‘While the RAH-66 was being perfected, the armed drone came along and did the job of the Comanche better, and cheaper,’ Damien Leimbach, former Avionics Technician at US Air Force…
Cold War
US Navy F-4 Phantom II pilot, recalls the one-on-one duel that made him America’s First Ace Pilot since Korea
After having downed two MiGs with one Sidewinder apiece, Showtime 100 disengaged and approached the coast at 10,000 feet, when Randy Cunningham saw an enemy MiG-17 (NATO reporting name Fresco)…
Civil
Former Boeing 727 Pilot tells the Story of when a Passenger confused a Thunderstorm Cloud for a Nuclear Mushroom Cloud, started a Ruckus aboard the Airliner and asked him to Land
‘While I was flying a [Boeing] 727 over the middle of North Carolina, a passenger saw a huge thunderstorm cloud and started a ruckus in the back by telling everyone…
What did the B-17 Flying Fortress bomber’s leadership think of the aircraft? The B-17 Flying Fortress is among the most well-known aircraft ever produced. When the British Royal Air Force…
Civil
‘It was not a true luxury experience:’ Air Traffic Controller describes what it was really like flying on the Concorde Supersonic Airliner
Flying on the Concorde supersonic airliner was different, but not a true luxury experience The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde was a British-French supersonic passenger jet airliner. It had a maximum speed of…
The crews of the SR-71 Blackbird remember the KC-135Q Stratotanker crew with gratitude for their attention to their safety The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird requires JP-7 fuel, which the KC-135Q variant…
‘At this stage Hermes had a very heavy list to port and it was obvious that she was about to sink. As the sea was now only feet below our…
Cold War
As the cable connecting the catapult to the US Navy F-4B Phantom II snapped, the shuttle that had been released crashed into the nose wheel
The video in this post was captured on board the aircraft carrier USS Coral Sea (CV-43) and shows a mishap on CAT-3 as an F-4B Phantom II of VF-151 is…
Cold War
Before the SR-71 maiden flight, the cockpit had to be rearranged or the USAF would not buy it
The Blackbird’s cockpit needed to be rearranged prior to the aircraft’s first flight, but the cost was high and it wasn’t functional. The SR-71 Blackbird collected intelligence during its service…
‘AT-ATs have a lot in common with tanks,’ Lynn Taylor, a former A-10 Warthog pilot The All Terrain Armored Transport, or AT-AT walker, from the Star Wars universe, is a…