x planes

the ONERA-CNES Eole airborne launching project

(top image via, bottom via)

“Taken on Oct. 30 [2012], the following awesome picture shows a B-1B “Lancer” (or “Bone”) with the 28th Bomb Wing from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, taking off for a night Green Flag sortie from Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.” (via The Aviationist)

Tupolev Tu-95MS, photo by Vadim Savitsky (via)

nobody died! #71: US Navy F/A-18D Hornet, Virgina Beach, April 6th 2012 (via)

nobody died! Friday #70: Venezuelan Air Force Hongdu K-8 Karakorum, Maracay-El Libertador airbase, November 28th 2012

A Eurocopter AS532 Cougar crashed while attempting to retreive the pilots (nobody died, via)

(via theaviationist, photo by Erwin Fuguet Gedde)

“Blackhawk door gunner,Tikrit,Iraq”. photo by Russell Klika

The Boneyard Project

While we wait for a record breaker, another (potential) one caught my eye the other day:

“An amateur aircraft designer can tailor a plane to fit his or her precise requirements, no matter how outlandish. Take David Rose. Inside his hangar at Montgomery Field in San Diego, this former airline pilot is building a machine that he hopes will earn him aeronautical immortality.

If all goes according to plan, a thunderously overpowered racing machine called RP-4 will reach a straight and level speed in excess of 528.3 mph and become the world’s fastest piston-driven plane. The 22-year-old record is held by a modified World War II—era Grumman F8F Bearcat.”

The Bugatti100p Project

Flight Decks :: By Ben Cooper

“These rare photos capture the Flight Deck (cockpit) of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, fully powered for one of the final times. Just a few weeks later, at 9:58am EDT on May 11, Endeavour was powered down for the final time in history. It was the last of the three space shuttles to have power. Below, other views show the mid-deck, gutted of its lockers and storage areas, and three final photos show the white room entrance in the Orbiter Processing Facility, signed by thousands over the years.”

(thanks to Paul Dunlop for this)

the Beriev Be-200 (photo by Vladimir Yazynin)

the Beriev A-40 (via)

“Firewatch 76 leading the Martin Mars. Photo: Coulson Flying Tankers” (via)

Yakovlev Yak-28P, in Rostov-on-Don. It was “covered in gasoline” and set alight recently for demolition (via)

“MAK-UL” infra-red Missile Approach Warning System mounted on a Tupolev Tu-95M S6 (via)