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Category: Flight Stories

The Swedish Bomb

admin June 24, 2021

Beneath the crowded streets of Stockholm, there’s an underground, rock-lined cavern that today serves as a concert and entertainment hall. But back in 1954, it was home to R1, Sweden’s

Continue reading The Swedish Bomb

High Flight – the Untold Story of Aviation’s Greatest Poem

admin April 18, 2021April 18, 2021

Published on April 18, 2021 By Thomas Van Hare Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings; Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined

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Crisis in Space – MiG Mad Marine, John Glenn and Friendship 7

admin March 21, 2021March 27, 2021

Published on March 21, 2021 By Thomas Van Hare On February 20, 1962, John Glenn, one of America’s most famous astronauts, climbed into the Mercury-Atlas 6 capsule “Friendship 7”.  His

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The Red Stuff — the Soviet Chuck Yeager Revealed

admin March 11, 2021March 27, 2021

Published on March 11, 2021 by Thomas Van Hare Most people know of Chuck Yeager, the pilot who first broke the sound barrier in 1947 in his bright orange Bell

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The Siege of Tsingtao

admin January 19, 2021January 19, 2021

January 19, 2021 By Thomas Van Hare At the start of the Great War in 1914, Europe held sway over much of China.  Great Britain had Hong Kong.  The US

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Kipling’s Visions of Conquest of the Air

admin April 23, 2020April 23, 2020

Published on April 23, 2020 By Thomas C. Van Hare FAMILY DIRIGIBLE. A competent, steady man wanted for slow speed, low level Tangye dirigible.  No night work, no sea trips. 

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The Shufti Kite

admin March 20, 2020March 20, 2020

Published on March 20, 2020 By Thomas Van Hare Week after week on Saturdays — the Jewish sabbath — at roughly noon, the pilots of the newly founded Israeli Air

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Pigs in Space!

admin June 5, 2018June 5, 2018

Published June 5, 2018 By Ron Miller/io9 As much as we love The Muppets, in 1963 a pair of NASA engineers entertained the idea of sending real pigs into space.

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By Rocket Plane Across the Atlantic

admin March 23, 2018March 23, 2018

Published March 23, 2018 By Ron Miller/io9 A stubby-winged plane launches itself from an airport runway on the outskirts of Berlin. When it reaches an altitude of several miles, it

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Who Invented the Rocketship?

admin March 12, 2018March 8, 2018

Published on March 12, 2018 By Ron Miller/io9 The birth of the idea of traveling to other worlds through outer space can be given a specific date: January 7, 1610. 

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The 1935 Plan to Use Rocket Airplanes to Deliver US Mail

admin March 6, 2018March 6, 2018

Published on March 6, 2018 By Ron Miller/io9.com In 1935, a wealthy, enterprising stamp dealer, 32-year-old Frido W. Kessler, came up with what seemed like a brilliant idea. He would

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The Six-Ship Takeoff

admin October 23, 2017November 7, 2017

Published October 23, 2017 By Thomas Van Hare “Our job tomorrow will be to take off well before daylight for the first time in history and bomb the gun positions

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A Daring Flight on D-Day

admin June 6, 2017June 6, 2021

Published on June 6, 2017 By Thomas Van Hare On D-Day, June 6, 1944, after passing a tense and confusing early morning hours in the cockpit of his yellow-nosed Messerschmitt

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The Curtiss Autoplane

admin May 7, 2017May 8, 2017

Published on May 7, 2017 By Thomas Van Hare “At the aero show held at New York early this year there was exhibited a Curtiss triplane, which aroused the greatest

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America’s Victory Program

admin March 27, 2017March 27, 2017

Published on March 27, 2017 By Thomas Van Hare Montana Senator Burton K. Wheeler, a well-known Democratic Party isolationist, was shocked by what the US Army Air Corps officer, a

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The Bombing of Tulsa

admin February 27, 2017June 25, 2021

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

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Encounter over the Iron Curtain

admin February 10, 2017

Published on February 10, 2017 By Thomas Van Hare The two USAFE F-84E Thunderjets made a beeline toward the border between West Germany and Czechoslovakia.  At the border, they turned

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Fritz Beckhardt’s Final Flight

admin January 27, 2017January 27, 2017

On November 13, 1918, the pilots of the German fighter group, Kampfeinsitzerstaffel 5 (Kest 5), flew their final mission of the Great War.  Two days earlier, at the 11th Hour

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First Off at Pearl Harbor

admin December 7, 2016

Published on December 7, 2016 By Thomas Van Hare Exactly 75 years ago today, on December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, catching America by surprise.  From the first

