Tag: History
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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 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…
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Oak Ridge and ORNL: From Secret City to Scientific Powerhouse
The story of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, is unlike that of almost any other American city. Hidden in the Appalachian foothills, Oak Ridge was born out of secrecy, urgency, and one of the most consequential scientific efforts in human history: the Manhattan Project. The Birth of a Secret City In 1942, during World War II, the…