Download or read book USAF Jet Powered Fighters XP 59 Xf 85 written by MR Hugh Harkins and published by . This book was released on 2013-07 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A detailed description of the early jet powered fighters designed, tested and procured for the United States Air Force. This volume covers every turbojet powered fighter aircraft to enter service or be developed for the United States Air Force and its forebear the United States Army Air Force from the Bell XP-59, which flew in 1942 to the McDonnell XF-85 which flew in 1948. While no US designed jet aircraft saw operational service during World War II, many would be employed in the 1950 - 53 Korean War including the F-80 and F-84, both of which were employed in large numbers.

Download or read book The Big Book of X Bombers X Fighters written by Steve Pace and published by Zenith Press. This book was released on 2016-03-15 with total page 743 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: They're all here--every X-bomber and X-fighter since 1942. On October 2, 1942, the Bell XP-59 Airacomet soared up and away from present-day Edwards AFB, launching the US Army Air Forces into the Jet Age. In the several decades since, hundreds of new variations of experimental and test turbojet-powered bombers and fighters--X-bombers and X-fighters--have taken explosive flight. These aircraft blazed a trail leading to today's B-2 Stealth Bomber and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The Big Book of X-Bombers & X-Fighters showcases all of the USAF jet-powered X-bombers and X-fighters that have flown since 1942--more than 90 in all, including the alphabet soup of their variants. From experimental to prototype service bombers and fighters--from the XB-43 to the B-2A and the XP-59A to the F-35A--they're all here, with their inside stories revealed. Some of these aircraft were further developed. Others were canceled. All stretched the performance and design envelopes. More than 250 photos illustrate all of these experimental aircrafts' cutting-edge features and zeroes in on histories of their design, flight testing, and weapons testing. Specification tables detailing performance, design, and armaments help round out this compendium of information on truly groundbreaking aviation designs. X-bombers and X-fighters in The Big Book of X-Bombers & X-Fighters include: Bell P-59 Airacomet Republic P/F-84 Thunderjet Douglas B-43 Jetmaster North American B-45 Tornado Boeing B-47 Stratojet Curtiss P/F-87 Blackhawk McDonnell P/F-85 Goblin Convair P/F-92 "Dart" Northrop F-17 Cobra Boeing B-1 Lancer And all the rest! Specifications included for each aircraft include: Length Height Wingspan Empty weight Gross weight Maximum range Ceiling Maximum speed Armament In addition, veteran aviation author Steve Pace shows readers some of the designs that could have been and offers a peek into what might be lurking in the future, making this the definitive guide to USAF jet-powered experimental aircraft!

Download or read book Flying Aircraft Carriers of the USAF written by Brian Lockett and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2008-09-11 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Project FICON (Fighter conveyer): In the early 1950s, the Air Force conducted a series of experiments to establish the feasibility of carrying, launching, and retrieving jet reconnaissance airplanes from giant Convair RB-36 bombers. It was hoped that the bombers would carry the reconnaissance jets to the perimeter of the Soviet Union and then release them to penetrate the air defenses. Tests of the concept were conducted in 1952 and 1953 with a Republic F-84E Thunderjet and the YF-84F Thunderstreak prototype. Twenty-six Republic RF-84F Thunderflashes and ten Convair GRB-36D carriers were modified for the project. In 1955, a squadron of carriers was established at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington. A squadron of parasites was established at nearby Larson Air Force Base. Training operations began in December 1955, but the composite aircraft system faced competition from the Boeing RB-52B, Lockheed U-2, and the development of aerial refueling.

Download or read book P 80 SHOOTING STAR PB written by E. T. Wooldridge and published by Smithsonian Books (DC). This book was released on 1979-10-17 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: P-80 var det første operative jet-fly i USA, der kom i fuld produktion.

Download or read book Lockheed P 38 Lightning Bell P 39 Airacobra Curtiss P 40 written by Mantelli - Brown - Kittel - Graf and published by Edizioni R.E.I.. This book was released on 2017-03-04 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Lockheed P-38J Lightning aircraft was revolutionary, extremely innovative, thanks to double-girder fuselage, the two Allison V-engines with turbochargers within the tail beams and landing gear in tricycle. The Bell P-39 Airacobra was a single-engine fighter produced by the US to low-wing Bell Aircraft Corporation. It was the most controversial fighter aircraft used by the US during World War II. It was the first fighter in the world to have the engine installed in the middle of the fuselage, behind the pilot. The Bell P-63 Kingcobra was a single-engine low-wing fighter aircraft developed by the US Air Force Bell Aircraft Corporation in the early forties and used during World War II. Evolution of the previous P-39 Airacobra, launched in an attempt to correct the defects of that model, the United States Army Air Forces will never estimated suitable for combat, relegating him to the towing role for targets. As a result, nearly two-thirds of the production was assigned to the Soviet Union and about 300 units to units of Free France. The Curtiss P-40 was a single-seat single-engine monoplane US manufacturing in the first half of the forties was taken by the Allies as a fighter aircraft or fighter in many of the theaters in which you fought the Second World War. Produced by the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company of Buffalo, New York, never was an aircraft with exceptional characteristics (mainly because of its engine, underpowered at high altitude); However, it was also made of a large number of specimens, and his great strength (coupled with its widespread availability since the early months of the entry into the war) made it one of the most important fighter for American aviation events in the first phase of World war II, between 1941 and the summer of 1943.

