Historical Sites and Landmarks from Above

For centuries, scholars have debated whether the story of the 'Trojan Horse" has historical foundation.  Based on archaeological evidence, it is now believed that Troy, the city state which was at war with Athens and Sparta, was an actual city in western Turkey, near the present day city of Hisarlik.  In this drone video by jesus_tr, you'll get a look at the site from the second millennium BC, which was famously referenced in two of the greatest works of western literature: Virgil's Aenid and Plato's The Odyssey.  

Mosul is a war-torn city of Iraq on the Tigris River. Professional award-winning drone cinematographers Kelly’s Heroes traveled to document Mosul for a Belgian television series. Unfortunately, war is not new to this area: Mosul lies on the ruins of the great Assyrian capital of Nineveh, once the world's largest city.  Its sacking in 612 BC killed untold thousands and was one of the most consequential events of ancient history. This video was a Finalist in the Drones for Good category in the second annual DVA's. 

In this video, contributor Icarus Aerial Filming gives us a spectacular bird's eye view of the area around Mt. Athos in northern Greece.  In addition to being home to some of the most important Eastern Orthodox monasteries, the fabled mountain (often referred to as the Holy Mountain) was the site of one of the great bits of luck enjoyed by the Greeks in the Antiquity - the foundering of a Persian fleet off the coast of Athos in 492 BC, which forestalled an imminent Persian naval invasion of the Greek mainland.   

Check out this drone video of one of Greece's Marathon Dam, compliments of DRONEAS GR.  It's a gravity dam on the Charadros River just a few km/mi west of its namesake town and about a half hour drive northeast of Athens.  Opened in 1929, the project's primary purpose was to supply drinking water to Athens, which at the time was being inundated with refugees from Turkey.  The dam was seen to be a symbol both for the modernization of Greece as well as to commemorate the great Greek victory over Persia at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC.  

One of the most vividly detailed passages in the New Testament is the story in the Acts of the Apostles of how St. Paul's ship wrecked on an island on his journey from Caesarea (in present-day Israel) to Rome to face trial.  Most scholars agree that the Biblical reference to "Melita" is in fact the island of Malta.  The most common view is that the wreck occurred on or around what is now called St. Paul's Island on the island's northeastern coast, which you'll see here in this drone video by Jasonaerialfilming.   

Masada is an ancient fortification built atop a plateau in the Judean Desert of southern Israel, overlooking the Dead Sea.  During the First Jewish War of the first century AD, Masada was the site of a famous siege by Roman troops following which the Jewish defenders (numbering perhaps a thousand) committed suicide en masse rather than surrender.  Contributor Nelly Volkovich used a drone to create an amazing aerial video of this hallowed mountaintop, which is a UNESCO World Heritage cultural site.  

Italy's Pompeii Archaeological Park marks the site of one of the most well-documented events of the Antiquity: the destruction of the city of Pompeii when nearby Mt. Vesuvius catastrophically erupted in 79 AD.  The explosion buried the city and several surrounding towns under 4-6 meters (13-20 ft.) of volcanic ash, instantly killing all of its 10k+ inhabitants.  Located in the (southern) Campania region just outside of the city of Naples, the archaeological park can be seen from above in this drone video by mikyciancio.  

Here's a great drone's eye view of an important city in northern Italy.  Pavia is the capital of its namesake province, the southwesternmost province of the Lombardy region.  The city is located about a half hour's drive south of Milan on the Ticino River.  It's located on the Lombard Plain, the flat area south of the Alps which is home to some of Italy's most fertile farmland.  The city of Pavia was the site of an important historical event: the assassination of the Roman General Orestes here in 476 AD marked the end of the Roman Empire.  

Newcastlemale used a DJI Mavic Pro 2 to create this amazing aerial video of Lindisfarne, a tidal island off of England's Northumberland coast.  It's also called Holy Island, in reference to the critical role it played in the conversion of northern England to Christianity.  Famously, a Viking raid here in 897 AD marked the first serious appearance of the Norsemen and sent shockwaves throughout Europe.  The island's 16th century castle was used as a filming location for two Roman Polanski-directed movies.

Oszibusz created this drone video of a VERY old castle-fortress in East Sussex on the southern coast of England.  Pevensey Castle was built in the third century AD as part of a line of fortifications known as the Saxon Shore Forts constructed by the Roman Empire.  In 1066, the Norman army of William the Conqueror stayed here their first night on the English side of the Channel en route to their decisive encounter at nearby Hastings.  Later converted to a castle, Pevensey was garrisoned as late as World War II.  

