Published on April 29, 2013 Brig. Gen. Vladimir Kokkinaki and his copilot, Major Mikhail Kh. Gordienko, had set out from Moscow on April 28, 1939, in the Russian prototype Ilyushin

Continue readingFrom Moscow to Miscou

Published on April 28, 2013 The Flight Data Recorder, most would say, traces its lineage to the first efforts of two Frenchmen, François Hussenot and Paul Beaudouin, who created their

Continue readingDyott’s Flight Data Recorder

Published on April 27, 2013 Since 1911, the Pommery Cup prize had been standing, a twice yearly competition with a large prize of 7,500 francs given each six months until the

Continue readingThe Pommery Cup — Part 1 of 2

Published on April 26, 2013 From the first minutes with the launch Operation Rügen, the bombs began to rain down indiscriminately on the small Basque town of Guernica.  No effort

Continue readingGuernica

Published on April 25, 2013 Belgium’s top balloon-busting ace, Willy Coppens, would drop down from on high, his Hanriot HD-1 fighter plane swooping in toward his favorite target — a

Continue readingDays on the Wing

Published on April 24, 2013 At the end of the war, the US Army Air Forces made surplus a wide range of aircraft.  Among the most prominent were the Douglas

Continue readingWinged Cargo

Published on April 23, 2013 When Ensign Marion F. Jackson, Jr., USNR, and Aviation Machinist’s Mate 1c Willis D. Atchison, USN, took off that day from their temporary base at

Continue readingOne Left Behind?

Published on April 22, 2013 Damer Leslie Allen and Denys Corbett Wilson were two Irishmen who were among the first pilots in the early days of aviation.  In 1912, both

Continue readingVanished Without a Trace

Published on April 21, 2013 The news reports carried word of a flight across the Arctic that had departed nearly a week earlier, on April 15 and 16, 1928.  Five

Continue reading“No Foxes Seen”

Published on April 20, 2013 It was ninety-nine years ago that the second Schneider Cup seaplane races were held off the shores of Monaco.  The year before, Marcel Prévost had

Continue readingPixton and the Sopwith Tabloid

Published on April 19, 2013 Maurice Chevillard was a French aviator who passed some time in 1913 in England.  Others were content in easing their uncertain machines around the aerodrome,

Continue readingChevillard’s Chute de Côté

Published on April 18, 2013 Seventy one years ago today in aviation history, on April 18, 1942, sixteen B-25B Mitchell bombers, each with a five man crew, took off from

Continue readingReconsidering the Doolittle Raid

Published on April 17, 2013 IIt was 100 years ago this week that a detailed report was published regarding two episodes where hapless aviators had found themselves, by trick of

Continue reading“Upside Down in Mid Air!”

Published on April 16, 2013 Harriet Quimby’s flight had been carefully planned.  The challenge was nothing less than matching the famous flight of Louis Blériot from 1909 by taking a

Continue readingThe First Woman to Cross

Published on April 15, 2013 By Thomas Van Hare “Deep Sea 129”, the code name for a US Navy reconnaissance flight, took off from the Naval Air Station at Atsugi,

Continue readingBeggar Shadow Down

Published on April 14, 2013 By Thomas Van Hare When he entered the Link Trainer room, he saw that there were ten of the machines neatly lined up to either

Continue readingThe Link Trainer

Published on April 13, 2013 Against all odds, their plane had made it across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe to North America.  The flight was an aviation first that happened

Continue readingFlight of the Bremen

Published on April 12, 2013 When Bill Lancaster took off from Reggane, Algeria, ahead of him was the empty expanse of the Sahara desert.  Having risked it all in an

Continue readingLove and Death

Published on April 11, 2013 Today in aviation history, on the evening of April 11, 1955, precisely five hours into its flight to Jakarta, Indonesia, the chartered Air India Lockheed

Continue readingAssassination via the Kashmir Princess

Published on April 10, 2013 The Arado Ar 234B-1 streaked overhead at high altitude, beyond the reach of Allied interceptors.  Its sleek lines and twin jet engines gave it speeds

Continue readingArado Overflight

Published on April 9, 2013 One hundred years ago in aviation history, on this date, British aviators were reading about the latest prize offerings from the Daily Mail, a newspaper

Continue readingThe New Daily Mail Prizes

Published on April 8, 2013 Mario de Bernardi was the epitome of the Italian aviator, dashing, smiling, confident and — above all — daringly fast.  Born in the small town

Continue readingItaly’s Fastest Man

Published on April 7, 2013 French and British Planes in Collision in a Fog — Six are Dead and One Dying. PARIS, April 7 — The Goliath airplane belonging to

Continue readingThe First Midair Airline Disaster

Published on April 6, 2013 Some time ago, while reviewing aviation postcards from the 1930s and 1940s, we came across a curious set of Japanese New Year’s holiday cards labelled

Continue readingThe Other Kamikaze!

Published on April 5, 2013 The challenges of rebuilding an early era aircraft are extraordinary.  The few that remain in flying condition today are rarely flown at all.  Some builders

Continue readingRebuilding a Blériot

Published on April 4, 2013 The First Air Fleet, the same Japanese Navy unit that had successfully attacked Pearl Harbor, secretly sailed from its base in Japan on another attack

Continue readingThe Saviour of Ceylon

Published on April 3, 2013 The German battleship Tirpitz, sister ship of the late Bismarck that had been sunk during an Atlantic foray intended to target Allied shipping supplying Britain,

Continue readingOperation Tungsten

Published on April 2, 2013 The idea was simple — observers would be raised above the battlefield to watch for enemy movements and relay them to the generals below.  After

Continue readingThe French Aerostatic Corps

Published on April 1, 2013 The Chinese Shenyang J-8D jet fighter closed rapidly, its flight path erratic as it approached the US Navy ELINT plane, a Lockheed EP-3E ARIES II

Continue readingThe Hainan Island Incident