For today's quickie, we present an eerie image of an F-35B from VMFA-242 'The Bats' operating from the deck of USS America (LHA-6) in the Coral Sea on June 12th, 2025, just a couple'a weeks before your blogmeister typed these here words.
You're welcome.
A quickie today... we present a coolish shot showing two generations of Saudi birds of prey... the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle and its predecessor in Royal Saudi Air Force service, the English Electric Lightning.
السلام عليكم
For today's quickie, we present an LTV PR photo showing the first flight of the first A-7H built for Greece in 1975.
Απολαύστε...
In 2015 the Hukbong Himpapawid ng Pilipinas (Philippine Air Force - PAF) ushered in a new era when the KAI (Korea Aerospace Industries) FA-50 Fighting Eagle entered service. The PAF retired its aging fleet of Northrop F-5A/B Freedom Fighters some ten years earlier and had been without a dedicated air defense fighter, operating the Aermacchi (formerly SIAI-Marchetti) AS.211 Warrior trainer/light attack aircraft in that role as a stop-gap.
A PAF AS.211 of the 105th Fighter Training Squadron over Crow Valley Gunnery Range.
Derived
from the KAI T-50 Golden Eagle trainer, the FA-50 is the epitome of a
'best bang 'fer the buck' combat aircraft these days. A small,
lightweight multi-role aircraft capable of supersonic speeds, the FA-50
is a solid ground attack platform, a capable air defense fighter, and
can also act as a conversion trainer, all at a low-ish cost of 30-35
million USD (1.6-1.9 billion PHP) per airframe, making it an ideal
choice for low-budget air forces such as the PAF.
In August of
2012, the Philippines Department of National Defense announced that
twelve TA-50 Golden Eagle trainers would be acquired for the PAF.
January of 2013 brought another announcement that the model to be
acquired was the FA-50 Fighting Eagle, a more advanced variant of the
type with air to air capabilities. The deal was formalized in March of
2014, and would cost the Philippines 421.12 million USD (18.9 billion
PHP). Deliveries took place from November of 2015 to May of 2017.
The
specific variant operated by the PAF is the FA-50PH, and the jets are flown by the 7th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 5th Fighter Wing out of Basa Air Base Floridablanca, Pampanga, about 40 miles Northwest of Manila.
Since entering service, the FA-50PHs have been used for strikes against some of the various rebel and insurgent forces that have plagued the Philippines for decades. One crew was lost with their jet in March of 2025 when they crashed on Mt. Kalatungan, in the southern province of Bukidnon during a night sortie against communist insurgents. A case of CFIT (Controlled Flight Into Terrain), the pilot likely became disoriented in the darkness and was probably unaware of his exact position in relation to the mountain. Weather, specifically high winds, was also probably a significant contributing factor.
This increase of the PAF's FA-50PH
fleet, combined with the impending acquisition of F-16s from the USA
will provide the PAF with greater ground attack and air combat
capabilities than at any time in its history.
Your blogmeister got a bit more wordy than normal here. Despite that, TWW remains primarily a photo blog, and as the readership of no more than two or three and hopefully not less than zero will know, we do love our 'purty pikshurs around here. So we got'sum for ya, and, as usual, we'll let 'em do the rest of the talking.
Tangkilikin ang mga larawan...
Today we bring you a bonzer portrait of two Aussie Mirages.
The photo was taken back in September of 1980, during a joint US-Australian exercise called PACIFIC CONSORT. The two jets are a Mirage IIIO(F), serial A3-11, and Miarge IIID, serial A3-113, both of No.2 Operational Conversion Unit, Royal Australian Air Force.
Enjoy, hooroo, and have a good one...
Here at TWW we generally present images that we've found around the interwebz. However, aside from trawling the net for other folks' scans of their old photos, your blogmeister also has his own collection of old photos to scan, and every now and again he likes to share 'em here and there. So today we picked something at random from the blogmeister's vault for your viewing pleasure.
