Belgium to Give Ukraine Three F-16s by the End of 2026
Share this story Belgium promised Ukraine fighter jets more than two years ago. On 29 September 2026, Volodymyr Zelensky finally put a number and a date on the first of them: three Belgian F-16 Fighting Falcons, to be handed over before the end of this year. Zelensky...
Airbus A350F Flies: Freighter Completes Its Four-Hour Maiden Flight
Share this story Toulouse has seen a great many first flights, but few in a paint scheme that looks like a cardboard box. On 29 September 2026, the first Airbus A350F, MSN700, registered F-WXLD, lifted off from Toulouse-Blagnac in its brown test livery with bright...
F-15EX Lot 7: Air Force Orders 22 More Eagle IIs for $2.38 Billion
Share this story Boeing had a good Tuesday. A very good Tuesday. On 29 September 2026 the Pentagon handed the company the Navy’s sixth-generation F/A-XX fighter, and on the very same day the Department of the Air Force quietly signed for 22 more F-15EX Eagle II...
Boeing Wins F/A-XX: The Navy’s Sixth-Generation Fighter Goes to St. Louis
Share this story The US Navy has picked Boeing to build its next carrier fighter. On Tuesday 29 September 2026, the Pentagon announced that Boeing had won the F/A-XX competition against Northrop Grumman, with a full-scale development contract valued at more than $20...
SS John Burke: The Liberty Ship a Kamikaze Erased in Seconds
Share this story At 10:12 on the morning of 28 December 1944, a Japanese A6M Zero dived through anti-aircraft fire and crashed into the Liberty ship SS John Burke in the Mindanao Sea. For a few seconds there was only smoke. Then her cargo of ammunition went up, and...
Is the F-22 Coming Back? What’s Real Behind the Raptor Restart Headlines
Share this story “The F-22 could return” is back in the headlines. Reports this week claim the United States is examining new production of the F-22 Raptor, the stealth fighter whose line closed in 2011. It is an irresistible story. It is also, on the...
Russian Tu-95MS Bomber Crashes in Amur Region, Killing Six Crew
Share this story A Russian Tu-95MS strategic bomber crashed during a training flight in the Amur region of Russia’s Far East on Monday 29 September 2026. Six of the seven crew members were killed and one was injured and taken to hospital, Russia’s Ministry...
American Airlines Flight 587: The Rudder Inputs That Tore the Tail Off an A300
Share this story At 9:14 on the morning of 12 November 2001, American Airlines Flight 587 lifted off from New York’s John F. Kennedy airport bound for Santo Domingo. Many of the 251 passengers were Dominican New Yorkers going home. About 105 seconds later the...
Fighter Pilot Training Explained: From Turboprop to Typhoon
Share this story Nobody climbs into a Eurofighter Typhoon on their first day in uniform. Between a cadet’s first solo and their first sortie in a frontline fighter sits a ladder of aircraft, each one faster, heavier and less forgiving than the last. This week...
Swissair Grounding 2001: The Day Switzerland’s Airline Ran Out of Cash
Share this story At 15:45 on Tuesday, 2 October 2001, Swissair chairman and CEO Mario Corti stood in front of the cameras and announced that the airline would stop flying. By then, jets carrying the Swiss cross were already sitting on aprons from Zurich to New York,...
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