Free Republic

East meets West – Pakistan‘s Fighter Aircraft US-built fighter aircraft operating next to Chinese combat jets 08:02 GMT, December 8, 2009 defpro.com | Not many modern armed forces unite in their inventory, and particularly among their key assets, technology from two – in political terms – entirely opposite origins. It is more common in the countries of the former Soviet bloc where, since the fall of the iron curtain, Western technology slowly but ever increasingly found its way into countries primarily equipped with Russian weapon systems. In the past two decades the Middle East and southern countries of the Asian...

MiG Corporation is 70 years old On December 8, the Russian aircraft corporation MiG, formerly called the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau, celebrates its 70th anniversary. MiG, one of the most popular Soviet aircraft brands, was known all over the world and came to symbolize just about any Soviet warplane, except long-range bombers, in the West during the Cold War. And in fact, MiG's glory was well-deserved. The MiG Design Bureau pioneered the development of post-war turbojet fighters in the Soviet Union. Its first jet fighter, the I-300 later designated the MiG-9 Fargo, performed its maiden flight on April 24, 1946 and...

What's wrong with IAF's Sukhoi? New Delhi December 4, 2009 Even if temporary, the grounding of Sukhoi- 30MKI fighters of the Indian Air Force ( IAF) has opened up a huge gap in the country's air defence system. Our Sukhois are currently located in the following manner - two squadrons in Pune, Maharashtra, two in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, and one in Tezpur, Assam. A sixth squadron was forming up in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, and it was from this squadron that the aircraft that crashed this week belonged. Each squadron has roughly 20 aircraft and the total India has is about 105...

China Promises New, Advanced Fighter David A. Fulghum/Washington Douglas Barrie/London China has the resources and technology--some of it obtained quasi-legally and illegally--to build a fifth-generation fighter, say U.S. Air Force and intelligence officials. But Beijing's aerospace industry may be missing key skills needed for it to match the performance of advanced, Western-built combat aircraft. What neither Beijing nor the Western defense community yet knows is whether Chinese technicians can generate the systems engineering and integration capabilities required to actually build in large production numbers and arm advanced aircraft with features similar to those of the aging B-2 and F-22 or...

SIERRA VISTA — Don Schoen started a slightly more than 27-year career in the Air Force as a fighter pilot during World War II with the Army Air Forces. There were about two years of training to become a pilot, said Schoen. It was September 1944 when Don arrived in Europe after sailing from the East Coast of the U.S. for five days. And it was after arriving at an air base in England that he got his first look at and first ride in a C model of the P-51. After five days of local terrain flying, he and...

China Close To Testing Next-Gen Fighter Bradley Perrett/Beijing A Chinese fighter of nominally the same technology generation as the Lockheed Martin F-22 will soon enter flight testing, while a jet airlifter larger than the Airbus A400M should be unveiled by year-end. Beijing’s fighter announcement suggests a serious failing in U.S. intelligence assessments, mocking a July 16 statement of U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates that China would have no fifth-generation fighters by 2020. Industrial competition looks more remote than strategic competition, however, since China will want to fill domestic requirements before offering the aircraft abroad, even if it judges export sales...

IAF's $11-bn order may become larger Ajai Shukla / New Delhi October 16, 2009, 0:36 IST India may go beyond the purchase of 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft. The winner’s jackpot could soon become even bigger in what is already the world’s most lucrative fighter aircraft tender: India’s proposed purchase of 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) for an estimated Rs 51,000 crore ($11 billion). The reason is a breakdown in India’s long negotiations with Dassault Aviation, the French aircraft manufacturer, for upgrading 51 Indian Air Force Mirage-2000 fighters. According to senior IAF sources, Dassault has refused to reduce its...

China's AVIC steps up sales push for FC-1, J-10 fighters By Siva Govindasamy China plans to market the Chengdu FC-1/JF-17 and J-10 fighters aggressively as part of its plan to become a major player in the global aerospace industry. "While AVIC's main job is to manufacture aircraft, the company also fulfils a national agenda by producing military aircraft for China's political allies around the world," says a source close to Chengdu's state-owned parent company. "There are also countries that would like to buy a good fighter, but not at the cost of a Western fighter. "While China's military aircraft have...

