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 […]

SHORT AVIATION STORIES

Laika, the space dog

On 3rd November 1957, another milestone in space exploration was achieved. On that very day, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 2, the first spacecraft to carry an animal into the Earth´s orbit – a space […]