Aviation World, History & Legends
On December 14, 1986, a strange-looking aircraft — long, thin, with two fuselages, a pusher engine, a puller engine, and wings so flexible they bent visibly under their own weight — rolled down a runway at Edwards Air Force Base in California and lifted off. It was...
History & Legends, Military Aviation
Quick FactsNationalitySoviet 🇷🇺Aerial Victories12 (highest female ace of all time)Aircraft FlownYak-1, Yak-1BWarsWorld War IIBorn / Died18 Aug 1921 – 1 Aug 1943 (age 21)Unit586th Fighter Aviation Regiment, 73rd Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment Order of the Red Banner...
Aviation World, History & Legends
At 10:56 PM Eastern time on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong placed his left boot on the surface of the Moon and said words that 600 million people — one in five people alive on Earth — were listening to live. The signal took 1.26 seconds to travel from the lunar surface...
History & Legends, Military Aviation
Quick FactsNationalitySoviet 🇷🇺Aerial Victories59 (officially credited)Aircraft FlownMiG-3, Yak-1, P-39 AiracobraWarsWorld War II (Eastern Front)Born / Died6 Mar 1913 – 13 Nov 1985 (age 72)Unit16th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment Stamp of Russia 2013 No 1675...
Aviation World, History & Legends
In 1965, Pan American World Airways president Juan Trippe phoned Boeing president Bill Allen and asked whether Boeing could build an aircraft twice the size of anything currently flying. Allen said he would look into it. The two men then did something remarkable for...
History & Legends, Military Aviation
Quick FactsNationalitySoviet 🇷🇺Aerial Victories64 (highest Allied ace of WWII)Aircraft FlownLa-5FN, La-7WarsWorld War II (Eastern Front)Born / Died8 Jun 1920 – 8 Aug 1991 (age 71)Unit240th Fighter Aviation Regiment, 176th Guards Regiment Ivan Kozhedub 1 — via...
History & Legends, Military Aviation
In the summer of 1940, roughly 3,000 RAF fighter pilots stood between Nazi Germany and the conquest of Britain. Against them, the Luftwaffe fielded over 2,600 aircraft and some of the most experienced combat aviators in the world. For four months — from July to...
History & Legends, Military Aviation
Quick FactsNationalityJapanese 🇯🇵Aerial Victories80+ confirmed (202 total claimed)Aircraft FlownA5M Claude, A6M Zero, N1K2-J GeorgeWarsSecond Sino-Japanese War, World War IIBorn / Died4 Sep 1916 – 25 May 1955 (age 38)UnitZuikaku Fighter Group, 252 Kōkūtai 253Air group...
Aviation World, History & Legends
On October 24, 2003, British Airways flight BA002 touched down at London Heathrow for the last time. As it taxied in, the crew made an announcement: this was Concorde’s final commercial flight. The passengers — who had each paid around £8,000 for a seat — stood...
History & Legends, Military Aviation
Quick FactsNationalityGerman 🇩🇪Aerial Victories158 (151 in North Africa alone)Aircraft FlownBf 109E/FWarsWorld War II (North Africa)Born / Died13 Dec 1919 – 30 Sep 1942 (age 22)UnitJG 27 Bundesarchiv Bild 146-2006-0122, Hans-Joachim Marseille — via Wikimedia Commons...
History & Legends, Military Aviation
The standard defensive manoeuvre for an SR-71 Blackbird when it detected a surface-to-air missile launch was simple: accelerate. At Mach 3.3 and 85,000 feet, acceleration was sufficient. No SR-71 was ever shot down. In over 3,500 operational missions, spanning 24...
History & Legends, Military Aviation
Quick FactsNationalityAustrian/German 🇦🇹Aerial Victories258 (including 3 in Me 262 jet)Aircraft FlownFw 190A, Bf 109, Me 262 (first jet ace)WarsWorld War IIBorn / Died7 Dec 1920 – 8 Nov 1944 (age 23)UnitJG 54, Kommando Nowotny Walter Nowotny (portrait) — via Wikimedia...
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