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Air & Space Magazine

In an August 1942 wind tunnel test at a research facility in Virginia, the XP-77 was the very picture of streamlined design.

Larry Bell’s little idea probably should have been kept to himself.

The Bell XP-77.

Environmentalists have called for a ban on leaded fuel. Private pilots worry that the ban could kill general aviation. The author is somewhere in the middle.

The Fight Over Avgas

Can private pilots fly unleaded?

The Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array in Chile is tuned to see radiation emitted long ago when the first galaxies formed.

A new telescope will tell us how the first stars and galaxies were born

The Universe’s Baby Boom.

The “Gutless Cutless” earned its nickname primarily from its underpowered engines. A Vought F7U-3 in May 1953.

In the early jet age, pilots had good reason to fear the F7U

The Gutless Cutlass.

Called “Bats” after the disks he used to signal pilots, a landing officer says “Lower!” to an approaching airman. The air-to-surface vessel radar dome is visible between the airplane’s gear struts.

Britain’s Desperate Response to U-Boats

Short decks and Swordfish

50 Years of Air Racing

Over half a century, a devoted few created the unique culture of Reno

The fresh lunar crater Giordano Bruno offers a wealth of fascinating landforms to study.

Melted Moon

Lava-like features and landforms around young lunar craters give us insight into the processes and history of the Moon

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Mid-Air Refueling

An Osprey and Talon hook up.

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Green Planet

How’s the plant life doing?

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Tales from an Aircraft Dispatcher

A simple spiral notebook brings back my father’s career with the airlines

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Roof Impact

A World War I photo shows the fagility of early figher aircraft.

Post wearing a glass eye for this portrait by Underwood & Underwood.

Wiley Post, Ex-Con

In 1921, the famous flier did a stint in the Oklahoma state penitentiary

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Ready to Fly, Jump

Paratroopers get ready for a joint exercise in North Carolina.

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Airspeed is Life

Questions about the Asiana 214 crash start with: How did experienced pilots let a plane get so low and slow on a visual approach?

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Gravity Testing

An engineer hangs around.

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Flying for Ye Olde Blue Ribbon

Boys show off their model airplanes.

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New Moon for Neptune

A SETI astronomer finds a never-before-seen solar system neighbor

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Fallen Shelves

NASA keeps an eye on Antarctica.

Dusty rides again. A scene from Planes.

Disney Takes to the Air

A chat with the director of Planes

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Wiley Post’s Historic Around-the-World Flight

Eighty years ago, a one-eyed oilman made the first solo flight around the world.

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