As we scurry around the surface of our planet doing all the things that we think are so important, we rarely think how lucky we are to living not only in a fairly benign and stable point in the earth’s lifetime but also in the life of our nearest star, …
What Happened to the Numbers Stations? – Spying by Numbers
This is the sound of E03, also known as the “Lincolnshire Poacher” because of the use of a short piece of the aforementioned folk tune that introduced it. This is one of the best-known examples of a numbers station, something which reached its peak in the cold war but since …
Air Refuelling – The Hidden Force Multiplier
From Vietnam to the Falklands and from the cold war to the middle east, air to air refuelling or tanking is the unseen force enabler allowing those countries which have this capability, to project their airpower around the world and allowing their aircraft to stay in the air for as …
Could We Live Without GPS?
Could we live without GPS? , Now this sounds like a bit of a daft question, I mean what is the worst that could happen, maybe we would all have to learn to use a map again. But seriously, the GPS service which was launched in 1978 for the US …
Project Suntan – The Lockheed CL-400
The SR-71 was a groundbreaking aircraft designed to take the place of the U2 spy plane but in the time between the U2 and before the SR-71, another aircraft was proposed and designed by the same man Clarence “Kelly” Johnson, this would be so radical that it had the classification …
Is hydrogen the future of flight?
The first time we used hydrogen for civil aviation, it all ended rather badly, since then when you ever mention hydrogen-powered flight the first thing many people think of is the Hindenburg, but the times they are a-changing and with the pressure to find new non-fossil fuels for aircraft, will …
What Happened to the Soviet Supersonic Jump Jets?
When you think of vertical take of and landing aircraft other than helicopters, probably the first ones that spring to mind is the now-retired Harrier Jump jet and the much more recent Lockheed F-35B and this might make you wonder why there haven’t been more of them around. Well, what’s …
What Happened to the Flying Wing?
They are some of the most unusual aircraft of the past 80 years, responsible for sightings of UFO’s across the US and became the most expensive plane ever built and all from the principle that they are the most aerodynamic of any plane design and yet they fell into obscurity …
What happened to the British aircraft industry?
The British aircraft industry from the later part of WW1 up until the 1950’s was one of biggest in the world with a large number manufacturers building some of the most iconic planes of the time as well as creating groundbreaking technologies like the jet engine and onboard radar. So …
Could Anti-gravity Really be Possible?
Over the decades antigravity has been the stuff of science fiction, though there have been many inventions purporting to be antigravity devices, from gyroscopic lifters to superconducting magnets but so far there has been nothing that is capable nullifying, shielding or creating a repulsive form of what we know as …