And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour."
-William Blake, Auguries of Innocence
The “Night Witches” was the all female Night Bomber Regiment of the Soviet Air Forces that bombed German lines in WWII. They were equipped with the worst, oldest, noisest, crappest planes in the entire world. The engines used to conk out halfaway through missions and they had to climb on the wings mid flight to restart the props. To stop germans from hearing their noisy planes and firing at them, they’d climb up to a certain height, coast down to German positions, drop their bombs, restart their engines in midair, and get out as quickly as possible. Their leader flew over 200 missions and was never captured.
Space Shuttle Endeavour’s Control Panels by jurvetson on Flickr.
Vintage Plane by ►CubaGallery on Flickr.
npr:
Jay Nemeth—Red Bull/Getty Images
March 15, 2012. Pilot Felix Baumgartner of Austria is seen before his jump during the first manned test flight for Red Bull Stratos, based in Roswell, New Mexico.
From the conflict in Afghanistan and a tragic bus accident in Switzerland to Purim celebrations in Israel and the one-year anniversary of the Japanese tsunami, TIME’s photo department presents the best images of the week. See more here.
Too cool -Savy
