Looking Over The Edge
by Keith “Rosey” Rosenkranz Aviators who’ve been to “the edge of the envelope” definitely know the name “Chuck Yeager.” On Oct. 14, 1947, the legendary test pilot became the first person to fly supersonic,...
New Contrails Section
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T-BIRD BOMB BURST
BY GEN. MERRILL A. (TONY) MCPEAK , Del Rio could be the movie set of a West Texas border town. It’s windy, and the weather tends toward seasonal extremes. A large U.S. Air Force...
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KILLING TRAINS
By Ed Rasimus (Excerpted from When Thunder Rolled: An F-105 Pilot over North Vietnam) Our target for the day was a bridge at Bac Ninh on the northeast railroad. Ingress could be along the...
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FAREWELL FLIGHT
FAREWELL FLIGHT by Capt. William R. Tymczyszyn I hoped we’d fly together again someday, but I didn’t know just when. Then a sense of something special came over me, as I released the brakes...
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GORILLA – THE FIRST JET-POWERED PRIMATE
by William B.Scott At the dawn of the jet age, a small group of test pilots, engineers, technicians and maintenance troops secretly evaluated the Bell XP-59A, America’s first military jet, at the remote Materiel...
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B-52 STRIKE ON IRAQ
January 16, 1991; 1900 Hours: “We’re going!” That simple announcement from “Moondog,” our radar navigator, triggered a flurry of activity. We were going to war with Iraq. Jamming last-minute gear into our helmet bags...
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THE FIRST NIGHTHAWKS
by William B. Scott Depicting a symbolic nighthawk in flight and worn on a man’s suit lapel, it’s just a small, innocuous silver pin. But a red ruby in the hawk’s eye silently...
Main Posts Section
Wings Over Houston 2020
With an unused airline ticket in my bank, I returned to the Wings Over Houston Airshow for a second year in a row after the official announcement that it was a go for October...
The 2020 Bell Fort Worth Alliance Airshow
The Bell Fort Worth Alliance Airshow celebrated its 30th year anniversary over the weekend of October 17th and 18th. With most airshows being cancelled at the beginning of the airshow season due to the...
2020 “Arsenal of Democracy” Flyover
On December 29, 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt broadcast a radio fireside chat from the White House stating, “We must be the great arsenal of democracy. We must apply ourselves to our task with...
“The Great Arsenal of Democracy” B-29 Superfortresses
One of the larger attractions of the 2020 “Arsenal of Democracy” flyover were the only two flying B-29 Superfortresses, “Doc” and “FiFi”, joined in flight for just the fourth time since their restorations. On...
First MC-130J Commando II is Delivered
On May 29, 2020, Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) announced that they have successfully delivered to the United States Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) the first MC-130J (Tail Number 08-5697) Commando II equipped with...
Blue Angels Legacy Hornets Retired
The United States Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, better known as the Blue Angels, recently flew their “sundown” voyage with their F/A-18 Legacy Hornets. The term “Legacy” refers to early model McDonnell Douglas/Boeing F/A-18 model...
Mid-Summer Spotting Part #3 A Recent Look at Narrow Body Air Traffic at Chicago O’Hare Airport.
As we wrap up our look into a recent spotting trip to Chicago O’Hare International Airport, we take a closer look at the narrow body and regional traffic. Chicago O’Hare International Airport is an...
Aircraft That Served in Both Military and Civilian Markets
There are many examples in aviation history where an aircraft model has served similar roles in both military and civilian use. Especially during the early years of World War II, many civilian aircraft were...
Stealthy Sighting at MCAS Miramar
Lockheed Skunk Works’ YF-117A Nighthawk prototype first flew on June 18, 1981. Evidently it became operational in 1983, and was publically displayed for the first time on April 21, 1990 at a small event...
Mid-Summer Spotting Part #2 A Recent Look at the Freighter Traffic at Chicago O’Hare Airport.
We continue our look into a recent spotting trip to Chicago O’Hare International Airport with a closer look at pure freighter traffic. The downturn in traffic on the passenger side has been very evident...
Our Dassault Mirage Scrapbook
Originally designed as a single seat fighter with a secondary bomber role, the French Dassault Mirage family of aircraft was expanded to include advanced fighter-interceptors and pure bomber variants. A pair of these bomber...
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