Category Archives: Video

Why You Wouldn’t Want to Fly on the Soviet Concorde

While the Concorde is often hailed as a triumph of modern engineering, the first supersonic transport to ever fly was actually Soviet-built. The Tupolev TU-144 flew even faster than the Concorde and it carried more passengers. What happened to this aircraft and why have so few heard about it? Continue reading →

F-35A at The Royal International Air Tattoo

The F-35 family made its debut at RIAT 2016 and, including the conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) ‘A’ model, destined for the United States Air Force (USAF). This was at the 2018 Air Tattoo with the aircraft coming from the 56th Fighter Wing, based at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona.  Continue reading →

Lockheed Hercules C-130J Loop at Farnborough 2018

This was by far the best moment of the Farnborough Air Show 2018 – A Lockheed LM-100J already stunned the audience with an incredible fast takeoff and interesting steep climb but after that the real show just began. The Hercules accelerated and suddenly flew a full loop which was totally unexpected. Continue reading →

The American Concorde: the American SST Story

It was to fly even faster than the Concorde, at speeds approaching Mach 3. And even carry more passengers. It would have flown the distance from Los Angeles to New York in under two hours. America’s effort to build a supersonic airliner was an ambitious project spanning a decade and costing a billion in government funding. Continue reading →

What Happened to Hovertrains?

In 1974, a French train sets a speed record, exceeding 250 miles per hour. But this train is unlike any other before it. Instead of rolling on train wheels, it hovers on a cushion of air. In the 1970’s hovertrains were seriously being considered the solution to slow, antiquated railways, which increasingly had to compete with new superhighways and even intercity air travel. Continue reading →

X-15 Rocket Plane Entered Hypersonic Spin At Mach 6

During the golden age of flight test, the name of the game was higher, faster and louder. No manned x-plane ever exceeded the X-15 in any of these categories. X-15 66670 (Ship 1) flew 81 times, all originating from the undisputed home of experimental flight test – Edwards Air Force Base, California. Continue reading →