Propeller fighter
The political ancestor.
Propeller fighters are the political ancestor (1940). Jets are the 1944- machine.
Korea, not 1945 Germany, is the first mass jet war.
Timeline
- Me 262 combat
Late German jet.
- MiG Alley
First mass jet-vs-jet.
- Century Series / MiG-19/21
Supersonic as a political fact.
- Vietnam air war
US training crisis and reply.
- Topgun school
An institution, not a movie.
- F-15/F-16 / Su-27
Late Cold War types.
- Bekaa (named in staff talk)
A historical air-war date -- not a template.
- Stealth in service
F-117 in 1991 as a public shock; later types.
- ROK F-15K / FX
Alliance-industrial buys.
- KF-21 flight test era
ROK industrial chapter -- dated as it stood in open reporting.
Eras
First jets
262 to MiG Alley.
Mach and Vietnam
Exports and a training shock.
Late Cold War
Agile twins and schools.
Stealth / KF-21
Industry and politics.
Milestones
MiG Alley
First mass jet fight -- in Korean airspace.
Training after Vietnam
Schools as a weapon-system.
Export politics
The type as a treaty object.
KF-21 is a chapter, not an ending. Drones are a cousin file.
Export bans and offsets will outlast any one silhouette.