Afterburner - The Aviation Magazine

29 April 2026

CIVIL AVIATION

Air Canada welcomes its first Airbus A321XLR airliner

On 24 April 2026, Airbus announced on its website that it had delivered the first of thirty A321XLR aircraft ordered by Air Canada. The aeroplane is leased from SMBC Aviation Capital, and its delivery represents a major step forward in [...]
PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Messerschmitt M17

Messerschmitt M17 (c/n 25, D-779), exhibited at the Deutsches Museum in Munich, October 2013. In 1923, Willy Messerschmitt graduated from Technische Hochschule München (currently known as Technische Universität München – the Technical University of Munich) and founded his first aviation [...]
MILITARY AVIATION

The retirement delayed – A-10 Thunderbolt II expected to remain in service until 2030

In mid-2025, we informed readers about the United States Department of Defense’s plans to retire the entire A-10 Thunderbolt II fleet by the end of the fiscal year 2026. Although this had previously been announced and then cancelled several times, [...]
AVIATION HISTORY

24 April 1946 – first flight of Yak-15 and MiG-9, the two early Soviet jet fighters

On 24 April 1946, Yakovlev Yak-15 and Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-9, the two first-generation Soviet jet fighters, made their first flights. In the late 1930s, the development of operational jet engines entered a breakthrough phase. In Germany, work carried out by Hans [...]
MILITARY AVIATION

The Gray Eagles evolve — ELINT upgrade for the US Army MQ-1C ER UAVs

On 15 April, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) announced on its website that it had signed a contract with the US Army to upgrade the MQ-1C Gray Eagle® Extended Range (ER) with an ELINT sensor. This will improve the [...]

From active duty to history – a short review of military aircraft retirements in 2025

FEATURED

14 January 2026

The year 2025 marked aviation history with several notable farewells to iconic military aircraft. These included both well-known workhorses from the Cold War era and relatively newer designs that proved ineffective in the modern combat [...]

First ever wingsuit foil soaring flight with altitude gain

DREAMERS AND DOERS

26 November 2025

In its press release published on 19 November 2025, the Red Bull company announced that Austrian wingsuit pioneer Peter Salzmann had once again pushed the boundaries of what is possible in human flight. This time, [...]

FEATURED