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Aviation Heritage

The stories behind the skill.

Primary-sourced histories of the aircraft, people, and moments that shaped how we fly — each one a short read that ties back to a skill you use today.

250 cards

Era
Category
Heritage
SpaceSpace Age

"5 seconds"

Apollo 12: Pinpoint Landing in the Ocean of Storms
Story in review
Heritage
HistoryWWII

"Blood for oil"

Operation Tidal Wave — Ploesti, 1 August 1943
Story in review
Heritage
PeopleWWII

"He came home on one engine five times—and called that second propeller a "million-dollar life insurance policy."

Richard Bong, America's Ace of Aces
Story in review
Heritage
AircraftSpace Age

"363 feet"

The Saturn V: The Moon Rocket
Story in review
Heritage
AircraftModern

"000 feet"

RQ-4 Global Hawk: The Eye That Never Blinks
Story in review
Heritage
AircraftModern

"On 17 July 1989, a bat-like silhouette rose from Palmdale..."

Northrop B-2 Spirit: The Flying Wing Returns
Story in review
Heritage
AircraftModern

"If the Predator was the scout, the MQ-9 Reaper was the ex..."

MQ-9 Reaper: The Hunter-Killer Unleashed
Story in review
Heritage
AircraftModern

"000 feet"

F-35 Lightning II: One Airframe, Three Battlefields
Story in review
Heritage
SpaceModern

"The largest international construction project in history..."

The First Links — Zarya and Unity, November–December 1998
Story in review
Heritage
AircraftModern

"December 15, 2009"

Boeing 787 Dreamliner — The Composite Era
Story in review
Heritage
SpaceModern

"64 days"

The Dragon Returns — SpaceX Demo-2, 30 May 2020
Story in review
Heritage
AircraftModern

"delightfully responsive and reassuringly stable."

Airbus A320 — The Digital Fly-by-Wire Revolution
Story in review
Heritage
SpaceModern

"The morning of 28 January 1986 was bitterly cold at Kenne..."

The Challenger Tragedy — STS-51-L, 28 January 1986
Story in review
Heritage
AircraftModern

"240 feet"

Airbus A380 — The Superjumbo Crown
Story in review
Heritage
SpaceModern

"The year 2003 had been anticipated as a centennial celebr..."

The Columbia Loss — STS-107, 1 February 2003
Story in review
Heritage
SpaceModern

"5 feet"

Opening the Eye on the Cosmos — Hubble Deployment, STS-31, 24 April 1990
Story in review
Heritage
SpaceModern

"563 miles"

Return to the Deep — Artemis I, 16 November 2022
Story in review
Heritage
AircraftModern

"If you build it, I'll buy it."

Boeing 747 — The Jumbo Revolution
Story in review
Heritage
SpaceModern

"35 hours"

Surgeons in Space — Hubble Servicing Mission 1, STS-61, 2 December 1993
Story in review
Heritage
SpaceSpace Age

"117 seconds"

Apollo 17: The Last Man on the Moon
Story in review
Heritage
AircraftModern

"On the morning of 7 September 1997, beneath a cloudless G..."

Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor: The Air Dominance Revolution
Story in review
Heritage
SpaceModern

"307 days"

The Final Bow — STS-135, Atlantis, 8–21 July 2011
Story in review
Heritage
AircraftJet Age

"December 20, 1957"

Boeing 707 — The Jet Age Crosses the Atlantic
Story in review
Heritage
AircraftJet Age

"July 27, 1949"

de Havilland Comet — The Jet Age's First Herald
Story in review
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