Fighter plane tails were dramatically reshaped after the advent of “fly-by-wire” controls, rendering the aircraft’s stability irrelevant. What’s in a tail? The tail of a fighter aircraft, specifically ...

Meet the Grumman X‑29 - an experimental jet built in the 1980s with forward‑swept wings that looked like they were stuck on backwards. Flying first in December 1984, its design was so aerodynamically ...