1.
Aerospace
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Aerospace is the human effort in science, engineering and business to fly in the atmosphere of Earth and surrounding space. Aerospace organisations research, design, manufacture, operate, or maintain aircraft and/or spacecraft, Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace is not the same as airspace, which is the air space directly above a location on the ground. In most industrial countries, the industry is a cooperation of public. Along with these public space programs, many companies produce technical tools and components such as spaceships, some known companies involved in space programs include Boeing, Airbus Group, SpaceX, Lockheed Martin, MacDonald Dettwiler and Northrop Grumman. These companies are involved in other areas of aerospace such as the construction of aircraft. Modern aerospace began with George Cayley in 1799, Cayley proposed an aircraft with a fixed wing and a horizontal and vertical tail, defining characteristics of the modern airplane. Airmen like Otto Lilienthal, who introduced cambered airfoils in 1891, the Wright brothers were interested in Lilienthals work and read several of his publications. They also found inspiration in Octave Chanute, an airman and the author of Progress in Flying Machines, war and science fiction inspired great minds like Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and Wernher von Braun to achieve flight beyond the atmosphere. The launch of Sputnik 1 in October 1957 started the Space Age, in April 1981, the Space Shuttle Columbia launched, the start of regular manned access to orbital space. A sustained human presence in space started with Mir in 1986 and is continued by the International Space Station. Space commercialization and space tourism are more recent focuses in aerospace, Aerospace manufacturing is a high-technology industry that produces aircraft, guided missiles, space vehicles, aircraft engines, propulsion units, and related parts. Most of the industry is geared toward governmental work, for each original equipment manufacturer, the US government has assigned a Commercial and Government Entity code. These codes help to each manufacturer, repair facilities. In the United States, the Department of Defense and the National Aeronautics, others include the very large airline industry. The aerospace industry employed 472,000 wage and salary workers in 2006, most of those jobs were in Washington state and in California, with Missouri, New York and Texas also being important. The leading aerospace manufacturers in the U. S. are Boeing, United Technologies Corporation, SpaceX, Northrop Grumman and these manufacturers are facing an increasing labor shortage as skilled U. S. workers age and retire. In India, Bangalore is a center of the aerospace industry, where Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, the National Aerospace Laboratories
2.
Martin Marietta
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The Martin Marietta Corporation was an American company founded in 1961 through the merger of Glenn L. Martin Company and American Marietta Corporation. The combined company became a leader in chemicals, aerospace, in 1995, it merged with Lockheed Corporation to form Lockheed Martin. Martin Marietta formed in 1961 by the merger of the Glenn L. Martin Company, Martin, based in Baltimore, was primarily an aerospace concern with a recent focus on missiles, namely its Titan program. American-Marietta was headquartered in Chicago and produced paints, dyes, metallurgical products, construction materials, in 1982, Martin Marietta was subject to a hostile takeover bid by the Bendix Corporation, headed by William Agee. Bendix bought the majority of Martin Marietta shares and in effect owned the company, however, Martin Mariettas management used the short time separating ownership and control to sell non-core businesses and launch its own hostile takeover of Bendix. Thomas G. Pownall, CEO of Martin Marietta, was successful,1961, Martin Marietta formed by merger of the Glenn L. Martin Marietta Corp. g
3.
Lockheed Martin
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Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security and advanced technologies company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995 and it is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington, DC, area. Lockheed Martin employs 126,000 people worldwide, Marillyn Hewson is the current President and Chief Executive Officer. Lockheed Martin is one of the largest companies in the aerospace, defense, security and it is the worlds largest defense contractor based on revenue for fiscal year 2014. In 2013, 78% of Lockheed Martins revenues came from sales, it topped the list of US federal government contractors. In 2009 US government contracts accounted for $38.4 billion, foreign government contracts $5.8 billion, Lockheed Martin operates in five business segments, Aeronautics, Information Systems & Global Solutions, Missiles and Fire Control, Rotary and Mission Systems, and Space Systems. The company also invests in healthcare systems, renewable energy systems, intelligent energy distribution, merger talks between Lockheed Corporation and Martin Marietta began in March 1994, with the companies announcing their $10 billion planned merger on August 30,1994. The deal was finalized on March 15,1995, when the two companies approved the merger. The segments of the two companies not retained by the new company formed the basis for the present L-3 Communications, Lockheed Martin also later spun off the materials company Martin Marietta Materials. Both companies contributed important products to the new portfolio, Lockheed products included the Trident missile, P-3 Orion, F-16 Fighting Falcon, F-22 Raptor, C-130 Hercules, A-4AR Fightinghawk and the DSCS-3 satellite. Martin Marietta products included Titan rockets, Sandia National Laboratories, Space Shuttle External Tank, Viking 1 and Viking 2 landers, the Transfer Orbit Stage and various satellite models. On April 22,1996, Lockheed Martin completed the acquisition of Loral Corporations defense electronics and system integration businesses for $9.1 billion, the remainder of Loral became Loral Space & Communications. Lockheed Martin abandoned plans for a $8, the development of the spacecraft cost $193.1 million. In May 2001, Lockheed Martin sold Lockheed Martin Control Systems to BAE Systems, on November 27,2000, Lockheed completed the sale of its Aerospace Electronic Systems business to BAE Systems for $1.67 billion, a deal announced in July 2000. This group encompassed Sanders Associates, Fairchild Systems, and Lockheed Martin Space Electronics & Communications. In 2001, Lockheed Martin won the contract to build the F-35 Lightning II, in 2001, Lockheed Martin settled a nine–year investigation conducted by NASAs Office of Inspector General with the assistance of the Defense Contract Audit Agency. The company paid the United States government $7.1 million based on allegations that its predecessor, Lockheed Engineering Science Corporation, submitted false lease costs claims to NASA. On August 31,2006, Lockheed Martin won a $3.9 billion contract from NASA to design and build the CEV capsule, in 2009, NASA reduced the capsule crew requirements from the initial six seats to four for transport to the International Space Station
4.
Calabasas, California
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As of the 2010 census, the citys population was 23,058, up from 20,033 at the 2000 census. The city was incorporated in 1991. It is noted for its residents and gated neighborhoods. The Leonis Adobe, a structure in Old Town Calabasas. It is generally accepted that the name of Calabasas is derived from the Spanish calabaza meaning pumpkin, squash, some historians hold the theory that Calabasas is derived from the Chumash word calahoosa which is said to mean where the wild geese fly. Owing to vast presence of wild plants in the area. The following spring, hundreds of pumpkin seeds sprouted alongside the road, the area was named Las Calabasas - the place where the pumpkins fell. The festival has evolved from a fair to a significant annual event. The citys official logo, depicting a red-tailed hawk flying over the Santa Monica Mountains, symbolizes a commitment to preserving the natural beauty. This logo is featured on the Calabasas city flag which is flown in front of City Hall, the city is located in the southwest corner of the San Fernando Valley and comprises a portion of the Santa Monica Mountains. It is 22 miles away from downtown Los Angeles and it is bordered by the Woodland Hills area of Los Angeles to the northeast, Topanga to the east, Malibu to the south, Agoura Hills to the west, and Hidden Hills to the north. The historic El Camino Real runs east–west through Calabasas as the Ventura Freeway 101, according to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 13.0 square miles. 12.9 square miles of it is land and 0.1 square miles of it is covered by water, in a part of the city near Calabasas High School and A. C. Stelle Middle School, all of the public streets are named patriotically. These include Declaration Ave. America Way, Liberty Bell Rd. Paul Revere Dr. Founders Dr. Bon Homme Rd. one of the oldest neighborhoods in Calabasas is Park Moderne, or the Bird Streets. From Parkway Calabasas, Hidden Hills West, Calabasas Hills, Calabasas Park Estates, from Las Virgenes, Mountain View Estates, Monte Nido, Deer Springs, Stone Creek, El Encanto, Mont Calabasas, Malibu Canyon Park, The Colony at Calabasas, and Avalon Calabasas. Mont Calabasas, a community on Las Virgenes Road, was annexed into the city of Calabasas in 2011, prior to annexation, the neighborhood was located in an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County. From Lost Hills Road, Calabasas View, Saratoga Hills, Saratoga Ranch, Deer Springs, the 2010 United States Census reported Calabasas to have a population of 23,058. The population density was 1,780.4 people per square mile
5.
Aircraft
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An aircraft is a machine that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the lift of an airfoil. The human activity that surrounds aircraft is called aviation, crewed aircraft are flown by an onboard pilot, but unmanned aerial vehicles may be remotely controlled or self-controlled by onboard computers. Aircraft may be classified by different criteria, such as type, aircraft propulsion, usage. Each of the two World Wars led to technical advances. Consequently, the history of aircraft can be divided into five eras, Pioneers of flight, first World War,1914 to 1918. Aviation between the World Wars,1918 to 1939, Second World War,1939 to 1945. Postwar era, also called the jet age,1945 to the present day, aerostats use buoyancy to float in the air in much the same way that ships float on the water. They are characterized by one or more large gasbags or canopies, filled with a relatively low-density gas such as helium, hydrogen, or hot air, which is less dense than the surrounding air. When the weight of this is added to the weight of the aircraft structure, a balloon was originally any aerostat, while the term airship was used for large, powered aircraft designs – usually fixed-wing. In 1919 Frederick Handley Page was reported as referring to ships of the air, in the 1930s, large intercontinental flying boats were also sometimes referred to as ships of the air or flying-ships. – though none had yet been built, the advent of powered balloons, called dirigible balloons, and later of rigid hulls allowing a great increase in size, began to change the way these words were used. Huge powered aerostats, characterized by an outer framework and separate aerodynamic skin surrounding the gas bags, were produced. There were still no fixed-wing aircraft or non-rigid balloons large enough to be called airships, then several accidents, such as the Hindenburg disaster in 1937, led to the demise of these airships. Nowadays a balloon is an aerostat and an airship is a powered one. A powered, steerable aerostat is called a dirigible, sometimes this term is applied only to non-rigid balloons, and sometimes dirigible balloon is regarded as the definition of an airship. Non-rigid dirigibles are characterized by a moderately aerodynamic gasbag with stabilizing fins at the back and these soon became known as blimps. During the Second World War, this shape was adopted for tethered balloons, in windy weather
6.
Allan Lockheed
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Allan Haines Lockheed, born Allan Haines Loughead, was an American aviation pioneer and engineer. He formed the Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company along with his brother, Malcolm Loughead that became Lockheed Corporation, Loughead legally changed his name to Allan Lockheed in 1934. He went on to two other aircraft manufacturing companies in the 1930s. After World War II, he continued his career as a real estate salesman while occasionally serving as an aviation consultant, Allan Lockheed kept an informal relationship with the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation until his death in 1969 in Tucson, Arizona. Allan Loughead was born in Niles, California, in 1889 and he had a half-brother Victor, a sister Hope, and a brother Malcolm Loughead. Flora Loughead was a well-known novelist and journalist, after separating from her husband, Flora took the children to Santa Barbara, California, where the brothers experimented with kites. Later, Flora moved them to a ranch near Alma, California. The Loughead brothers attended elementary school only, but were mechanically inclined from an early age, Victor Loughead, who was interested in automobiles and airplanes, moved to Chicago, where he became associated with James E. Plew, an automobile dealer. There, in 1909, Victor wrote a book, Vehicles of the Air, in 1904, Malcolm became a mechanic with the White Steam Car Company in San Francisco. Allan Loughead went to San Francisco in 1906 where he became a mechanic at $6 a week, by 1909, he was driving race cars. In Chicago, Victor Loughead convinced Plew to acquire rights to one of the Montgomerys gliders, Plew hired Allan Loughead to convert the Montgomery glider to a powered aircraft. The airplane will take over land and water travel. Allan and Malcolm Loughead installed a 2-cylinder,12 hp motor on the Montgomery glider with Victor as engineer. Allan Lougheads first flight was in Chicago in 1910 when he climbed aboard an aircraft and operated its ailerons while its builder, George Gates, operated the rudder. When two of Plews trained pilots couldnt get the Curtiss airborne, Allan said, Ive got a $20 gold piece that says Ill make it fly, there being none, he got the airplane airborne on his second try. Later he said of this flight, It was partly nerve, partly confidence, but now I was an aviator. The Curtis pusher was powered by a 30 H. P. engine, later he said, I was really rich the first week out. Unfortunately, during an exhibition at Hoopeston, Illinois, his airplane failed to climb enough and was entangled in telephone wires
7.
