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  • First World War: The Early Years

    By May 23, 1915, the day Italy entered World War I, Caproni had designed and built a multi-engine bomber with range and bomb capacities to make it a potent offensive weapon. On Aug. 20, 1915, two of these Caproni three-engine bombers attacked the Aisovizza aerodrome with explosive and incendiary

  • Fokker Dr. I

    Few aircraft have received the attention given the Fokker Dr. I triplane. Often linked with the career of World War I's highest scoring ace, Germany's Rittmeister Manfred von Richthofen (the "Red Baron"), the nimble Dr. I earned a reputation as one of the best dogfighters of the war.The German air

  • Fairchild PT-19A Cornell

    Fairchild developed the PT-19 in 1938 to satisfy a military requirement for a rugged monoplane primary trainer, and it went into quantity production in 1940. In addition to those manufactured by Fairchild, the Aeronca, Howard and St. Louis Aircraft Corps. produced Cornells. Fleet Aircraft Ltd.

  • Flying Schools

    In the summer of 1911, additional pilot personnel were assigned to College Park, one of whom as Lt. H.H. Arnold, destined to be the Commanding General of the Army Air Forces during World War II. He made the first "long" cross-country flight from College Park on Aug. 21, 1911, when he flew 42 miles

  • First Military Multiple-Fatality Airplane Crash

    The first airplane crash that resulted in death for two or more U.S. military personnel occurred at the Signal Corps flying field at College Park, Md., on Sept. 28, 1912. Lt. Lewis C. Rockwell, with Cpl. Frank S. Scott as his passenger, was gliding to a landing in Wright B Signal Corps Aeroplane No.

  • First Shot Fired from an Airplane

    The first shot fired from an airplane occurred on Aug. 20, 1910, at Sheepshead Bay race track near New York City. With Mr. Glenn Curtiss piloting, Lt. Jacob E. Fickel fired a rifle at a 3-foot-by-5-foot target from an altitude of 100 feet. The next month, Lt. Fickel and Mr. Curtiss repeated the

  • Fokker D. VII

    First appearing entering combat in May 1918, the Fokker D. VII quickly showed its superior performance over Allied fighters. With its high rate of climb, higher ceiling and excellent handling characteristics, German pilots scored a remarkable 565 victories over Allied aircraft during the month

  • Featured World War I Artifacts

    The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force has thousands of artifacts in its collection. In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of World War I, each week through November 2018, a significant or interesting artifact from the museum's WWI collection will be featured on this page. Featured

  • F-100 Super Sabre in Southeast Asia

    Although several F-100 units deployed to air bases in Thailand between 1961-1964, the Super Sabre did not enter combat in Southeast Asia until the summer of 1964. In June of that year, the 615th Tactical Fighter Squadron, based in Da Nang, South Vietnam, began flying the first of many F-100 strike