Richard I. Bong was America’s top flying ace in WWII and was one of the most decorated American fighter pilots the US ever had. Here are ten things you should know about the Ace of Aces: 1. Became interested in flying at a young age Richard Bong grew up on a Wisconsin farm near then-President […] More
It was a calm afternoon in Fujian, China, on December 8, 1942. A lookout scanned the skies and spotted an aircraft flying on the horizon, slowly approaching from occupied Taiwan. Quick Response The lookouts sounded the alarm, and pilots Robert Lee Scott and Johnny Hampshire of the Flying Tigers scrambled toward their P-40s. Both men […] More
Reported Missing Flight Sergeant Dennis Copping, a 24-year-old British pilot, was part of the 260 Squadron of the RAF Volunteer Reserves flying the P-40 Kittyhawks. In June 1942, Copping was tasked to fly one of the P-40s (serial code ET574) on a ferry flight to a neighboring British airbase to have the undercarriage repaired. The […] More
Finding A Replacement America’s leading ground-attack aircraft in the early days of the Vietnam War was the A-1 Skyraider. The Skyraider carried a large payload, but its propeller design was already outdated by the 1960s. In September of 1966, US Air Force Chief of Staff General John McConnell ordered the development of a rugged and […] More
The Petlyakov Pe-8 was a Soviet heavy bomber developed during WWII. It was designed by Vladimir Petlyakov in 1939 and was one of the largest aircraft built in the Soviet Union at that time. Despite its size and capabilities, the Pe-8 was plagued by problems, forcing the Soviets to retire the bomber earlier than expected. […] More
Flying a fighter plane through the Eiffel Tower only happens in the movies, right? Well, apparently not. This is the story of William Overstreet – the American pilot who flew his P-51B through the Eiffel Tower to chase a German Bf-109G. A Daredevil At Heart William “Bill” Overstreet Jr. enlisted in the US Army when […] More
A top-secret Soviet project from the late ‘50s could have been the fastest military aircraft ever built. It was expected to fly at supersonic (or even at hypersonic speeds) and was designed to “bring destruction” to any western city using its stealth and nuclear capability. However, as you might have known by now, the USSR […] More
