In 1957, Homer H. Dubs, the author of A Roman City in China, made a controversial proposal about the lost Roman legion of Marcus Crassus. He believed that around 50 BCE, the soldiers ended up as prisoners of war. Eventually, they became mercenary soldiers for the Han Chinese who gave the Romans land in the Gansu province. There, the Romans founded a city called Lijien (also Liqian or Lijian), the word that the Chinese used for legion. Some of the people who live in Lijien — today, “Zhelaizhai” — have Caucasian features. Consequently, Dubs believed that the residents of Zhelaizhai may be the descendants of the lost Roman legion in China.
These Uyghur girls are genetically similar to a few residents of Liqian, today’s ZhelaiZhai. Public domain.
Marcus Crassus and His Legion of Roman Soldiers
In 53 BCE, a humiliating defeat for a Roman army set off a chain of events. Consequently, this may have led to the furthest eastward expansion of the Roman Empire’s military and cultural influence. The defeat took place at the Battle of Carrhae, located in eastern Turkey, where the Roman fought against 10,000 Parthian archers against seven Roman legions led by Marcus Licinius Crassus.
Prior to this battle, Crassus had amassed a degree of fame after he defeated Spartacus’ rebellion in 71 BCE. However, his success would not last. Despite his prior conquests, many people questioned his military leadership. The leader’s inexperience became apparent the day he led 45,000 soldiers into battle against the very prepared and mobile Parthian cavalry in Carrhae, now known today as Harran, Turkey.
By nightfall, the battle was all but over. The Parthians beheaded Crassus’ son and killed 20,000 Roman soldiers. While the two sides were negotiating an end to the fight, the Parthians captured Crassus and also beheaded him. Approximately 15,000 Roman soldiers managed to escape, but 10,000 others became prisoners.
What Happened to the Lost Roman Legion?
The fate of the 10,000 captured Legionnaires remained a mystery. They became known as the Lost Roman Legion. In 20 BCE, under Caesar Augustus, negotiations regarding the return of these soldiers only compounded the mystery.
The Parthians stated there were no prisoners to repatriate. However, Paul Brummell, the author of Turkmenistan, says that the Parthians moved many prisoners from the Battle of Carrhae eastward to Merv, Turkmenistan, where they used the fighters against invasions.
Lijian — Legion?
Chinese records indicate that in 36 BCE at the Battle of Zhizhi, the Han captured the Xiongnu, led by Zhizhi Changyu in Central Asia, in a place known today as Dzhambul, Uzbekistan, in 36 BCE.
Chen Tang, one of the Han generals who fought the Xiongnu, recorded fighting soldiers who used the yu lin zhen, fish scale, formation. This tactic of tightly squared units utilized shields for the first row to cover their body. The following rows covered their heads. However, the Roman legions used this strategy throughout the empire and called it the testudo (tortoise shell).
Roman Testudo tortoise shell formation. CC 2.0 Neil Carey.
Charles Hucker proposed that the Roman legionaries may have been amongst the Xiongnu soldiers. Following the Battle of Zhizhi, the Han possibly captured over a thousand prisoners. Emperor Yuandi established a new county called Lijian (Liqian) or Li-jien, which, according to Hucker, is a name that reflects the Roman legion.
The Theory of Liqian
As the story goes, the Han victors were highly impressed by the skills of the soldiers. Therefore, they moved them further east to the new outpost of Liqian (Li-Chien) in the Gansu province. From there, the mercenary soldiers helped the Han Chinese defend against Tibetan raids.
A map of China’s Han Empire available during this same period showed a county named Liqian. According to Fan Ye’s 5th century “Hou Han Shu”, Liqian was what the Chinese called the Roman Empire.
Zhelaizhai residents with European characteristics.
Archaeological Findings
Archaeologists now believe Liqian became present-day Zhelaizhai, China. Excavations in Zhelaizhai unearthed a trunk with stakes, which the Romans commonly used to build fortifications. Additionally, they found Roman coins and pottery.
Evidence shows that the people of Zhelaizhai had lined the ancient streets with tree trunks. This was a uniquely Roman practice. Also, at least one Roman helmet with Chinese lettering puzzled researchers, and a strange passion exists for bulls. However, neighboring cities do not.
Arguments Against the Lost Roman Legion in Liqian Theory
The fish-scale formation was known to China, which had been using the strategy during the first millennium BCE. (Yuan: 2018).
Indo-Europeans had spread out into Central Asia well before the Imperial Roman period. The Tarim mummies of Xinjiang, China, are just one example of this.
Celtic mercenary soldiers fought in Central Asia and Asia in Turkey, Judea, Syria, and against the Seleucid Empire pre-imperial Rome. (Listverse).
DNA Tests in Zhelaizhai
A 2005 DNA analysis of residents in Zhelaizhai indicates that approximately 56 percent have genetic sequences similar to Europeans. However, the analysis did not determine that they derived from Southern Europe, as experts would expect if they originated in Italy. On the contrary, their DNA was similar to that of the Uygurs of the Xinjiang Province of Western China, who possess Northern European ancestry (Khan).
Another study from 2007 determined that according to paternal (Y) lineage DNA, the people of Zhelaizhai are not descendants of Romans. Instead, they are very similar, genetically, to Han Chinese with a small amount of Mongolian aspect. Scientists indicated that a complete study of mtDNA (maternal lineage) is necessary to complete the assessment.
Although the locals of Zhelaizhai have, in their minds, accepted the idea that they originate from the lost Roman legion in China, it appears that the evidence so far indicates that they do not.
In 1968, British newspaper The Sunday Times sponsored the first ever round-the-world yacht race. Guaranteed excellent publicity from the paper, nine contestants enlisted, drawn by the glamor of winning such a race, as well as the £5,000 prize for the fastest time (as much as $120,000 today).
The race was well organized but there were several safety concerns. Yachts were to be manned by a single person only as the race was a solo one, and the race would be non-stop. Competitors could not be vetted thoroughly on the safety of their boats and their abilities as sailors, and there were no entry requirements.
Competitors could start the race at any point between 1 June and 31 October 1968. One such competitor, who set off on the very last day, was Donald Crowhurst.
An Ambitious Man
Donald Crowhurst was not a professional sailor but had some knowledge and experience about sailing. He was an inventor and electronics engineer, and hoped to use this to his advantage during the race.
To aid in his navigation, he created a radio-direction finder that he named “Navicator” and he would make the attempt in a very unusual boat design, a trimaran called the Teignmouth Electron. Trimarans could theoretically travel much faster than monohull boats, but had not been tested on such a grueling expedition.
Crowhurst hoped to stabilize his business with the publicity and money that he would get by winning this race, but the upfront costs were steep. To take part, he raised financing from some businessmen and mortgaged his home as well.
Replica of the Teignmouth Electron (Gothick / CC BY-SA 3.0)
This allowed him to finish work on the Teignmouth Electron which he had constructed specially for the voyage. The boat-builder promised Crowhurst that the boat would be speedy but warned about stability issues in heavy seas.
