Afterburner - The Aviation Magazine

23rd September 2021

AVIATION HISTORY FRIDAY

24 September 1940 – French air raid on Gibraltar

On 24th September 1940, the Vichy France performed its first air raid on Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula. Approximately sixty bombers of the Vichy French Air Force (also referred to as [...]
MILITARY AVIATION

B-2 Spirit bombers in Iceland

A noticeable deployment to the High North area, being a part of the Bomber Task Force programme, has been recently concluded by the US Air Force. Between August and September 2021, a group of B-2 strategic nuclear bombers performed several [...]
PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Junkers F 13

Junkers F 13 passenger aircraft (c/n 2018 or 2019, D-366), exhibited at Deutsche Museum Munich, October 2013. At the end of 1918, when the Great War was over, Hugo Junkers and his construction team had to abandon their work on [...]
MILITARY AVIATION

Farewell to ´The King´

On 16th September 2021, an F-15C Eagle assigned to the 493rd Fighter Squadron took-off from RAF Lakenheath station for the last time, heading back to the USA. The aircraft was the last of three ´heritage jets´ of the 48th Fighter [...]
AVIATION HISTORY FRIDAY

17 September 1993 – the F/A-18 fleet clocked its 2 millionth flying hour, after just ten years of service

On 17th September 1993, Maj. Michael Sawyers (pilot) and Maj. Steven Neddersen (weapon sensors operator) took-off from Aviano air base in Italy. Their F/A-18D Hornet, marked with a tactical number ´401´, headed to Balkan peninsula to perform a routine patrol [...]

´Mumbling bee´ – the story of C-160 Transall airlifter

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25th August 2021

Almost sixty years ago, Transall C-160 transport aircraft took-off for its maiden flight. Officially introduced in 1967, the Franco-German airlifter is currently approaching the end its active duty. And that creates a good opportunity to [...]

45 years of Boeing E-3 Sentry – a brief history of AWACS

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31st May 2021

25th May 2021 marked exactly 45 years since the first flight of Boeing E-3 Sentry. And that makes a perfect occasion to tell the story of this iconic ‘guardian of the skies’. Origins of the [...]

FEATURED