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November 2011

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Features

Bush flying has unique challenges. This Quest Kodiak gets a little extra thrust on takeoff from the slope of a dirt airstrip carved out of a hill in East Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Rough Riders

Five bushplanes and the places only they can fly.

Though he had a student pilot’s permit, Pyle never got a license.

Byline: Ernie Pyle

The country's best-known war correspondent learned his trade as an aviation reporter.

Airman George Johnson (in a T-33 in late 1955) spent hundreds of hours maintaining Sabrejets and much less time flying one.

Mind If I Borrow It?

The day an Air Force mechanic commandeered a North American F-86

At the 2002 Nellis Air Show near Las Vegas, a Sabre heads up an A team in a USAF Heritage Flight: (from left) P-51 Mustang, P-47 Thunderbolt, F-15 Eagle, P-38 Lightning, and TF-51.

Could You Fly a Sabre?

The challenge of handling a 1950s MiG killer

Lost in America-hero.jpg

Lost in America

Airplanes can vanish without a trace. Why is effective tracking technology being ignored?

Leo Windecker’s proof-of- concept Fibaloy aircraft used fixed landing gear and aluminum control surfaces to cut down on development time and costs.

Just One Word: Plastics

The world's first all-composite airplane may fly again.

Tata (circa 1960) wrote copious memos to his staff about everything from inflight coffee (“it tasted like bean soup”) to crew hairstyles (one stewardess “had an enormous hair bun at the back, larger than her whole head. She looked ridiculous”).

Karachi to Bombay to Calcutta

The struggle to start Air-India.

During the United States’ final 24 hours in Vietnam, American nationals and Vietnamese refugees were crowded onto Marine and Air Force helicopters that landed within the U.S. embassy compound.

Last Men Out

As Saigon fell, a small band of Marines pulled off the final evacuation.

Departments

Uncategorized

Viewport: From the Director

Something New Under the Sun

J.R. Dailey
In the Museum

In the Museum: The People’s Observatory

Bringing telescopes where the people are.

Above & Beyond

Confessions of a Flight Engineer

Flashlights, timers, and breath mints required.

Andrea Eldridge
Flights & Fancy

Flights & Fancy: What Would You Send to Orbit?

Mementoes in an astronaut's luggage

Terry Dunn
Moments and Milestones

Moments and Milestones: Trophy Mission

Honors for a risky bombing run