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A little thread necropost here because I just saw your reply. Everything I've ever heard/read about the B-36 was that it was barely an airplane. If you take WWII recip technology and design it to carry 2-3 Fat Man sized bombs to Europe (the design was initially an XBLR paper airplane...

The original OXCARTS (A-12) were a lot lighter than the SR-71 - half the human support systems, and smaller lower equipment bays. It's not surprising at all that they were faster/higher fliers. Probably worth mentioning though that a) the J-58 engine works in a pretty tight 'box' of mach...

First pass was a good effort and would have gotten full points in TA instruction. Second pass embarrasses some fast-mover tactical guys I've seen. Impressive. I'm sure USAF knows that this is the lowest usable payload C-17 in the inventory - the pilot's goombas obviously take up a lot of the...

The whole 'pilot error' thing is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, yes we humans are fallible and make mistakes. That's arguably the most important reason why we have two-pilot cockpits in commercial airliners - cross checks. And yes, you could automate the whole process of flying from...

That may be the most fun way to mow the grass ever...

Or, as I told my 10 year old son when Fifi was taking off (and remembering standing beside the runway during a 12 ship B-52 MITO when I was knee-high to a grasshopper), "That, my son, is the sound of Freedom."

Ah the first of the great McNamara 'all purpose fighters,' the F-4. It only took five years, better engines, better missiles, the invention of Top Gun and Red Flag, and the addition of a pod-mounted machine gun to make an effective fighter out of what was actually a heavy attack airplane. I...

One of my cherished memories is the time my dad took me to the exhibition day after bomb comp in the mid '80s. Among the numerous fun things was a flying exhibition by one of the visiting Vulcans. I was really chuffed when found out that there is still one flying Vulcan in the world.

Ground effect is really simple: In level flight at altitude, the airplane maintains altitude because the wing displaces a mass of air downward at the same rate that the airplane is trying to fall. The air is pushed down and away from the airplane's path until friction damps the motion. As a...

That dead stick video of Precious Metal is fantastic. I hope it's because the PIC had practiced/rehearsed all this stuff before and not just because he's such an awesome pilot that he could do it off the cuff. Awesome flying either way, don't get me wrong... Being a high-drag bug-smasher kind...

I wonder whose F-104 that was. I hope...I really hope the photo was taken from bleachers/truck roof/reviewing stand and the wingtip isn't actually as close to the pavement as it looks to be. He's in mid roll - you can see that the ailerons are deflected. Knowing what a brickbat an F-104 was...