History of Aviation - tag archive on AERONAUT.media

The Aircraft That Never Were: Convair Kingfish

Andrij Kharuk — Sun, 24 May 2026 19:20:00 +0000

In June 1956, the CIA began operating the new U-2 reconnaissance aircraft. The aircraft’s high-altitude performance made it unreachable for existing Soviet air defense systems at the time. However, the CIA was staffed by well-informed realists who understood that within the next 18–24 months, the U-2 would likely become vulnerable to emerging Soviet air defense technologies. […]

The post The Aircraft That Never Were: Convair Kingfish appeared first on AERONAUT.media.

Last Torpedo Carrier: Argentina’s IA-58 Pucará Experiment

Andrij Kharuk — Thu, 07 May 2026 12:19:39 +0000

You may remember one of the most dramatic scenes in the film Midway – where American torpedo bombers fly at low altitude directly into heavy anti-aircraft fire and are subsequently engaged by Japanese “Zero” fighters, resulting in severe losses in the air. Roughly four decades later, a similar scenario could have unfolded over the South Atlantic… How to […]

The post Last Torpedo Carrier: Argentina’s IA-58 Pucará Experiment appeared first on AERONAUT.media.

The story of Rosie the Rocketeer: Little airplane with ‘bazooka’

Andrij Kharuk — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 09:32:18 +0000

In the early 1940s, while developing a lightweight infantry anti-tank weapon – the M1 rocket launcher, later widely known as the “bazooka” – Colonel Leslie Skinner likely could not have anticipated the extent to which it would be adopted in the future. Much later, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, when asked which weapons systems he believed contributed most significantly to […]

The post The story of Rosie the Rocketeer: Little airplane with ‘bazooka’ appeared first on AERONAUT.media.

American Attack Aircraft, Part 12: Lessons from the Luftwaffe

Andrij Kharuk — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 11:06:39 +0000

The highly effective use of German dive bombers during the Polish campaign and the Western Blitzkrieg naturally drew the interest of the U.S. Army in this type of aircraft. There was no need to start from scratch, as the U.S. Navy had already been operating dive bombers successfully for about a decade; these aircraft were […]

The post American Attack Aircraft, Part 12: Lessons from the Luftwaffe appeared first on AERONAUT.media.

Pilatus Turboprop Aircraft: An Overview of PC-9

Andrij Kharuk — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 14:14:26 +0000

The PC-7 aircraft, whose long history I discussed recently, proved to be a commercially successful project. However, in 1980 it faced a serious competitor: the Brazilian EMB-312 Tucano, a heavier and more powerful aircraft. As a result, in 1982 the Swiss manufacturer began designing its own trainer aircraft with improved flight and tactical performance characteristics. […]

The post Pilatus Turboprop Aircraft: An Overview of PC-9 appeared first on AERONAUT.media.

A-60 Aircraft: Soviet Dream of Laser Weapons in the Sky

Yuri Svitlyk — Wed, 26 Nov 2025 14:55:23 +0000

The A‑60 is one of the most obscure and ambitious projects to emerge from the late Soviet and later Russian aviation industry. Developed on the basis of the Il‑76MD transport aircraft, it became the world’s first airborne test platform equipped with a high‑power laser system. Its primary purpose was to conduct trials of directed‑energy weapons […]

The post A-60 Aircraft: Soviet Dream of Laser Weapons in the Sky appeared first on AERONAUT.media.

American Attack Aircraft, Part 10: Douglas Export Models

Andrij Kharuk — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 14:00:20 +0000

Building on the A-17 platform, the aircraft developers sought to enter international markets. Adopting a flexible approach to customer requirements, they produced a series of variants tailored to specific operators. By that time, Northrop had been acquired by its parent company and became a subsidiary of Douglas in El Segundo. Consequently, export versions of the […]

The post American Attack Aircraft, Part 10: Douglas Export Models appeared first on AERONAUT.media.

Milestone for Aviation Icon: 90 Years Since the First Flight of Hurricane

Andrij Kharuk — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 15:46:52 +0000

Today marks 90 years since Flight Lieutenant George Bulman conducted the first flight of the Hurricane prototype at Brooklands. The aircraft became the first in a new generation of British monoplane fighters that would carry much of the operational burden in the Western theatre during the Second World War. It was also the only British […]

The post Milestone for Aviation Icon: 90 Years Since the First Flight of Hurricane appeared first on AERONAUT.media.

American Attack Aircraft, Part 9: Northrop A-17

Andrij Kharuk — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 08:17:48 +0000

As I mentioned in one of the earlier articles, the engineers at Northrop, drawing on their experience with the “militarization” of the civilian Gamma, developed the Gamma 2F modification. In this version, only faint traces of resemblance remained to the early mail planes of the series. First and foremost, the aerodynamics were significantly refined: the […]

The post American Attack Aircraft, Part 9: Northrop A-17 appeared first on AERONAUT.media.

American Attack Aircraft, Part 8: Contribution of Gerard Valtí

Andrij Kharuk — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 11:55:28 +0000

In 1932, aviation enthusiast Gerard Valtí secured financial backing from automotive magnate E. L. Cord and founded the Airplane Development Corporation. The company’s first product was the V-1, a high-speed passenger aircraft: a single-engine, six-seat, all-metal low-wing monoplane with retractable landing gear. The aircraft made its maiden flight on February 19, 1933, and achieved modest […]

The post American Attack Aircraft, Part 8: Contribution of Gerard Valtí appeared first on AERONAUT.media.