The Schneider Trophy and the seaplane races that gave birth to the Spitfire
How the Schneider Trophy seaplane races of the 1920s and 1930s directly produced the Spitfire and its Merlin engine.
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.
Charlie Furnas and the first airplane passenger who climbed aboard at Kill Devil Hills on May fourteenth, nineteen oh eight
On May 14, 1908, mechanic Charlie Furnas became the first airplane passenger in America at Kill Devil Hills, NC.
Kee Bird the B-twenty-nine Superfortress that burned on a frozen Greenland lake after a fifty-year rescue mission
The Kee Bird B-29 survived 48 years on a frozen Greenland lake only to burn during its rescue attempt moments before takeoff.
Igor Sikorsky and the four-engine giant that nobody believed could fly on May thirteenth, nineteen thirteen
On May 13, 1913, Igor Sikorsky flew the first four-engine airplane, defying experts who called multi-engine flight impossible.
Jimmy Stewart and the movie star who flew twenty combat missions over Nazi Germany in a B-twenty-four Liberator
Jimmy Stewart flew twenty combat missions over Nazi Germany in a B-24 Liberator, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross twice.
The Ramstein airshow disaster of nineteen eighty-eight and the pierced heart maneuver that changed airshow safety forever
The 1988 Ramstein airshow disaster killed 67 spectators and three pilots, fundamentally rewriting airshow safety rules worldwide.
The Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk found in the Egyptian Sahara seventy years after its pilot walked away and vanished
A Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk sat untouched in the Egyptian Sahara for 70 years after its pilot vanished, sparking a fierce restoration debate.
The Berlin Blockade lifts on May twelfth nineteen forty-nine and the airlift that moved two million tons on three-minute intervals
The Berlin Airlift delivered 2.3 million tons of supplies over 277,000 flights, ending when the Soviet blockade lifted on May 12, 1949.
Bessie Coleman and the woman who crossed an ocean just to learn how to fly
Bessie Coleman crossed the Atlantic to earn her pilot's license after every U.S. flight school refused to teach a Black woman to fly.
The Vickers Wellington pulled from Loch Ness and the bomber that spent forty-five years at the bottom of Scotland's most famous lake
The story of Wellington bomber N2980, ditched in Loch Ness in 1940 and recovered 45 years later as the best surviving example of its type.
The airship Norge and the first verified flight across the North Pole on May eleventh, nineteen twenty-six
On May 11, 1926, the airship Norge completed the first verified flight across the North Pole, crossing from Europe to Alaska.
Rudolf Hess and the solo Messerschmitt flight to Scotland that nobody ordered on May tenth, nineteen forty-one
On May 10, 1941, Rudolf Hess flew a Messerschmitt Bf 110 solo from Germany to Scotland in one of aviation's most bizarre unauthorized missions.
Watson's Whizzers and the American test pilots who stole Hitler's jet fleet before the ink on VE Day was dry
How a band of American test pilots raced across defeated Germany to seize Hitler's secret jets before the Soviets could claim them.
The Travel Air Mystery Ship and the civilian racer that humiliated every military fighter at the nineteen twenty-nine Cleveland Air Races
How a secret civilian racer from Wichita humiliated every military fighter at the 1929 Cleveland Air Races and changed American aviation.
Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett and the North Pole flight that history still argues about on May eighth, nineteen twenty-six
The 1926 Byrd-Bennett North Pole flight remains aviation's most debated claim - here's what happened and why historians still argue.
The Lake Michigan warbirds and the Navy trainers pulled from freshwater graves to fly again
Dozens of WWII Navy trainers rest on Lake Michigan's bottom, and the remarkable recoveries are producing airworthy warbirds decades later.
The Battle of the Coral Sea and the carrier duel where warships never saw each other
The Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942 was the first naval battle fought entirely by aircraft, where opposing fleets never saw each other.
Mathias Rust and the teenage Cessna pilot who landed in Red Square
In 1987, 19-year-old Mathias Rust flew a rented Cessna 172 from Helsinki to Moscow's Red Square, exposing Soviet air defense failures and reshaping Cold War politics.
Lincoln Beachey and the dive that silenced the man who owned the sky over San Francisco Bay
Lincoln Beachey, the most famous pilot of aviation's early era, died in a wing failure dive over San Francisco Bay in 1915.
The Hindenburg disaster at Lakehurst and the thirty-seven seconds that ended the age of the airship on May sixth, nineteen thirty-seven
The Hindenburg disaster at Lakehurst on May 6, 1937 destroyed the world's largest airship in 37 seconds and ended rigid airship travel forever.