History

A chase plane is an aircraft that “chases” a “subject” aircraft, spacecraft or rocket, for the purposes of making real-time observations and taking air-to-air photographs and video of the “subject aircraft”, during flight. When SR-71 Blackbird was in service Northrop T-38 Talon was its chase plane or T-38 to fly …

on Sep. 17, 1987 KC-10 tanker tail number 82-0190 exploded on the Barksdale ramp while undergoing routine maintenance after a mission. The KC-10 arrived at Barksdale AFB and all 17 crewmembers departed the plane. About one hour later, three ground crew members were on board; one in the cockpit, one …

On 2 May 1999, Pilot Lt. Col. David Goldfein’s F-16 fighter jets was shot down over western Serbia by an S-125 surface-to-air missile fired by the 3rd Battery of the 250th Air Defense Missile Brigade of the Yugoslav Air Force. Staff Sgt. Jeremy Hardy, a pararescueman, and his fellow airmen …

During the Vietnam War USAF legendary Boeing B-52 Stratofortress extensively for the conventional bombing was able to become also a MiG killer by shooting down two MiG-21 fighters jets using machine guns mounted in the rear of the D variant of the Stratofortress The MiG kills were both scored during …

Sixty years ago a daring Air Force pilot made headlines after he flew his Boeing B-47 jet underneath the Mackinac Bridge on April 28, 1959, The pilot, Air Force Capt. John S. Lappo flew the six engine U.S. Air Force nuclear bomber between the spans of the bridge, barely clearing …

44-year ago On 29 April 1975, A Vietnam Air Force pilot Major Buang-Ly performed a  historic O-1 Bird Dog landing aboard USS Midway to save his family. Vietnamese Air Force Major Bung-Ly made the decision to load his family — his wife and five children — into a small two-seat …

It’s been 31 years since the Aloha Airlines flight 243 tragedy in the skies. On April 28, 1988, Aloha Airlines Flight 243 was a scheduled Aloha Airlines flight between Hilo and Honolulu in Hawaii. The Flight was just another routine interisland flight. Cruising at 24,000 feet, an 18-foot section of …

The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is a military aerial refuelling aircraft. The KC-135 was the US Air Force’s first jet-powered refuelling tanker. Legendary KC-135 entered service with the United States Air Force (USAF) in 1957; it is one of six military fixed-wing aircraft with over 50 years of continuous service. The …

On 18 December 1969, SR-71A (61-7953) was scheduled for a functional check flight (FCF), piloted by SR-71/F-12 Test Force director Col. Joe Rogers and his Reconnaissance Systems Operator (RSO), Maj. Gary Heidelbaugh. The aircraft configuration included, for the first time ever, the Optical Bar Camera (OBC) nose assembly and some …

A man who bought a new house in Middlesbrough found something that was not in the property’s details – a Second World War bunker. when looking through the overgrown grass in his garden, Mr Scott discovered what he originally thought was a drain pipe cover but But it turned out …