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1997 Yakovlev Yak-9 in Russian WWII Overalls Is a Scary Sight in American Skies 23 Jan 2021, 8:40 UTC · by There were never bigger enemies in the history of the world than the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The two nations held knives at each others’ throats for decades, and came to the brink of war on several occasions. Yet, somehow, clearer minds prevailed, and the world was spared a military confrontation that would have probably brought about the end of civilization. 1 photo Because the two never actually faced each other directly, average Americans, save for what they learn from movies and such, are pretty clueless when it comes to the Russians’ military prowess. Yet at air shows across the nation people are exposed to foreign military technology, oftentimes resulting in sighs of admiration. ....
autoevolution 17 Jan 2021, 8:13 UTC · by The name McDonnell Douglas may no longer mean a lot for today’s folk, given how it merged with Boeing back in 1997, but the moniker was, in a slightly different form, pretty much on everybody’s lips back in the years following the Second World War. 1 photo The group was formed by the alliance between the McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft companies in 1967, but prior to that each of the two was involved in making its own planes. In the Douglas stables, the A4 Skyhawk was a major product. Introduced in 1954 as a delta-winged turbojet subsonic aircraft with carrier capabilities, the Skyhawk would go on to play major roles in the Vietnam War, the Yom Kippur War, and the Falklands War. Close to 3,000 of these winged machines were made and deployed by the Air Forces of the U.S., Israel, or Argentina – in fact, they are so well made that even today some countries, like Argentina and Brazil, are still ....
1945 Yakovlev YAK-3 Is a Red Army Fighter That Made It to California 16 Jan 2021, 8:45 UTC · by There was terrible turmoil in the skies of the planet during the Second World War. For the first time in history, humans had the capability to fight against each other in the sky, in never-before-seen numbers, thanks to the massive advancements made in the aviation industry in the preceding years. 6 photos For what it’s worth, today we mostly remember the incredible machines and pilots the Axis and Western Allies forces threw at each other. Ask anyone, and they’ll know a thing or two about Spitfires, Mustangs, Zeroes or Messerschmitts. But how many of us remember Yakovlev? ....
autoevolution 3 Jan 2021, 6:20 UTC · by 5 photos The M A S H TV series became a worldwide phenomenon thanks to the way it showed the grim realities of the Korean War, wrapping them in a package all of us could understand and react to. It also created a series of icons back in the 1970s (some of them enduring to this day), like Hawkeye, Hot Lips, or Radar. Oh, and let’s not forget the funky shaped helicopters that flew above the set. The insect-like machines were Bell 47 helicopters, not unlike the ones the U.S. military deployed in Korea during the three-year war. They were used for a variety of purposes, from reconnaissance to medical evacuation. ....
1943 Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk Shark Squadron Tribute Looks Ready to Bite 2 Jan 2021, 9:40 UTC · by 5 photos Officially, the habit of painting stuff on aircraft is called nose art. Historically, it was first used (some say as far back as the early 1910s) as a means for friendly units to identify themselves. It wasn’t until the Second World War, though, that nose art became increasingly complex, with all sides coming up with their own designs, meant to either boost their own morale or defeat that of the enemy. On the allied side, legend has it that the first to use the shark mouth design on the nose of airplanes was the British 112 Squadron. Deployed in several war theaters during the war, from Greece to the Middle East and Italy, it was also the first air force unit to use the Curtiss P-40 Tomahawk ground attack/fighter aircraft. Seeing the shark mouth used by Luftwaffe’s Messerschmitt Bf 110s, the unit decided to copy it and thus became known as the Sh ....