Aermacchi MB.326
The Aermacchi MB.326 series of aircraft has become one of the most successful blends of operational trainer and light attack capabilities. Developed during the Cold War in 1957, the Aermacchi-produced two-seat trainer was alr...

Aero L-29 Delfin (Dolphin) / Maya
The Czech designed and produced Aero L-29 Delfin (translating to “Dolphin”; NATO designation of “Maya”) series was a highly utilized Cold War jet trainer aircraft for the Soviet Union and its satellite states. The twin-seat a...

Aerospatiale / British Aerospace Concorde
One of the great aviation stories to come out of a post-Cold War world, the British and French-made Concorde stands as the only supersonic passenger transport ever designed and flown on a regular basis. The system offered upp...

Aerospatiale SA 316 / SA 319 Alouette III
The Aérospatiale Alouette III, is French for Skylark having a single-engine and to be used as a light utility helicopter and was developed by Sud Aviation and manufactured by Aérospatiale of France. The first version of the A...

Aerospatiale SA 321 Super Frelon (Super Hornet)
The SA 321 Super Frelon is a French-produced multirole helicopter falling under the Aerospatiale brand. The mammoth design became the largest production helicopter designed and built in Europe in any number when it went into ...

Antonov An-22 Antei (Cock)
The Antonov An-22 Antei (or "Cock") was another in the long line of Antonov transports designed and produced throughout the Cold War, with each design seemingly becoming progressively larger in scope. The An-22 was no excepti...

Antonov An-24 (Coke)
The An-24 "Coke" was yet another in the long line of military transport aircraft produced during the Cold War by the Antonov bureau. The An-24 differed from earlier Antonov products in that it was designed and built to strict...

BAe / Hawker Siddeley Nimrod
The Nimrod aircraft came about as a replacement for the aging and World War Two-era piston-engine Avro Shackleton. Charged with maritime patrol of coastal waters and reconnaissance, the Nimrod had its beginnings on the civili...

Bell 206 JetRanger
The Bell 206 was derived from the unsuccessful OH-4 bid by the Bell company to fulfill a US Army need for a light-weight, turbine-powered, four-seat observation helicopter in 1960. It would not be until 1967 when delays in th...

Bell AH-1 HueyCobra / Cobra (Bell 209)
Based on the private venture Bell 209 helicopter, the AH-1 Cobra series of helicopters is many a military's primary light attack helicopter. As early as the 1950's Bell corporation was experimenting with armed versions in the...

Bell OH-58 Kiowa
The Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warrior was a further development of the successful Bell OH-58 Kiowa. Intended to be fielded alongside the Apache Longbow and provide scouting and observation capabilities in an offensive support capacit...

Beriev Be-12 Tchaika (Mail)
The Beriev Be-12 "Mail" was a successful floatplane aircraft for the Soviet Union during the Cold War, fulfilling the role of maritime patrol and reconnaissance. The twin-engine system was designed to replace the other Beriev...

Blackburn / Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer
The Blackburn Buccaneer was a highly-respected low-level carrier-borne strike aircraft utilized by the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy. The Buccaneer featured a crew of two seated in tandem, an internal weapons bay to comp...

Boeing 727-200
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Boeing 737 (series)
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Boeing 747
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Boeing CH-46 Sea Knight
The CH-46 Sea Knight is similar in design and role to the CH-47 Chinook series of transport helicopters. Both offer up unobstructed access to the aircraft by keeping engine components mounted above the design. Both also utili...

Boeing CH-47 Chinook
The Chinook series of medium-lift helicopters has been a mainstay utility service system for the US Army (among others) for decades since its design and inception. The series featured the highly identifiable twin-tandem rotor...

Cessna A-37 Dragonfly
The Cessna A-37 Dragonfly was born out of a need for close-support aircraft to assist in the Vietnam War. As such, the T-37 jet trainer was converted for the role and became the A-37 series of aircraft. The system would go on...

Cessna T-41 Mescalero
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Convair B-58 Hustler
The delta-wing Convair B-58 Hustler was the first United States Air Force supersonic operational bomber. The system was designed to be capable of high-altitude flight, which was a popular design concept during the early years...

Dassault Mirage IIIV
The Mirage IIIV was designed to a NATO requirement for a supersonic VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) fighter aircraft. The Mirage IIIV was a further development of the successful Mirage III fighter series but featured a s...

