Mental Floss

AVIATION













Col. Benjamin O. Davis (left), commanding officer of the 332nd Fighter Group, and Edward C. Gleed, group operations officer, stand in front of a plane in Ramitelli, Italy, in March 1945.

The first African American pilots to serve in the United States military, the Tuskegee Airmen helped the Allies win World War II and put the U.S. armed forces on the road to integration.

Mark Mancini




LZ-129 Hindenburg, a rigid airship manufactured in Germany by the Zeppelin Company, catches fire as it comes in for a landing in Lakehurst, New Jersey, on May 6, 1937.

Rigid zeppelins used to carry the rich and well-to-do across the Atlantic Ocean in style. But after the Hindenburg airship crashed in a fiery heap on May 6, 1937, that industry went up in smoke. Here’s the lowdown on the life and death of this ill-fated f

Mark Mancini