From the first operational jet fighter, to bombers intended to be able to fly to America in one trip, Germany’s Luftwaffe pushed the boundaries of military aviation to its fullest extent during the Second World War. However, from the war’s beginning, the Luftwaffe's leader, Hermann Göring, had avidly believed in the power of a certain aircraft type for ridding the skies of enemy fighter opposition: the 'Zerstörer' ('Destroyer'). But what actually was this design, and how successful was it in combat?
The appearance of the Me 262 in the skies drew intense attention from military aircraft designers. The first mass-produced jet fighter proved unmistakably that the piston era was ending. Still, the Germans did not catch the Allies completely off guard: Britain and the United States were already working on their own jets. The Soviet Union tried to join the race as well, but found itself trailing. Domestic turbojets were not ready, and Soviet fighter projects existed largely on paper.
Almost all piston aircraft start a match by climbing because whoever looks down on the enemy gets to set the terms. But there are fighters and interceptors that climb so aggressively that we might jokingly call them “helicopters”. And today we’re taking the controls of exactly that kind of machine: the Japanese Ki-44 II Hei.
The Matilda III is an early heavy tank in the British tech tree. It boasts amazing armour and weaponry, but suffers from a poor top speed and can easily be outflanked and defeated if fighting on its own against a coordinated and determined enemy. There is also the Matilda Hedgehog, that has a mortar in the back, which can be used against enemy light vehicles, or even tanks with enough luck and skill.
For a long time, carrier-based VTOL aviation remained just a dream of Soviet aircraft designers and a distant hope for the Soviet Navy. The USSR’s first production VTOL aircraft, the Yak-38 attack jet, turned out to be an overly complex and accident-prone subsonic aircraft without a full-fledged radar. But in the 1970s, naval commanders envisioned the future fleet in formations approaching the capabilities of U.S. carrier strike groups, and the Yak-38 clearly didn’t fit that vision. The Navy needed an aircraft that could secure air superiority, strike ground targets, and support amphibious landings. All of that — in a single impressive package.
In the early Cold War era, the Belgian Air Force (Force Aérienne Belge, FAB) faced the challenge of modernizing its fighter fleet to meet escalating NATO air defence demands. During the 1950s, Belgium operated subsonic fighters such as the Republic F-84F Thunderstreak and the Hunter F.6, which were increasingly seen as inadequate against emerging high-speed threats. In response, NATO initiated a coordinated effort to equip several of its European members with a supersonic multi-role platform capable of both interception and tactical strike duties. Belgium opted to join this programme by selecting the Lockheed F-104G Starfighter, a derivative of the original Lockheed F-104 designed with enhancements tailored for European operations.
The idea of a universal platform, one that can be adapted to a wide range of missions, has long captivated armored-vehicle designers. Vehicles like the M113 APC and the Marder and Warrior IFVs were conceived from the outset as the foundations for entire families of fighting machines. Their upgrade potential was baked in at the drawing-board stage.
The Mirage IIIC is an iconic French single-seat delta-wing jet fighter from the late 1950s. The aircraft is highly maneuverable with excellent flight performance, capable of flying at supersonic speeds at any altitude. Its primary armament consists of two 30mm DEFA cannons and air-to-air missiles, initially carrying only one Matra R530 radar-guided missile while later versions could also carry two AIM-9B or Magic 1 IR-guided missiles. For its time, the Mirage IIIC was equipped with a very modern radar, the Cyrano Ibis. This was the first radar in the world capable of automatically slewing its antenna onto a target, which meant that the pilot simply had to press a button, and the radar would acquire and lock onto the target. This reduced the workload of the pilot drastically, which is always of crucial importance in actual combat engagements.
