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Plane Tales

343 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 2 months ago - ★★★★★ - 142 ratings

The View from Our Side of the Cockpit Door

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Episodes

RAF Form 414, Vol 25

February 06, 2024 08:58 - 19 minutes - 31.3 MB

Form 414, my RAF Logbook continues with me leaving Australia and the Hornet unhappily in my rear vision mirror as I was heading back to Blighty and a cold winter in Lincolnshire.  No 229 Operational Conversion Unit was the training unit that would give me my first taste of the Mighty Fin, the Swing Wing Super Jet, Mother Riley’s Cardboard Aeroplane otherwise known as the Air Defence Variant of the Tornado.   Not just a British aircraft, the Tornado was a project involving Germany and Italy a...

RAF Form 414, Vol 24

February 05, 2024 15:19 - 21 minutes - 34.2 MB

After I landed my aircraft I clambered out of the Hornet with the cold realisation that I might have flown my last sortie.  The spinning sensation had ceased and the sortie had gone beautifully, it was almost as if it had been a bad dream. A continuation of tales from the Old Pilot's logbook, RAF Form 414.   Was the sun about to set on my career?   The surgery span round and round   Promotion   Exercise K89   One of our opponents, the F16   Firing off live missiles like the AIM 7M ...

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon

February 05, 2024 15:02 - 10 minutes - 18 MB

The year is 1957 and the space race is underway.  The major powers around the world, mainly the Soviet Union and the United States, are all striving to develop the technology that will allow them to reach outer space. The Soviet Union’s Academy of Sciences prime aim was to beat the Americans into Earth orbit and their top secret Sputnik project was about to reward all the efforts put in by a generation of scientists and engineers.  Sputnik 1 was soon to be placed atop an R-7 rocket and launch...

Flight 600

February 01, 2024 12:15 - 18 minutes - 33.9 MB

Let me take you back to the dim distant past and Captain Jeff’s start with his legacy airline, ACME, I mean Delta, no ACME, Delta, Acta, Delme… oh whatever. His career started, not in the Captain’s seat but somewhere in the bowels of flight deck, sitting sideways with control panels in front of him instead of windows, that stretched to the ceiling!  Jeff was an engineer on his favourite three holer, the Boeing 727. The loss rate for this iconic airliner was, unhappily, quite high.  As of 2019...

The Consequence of a Deliberate Act

February 01, 2024 11:58 - 19 minutes - 33.7 MB

Two of the Saratoga’s F14 Tomcats were tasked to defend the carrier against a simulated attack during Exercise Display Determination 87. The leader of this small formation included a senior pilot and skipper of a newly arrived Junior Grade Lieutenant Timothy Dorsey. Many years later, Dorsey would be nominated for promotion to a one-star Rear Admiral, an appointment that required Congressional approval.  What stood in his way was an incident that occurred during that fateful day in 1987.   US...

Rocket Man Part 2

February 01, 2024 10:15 - 18 minutes - 30.7 MB

Part 2 of my interview with my mate Matt, steely eyed rocket man extraordinaire.   Goonhilly   Gyros and spacecraft in Telstar   The interior of Telstar   The magnitude of space junk around the world   The first live TV pictures transmitted via satellite   Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to NASA, I Alison, Rama, NASA, US Gov, the BBC and Andrew Bulko

Rocket Man

February 01, 2024 10:02 - 18 minutes - 29.8 MB

At first glance he looks to be a rather scruffy and unkempt elderly chap but behind the heavy glasses there are two twinkling eyes that reveal more than you can imagine.  Indeed, appearances can be deceiving as this retired RAF Technician could have well been a steely eyed missile man as he controlled military satellites around during the Cold War.  Meet my mate Matt! Sputnik     RAF Oakhanger   Inmarsat equipment on board a ship   Not every launch was a success   Telstar   Voyage...

When History Repeats Itself

February 01, 2024 09:42 - 21 minutes - 31.8 MB

In the tale, the Applegate Memorandum, I described the difficult birth that McDonnell Douglas had with the DC-10 when it’s safety record was permanently marred by a cargo door design flaw that plagued its introduction.  Sadly, this wasn’t the only issue that was going to discredit the aircraft in the eye of its passengers and they would ultimately condemn the world’s first 3 engined wide body as a dangerous failure.  Although the aircraft’s problems with its cargo doors could be firmly laid a...

