Published on October 31, 2012 At this writing, just days remain until American voters will cast their ballots for the Presidency of the United States.  Today’s political candidates fly “hops”

Continue readingLeafleting America by Air

Published on October 30, 2012 In 1935, the Boeing Model 299 was the most extraordinary design conceived for service as a bomber with the US Army Air Corps.  It featured

Continue readingFrom the Ashes of the Model 299

Published on October 29, 2012 It all began with a car fire in 1901. Charles Rolls and his friend Frank Hedges Butler, along with Frank’s daughter Vera Butler, had decided

Continue readingFounding the Royal Aero Club

Published on October 28, 2012 Well, thought Davenport, at least the Royal Aero Club is thinking straight.  He read on, “The ‘authorities,’ after the manner of those who have no

Continue reading100 Years Ago — More Kicks and Than Ha’Pence

Published on October 27, 2012 On this date in aviation history in 1962, one of Italy’s most powerful businessmen, Enrico Mattei, who headed up the largest oil firms in the

Continue readingThe Mystery of Enrico Mattei

Published on October 26, 2012 Today in aviation history, 50 years ago in 1962, the USAF took delivery of the last production B-52 Stratofortress bomber. The expectation at the time

Continue readingThe Last Buff

Published on October 25, 2012 by Thomas Van Hare Today in aviation history, on October 25, 1955, marks the first flight of the SAAB J 35 Draken, a revolutionary fighter

Continue readingRise of the Draken

Published on October 24, 2012 The name of Harry Hawker is quite nearly one of the most famous in British aviation history.  By the late 1930s, the RAF had settled

Continue readingHarry Hawker and the British Empire Michelin Cup

Published on October 23, 2012 Painted in the bright red of the “corso rosso” of Italian racing, the Macchi M.C. 72 had been purpose-built for the Schneider Cup Seaplane Races

Continue readingAgello and the Macchi M.C. 72

Published on October 22, 2012 “Geoffrey,” Charles Davenport began, “you don’t think much of this new practice of aviation, do you?” Geoffrey stopped for a moment from his business setting

Continue reading100 Years Ago — Davenport’s Distress

Published on October 21, 2012 On October 21, 1978, something strange happened off the coast of Australia.  Perhaps the events took place over the Bass Straight between Cape Otway and

Continue readingThe Valentich Mystery

Published on October 20, 2012 Dawn on October 20, 1934, marked the beginning of the MacRobertson Air Race, a race over an 11,380 mile grueling route that spanned from the

Continue readingThe MacRobertson Air Race

Published on October 19, 2012 by Thomas Van Hare The prize was extraordinary — 50,000 francs — as offered by Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe, a Frenchman known as the

Continue readingThe Deutsch de la Meurthe Prize

Published on October 18, 2012 The Wright Flyer B was the same model that Charles, le Compte de Lambert, had used in July for his race to be the first

Continue readingLa Tour et le Compte

Published on October 17, 2012 Today in aviation history, on October 17, 1922, marks a major milestone in modern US Naval air power when a plane took off from the

Continue readingFirst Flight Off CV-1

Published on October 16, 2012 On this date in aviation history, Samuel Cody took off in his British Army Aeroplane No. 1 at Farnborough, England, and set a second “first”

Continue readingThe First British Flyer was… an American?

Published on October 15, 2012 “Geoffrey,” Charles Davenport called, “bring the copy of Flight to the library if you would be a good man!”  In short order, the “First Aero

Continue reading100 Years Ago in Flight

Published on October 14, 2012 As U-2 pilot Richard S. Heyser of the 4080th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing (4080th SRW) reached 72,500 feet, he adjusted his course to pass over Cuba

Continue readingThe Photos that Nearly Started World War III

Published on October 13, 2012 By Thomas Van Hare As the balloon, “Queen of the Air”, drifted lazily over Boston at 1,200 feet of altitude, James Wallace Black pointed his

Continue readingFirst Aerial Photograph of a City

Published on October 12, 2012 At 01:00:03 GMT on October 12, 2005, a Long March 2F rocket carrying a Chinese-made capsule called Shenzhou 6 launched into orbit from the Jiuquan Satellite

Continue readingShenzhou 6

Published on October 11, 2012 At first, when Arch Hoxsey, one of the pilots at the Air Meet and part of the Wright Exhibition Team, asked former President Roosevelt if

Continue readingBully!

Published on October 10, 2012 Today in aviation history, on October 10, 1933, a Boeing 247 flying on the regular New York to Chicago route for United Airlines was destroyed

Continue readingAn Act of Air Sabotage

Published on October 9, 2012 Thirteen years before the Wright Brothers flew at Kitty Hawk, on October 9, 1890, in Brie, France, on the lawn of the Château d’Armainvilliers, Clément Ader

Continue readingClément Ader and the Éole

Published on October 8, 2012 For Sgt. Josef František, a Czech fighter pilot, the past two years had been spent in hard combat against the Nazis.  He had watched the

Continue readingThe One Man Czech Air Force

Published on October, 7, 2012 It looked every bit like a flying barrel, its fuselage too fat and too round.  The wings looked like an afterthought, jutting out from the

Continue readingThe Flying Barrel

Published on October 6, 2012 In Israel 39 years ago, it was Yom Kippur, the most holy day of the Jewish calendar.  The roads were bare of traffic, businesses were

Continue readingFirst Airstrikes of Operation Badr

Published on October 5, 2012 One hundred years ago today, on October 5, 1912, Flight, the “First Aero Weekly in the World” published its its Issue No. 197 (No. 40,

Continue reading100 Years Ago in the First Aero Weekly

Published on October 4, 2012 The beeping tones were incessant.  By tuning onto the frequencies of 20.005 or 40.002 MHz, anyone the world over could listen to this simple repeating

Continue readingThe Sputnik Panic

Published on October 3, 2012 “The Milan meeting was unfortunate in that not only was the opening clouded by the lamentable death of Chavez, but after a very successful week

Continue readingThe First Midair Collision

Published on October 2, 2012 On this date in aviation history in 1923, the de Havilland DH.53 Humming Bird made its debut.  Designed specifically for the Daily Mail Light Aeroplane

Continue readingThe Humming Bird at Lympne

Published on October 1, 2012 For the USA, the war was less than a year old.  Every aviation company in the country was engaged building new aircraft for the US

Continue readingAmerica’s First Jet