“Commandos on Wings” ran the headline of the article in Washington’s Evening Star on November 1, 1942. The sub-head read, “They are Uncle Sam’s glider troops, who drop silently out of the sky, seize airfields, blow up bridges and ammunition dumps.” T

Seventy-five years ago, as both the Cold War and aviation technology were ramping up, the newly formed United States Air Force wanted to show the world the reach of its air arsenal. The recent development of functional mid-air refueling techniques by

Henri Farman’s American adventure did not end as the aviator had intended (see the feature starting on page 60), but the Frenchman at least had the satisfaction of being portrayed on a cigarette card. Issued in 1912, four years after Farman’s trip to

52, 66, 80, or 113? For more, visit HISTORYNET.COM/MAGAZINES/QUIZ HISTORYNET ANSWER: THE FAMED FLYING ACE, WHOSE REAL NAME WAS MANFRED VON RICHTHOFEN, IS OFFICIALLY CREDITED WITH 80 AIR COMBAT VICTORIES BETWEEN SEPTEMBER 1916 AND APRIL 1918. HE ALSO

In its June 8, 1953, issue, Life magazine included a full-page spread with four blurry images of a North Korean Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 getting shot down over Korea. They were taken by the wing-mounted movie camera of a U.S. Air Force F-86E Sabre as

Only a handful of Grumman HU-16 Albatross amphibious seaplanes remain today, but their allure remains strong. Once used by the U.S. Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard, the antique aircraft is cherished by collectors today for providing pilots with a tra

It is an ignominious fate for any airplane, impaled on a pole at what appears to be an abandoned junkyard. Photographer Carol M. Highsmith captured this image of a long-past-its-prime Beechcraft Bonanza outside Mannford, Oklahoma, in December 2020. ■

Jean Boulet’s first helicopter flight was almost his last. It was September 21, 1947, and the 26-year-old Boulet was at the Camden, New Jersey, headquarters of Helicopter Air Transport, the world’s first commercial helicopter operator. He had earned

Pham Tuan occupies two special places in Vietnamese history books—although both distinctions have attracted some controversy as well as fame. He gets credit for being the first Vietnamese fighter pilot to shoot down a Boeing B-52 Stratofortress and w

On November 8, 2023, collector Charles Hack paid more than $2 million for a postage stamp. It was not just any stamp—it was an example of the famous “inverted Jenny” issue from 1918. The stamps were intended to celebrate the start of airmail service

The Cold War was at its coldest in the 1960s, with the United States and the Soviet Union each engaged in massive military buildups to prepare for possible war with the other. Both superpowers wanted to develop production aircraft that had the potent

The cold blue sky was spattered with red bursts and puffs of anti-air-craft fire on July 7, 1944. Downward streaks of black smoke to our front marked the demise of both Allied and Axis aircraft. Chaos drew closer and closer as our B-24 Liberator humm

When baseball returns to Hagerstown, Maryland, in 2024, it will have an aviation theme. The Flying Boxcars, the city’s new team of the independent Atlantic League, were named after the Fairchild C-119 military cargo airplane. The moniker was chosen t

Shoo Shoo Shoo Baby, the Boeing B-17G featured on the cover of Aviation History’s Summer 2023 issue, has completed another journey and embarked on a new chapter in its existence. Since 1988 the bomber had been part of the collections of the National

Like the forbidden fruit that triggers human nature’s craving for a bite, the secrecy surrounding the storied air base at Groom Lake in Nevada’s rugged high desert north of Las Vegas accentuates the desire of aviation enthusiasts to get a peek. In wh

On October 10, 2023, people in England witnessed a sight they had not seen in more than 50 years: a Hawker Tempest roaring across the skies. Pilot Pete Kynsey put the restored World War II-vintage fighter through its paces over Sywell Aerodrome in No

The Curtiss-Wright Corporation came into being in 1929 through the merger of companies started by pioneering aviators Glenn Curtiss and the Wright brothers. Within the new company, the Curtiss-Wright airplane division made airplanes while the Wright

Viewers of the film Godzilla Minus One may wonder if the airplane that plays a pivotal role in the climax (portrayed on a Hasegawa model box, top) really existed. The answer is, yes. The airplane is the Japanese Kyushu J7W Shinden (above), known as t

In 1956 the Cold War was cold indeed. Although the Soviet Union’s Communist Party leader, Nikita Khrushchev, had secretly denounced the late Joseph Stalin in February, tensions with the United States remained high and only increased in October when t

Airware last visited War Thunder (WT) five years ago (free to play, requires Windows 7 or later, or macOS Catalina 10.15 or Linux, 4GB RAM, DirectX 10 caliber video capability, www.warthunder.com). This online game continues to evolve and remains pop

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Can you match the motor with the airplane affected by its flaws? 1. Aichi AE1 Atsuta 2. Hispano-Suiza 8B 3. Siemens-Halske Sh.III 4. Daimler-Benz DB 610 5. Gnome Monosoupape 6. Wright R-3350-23 Duplex-Cyclone 7. Walter HWK 109-509 8. Kawasaki Ha40 9.

VISIT HISTORYNET.COM historynet.com/fighter-ace-bud-anderson What happened today, yesterday—or any day you care to search. Test your historical acumen—every day! Consider the fallout of historical events had they gone the ‘other’ way. The gadgetry of

The blimps departed long ago, but the gigantic wooden hangars constructed to house them in Tustin, California, remained behind as Orange County landmarks. Then, in November, one of the huge historic structures burned to the ground. In 1942 the U.S. N

Jacqueline Cochran waited impatiently in her New York City apartment while a group of men in Canada debated her fate. It was June 1941, and the renowned pilot hoped to ferry an American bomber across the Atlantic and deliver it to the Royal Air Force

I really enjoyed the articles on Otto Lilienthal’s gliders and Igo Etrich’s dove aircraft in the Summer 2023 issue. What fascinated me the most was that apparently the designs were derived by their observations and gut feelings. For all practical pur

Before humans flew into orbit—even before an artificial satellite circled the earth—an American program put people at the threshold of space, 19 miles above the earth. They made their dangerous ventures into the unknown aboard sealed containers suspe