Any nation with the suicidal urge to invade the Russia Federation would have to answer to the Mikoyan MiG-31. At maximum speed the MiG-31 is uncatchable, travelling an incredible fifty kilometres a minute. Not only is it the fastest fighter in the world, but it is armed with the longest range air to-air missiles, the Phoenix-like R-33.

With the TKS-2 secure data-link a wolf-pack of four MiG-31s can share targeting data and cut a 800 km wide swathe of airspace. The centre of the weapon system is the powerful Zaslon radar, which was the world’s first electronically scanning fighter radar. The weapon system is highly automated; a test pilot charged with destroying four widely spaced target drones, commented that “It was too easy, almost disgustingly so.”

Weeks after an announcement by a US spokesman that the USSR was incapable of destroying cruise missiles in flight, a MiG-31 proved him wrong with an impressive live fire demonstration. For close-in engagements it is armed with the GSh-6-23 cannon, capable of spitting out 8,500 rounds per minute (the highest rate of any aircraft gun).

..and the Mikoyan MiG-31 is big. Very big. In fact a fully-loaded MiG-31 weighs around the same as six fully-loaded MiG-21s!

Alex Eybozhenko, painter & decorator

 

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The Bugatti Model 100 is a very sexy plane. Designed to compete in the 1939 Deutsch de la Meurthe Cup Race, it had great aspirations to break world records but like a lot of awesome things, it got waylaid by a fascist Germany and it never made its glorious debut.

When German soldiers marched towards Paris in June 1940, the Bugatti Model 100 was lowered out of the furniture factory where it was stored onto the street, and driven to the countryside where it would remain, hidden in a barn, for thirty years. Over time, it changed hands. The beautiful modified 50B engines were removed, and it was only in the 1970s that a restoration project got underway. Bugatti died before it ever had the chance to take to the skies.

All is not lost, however. In 2010, a pair of enthusiasts from Oklahoma set about making a working replica. This sexy beast will be in our skies later this year – and due to its light weight, it may still be a record breaker. The replica built will do something the original never could: it will fly. Better hope those Mayans aren’t right about the apocalypse.

Megan Orpwood-Russell is a writer and the Scientific Meetings Coordinator, ZSL London Zoo.  She also has a magnificent blog.

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A baking mid-July afternoon at RAF Fairford.  I shield my eyes against the bright sunshine. A British Airways Concorde powers uproariously along the runway.  Everyone around me (at today’s sweltering Air Tattoo) stops in their tracks to watch.  Her unmistakable delta form is revealed as she takes-off and climbs away. Smoke from the four Olympus engines smudge the sky behind her.

The silence that follows is as stark as the din moments earlier.

 15 years later: I’m sat alone in the ex-BA Concorde at Manchester Airport. An introspective silence in this now dead aeroplane. I think about the aircraft’s history and the people who flew it and on it. Sat in the captain’s seat, looking through the distinctive cockpit windows, I’m reminded that those flying on Concorde to New York saw two sunsets in one day.

 Two different moments.  One visceral: Concorde’s shape, performance and sound.  One reflective: Concorde’s glamorous life and her globe-shrinking powers.

 This was Concorde. A spectacular aircraft, yes, but one with an operatically rich tale: a drama of beauty, controversy and tragedy. Concorde was simply an epic, and true to this form, the tale ended in a tragic descent.

 

Mark Broadbent is a freelance journalist specialising in commercial aerospace, technology and aviation history (@markjbroadbent. www.mark-broadbent.co.uk).

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Let’s forget Boeing’s dark side– that its aircraft have killed more people than those of any other manufacturer: in the 1940s B-17 Flying Fortresses battered Germany; the B-29 Superfortress incinerated Japanese cities and made Hiroshima and Nagasaki place names we’re all aware of; the crumple-skinned B-52 was the dreadnought of the 1960s, nicknamed the BUFF (standing for Big Ugly Fat Fucker) it battered seven shades of crap out of North Vietnam

But as I said, forget this.

I don’t know if you’re white. I don’t know if you’ve had a homosexual experience, or whether you’re a Capricorn with a dirt-bike. What I do know is that you’ve flown on a 737. Everybody has.

Seven weeks before Sgt. Pepper was released, the Boeing 737 first flew. Since then, production of the airliner has never ceased. Think about that.

There are 1,700 737s flying right now. One takes off or lands every two seconds. They have carried more than 15.6 billion passengers. 737s brought in truly affordable flying, they have reunited families and taken millions of couples on their honeymoons. It is the most important aeroplane in the world and you should know about it. Google it.

 

Clementine Norton is currently single.

 

You may also enjoy Ten incredible cancelled Soviet fighter aircraft, Ten worst Soviet aircraft, Ten incredible cancelled military aircraft, Fighter aircraft news round-up,  11 Cancelled French aircraft or the 10 worst British military aircraft, Su-35 versusTyphoon, 10 Best fighters of World War II , Su-35 versus Typhoon, top WVR and BVR fighters of today, an interview with a Super Hornet pilot and a Pacifist’s Guide to Warplanes. Flying and fighting in the Tornado. Was the Spitfire overrated? Want something more bizarre? Try Sigmund Freud’s Guide to Spyplanes. The Top Ten fictional aircraft is a fascinating read, as is The Strange Story and The Planet Satellite. The Fashion Versus Aircraft Camo is also a real cracker. Those interested in the Cold Way should read A pilot’s guide to flying and fighting in the Lightning. Those feeling less belligerent may enjoy A pilot’s farewell to the Airbus A340. Looking for something more humorous? Have a look at this F-35 satire and ‘Werner Herzog’s Guide to pusher bi-planes or the Ten most boring aircraft. In the mood for something more offensive? Try the NSFW 10 best looking American airplanes, or the same but for Canadians. 10 great aircraft stymied by the US. 

I grew up in Hertfordshire, an area that sees very little active military traffic, which meant that
family holidays to the likes of East Anglia, and of course the airshow season, were the main means
by which my desire to see fast jets in the flesh, were satisfied.

Sometimes however, my Dad could be persuaded to take me on a day trip so we could hang out by
a perimeter fence somewhere and see what came our way, camera at the ready. By far the easiest
place for such a visit was RAF Alconbury, near Huntingdon, home to USAFE RF-4Cs, as well as
TR-1s and F-5Es.

The first time we visited, the resident ‘Rhinos’ had some friends visiting, more RF-4Cs, from Shaw
AFB in the USA, an incredible piece of good fortune. Those smoky, reconnaissance Phantoms were
in the circuit all day and we got the lot – run and breaks, burner overshoots, singletons, pairs and
four-ships. I’ll never forget it.

I love the Phantom, full-stop, but the RF-4C will always occupy a special place in my heart.

The Alconbury-based jets, along with their colleagues from the 26TRW at Zweibrücken AFB in
Germany were regular sights in the UK – how I miss them!

Gareth Stringer, Editor of www.globalaviationresource.com