US Military Aviation
100 Years of Naval Aviation
The Navy's first pilot and 10 more milestones.
March 2011 |
By The Editors
Moments and Milestones: Can You Hear Me Now?
When radio communication took to the air.
March 2011 |
By George C. Larson, Member, NAA
Carrier-bound, and Unmanned
The X-47B, an unmanned combat vehicle being developed by Northrop Grumman for the U.S. Navy, made a successful first flight at California's Edwards Air Force Base on February 4.The X-47B is no small toy—it's about the size of the retired Grumman F-14 Tomcat. It will continue to work toward the ...
February 07, 2011 |
By Mike Klesius
When Pigs Could Fly
The F-111, beloved by pilots in America and Australia, takes to the air for the last time.
January 31, 2011 |
By Michael Klesius
A Guppy with Talons
No, it's not some freakish genetics experiment. It's NASA's Super Guppy transport hauling around a couple of T-38s. Read about it here.
January 26, 2011 |
By Tony Reichhardt
Fired Up
Balkan military officials report that China's new stealth fighter might have some technology acquired from a Lockheed Martin F-117 Nighthawk that was shot down over Serbia in 1999.Whoever recently took this footage of the new fighter doing high-speed taxi tests gets plenty fired up about it around ...
January 25, 2011 |
By Mike Klesius
The Budget News From 1911
As in any year, there are winners and losers in the 2012 Pentagon budget announced yesterday. The Defense Department plans to buy more Reaper unmanned drones, but the Marine Corps' short takeoff and landing version of the F-35 was put on two-year "probation," and may not happen at all. Pretty stand...
January 07, 2011 |
By Tony Reichhardt
The New Afghanistan Air Force
How the U.S. military is training Afghans to fly.
January 2011 |
By Stewart Nusbaumer
Too Hot to Handle: McDonnell XP-67 Moonbat
Man cannot zoom by blended wing alone; he must have an engine that, well, works.
January 2011 |
By Stephan Wilkinson
The Great Escape
For U.S. airmen trapped in Yugoslavia during World War II, building a secret airstrip was their only way out.
January 2011 |
By Phil Scott
You've Got EMALS
We told you all about electromagnetic catapults in this story from January 2007. Now the first airplane has been launched with an EMALS system: an F/A-18E Super Hornet, at a Navy test site in Lakehurst, New Jersey.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euLsg_viWW0
December 30, 2010 |
By Tony Reichhardt
The Human Crash Test Dummy
You had to hand it to John Stapp. When it came to exploring the limits of human tolerance, he didn't ask test subjects to try anything he wasn't willing to do himself.On this day in 1954, Stapp set the record for G-force tolerance—a whopping 46.2 Gs.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfZjN2ceVOI
December 10, 2010 |
By Tony Reichhardt
Still, It Was a Crowd Pleaser
Four T-38 pilots from Vance AFB in Oklahoma are being investigated by the Air Force for flying too low over a college football crowd last month. They came screaming over the University of Iowa's Kinnick Stadium at an altitude of 500 feet just as the national anthem ended—but were supposed to be twi...
December 06, 2010 |
By Tony Reichhardt
T-bird Low Show
Are the United States Air Force Thunderbirds offering a new "low show" when cloud cover is below minimums?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUdHAx6gZqg&NR=1
We contacted the demonstration squadron and asked. Their reply: "Thank you for your interest in the USAF Thunderbirds and for taking the tim...
November 24, 2010 |
By Mike Klesius
Happy Veterans Day
It's not often that you get to see a Boeing C-17 Globemaster make a flyover down a palm-tree-lined street, but it happened one recent Veterans Day in Long Beach, California. Enjoy. Gotta love the car alarm going off in the background at the end of the video—no flyover's complete without one.
http:/...
November 11, 2010 |
By Mike Klesius
Air Force Sloganizing
The U.S. Air Force recently announced its new motto: "Aim High...Fly-Fight-Win," which generals chose out of five contenders suggested by airmen and the general public: Fly Fight Win, Aim High, Above and Beyond, Air Power, and Wings of Freedom.
This from the same people who named the Boeing C-17 ...
November 09, 2010 |
By Pat Trenner
Western Low-Fly Zones: Not in My Sky
The Air Force is looking for places in the American West where pilots can practice flying special operations missions over terrain similar to the rugged mountains of Afghanistan. One proposal would call for a new Low Altitude Tactical Navigation area straddling the border of Colorado and New Mexico...
November 08, 2010 |
By Tony Reichhardt
Air Force Drones Cut to Wide Angle
U.S. Air Force drones that serve as the aerial eyes of American combat troops in Afghanistan are about to widen their view.A multi-camera system called "Gorgon Stare" (named for the Medusa's deadly gaze, which turns onlookers to stone) will be installed on unmanned Reaper aircraft and deployed t...
November 05, 2010 |
By Tony Reichhardt
A Piece of Lafayette Escadrille History
On November 15, 2010, Bonhams & Butterfields in San Francisco will auction this dark grey-green canvas fuselage insignia panel from a Spad VII flown by the Lafayette Escadrille, featuring the familiar Indian-head insignia. The panel, says the company's press release, was collected by Sergeant E...
November 03, 2010 |
By Rebecca Maksel