Contributor Mark59 created this stunning drone video of Canossa, a castle town in the province of Reggio Emilia in north-central Italy.  The 10th century castle is the site of one of the most famous events of the Middle Ages.  In January, 1077, Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV arrived here after a long trek to meet with Pope Gregory VII, who was a guest at the castle.  Seeking a reversal of his ex-communication, Henry was forced to stand in the snow at the castle gates for three days before being granted a papal audience.

Contributor Ruslan Paul put together this remarkable video of Acre (Acco), an ancient city on Israel's Mediterranean coastline, between Tel Aviv and Haifa.  Sitting on a site which dates to 3000 BC, the city became a key Christian stronghold during the Third Crusade.  In 1291, the city was besieged by forces under control of the Mamluk Sulatanate; despite a desperate last stand by the Knights Templar, it fell after about a month.  The recapture of Acre is considered one of the most consequential events of the Medieval Period.    

Scotland's Wallace Monument overlooks the town of Stirling on the Forth River, about 45 minutes northwest of Edinburgh.  Erected in 1869, it commemorates one of the most significant events in Scottish history: the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297, in which the great hero William Wallace inflicted a crushing victory on English forces led by King Edward I as they crossed the river here.  The great battle was immortalized in the 1996 movie Braveheart, although the scene was actually filmed in Ireland.   

Contributor Guy tapiaro used a DJI Mavic Pro 2 to create this beautiful aerial of the Bulgarian seaside town of Varna.  Situated on the Black Sea, Varna is the third-largest city in this Balkan country, after Sofia and Plovdiv.  A major seaport, it is Bulgaria's most important maritime city and the main base for the Bulgarian fleet.  The city was the site of the Battle of Varna in 1444, one of the last major engagements of the Crusades; the Ottoman victory here led to the fall of Constantinople within a decade.  

Rumeli Fortress sits on the western (European) side of the Straits of Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey.  Rumeli played a critical role in the siege of the city then known as Constantinople by forces under Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, who overwhelmed the heavily-defended city after a 53-day siege in 1453.  The sack of what was then the world's largest city marked the end of the Byzantine Empire (the formal successor to the Roman Empire) and is considered one of the most important events of the Medieval period of history.

Contributor AVEA - Alta Vistic Epic Aerial created this marvelous drone video of a famous fortress in northern Wales.  Harlech Castle is situated within Snowdonia National Park in Gwynned County.  The great landmark was built by King Edward I during his conquest of Wales in the late 13th century.  During the War of the Roses in the 15th century, Harlech was the site of a famous siege by Yorkist forces which ended in a Lancastrian surrender in 1468.  It's known as the longest siege in British history.

Lestilestudios created this drone video of Fort St. Angelo on the Mediterranean island of Malta.  It is situated in the Grand Harbor, in the city of Birgu (Città Vittoriosa).  Built by the Knights of St. John, the fortress was the focal point of the Great Siege of Malta in 1565.  Here, the fort's defenders held off an amphibious invasion by the Ottoman Empire, marking the end of the Ottoman bid for control of the Mediterranean.  About 450 years later, it was a filming location for the Red Keep seen in Season 1 of Game of Thrones.  

Contributor JB-Ireland created this drone video of a historically important fortress in southern Ireland.  Carrigafoyle Castle is located near the town of Ballylongford in County Kerry.  In 1580, the fortress was a key position held by the Irish during the Second Desmond Rebellion, which sought to overthrow the English rule of the island. On Easter of that year, English forces successfully besieged the fortress and killing all of its defenders, crushing the rebellion which had been led by Gerald FitzGerald, 15th Earl of Desmond.

The ship Mayflower carrying the Pilgrims who settled what became the New England region of the USA made landfall at the very tip of what is known now as Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in 1620.  The town they founded there was named Provincetown, and the Mayflower Compact they signed here is one of the most important documents in the American historical record.  The monument to commemorate these events is called Pilgrim Monument, which was completed in 1910.  Check out from above in this drone video from PO3SMITH.

