Germany’s First F-35 Enters the Paint Shop

Germany’s First F-35 Enters the Paint Shop

Military Aviation, News

In a high-bay hall in Fort Worth, Texas, a matte-grey shape is about to disappear. Germany’s first F-35A Lightning II, the airframe stamped MG-01, has rolled out of final assembly and into the stage Lockheed Martin calls Aircraft Final Finishes: the point where...
Rescue One, Cleared for Takeoff

Rescue One, Cleared for Takeoff

History & Legends, Military Aviation

The F-104 Starfighter has one of the worst reputations in military aviation. Germany bought 916 of them, lost 292, and buried 116 pilots. The Luftwaffe called it the Witwenmacher — the Widowmaker.On one night in January 1982, that aircraft did something no other...
The World’s Militaries, Counted

The World’s Militaries, Counted

Aviation World, Military Aviation

In 2025 the world spent $2,887 billion on its armed forces. That is the highest figure SIPRI has ever recorded, the eleventh consecutive annual increase, and it works out at $352 for every person alive.Below is what that money bought, counted as carefully as open...
Why Almost Every Airliner Is White

Why Almost Every Airliner Is White

Aviation World

Stand at any airport window and count the aircraft. Almost all of them are white, with a tail and a bit of branding to tell them apart. Airlines spend fortunes on brand identity, and then paint their single most visible asset the same colour as everybody...
Why Runways Change Their Numbers

Why Runways Change Their Numbers

Aviation World

In 2009, Fairbanks International Airport in Alaska closed a runway, sent out crews, and repainted the enormous white numbers at both ends. Runway 1L–19R became runway 2L–20R.Nothing had been built. Nothing had moved. The concrete was in exactly the same...
The Hole in Your Aircraft Window

The Hole in Your Aircraft Window

Aviation World

Next time you get a window seat, look at the bottom of the window. There is a hole in it. A real one, drilled straight through, about the size of a pinhead.Most people who notice it assume one of two things: that it is damage, or that it is there to let air in. Both...
Ten Engines, One of a Kind

Ten Engines, One of a Kind

History & Legends, Military Aviation

Count the engines on a Dornier Do 31 and you get to ten. Two of them are Pegasus turbofans, the same vectored-thrust engines that made the Harrier work. The other eight do nothing whatsoever in cruise. They sit in pods on the wingtips, four a side, pointing at the...
Three Minutes to the Hudson

Three Minutes to the Hudson

Aviation World, History & Legends

Ninety seconds before he put an Airbus A320 into a river, Chesley Sullenberger said something entirely ordinary. It was 3:26 in the afternoon on 15 January 2009, the aircraft was climbing away from LaGuardia, and he looked left out of the window. “What a view of...