But on the first sea trial of the boat, a few noticeable problems came up. The deadline was rapidly approaching and it wasn’t possible for Crowhurst to equip new parts and repair the vessel properly to make it ready for the race.
He only had two ways and was faced with a dire choice: either sail and take part in the race with a doubtful boat, or give up to face bankruptcy and humiliation. Crowhurst, fatefully, took the first option, setting sail in a boat untested in either design or practice.
The Race Begins!
Just like the boat wasn’t ready, the weather wasn’t favorable for the race as well. Clare, Crowhurst’s wife, suggested to him not to take part in it, as there was a great risk. But as she saw Crowhurst sobbing with the thought of humiliation, she and their four kids tried to make Crowhurst believe he could do anything. They didn’t want him to regret the thought of giving up.
On 31st October 1968, the weather miraculously calmed and gave Crowhurst his opportunity to start the voyage. Crowhurst kissed the forehead of each of his children and asked the elder ones to take care of their mother, and launched the Teignmouth Electron.
Soon after the race began, Crowhurst observed that the boat was already leaking like a sieve. And he realized right at that moment that this boat wouldn’t be able to take the blow from 30 or 40-foot (9 – 12 m) waves in the Southern Ocean, writing in the logs that the ship would probably sink once it entered heavy seas.
Trapped and with no options left, Crowhurst started to come up with a plan! He didn’t want to give up and live with humiliation forever, he would rather cheat than lose.
The Crooked Plan of Donald Crowhurst
GPS didn’t exist back then, and so the only way of checking the position of the boats after the race was through a review of the logbooks and the charts carried on each boat. Donald Crowhurst intended to use this to his advantage, saving his boat and completing the race.
The route of the race (Unknown Author / Public Domain)
Therefore, he started sending radio messages to the organizers giving false positions. He charted a false course down into the south Atlantic, and then, fearing his transmissions might give him away, he then disconnected the radio contact completely off the coast of Brazil.
Even these waters were too much for the Teignmouth Electron. His boat was so damaged at one point that he had to stop at a fishing port in Argentina to make some necessary repairs.
Crowhurst’s plan was to maintain two logbooks, one for his real journey and one for his fictitious race experience. The pressure of keeping two logbooks would have been extreme, and was made worse when he realized that his fictitious log wouldn’t be justifiable at close scrutiny if he won the race.
The logbooks would need to contain weather conditions during the course of his voyage. Crowhurst had no idea what the weather was like where he was supposed to be, and the fictitious log reflects some of this in its hazy descriptions.
Claiming to be making good time, Crowhurst wandered in the Atlantic until, finally, his made-up voyage started to catch up to his actual position. At this point the race leader was Nigel Tetley, who was making excellent time. Crowhurst intended to let Tetley win, with himself coming second to avoid much of the log-book scrutiny.
In May 1969, Donald finally turned back for home. But again he had miscalculated, as his apparent pace panicked Tetley. Forced to race at breakneck speed to keep up with Crowhurst’s apparent pace, Tetley’s boat failed and he capsized.
This meant Crowhurst was now far in the lead and on course to get the £5,000 prize for being the fastest competitor. With this victory he felt sure his cheating would be exposed.
After 243 days at sea, Crowhurst made his last entry in his logbook on 1st July 1969. He wrote, “It is finished, It is finished. It is the mercy.” And that was the last anyone heard of Donald Crowhurst.
Lost at Sea
12 days after his last logbook entry, the Teignmouth Electron was found drifting in the ocean. There was no sign of Donald Crowhurst. It was believed that he had jumped off the boat with his fictitious logbook, leaving behind the actual one on the deck by way of confessing his sins.
The wreck of the Teignmouth Electron survives to this day in the Cayman Islands (Scuppersthesailordog / CC BY-SA 3.0)
Crowhurst’s wife maintained that he would never commit suicide, but the evidence of the logbook was telling. He had hoped to become a British folk hero who conquered the seas, but in the end his sin was that of pride.
And so his life ended, trapped by his lies. Here was a man who believed he could sail across the world but couldn’t even make it past the Atlantic, and who believed he could fool the world, but ultimately left nothing behind but his confessional logbook.
FORT KNOX, KY - JULY 01: A cadet wielding an M249 fires in the direction of their opposing forces near the objective while other cadets move forward in Training Area 9 during Army ROTC Cadet Summer Training on July 1, 2021 in Fort Knox, Kentucky. 3rd Regiment participated in a field training exercise (FTX) in which units scouted and moved into unknown territory to engage opposing forces and then secure the mission area. Cadet Summer Training 2020 was effectively canceled at Fort Knox due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Jon Cherry/Getty Images)
Depending on who you ask, the meaning of “G.I.” can vary. From government issue to general issue, no one can seem to agree on one single answer. Surely, one of the most well-known designations for American troops has to have a fairly certain beginning, right? Actually, it’s a lot more complicated than you may have first thought.
There have been many different names to represent US soldiers over the decades, like Leatherneck, Grunt, Johnny Reb, Yank, and Jarhead. Some apply to specific branches or services, while others have fallen from use entirely, but the one name that has been used to describe many soldiers in the US ranks for decades now is G.I.
The G.I.
United States Marines take part in an annual KOR-USA combine military drill near Yeongil Bay in Pohang, South Korea on August 12, 2021. (Photo by Seung-il Ryu/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
It is seen stamped on equipment, the name for a US law, and even the name for an entire line of toys called G.I. Joe.
The name has been popular among troops, who have often identified themselves as G.I.s. The term is sometimes used in a satirical manner to play on the idea that troops are just a tool in the eyes of the government.
In addition, the short length of the name makes it easy to fit it into documents or titles.
The name has been extended to represent others linked to the military too, like G.I. Jane, which was the nickname for members of the Women’s Army Corps (WAC), G.I. Jesus, for military chaplains, and G.I. bride, for a foreign woman married to a servicemember.
Throughout its existence though, many have used the term as an abbreviation for a few different things. Garrison issue, general issue, government issue, and general infantry are all interpretations of the name. General Douglas MacArthur went with the more common version of general issue when he scolded his surgeon for calling MacArthur’s men G.I.s; “Don’t ever do that in my presence… G.I. means ‘general issue.’ Call them soldiers.” MacArthur said.
So where did the name come from?
(Original Caption) French Coast Dead Ahead. Helmeted Yankee soldiers crouch, tightly packed, behind the bulwarks of a Coast Guard landing barge in the historic sweep across the English Channel to the shores of Normandy. (Bettmann / Getty Images)
Unfortunately, the exact origin is hard to pin down, but there is a prevailing theory.
G.I. actually originated in WWI, not WWII.
The story goes that during the Great War, G.I. was stamped on items made from galvanized iron, like buckets and trash cans. Jokingly, American soldiers began calling large incoming German shells and bombs “G.I. cans,” with the nickname branching out to more items over time, such as equipment and even the troops themselves. It is likely that troops made this link because of the notion that they were a mass-produced tool, but also because galvanized iron is strong and tough, like troops.