Contributor Frankiez used his DJI Mavic Pro Drone to create this lovely aerial view of the medieval city of Heidelberg, in the Baden-Wurtemberg state of southwestern Germany.   You'll get a marvelous bird's eye view of Heidelberg Castle, built in the 13th century and one of the most famous castles in Europe.  In 1622, Heidelberg was the site of an important battle during the early part of the Thirty Years' War, in which the Spanish Imperial Army led by the Count of Tilly besieged and overcame the city.

Scheveningen is one of the districts that make up the Hague, the Dutch capital and the third largest city in the Netherlands.  It's home to some of the finest beaches and seaside resorts in the Benelux region.  Now known for its quaint beaches, the area was the site of one of the most famous battles of the First Anglo-Dutch War of the mid-17th century.  At the Battle of Scheveningen in 1653, onlookers stood on these beaches and watched the English Navy inflict a heavy defeat on Dutch naval forces.  

For over 400 years, England's Royal Navy depended on the Chatham Shipyard for most of its combat ships. Located on the Medway River in County Kent southeast of London, the shipyard was built in the years following the English Reformation.  Chatham produced over 500 ships for the Royal Navy before closing in 1984; it's now a museum. Seen in this drone video by oszibus, Chatham was the target of the famous Raid on the Medway in 1667, during the Second Anglo Dutch War, when the Dutch ships dealt the Royal Navy one of its worst-ever defeats.   

Rye House was a substantial manor in the countryside near the town of Rye in Hertfordshire, England.  The house dated to before the Hundred Years' War and had undergone numerous modifications.  In 1683, it became forever associated with a plot to murder King Charles II of England and his brother James.  Discovered before the plans could come to fruition, over a dozen of the plotters were executed and many more imprisoned.  You can check out this historic location from above in this drone video by oszibusz.

Contributor Newcastlemale used a Phantom 4 Professional to create this marvelous drone tour of Glen Coe, a famous valley in the Scottish Highlands.  The video features footage of Glencoe's most well-known sights, including Laggan Dam; Rannoch Moor; Bouchaille Etive Mor; and the village of Glencoe.  Long before Glencoe appeared in the 2012 James Bond movie Skyfall, the village was the scene of a notorious massacre of 38 McDonald Clan members in 1692, since referenced extensively in popular culture, including on the hit TV show Mad Men.

Salem, Massachusetts is one of New England's oldest settlements.  Located about a half hour drive northeast of Boston, the town was the epicenter of one of the USA's greatest travesties of justice: the Salem Witch Trials of 1692-3, in which 20 innocent people were executed.  The episode was later adapted as an allegory for McCarthyism by playwright Arthur Miller in his classic play, the Crucible (1953).  In this drone video by pilgrimdroner, you'll get a bird's eye view of historic Salem, including its Witch Museum.  

Contributor Valerii Iavtushenko created this beautiful drone video of the important Ukrainian city of Poltava.  The capital of the eponymously named province, it's situated in the east-central part of the country.  The city is situated on the Vorskla River, a major tributary of the mighty Dneiper River.  Poltava dates to the 12th century.  The city was the site of a decisive victory in 1709 by Tsar Peter the Great's forces over Sweden during the Great Northern War, clearing the way for Russian domination of Eastern Europe.   

Check out this drone video of an important historical site in the Scottish Highlands, compliments of AirVuz contributor Jaybee2786.  It's the Glenfinnan Monument, which stands on the shores of Loch Shiel and dates to the early 19th century.  The monument commemorates the Jacobite Uprising of 1745, when Prince Charles Edward Stuart (aka Bonnie Prince Charlie or the "Pretender") allied with the key Highland clans in an unsuccessful attempt to restore the Stuart family to the English (and Scottish) throne.  

Contributor Martigen created this marvelous drone video of the Portuguese capital city Lisbon.  It opens with a magnificent shot of Praça do Comércio on the Tagus River.  The square was built on the ruins of the Ribeira Palace, the great Portuguese royal palace.  The palace along with  much of Lisbon was destroyed in one of history's greatest natural disasters: the 1755 earthquake, which is estimated to have registered up to 9.0 on the Richter Scale, leveled much of the city, and killed up to 100,000 people.  

Check out this drone video of the Boston's historic Charlestown neighborhood, compliments of AirVuz contributor pilgrimdroner.  Boston's oldest neighborhood, it's located just across the Charles River from the Financial District.  It's perhaps best known as the home of  Bunker Hill, the site of a famous battle in the early stages of the US Revolutionary War in 1775 and commemorated with a prominent Charlestown monument.  Charlestown has appeared in numerous movies, most notably in the 2010 thriller The Town.    

