Latest from Key.Aero
Explore the latest news and features by our world-class aviation journalists. Stay up to date on the latest military aviation developments, commercial airline news, historic plane restoration projects, flight simulation releases and much more.
Phantom to Warthog
Col Steven K Ladd (ret’d) flew F-4 Phantoms in combat over Vietnam and sat on nuclear alert in Europe. When his then unit transitioned to the A-10 Warthog, he reluctantly switched to the subsonic ‘tank buster’, but became one of its most enthusiastic proponents
Tales of the Dancing Crane - The story of JAL part 1
Established in the aftermath of World War Two, over the past 70 years Japan Airlines has risen to become a leading global carrier, with its famous dancing crane logo recognisable worldwide. In the first part of a two-part feature, Jozef Mols explores JAL’s early history, including the introduction of jet services and its expansion up to the mid-1980s
Swiss Hornets Swarm to RAF Leeming
The Swiss Air Force recently deployed once again to the UK for...
Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747s - A Fond Farewell
For 36 years the mighty Boeing 747 has been an integral part of Virgin Atlantic. Sadly, COVID-19 has meant an early departure for the iconic aircraft. Lee Cross looks back at the service of the ‘Queen of the Skies’ within the fleet and how the type has been so intrinsically linked to the airline’s success
Mossies Over the Jungle
From 1943, the de Havilland Mosquitos of 684 Squadron ranged far and wide over Southeast Asia, supplying the RAF with most of its strategic reconnaissance, as Tom Spencer describes
Coping with COVID at Stansted
The coronavirus pandemic has affected airports worldwide. Stephen Skinner looks at the impact on London Stansted Airport, which was the third busiest in the UK by aircraft movements in 2019, but has been badly affected by restrictions on holiday travel
FedEx reveals MD-10 retirement timeline
The Memphis-based cargo giant retired its final A310 last year and has now turned its attention to the classic trijet
Desert Storm 30: Jaguars over the Gulf
Key.Aero charts the formidable efforts of the Royal Air Force SEPECAT Jaguar Detachment during the 1991 Gulf War
UK to boost in-country F-35B support under LANCE contract
Lockheed Martin and the F-35 Joint Program Office have signed the GBP£76m Lightning Air system National Capability Enterprise (LANCE) contract, which seeks to boost the in-country support services available to the UK’s F-35B fleet
What we know so far about Icarus’ Tactical Air Vehicle
Key.Aero outlines what is known so far about Icarus Aerospace’s Tactical Air Vehicle (TAV) – an optionally-piloted, customisable, multi-role force multiplying solution for the world’s military and security forces community
Big airline industry trends for 2021 – Part 2
Exclusive: In the second part of a special series, Kevin O’Toole, chief strategy officer at Cirium, tells Key.Aero about the major shifts and developments you should be watching for this year
Loganair reveals Teesside-Heathrow link
Services to Aberdeen and Belfast City from the north of England facility are also set to begin from February this year
The first flights of January 19
We’ve covered a lot of first flights here on Key.Aero, but we’re not sure we’ve ever covered so many that took place on one date over the years. What is it with historic aviation and January 19?
Big airline industry trends for 2021 – Part 1
Exclusive: In the first part of a special series, Kevin O’Toole, chief strategy officer at Cirium, tells Key.Aero about the major shifts and developments you should be watching for this year
Desert Storm 30: The Secret Squirrels of Callsign 'Doom'
Top secret for a year after it was mounted, the first B-52 mission of the 1991 Gulf War saw the B-52 firing some of the opening shots of the campaign, launching a barrage of 35 cruise missiles against a variety of ‘Night One' targets
48th FW completes three-day ACE exercise
The 492nd Fighter Squadron – a unit assigned to the USAF’s 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath, Suffolk – completed a three-day Agile Combat Employment (ACE) exercise on January 13
Brazil’s Drone Expansion
Two squadrons of the Brazilian Air Force now operate unmanned aerial systems, following the global military trend for drones. We explore the origins and evolution of these unique aircraft
Global C-17 fleet surpasses four million flight hours
Almost 30 years after the platform first graced the skies, the global fleet of Boeing C-17 Globemaster III heavy-lift strategic transports surpassed the four million flight hour milestone on January 15
Zenith CH701 STOL for MSFS
SimWorks Studios has released the Zenith CH701 STOL aircraft for Microsoft Flight Simulator.
Desert Storm 30: Kadena's MiG Killers
Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, may seem an unlikely place to look for Desert Storm history, but thanks to aircraft rotations, Kadena is now home to several F-15 Eagles credited with Iraqi MiG kills, as Key.Aero investigates
The man who helped make the P-51 Mustang (in four months)
He worked alongside distinguished names such as Glenn Martin, Donald Douglas and Larry Bell, but Dutch Kindelberger created his own career path that shook the aviation industry - and continues to do so to this day…
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