Flight Journal - Page 159 of 286 - Aviation History | History of Flight | Aviation History Articles, Warbirds, Bombers, Trainers, Pilots

D-DAY INVASION: JUNE 2024

1930'S FIGHTER FLIES AGAIN: APRIL 2024

The Legend of Maj. Paul "Pappy" Gunn

Their Finest Hour

Butcher Bird Hellcat & Corsair: A test pilot recalls

Stinson’s Big-Guy L-Bird

Stalin’s Flying Hammer

LATEST

Canadian Airline Reveals Mickey Mouse 737

Air New Zealand’s Boeing 777-300 aircraft bearing the image of the mythical dragon Smaug from the “Hobbit” trilogy wasn’t the only magic-themed jet making its debut yesterday. Monday in Calgary, Canada, WestJet, WestJet Vacations and Walt Disney Parks & Resorts (Canada) unveiled a custom-painted Boeing Next-Generation 737-800 featuring Mickey Mouse as Sorcerer Mickey, a role the […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1898 – Birth of Indra Lal Roy, first Indian World War I flying ace. 1943 – More than 100 German Junkers Ju 88 bombers bomb the harbour of Bari, Italy, sinking numerous cargo and transport ships, including an American Liberty ship, the John Harvey, with a stockpile of World War I-era mustard gas. 1968 – Wien Consolidated […]

P-8 Poseidon to Get Real Test

The U.S. Navy’s first advanced P-8 Poseidon patrol aircraft has arrived in Japan, the start of a deployment that will upgrade America’s ability to hunt submarines and other vessels in seas close to China as tension in the region mounts. The deployment, planned before China last month established an air defense zone covering islands controlled by Japan and claimed by Beijing, includes […]

Lockheed Martin Reveals Drone Features

Northrop Grumman, which engineers the Navy’s Fire Scout unmanned helicopter and the Air Force’s Global Hawk surveillance plane in San Diego, Calif., recently showed off two smaller drones at the company’s burgeoning Rancho Bernardo offices. The defense giant has 2,000 employees at its San Diego “unmanned systems center of excellence” and recently took occupancy of […]

Air New Zealand Reveals Latest Livery

Hobbit fans can finally see the most-anticipated character in the movie trilogy, the dragon Smaug. While Smaug has previously been glimpsed in part, his full body has never been revealed. Ahead of the premiere of the second part of the Hobbit trilogy, “The Desolation of Smaug,” Air New Zealand on Monday unveiled a 54-metre long image […]

Woman Donates ‘Forgotten’ Cessna

This may be closest that the Sonoma County, Calif., aviation buffs come to unearthing buried treasure. A letter from out of the blue advised Christina Olds of the Pacific Coast Air Museum that a woman in Marin County wished to donate her airplane. The other day, Olds and several members of the private airplane museum at […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1893 – Birth of Lucien Eugene Cayol, French World War I flying ace. 1912 – The aeronautical division of the U.S. Army Signal Corps receives the first “flying boat,” a Curtiss Model F (shown), capable of takeoff from water. 1940 – Death of Henri Guillaumet, French pioneer aviator; he is shot down in his Farman […]

CAF Members Vote to Move HQ

A vote by members of the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) will allow the organization’s board to move its headquarters from Midland, Texas, the CAF announced Friday. The CAF Airpower Museum will remain in Midland, and Midland International Airport will continue to host CAF’s annual Airsho. In an election held to consider a proposed amendment to the CAF’s bylaws, 75.1 […]

Irish Helicopter Unit Turns 50

The Irish Air Corps celebrated the 50th anniversary of helicopter aviation on Tuesday. The pioneering pilots of the Air Corps introduced rotary aviation to Ireland when they flew two Alouette III helicopters from France to Ireland, landing in Casement Aerodrome, Baldonnel, on Nov. 26, 1963. The arrival of these helicopters, callsigns “A195” and “A196,'” signaled the […]

Video: X-47B Continues Sea Trials

The U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt returned to port last week after hosting the Northrop Grumman X-47B unmanned combat air vehicle for more at-sea trials. The goal was to test the aircraft’s interaction with the ship in off-nominal wind conditions. Nominal conditions are winds up to 25 knots right down the runway on deck. Testers were looking […]