Ormer Locklear, the Human Fly of the Barnstorming Age, and the Night the Flares Didn't Cut Over DeMille Field
The story of Ormer Locklear, aviation's first great wing walker, and the searchlight signal that failed on the night he died.
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 Enola Gay, the Silverplate B Twenty-Nine, and the Restoration Fight That Split a Nation Before She Ever Reached the Museum Floor
The Enola Gay's 20-year, 300,000-hour Smithsonian restoration saved the B-29 amid a bitter national fight over how to display her.
The Gimli Glider, Air Canada One Four Three, and the Night a Boeing Seven Sixty-Seven Ran Out of Fuel at Forty-One Thousand Feet and Landed Dead-Stick on a Drag Strip
How Air Canada Flight 143 ran out of fuel at 41,000 feet in 1983 and glided to a dead-stick landing at Gimli.
The Night Witches, the Five Eighty-Eighth Night Bomber Regiment, and the Women Who Cut Their Engines and Glided a Wood-and-Canvas Biplane Down Onto the German Line
The Night Witches flew wood-and-canvas biplanes on silent night raids against German lines - here's their story.
The Schneider Trophy, the Supermarine S Six B, and the Seaplane Races That Built the Engine That Would Save Britain
How the 1931 Schneider Trophy and the Supermarine S.6B forged the wing and engine that became the Spitfire and Merlin.
The Vought F4U Corsair, the Bent-Wing Bird They Called Whistling Death, and the Fighter the Navy Almost Gave Up On Before the Marines Made Her a Legend
The F4U Corsair was rejected by the Navy as too dangerous for carriers, then became a legendary Marine fighter with an 11-to-1 kill ratio.
Beryl Markham, The Messenger, and the Night She Flew the Atlantic the Hard Way, East to West, Straight Into the Wind
Radio Hangar explores Beryl Markham, The Messenger, and the Night She Flew the Atlantic the Hard Way, East to West, Straight Into the Wind.
Bob Reeve, the Glacier Pilot of Valdez, Who Turned a Tidal Mudflat Into a Runway and Landed on Glaciers to Supply the Gold Mines
How Bob Reeve, the Glacier Pilot of Valdez, used tidal mudflats and homemade skis to supply Alaska's gold mines by air.
Cal Rodgers, the Vin Fiz, and the Forty-Nine Days a Wrecked Wright Biplane Crawled Across America to Win a Prize It Never Collected
In 1911, Cal Rodgers flew the Vin Fiz across America in 49 days and 19 crashes - the first coast-to-coast flight, though he never won the prize.
Clyde Pangborn, Miss Veedol, and the Night Two Broke Men Threw Their Landing Gear Into the Pacific to Fly Nonstop From Japan to Wenatchee
How Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon made the first nonstop transpacific flight in 1931 by jettisoning their landing gear.
Daredevil Lindbergh, the Barnstorming Years Before the Atlantic, When a Bashful Kid From Minnesota Learned to Wing-Walk and Jump for a Living
Before the Atlantic, Charles Lindbergh spent four barnstorming years wing-walking, parachuting, and teaching himself to fly a surplus Jenny.
Gail Halvorsen, the Berlin Airlift, and the Candy Bomber Who Wiggled His Wings Over Tempelhof
How pilot Gail Halvorsen became the Candy Bomber of the Berlin Airlift, dropping candy on handkerchief parachutes over Tempelhof.
Pardo's Push, the March Nineteen Sixty-Seven Morning a Phantom Pilot Used His Own Windscreen to Shove a Crippled Fighter Out of North Vietnam
On March 10, 1967, Captain Bob Pardo pushed a crippled F-4 Phantom out of North Vietnam using his own windscreen - the legendary Pardo's Push.
Swamp Ghost, the B Seventeen E That Sat in a New Guinea Swamp for Sixty-Four Years Before Anybody Brought Her Home
The Swamp Ghost is a B-17E bomber that sat in a New Guinea swamp for 64 years before recovery - now the only intact combat B-17E in the world.
The de Havilland Mosquito, the Wooden Wonder Built in Furniture Shops That Outran Every Fighter Sent to Catch Her
How the de Havilland Mosquito, built from wood in furniture shops, became WWII's fastest bomber and outran every fighter sent to catch it.
The Republic P Forty-Seven Thunderbolt, the Jug, the Eight-Ton Fighter Built Around a Turbosupercharger That Brought Its Pilots Home Full of Holes
The P-47 Thunderbolt, the heavy 'Jug,' was built around a turbosupercharger and became WWII's toughest fighter-bomber.
The Spruce Goose, Howard Hughes' Hughes H Four Hercules, and the One Minute Off the Water at Long Beach That Silenced Everybody Who Called Her a Boondoggle
The story of Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose, the wooden flying boat that flew just once in 1947 and outlived every critic.
Voyager, Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, and the Nine Days a Flying Fuel Tank Circled the Whole World Without a Single Drop From Anybody
How Voyager flew around the world nonstop and unrefueled in 1986, the last great milestone of atmospheric flight.
Ye Olde Pub, Franz Stigler, and the Crippled B Seventeen a German Fighter Pilot Refused to Shoot Down Two Days Before Christmas
On December 20, 1943, German ace Franz Stigler refused to shoot down a crippled B-17 and escorted it to safety instead.
Alcock and Brown, the Vickers Vimy, and the Nineteen Nineteen Night Two Men Flew Nonstop Across the Atlantic Eight Years Before Lindbergh
How Alcock and Brown made the first nonstop transatlantic flight in 1919, eight years before Lindbergh reached Paris.