Free Republic

Delta Air Lines flies to 370 destinations on six continents using a range of hi-tech Airbus and Boeing aircraft But it started life as a crop-dusting outfit in 1924. It expanded to passenger transportation with fiver-seaters The pictures here reveal how air travel with Delta took huge leaps forward from 1936 onwards Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines is worth $37billion (£28billion) and flies to 370 destinations on six continents with state-of-the-art aircraft. Truly, it’s a titan of aviation. But it started life as a crop-dusting outfit in 1924. And when it expanded to passenger transportation it used planes that could only...

With its gleaming aluminum skin and black and white stripes, the Douglas DC-3 sitting next to the runaway at Thun Field in Pierce County wears its history well, thanks to Dan Merritt and Eric Thun. Its classic tail-dragger lines – cockpit and wings higher in the air than the tail that rests on a single tire – evoke another era. Two 1,200-horsepower engines power the three-bladed props that almost seem to touch the fuselage. Cloth covers the flaps and the rudder. Three years ago, Merritt and Thun first saw the plane on a cold snowy day at an airport in...

A US registered, Normandy Invasion participant and still painted in the Normandy scheme, operated under a FAR Part 135 certificate, has come up for sale due to bankruptcy. She is a documented vet of the Normandy Invasion ( part of the GLIDER GANG) as well as the Belgium (A Bridge Too Far)drop. I flew this aircraft many years ago, and the thought came to me.... Would any freepers out there like to get together and purchase this a/c, either as a Foundation, or form a flying museum? The ac is located in the southeast. I would hate to see her...

HISTORICAL EVOLUTION OF THE VISUALLY OPERATED MANUAL FLARE INDICATOR, M-44-3c Ted TemerEditor’s Note: With the realization that there are children, (a child is defined as a human being born after W-II), in this world who may be unaware of the meaning of the expression, Pucker Up, we therefore, hasten to broaden your cultural knowledge. The following, article was originally written for the R²C² NOTAM of the original Redding R/C Club. It is offered here for The enrichment of the historical student. The late Msgt. Raymond Anderson, United States Air Force, Retired, and former President of the Redding Radio Control Club...

Mikey McBryan, youngest son of 'Buffalo' Joe McBryan both of Buffalo Airways and 'Ice Pilots' fame undertook a D-Day DC3 restoration project in DEC 2018...

The planes that dropped 24,000 American, British, and Canadian troops into Normandy on D-Day have taken to the skies once again to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the mission that laid the foundations for Allied victory over the Nazis. Twelves planes, including five C-47's bearing the black and white invasion stripes of Operation Overlord, left Connecticut on Sunday for their journey across the Atlantic to northern France. There, they will join 15 more planes to drop 250 D-Day paratroopers to reenact what was the largest seaborne invasion in history. On June 6, 1944, the planes dropped thousands of troops behind...

A historic C-47 twin-engine prop plane crashed at the Burnet Municipal Airport in Texas on Saturday; all 13 passengers onboard survived, officials said. The Burnet County Sheriff's Office said the C-47 "Bluebonnet Belle" was trying to takeoff when it crashed. All 13 passengers onboard were able to exit the aircraft with one person suffering significant burn injuries and had to be airlifted to the hospital. Seven others had minor injuries.

This plane passed over my house today. It flew low and looks like an old time plane. I'm thinking it has something to do with Pearl Harbor Day? I heard it as it passed over, flying pretty low. Had an old time motor sound and so I ran out to see what kind of plane it was, bringing my camera as I did. Snapped the shot as it was flying over my neighbors yard. Wish I had caught it over my own yard, would've been a better shot. Anyway going to ask if anyone out there recognizes this type of...

Known variously as Puff the Magic Dragon, Dragonships or just Spooky, the AC-47 gunship, with its broadside battery of GE miniguns, was a sight to behold. In 1965 with the grunts on the ground needing as much persistent close in air support as could be spared, the Air Force went about converting a handful of World War II-era C-47 transports into lead slinging death dealers by attaching a number of General Electric GAU-2/M134 miniguns arranged to fire through the left-hand side of the plane at a target below.

A South African Air Force (SAAF) Douglas C-47 Dakota transport aircraft crashed in the Giants Castle area of the Drakensberg mountain range on 5 December, according to the South African government. The World War Two era aircraft was flying from Waterkloof air force base near the South African capital of Pretoria to Mthatha airport in the Eastern Cape Province when it went missing at about 09:45 local. "After the expected time of arrival and no communication from the aircraft, the SAAF activated a search and rescue mission. Severe weather conditions in the area hindered the continuation of the search and...

Detail by painful detail, the CIA is coming to grips with one of the most devastating episodes in its history, a botched cloak-and-dagger flight into China that stole two decades of freedom from a pair of fresh-faced American operatives and cost the lives of their two pilots. In opening up about the 1952 debacle, the CIA is finding ways to use it as a teaching tool. Mistakes of the past can serve as cautionary tales for today's spies and paramilitary officers taking on al-Qaida and other terrorist targets. At the center of the story are two eager CIA paramilitary officers...

World War II Remains Arrive at Air Base in Hawaii Mar 26, 2004 The Associated Press HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, Hawaii (AP) - The remains of what are believed to be seven World War II servicemen arrived on American soil Friday, 60 years after their transport plane crashed in Southeast Asia. The remains now go to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command's Central Identification Laboratory, where scientists will attempt to identify them. The remains are believed to be those of a crew whose C-47 transport plane crashed in 1944 during an air supply flight between India and Burma, now called Myanmar....

Dear Lord, There's a young man far from home, called to serve his nation in time of war; sent to defend our freedom on some distant foreign shore. We pray You keep him safe, we pray You keep him strong, we pray You send him safely home ... for he's been away so long. There's a young woman far from home, serving her nation with pride. Her step is strong, her step is sure, there is courage in every stride. We pray You keep her safe, we pray You keep her strong, we pray You send her safely home...