Military Aviation History

Find the video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYHXF69oc3M We go back to the beginnings of supersonic flight where the groundwork was laid for future aerospace programs. This story is by Michael Nelmes from the Spring 2022 issue of Wings Magazine - Australia's premier military aviation magazine.

Find the video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh7XQaksGuU As you can imagine, Materiel losses during world war 2 were massive. According to one source, Germany produced a staggering 119,907 aircraft of all types and most were destroyed or damaged during the war. The United States lost 52,951 of their 95,000 aircraft in operations over Europe and the Pacific. The Soviet Union lost 46,100 of t...

Find the video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPn_jKpQtPY Find the transcript here https://militaryaviationvideos.com/top-vietnam-war-aces/  

Find the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x0VpEyh2Us From the early 1950s, there was a fixation by military establishments, in both the East and West, for supersonic bombers. Missile technology was still in its infancy, and the pointy end of a strike force was still conventional bomber aircraft. By the 1960s, however, supersonic bombers were increasingly coming into play. Large designs...

Find the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lH7pAjE4O4 On the 21st of February 2024, a new 5th-gen fighter took to the skies. The Turkish Aerospace Industries TF Kaan is Turkey's first domestically built modern fighter, and as we shall see, it marks the beginning of an ambitious program to refit Turkey's military with nationally produced equipment. So, what is the TF Kaan, and what is it...

Find the video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chum9Gj2eHM Designed during World War 2, the de Havilland Vampire would go on to become a strange looking but effective single engine jet. A multirole aircraft, it would eventually serve with the RAAF, produced at home by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation

Find the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2QnrsUPMJs The F-16 VISTA has played a key role in the Viper Experimentation and Next-gen Operations Model – Autonomy Flying Testbed program, or VENOM-AFT and has proven itself against human pilots. 

Find the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl4Buy-ZX7k From Cold War hover rigs to the dust-stripped battlefields of Afghanistan, the Harrier Jump Jet redefined the boundaries of combat aviation. Developed by British engineers with the revolutionary Pegasus engine, the Harrier became the world's first operational fixed-wing V/STOL aircraft—capable of vertical takeoff, close air support f...

Find the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLFZNy12p_U Developed from the F-16 but built to Japan's unique strategic needs, the Mitsubishi F-2 stands as one of the most advanced multirole fighters in the Asia-Pacific. This video explores the origins, design, capabilities, and legacy of the F-2—often referred to as the "Viper Zero," a nod to both its F-16 lineage and Mitsubishi's WWII her...

Find the video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk7wE--gECI In previous videos, we have looked at several experimental US aircraft pushing aeronautical limits, but never saw service. The F-15 STOL MTD, the F-16XL, and the F-18 HARV to name a few. But there is one experimental aircraft that stands out above all the others for its cutting-edge design. The Northrop YF-23 was in the competition, h...

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Find the video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN1KwrhZVBY The F-117 Nighthawk is one of the most iconic aircraft in aviation history. It was the world's first true stealth plane, created through the secret Project Have Blue by the Lockheed Skunk Works team. Its unique faceted shape was designed to deflect radar signals, and it made its mark by leading the first strikes in Desert Storm. The "...

Find the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6X5zuthz-s South Korea's KF-21 Boramae has moved from concept to production in just a decade—an unusually fast timeline for a modern fighter program. As a follow-on from our previous video on the KF-21     • KF-21: Korea's New Fighter   we break down how Korea achieved it: a modular, upgrade-driven design philosophy, a dual-path procurement str...

Find the video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lsdiOVvHK4 We look at the history and development of the Mark 80 series bombs, a key part of modern aerial warfare. Starting in the 1950s with new aerodynamic designs, these bombs proved themselves in the Vietnam War with versions like the Snakeeye. Over time, they became even more effective with the addition of Paveway laser-guided bombs (GBU-1...

Find the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4Dnped4MwM In the late 1970s, Northrop proposed the F-18L — a land-based variant of the F/A-18, stripped of naval constraints and optimised for speed, agility, and cost. Lighter, simpler, and potentially more capable in several key areas, it was designed to compete directly with aircraft such as the F-16 in the global export market. On paper, t...

Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaBB764f27Q In January 1942, the Australian outpost at Rabaul stood directly in the path of Japan's advance across the Pacific. Poorly defended, under-equipped, and relying on outdated aircraft, the men of the RAAF and Lark Force faced overwhelming odds as Japanese air raids intensified and invasion loomed. Drawing on firsthand accounts from pi...

Find the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSu767rBHhc The Yak-28 occupies a strange place in Cold War aviation history—mass produced, widely used, yet almost completely forgotten. On paper it promised speed, range, and versatility; in reality, it became known for difficult handling, questionable design compromises, and a reputation that made flying it anything but comfortable. Yet despi...

See the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWaQ4PpOdtw The North American F-100 Super Sabre was America's first operational supersonic fighter, but its journey from cutting-edge air-superiority aircraft to one of the most important strike fighters of the Vietnam War was anything but straightforward. Plagued by dangerous handling characteristics and early design flaws, the "Hun" evolved in...

Find the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YimT9s2V1gc The AGM-65 Maverick transformed air-to-ground warfare. Developed during the Vietnam War to replace the flawed AGM-12 Bullpup, it became one of the world's first truly effective fire-and-forget precision-guided missiles. We explore the Maverick's origins, its revolutionary electro-optical guidance system, every major variant from the...

Find the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q9dLZZ72og The A-7D Corsair II was never intended to become one of the U.S. Air Force's greatest strike aircraft. Originally acquired as a stopgap solution during the Vietnam War, it evolved into arguably the most accurate conventional attack aircraft of the conflict. Equipped with new digital avionics, an advanced HUD, inertial navigation, CCI...

Find the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pYaAQzgyP8 Australia's decision to acquire the F-111 wasn't driven by prestige—it was born from necessity. We explore the strategic realities that shaped one of the RAAF's most important procurement decisions. With the rise of Cold War tensions in Southeast Asia and Indonesia's growing military capability, we needed a long-range strike aircraft...

Published in 2024: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V59ffvGBaiw In 2016, Lockheed Martin was awarded a contract to develop a new X-plane, with the goal of researching low-boom supersonic flight. The result - an aircraft now referred to as the X-59 - has now been completed, and will soon begin testing. But what is the X-59, and how will it impact the aerospace world?

Find the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le1T6f1vZeA In the unforgiving skies of the Rhodesian Bush War, an unlikely aircraft emerged as one of the most effective weapons of the conflict. The Lynx—an improvised, heavily armed version of the Cessna Skymaster—combined simplicity, adaptability, and raw firepower to deliver devastating close air support. From Fireforce assaults to deep rec...

See the video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uheYOBjwUKU What if the F-15 Eagle had gone to sea? In the early 1970s, McDonnell Douglas proposed a carrier-based version of the F-15 for the US Navy. Known as the F-15N, it promised extraordinary speed, a lighter airframe, and more advanced avionics. But adapting the Eagle for carrier operations meant solving one major problem: how to give it th...

Find the video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZij7I_d04c The Cessna A-37 Dragonfly earned a reputation as one of the most effective close-support and counter-insurgency aircraft of the Vietnam war. From a small jet trainer, the "Super Tweet" was transformed into a heavily armed CAS aircraft capable of carrying thousands of pounds of weapons. When the first A-37s arrived in Vietnam for the e...