Aviation History

Aviation History Magazine is an authoritative, in-depth history of world aviation from its origins to the Space Age. Aviation History offers air enthusiasts the most detailed coverage of the history of manned flight, with action-packed stories and illustrations that put the reader in the cockpit with pilots and military (army, navy, and marine)aviators to experience aviation’s greatest dramas.

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AVIATION HISTORY ONLINE

Aviation History

MAILBAG

VISIT WITH SAIGON LADY

LUFTHANSA ABANDONS CONNIE RESTORATION

SPOOKY GUNSHIP PUT OUT TO PASTURE

THE LONG WAY HOME

FIRST FLOOR: AIRCRAFT SALES

ROTARY-POWERED TRIPLANE REPLICA

LORD OF THE DISTANCES • ITALIAN AVIATOR FRANCESCO DE PINEDO EARNED ACCOLADES FOR HIS MARATHON FLIGHTS, BUT HIS DESIRE TO BREAK RECORDS ULTIMATELY PROVED A FATAL ATTRACTION

WILDCAT FROM THE DEEP • A WORLD WAR II FIGHTER THAT WAS RAISED FROM LAKE MICHIGAN IN 2012 IS UNDERGOING RESTORATION AT KALAMAZOO’S AIR ZOO

COBBLED-TOGETHER FIGHTER • INCORPORATING PARTS FROM THREE EXISTING AIRCRAFT, GM’S XP-75 EAGLE SUFFERED FROM AN OVERLY COMPLICATED DESIGN AND OVERWEIGHT EXPERIMENTAL ENGINE

STYLE • On the 60th anniversary of the American Fighter Aces Association, we honor the late Roy Grinnell, the ‘Official Artist of the Aces’

A TIME OF SACRIFICE

LAST AIR BATTLES OF WORLD WAR II • CONFUSION REIGNED 75 YEARS AGO WHEN JAPAN ANNOUNCED ITS SURRENDER BUT PILOTS ON BOTH SIDES KEPT FIGHTING

BELL’S FIRST BOMBER • THE STORY OF DEUCES WILD TYPIFIED THE BRIEF, TEMPESTUOUS COMBAT CAREER EXPERIENCED BY MANY OF THE EARLY B-29S SENT AGAINST JAPAN

DISASTER ON TENERIFE • A SERIES OF TRAGIC COINCIDENCES AND HUMAN ERRORS LED TO THE COLLISION OF TWO 747S ON A RUNWAY IN THE CANARY ISLANDS—THE WORST ACCIDENT IN AVIATION HISTORY

THE LITTLE FLOWER GOES TO WAR • A SWASHBUCKLING ITALIAN-AMERICAN CONGRESSMAN FROM NEW YORK PROVED HIS METTLE IN THE SKIES OVER ITALY DURING WORLD WAR

GUNSHIP EVOLUTION • BASED ON LOCKHEED’S FOUR-ENGINE TURBOPROP TRANSPORT AND WEAPONIZED BY BOEING, THE DEADLY AC-130 “AERIAL BATTLESHIP” HAD VERY HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

REVIEWS

ADMIRAL JOHN S. MCCAIN AND THE TRIUMPH OF NAVAL AIR POWER

WINNING ARMAGEDDON • Curtis LeMay and Strategic Air Command, 1948–1957

FLYING TIGER ACE • The Story of Bill Reed, China’s Shining Mark

DOUGLAS D-558 • D-558-1 Skystreak and D-558-2 Skyrocket

AIRWARE Digital Combat Simulator Yak-52

PACIFIC ADVERSARIES • Volume One: Japanese Army Air Force vs The Allies, New Guinea 1942–1944; Volume Two: Imperial Japanese Navy vs The Allies, New Guinea & the Solomons 1942–1944

ROLAND GARROS • The First Fighter Pilot

MYSTERY SHIP • Can you identify this experimental jet aircraft? See the answer below.

TODAY IN HISTORY MAY 1, 1931 • THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING OFFICIALLY OPENS. IN ITS FIRST YEAR ONLY 23% OF THE AVAILABLE SPACE WAS SOLD. THE LACK OF TENANTS LED NEW YORKERS TO DISMISS THE BUILDING AS THE “EMPTY STATE BUILDING.” IN YEAR ONE THE OBSERVATION DECK HAULED IN APPROXIMATELY $2 MILLION IN REVENUE, EQUAL TO WHAT ITS OWNERS COLLECTED IN RENT. THE BUILDING FIRST TURNED A PROFIT IN THE 1950s.

Big Brass