Dassault Mirage IV
The Dassault Mirage IV series was designed to a French requirement for a supersonic aircraft platform capable of delivering an atomic weapon. The resulting Mirage IV became just that, offering up Mach 2 capabilities and a cei...

Dassault Mirage V (5) / Mirage 50
The Dassault Mirage V / Mirage 50 series of French-built multi-role aircraft stands as the last further development of the successful Mirage III airframe. The Mirage V appeared in 1967 and was intended solely for export, find...

Douglas B-26K Counter Invader / A-26A Nimrod
The B-26K Counter Invader was based on a highly modified airframe of the World War 2-era Douglas A-26 Invader aircraft. What set the "Counter Invader" apart from it's predecessor was that the new design was fielded without an...

English Electric / BAC Lightning
The English Electric Lightning was an impressive engineering feat for the British people. She was the first (and only) Mach 2-capable platform ever developed for the island nation and itself the fastest British fighter of all...

FalconJet HU-25 Guardian
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General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark
The General Dynamics F-111 "Aardvark" was purposely-designed as a variable geometry "swing wing" platform from the outset. The variable swing-wing philosophy would allow the aircraft to utilize three pre-determined geometric ...

Grumman / Northrop C-2 Greyhound
The Grumman C-2 Greyhound was developed from the successful Grumman E-2 Hawkeye. Whereas the latter was a dedicated carrier-based Airborne Early Warning platform, the Greyhound was evolved into a carrier-based transport featu...

Grumman A-6 Intruder
The Grumman A-6 Intruder series of strike aircraft was designed to a United States Navy specification drawn up covering an attack aircraft capable carrying and delivering large payloads over distance and in any weather. The i...

Grumman E-2 Hawkeye
The E-2 Hawkeye series serves carrier battle groups (principally in the United States Navy) and is called upon as an all-weather airborne command and control battle space management system. The Hawkeye became operational in 1...

Grumman OV-1 Mohawk
Development of the OV-1 Mohawk platform stemmed from a joint requirement fielded by both the United States Army and the United States Marine Corps for a "battlefield surveillance aircraft" displaying rugged and versatile qual...

HAL HF-24 Marut
The Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd HF-24 Marut was the first Indian attempt at an indigenous aircraft design since separating from British rule. The Marut - or "Spirit of the Tempest" - was the first design that was produced for t...

Harbin Z-5
The Z-5 is the Chinese-built version of the Soviet Mi-4 Hound medium-lift transport helicopter....

Hawker Siddeley Harrier / AV-8A
The subsonic British Harrier "jump jet" became the world's first practical VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) aircraft after the perfection of its vectored thrust turbofan engine. While other aircraft manufacturers of the t...

Kaman SH-2 Seasprite / Super Seasprite
The Kaman SH-2 Seasprite helicopter has served a lengthy and respected career in the navies of several nations across the globe though most notably the system has been associated with its service through the United States Nav...

Kamov Ka-25 (Hormone)
The Kamov Ka-25 (NATO codename of "Hormone") was developed from the Ka-20, which itself was a response to a Soviet Navy requirement for a ship-borne helicopter to replace the aging Mil Mi-4 platforms. The Ka-25 became a mains...

Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne
The AH-56 Cheyenne was Lockheed's first and only foray into development of a production helicopter. In many respects, however, the Cheyenne was neither a true helicopter nor was it a true airplane - in many ways that today's...

Lockheed C-141 Starlifter
The C-141 Starlifter appeared in 1965 - interestingly enough without a prototype preceding its inception - and became the workhorse transport aircraft for the United States Air Force. The aircraft was developed to a Military ...

Lockheed HC-130 Hercules
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Lockheed Martin P-3 Orion
The P-3 Orion aircraft is a product of Lockheed Martin, designed and accepted at a time when Lockheed could do little wrong in the way of earning government contracts. The P-3 was a direct requirement for a United States Navy...

Lockheed MC-130 Combat Talon I / II
The MC-130 series is represented by the MC-130E Combat Talon I and the MC-130H Combat Talon II systems. Both utilize the hugely successful C-130 Hercules airframe and were designed specifically for use with special forces ope...

Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird
The sleek SR-71 Blackbird spyplane reached an all new plateau in supersonic high-level flight for the Lockheed Corporation. Developed from the YF-121-A interceptor program which spawned the A-12 program which in turn generate...

McDonnell Douglas C-9 (Nightingale/Skytrain II)
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McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II
Arguably one of the finest combat fighters of the 20th Century, the McDonnell F-4 Phantom II series was produced in larger numbers since the end of World War 2 than any other Western fighter of the time. The Phantom II grew i...

