When talking about the Lockheed Blackbird family, probably the most frequently asked Blackbird question is: How fast does it really fly? It is well known that the SR-71 Blackbird spy…
Cold War
How an ex-naval aviator, with his helicopter running low on fuel, was able to locate the aircraft carrier at night without any electronic transmission
‘On one (and only one) mission, however, I and my crew were fearful of running out of fuel and having to ditch,’ Vernon Wright, former Naval Aviator. The embarked aircraft…
Cold War
When a Tomcat went inverted a few feet above the ground after takeoff and both flaps and slats failed
‘Out of control, I reached for the “D” ejection handle between my legs. I grasped it but did not pull it, as I realized that being inverted, the ejection would…
The A-12 Oxcart was a super-secret, single-seater spy plane and was more secret and much rarer than the SR-71. The SR-71 was actually developed from the A-12. It is well known that the…
‘The Phantom was one of those planes where it seemed the faster it went, the faster it wanted to go, and the Hornet was not,’ said Travis Brannon, a former…
‘“Where are you, Hey Joe?” ‘“On your nose for three miles.” ‘Peering up through the eyebrow windows, two Tomcats roll inverted on their backs and pull as hard as they…
Cold War
The CIA injected the first pilot who bailed from the A-12 program with sodium pentothal after the crash for interrogation
Ken Collins appeared to be very drunk as the sodium pentothal was still in his system. His wife Jane was a very understanding woman, her husband couldn’t offer any explanation…
The SR-71 Blackbird made the trans-Atlantic flight to be featured in the Farnborough Air Show as a static display. This marked the first time the Mach 3+ spy plane was…
F-14 Tomcat
Airline pilot who previously flew Navy F-14s recalls crashing a B-737 in the simulator because he reverted to Tomcat recovery controls when his airliner lost an engine on takeoff
The flight simulator A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and the environment in which it flies, for pilot training, design, or other purposes. It includes replicating the…
The nickname for the USS John F. Kennedy aircraft carrier became “The Can Opener” and for good reason. The USS John F. Kennedy (CV 67) aircraft carrier (on the evening…
