The slightly less well known

[Angry Turnip]

Douglas B-23 Dragon


The Douglas B-23 Dragon was a twin-engined bomber developed as a successor to the B-18 Bolo.The design incorporated a larger wingspan with a wing design very similar to that of the DC-3,a fully retractable undercarriage,and improved defensive armament.
The B-23 was the first operational American bomber equipped with a glazed tail gun position.The tail gun was a .50 calibre gun,which was fired from the prone position by a gunner using a telescopic sight.
Engines were 2 × Wright R-2600-3 radials,of 1,600 hp,which gave a top speed of 282mph and a cruise speed of 210 mph with a range of 1400 miles.
The first B-23 flew on July 27,1939 with the production series of 38 B-23s manufactured between July 1939 and September 1940.

The 38 B-23s built were never used in combat overseas,although for a brief period they were employed as patrol aircraft stationed on the west coast of the United States.The B-23s were primarily relegated to training duties,although 18 of the type were converted as transports and redesignated UC-67.
With its wartime experience with the type, GE bought and used five of them. Howard Hughes (among others) used converted B-23s as personal aircraft. 

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Angry Turnip]

Douglas BTD Destroyer

The Douglas BTD Destroyer was a dive/torpedo bomber developed for the United States Navy during World War II.A small number had been delivered before the end of the war, but none saw combat.On 20 June 1941, the USN placed an order with the Douglas Aircraft Company for two prototypes of a new two-seat dive bomber to replace both the Douglas SBD Dauntless and the new Curtiss SB2C Helldiver,designated XSB2D-1.

It was a large single-engined mid-winged monoplane.It had a laminar flow gull-wing,and unusually for a carrier-based aircraft of the time,a tricycle undercarriage.It was fitted with a bomb bay and underwing racks for up to 4,200 lb of bombs,defensive armament consisted of two wing-mounted 20 mm cannon and two remote-controlled turrets, each with two .50 in machine guns.

The prototype first flew on 8 April 1943,demonstrating excellent performance,being much faster and carrying nearly double the bombload of the Helldiver,and orders for 358 SB2D-1s quickly followed.The U.S.N changed its requirements,wanting single-seat carrier-based torpedo/dive bombers without defensive turrets, and Douglas reworked the SB2D by removing them and second crewman position.This allowed more fuel and armor,wing racks could carry not just one but two torpedoes,producing the BTD-1 Destroyer. The orders for SB2Ds were converted to BTD-1s, with the first BTD flying on 5 March 1944.

By the time Japan surrendered in August 1945,only 28 had been delivered,and production was cancelled,none saw combat action.Heinemann and his team were already working on developing the single-seat BT2D that became the Douglas A-1 Skyraider.
 
BTD-1 Destroyer,Bureau Number 4959, is under restoration for display at the Wings of Eagles Discovery Center, Elmira-Corning Regional Airport, Elmira, New York.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Angry Turnip]

Douglas C-133 Cargomaster


The Douglas C-133 Cargomaster was a 4 engine large turboprop cargo aircraft built between 1956 and 1961 for use with the USAF.It was designed to meet the requirements for the USAF's Logistic Carrier Support System SS402L for a new strategic transport.A featured a high-mounted wing,external blister fairings on each side for the landing gear, and rear and side-loading doors ensured that access to,and the volume of,the large cargo compartment were not compromised by these structures.The cargo compartment (90 ft/27 m in length and 12 ft/3.7 m high) was pressurized, heated, and ventilated.

The first Cargomaster flew on 23 April 1956 and first C-133As were delivered to the Military Air Transport Service (MATS) in August 1957 and began flying MATS air routes throughout the world.Two C-133s established transatlantic speed records for transport aircraft on their first flights to Europe.The fleet of 50 aircraft proved itself invaluable during the Vietnam War.The Cargomaster soldiered on until the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy entered service in the early 1970s.

Several hundred Minuteman and other ICBMs were airlifted to and from their operational bases by C-133s.They also transported Atlas,Saturn and Titan rockets to Cape Canaveral for use as launch boosters in the Gemini,Mercury and Apollo space programs.Of 50 aircraft built,nine were lost in crashes and one was destroyed in a ground fire.
By 1971,shortly before the introduction of the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy,the Cargomaster was obsolete as well as being worn out,and all were withdrawn from service.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[smudge]

I remember they determined the cause of some of the crashes being that it vibrated itself to pieces, so the survivors were fitted with big metal reinforcing straps on the rear fuselage.

[Angry Turnip]

That`s quite correct,it was discovered the airframe split at the cargo door.The fix was indeed a band around the airframe to strengthen it,rather like a big jubilee clip.