Lockheed Corporation
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The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace company. Lockheed was founded in 1912 and later merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin in 1995, the Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company was established in San Francisco in 1912 by the brothers Allan and Malcolm Loughead. Following the Model F-1, the company invested heavily in the design, however, the asking price of $2500 could not compete in a market that was saturated with post World War 1 $350 Curtiss JN-4s and De Haviland trainers. The Loughead Aircraft Manufacturing Company closed its doors in 1921, in 1926, Allan Loughead, Jack Northrop, and Kenneth Jay secured funding to form the Lockheed Aircraft Company in Hollywood. This new company utilized some of the technology originally developed for the Model S-1 to design the Vega Model. In March 1928, the relocated to Burbank, California. From 1926-28 the company produced over 80 aircraft and employed more than 300 workers who by April 1929 were building five aircraft per week, in July 1929, majority shareholder Fred Keeler sold 87% of the Lockheed Aircraft Company to Detroit Aircraft Corporation. In August 1929, Allan Lockheed resigned, the Great Depression ruined the aircraft market, and Detroit Aircraft went bankrupt. A group of headed by brothers Robert and Courtland Gross. The syndicate bought the company for a mere $40,000, ironically, Allan Lockheed himself had planned to bid for his own company, but had raised only $50,000, which he felt was too small a sum for a serious bid. In 1934, Robert E. Gross was named chairman of the new company, the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation and his brother Courtlandt S. Gross was a co-founder and executive, succeeding Robert as Chairman following his death in 1961. The company was named the Lockheed Corporation in 1977, in the 1930s, Lockheed spent $139,400 to develop the Model 10 Electra, a small twin-engined transport. The company sold 40 in the first year of production, amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, flew it in their failed attempt to circumnavigate the world in 1937. Subsequent designs, the Lockheed Model 12 Electra Junior and the Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra expanded their market. The Lockheed Model 14 formed the basis for the Hudson bomber and its primary role was submarine hunting. The Model 14 Super Electra were sold abroad, and more than 100 were license-built in Japan for use by the Imperial Japanese Army, the P-38 was the only American fighter aircraft in production throughout American involvement in the war, from Pearl Harbor to Victory over Japan Day. It filled ground-attack, air-to-air, and even strategic bombing roles in all theaters of the war in which the United States operated, the Lockheed Vega factory was located next to Burbanks Union Airport which it had purchased in 1940. During the war, the area was camouflaged to fool enemy aerial reconnaissance
8.
Allan Loughead
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Allan Haines Lockheed, born Allan Haines Loughead, was an American aviation pioneer and engineer. He formed the Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company along with his brother, Malcolm Loughead that became Lockheed Corporation, Loughead legally changed his name to Allan Lockheed in 1934. He went on to two other aircraft manufacturing companies in the 1930s. After World War II, he continued his career as a real estate salesman while occasionally serving as an aviation consultant, Allan Lockheed kept an informal relationship with the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation until his death in 1969 in Tucson, Arizona. Allan Loughead was born in Niles, California, in 1889 and he had a half-brother Victor, a sister Hope, and a brother Malcolm Loughead. Flora Loughead was a well-known novelist and journalist, after separating from her husband, Flora took the children to Santa Barbara, California, where the brothers experimented with kites. Later, Flora moved them to a ranch near Alma, California. The Loughead brothers attended elementary school only, but were mechanically inclined from an early age, Victor Loughead, who was interested in automobiles and airplanes, moved to Chicago, where he became associated with James E. Plew, an automobile dealer. There, in 1909, Victor wrote a book, Vehicles of the Air, in 1904, Malcolm became a mechanic with the White Steam Car Company in San Francisco. Allan Loughead went to San Francisco in 1906 where he became a mechanic at $6 a week, by 1909, he was driving race cars. In Chicago, Victor Loughead convinced Plew to acquire rights to one of the Montgomerys gliders, Plew hired Allan Loughead to convert the Montgomery glider to a powered aircraft. The airplane will take over land and water travel. Allan and Malcolm Loughead installed a 2-cylinder,12 hp motor on the Montgomery glider with Victor as engineer. Allan Lougheads first flight was in Chicago in 1910 when he climbed aboard an aircraft and operated its ailerons while its builder, George Gates, operated the rudder. When two of Plews trained pilots couldnt get the Curtiss airborne, Allan said, Ive got a $20 gold piece that says Ill make it fly, there being none, he got the airplane airborne on his second try. Later he said of this flight, It was partly nerve, partly confidence, but now I was an aviator. The Curtis pusher was powered by a 30 H. P. engine, later he said, I was really rich the first week out. Unfortunately, during an exhibition at Hoopeston, Illinois, his airplane failed to climb enough and was entangled in telephone wires
9.
California
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California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
10.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
11.
Lockheed Vega
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The Lockheed Vega is an American six-passenger high-wing monoplane airliner built by the Lockheed Corporation starting in 1927. It became famous for its use by a number of record-breaking pilots who were attracted to the rugged and very long-range design. Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly the Atlantic single-handed in one, designed by John Knudsen Northrop and Gerard Vultee, both of whom would later form their own companies, the aircraft was originally intended to serve with Lockheeds own airline routes. They set out to build an aircraft that was not only rugged. Using a wooden fuselage, plywood covered cantilever wings and the best engine available. The fuselage was built from sheets of plywood, skinned over wooden ribs, the two fuselage halves were then nailed and glued over a separately constructed rib framework. With the fuselage constructed in this fashion, the wing spar couldnt cut through the fuselage and it was powered by the Wright Whirlwind air-cooled radial engine, which delivered 225 horsepower. The first Vega 1, named the Golden Eagle, flew from Lockheeds Los Angeles plant on July 4,1927 and it could cruise at a then-fast 120 mph, and had a top speed of 135 mph. The four-passenger load was considered too small for airline use, a number of private owners placed orders for the design, and by the end of 1928,68 of this original design had been produced. In the 1929 National Air Races in Cleveland, Vegas won every speed award, in 1928 Vega 5 Yankee Doodle was used to break transcontinental speed records. On August 19–20, Hollywood stunt flier Arthur C, on October 25, barnstormer and former mail pilot Charles B. D. Collyer broke the nonstop east to west record set in 1923 by the U. S. Army Air Service in 24 hours and 51 minutes. Trying to break the new West-to-East record on November 3, Collyer crashed near Prescott, Arizona, killing him, looking to improve the design, Lockheed delivered the Vega 5 in 1929. Adding the Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp engine of 450 hp improved weights enough to allow two more seats to be added, a new NACA cowling increased cruise speed to 155 mph and top speed to 165 mph. The new six-seat configuration proved to be too small, and the 5 was purchased primarily for private aviation, a total of 64 Vega 5s were built. In 1931, the United States Army Air Corps bought two Vega 5s, one designated C-12 and one as the C-17, the C-17 had additional fuel tanks in the wings. The Vega could be difficult to land, in her memoir, Elinor Smith wrote that it had all the glide potential of a boulder falling off a mountain. On takeoff or landing, thered be almost no forward visibility whatsoever, a one-off special, based on the metal-fuselaged DL-1, was built by the Detroit Aircraft Corporation, and exported to the United Kingdom for Lt. Cmdr. It was initially registered in the UK as G-ABFE, then was re-registered as G-ABGK to incorporate Kidstons initials and this Vega was used by him to set a record-breaking time from the UK to South Africa in April 1931
12.
Burbank, California
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Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States,12 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. The population at the 2010 census was 103,340, Entertainment, Nickelodeon Animation Studios, NBC, Cartoon Network Studios with the West Coast branch of Cartoon Network, and Insomniac Games. The city is home to Bob Hope Airport. Burbank consists of two areas, a downtown/foothill section, in the foothills of the Verdugo Mountains. Burbank is the easternmost city in the San Fernando Valley, Burbanks neighbor, Glendale, is the westernmost city in the San Gabriel Valley. The city was referred to as Beautiful Downtown Burbank on Laugh-In, the city was named after David Burbank, a New Hampshire-born dentist and entrepreneur who established a sheep ranch there in 1867. Historically, this area was the scene of a skirmish which resulted in the unseating of the Spanish Governor of California. Remnants of the battle reportedly were found many years later in the vicinity of Warner Bros. Studio when residents dug up cannonballs, by 1876, the San Fernando Valley became the largest wheat-raising area in Los Angeles County. But the droughts of the 1860s and 1870s underlined the need for water supplies. A professionally trained dentist, Dr. Burbank began his career in Waterville and he joined the great migration westward in the early 1850s and, by 1853 was living in San Francisco. At the time the American Civil War broke out he was well established in his profession as a dentist in Pueblo de Los Angeles. In 1867, he purchased Rancho La Providencia from David W. Alexander and Francis Mellus, Dr. Burbanks property reached nearly 9,200 acres at a cost of $9,000. Dr. Burbank wouldnt acquire full titles to both properties until after a decision known as the Great Partition was made in 1871 dissolving the Rancho San Rafael. Dr. Burbank also later owned the Burbank Theatre, which opened on November 27,1893, though the theater was intended to be an opera house, instead it staged plays and became known nationally. The theatre featured famous actors of the time including Fay Bainter and Marjorie Rambeau, when the area that became Burbank was settled in the 1870s and 1880s, the streets were aligned along what is now Olive Avenue, the road to the Cahuenga Pass and downtown Los Angeles. These were largely the roads the Indians traveled and the settlers took their produce down to Los Angeles to sell. At the time, the primary long-distance transportation methods available to San Fernando Valley residents were stagecoach, stagecoaching between Los Angeles and San Francisco through the Valley began in 1858
13.
