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Graf Zeppelin Christmas letter

Holiday Delivery From the Graf Zeppelin

In 1934, a zeppelin originating in Germany and bound for Brazil carried a cargo of Christmas cheer
December 2009 | By Owen Edwards

Amelia Earhart

Flying With America's Most Famous Female Aviators

Dozens of talented women preceded Amelia Earhart, and thousands have followed, and each has her own groundbreaking story to tell
October 22, 2009 | By Patricia Trenner

SR-71 aircraft

The Ultimate Spy Plane

The SR-71 Blackbird, now featured in the Transformers movie sequel, was faster than a rifle bullet and flew 16 miles above the earth
July 2009 | By Owen Edwards

Remote controlled scout plane

Under the Radar with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

The five-pound RQ-14A takes high-tech reconnaissance to new heights
March 2009 | By Owen Edwards

A Boeing 707 disturbs a colony of sooty terns during takeoff

The Perils of Bird-Plane Collisions

When airlines want to investigate dangerous bird strikes against planes, they turn to the head of the Smithsonian’s Feather Identification Lab
January 16, 2009 | By Sarah Zielinski

a salt-making site at the village of Teguidda-n-Tessoumt in arid northern Niger

Africa on the Fly

Dangling from a paraglider with a propeller on his back, photographer George Steinmetz gets a new perspective on Africa
January 2009 | By Abigail Tucker

Sky King

Pan Am founder Juan Trippe turned Americans into frequent fliers
November 2007 | By Owen Edwards

Seeking Friendlier Skies

Can radar networks eliminate airplane turbulence?
September 01, 2007 | By Eric Jaffe

The Lindberghs piloted this tandem seat, single-engine aircraft, outfitted to Charles

Sky Writer

Anne Morrow Lindbergh chronicled the flights made with her celebrated husband
November 2006 | By Owen Edwards

Balloon Jupiter had to land after 30 miles; its mail (here) was sent on by train.

Airmail Letter

Stale Mail: The nation's first hot-air balloon postal deliveries barely got off the ground.
August 2006 | By Owen Edwards

A Century of Flight - Taking Wing

From the Wright brothers' breakthrough 100 years ago this month to the latest robot jets, the past century has been shaped by the men and women who got us off the ground
December 2003 | By Andrew Curry

Crash Junkie

Flight instructor Craig Fuller scales mountains, combs deserts and trudges through wilderness to track down old airplane wrecks
November 2003 | By Reed Karaim

By the fall of 1902, the Wright brothers (near Kitty Hawk in October of that year) had solved the most vexing problems of human flight, namely lift and control, with a succession of gliders. Now they were finally ready to focus on propulsion.

To Fly!

A new book traces the Wright brothers' triumph 100 years ago to an innovative design and meticulous attention to detail
April 2003 | By James Tobin

Comet's Tale

A half century ago, the first jet airliner delighted passengers with swift, smooth flights until a fatal structural flaw doomed its glory
June 2002 | By Robert G. Pushkar

As the fabric-covered plane came to a halt, frenzied sou-venir hunters tore at it, putting French officials on guard. Hailed in his home state of Minnesota, the 25-year-old pilot hated the nickname Lucky, bestowed on him after the flight. After sleeping in splendor at the U.S. Embassy in Paris, he awoke to a life, he said, "that could hardly have been more amazing if I had landed on another planet." On an old postcard kept by the Richards family, Tudor Richards has written, "We saw him land!"

We saw him land!

In a long-lost letter an American woman describes Lindbergh's tumultuous touchdown in Paris—75 years ago this month
May 01, 2002 | By Smithsonian magazine

Langley's Feat--and Folly

The Smithsonian Secretary assembled a devoted team, a remarkable engine and a plane that wouldn't fly
November 1997 | By Edwards Park

The Object at Hand

A silver speedster from the 1930s evokes the golden age of flight, a pair of world-class speed records and the early triumphs of Howard Hughes' ultimately tragic life
February 1995 | By Timothy Foote


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