PICTURES: Italy prepares AMX fleet for possible Afghanistan deployment By Luca Peruzzi The Italian air force has completed a four-week qualification campaign intended to clear its AMX ground-attack aircraft for possible operations in Afghanistan. Ten of the aircraft, upgraded to Italy's latest ACOL standard, participated in a "Green Flag West" exercise at Nellis AFB, Nevada, flying 171 sorties totalling 300 flight hours by day and night. Supported by nearly 180 personnel, including from air force and army special forces units, the aircraft were used for tasks such as convoy escort and urban close air support during the manoeuvres. A total...

Zhukovsky, Moscow Region: Russia's fifth-generation fighter planes, being developed by the Sukhoi design bureau in collaboration with India's Hindustan Aeronautic Ltd (HAL), is set to start flight trials in November, the Russian air force chief said Thursday. He also revealed that the fighters' engine development programme had run into some problems. Speaking at the MAKS air show outside Moscow, Col Gen Alexander Zelin said: "For the time being, the aircraft will use Saturn engines. There are problems, I admit, but research is continuing." The T-50 Advanced Frontline Aviation Complex (PAK-FA), going by the Russian designation of the 5th Gen fighter,...

The great Indian duel Ajai Shukla / New Delhi August 15, 2009, 0:11 IST Six fighter aircraft are facing off in the world's toughest testing ground. Over the last weeks, two Indian air force aces have busied themselves with what might well be the world’s most expensive video game: sitting at a simulator in the US and learning to fly one of the world’s most advanced fighters, Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet. Trained on the simulator, they were strapped into the real thing, gunning the twin F-414 turbofan engines to hurtle into the sky at speeds touching 2000 kmph. Through the...

Defense Spending: The TARP bailout may hit $24 trillion, but the Senate says the F-22 is too expensive to build and maintain. So why are the Japanese so desperate to buy this "unnecessary" Cold War weapon?By a vote of 58-40, the Senate on Tuesday voted to remove $1.75 billion set aside in a defense bill to build seven more F-22 Raptors, adding to the 187 stealth technology fighters already in the pipeline. After some hope the production lines would be kept open, the Senate succumbed to arguments by the administration and others that the fighter was too expensive, too hard...

The Pentagon purchased two Russian-made Su-27 fighter jets from Ukraine. The United States will reportedly use the Russian jets to train effective counter-operation efforts. The Russian jets are a serious competition for the US F-15 fighters. The jets of Russia’s renowned Sukhoi design bureau proved to be more successful than their US competitors during a number of tests. The Pentagon has been trying to obtain the Russian warplanes, and Ukraine helped the nation do it legally. The news about the deal between the USA and the Air Force of Ukraine appeared on the US-based website Strategypage.com. The website said that...

Although it has yet to see air combat in, the F-22 Raptor air superiority fighter is the object of an intense dogfight on Capitol Hill. The debate has made for some strange bedfellows. On one side, there are the antis - the Pentagon, Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin and Sen. John McCain among them - who want to shut down the production line. One the other, the pros - Sen. Saxby Chambliss, Sen. Chris Dodd and the Air Force Association - who want to see more of the advanced fighters built. The Raptor is beyond impressive: The F-22, which...

I've received a lot of email...that suggests that the libertarian-conservative Right couldn't possibly do to the Left or the Republican Establishment what they've done to Sarah Palin. A few of my correspondents have suggested that it would be immoral, which indicates a lack of imagination. The majority have asked, in one way or another, "How?" Here's how: a simple, easy-to-follow algorithm for making room for good people and the ideas of freedom in American politics once more: Pick a single target. It could be an elected or appointed official, or it could be some spokesvermin who merely flacks for anti-American...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CNN) -- Sarah Palin's not a quitter, she wants the public to know. "I am not a quitter. I am a fighter," Palin told CNN on Monday while on a family fishing trip, on the heels of her Friday bombshell announcement that she was resigning as Alaska's governor. Palin did her interview standing on the shores of Dillingham, Alaska, wearing hip waders. She granted 10-minute interviews to CNN and three other news networks Monday. She resigned because of the tremendous pressure, time and financial burden of a litany of ethics complaints in the past several months, she said....

