechcraft Super King Air 350. Their crew of four includes a pair of pilots and a pair of backseat […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1897 – Birth of Frederick Stanley “Freddie” Gordon, New Zealand World War I flying ace. 1936 – Jim A. Mollison takes off from Harbour Grace in Newfoundland, Canada, to Croydon, England, to set a west-to-east North Atlantic crossing record in a Bellanca 28-90 Flash (shown above). 1956 – Operation Kadesh, an Israeli military effort to […]

‘Memphis Belle’ Visits Florida

The four-engine bomber bristling with machine guns brings to mind the anxiety of the men who ran Hitler’s gauntlet in the skies over Europe in the bleak days of World War II. The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress was a mass-produced piece of American military history, but only a handful remain. One is right here in […]