With a crew of 10 — and that number cycling through the system from 1941-1945 — plus thousands more Americans building and maintaining B-24s, the Liberator touched more families in this country than any other aircraft of the war. Chances are, if your family has been in the U.S. four generations or so, you have an ancestor whose path crossed with the B-24 during World War II.
Aeronca: From Airknockers to Warbirds and Beyond
Aeronca earned its place in aviation with the manufacture of more than 17,000 aircraft, including the C-3, Super Chief, and the popular Champ.
When good is better than best
The Grumman F6F Hellcat stands out as the U.S. fighter that downed more Japanese warplanes than any other Allied naval aircraft in World War II. Yet the Hellcat’s capabilities, as measured in speed, were always in the shadow of the racy Vought F4U Corsair.
Waco UPF-7s dusted too
When insect pests threatened Oregon forests as early as 1945, another duster type, the Waco UPF-7, made the scene. If we think of the UPF-7 today as a vintage sport and training biplane dating back to 1937, its use as an agricultural aircraft comes as a surprise to many.
Warbirds West
The Planes of Fame Central Coast Airfest is an innovative effort by the oldest warbird museum collection to leverage its crowd-pleasing warbirds at a venue that will host the museum’s new facility at Santa Maria Airport (KSMX) in California.
Boeing Model 81 trainer traded engines
In the late 1920s before the sobering effects of the Great Depression, aircraft and engine manufacturers tweaked and dabbled as they pursued the Next Big Thing.
Let the Spirit move you
When you first see the Spirit Engineering SE-1, it stops you in your tracks. It conjures airplanes from an earlier era that were designed for aerodynamic efficiency that did not forget art and beauty.
New Global War on Terror wing opens at Warhawk Air Museum
The new wing is a clear acknowledgement that history does not belong to a receding past alone, but is as current as those who served, and continue to serve, the armed forces of the United States in its efforts to counter terrorist activity.
Radical Japanese fighter overcome by events
The Kyushu Shinden first tested its wings on Aug. 3, 1945. Two more quick test sorties, said to have been made on Aug. 6 and 9, the dates when atomic bombs exploded over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, were the last flights for the Shinden. Six days later Japan surrendered, ending the war and the need for the Shinden.