Chris Bonanno used a DJI Mavic Pro 2 to create this aerial video of Trenton, New Jersey.  This historically important city is the capital of the Garden State.  The video features footage of the downtown area along the Delaware River, including the impressive gold-domed capitol building.  It also includes footage from the area known as Washington's Crossing just upstream; this was the spot where George Washington led his troops across the Delaware in 1776, a pivotal moment in the USA's Revolutionary War. 

Here's an awesome aerial view of one of the great sights of Paris, compliments of sphereview. It's the Place de la Concord, the largest public square in the French capital.  It is situated at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées, in the eighth arrondissement.  During the French Revolution, the square went under another name: the Place de la Révolution.  It was here that King Louis XVI was executed by guillotine in January, 1793, and where his widow Marie Antoinette met the same fate nine months later.  

New Orleans' Jackson Square is generally considered the aesthetic heart of the Big Easy.  It's situated in the French Quarter, its northern boundary defined by the St. Louis Cathedral.  The square was the site of the ceremony marking the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, and after the Battle of New Orleans in 1815 it was named after the USA's victorious general Andrew Jackson; the statue of the USA's 7th president came in the 1850's.  Check out this important historical site from above in this drone video by Bumble Bee Productions.    

Contributor MrMaikelMaik brings us this beautiful aerial view of the area around Los Caños de Meca, in southern Spain.  The town lies just to the east of Cape Trafalgar, in the Andalusian province of Cádiz.  The video also captures the well known Cape Gibraltar Lighthouse.  The waters here were the site of one of the world's most famous naval battles: in 1805, a British fleet under Admiral Lord Nelson defeated a French/Spanish fleet and dealt a heavy blow to Napoloeon's drive to control the seas.  

Bumble Bee Productions brings us this excellent drone video of important American  historical site in New Orleans, Louisiana: the Chalmette National Cemetary.  Located in its namesake town just east of the Big Easy, the cemetery lies adjacent to the site of the Battle of New Orleans, the last of the War of 1812 between the USA and Great Britain.  The bloody battle occurred when a British force, not having yet received word that the war had been concluded with a treaty signed in Belgium, unsuccessfully attacked US forces in January, 1815. 

AirVuz contributor RIK Fotos brings us this excellent drone view of the Lion's Head Monument on the battlefield of Waterloo in Belgium.  The 4.5 meter (15 ft.) lion statue sits atop an artificial hill.  The monument commemorates the great battle which took place here in June, 1815 between the forces of Napoleon Bonaparte and those of the Seventh Coalition led by the British general the Duke of Wellington and the Prussian general von Blücher.  The smashing Coalition victory led to the final downfall and exile of the French Emperor.  

One of the things which makes Texas amongst the most distinctive states is the fact that it was its own country for almost a decade before being admitted to the Union in 1845.  The Republic of Texas was declared in 1836, shortly before Sam Houston's troops decisively defeated Mexican forces in April, 1836 near San Jacinto.  The great battle is commemorated with the gigantic monument you'll see in this drone video by Lone Star Drones; completed in 1939, it's the world's tallest masonry structure.  

AirVuz contributor Allan Crawford brings us this excellent drone video of California's Donner Pass, one of the main passages through the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  Situated at an altitude of 2.15k meters above sea level (just over 7k ft.), the pass is named after an ill-fated group of 83 pioneers en route westward to California who were forced to spend the winter of 1846-47 here.  Nearly half the members of the Donner Party perished from cold and starvation; those who survived did so by consuming the remains of their dead comrades.

New AirVuz contributor Alexandr Shinkarevskiy brings us this stunning drone video of a famous spot on the Black Sea's Crimean Peninsula.  It was filmed around the town of Balaklava, on the southern outskirts of Sevastopol.  Balaklava became famous in 1854 for a battle during the Siege of Sebastopol, during the Crimean War: the decimation of a British cavalry unit by previously undetected Russian artillery forces here was immortalized in Alfred (Lord) Tennyson's narrative poem, the Charge of the Light Brigade.   

Check out Galveston, Texas from above in this drone video by Lone Star Drones.  The city sits on a long, narrow island of the Gulf of Mexico, southeast of Houston.  Galveston was the sight of the USA's most deadly natural disaster: the Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900, when a category 4 storm hit the island with full force and without sufficient warning.    The storm killed between 8-12k people (up to a third of the city's population) and the city never recovered its status as a "twin" city to Houston.  

