The First Woman to Cross
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
HistoricWings.com :: A Magazine for Aviators, Pilots and Adventurers
A Magazine for Aviators, Adventurers and Pilots
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
Published on September 21, 2012 Nobody knows exactly what date she first flew, though it was likely sometime around September 21, 1908, soon after her arrival in Italy. She was
Published on July 6, 2012 Sophie Blanchard was born Marie Madeleine-Sophie Armant in 1778. A nervous type who was often startled by loud noises, she didn’t seem the type to
Continue readingSophie Blanchard — First Woman Balloon Pilot
Published on June 16, 2012 On this date, 49 years ago, Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova became the first woman to rocket into space, launching on Vostok 6 to begin nearly three
Published on February 27, 2017 By Thomas Van Hare On the morning of June 1, 1921, the Ku Klux Klan and the white population of Tulsa made their move. At
Published on September 26, 2016 By Thomas Van Hare She was just the fourth woman in the world to be certified as a pilot. She was also the first to
Published on April 13, 2015 By Thomas Van Hare On Sunday, January 19, 1964, an Egyptian flight instructor based at Bilbeis AB in the Nile Delta, walked calmly to his
Published on May 19, 2013 The German Rumpler reconnaissance plane made a low altitude pass over the American aerodrome at Gengault Aerodrome near Toul, France. There, the 94th Aero Squadron,
Published on May 18, 2013 In 1966, Sheila Scott, a British actress who had learned to fly a few years earlier, decided to pursue her passion in aviation by setting
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
Published on March 9, 2013 The phrase “”More lost than Lieutenant Bello” (“Más perdido que el Teniente Bello”) is a part of Chile’s linguistic heritage and refers to someone who
Published on March 8, 2013 “Flying is the best possible thing for women.” — Raymonde de Laroche It seems fitting that today, on International Women’s Day, we should salute the
Published on February 20, 2013 Today we celebrate the birthday of one of aviation’s greatest women, a flyer who, in her long life of 88 years, achieved more firsts, was
Published on January 16, 2013 “Young Marcel Desoutter, he is, by the way, only nineteen years of age, and withal one of the very soundest of the monoplane and biplane
Published on January 6, 2013 By Thomas Van Hare The massacre at My Lai during the Vietnam War was a horrific event. US troops of the Army’s Americal Division, acting
Published on January 5, 2013 Since the summer of 1914, when the Great War broke out in Europe, aviation advanced quickly. As the war progressed into 1915, the new Fokker
Published on January 2, 2013 “On Friday, the 2nd inst., some New Year’s records were put up by Gustav Hamel, who looped the loop with Miss Trehawke Davies on his
Published on December 21, 2012 By Thomas Van Hare Hélène Dutrieu was a professional bicycle racer from Belgium. Known as “La Flèche Humaine” (“The Human Arrow”), she was famous throughout
Published on November 19, 2012 The history of aviation and military air power are deeply linked. Yet this past is more than just a study of machines and of triumph
Published on November 10, 2012 The two aeroplanes had just arrived in India after a long transit by ship from England. They were hoisted ashore into the dockyards of Bombay
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”
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
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
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”
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
Published on September 27, 2012 “Ever since I was in high school, I had just one determination — to fly. I don’t know why either.” So said Nancy Hopkins, a
Published on September 24, 2012 In the poor visibility, they had missed Komsomolsk-on-Amur. After flying eastward for 26 hours and covering more than 3,600 miles, they had navigated without landmarks
Published on September 13, 2012 Orphaned at age 17, he took over the family’s mid-sized business. Relying on a patented technology for oil drilling bits, his company was hugely successful
Published on September 6, 2012 By Thomas Van Hare Skimming low over the water north of Hokkaido, Lt. Viktor Belenko had managed to elude the others in his flight that
Published on August 30, 2012 For the life of me, I cannot see what an aeroplane can do which is likely to be of any practical utility in warfare.” —
Published on August 29, 2012 An Englishwoman in her mid-40s and the daughter of a church vicar, Hilda Hewlett was married with two children when she attended her first aviation
Published on August 26, 2012 Mehran Karimi Nasseri’s airline oddyssey began on this date in 1988. A refugee of the Shah’s pre-revolution Iran, his papers from the UN’s High Commissioner
Published on August 18, 2012 The inaugural Women’s Air Derby was part of the 1929 National Air Races. In the race, women pilots were not allowed to use navigational instruments
The Foltz-Up Edith Foltz, Portland, Ore., who finished in second in the recent air derby from Los Angeles, Calif., to the Cleveland air races, is shown above demonstrating the new
Published on August 1, 2012 “Everyone asks me ‘how it feels to fly.’ It feels like riding in a high powered automobile, minus bumping over the rough roads, continually signaling
Published on July 31, 2012 “Goodbye, said the fox. And now here is my secret, a very simple secret. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly.
Published July 24, 2012 This article is dedicated to the memory of Sally Ride, America’s first woman astronaut, who, at age 61, passed away from pancreatic cancer yesterday, July 23,
Published June 17, 2012 On this date in 1928, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean — as a passenger, not a pilot. How this