On November 6, 1944, US Navy F6F Hellcat pilots encountered a Japanese fighter they could not identify while conducting a fighter sweep over the airfields north of Manila The F6F…
History
The US Air Force (USAF) retired its fleet of SR-71s on January 26, 1990, although the U-2 is still in use today Before Gary Power’s U-2 was shot down, development…
‘To keep the bad guy off his feet, the first officer threw the FedEx DC-10 cargo aircraft into all sorts of maneuvers, including inverted flight,’ Keith Shergold, former airline transport…
History
The Blackbird engines were started by the SR-71 crew using controlled explosions caused by triethyl-borane
‘The NTSB lists Triethylborane [TEB] as the following most dangerous material, one step below fissionable nuclear material,’ Former SR-71 Blackbird pilot David Peters The amazing photo in this post, taken…
‘We joke that the A-10 is really a single-engine aircraft, with half an engine on each side,’ Lynn Taylor, former A-10 Warthog pilot The A-10 is the first US Air…
F-14 Tomcat
A Kill is a Kill! The story of the Iraqi MiG-23 that crashed while trying to escape from two AIM-54 Phoenix missiles fired by US Navy F-14 Tomcats
While approaching for the second landing attempt, the Iraqi MiG-23 ran out of fuel, stalled and crashed only 200 metres short of the runway, killing its unlucky pilot The primary…
History
The naval officer who created TOPGUN, retired captain Dan Pedersen, flies a Blue Angels F/A-18 Super Hornet
Capt. Brian Kesselring, a former TOPGUN instructor himself and now flight leader and commanding officer of the Blue Angels, had the honor of taking TOPGUN1, retired Navy Captain Dan Pedersen,…
History
After this RAF Phantom made an emergency landing at Tonopah AFB, it was stenciled with the words “F-117 DON’T ASK” zap
During RED FLAG 90-1, an RAF Phantom FGR.2 (known as F-4M in the US) diverted there and returned to Nellis bearing an F-117 sticker and legend. DON’T ASK As one…
F-14 Tomcat
The story of the US Navy TARPS-equipped F-14 Tomcat that took a photo of its own GBU-12 heading for its target
Taken during Operation Iraqi Freedom, the following amazing photograph of a GBU-12 heading for its target was taken by a TARPS-equipped VF-32 F-14B Tomcat Taken during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF),…
History
The American Fighter Aces Association modifies its “Ace” category policy to allow backseaters
The change was led by Randy “Duke” Cunningham, a retired US Navy commander and former F-4 Phantom pilot, who, along with his Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) Willy “Irish” Driscoll, was…