This golden oldie is a Consolidated PB-2A. Originally introduced in 1934 under the designation P-30, the type was re-designated PB-2 (PB = Pursuit, Biplace) within its first year or so of service. Though relatively successful and an example of somewhat forward-thinking in being equipped with a turbo-supercharger (the first Air Corps pursuit in regular squadron service to be so-equipped), by the time of the type's introduction the two-place pursuit was already a dated, largely obsolete concept. So further development of the PB-2 was not pursued (pun intended), with just sixty being constructed.
The ship in the photo is serial number 35-25 of the 1st Pursuit Group, based at Selfridge
Field, Michigan. That she bears the group heraldry and not a squadron emblem makes her a ship from the group headquarters flight. This scene was snapped by Bob Cavanagh at Selfridge, likely during the winter of 1935-'36.
Enjoy, and remember: flying is way-more-funner with a friend...
For our first post in a while, we bring you a way-cool pikshur showing a Lockheed F-94 Starfire lighting up in the barn at Thule Airbase, Greenland waaaay back in November of 1953.
The F-94 was the first operational jet in USAF service to be powered by an engine that had an afterburner, and was also the first USAF all-weather jet fighter to see combat. That former fact is very well illustrated in the photo, which was taken by George Silk for a little 'ole rag called LIFE Magazine.
Oh... the jet is an F-94B, serial number 51-5494 of the 318th Fighter Interceptor Squadron. The 318th was stationed at Thule for just over a year, from June 1953 to August 1954.
Enjoy, and light 'em if ya got 'em...
Today at TWW we bring y'all a truly historic snap...
Whutch'yer lookin' at here is a Vought O3U-3, BuNo 9318, making the very first trap aboard the newly commissioned USS Ranger (CV-4) on June 21st, 1934. Behind the stick is Lieutenant Commander Arthur C. Davis, CAG (Commander Air Group), and the guy in back isACMM (Aviation Chief Machinist's Mate) H.E. Wallace.
Fade to Black...
Today we bring you a photo from 1978-79 showing the Confederate Air Force's B-17, named 'Texas Raiders', performing the iconic one wheel touch and go that was inspired by a scene from the flick 'TORA! TORA! TORA!' in which a Fort crash-landed on one wheel. Beginning in the early 1970s, this touch and go was performed by 'Texas Raiders' at countless airshows for about ten years, until it was determined that repeated performance of the maneuver put too much stress on the airframe.
Enjoy... oh, and there's a Jap on your tail... juice your engines and get outta here!
Fade to Black...
Your blogmeister has probably once or twenty times in the past mentioned that he really digs the Grumman F-14, and the type has undoubtedly appeared on the pages of this-here cyber-rag more often than any other. We're not sure of the exact number of said appearances, but today that number increases by one, as we present a super-groovy and rather dramatic shot showing an F-14A of VF-33 (known as both the 'Tarsiers' and 'Starfighters' during the RON's time in Tomcats) loosing an AIM-7 Sparrow sometime in the mid-ish 1980s. Further details are unavailable at this time, but we're workin' on it.
Enjoy, and punch some chaff...
Fade to Black...
During the late 1930s in the USSR, Joseph Stalin was doing the whole 'cancel culture' thing before it was... well, such things have never been 'cool', so let's just say that he really went to town while clearing out his friends list. In what came to be known by most as 'The Great Purge', Uncle Joe began a paranoia-fueled campaign of oppression that affected hundreds of thousands within Russia. Many were sent to the gulag labor camps or to plain 'ole prisons, while many others were simply 'disappeared'.
