Most powerful bomber is not about the brochure data of a single airframe, but the system which surrounds it: the radar which seeks the target, the weapons which hit it and the tankers which carry the complete package across the oceans. Headline platforms are not yet dead stealth, range, payload...

Aircraft recognition has never been a parlor trick of aviation- nerds. Prior to the proliferation of radar coverage to become dense and reliable, recognizing an unknown aircraft within a short time and in an accurate manner was considered a national capability, and not a pastime. That attitude reached an epic...