As the term eventually ended up being used for pretty much everything related to the US troops, it began being interpreted as meaning “general issue,” or “government issue.” Although the name and its meaning was certainly well known by the early 1920s, there isn’t any official mention of it until 1935, where it is described as slang.
G.I. was a well-established name by the time WWII came around, with cartoonist Dave Breger titling a comic strip “G.I. Joe” in 1942. In 1944 President Roosevelt signed the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 into law, which became known as the G.I. Bill. This provided benefit schemes for veterans returning home from WWII.
So, you now know that the original meaning behind G.I. was not general issue or even government issue, but, perhaps underwhelmingly, galvanized iron. However, any of the common interpretations are valid today, as after all, if Douglas MacArthur believed it to mean general issue, we’re not going to argue that he was wrong.
German Dreadnoughts of the Air', (1919). Scene from the First World War, 1914-1919: 'The "Zeppelins" were an important factor in the German principle of "frightfulness". Their evolution and development was marked by an long series of disasters which practically ruined the inventor, Count Zeppelin, and their further improvement as a practical war machine was largely due to private enterprise and capital subscribed by private means.' From "The History of the Great European War: its causes and effects", Vol. III, by W. Stanley Macbean Knight. [Caxton Pulishing Company, Limited, London, 1919]. Artist Unknown. (Photo by The Print Collector/The Print Collector/Getty Images)
A rain of German bombs falling onto London may sound like a scene from the Blitz, but the city was also attacked by Germany during WWI, not by sleek metal-skinned aircraft, but by Zeppelins. Described by Winston Churchill as “enormous bladders of combustible gas,” these ominous lighter-than-air crafts caused 500 deaths in Britain. They also caused chaos on their own people, by denying them of their beloved sausages.
Although there was little evidence that airships were suited to military environments (they weren’t, by the way), there was a great demand for them among the German top brass. The ships could carry far more bombs over a further distance than aircraft, all while mounting defensive machine guns and they were actually quite hard to bring down.
However, unsurprisingly, the airships were still vulnerable to a prepared enemy and proved to be unwieldy, struggling to effectively navigate precisely over targets and lacking accurate bombing techniques.
Even when moored up the airships were thrown around by strong winds, and a few were lost because of poor weather conditions.
The airships had a powerful psychological effect but proved to be a rather lackluster weapon of war, and their use was eventually abandoned.
Beefy machines
‘Command area onboard a Zeppelin’, German air fleet, First World War, 1917. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)
These gigantic machines could measure up to 240 meters in length and required immense resources to construct. One of the most important was cow guts. The cow guts were used to make the bags that contained the airship’s gas. The gas is what makes the airships lighter than air.
Because the airships were huge, the number of resources they used was huge too, with each German Zeppelin using around 250,000 cows.
The same material used for the gasbags is also used to make sausages, albeit in a much more precise process. The German authorities were forced to choose between sausages or their airships. As we now know, airships won this logistical tug of war, with the resources once used to make sausages instead being diverted to Zeppelin construction.
An airship could use up to 30 million potential sausages.
During this drive for airship construction, the production of sausages was outlawed in Germany and other occupied territories.
Goldbeater’s skin
German Zeppelin L49 brought down and captured intact by the French, 20 October 1917. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)
The intestinal skin, also known as goldbeater’s skin, is incredibly resistant to tearing yet very thin and light. It has been used for many different things over the centuries but got its name from its use in the production of gold leaf. The skin is placed between layers of gold during gold beating, a process that can thin out many layers of gold separately.
A 1922 report on balloon fabrics for the US National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics highlights how valuable these guts were.
“The collection of the goldbeater’s skins was very systematic in Germany during the war,” the document reads. “Each butcher was required to deliver the ones from the animals he killed. Agents exercised strict control in Austria, Poland and northern France, where it was forbidden to make sausages.”
The intestines normally used to make sausages were wetted, separated, and had the outer membrane peeled away. It was then washed in an alkaline solution and stretched dry. The resulting material is goldbeater’s skin; exceptionally thing, yet strong.
The Germans experimented with other materials to build the gas bags, like rubber, but they were unable to find a way of sealing the bags enough to stop hydrogen, the lightest element in the universe, from escaping.
However, they realized that if layers of goldbeater’s skin were laid on top of each other when wet, they fuse together as they dry. This creates a material that, according to the 1922 report, “for a weight of 130 to 150 g per sq. m, a tightness permitting the loss of only a few liters of hydrogen per sq. m in 24 hours, under a pressure of 30 mm of water.”
As a result, Germany went without sausages in the name of strategic bombing.
(Original Caption) Billy Mitchell and General Pershing. Undated photograph, ca 1910s.
From spiked German helmets to steampunk-looking body armor, WWI certainly saw its fair share of strange uniform choices. WWI is a fascinating war as it was a meeting point of new and old, with horses charging into machine-gun fire, and pilots in cutting-edge aircraft throwing objects at each other. Similarly, the way soldiers were dressed was more appropriate for this new era of unromantic devastation, but still incorporated principles from the past.
The First World War popularized the trench coat
(Original Caption) The arrival of the 369th Black infantry regiment in New York after World War I. Undated photograph.
The trench coat was a useful and practical piece of clothing optionally worn by officers during the Great War. It was adapted from the greatcoat, which was found to be too heavy and impractical in the wet conditions of the trenches.
The coats were constructed from a lighter yet water-repellent material to keep officers dry and featured large pockets to store maps and documents. In addition, adjustable wrist straps kept water from running down one’s forearms while using binoculars.
The supply of the more practical trench coat was made possible by civilian tailoring firms.
More than 1 million civilian suits were given to soldiers returning home
When the war ended, the British Army gave almost 1.5 million suits to soldiers returning home. This was because, by law, a soldier was not permitted to wear their uniform for any more than 28 days after they were discharged.
Soldiers returning home were given a plainclothes form, which they used at dispersal centers to receive either a suit or a clothing allowance. In addition, the soldiers were given a pay advance, a ration book good for a fortnight, and a train ticket home.
Turbans were a common sight on the western front
1914: ‘Welcome Invaders of France’. Sikh soldiers on the march in France at the start of World War I. Original Publication: The Graphic – pub. 1914 (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
During WWI, Britain’s colonies, namely India, made huge contributions to the war, but this is often overlooked. At the end of 1914, a third of the British Army fighting on the western front was from India with the Indian Expeditionary Force. Sikh soldiers wearing turbans were a common sight during the war, but while this was a proud tradition, it often signaled their “lesser” colonial status among the troops.
Khaki was first used in India
The making of khaki – Wool blending’, 1915. From The Manchester Guardian History of the War, Vol. II. – 1914-15. [John Heywood Ltd, London, 1915] Artist Unknown. (Photo by Print Collector/Getty Images)
WWI saw a large emphasis on remaining hidden from the enemy, rather than going toe-to-toe with them in brightly colored uniforms. Camouflage and smokeless guns were all used to help troops stay out of sight. But khaki camouflage actually originated in India, when Harry Lumsden took his Corps of Guides down to a riverbank in the late 1840s with a supply of white cloth purchased at the market in Lahore.
