There is an auction for the sidestick controller from the F-16A #78-0322. The former Israeli Air Force fighter was one of six aircraft that attacked Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor in…
History
The B-17D Flying Fortresses, the first American heavy bombers to fly over the Pacific to the Philippines
Some of the details of these flights are still shrouded in historical obscurity, partly because the 14-hour Wake Island to Port Moresby sector required the B-17D bombers to fly (illegally)…
With British, American, and Italian F-35B jets taking off from HMS Queen Elizabeth, this marked the first time that three nations have flown jets from the same aircraft carrier Italian…
Cold War
The A-6 Intruder, who successfully avoided 5 SAMs before making an attack on a ferry docks close to Hanoi
‘Intelligence reported that the SA-2 couldn’t track below 1500 ft. We were disturbed to see that their assessment was incorrect’, Lt Lyle Bull, A-6 Intruder B/N Throughout the Vietnam War,…
Three months after V-E Day, on August 20, 1945, the B-36 Peacemaker strategic bomber was presented. Its first flight took place on August 8, 1946 Before the US entered World…
Civil
That time a massive Airbus A380 with a medical emergency on board was forced to divert to an airport closed due to heavy snow and not suited to accommodate it
‘I realized that Minneapolis/St. Paul airport was shut down on that day due to heavy snow, and further found out that MSP is not an A380 Airport…’ The Airbus A380…
“This photo indeed has a surrealistic quality. I believe it is due to the focal length of the camera used. There is no doubt that this pass was an aggressive…
Civil
RAF Tornado F3 pilot tells the story of when he was near scrambled to intercept an Air France Concorde flying at Mach 1.6 over the Falklands
QRA launches were frequent to intercept Argentinian Boeing 707 or Lockheed Electra Elint aircraft, however, sometimes other aircraft blundered into the Falkland Island Control Zone… First flown in November 1985,…
History
When a Luftwaffe Me 262 flew over Stalag Luft III, the Allied POWs were so startled that they worried Germany may yet win WWII
The prisoners who operated the gun turrets claimed that they couldn’t spin their turrets quickly enough to take one of those creatures out The Me 262 Schwalbe, which was created…
F-14 Tomcat
Here’s why F-14 Tomcat fighter jets preserved in museums could never be restored in flight conditions
The key structural element of an F-14 is its wing box. It is an electron beam welded titanium box that keeps the wings firmly attached to the rest of the…