RAF Form 414, Vol 23

January 30, 2024 13:41 - 19 minutes - 32.5 MB

I left you last time after we had returned with our Hornets from New Zealand having had a very productive and interesting few weeks working with the Kiwi A4 Skyhawks.  We soon settled back into our Squadron HQ at RAAF Williamtown and started to work up some Maritime Strike tactics against the ships of the Australian Navy.  These were early days for the Australian Hornets and the anti ship missiles that were to be purchased had yet to be properly integrated into the aircraft’s weapons system.....

The Wood Duck, Part 2

October 03, 2023 12:17 - 14 minutes - 20.4 MB

The conclusion of a chat over a pint with Wood Duck, the Royal Australian Air Force Air Attache to the Australian High Commission in London.   Images of No 2 OCU when it was equipped with the FA18   The handover of No 2 OCU Hornets to the new commanding officer and the new F35 Lightning fighters.   RSAF Hawk trainers

The Wood Duck, Part 1

October 03, 2023 12:10 - 15 minutes - 14.2 MB

As a fighter pilot on the newly formed 77 Squadron Royal Australian Air Force, now equipped with brand new FA/18s, we had many experienced pilots but before long we also acquired pilots on their first operational type.  One such pilot was Woody, or more formally known as Wood Duck and flying the Hornet was just the start of a long career in aviation that took him all around the world.  Now the Air Attache at the Australian High Commission in London, Woody and I met at a local hostelry and had...

The Risk Takers

October 03, 2023 08:31 - 20 minutes - 30 MB

So you want to be an airline pilot? You want to travel the world, visit strange and exotic countries and immerse yourself in the wonders of foreign cultures? You want to make a good living, bring up a family and plan for a wonderful retirement driving your luxurious RV around the wide open spaces of your beloved country? Has it crossed you mind that your chosen occupation might not be the safest way to achieve your dreams?   The Old Curmudgeon rides again   Airliner crashes are rare event...

RAF Form 414, Vol 22

August 31, 2023 14:56 - 18 minutes - 29.6 MB

I trust that you will recall the stories from my RAF Logbook which had reached the point of my first Hornet deployment to New Zealand to work with the Kiwi A4 Skyhawks of No 75 Squadron Royal New Zealand Air Force at Ohakea. The squadron we were working with had a rich history and I was sure I was going to enjoy my time with them.   75 Sqn RNZAF formed with Wellingtons purchased by the New Zealand government   75 Sqn A4 Skyhawk   The Kiwi Red formation team   Inverted whilst in contac...

Straighten Up and Fly Right

August 15, 2023 12:42 - 19 minutes - 30.4 MB

The Right Hand Traffic Rule stated that an aircraft which was flying within the United Kingdom in sight of the ground and following a road, railway, canal or coastline, or any other line of landmarks shall keep such line of landmarks on its left.  For reasons that defeat me the rule went on to give an exception stating, “provided that this rule shall not apply to a helicopter following the Motorway M4 on a route from West Drayton to Osterley Lock!”  Let me take you back to the the birth of co...

Brass Monkeys

August 15, 2023 09:59 - 19 minutes - 30.7 MB

Traditionally the phrase Brass Monkeys goes hand in hand with weather so cold that only a naughty sounding description like, “It’s cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey,” will suffice.  If, however, you were the crew member a NATO aircraft in Europe during the tense times of the Cold War, Brass Monkeys meant something very specific!  It was a code phrase that everyone knew of and listened out for on the Guard frequency just in case it was broadcast.  Two or three minutes into the...

RAF Form 414, Vol. 21

August 11, 2023 12:05 - 17 minutes - 29.6 MB

Life on 77 Squadron had settled down to a routine, if it ever really could on a fighter squadron. There was certainly plenty of variety to our flying. In one month I flew some practice bombing attacks, both day and night, on the Evans Head weapon’s range north by 230 nm. This was followed by a 4 ship formation demonstration of ground attack on our own airfield as part of an Open Day celebration for the public.  Then night radar bombing on the Beecroft range at Jarvis bay about 150 nm south. T...

Fifteen Hundred Hours

August 10, 2023 09:48 - 21 minutes - 33.2 MB

Marvin and Rebecca's first two flights of the day were cancelled due to high winds at Newark so they both waited in the crew room until their company dispatch released them for flight 3407 at 6pm, 4 and a half hours after their initial report time.  Certainly for Rebecca, it had been a long time since she had done more than nap in a chair.  Their flight to Buffalo was due to take 53 minutes and they were carrying 45 passengers which, along with their two cabin attendants meant that they had 4...