Defense: By a narrow margin, a House subcommittee has voted to keep open the F-22 Raptor production line. The future of American air dominance and the fate of the world's most capable fighter hang in the balance.On May 30, with North Korea huffing and puffing about nuclear war, the first of 12 high-tech U.S. F-22 Raptor fighter jets landed at Kadena Air Base on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa. It was just days after North Korea unnerved the region by detonating a nuclear device. There were reasons the F-22 was deployed to Japan. The stealthy, radar-evading fighter jet is...

KOMSOMOLSK-ON-AMUR, May 11 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian deputy prime minister said Monday that flight tests of a fifth-generation fighter will start in Russia by the end of 2009. "By the end of this year, the plane will rise into the air and flight tests will begin," Sergei Ivanov told journalists after a shipbuilding meeting in the Far East, adding that serial production will start in 2010. Russia's advanced multirole fighter is being developed by the Sukhoi aircraft maker, part of the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), along with India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), under a preliminary intergovernmental agreement signed in...

May 11, 2009: The U.S. has purchased two Su-27 fighters from Ukraine. They were delivered in a Ukrainian An-24 transport. The Su-27s will be used to help train American pilots to cope with the growing number of Su-27 and Su-30 fighters being sold to air forces the world over. The two Su-27s will also be used to test the effectiveness of new U.S. radars and electronic warfare equipment. Russia's Sukhoi aircraft company has sold over a billion dollars worth of these aircraft (plus components and technical services for them) a year for the last few years. Sukhoi mainly supplies Su-27/30...

The development of the fifth-generation jet fighter is one of the most widely discussed issues in Russia's military. What's more, with its potential involvement in developing the jet fighter, India, one of Russia's long-standing partners in military technical cooperation, confirms its interest in Russia's future project. The new jet fighter is being developed under the PAK FA (Prospective (promising) Aircraft System of the Frontline Aviation) program to replace fourth-generation models now in service in Russian and Indian air forces. The Soviet Union launched fifth-generation fighter programs in the 1980s. By the mid-1990s, the Mikoyan Design Bureau developed the Project 1.44...

China completes the tests of its latest fighter. Chinese engineers say that J-11BS represents the aviation of the fourth generation. Foreign experts say that the Chinese have actually stolen the idea of the fighter jet from Russia.

Apr.12 (China Defense Mashup Reporting by Johnathan Weng) — Although this photo is not clear, but it is still the first available picture of J-11BS fighter, which is now being evaluated in Yanliang Flight Test Center, Xi’an city, Shanxi Province. J-11BS is a two-seat version of J-11B and it is similar to F-15E “Strike Eagle”. J-11BS’s final performance will be close to F-15K and it is significant of realizing PLAAF’s concept of “Offensive and defensive Operation Integration”. According to my estimation, J-11BS’ development will be finished in this year. Year Type Generation 2004 J-10 4 2005 J-10S(two-seat version) 4 2008...

MOSCOW, April 7 (RIA Novosti) - Russia may allow Brazil to produce its fifth-generation fighters under a license in the future, a senior Russian government official said in an interview with RIA Novosti. "We are discussing with the well-known Brazilian company Embraer the transfer of technology and the construction of facilities for the future licensed production of the aircraft, including the fifth-generation fighter," said Alexander Fomin, deputy director of the Federal Service on Military-Technical Cooperation. Russia's advanced multirole fighter is being developed by the Sukhoi aircraft maker, part of Russia's United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), along with India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited...

(Video on Site) http://www.notoriouslyconservative.com/2009/03/video-russian-fighter-jet-sukhoi-su-30.html Wikipedia: The Sukhoi Su-30 (NATO reporting name "Flanker-C") is a twin-engine military aircraft developed by Russia's Sukhoi Aviation Corporation and introduced into operational service in 1996. It is a multi-role strike fighter that can perform both air superiority and ground attack missions. The strike fighter is a two-seated, dual-role strike fighter for all-weather, air-to-air and air-to-surface deep interdiction missions; very comparable to F-15E Strike Eagle. The aircraft is a modernized version of the Su-27UB and has several variants. The Su-30K and Su-30MK series have had commercial success. The variants are manufactured by competing organizations: KNAAPO and...

By month’s end, President Barack Obama must decide whether to order the building of more F-22 Raptors or let the production lines close. Only 203 of the aircraft described by the think tank Air Power Australia as “the most capable multirole combat aircraft in production today” have been built or ordered. Support for the aircraft is not limited to defense hawks. Last month, 44 U.S. senators, including Edward Kennedy and John Kerry, sent the president a letter requesting an additional order of unspecified size to prevent the planned 2011 shutdown. Bowing to political reality rather than reflecting true military needs,...