[Angry Turnip]

Douglas DC-1

The Douglas DC-1 was the first model of the famous American DC (Douglas Commercial) commercial transport aircraft series.Only one example of the DC-1 was built,but the design formed the basis for the DC-2 and DC-3.
Boeing had launched the 247,a twin-engined all-metal monoplane with a retractable undercarriage,but their production capacity was reserved to meet the needs of United Airlines,part of United Aircraft and Transport Corporation which also owned Boeing.TWA needed a similar aircraft to respond to competition from the Boeing 247,five manufactures were invited to submit designs.

Donald Douglas doubted that there would be a market for 100 aircraft,the number of necessary to cover development costs.Nevertheless,he submitted a design consisting of an all-metal,low-wing,twin-engined aircraft seating 12 passengers,a crew of two and a flight attendant.
The aircraft exceeded the specifications of TWA even with only two engines,through the use of controllable pitch propellers.It was insulated against noise,heated,and fully capable of both flying and performing a controlled takeoff or landing on one engine.

Only one aircraft was produced.The prototype made its maiden flight on July 1,1933.During a half-year of testing it performed more than 200 test flights and demonstrated its superiority over the most popular airliners at that time.TWA accepted the aircraft on 15 September 1933 with a few modifications (mainly increasing seating to 14 passengers and adding more powerful engines) and subsequently ordered 20 examples of the developed production model which was named the Douglas DC-2.

The DC-1 was sold to Lord Forbes in the United Kingdom in May 1938, who operated it for a few months before selling it in France in October 1938.Later operated by Iberia Airlines from July 1939 with the name Negron it force-landed at Málaga,in December 1940 and was damaged beyond repair.
 
Almost 200 DC-2`s were built,entering service with TWA in May 1934,and then in 1936 came the DC-3,over 16,000 were produced in various civil and military versions.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Angry Turnip]

Douglas DT

The Douglas DT torpedo bomber was the Douglas Aircraft Company's first military contract,forging a link between the company and the United States Navy.USN Contract No. 53305 of April 1, 1921 set out the specifications that resulted in the purchase of three DT (D for Douglas, T for torpedo) folding-wing aircraft.
The first flight was in November 1921 and production continued until 1929.

The DT used a welded steel fuselage with aluminum covering the forward and center sections and fabric covering the rear section.Douglas built 46 DT-1 and DT-2 torpedo bombers for the U.S. Navy,Norwegian Navy,and Peruvian Navy.90 aircraft were completed in total,several under license.

It could be fitted either with pontoons or wheeled landing gear and could carry a 1,800 lb torpedo.They operated off the U.S. Navy's first aircraft carrier,USS Langley,from land bases,and from seaplane tenders.Several were flown by the Marine Corps.Powerplant was 1 × Liberty L-12 V-12 water-cooled piston engine,450 hp and it carried a crew of two.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Angry Turnip]

Douglas DC-5

The Douglas DC-5 was a 16-to-22-seat civilian,twin-engine propeller aircraft,designed to use either Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet or Wright R-1820 Cyclone radial engines.
It was the first airliner to combine shoulder wings and tricycle landing gear,which was innovative for transport airplanes.It provided better ground handling and better ground visibility for the pilots.The fuselage was about two feet above the ground,so loading of passengers and cargo was easier than aircraft with the then-standard conventional landing gear.Prior to the US entry into World War II, one prototype and four production aircraft were built.

The aircraft made its first flight on February 20, 1939 with Carl A. Cover at the controls.This sole prototype (in 1940 configured with just eight seats) became the personal aircraft of William Boeing,who named it Rover.It was later impressed into the US Navy and converted for military use as an R3D-3 variant in February 1942.

The first customer for the DC-5 was KLM,the four aircraft sold to KLM were used in its colonial subsidiaries Surinam and Curaçao,and also in the Dutch East Indies.
A dozen DC-5s were completed.Some were pressed into military service with the USAAF.The Japanese operated one of the captured KLM machines,after repairing it and flying it back to Japan.
The USN ordered seven aircraft;3 were delivered as R3D-1s,the first of which crashed before delivery.The remaining four were R3D-2s for the USMC and were equipped with 1,015 hp R-1820-44 engines,a large cargo hold,and 22 seats for paratroopers.
After World War II,production of the DC-5 was not resumed because of the abundance of surplus C-47 aircraft released into civil service and converted to DC-3s.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Angry Turnip]

Douglas X-3 Stiletto

The Douglas X-3 Stiletto was a 1950s experimental jet aircraft with a slender fuselage and a long tapered nose.Its primary mission was to investigate the design features of an aircraft suitable for sustained supersonic speeds,it was,however seriously underpowered for this purpose and could not even exceed Mach 1 in level flight.

The goal of the aircraft was ambitious—it was to take off from the ground under its own power,climb to high altitude,maintain a sustained cruise speed of Mach 2,then land under its own power.The aircraft was also to test the feasibility of low-aspect-ratio wings,and the large-scale use of titanium in aircraft structures.
The X-3 featured an unusual slender,streamlined shape having a very long,gently-tapered nose and small trapezoidal wings.The aim was to create the thinnest and most slender shape possible in order to achieve low drag at supersonic speeds.The extended nose was to allow for the provision of test equipment while the semi-buried cockpit and windscreen were designed to alleviate the effects of "thermal thicket" conditions.