Detroit Aircraft Corporation
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The Detroit Aircraft Corporation was incorporated in Detroit, Michigan on July 10,1922, as the Aircraft Development Corporation. The name was changed in 1929, the Detroit corporation owned the entire capital stock of the Ryan Aircraft Corp. Marine Aircraft Corp. Parks Air College and Affiliated Companies, Detroit Aircraft Export Co, gliders, Inc. and Eastman Aircraft Corp. It also owned a 90% interest in the Blackburn Aeroplane and Motor Company, practically all of the stock of the Lockheed Aircraft Company. During the Great Depression the Detroit Aircraft holding company found that losses from other operations were draining the company coffers. On October 27,1931, the Detroit Aircraft Corporation went into receivership, chairman, M. Bjelivuk, Edward S. Evans President, C. B. Hunter Ryan Aircraft Corporation, Incorporated into Detroit Aircraft on July 5,1929, Ryan Aircraft acquired the assets and business of the Mahoney-Ryan Aircraft Corporation, the successor to Ryan Air Lines. Ryan Aircraft manufactured four and six-place cabin monoplanes at their St. Louis facility, the Detroit Aircraft Corporation owned Ryan Aircrafts entire capital stock. Aircraft Development Corporation, Incorporated on July 12,1929, in Michigan to take over and continue development and construction of airships for commercial, military. Company held patents covering design and construction of Metalclad rigid airships, the first Metalclad airship, the ZMC-2, was constructed for the U. S. Navy in 1929. Detroit Aircraft Corp. owned entire capital stock, edsel Ford, William May and William Stout, invested in the venture in an effort to make Detroit the manufacturing center of the dirigible industry. Incorporated in Michigan, June 11,1929, to take over and continue the development of automatic riveting machines, Detroit Aircraft Corp. owned entire capital stock. Incorporated in Michigan, Nov.15,1926, owned and operated an airport on Grosse Ile, an island in the Detroit River. The airport covered 403 acres of land and has water approaches on three sides,3.000 feet in diameter, and an airship hangar. Detroit Aircraft Corp. owned entire capital stock, Incorporated in Michigan, June 11,1929, to specialise exclusively in all-metal amphibian and flying boat construction for commercial and naval uses. Manufactured an all-metal six-place cabin amphibian plane, Detroit Aircraft Corp. owned entire capital stock. Manufactured the Sea Rover and Sea Pirate flying boat ranging In price from $7,500 to $10,000, Detroit Aircraft Corp. owned entire capital stock. Incorporated in Michigan, May 20,1929. to acquire design, DAC controlled 90% with the UK company holding 10% of the stock
14.
Great Depression
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The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression that took place during the 1930s. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, in most countries it started in 1929 and it was the longest, deepest, and most widespread depression of the 20th century. In the 21st century, the Great Depression is commonly used as an example of how far the economy can decline. The depression originated in the United States, after a fall in stock prices that began around September 4,1929. Between 1929 and 1932, worldwide GDP fell by an estimated 15%, by comparison, worldwide GDP fell by less than 1% from 2008 to 2009 during the Great Recession. Some economies started to recover by the mid-1930s, however, in many countries, the negative effects of the Great Depression lasted until the beginning of World War II. The Great Depression had devastating effects in both rich and poor. Personal income, tax revenue, profits and prices dropped, while international trade plunged by more than 50%, unemployment in the U. S. rose to 25% and in some countries rose as high as 33%. Cities all around the world were hit hard, especially dependent on heavy industry. Construction was virtually halted in many countries, farming communities and rural areas suffered as crop prices fell by about 60%. Facing plummeting demand with few sources of jobs, areas dependent on primary sector industries such as mining and logging suffered the most. Even after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 optimism persisted for some time, john D. Rockefeller said These are days when many are discouraged. In the 93 years of my life, depressions have come, prosperity has always returned and will again. The stock market turned upward in early 1930, returning to early 1929 levels by April and this was still almost 30% below the peak of September 1929. Together, government and business spent more in the first half of 1930 than in the period of the previous year. On the other hand, consumers, many of whom had suffered losses in the stock market the previous year. In addition, beginning in the mid-1930s, a severe drought ravaged the agricultural heartland of the U. S, by mid-1930, interest rates had dropped to low levels, but expected deflation and the continuing reluctance of people to borrow meant that consumer spending and investment were depressed. By May 1930, automobile sales had declined to below the levels of 1928, prices in general began to decline, although wages held steady in 1930
15.
Walter Varney
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Walter Thomas Varney was an American aviation pioneer who founded forerunners of two major U. S. airlines, United Airlines and Continental Airlines. Varney was also one of the most prominent airmail contractors of the early 20th century, Varney served as a pilot in the Aviation Section, U. S. Signal Corps during World War I. After the war Varney established a school and air taxi service in northern California. He based his operation, Varney Air Service, in Pasco, Washington, varneys first airmail flight took off on April 6,1926. Varney, following a five company merger, sold the much expanded Varney Air Group in 1930 to United Aircraft, the companys name was changed to United Air Lines in 1933. Continental Airlines was founded in 1934 by Walter Varney and his partner Louis Mueller as Varney Speed Lines. On July 15,1934, Varney Speed Lines flew its first trip on a 530-mile route from Pueblo, Colorado to El Paso, Texas with stops in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and Santa Fe and Albuquerque New Mexico. Varney ceded control to Mueller in 1934, and in 1936 a controlling interest in the company was sold to Robert Six who renamed it Continental Airlines in 1937, moving its headquarters to Denver. In 1932, Varney contributed half of the $40,000 needed to purchase the Lockheed division of Detroit Aircraft Corporation out of bankruptcy, the company was reorganized in Burbank, California as the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. Varney retired from that company in 1951, in his later years, he suffered from chronic pulmonary emphysemia, chronic bronchitis, and valvular heart disease. He lived for a time with the family of his son-in-law and he died of bronchial pneumonia on Jan. 25,1967 at Danis Nursing Home in Santa Barbara, California and he was buried in Cypress Lawn Memorial Park in Colma, California in the Varney family plot
16.
Hollywood Burbank Airport
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Burbank Bob Hope Airport, branded as Hollywood Burbank Airport is a public airport three miles northwest of downtown Burbank, in Los Angeles County, California. The airport serves the northern Greater Los Angeles area, including Glendale, Pasadena, and it is closer to Griffith Park and Hollywood than Los Angeles International Airport, and is the only airport in the area with a direct rail connection to downtown Los Angeles. Non-stop flights mostly serve cities in the western United States, while JetBlue Airways has a daily flight to New York City. Originally, the airport was located completely within the Burbank city limits, the airport is owned by the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority, controlled by the governments of those cities. The Airport Authority contracts with TBI Airport Management, Inc. to operate the airport, the airport has its own police department, the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority Police. Boarding uses portable boarding steps or ramps rather than jet bridges, Federal Aviation Administration records say the airport had 2,647,287 passenger boardings in calendar year 2008,2,294,991 in 2009, and 2,239,804 in 2010. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 called it a commercial service airport. The airport has been named United Airport, Union Air Terminal, Lockheed Air Terminal, Hollywood-Burbank Airport, Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport, Bob Hope Airport, one of these airlines was Pacific Air Transport, which Boeing had acquired because of PATs west coast mail contract in January 1928. BA&T sought a site for a new airport for PAT and found one in Burbank, BA&T had the benefit of surveys that the Aeronautics Department of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce had conducted starting in 1926 to identify potential airport sites. It took BA&T a year and the cooperation of the city to assemble the site. The 234-acre site was rife with vines and trees and the ground had to be filled and leveled, but it had good drainage, a firm landing surface, steady winds, construction was completed in just seven months. In an age when few aircraft had brakes and many had a tail skid instead of a wheel, runways were not usually paved, there were no taxi strips, but the designers left room for them. Two of the runways were over 3,600 feet long, generous dimensions, and the site had room for expansion. United Airport was dedicated amid much festivity on Memorial Day weekend,1930, the airport and its handsome Spanish revival terminal was a showy competitor to nearby Grand Central Airport in Glendale, which was then Los Angeles main airline terminal. The Burbank facility remained United Airport until 1934 when it was renamed Union Air Terminal, the name change came the same year that Federal anti-trust actions caused United Aircraft and Transport Corp. to dissolve, which took effect September 26,1934. The Union Air Terminal moniker stuck until Lockheed bought the airport in 1940, in March 1939 sixteen airline departures a day were scheduled out of Burbank, eight on United Airlines, five on Western Airlines and three on TWA. Commercial air traffic continued even while Lockheeds extensive factories supplied the war effort and developed numerous military, the April 1957 OAG shows nine weekday departures on Western, six on United, six on Pacific Air Lines, one on TWA and one on American Airlines. Pacific Southwest Airlines had 48 Douglas DC-4 departures a week to SFO, in the late 1960s Pacific Air Lines Boeing 727-100s flew nonstop to Las Vegas and San Francisco with direct one stop service to Eureka/Arcata
17.
Amelia Earhart
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Amelia Mary Earhart was an American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, distinguished Flying Cross for this accomplishment. She set many records, wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences and was instrumental in the formation of The Ninety-Nines. In 1935, Earhart became a faculty member at Purdue University as an advisor to aeronautical engineering. She was also a member of the National Womans Party and a supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment. During an attempt to make a flight of the globe in 1937 in a Purdue-funded Lockheed Model 10 Electra. Fascination with her life, career and disappearance continues to this day, Earhart was the daughter of Samuel Edwin Stanton Earhart and Amelia Amy. Amelia was the child of the marriage, after an infant stillborn in August 1896. She was of part German descent, alfred Otis had not initially favored the marriage and was not satisfied with Edwins progress as a lawyer. According to family custom, Earhart was named after her two grandmothers, Amelia Josephine Harres and Mary Wells Patton, from an early age, Earhart, nicknamed Meeley was the ringleader while her younger sister, Grace Muriel Earhart, nicknamed Pidge, acted the dutiful follower. Both girls continued to answer to their childhood nicknames well into adulthood and their upbringing was unconventional since Amy Earhart did not believe in molding her children into nice little girls. A spirit of adventure seemed to abide in the Earhart children, as a child, Earhart spent long hours playing with sister Pidge, climbing trees, hunting rats with a rifle and belly-slamming her sled downhill. Although this love of the outdoors and rough-and-tumble play was common to many youngsters, the girls kept worms, moths, katydids and a tree toad in a growing collection gathered in their outings. In 1904, with the help of her uncle, she cobbled together a home-made ramp fashioned after a roller coaster she had seen on a trip to St. Louis, Earharts well-documented first flight ended dramatically. She emerged from the wooden box that had served as a sled with a bruised lip, torn dress. She exclaimed, Oh, Pidge, its just like flying, although there had been some missteps in his career up to that point, in 1907 Edwin Earharts job as a claims officer for the Rock Island Railroad led to a transfer to Des Moines, Iowa. The next year, at the age of 10, Earhart saw her first aircraft at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines and her father tried to interest her and her sister in taking a flight. One look at the rickety flivver was enough for Earhart, who asked if they could go back to the merry-go-round
18.
