Benny Kirk
1,724 ARTICLES
This American Navy Jet Never Got to Tangle With a Soviet MiG
16 Jul 2022, 05:17 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 gave the U.S. Air Force all the hell they could handle throughout multiple conflicts across multiple decades. In its day, countless top-of-the-line American fighter jets fell at its hands. But there's something...
This Adorable Grumman OV-1 Mohawk Could Shoot Down Jets, Sits Gate Guard Outside Museum
15 Jul 2022, 20:25 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / If you know anything about Grumman, it's probably because of their iconic Navy Cat line of carrier-based fighter planes. Heavyweights of their day like the F4F Wildcat, F6F Hellcat, F-11 Tiger, and F-14 Tomcat form a legacy that'd be the ...
Forget Kitty Hawk, Long Island Was America’s True Cradle of Aviation
14 Jul 2022, 21:21 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / In December 1903, a pair of Ohioan brothers took their primitive Flyer I prototype out for a series of four barely controlled powered flights near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the first of which only lasted 12 measly seconds, then called it a day. T...
If You're Not Hyped About JWST's First Deep Field Image, You're Not Paying Attention
14 Jul 2022, 02:31 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / We understand if you're finding it hard to find something to be joyful about at the moment. It may feel like the world is going to hell in a handbasket, but NASA and the ESA just gave the entire world something to celebrate. All thanks to the ...
Space Shuttle Food Looks Horrifying in Its Packaging, Supposedly Tastier Than It Looks
13 Jul 2022, 02:36 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / Legend has it that the very first food eaten in space was a tube of beef and liver paste, squeezed through an aluminum toothpaste tube into the awaiting open maw of Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin during the Vostok 1 mission on April 12th, 1961. It&#...
Forget a Private Yacht, This Grumman Goose in Pan Am Liveries Does What They Can't
12 Jul 2022, 19:14 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / It takes little more than a briefcase full of cash to buy a private yacht. But to prefer something less mainstream, like a period-correct Grumman G21 Goose amphibious airliner in Pan American Airways livery, it takes deep respect for classic aviati...
Here's What a Space Shuttle Tire Looks Like After a Hard Landing, It's Pretty Brutal
11 Jul 2022, 19:08 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / All tires are built more or less the same, right? They're just hunks of rubber formed into the shape of a circle and slapped on a set of wheels, or so you would think. But as petrolheads all know, the right tire can make or break a sports car....
This 1970 Fiat 850 Is Pleading for a Savior, Could It Be You?
11 Jul 2022, 00:55 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / Full restorations of classic cars are always a treat, and restomodding is even better to some. But you can't help but think there are a lot of the same famous makes and models getting all the love and attention. If you're in need of s...
Kitty Hawk Flyer: The All Electric Personal VTOL Forged By a Former Google Executive
11 Jul 2022, 00:25 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / What is it about celebrities and tech billionaires trying to prove they're the reincarnation of both of the Wright Brothers? You had Elon Musk, a .com billionaire that decided he wanted to build rocket ships, followed promptly by Jeff Bezos. A...
This Hilarious Tricycle Has a Propeller Attached to its Backside, Actually Quite Useful
10 Jul 2022, 13:41 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / Wheeled machines used to look pretty darn wacky at the turn of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The most hilarious of these early machines must be the penny farthing. The bicycle with the absurdly large front wheel, you know the one. But there�...
Flying on Pan Am Used to Be Amazingly Luxurious, Kick the Hell Out of Modern Airlines
10 Jul 2022, 06:47 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / Flying on an airline nowadays is more like a chore than a luxury. But it wasn't always like this. Believe it or not, air travel felt like a special occasion for most of the 20th century. Step aside, JetBlue. Pan Am used to bring the best bang ...
Grumman Molab: The Lunar Pickup Truck & Trailer Prototype You've Never Seen Before
10 Jul 2022, 05:30 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / It's a real bummer when a concept car that looks promising doesn't go into production. But when a purpose-built spacecraft meant to traverse another heavenly body doesn't make it, it's a tragedy. Why? Because it no doubt took ...
America's First Coast to Coast Flight Was Funded By a Grape Soda Company, Took Seven Weeks
10 Jul 2022, 01:30 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / One would assume all the significant moments in the pioneer days of American aviation are already well known, well remembered, and well celebrated. You know, the Wright Brother's first flight, the first airliner service, the first use of airpl...
You Could Slap This Revolution Mini-500 Helicopter Together in a Few Days, But Should You?
9 Jul 2022, 19:19 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / The Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City, New York, is a facility dedicated to the innumerable accomplishments in aviation in New York State's Long Island region. But mixed in with all the Hellcats, Thunderbolts, and the like, is a collect...
Grumman F-11 Tiger: Never Shot Down Anything But Itself, Still Looks Great in Blue
9 Jul 2022, 10:30 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / Grumman was the U.S. Navy's go-to carrier-based fighter plane manufacturer since before the days of World War II. But not every airframe the Long Island-based aerospace firm built went on to have a legendary career full of amazing stories of d...
This Is the Last American F-14 Tomcat To Fly, Awaits a Full Restoration in This Hangar
9 Jul 2022, 07:00 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / Thanks in part to its 50th anniversary and in part to a starring role in Top Gun: Maverick, the F-14 Tomcat is once again the most famous fighter jet in the western zeitgeist. This is all despite not having flown since domestically 2006. Seeing...
This Apollo Era Lunar Module Never Made it to the Moon, Stranded In A Museum Instead
9 Jul 2022, 01:30 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / Is there anything more tragic than a spacecraft that never makes it to space? A vehicle with every intention of bringing men to worlds beyond but is instead stuck here on Earth, with only us lame humans to gaze at instead of endless moon dust. Well...
![A Grand Theft Auto IV Remaster May Be in the Works, [UPDATE: Rockstar Pulls the Plug]](https://s1.cdn.autoevolution.com/images/news/a-grand-theft-auto-iv-remaster-may-be-in-the-works-update-rockstar-pulls-the-plug-192548-1.jpg "A Grand Theft Auto IV Remaster May Be in the Works, [UPDATE: Rockstar Pulls the Plug]")
A Grand Theft Auto IV Remaster May Be in the Works, [UPDATE: Rockstar Pulls the Plug]
8 Jul 2022, 14:30 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / The release of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition was an unmitigated disaster in the strongest possible terms. With ground-clipping, graphical artifacts, and glitch gremlins galore, what success Rockstar Entertainment felt with ...
Waco F-Series: The Open-Top Trainer That Forged Some of America's First Aces
2 Jul 2022, 15:30 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / They just don't make airplanes the way they used to, huh? Inane ramblings aside, there's a very good reason modern airplanes don't fly around with two sets of wings braced together by thin metal wires and covered with a canvas materi...
Stewarts Shops: a Delightful Gas Station Chain With an Ice Cream Parlor in Every Location
29 Jun 2022, 04:35 UTC · By: Benny Kirk / In most places in the world, a gas station is just that. A place you fill up your vehicle, maybe buy a soda, a candy bar, some cigarettes, and get on your way. But in America, sometimes it's a bit more than that. Of course, we've discu...