#interceptor

Gloster Javelin

twin-engined all-weather interceptor aircraft designed and produced by the Gloster Aircraft Company. It was operated by the Royal Air Force from the mid-1950s until the late 1960s and was the final aircraft design to bear the Gloster name.

Swing Wing lasted as long as swingers ... It seemed like a good idea but was actually a lot of effort for little gain- All part of aviation history now .. Unless of course you fly the B1B firestreakbooks.com

@BlickyIan via X

White bird? Nope… it never happened. Fake Picture!

Using a law of thermodynamics, Ben Rich tried to convince Kelly Johnson to paint the A-12 Black. It was very rare for Kelly Johnson to admit he was wrong.

Overnight, however, he apparently had second thoughts, or did some textbook reading on his own, and at the next meeting, he turned to me as the first order of business. “On the black paint,” he said, “you were right about the advantages, and I was wrong.” He handed me a quarter.

It was a rare win. So Kelly approved my idea of painting the airplane black, and by the time our prototype rolled out, the airplane became known as the Blackbird.

Our supplier, Titanium Metals Corporation, had only limited reserves of the precious alloy, so the CIA conducted a worldwide search and, using third parties and dummy companies, managed to unobtrusively purchase the base metal from one of the world’s leading exporters—the Soviet Union. The Russians never had an inkling of how they were actually contributing to the creation of the airplane being rushed into construction to spy on their homeland.”

― Ben R. Rich, Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed

~Linda Sheffield

If I had to pick one Cold War interceptor with pure "heavy metal" aesthetics, I'd pick the Su-15 "Flagon." Just look at it: twin massive engines, a bulging cockpit, a bulbous nose, and a grim reputation for killing Boeings. Pure rock and roll🤘

26 May 1961. First flight of the Canadair CF-104 Starfighter (CF-111, CL-90) supersonic fighter. Ex-USAF Lockheed F-104A-LO was shipped to Canadair for use as a pattern aircraft for production under licence. and registered RCAF 12700.