Wiley Post
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Wiley Hardeman Post was a famed American aviator during the interwar period, the first pilot to fly solo around the world. Also known for his work in high-altitude flying, Post helped develop one of the first pressure suits, on August 15,1935, Post and American humorist Will Rogers were killed when Posts aircraft crashed on takeoff from a lagoon near Point Barrow in the Territory of Alaska. Posts Lockheed Vega aircraft, the Winnie Mae, was on display at the National Air and it is now featured in the Time and Navigation gallery on the second floor of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D. C. Post was born to farmer parents, William Francis and Mae Quinlan Post. His family moved to Oklahoma when he was five and he was an indifferent student, but managed to complete the sixth grade. By 1920 his family settled on a farm near Maysville, Oklahoma, young Wileys first view of an aircraft in flight came in 1913 at the county fair in Lawton, Oklahoma. The plane was a Curtiss-Wright Pusher type, the event so inspired him that he immediately enrolled in the Sweeney Automobile and Aviation School in Kansas City. Seven months later, he returned to Oklahoma and went to work at the Chickasaw, during World War I Post wanted to become a pilot in the U. S. Army Air Service. Joining the training camp at the University of Oklahoma, he learned radio technology, germany surrendered before he completed his training, the war ended, and he went to work as a roughneck in the Oklahoma oilfields. The work was unsteady and he turned briefly to armed robbery and he was arrested in 1921 and sent to the Oklahoma State Reformatory. Serving more than a year in the Oklahoma State Reformatory, he was paroled in the summer of 1922. Posts aviation career began at age 26 as a parachutist for a circus, Burrell Tibbs and His Texas Topnotch Fliers. On October 1,1926, an oil field accident cost him his left eye, around this time, he met fellow Oklahoman Will Rogers when he flew Rogers to a rodeo, and the two eventually became close friends. The oilman nicknamed it the Winnie Mae after his daughter, and Post achieved his first national prominence in it by winning the National Air Race Derby, the fuselage was inscribed, Los Angeles to Chicago 9 hrs.8 min. Adam Charles Williams finished second with a time of 9 hrs.9 min, in 1930 the record for flying around the world was not held by a fixed-wing aircraft, but by the Graf Zeppelin, piloted by Hugo Eckener in 1929 with a time of 21 days. They arrived back on July 1, after traveling 15,474 miles in the time of 8 days and 15 hours and 51 minutes. The reception they received rivaled Charles Lindberghs everywhere they went. After the flight, Post acquired the Winnie Mae from F. C. Hall, motivated by his detractors, Post decided to attempt a solo flight around the world and to break his previous speed record
19.
Hubert Wilkins
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Sir George Hubert Wilkins MC & Bar was an Australian polar explorer, ornithologist, pilot, soldier, geographer and photographer. Hubert Wilkins was a native of Hallett, South Australia, the last of 13 children in a family of pioneer settlers and he was born at Mount Bryan, South Australia,177 kilometres north of Adelaide by road. The original homestead has been restored by generous donation and he was educated at Mount Bryan East and the Adelaide School of Mines. His photographic skill earned him a place on various Arctic expeditions, in 1917, Wilkins returned to his native Australia, joining the Australian Flying Corps in the rank of Second Lieutenant. Wilkins later transferred to the general list and in 1918 was appointed as a war photographer. In June 1918 Wilkins was awarded the Military Cross for his efforts to rescue wounded soldiers during the Third Battle of Ypres and he remains the only Australian official photographer from any war to have received a combat medal. The following month Wilkins was promoted to Captain and became officer commanding No.3 Sub-section of the Australian war records unit, unfortunately due to his modest nature, many iconic WW1 photographs have been attributed to the self-promoting Frank Hurley. Wilkins was subsequently awarded a bar to his Military Cross in the 1919 Birthday Honours, when Sir John Monash was asked by the visiting American journalist Lowell Thomas if Australia has a similar hero, Sir John replied Yes, there was one. He was an accomplished and absolutely fearless combat photographer. What happened to him is a story of epic proportions, at times he brought in the wounded, at other times he supplied vital intelligence of enemy activity he observed. At one point he even rallied troops as a combat officer, subsequent to the war, Wilkins served in 1921–1922 as an ornithologist aboard the Quest on the Shackleton-Rowett Expedition to the Southern Ocean and adjacent islands. Wilkins in 1923 began a study for the British Museum of the bird life of Northern Australia. This ornithology project occupied his life until 1925, in March 1927, Wilkins and pilot Carl Ben Eielson explored the drift ice north of Alaska, touching down upon it in Eielsons airplane in the first land-plane descent onto drift ice. Wilkins was the first recipient of the Samuel Finley Breese Morse Medal and he was also awarded the Royal Geographic Societys Patrons Gold Medal the same year. For this feat and his work, Wilkins was knighted, and during the ensuing celebration in New York, he met an Australian actress, Suzanne Bennett. Now financed by William Randolph Hearst, Wilkins continued his polar explorations and he named the island of Hearst Land after his sponsor, and Hearst thanked Wilkins by giving him and his bride a flight aboard Graf Zeppelin. In 1930 Wilkins and his wife, Suzanne, were vacationing with a wealthy friend, during this outing Wilkins and Ellsworth hammered out plans for a trans-Atlantic expedition involving a submarine. Millions of dollars are spent each year by various institutions in oceanographical and geophysical research, a submarine will provide means for similar investigations in an economic and safe manner, in areas as yet untouched by scientists
20.
Lockheed Model 10 Electra
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The Lockheed Model 10 Electra is an American twin-engine, all-metal monoplane airliner developed by the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation in the 1930s to compete with the Boeing 247 and Douglas DC-2. The type gained considerable fame as one was flown by Amelia Earhart on her ill-fated around-the-world expedition in 1937, some of Lockheeds wooden designs, such as the Orion, had been built by Detroit Aircraft Corporation with metal fuselages. However, the Electra was Lockheeds first all-metal and twin-engine design by Lloyd Stearman, the name Electra came from a star in the Pleiades. The prototype made its first flight on February 23,1934 with Marshall Headle at the controls, wind tunnel work on the Electra was undertaken at the University of Michigan. Much of the work was performed by a student assistant, Clarence Johnson and he suggested two changes be made to the design, changing the single tail to double tails, and deleting oversized wing fillets. Both of these suggestions were incorporated into production aircraft, upon receiving his masters degree, Johnson joined Lockheed as a regular employee, ultimately leading the Skunk Works in developing advanced aircraft such as the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. The Lockheed Electra was one of the first commercial aircraft to come equipped with mudguards as standard equipment. Before the Electra, only aircraft with fixed landing gear had mudguards, after October 1934 when the US government banned single-engined aircraft for use in carrying passengers or in night flying, Lockheed was perfectly placed in the market with its new Model 10 Electra. In addition to deliveries to US based airlines, several European operators added Electras to their prewar fleets, in Latin America, the first airline to use Electras was Cubana de Aviación, starting in 1935, for its domestic routes. Besides airline orders, a number of civil operators also purchased the new Model 10. Lambie accomplished a round-trip crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, the feat was declared the first round-trip commercial crossing of that ocean by any aircraft. It won them the Harmon Trophy, on the eastbound trip, they carried newsreels of the crash of the Hindenburg, and on the return trip from the United Kingdom, they brought photographs of the coronation of King George VI. Bata Shoes operated the Model 10 to ferry its executives between their European factories, probably the most famous use of the Electra was the highly modified Model 10E flown by aviatrix Amelia Earhart. In July 1937, she disappeared in her Electra during an attempted round-the-world flight, many Electras and their design descendants were pressed into military service during World War II, for instance the USAAFs C-36. By the end of the war, the Electra design was obsolete, although many smaller airlines, Electras were popular as private planes for royalty in Asia and Europe. In India, the Maharaja of Jammu & Kashmir and the Maharaja of Jodhpur both purchased them for their use in 1937. The Electra was produced in variants, for both civilian and military customers. Lockheed built a total of 149 Electras, Electra 10-A Powered by two Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior SB,450 hp each,101 produced
21.
Fred Noonan
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Frederick Joseph Fred Noonan was an American flight navigator, sea captain and aviation pioneer who first charted many commercial airline routes across the Pacific Ocean during the 1930s. Fred Noonan was born in Cook County, Illinois and his parents were Joseph T. Noonan and Catherine Egan. Noonans mother died when he was four, and three years later a census report lists his father as living alone in a Chicago boarding house, relatives or family friends were likely looking after Noonan. In his own words, Noonan left school in summer of 1905 and went to Seattle, Washington, at the age of 17, Noonan shipped out of Seattle as an ordinary seaman on a British sailing bark, the Crompton. Between 1910 and 1915, Noonan worked on over a dozen ships, rising to the ratings of quartermaster and he continued working on merchant ships throughout World War I. Serving as an officer on ships, his harrowing wartime service included being on three vessels that were sunk from under him by U-boats. After the war, Noonan continued in the Merchant Marine and achieved a measure of prominence as a ships officer, throughout the 1920s, his maritime career was characterized by steadily increasing ratings and good work performance reviews. Noonan married Josephine Sullivan in 1927 at Jackson, Mississippi, after a honeymoon in Cuba, they settled in New Orleans. Following a distinguished 22-year career at sea which included sailing around Cape Horn seven times, after learning to fly in the late 1920s, he received a limited commercial pilots license in 1930, on which he listed his occupation as aviator. In the following year, he was awarded marine license #121190, Class Master, any ocean, in March 1935, Noonan was the navigator on the first Pan Am Sikorsky S-42 clipper at San Francisco Bay. In April he navigated the historic round-trip China Clipper flight between San Francisco and Honolulu piloted by Ed Musick. Noonan was subsequently responsible for mapping Pan Ams clipper routes across the Pacific Ocean, participating in many flights to Midway Island, Wake Island, Guam, the Philippines, and Hong Kong. In addition to more modern tools, Noonan as a licensed sea captain was known for carrying a ships sextant on these flights. The tall, very thin, dark auburn-haired and blue-eyed 43-year-old navigator was living in Los Angeles and he resigned from Pan Am because he felt he had risen through the ranks as far as he could as a navigator, and he had an interest in starting a navigation school. In March, he divorced his wife, Josie, in Ciudad Juárez, two weeks later, he married Mary Beatrice Martinelli of Oakland, California. Noonan was rumored to be a drinker of alcoholic beverages. That was fairly common during this era and there is no contemporary evidence Noonan was an alcoholic, although decades later and she planned to circumnavigate the globe at equatorial latitudes. Although this aircraft was of a type for its time
22.
Lockheed Model 12 Electra Junior
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A scaled-down version of the Lockheed Model 10 Electra, the Lockheed 12 was not popular as an airliner but was widely used as a corporate and government transport. Several were also used for testing new aviation technologies, after Lockheed had introduced its 10-passenger Model 10 Electra, the company decided to develop a smaller version which would be better suited as a feeder airliner or a corporate executive transport. At the same time, the U. S. Bureau of Air Commerce had also sensed the need for a feeder airliner. In order for a candidate to qualify for the competition, a prototype had to fly by June 30,1936, Lockheed based its candidate, which it named the Model 12 Electra Junior, around a smaller, improved version of the Electra airframe. It would carry six passengers and two pilots but would use the same 450 hp Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior SB radial engines as the main Electra version. This made it faster than the Electra, with a top speed of 225 mph at 5,000 ft, like the Electra, the Model 12 had an all-metal structure, trailing-edge wing flaps, low-drag NACA engine cowlings, and two-bladed controllable-pitch propellers. It also had the Electras twin tail fins and rudders, which were becoming a Lockheed trademark. As in the Electra and the Boeing 247, the Model 12s main wing spar passed through the passenger cabin, the cabin had a lavatory in the rear. Although the standard layout was for six passengers, Lockheed also offered roomier. The new transport had its first flight on June 27,1936, as it turned out, the other two competition entries, the Beechcraft Model 18 and the Barkley-Grow T8P-1, werent ready in time for the deadline, so Lockheed won by default. The Electra Junior name did not catch on in the way that the original Electras name had, most users simply referred to the aircraft by its model number, as the Lockheed 12. The original Lockheed 12 version, with Wasp Junior engines, was the Model 12A, almost every Lockheed 12 built was a 12A or derived from the 12A. There was also a Model 12B, using 440 hp Wright R-975-E3 Whirlwind radials, even though the Lockheed 12 had won the governments feeder airliner competition, the airlines mostly rejected it, and very few Lockheed 12s were used as airliners. One notable airline user was the newly renamed Continental Air Lines, another was British West Indian Airways Ltd. which flew the Lockheed 12 on Caribbean routes in the Lesser Antilles during the mid-1940s. The Lockheed 12 proved much more popular as a transport for company executives or government officials, oil and steel companies were among the major users. With the arrival of World War II, many civilian Lockheed 12s were requisitioned by the U. S. Army and Navy, Britains Royal Air Force, two civil Lockheed 12s ordered by British Airways Ltd. were actually intended for covert military espionage. The greatest military user of the Lockheed 12 was the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Force, the other 20 aircraft were transport versions based on the Model 212. Several Lockheed 12s were used as technology testbeds, the U. S. National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics bought two, adding a center vertical fin to each of them to improve their stability
23.
Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra
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The Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra, more commonly known as the Lockheed 14, was a civil passenger and cargo aircraft built by the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation during the late 1930s. An outgrowth of the earlier Model 10 Electra, the Model 14 was also developed into larger, more capable civil and military versions. The design, developed by a led by Don Palmer, was a scaled-up version of the original Model 10 Electra. It was intended to compete commercially with the contemporary Douglas DC-2, the first Model 14 flew on July 29,1937, piloted by Marshall Headle. Early 14s used the Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet engine, later the Wright R-1820 Cyclone 9 was offered as an option. Lockheed built a total of 114 Model 14s, another 119 were built under license in Japan by the Tachikawa Aircraft Company under the designation Tachikawa Type LO Transport Aircraft Thelma, Another 121 were built by Kawasaki Aircraft Company under the designation Kawasaki Type 1 cargo transporter. The type 1 cargos fuselage was lengthened by 1.4 m, in Japan during the late 1930s and early 1940s, in common with most large economies of the time, research was being conducted into pressurised cabins for high-altitude flight. The resulting research aircraft was given the long designation Tachikawa-Lockheed Type-B high altitude research aircraft, the first conversion was completed in May 1943, re-engined with 2x 810 kW Mitsubishi Ha-102 14-cylinder radial engines. The two conversions carried out a flight testing programme. The Model 14 entered commercial service with Northwest Airlines in the US in October 1937, Aircraft were exported for use by Aer Lingus of Ireland, British Airways and KLM of the Netherlands. This flight was carried out on one of the aircraft bought by LOT, manufactured by Lockheed in California. The crew took off from Burbank where these aircraft were manufactured, a poster celebrating the flight can be seen in a US Library of Congress/Matson Archive photo of the LOT/Imperial Airways Sales office in Jerusalem about 1939. The distance covered was of 15,441 mi and they flew across the South Atlantic to Dakar, Senegal, in Africa and then to Casablanca, Tunis, and then on to Rome, Italy. The final leg of the flight brought them to Warsaw, Poland, the flying time was 85 hours between 13 May and 5 June. The overflight of the Atlantic - from Natal to Dakar - lasted 11 hours and 10 minutes and this feat by Polish aviators marked the history of air communication on a world level. Howard Hughes flew a Super Electra on a global circumnavigation flight, with four crewmates, the Lockheed 14 took off from Floyd Bennett Field in New York on July 10,1938 at 5,20 PM. The flight, which circled the northern latitudes, passed through Paris, Moscow, Omsk, Yakutsk, Fairbanks, Alaska. The total distance flown was 14,672 mi and total time was 3 days,19 hours,17 minutes
24.
Lockheed Hudson
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The Hudson served throughout the war, mainly with Coastal Command but also in transport and training roles as well as delivering agents into occupied France. They were also used extensively with the Royal Canadian Air Forces anti-submarine squadrons, in late 1937 Lockheed sent a cutaway drawing of the Model 14 to various publications, showing the new aircraft as a civilian aircraft and converted to a light bomber. This attracted the interest of various air forces and in 1938, on 10 December 1938, Lockheed demonstrated a modified version of the Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra commercial airliner, which swiftly went into production as the Hudson Mk I. A total of 350 Mk I and 20 Mk II Hudsons were supplied and these had two fixed Browning machine guns in the nose and two more in the Boulton Paul dorsal turret. The Hudson Mk III added one ventral and two machine guns and replaced the 1,100 hp Wright Cyclone 9-cylinder radials with 1,200 hp versions. The Hudson Mk V and Mk VI were powered by the 1,200 hp Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp 14-cylinder two-row radial, the RAF also obtained 380 Mk IIIA and 30 Mk IV Hudsons under the Lend-Lease programme. By February 1939, RAF Hudsons began to be delivered, initially equipping No.224 Squadron RAF at RAF Leuchars, by the start of the war in September,78 Hudsons were in service. The Hudsons were supplied without the Boulton Paul dorsal turret, which was installed on arrival in the United Kingdom, although later outclassed by larger bombers, the Hudson achieved some significant feats during the first half of the war. On 8 October 1939, over Jutland, a Hudson became the first Allied aircraft operating from the British Isles to shoot down an enemy aircraft, Hudsons also provided top cover during the Battle of Dunkirk. On 27 August 1941, a Hudson of No, the Germans were taken prisoner and the submarine taken under tow when Royal Navy ships subsequently arrived on the scene. A PBO-1 Hudson of the United States Navy squadron VP-82 became the first US aircraft to destroy a German submarine, u-701 was destroyed on 7 July 1942 while running on the surface off Cape Hatteras by a Hudson of the 396th Bombardment Squadron, United States Army Air Forces. A Hudson of No.113 Squadron RCAF became the first aircraft of the RCAFs Eastern Air Command to sink a submarine, a Royal Australian Air Force Hudson was involved in the Canberra air disaster of 1940, in which three ministers of the Australian government were killed. In 1941, the USAAF began operating the Hudson, the Twin Wasp-powered variant was designated the A-28, the US Navy operated 20 A-28s, redesignated the PBO-1. A further 300 were built as trainers, designated the AT-18. Following Japanese attacks on Malaya, Hudsons from No, skilled and experienced pilots found that the Hudson had an exceptional manoeuvrability for a twin-engined aircraft, especially a tight turning circle if either engine was briefly feathered. Saburō Sakai, who would become among the highest-scoring Japanese aces of the war, praised the abilities of a lone. It was only after Sakai himself scored hits on the gun position that he was able to down the Hudson, its crew was killed. After skilled evasive manoeuvring at an altitude of less than 50 feet, by the Hudsons captain, Flying Officer George Gudsell, Hudsons were also operated by RAF Special Duties squadrons for clandestine operations, No.161 Squadron in Europe and No.357 Squadron in Burma
25.
Imperial Japanese Army
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The Imperial Japanese Army or IJA, literally Army of the Greater Japanese Empire, was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan, from 1871 to 1945. Later an Inspectorate General of Military Aviation became the agency with oversight of the army. During the Meiji Restoration, the forces loyal to Emperor Meiji were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist daimyōs of Satsuma. This central army, the Imperial Japanese Army, became even more essential after the abolition of the han system in 1871. One of the differences between the samurai and the peasant class was the right to bear arms, this ancient privilege was suddenly extended to every male in the nation. In 1878, the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office, based on the German General Staff, was established directly under the Emperor and was given broad powers for military planning and strategy. The Japanese invasion of Taiwan under Qing rule in 1874 was an expedition by Japanese military forces in response to the Mudan Incident of December 1871. The Paiwan people, who are indigenous peoples of Taiwan, murdered 54 crewmembers of a merchant vessel from the Ryukyu Kingdom on the southwestern tip of Taiwan. 12 men were rescued by the local Chinese-speaking community and were transferred to Miyako-jima in the Ryukyu Islands and it marked the first overseas deployment of the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy. Not surprisingly, the new led to a series of riots from disgruntled samurai. One of the riots, led by Saigō Takamori, was the Satsuma Rebellion. Thenceforth, the military existed in an intimate and privileged relationship with the imperial institution, top-ranking military leaders were given direct access to the Emperor and the authority to transmit his pronouncements directly to the troops. The sympathetic relationship between conscripts and officers, particularly junior officers who were mostly from the peasantry, tended to draw the military closer to the people. In time, most people came to look more for guidance in matters more to military than to political leaders. By the 1890s, the Imperial Japanese Army had grown to become the most modern army in Asia, well-trained, well-equipped, however, it was basically an infantry force deficient in cavalry and artillery when compared with its European contemporaries. The Sino-Japanese War would come to symbolize the weakness of the military of the Qing dynasty and this was the result by Japans 120, 000-strong western-style conscript army of two armies and five divisions, which was well-equipped and well-trained when compared with their Qing counterparts. The Treaty of Shimonoseki made the Qing defeat official, with a shift in regional dominance in Asia from China to Japan. In 1899–1900, Boxer attacks against foreigners in China intensified eventually resulting in the siege of the legations in Beijing
26.
Kelly Johnson (engineer)
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Clarence Leonard Kelly Johnson was an American aeronautical and systems engineer. He is recognized for his contributions to a series of important aircraft designs, most notably the Lockheed U-2, as a member and first team leader of the Lockheed Skunk Works, Johnson worked for more than four decades and is said to have been an organizing genius. Hall Hibbard, Johnsons Lockheed boss, referring to Johnsons Swedish ancestry once remarked to Ben Rich, Johnson also helped to design the Lockheed AQM-60 Kingfisher a decade before the famous SR-71. The Kingfisher was a successful single engine Mach 4.3 capable Ramjet composed mainly of steel. The information and experience Johnson gained was used to produce the A-12 spy plane for the Central Intelligence Agency. Johnson then used the knowledge of the Kingfisher and A-12 to produce the SR-71 Blackbird. Kelly Johnson was born in the mining town of Ishpeming. His parents were Swedish, from the city of Malmö, county of Scania, Kelly was ashamed of his familys poverty, and vowed to return one day in prominence. Johnson was 13 years old when he won a prize for his first aircraft design, while attending grade school in Michigan, he was ridiculed for his name, Clarence. Some boys started calling him Clara, one morning while waiting in line to get into a classroom, one boy started with the normal routine of calling him Clara. Johnson tripped him so hard the boy broke a leg, the boys then decided that he was not a Clara after all, and started calling him Kelly. The nickname came from the song at the time, Kelly With the Green Neck Tie. Henceforth he was known as Kelly Johnson. In 1937, Johnson married Althea Louise Young, who worked in Lockheeds accounting department, in May 1971, he married his secretary Maryellen Elberta Meade of New York, she died after a long illness on October 13,1980, aged 46. He married Meades friend Nancy Powers Horrigan in November 1980 and his autobiography, titled Kelly, More Than My Share of it All, was published in 1985. Johnson died at the age of 80 at St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank after an illness that lasted for several years. He is buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery, Los Angeles, California, at the University of Michigan, Johnson conducted wind tunnel tests of Lockheeds proposed twin-engined Lockheed Model 10 Electra airliner. He found that the aircraft did not have directional stability
27.
