History

On Mar. 6, 1990, SR-71 Blackbird S/N 61-7972 (tail number #972) made its final flight from Edwards Air Force Base, California, to Washington DC to be retired and put on display at The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. No reconnaissance aircraft in history has operated globally in more hostile …

The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk is a retired American single-seat, twin-engine stealth attack aircraft that was developed by Lockheed’s secretive Skunk Works division and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF). The F-117 was based on the Have Blue technology demonstrator. The Nighthawk was the first operational aircraft to be …

The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is a twin-engine, high performance, all-weather air superiority fighter. First flown in July 1972, the Eagle entered U.S. Air Force inventory in November 1974. It was the first U.S. fighter to have engine thrust greater than the normal weight of the aircraft, allowing it to …

The F-4 Phantom II entered the U.S. Air Force (USAF) inventory in 1963 and was the primary multi-role air in the USAF throughout the 1960s and 1970s. The F-4 flew bombing, combat air patrol, fighter escort, reconnaissance, and the famous Wild Weasel anti-aircraft missile suppression missions. It was also flown …

Pan Am Flight 103 was a regularly scheduled Pan Am transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Detroit via London and New York. 31 years ago on 21 December 1988, N739PA, the aircraft operating the transatlantic leg of the route was destroyed by a bomb, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew …

China’s PLA tested ints first nuclear weapon in 1964, and its first thermonuclear weapon just three years later in 1967. Testing continued until 1996, and the military continued to develop higher payload weapons with smaller and lighter warheads to allow them to be mounted on ballistic missiles. While North Korea …

on Mar. 19, 1990 a U.S. Air Force (USAF) Elmendorf Air Force Base (AFB) F-15 Eagle accidentally hit by an AIM-9M Sidewinder missile fired from another USAF F-15. As can be seen by looking at the photo, the missile caused extensive damage to the tail section of the aircraft and …

An F-15E Strike Eagle at Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England (U.S. Air Force photo/ Tech. Sgt. Matthew Plew) Boeing and the U.S. Air Force claims that the F-15 Eagle has a clear-cut win-to-loss ratio of 104 to zero. However, Has Any Fighter jet Ever managed to Shot Down an F-15 Eagle …

Near the end of the Cold War, in an operation that seems made for a major Hollywood movie, a U.S. Air Force C-5 Galaxy transport plane discreetly flew U.S. Army special operators (Night Stalkers) and a pair of MH-47D Chinooks from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment to the African …

On May 17, 1987, the U.S. Navy guided-missile frigate USS Stark was on a patrol in the central Persian Gulf. At night, Stark came under attack from an apparent Iraqi Air Force jet Aircraft. An Iraqi pilot attacked USS Stark in a Dassault Falcon 50 modified business jet armed. All …