Archives: Today in History

31 May to 10 June 1928 (USA/Australia) — Capt. Charles E. Kingsford-Smith, Capt. C. T. P. Ulm, pilots, Lt. Cmdr. Harry W. Lyon, navigator, and James Warner, radio operator, in Fokker tri-motored Wright “Whirlwind” monoplane, “Southern Cross” fly from Oakland, California to Brisbane, Australia, first trans-Pacific flight, stopping at Honolulu, Fiji Islands and Brisbane, 7400 […]

30 May 1975 – A USAF Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star crashes at Tyndall AFB, Florida, killing two pilots, one of whom had just completed a pilot training course the previous day. “Witnesses said the plane dipped into some trees short of the runway and apparently burst into flames. Wreckage was scattered throughout a wooded area

In 1950 Pan American World Airways purchased a P-51 Mustang to allow Blair a chance to attempt a new long-distance record. A P-51C equipped with long-range internal fuel tanks, the aircraft had been flown by Paul Mantz, winning the transcontinental Bendix Trophy air races in 1946 and 1947, and finishing second in 1948 and third in 1949.[3] Rechristening