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The final Kingfish configuration was a single-seat, full delta wing with slightly curved and highly swept leading edges. Two vertical tails were mounted on top of the wings and flush with the trailing edge. The aircraft weighed 103,200 pounds (gross weight) and carried 62,750 pounds of fuel, giving it a dry weight of 40,450 pounds. The aircraft measured 73 feet seven inches long and eighteen feet four inches high. The wingspan measured sixty feet. The wing area measured 1,815 square feet.

Ten years after the first T-50 rolled out the Korean Aerospace Industries factory in Sacheon, South Korea, the program has radically improved the way fighter pilots are trained in Korea. Two training squadrons at Gwangju AB operate fifty aircraft and graduate about 140 students per year.

The aerial demonstration team of the Republic of Korea Air Force, the Black Eagles, traded its standard-issue orange and white T-50 trainers for glossy black, white, and yellow T-50Bs for its 2011 show season.

“We do some specialized flying mixed with a lot of science,” noted Maj. Phil Townsend, the chief of aerial spray with the 757th Airlift Squadron at Youngstown ARS, Ohio. “Our mission is to provide a large-area spray capability to control disease-carrying insects, eradicate undesirable plants, or disperse oil spills. And we are getting busier every year."

The Türk Hava Kuvvetleri Turkish Air Force, or TurAF, celebrates the centennial of its air force this year with the creation of an F-16 demonstration team called Solo Turk. The single-ship team with three demo pilots flies an F-16C Block 40 from 141 Filo or Squadron (also known as Anatolian Wolfs), which is based at 4th Main Jet Base at Akinci near Ankara. In its centennial news release, TurAF officials said that, “The aim of our 100th year recognition is not just to celebrate our age, but to generate trust and interest in the Turkish Air Force from our citizens, especially from the youth of our country.”

In July 1976, three US Air Force aircrews, flying the Mach 3+ SR-71 high altitude reconnaissance aircraft, set three absolute world aviation records—the maximum performance by any type of aircraft—in two days. Those marks still stand in 2011. One record, Absolute Speed, is still officially recognized as the fastest speed humans have ever traveled in an aircraft.

At several points over its career, the S-3 Viking served as a test aircraft. The US Navy retired the S-3 from fleet service in 2009, but a trio of the remaining Vikings has once again donned lab coats—only now the research takes place at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, which has been conducting aeronautical research since 1942.

Since March 2011, the F-35 program has completed more than 200 additional flights and, as of late June 2011, had surpassed 1,400 flight hours and 1,000 total flights.

The CIA initiated a U-2 successor program in the fall of 1957. Richard Bissell, project manager for the U-2 at the CIA, led the effort. Lockheed and Convair were invited to participate in the program. Lockheed’s efforts led to a series of design configurations called Archangel. Convair’s efforts led to a design called FISH—short for First Invisible Super Hustler.

Mapping the optical properties of a canopy is akin to reverse engineering the optics of a pair of prescription glasses. However, these glasses don’t rest on noses—they surround the heads of fighter pilots. The mapping process is necessary because aerial and ground targets viewed through head-up and helmet-mounted displays are distorted by canopy thickness, curves, and material. Simply put, the canopy can have a direct effect on weapon accuracy.