Milestone for Aviation Icon: 90 Years Since the First Flight of Hurricane
Today marks 90 years since Flight Lieutenant George Bulman conducted the first flight of the Hurricane prototype at Brooklands. The...
American Attack Aircraft, Part 9: Northrop A-17
As I mentioned in one of the earlier articles, the engineers at Northrop, drawing on their experience with the “militarization”...
K-MAX Logistics Drone: An American Case Study
In the ongoing Russo‑Ukrainian war, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have taken on numerous roles. Perhaps the least visible – but highly critical – role...
American Attack Aircraft, Part 8: Contribution of Gerard Valtí
In 1932, aviation enthusiast Gerard Valtí secured financial backing from automotive magnate E. L. Cord and founded the Airplane Development...
All about the “passenger attack” Cessna AC-208 Combat Caravan: an air‑defense variant?
While writing an article on the Northrop Gamma attack aircraft, I kept getting a sense of déjà vu: the idea...
American Attack Aircraft, Part 7: John Northrop’s “Gamma”
In the first half of the 1930s, the U.S. aviation industry was introducing new civilian aircraft one after another. These...
Weapons of Ukraine’s Victory: AIM-132 Missile
Today, I’ll discuss a weapon that was originally designed for aviation use but is currently employed in Ukraine solely as...
American Attack Aircraft, Part 6: Experiments of the 1930s
In parallel with the production and deployment of the A-12 attack aircraft, the U.S. Army Air Corps tested several other...
First American Attack Aircraft, Part 5: Production A-12 “Shrike”
Although Curtiss won the 1931 competition for a new attack aircraft, its A-8 did not enter mass production. The main...