Lockheed P-38 Lightning
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The Lockheed P-38 Lightning is a World War II-era American piston-engined fighter aircraft. Developed to a United States Army Air Corps requirement, the P-38 had distinctive twin booms, Allied propaganda claimed it had been nicknamed the fork-tailed devil by the Luftwaffe and two planes, one pilot by the Japanese. In the South West Pacific theater, the P-38 was the primary fighter of United States Army Air Forces until the appearance of large numbers of P-51D Mustangs. The P-38 was unusually quiet for a fighter, the exhaust muffled by the turbo-superchargers and it was extremely forgiving and could be mishandled in many ways but the rate of roll in the early versions was too slow for it to excel as a dogfighter. The P-38 was the only American fighter aircraft in production throughout American involvement in the war, at the end of the war, orders for 1,887 more were cancelled. Lockheed designed the P-38 in response to a February 1937 specification from the United States Army Air Corps, Kelsey was looking for a minimum of 1,000 lb of armament. Kelsey and Saville aimed to get a capable fighter, better at dog-fighting. Specifications called for a maximum airspeed of at least 360 mph at altitude, and a climb to 20,000 ft within six minutes, the unbuilt Vultee XP1015 was designed to the same requirement, but was not advanced enough to merit further investigation. A similar single-engine proposal was issued at the time, Circular Proposal X-609. Both proposals required liquid-cooled Allison V-1710 engines with turbo-superchargers and gave points for tricycle landing gear. The Lockheed team chose twin booms to accommodate the tail assembly, engines, the XP-38 gondola mockup was designed to mount two. 50-caliber M2 Browning machine guns with 200 rounds per gun, two. In the YP-38s, a 37 mm M9 autocannon with 15 rounds replaced the T1, the 15 rounds were in three five-round clips, an unsatisfactory arrangement according to Kelsey, and the M9 did not perform reliably in flight. Further armament experiments from March to June 1941 resulted in the P-38E combat configuration of four M2 Browning machine guns, and one Hispano 20 mm autocannon with 150 rounds. Clustering all the armament in the nose was unusual in U. S. aircraft, nose-mounted guns did not suffer from having their useful ranges limited by pattern convergence, meaning that good pilots could shoot much farther. A Lightning could reliably hit targets at any range up to 1,000 yd, whereas the wing guns of other fighters were optimized for a specific range. The rate of fire was about 650 rounds per minute for the 20×110 mm cannon round at a velocity of about 2,887 ft/s. Combined rate of fire was over 4,000 rpm with roughly every sixth projectile a 20 mm shell, the duration of sustained firing for the 20 mm cannon and. 50-caliber machine guns was approximately 14 seconds and 35 seconds, respectively. The P-38 was the first American fighter to make use of stainless steel and smooth
28.
Twin-boom aircraft
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A twin-boom aircraft is characterised by two longitudinal booms fixed to its main wing on either side of its centre line. The booms may contain items such as fuel tanks and/or provide a supporting structure for external ancillary items. Typically, twin tailbooms provide mounting points for one or more tail surfaces, the twin-boom configuration is distinct from twin-fuselage designs. The twin-boom configuration allows a door or large access door to be placed in the back of the aircraft. Examples include the C-82 Packet, C-119 Flying Boxcar, Armstrong Whitworth AW.660 Argosy, IAI Arava, examples include the Rutan Voyager, Rutan Model 72 Grizzly and the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer
29.
Attack on Pearl Harbor
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The attack, also known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor, led to the United States entry into World War II. The Japanese military leadership referred to the attack as the Hawaii Operation and Operation AI, Japan intended the attack as a preventive action to keep the U. S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions they planned in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States. Over the next seven hours there were coordinated Japanese attacks on the U. S. -held Philippines, Guam and Wake Island and on the British Empire in Malaya, Singapore, the attack commenced at 7,48 a. m. The base was attacked by 353 Imperial Japanese fighter planes, bombers, all eight U. S. Navy battleships were damaged, with four sunk. All but the USS Arizona were later raised, and six were returned to service, the Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer. 188 U. S. aircraft were destroyed,2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 others were wounded. Important base installations such as the station, shipyard, maintenance. Japanese losses were light,29 aircraft and five midget submarines lost, one Japanese sailor, Kazuo Sakamaki, was captured. The surprise attack came as a shock to the American people. The following day, December 8, the United States declared war on Japan, the U. S. responded with a declaration of war against Germany and Italy. Domestic support for non-interventionism, which had been fading since the Fall of France in 1940, Roosevelt to proclaim December 7,1941, a date which will live in infamy. Because the attack happened without a declaration of war and without explicit warning, over the next decade, Japan continued to expand into China, leading to all-out war between those countries in 1937. Japan spent considerable effort trying to isolate China and achieve sufficient resource independence to attain victory on the mainland, from December 1937, events such as the Japanese attack on USS Panay, the Allison incident, and the Nanking Massacre swung public opinion in the West sharply against Japan. Fearing Japanese expansion, the United States, the United Kingdom, in 1940, Japan invaded French Indochina in an effort to control supplies reaching China. The United States halted shipments of airplanes, parts, machine tools, and aviation gasoline to Japan, an invasion of the Philippines was also considered necessary by Japanese war planners. War Plan Orange had envisioned defending the Philippines with a 40 and this was opposed by Douglas MacArthur, who felt that he would need a force ten times that size, and was never implemented. By 1941, U. S. planners anticipated abandonment of the Philippines at the outbreak of war and orders to that effect were given in late 1941 to Admiral Thomas Hart, commander of the Asiatic Fleet
30.
Victory over Japan Day
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Victory over Japan Day is the day on which the Empire of Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect ending the war. August 15 is the official V-J Day for the UK, while the official U. S. commemoration is September 2, the name, V-J Day, had been selected by the Allies after they named V-E Day for the victory in Europe. On September 2,1945, a surrender ceremony was performed in Tokyo Bay, Japan. In Japan, August 15 usually is known as the day for the end of the war. This official name was adopted in 1982 by an issued by the Japanese government. On 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima, on August 9, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan. The Japanese government on August 10 communicated its intention to surrender under the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, the news of the Japanese offer, however, was enough to begin early celebrations around the world. Allied soldiers in London danced in a line on Regent Street. Americans and Frenchmen in Paris paraded on the Champs-Elysées singing Dont Fence Me In, American soldiers in Berlin shouted Its over in the Pacific, and hoped that they would now not be transferred there to fight the Japanese. Germans stated that the Japanese were wise enough to—unlike themselves—give up in a hopeless situation, moscow newspapers briefly reported on the atomic bombings with no commentary of any kind. While Russians and foreigners alike could hardly talk about anything else, in Chungking, Chinese fired firecrackers and almost buried in gratitude. In Manila, residents sang God Bless America, on Tinian island, B-29 crews preparing for their next mission over Japan were told that it was cancelled, but that they could not celebrate because it might be rescheduled. S. President Harry S Truman via the Swiss diplomatic mission in Washington, a nationwide broadcast by Truman was aired at seven oclock p. m. on August 14 announcing the communication and that the formal event was scheduled for September 2. In his announcement of Japans surrender on August 14, Truman said that the proclamation of V-J Day must wait upon the signing of the surrender terms by Japan. In Australia, the name V-P Day was used from the outset, the Canberra Times of August 14,1945, refers to VP Day celebrations, and a public holiday for VP Day was gazetted by the government in that year according to the Australian War Memorial. In Washington, D. C. a crowd attempted to break into the White House grounds as they shouted We want Harry, in San Francisco two women jumped naked into a pond at the Civic Center to soldiers cheers. The largest crowd in the history of New York Citys Times Square gathered to celebrate. S, in the Garment District, workers threw out cloth scraps and ticker tape, leaving a pile five inches deep on the streets. A coast-to-coast frenzy of kissing occurred, with Life publishing photographs of such kisses in Washington, Kansas City, Los Angeles, one of the best-known kisses that day appeared in V-J Day in Times Square, one of the most famous photographs ever published by Life
31.
U.S. Army Air Forces
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Each of these forces had a commanding general who reported directly to the Army Chief of Staff. S. Army to control its own installations and support personnel, the peak size of the AAF during the Second World War was over 2.4 million men and women in service and nearly 80,000 aircraft by 1944, and 783 domestic bases in December 1943. By V-E Day, the Army Air Forces had 1.25 million men stationed overseas, in its expansion and conduct of the war, the AAF became more than just an arm of the greater organization. By the end of World War II, the Army Air Forces had become virtually an independent service and this contrast between theory and fact is. fundamental to an understanding of the AAF. Gen. Billy Mitchell that led to his later court-martial, a strategy stressing precision bombing of industrial targets by heavily armed, long-range bombers emerged, formulated by the men who would become its leaders. Since 1920, control of units had resided with commanders of the corps areas. Both were created in 1933 when a conflict with Cuba seemed possible following a coup détat. Activation of GHQ Air Force represented a compromise between strategic airpower advocates and ground force commanders who demanded that the Air Corps mission remain tied to that of the land forces. GHQ Air Force organized combat groups administratively into a force of three wings deployed to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts but was small in comparison to European air forces. Corps area commanders continued to control over airfields and administration of personnel. The expected activation of Army General Headquarters prompted Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall to request a study from Chief of the Air Corps Maj. Gen. Henry H. Arnold resulting on 5 October 1940 in a proposal for creation of an air staff, unification of the air arm under one commander, and equality with the ground and supply forces. Marshall implemented a compromise that the Air Corps found entirely inadequate, naming Arnold as acting Deputy Chief of Staff for Air but rejecting all organizational points of his proposal. GHQ Air Force instead was assigned to the control of Army General Headquarters, although the latter was a training and not an operational component, when it was activated in November 1940. A division of the GHQ Air Force into four air defense districts on 19 October 1940 was concurrent with the creation of air forces to defend Hawaii. The air districts were converted in March 1941 into numbered air forces with an organization of 54 groups. Marshall had come to the view that the air forces needed a simpler system, Arnold and Marshall agreed that the AAF would enjoy a general autonomy within the War Department until the end of the war, while its commanders would cease lobbying for independence. Marshall, a proponent of airpower, left understood that the Air Force would likely achieve its independence following the war
32.
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
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Isoroku Yamamoto was a Japanese Marshal Admiral of the Navy and the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet during World War II until his death. Yamamoto held several important posts in the Imperial Japanese Navy, and undertook many of its changes and reorganizations and he was the commander-in-chief during the decisive early years of the Pacific War, so was responsible for major battles such as Pearl Harbor and Midway. He died when American code breakers identified his flight plans and his plane was shot down and his death was a major blow to Japanese military morale during World War II. Yamamoto was born Isoroku Takano in Nagaoka, Niigata and his father was Sadayoshi Takano, an intermediate-rank samurai of the Nagaoka Domain. Isoroku is an old Japanese term meaning 56, the referred to his fathers age at Isorokus birth. In 1916, Isoroku was adopted into the Yamamoto family and took the Yamamoto name and it was a common practice for samurai families lacking sons to adopt suitable young men in this fashion to carry on the family name, the rank and the income that comes with it. In 1918 Isoroku married Reiko Mihashi, with whom he had two sons and two daughters, after graduating from the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1904, Yamamoto served on the armored cruiser Nisshin during the Russo-Japanese War. He was wounded at the Battle of Tsushima, losing two fingers on his hand, as the cruiser was hit repeatedly by the Russian battle line. He returned to the Naval Staff College in 1914, emerging as a lieutenant commander in 1916, Yamamoto was part of the Japanese Navy establishment, who were rivals of the more aggressive army establishment, especially the officers of the Kwantung Army. This stance led him to oppose the invasion of China and he also opposed war against the United States partly because of his studies at Harvard University and his two postings as a naval attaché in Washington, D. C. where he learned to speak fluent English. Yamamoto traveled extensively in the United States during his tour of duty there and he was promoted to captain in 1923. On February 13,1924, at the rank of captain, later that year, he changed his specialty from gunnery to naval aviation. His first command was the cruiser Isuzu in 1928, followed by the aircraft carrier Akagi, Yamamoto was a strong proponent of naval aviation, and served as head of the Aeronautics Department before accepting a post as commander of the First Carrier Division. Yamamoto opposed the invasion of Manchuria in 1931, the subsequent land war with China, as Deputy Navy Minister, he apologized to United States Ambassador Joseph C. Grew for the bombing of the gunboat USS Panay in December 1937 and these issues made him a target of assassination threats by pro-war militarists. Yamamoto received a stream of hate mail and death threats from Japanese nationalists. His reaction to the prospect of death by assassination was passive, the admiral wrote, To die for Emperor and Nation is the highest hope of a military man. After a brave hard fight the blossoms are scattered on the fighting field, but if a person wants to take a life instead, still the fighting man will go to eternity for Emperor and country
33.
