Aviation News
On Dec. 27, 1992, four U.S. Air Force F-16s, led by Lt. Col. Gary North, encountered an Iraqi MiG 25 that crossed into the no-fly zone in southern Iraq. The F-16s trapped the Iraqi aircraft in the no-fly zone, blocking it from escaping to the north. F-16D #90-0778, flow by North, fired an AIM-120A at the Soviet-built fighter and shot it down. The encounter was also the first air combat kill for a U.S. F-16.
Continue reading “The AIM-120 scored its first combat kill on this day 30 years ago”
IJN Hōshō, the world’s first purpose-built aircraft carrier and Japan’s first aircraft carrier was commissioned into service 100 years ago today.
By Unknown author – Kure Maritime Museum, Japanese Naval Warship Photo Album: Aircraft carrier and Seaplane carrier, Supervisory editor: Kazushige Todaka, p. 12., Public Domain, Link
The last surviving Chinese pilot who was assigned to the 23rd Fighter Group during the Second World War has passed away in Hong Kong.
The Boeing B-47 Stratojet was a groundbreaking aircraft that made its first flight on this day 75 years ago. It was the United States’ first swept-wing multiengine bomber and represented a major milestone in aviation history. Every large jet aircraft today can trace its roots back to the B-47.
National Nuclear Security Administration / Nevada Site Office, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The Antonov An-12, a four-engined turboprop transport aircraft that was designed in the Soviet Union, took off for the first time on Dec. 16, 1957 with Captain Yakov I. Vernikov at the controls.
Igor Dvurekov, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Continue reading “The An-12 turns 65: A milestone for a iconic aircraft”