Aviation History

“Everything we do here has to meet five criteria,” Kermit says as he whisks me through a full-scale set of a B-17 bomber awaiting a pre-dawn departure for a raid over Germany. I step past a snowbank outside the wooden briefing shack, shivering in the dark and robustly air-conditioned display area as I strain to […]

Ask the average person on the street whom they would regard as the ultimate pilot, and you will typically get one of two answers: Charles Lindbergh and Chuck Yeager. The US Army Air Corps (and later US Air Force) pilot captured the world’s attention with his heroic feats, several of which advanced human in flight […]

Not all performance calculations are as specific as we think.

The third Douglas A-26 Invader in the Commemorative Air Force fleet, Lil Twister, took its first two flights on November 1, 2020, at the Guthrie Municipal Airport in Oklahoma. Originally scheduled for October 23, the flights culminate the efforts of 21 years of restoration work by the airplane’s supporters in the Sierra Hotel A-26 Sponsor […]

In 1928, Charles Lindbergh personally selected Port Columbus Airport in Columbus, Ohio, as the eastern terminus of Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT), one of America’s first commercial airlines and the first to offer coast-to-coast service. In July 1929, a beautiful art deco and modern (for the era) terminal was opened to the public at what is today known […]

To honor and to serve: a consortium of aviation organizations came together to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, with a glorious parade of historic warbirds over Washington, DC-area skies on September 24, 2020. We take you behind the scenes as the crews fly practice runs over the Virginia countryside—and […]

When the D-Day Squadron joined other groups from around the world in planning, preparing for, and executing the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of D-Day in 2019, the organizers came away with the concept of creating a type club for the venerable, historic Douglas DC-3 and its variants. None existed at the time—which struck them […]

On September 25, some 70 aircraft—with a contingent from the Commemorative Air Force—will help commemorate the end of World War II by blanketing the skies with aircraft flying in two-minute intervals over Washington, DC. Many supporting organizations of next week’s event are sending aircraft that will create historically sequenced formations representing the war’s major battles—from […]

One hundred years ago today, on September 8, 1920, airmail pilot Randolph Page set off from Long Island to fly the first of 15 legs of the first US Airmail service transcontinental relay flight. Flying by the seat of their pants, with only visual references as their guide, a series of airmail pilots transferred mail […]

The EAA Aviation Museum will reopen on a limited basis August 3, the first time the facility has opened its doors since late March when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. The museum will, however, limit the size of groups and the total number of visitors allowed in the facility at any time. In addition, high-touchpoint […]