The image shows a middle-aged man with gray hair holding up a book titled "N-4 Down" against a dark background.

Mark Piesing

Mark Piesing, a freelance journalist based in Oxford, UK, was a finalist for Media Aviation Awards in both 2024 and 2025. He is author of N-4 Down: The Hunt for the Arctic Airship Italia. Learn more more at markpiesing.com or follow him @MarkPiesing.

Latest from this author

View of an U.S. Air Force F-86A Sabre in flight against a mountainous background, 1951. The first American swept-wing fighter aircraft, the jet countered the Soviet Union's MiG-15 during the Korean War.

How the Korean War Supercharged Aerial Dogfighting

It ushered in the era of high-speed jet combat.

Long thin airplane with no windows, a bulbous nose and a downward-facing tail.

Inventions & Science

How Drones Have Upended Warfare

Uses have ranged from gunnery training to targeted killings.