SHORT AVIATION STORIES

Jacob Ellehammer

Jacob Christian Hansen-Ellehammer was born in 1871, in Bakkebølle, Denmark. He trained as a watchmaker, then served with the Royal Danish Navy and later moved to Copenhagen, where he worked as a mechanic. In 1898, […]

SHORT AVIATION STORIES

Valentina Tereshkova

On 16th June 1963, Vostok 6 spacecraft was launched from Baikonur cosmodrome, with just one cosmonaut on board – Valentina Tereshkova, who became the first woman in space. Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova (Валентина Владимировна Терешкова) was […]

SHORT AVIATION STORIES

Raymonde de Laroche

Raymonde de Laroche, born Élisa Léontine Deroche, was the French aviation pioneer and the first woman ever to pilot a heavier-than-air, powered aircraft, the first female pilot to perform a solo flight, as well as […]

SHORT AVIATION STORIES

Jean Mermoz

On 13th May 1930, Jean Mermoz, French aviation pioneer, opened the south transatlantic postal line, from Saint-Louis in Senegal to Natal, Brazil, flying in Latécoère 28 floatplane. Jean Mermoz was born on 9th December 1901 […]

SHORT AVIATION STORIES

Fairey Swordfish

The Fairey Swordfish was a biplane torpedo bomber developed in the early 1930s. However, yet during the World War II, the aircraft – with its open cockpit, struts and braces, as well as maximum speed […]

SHORT AVIATION STORIES

Boulton Paul Defiant

The Boulton Paul Defiant was designed in the mid-1930s, as a response to rapid development of fast bomber aircraft and aerial warfare model based on theories created by General Giulio Douhet. According to Specification F.9/35 […]

SHORT AVIATION STORIES

Henri Pitot

Henri Pitot, the French hydraulic engineer, was born on 3rd May 1695 in Aramon, France. Although he was actually not an aviation pioneer, the Pitot´s name is well known to literally all aviators, due to […]