r/AviationPorn

Two Yak-55s strapped together by the wings with a jet engine in between, preforming a low pass over the ocean (my photo)

QF 7 SYD- DFW 11Aug2026

Awesome flight. Aircraft upgraded from 787 so plenty of spare seats meant efficient and more personalised service.
Arrival into DFW at 1pm meant no queues and plenty of border agent windows open for a quick and easy entry stateside.

The Soviet Lun-class ekranoplan (Project 903) was a massive, 380-ton ground-effect vehicle. It was armed with six P-270 Moskit (SS-N-22 'Sunburn') supersonic anti-ship missiles. Mounted on the dorsal spine in three pairs, these devastating missiles could travel at Mach 3 and were designed to destroy enemy aircraft carriers.Technical and Operational DetailsSpeed: 550 km/h (340 mph).Flight Altitude: Travelled on an air cushion just 1 to 4 meters above the sea surface, rendering it essentially invisible to traditional radar and torpedoes.Propulsion: Eight Kuznetsov NK-87 turbofan engines, generating 127.4 kN of thrust each (mounted on forward canards).Armament: Aside from the six Moskit missiles, it was defensively armed with two twin-turret 23mm PI-23 cannons (one dorsal behind the cockpit, one in the tail).Service: Built at the Nizhny Novgorod shipyard, the only completed model (MD-160) entered service with the Caspian Flotilla in 1987 and was decommissioned in the late 1990s.

Due to changing military priorities and the high costs of operation, it remains a legendary Cold War relic. Today, the derelict hull is planned to serve as an open-air museum piece for the Russian military.

Shot with a D850 and a 150-600 Sigma Sport.

Tupolev TU-22 Backfire Russia Air Force Bomber Take off with blue fire Afterburner

Such a beautiful beast of a plane. I wish I was lucky enough to see one flying but fingers crossed that the XB-1 passes all tests and becomes next supersonic airliner and we can experience supersonic flight once again