USS Abraham Lincoln crew quickly put out the fire, non-essential sailors did briefly evacuate. There were no injuries According to the US Navy, an electrical fire broke out in the…
On his first Intruder hop, A-6 B/N’s pilot performed two dirty rolls while lined up for the final approach to NAS Whidbey Island runway
“I remember looking up out of the canopy at the cars passing under us on Highway 20. After we landed and got out of the plane I was really hyped…
The Navy chose the YF-17 over the YF-16 due to the number of engines
‘We used to have a joke in flight training: “What happens to a prop aircraft when it loses its engine? It becomes a glider. What happens to a jet when…
While the F-14 Tomcat was shown off in Top Gun, the F-16 Fighting Falcon used the questionable Iron Eagle series to demonstrate the machine’s agility to cinemagoers While the F-14…
The story of the Blue Angels F-4 Phantom II that Knocked Out the windows of eight blocks of a Canadian City after it went Supersonic during an Air Show
“They had a parade scheduled for the next day and they had to cancel that. All the windows were boarded up when we drove downtown,” former Blue Angels Team Leader…
F-4 pilot recalls having to do a 6-G pullup in order to avoid a pickup truck during a “snake check” down a jeep trail
‘I assured him that I know his official green Chevy pickup very well and would certainly avoid him,’ David Storm, USAF F-4 Phantom II pilot The F-4 Phantom II was…
US Navy Submariner tells the story of when on his boat Sonar notified the Head Cook when the submarine passed through shrimps and tunas to fish and cook them (with CO’s approval)
‘The head cook would take sonar’s intel, relay it to the Old Man, and the two of them would discuss menus options! Seriously. Menus options. Spices.’ Richard Morris, former US…
Before the D-21, the A-12 had to be used as carrier for the Starfighter
By 1962, Kelly Johnson had done at least a few studies on using the A-12 as a carrier for a QF-104 Starfighter The A-12 was the result of the military’s…
F-100 Thunderbird pilot explains when his Super Sabre exploded during the Bomb Burst after the wings came off
“I start the aggressive [6.5-G] pull into the vertical—and the aircraft explodes… Any F-100 pilot who hears a loud ‘BANG!’ automatically thinks, ‘compressor stall,’” Merrill A. “Tony” McPeak F-100 Thunderbird…
An ex-USAF fighter pilot explains why, despite the Starfighter’s many problems, he would love to fly the Zipper
‘For all the bad-mouthing the F-104 has received in the past if I had the money (and my wife would let me… which she definitely would not!) I would buy…