In December 1941, a German engineer handed the Reich Air Ministry a several-hundred-page report describing a way to bomb New York from the edge of space. The weapon would be launched off a two-mile rail, rocket to the fringe of the atmosphere at some 24 times the...
A stealth aircraft that hangs its bombs under the wings is not really a stealth aircraft. The whole point of a low-observable shape is undone the moment you bolt angular metal to the outside of it. That is why the milestone Baykar announced on 30 July matters more...
For years, flying Allegiant meant paying for everything that was not the seat itself — the carry-on, the boarding pass at the airport, and yes, the cup of soda. That is the whole point of an ultra-low-cost carrier: a rock-bottom fare, then a menu of extras. So...
The cheapest weapon on a modern battlefield is a drone you can buy online. The U.S. Air Force has just answered it in Europe with one of the most futuristic: a laser. Quietly, and at locations it will not name, U.S. Air Forces in Europe has fielded the Compact Laser...
In December 1941, a German engineer handed the Reich Air Ministry a several-hundred-page report describing a way to bomb New York from the edge of space. The weapon would be launched off a two-mile rail, rocket to the fringe of the atmosphere at some 24 times the...
On Friday, the flags came down at Ämari. Portuguese airmen who had spent months guarding the Baltic sky handed the watch to a new crew, and for the first time the pilots taking over spoke Turkish. Five Turkish F-16 Fighting Falcons are now sitting alert in Estonia,...
Black smoke over San Diego is never a good sign. On Friday morning, it meant a stealth fighter was down. A U.S. Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II crashed in the vicinity of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar shortly before 10 a.m. Pacific time, sending a column of black...
The Convair 990 Coronado was the fastest subsonic jetliner ever, yet only 37 sold. Inside the speed bumps, the loss, and NASA’s Galileo afterlife.
A Cessna-only private pilot landed a Beechcraft King Air after the professional pilot died mid-flight, saving his family — guided by ATC and an instructor on the phone.
SAS Flight 751 lost both engines to ice seconds after takeoff in 1991. The crew crash-landed an MD-81 in a field and all 129 aboard survived.
In December 1941, a German engineer handed the Reich Air Ministry a several-hundred-page report describing a way to bomb New York from the edge of space. The weapon would be launched off a two-mile rail, rocket to the fringe of the atmosphere at some 24 times the...
Eddie Rickenbacker, America’s WWI Ace of Aces, survived 24 days adrift on a Pacific life raft in 1942 after his B-17 ditched.
TACA Flight 110 lost both engines to storm hail over New Orleans in 1988. How a one-eyed captain glided a 737 onto a grass levee with no injuries.
The Yakovlev Yak-38 Forger was the USSR’s only carrier jump jet: three engines, tiny range, and an auto-ejection seat. How it stacked up to the Harrier.
Operation Bodenplatte, 1 January 1945: the Luftwaffe’s secret dawn strike on Allied airfields that wrecked hundreds of planes but broke its own fighter arm.
Frank Luke, the Arizona Balloon Buster, downed 14 balloons and 4 aircraft in days, died at 21, and became the first US airman awarded the Medal of Honor.
The Grumman F8F Bearcat missed WWII combat but lives on as “Rare Bear,” the fastest piston-engined aircraft ever raced.
No Kum-Sok flew his MiG-15 to South Korea in 1953, handing the West its first flyable MiG and unknowingly winning a $100,000 reward.
The Arado Ar 234 Blitz outran every Allied fighter over Normandy and bombed Remagen — inside the world’s first operational jet bomber.
The Son Tay Raid was executed flawlessly 23 miles from Hanoi in 1970 — but every cell was empty. How the perfect failure still saved lives.