John Fleischman

John Fleischman is a frequent contributor to Air & Space.

The partial disk of the northern hemisphere of Venus, as revealed by radar data from the Magellan orbiter. In the 1990s, Magellan saw patches of rugged terrain called tessera. A future lander could analyze its composition and possibly explain its formation.

Journey to the Surface of Venus

Despite its caustic personality, the planet closest to Earth has answers these scientists want.

King in the cockpit of a rare 1930 Waco, which he ferried from Wisconsin to California.

The Barnstormer

It’s one of the oldest professions in aviation, and it requires more than flying skill.

The Flagship Washington was one of the DC-4s that American Airlines used for its transatlantic passenger service. The sleek “landplane” was faster and safer than the passenger seaplanes that preceded it.

The Dawn of Transatlantic Flight

Modern passenger service across the ocean began on October 23, 1945, a date that will live in obscurity.

On March 28, in the year of the pandemic, three lone travelers roll their luggage across the cavernous intercity train platform at Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris, the second stop on the author’s Milan-Paris-Atlanta-Cincinnati odyssey.

Transatlantic Flight During a Pandemic Makes for a Long, Strange Trip

Caught by COVID away from home, the author finds his way through three airports and across an ocean.

A Dornier Do X flying boat parked on its launch ramp circa 1929—the year the 56-ton transatlantic luxury craft set a passenger-carrying record (169 souls) that stood for two decades. Only three of the type were ever built.

When Giant Airplanes Ruled the Sky

The Great War triggered a trend toward big flying machines. Really big.

Hot jets, cool reception: In Lithuania, NATO fighters like Poland’s MiG-29s (here during a 2015 rotation) spring into action if intruders fly near.

Scramble!

NATO's Baltic Air Policing mission calls on an age-old combination of quick reaction and hot jets.

F-15Cs of the U.S. 48th Air Expeditionary Group fly Baltic rotations. Like Rick von Berckefeldt’s C model, they are air-to-air only: a singular threat in NORAD airspace, but a subtle signal in Europe that ground troops needn’t fear.

This F-15 Pilot Holds the NORAD Record for Interceptions

"For Whatever Reason, When I Was on Alert, They Flew."

In the film, Gregory Peck dresses down Robert Arthur.

Some of Us Have Got to Die

What the 1949 film Twelve O’Clock High still tells us about air combat and the burden of command.

For the first New York-to-Chicago mail flight, in 1918, Max Miller accepts a mailbag from New York City Postmaster Thomas Patten.

Where Did Max Miller Die?

One man’s search for the place where the U.S. Air Mail Service lost a star

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