Also, some sources were calling these air to air missiles but my understanding is as long as they are unguided they are considered rockets. I'm no expert so would be curious to get others take and we'll make that official from here on out.😁

Before missiles became commonplace, air to air rockets were once a thing. Follow @aviationarchive for more aviation rarities (and in HD)

The F-86D "Sabre Dog" prototype first flew in 1949. It featured a reshaped nose intake to house a new radar and fire-control system, which automatically guided the aircraft to within 500 yards of the target and fired its 24 retractable 2.75 Inch FFAR "Mighty Mouse" rockets(as

A peek into the luxurious Farman F.180:

The Farman F.180 Oiseau Bleu was a 1920s French biplane airliner originally designed for nonstop Paris-to-New York flights but repurposed as luxury transport after the transatlantic attempt was canceled. It carried up to 24 passengers over a range of about 621 miles, powered by

The Payen Pa 49 Katy was the World's smallest jet in 1954. French experimental tailless delta-wing turbojet, wooden construction. 310 mph top speed, first flew Jan 22, 1954. Aerobatic pioneer, now at the Air and Space Museum in Paris.😎

In 1978, Willard Custer sued the U.S. government for $80 million (about $395 million today), alleging the A-10 Thunderbolt II's engine placement borrowed his induced-lift idea; the case was dismissed. 👀His 1948 CCW-2 Channel Wing flew at 11 mph with takeoffs in 45 feet, using

A great book about this cold war concept: https://t.co/ZgQ6FeBM6U

Here are some better pictures of her in all her glory. I had a hard time hunting down descent footage.

The Martin P6M SeaMaster was a Jet-powered flying boat bomber built for US Navy nuclear strikes. Swept wings, high engines to dodge spray, open-ocean ops. First flew in '55, nearly operational—canceled '59 for budget reasons. Cold War relic of seaplane dreams long gone.🫡

The Saunders-Roe SR.A/1 was the World's 1st jet-powered flying boat. British prototype flew on July 16, 1947, hitting 512 mph with twin Beryl turbojets. Saunders-Roe believed that water-based planes could operate from forward staging areas much closer to targets than land-based

Inflight footage of a German He 60 laying a smoke screen and of Heinkel He 59's on a bombing run. The He 59 became best known for their air-sea rescue Seenotdienst role. During the Battle of Britain (1940) they operated in this capacity flying white with Red Cross markings.

Footage of X-24A, M2-F3, and HL-10 dryden lifting body fleet parked on Rogers Dry Lakebed and then inflight footage of the Northrop M2-F2 lifting body(experiencing oscillations). The M2-F2 flew 16 unpowered drops from a B-52. On May 10, 1967, pilot Bruce Peterson crashed on

On June 8, 1966, a NASA F-104 collided mid-air with the XB-70 Valkyrie during a GE photo formation over California. Caught in the XB-70's wingtip vortex, the F-104 rolled inverted, struck the bomber's tail/wing. After the collision sheared off the XB-70's vertical stabilizers,

A totally of 8 bridges were built to cross the Po River. Here's a map showing the crossing points.

I'm amazed at how quickly the Allied forces could build bridges—they built many. Here the U.S. Fifth Army's Po River crossing (Apr 23-25, 1945) split Axis forces and hastened Italy's surrender on May 2. Engineers built temporary pontoon/treadway bridges in 4-16 hrs: secure banks,

October 1944 footage from the Battle of Leyte Gulf shows Wildcats finding a landing spot after their carrier was bombed, only to discover the hard way that the airstrip wasn't yet operational. (The carriers CVL-23, CVE-73, and CVE-63 were all lost in that battle.)🫡

I like big trucks (...and I can not lie). The LARC-LX was the US Army's 60-ton amphibious monster from 1952. 62ft long, 4 265hp diesel engines (1 per wheel), hauls 100 tons from ship to shore through breaking surf. Served Vietnam, retired 2001. Largest 4x4 ever fielded.👀

So, in 1943, Nazi Germany built the world's first wire-guided(by joystick in cockpit) air-to-air missile, the Ruhrstahl Ru 344 X-4. Rocket-powered at 700mph, it let fighters hit Allied bombers from 2mi out—beyond gun range. It carried a 44lb high-explosive warhead with a

more details: Despite proving effective for flotation, stability, and handling uneven surfaces, the design added significant weight (heavier than conventional gear), increased mechanical complexity, required more maintenance, and suffered from issues like limited belt/bearing