The low aspect ratio,unswept wings were designed for high speed and later the Lockheed design team used data from the X-3 tests for the similar F-104 Starfighter wing design.Due to both engine and airframe problems,the partially completed second aircraft was cancelled,and its components were used for spare parts.

The official first flight was made by Bridgeman on 20 October,and lasted about 20 minutes.He made a total of 26 flights (counting the hop) by the end of the Douglas tests in December 1953. These showed that the X-3 was severely under-powered and difficult to control. Its takeoff speed was an unusually high.More seriously,it did not approach its planned top speed.
Its first supersonic flight required that the airplane make a 15° dive to reach Mach 1.1.The X-3's fastest flight,made on 28 July 1953,reached Mach 1.208 in a 30° dive.A plan to re-engine the X-3 with rocket motors was considered but eventually dropped.

For the X-3,the roll test flight was the high point of its history when it had experienced "roll inertia coupling,"in which a manoeuver in one axis will cause an uncommanded manoeuver in one or two others.The aircraft was grounded for nearly a year after the flight,and never again explored its roll stability and control boundaries.It made another ten flights between 20 September 1955 and the last on 23 May 1956,then it was subsequently retired to the U.S. Air Force Museum.


[attachment deleted by admin]

[Angry Turnip]

Fairchild 71

The Fairchild 71 was a high-wing monoplane passenger and cargo aircraft,for both military and civilian use as a rugged bush plane.It was a progressive development of the Fairchild FC-2W2 light transport.
Its first upgrade was the FC-2,whose several improvements included slightly swept-back wings; wingspan increased to 50 feet; engine power nearly doubled; and interior changes to improve passenger comfort.The FC-2 first flew in 1926.Powerplant: 1 × Pratt & Whitney Wasp B/C 9-cylinder radial piston of 420 hp,which gave it a cruising speed of 106mph.

The FC-2W was a further development,later known as the Model 71 was built in the USA between 1928 and 1930.In 1929 Fairchild formed a company in Canada (Fairchild Aircraft Limited) at Longueuil, Quebec in 1929 to support the Canadian operators of Fairchild aircraft. The Canadian company also set up a factory production line for the Model 71, developing a variant for the Canadian military.
The Canadian-built aircraft differed from the US version in that all the passenger-comfort features were removed, and the craft were built specifically for aerial photography.

The USAAS acquired one Model 71 for evaluation,eight more service-test aircraft,designated YF-1 were ordered; all nine were later redesignated C-8.
The RCAF,another major military operator,evaluated the Fairchild 71 in mid-June 1930.Thirty four RCAF FC-71s were operated from 1930 to 1946.Along with the earlier FC-2 series, the RCAF FC-71 was utilized primarily in the aerial photographic survey role as well as northern transport.

Most of the Model 71 production ended up in the hands of bush plane operators in Canada and the United States. Civilian operators likewise found the 71 a rugged, reliable and highly useful utility transport, well suited for northern and remote operations. 

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Angry Turnip]

Fairchild 45


The Fairchild Model 45 was a 1930s American five-seat cabin monoplane.It first flew on 31 May 1935 and it was a low-wing cantilever monoplane with a conventional cantilever tail unit and a retractable tailwheel landing gear.It was powered by a 225 hp Jacobs L-4 radial and had a luxury five-seat interior as standard.Flight testing showed that the aircraft performed well,although it was described as sedate.

Company predictions were that the Model 45 would have only limited market appeal in that form,therefore only the prototype was built.Fairchild then upgraded the prototype with a larger engine,the 320 hp Wright R-760 radial,for evaluation.In this configuration it was designated the Model 45-A and was placed in production,with about 16 units being completed.

One aircraft was bought as an executive transport by the USN as the JK-1.After the United States entered the Second World War,two aircraft were impressed into service with the USAAF as the UC-88.

Greg Herrick requested drawings of a Fairchild 45 tail section for an ongoing restoration project in 1997.The request was refused,claiming the design was a trade secret.
He then submitted a FOIA request,and a lawsuit followed that was debated in the US Supreme Court.This led to the "Herrick amendment" added to the FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act of 2012,releasing the ATC type certificate information for 1,257 aircraft first certified in 1927 through the beginning of WW II in 1939.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Angry Turnip]

Fairchild XC-120 Packplane

The Fairchild XC-120 Packplane was an experimental transport aircraft,developed from the company's C-119 Flying Boxcar,and was unique in the unconventional use of removable cargo pods that were attached below the fuselage,instead of possessing an internal cargo compartment.

