News
The Su-15 that crashed trying to follow an SH 37 Viggen doing aerobatic manoeuvres at low altitude to shake off the Flagon
5+ hour, 15+ min ago (284+ words) The Sukhoi Su-15 was a major Russian home-defence interceptor from the mid 1960s to the 1990s. It served in large numbers but never became well known in the West because it was only used in Soviet service and only in that role....
The End of the Intruder Community: the A-6 F and the A-12
18+ hour, 50+ min ago (532+ words) In the years following the Korean War, the A-6 Intruder was designed as a tough and versatile all-weather bomber to replace the Douglas Skyraider in US Navy and Marine Corps attack squadrons. Grumman's design proposal won the Navy contract in February…...
In a 1v1 fight a US Navy Nimitz-Class carrier would have no problem defeating Russia's Admiral Kuznetsov. Here's why.
1+ day, 6+ hour ago (387+ words) Currently the US Navy fields 10 Nimitz-class aircraft carriers (and the Gerald R. Ford, the first sample of the next generation of aircraft carrier): these vessels are the largest warships in the world, each designed for an approximately 50-year service life with…...
The legend of the bag with $30 million in cash delivered to Kelly Johnson to pay for the first six CIA U-2 spy planes
2+ day, 6+ hour ago (150+ words) The following is a very interesting story that my friend and former SR-71 Blackbird pilot Dave Peters told me that I just have to share. There's an urban legend surrounding the contract for the first six U-2s purchased'by CIA. Kelly Johnson…...
Navy F-14 pilot recalls when 7 RPGs were fired simultaneously at his Tomcat during a show-of-force fly-by during Operation Iraqi Freedom
3+ day, 5+ hour ago (467+ words) Few aircraft of the Cold War era have attained such cult status and adoration among those that flew it, wanted to fly it or kept it flying as the mighty Grumman F-14 Tomcat. The jet was the final fighter created by…...
SR-71 pilot recalls when his Blackbird flying at Mach 3, at 80 K ft made a shockwave stretching from Indiana to New York State
4+ day, 6+ hour ago (357+ words) The SR-71 spy plane, the most advanced member of the Blackbird family that included the A-12 and YF-12, was designed by a team of Lockheed personnel led by Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, then vice president of Lockheed's Advanced Development Company Projects, commonly…...
Tri Star pilot recalls when he and his crew were fired with no notice in the middle of a transatlantic flight
5+ day, 6+ hour ago (412+ words) Conceived during the mid-1960s to transport 250 passengers on popular transcontinental routes, the L-1011 boasted unheard-of luxuries, including glare-resistant windows, full-sized hideaway closets for coats and a below-deck galley, which lifted filet mignon and lamb chop dinners up to the main cabin via…...
Blue Angels considered the F-8 as replacement for their F11 Tigers, but the team never transitioned to the Crusader. Here's why.
5+ day, 6+ hour ago (349+ words) In September 1952 the Navy issued specifications for a new carrier-based fighter with the capability to exceed the speed of sound in routine level flight. Chance-Vought won the bid with its F8 U Crusader design (later re-designated the F-8). The F-8 retained 20mm cannon as…...
EA-18 G pilot tells why Naval Aviators have to trade some of their flight time for carrier landing training
6+ day, 6+ hour ago (325+ words) It takes skills and nerves of ice for a'US Navy pilot'to'land an aircraft'on a'carrier's flight deck, essentially a miniature airfield, that is pitching,'rolling and yawing'in rough seas which these ships operate in. Landing on an aircraft carrier is one…...
The story of when Boeing introduced the pre-flight checklist following the crash of the B-17 prototype (then known as the Model 299)
1+ week, 44+ min ago (330+ words) In aviation, a pre-flight checklist is a list of tasks that should be performed by pilots and aircrew prior to takeoff. Its purpose is to improve flight safety by ensuring that no important tasks are forgotten. Failure to correctly conduct…...