Voyager, Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, and the Nine Days Around the World on One Tank of Gas
In December 1986, Voyager flew nonstop around the world without refueling - the story of the last great first in aviation.
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.
Wiley Post, the One-Eyed Oklahoma Roughneck Who Flew the Winnie Mae Solo Around the World and Then Built a Rubber Suit to Touch the Stratosphere
Wiley Post, a one-eyed Oklahoma roughneck, flew solo around the world in 1933 and pioneered the pressure suit and jet stream.
Bob Hoover, the Green Shrike Commander, and the Cup of Iced Tea He Poured While Rolling a Twin-Engine Airplane Upside Down
How Bob Hoover poured iced tea while rolling a twin-engine Shrike Commander upside down - and what it teaches every pilot about energy management.
Cal Rodgers, the Vin Fiz, and the Forty-Nine-Day Wreck of a Crawl Across America to Win a Prize He Never Collected
In 1911, Cal Rodgers flew the Vin Fiz coast-to-coast in 49 days - the first flight across America, achieved after the prize was already lost.
Clyde Upside-Down Pangborn, the Gates Flying Circus, and the Fifty-Cent Ride That Sold America on Flying
How the Gates Flying Circus and Clyde 'Upside-Down' Pangborn sold America its first airplane ride for a nickel and shaped a generation of pilots.
Glacier Girl, the P Thirty-Eight Lightning Dug Out From Under Two Hundred and Sixty-Eight Feet of Greenland Ice and Flown Again After Fifty Years in the Dark
How a P-38 Lightning was recovered from 268 feet of Greenland ice and restored to flight 50 years after the Lost Squadron went down.
Glamorous Glennis, the Bell X One That Broke the Sound Barrier With a Sawed-Off Broomstick and Now Hangs Over the Front Door of the Smithsonian
How Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 on Oct 14, 1947 - with two cracked ribs and a sawed-off broomstick.
Tex Johnston, the Barrel Roll Over Lake Washington, and the Day a Test Pilot Bet Boeing's Future on a One-G Maneuver
In August 1955, test pilot Tex Johnston barrel-rolled Boeing's one-and-only 707 prototype over Lake Washington and helped sell the jet age.
The Douglas DC-3, the Gooney Bird That Made the Airlines Pay Their Own Way and Then Flew Off to War as the C Forty-Seven
The Douglas DC-3 was the first airliner to profit on passengers alone, then won a war as the C-47 - and it's still flying today.
The Fort Myer Trials, the Wright Military Flyer, and the Summer the U.S. Army Finally Bought an Airplane
In August 1909 the U.S. Army bought its first airplane, the Wright Military Flyer, for $30,000 after the deadly Fort Myer trials.
The Gee Bee R One, the Flying Barrel the Granville Brothers Built Around an Engine, and the Day Jimmy Doolittle Rode It to Victory in the 1932 Thompson Trophy
How the Granville Brothers built the deadly Gee Bee R-1 around a huge engine, and how Jimmy Doolittle rode it to win the 1932 Thompson Trophy.
The Night Witches, the 588th Night Bomber Regiment and the Wood-and-Canvas Biplanes Soviet Women Flew With the Engine Cut
Radio Hangar explores The Night Witches, the 588th Night Bomber Regiment and the Wood-and-Canvas Biplanes Soviet Women Flew With the Engine Cut.
Wrong Way Corrigan, the Curtiss Robin That Flew to Ireland by 'Mistake,' and the Twenty-Eight Hours That Made Him a Folk Hero
How Douglas 'Wrong Way' Corrigan flew a $310 Curtiss Robin across the Atlantic in 1938 and blamed a backwards compass.
Bessie Coleman, Queen Bess, and the Ticket to France She Bought Because No School in America Would Teach a Black Woman to Fly
How Bessie Coleman became the first Black woman to earn a pilot's license - by learning French and sailing to France when no U.S. school would teach her.
Bob Reeve, the Valdez Glacier Pilot, and the 1937 Landing on the Walsh Glacier That Put Two Climbers Under Mount Lucania and Nearly Left His Airplane There Forever
How bush pilot Bob Reeve pioneered glacier flying and made the 1937 Walsh Glacier landing that nearly cost him his life and his airplane.
Doc, the B-29 Superfortress That Sat in the Mojave as a Missile Target for Forty Years, and the Wichita Volunteers Who Spent Sixteen Years Bringing Her Back to the Sky
How Doc, a B-29 that sat 40 years as a desert missile target, was restored to flight by Wichita volunteers over 16 years.
Douglas Bader, the Legless Ace Who Flew Spitfires on Two Tin Legs and Got His Spares Parachuted In by the Enemy
How RAF ace Douglas Bader lost both legs, flew Spitfires on tin legs, and had the enemy parachute him a spare.
Operation Black Buck, the Single Avro Vulcan and the Eleven Tankers That Flew Eight Thousand Miles to Drop One Stick of Bombs on a Falklands Runway
How the RAF sent one aging Avro Vulcan and eleven tankers nearly 8,000 miles to bomb Port Stanley in the longest raid ever flown.
Ormer Locklear, the Army Instructor Who Climbed Out of the Cockpit to Fix a Radiator and Invented Wing-Walking, Then Died Chasing One More Shot for Hollywood
How Army instructor Ormer Locklear invented wing-walking in 1918 and died filming a Hollywood stunt in 1920, shaping modern aviation.
The Cornfield Bomber, the F One Oh Six Delta Dart That Flew Itself Down to a Gentle Landing in a Montana Field After the Pilot Had Already Punched Out
The Cornfield Bomber is an F-106 that recovered from a flat spin and belly-landed itself in Montana in 1970 after its pilot ejected.