FLIGHT - The Salt Lake Tribune

U.S. launches drone from aircraft carrier

Tue, 14 May 2013 20:10:03 MDT

U.S. launches drone from aircraft carrier

By BROCK VERGAKIS The Associated Press

Updated May 14, 2013 08:10PM MDT

Aboard The Uss George H.W. Bush • A drone the size of a fighter jet took off from the deck of an American aircraft carrier for the first time Tuesday in a test flight that could eventually open the way for the U.S. to launch unmanned aircraft from just about any place in the world. The X-47B is the first drone designed to take off and land on a carrier, meaning the U.S. military would not need permission from other countries to use their bases. “As our access to overseas ports, forward operatin...

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

B-17 Flying Fortress visits Utah for Learn to Fly Day

Tue, 14 May 2013 08:23:23 MDT

B-17 Flying Fortress visits Utah for Learn to Fly Day

By Tom Wharton The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 14, 2013 08:23AM MDT

West Jordan • As 88-year-old World War II veteran Paul Sersland got off the historic B-17 bomber Monday at the South Valley Regional Airport, he bent over and kissed the ground. This was the first time the Layton resident had actually flown on an airplane since 1954. After surviving 35 missions over Germany as part of a 10-man bombing crew between October of 1944 and March of 1945, he simply wasn’t comfortable flying. He admitted to being more than a little nervous on his last flight on a commer...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Bountiful woman made aviation history in 1963

Sun, 05 May 2013 18:19:55 MDT

Bountiful woman made aviation history in 1963

By TOM WHARTON The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated May 5, 2013 06:19PM MDT

Bountiful • While most history buffs know the story of Amelia Earhart becoming the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean in 1932 and about her mysterious disappearance on a around-the-world flight in 1937, only a few have discovered the story of the first female to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean. That woman’s name is Betty Miller, who now resides in Bountiful and who learned to fly at Wendover’s historic airfield in the early 1950s. Unlike Earhart, who was accompanied by navigator Fre...