Machinery & Gear | War History

US Naval Aviators Once Complained That NASA Pilots Were Bullying Them

Vought XF8U-3 Crusader III in flight + McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II in flight

In 1976, the US Navy retired its fleet of Vought F-8 Crusaders. The aircraft had an illustrious career, with the greatest kill ratio of all…

Downed Nakajima B5N2 Torpedo Bomber Off the Coast of Papua New Guinea

Wreck of a Nakajima B5N2 on the ocean floor

During the Second World War, the Nakajima B5N emerged as one of the most formidable aircraft in the Imperial Japanese Navy’s (IJN) arsenal. Renowned for…

Pilots Were Meant to Fly the Gloster Meteor F8 WK935 While Lying Down

Gloster Meteor F8 WK935 on display outside

The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies’ only jet-powered aircraft to engage in combat during World War II. Following the…

Did This U-boat Sink Herself With One of Her Own Torpedoes?

Type VIII U-boat at sea

In the final month of 1943, U-972 went missing at sea. The U-boat had departed for her first patrol in November 1943 and hadn’t run…

M72 LAW: The Vietnam-Era Anti-Tank Weapon That Continues to See Service Today

Ryan McLachlan
American soldier firing an M72 LAW

In the Dirty Harry movie, The Enforcer (1976), the filmmakers needed to find a more powerful weapon than Harry Callahan’s Smith & Wesson Model 29.…

Remains of German U-boat SM UC-55 Identified Off the Coast of the Shetland Islands

SM UC-42 at sea

A team of divers have confirmed the identity of the wreck of a World War I-era German U-boat sunk off the coast of the Shetland…

The United States Once Came to the Aid of North Korea During a Pirate Attack

MV Dai Hong Dan at sea

The Dai Hong Dan Incident occurred on October 29, 2007 in the Indian Ocean. After Somali pirates attacked the North Korean cargo ship MV Dai…

A B-52H Stratofortress Once Flew for Five Hours – Without a Tail!

Boeing B-52G Stratofortress in flight

In January 1964, a Boeing B-52H Stratofortress embarked on an eight-hour flight load survey to test buffeting turbulence effects at low-levels. When this turbulence became…

Hughes XF-11: The Aircraft That Almost Took Out Its Creator

Hughes XF-11 coming in for a landing

The Hughes XF-11 was a prototype reconnaissance aircraft intended to be operated by the US Army Air Forces (USAAF). It was partially designed by Howard…

Russia Allegedly Develops ‘Hibernating’ Drones That Can ‘Sleep’ for Weeks Before Attacking

Ukrainian military officials standing with Russian drones

After two years of working alongside the Russian Ministry of Defence, a tech firm has reportedly developed a drone – known as the “Joker FPV”…

USS Ticonderoga (CVS-14) Recovered the Crew of the Apollo 17 Space Mission

Frogman standing with the Apollo 17 Command Module, with the USS Ticonderoga (CVS-14) in the distance

On December 7, 1972, a three-man crew was launched into space on the final mission of NASA‘s Apollo program. For 12 days, they orbited space,…

Search for World War I-Era French Minesweepers Leads to Discovery of 1879 Shipwreck

Navarin-class minesweepers at port

A number of ships have fallen victim to the wicked weather of the Great Lakes over the centuries. One, the loss of the SS Edmund…