The RIO or Radar Intercept Officer Any fighter aircraft’s normal mission is to intercept an airborne target. Finding a target on the radar is the first step in intercepting it.…
Exercise: Red Flag In order to lessen pilots’ susceptibility and high loss rate in their first five combat missions, the US Air Force planned to offer realistic operational training within…
The KC-135Q It’s impossible to overemphasize the essential role played by the KC-135Q tanker crews, without whom successful prosecution of the SR-71 Blackbird mission would have been impossible. As told…
The SR-71 Blackbird One of the most sophisticated members of the Blackbirds family, the SR-71 (along with the A-12 and YF-12), was created by a team of Lockheed personnel under…
The F-14 Tomcat When it came to Cold War fighter jets, the US Navy’s Grumman F-14 Tomcat was unmatched overall. Six long-range AIM-54A Phoenix missiles could be guided by the…
Can a fighter jet be stolen? Theft of aircraft is a crime that is becoming more and more common, and it is frequently committed in conjunction with drug smuggling. Owners…
The RAF Lighting Interceptor Designed as a Mach 2 interceptor with an unrivaled rate of climb, the English Electric Lightning was frequently referred to as “a pilot sitting on two…
The SR-71 Blackbird The US Air Force (USAF) created the SR-71 Blackbird in the 1960s; it was a plane that could move at a speed that was more than three…
The B-47 that flew the largest Nuclear Bomb ever built to Spain The first XB-47 prototype, built to fulfill a 1944 need, flew in December 1947 and outperformed its competitors.…
French Aéronavale F-8 Crusader One term for the Vought F-8 Crusader was “fighter pilot’s fighter.” Although flying the jet was difficult, particularly during carrier landings, Crusader pilots had a great…