Two months ago, John McCain pulled Alaska Governor Sarah Palin from relative political obscurity and placed her into the world spotlight. Now, less then one week before the presidential election, Palin reflects on one of the biggest moments of her youth; winning her high school basketball state championship. Outside the Lines' Sal Paolantonio discusses the biggest game of her life with Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. 3:27 runtime

Don't stop hurricanes, guide them 03 May 2008 From New Scientist Print Edition. Would-be hurricane fighters hoping to stop a future Katrina before it makes landfall should aim to wound, not kill. The goal should be to re-route hurricanes and ease their fury, rather than try to stop them forming in the first place. This is the latest advice from weather modification experts. The field has a colourful history. In the 1960s and early 1970s, scientists on "Project Stormfury" tried in vain to disrupt the inner structure of hurricanes by seeding them with silver iodide crystals. Various other far-fetched ideas...

The cost of buying and operating a new fleet of jet fighters for the U.S. military is nearing $1 trillion, according to a congressional audit that found the program dogged by delays, manufacturing inefficiencies and price increases. Released Tuesday, the report from the Government Accountability Office offers a sobering assessment of the ambitious effort to deliver a modern series of aircraft known as the F-35 Lightning II to the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. Tasked by Congress to conduct an annual assessment of the program, the GAO said costs have gone up by $23 billion since last year alone....

Two fighter jets crashed into the Gulf of Mexico during a training mission Wednesday, but the pilots ejected and were later rescued, the Air Force said. Eglin Air Force Base spokeswoman Shirley Pigott said the pilots were rescued after their single-seat F-15C Eagles disappeared Wednesday afternoon off the Florida Panhandle, about 35 miles south of Tyndall Air Force Base. The Air Force has not determined if the planes collided. Weather in the area was clear. Coast Guard Petty Officer James Harless said a Coast Guard rescue jet located one pilot and radioed the location to a fishing vessel, which picked...

2/13/2008 - MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AFPN) -- A retired general had been waiting on a call for some time; 55 years to be exact. Retired Lt. Gen. Charles G. Cleveland answered his home phone in January that turned out to be one of the most important calls of his life. "That's how I found out the Air Force was officially recognizing me as an ace," General Cleveland said. "Right there on the phone." But while the notification of his new-found status was brief and unceremonious, General Cleveland's journey to reach this point was a very long one. It started in South...

Last British Jaguar shows off and bows out By David Learmount On 20 December the only flying UK military-registered Sepecat Jaguar left in service bowed out, showing off to RAF personnel at several of its old bases to celebrate. The 32-year-old Qinetiq-owned Jaguar T.2A, (XX833), which has been operated in conjunction with the UK Ministry of Defence as part of the Aircraft Test and Evaluation Centre operation, was used for trials flights, at the end of which the airframe was out of certificated hours. The final flight was piloted by Sqn Ldr Andy Blythe, accompanied by Wg Cdr Paul Shakespeare,...

Fit for the fight: Competition in the fighter market By Craig Hoyle Competition in the fighter market is as keen as ever, with rivals vying to fill big-ticket programmes. But will US Congress clip the F-22's export wings? The high-profile fighter sector has grabbed many of the headlines during 2007. India at last launched a contest for 126 aircraft, while the subject of stealth - primarily in the form of the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, but also through the company's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter - has exercised nations including Japan and South Korea, and prompted the US Congress to address...

October 7, 2007 RAF cuts to axe quarter of key bombers Michael Smith The RAF is to lose a quarter of its frontline bomber force and two bases in new cuts to be pushed through by the Treasury, according to senior defence sources. Two squadrons of Tornado GR4 ground attack aircraft will be scrapped, cutting the RAF’s frontline squadrons from eight to six. One helicopter base and one training base will also be closed, with the land sold off to raise cash. The move comes as the Royal Navy is braced for big cuts to its surface fleet with all...

