Flying-Aviation
Flight Journal
The iconic '80s aviation action classic returns to thrill a new generation
Can you believe it’s been 34 years since we first saw Tom Cruise catapult off a carrier deck and up into the danger zone as Lieutenant Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in Top Gun? That jet-propelled ode to air-to-air combat in the jet age is without question one of the most iconic films of the 1980s—so much so that in 2015 the Library of Congress deemed it to be “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” enough to be archived in the National Film Registry! It was also the highest-grossing film of 1986, which probably has more to do with why Paramount Pictures and producer Jerry Bruckheimer have been trying for a decade to get a sequel off the deck—and now they have.
3 min |
June 2020
Flight Journal
Battle of the Superfighters
F-14D Tomcat vs F/A - 18E/F Super Hornet
10+ min |
June 2020
Flight Journal
Clipwing Monocoupe
The Monocoupe Corp. built only seven Monocoupe 110 Specials (or 110 SPL), also called the Clipwing Monocoupe. The most famous was flown by legendary airshow pilot Woody Edmundson, who, in 1946, replaced the original 145 hp Warner Scarab engine with a 185 hp one that had an inverted flight carburetor and an Aeromatic propeller. He nicknamed the plane Little Butch and flew it for the next 19 years.
2 min |
June 2020
Flight Journal
A good landing is one you can walk away from
No, this is not a scene from any movie where the hero staggers away from a “good landing” on Mindoro, Philippine Islands, after being shot down by a Japanese Zero; it is an actual photo of Lt. S. F. Ford walking away from a virtually new Lockheed P-38L-5-LO Lightning that he crash-landed, probably some time after January 1945.
1 min |
June 2020
Flight Journal
THE GEICO SKYTPERS
The family-run business that changed the skywriting industry forever!
3 min |
April 2020
Flight Journal
FLYING THE Bf 109: Two pilots give their reports
The Bf 109 is, without a doubt, the most satisfying and challenging aircraft I have ever flown. So how does it fly and how does it compare with other WW II fighters?
10+ min |
April 2020
Flight Journal
FIRST RAID TO BLECHHAMMER
Escaping and Evading in Southwest Slovakia
10+ min |
April 2020
Flight Journal
EYES IN THE SKY
An inside look at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum’s modern drone collection
10+ min |
April 2020
Flight Journal
Flying Backseat in a Texan
Recently, senior editor Gerry Yarrish had an experience of a lifetime when he was able to fly backseat with Nick Ziroli Jr. in his beautiful AT-6 Texan.
1 min |
April 2020
Flight Journal
AVIATION'S LIVING HISTORY
The museums and tours that are keeping warbirds alive and aloft!
10+ min |
April 2020
Flight Journal
POINT BLANK!
Jugs Over the Battle of the Bulge
10+ min |
February 2020
Flight Journal
THEIR FINEST HOUR
THE SUMMER OF 2020 WILL MARK 80 YEARS SINCE THE BRITISH ROYAL AIR FORCE (RAF) AND NAZI GERMANY’S LUFTWAFFE FOUGHT THE WORLD’S FIRST GREAT AIR CAMPAIGN
6 min |
February 2020
Flight Journal
ZERO Myth, Mystery, and Fact
A test pilot compares the A6M5 Zero to U.S. fighters
10+ min |
February 2020
Flight Journal
NIGHT FIGHTERS in the Battle of the Bulge
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS AND PHOTOS FROM THE 422 SQUADRON'S PILOTS AND CREWS
10+ min |
February 2020
Flight Journal
Building an RC Blackbird
An SR-71 nine years in the making
1 min |
February 2020
Flight Journal
Untold Story: How The USAF Won The Korean War But Couldn't Tell Anyone
Not even the most aggressive aerial bombing in history was winning the Korean War, until one heroic Air Force mission did the impossible—ended the war—and violated every rule command leadership had created. Author Thomas McKelvey Cleaver reveals the secrets behind this daring mission.
9 min |
December 2019
Flight Journal
Confessions Of A Type Hunter
What, you may logically ask, is a type hunter? Well, they come in degrees, but a dedicated type hunter is a severely addicted person with a clear goal to fly as many different types of airplanes as possible. He or she can’t explain why. It just is.
3 min |
December 2019
Flight Journal
Elliptical Elegance: Flying And Evaluating The Seafire Mark III
It’s commonly agreed that the Spitfire/Seafire configuration was the most beautiful fighter ever. Its elliptical wing and long, slim fuselage were most delightful to the eye, and its flight characteristics equaled its aerodynamic excellence. The Navy Spitfire, the Seafire, was heavier, but otherwise retained all of the Spitfire’s delightful flight characteristics.
4 min |
December 2019
Flight Journal
Lost Cause: Luftwaffe Bombers
The Uphill Struggle
10 min |
October 2019
Flight Journal
F7F Tigercats Over North Korea
Grumman's svelte postwar killer
10+ min |
October 2019
Flight Journal
Vietnam Bombing Mission
What movie was that?
8 min |
October 2019
Flight Journal
The A-20 Havoc Story - An Unknown Warrior
A Unknown Warrior
3 min |
October 2019
Flight Journal
Pilots Who Have Shot Down Airplanes From All Three Axis Powers
Pilots who have shot down airplanes from all three axis powers
10 min |
October 2019
Flight Journal
Record Setting Transcontinental Glider Flight
Frank Hawks at the End of a Rope
2 min |
October 2019
Flight Journal
Dragon's Jaw
An Epic Story of courage and Tenacity in Vietnam
1 min |
October 2019
Flight Journal
A Tale Of Two Mules
CLASSICS
2 min |
April 2019
Flight Journal
In A Tiny Corner Of A Huge World: What Are The Chances?
TAILVIEW
3 min |
April 2019
Flight Journal
When Plumbing Fixtures Ruled The Skies
Humor and American Ingenuity at Work.
10 min |
April 2019
Flight Journal
Perennial Bad Guy: The MiG-21 65 Years Old And Still Kickin' Butt
If the United States has developed fighters that have staying power over many yearsthe venerable F-4, F-15, and F-16 come to mindthen the Russian MiG-21 must surely share that space. The MiG21 made its public debut in a Soviet air display in 1956. Known as an air-to-air missile fighter, the MiG-21 can also wage war with an internally mounted 23mm cannon. Some like to call the MiG21 the AK-47 of jet fighters. Like the famed short Soviet rifle, the MiG-21 has proven to be both lethal and long-lived around the world.
10 min |
December 2018
Flight Journal
Shooting Blanks Top-Secret Cold War Recce Missions
Right after the war ended, I learned to fly in a Piper Cub before I went into the Air Force. I started out in Stearmans, even though they were phasing them out. They just lined us up according to height, and the shortest one-third of the guys got into Stearmans. I was happy because I wanted to fly the Stearman, and we got a lot more acrobatics than the guys in the AT-6 did. I eventually flew the P-51s at Williams Field in Phoenix, Arizona. I was 19 years old and just having a ball, and it only got better from there because they had the F-80 Shooting Stars at Williams Field. I was selected to go into a reconnaissance squadron and flew the RF-80, which was a reconnaissance version of the F-80, out at March Field in California. I actually liked recon work better than the fighters because we were flying all over the United States taking pictures. The poor fighter boys would just go to the gunnery range, shoot into the sand, and head back.
10+ min |