U-9A Aero Commander
The Aero Design and Engineering Company, a subsidiary of Rockwell-Standard Corporation formed in December of 1944 in Culver City, CA, produced a twin-engine executive aircraft prototype called the Aero Commander. Its first flight was on April 23, 1948. The first production version was the Aero Commander 520 Transport. This version received its Approved Type […]
Solid Rocket Booster – SRB
A key component of the Space Shuttle, each shuttle used a matched pair of Solid Rocket Boosters to provide 71.4 percent of the thrust to lift the space shuttle off the pad and continued through the first-stage ascent up to an altitude of 150,000 feet. Each booster has a thrust of approximately 3,300,000 pounds at […]
O-2/C-337 Super Skymaster
In 1967, the Air Force completed an exhaustive search for an improved observation aircraft to replace the aging O-1 aircraft used by Forward Air Controllers in Vietnam. Already on the production line, the Cessna 337 Super-Skymaster was a popular twin-engine, four-seat general aviation aircraft with a unique push-pull design. Engines mounted on the forward and […]
O-2B Skymaster
In 1967, the Air Force completed an exhaustive search for an improved observation aircraft to replace the aging O-1 aircraft used by forward air controllers in Vietnam. Already on the production line, the Cessna 337 Super-Skymaster was a popular twin-engine, four-seat general aviation aircraft with a unique push-pull design. Engines mounted on the forward and […]
O-1 Bird Dog
In the aftermath of the Second World War, the United States Army sought to replace their light observation aircraft with a stronger and more capable design. Cessna Corporation modified their immensely popular Model C-170 to create the Cessna C-305 to meet the Army’s specifications. Originally designated the L-19A Bird Dog, the new aircraft had a […]
L-5 Sentinel
The Stinson L-5 Sentinel is a small, unarmed two-place liaison airplane used by the U.S. Army, Marine Corps, and the British Royal Air Force during World War II. Manufactured in Wayne, Michigan by the Stinson Division of the Vultee Aircraft Company (Consolidated-Vultee after March 1943) it was designed as a low-cost replacement for their larger […]
HU-16E Albatross
The Grumman Model G-64 prototype Albatross first flew on October 24, 1947 and was designated the SA-16 by the USAF. In 1962, all designations were combined in the multi-service system as the HU-16. The Grumman-built general utility amphibian SA-16 with a crew of five, can operate from land, water, ice or snow. Automatically inflated life […]
OQ-2 / RP-5 Radioplane
The United States military’s first UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) was a radio-controlled target drone built by the Reginald Denny Radioplane Company at a factory located at Van Nuys Airport. In 1940, the Army placed an initial order for 53 RP-4s, followed by a 1941 order for the RP-5, which became the US Army OQ-2 and […]
LGM-30 Minuteman II Missile
The Minuteman missile (USAF designation – LGM-30) was designed as a simplified second-generation Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) with solid propellant motors. For years the mainstay of the USAF ICBM force it is a three-stage weapon for launching Multiple Independently Targeted Reentry Vehicles (MIRVs) containing nuclear warheads from hard-pad underground sites. After deployment each was capable […]
D-21 Drone
Created during the height of the Cold War, the Lockheed D-21 Strategic Reconnaissance Drone is a high-speed, high-altitude unmanned aircraft using many technical innovations derived from the SR-71 Blackbird. The D-21 powered by the RJ43-MA20S-4 ramjet was designed to carry a single high-resolution camera capable of taking critically important detailed photographs from altitudes exceeding 90,000 feet […]