Aircraft
Griffon at Sea – Seafire F.45/46/47 Part II
Following its deck landing assessment PS944 was retained by A&AEE for further handling trials which showed that attitudes were beginning to change within the testing establishments. The aircraft was evaluated at a loaded weight of 10,394 lbs and was subject to limiting speeds based upon a Mach number of 0.77. At the beginning of the trial, however, the limit was…
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Curtiss Shrike
A Curtiss A-8 Shrike of the 13th Attack Squadron during evaluation by the USAAC which resulted in a 46-strong order for the A-12. One of 20 `export’ A-12s that were delivered to the Chinese Nationalist Air Force in 1936, all of which saw subsequent action against the Japanese the following…
Imperial Japanese Navy Aircraft
The air force component under the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. The birth of Japanese naval aviation occurred in 1912. The navy had been part of the Provisional Military Balloon Research Society, which had been established as a joint effort with the army. The army dominated the society,…
McDonnell F-101 Voodoo in Service
At the time of its introduction, the Voodoo was the heaviest fighter ever accepted by the Air Force. It did especially useful service in Cuba and Vietnam as a high-speed reconnaissance craft. In 1948 McDonnell rolled out its prototype XF88, which was designed as a long-range escort-fighter for the Convair…
Early British Night-fighters – The Blitz
Almost all the first batches of Mk I Beaufighters were night fighters. The earliest deliveries had no radar, but in September 1940 one of them was flown to the FIU for trials with one of the first AI.IV installations. By November 1940 AI.IV was standard on production Mk IF aircraft.…
RAF Sabres
Canadair CL-13 Sabre F.Mk.4 Unit: 229 OCU, RAF Canadair CL-13 Sabre F.Mk.4 Unit: 67 Sqn, RAF Canadair CL-13 Sabre F.Mk.2 Unit: 1(LR)FU, RAF Canadair CL-13 Sabre F.Mk.4 Unit: 234 Sqn, RAF In 1948, the Canadian government decided to re-equip the RCAF with the F-86 Sabre and Canadair was contracted to…
Military Uses of the American Space Shuttle
There was originally supposed to be a “blue” (Air Force) Shuttle. Military missions benefit from retrograde orbits, so there was originally supposed to be a west coast launch facility (Vandenberg) as well. The shuttle was saddled with large cross-range landing requirements which were entirely due to the DoD’s involvement (and…