With talents and skills making them too valuable to toss into the gulag or to simply 'disappear', many from various areas within the industrial sector were sent to prison, including an aeronautical engineer and aircraft designer named Vladimir Petlyakov, who had been accused of sabotage, espionage, and membership in the Russian Fascist Party. Initially sent to a plain 'ole pokey, Vlad was soon moved to a 'sharashka', a special prison where talented guys like him could continue to work in their areas of expertise, albeit under close scrutiny. This particular sharashka, located near Moscow, was reserved exclusively for aircraft designers and aeronautical engineers, and soon after his arrival Vlad was tasked with designing a high altitude fighter. Then, after requirements had changed from fighter to dive bomber, he was ordered to pull a redesign, with the result being the Petlyakov Pe-2. Despite classification as a dive bomber, the Pe-2 became quite a versatile type for the Red Air Force. In addition to its primary functions as an attack aircraft and bomber, the Pe-2 filled the roles of heavy fighter, night fighter, and reconnaissance bird. The aircraft was quite fast and was able to evade German fighters more often than not, making it one of the more successful bomber/attack types in the Red Air Force early on in the 'Great Patriotic War'. It was also the most numerically significant Soviet twin-engine bomber, with more than 11,000 being built.
Your blogmeister doesn't know Red Stars all that well, and has both vague and conflicting info as to the who/what/where/why/when and how of the Pe-2s shown in the photo below. All he knows is that it's a pretty cool shot of a cool lookin' jailbird.
Enjoy, and remember: if you ever wind up in the slammer, single out the biggest, toughest lookin' guy on your first day and clobber-hell-outta the SOB...
Исчезнуть до черного...
The Convair XP-92 (redesignated XF-92 in 1948) was originally developed in response to a requirement issued by the USAAF in August of 1945 for a supersonic interceptor. However, the single prototype would eventually become a test vehicle that paved the way for more well-known and successful Convair types such as the F-102 Delta Dagger, F-106 Delta Dart, and B-58 Hustler. Anyhoo, today we present a way-cool inflight photo of the XF-92A.
Enjoy... and remember: AR = 4/tan(D)
Fade to Black...
Today we present the latest in our mascot series: a fine photo showing 'Pincher', resident mouser aboard the Royal Navy seaplane carrier HMS Vindex, perched atop the propeller hub of a Sopwith Camel during the Great War.
Enjoy, and remember... happiness is being owned by a cat...
Fade to Black...
Today we bring you a rather passively dramatic shot from 1968 showing a Blackburn Buccaneer of the Royal Navy loaded up for the SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses) role, displaying an impressive load of four Matra AS.37 Martel anti-radiation missiles.
Enjoy, and keep that radar set switched off...
Fade to Black...
Your blogmeister likes his running series, but cannot recall if he's already started one in which today's photo would fit. And he's too lazy to go a'lookin' at the moment. So, we shall either begin or continue our running series known as 'How Low Can You Go?' with this here shot of a Vickers Wellington from 11 Operational Training Unit, Royal Air Force, beatin' up the field for an undoubtedly nervous but thrilled photographer at RAF Bassingbourn in July of 1940.
Enjoy... and duck...
Fade to Black...
Aside from real purty pikshurs, we here at TWW also kinda like just plain-'ole nice pikshurs. And this one here certainly qualifies. Hawker Hunter F.6 XF389 of the Royal Air Force was snapped in fine fashion by an unknown (to us) shutterbug for 'The Aeroplane' during a demo flight at the Farnborough Airshow back in 1958. This jet was later transferred to the Royal Jordanian Air Force, then to the Royal Air Force of Oman.
Enjoy...
Fade to Black...
Hält die Klappe Karl.
Zu Schwarz verblassen...
Today, a purty one. An F-16 of the Flyvevåbnet captured before a beautiful Danish evening sky.
Nyde...
Fade to Black...
Today we bring you a real purty pikshur showing a flight of P-38Es from a well-known series of photos, taken just off the Southern California coast for Lockheed by Eric Miller during early-mid 1942. Miller was able to grab this stellar shot and others in the series from inside the open bomb bay of a Lockheed Hudson.
Enjoy...
Fade to Black...
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