In December of 1942, the infamous Victor Bomber was flown by a team of engineers from Bell Aircraft to an Air Force base at Clinton Field in North Carolina. The aircraft was built for the US Army Air Forces as a transport plane, but it was never mass-produced. Instead, it was used mostly by the Army Air Forces’ 456th Bomb Group during World War II. Unlike most bombers of its time, the Victor bomber was designed to be flown by...
The Junkers G.38 was a workhorse transport aircraft of the Second World War that saw heavy use in paratrooper and glider roles. It was used by Hitler’s elite forces, including the SS, as well as by the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe in general. The G.38 was developed to meet a need for a transport aircraft that could be used for long-range and heavy-lifting operations.
The G.38 was designed and built by Junkers Flugzeugwerke from 1935-1937. It had...
The EA-7 Optica is a British-designed and built aircraft for low-speed observation work that could loiter extremely slowly and for long periods. The design is based on the BAe Puma, but with several modifications intended to improve performance. The most obvious change is the use of a turboprop engine instead of the piston engine and drivetrain combination used in the Puma. Another important modification was the addition of an aft-mounted door, which allowed the aircraft to be quickly and easily...
Tupolev ANT-20 Maxim Gorky – Once the Largest Aircraft in the World
By the early 1930s, the question of how to build an aircraft that could fly faster than the speed of sound was a pressing one. It was especially important for both military and commercial aviation because it would make it possible for aircraft to travel long distances in a short amount of time.
In October 1929, Tupolev presented its ANT-20 to the Soviet government. This was an improved version of...
The Antonov An-225 Mriya, which means Dream in English, is a heavy strategic cargo aircraft. It is the largest and heaviest fixed-wing plane in the world. The Mriya was developed for long-range and heavy payloads. The An-225 was first flown in 1988 and first flew commercially in 1989. The An-225 can carry up to 225,000 kg of payload over 6,000 nautical miles. There are only two An-225 planes in the world, with one based in Russia and one in Ukraine....
The Sukhoi Su-34 Fullback is a multipurpose aircraft that entered the services of the Russian Air Force in 2014. This aircraft is a true masterpiece of modern engineering and technology. During a long process of development, the Su-34 received the most updated technology to match the requests of the recent operational environment. This was best proven during the Syrian civil war, where the Su-34 displayed exceptional performance against ISIS and rebel targets....