The cloth was soaked in mud, which enabled the troops to blend in with the dusty environment.
Britain sourced khaki dyes from Germany
Ironically, the dye used in khaki uniforms was imported from Germany in secret during WWI. Prior to the war, Germany was a leading manufacturer of synthetic dyes, and by 1913 was exporting over 20 times more dye than Britain.
The military had to contract civilian firms to make uniforms
Logistically, Britain was not prepared for a war on the scale of the Great War. In the first few months of the war, the War Office only had enough uniforms to cloth existing servicemen and frontline members of the Territorial Force. The rapid recruitment of a rapidly increasing number of soldiers quickly overloaded the military’s own factories.
This was solved by contracting civilian tailoring firms to produce uniforms on an enormous scale; an arrangement that benefited both the military and suppliers.
An allowance was given to officers who could not afford a uniform
(Original Caption) France: News From Folks Back Home. Y. W. C. A. workers behind the battle lines in France distributing the long waited for letters from the old folks in the States to our boys in khaki. (Photo Credit: Bettmann / Getty Images)
At the start of the war, officers were usually recruited from the upper class and were easily able to pay the expenses of a new uniform. However as the war dragged on, the losses of these upper-class servicemen forced the military to recruit from progressively wider social classes.
Because of this, many were unable to pay for their uniforms, so the British Army subsidized the costs for these officers to maintain sufficient recruitment. Unsurprisingly, a gap developed between the officers of different social classes.
Official knitting patterns were introduced to regulate garments sent overseas
A WWI unit of soldiers pay respects at a cemetery in the 1920s on Veteran’s Day. (Photo by Kirn Vintage Stock/Corbis via Getty Images)
The War Office’s own supply of uniforms was supplemented by civilians, who knitted items of clothing and creature comforts for the men on the frontlines. However, the well-meaning practice quickly started running out of control, with increasingly garish items arriving to the troops.
The government was understandably worried about this, so they introduced official guidelines to be followed by knitters. The variety of garments was reduced by official knitting patterns and the request to only use khaki colors.
‘Kitchener blue’ supplemented khaki
The supply issues caused by Germany’s dominance in the production of khaki dyes forced Britain to turn to some less than ideal options. The War Office began supplying troops with anything they could. 500,000 blue Post Office uniforms and 500,000 greatcoats were used to alleviate the shortage of proper uniforms. In addition, the War Office also ordered a huge amount of clothes from the US.
A few poor souls were dressed in scarlet and blue parade uniforms – not exactly inconspicuous. These filler uniforms were collectively called Kitchener blue.
Conscientious objectors were forced to wear uniforms against their will
After being conscripted into military service, conscientious objectors often refused to don a uniform. As they were regarded as enlisted men they could be punished by law and were commonly subject to violence and humiliation. While conscientious objectors used many different means to stand against the military, some refused to undress for medical examinations while others refused to wear a uniform.
In these cases, it was not uncommon for the conscientious objectors to be pinned down and forcibly checked over or dressed.
With a sleek needle nose and a swept double-delta wing with two prominent nacelles, the supersonic SR-71 Blackbird spy plane is the stuff aviation legend. Although the SR-71 first flew in late December of 1964 and hasn’t been in service for almost 25 years, it’s still the fastest plane that’s ever seen action.
Powered by two Pratt & Whitney J58 turboramjets, the jet could fly faster than Mach 3 and climb so high that the crew needed to wear pressure suits so as not to pass out. Basically, the J58 combines the functionality of a turbojet and a ramjet. Below Mach 2.0, air is pulled into the inlet, slowed down and then compressed by a turbine-driven multistage compressor. Afterwards, the air is mixed with fuel in the burners, with more fuel combined to the exhaust at the afterburner stage.
But at speeds greater than Mach 2.2, six bypass tubes around the engine open and move air directly from the fourth stage of the compressor to the afterburner. This gives the engine greater fuel efficiency.
Its supersonic speed and low radar profile (owing to its swept design and black ferrite iron radar-absorbing paint) made the Blackbird a difficult target. The military designed this super-jet to take over a number of missions performed by the much slower U-2 reconnaissance plane, which had become increasingly vulnerable to Soviet interceptor aircraft and surface-to-air missiles. Indeed, in 1960, a U-2 aircraft was shot down over the Soviet Union and pilot Gary Powers was taken prisoner. Then, two years, later another U-2 was taken out over Cuba.
Still, flying the plane was tricky. Both the pilot and navigator had to be in good shape because the latter lacked flight controls and the former didn’t have a navigation set. If the pilot passed out, the navigator’s best hope was that the plane was on auto-pilot at the time. That way, he could program a destination into the Astro tracker.
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If the reverse happened, the pilot would have to make due with a standby “whiskey compass.” (According to one theory, the “whiskey” is NATO phonetic for W, which stands for “wet” and refers to old compasses filled with kerosene.)
Going at Mach 3 also generated temperatures that could melt typical aluminum airframes, so the SR-71 had to be covered in titanium. However, this titanium proved tricky to handle on the assembly line.
As Lockheed Martin says on its website: “Conventional cadmium-plated steel tools, it was soon learned, embrittled the titanium on contact; so new tools were designed and fabricated—out of titanium.”
The Blackbird was subjected to all kinds of extremes. After speeding up to such incredible velocities, it had to slow down for mid-air refueling from a much slower tanker. That caused the skin of the plane to cool down and contract, which meant the SR-71 was often a leaky mess.
Nevertheless, the SR-71 set a number of air performance records. For example, in July 1976, it reached a staggering altitude of 85,068.997 ft.
In 1990, a Blackbird flew from West Coast of the United States to the East Coast in a little shy of one hour and eight minutes, hitting an average speed to 2,124.51 mph.
Likewise, the aircraft had an impressive military record. The Blackbird penetrated Soviet and Chinese airspace, as well as that of other communist states. It studied Israeli and Arab troop positions during the 1973 Yom Kippur War; provided support for the U.S. bombing mission against Libya in 1986; and had been used over a wide range of countries, from South Africa to Nicaragua. Throughout all these missions, no SR-71 Blackbird has ever been shot down.
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Over the years, 32 SR-71 Blackbirds – as well as 13 similar-looking A-12 Oxcarts (a single-seat CIA precursor plane developed by Lockheed Skunkworks as part of Project Archangel) and three YF-12 prototypes and two drone-launching M-21s – have been built.
Nothing lasts forever, though. The 1980s saw an increase in threats capable to countering the SR-71, including improved enemy air defenses and the introduction of the MiG-31, which was armed with the R-33 air-to-air missile could intercept the Blackbird. The U.S. military turned to spy satellites, which flew high above these threats, and put an end to the SR-71 program in 1990.