Assembly line
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Assembly lines are common methods of assembling complex items such as automobiles and other transportation equipment, household appliances and electronic goods. Assembly lines are designed for the organization of workers, tools or machines. The motion of workers is minimized to the extent possible, all parts or assemblies are handled either by conveyors or motorized vehicles such as fork lifts, or gravity, with no manual trucking. Heavy lifting is done by such as overhead cranes or fork lifts. Each worker typically performs one simple operation, use sliding assembling lines by which the parts to be assembled are delivered at convenient distances. Consider the assembly of a car, assume that certain steps in the line are to install the engine, install the hood. In traditional production, only one car would be assembled at a time, if engine installation takes 20 minutes, hood installation takes five minutes, and wheels installation takes 10 minutes, then a car can be produced every 35 minutes. In an assembly line, car assembly is split between several stations, all working simultaneously, when one station is finished with a car, it passes it on to the next. By having three stations, a total of three different cars can be operated on at the time, each one at a different stage of its assembly. After finishing its work on the first car, the installation crew can begin working on the second car. While the engine installation crew works on the car, the first car can be moved to the hood station and fitted with a hood, then to the wheels station. After the engine has been installed on the car, the second car moves to the hood assembly. At the same time, the car moves to the engine assembly. When the third car’s engine has been mounted, it then can be moved to the station, meanwhile. Before the Industrial Revolution, most manufactured products were made individually by hand, a single craftsman or team of craftsmen would create each part of a product. They would use their skills and tools such as files and knives to create the individual parts and they would then assemble them into the final product, making cut-and-try changes in the parts until they fit and could work together. Adam Smith discussed the division of labour in the manufacture of pins at length in his book The Wealth of Nations, the Venetian Arsenal, dating to about 1104, operated similar to a production line. Ships moved down a canal and were fitted by the various shops they passed, although the Venice Arsenal lasted until the early Industrial Revolution, production line methods did not become common even then
34.
Vega Aircraft Corporation
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The Vega Aircraft Corporation was a subsidiary of the Lockheed Aircraft Company responsible for much of its parent companys production in World War II. The company was first formed in August 1937 as the AiRover Company to produce a new aircraft design. It was soon renamed to honor Lockheeds first aircraft design, the Vega, the AiRover Model 1 was a Lockheed Model 9 Orion fitted with a Unitwin engine, which featured two engines driving a single shaft. The AiRover Model 2 was a new design named the Vega Starliner, one Starliner prototype was built and tested, but the design did not go into production. In 1940, with World War II already underway in Europe, the company began by producing five North American NA-35 trainers under license with North American Aviation. Production by Vega really got underway with the Hudson, a patrol bomber designed for use by the Royal Air Force, Vega entered a partnership between three companies to produce the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. Of over 12,000 B-17s produced by wars end,2,750 were built by Vega, the company also built two experimental B-17 variants, the Boeing XB-38 Flying Fortress and the Boeing YB-40 Flying Fortress. By the end of 1943, Vega had merged back into Lockheed, Aircraft designs produced by the Vega Aircraft Corporation during its existence as a subsidiary of the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, Francillon, René J, Lockheed Aircraft since 1913
35.
Lockheed Ventura
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The Lockheed Ventura is a twin engine medium bomber of World War II, used by United States and British Commonwealth forces in several guises, including maritime patrol. The Ventura was developed from the Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar transport, used in daylight attacks against occupied Europe, they proved to have weaknesses and were removed from bomber duty and some used for patrols by Coastal Command. After United States Army Air Forces monopolization of land-based bombers was removed, the Ventura was very similar to its predecessor, the Lockheed Hudson. The primary difference was not in layout, rather, the Ventura was larger and heavier than the Hudson, the RAF ordered 188 Venturas in February 1940. They were delivered from mid-1942 onwards, Venturas were initially used for daylight raids on occupied Europe. Like some other RAF bombers, they proved too vulnerable without fighter escorts and they were replaced in this role by the very fast de Havilland Mosquito. The Venturas were gradually transferred to patrol duties with Coastal Command,30 went to the RCAF, the RAF placed a further order for 487 Ventura Mark IIs, but many of these were diverted to USAAF service. The USAAF placed its own order for 200 Ventura Mark IIA, in August 1941, large orders for Venturas were placed with Lend-Lease Act money. Among the orders were for 550 armed reconnaissance versions of the Ventura and this aircraft was originally planned to be built under the designation O-56. The main differences between the Ventura and the O-56 were in the engines, rather than the 2,000 hp Pratt & Whitney R-2800 radials of the Ventura, the O-56 used 1,700 hp Wright R-2600-13 radials. Before completion of the first O-56, the U. S. Army Air Forces dropped the O- category used to designate observation aircraft, the O-56 was redesignated the RB-34B. Before the first of these flew, the design was redesignated again as the B-37 with a powered version of the R-2600. The PV-1 Ventura, built by the Vega Aircraft Company division of Lockheed, was a version of the Ventura built for the U. S. Navy. The main differences between the PV-1 and the B-34 were the inclusion of special equipment in the PV-1, adapting it to its patrol bombing role. The maximum fuel capacity of the PV-1 was increased from 1,345 gal to 1,607 gal, to increase its range, the most important addition was of an ASD-1 search radar. Early production PV-1s still carried a bombardiers station behind the radome, with four side windows. Late production PV-1s dispensed with this position and replaced it with a pack with three 0.50 in machine guns underneath the nose. These aircraft could carry eight 5 in HVAR rockets on launchers underneath the wings
36.
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
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The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engine heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps. Competing against Douglas and Martin for a contract to build 200 bombers, although Boeing lost the contract because the prototype crashed, the air corps ordered 13 more B-17s for further evaluation. From its introduction in 1938, the B-17 Flying Fortress evolved through numerous design advances, the B-17 was primarily employed by the United States Army Air Forces in the daylight strategic bombing campaign of World War II against German industrial and military targets. The B-17 also participated to an extent in the War in the Pacific, early in World War II. From its prewar inception, the USAAC promoted the aircraft as a weapon, it was a relatively fast, high-flying. It developed a reputation for toughness based upon stories and photos of badly damaged B-17s safely returning to base, the B-17 developed a reputation as an effective bomber, dropping more bombs than any other U. S. aircraft in World War II. Of the 1.5 million tonnes of bombs dropped on Germany, in addition to its role as a bomber, the B-17 was also employed as a transport, antisubmarine aircraft, drone controller, and search-and-rescue aircraft. As of May 2015, ten aircraft remain airworthy, none of them are combat veterans. Dozens more are in storage or on static display, the oldest of these is a D-series veteran of combat in the Pacific and the Caribbean. On 8 August 1934, the U. S. Army Air Corps tendered a proposal for a bomber to replace the Martin B-10. The air corps was looking for a capable of reinforcing the air forces in Hawaii, Panama. Requirements were that it would carry a useful bombload at an altitude of 10,000 ft for ten hours with a top speed of at least 200 mph. They also desired, but did not require, a range of 2,000 mi, the competition for the air corps contract would be decided by a fly-off between Boeings design, the Douglas DB-1, and the Martin Model 146 at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio. The prototype B-17, with the Boeing factory designation of Model 299, was designed by a team of engineers led by E. Gifford Emery and Edward Curtis Wells and it combined features of the experimental Boeing XB-15 bomber with the Boeing 247 transport aircraft. The B-17s armament consisted of up to 4,800 lb of bombs on two racks in the bay behind the cockpit, and initially possessed five.30 caliber machine guns. It was powered by four Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet radial engines each producing 750 hp at 7,000 ft, the first flight of the Model 299 was on 28 July 1935 with Boeing chief test-pilot Leslie Tower at the controls. Richard Williams, a reporter for the Seattle Times, coined the name Flying Fortress with his comment, Why, when the Model 299 was rolled out bristling with multiple machine gun installations. The most unusual gun emplacement was the installation which allowed the single machine gun to be fired toward almost any frontal angle
37.
Boeing
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The Boeing Company is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, and satellites worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support services, Boeing stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The Boeing Companys corporate headquarters are located in Chicago and the company is led by President, Boeing is organized into five primary divisions, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Boeing Defense, Space & Security, Engineering, Operations & Technology, Boeing Capital, and Boeing Shared Services Group. Boeing bought Heaths shipyard in Seattle on the Duwamish River, which became his first airplane factory. Boeing was incorporated in Seattle by William Boeing, on July 15,1916, Boeing was later incorporated in Delaware, the original Certificate of Incorporation was filed with the Secretary of State of Delaware on July 19,1934. Boeing, who studied at Yale University, worked initially in the timber industry and this knowledge proved invaluable in his subsequent design and assembly of airplanes. The company stayed in Seattle to take advantage of the supply of spruce wood. William Boeing founded his company a few months after the June 15 maiden flight of one of the two B&W seaplanes built with the assistance of George Conrad Westervelt, a U. S. Navy engineer. Boeing and Westervelt decided to build the B&W seaplane after having flown in a Curtiss aircraft, Boeing bought a Glenn Martin Flying Birdcage seaplane and was taught to fly by Glenn Martin himself. Boeing soon crashed the Birdcage and when Martin informed Boeing that replacement parts would not become available for months, Westervelt agreed to build a better airplane and soon produced the B&W Seaplane. This first Boeing airplane was assembled in a hangar located on the northeast shore of Seattles Lake Union. Many of Boeings early planes were seaplanes, on April 6,1917, the U. S. declared War on Germany and later in the year entered World War I. On May 9,1917, the became the Boeing Airplane Company. With the U. S. entering the war, Boeing knew that the U. S. Navy needed seaplanes for training, so Boeing shipped two new Model Cs to Pensacola, Florida, where the planes were flown for the Navy. The Navy liked the Model C and ordered 50 more, the company moved its operations to a larger former shipbuilding facility known as Boeing Plant 1, located on the lower Duwamish River, Washington state. Others, including Boeing, started selling other products, Boeing built dressers, counters, and furniture, along with flat-bottom boats called Sea Sleds. In 1919 the Boeing B-1, flying boat made its first flight and it accommodated one pilot and two passengers and some mail. Over the course of eight years, it made international airmail flights from Seattle to Victoria, on May 24,1920, the Boeing Model 8 made its first flight
38.