Great Uncle Baz

August 06, 2023 13:06 - 19 minutes - 31.4 MB

With thanks to listener Sam Dawson who has such interesting relatives and to Betty Goerke, the author of a book about Baz Bagby, A Broken Propeller. I am pleased to present the story of Sam Dawson's Great Uncle Baz.   Stunt pilot Lincoln Beachey at Niagara   The 1st Aero Squadron   Early Aerial Reconnaissance   The 88th Aero Squadron     General Billy Mitchell   The start of the Great Transcontinental Air Race   Great Uncle Baz   Images under creative commons licence with than...

RAF Form 414, Vol. 20

August 04, 2023 11:36 - 21 minutes - 34.2 MB

The continuation of my log book tales, otherwise known as RAF Form 414, and we are up to Volume 20.  Apart from other asides, this tale deals with my accidental overflight of a very secret satellite surveillance base run by the Australians and the CIA!   Overflying Uluru (Ayres Rock)   My arrival at Alice Springs airport   My 'circumnavigation' of Australia   My aircraft being impounded on arrival at RAAF Pearce   Seeing my father at the 1881 Resturant   The Great Australian Bight...

The Applegate Memorandum

August 03, 2023 08:38 - 21 minutes - 22.5 MB

The DC-10 was McDonnell Douglas's first commercial airliner project since the merger between McDonnell Aircraft Corporation and the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. It started life on the drawing boards as a 4 engined, double decked, wide body airliner that could carry 550 passengers but morphed into single deck, three engined aircraft that could carry one passenger short of 400!  In what was expected to be a knockout blow to the competing Lockheed L-1011, the President of American Airlines ...

RAF Form 414, Vol. 19

April 20, 2023 08:34 - 19 minutes - 32.4 MB

Telling the tale of my flying career, I left you at the end of my F/A18 conversion course as we reformed the No 77 Royal Australian Air Force Squadron with their brand new Hornets. So far our one and only aircraft A21-5 was being shared around and everyone wanted a piece of it, either to fly or learn how to fix it.  The squadron execs were pretty busy dealing with the job of getting the new squadron personnel squared away so the rest of us got more than our share of flying.  There wasn’t much...

Sailing Off to Hawaii

April 16, 2023 09:27 - 20 minutes - 33.4 MB

Hawaii became the most recent state to join the union in 1959 and is now the third wealthiest.  Following it’s annexation, Hawaii became an important naval base for the US Navy so it is hardly surprising that they should be the first to attempt a flight from the US mainland to the island.  Aviation had already arrived at the islands in 1910 courtesy of Bud Mars, the Curtiss Daredevil.   The Hawaiian Archipelago   The annexation of Hawaii   J C Mars   Commander John Rodgers   Rodgers ...

Crash Investigation is No Accident

April 16, 2023 08:59 - 20 minutes - 32.2 MB

It was the 13th of May 1912, a Monday, when a Flanders F3 Monoplane took off from Brooklands in Surrey, a county of England.  The pilot was the aviation pioneer Edward Victor Beauchamp Fisher and his passenger the American millionaire Victor Mason.  Fisher had an Aviator’s Certificate, the 77th to be issued, had learned to fly at Brooklands and was a flying instructor there.  He had also worked with both A V Roe (the founder of Avro) and Howard Flanders, whose monoplane he was flying at the t...

The Twelve Crashes of Christmas

April 13, 2023 19:19 - 21 minutes - 34.2 MB

  The 12 days of Christmas are generally thought to run from the 26th of December to the 6th of January and is an important period of religious celebration or for those of us who observe Christmas in a more secular manner, it’s more likely to be a traditional time of recovery following our holiday excesses and to welcome in the New Year. Of course, those of us in the Aviation industry often remember dates by events that occurred on a particular day and the most memorable are often the most tr...

Around the World in 20 Days

February 20, 2023 16:05 - 19 minutes - 31.2 MB

Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier was one of two men who left the earth's surface and flew in Montgolfier's balloon for the very first time. He also designed a type of balloon that was given his name that flew using a combination of a lifting gas and hot air. More than 200 years later, his design would be used in the balloon that made the first non stop round the world flight. A Rozièr balloon   Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier in a Montgolfier balloon   De Rozièr perishes in a baloon crash...

