Page 9 - Force Museum News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Love Your City I Love My City The Jacaranda City - our heart, our home When looking at other cities across South Africa, Pretoria is not the oldest by far, yet it holds a very significant place in history and in every Pretorian’s heart. Since the city’s inception in 1855, a lot has changed. The streets have over the years played witness to political issues, festivals, marches, love stories and personal stories... Sigh. If only the Jacaranda trees could talk. Established by the then Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR) to serve as a central location, Pretoria was chosen for its abundance of w...

Three atomic blasts is nothing to sneeze at. 

YF-12: The Super Secret Plane That Smashed Speed Records During its nine years of existence, the YF-12 had slightly less than 300 flights, of a total of about 450 flight hours. And it was thought to be one of the fastest jets ever to fly. Before the famous SR-71, there was the YF-12, which emerged from Lockheed Martin in the 1960s. It had a short life and was never actually used operationally by the military, but it did form the basis for the SR-71, which had a much longer life. Only three of the planes were built. Two of the YF-12s were flown as part of a joint Air Force-NASA research prog...

Rugged: The Air Force Tested Its XF-90 Jet Against a Nuclear Explosion During the early days of the Cold War, it was assumed that nuclear weapons might well be used in the next war. Key point: If you assume nuclear weapons will be used, you would want to be sure your planes and tanks can survive to keep fighting. Here is how the XF-90 was nuked to find out. In 1945, the U.S. Army Air Force issued a requirement for a “penetrating escort” jet that could accompany comparatively ponderous B-29 and B-50 strategic bombers all the way to targets over the Soviet Union. It wanted that jet to be c...

SA Air Force Museum aircraft crashes at Swartkop Air Force Base 17 March 2021 - 12:40 A file picture of the Patchen Explorer which has reportedly crashed at Swartkop Air Force Base, near Pretoria. Image: Alan Wilson/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS A light aircraft belonging to the SA Air Force Museum has reportedly crashed while landing at Swartkop Air Force Base, south of Pretoria. The aircraft, a single-engine Patchen Explorer reconnaissance aircraft, was reportedly on final approach when it crashed short of the runway and burst into flames. The aircraft was designed for aerial s...