Showing 71 - 80 of 263

A silver colored, small monoplane featuring a yellow decal on the side that says Champion.

December 22, 2022

Roscoe’s Meteor: The Strange Road to Success

Story

A recent study of the iconic 1930s racing airplane, the Turner RT-14 Meteor, highlights its complex origins. Read about what was learned about Roscoe Turner's racer as it went through a thorough inspection in preparation for display.

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Portrait of Curator Russ Lee with the Loving WR-3 hanging in the entrance of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC

December 21, 2022

Neal Loving Shared His Love of Flying and Soared Over Obstacles

Story | Air & Space Quarterly

The Loving WR-3 was a roadable airplane designed and built by Neal V. Loving, an aeronautical engineer and pilot.

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Wilbur Wright Flying past New York

December 19, 2022

You Just Invented the Airplane, Now What?

Story

If you were the Wright brothers, you would turn your attention not to perfecting your flying skills but securing a patent and finding customers for their groundbreaking invention.

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Black and white image of a mirror on a carrier ship with an aircraft in its reflection

October 28, 2022

Landings are Mandatory: Lt. Don Engen and the Mirror Landing System

Story

For more than 30 years this partnership between LSO and naval aviators remained crucial to aircraft carrier landing operations. Almost overnight this partnership changed when jet aircraft altered the calculus of a carrier landing. Soon after, the Mirror Landing System (MLS) was born.

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Bell X-1 aircraft photographed from a side angle against a dark backdrop

October 13, 2022

Chuck Yeager Broke the Sound Barrier in the Bell X-1

Story

Seventy-five years ago, U.S. Air Force Captain Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager piloted the Bell X-1 Glamorous Glennis to become the first airplane to fly faster than the speed of sound (Mach 1).

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AirSpace, a podcast, logo

September 22, 2022

AirSpace Season 6, Ep. 10: Boom Clap

Story | AirSpace Podcast

For six months in 1964 the US Air Force flew an airplane at supersonic speeds over Oklahoma City, often multiple times a day, in a series of tests called Project Bongo. The story of how and why the tests happened is a wild ride, and we’re breaking it down for you today on AirSpace.

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Curator Peter Jakab portrait with the Bell UH-1H Iroquois "Huey" Smokey III helicopter.

September 21, 2022

The Smoke Ship

Story | Air & Space Quarterly

The Bell UH-1 Iroquois, better known as the Huey, remains a powerful symbol of the Vietnam War.

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A spiral galaxy, with distinctive lines that look like the spokes of a giant wheel in space, sits some 500 million light years away from Earth.

September 21, 2022

Up to Speed

Story | Air & Space Quarterly

What's new in aviation and space.

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A painting depicting one biplane with German markings on fire, losing altitude, with two ejected figures falling. A biplane with red, white, and blue fin flash flies past.

September 09, 2022

The Military Gets Its Wings

Story

Today we cannot imagine war without the airplane, but there was a time when the airplane's military potential was not yet apparent.

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A model of a biplane.

August 26, 2022

Conservation Treatment and the Story Behind a Model Benoist No. 43 Aircraft

Story

A 1/16 scale model of a Benoist XIV Airboat (Benoist No. 43) recently underwent conservation treatment in preparation for its display in the reimagined America by Air gallery. Learn about how it was treated and discover the story behind the model and the actual aircraft.

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