What's the Best Military Aviation Magazine? Pt 1

Despite the digital age, I am still hard-core attached to having paper with news in front of me. In college, I couldn't wait for spring break and time after finals, and every other spare time, to go to the library's archive section and get caught up on my military aviation news.

Here are the ones I was addicted to... er... relied on the most for my aviation news.

AFA- The Air Force Association publishes the Air Force Magazine. It is news, albeit pro-force spun, directly from the horse's mouth. Great pictures, great photos, lots of bar graphs. Its the place to find out what the USAF is Officially thinking.

Janes- You've seen their big books in almost every  Tom Clancy movie, did you know they have a weekly magazine? It covers international military news of every kind, and follows military news better than anyone. But, its a smaller publication- no 100 page weekly journals here, so its not that behind the scenes like AFA's Air Force magazine. But its still read by militaries and governments around the World as a sort of newspaper-periodical. Also has great pictures.

AW&ST- Aviation Week and Space Technology. Also known as Aviation "Leak" and Space Technology. This weekly magazine is the most expensive so only some libraries, government and military contractors typically carry it. These guys go neck deep into the technology being developed, by whom, when it'll be ready, and special instructions to opposing forces how to counter it. IMHO, at times it reveals data nigh unto treason. But still, its fun to read for that same reason.

Air International-A bit drier than the above, with fewer/smaller pictures, and more focus on economics and business. But occasionally they dazzle with an in-depth, heavily illustrated article on a specific aircraft or air force. Then, its very, very nice.

Years went by, and more magazines began sprouting up. There have been others that came and went, but here are the ones that
have stuck:

AFM- Air Forces Monthly. These guys are my current favorite. They have the best balance of photography (a lot of it original,

by their own photographers), information, news, and so on. Really, really great. Everything's in heaps. Can't get enough.

Combat Aircraft Monthly- These guys used to be more like Air International- pretty dry. But then they began occasionally publishing in-depth, heavily illustrated military aviation articles, and their sales soared. Now they're becoming more like AFM, with one likable difference- they interview people a lot more and seem to be the only ones out there that realize that planes are flown as much by people as they are by tech, government and economics. To me, that's refreshing, so if these guys keep this up, they'll become my favorites.

Next week I'll go more into digital and online sources military aviation news.