A Cessna on Red Square: The Matthias Rust Flight

A Cessna on Red Square: The Matthias Rust Flight

Share this story On May 28, 1987, an 18-year-old West German with 50 hours of flying experience took off from Helsinki in a rented Cessna 172. He told air traffic control he was heading for Stockholm. He turned east instead — straight into the most heavily defended...
Por qué lo llaman la Víbora

Por qué lo llaman la Víbora

Share this story Most aircraft are designed to fly straight and level by default. Take your hands off the controls and they glide on, stable, content, reassuring. The F-16 Fighting Falcon is not like most aircraft. Take your hands off the controls in an F-16 and it...
The Enemy Pilot Who Escorted Us Home

The Enemy Pilot Who Escorted Us Home

Share this story Franz Stigler had one kill to go. One more aircraft, and he would earn the Knight’s Cross — the highest military honour the Luftwaffe could bestow. He had fought across North Africa and was now flying Bf 109s over Germany, defending the Reich...
La cola que conquistó MiG Alley

La cola que conquistó MiG Alley

Share this story In the summer of 1951, American F-86A pilots over North Korea were dying. Not because the MiG-15 was faster. Not because the North Korean and Chinese pilots were better. They were dying because at around Mach 0.86 — the speed at which the...
El piloto que se arrastró durante 18 días a través de la nieve y luego volvió a volar con prótesis.

El piloto que se arrastró durante 18 días a través de la nieve y luego volvió a volar con prótesis.

Share this story In April 1942, Soviet fighter pilot Alexey Maresyev was shot down behind enemy lines over the forests of Novgorod Oblast. What followed was one of the most extraordinary — and largely untold — stories of human endurance in the history of aviation....