The XC-120 Packplane began as a C-119B fuselage (48-330, c/n 10312) which was cut off at a point just below the flight deck.The wings were angled upwards between the engines and the fuselage,raising the fuselage by several feet and giving the plane an inverted gull wing appearance.Smaller diameter "twinned" wheels were installed forward of each of the main landing gear struts to serve as nosewheels,while the main struts were extended backwards.

All four landing gear units,in matching "nose" and "main" sets,could be raised and lowered in a scissorlike fashion to lower the aircraft and facilitate the removal of a planned variety of wheeled pods which would be attached below the fuselage for the transport of cargo.The goal was to allow cargo to be preloaded into the pods;it was claimed that such an arrangement would speed up loading and unloading cargo.

Powerplant was 2 × Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major radials of 3,250 hp,the first flight was 11th august 1950,and production aircraft were to be designated C-128.
Only one XC-120 was built,though the aircraft was tested extensively and made several airshow appearances in the early 1950s,the project went no further.
It was tested by the Air Proving Ground Command at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, in 1951,before the project was abandoned in 1952.The prototype was eventually scrapped.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07PDAzxwA2M


[attachment deleted by admin]

[Angry Turnip]

Fairchild T-46

The Fairchild T-46 (nicknamed the "Eaglet") was a light jet trainer aircraft of the 1980s.The USAF launched its Next Generation Trainer (NGT) program to replace the Cessna T-37 Tweet primary trainer in 1981.
Fairchild-Republic submitted a shoulder-winged monoplane with a twin tail,powered by two Garrett F109 turbofans and with pilot and instructor sitting side by side.Part of the idea was an expectation of increasing levels of general aviation traffic.A pressurized trainer would permit training at higher altitude,leading to fewer restrictions on the new pilots.

A flyable 62% scale version known as the Model 73 NGT,this first flew on 10 September 1981.A major requirement was for the aircraft to be able to go into a spin,and to have easy recovery,this was demonstrated using the Model 73 NTG.
Fairchild's design,to be designated T-46, was announced winner of the NGT competition on 2 July 1982,with the USAF placing an order for two prototypes and options for 54 production aircraft.It was planned to build 650 T-46s for the USAF by the early 1990`s.

The aircraft first flew on 15 October 1985,six months later than originally programmed date of 15 April.Costs had increased significantly during the development process, with the predicted unit cost doubling from $1.5 million in 1982 to $3 million in February 1985.Testing did not reveal any major problems, but Secretary of the Air Force cancelled procurement of the T-46,while allowing limited development to continue.Attempts were made in Congress to reinstate the program,which resulted in the FY 1987 budget being delayed,an amendment was passed to the 1987 Appropriations Bill to forbid any spending on the T-46 until further evaluation of the T-46 against the T-37 and other trainers took place.

The project was cancelled a little more than a year later,for reasons that largely remain controversial.The T-46 was the last project of the Fairchild Republic Corporation,and after the program termination Fairchild had no more income.Without any new contracts and the NGT program cancelled,the company closed the Republic factory in Farmingdale,New York,bringing 60 years of Fairchild aircraft manufacturing to an end.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Angry Turnip]

Globe Swift

The Globe Swift,also known as the Globe/Temco Swift,is a light,two-seat sport monoplane from the post-WW II period.The Swift was designed by R.S."Pop"Johnson in 1940,the design was financially secured by John Kennedy,president of the Globe Medicine Company,to be built by his new Globe Aircraft Company,but WW II interrupted their plans.

The 85 hp GC-1A Swift advertised as the "All Metal Swift" re-designed by K.H."Bud" Knox,received its type certificate on 7 May 1946.Two prototypes were built but the design remained much the same as the type that entered production.Globe built about 408 GC-1As.
Later it received a more powerful engine of 125 hp making it the GC-1B.Globe,together with TEMCO,built 833 GC-1Bs in six months,however Globe was outpacing sales of the Swift,and did not have enough orders to sell all of the aircraft being built.As a result Globe was forced into insolvency.

TEMCO obtain the type certificate,tooling,aircraft,and parts to enable them to continue production in late 1947 in the hope that reviving production would enable TEMCO to recover their loss.
TEMCO went on to build 260 more aircraft before shutting Swift production down permanently in 1951.

The type certificate for the Swift was obtained by Universal Aircraft Industries (later Univair) along with all production tooling.Spare parts continued to be built until 1979 when the Swift Museum Foundation under the leadership of President Charlie Nelson purchased the Type Certificate,parts and tooling
 
The most unusual variant of the series became a separate design,the TEMCO TE-1/T-35 Buckaroo which was built in a short-run first as a contender for a USAF trainer aircraft contract,later transferred to foreign service as a military trainer.Several of these trainers have since returned to the civil market.


[attachment deleted by admin]

[smudge]

Now I didn't know that the Buckaroo derived from the Swift!  Likewise the winning T-34 was based on the bigger Bonanza.

