Вдоводел

Today we bring you a fine photo of a Tupolev Tu-22, known by NATO as the 'Blinder' and by her crews as the 'Widowmaker'... the latter because of the type's propensity for killing said crews. High landing speeds, unreliable engines, and squirrelly handling characteristics all combined for lotsa oopsies. And with the type's downward-firing ejection seats, well... that made low altitude punch-outs somewhat, shall we say... unattractive... so crews usually opted to ride it out during the many takeoff and landing accidents which occurred during the type's service history.

Anyhoo, this particular jet is a Tu-22R recce variant, operated by the 199th Independent Long-Range Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment (say that ten times fast), flying outta Nizhyn Air Base, Ukraine during the 1980s.

Enjoy, but you might wanna consider transferring to fighters...

Vladimir Aleksandrovich Kalinin photo

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Caught Up in a Whirlwind

Today we present a fine photo of the Westland Whirlwind. Introduced in mid‑1940, this twin‑engine fighter packed a punch with its four nose-mounted 20mm Hispanos and was a fine performer at low to medium altitudes. But production was limited to just 114 airframes, largely due to its troublesome Rolls-Royce Peregrine engines. Seeing service with just three RAF squadrons, the type was retired from frontline duty in late 1943, fading into relative obscurity thereafter...

Imperial War Museum

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