Tag: Aviation
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The Ghost in the Machine: Meeting the F-117 Nighthawk
As you can see in the cover photo from my recent pilgrimage to the National Museum of the USAF in Dayton, Ohio, standing next to the F-117 Nighthawk is an uncanny experience. Even parked silently in a hangar, it feels dangerous. It doesn’t look like an airplane; it looks like a shard of obsidian dropped…
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The F-4 Phantom: A Supersonic Miscalculation
The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an undeniable icon of Cold War aviation. It was big, incredibly fast, and capable of carrying immense payloads. On paper, it was the ultimate technological triumph of the 1960s designed to dominate the skies. Yet, its initial combat debut over Vietnam exposed a catastrophic flaw in American military…
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The Fighter Jet That Could Back Up: The Saab 37 Viggen
When we think of Cold War fighter jets, we imagine long runways and massive airbases. The Swedish Saab 37 Viggen, however, played by a completely different set of rules. The Reverse Thrust Miracle The most astonishing fact about the Viggen wasn’t just its speed (Mach 2.1), but its agility on the ground. It was the…