TEMCO had another go at a US Navy requirement with the TT-1 Pinto jet trainer, again the Navy took a handful and trained some pilots on it but chose the T-2 Buckeye instead.

Of course as part of LTV they later made the grade with the F-8

[Angry Turnip]

Gee Bee Model Z

The Granville Gee Bee Model Z was an American racing aircraft of the 1930s,the first of the Super Sportster aircraft built by Granville Brothers Aircraft of Springfield, Massachusetts,with the sole intent of winning the Thompson Trophy,which it did in 1931.However,it soon suffered a fatal crash during a world speed record attempt,starting the reputation of the Gee Bee aircraft as killers.

The Granville Brothers decided in July 1931 to build an aircraft to compete in that years Thompson Trophy competition at the National Air Races in Cleveland, Ohio.They hoped that a victory in the race would lead to additional orders for their line of sporting aircraft.
The Gee Bee (for "Granville Brothers") Model Z,was named City of Springfield.It was a small,stumpy airplane,basically the smallest possible airframe constructed around the most powerful available engine,a supercharged Pratt & Whitney R-985 "Wasp Junior" radial engine,producing 535 hp.

It first flew 22nd Aug 1931 and quickly proved to be tricky to fly,but fulfilled every expectation with regards to its speed.Flown by pilot Lowell Bayles,it attained the speed of 267.342 mph at the National Air Races during the Shell Speed Dash qualifying on September 1.It went on to win the Goodyear Trophy race,run over a course of 50 miles,the next day at an average speed of 205mph.On the September 5,Bob Hall,flew it to victory in the General Tire and Rubber Trophy race,then won again the next day in a free-for-all event.
In the Thompson Trophy Race on September 7,Bayles won with an average speed of 236.24 mph,winning over competitors including Jimmy Doolittle amongst others.

The Gee Bee Z was then re-engined with a larger,750-hp Wasp Senior radial,in preparation for an attempt at a world speed record for landplanes at Wayne County Airport in Detroit.Unofficially clocked at 314 mph on a trial run,beating the previous record of 278 mph by attaining 281.75 mph on December 1, 1931,but the margin was too small for the record to be officially registered.A further record attempt on December 5, 1931,ended in tragedy,the aircraft suffered a wing failure and rolled into the ground, killing Bayles.Tests of a reproduction aircraft have shown that the Gee Bee Z was susceptible to aerodynamic flutter at high speed.

Film of the crash of the Gee Bee Z has become some of the most well known footage from the era of air racing. The crash also helped to establish the reputation of Gee Bee racing aircraft as killers.The Super Sportster design would be refined into the Gee Bee Model R for the 1932 air race season.

Two reproductions of the Gee Bee Z have been constructed.One,a faithful reproduction of the original aircraft,was constructed by Jeff Eicher and Kevin Kimball of Mount Dora, Florida, and is housed in the Fantasy of Flight museum in Lakeland, Florida.The other was a movie prop for the Walt Disney feature film The Rocketeer.
The Granville Brothers built only 24 aircraft and only two original aircraft are known to exist.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Angry Turnip]

Grumman AF Guardian

The original design concept for what would become the Guardian,the XTB2F of 1944,was a twin-engine aircraft with a 3,600lb weapons load and a range of 3,700 miles,but it was considered to be too large for practical use from an Essex-class aircraft carrier,and was cancelled in 1945.

The XTB3F-1S carried a crew of two seated side-by-side and an armament of two 20 mm cannon and 4,000 lb of bombs,torpedoes and/or rockets,and made its first flight on 19 December 1945.Then on 24th Dec 1945,the Navy changed the role of the aircraft from torpedo-bomber to anti-submarine warfare.The required equipment could not be fitted into a single aircraft,so two variants would be produced, one as a hunter and another as a killer.

The hunter aircraft would not carry any armament,but instead two extra crew members and a ventral radome for APS-20 radar and ECM.This aircraft,the XTB3F-1S first flew in November 1948.The "killer" deleted the cannon of the torpedo bomber,but retained the bomb bay,added a third crewmember,a searchlight,and short-range radar,and as the XTB3F-2S first flew in January 1949.Powerplant was a single Pratt & Whitney R-2800-48W "Double Wasp" radial of 2,400 hp.

Redesignated as AF-2W and AF-2S,they entered fleet service on 27 September 1950 with three aircraft delivered to VS-24,with full service introduction shortly after with VS-25. A total of 193 AF-2S Guardians were built.In 1952,the AF-3S (hunter) was introduced,fitting a magnetic anomaly detector (MAD) for the detection of submerged submarines; 40 of this variant were built.The last Guardian was delivered to the Navy in March 1953,with a total of 389 built.