Download or read book All Weather Fighters written by Gordon B. Greer and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2006-09-11 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mr. Greer outlines the not well-known aircraft and activities of the United States Air Force's all-weather fighters during the first part of the Cold War. He covers the organization, development and decline of the all-weather force in response to the Soviet Union's long-range strategic bomber force equipped with atomic weapons. The author describes not only the individual aircraft from the early night fighters of World War II through the F-106A of the seventies and beyond but also the control organization that directed them until the whole operation was made superfluous by the ballistic missile standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union in the latter half of the Cold War.

Download or read book The Cutting Edge written by Mark A. Lorell and published by Rand Corporation. This book was released on 1998 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The proposition that innovation is critical in the cost-effective design and development of successful military aircraft is still subject to some debate. RAND research indicates that innovation is promoted by intense competition among three or more industry competitors. Given the critical policy importance of this issue in the current environment of drastic consolidation of the aerospace defense industry, the authors here examine the history of the major prime contractors in developing jet fighters since World War II. They make use of an extensive RAND database that includes nearly all jet fighters, fighter-attack aircraft, and bombers developed and flown by U.S. industry since 1945, as well as all related prototypes, modifications, upgrades, etc. The report concludes that (1) experience matters, because of the tendency to specialize and thus to develop system-specific expertise; (2) yet the most dramatic innovations and breakthroughs came from secondary or marginal players trying to compete with the industry leaders; and (3) dedicated military R&D conducted or directly funded by the U.S. government has been critical in the development of new higher-performance fighters and bombers.

Download or read book Republic F 105 Thunderchief Pilot s Flight Operating Instructions written by United States Air Force and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2008-09 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Known as the ¿Thud¿, Republic¿s F-105 Thunderchief entered service in 1958, and flew in a variety of roles through 1984. The largest single-engine fighter in the U.S.A.F. inventory,the F-105 could exceed Mach 1.0 at sea level, and achieve Mach 2.0 at high altitude. It could carry up to 14,000 pounds of ordnance, or about as much as most WWII heavy bombers. The F-105 served as the primary strike aircraft in the early years of the Vietnam conflict, and its pilots flew over 20,000 missions. These included ¿wild weasel¿ flights intended to suppress North Vietnamese air defenses. The dangerous aspects of these missions help account for the aircraft¿s high loss rate ¿ out of 833 F-105s produced, 320 were lost in combat in S.E. Asia. Originally printed by the U.S. Air Force, this handbook provides a fascinating glimpse inside the cockpit of one of history¿s great planes. Classified ¿Restricted¿, the manual was declassified and is here reprinted in book form.

Download or read book F 84 Thunderjet written by Hugh Harkins and published by . This book was released on 2013-10 with total page 70 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume is designed as an overview of the description and USAF service use of the F-84. In some cases data may conflict with other published data. However, all technical and operational data comes from manufacturers and operators records. In some cases varying technical data may be noted for a single variant such as engine type and power output. This could occur for a number of reasons such as a single variant using different engine models. Other reasons for this may be that often manufacturer's figures conflicted with operators figures for power output of a given engine variant. While no US designed jet aircraft saw operational service during World War II, many would be employed in the 1950 - 1953 Korean War, including the Republic F-84 and the earlier Lockheed F-80, both of which were employed in large numbers. The F-84 was designed during the latter stages of World War II, known then as the XP-84 (The USAF changed from the 'P' for Pursuit to the 'F' for Fighter designation in 1948). The aircraft was redesigned and did not fly until 26 February 1946, with the first production variant, the P-84B (later F-84B) attaining an Initial Operational Capability in December 1947. Designed primarily as a fighter, the introduction of more advanced fighters like the North American F-86 Sabre and the fielding by the Communist Air Forces of the swept wing MiG-15 saw the F-84 quickly outclassed in the air to air arena during the Korean War, which began on 29 June 1950, lasting until 27 July 1953. F-84's were deployed to Korea in November 1950, primarily as escort fighters protecting Boeing B-29 Superfortress Bombers. However, bomber losses to MiG's led to the USAF abandoning the daylight bombing role for the B-29, after which, F-84's increasingly moved more and more to the air to surface role.

