Afterburner - The Aviation Magazine

4 September 2026

AVIATION HISTORY

4 September 1950 – the first helicopter CSAR mission

On 4 September 1950, during the Korean War, Captain Robert E. Wayne bailed out from a burning aircraft and landed five miles behind enemy lines. He was then rescued in a daring helicopter mission, that went down in history as [...]
MILITARY AVIATION

Annual migration – from French Guiana to France

Almost every year, one of the three Casa CN-235 transport aircraft based at French Guiana’s Base aérienne 367 (the 367th Air Base) “Captain François Massé” makes a long journey to mainland France for its scheduled maintenance. In August 2026, one [...]
PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Antonov An-2R

Antonov An-2R (c/n 1G190-04/1980, OK-RYA), landing at Roudnice nad Labem airfield during the 2019 edition of the Memorial Air Show, Roudnice, June 2019. At the end of August 2026, it has already been 79 years since the first flight of [...]
MILITARY AVIATION

PEGASE 26 – France heads for the Arctic and Indo-Pacific

Between 8 September and 15 October 2026, Armée de l’Air et de l’Espace (the French Air and Space Force – FASF) will conduct PEGASE 26, its seventh long-range air power projection mission. This deployment will cover more than 40,000 km, [...]
AVIATION HISTORY

28 August 1910 – Armand Dufaux flies over Lake Geneva

On 28 August 1910, Armand Dufaux, a Swiss aviation pioneer, flew a distance of about 66 km over Lake Geneva, setting the record for the longest flight over water to date. Armand Dufaux was born on 13 January 1883 in [...]

Marco Waltenspiel’s “Fairy Slalom” over Cappadocia

DREAMERS AND DOERS

24 August 2026

In early August 2026, Red Bull Skydive Team member Marco Waltenspiel turned the sky above Cappadocia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site filled with balloons, into a high-altitude slalom course. The project saw the Austrian skydiver complete [...]

The world-first wingsuit formation flight over Mont Blanc

DREAMERS AND DOERS

5 July 2026

On 25 June 2026, Red Bull issued a press release announcing that a group of eight of the world’s best wingsuit pilots had completed the longest terrain formation flight ever, launching from above Mont Blanc. [...]

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