The English Electric Lightning Designed as a Mach 2 interceptor with an unrivaled rate of climb, the English Electric Lightning was frequently referred to as “a pilot sitting on two…
Ejection seat An ejection seat is a mechanism installed in an aircraft that is intended to save the pilot or other crew members in the event of an emergency. Most…
Why the oxygen mask? Fighter pilots consistently wear a mask and helmet. Fighter jocks at high altitudes need oxygen masks in order to prevent hypoxia and maintain the brain’s oxygen…
The SR-71 Blackbird The most sophisticated spy plane in the Blackbird family, the SR-71, which also included the A-12 and YF-12, was created by a group of Lockheed personnel under…
The KC-135Q It’s impossible to overemphasize the essential role played by the KC-135Q tanker crews, without whom successful prosecution of the SR-71 Blackbird mission would have been impossible. As told…
F-14 shooting down RF-4C A US Air Force (USAF) RF-4C Phantom II was shot down by a US Navy F-14 Tomcat on September 22, 1987, over the Mediterranean during NATO…
The SR-71 Blackbird The US Air Force (USAF) created the SR-71 Blackbird in the 1960s; it was a plane that could move at a speed that exceeded three times the…
The F-15 Streak Eagle was designed to break the time-to-climb records held by the F-4 and MiG-25 by setting new ones The F-15 proved to be a highly useful testbed…
‘The next pass was different. I said to Jim that our F-15 jockeys are the best in the world, let’s give them a challenge,’ Former SR-71 Blackbird pilot, Capt. Steve…
The Eagle’s AIM-7 Sparrow missile was significantly less powerful than the Phoenix missile system. Research revealed that 170 F-14 Tomcats could equal 290 F-15 Eagles in terms of defense The…