Afterburner - The Aviation Magazine

10 April 2026

AVIATION HISTORY

10 April 1963 – maiden flight of EWR VJ 101

On 10 April 1963, the EWR VJ 101, a German experimental VTOL jet fighter, performed its first flight. At the turn of the 1950s and 1960s, the idea of jet-powered VTOL aeroplanes spread around the world. Several nations with well-developed [...]
AIR SHOWS

Expozice pardubického letectví – birth and development of a living aviation heritage collection

For European aviation enthusiasts, Aviatická pouť (the Aviation Fair) is an air show that needs no introduction. Having been organised for more than thirty years, it has become the largest civilian aviation event in the Czech Republic and one of [...]
PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Airbus A350 XWB

Airbus A350-941 XWB (c/n 002, F-WWCF), flying display at the XIV International Aviation and Space Salon MAKS-2019, Zhukovsky, August 2019. The Airbus A350 airliner was developed in the late 2000s as the company’s answer to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Initially, [...]
OTHER

NASA’s X-59 Advances Flight Test Campaign with the second and third flights

On Friday, 20 March 2026, NASA’s X-59 Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSST) aircraft made its second flight, followed by the third flight a week later. For its second flight, the aeroplane took off from the Edwards Air Force Base, located near [...]
AVIATION HISTORY

3 April 1933 – the first flight over Mount Everest

On 3 April 1933, two Westland aircraft, the PV-3 and the PV-6, successfully performed the first-ever flight over Mount Everest as part of the Houston–Mount Everest Flight Expedition. Although flying over the highest mountain on Earth had long been a [...]

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