Pair accused of peddling pieces from F-4, F-14 aircraft over the Internet By Nate Carlisle The Salt Lake Tribune 10/05/2007 12:09:12 PM MDT Federal prosecutors on Friday announced charges against two Ogden men accused of illegally selling parts for fighter jets over the Internet. Abraham Trujillo, 61, and David Waye, 22, both are charged with three counts of illegal arms exporting in federal court in Salt Lake City. The U.S. attorney's office says federal immigration agents discovered a Web site with listings of F-14 parts offered by Trujillo and his Ogden business, NSN Specialists. Over the next several months in...

Commander-in-Chief of the Iranian Army Ataollah Salehi said that for the first time, the Saeqeh, or Thunderbolt, fighter plane "carried out a mission to bomb virtual enemy targets in northwest of Iran." He added that the plane, which is similar to the US F-18 fighters, was designed, remodeled and improved by Iranian experts at the army's Sattari Air Base. Salehi noted that the technology needed for manufacturing Saeqeh fighters basically came from foreign countries such as the US, Russia, China and India and was only modified by Iranian experts...

Here is a video showcasing the capability of the US Air Force’s first F-22A flight demonstration routine, now wowing audiences at North American air shows and challenging perceptions of the Raptor. This fighter best known for stealth, speed and sensors, has been designed to evade radar, supercruise above Mach 1.5 and fly at 65,000ft. With its two Pratt & Whitney F119 engines vectoring their 35,000lb of afterburning thrust through +/-20º as an integral part of the flight-control system, the F-22 proves itself to be surprisingly agile, performing helicopter turns, tailsides and backflips.

F-15 Fighter Jet Crashes In Southwestern Indiana Officials: Pilot Ejected, Thought To Be Uninjured UPDATED: 2:24 pm EDT May 30, 2007 VINCENNES, Ind. -- A Missouri National Guard F-15 pilot ejected safely from the aircraft just before it crashed during a training mission in rural Knox County Wednesday morning. The plane went down at about just before 11 a.m. EDT south of Vincennes, near the Illinois border, as it conducted standard training maneuvers, according to a release from the National Guard. The plane was affiliated with the 131st Fighter Wing, which is headquartered at Lambert Field in St. Louis. Capt....

UK Royal Air Force to end Sepecat Jaguar use next week By Craig Hoyle UK operations of the Sepecat Jaguar are to end far sooner than expected, with the Royal Air Force revealing that training activities with the type are to stop on 30 April. The Jaguar will be formally retired from service on 25 May, several months earlier than previously expected, and all flying will cease by the end of next month. In an unusually public act, the boss of the RAF’s last frontline unit to fly the type announced the news yesterday on the pprune.org website frequented by...

4/20/2007 - GILA BEND, Ariz. (AFNEWS) -- Missouri fighter wing goes to wild, wild west From the ground, the Barry M. Goldwater Range looks like the set of a 1960's Clint Eastwood spaghetti western. The air is dry enough to taste, and the ground sprouts an occasional cactus. The mind can only envision what creepy kinds of scorpions scurry along these barren sands near Gila Bend Air Force Auxiliary Field. This is home for rattlesnakes, Gila monsters, road runners and endangered antelope. Earlier this year, it was a target for many of the 442nd Fighter Wing's bombs in an operation...

Fighter legend Neville Duke dies Aviation historians have paid tribute to one of Britain's most decorated World War II fighter pilots who died shortly after his last flight. Sqn Ldr Neville Duke, 85, flew 485 sorties achieving 28 air combat victories, including seven aircraft shot down in seven days. In 1953 he broke the then world air speed record achieving 727.63mph. Sqn Ldr Duke, from Lymington, Hants, was taken ill after flying his aircraft G-Zero with Gwen, his wife of 60 years. He died in hospital in Surrey on Sunday after suffering an aneurysm. A spokesman for Tangmere Military Aviation...

F404-GE-IN20 Engines Ordered for India Light Combat Aircraft (Source: GE Aviation; issued Feb. 7, 2007) BANGALORE, India --- Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has ordered an additional 24 F404-GE-IN20 afterburning engines to power the first operational squadron of Tejas fighter aircraft for the Indian Air Force. Value of the order is in excess of $100 million and follows an initial 2004 purchase of 17 F404-GE-IN20 engines to power a limited series of operational production aircraft and naval prototypes. Earlier this year, the F404-GE-IN20 was trial-installed in Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) as part of final evaluations toward flight-testing, scheduled for mid-2007. The...

merica’s brand-new F-35 Lightning II is currently undergoing a series of tests over Fort Worth, Texas. The third flight on Wednesday tested the aircraft at 23,000 feet, the highest altitude the aircraft has ever been. And this week, Lockheed Martin’s chief test pilot Jon Beesley — the only man on the planet to have flown the F-35 — plans to take the jet even higher. The F-35 is not the first fighter ever tested by Beesley, a 56-year-old former Air Force officer and grandfather of six. He also is the second man in the world to fly the Air Force’s...

