At about this time in 1947, a United States Army Air Forces Boeing B-29 Superfortress crash lands in Greenland. Kee Bird ’s crew would survive three days on the arctic ice, waiting for rescue. Yet even after Kee Bird ’s crew was gone, the plane wasn’t forgotten. Several decades later, an attempt was made to rescue it. After all, she was then the “most well-preserved B-29” still in existence, as an Alaskan Air Museum describes. Kee Bird ’s story starts with Project Nanook, a

On this day in 1935, the rigid airship USS Macon crashes in the Pacific. The incident came just two years after Macon ’s sister ship, USS Akron , was lost in an Atlantic storm—and just two years before the more famous Hindenburg tragedy.   Macon was the pride of the Navy during her day.   At 785 feet long, she was longer than two football fields. Her top speed was 80 mph, and she was held aloft by helium in 12 large cells. The remaining interior of the airship was covered in

On this day in 1945, USAAF Captain Louis E. Curdes shoots down an American C-47, forcing it to crash land in the ocean. Legend has it that he shot down a plane carrying the woman who would ultimately become his wife! The story is mostly true, but I’m afraid it’s also bathed in a tad bit of myth. Curdes did shoot down a nurse that day, and he had been on at least one date with her. However, Curdes ultimately married someone else. “My dad might have been dating a nurse on the p

On this day in 1959, musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. Richardson (“the Big Bopper”) are killed in a plane crash. The terrible tragedy has come to be known as “the Day the Music Died.”   None of it would have occurred but for the “Tour from Hell.”   Holly, Valens, and Richardson were then on that 24-day concert tour, officially known as the Winter Dance Party Tour. Along with Dion and the Belmonts and Frankie Sardo, they would travel across Wisconsin, Minnesota,

On this day in 1793, the first successful balloon flight is made from American soil. Did you know that President George Washington was in the audience for the occasion? Washington had been interested in hot air balloons for years. “I have only news paper Accts of the Air Balloons,” he wrote a friend in 1784, “to which I do not know what credence to give; as the tales related of them are marvelous, & lead us to expect that our friends at Paris, in a little time, will come flyi

On this day in 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright make the first sustained, powered flight of a heavier-than-air machine under the complete control of the pilot. You might know the headline about their history-making flight at Kitty Hawk, but do you know the rest of their story? The Wright brothers’ story is a wonderful example of the entrepreneurial spirit that has made America great! The brothers’ interest in aviation started early. Their father once gave them a rubber-band po

On this day in 1969, Pete Conrad and Alan Bean become the third and fourth humans to walk on the Moon. But did you know that they almost didn’t make it to the Moon at all?  Apollo 12 nearly ended in disaster because of a lightning strike.   Apollo 12 tends to get lost in the shadows of the more famous Apollos 11 and 13.  The former, of course, put Neil Armstrong on the Moon. The latter struggled to return to Earth after an oxygen tank exploded in space.   Too bad, because the

On this day in 1921, a future flying Ace is born in Watertown, Massachusetts. Fred Christensen’s love of flying started early, when a friend’s father took him up in a plane as a teenager.   “From a very early age,” his daughter Diane would explain years later, “he did anything he could to get to the airport or befriend those at school whose dads had planes. As children, we thought he could fly without wings.”   Christensen joined the Army soon after the Japanese attack on Pea

On this day in 1929, renowned aviator Jimmy Doolittle completes the first blind flight. Today, airplanes make instrument landings all the...

On this day in 1984, retired Air Force Colonel Joseph Kittinger completes a solo balloon flight across the Atlantic Ocean. The trip was...

On this day in 1935, an aviation entrepreneur is tragically killed. Wiley Post had risen above poverty, prison, and even losing an eye to...

On this day in 1977, the Space Shuttle Enterprise  makes its first free flight. Did you know that NASA built an orbiter than never went...

On this day in 1932, Amelia Earhart receives a Distinguished Flying Cross. She’d just become the first female—and the second person...

On this day in 1938, an American aviator “accidentally” makes a trip across the Atlantic in a single-engine plane. Douglas Corrigan would...

On this day in 1918, Lt. Douglas Campbell becomes the first all-American flying ace. Despite this feat and despite his service with...

On this day in 1937, the Hindenburg catches fire and crashes in New Jersey. Somewhat ironically, the airship was then celebrating the one...

On this day in 1977, Delta flight 1080 nearly ends in tragedy. Fortunately, former Marine Captain Jack McMahan was at the controls: His...

On this day in 1944, a member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots is tragically killed. Evelyn “Sharpie” Sharp has been called...

On this day in 1964, an aviation pioneer departs on a record-setting trip. Geraldine “Jerrie” Mock flew around the world—the first time a...

On this day in 1923, Chuck Yeager is born. The legendary pilot is perhaps best known for being the first to break the sound barrier, but...