She was instructing over Oahu on 7 December 1941 when the first wave arrived, and was shot at twice before nine in the morning. Fifteen months later she was dead in a Texas canyon.
Mil V-12: The Largest Helicopter Ever Built, and Its Unbeaten Record
Two rotors side by side, sixty-seven metres across the tips, and forty tonnes lifted to 2,255 metres in 1969. No helicopter has lifted more since. Only two were ever built.
Rolls-Royce Ran a Jet Engine on 100% Hydrogen. Now the Hard Part.
A Pearl 15 ran a full simulated flight cycle on pure hydrogen at NASA Stennis. It is a real milestone — and it was a ground rig burning gas, not an aircraft burning liquid.
Short SC.1: Britain’s First VTOL Jet, and Early Fly-by-Wire
Five engines, four of which only pushed downwards, and a triplex electronic control system that voted with itself. The SC.1 worked out how to hover a jet more than a decade before the Harrier entered RAF service.
Betty Skelton: Aerobatic Champion, Then Land Speed Record Holder
She soloed at twelve, won three aerobatic championships cutting ribbons upside down, then set a land speed record in a jet car. Seventeen records across air and land.
Armstrong Whitworth A.W.52: Britain’s First Emergency Ejection
A jet flying wing built to chase laminar flow, and the day in May 1949 when it shook itself apart and made Jo Lancaster the first British pilot to eject in an emergency.
Tupolev Tu-114: The Fastest Propeller Airliner Ever Built
In 1960 a Soviet airliner derived from the Tu-95 bomber averaged 877 km/h over 5,000 km. No propeller-driven aircraft has beaten it since.
Heinkel He 219 Uhu: The Night Fighter Germany Refused to Build
The first operational aircraft with ejection seats, fast enough to catch a Mosquito, and cancelled by a field marshal who disliked its designer. Only one complete example survives.
Jerrie Mock: The First Woman to Fly Solo Around the World
In 1964 an Ohio pilot flew an eleven-year-old Cessna 180 around the world alone in 29 days. The press called her a housewife. She had eight years and an instrument rating behind her.
Aermacchi MB-339 at Fifty: The Trainer That Went to War
Fifty years after its first flight, the Aermacchi MB-339 has trained 2,500 Italian pilots, attacked a Royal Navy frigate, and still flies with the Frecce Tricolori.
Ukraine’s 426-Drone Night: Kstovo Refinery and a Wildberries Hub Burn
Russia says it downed 426 Ukrainian drones overnight on 26 August. Two of its larger industrial sites — the Kstovo refinery and a Wildberries logistics hub — burned anyway.
JetBlue BlueHouse Boston Opens, and Mint Fares Now Get In Free
JetBlue’s second BlueHouse lounge opened at Boston Logan Terminal C on 27 August — 12,000 square feet of New England set dressing, plus a significant change to who gets in free.
F-35 Costs Jump $51 Billion: What the New Estimate Actually Says
The cost of buying America’s stealth fighter fleet has risen about 10% since late 2023 — roughly $51 billion — driven by engines, spares, readiness and the long-delayed Block 4 software.
Chinese Fighter Exports: The Car Industry Parallel, Tested
China exports cars to absorb overcapacity. It exports fighters for entirely different reasons. Testing the comparison against SIPRI data, production figures and every Chinese fighter export order on the books.
160th SOAR Black Hawk Down in Colorado, All Four Crew Safe
An MH-60 Black Hawk of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment came down during routine training west of Denver on 25 August. All four crew were uninjured.
B-52 Radar Modernization: $766 Million and Still Testing
Raytheon and Boeing have picked up contracts worth up to a combined $766 million tied to the B-52 Radar Modernization Program, as the delayed AN/APQ-188 finally reaches flight test at Edwards.
Storm Shadow: Britain Clears Missile Assembly in Ukraine
Britain has cleared MBDA to release classified data on UK components in the Storm Shadow, letting France and Ukraine advance local SCALP assembly. In return, the UK gets first access to Ukraine’s Avengers AI battlefield dataset.