March 2001
Smithsonian magazine delivers trusted and incisive reporting on history, science, nature, culture and travel.
Features
Don't Mess With Switzerland
To the world's most formidable natural defenses, the Swiss have added F/A-18 Hornets and a new slant on neutrality.
Terra Cognita
A new generation of satellites zooms in on a familiar planet.
The Hammer
For every airplane, there's a region of the flight envelope into which it dare not fly.
Restoration: Desperate Journey
A Junkers Ju 88 is pulled from a Norwegian lake.
Baikonur
It ain't pretty, but it sure does work.
Commentary: Metric Mayhem
Practically the entire world uses the metric system. Is it time for the United States to follow suit?
High Tension
Helicopter pilots play chicken with high-voltage power lines so crews can work on live wires.
What Were They Thinking?
The wonderful, unworkable world of airplane design in the years before the Wright brothers.
Made in the U.S.S.R.
Of course they copied it. The two airplanes could have been twins. But was the Soviets' Tu-4 truly an exact duplicate of the Boeing B-29?