Palace Square is one of the main public spaces in St. Petersburg, Russia.  It's named after the adjacent Winter Palace, the official residence of the Romanov family from 1732-1917 and now part of the Hermitage.  The focal point of Palace Square is the Alexander Column; it's named after Tsar Alexander I, who led the victory over Napoleon in the early 1800's.  In this drone video by Shkrebiy, you'll get a 360 degree view of the square, the site of the Bloody Sunday Massacre of 1905 which set the stage for the Russian Revolutions of 1917.  

InspireFPV does just that with this amazing FPV video from a famous rock in the Pacific Ocean just south of San Francisco.  Mussel Rock is a "family" consisting of one large rock and several small ones.  It sits just off the coast of Daly City, the "suburb" situated just south of San Francisco.  The significance of this spot is that it was believed to be the very epicenter of the great 1906 Earthquake which nearly leveled San Francisco and was by some measures the worst natural disaster in American history.  

Contributor Emirdzanan created this beautiful video of modern Sarajevo.  Now the capital of Bosnia Herzegovina, Sarajevo was the site of one of history's most monumental events.  In June, 1914, the Archduke of Austria-Hungary and his wife were visiting the city when they were assassinated by a Serbian terrorist.  The Austrian government, believing that the state of Serbia was complicit in the killing, set a chain of events in motion which led weeks later to the outbreak of the European-wide conflagration now known as World War I.  

Contributor power falcon created this drone video of an important site in Northern France commemorating two critical World War I battles that were fought along the banks of the Marne River.  The first battle occurred in September, 1914 when Allied forces stopped the great German advance in what turned out to be the conflict's single-most important battle.  The Second Battle of the Marne occurred on almost the same ground in the summer of 1918, when the French stopped a last-gasp German offensive and set up the war's final phase.

Top content creator and pilot jesus_tr created this moving aerial video to the monuments commemorating the World War I Battle of Gallipoli.  The battle was joined in March, 1915 with an Allied naval bombardment of the Dardanelles Strait followed by landings on the Gallipoli Peninsula, in an attempt to  knock Turkey out of the war.  The invading forces were not able to take the commanding heights above the beaches, where Turkish forces under future leader Kemal Ataturk held fast over months of attacks.  

Contributor and pilot Mark's Mavic 2 used a DJI Mavic Pro 2 to create this stunning video of the lighthouse at the Old Head of Kinsale in County Cork, Ireland.  The spot is famous for being the nearest land point to the sinking of the RMS Lusitania by a German U-Boat during World War I. On May 7, 1915, the Cunard-operated ship was torpedoed about 19 km (11 mi.) from here, killing almost 1,200 people.  The ensuing worldwide outrage caused Germany to temporarily suspend unrestricted submarine warfare.  

This outstanding drone video will give you an aerial view of the site of the Battle of the Somme, one of the bloodiest of World War I and indeed in military history.  The battle was launched on July 1, 1916 with a massive Anglo-French assault on the German lines on either side of the Somme River in the Picardy region of Northern France.  British casualties alone on the first day totalled 60,000, including an astounding 20,000 men killed.  By the time the battle ended inconclusively in November, hundreds of thousands on both sides lay dead.

AirVuz content creator and pilot GOMAVIC used a DJI Mavic Pro drone to create this beautiful aerial view of the area around Kobarid, on the border between northwestern Slovenia and Italy's Friuli-Venezia Giulia region.  Part of the Julian Alps, the area is famous as the site of the Battle of Caporetto (also known as the 12th Battle of the Isonzo), a bloody World War I clash which took place in late 1917.  The battle, in which Italian forces were routed by the Central Powers, was immortalized in Hemingway's 1929 novel, A Farewell to Arms.

Contributor power falcon created this drone video of a historic spot in Northern France.  It's a tower in the Forest of Retz which was constructed in the 1920's on the ruins of an earlier version that had played a key role in the climax of World War I.  The tower was erected on the orders of General Charles Mangin, who was called back to lead the French Tenth Army in the July, 2018 Allied counterstrike following the failure of the German spring offensives; the blow began a chain of victories which caused the German Army to collapse.   

