The aging SAAB JAS-39 Gripen is a veteran member of several of the world’s most powerful air fleets – certainly not only because it is fairly priced, but also because it is functional; not to mention, the JAS-39 is known for its execution: nearly any flight mission can be carried out by the Swedish masterpiece [...]
It might seem reasonable to assume that aerial warfare didn’t begin until the 20th century—after all, that’s when the Wright Bros invented and flew the first successful airplane (The Wright Flyer). In a way, this is completely valid. However, technically speaking, the history of aerial warfare is an ancient one. Lowe in his balloon "Intrepid" on [...]
Smoky: the Little Dog that Could Wynne and Smoky (William A. Wynne via National Geographic) Corporal Bill Wynne first met Smoky in the beginning of 1944 when he was stationed with the U.S. Army Air Corps in Nadzab, New Guinea. She was a small thing—a little Yorkshire Terrier weighing only 4 pounds and standing [...]
Sky's the limit for a comeback You might have noticed that thick, white letters don't really dominate the sky anymore. Have you seen any "Marry me" or "I love U" notes lately? It certainly isn’t as common as it used to be. What we might now think of as old-fashioned or antique or even low-tech, [...]
The Spruce Goose: an incredible feat of modern engineering and one of the most famous aircraft in the history of flight. Howard Hughes – in modern times (shamefully) known best as the character that Leonardo DiCaprio portrayed in The Aviator – will go down in history as an aviation revolutionary, a brilliant thinker, and a [...]
It's official: the 2016 Summer Olympics are over in Rio. America took away the most medals with a total of 121 (46 gold). Britain followed with a total of 67 medals (27 gold), and China a respectable third with 70 total medals (26 gold). A lot has happened over the past two weeks, but amid [...]
August 17, 1927 marks the end of the Dole Derby--an ill-fated air race Charles Lindbergh’s Orteig Prize-winning, nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic inspired a number of aviators and aviation-enthusiasts to fly their way into history (such as Tailwind’s journey aboard the American Nurse). Lindbergh’s fame particularly inspired Hawaii pineapple magnate James D. Dole to [...]
Let slip the dogs of war Antis and Robert Bozděch (source: Daily Mail) January 1940: Phoney War. Václav Robert Bozděch and Pierre Duval were on a reconnaissance mission over the German front in their twin-seater Potez 630 aircraft when they were hit by anti-aircraft fire. They crashed in no-mans land between the French [...]
Humans have always been rather obsessed with the notion of flight, well before the development of modern airplanes. In fact, many early civilizations bore myths and legends of mankind and gods alike taking flight. Perhaps the most well-known and referenced myth regarding man and flight is the Greek story of Daedalus and Icarus: Daedalus, an inventor, fashioned a [...]
Supersonic commercial transport existed for 30 years--what happened? The 1950s was a time of communism, capitalism, polypropylene, and polio vaccines--not to mention the maturity and growth of television sets, solar-powered wrist watches, and the beginnings of the Concorde project. By the early 1950s, Arnold Hall (director of the Royal Aircraft Establishment) asked Morien Morgan (a [...]
