KC-10 Extender Leaves the Boneyard for Omega Air Refueling
Share this story On 20 October 2026, a grey three-engined tanker that had spent years parked in the Arizona desert took off from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and turned east. On paper it is no longer an Air Force jet. KC-10A Extender 86-0034 is now N82247, and it...
B-21 Raider Wingspan Measured at About 152 Feet From Satellite Image
Share this story For almost four years after its unveiling, the most basic number about America’s newest bomber was a guessing game. How far does the B-21 Raider reach from wingtip to wingtip? The Air Force never said. Northrop Grumman never said. Then a...
MW-1: The Luftwaffe Tornado’s Cold War Bomblet Dispenser
Share this story If the Cold War had turned hot in Central Europe, one of West Germany’s main answers to waves of Warsaw Pact tanks would have been a box under the belly of a Tornado. The MW-1, short for Mehrzweckwaffe 1, or multi-purpose weapon 1, was a huge...
Boeing 747 and A380 Fuel Tanks: Why the Wings Carry the Load
Share this story A Boeing 747-8 leaves the gate with up to 63,034 US gallons of kerosene on board. That is 238,609 litres, or 191,603 kilograms. Boeing puts the same aeroplane’s operating empty weight at 220,128 kilograms, so the fuel alone weighs almost as much...
NOTAMs Explained: The Notices Every Pilot Must Read Before Flight
Share this story Just before midnight on 7 July 2017, Air Canada Flight 759, an Airbus A320 inbound from Toronto, was cleared to land on runway 28R at San Francisco International Airport. The crew lined up instead with taxiway C, where four airliners sat waiting to...
BAC One-Eleven: The British Jet That Beat the DC-9 to Market
Share this story On 20 August 1963 a small, sharp-nosed jet in British United Airways colours lifted off from Hurn, near Bournemouth. It had two Rolls-Royce engines bolted to the back of the fuselage, a tailplane perched on top of the fin, and a head start that its...
Hawker Typhoon: The Failed Interceptor That Ruled Normandy
Share this story On 9 May 1940, Hawker chief test pilot Philip Lucas looked over his shoulder and saw daylight. The fuselage of the brand-new fighter he was flying had split open just behind his seat. Instead of bailing out, he nursed the crippled prototype back to...
Cessna Citation Gen3 Jets Pass 1,220 Test Hours on Road to Autoland
Share this story Somewhere over Kansas, a white Cessna jet has been flying itself to the ground on purpose. Textron Aviation test pilots have been pressing the button that every owner hopes never to touch, and watching the airplane pick an airport, talk to air traffic...
Taraia Object Was Trees, Not Earhart’s Electra
Share this story For six years, a pale smudge in a satellite photo of a Pacific lagoon kept one of aviation’s oldest questions alive. Seen from orbit, the shape near Nikumaroro’s Taraia Peninsula looked long, bright and suspiciously metallic. Up close, it...
Patriot Interceptor Shortage: How Many Missiles the Iran War Used
Share this story The Patriot is America’s main defence against ballistic missiles, and the war with Iran has used up more of them than any conflict before it. According to estimates by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), US forces fired...
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