Contributor and former DVOW Finalist Laurent Paris created this stunning drone video of the fabled French seaside town Étretat.  It's located on the coast of the Seine-Maritime Department in Normandy.  The video includes great shots of Étretat's famous rock arches and the L'Aiguille "needle" rock.  At the 1:10 mark, you'll see the monument to the White Bird, a plane which took off here in 1927 attempting the first Atlantic non-stop flight and disappeared at sea, just weeks before Lindberg's successful crossing.

Contributor and pilot Sobrevolando created this amazing drone video of a recreation of a famous event in the Spanish Civil War.  During that conflict in the late 1930's, the Ebro River in Aragon and Catalonia was the site of a bloody battle between the warring sides.  On November 16, 1938, the Republican forces who had been on the defensive gave way and were forced back across the river by the Nationalist advance.  This ended the six month Battle of the Ebro, considered the war's decisive campaign.

Nazi Germany invaded Norway and Denmark in early April, 1940, ending the so-called Phony War phase which marked the outbreak of World War II in Western Europe.  While the invasions were ultimately successful, the Norwegian operation triggered the Battle of Narvik, when a Royal Navy flotilla was able to knock out a number of German destroyers.  In this drone video by Maximus_NO, you'll get an aerial view of the remains of the Georg Thiele, which was scuttled here when it ran out of ammunition.  

The Dutch city of Rotterdam is best known for its container port, the busiest in Europe.   The city's rich history has largely been forgotten, primarily because the core of the city was destroyed by an infamous German bombing in the early months of World War II, an act which led to a quick Dutch surrender in order to avoid even more civilian casualties.  One of the only buildings left standing in the May, 1940 bombardment was the Witte Huis, seen here in this drone video.  Completed in 1898, it was Europe's tallest building for a time.  

AirVuz contributor seaview.drone created this excellent drone video of the harbor of Dunkirk (Dunkerque), France.  Dunkirk is located on the English Channel near the northernmost tip of France, not far from the Belgian border.  Its harbor was the scene of one of the more consequential events of World War II: the great evacuation of over 300,000 Allied troops (including the bulk of the British Expeditionary Force) in late May and early June of 1940, as France was collapsing under the weight of an invasion by Nazi Germany.  

Contributor iOleg brings us this excellent drone video of an important World War II memorial in Central Russia.  It's called the Rzhev Memorial to the Soviet Soldier, and it's located in the oblast (province) of Tver, northwest of Moscow.  Completed in 2020, the momument is dedicated to the hundreds of thousands of Red Army soldiers killed in the Battles of Rzhev, a series of bloody clashes which ran for 14 months beginning in January, 1942 as Soviet forces attacked a salient formed by the late 1941 German retreat from the gates of Moscow.

Seen here in this excellent drone video by VadimUshka, the Russian city of Volgograd lies on a southern stretch of the Volga River.  During World War II, when the city was known as Stalingrad, it was the site of one of histrory's bloodiest battles.  The Battle of Stalingrad was joined in August, 1942 when the forces of Nazi Germany reached the outskirts of the city; it ended a little over five months later when these forces were encircled and annilhilated by the Red Army.  The battle marked the decisive turning point in the conflict.

Hamburg is the second largest metropolitan area in Germany after Berlin.  Situated on the Elbe River, Hamburg is also Germany's largest seaport.  For these reasons, as well as its relative proximity to bomber bases in the UK, Hamburg was heavily damaged by Allied bombing in World War II, and the firebombing of July, 1943 killed approximately 50,000 civilians.  Contributor Elb Cut Media used a DJI Phantom 4 Pro drone to create this beautiful aerial view of the great German city, now fully recovered, at night.  

Contributor chill_side put together this terrific drone video of the city of St. Petersburg as it celebrated the 75th anniversary of the end of history's deadliest siege during World War II.  In September, 1941, three months after invading the USSR, the forces of Nazi Germany surrounded the city, which was then known as Leningrad.   During the ensuing 900 days, it's estimated that over a million civilians perished, mostly from hunger, exposure, and disease.  Leningrad was liberated by the Red Army in January, 1944.

AirVuz contributor LouloOWeB Videos brings us this excellent drone video of a spot in northwestern France which has been known since World War II as Juno Beach.  It was the next-to-easternmost of the five initial landing zones arrayed along the Normandy coast during the Allied invasion of Western Europe, which began on June 6, 1944.  Spanning the  portion of the Normandy coast between the villages of Courseulles and Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, Juno Beach was the responsibility of the First Canadian Army on D-Day.   