McDonnell Douglas F-4G Wild Weasel
The F-4G represented the "Wild Weasel" off-shoot of the successful F-4 Phantom II line. Wild Weasel aircraft represented (and continue to do so) specially modified platforms utilized to hunt enemy air defense systems such as ...

Mil Mi-6 (Hook)
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Mil Mi-8 (Hip)
Numbering well over 12,000 production examples, the Mil Mi-8 (NATO reporting name of "Hip") can be viewed as one of the most successful helicopter designs of all time. It has seen use as a passenger transport, troop transport...

Mitsubishi Mu-2
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North American A-5 Vigilante
The A-5 Vigilante bomber actually began as a private venture by the North American Aviation Company as early as 1953. This development centered around the design of an all-weather, high-level, long range bomber capable of car...

North American Rockwell OV-10 Bronco
The Bronco was developed through the United States Marine Corps Light Armed Reconnaissance Aircraft (LARA) program to provide the service branch with a multi-faceted performer that could handle armed reconnaissance and light ...

North American XB-70 Valkyrie
The XB-70 Valkyrie was intended to be the USAF 'super bomber' for decades to come and was tabbed as the eventual successor to the B-52 Stratofortress in support of the United States Strategic Air Command. Developed with the l...

Northrop Grumman EA-6 Prowler
The Prowler series of carrierbased aircraft are dedicated electronic warfare systems based on the Vietnam-era A-6 Intruder strike models. Since their introduction, the Prowler series has seen action up through the present Ame...

Northrop T-38 Talon
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Saab J 35 Draken (Dragon / Kite)
The Saab J 35 Draken (translated in English to "Dragon" but carrying the meaning of "Kite" based on the aircraft's angular resemblance to a kite) was one of the more excellent aircraft designs to emerge from the Cold War. The...

Saab JA 37 Viggen (Thunderbolt)
The Saab Viggen proved to be yet another milestone in the indigenous design theories put forth by the nation of Sweden. The system was designed from the outset to be a battlefield friendly alternative to its opponent counterp...

Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion
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Sikorsky CH-54 Tarhe / Erickson S-64 Skycrane
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Sikorsky HH-3 Jolly Green Giant
The HH-3E series is no longer in service with the United States Air Force but gained considerable fame in the Vietnam War for its many rescues of downed aircrews in the conflict. The system featured a stretched fuselage and w...

Sikorsky HH-3 Pelican
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Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King
At its peak, the Sikorsky SH-3 series of naval aircraft was a widely used and successful platform utilized in anti-submarine warfare and search and rescue operations. Development stemmed from a United States Navy 1957 contrac...

Sud Aviation / Aerospatiale SA 330 Puma
The Puma began life as a product of Sud Aviation designed to meet an French Army requirement for an all-weather, medium-lift, multi-purpose utility helicopter to replace the aging set of Sikorsky S-58 systems in French servic...

Sukhoi Su-11 (Fishpot)
The Su-11, by any regard, is considered a potent fighter. Based on a further development of the inferior and limited Su-9, the Su-11 featured an improved and more powerful turbojet engine capable of 22,046lbs of thrust with a...

Sukhoi Su-15 (Flagon)
The Su-15 (NATO codename of "Flagon") series of aircraft was designed by the Sukhoi firm as a true interceptor with the sole purpose of defending Soviet airspace NATO bomber incursions during the Cold War. The system was desi...

Transall C-160
An alliance between France and Germany resulted in the development and production of the Transall C.160 transport plane....

Tupolev Tu-126 (Moss)
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Tupolev Tu-28 / Tu-128 (Fiddler)
The Tupolev-produced Tu-28 (NATO codename of "Fiddler") was a large intercept-capable aircraft built for the simple role of air defense and anti-bomber incursion. Developed at a time when both sides of the Cold War were seeki...

Vought / LTV A-7 Corsair II
The middle-weight Vought-produced A-7 Corsair II was designed as a replacement for the A-4 Skyhawk light-weight fighter / bomber, and was based on the engineering successes of the F-8 Crusader. Owing its general visual appear...

Yakovlev Yak-28 (Brewer / Firebar / Maestro)
Nearly an exact copy of the Yak-25 (and the Yak-26 and Yak-27 for that matter), the Yakovlev Yak-28 was initially thought of as a multi-role fighter-bomber but eventually fulfilled the role of interceptor, reconnaissance and ...