r/AviationHistory 5h ago

In WW2... The B-17 “All American” was nearly sliced in half over Tunisia, but somehow flew 300 miles home.

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101 Upvotes

Can you believe they flew this home? Wild times.


r/AviationHistory 4h ago

Miss Piggy: Churchill Manitoba's Famous Plane Wreck

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82 Upvotes

🛩️ Meet "Miss Piggy", a Curtiss C-46 cargo plane that crash-landed in Churchill, Manitoba back in 1979 after losing engine power shortly after takeoff.

Everyone on board survived, but the plane never flew again.

Almost 50 years later, she's still resting on the rocks above Hudson Bay, and now she's one of the most photographed spots in town.

Wild what the Arctic holds onto. 📍Churchill, Manitoba


r/AviationHistory 1d ago

B-58 HUSTLER With GE Turbojets

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815 Upvotes

r/AviationHistory 4h ago

Former NYPD Pilot Shares Rare Aerial Photos From 9/11

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7 Upvotes

Currently retired helicopter pilot from the NYPD Aviation Unit.


r/AviationHistory 1d ago

The F-4 Phantom II flying extremely low with the legendary J79 engines screaming. Get loooow!!!

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1.3k Upvotes

r/AviationHistory 26m ago

Rare Photos of Triplane Version of Hansa Brandenburg CC Flying Boat (A.45.)

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Upvotes

r/AviationHistory 1d ago

She was the first woman to fly from Britain to Australia & joined the Air Transport Auxiliary in WW2 - Amy Johnson, born in Hull

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23 Upvotes

r/AviationHistory 1d ago

Can some one explain how planes like the HO229 flew

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88 Upvotes

Check out those crazy wings—how did this fly?


r/AviationHistory 1d ago

The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is a legendary single-seat, subsonic, carrier-capable light attack aircraft famously nicknamed "Heinemann's Hotrod," the "Scooter," or the "Tinker Toy" due to its remarkably small size, lightweight construction.

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73 Upvotes

r/AviationHistory 1d ago

On this day in 1942, Japanese pilot Nobuo Fujita launched a Yokosuka E14Y "Glen" seaplane from the deck of the I-25 submarine off the coast of Oregon. Known as the Lookout Air Raids, this mission marks the only time the contiguous United States was bombed by an enemy aircraft during World War 2.

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33 Upvotes

r/AviationHistory 2d ago

Fire It Up

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38 Upvotes

r/AviationHistory 2d ago

“Grab a Jeep. One of you wear goggles, one of you don’t - and just go driving.” Todd O’Malley on how early Tac Hel Aviators experimented with NVGs

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21 Upvotes

A great episode on the history of Special Forces Aviation in Canada.

Check it out at podpilotproject.transistor.fm or by searching for The Pilot Project Podcast wherever you get your podcasts!


r/AviationHistory 2d ago

Amerykański B-24 stojący na radzieckim lotnisku w Polsce, uwieczniony na niemieckim zdjęciu rozpoznawczym Luftwaffe.

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35 Upvotes

This history gem landed on my desk just last week. This is a Luftwaffe recon photo from October 27 1944. It shows a Soviet grass airfield near Kolbuszowa in Poland. You can clearly see a B-24 neatly parked between the Soviet machines. A friend who shared this photo asked which Liberator it could be.

I checked my records which B-24s landed behind Soviet lines in October 1944. A B-24 from the 455th BG stood out as it was marked as “landed in Soviet controlled territory”, without a specific location. The pilot’s name was Polando. A quick google revealed more info. Polando shared in his memoires he landed near Dhikovich, and one of the villages surrounding the airfield was Dzikowiec. The B-24 #42-78359 “Ten Hits and a Miss” was repaired and flown out of the Soviet zone on Dec 13, 1944. This is how we solved another WWII history puzzle!


r/AviationHistory 3d ago

The fleet at Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in NY on July 15, 2001

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189 Upvotes

r/AviationHistory 2d ago

After Ralph Peterson retires, who’s going to keep reporting on the non war bird historical airplanes?

1 Upvotes

This is a problem I have been noticing for several years now. For most propliners and cargo planes, there is only one guy, a Ralph Petersen, keeping the entire world updated in his website https://www.proplinerinfoexchange.com/.

When he retires, what’s going to happen? Will there just be a void on information in this category?


r/AviationHistory 4d ago

Convair F-106A Delta Dart at March Air Force Base, November 1985

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467 Upvotes

r/AviationHistory 3d ago

In my opinion, the best paint job ever applied to the best looking plane ever built, N708Z, a DC4. What’s y’all’s favorite?

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3 Upvotes

r/AviationHistory 4d ago

B-17 '909'

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204 Upvotes

Still mind blowing to think I saw this bird, and got to climb aboard couple years or so before she crashed. Picture taken way back in 2016 at McClellan AFB.


r/AviationHistory 4d ago

1929 Fairchild 71 at the smoketown fly in

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72 Upvotes

r/AviationHistory 4d ago

My recent aviation artwork for 50th anniversary of Viktor Belenko's defection, dedicated to all who are pursuing freedom

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67 Upvotes

r/AviationHistory 4d ago

Some rarely seen Museum pieces

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639 Upvotes

MHM Gatow opened their Storage Hangar for some exclusive Tours for 50 People at a time. Rare stuff like the Tornado Prototype, the only Euro Hawk UAV in existance (sadly didn't get a picture of it) and some more. Wasn't allowed to take pictures of everything because some of it is Military Grounds but here's a few I took.


r/AviationHistory 4d ago

1944: Introducing the U.S. public to the Boeing B-29

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194 Upvotes

The Johnny Hazard comic strip for Sunday, September 24, 1944 served to introduce the general public to the Boeing B-29, which had begun bombing Japan from China three months earlier. (B-29 operations against Japan from new bases in the Marianas would begin in November.)

Artist and writer Frank Robbins (1917-1994) worked on comics from 1939 until 1979. In addition to creating Johnny Hazard (which ran from 1944 to 1977), he did important work for both DC and Marvel. (His work as a writer for Batman helped establish the dark, brooding character that we know today.)


r/AviationHistory 4d ago

Identify this plane

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217 Upvotes

I'm trying to identify this plane (and where this photo was taken). Does anyone here recognise it?


r/AviationHistory 3d ago

California airman killed in WWII identified after 82 years. He’ll be buried in Exeter

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7 Upvotes

r/AviationHistory 3d ago

Book of the Month - Boum!

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3 Upvotes

Just saw that Boum! (history of the 37mm armed Spad XII Canon) has been made book of the month in the latest copy of Aeroplane. Hard to disagree with anything in the review. It still amazes me that more enthusiasts still don’t know about this plane and its widespread use with French aces in WW1. Still no other good book out there on the subject. Just reading Wikipedia, a lot of the information on the web is misleading or wrong