Contributor FreD ...///... created this haunting aerial video of Oradour-sur-Glane, a small French village in central France that was the scene of one of the worst World War II atrocities in Western Europe.  In June, 1944, troops of the Waffen-SS came through the town to reinforce the German positions in Normandy following the Allied D-Day landing.  For reasons still not entirely clear, they massacred 642 residents of the town, mostly women and children.  While the village was rebuilt nearby, the original site was preserved in memorial. 

The Warsaw Uprising in the summer of 1944 was a seminal event in World War II as well as for the Polish nation.  Although Germany had no chance of winning the war by this point, troops under control of the German SS brutally suppressed an uprising by the people of Warsaw, mercilessly killing hundreds of thousands of civilians and razing the city which was once known as the Paris of the East.  In this video, contributor Mackox flew a drone over the celebration marking the 74th anniversary of this important historical event.

AirVuz contributor Quadcore brings us this excellent drone video of the Dutch town of Arnhem.  It's located in the eastern part of the province of Gelderland, not far from the German border.  Strategically situated on the banks of the Nederrijn River (a Rhine distributary), Arnhem has been fought over throughout history.  In late 1944, in the closing months of World War II, it was the site a German victory over an Allied airborne operation called Market-Garden, which was immortalized in the book (and later the movie) A Bridge Too Far.  

In this video you'll get a bird's eye view of Yalta, a city on the Black Sea coastline of the Crimean Peninsula.  The Crimea became part of the Ukraine following the dissolution of the USSR in the 1990's, but recently voted to rejoin Russia.  Yalta was the site of a famous meeting during the closing months of World War II, when Allied leaders Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin met to begin planning the post-war world order.  It was the second and last meeting of the so-called Big Three.

Check out this magnificent drone video of Dresden, Germany, compliments of New Entertainment Pictures.  The capital of the northern state of Saxony, Dresden is built on the banks of the Elbe River.  The video opens with shots of the city's Frauenkirche and Opera House, followed by the Zwinger Palace and the Hofkirche (Cathedral).  Dresden was heavily damaged near the end of World War II during a still-controversial bombing raid which killed thousands and was later immortalized in Kurt Vonnegut's classic 1969 novel, Slaughterhouse-Five. 

Check out this excellent drone video of Japan's Hiroshima Castle, compliments of dannyb313.  The original castle was built in the late 16th century by the feudal warlord Mōri Terumoto.  On August 6, 1945, the castle was destroyed by the first of two American atomic bombs dropped on Japan, leading to its surrender and the end of World War II; the bomb detonated at an altitude of about 1.9k ft. (around 580 m) above the Shima Surgical Clinic, less than 1000 meters/yards south of the castle.  Hiroshima Castle was rebuilt in the 1950's.  

In this episode of Droning America, hostess Angie Avestruz heads to the Big D - Dallas, Texas.  She teams up with local TV sports news personality Kaime Stroot to show us the sights and sounds of the great city in northern Texas - by drone.   In addition to the Reunion Tower, the M Line Trolley, and the Deep Elum District (an important arts center), you'll get a bird's eye view of one of the most important spots in American history - Dealey Plaza, where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22nd, 1963.

Seen here in this video by Lone Star Drones, the Johnson Space Center is the most important center for manned space flight at the USA's National Aeronautics and Space Administration.  Located in the southeastern outskirts of Houston, Texas, its most famous moment was in July, 1969, when Mission Control here directed the Apollo 11 moon landing.  The JSC also been a filming location for a number of films, notably two of the biggest blockbusters of the 1990's: Apollo 13 (1995) and Armageddon (1998). 

For a few days in mid-August, 1969, a dairy farm near Bethel, New York hosted a music festival billed as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music".  Featuring acts like Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, the Who, Joan Baez, the Band, and many more, the festival came to be known for the name of a nearby town: Woodstock.  In this drone video by contributor Chris Bonnano, you can get a bird's eye view of the Woodstock site, which was also used for a disastrous Woodstock revival concert in 1999.  

New contributor brotherstouring brings us this fantastic drone video of Mt. St. Helens in the USA's Pacific Northwest, one of the world's most famous volcanoes.  Located in southern Washington, about 80 km (around 50 mi.) northeast of Portland, Oregon, Mt. St. Helens catastrophically erupted on May 18, 1980.  The massive explosion, which triggered a subsequent lateral eruption, was the deadliest volcanic event in US history.  It killed dozens, destroyed hundreds of homes, and reduced the mountain's height by 400 meters (around 1.3k ft.).  

