Giving the Machine Gun Wings
On April 1, 1915, Roland Garros took off in a Morane-Saulnier L from an airfield in northern France, planning to play an April Fool’s Day trick on the Germans.
How the German Air Force Rebuilt After World War II
When the Wehrmacht surrendered unconditionally to the Western Allies on May 7, 1945, World War II was over for Germany, but the situation was vastly different than it had been 27 years earlier at the end of World War I.
Build Your Own Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat
During Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France in August 1944, Observation Fighter Squadron 1 (VOF-1) pilots Ensign Alfred Wood and Lt. (j.g.) Edward Olszewski took turns flying the same Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat, shooting down a total of four German aircraft.
When Hellcats Took the Fight to the Luftwaffe
Four Grumman F6F-5 Hellcats swept in from the sea, hunting enemy aircraft attempting to get out from under the U.S. Navy’s aerial umbrella. Heading inland, the fighter leader spotted two twin-engine bombers bearing enemy markings on their wings.
Perfect Trap: The Godfather of Naval Aviation
Remarkable career of naval aviation pioneer Frederick “Trap” Trapnell encompassed biplanes, airships, WWII fighters, research planes and early carrier jets.
Jesse L. Brown: The U.S. Navy’s First Black Aviator
The son of a sharecropper, Mississippi-born Jesse Leroy Brown would do whatever it took to become a pilot and break the navy's color barrier
Tuskegee Airman Charles McGee: ‘Do While You Can’
Charles McGee never thought much of flying until he started training at Tuskegee. When he finally left the U.S. Air Force, he had 30 years and three wars behind him.
Mystery of the Tuskegee Top Guns’ Missing Trophy
After a group of Tuskegee pilots win a 1949 Air Force competition, their trophy mysteriously goes missing. Was it a military screw-up or racial animus?
Firebombers! Flying on the Edge to Fight Fires
As last fall’s California wildfires demonstrated, the demand for aerial firefighters and the dangers they face have never been greater.
The Luftwaffe’s Carrier Plane That Never Flew From a Ship
Designed as a carrier-based torpedo bomber, the Fieseler Fi-167 ended up hunting Yugoslav Partisans when its ship never materialized.
Stealth Secrets of the F-117 Nighthawk
Its development was kept under wraps for 14 years, but by 1991, the F-117 Nighthawk had become a household word.
Before the Black Sheep: Unhappy Tiger ‘Pappy’ Boyington
During Gregory Boyington's brief, tempestuous career with the AVG, he was responsible for losing more airplanes than he shot down.
Arch and Teddy: First Flight By a U.S. President
A bromance blossomed between Archibald Hoxsey and Theodore Roosevelt in 1910 when the early aviator took TR for a short flight—the first by a U.S. president.
Unfettered Turkeys: Airplanes That Never Should Have Flown
It’s easy enough to design a bad airplane, but it takes real gumption to put it into production despite all signs to the contrary.
