Circling high above Bougainville, Gregory “Pappy” Boyington peered through the glass of his F4U Corsair’s cockpit at the Japanese air base below. He was in charge of 24 other Marine Corsairs from the legendary Black Sheep Squadron, and their plan was simple: lure as many Japanese pilots into the sky as they could and kill them.…

The F-14 would spend 30 years in active service with the US Navy and Air Forces. In terms of all-time great American fighter planes, there are pretty much only two guaranteed to have pinned up on any aspiring petrolhead’s bedroom wall. One is the P-51 Mustang, but if you prefer planes of a more modern and jet-powered…

Here’s What You Need to Remember: Controlled through an interlinked navigation system, the MQ-25 Stingray can deliver up to fifteen thousand pounds of fuel to a distance of just under six hundred miles. The MQ-25 Stingray promises to bring new functionality to the F-35 fighter jet, enhancing the U.S. Navy’s lethality against its great power competitors.…

Pilot: “It’s deliberate, measured, hefty, impactful calculated and sound. There’s nothing flimsy or fragile about the way it is constructed or about the way that it flies.” Although the continued existence of the A-10 is assured well into the next decade, the debate about what, if anything, might be able to replace it is quite…

Military aircraft can have notoriously short lifespans, especially during periods of technological ferment. Here’s What You Need to Remember: The MiG-21 remains one of the iconic fighter jets of the supersonic age. But a few designs stand the test of time. The B-52 Stratofortress first flew in 1952, yet remains in service today. New C-130 cargo aircraft continue to roll off the…

Vought F4U Corsair, a history, as told by military expert Christian D. Orr: In response to the multiple 19FortyFive articles I’ve written about the best fighter planes of WWII, several of my readers have admonished me to the effect of “But what about the Corsair!?!” Hey, fair enough; after all, I’ve already written about the A-7 Corsair II, so why…

Here’s What You Need to Know: This venerable fighter has been upgraded many times and still sees service around the world. The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is a legendary aircraft — an icon of the Vietnam War and the archetype of the third-generation jet fighter designs that entered service in the 1960s. More than 5,000 of these…

The preflight exterior walk around of the aircraft is one of the very first tasks a new flight student is taught, usually with a demonstration from the flight instructor on day one. The eager student would do well to begin to find the importance, and simple joy, of this task, as it will remain a key feature…

Not too expensive and very reliable, the Saab 35 has made its mark. Here is how the warplane’s unusual design makes it so unique. Here’s What You Need to Remember: The Saab 35 Draken was in use in some capacity until the mid-2000s—a run of about fifty years. Not too bad for an initially experimental aircraft.…

The GAU-8 Avenger is one impressive weapon system and the foundation of the A-10 Warthog, despite its age, won’t go away anytime soon. Used for combat during the time of the Gulf War in 1991, the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt – also known commonly as the “Warthog” – destroyed more than 900 Iraqi tanks, some 2,000 other military vehicles,…