The Pilot Who Stole a MiG-25 to Defect
On September 6, 1976, Soviet pilot Viktor Belenko made a choice that would reshape Western understanding of Soviet aviation. He pointed the nose of his MiG-25 Foxbat toward Japan and flew. What the West would discover in that intercepted fighter would send shockwaves...
China’s J-35A Stealth Fighter Takes Flight
In January 2026, two sleek silhouettes pierced a Chinese sky in perfect formation. The J-35A, Shenyang Aircraft Corporation’s answer to the F-35, had taken to the air. What appeared on video footage was a signal: China’s stealth program had moved from theoretical to...
The F-15 That Landed With One Wing
On a spring morning in 1983, Israeli pilot Zivi Nedivi was locked in a dogfight when an A-4 Skyhawk appeared in his six o’clock. The collision that followed should have been fatal. Instead, it became aviation’s most impossible survival story. The right wing of...
Overloaded at 13,000 Feet — Bolivia’s Deadly C-130 Crash
On February 27, 2026, a Bolivian Air Force C-130H Hercules loaded with freshly printed banknotes touched down at El Alto International Airport — one of the highest commercial airports on Earth at 4,061 meters above sea level. It never stopped. The aircraft overran the...
Harrier’s Last Ride — Marines Set June Retirement
On June 3, 2026, a Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier will lift off from the runway at MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina, hover for a moment in that unmistakable way only a Harrier can, and then touch down for the very last time. After more than four decades of service, the...
Area 51’s Secret 737 Shows Up at NASA
A standard T-43A — the base airframe from which the heavily modified NT-43A was created. The secret version looks very different. (Photo: U.S. Air Force / Wikimedia Commons) It’s a Boeing 737. Sort of. It has a bulging nose radome that makes it look like a...
Oswald Boelcke: The Man Who Wrote the Rules of Aerial Combat
Quick FactsNationalityGerman 🇩🇪Aerial Victories40Aircraft FlownFokker Eindecker E.III, Albatros D.I/D.IIWarsWorld War IBorn / Died19 May 1891 – 28 Oct 1916 (age 25)UnitJagdstaffel 2 (founder) Albatros C.I ‘197-15’ (14212058469) — via Wikimedia Commons If...
The Strait That Air Power Can’t Open
Related: Dozens of Warthogs Gear Up for Iran Four weeks into the air campaign against Iran, the United States has struck more than 10,000 targets. Roughly 80 percent of Tehran’s integrated air defence network lies in ruins. Its navy has been functionally...
We’re Adding the SR-71 Blackbird to Our Fleet
Today, we make aviation history. Not the ordinary kind — the kind where you need a pressure suit just to get dressed for your flight. MiGFlug is proud to announce that, effective immediately, we are adding the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird to our civilian flight experience...
Navy’s $10 Billion Trainer Race Begins
Quick Facts Program: Undergraduate Jet Training System (UJTS) Replacing: Boeing T-45C Goshawk (in service since 1991) Aircraft needed: 216 new jet trainers EMD cost cap: ~$1.8 billion Contract award: March 2027 Competitors: Boeing T-7B, Lockheed/KAI TF-50N, Leonardo...
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