JEAN MERMOZ, AVIATOR
FRENCHMAN JEAN Mermoz was an extraordinary aviator in an extraordinary era of aviation. His flights crossing the South Atlantic and later the Andes were the first of their kind. Mermoz … Continue reading
HOUDINI—PIONEER AVIATOR
HARRY HOUDINI performed death-defying feats during the early years of the 20th Century. Flying through the air—in the earliest of aeroplanes—was one of these feats, an achievement that got him … Continue reading
THE RIGHT STUFF, THE WRONG WAY
AN IRASCIBLE Douglas Corrigan wanted to fly the Atlantic solo in the mid-1930s. However, federal officials looked at his clunker of an airplane and said no. The officials had good … Continue reading
AERIAL REFUELING, 1929
REFUELING AIRCRAFT in mid-air is now routine with air forces around the world. Its history, though, is a combination of military methodology and publicity stunt bravado. A Sirius XM “Radio … Continue reading
CARRIER OPPS, 100 YEARS AGO
IT WAS less than a decade after the Wright Bros. first flew that an aeroplane took off from and landed on a ship. These aviation firsts were accomplished by the … Continue reading
SAUNDERS-ROE PRINCESS
HISTORY HAS been known to repeat itself in a disconcertingly short interval. Two British aircraft, the Bristol Brabazon and Saunders-Roe Princess, had similarly ambitious plans—and were both failures, albeit brilliant … Continue reading
BRISTOL BRABAZON
TWO BRITISH might-have-beens made aviation history 60 years ago. Each was the largest aircraft of its type in the world. Each extended the state of the art in design, fabrication … Continue reading
MASSON’S MEXICAN MELEE
FRENCH AVIATOR Didier Masson competed in the Dominguez Air Meet, held January 10 to 20, 1910, near Los Angeles and the first international flying competition in the U.S. What with … Continue reading
VOUGHT XF5U
THE XF5U “Flying Flapjack” was one of the might-have-beens of aviation history. Its designer, Charles H. Zimmerman, was a talented aerodynamicist and member of NACA, the National Advisory Committee for … Continue reading
SAVOIA-MARCHETTI SM.55X
A WINGED armada of 24 Savoia-Marchetti SM.55X flying boats transported Italo Balbo and his 96 colleagues in their mass flight from Orbetello, Italy, to the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair (www.wp.me/p2ETap-1q1). One … Continue reading
Simanaitis Says 