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Air India Launches Dreamliner Test Flights

Air India has launched test flights of its Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, which have been fitted with new battery packs following battery fire incidents in January, as the first of these sophisticated planes was flown from Mumbai to Delhi via Ahmedabad. By Friday, two Dreamliners will be test-flown several times daily between Delhi and Amritsar […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1888 – Birth of Francesco Baracca, Italy’s top fighter ace of World War I, credited with 34 aerial victories. 1926 – Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett make the first flight over the North Pole in a Fokker F.VIIa-3 m. Their total distance from Spitzbergen, Norway, is 1,600 miles. 1943 – A German night fighter crew defects to the U.K., flying a Junkers Ju 88R-1. The defection gives British scientists and tacticians access to a Lichtenstein airborne interception radar for […]

Florida Museum Monument to Honor Tuskegee Airmen

More than 65 years after flying fighter planes over Europe, the Red Tail pilots of the Tuskegee Airmen will have a monument designed to honor their World War II exploits while inspiring kids to seek careers in aviation. “It’s like a dream come true,” said retired Red Tail pilot Leo Gray on Tuesday during a groundbreaking ceremony […]

Warbirds to Fill Thunderbirds Slot at USAF Academy Ceremony

The sequester won’t stop a beloved tradition after all. For a time, it was looking like this year’s U.S. Air Force Academy’s graduating cadets would not get to have a flyover at their commencement ceremony in Colorado Springs, Colo., due to the sequester grounding the Thunderbirds demonstration team. But now two museums, one local and one […]

Nigerian Military Logs Second Crash in Days

A Nigerian military helicopter has crashed in the country’s oil-rich southern delta, just days after one of its jets crashed. A statement from Nigeria’s Air Force said the crash happened Thursday morning at its base in Port Harcourt and that the crew escaped unharmed. Local witnesses described seeing a plume of smoke rise from the […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1891 – Birth of James Robert Smith, Canadian World War I flying ace. 1914 – A civilian pilot, René Caudron, makes the first French shipboard takeoff in an airplane from a ramp constructed over the foredeck of the seaplane carrier Foudre, using a Caudron G.3 amphibian floatplane. 1937 – Lt. Col. Mario Pezzi of Italy’s Regia Aeronautica […]

Crews Begin Recovery of Grumman Wreckage

A crew on Tuesday began recovering pieces of a Grumman G-44 Widgeon that crashed in the Hudson River near Germantown, N.Y., last Thursday. The crash killed the pilot and sole occupant, Michael Braunstein, 72, of Copake. Todd Gunther, the investigator in charge for the National Transportation Safety Board, said about one-quarter of the wreckage has been […]

From WWII to the B-2, the Evolution of the Flying Wing

The design of the flying wing, an aircraft type with no distinct fuselage or tail, goes back to the early days of evolution. Joe Pappalardo of Popular Mechanics retraced the design’s flight path through history. For the complete story, click here.

Afghan Air Force Struggles to Take Off

Afghanistan’s fledgling air force is scrambling to prepare to take control of the country’s airspace. But while expectations are high, the force is having trouble getting off the ground. Air power has proved crucial in rugged Afghanistan, where road networks are poor and often mined by militants. Afghan and international ground forces have relied heavily […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1912 – An American Wright biplane, flown by U.S. Army Air Corps Lt. Thomas De Witt Milling at College Park, Md., becomes the first aeroplane to be armed with a machine gun. 1917 – British ace Capt. Albert Ball (44 victories) of the Royal Flying Corps is killed in a crash following a dogfight with Lothar von Richthofen (younger brother […]