The General Electric Air Research Laboratory at the Schenectady, New York Airport hosted an open house on June 22, 1946, less than one year after V-J Day. It was an overcast day with intermittent... More > rain. The event featured a variety of prototype airplanes and helicopters and some modified testbed airplanes. Many of the airplanes were pinnacles of piston-powered aircraft technology. Examples of early jet fighters foreshadowed the coming transition to jet power. The first jet air mail service was carried by a pair of Lockheed P-80 Shooting Stars that departed from the open house.
Richard Lockett, a General Electric employee, photographed the aircraft participating at the open house. He documented the evolving technology of the day. He also captured the behavior and fashions of the people attending the show.< Less
The P-85 Goblin was the only airplane that ever flew which was designed from scratch to be operated entirely from another airplane.
The development of the B-36 by the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft... More > Corporation of Fort Worth, Texas resulted in a requirement for fighter protection for the bomber at distances from any friendly base that far exceeded the range of currently available escort fighter airplanes.
Due to the inability of contemporary fighters to escort B-36 bombers all the way to their targets, the Army Air Corps initiated Project MX-472, Unconventional Fighter Design Studies, on December 3, 1942. The primary objective of the project was the development of a suitable method of protecting the B-36 on long-range bombing missions.
The McDonnell Aircraft Corporation designed the P-85 Goblin to fit entirely within the confines of the bomb bay of the B-36. The little fighter was just fifteen feet long with a wing sapn of twenty-one feet.< Less
It has been asserted that the Boeing NB-52B Stratofortress, carrying Air Force serial 52-0008, can lay claim to being the airplane that has seen and participated in more history than any other single... More > airplane. For forty-five years, the NB-52B was a fixture at Edwards Air Force Base. While the NB-52B is most famous for launching the three North American X-15 rocket planes, it continued to serve in the role of launch platform for a multitude of programs until its final mission on November 16, 2004. It was the oldest flying B-52 by nearly ten years. The book is 200 pages long. It contains 246 color photographs, 89 black and white photographs, and 2 other illustrations.< Less
During and after World War II, aircraft designers were faced with the problem of increasing the range of strategic bombers. Dr. Richard Vogt, a German immigrant to the United States, proposed that... More > floating wing panels carrying fuel tanks could be attached to the wing tips of an airplane with hinges to extend its range. The floating wing panels would support their own weight, without increasing the load on the airplane’s wings. The Air Force initiated a project to simulate floating wing panels with a piloted light plane that coupled to a larger airplane in flight. Soon the scope of the project expanded to explore the possibility of towing fighters coupled to the wing tips of bombers.< Less
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