Ormer Locklear, the First Wingwalker, and the Night a Hollywood Stunt Killed Him on Film
Ormer Locklear invented wingwalking by accident in 1918 and became Hollywood's first aerial stuntman before dying on camera before 100,000 witnesses.
The Hangar
Aviation history and storytelling with Taildragger. Warbird restorations, legendary pilots, famous flights, and the stories that shaped aviation from the Wright Brothers to the Space Shuttle.
The 1924 Army World Flight, the Four Douglas World Cruisers, and the First Circumnavigation of the Globe by Air That America Somehow Forgot
On September 28, 1924, three U.S. Army biplanes completed the first aerial circumnavigation of the globe - three years before Lindbergh's solo Atlantic crossing.
The Aichi M6A1 Seiran, the Submarine-Launched Floatplane Built to Strike America, and the Only Survivor Hanging at the Udvar-Hazy Center
The Aichi M6A1 Seiran was a WWII Japanese submarine-launched floatplane built to bomb the Panama Canal. The only survivor hangs at Udvar-Hazy.
The Cactus Air Force, the Battleship Bombardment of Henderson Field on October Thirteen Nineteen Forty-Two, and the Nine Pilots Who Flew at Dawn
On the night of October 13–14, 1942, Japanese battleships reduced Henderson Field to rubble - and nine Marine dive bomber crews flew anyway.
The China Clipper, Captain Edwin Musick, and the Pan American Flying Boats That Bridged the Pacific One Island at a Time
How Pan American's Martin M-130 flying boats and Captain Edwin Musick conquered 8,000 miles of open Pacific to launch the first scheduled transoceanic air service in 1935.
The Dole Race, the Ten Lives Lost Over the Pacific, and the Summer of 1927 When Aviation Ambition Outran Aviation Sense
The 1927 Dole Air Race sent eight aircraft toward Hawaii for a $25,000 prize and cost ten lives when ambition outpaced training and airworthiness.
The Lockheed Constellation, Howard Hughes, and the Triple-Tail Queen That Made Transatlantic Flight a Routine Act
The Lockheed Constellation cut New York-to-Paris travel to 13 hours in 1946, redefining transatlantic flight through pressurization, range, and a design born from Howard Hughes's audacious 1939 spec.
The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, the Seven-Ton Fighter Pilots Called the Jug, and the Radial Engine That Brought Them Home
The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt became WWII's most-produced American fighter - over 15,600 built - and the most survivable combat aircraft of the war.
Chuck Yeager, the Bell X-One Glamorous Glennis, and the October Morning in Forty-Seven When a Kid from West Virginia Punched Through the Sound Barrier
On October 14, 1947, Chuck Yeager became the first person confirmed to fly faster than sound, reaching Mach 1.06 at 43,000 feet over the Mojave Desert.
Jacqueline Cochran, the Bendix Trophy She Won When Nobody Expected Her to Win It, and the May Morning at Edwards When She Broke the Sound Barrier in an F-86 Sabre
Jacqueline Cochran was the most decorated aviator of the 20th century - over 200 records, the first woman to break the sound barrier, and architect of the WASP program.
Punch Dickins, the Barren Lands Survey of Nineteen Twenty-Eight, and the Fokker Super Universal That Mapped Canada's Unmapped North
In 1928, Punch Dickins flew 4,000 miles over Canada's unmapped Barren Lands in a single-engine Fokker with no radio, earning the McKee Trophy and opening the Arctic north to aviation.
Robin Olds, Operation Bolo, and the MiG Trap That Gutted North Vietnam's Air Force in Twelve Minutes
On January 2, 1967, Colonel Robin Olds destroyed seven North Vietnamese MiG-21s in twelve minutes by making his F-4 Phantoms look like easy prey.
The Curtiss NC Four, the Flying Boat That Crossed the Atlantic Eight Years Before Lindbergh, and the Forgotten Giant at the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola
The Curtiss NC-4 completed the first aerial crossing of the Atlantic in May 1919 - eight years before Lindbergh - and the original aircraft is on free display in Pensacola, Florida.
The Ghost Blimp, the Goodyear L Eight, and the August Morning in Nineteen Forty-Two When a Navy Patrol Airship Drifted Back Over San Francisco Without Its Crew
On August 16, 1942, Navy blimp L-8 drifted back to shore near San Francisco fully intact - but without its two-man crew, who were never found.
The Schneider Trophy, Lady Houston's Hundred Thousand Pounds, and the Seaplane Race That Built the Spitfire
The Schneider Trophy seaplane races of the 1920s–30s produced the aerodynamic knowledge that built the Spitfire - and one woman's £100,000 kept that chain unbroken.
The Swamp Ghost, the B-17F Flying Fortress Preserved in a Papua New Guinea Swamp for Sixty-Four Years, and the Recovery That Brought Her Home to Chino
The Swamp Ghost B-17F Flying Fortress ditched in a Papua New Guinea swamp in 1942 and was recovered 64 years later, remarkably intact, preserved by the swamp's unusual chemistry.
The Vought F4U Corsair, the Inverted Gull Wing That Terrified the Pacific, and the Bent-Wing Fighter the Navy Almost Refused to Let Off a Carrier Deck
The F4U Corsair's inverted gull wing solved a propeller-clearance problem and produced the Pacific War's most feared fighter, known to Japanese pilots as 'Whistling Death.'
Don Sheldon, the Ruth Glacier Landing Zone, and the Talkeetna Pilot Who Made Denali His Runway
Don Sheldon was the Talkeetna bush pilot who pioneered glacier landing techniques on the Ruth and Kahiltna that still define Alaska Range mountain flying today.
Douglas Bader, the Woodley Aerodrome Crash That Cost Him Both Legs, and the Wing Commander Who Led Spitfires Into Battle on Tin Legs
Douglas Bader lost both legs in a 1931 aerobatic crash at age 21, fought his way back into the RAF, and led Spitfire wings over occupied Europe during World War II.
Douglas Corrigan, the Curtiss Robin He Bought for Three Hundred Twenty-Five Dollars, and the Wrong-Way Atlantic Crossing That Nobody Could Ever Prove Was on Purpose
On July 17, 1938, Douglas Corrigan departed Brooklyn bound for Los Angeles and landed in Dublin, Ireland - the wrong-way Atlantic crossing nobody could prove was intentional.