The Guardian saw service in the maritime patrol role during the Korean War,however it proved unpopular with pilots,underpowered and heavy on the controls;the aircraft suffered from a very high accident rate.Just after the Korean War ended,it began to be replaced by the Grumman S2F Tracker,the U.S. Navy first purpose-built ASW airplane to combine the hunter and killer roles in a single airframe.The Guardian remained in service with the US Naval Air Reserve until 1957.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Angry Turnip]

Grumman G-65 Tadpole / Colonial Skimmer

The Grumman G-65 Tadpole was an American prototype light amphibian.It was a two/three-seat shoulder-wing cantilever monoplane with retractable tricycle landing gear.It was powered by a 125hp Continental C125 engine above the rear fuselage driving a pusher propeller.

It first flew on 7 December 1944.Although not developed by Grumman,one of the design team,David Thurston,later developed the design into a family of amphibians including the Colonial Skimmer and Lake Buccaneer.

In 1946 David Thurston established the Colonial Aircraft Corporation at Sanford Maine to build his design for a small amphibian flying boat,the Skimmer.
The design was an all-metal shoulder-wing cantilever monoplane with a single-step hull and stabilizing floats fitted under each wing.A retractable tricycle landing gear allowed land operation.
The 115hp Avco Lycoming engine with a pusher propeller was pylon-mounted above and aft of the enclosed cockpit.
The cabin had side-by-side seating for a pilot and passenger with room behind for another passenger.

The prototype XC-1 Skimmer first flew on July 17 1948,powered by a 115 hp Lycoming O-235 engine,but was later re-engined with a 125 hp Lycoming O-290.
24 examples of the C-1 Skimmer were built and these were followed by 18 examples of the higher powered four-seat variant known as the C-2 Skimmer IV,which through a succession of companies became the Lake Buccaneer.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Angry Turnip]

Grumman XF5F Skyrocket

The Grumman XF5F Skyrocket was a prototype twin-engined shipboard fighter interceptor.In 1938 Grumman presented a proposal to the USN for a twin engine carrier based fighter with an unusual configuration.The design was was for a lightweight fighter powered by two 1,200 hp Wright R-1820 engines,with propellers geared to rotate in opposite directions to cancel out the effects of each engine's torque, promising high-speed,and climb rate.The XF5F Skyrocket was a low wing monoplane with a short fuselage that began aft of the wing's leading edge with a twin tail assembly that featured a pronounced dihedral to the horizontal stabilizer.The main landing gear and tail wheel were fully retractable.

The aircraft flew for the first time on 1 April 1940.Modifications were made to the prototype including reduction in the height of the cockpit canopy,revising the armament installation to four 0.5 in machine guns in place of cannon,a redesign of the engine nacelles,adding spinners to the propellers,and extending the fuselage forward of the wing.These changes were completed on 15 July 1941.

Later that year,USN Bureau pilots tested the XF5F-1 in a fly-off against the top allied fighters,analysis of all the data definitely favored the F5F,with the Spitfire in a distant second.
However the difficulty of building the twin-engine fighter had ruled out the Skyrocket,and that the Bureau had settled on the Wildcat for mass production.
Additional changes were needed after further flight tests that were not completed until 15 January 1942.Meantime Grumman began work on a more advanced twin-engine shipboard fighter,and further testing with the XF5F-1 supported the development of the newer design.
The prototype continued to be used in various tests,until it was struck from the list of active aircraft after it made a belly landing on 11 December 1944.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Angry Turnip]

Grumman XF10F Jaguar


The Grumman XF10F Jaguar was a prototype swing-wing fighter aircraft for the USN in the early 1950s.Although it never entered service,its research pointed the way toward the later General Dynamics F-111 and Grumman's own F-14 Tomcat.

The Navy's interest in the variable-geometry wing was based on concerns that the ever-increasing weight of its jet fighters was making aircraft carrier operations unduely hazardous,as existing aircraft already had marginal carrier performance.The requirement for high-speed performance demanded swept wing layouts that did not lend themselves to good takeoff characteristics,thus the prospect of combining the two in a single aircraft was enticing.

The XF10F featured a T-tail,with the horizontal stabilator,a small pivoting center body with a delta servo control at the nose and a larger rear delta main wing,mounted atop the vertical fin.The single  Westinghouse XJ40-WE-8 turbojet engine was fed by cheek intakes.The high,shoulder-mounted wing could be moved to two positions: a 13.5° sweep for takeoff and landing and a 42.5° sweep for high-speed flight.The XF10F-1 was not armed, but production aircraft would likely have had four 20 mm cannon and pylons for bombs and rockets,much like other contemporary Navy fighters.

It`s configuration presented many of the same handling problems as the earlier Bell X-5 experimental aircraft,with some vicious spin characteristics.Development was hampered by its use of the chronically unreliable turbojet engine,which,as on other aircraft of this period,made the Jaguar dangerously underpowered.
Test pilot Corwin "Corky" Meyer,the only pilot to fly the Jaguar,described it as entertaining to fly "because there was so much wrong with it.
The Navy was not encouraged by the results,and the rapid development of larger carriers with angled flight decks and steam-driven catapults made the swing-wing configuration unnecessary.

