In the final days of World War II, Japan’s final attempt at keeping pace with the aeronautical power of the Allies was in the form of the Nakajima Kikka’s solitary and first flight on August 7, 1945.

While it wasn't the first jet-engined aircraft that flew, the ME-262 was the first operational jet-fighter. So many technical and political troubles struck its development that it began its career as ...

With a top speed of 540 mph, Germany's Messerschmitt Me 262 was by far the fastest fighter of World War II. It was powered by jet engines, a new technology that was not always reliable. Still, the ...

Pilots nicknamed early-model P-47 Thunderbolts the “Razorback,” a reference to the chunky fighter plane’s angular canopy. However, the name was more generally appropriate—like a wild boar, the hulking ...

In July 1942 a German Messerschmitt took off from Leipheim airfield in Bavaria…but it was no ordinary aircraft… It was an Me 262 - the world’s first operational jet fighter. Powered by two Junker Jumo ...