The story of the great airplanes of WWII, the Korean War, Vietnam War and modern times with photographs and commentary

A Tribute to the Great Airplanes of WWII, the Cold War and Modern Times

B-29 "Bockscar" ... dropped the second atomic bomb on Japan on August 9, 1945. Now on display at the Air Force Museum in Dayton, OH (Staff Photo)

This website is a tribute to the great military planes and commercial airplanes, and to the people who design, build, fly, and service these aircraft.

We provide first-hand commentary, specifications, history and original photographs of great World War II planes such as the B-24 Liberator and the B-17 Flying Fortress, and modern-era military aircraft such as the SR-71 Blackbird as well.

Be sure to read our special sections on U.S. Presidential Aircraft and Air Force One and Aerial Tankers.

We also cover planes of the present, and future, like the C-5 Galaxy, Airbus A400M and the Eurofighter EF2000 Typhoon.

From the Enola Gay to the B-36 Peacemaker to the F-35 Lightning, and the great warbirds and civil aviation airliners in between ... we remember.

Enjoy your flight today!

New Features

We'll be adding new features to the website in 2023, including additional stories, reviews and original photographs.

Antonov An-124 on final approach

Some recent additions and updates:

Continued Evolution of This Aviation Website Series

We launched Planes of the Past in 2012, which over time grew into a large site covering a variety of aviation-related topics. In 2015, we split the website into more focused topics based on our viewers' interests. Now we offer the following websites:

Airplanes-Online - World War II, the Cold War and modern day airplanes (this site)
AirplaneBoneyards.com - Military and airliner boneyards in the U.S., Europe & Australia
AirlinerSpotter.com - Airliner spotting tips, Airbus and Boeing fleets with characteristics, comparisons and photographs