The Cold War gave the US Navy some of its most impressive and innovative aircraft, as the aircraft industry transitioned from modified Second World War aircraft to modern, missile-armed fighters, specialised attack aircraft, and precise surveillance systems. Operating from the deck of an aircraft carrier in every ocean, this equipment played vital roles in anti-submarine […]
10 Mass Produced Aircraft of World War II and Their Operational Roles
WWII was when machine flight really changed. A modern air force depends on aircraft for control of the air, close support, strategic attack and all kinds of other missions and during the world wars, aircraft were built on a mass scale to satisfy the needs of the war effort. They operated across Europe, the Pacific […]
8 Iconic Warplane Camouflage Designs Engineered for Aerial Survival and Deception
Military aircraft camouflage is about far more than simply giving a warplane a distinctive appearance. Since the early days of military aviation, specialised paint schemes have been used to make aircraft harder to spot, help them blend into their surroundings, and even confuse enemy pilots. Colours, patterns and surface designs have been carefully selected according […]
10 Iconic Fighter Aircraft of World War II Ranked by Engineering and Combat Impact
By the end of the war military aircraft had advanced at an astonishing rate from basic fighters to complex warplanes designed to control the air space, defend formations of bombers, destroy land based targets and support the fleet. In every theatre of operations Europe, the Pacific and the Eastern Front engineers relentlessly improved engines, aerodynamics, […]
10 Formidable Cold War Carrier Aircraft That Defined Naval Aviation
Enter the perilous domain of Cold War aircraft carrier aviation, an era when thousands of tons of steel and hundreds of crew members made these capital ships among the premier mediums for projecting military air power on the high seas. This floating embodiment of airpower operated over vast distances and may be required to launch […]
A Close Look at Ten of the Most Unconventional Aircraft Ever Built
The history of aviation is peppered with amazing mechanical designs that defy everything we expect in our flight. Planes which appear to follow the same type of design layout as the commercial planes seen today may be familiar, but engineers and inventors over the past few decades have developed some pretty extraordinary flying machines with […]
Comparing US and Chinese Aircraft Carriers: Engineering, Technology, and Naval Power Capabilities
Today’s aircraft carriers are the definition of naval power projection. As the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy modernizes its fleet with supercarrier-like ships such as the Fujian, comparing flattops across the developing Chinese and well established US supercarrier fleets offers a fascinating means of assessing the capacities of the world’s two most powerful carrier forces. […]
A Deep Dive into 10 of the Fastest Aircraft Ever Engineered
Human engineering has driven aircraft to extreme speeds from early jet-powered aircraft that surpassed 600 km/h to experimental hypersonic craft reaching Mach 10-plus. Throughout aviation history, there has been no shortage of aircraft challenging conventional wisdom concerning propulsion, aerodynamics, materials, altitude and handling qualities. Most of these aircraft were built to conduct research, gain new […]
Exploring the Engineering and History of the World’s Ten Largest Aircraft
Aerospace engineering has always been about extremes, and nowhere has that been clearer than when considering airborne giants. These titanic marvels of engineering have been able to move everything from space shuttles and enormous industrial machinery to more than 600 passengers over vast distances. Size is never one thing or simply a number, it is […]
A Breakdown of the Most Capable Air Superiority Fighters of 1985
The 1980s was the last decade of real air-to-air combat. It was probably the last great decade for combat aircraft-in which tiny details of radar design, missile technology and human factors in design contributed to an aircraft that was astonishingly effective and vastly easier to fly than most of the aircraft that it was replacing. […]