Fatal Airliner Collision Over the Grand Canyon
A tragic accident led to the creation of the modern air traffic control system and the FAA
Build a Fisher XP-75 Eagle
The 1/72nd-scale Fisher XP-75 Eagle model offered by the Czech company Valom is a short-run multimedia kit. In a way, it’s fitting, as the actual XP-75 was also a “short-run” fighter, with only a handful ever being built.
Why America’s XP-75 Eagle Was a Turkey
Incorporating parts from three existing aircraft, GM’s XP-75 Eagle suffered from an overly complicated design and overweight experimental engine.
When Fire Rained From the Sky
The first low-level B-29 raid on Tokyo introduced a terrifying new tactic in the war against Japan
Letter From Aviation History: A Time of Sacrifice
When Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s surrender 75 years ago on August 14, 1945, the world celebrated the end of a global nightmare that had claimed an estimated 60 to 80 million lives.
Aviation History Book Review: Flying Tiger Ace
On the night of December 19, 1944, Lt. Col. William N. Reed, commander of the 3rd Fighter Group, Chinese-American Composite Wing (CACW), was forced to bail out of his Curtiss P-40N somewhere in China’s Szechwan Province.
Airfix Spitfire Retool: Building a Battle of Britain Icon
Even though he died in 1937, long before the summer of 1940, aircraft designer R.J. Mitchell is often described as a hero of the Battle of Britain. Indeed, his Supermarine Spitfire is considered a veritable “saviour” of the country.
Swan Song for the Battle Phrog
The venerable CH-46 Sea Knight served with distinction for half a century, from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Aviation History Book Review: Race of Aces
Bestselling author John Bruning begins his massive, exhaustively researched and fast-paced account of the competition for the title of American ace of aces in World War II with a startling statistic:
Letter From Aviation History: A Marauder’s Tale
If this bomber could talk, it would have quite a story to tell. In a way it can, as every nick and scratch, every dent, every patched hole speaks of its hard-fought service during World War II.
Liberators’ Legacy: Memorials to the Aleutians Air War
B-24 bomber wrecks on remote Alaskan islands stand as mute testimony to the hard-fought air war during the Aleutians campaign.
Aviation History Book Review: Operation Chastise
Operation Chastise was the codename for the Royal Air Force’s famous “Dambuster” raid against Germany’s Ruhr dams.
How Navy Aircrews Scored the First MiG Kills Over Vietnam
A textbook intercept and missile launch by U.S. Navy F-4 Phantoms resulted in the first confirmed MiG kills of the Vietnam War.
Aviation History Book Review: Sherman Lead
As an aviator who flew the F-4D Phantom II with “Satan’s Angels” of the 433rd Tactical Fighter Squadron while stationed at Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base in 1968-69, Gaillard Peck knows that air combat is both taxing and adrenaline-inducing.
Building a MiG-Killer F-4B Phantom II
Phantom “phans” can be a picky bunch when it comes to the myriad nuances among the many versions and upgrades that the McDonnell F-4 Phantom II underwent following its first flight in 1958.
