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Refugees board an Air America plane in Da Nang, Vietnam, on Jan. 23, 1968.

Pensions for the “Deep State:” Republicans Push Benefits for the CIA’s Secret Vietnam-Era Airline

Marco Rubio and Glenn Grothman want to recognize the contribution of Air America, the CIA airline that supported secret wars in Laos and Cambodia.
by Ken Klippenstein via The Intercept on January 22, 2024
Flight attendant serving a full meal.

Remembering the Golden Age of Airline Food

Why were in-flight meals so much better in the past?
by Diana Hubbell via Atlas Obscura on May 8, 2023
German observation balloon launched near the Somme, September 1916.
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Why a Spy Balloon Inspires Such Fear and Fascination

When it comes to protecting our personal privacy, we’re not in Kansas anymore.
by Alison Byerly via HNN on February 19, 2023
Photo of three airplanes on a runway, one exploding.

D.B. Cooper, The Changing Nature of Hijackings and the Foundation For Today's Airport Security

Cooper’s hijacking-as-extortion plot captured the public’s imagination – and inspired a copycat crime wave.
by Janet Bednarek via The Conversation on July 11, 2022
Segregated airport terminal

What It Was Like to Fly as a Black Traveler in the Jim Crow Era

Airlines sometimes bumped Black passengers off of flights to make room for white travelers, even during refueling stops.
by Mia Bay via Condé Nast Traveler on March 23, 2021

The Jet Engine Is a Futuristic Technology Stuck in the Past

Rockets and turbofans have promised to realize dreams of transportation progress—for decades.
by Christopher Schaberg via The Atlantic on February 11, 2018
Airplane flying over a muddy, congested road near the Hoover-Washington Airfield in the 1930s.

The Humble Beginnings of the National Airport

A swamp with a busy road going right through the middle, Washington’s airport was called “a disgrace.”
by Petula Dvorak via Retropolis on February 1, 2025
Karl Stoltzfus in front of the first Air Force One.

One Man’s Quest to Restore the First-Ever Air Force One

President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s plane is starting to look like itself again.
by Eric J. Wallace via Atlas Obscura on August 1, 2024
Charles F. Ritchell and his flying machine.

25 Years Before the Wright Brothers Took to the Skies, This Flying Machine Captivated America

First exhibited in 1878, Charles F. Ritchel's dirigible was about as wacky, dangerous and impractical as any airship ever launched.
by Erik Ofgang via Smithsonian on June 11, 2024
Fleet of Spirit Airways planes on airport tarmac

The Spirit Airlines Paradox

Without smart regulation, price competition turns into a race to the bottom.
by Phillip Longman via The Atlantic on January 19, 2024
A box of explosives removed from the murderer's home

America’s First Plane Bomber, and His Intended Victim

A mass murderer of 1955.
by Nathan Munn via Popula on April 5, 2023
A 747 Boeing aircraft takes flight.

Last Boeing 747 Rolls Out of the Factory: How the 'Queen of the Skies' Reigned Over Air Travel

On Sept. 30, 1968, the first Boeing 747 rolled off the assembly line. Some 55 years later, the last one has left its factory.
by Janet Bednarek via The Conversation on January 31, 2023
Postcard of Wood Island Park.

How Logan Airport Almost Destroyed East Boston

The echoes of an airport expansion, completed half a century ago, continue to harm Bostonians' health and well-being today.
by Jeremy Siegel via WGBH on December 13, 2022
The author, as a young girl, standing in front of a wall.

As If I Wasn’t There: Writing from a Child’s Memory

The author confronts the daunting task of writing about her childhood memory, both as a memoirist and a historian.
by Martha Hodes via American Historical Review on September 19, 2022
Painting of an airship flying over a rural countryside.

Whatever Happened to Airships?

In moving away from fossil fuels, some in aviation are thinking of bringing back helium-assisted flight.
by Martin L. Levitt, Livia Gershon via JSTOR Daily on December 16, 2021

‘We May Have to Shoot Down This Aircraft’

What the chaos aboard Flight 93 on 9/11 looked like to the White House and the fighter pilots prepared to ram the plane's cockpit.
by Garrett M. Graff via Politico Magazine on September 11, 2019

Labor History and Passenger Outrage in the U.S. Airline Industry

Passengers angered by how they are treated during flight, may find an unlikely ally in the labor movement.
by Ryan Patrick Murphy via Process: A Blog for American History on June 8, 2017

Uneasy Riders

Even before United Airlines, a legacy of excessive force existed in transportation.
by Robin Washington via The Marshall Project on April 12, 2017
Amelia Earhart and her husband.

Amelia Earhart’s Reckless Final Flights

The aviator’s publicity-mad husband, George Palmer Putnam, kept pushing her to risk her life for the sake of fame.
by Laurie Gwen Shapiro via The New Yorker on June 2, 2025
Airplane tail with a bar code on it.

Who Gave Away the Skies to the Airlines?

In 1978, Jimmy Carter signed the Airline Deregulation Act. It gave rise to some truly miserable air travel—and neoliberalism.
by Elie Mystal via The Nation on March 11, 2025
Computer blue screen with error message.
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Y2K Sent a Warning. The CrowdStrike Outage Shows We Failed to Heed It.

The Year 2000 computer problem has become a punchline in recent years, but the CrowdStrike outage shows the joke's on us.
by Zachary Loeb via Made By History on July 24, 2024
Rural front lawn with a Trump sign.
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Our Urban/Rural Political Divide is Both New — And Decades In The Making

Policies dating to the 1930s have helped shape the conflict defining today’s politics.
by Guian McKee via Made By History on October 8, 2021
Four mysterious objects spotted in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1952.

How the Pentagon Started Taking U.F.O.s Seriously

For decades, flying saucers were a punch line. Then the U.S. government got over the taboo.
by Gideon Lewis-Kraus via The New Yorker on April 30, 2021
Collage of FSA and OWI photographs
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Photogrammar

A web-based visualization platform for exploring the 170,000 photos taken by U.S. government agencies during the Great Depression.
by Lauren Tilton, Taylor Arnold via American Panorama on February 10, 2021
Tourists pose for pictures at the Cape Coast Castle in Ghana.
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How a Black Female Fashion Designer Laid the Groundwork for Ghana’s ‘Year of Return’

When Ghana gained independence, Freddye Henderson facilitated African American tourism to the new nation.
by Tiffany M. Gill via Made By History on January 10, 2020

Simply Elegant, Morse Code Marks 175 Years and Counting

The code has undergone minor changes since its creation, but its use persists to this day.
by Eddie King via The Conversation on May 21, 2019
Street sign for Flatville, surrounded by flat agricultural fields.

The View from the Middle of Everything

Dispatches From Flatville, Illinois.
by Kristin L. Hoganson via Literary Hub on April 25, 2019

How Air Traffic Controllers Helped End the Shutdown — and Changed History

It shows that labor still has some power, at least when public opinion is on its side.
by Joseph A. McCartin via Washington Post on January 26, 2019

The Stowaway Craze

The "celebrity stowaways" of the Jazz Age reached levels of virality similar to today's social media stars.
by Laurie Gwen Shapiro via The New Yorker on January 8, 2018

40 Years Ago: A Look Back at 1977

A visual trip back in time to 1977.
by Alan Taylor via The Atlantic on October 16, 2017
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