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Puzzle Pictures

admin November 19, 2016November 19, 2016

Published on November 19, 2016 By Thomas Van Hare The challenges of aerial photo interpretation are extraordinary.  A dark smudge at the base of a hill may be the concealed

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Royal Flush

admin October 10, 2016July 16, 2019

Published on October 10, 2016 By Thomas Van Hare On Sunday, October 10, 1943 — 73 years ago in aviation history — the 8th Air Force flew a bombing raid

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The First Air Support for Tanks

admin October 3, 2016November 29, 2016

Published on October 3, 2016 By Thomas Van Hare Almost exactly one hundred years ago, the world’s first tanks rolled onto the battlefields of the Somme.  Amazingly, the first use

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The Dippy Twist Loop

admin September 26, 2016March 11, 2021

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

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“The Wright Aeroplane and its Fabled Performance”

admin September 12, 2016September 12, 2016

Published on September 12, 2016 By Thomas Van Hare “A Parisian automobile paper recently published a letter from the Wright brothers to Capt. Ferber of the French army, in which

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The Special Mission

admin August 22, 2016April 25, 2018

Published on August 22, 2016 By Thomas Van Hare Lieutenant Anselme Léon Emile Marchal took off into the gathering evening skies of France.  After a brisk turn around his airfield,

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Ten of My Rules for Air Fighting

admin August 15, 2016August 22, 2016

Published on August 15, 2016 By Thomas Van Hare During the Battle of Britain, in nearly every RAF operations hut, you would find a small poster on the wall entitled,

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The Great Air War by Stereoscope

admin August 8, 2016August 22, 2016

Published on August 8, 2016 by Thomas Van Hare On the home front during the Great War, 100 years ago, 3D viewing of photographs was very popular, the most common

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The Mystery of Immelmann’s Final Flight

admin July 20, 2016July 27, 2016

Published on July 20, 2016 By Thomas Van Hare “It was 9 in the evening, when the rat-tat of aerial machine guns lured me out of my quarters, and I

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USAFE’S Famed Flight Boots

admin July 28, 2015May 18, 2021

Published on July 27, 2015 By Thomas Van Hare At the height of the Cold War, the US Air Force had dozens of fighter interceptor squadrons spread throughout Europe’s NATO

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The Saqqara Bird

admin May 7, 2015August 12, 2021

Published on May 7, 2015 By Thomas Van Hare In 1898, the famed “Egyptologists” of old uncovered the tomb of Pa-di-Imen at Saqqara, Egypt.  As with every great discovery of

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Defection to Israel!

admin April 13, 2015May 6, 2015

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

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Surrender Flight to Ie Shima

admin April 6, 2015April 7, 2015

Published on April 7, 2015 By Thomas Van Hare Most people, even most historians, would say that Japan surrendered to the United States at the end of World War II

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The Black and White Marble

admin April 1, 2015April 1, 2015

Published on April 1, 2015 By Thomas Van Hare On September 12, 1962, at Rice Stadium in Texas, President John F. Kennedy spoke these words: “We choose to go to

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The Cigarette Club

admin March 17, 2015March 17, 2015

Published March 17, 2015 By Thomas C. Van Hare These days, it seems that the only connection between cigarettes and aviation are signs in aircraft lavatories reading, “NO SMOKING”.  Smoke

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Hawaii to New Jersey for $75

admin March 9, 2015March 10, 2015

Published March 9, 2015 By Thomas Van Hare On March 7 and 8, 1949, former USAAF pilot Captain William P. “Bill” Odom flew a V-tailed Beech Bonanza that he named, “Waikiki

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The Right Stuff

admin February 18, 2015February 19, 2015

Published February 18, 2015 by Thomas Van Hare Did you ever wonder where the term, “The Right Stuff” came from?  Most people would say that it was a product of

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An End to the Age of Innocence

admin August 5, 2014August 5, 2014

Published on August 5, 2014 by Thomas Van Hare One hundred years ago this week, the world descended into the conflict we know now as World War I.  Soon to

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The First Drone

admin August 29, 2013August 29, 2013

Published on August 29, 2013 By Thomas Van Hare The use of drones in military service has a long history.  Many remember how German engineers created glide bombs during World

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The FPV Revolution

admin August 26, 2013August 26, 2013

Published on August 26, 2013 By Thomas Van Hare The heady days of the early 1910s are long past. Today, flying a plane or helicopter is expensive and challenging —

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The Atlantique Incident — Part 1 of 2

admin August 10, 2013August 11, 2013

Published on August 10, 2013 By Thomas Van Hare Squadron Leader P.K. Bundela and his wingman, Flight Officer S. Narayanan, were sitting ready at the Indian Air Force (IAF) base

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