In October 1962, the C.I.A. and the U.S.A.F. requested that Lockheed study a high-speed, high-altitude drone concept for reconnaissance flights over particularly hostile territories to avoid endangering aircrews. Created during the height of the Cold War and following the shootdown of a U-2 spy p...
The USS Hornet (CV-12) stands as one of the most storied aircraft carriers in United States naval history, playing a decisive role in World War II as part of the Essex-class fleet. From its origins as a replacement for the lost USS Hornet (CV-8) to its participa...
Specialized equipment often reflects very specific mission requirements, and few examples are as niche as the modified Smith & Wesson Model 41 pistols issued for the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird pilot survival kits.
No one on board the USS Indianapolis (CA-35) knew anything about the cargo they were carrying. What they did know was that the veteran cruiser (launched in 1931) made the trip from San Francisco to the island of Tinian in the Marianas in just ten days. The crew was proud of the “Indy”, and fo...
Military aircraft design of the Cold War era could be described as akin to physics, or, more specifically, to Newton’s Third Law of motion, which states, “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” From lessons learned in the Vietnam War, the United States Air Force determi...
At the National Museum of the United States Air Force, many visitors will see an unfamiliar aircraft at the entrance to the WWII gallery. The museum’s display of the gleaming silver fighter coded “86” on the fuselage, features a pilot boarding the plane in his pajamas, with an M1911 pistol ...
A supervisory engineer at Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division spent years building a jammer designed to defeat America’s own radars. The harder his team made it for friendly pilots to see through the jamming, the better they were doing their job. Then the question changed: what if the sam...
From its earliest experimental roots to today’s cutting-edge stealth bombers, the flying wing has remained one of aviation’s most radical and enduring ideas. Stripped of traditional fuselage and tail structures, this design prioritizes aerodynamic efficiency above all else. The design reduces...
The incredable story of a WWII pilot surviving as a POW and his many escapes. William Ash is the Cooler King.
During the Second World War, the Imperial Japanese Navy’s Yamato was feared due to its immense size and power. She was the most heavily armed battleship ever built, with nine 18.1-inch (460mm) main guns, the largest ever mounted on a warship. Each shell weighed nearly 1.5 tons and had a range i...