Skip to content
HistoricWings.com :: A Magazine for Aviators, Pilots and Adventurers

HistoricWings.com :: A Magazine for Aviators, Pilots and Adventurers

A Magazine for Aviators, Adventurers and Pilots

  • Flight Stories
  • What’s That?
  • Video Channel
  • Magazine Features
  • Free Subscription
  • About HW
    • Editor’s Letter
    • Policies and Rights

Month: April 2013

From Moscow to Miscou

admin April 29, 2013April 29, 2013

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 reading From Moscow to Miscou

Dyott’s Flight Data Recorder

admin April 28, 2013April 28, 2013

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 reading Dyott’s Flight Data Recorder

The Pommery Cup — Part 1 of 2

admin April 27, 2013June 1, 2013

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 reading The Pommery Cup — Part 1 of 2

Guernica

admin April 26, 2013April 26, 2013

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 reading Guernica

Days on the Wing

admin April 25, 2013April 25, 2013

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 reading Days on the Wing

Winged Cargo

admin April 24, 2013April 24, 2013

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 reading Winged Cargo

One Left Behind?

admin April 23, 2013April 24, 2013

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 reading One Left Behind?

Vanished Without a Trace

admin April 22, 2013April 23, 2013

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 reading Vanished Without a Trace

To the Extremes — and Beyond

admin April 22, 2013April 24, 2013

This Week’s Hints to help you along: Just whose roundel insignia is that — French, British, something else? Are those Americans in uniform walking around the plane? Developed for very

Continue reading To the Extremes — and Beyond

“No Foxes Seen”

admin April 21, 2013April 21, 2013

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”

Pixton and the Sopwith Tabloid

admin April 20, 2013April 20, 2013

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 reading Pixton and the Sopwith Tabloid

Chevillard’s Chute de Côté

admin April 19, 2013February 2, 2016

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 reading Chevillard’s Chute de Côté

Reconsidering the Doolittle Raid

admin April 18, 2013April 18, 2013

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 reading Reconsidering the Doolittle Raid

“Upside Down in Mid Air!”

admin April 17, 2013April 17, 2013

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!”

The First Woman to Cross

admin April 16, 2013April 16, 2013

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 reading The First Woman to Cross

Beggar Shadow Down

admin April 15, 2013April 16, 2019

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 reading Beggar Shadow Down

A Ground Attack Triplane

admin April 15, 2013April 15, 2013

This Week’s Hints to help you along: Designed specifically for ground attack, yet a triplane! The personnel look quite lax — yet is it from the interwar period? A single

Continue reading A Ground Attack Triplane

The Link Trainer

admin April 14, 2013June 14, 2015

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 reading The Link Trainer

Flight of the Bremen

admin April 13, 2013April 13, 2013

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 reading Flight of the Bremen

Love and Death

admin April 12, 2013April 12, 2013

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 reading Love and Death

Assassination via the Kashmir Princess

admin April 11, 2013April 11, 2013

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 reading Assassination via the Kashmir Princess

Arado Overflight

admin April 10, 2013April 10, 2013

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 reading Arado Overflight

The Youngest Passenger

admin April 9, 2013April 5, 2013

Published on Mr. Slack Crosses the Channel. ACCOMPANIED by his little son, Mr. Robert Slack, on the 27th ult., flew across the channel from Dover to Calais on his Blériot

Continue reading The Youngest Passenger

The New Daily Mail Prizes

admin April 9, 2013April 9, 2013

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 reading The New Daily Mail Prizes

Italy’s Fastest Man

admin April 8, 2013April 8, 2013

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 reading Italy’s Fastest Man

A Flying Cartoon

admin April 8, 2013April 9, 2013

This Week’s Hints to help you along: A fat, pudgy, shortened, cartoonish design from Germany. Certainly unique, in all respects — only one was built! It flew, though not well;

Continue reading A Flying Cartoon

The First Midair Airline Disaster

admin April 7, 2013April 11, 2013

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 reading The First Midair Airline Disaster

The Other Kamikaze!

admin April 6, 2013April 6, 2013

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 reading The Other Kamikaze!

Rebuilding a Blériot

admin April 5, 2013April 5, 2013

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 reading Rebuilding a Blériot

The Saviour of Ceylon

admin April 4, 2013April 4, 2013

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 reading The Saviour of Ceylon

Operation Tungsten

admin April 3, 2013April 3, 2013

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 reading Operation Tungsten

The French Aerostatic Corps

admin April 2, 2013April 2, 2013

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 reading The French Aerostatic Corps

The Hainan Island Incident

admin April 1, 2013April 1, 2013

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 reading The Hainan Island Incident

Seven Records to Obscurity

admin April 1, 2013April 2, 2013

This Week’s Hints to help you along: A truly record-setting airplane with seven records in its class. Unique in design, unique in construction, and unique overall. Often missed though it

Continue reading Seven Records to Obscurity

Flight Stories

Historic Wings is pleased to present our feature stories celebrating great events and stories in aviation history.

Past Stories

Daily Flight Stories

Historic Wings is pleased to present our daily story celebrating what happened today in aviation history.

Past Stories

Copyright © 2023 HistoricWings.com :: A Magazine for Aviators, Pilots and Adventurers | PhotoFocus by Catch Themes
Scroll Up