Unbelievable Flying Objects

Born of the cold war, and eclipsed by success in rocketry, the XB-70 Valkyrie was conceived as a Mach 3 high-altitude bomber and became a valuable high-speed research aircraft. Although only two were produced, and one was destroyed in an accident, the Valkyrie built an impressive databank of high-speed flight invaluable to aviation development. This DVD, with nearly 4 hours of rare footage of the XB-70, newly transferred on modern telecines, brings you the flight test program of the XB-70 as never before. Contains rare progress reports, footage from rollout, extensive footage of test flights, and footage from the A/V-2 accident. All footage is color. Some footage is silent.

We briefly visit a vast array of various flying objects.

Travel into the world of aviation and explore the dreams of flight with the Smithsonian as they step into the unknown.

Go higher, faster and farther with the Smithsonian as they explore the dreams of flight.

Meet Brian Boland—the beloved, eccentric hot air balloonist and artist from the rural Upper Valley of Vermont.

An exhilarating documentary film that celebrates the unsung hero of aviation - the local airport - by tracing the life, history, and struggles of an airport icon: Southern California's Van Nuys Airport. Featuring thrilling aerial photography and a sweeping original score, the film dispels common misconceptions and opposes criticism of General Aviation airports.

An eccentric history buff lives in a cabin in the woods but spends most of his time flying his biplane.

This 2004 documentary by Werner Herzog diaries the struggle of a passionate English inventor to design and test a unique airship during its maiden flight above the jungle canopy.

A celebration of those still flying the last remaining Grumman Albatross, a seaplane from a long-lost era of adventure and romance.

The film, "No Need for Parking - An African Rock Adventure", tells the story of Mike Blyth, Marianne Schwankhart and James Pitman's epic 2006 flying and rock climbing trip around Southern Africa. This charming, anarchic film is simultaneously tension-filled, beautiful and inspirational. No-one can fail to be moved by the trials which the three adventurers face while negotiating the subcontinent's grandest and most dramatic scenery. The idea giving rise to the film is to draw on Mike's legendary flying skills to transport Marianne and James to three of Southern Africa's wildest and most remote rock walls, which they will then climb, while documenting the proceedings on camera. Events, however, seldom turn out exactly as expected. The resulting film, full of the warmth of Africa, is an object lesson in intrepid friendship and contemporary free-spiritedness, set to a kwela soundtrack.

It wasn't until 1993 that American women were officially allowed to fly combat aircraft. Learn about the struggles, the accomplishments, and contributions of women pilots of the past, present, and future.

A short documentary depicting a typical day in the life of a 1940s era flying stewardess.

Fred Davis introduces us to Canadian Air Force operations in Zweibrucken, West Germany. Follow Green Section as they perform drills and explain what it takes to be a fighter pilot.

Clouds 1969 by the British filmmaker Peter Gidal is a film comprised of ten minutes of looped footage of the sky, shot with a handheld camera using a zoom to achieve close-up images. Aside from the amorphous shapes of the clouds, the only forms to appear in the film are an aeroplane flying overhead and the side of a building, and these only as fleeting glimpses. The formless image of the sky and the repetition of the footage on a loop prevent any clear narrative development within the film. The minimal soundtrack consists of a sustained oscillating sine wave, consistently audible throughout the film without progression or climax. The work is shown as a projection and was not produced in an edition. The subject of the film can be said to be the material qualities of film itself: the grain, the light, the shadow and inconsistencies in the print.

Combat in the Air - NATO Cold War Interceptors

Combat in the Air - Russian Air Power

Combat in the Air - US Air Force Combat Wing

Wings Over Vietnam

This documentary is about Bob Diemert of Carman, Manitoba, and his dream of building the world's next great fighter plane. His worldwide reputation as a genius at restoring "warbirds" enables him to finance his dream. The Defender is a lively, sometimes wild and funny, tale about a remarkable, modern-day folk hero.

A documentary covering the history of TWA, from its origins to its ultimate sale to American Airlines.