Today, you can find some 30 remaining Blackbirds and Oxcarts scattered in museums and US Air Force bases throughout the country, for example, at the USAF Museum, in Dayton, Ohio, and the National Air and Space Museum, in Washington, D.C.
There have been rumors of a secret follow-on spy plane called the Aurora, but they remain unproven. Ironically, the older U-2 is still in service because the high-altitude Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk drone, which was supposed to replace the aging aircraft, has yet to live up to its billing. The U-2 can still fly higher than the Global Hawk, carry a greater payload, and its sensors have more of a slant range. The Global Hawk also lacks de-icing equipment and countermeasures against Russian SAMs. We may be entering the age of drones, but old-fashioned piloted planes can still do a thing or two.
As reported in PM, NASA is currently the revisiting the supersonic spy plane concept. It recently awarded a contract to Lockheed Martin Skunk to test the feasibility of the SR-2, a supersonic drone that would fly almost twice the speed of the Blackbird. The idea is that speed would play the role that stealth once did in beating enemy air defense network. Lockheed says that plane, if developed, could be ready in 2030.
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The F-16 or the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon was developed by General Dynamics (now part of Lockheed Martin) for the United States Air Force. The decision came after the Vietnam war when results dictated that the USAF needed better fighter jets. The F-16 is a day fighter which means it does not come equipped with night flying or fighting technologies and boasts air superiority. Along with being used by the United States Air Force, F-16s are also used by the United States Navy as well as the US Air Force Thunderbirds. There is something special about the F-16. It’s a favored fighter jet not just in the US, but also air forces of various nations around the world.
Like with anything military, the F-16 hides many secrets. Though, most of them have now become common knowledge now thanks to the Internet. That doesn’t mean the US Army is happy about it. Here are 15 such facts…
15. Before The Maiden Flight, There Was An Accidental One
via ThisDayInAviation
The official first flight of the F-16 (then the YF-16) was a 90-minute one, and took place at the Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC), California on February 2, 1974. However, the actual first flight was an unplanned one made on January 20, 1974, during a high-speed taxi test where the pilot lifted-off to avoid damaging the jet.
14. Reaching 9Gs Was A First For The F-16
via TheNationalInterest
The F-16 became the first fighter jet in the world to pull 9G maneuvers, simply because it was purposefully built to do so. Its aerodynamic design reduces drag and energy loss when it pulls high-Gs, and it was also the first supersonic jet to reach speeds of over Mach 2.
13. The F-16 Pilot Has Perfect Vision
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With the enemy on your tail in the sky, perfect vision comes in handy. And the F-16’s frameless bubble canopy constructed out of single-piece polycarbonate (which is fully bird-proof) gives 360-degree all-round visibility. It also gives the pilot a 40-degree look-down angle on the sides and a 15-degree one over the nose of the craft.
12. The F-16 Is Called The Viper
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The F-16 came to be referred to as the Falcon, which makes sense considering it’s nothing short of a predator in the sky. But many still call it Viper because of its resemblance to the head of a snake. Oh, and it totally looks like the Colonial Viper starfighter of Battlestar Galactica. The award given out to outstanding F-16 pilots is therefore Semper Viper award.
11. There Aren’t Too Many F-16s
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The F-16 became a USAF favorite for one main reason, and that was the price. A single unit in 1998 cost $18.8million, which may sound a lot, but is cheap by fighter jet standards. As of now, some 4,588 F-16s have been built in total, according to American Machinist.
10. F-16s Are Highly Manoeuvrable
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The F-16s come equipped with a fly-by-wire control system, the first of its kind. It replaced the completely manual controls with an electronic interface that judged how much the plane needed to dip or roll and then moved the actuators at the control surface accordingly to provide that result.
9. It Is Also Deliberately Unstable
via AIRMANMagazine
Along with the fly-by-wire, the F-16 also came with relaxed static stability – which means if the pilot releases the controls, the F-16 does not go back to straight and level flight altitude. It harmonically oscillates until the pilot takes action, and this increases maneuverability – which, in a fighter jet, is boss of just about everything.
8. The Weapon System Is Scary
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A fighter jet comes loaded with anything that can destroy. An internal M61 Vulcan cannon for strafing and close combat as well as 11 locations for mounting weapons etc are standard equipment. The F-16 can carry a wide variety of air-to-ground missiles, electronic countermeasures, rockets and bombs, weapon pods, and nine hardpoint-mounted fuel tanks as well.
7. The Vortex Lift Was A First Too
via F-16Net
The F-16 was also the first fighter jet to use vortex lift by special strakes designed on the wings’ edges – this lets the F-16 lift off at high angles even in tight spaces. This feature comes in handy by letting the F-16 climb high altitudes quickly, thus reaching angles-of-attack a lot faster than other fighter jets.
6. It Is Amazingly Easy To Service
via MilitaryNews
The F-16 may be tough to fly and need special skills from pilots to run smoothly but their servicing is a lot easier than other fighter jets. More than 80% of the access panels in the F-16 can be opened without the need for a ladder or a stand. It makes a technician’s job that much easier and faster.
5. The First Kill Was Made By Israel
via ABPic
Even though the F-16 is more of a USAF homeboy, it made its first kill at the hands of the Israeli Air Force. On April 28, 1981, an F-16 Fighting Falcon of the Israeli Air Force took down a Syrian Mi-8 helicopter with cannon fire. One year down, the Israeli Air Force used the F-16 to shoot down another fighter jet as well.
4. It’s The World’s Favorite Fighter Jet
via SteamCommunity
While there are only 4,588 F-16s in the world – it is the world’s second most plentiful military craft, second only to the Sikorsky UH-60 military helicopter. The F-16 is used by militaries of 28 countries, with almost 3,000 in use by the air force of countries like Bahrain, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Slovakia and more.
3. It Was Massively Used In Operation Desert Storm
via 301stFighterWing
For the USAF, F-16s actively participated in combat in the 1991 Gulf War. During Operation Desert Storm alone, 249 USAF F-16s flew 13,340 sorties to engage the enemy. They battled with Iraq in the air and engaged ground targets as well. Only three F-16s were lost to enemy action, 246 returned home safe.
2. There Is Now An F-16 Drone
via PopularMechanics
The USAF, along with Lockheed Martin, has now developed unmanned F-16s. These “drones” have been tested to show accurate air-to-air and air-to-ground strikes. Even more exciting is that they can also interpret an air threat and accordingly adapt to complete the required mission. So are pilots a thing of the past now?
1. Want To Buy An F-16?
via Pinterest
According to Popular Mechanics, you can now legally buy an F-16. Exciting, right? But only if you have spare-change of $8.5 Million, that is. The aircraft on sale by a Florida company is from 1980 and has clocked 6,000 air miles – but will certainly come stripped of all its cool features – meaning weapons. Interested?
Its flying wing structure, along with composite materials and rare coatings help make the B-2 Spirit a top covert military bomber.
