In the pantheon of iconic aircraft, perhaps none is more revered than the Supermarine Spitfire. Considered one of the most beautiful fighters ever designed, along with its stablemate the Hawker Hurricane the Spitfire has become emblematic of  Britain’s determined resistance against Nazi Germany in the early days of the Second World War. Yet despite its legendary reputation, the Spitfire was […]

1945 was a good year to be Georgy Zhukov. In May of that year the Soviet General lead the 1st Byelorussian Front to victory in the climactic Battle of Berlin, bringing the Second World War in Europe to a close. In recognition of his service, Zhukov was promoted to Field Marshall, personally accepted the Nazi Government’s instruments of surrender, and […]

On March 10, 1972, an Atlas-Centaur rocket blasted off from pad LC-36A at Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying the unmanned probe Pioneer 10 on humanity’s first mission to the planet Jupiter. Along with cameras and various scientific instruments to study the gas giant planet and its moons, Pioneer 10 also carried a curious object. Bolted to the struts of the probe’s […]

On a cold February morning in 1942, the residents of the Canadian city of Winnipeg, Manitoba awoke to discover that their worst nightmare had come true. It began at 6:30 AM as air raid sirens wailed and streetlights blinked out as a blackout rolled across the city. Aircraft droned overhead and the dull roar of exploding bombs could be heard […]

In the early morning hours of May 10, 1940, soldiers manning the Belgian fortress of Eben Emael looked up at the sky and beheld an alarming sight: nine strange slender-winged aircraft descending silently towards them. Within seconds the aircraft skidded to a halt and disgorged 54 highly-trained German airborne troops onto the fort’s grass roof. Little could the garrison have […]

The American Revolution is one of the historical events that together with things like the French Revolution, among other things, helped usher in the modern era. Americans, on the whole, tend to be proud of this event and focus on it heavily in their school curriculum, as it heralds the birth of their nation and the triumph of a handful […]