On a beautiful day at sea somewhere in the world, a United States Navy fighter jet (F-14 Tomcat? F-18 Hornet?) pilot teaches the finer points of low-level transonic flight and the sonic boom. Via "Supersonic Fly-By VI" at http://www.AlexisParkInn.com/military_videos.htm

FORT WORTH, Texas, Dec. 15, 2006 – The Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] F-35 Lightning II lifted into the skies today for the first time, completing a successful inaugural flight and initiating the most comprehensive flight test program in military aviation history. “The Lightning II performed beautifully,” said F-35 Chief Pilot Jon Beesley following the flight. “What a great start for the flight-test program, and a testimony to the people who have worked so hard to make this happen.” The most powerful engine ever placed in a fighter aircraft – the Pratt & Whitney F135 turbofan, with 40,000 pounds of thrust...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 12, 2006 -- With the first flight of the Joint Strike Fighter set for this week, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia have “re-enlisted” for the program. Canada signed on for the project’s production, sustainment and follow-on development phase during a Pentagon ceremony here yesterday. Australia signed on today as part of the U.S.-Australia ministerial meetings at the State Department, and the United Kingdom signed at a Pentagon ceremony today. The Joint Strike Fighter is the Defense Department’s program for a “multi-role” stealth air-to-ground strike aircraft. The Navy, Air Force, Marines and allies are developing the system...

Britain should cancel a deal with the United States to purchase Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) jets if America does not share sensitive technology by the end of the year, a report by the parliamentary defense committee will say, the Financial Times reported on Dec.8. The yearly report on British weapons spending, which is due to be released Dec. 8, says “it is still uncertain whether the U.S. is prepared to provide the required information”, despite Prime Minister Tony Blair and President George W. Bush agreeing in May that Britain would get the technology it needed.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the costliest weapons procurement project ever, is set to make its maiden test flight next week, a U.S. general running the project said on Tuesday. "I am optimistic that we will see the airplane fly as early as Monday" at Lockheed Martin Corp.'s Fort Worth, Texas, test site, Marine Brig. Gen. David Heinz, the Pentagon program office's deputy director, told the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit in Washington, D.C. At a projected $276.5 billion, the planned family of radar-evading warplanes represents the Pentagon's priciest planned purchase -- more than 2,400 aircraft by...

10/6/2006 - EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska (AFPN) -- Eighteen children from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Fairbanks, Alaska, met Airmen from the 355th Fighter Squadron and received an up close and personal look at an A-10 Thunderbolt II when they visited here Sept. 30. "The 355th FS not only wanted to help (Big Brothers Big Sisters) in that regard, but they also wanted to honor the 'Bigs' for their dedication and time they give to these children, the community, and quite honestly, the nation," said Lt. Col. Quentin Rideout, 355th FS commander. Once at the squadron, the Big...

The first pieces of the last remaining Japanese Zero fighter to be shot down over Hawaii on December 7, 1941, have reached the new Pacific Aviation Museum, now in its final fund-raising campaign and set to open December 7, 2006. This aircraft had just finished strafing Bellows Field and Kaneohe Naval Air Station when ground fire punctured its belly fuel tank, preventing it from returning to the aircraft carrier Hiryu and forcing it to land on what Japanese planners thought was an abandoned island, Niihau. However, the island's owners, the Robinson family, had heeded the warnings of a possible Japanese...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 16, 2006 – Two Massachusetts Air National Guard F-15 fighter jets scrambled today to escort a Washington-bound United Airlines flight to Boston’s Logan National Airport, a U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command spokesman confirmed. NORAD ordered the unit to scramble the aircraft, based at Otis Air National Guard Base, Mass., after receiving a “domestic event network call” on the aviation security hotline that links the command to the Department of Homeland Security and other U.S. aviation security organizations, Mike Kucherak said. The call followed an incident aboard United Airlines Flight 923, originally scheduled to fly from London Heathrow...