Category Archives: Video

By 1943, the Pacific Theater was in full swing, with the Allies forcefully attempting to take over the prized islands occupied by the relentless Japanese Empire. Using the obtained experience during the war and learning from their mistakes, the Japanese Air Force officials sought to build one last aircraft that could help them turn the tide of the war in their favour.

Enter the Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate. Continue reading →

On the evening of 23rd June 1944, Flying Officer Kenneth Collier destroyed a V-1 flying bomb (850kg explosive warhead) by physically ‘tipping’ it with his wingtip. Continue reading →

The Bell X-2 (nicknamed “Starbuster”) was an X-plane research aircraft built to investigate flight characteristics in the Mach 2–3 range. The X-2 was a rocket-powered, swept-wing research aircraft developed jointly in 1945 by Bell Aircraft Corporation, the United States Air Force and the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) to explore aerodynamic problems of supersonic flight and to expand the speed and altitude regimes obtained with the earlier X-1 series of research aircraft. Continue reading →

The Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender (company designation CW-24) is a 1940s United States prototype fighter aircraft built by Curtiss-Wright. Along with the Vultee XP-54 and Northrop XP-56, it resulted from United States Army Air Corps proposal R-40C issued on 27 November 1939 for aircraft with improved performance, armament, and pilot visibility over existing fighters; it specifically allowed for unconventional aircraft designs. Continue reading →

The Curtiss A-12 Shrike was the United States Army Air Corps’ second monoplane ground-attack aircraft, and its main attack aircraft through most of the 1930s. It was based on the A-8, but had a radial engine instead of the A-8’s inline, water-cooled engine, as well as other changes. Continue reading →

The Blohm & Voss BV 138 Seedrache (Sea Dragon), but nicknamed Der Fliegende Holzschuh (‘flying clog’, from the side-view shape of its fuselage, as well as a play on the title of the Wagner opera ‘Der Fliegende Hollander’ or ‘The Flying Dutchman’) was a World War II German trimotor flying boat that served as the Luftwaffe’s main seaborne long-range maritime patrol and naval reconnaissance aircraft. Continue reading →

The Martin XB-51 was a colossal bomber aircraft built in the late 1940s that exceeded all expectations and was probably the finest bomber that never went to battle. The XB-51’s lifespan was too brief to be awarded an official nickname. Still, its unusually prolonged shape granted it the moniker of “The Flying Cigar.” Continue reading →