Only a Flat Tyre

February 17, 2023 12:53 - 18 minutes - 29.4 MB

Each year upwards of 2 million of the faithful make the journey to follow the path of the profit Muhammad to a number of holy sites before their pilgrimage rites are considered complete. Muslims from around the world make this journey which, in modern times, is often completed using air travel, as it was in 1991 when Nigeria Airways wet leased a Douglas DC8 operated by Nationair Canada to help them cope with the season’s increase in passenger traffic due to the Hajj. Under the hot sun of the ...

Higher, Faster

February 17, 2023 11:21 - 21 minutes - 33.9 MB

They were the pioneers who trod the territory beyond the sound barrier… a place no man had ever been before and which had killed many who attempted the journey. The rocket powered, winged bullet first flew only 42 years after man’s first powered flight, an achievement that still astounds me. To think that a toddler around at Kitty Hawk who saw one of the Wright Brothers first flights, could have heard the world’s first man made sonic boom before they reached the ripe old age of 50 is a true t...

RAF Form 414, Vol 18

February 17, 2023 10:43 - 18 minutes - 30.9 MB

It's time for another of my flying logbook tales and it’s May 1987 and I’m on the Australian FA18 No 2 Operational Conversion Unit at RAAF Williamtown starting the final phase on course 1 of 87 before moving onto No 77 Squadron which was to be my home for the next few years.   An FA/18B with a pair of BDU33 practice bomb carriers   The Salt Ash bombing range   A practice bomb strikes the centre of the target   The CCIP aiming symbology   Mk 82 500lb General Purpose bombs   RAAF To...

Sherman Smoot – A Tribute

January 19, 2023 14:38 - 17 minutes - 30.5 MB

A tribute to Sherman Smoot, friend of the APG Show, who died doing what he loved best... flying.     Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Capt Nick Anderson.        

The Battle Above the Somme

January 19, 2023 14:19 - 19 minutes - 31.8 MB

The First World War battle of the Somme continues, to this day, to fascinate and appal in equal measures. Much has been written about the ground war the first day of which saw the greatest number of British casualties than had occurred before in the entire history of the British Army… 19,240 were dead and 38,230 injured. The fighting over a 16 mile front lasted almost 5 months, after which the Allied troops had advanced about 6 miles. The butchers bill of casualties was horrendous. The combin...

Batman and Robin

January 16, 2023 11:12 - 20 minutes - 32.7 MB

Robin Olds was a hard drinking, hard working man who led from the front in a way that inspired his men to become a great fighting force. He only became frustrated when he saw mistakes being made by those above him who should have known better and he went out of his way to make his feelings known. He defined what it meant to be a fighter pilot, not only in the air but on the ground with the stunningly beautiful Hollywood actress, Ella Raines, the first of his 4 wives. The court-martial of Gen...

The Grade 2 Listed Centrifuge

January 16, 2023 10:35 - 20 minutes - 33.2 MB

A recent news programme caught my eye when I realised it involved our great friends at the Farnborough Aviation Sciences Trust museum. It reminded me of the group of sadistic so-called doctors who populated the Institute of Aviation Medicine and tortured generations of unsuspecting and innocent RAF aircrew in machines such as the one the article featured, a centrifuge! This aforementioned device which resembles a vast witch’s ducking stool crossed with an iron maiden, first operated in 1955 b...

RAF Form 414, Vol. 17

November 28, 2022 10:16 - 19 minutes - 31.7 MB

The story of my military flying career continues with the new challenge of flying the FA/18 Hornet round the beautiful skies of Australia.   The official crest of No 77 Sqn RAAF with its Grumpy Monkey   The 77 Sqn Mirages   The helmet fitting   An FA/18A cockpit     Sunset   The Head Up Display   The location of RAAF Williamtown   Firing the gun   Images under Creative Commons licence with thanks to Nick Anderson and Google Earth.

Oh Canada, Our UFO

November 28, 2022 09:52 - 19 minutes - 31 MB

Featured in a Scientific magazine which offered a first look inside the USAF's new jet fighter, the F-89 Scorpion was to have an interesting history which involved the Battle of Palmdale and a top secret Canadian UFO! A Scientific Magazine cutaway drawing   The Fly-off competitors   The Northrop F89 Scorpion     The 437th Fighter Interceptor Squadron   An F6F Hellcat red drone   Mighty Mouse rockets   1st Lt Moncla   The Canadian UFO   The official USAF report   Images und...

