The Mitsubishi J2M Raiden or Thunderbolt was designed like no other fighter before it. It emphasized speed, climb and raw firepower. The J2M was designed specifically to bring down huge and heavily armoured American strategic bombers. In 1939 the Japanese Navy put together specs for a high altitude interceptor. The most important of the navy’s specifications … Read more
Fitted with small wing structures and a fuselage just big enough to house the powerful Daimler Benz-601 ARJ engine, the Messerschmitt 209 was a pure speed machine. From its conception back in 1935, the 209 was design mainly for one thing: speed. Designed as a replacement for the venereal Bf-109, the 209 … Read more
The Me 262 was literally years ahead of fighters of other nations. That’s what the Allied engineers concluded after the war, when Me 264 units captured in Germany were brought back in their home countries. Studying the airframe and engines of this one-of-a-kind aircraft, the American, Russian and British experts developed more … Read more
The Kawanishi H8K was conceived as a replacement for the Japanese Navy venerable and obsolete H6K maritime reconnaissance and bombing platform. The H6K was the only standardized flying boat in operations when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941. But it would be only a matter of time before a new, more … Read more
World War 1 is one of the major conflicts that has occurred in the world. It was a conflict that engulfed Europe back in 1914. World War 1 is also known as the Great War which began after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. World War 1 lasted 4 years … Read more
World War I (1914-18) created the instability in Europe that paved the way for another international conflict, World War II, which erupted two decades later and would prove to be even more devastating. Coming to power in an economically and politically unstable Germany, Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler rearmed the nation and … Read more
World War 2 was a global war that lasted 7 years; from 1939 to 1945. This war involved the major world powers of that era as well as majority of the world’s countries. The counties which got involved in this global conflict formed two major alliances. On one side, there were the … Read more
World War II was a conflict that involved virtually every region of the world during the years 1939-1945. The main belligerents were the Axis Powers such as Germany, Italy, and Japan, and the Allies, France, Great Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union, and, to a lesser extent, China. The war was … Read more
The Ju 88 certainly was the most versatile aircraft of the Luftwaffe. Apart from the British Mosquito, no other airplane in history has been subject to so many versions and purposes. Though it made its maiden flight in 1936, it entered service in 1939, and it wasn’t shipped to the front lines … Read more
IAR-80 was the most famous Romanian fighter aircraft during the World War II. The Romanian IAR-80 fighter aircraft project was initiated in 1937, as a private venture, at the aircraft factory in Brasov IAR (Industria Aeronautica Romana). The first prototype was manufactured in spring 1938 and performed the maiden flight in 1939. … Read more
Sort of a “super” Typhoon, the Hawker Tempest had unbelievable technical qualities for a World War 2 airplane. Starting in 1944, it became what was probably the best British propeller fighter aircraft of the war. Thanks to its capacities, the Tempest was responsible for the loss of twenty German Me 262 (the … Read more
The Go 229 jet aircraft was the first operational flying wing airplane equipped with jet engines. In the history of aviation, it deserves a special place, along with the Me 262 and the Me 163. But the Go 229 is certainly the one that looked the more out-of-this-world. The German started researching … Read more
The Boulton Paul’s Defiant Mark II has the distinction of being the Royal Air Force (RAF) first four gun fighter. When the Defiant entered front line service in 1937, it was a very different fighting machine. A complete departure from the early 1930s fighter designs. First, all four of its heavy machine … Read more
The B-29 Superfortress was the first pressurized bomber to enter service. It also was the heavier aircraft to be built during the Second World War. The prototype of this aircraft flew for the first time on September 21, 1942, and the plane entered service in 1943. Originally designed to reach Germany from … Read more