After WWII B-29 saw military service again in Korea between 1950 and 1953, battling new adversaries: the Soviet-built MiG-15 jet fighters When the huge VB-13 TARZON was first designed in…
Video shows the moment a Patrouille Suisse F-5 Tiger II hits a flock of birds during Radom Air Show
The video in this post features a Patrouille Suisse F-5 Tiger suffering a bird strike with a flock of birds crossing its path Filmed by our friend Dafydd Phillips during…
The first U-2 pilot remembers how, after almost biting his lethal cyanide pill in half, the only U-2 pilot to fly above Moscow almost died and crashed into Red Square
Who could blame Vito, when approaching Moscow for the first time, felt his throat dry. Consequently, he reached into his pocket for a cough drop, but instead, he took out…
A rare aluminum gun was included in the survival kit for the SR-71 Blackbird crew members
The survival kit carried by Blackbird’s pilots and RSOs included a few unconventional items, even though no SR-71 was ever shot down The Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft were the…
Zero-sen ace Saburo Sakai describes the combat in which he was injured by US Navy SBD Dauntless dive bombers
The SBD rear gunners fired as Saburo Sakai and his wingman closed the range. It was the high-scoring ace’s most harrowing and memorable combat of the war The US Navy…
While operational, it was effectively impossible to intercept to all the jet fighters of its generation barring a stripped Electric Lightning pushed to the limit – including F-15, F-16 or…
US Navy F-14 Tomcat pilot who fired a Phoenix missile against an Iraqi MiG-23 explains why the AIM-54 missed its target
Using their F-14 Tomcat (much-improved) Link-16 datalink, LCDR Coby ‘Coach’ Loessberg and his RIO obtained their targeting data from the supporting E-2C powered up their APG-71 and quickly set up…
USS Ronald Reagan Yellow Shirt recalls when he was nearly killed by an F/A-18 that smashed on the flight deck after having inadvertently caught a wire during a wave-off
‘I thought the jet was going to explode when it crashed back onto the deck, the blast killing us or sending us flying over the edge of the deck,’ Robbie…
US Navy Submarine Chief Petty Officer explains why it’s not true that Ohio-class submarines lack enough ballast to remain submerged after they fire all of their SLBMs
‘Yes. If a Trident submarine launched all of its missiles the water that backfilled into the now empty tubes would not have enough weight to keep the submarine sufficiently negatively…
When Air Traffic Controllers asked an F-14 pilot to buzz the tower so see for themselves a Navy Tomcat
‘Iowa the Air Traffic Controllers could not believe that they had an F-14 Tomcat under their control and so very low…500ft/152m,’ John Chesire, former US Navy F-14 Tomcat pilot The…