May 7, 1937
The Hindenburg at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station, New Jersey in 1936, a
year prior to the crash
Radio announcer Herbert Morrison‘s recorded eyewitness report
from the landing field,which was broadcast the next day. Of the 97
people on board (36 passengers, 61 crew), there were 36 total
fatalities, including one death among the ground crew.
Herbert Morrison
Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen (May 2, 1892 – April 21, 1918)
Baron Von Richthofen is best known as “The Red Baron”, a German
fighter pilot with the Imperial German Army Air Service during World
War I. He is considered the top ace of that war, being officially
credited with 80 air combat victories, more than any other pilot.
He remains quite possibly the most widely-known fighter pilot of all
time, and has been the subject of many books and films.
Snoopy’s imaginary battles against the Red Baron began in the comic
strip in October 1965.
Francis Gary Powers by his Lockheed U-2 Spy Plane
U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers, center, in Moscow’s Hall of Columns during
the opening of his espionage trial.
The U-2 incident occurred during the Cold War presidency of Dwight Eisenhower
and the leadership of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, when a United States
U-2 spy plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers (above) was shot down over the
airspace of the Soviet Union.
The U.S.government at first denied the plane’s purpose and mission, but then
was forced to admit its role as a covert surveillance aircraft when the Soviet
government produced the remains of the downed aircraft and it’s surviving
pilot along with photos of Russian military bases taken by Powers.
On August 17, 1960, Powers was convicted of espionage against the Soviet
Union and was sentenced to a total of 10 years, three years in imprisonment
followed by seven years of hard labor. On February 10, 1962, Powers was
exchanged along with American student Frederic Pryor in a spy swap for
Soviet KGB Colonel Vilyam Fisher.
U-2 wreckage captured in the Soviet Union
Charles "Lucky Lindy” Lindbergh
photo of the historic first flight of the Spirit of St. Louis, from Dutch Flats Airport.
The Spirit of St. Louis was built by 35 employees of Ryan Airlines, Inc., in San
Diego, California. It took just 60 days. Essentially all of those employees came
to the field to witness Charles Lindbergh taking the aircraft on its first test flight.
on May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the historic first non-stop flight from
Roosevelt Airfield in New York to Paris, France in 33 hours, 30 minutes for
a distance of approximately 3,600 miles.
Charles Lindbergh, third from the right
