Harold Gillam, the Lockheed Electra, and the Last Flight of Alaska's Most Daring Bush Pilot
Harold Gillam was Alaska's most legendary bush pilot until a 1943 crash in the Coast Range claimed his life at age 39 during a solo rescue attempt.
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.
Jacqueline Cochran, the Bendix Trophy, and the Sound Barrier No Woman Had Ever Touched
Jacqueline Cochran broke the sound barrier in 1953, won the Bendix Trophy, and commanded the WASP - the most decorated pilot in history, male or female.
John Alcock, Arthur Brown, the Vickers Vimy, and the Sixteen Hours Over the North Atlantic That History Somehow Forgot
John Alcock and Arthur Brown completed the first nonstop transatlantic flight in June 1919 - eight years before Lindbergh - in an open-cockpit biplane through ice and zero-visibility cloud.
Ormer Locklear, the First Wing Walker, and the Hollywood Floodlights That Ended the Man Who Made It Famous
Ormer Locklear invented wing walking, became America's most famous barnstormer and aerial movie star, and died at 28 when Hollywood floodlights caused spatial disorientation during a filmed spin.
The Battle of Midway, the SBD Dauntless, and the Five Minutes That Turned the Pacific War
How five minutes of dive bombing on June 4, 1942 - and the torpedo crews who made it possible - turned the tide of the Pacific War at Midway.
The Douglas DC-Three, the Midnight Phone Call That Built Commercial Aviation, and the Gooney Bird That Has Never Stopped Flying
The Douglas DC-3 made commercial aviation profitable in 1936 and still flies today - the aircraft that reshaped how the world moves people.
The Gimli Glider, the Metric Conversion That Silenced Two Jet Engines, and the Slip That Saved Sixty-Nine Lives
On July 23, 1983, a metric conversion error left Air Canada Flight 143 with half its required fuel at 41,000 feet - 69 people survived because a captain knew how to slip a jetliner.
The Hughes H-4 Hercules, the Eight-Engine Flying Boat That Flew Once, and the Evergreen Aviation Museum Where It Still Lives
The Hughes H-4 Hercules flew exactly once on November 2, 1947, yet it remains the largest flying boat ever built and survives today at McMinnville's Evergreen Aviation Museum.
The Memphis Belle, the B-Seventeen That Completed Twenty-Five Missions, and the Forty-Year Neglect That Almost Took What the Luftwaffe Could Not
The Memphis Belle survived 25 WWII combat missions over Nazi Europe, then spent 30 years decaying outdoors in Memphis before a landmark restoration saved her.
The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, the Jug That Came Home Bleeding, and the Wolfpack Pilots Who Took the Fight to the Luftwaffe Over Europe
The P-47 Thunderbolt was WWII's most-produced American fighter - a rugged, powerful aircraft that defined the air war over Europe through toughness, altitude, and aggressive tactics.
The Schneider Trophy, Reginald Mitchell's Supermarine Racers, and the Speed Competition That Built the Spitfire's DNA
The Schneider Trophy seaplane races of 1913–1931 directly produced the engineering breakthroughs behind the Supermarine Spitfire and Rolls-Royce Merlin engine.
Bob Reeve, the Valdez Mud Flats, and the Glacier Pilot Who Ran an Airline on Tidal Cycles and Axle Grease
Bob Reeve built a glacier-flying operation and a regional airline from $40 and a can of axle grease, using Valdez harbor mud flats as his runway in the 1930s.
Claire Chennault, the American Volunteer Group, and the Shark-Mouth P-40s That Held the Line Over Burma Before America Entered the War
Before Pearl Harbor, 100 American volunteers flew shark-mouthed P-40s under Claire Chennault's unconventional tactics to hold the line over Burma and China.
Dick Rutan, Jeana Yeager, the Voyager, and the Nine-Day Nonstop Circumnavigation That Landed on Eighteen Gallons
On December 23, 1986, Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager landed at Edwards after flying nonstop around the world in Burt Rutan's Voyager - with 18 gallons to spare.
Harriet Quimby, the Purple Flying Suit, and the English Channel Crossing the Titanic Almost Erased from History
Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly the English Channel on April 16, 1912 - a landmark swallowed by Titanic headlines the very same day.
Hurricane R4118, the Battle of Britain Veteran That Spent Forty Years in a Maharajah's Shed, and the One-Man Quest That Brought It Home
Hurricane R4118 flew approximately 50 Battle of Britain combat sorties, spent 40 years in an Indian shed, and was restored to flight in 2004.
Roscoe Turner, Gilmore the Lion, and the Thompson Trophy Pilot Who Made Air Racing America's Favorite Spectator Sport
Roscoe Turner won the Thompson Trophy three times, flew with a lion, and made aviation something every American felt belonged to them.
Samuel Langley, the Great Aerodrome, and the Potomac Dunking Nine Days Before Kitty Hawk
On October 7, 1903, America's best-funded flying machine program crashed into the Potomac - nine days before the Wright Brothers succeeded at Kitty Hawk.
Tex Johnston, the Dash Eighty, and the Barrel Roll Over Lake Washington That Sold the Boeing Seven Oh Seven to the World
On August 7, 1955, test pilot Tex Johnston barrel-rolled the Boeing 707 prototype over Lake Washington - a calculated move that launched the jet age.
The Chance Vought F4U Corsair, the Inverted Gull Wing, and the Marine Corps Legend the Navy Could Not Land on a Carrier
The F4U Corsair was rejected by the Navy for carrier use, handed to the Marines, and became the most feared propeller-driven fighter in the Pacific.