A military avgeek X-ing for military avgeeks
Joined May 2019
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8,472 Photos and videos
Jun 11
Tower this is Ghostriders requesting permission for a flyby... š
Btw this is real, not AI.
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Jun 10
Today we're celebrating a jet that has always held a special place in my heart. Exactly 59 years ago, Alexander V. Fedotov made the first flight of the MiG-23 "Flogger" (June 10, 1967). Fast, powerful, and unmistakable with its variable geometry wings, the Flogger became the Soviet Union's first true swing-wing, swing-role fighter that saw widespread service globally.
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Jun 9
On this day 52 years ago, Northrop chief test pilot Henry āHankā Chouteau made the first flight of the YF-17 Cobra at Edwards AFB (June 9, 1974). Adored for its radical leading-edge root extensions and insane high angle-of-attack agility, the twin-engine Cobra was a dogfighting dream. While it famously lost to the YF-16 in the Air Forceās Lightweight Fighter contest, the YF-17's story didn't end there. The Navy saw its carrier potential and teamed Northrop with McDonnell Douglas to evolve the design into the legendary F/A-18 Hornet š
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Jun 9
Europe's most ambitious ā¬100B sixth-generation fighter program just officially imploded. Macron and Merz have finally conceded what analysts have known for years: Dassault and Airbus were never going to agree. What killed the Future Combat Air System? Well, it wasn't a lack of engineering talent. It was a clash of egos... national egos and industrial intellectual property control, to be exact. Dassault absolutely refused to compromise on the lead development role, while Airbus fought fiercely for an equal technology transfer split. 1/2
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Jun 9
Alongside national pride, the program also suffered from a major doctrinal mismatch. France needed a heavy, twin-engine fighter capable of carrying nuclear weapons and slamming onto aircraft carrier decks. Germany had zero use for a carrier-borne jet and openly questioned whether a manned sixth-generation platform even made financial or strategic sense for its air force. So ends Europe's dream of a "single, unified" stealth fighter. Who wins the export market now: the British-led GCAP Tempest, or will everyone just buy more F-35s? 2/2
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Jun 8
...staying on with the Valkyrie, did you know that the XB-70 was the largest and fastest bomber ever built by the U.S.? Here's how the behemoth compares in size to bombers/strikers currently in USAF service.
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Jun 8
On this day in 1966, a routine photo op turned into one of the most devastating tragedies in military aviation history. Here's a short video of what happened to Prototype No. 2 of the North American XB-70 Valkyrie.
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Jun 7
When legendary designers Kelly Johnson and Hall Hibbard cooked up the Lockheed P-38 Lightning in the late 1930s, they weren't just building a fighter. They were breaking the mold. They skipped the standard single-engine blueprint for a radical twin-boom layout powered by two supercharged 1,425 hp Allison V-1710 V12s and concentrated all the firepower straight into the nose. No wing gun convergence issues. Just a concentrated buzzsaw of four .50-cals and a 20mm cannon. By the time the D-model rolled out, it became the first U.S. production aircraft to smash past 400 mph in level flight. 1/3
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Jun 7
Once tamed, the "Fork-Tailed Devil" went on a global rampage from the Aleutians to North Africa, and from Europe to the Pacific. The Lightning racked up 2,785 aerial victories and produced 162 aces, including America's top two scorers, Richard Bong and Thomas McGuire. Lockheed even stripped the guns from about 1,300 aircraft to create the ultra-fast F-4 and F-5 "Photo Joe" recon birds. More than 10,000 P-38s were built. You could argue it was the Lightning that taught Skunk Works a lesson it still follows today: push the limits and never settle for mediocrity. 3/3
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Jun 7
Bonus Tweet: Did you know the P-38 scored the USAAF's very first aerial kill in the European theater? On August 14, 1942, 2nd Lt. Elza Shahan, flying a Lightning from the 27th FS, teamed up with 2nd Lt. Joseph Shaffer in a P-40 Warhawk to blast a German Fw 200 Condor out of the sky off Iceland. It was also a historic, cross-platform intercept.
