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Air & Space Magazine

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Curtiss on Curtiss

The aviation pioneer chronicled his life and work in a once rare (but now freely downloadable) 1912 book.

A Hawker Hurricane Mark IIC is on permanent display at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in northern Virginia.

Hurricane Walkaround

Aviation historian Ron Dick takes a closer look at an old warbird.

Charlie Kulp flew this Piper Cub (and wore those overalls) in more than 800 performances since 1973.

Goodbye, Silas Hicks

Beloved showman Charlie Kulp dies at 96.

Among the first to see the historical value of aircraft, Ed Maloney opened a museum in 1957 and has been adding airplanes ever since, like the Hawker Hurricane. What makes the Planes of Fame Air Museum especially thrilling to airplane fans is aircraft that fly.

Ed Maloney’s Mission

The man behind, beside, and all over, the Planes of Fame Air Museum.

Would you have spotted it? The writer and the CAP officers with him on his search flight kept missing this old aircraft wreck, one of six uncovered in the course of the Fossett search. The Nevada landscape is cruelly good at concealing wrecks.

The Search for Steve Fossett

One tough job for the U.S. Civil Air Patrol.

Thanks to the wonders of computer animation, Gerry Merrill's theoretical Cloudster airplane takes an imaginary spin over Bryce Canyon.

Who Says a Jet Can’t Be Cheap?

Gerry Merrill says he can build you one for $150,000

Orbital Outfitters developed the pressurized polyurethane suit for XCOR.

High Fashion

Space tourists, dressed to thrill.

This colorful Bede BD-J5 takes a break from the action at an airshow in Sion, Switzerland in June 1989.

The Elusive Dream

The Minijet, the Weejet, and other good ideas that went nowhere.

Here, the Spitfire leads; World War II statistics say otherwise.

Best of the Battle of Britain

In this corner, the Vickers Supermarine Spitfire; across the ring, the Hawker Hurricane. Which is the more valuable restoration?

The winner of the first Schneider Trophy race was France with a Deperdussin. The replica can float; the original won the race in 1913 with a speed of about 46 mph.

Racing Planes of Fame

A visit to the Planes of Fame Air Museum in Chino, California is a tour through the history of air racing.

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A Second Generation Space Traveler

Richard Garriott talks about his upcoming tourist trip to the space station

The Quiet One had a forward-looking infrared (FLIR) camera on its belly that helped the pilots navigate at night.

Air America’s Black Helicopter

The secret aircraft that helped the CIA tap phones in North Vietnam

When the twin-engine America proved underpowered, Curtiss added a third engine. It worked on Keuka Lake, but fuel consumption proved too high for an Atlantic crossing.

America the Cruisable

The seaplane Glenn Curtiss designed in 1914 may have had trouble on the ocean, but its reproduction is delighting a whole town on a lake.

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Satellite Smashers

Space-faring nations: Clean up low Earth orbit or you’re grounded.

A row of 737-800s at Boeing Field in Seattle.

What determines an airplane’s lifespan?

Some keep flying for decades, while others end up on the scrap heap

Steve Fossett at the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in 2006.

Steve Fossett (1944-2007)

His adventurous spirit was a throwback to aviation’s Golden Age.

“After every 100 hours of flight time we’d have a post-flight inspection that would take five days to complete,” says former crew chief Bob DeVore.

I Remember Connie

A tribute to the National Air and Space Museum’s Super Constellation, by those who flew it.

Captain Donald S. Lopez, jet pilot with the Far East Air Forces 4th Fighter Interceptor Wing in Korea, watches his Lockheed F-86 "Sabre" in the final stages of refueling and rearming in December 1950.

Don Lopez (1923-2008)

World War II ace, test pilot, engineer, historian, Deputy Director of the National Air and Space Museum—in his 84 years this legendary aviator did it all.

Sikorsky unveils the next big thing in helicopters.

X2 Demonstrator

Sikorsky unveils the next big thing in helicopters.

After 80 years, a restored mail carrier flies again.

The Oldest Flying Boeing

After 80 years, a restored mail carrier flies again.

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