Kapil Kajal

Kapil is a journalist with nearly a decade of experience. Reported across a wide range of beats with a particular focus on air warfare and military affairs, his work is shaped by a deep interest in twentieth‑century conflict, from both World Wars through the Cold War and Vietnam, as well as the ways these histories inform contemporary security and technology.
64 Articles

Flight Test Files: Douglas F5D-1 Skylancer – Mastering the High-Speed Sink Rate

The Douglas F5D-1 Skylancer evolved from the F4D Skyray into a Mach 1.5 interceptor before…

Kapil Kajal

Aces of the Great War: Erich Loewenhardt – The Yellow Peril of the German Air Service

Erich Loewenhardt was Germany’s third-highest scoring World War I ace with 54 victories. Flying the…

Kapil Kajal

Grounded Dreams: How the Sikorsky S-67 Blackhawk Pushed Helicopter Design Too Far, Too Soon

The Sikorsky S-67 Blackhawk was a fast, experimental attack helicopter that pushed design limits but…

Kapil Kajal

Grounded Dreams: The Republic XF-12 Rainbow – Perfection in the Shadow of Jets

The story of the Republic XF-12 Rainbow, a flawless piston-engine reconnaissance aircraft that arrived just…

Kapil Kajal

Grounded Dreams: The Northrop YB-49 – The Ghostly Ancestor of the Stealth Bomber

The Northrop YB-49 flying wing promised jet-age revolution but fell to instability, tragedy, and politics,…

Kapil Kajal

Aces of the Great War: Roderic Stanley Dallas – The Queensland Ace in British Skies

Roderic Stanley Dallas, Queensland ace in the RAF, combined discipline and aggression to score 39…

Kapil Kajal

Flight Test Files: Lockheed P-38 Lightning – Solving the Deadly Mystery of Compressibility

How the P-38’s deadly dive compressibility problem led NACA to unlock transonic physics and pioneer…

Kapil Kajal

Grounded Dreams: The Northrop XP-79 – The Fighter That Fell Before It Could Fight

The Northrop XP-79 flying wing promised a radical interceptor design, but instability and a fatal…

Kapil Kajal

The Eagle of the Eastern Front: Alexander Kazakov and the Imperial Russian Air Service

Alexander Kazakov was Imperial Russia’s leading fighter ace of World War I, credited with 17…

Kapil Kajal

Grounded Dreams: The Rohr 2-175 – The Garage-Built Revolution That Vanished

The Rohr 2-175 was a radical 1970s composite light aircraft with a ducted propeller, delta…

Kapil Kajal