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Jun 7
Yeah, they're just trying to find some direction in life.
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Jun 7
Dark Ops! A fantastic view of an F-35B from VMFA-121 "Green Knights" taxiing on the USS Tripoli (LHA-7). Operating as part of the 1st MAW, the squadron is permanently forward-deployed to MCAS Iwakuni, Japan.
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Jun 6
With the rise of reliable high off-boresight missiles like the AIM-9X and the steady decline in traditional dogfighting, has the fighter jet's internal cannon finally become obsolete? Let's vote š
81%
No, keep it
19%
Yes, ditch it
365 votes ā¢ Final results
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Jun 6
The verdict is in: the nays have it! I guess all of us remember how the Pentagon thought AAMs made the dogfight obsolete in the late '60s, only for Vietnam to deliver a brutal reality check that forced the gun right back into the Phantom. Decades later, that internal cannon remains the ultimate, ECM-immune insurance policy when things get messy, fast, and uncomfortably close.
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Jun 6
According to CBC News, Ottawa is exploring options that could expand RCAF's fighter fleet to over 140 aircraft, combining roughly 72 American-built F-35s with up to 72 Canadian-built Saab Gripen Es. While Canadian military leaders flag severe logistical hurdles in running dual supply chains and maintenance pipelines, the Carney government appears willing to accept the risks. The move appears to lean heavily into domestic aerospace job creation while hedging against U.S. trade tensions. Anyway, let's see where the puck lands on this one.
Btw, what do you think of Canada's unique high-low, F-35-Gripen E, mix?
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Jun 6
Whenever I think of D-Day, my mind instantly defaults to Tom Hanks' character storming Omaha Beach under machine-gun fire in Saving Private Ryan, or the midnight paradrops from Band of Brothers. Itās a classic Hollywood, ground-level view of pure grit and sacrifice. But what these movies completely miss is the silent war being waged and won miles above the clouds. Up there, the Allies absolutely kicked the Luftwaffeās butt out of the sky. It was this exact butt-kicking that made the entire invasion possible. 1/2
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Jun 6
The official historical records show a jaw-dropping asymmetry: on June 6, 1944, Allied aircraft flew a staggering 14,674 operational sorties to build an almost impenetrable aerial umbrella over the fleet, the beaches, and beyond. By stark contrast, a smashed and starved Luftwaffe managed a measly 319 sorties across the entire day. We celebrate the courage on the ground, as we should, but D-Day was systematically shaped months before June 6 and succeeded only (and I repeat, only) because of Allied air dominance. What do you think? 2/2
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Jun 6
A triad of Mirage IVs. The Dassault Mirage IV was a supersonicĀ strategic bomberĀ & recon aircraft. The type entered French service in 1964 and remained a vital part of the country's nuclear deterence until 1996. Around 66 of these mammoth birds were built.
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Jun 5
Imagine standing before King George VI, Winston Churchill, and the entire Allied high command, comprising Field Marshals and 4-star Generals, three weeks before D-Day. You're a 40-year-old, newly minted Major General, and you have to explain the Allied tactical air plan.
That was Maj. Gen. Elwood "Pete" Quesada's reality on May 15, 1944.
Maj. Gen. Lawton "Lightning Joe" Collins: "Pete, how are you going to keep the German Air Force from preventing our landing?"
Pete: "There is not going to be any German Air Force there."
The room snickered.
Winston Churchill: "Ahhhh, young man, how can you be so sure?"
Pete: "Mr. Prime Minister, because we won't let them be there. I am sure of it. There will be no German Air Force over the Normandy invasion area."
Pete wasn't bluffing.
On June 6, 1944, Allied tactical air power completely locked down the skies. The Allies fielded roughly 10,000 aircraft and flew more than 14,000 sorties to the Germans' roughly 300, securing the overwhelming air superiority that made the invasion possible.
Talk about calling your shot and backing it up.
ALT Lt Gen. Elwood "Pete" Quesada, Commander IX Fighter Command, USAAF
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