The B-2 Spirit bomber, also known simply as the Stealth Bomber, is a heavy strategic aircraft that was manufactured by Northrop Grumman. The flying wing military design of the B-2 was initially developed as part of the Advanced Technology Bomber or ATB project during the Carter years.
The promise offered by the B-2 Spirit was a contributing factor in Carter’s decision to cancel the Mach 2 B-1A bomber. The project continued through the Reagan era before the first B-2 flight in 1989. The Northrop Grumman bomber was not officially introduced until the mid-’90s, however.
Let’s take a look at some fascinating facts surrounding the history and abilities of the B-2 Spirit bomber.
10. Top Secret Origins Of The B-2 Spirit
When the B-2 Spirit was being designed and developed, the program was classed as a black project. This meant that anyone working on the program needed secret clearance before releasing any information to the public. With that said, more personnel within the U.S. federal government knew about the B-2 project than was the case with the more secretive Lockheed F-117 program.
However, a Northrop employee, Thomas Patrick Cavanaugh, was arrested in 1984 as he intended to sell classified information to the U.S.S.R. Cavanaugh would spend sixteen years in jail before being released on parole.
Knowledge of the B-2 Spirit remained largely under lock and key until the mid-’80s when more details became available. In the present, anyone working on the B-2 often, if not always, undergo a detailed background check and require special-access clearance.
9. The Magic Of Stealth
The B-2’s use of stealth technology is one of its most notable advantages. The B-2 Spirit is capable of minimizing its aerial signatures, whether in relation to infrared, acoustics, electromagnetism, or radar.
Its highly aerodynamic flying wing structure, along with composite materials and rare coatings, also assists in making the B-2 Spirit a top covert military bomber. The B-2 Spirit is therefore a great choice for penetrating complex defenses and protecting important, defended targets.
8. Individually Named Spirit Aircraft
Northrop Grumman has produced a total of 21 B-2s. Aside from Spirit of America, each Stealth Bomber is named after a U.S. state, beginning with the Spirit of Texas, which became active in March 1994. Other B-2s include the Spirit of New York, Spirit of California, and Spirit of Arizona.
A 22nd aircraft was proposed but never made. In February 2010, the Spirit of Washington suffered severe fire damage but was subsequently repaired and is still in operation today. The same cannot be said of the ill-fated Spirit of Kansas (a.k.a AV-12), which crashed in February 2008. Although AV-12 was destroyed shortly after taking off, the crew survived, as they had safely ejected just in time.
7. The B-2 Spirit Is Subsonic But Effective
The Stealth Bomber’s speed falls short of Mach 1, with a top speed of 630mph (Mach 0.95) at sea level. Its cruise speed lands around 560mph at an altitude of 40,000 feet. With that being said, the B-2 Spirit can reach up to 50,000 feet and it has a range of up to 6900 miles.
Despite lacking the supersonic speeds of aircraft like the Mach 2.5 General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark, the service ceiling and stealthy qualities of the B-2 Spirit make it a compelling bomber. The B-2 Spirit can travel up to 11,500 miles with a single refueling and notably, it can refuel mid-air.
6. Large Hi-Tech Winged Design
One standout feature of the Northrop B-2 Spirit is its design, whereby the entire aircraft resembles a giant wing. The origins of this design began with the founder of the Northrop Corporation (later Northrop Grumman), Jack Northrop, who first envisioned such an aircraft structure in the 1920s and ’30s.
Other cold war flying designs dating back to the 1940s included the N-M9 Flying Wing, XB-35, and the YB-49. Its flying wing design means high aerodynamic efficiency, thanks, in part to a lack of tail or fuselage.
5. The B-2 Spirit’s Use In War
The B-2 is suited to attack missions at a range of attitudes of up to 50,000 feet. Mid-air refueling is also advantageous for the B-2 during war campaigns. The B-2 was designed with a cold-war nuclear scenario considered, whereby it would perform deep-penetrating nuclear strikes thanks to its stealth.
The B-2 saw its combat debut during the Kosovo War in 1999. It successfully took out 33% of selected Serbian targets within two months of U.S. aerial intervention. The B-2 bomber was unsurprisingly utilized as a part of Operation Enduring Freedom during the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
B-2s were also used during the Iraq War and the 2011 international intervention in Libya. More recently, two B-2 bombers killed about 85 ISIS militants in January 2017 during an aerial attack on a training camp.
4. The B-2 Spirit Set An Aerial Record During The Afghan War
The Stealth Bomber claimed the record for the longest aerial combat mission of all time in 2001. The Spirit of America led five additional Spirit B-2s into Afghan airspace for a record time of 44 hours following 9/11. In fact, the B-2 made a short stopover for 45 minutes and underwent a service change while the engines continued to run, emphasizing its incredible capabilities.
3. The B-2 Has Two Internal Bays For Up To 80 Bombs
The B-2 Spirit has two internal bays for payload and ordnance. The aircraft can deploy a mix of thermonuclear and conventional weapons with a payload capacity of 40,000 lb. This could translate to a total of eighty 500 lb class bombs (e.g., GBU-38 or MK-82), thirty-six 750 lb CBU class bombs, sixteen 2,000lb class bombs (e.g., GBU-31 or MK-84), or two GBU-57 precision-guided bombs, among other combinations. The Stealth Bomber is the only aircraft officially recognized as being able to carry large standoff weapons in stealth mode with air-to-surface capabilities.
2. The Stealth Bomber Won The Collier Trophy In 1991
In 1991, the B-2 Spirit claimed the most reputable award in aerospace in the form of the Collier Trophy. The Northrop Corporation was honored with this award for their production, test flights, design and development of the Stealth Bomber. This eminent award has been granted to innovative companies since 1911. Other victors over the years include the Bell X-1, Boeing 747, F-22 Raptor, and Mars Curiosity Rover.
1. The B-2 Spirit Is Still In Flight Today
A total of 20 Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirits continue to operate today. Northrop Grumman regularly updates and enhances the abilities of each aircraft for reasons of maintenance and to keep up with the times. Modern upgrading includes software engineering, development, and testing.
This incredible military bomber is employed by the U.S. Air Force and is set to continue until 2032. At that point, the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider will replace the B-2 alongside other bombers. The B-2 Spirit is a marvel in military history, and even if it retires a little over a decade from now, it will be remembered for its unique design and stealth capabilities.
The pointy-nosed plane barreled down the French tarmac and into the air. The crowd of 200,000 spectators that gathered near the runway at Le Bourget Airport for the 1973 Paris Air Show watched the star of the day, the Concorde, climb toward the horizon.
Its rival would not be so fortunate. The Soviet-built TU-144, like its British/French competitor, sought to usher in a new era of supersonic passenger travel. But the Soviet plane swerved suddenly during ascent and dropped like a stone onto the nearby village of Goussainville, where it killed six in the plane and eight on the ground.