Download or read book Encyclopedia of Military Technology and Innovation written by Stephen Bull and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2004-06-30 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the Abrams M1 tank to the zeppelin, this essential reference details the invention and evolution of nearly 600 of the most important advances in military technology from prehistory to the present. International in scope, it covers weapons, ammunition, defenses, land vehicles, aircraft, ships, detection, stealth, gear, supplies, weapons of mass destruction, and much more. Whether researching such cutting-edge technologies as the B-2 Stealth Bomber, Patriot Missile, and the Roborat project or such historical topics as forts, Molotov cocktails, or the U-2, Encyclopedia of Military Technology and Innovation is a must-have reference. Warfare and national defense have provided a strong stimulus for technological advances throughout history. This reference provides students and researchers from high school through college, scholars, and the general public essential information, historical perspective, and scientific context to understand better the development, capabilities, and uses of major military technologies. Fifty illustrations, helpful cross-references, a bibliography, and an index help users navigate this reference and supplement their research.

Download or read book Technology and the Air Force written by Jacob Neufeld and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2009-06 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Proceedings of a symposium co-sponsored by the Air Force Historical Foundation and the Air Force History and Museums Program. The symposium covered relevant Air Force technologies ranging from the turbo-jet revolution of the 1930s to the stealth revolution of the 1990s. Illustrations.

Download or read book Lockheed Xf 90 Penetration Fighter written by William Simone and published by . This book was released on 2020-02-14 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Created by the famous Lockheed "Skunks Works" and highly publicized at the start of the 1950s, the futuristic XF-90 seemed to epitomize what a supersonic fighter ought to look like. I was one of the first Air Force jets to be equipped with afterburners and the first Lockheed aircraft to exceed the speed of sound. Its handsome good looks captured the public's imagination. Even the creators of the popular Blackhawk comic book series adopted the XF-90 as its hero's jet fighter of choice. The text covers the design criteria of the 1945 penetration fighter request-for-proposal and the 8 companies that submitted proposals. Lockheed made over 60 design studies for the XF-90 which included delta wings, V-tails, forward swept wings, variable sweep wings, and Navy proposals, many of which are discussed in the book. The text goes on to describe its development and testing and flight testing at Muroc/Edwards AFB by Tony LeVeir, Lockeed's chief test pilot. Also included is an extensive history (14-pages) of the second XF-90's involvement in the nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site and its subsequent retrieval. Additionally, 2-pages are devoted to Blackhawks and 9-pages to XF-90 models.

Download or read book Consolidated Vultee Xp 81 written by Steve Ginter and published by Air Force Legends. This book was released on 2006 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Consolidated Vultee XP-81 was the Air Corp's first fighter designed around two gas turbine engines. This was the USAF's answer to Ryan Fireball.

Download or read book Republic F 84 written by Ken Neubeck and published by Schiffer Military History. This book was released on 2020-08-28 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The F-84 Thunderjet was the US Air Force's main strike aircraft during the Korean War and was used primarily in ground attack operations. Manufactured by the Republic Aviation Corporation, the straight-winged XP-84 prototype's first flight was in 1946; however, problems were discovered within the new field of jet flight, including engine performance and structural problems. As a result, there was a sequence of model changes, with improvements to the engine and structure, beginning with the F-84B and followed by the F-84C, which was phased out of operational service by 1952. The F-84D saw significant improvement in engine performance and was followed by the F-84E and the F-84G models, with all three models seeing heavy action in the Korean War. The F-84F Thunderstreak was a swept-wing version that came after the Korean War and was faster than the original F-84 Thunderjet. The Thunderflash was the reconnaissance version of the F-84F.

Download or read book Lockheed P 80 F 80 Shooting Star written by David R. McLaren and published by Schiffer Pub Limited. This book was released on 1996 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Lockheed P-80/F-80 Shooting Star was the first American operational jet fighter. David McLaren's new book chronicles the development and early trials of the aircraft during Lockheed's groundbreaking attempts to create a viable jet fighter, in a period when jet propulsion was still an innovative unknown. This period also saw engineers and test pilots like Kelly Johnson and Tony LeVier facing many challenges, incidents and accidents as they attempted to create a new fighter from yet untested aerodynamic theories, and engines that were still under development. Also discussed are the record breaking transcontinental and absoulte speed records set by the Shooting Star. Detailed analysis of the Shooting Star's combat record in Korea shows why the F-80 flew more combat missions than any aircraft in the war theater. Also presented is a summation of all USAF, USAFR, and foreign countries that flew the P-80/F-80. David McLaren is also the author of Lockheed F-94 Starfire(with Marty Isham), and Beware the Thunderbolt!: The 56th Fighter Group in World War II (both titles are available from Schiffer Publishing Ltd.).

Download or read book Project Ficon Handbooks written by Brian Lockett and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2008-09-01 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reprints of the Air Force Flight and Maintenance Handbooks for the Convair GRB-36D FICON carrier aircraft. It contains: Utility Flight Handbook USAF Series GRB-36D-III/RF-84F Composite Aircraft Utility Flight Handbook GRB-36D-III FICON Aircraft Supplemental Handbook Maintenance Instructions USAF Series GRB-36D-III Aircraft

Download or read book Encyclopedia of US Air Force Aircraft and Missile Systems Post World War II bombers 1945 1973 written by Marcelle Size Knaack and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 644 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: