Afterburner - The Aviation Magazine

28 August 2025

MILITARY AVIATION

Caracal for the French Forces in Guiana

On 11th August 2025, two Airbus H225M helicopters, commonly known as Caracal, arrived in French Guiana to strengthen the air capabilities of Forces armées en Guyane (the Armed Forces in French Guiana – FAG). The rotorcraft arrived at Base aérienne [...]
PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Aero Ae 270 Ibis

Aero Ae 270 Ibis (c/n 008, OK-ALE), performing a flying display during the Open Doors Day at the 21st Tactical Air Force Base, Čáslav, May 2013. Somewhere in the 1980s, the idea of creating a modern utility aeroplane was born [...]
SPACE

X-37B is back in space

On 21st August 2025, less than six months after concluding its seventh mission, the Boeing-built X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) was again launched into space. Lifted off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, the OTV hosts technology demonstrations for several [...]
AVIATION HISTORY

22 August 1922 – first flight of Vickers Victoria

On 22nd August 1922, the prototype of the Vickers Victoria freighter biplane performed its maiden flight at Brooklands, the United Kingdom. In 1920, the British Air Ministry issued Specification 5/20 for a twin-engine troop-carrier biplane. It was responded by two [...]
MILITARY AVIATION

Nigerian Air Force – another step towards AH-1Z acquisition

In June of 2025, a high-level Nigerian delegation led by the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Hasan Bala Abubakar, visited the United States as part of the Program Management Review (PMR) related to the future acquisition of AH-1Z [...]

RWD-8 – the most-produced pre-war Polish aircraft

AVIATION HISTORY

19 August 2025

Among Polish interwar aircraft, those designed by Stanisław Rogalski, Stanisław Wigura, and Jerzy Drzewiecki — designated RWD, the name coming from the initials of their surnames — hold a special place in aviation history. Notable [...]

P-2 Neptune – from a private venture to the ruler of the Cold War seas

AVIATION HISTORY

23 July 2025

On 6th December 1941, just a day before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Vega Aircraft Corporation launched development of a new, land-based patrol aircraft. Initially, the project started as private venture of the company and [...]

AVIATION HISTORY