Though marred by tragedy, the air show of ’73 signaled that the supersonic era had arrived—and that the Concorde would be its vanguard. From 1976 to 2003, the Concorde shrank the Atlantic Ocean in half, ferrying passengers from New York to London or Paris in a just three and a half hours. The plane cruised higher than 50,000 feet, revealing the curvature of the Earth at a casual glance out the window. Tickets were outrageously expensive—the average transatlantic round-trip flight cost approximately $12,000—but living in the future, even for just a few hours, has never been cheap.
Today, that future has come and gone. Because of difficult economics and the physical realities of air travel beyond the speed of sound, the Concorde retired more than 15 years ago. No supersonic airliner has risen to take is place—yet. A half-century after its first flight, the legacy of the Concorde’s engineering genius lives on, especially in the new breed of aviation startups and companies seeking to bring back supersonic travel.
The Birth of the Concorde
On October 14, 1947, Chuck Yeager broke through. Cruising in an experimental Bell X-1 aircraft at an altitude in excess of 40,000 feet, the test pilot made history by crashing through the sound barrier and becoming the fastest man in a plane to date.
Nobody knew it at the time, since the U.S. government’s top-secret project stayed under wraps until 1948. Soon, though, the nations of the world knew supersonic air travel was possible. Just as the 1950s gave rise to a space race, so too did it spur a competition in the stratosphere to build an airliner that could carry passengers faster than the speed of sound, effectively shrinking the globe.
The United Kingdom mostly watched the space race from the sidelines as the USSR put satellites in orbit and the United States rushed to catch up. The supersonic race, however, represented a theatre in which postwar Europe could reclaim some pride. Various groups were in on the directive, such as Britain’s Supersonic Transport Aircraft Committee, which was tasked in 1956 with developing a Supersonic Transport (SST) fit for commercial use.
Nationalism fueled the ambition. “The reason it was built was largely politics,” says Bob Van Der Linden, Chairman of the Aeronautics Department of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum. The Concorde was a way for Europe to leapfrog the U.S., which had already tried and failed to build its own smaller SSTs in the 1950s, but still dominated the market for commercial planes.
However, Britain’s aviation experts soon discovered the cost of building such a plane would be huge. So Britain sought help. “The British government wanted to split the costs with another country,” says Jonathan Glancey, author of Concorde: The Rise and Fall of The Supersonic Airliner. After unsuccessfully seeking American assistance, Britain found an ally in France. In 1962, the two nations signed the Anglo-French Concorde agreement, ensuring cooperation on a new plane, one they hoped would finally level the aeronautical playing field in Europe’s favor.
J. Wilds//Getty Images
“[Great Britain and France] let politics and reasons of national pride get in the way,” Van Der Linden says. “This was a way of showing we are as good if not better than the United States than it was building an airplane for the market…“They were the pride of Great Britain and France and they wanted to show it off and had every reason to show it off.”
Befitting its two-nation heritage, the Concorde’s name translates to “harmony” or “union” in French. The two aviation giants charged with building it, Aérospatiale (which later became Airbus) and the UK’s British Aircraft Corporation, faced an onerous challenge. “They almost had to reinvent the airplane to make it work, and they did,” Van Der Linden tells Popular Mechanics.
The speed itself wasn’t the problem. By the early 1960, flying faster than the sound barrier in a military jet had gone from milestone to routine. Going that fast in airliner crammed with 100 paying passengers, however, entailed a different kind of thinking.
The Concorde in flight.
Rob Garbarini//Getty Images
The Concorde was equipped with four Rolls-Royce afterburner engines, the same kind used on fighter jets, each of which generated 38,000 pounds of thrust. The bird used a slanted droop-nose that lowered upon takeoff and landing, enabling pilots to see the runway. Revamped brake systems allowed the plane to touch down on a tarmac unscathed even if it landed at far higher speeds than its subsonic counterparts. Because the plane’s nose temperature could climb to 278 degrees while it flew, it was coated in a highly-reflective white paint that radiated heat.
Perhaps the most impressive engineering improvements was the plane’s triangular delta wings, which allowed it to navigate different angles of attack while soaring at breakneck speeds. “None of these lesser technical improvements approached the revolutionary status of the thin delta wing design that made sustained supersonic flight possible,” says to Samme Chittum, author of the Last Days of Concorde.
That pride and the work paid off. Four months before men walked on the moon, the Concorde made its maiden flight. In 1973, it bested the Soviet supersonic effort in Paris. And soon thereafter it finally appeared on the runway, bearing the liveries of British Airways and Air France.
Flying High
Hulton Archive//Getty Images
The Concorde could dart through the clouds at speeds greater than Mach 2 (1,350 mph). Despite the jarring kah-boom that resonated as it breached the sound barrier, inside the cabin, all was serene and luxurious, even as the plane seemed to violate the rules of time and common sense. Judging by the official time, the London to New York flight would land before it departed. The Irish journalist Terry Wogon gleefully remembered the Concorde allowing him to eat “breakfast at Heathrow, and breakfast again on arrival in New York.”
The plane spurred the kind of hype and fanfare not seen since the debut of Boeing’s brawny 747. It became the vessel of choice for showbiz stars like English late night host David Frost, who, according to legend, would commute between London and New York to record segments, and then zip back across the Atlantic to retire for the evening. For others, flying on the Concorde turned air travel into a bucket list item, as Samme Chittum tells Popular Mechanics:
It’s hard to overestimate both the hype and romance surrounding Concorde and travel. As much [hype] as there was, that was equal if not surpassed by what passengers actually experienced.When they took a flight on this supersonic plane, they knew what they were doing was a first in a lifetime experience for them. What it was like at that height seeing the curve of the Earth and knowing that moment watching it on a display in a cabin when you were traveling at supersonic speed, there was a tremendous thrill involved. You have to be quite a dull person not to appreciate that.
The Concorde engines guzzled 6770 gallons of fuel per hour, necessitating ticket prices that climbed into quadruple digits. To account for the price, the service was top-notch and the settings upscale.
“I felt more strongly that I had entered a private club,” Tom Ford, a worker on a maintenance crew tasked with updating the Concorde’s interior for British Airways, told CNN this year. “It was a brief glimpse into a life I had not known, polite, considerate, and beautifully detailed. It was impossible to not feel spoiled, and valued.”
Passengers could expect to clink champagne glasses at altitude and eat Beluga caviar. Even though the Concorde cabins were slender and barebones, with the ceiling measuring a cramped six-feet tall, few could complain about the experience. “Partly because of the premium prices charged for Concorde flights, the aircraft attracted the kind of clientele – mostly senior business execs – who didn’t need entertainment,” says Jonathan Glancey. “Passengers would, of course, chat and mingle to an extent, but many worked.”
Beneath the glamor, sex appeal, and the thrill of flying at Mach 2, however, lurked some serious problems. While 16 airlines initially placed orders for the Concorde, the plane launched right into the oil crisis of 1973 that thinned out the demand for a thirsty supersonic plan. In total, only 20 Concordes were built, and six of them remained prototypes.
Princess Diana departing on Concorde from Heathrow to Vienna, 14th April 1986.
