Warriors and Heroes: Past and Present

Late last summer, every channel of news media was reporting 24/7 on the fall of Kabul and the harrowing airlift that followed—a humanitarian crisis in full view of the world. It was a perfect storm of hasty planning, thousands of panicked refugees, and the chaos of a war zone. When you read our feature “Reach” by Jan Tegler, which is the story of a U.S. Air Force C-17 aircrew’s dramatic flights during those extremely tense days, you will have a renewed reverence and respect for the bravery, skill, and courage displayed by warriors like Aircraft Commander Major Thomas Sukut and his extraordinary aircrew, who successfully evacuated hundreds fleeing the Taliban’s wrath. We at Flight Journal are proud of all the heroes in uniform who made the evacuation possible and that we can share their words with you.

The story of top-scoring Luftwaffe Ace Otto “Bruno” Kittel in our feature “Sturmovik Killer” is about another type of aerial warrior in a conflict over the brutal Eastern Front, in a war long past. Author and fighter pilot Clive Rowley goes deep to bring us Kittel’s Luftwaffe career, which lasted the bulk of WW II. Before he perished, Kittel had flown 583 combat missions, most in the vaunted Fw 190, and destroyed 265 enemy aircraft. It’s hard to imagine given the brutal combat conditions that he survived as long as he did.

In that feature we also have a fantastic companion pilot report on the only airworthy original, BMW-powered Fw 190 “White A” by world-class warbird pilot Steve Hinton. Hinton has amassed thousands of flying hours in WW II aircraft and gives us his unique take and impressions on flying this super rare machine. “White A” is a remarkable story and was discovered intact in a forest near Leningrad, where it had crash-landed wheels up in July 1943 and remained hidden for over four decades. The aircraft would later find its way into the capable hands of Paul Allen and the Flying Heritage and Combat Armor Museum for a full restoration to make it flyable again.

It’s always exciting to bring our readers the words of the pilots—past and present—who were there flying, and making history.

Climb in the cockpit and relive their stories with us.

-Louis DeFrancesco

(Photo by Tech Sgt. Austin Knox, USAF) The skill and courage displayed by the American aircrews during the dramatic evacuation flights out of Kabul was unparalleled! Pictured here is Aircraft Commander Major Thomas Sukut in the pilot’s seat of his C-17 with his amazing crew at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.