‘There are a number of reasons for it… First, because the procedure says it should be,’ David Kirk, former US Navy Submarine Officer The periscope is the eye of the…
Pilot of a F-104G Starfighter describes a mission simulating a nuclear strike
‘I identify the target on the radar for a LADD attack [‘toss bombing’] and actuate the Run-in Timer according to my radar display,’ Lt A. Hartl, Luftwaffe F-104G Starfighter pilot…
An ex-Blue Angels CO explains the decision to replace the F-4 Phantom II with the A-7 Corsair II and the choice of the A-4 Skyhawk rather than the F-14 Tomcat
‘While we were doing this search for airplanes, a couple of squadrons were coming back from Vietnam and were being decommissioned. They had the A-4F, which was the latest model…
An ex-USAF master sergeant reveals the fastest speed a Blackbird has ever recorded
A-12 pilot Jim Eastham dropped the nose down a bit to see if he could at least reach Mach 3.0. Out of nowhere, Jim hit good air and in the…
F-117 pilot on Nighthawk’s nicknames when it was a highly classified program and when its existence became public knowledge
‘Black humor and a lack of restraint are common in the community when it comes to airplane nicknames, so I reckon the F-117 didn’t come off too badly overall,’ John…
F-4 Phantom II: J79 Noise, Sonic Booms and Extremely Low Flying
This post’s video from the Sierra Hotel may be the best F-4 Phantom II footage ever filmed The Noise You Hear is the Sound of Freedom! The s**t hot video…
4 Things that differentiate Gerald R. Ford-class carriers from Nimitz-class carriers
The Gerald R. Ford-class is the replacement for Enterprise and Nimitz-class aircraft carriers Aircraft carriers continue to be the centerpiece of America’s Naval forces necessary for operating forward. In times…
Ford UK refused to build Rolls-Royce Merlin engines due to differences in allowed tolerances
Ford re-drew the blue-prints for the Merlin, making it more suitable for mass production, and by 1944, over 400 engines a week were flowing out of the plants The Rolls…
‘He told me he’d debated doing it for about 10 seconds, but being a Marine meant you were compelled to do stuff like that,’ Tim Hibbetts, former Naval Aviator Maverick:…
The first dual-control Panavia Tornado GR1T in its original color scheme
The sunset/night photoshoot featured not only the Panavia Tornado GR1T ZA319 but also the Hawk T1 XX154 and the English Electric P.1 WG763 The Panavia Tornado GR1T, ZA319, Hawk XX154,…