Mirrorpix//Getty Images
In With a Boom, Out With a Whimper
The Concorde could outrun any airliner. It could never withstand the economic and engineering woes that were always in close pursuit. For one thing, the cost of burning fuel at such an unprecedented rate meant ticket prices even the plane’s well-heeled clientele struggled to afford. “The airplane usually flew with lots of empty seats, just because it was too expensive,” Van Der Linden says.
The environmental movement came into full bloom in the 1970s, and protesters who resented the Concorde’s fuel-guzzling routinely greeted the plane’s arrival at airports with ire-laden protests. Countries banned the jet from flying over their airspace because of the cacophonous sonic boom, which limited routes to those over the ocean. (The United States still has laws on the books barring SSTs from traversing the country, for fear of noise pollution and windows shattering below.) The Anti-Concorde Project sprung into action almost as soon as the Concorde was ready to roll out on the runway, validating academic studies that noted the plane’s deleterious effect on the environment.
And then came the crash. In July 2000, Air France Flight 4590 crashed during takeoff, the result of a punctured tire that spewed shrapnel into a fuel tank. All 109 people onboard died in a cataclysmic fire, one that damaged the public perception of supersonic passenger jets.
“The Concorde crash was entirely preventable,” Chittum says. “The inadequate tires were not replaced with more resilient tires, even after it became obvious that they should have been following a string of documented tire blowouts during take off.”
Air France 4590 was by no means solely responsible for the Concorde’s demise. Shortly afterward, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks fostered an understandable sense of public paranoia that also cratered Wall St.’s faith in the airline industry. But the crash signaled the beginning of the end. Concorde maintenance costs had been climbing for years while the number of customers willing to pay exorbitant ticket prices waned. By 2003, Concorde manufacturer Airbus cited a litany of growing concerns, revealing it would cost British Airways alone £40m over the next several years to maintain its beleaguered fleet.
Lastly, many travelers had simply realized that the time saved on a Concorde flight wasn’t worth the expense. “For some people, saving them four hours was vital, but for most people it wasn’t that important. And not enough to justify the price tag,” says Van Der Linden.
Within five months of each other, Air France and British Airways would throw in the towel on flying the Concorde.
A Supersonic Return?
The Concorde is just a museum piece now, but the dream of flying faster than sound hasn’t died. A number of players, ranging from NASA and Lockheed Martin to upstarts like Boom Supersonic, are vying to revive SSTs and make them viable again.
Artist’s depiction of Boom Overture.
Boom Aerospace
Although the technology is clearly proven, the challenges pervading the return of a commercial SST remain. It’s been illegal for commercial SSTs to fly over land in the United States since the Concorde’s heyday, but lawmakers are cozying to the idea of their return if scientists can minimize the sonic boom.
NASA and Lockheed Martin’s X-59 prototype, for example, plans to reduce the tumult to little more than than a faint thud. Still, the plethora of hurdles remains. Samme Chittum sees SSTs returning, albeit in a different, more limited capacity:
I wouldn’t bet my savings on it. It seems very likely, that business people with a lot of money could be flying supersonic private jets. It seems unlikely that supersonic flights will become commercially available to everyone.
With that in mind, it seems the Concorde, or anything like it really, might just remain absent from the skies forever.
When automotive enthusiasts hear the name Saab, they probably always think about the famous car manufacturer. The manufacturer that we now miss greatly, but that also produced some utterly amazing cars. Think of the 9-3 Viggen perhaps, or the utterly insane looking Sonett III. But something that is easily forgotten is that the Saab name is still going strong. Except it’s not in the world of cars. Oh no! The Saab name is going strong in the world of military aviation, and has done since the late 1930s.
Saab’s latest aircraft is the JAS 39 Gripen and it is one of the most capable multirole fighter aircraft in the world right now. And it follows a long tradition of Saab producing utterly incredible aircraft. One of the very best has to be the Saab 35 Draken. This fearsome, delta wing aircraft is an all-time classic and remarkably to this day, there are examples of the Draken still flying in private hands and in the hands of the Swedish Air Force Historic Flight.
Development Of The Draken
via Wikimedia
The desire for the Draken was born out of Sweden foreseeing that they would need a jet fighter that could both intercept bombers at high altitude, and engage with enemy fighters. This can be traced right back to the start of the jet age in 1949, and the new aircraft would have to be an all-weather fighter to be flown by a single pilot. The aircraft would also have to be suitable to operate on rough, public roads, and the Saab company soon found out that a lot of the issues posed by the design could be met with a delta wing aircraft. Delta wings at the time were a novelty, but Britain showed they could be successful with its Avro Vulcan bomber.
via Wikipedia
Like with the Vulcan, Saab built a smaller, research aircraft dubbed the 210, and it earned the nickname “Lilldraken” which translated to little kite. Tests with the Lilldraken proved the concept would work, and the first flight of a Draken prototype took place on October 25th 1955. In 1956, the first operational version of the Draken, designated the J 35A, was ordered into production. The impressive new aircraft reached Mach 2 for the first time on January 14th 1960, thanks to its modified British made Rolls-Royce Avon Mk.48A engine. Sweden had just developed a brilliant new delta wing aircraft.
The Draken In Service
via Aces Flying High
The Draken would soon enter Swedish Air Force service, with deliveries of the J 35A taking place at the end of 1959. By the end of the following year, multiple wings in the air force were now equipped with the Draken. Exercises in 1959 had shown that the scramble and turn-around times of the aircraft were good, and the introduction into service of the aircraft had gone quite smoothly. Its good quick-turn ability and hight speed at all altitudes accidentally meant the Draken would be good as a fighter plane as well as an interceptor.
Over the years, the aircraft would receive plenty of upgrades. There were six different versions of the aircraft, the final model of which was the J 35F, the last version to remain in Swedish Air Force service. Exports of the aircraft also took place, most notably to Denmark and Finland, while Austria bought 24 Draken Ds in 1985. The aircraft thankfully never saw combat service, but the type no doubt would have proven successful had it done so. Eventually, the Draken would be replaced by its successor from Saab, the Viggen.
A Happy Retirement For The Draken
Following its retirement from service in Sweden at the end of 1999, Drakens would go on to fly for a mew more years in Austria and Denmark, before the final retirement of the type in Austria in 2005. The Draken had become a hugely popular and iconic aircraft in the aviation world thanks to its delta wing design. And as such, a large number of the type are on display around the world. There are also two airworthy with the Swedish Air Force Historic Flight, as well as a pair of Dakens flying out of McClellan Air Park in California in the United States.
The Linage Of The Draken
via Hush-Kit
The Draken would effectively start a run of hugely successful Swedish Air Force jet fighters. The Viggen would be introduced into Swedish service in June 1971, while it would in turn be replaced by the JAS 39 Gripen, an aircraft that is still in service to this day. The Gripen as first introduced into active service in June 1996 and has been exported to a few air arms around the globe including the Czech Air Force and Brazilian Air Force. Despite the loss of the car brand, Saab is still going strong to this very d ay in the aviation world.