The Wing That Broke Jack Northrop

August 29, 2022 12:48 - 20 minutes - 31.7 MB

Arguably one of the most talented and innovative aircraft developers of his time, John Knudsen Northrop had long sought an aircraft design that could start a revolution… a craft with minimum drag and a level of lift unachievable in any other form. Jack, as John Northrop was usually known, pursued his dream of building a pure flying wing strategic bomber that would exceed the capabilities of anything else his less imaginative competitors were designing. The gliders of Otto Lilienthal   The ...

The Eager Beavers

August 29, 2022 10:14 - 19 minutes - 29.9 MB

It was an unpopular aircraft because, well… a lot of aircrew were superstitious. They were renown for carrying lucky charms, doing things a certain way and never daring to change the habit because it worked for them last time. Their machine was a B17 nicknamed Old 666 taken from the last 3 digits of its tail number 41-2666 and they were the Eager Beavers!   Old 666   The Martin B-26 Marauder   The B-17 bombing Japanese shipping North of Australia   The B-17's waist guns   The route ...

RAF Form 414, Vol. 16

August 29, 2022 09:41 - 18 minutes - 30.3 MB

The conclusion of one of the hardest flying courses in the Royal Air Force, the QWI course.  What faced us was the culmination of all our efforts over the past months of flying in the form of a week of intense work, drawing together everything we had learned. We had to fly a series of missions against all comers, demonstrating our level of leadership, control, tactics, formation management, aggression and skill. These sorties were complex and demanding, involving tactics we devised to allow u...

Amy, Wonderful Amy

August 29, 2022 09:09 - 19 minutes - 29.8 MB

The 1920’s and 30’s were times of radical societal changes, particularly in the freedoms that women then demanded. The suffragette movement, the contributions made by women in the first world war and other dramatic events had clearly shown that forward looking women were no longer going to be content with the roles that men decided they were suited for. Aviation played its part in allowing women the freedom to tackle challenges that were previously denied to them, a fight for equality continu...

Captain Anderson – The Crash!

August 29, 2022 08:47 - 18 minutes - 29.1 MB

An air hostess calmly walked through the crashing airliner telling the passengers, “Please fasten your safety-belts. Keep your seats.” Then she returned to the galley near the tail, sat herself down… and waited. One of the passengers had seen oil spurting from an engine and on the flight deck, Captain Anderson was nursing his aircraft in. The engine had failed not long after takeoff following that massive oil leak and this aircraft didn’t have a good reputation for single engined flying. An ...

The Ugly Ducklings

July 04, 2022 13:36 - 19 minutes - 31.6 MB

Whilst we are discussing quaint idioms, many of us trust that old American adage, “If it looks good, it’ll fly good” attributed to both Neil Armstrong and Bill Lear and is something that all pilots understand. There is something about a fine looking aircraft that makes it appear trustworthy and gives one confidence that it will perform well. Sadly, I know of one company, however, who seem to have looked at their aircraft through bottle bottom glasses… or perhaps they never got the memo. The ...

The Fall of American One

May 05, 2022 10:03 - 20 minutes - 12.8 MB

The aircraft was named ‘Flagship District of Columbia’ and was only the 12th Boeing 707 ever made. It was delivered to American Airlines in February 1959 so at the time America was taking its first steps into the void of outer space it was a mere 3 years old. It hadn’t long been out of it’s periodic inspection and with less than 8,000 hours on the airframe N7506A was expected to have a long and productive life ahead… a wish that would be dashed in a few short minutes. The New York skyline  ...

RAF Form 414, Vol. 15

May 05, 2022 09:36 - 18 minutes - 32.2 MB

The Royal Air Force’s Pilots Flying Logbook is a sturdy publication, cloth bound in blue with gold printing on the cover, on the inside of which are the instructions for use. Para 1, sub para (a) it states that the Book is an official document and is the property of Her Majesty’s Government… well, good luck trying to get this one back! The star of the Top Gun movie   The much admired RAF Phantom QWI badge   The island of Cyprus was famous for its rough red Kokinelli wine   The 20mm SUU...