The prototype XF10F-1 first flew on 19 May 1952.It was used for some 32 test flights throughout the year,but in April 1953,the Navy canceled the program,and with it,the 112 production aircraft that had been ordered.The sole flying aircraft and the uncompleted second prototype were shipped to Naval Air Material Center in Philadelphia for barricade testing, and the static test aircraft was later used as a gunnery target.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Angry Turnip]

General Dynamics–Grumman F-111B

I know some of you may be thinking "F-111,that`s a very well known aircraft",but this version was a different beast,so it`s worthy of inclusion.

The General Dynamics/Grumman F-111B was a long-range carrier-based interceptor aircraft that was planned to be a follow-on to the F-4 Phantom II for the US Navy.
It was designed in parallel with the F-111 "Aardvark", which was adopted by the USAF as a strike aircraft,but the F-111B suffered development issues and changing Navy requirements for an aircraft with maneuverability for dogfighting.
The F-111B was not ordered into production and the prototypes were used for testing before being retired.It would be replaced by the smaller and lighter Grumman F-14 Tomcat, which carried over the engines,AWG-9/Phoenix weapons system,and similar swing-wing configuration.

The F-111B was part of the 1960s TFX program.The USAF's TAC was largely concerned with the fighter-bomber to be a follow-on to the F-105 Thunderchief.
Meanwhile,the USN sought a long-range,high-endurance interceptor to defend its aircraft carrier battle groups,they wanted an aircraft with a more powerful radar, and longer range missiles than the F-4 Phantom II to intercept both enemy bombers and missiles.
In June 1961,Secretary McNamara ordered the go ahead on TFX despite Air Force and the Navy efforts to keep their programs separate.The USAF wanted a tandem seat aircraft for low level penetration, while the Navy wanted a shorter, high altitude interceptor with side by side seating.Differences in required performance also became an issue.
General Dynamics' proposal was selected from 6 manufacurers in November 1962 due to its greater commonality between Air Force and Navy TFX versions.

The nose was 8.5 feet shorter due to its need to fit on existing carrier elevator decks,and had 3.5 feet longer wingspan to improve on-station endurance time.
General Dynamics teamed with Grumman for assembly and test of the aircraft.Grumman would build the F-111A's aft fuselage and the landing gear.The first test F-111A was powered by YTF30-P-1 turbofans and used a set of ejector seats,since the escape capsule was not yet available.It first flew on 21 December 1964.The first F-111B was also equipped with ejector seats and first flew on 18 May 1965.

Excessive weight plagued the F-111B throughout its development.The prototypes were far over the requirement weight.Design efforts reduced airframe weight but were offset by the addition of the escape capsule.The additional weight made the aircraft underpowered.
With the F-111B program in distress, Grumman began studying improvements and alternatives.In 1966,the Navy awarded Grumman a contract to begin studying advanced fighter designs.Grumman narrowed down these designs to its Model 303 design.With this the F-111B's end appeared near by mid-1967.By May 1968 both Armed Services committees of Congress voted not to fund production and in July 1968 the DoD ordered work stopped on F-111B.A total of seven were delivered by February 1969.

The replacement was the Grumman F-14 Tomcat,which derived from Grumman's initial Model 303 design,reused the TF30 engines from the F-111B,though the Navy planned on replacing them with an improved engine later.Although lighter than the F-111B,it was still the largest and heaviest U.S. fighter to takeoff and land from an aircraft carrier.

Flight tests on the continued at NAS Point Mugu,California and NAWS China Lake,California even after the program had been terminated.
The F-111B's last flight was with 151792 from California to New Jersey in mid-1971.The seven aircraft flew 1,748 hours over 1,173 flights.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Angry Turnip]

Harlow PC-5

Max Harlow was an aeronautical engineer and instructor at the Pasadena Junior College.Under his tutelage,the aircraft designated PJC-1 was designed and built as a class project.
It was destroyed in a spin test,but the PJC students then built a modified design,and incorporated a slightly larger vertical stabilizer.
This became the PJC-2 model,certified by the FAA on 20 May 1938.It was one of the first,airplanes designed and built in the U.S. with a stressed-skin semi-monocoque structure—a revolutionary design feature for the time. Harlow saw the potential and formed the Harlow Aircraft Company to build PJC-2 aircraft at Alhambra Airport.

Next they designed a version of the PJC-2 as a tandem two-seat training aircraft.The PC-5 had a revised fuselage with dual controls.The aircraft first flew in July 1939 but it failed to interest the USAAC.
Howard Hughes' business partner, J.B. Alexander,backed the project and had flown in early examples of the aircraft.

