On the 4th of July 1989, a strange incident would occur in Europe. Over the course of an hour, various air forces would be put on high alert as a Soviet MIG-23 flew across central Europe. What wasn’t known, until after the aircraft had been intercepted and visually identified, was that this MiG-2...

In 2016, Lockheed Martin was awarded a contract to develop a new X-plane, with the goal of researching low-boom supersonic flight. The result - an aircraft now referred to as the X-59 - has now been completed, and will soon begin testing. But what is the X-59, and how will it impact the aerospace...

During the first half of the 1970s, General Dynamics would attempt to modify the F-4 Phantom - the most used US combat aircraft at the time - into something even more powerful. With foreign interest as well, the idea was floated for a ‘Super Phantom’, and so the F-4X program was born.

This year, Boom Supersonic's demonstrator, the XB-1, achieved a major milestone by breaking the sound barrier. Having achieved supersonic flight marks an important milestone toward the company's larger commercial airliner, the Overture.

The most famous B-17 in history - The Memphis Belle. But now - for the first time, her story is told from a purely historical perspective, breaking down the Hollywood myths, and covering the real story of an iconic Flying Fortress in World War II.

relive some of the most intense air combat missions of World War II - told from the perspective of 9th Air Force fighter pilot Lt. Ed Cottrell, and his P-47 Thunderbolt "Our Mary".

In this episode, Ed trains to fight the advancing German army in Europe, and experiences his brutal baptism by fire...

During Lt. Cottrell's most intense mission of the war, his Thunderbolt is critically damaged by German fighters that ambush the 48th Fighter Group. But, miraculously, an expected savior arrives and spares his life.

Just after WWI, the Curtiss NC-4 "Nancy" was the first American aircraft to cross the Atlantic. Join the US Navy and Smithsonian as they look back on this pioneering achievement 50 years later.

Enjoy the program transferred to 4K and sound sweetened for your enjoyment.

As the Battle of the Bulge reaches it's climax, Ed Cottrell and the 48th Fighter Group are called in to attack Tiger Tanks and support the 101st Airborne as they are surrounded in the small city of Bastogne - leading to a moving moment many years later.

The RAF vs. the Luftwaffe. Capra’s own synopsis: “Showing the gallant and victorious defense of Britain by the Royal Air Force, at a time when shattered, but unbeaten, British were the only people fighting Nazis."

The Henry Ford celebrates trailblazers like Amelia Earhart, who defied gender barriers in pursuit of her dreams. In this video, Curator of Transportation Matt Anderson discusses Earhart’s life and legacy, including her skills, accomplishments and fearlessness that continue to inspire us today.

Digitally remastered in HD; Photographic Intelligence for Bombardment Aviation (1943) was produced by the U.S. Army Air Forces First Motion Picture Unit, and was designed to demystify a then rapidly evolving technique.
The present 24 minute film relies a little heavily on jargon and abbreviation...

Director Ford and his regular camera man Joseph August, who had worked on many Hollywood features with Ford, were assigned to Midway Island in 1942 to document, for the Navy, the work of guerrillas and resistance fighters in the Pacific. Two days before the battle of Midway, he learned that the J...

Report from the Aleutians (1943) is a 46 minute documentary directed
by John Huston, an iconic (and frequently iconoclastic) director of
some 40 feature films, many regarded as classics, over a 45 year
career. During World War II he served in the Army Signal Corps with the rank
of Captain, making...

The Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star marked a turning point in American aviation—the U.S. Army Air Forces’ first operational jet fighter, designed and flown within a staggering 143 days in 1943. But how did it truly compare to its contemporaries, like Germany’s Me 262 and Britain’s Gloster Meteor? And...

From Cold War hover rigs to the dust-stripped battlefields of Afghanistan, the Harrier Jump Jet redefined the boundaries of combat aviation. Developed by British engineers with the revolutionary Pegasus engine, the Harrier became the world’s first operational fixed-wing V/STOL aircraft—capable of...