Jets - March/April 2016

X PLANES
THIS SPECIAL ISSUE MARKING THE SUCCESS (OR OTHERWISE!) OF NASA’S X PLANE PROGRAMME INCLUDES:

Born to Test
Introducing a series of special features about the famous X Plane research aircraft, Kimberley Hawkins looks back at the history of the NACA and its transformation into NASA

The X Factor - Pushing the envelope
Your guide to more than six decades of X Planes - from X-1 to X-56

Heroes of Aviation
NASA test pilot Bill Dana flew some of the most amazing aircraft to ever take to the air. In 2005 he spoke to Dave Unwin about his extraordinary career

Features...

Oh Gina
Steve Bridgewater looks at the development of the Fiat G.91, which was designed as a lightweight tactical strike fighter for NATO

Handley Page HP.113
The HP.113 promised a 6,100- mile range thanks to its laminar flow wing and boundary-layer control. Steve Bridgewater looks at another ‘near success’

The Gulf of Sidra incident
On January 4, 1989, two US Navy F-14 Tomcats were engaged by a pair of Libyan MiG-23 Floggers. Kimberley Hawkins looks back at the so-called Gulf of Sidra incident

TIARA Tornado
Panavia Tornado F.2A ZD902 is a unique survivor in search of a loving new owner. Steve Bridgewater reports from Jet Art Aviation

Fokker’s F100 Feederliner
Steve Young looks at the largest jet aircraft produced in the Netherlands – the Fokker 100

Belly Landing Baroudeur
Pete London investigates a conventional fighter given a radical twist; the SNCASE Baroudeur

Regulars...

News
News from the Jet World

From the Cockpit
Dave Unwin offers a pilot’s comparison of two of the RAF’s most famous jet trainers - the Folland Gnat T.I and the BAe Hawk T.I. Which would you choose?

Letters

Testing Times

Classics Compared
Continuing our X Plane theme Sebastian Morgan compares and contrasts the forward-swept Grumman X-29 and Sukhoi Su-47 Berkut

This was the year…
In the second of a new series Steve Bridgewater looks back 60 years to the aviation highlights of 1956