A Late Night Flight, Please
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A steam pipe fitter from New York manages an incredible feat of flying skill, whilst under the influence, not once but twice! So famous was he that they made a cocktail in his honour!
The Plane People
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9/11 had devastating consequences but for those who were trying to get home, into the closed airspace of the United States, their diversions to unexpected destinations opened their eyes to the generosity of strangers.
Images under Creative Commons licence, Wally Gobetz and CFB Gander.
The Hunger Winter
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The Nazi Germans in the Netherlands were using starvation as retribution and air drops were the only way to save thousands. The RAF and American bomber crews provide the solution.
A Lancaster bomber drops relief supplies to the Dutch people.
The people of the Netherlands spell out their thanks.
But Sir, Harriers Don’t Actually Hover
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By for the most successful vertical take off fighter ever built. The Harrier was a technological success for Hawker Siddeley that produced a fast jet fighter that could land on a runway and in a ploughed field!
Images under Creative Commons licence by Alan Wilson and Anthony Noble.
Eating the Sun
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An eclipse of the sun moves over the earth at an incredible speed and no aircraft could possibly keep up with the shadow it casts whilst carrying a whole team of expert observers… except perhaps one!
Images through Creative Commons licence, Sunil Gupta, .
No Distant Lands
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America is keeping the Second World War at arms length whilst a Pan Am Clipper is wending its way from San Francisco down to Auckland in New Zealand. What happens next is a remarkable achievement for a civilian airliner but it remains an almost unknown story.
