Cold War Era

Hey Geeks! Here you can read all Cold War Era stories published on The Aviation Geek Club site.

Here’s why the SR-71 inlets had to be labeled “L” and “R” and why the Blackbird had engine and afterburner fuel control cable pulleys

The SR-71 engineering was so cutting edge that even the tools to build the Blackbird needed to be designed from… Read More

3 days ago

AirLand Battle, the F-16 Vs the A-10, the Aborted A-16 and the story of why the Viper’s CAS Variant failed to replace the Warthog

Some armament folks said they could match the 30 mm cannon in the A-10 with pod-mounted cannon for the… Read More

6 days ago

SR-71 pilot Brian Shul, famous for his ground speed check story, passed away while giving speech about the Blackbird

SR-71 Blackbird pilot Brian Shul suddenly died in the night of May 20, 2023 in Reno, Nevada, at age 75,… Read More

1 week ago

SR-71 Pilot explains why the only SAM that had chance to hit the Blackbird was a Nuclear S-300 fired ahead of the Habu

‘One of the real highlights of flying above Mach 3 and above 80,000 feet is nobody is up there with… Read More

2 weeks ago

The Fearsome Crusader scored its last MiG Kill against North Vietnamese MiG-17 pilot that chose to eject when he found his opponent was an F-8 instead of an F-4

Lt Jerry Tucker kill was disallowed on the grounds that it had been achieved without the use of any weapons,… Read More

2 weeks ago

Close Cousins: IAI Lavi versus F-16 Viper

Some experts feel that the performance of the IAI Lavi would be broadly comparable to today's F-16C/D Viper in most… Read More

2 weeks ago

SR-71 pilot explains why the F-15 radar couldn’t see the Blackbird during Eagle Bait sorties

‘One of the interesting discoveries from the Eagle Bait was that F-15s couldn’t even find us when everything was shut… Read More

2 weeks ago

The story of when US Navy F-14 Tomcat fired six AIM-54 Phoenix missiles against six different targets simultaneously: the six-on-six missile shot test

A new capability introduced by the AIM-54 was strictly linked to its radar: the AWG-9 had the unprecedented ability to… Read More

2 weeks ago

The story of the IAF Skyhawk pilot who shot down two Syrian MiG-17s flying an A-4 fitted with French-designed and Israeli-manufactured 30 mm DEFA Cannon

Dotan squeezed the trigger and fired long burst into the jet's right wing root. The wing was quickly ripped… Read More

3 weeks ago

F-4 WSO tells the story of when his pilot fell asleep during ferry flight of four Phantom IIs from Kadena AB to Clark AB and their F-4 drifted out of formation

What happens if a fighter jet pilot fell asleep while flying? More than half of airline and commercial pilots have… Read More

3 weeks ago

Habu Pilot reveals why the Blackbird had to refuel after takeoff (it’s not because the SR-71 leaked fuel)

No story on the SR-71 would be complete without an understanding and appreciation of just how valuable the KC-135Q model… Read More

3 weeks ago

No, the F-15 never Attacked Death Star of Star Wars. But the mighty Eagle was the only US aircraft to destroy machine orbiting Earth. Here’s how.

In September 1985, an F-15 Eagle was even able to destroy a machine orbiting Earth. But no, it wasn’t the… Read More

4 weeks ago