History

In 1958, the Central Intelligence Agency started sponsoring a program known as Diamond Lil, in which Chinese Nationalist pilots were trained to fly Martin RB-57D Canberra high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft. Six Black Cat Squadron Taiwanese pilots were trained on the B-57C at Laughlin AFB, Texas, arriving back in Taiwan, and two …

According to the BBC article, In  1964 Theo Van Eijck a young sailor who stole a plane from his military base to get out of the navy During an interview with BBC, Theo Van Eijck Dutch newspaper clippings, with show-stopping headlines reporting the antics of a young sailor who stole …

On Sept. 15, 1980, Nearly four decades ago, a U.S. Air Force B-52H bomber, armed with eight nuclear-tipped AGM-69A Short Range Attack Missiles and four B28 nuclear gravity bombs, burned for hours at Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota. The bomber and its six-person crew, assigned to the …

The SR-71A (61-7974 / 2025) was lost on 21 April 1989 over the South China Sea and is the last loss of any Blackbird. After taking off from Kadena AFB, her right engine exploded, taking several hydraulic lines with it and crippling the flight controls. Pilot Maj. Daniel E. House …

In March 1986, U.S. Navy aviators out-flew, out-maneuvered and jammed the Libyan Arab Air Force so badly that the Libyans stopped flying their interceptors over the Gulf of Sidra. As a result, Tripoli had to give up its claim on this part of the Mediterranean. Equally damaging, the lack of …

In 1964 during the Vietnam War U.S. aviators were captured by the North Vietnamese. Paul F Crickmore shares the story of how two SR-71 Blackbirds generated tri-sonic booms to free captured US prisoners of war in his book Lockheed Blackbird: Beyond the Secret Missions (Revised Edition): On Jun. 10, 1970, …

In 1995, Pepsi had launched a campaign called ‘Drink Pepsi, Get Stuff’, one that allowed customers to earn points on every Pepsi product they purchased and then exchanged for things like Pepsi branded t-shirts and hats. The commercial for the campaign also stated that a Harrier Jet would be given for 7 million points. …

On 20 August, B-2’s manufacturer, Northrop Grumman, hosted an event to mark the legendary stealth bomber’s 30th anniversary of its first flight at an event at Plant 42, according to 412th Test Wing Public Affairs Thirty years ago, on July 17, 1989, an oddly-shaped and dark-colored new plane took to the …

Poland, which was invaded by both the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany at the start of WW II, intends to present German President Frank Walter Steinmeier with its view that Germany should reopen the issue of compensation for Poles when he visits Poland in September, the Sun reported. The German …

The below video taken on Oct. 9, 1999 at Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) shows the last ever flight of an SR-71 Blackbird. This flight took place at the Edwards AFB Open House Airshow.Thirty minutes after the take off the SR-71 had climbed to 80,100ft and was travelling at a speed …