Don’t Upset the Jet 2

April 11, 2022 13:42 - 18 minutes - 32.2 MB

Last week we chatted about historic incidents that led to aircraft upsets. This week we talk to a newly qualified airline pilot who is undergoing advanced Upset and Recovery Training at a British training school. We also speak to the school's chief pilot and one of the instructors, an ex Mig 29 pilot.   Basem undergoing upset training at BAA in a Grob     One of the BAA's Extras   Basem off to be turned upside down!   Adrian... Basem's ex Mig 29 instructor   Images under Creative C...

Don’t Upset the Jet 1

April 07, 2022 13:34 - 20 minutes - 31.9 MB

With the arrival of jet powered airliners, commercial pilots entered a new world of high altitude flying in large swept wing aircraft at velocities approaching the speed of sound. They were often unprepared for the challenge and before long unexpected and unexplained loss of control events began to worry the world of aviation. These events initially occurred when an aircraft was upset from its normal benign straight and level environment and ended up in a high speed dive, something that was r...

Giants of Ukraine

March 17, 2022 13:28 - 21 minutes - 33.6 MB

In the world of Slavic folk tales there are giants in Ukraine but as aviators the ones we are interested are the giants that the fabled aircraft designer Oleg Antonov designed. This is his story. The OKA1 glider   Antonov at the Leningrad Polytechnic   The OKA38 Stork   The An-2   The An-12 Cub   The An-24 Coke   The vast An-22 Cock   The huge An-124 Condor   The flight deck of the An-124   The mighty Mryia, An-225, carrying a Buran project space shuttle   The destruction...

RAF Form 414, Vol 14

March 06, 2022 21:19 - 20 minutes - 33.2 MB

It’s logbook time again and you may recall that I was as freshly a minted A1 QFI as there could be and I had just left the training world to return to the front line on my old Squadron, the Fighting Cocks. I had been in Wales for over 4 years and in that time the faces I knew on 43 Sqn had almost all gone... it was like I was joining a unit of strangers.   The Q Shed   Additional armed aircraft ready to go onto QRA   The F4 tank limiting speeds   A Soviet Badger trying to sneak past a...

Friedrich Karl von Koenig-Warthausen and the Crazy Baron!

February 21, 2022 21:21 - 20 minutes - 32.1 MB

It was a grand sight to see another German aircraft there, a Junkers W33 with its distinctive corrugated metal skin and stylish enclosed cockpit, a far cry from his own flimsy machine. The German pilots greeted each other and marvelled at how, in 1928, they should have met in such a remote place… some 3,300 miles, 5,300 km, from the Fatherland. It is doubtful that the Junkers pilot knew much about the young 22 year old airman with his flimsy little aircraft, but the gaunt and weathered Baron ...

The Life Saving Bombers

February 15, 2022 19:11 - 19 minutes - 31.7 MB

Instead of a cargo of bored business men and excited holiday makers, this aged DC-10 was carrying 12,000 gallons, thats 45,000 ltrs of bright red liquid in a huge tank attached to the centre of the fuselage. This is the story of the fire fighting water bombers.   A vast DC10 converted to flying tanker operations   A forest fire   Mixing fire retardant   A fire lookout   The Morton Lake hotshots   The dangers of a wildfire are considerable, even during an evacuation   The dangers...

Rhumbas and Quarrels

January 26, 2022 21:54 - 17 minutes - 28.8 MB

On the last tale, Sidewinders and Sparrows we talked a little about the history of rockets and missiles but it’s a big subject so this week I thought I’d expand on the theme a little and as I'm going to mention lots of rattlesnakes and sparrows, I should probably use the correct collective nouns… rhumbas and quarrels!   Rules of Engagement   JTIDS   The result of a Blue on Blue engagement   An AIM 54 Phoenix launch   An AIM7 Sparrow in flight   The APG63 radar   Radar discrimina...

Sidewinders and Sparrows

January 18, 2022 21:53 - 19 minutes - 32.3 MB

Despite their obvious differences, Sidewinders and Sparrows often went together because they aren’t just the names of flying creatures and slithering serpents… they are weapons of war.   The Sidewinder   House Sparrows   The Rapier missile system   Chinese Fire Arrows   The Tipu Sultan's artillery rockets   The RS-28 rockets fired by the Polikarpov I-16   The German R4M unguided air to air rocket   The nuclear AIR-2 Genie missile   A Genie launch   The AIM9 Sidewinder   ...

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