Tag: Weekend Wings

Weekend Wings #41: South Africa’s “Franken-Mirages”, Part 3 of 3

This is the third and final article of a series describing the aircraft and systems developed by and for the South African Air Force (SAAF) during the 1980’s and 1990’s. In Weekend Wings #39, we described the Cheetah upgrade program for the SAAF’s Mirage III fighters. In Weekend Wings #40, we looked at the Atlas… Continue reading Weekend Wings #41: South Africa’s “Franken-Mirages”, Part 3 of 3

Weekend Wings #40: South Africa’s “Franken-Mirages”, Part 2 of 3

Last week, in Weekend Wings #39, we looked at the South African Air Force (SAAF) and its Cheetah program to improve its 1960’s-vintage Mirage III fighter-bombers. This week I’d planned to examine three related areas pursued by the SAAF during the 1980’s and early 1990’s: but the sheer length of the resulting article is way… Continue reading Weekend Wings #40: South Africa’s “Franken-Mirages”, Part 2 of 3

Weekend Wings #39: South Africa’s “Franken-Mirages”, Part 1 of 3

I’m sure readers know of Mary Shelley’s famous novel ‘Frankenstein‘. Briefly, Dr. Victor Frankenstein assembles a monster in the form of a human being, using body parts from “the dissecting-room and the slaughter-house”. Since then, the first part of his name has become a byword to describe anything that resembles a known thing, but uses… Continue reading Weekend Wings #39: South Africa’s “Franken-Mirages”, Part 1 of 3

Weekend Wings #38: The F-111 Aardvark, Part 2

Last week, in Weekend Wings #37, we looked at the genesis of the F-111 Aardvark and the advanced technologies that had to be developed in order for it to fulfil its very demanding specification. Those technologies proved dauntingly difficult to integrate into a single airframe. The first years of service of the F-111 were to… Continue reading Weekend Wings #38: The F-111 Aardvark, Part 2

Weekend Wings #37: The F-111 Aardvark, Part 1

On December 3rd, 2010, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) will officially retire its remaining General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark strike aircraft. The date will mark the end of more than four decades of service for this remarkable plane. The F-111’s story is so complex that we can’t possibly do it justice in a single Weekend… Continue reading Weekend Wings #37: The F-111 Aardvark, Part 1

Weekend Wings #36: The Airborne Sinews of Empire

After the Treaty of Versailles, which formally ended World War I, the British Empire was at its largest. It covered almost 25% of the world’s land mass, and was spread around the globe. The British Empire in 1919 (click image for a larger view) Sea communications between Britain and her various territories was well established,… Continue reading Weekend Wings #36: The Airborne Sinews of Empire

Weekend Wings #35: A make-or-break year for the F-35 Lightning II?

The F-35 Lightning II, the product of the Joint Strike Fighter competition, is considered critical to the future of the US Air Force and the US Marine Corps (USMC), and, to a lesser extent, to the US Navy. We’ve looked at it in several previous Weekend Wings articles (see #3, #6, #8, #21 and #30… Continue reading Weekend Wings #35: A make-or-break year for the F-35 Lightning II?

Weekend Wings #34 – Stealth Aircraft: The Old Becomes New Again

I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to get out another article in the ‘Weekend Wings’ series. Unfortunately, they take a lot of time to research and prepare, and pressure of other work in recent months has meant that I didn’t have the time to do a proper job. I don’t want to publish a… Continue reading Weekend Wings #34 – Stealth Aircraft: The Old Becomes New Again

Weekend Wings #33: Jack Northrop’s Flying Wings

Jack Northrop (properly named John Knudsen Northrop) was born in 1895, and died in 1981. He founded three aviation companies, the last two of which bore his name, and the last of which is still in existence as the Northrop Grumman Corporation. It’s said to be the fourth-largest defense contractor in the world today. Almost… Continue reading Weekend Wings #33: Jack Northrop’s Flying Wings