Historic Aviation Week Defense Scoops

On Dec. 22, 1947, Aviation Week scooped one of the biggest aerospace news stories of the 20th century—the sound barrier had been broken. U.S. Air Force Capt. Charles "Chuck" Yeager achieved a Mach 1.06 on his record flight in Bell X-1 No. 1 46-062. The news, which was leaked to the magazine’s Engineering Editor Robert McLarren, instantly made headlines around the world. Read full analysis article here . 

In August 1952, Aviation Week provided the first details on the new Boeing B-52 bomber after agreeing not to publish any data not cleared in advance by the U. S. Defense Department. Receiving an Air Force clearance, writer Alexander McSurely traveled to Seattle for an up-close inspection of the exterior of two B-52s. Read full analysis of article here. 

In 1963, Aviation Week’s editor Bob Hotz unveiled the Mach 3 Cruise Stealth Multirole Jet after a meeting with senior U.S. Air Force leaders. No damage was done to national security as the Soviet Union already knew about the project and the USAF did not think the aircraft could be kept a secret once in service. Read full analysis on article here.  

In 1970, Aviation Week wrote about unmanned air vehicles (UAV) in the Vietnam War and how unmanned aircraft played an increasingly prominent role in U.S. strategic and tactical military planning. Aviation Week reported extensively on what were then called remotely piloted vehicles (RPV) in the war, with the most common types produced by Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical, based on the Firebee target UAV. Read full analysis here. 

In 1981, Aviation Week’s Los Angeles Bureau Chief Robert Ropelewski became the first journalist to fly in the SR-71. He wrote an in-depth pilot report in the May 18, 1981, issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology. Read full pilot report here.  

In 1988, Aviation Week’s West Coast technical editor Mike Dornheim took to the skies in a Cessna 172 and flew over the media event to get an exclusive cover photo of the B-2 stealth bomber. Prior to this event, the only photos of the Northrop B-2 bomber were a single artist’s concept, and during the event the media was confined to the bleachers which only allowed a view of the aircraft from one angle. Read the full first-hand story of the event here. 

In August 2001, the world still did not know what happened to the wreckage of a Lockheed Martin F-117A stealth fighter that had been shot down over Serbia in March 1999. At the MAKS air show in Moscow, Aviation Week editors Dave Fulghum and Robert Wall were able to secure an interview with a Russian general and were told in detail about the F-117 remains. Read full analysis here. 

In 2013, Aviation Week published an exclusive on the development of a hypersonic successor of the SR-71 Blackbird spy plane, the SR-72. In the detailed report, Senior Editor Guy Norris discusses the technical design and includes a concept artist's rendering of the aircraft. Read full analysis of the article here. 

In December 2013, Senior Pentagon Editor Amy Butler and Senior International Defense Editor Bill Sweetman revealed details never publicly known about the RQ-180. The article included a construct concept image of the RQ-180 by Ronnie Olsthoorn based on discussed attributes. Read full analysis of article here.