Flight Journal - Page 75 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

Colorado Museum Receives Pair of MiGs

Warplanes that once targeted U.S. soldiers are now part of a collection at the Pueblo Weisbrod Aircraft Museum. The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 and MiG-17 are the first enemy aircraft at the museum. The Russian planes were used during the Vietnam and Korean wars. Volunteers at the museum said it took three years to bring in the planes and […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1890 – Birth of Joseph Frantz, French World War I pilot and the first pilot to shoot down an airplane in a dogfight. 1951 – William “Bill” Bridgeman sets a new airspeed record in the Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket (shown) of Mach 1.88 (1,245 mph). 1963 – First flight of the Lockheed YF-12, American prototype interceptor; […]

More Chinooks Headed to Spec Ops

The U.S. Army is looking to renew production of the Boeing MH-47G Chinook special mission helicopter in an upgraded Block 2 configuration, it disclosed on 3 August. With production of the final eight Block 1 MH-47Gs set to be complete by the end of the year, the US Army Aviation Integration Directorate is proposing the […]

Illinois Aviation Museum Closing

After a long struggle and many years of valiant effort in preserving American aviation history, the Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum in Rantoul, Ill., is sadly set to close at the end of this year due to lack of funds. Now comes the hardest part; deciding what to do with the fleet of thirty or so aircraft currently under their […]

On This Day in Aviation History

1915 – Birth of Helmut Paul Emil Wick, German World War II fighter ace. 1936 – Chicago and Southern Air Lines Flight 4, a Lockheed Model 10 Electra, crashes after takeoff from Lambert-St. Louis International Airport due to pilot error, killing all eight aboard. 1936 – Five Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 bombers are among aircraft covering a convoy of merchant […]

UK to Extend Tornado Service Life

The British government has reprieved a squadron of Panavia Tornado GR4 strike jets from being axed in order to maintain its operations against Islamic State group targets in Iraq. The announcement that 12 (Bomber) Squadron will be kept flying for a further year was made by British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon during a visit to […]

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 […]