World War II

For the first time in 60 years, the B-29 Superfortress named Doc, which has been in restoration in Wichita, Kansas, for many years, took flight once again. There were emotional tears in the crowds of Doc’s Friends volunteers and supporters who watched the massive, shiny all-aluminum World War II bomber lift off from McConnell Air […]

In the past few years, the Commemorative Air Force has turned more and more toward educational pursuits directed to inspire a younger and more diverse group. The Rise Above Traveling Exhibit is an initiative that aims to motivate youth to overcome challenges through education about major obstacles that some groups of people were working against during […]

(function(d, s, id) { if (d.getElementById(id)) return; var js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = ‘//cdn4.wibbitz.com/static.js’; d.getElementsByTagName(‘body’)[0].appendChild(js); }(document, ‘script’, ‘wibbitz-static-embed’)); The Commemorative Air Force, a nonprofit with 79 units across 25 states, restores, maintains and flies iconic warbirds, largely through the help of volunteers. Through airshows and making rides in the WWII-era airplanes available […]

Drivers, motorcyclists, bikers and pedestrians craned their heads to the skies as military trainers, combat fighters, bombers and reconnaissance aircraft made their way over the city in a series of formations, commemorating the 70th anniversary of V-E Day (victory in Europe). World War II was a special era in the history of aviation, the likes […]

Congress has passed legislation that allows members of the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II, commonly known as WASP, a space in Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington. The cemetery is reserved for those who have served in the U.S. armed forces. The women served a critical role during the war flying WWII aircraft […]

Early this year my son, who was screening a series of classic films for friends, put on the 1981 Spielberg pulse-pounder Raiders of the Lost Ark, which came out in the year he was born and, therefore, stood to him, in terms of the history of film and the decline of taste, as Casablanca does […]

July 22, 1921: The Douglas Aircraft Co. incorporates, with its main base in Santa Monica, California, in an old movie studio. April 1936: The first Douglas Sleeper Transport is delivered to American Airlines. 1943: The 2,000th C-47 rolls out of the production hangar at Long Beach. 1944: More than 100 C-47s fill the skies over […]

Airshow great Stan Segalla, best known for his comedy routine as “The Flying Farmer” at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in Upstate New York and other airshows around the Northeast, has died at 91. A World War II vet, Segalla was a star attraction at Rhinebeck for many years before retiring for good in 2008. His […]

Eric Melrose Brown, one of the most decorated pilots of all time, died last week at age 97. Brown joined the Fleet Air Arm of the British navy in 1940 and, in an era when aviation was developing rapidly for military use, he beat the odds on many occasions, surviving 11 airplane crashes. During his […]

April may have been the cruelest month in T. S. Eliot’s London, but here in Los Angeles, it’s September. On the 3rd, consequently, my wife, Nancy, and I decamped for Cape Cod. Not in my airplane. For one thing, Nancy has pretty much turned against flying. I suppose that if the “Big One” — the […]