The B-52 is a symbol of Americanism as profound as baseball, apple pie, and Chevrolet, but is it cut out for the battlefield of the future? There are few things in this world quite as satisfying as a good old-fashioned American success story, the story of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress definitely fits that description. After almost…

The YF-23 Fighter: An Expert Analysis with Additional Comments from a Former George W. Bush Senior Defense Offical: The late, great Sean Connery offered several classic “one-liners” in his lengthy career, and among the best was in 1996’s The Rock, when as a former MI-6 operative, he states bluntly, “Losers always whine about their best. Winners go…

Diving from 10,000 feet, Marine Corps Capt. Eric Albright’s AV-8B Harrier II rocketed toward the Afghan countryside below. It was the middle of the night, and everything beyond the jet’s glass canopy was pitch black. Albright knew somewhere in the green world of his night vision the ground was screaming toward him at 620 miles…

The following story told by Bill Weaver is priceless in conveying the experience of departing an SR-71 Blackbird at an altitude of fifteen miles and speed of Mach 3.2 During the Cold War, there was a need for a new reconnaissance aircraft that could evade enemy radar, and the customer needed it fast. At Lockheed…

Not long after the Wright brothers made their historic flight, ingenious men began using airplanes in a variety of ways that have since become common place in the modern world. As a fast and safe mode of transportation, an efficient way to haul goods to the delivery of healthcare and medicines, the airplane is has proven itself as an…

Thus, legend has it that McDonnell-Douglas quietly withheld authorization for the PW1120-powered Super Phantom to prevent IAI from marketing a cost-effective competitor to its newer fighters. However, though the rumor appears widely-held, confirmation from primary sources is not in evidence. Here’s What You Need to Remember: Some sources claim that Super Phantom upgrade was simply too…

A former Topgun instructor describes a typical combat training mission during his time at the Navy Fighter Weapons School. In September 1982 I was one of eight students being briefed in a classroom at the Navy Fighter Weapons School at Naval Air Station Miramar for a series of flights over southern Arizona, part of the…

The F-15 Strike Eagle was designed as a true-to-form air superiority fighter, with ground attack operations coming in second place in priority. If you listen to the people in charge of the military-industrial complex, they’ll tell you that the US Air Force is in desperate need of some upgrades. In truth, these people are in…

Over seven hundred A-10’s have been built, of which roughly three hundred are currently in service with the Air Force and Air National Guard. The A-10 has proven as durable on the battlefield as it has in the ledger books. Here’s What You Need to Know: Big, tough, and powerful, The A-10 Thunderbolt II “flying tank” is one…

Operator’s manuals have a boring reputation, but not if they are written for one of the best fighter jets ever developed. Retired Air Force Col. Terry “Stretch” Scott found that out during his time flying the F-22 Raptor, the Air Force’s fifth-generation fighter designed to kick down the door of enemy air defenses. “The flight…