Check out this fantastic first person view (FPV) drone video of one of the architectural landmarks of New York City: the Dakota.  AirVuz contributor and FPV pilot Sparkitekt used a racing quad to film the famous apartment co-operative, which is located at the intersection of Central Park West and 72nd St. on Manhattan's Upper West Side.  Completed in 1881, the Dakota was the site of one of the most shocking crimes of the 20th century: the gunshot murder of Beatles great John Lennon on December 8, 1980.    

Multiple Drone Video of the Week Winner oculusfilms brings us this haunting drone video from the scene of one of history's greatest industrial accidents: the explosion of the No. 4 Reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in northern Ukraine in April, 1986.  The disaster forced the evacuation of the nearby city of Pripyat, none of whose 50k+ population ever returned.  One of only two accidents with the highest severity rating under the International Nuclear Event Scale, the disaster caused thousands of cancer deaths.  

Alaska's sea life can be seen from above in this terrific drone video by contributor FreD...///....  He was able to aerially film sea lions, salmon, and seagulls in the Valdez Arm of Prince William Sound, on the southern coast of the state.  This area has largely recovered from one of history's worst environmental disasters: the oil spill which resulted when the oil tanker Exxon Valdez hit a reef in March, 1989 and spilled over a quarter million barrels of crude oil into the pristine waters of the Sound.

Ride along with former Drone Video of the Week Winner davetke2002 on a journey to Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines, the site of a historic volcanic eruption in 1991.  Part of the Zambales Mountains, the stratovolcano is located in the central part of Luzon, the most populous island of the archipelago.  While there was sufficient warning to evacuate nearly all of the nearby population, the eruption pushed over 30 billion tons of dust and sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere, disrupting the global climate for at least two years thereafter.  

Homestead is one of the largest suburbs of Miami, Florida.  Seen here in this drone video, the city is located about 55 km (around 35 mi.) southwest of central Miami.  One of the oldest of the communities of Greater Miami, Homestead is the spot where the Florida Turnpike ends and becomes US Route 1.  In August of 1992, Homestead was devastated by Hurricane Andrew, a Category 4 storm which made landfall here and became the most costly natural disaster in United States history up to that point.  

In this video, contributor and drone pilot raphael.elijah gives us a bird's eye view of Oklahoma City, the capital and largest city of the Sooner State.  It's located in the middle of the state, in the heart of the Great Plains region of the USA.  This city was the site of one of the most infamous acts of terror in US history: on April 19, 1995, a truck bomb exploded in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 168 people and causing widespread devastation in the central district of the city.  

The Stanley Mosk Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles was the venue for the Trial of the (20th) Century - twice.  In 1971, following what was billed as the longest and highest profile criminal trial in history, a cult leader named Charles Manson and his followers were convicted for the brutal killings of actress Sharon Tate and six others in the so-called Helter-Skelter Murders.  That proved to be a mere warmup for another West Side multiple homicide trial - that of OJ Simpson, who was acquitted here in 1995.  

Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park is situated on the northwestern outskirts of the city's downtown district.  Created as a public gathering spot for the 1996 Summer Olympics, the park was the site of the infamous pipe bomb explosion which occurred midway through the Games, killing two and injuring about a dozen.  The home of the giant SkyView Atlanta Ferris Wheel since 2013, the park continues to be one of the city's most popular attractions.  In this drone video by Bumble Bee Productions, you'll get a bird's eye view of the park.

The Houston, Texas skyscraper now known simply as 1400 Smith Street has a storied history.  Seen here in this drone video by Lone Star Drones, the tower was previously named for its major tenant: Enron Corporation, which spectacularly collapsed in late 2001 amidst what is still  considered history's greatest accounting scandal.  The first "big story" following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, for weeks TV newscasts carried footage of distraught employees outside of what was then known as Enron Center.  

Top AirVuz contributor and drone pilot brings us this marvelous 4k sunrise aerial view of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.  Frequently referred to merely as the Superdome, the 73.2k seat stadium (expandable to 76.5k) opened in 1975 as the home field of the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League.  It's hosted seven NFL championship games as of 2019, most recently Super Bowl XLVII in 2013.   Famously, the SuperDome became the shelter of last resort when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005.