On 4th March 1954, Tony LeVier, official test pilot of the Lockheed company, took-off for the first time in a prototype of a new fighter – XF-104, later developed into a well-known F-104 Starfighter. The […]
On 18th February 1930, a cow named Elm Farm Ollie travelled over 70 miles in a Ford Trimotor aeroplane and officially became the first cow ever to fly in a fixed-wing aircraft. In addition, Elm […]
On 11th February 1941, flying in a poor weather conditions, Capitano Mario Visintini crashed his Fiat CR.42 fighter into Mount Bizen, Eritrea. Mario Visintini was born on 26th April 1913, in Parenzo d´Istria, now known […]
On 4th February 1943, prototype of a twin-engine medium bomber, the Bristol Type 163 ´Buckingham´, performed its maiden flight. An idea to create a medium bomber based on Beaufighter originally came from its manufacturer, the […]
On 28th January 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger (NASA STS-51-L mission) broke apart, killing all crew aboard. STS-51-L was the 25th mission within the US Space Shuttle programme and, at the same time, had to […]
On 21st January 1885, Italian aviation pioneer and designer, as well as famous explorer of the Arctic areas, was born in Lauro, Italy. Umberto Nobile became famous thanks to his technical skills and passion for […]
On 14th January 1942 (or 13th January, according to some sources), a helicopter designed by Igor Sikorsky and designated Vought-Sikorsky VS-316 (aka XR-4, under its USAAF designation) performed its maiden flight, piloted by Les […]
On 7th January 1785, Jean-Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries performed the very first successful balloon flight across the English Channel (La Manche), covering the route from Dover Castle to Guînes (Guisines), Pas-de-Calais. Since the childhood, […]
On 24th December 1937, the first prototype of Macchi C.200 Saetta (also known as Macchi-Castoldi M.C.200), successfully performed its maiden flight, flown by chief test pilot Giuseppe Burei. The aircraft was designed by Mario Castoldi, […]
On 10th December 1919, a modified Vickers Vimy heavy bomber with a crew of Keith Macpherson Smith, Ross Macpherson Smith, W.H. Shiers and J.M. Bennet, successfully landed at Darwin, completing the 17,911 kilometres journey from […]
All content on this page is copyrighted © 2018-2025 Afterburner - The Aviation Magazine