Harlow licensed the manufacturing rights to the PC-5 to Cub Aircraft of Canada during the wartime buildup.Only five aircraft had been built when the company was taken over by the Intercontinent Corporation.
Components for 50 aircraft were supplied to the Indian company Hindustan Aeronautics, who were to assemble the aircraft for use by the Indian Air Force as the PC-5A. The first PC-5A flew in August 1941,but it is not known how many were assembled and flown.
Powerplant was 1 × Warner Super Scarab 165-D 7-cylinder radial piston engine,of165 hp giving a max speed of around 150 mph.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Angry Turnip]

Howard Aircraft Corporation DGA-11

Howard Aircraft Corporation was a small United States aircraft manufacturer in the 1930s and 1940s. The factory was initially on the south side of Chicago Municipal Airport.
During World War II a second plant was opened at DuPage Airport west of Chicago.

One of the aircraft produced by the company was the DGA-11,powered by a nine-cylinder 450 hp Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior radial engine,was purportedly the fastest four-seat civil aircraft of the late 1930s,able to achieve a top speed of about 200 mph.
A favorite of the high society and Hollywood circles,the DGA-11 cost about $16,500 in 1938 — expensive for the time,a slower and less costly version,the DGA-12,used a 300 hp Jacobs engine.

Production of the Howard Aircraft Corporation from 1936 to 1939 totaled about 30 aircraft.In 1939,Howard increased production and developed the 5-place DGA-15,building about 40 of the four/five-seater aircraft,powered by one of three different engines.Founder,Ben Howard,left the company at this time to join Douglas Aircraft Company as test pilot.

The onset of WW II signaled the end of the civil Howard aircraft line.The USN procured about 525 modified DGA-15s for use as the GH-2 Nightingale air ambulance,the GH-1 and GH-3 utility transport,and the NH-1 instrument trainer aircraft.
Exceptionally roomy and high-powered,the modified DGA-15 was known for being difficult to land and unforgiving—earning the unwanted nickname of “Ensign Eliminator.”The U.S. Army Air Corps also acquired a variety of prewar Howard aircraft as utility aircraft.

Stockholders elected not to produce civilian aircraft after the war,then sold the aviation assets,and used the proceeds to buy an electric-motor manufacturing company in Racine, Wisconsin,and named it Howard Industries.

Photo from abpics.co.uk

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Angry Turnip]

International F-18 Air Coach

The International F-18 Air Coach was a 1920s American biplane transport that was designed and manufactured by the International Aircraft Corporation in Long Beach, California.Perhaps better known for their F-17 Sportsman model.

Only six F-18's were ever built.One these aircraft,Miss Hollydale,flew in the 1927 Dole Air Race between Northern California and Hawaii.The F-18 had a cabin for four passengers and an open cockpit with side-by-side seating for a pilot and a fifth passenger.

Powerplant was 1 × Wright J-5 nine-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine,of 220 hp giving a modest top speed of 120mph or 95 mph cruise.
The company stopped manufacturing F-18's by 1928 and sold its rights to the aircraft in 1931.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Angry Turnip]

Interstate Cadet

The Interstate Cadet was a two-seat tandem,high wing,single-engine monoplane light aircraft,similar looking to the Piper J-3 Cub and it`s variants.
The original version,the S1 prototype,was powered by the 50 hp Continental A50 engine,but was soon upgraded to the Continental A65 engine and redesignated as the S1-A-65F.
This was a popular and common engine used in many small American two-seat aircraft of the time.

During World War Two the S1-B1 version with a 90hp Franklin engine was produced,known in the US military under the L-6A Grasshopper designation.
An Interstate Cadet,flown by aviator Cornelia Fort and an unknown student,was one of the first aircraft to be attacked by IJNAS Japanese naval planes en route to the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7,1941.The aircraft was restored in 2012 and is still flying as N37266.

In 1945 the rights to the aircraft were sold to Harlow Aircraft Company,which in turn resold the tooling and parts to the Call Aircraft Company of Wyoming in 1946 for $5000. Callair rebuilt a number of S-1, S-1A and L-6s, some with engine upgrades,for local ranchers and bush pilots as well as two examples of their own serial numbered CallAir S-1A-90C before production ended.

One of the main reasons it did not sell well was,that it cost almost three times the amount of the comparable Piper J-3 Cub.However,a closer look at the two aircraft reveals that the Cadet was faster,stronger and could be operated in a more rugged environment with its Oleo strut/Compression spring suspension system.
Popular upgrades for this airframe included larger engines(75/85/90/100 hp), better brakes, and a different tailwheel system.

In the late 1960s the type certs and tooling were bought by the newly formed Arctic Aircraft Company who transformed the S-1B1 into a bush plane by upgrading structural elements of the fuselage,landing gear and wings.
This aircraft was designated the S-1B2, was used a Lycoming O-320 160 HP engine and a McCauley propeller for increased performance and was certified in 1975 as the Arctic Tern.
The new Type certification also covered installing the same engine in otherwise standard Interstate Cadets.

[attachment deleted by admin]