The A-10 was designed for high-survivability with a titanium cover surrounding both the cockpit, ammunition and fuel tank. Placement of the engines decreases the infrared signature lowering it's vulnerablity to heatseeking missiles and ground fire.
Footage of the BLU-82B "daisy cutter" bomb in 1970. Designed to create an instant clearing in the jungles of Vietnam, it has also been used an anti-personnel weapon because of its very large lethal radius (280m). The BLU-82 uses conventional explosive incorporating both agent and oxidizer. In contrast, fuel-air explosives (FAE) consist only of an agent and a dispersing mechanism, and take their oxidizers from the oxygen in the air. The minimum altitude for release due to blast effects of the weapon is 1,800 m above ground level. The warhead contains 5,700 kg of low-cost GSX slurry (ammonium nitrate, aluminium powder and polystyrene) and is detonated just above ground level by a 965 mm fuse extender, optimized for destruction at ground level without digging a crater. The weapon produces an overpressure of 1000 psi near ground zero.
The MiG-29 OVT (NATO code name "Fulcrum-F) is a variant of the Soviet air superiority fighter. Retro-fitted with thrust vectoring engines and fly-by-wire controls, it serves as a test bed and demonstrator for these technologies.
One of the world's worst airshow disasters. Seventy-two spectators as well as three pilots were killed and 346 were seriously injured in the resulting explosion and fire. The event took place in front of an audience of 300,000 on 28/08/1988 at the Ramstein Air Base in the US.
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress was a 4-engine American bomber, primarily employed in the daylight precision strategic bombing campaign of World War II against German industrial and military targets. In the Pacific, the planes earned a deadly reputation with the Japanese, who dubbed them "four-engine fighters." The Fortresses were also legendary for their ability to stay in the air after taking brutal poundings. They sometimes limped back to their bases with large chunks of the fuselage shot off.
The BAC TSR-2 was to be the RAF's foremost combat aircraft for the 1960's onwards, replacing the Canberra in the Tactical Strike/Reconnaissance role. The aircraft was to have supersonic capability at tree-top height and was the first aircraft in the World to be equipped with a Head-Up-Display (HUD). The TSR project was subsequently murdered in 1964 by a short-sighted Labour government, and all project material and prototypes ordered destroyed. A decision motivated mostly by pressure from the US to not compete with their F-111 Aardvark in the global market. Music: Gary Jules - Mad World.
14/10/1947, Captain Charles "Chuck" Yeager becomes the first person to fly faster than sound. Yeager breaks the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 "Glamorous Glennis", named after his wife. He was able to reach 670-mph or Mach 1.015 at Muroc Dry Lake, California.
The Vulcan was part of the RAF's V bomber force, which fulfilled the role of nuclear deterrence against the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Avro Vulcan XH558 was the first Vulcan B2 to enter service with the RAF in July 1960, and the last to fly (with the RAF Vulcan Display Flight in 1992). The Vulcan to the Sky Trust is labouring to restore this historical aircraft, get it air-worthy and keep it that way. www.tvoc.co.uk
World War I was the first modern global military conflict which took place in Europe between 1914 to 1918. Archaic military tactics met modern industrialised warfare for the first time, resulting casualties on a previously unimaginable scale. Men rotted in the mud, then were sent to face massed machine gun fire, modern artillary, tanks and chemical weapons. Over 40 million soldiers and civilians died and countless others were physically maimed or mentally scarred by the horrors of trench warfare.
The Avro Vulcan was an RAF delta wing subsonic bomber which operated from 1953 until 1984. The Vulcan was part of the RAF's V bomber force, which fulfilled the role of nuclear deterrence during the Cold War. It was also capable of a conventional bombing role. Music: "Thunderbirds" Theme & Leftfield - "Song of Life".
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