Lockheed L-049 Constellation
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The Lockheed L-049 Constellation was the first model of the Lockheed Constellation aircraft line. It entered service as the C-69 military transport aircraft during World War II for the United States Army Air Forces and was the first civilian version after the war, when production ended in 1946 it was replaced by the improved L-649 and L-749 Constellation. In June 1939, Howard Hughes, the owner of Transcontinental & Western Air, Jack Frye attended along with three executives from the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation which included designer Clarence Kelly Johnson. During the meeting Hughes expressed his concerns for what he called the airliner of the future, Lockheeds airliner under development at the time, the L-044 Excalibur, did not meet the requirements. When the meeting ended with Hughes and Frye, the executives immediately started on improving the Excalibur to meet Hughes expectations, one idea was to use the Wright R-2600 radials in place of the proposed Wright GR-1820 radials. It was decided instead to start from scratch using some original characteristics of the Excalibur, the design was lengthened from 74 ft 3 in to 95 ft 9 in and the wingspan was increased to 102 ft 4 in. Six different layouts of the cockpit envisaged, including a Bug-Eye proposal in which the pilot and co-pilot would sit in separate domes next to each other, in the end, it was decided to use a single curvature design with all-around glazing. Three weeks later, the new design was presented in a different meeting, the design was given the designation L-049 or Excalibur A. The wings of the aircraft were similar to those used by the P-38 Lightning fighter, the aircraft was to be powered by four Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone radials with the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 as the back-up. Re-designed, the Excalibur was to be priced at $450,000, since TWA was unable to provide funding, Howard Hughes had his other company, the Hughes Tool Company, fund the construction of the airliner. Hughes ordered 40 Excaliburs on July 10,1940, making the order the largest in history at the time. The development was to be kept a secret until the 35th aircraft was delivered to TWA and this was done in order to keep competitors such as Juan Trippes Pan American World Airways from ordering the aircraft and competing with TWA. The secret was well kept. When Hughes was brought in to look at a mock up of the Excaliburs cabin, he was not pleased with the outcome. Hughes later had Raymond Loewy redesign the cabin to his liking, a complete life sized mock up of the Excalibur was eventually constructed with battery operated retractable landing gear. The gear mechanisms were tested on the mock up for design validation before production began, the powerplant itself was tested on a PV-1 Ventura which was nicknamed Vent-ellation for the occasion. The name Excalibur was later dropped as the new aircraft had nothing in common with the original L-044 design, the name Constellation was picked up as an unofficial nickname until the intervention of the military. Lockheed had done pressurization in an aircraft before, with the Lockheed XC-35, a few months before the United States entered World War II, the Wartime Production Board inspected Lockheeds Burbank facility which housed the Constellation prototype
39.
Trans World Airlines
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Trans World Airlines was a major American airline from 1924 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with Ford Trimotors. With American, United, and Eastern, it was one of the Big Four domestic airlines in the United States formed by the Spoils Conference of 1930. Hughes gave up control in the 1960s, and the new management of TWA acquired Hilton International and Century 21 in an attempt to diversify the companys business. As the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 led to a wave of airline failures, start-ups, Carl Icahn acquired control of TWA and took the company private in a leveraged buyout in 1988. TWA became saddled with debt, sold its London routes, underwent Chapter 11 restructuring in 1992 and 1995, in 2001, TWA filed for a third and final bankruptcy and was acquired by American Airlines. American laid off many former TWA employees in the wake of the September 11,2001 attacks and closed its St. Louis hub in 2003. TWA was headquartered at one time in Kansas City, Missouri, and planned to make Kansas City International Airport its main domestic and international hub, the airline later developed its largest hub at Lambert-St. Its main trans-Atlantic hub was the TWA Flight Center at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, TWAs corporate history dates from the July 16,1930, forced merger of Transcontinental Air Transport and Western Air Express to form Transcontinental & Western Air. The companies merged at the urging of Postmaster General Walter Folger Brown, both airlines brought high-profile aviation pioneers who would give the airline the panache of being called The Airline Run by Flyers. The airlines were known for years as being on the cutting edge of aviation. Transcontinental, the bigger of the two, had the expertise of Charles Lindbergh and was already offering a 48-hour combination of plane. Western, which was older, having been founded in 1925, had the expertise of Jack Frye. On October 25,1930, the airline offered one of the first all-plane scheduled service from coast to coast, the route took 36 hours and initially called for overnights in Kansas City. In summer 1931, TWA moved its headquarters from New York to Kansas City, investigation revealed that the wings wooden structure had deteriorated. In the wake of the crash, the Fokker F.10 was temporarily grounded, the F. 10s public image, and that of all wooden-structured aircraft, suffered badly from the crash. The dominant manufacturer of the day was Bill Boeing, but his contract with United Air Lines did not allow him to sell his 247 to competing lines, Frye and other members of TWA approached several other manufacturers, including Donald Douglas, with specifications for a larger plane. On September 20,1932, the contract was signed with Douglas and the DC-1 was delivered to TWA in December 1933 and this was followed by the delivery of 32 Douglas DC-2s that started operations in May 1934
40.
Pima Air & Space Museum
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The Pima Air & Space Museum, located in Tucson, Arizona, is one of the worlds largest non-government funded aerospace museums. The museum features a display of nearly 300 aircraft spread out over 80 acres on a campus occupying 127 acres and it is also, since 1991, home to the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame. The museum is adjacent to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, bus tours of the boneyard leave from the museum several times a day from Monday to Friday, except Federal holidays. The nearby Titan Missile Museum is located about 20 miles south of Tucson in Green Valley off of Interstate 19, tours of the above-ground and underground installations around the missile are conducted daily. More extensive top to bottom tours take up to five hours and are conducted several times each month, reservations required for top to bottom tour. Both museums are overseen by the Arizona Aerospace Foundation and are governed by the Board of Trustees and they are non-profit 5013 organization that relies on visitors paying admissions, for trams and AMARG tours, as well as what they spend in the Museum stores. They also rely on memberships and contracted events to pay to restore and acquire exhibits, on display outside 11 Aug 2016 McDonnell FH Phantom FH-1 Phantom. On display inside 5 Aug 2016 Consolidated PBY Catalina, on display inside Hangar 5 Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer
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Lockheed R6V Constitution
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Only two of the aircraft were ever built, both prototypes. Although these two planes went into service with the Navy, the Constitution design ultimately proved underpowered and too large for practical use at the time. Although the Martin JRM Mars flying boat had a longer wingspan. The Lockheed Constitution began life in 1942 as a joint study by the U. S. Navy, Pan Am, the design requirements, initially designated Lockheed Model 89, called for a large transport aircraft to improve upon the Navys fleet of flying boats. Pan Am was involved in the study such a aircraft had potential use as a commercial airliner. This transport would carry 17,500 lb pounds of cargo 5,000 miles at an altitude of 25,000 feet. The aircraft would be fully pressurized and large enough so that most major components could be accessed, for instance, tunnels led through the thick wings to all four engines. The aircraft was designed by a team of engineers led by Willis Hawkins and W. A. Pulver of Lockheed and Commander E. L. Simpson, the name Constitution was given to the project by Lockheed president Robert E. Gross. The Constitution design had a double bubble fuselage, the section of which was a figure eight. This unorthodox design, originally created in 1937 by Curtiss-Wrights chief aircraft designer George A, the original contract from the Bureau of Aeronautics called for 50 Constitutions for a total price tag of $111,250,000. On VJ Day, however, the contract was scaled back to $27,000,000 for only two aircraft, the first Constitution, BuNo 85163, was built in the summer of 1946 at the Lockheed plant in Burbank, California. Due to the aircrafts large size—the tail towered 50 feet —Lockheed had to build a hangar for final assembly. The hangar, Lockheed-Californias Building 309, measured 408 ft long,302 ft wide, the footprint of the hangar covered 4 acres. The R6O made its first flight on 9 November 1946, powered by interim 3,000 hp R-4360-18 radials, joe Towle and Tony LeVier flew the aircraft on a leisurely course to Muroc Air Force Base. Once there, the aircraft underwent a carefully documented test program, at this time, electronic data recording technology was not well developed, so instrument readings were recorded by a movie camera pointed at the instrument panel. Additional movie cameras were carried to record test results, the first Constitution made a nonstop flight from NAS Moffett Field, California to NAS Patuxent River, Maryland on 25 July 1948, a distance of 2,460 mi. The pilot for the flight was Commander William Collins, USN, four days later, the ship was formally christened by Mrs. John L. Sullivan, wife of the Secretary of the Navy, at Washington National Airport. The first test flights revealed that the aircraft was underpowered so the engines were changed for 3,500 hp R-4360-22-W engines, the R6O also tested assisted takeoffs with six rockets mounted on the wings near the fuselage
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Skunk Works
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Skunk Works is an official alias for Lockheed Martins Advanced Development Programs, formerly called Lockheed Advanced Development Projects. The name Skunk Works was taken from the factory in the comic strip Lil Abner. There are conflicting observations about the birth of Skunk Works, Ben Rich and Kelly Johnson set the origin as June 1943 in Burbank, California, they relate essentially the same chronology in their autobiographies. Theirs is the official Lockheed Skunk Works story, The Air Tactical Service Command of the Army Air Force met with Lockheed Aircraft Corporation to express its need for a jet fighter. A rapidly growing German jet threat gave Lockheed an opportunity to develop an airframe around the most powerful jet engine that the forces had access to. Lockheed was chosen to develop the jet because of its past interest in jet development, one month after the ATSC and Lockheed meeting, the young engineer Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson and other associate engineers hand delivered the initial XP-80 proposal to the ATSC. Two days later the go-ahead was given to Lockheed to start development, the formal contract for the XP-80 did not arrive at Lockheed until October 16,1943, some four months after work had already begun. This would prove to be a practice within the Skunk Works. Many times a customer would come to the Skunk Works with a request and on a handshake the project would begin, no contracts in place, Kelly Johnson and his Skunk Works team designed and built the XP-80 in only 143 days, seven less than was required. Warren M. Kelsey to build for the United States Army Air Corps a high speed, Kelly Johnson set them apart from the rest of the factory in a walled-off section of one building, off limits to all but those involved directly. As a result, the XP-38 was the first 400 mph fighter in the world, when the Army Air Forces officially asked for a range extension solution it was ready. Some of the group of independent-minded engineers were involved with the XP-80 project. Mary G. Ross, the first Native American female engineer, was among the 40 founding engineers. In 1955, the Skunk Works received a contract from the CIA to build a spyplane known as the U-2 with the intention of flying over the Soviet Union and photographing sites of strategic interest. The U-2 was tested at Groom Lake in the Nevada desert, the first overflight took place on July 41956. The U-2 ceased overflights when Francis Gary Powers was shot down during a mission on May 1,1960, the Skunk Works had predicted that the U-2 would have a limited operational life over the Soviet Union. In late 1959, the Skunk Works received a contract to build five A-12 aircraft at a cost of $96 million, Building a Mach 3. 0+ aircraft out of titanium posed enormous difficulties, and the first flight did not occur until 1962. Several years later, the U. S. Air Force became interested in the design, and it ordered the SR-71 Blackbird and this aircraft first flew in 1966 and remained in service until 1998, and the Flight Test Engineer in charge was Joseph F. Ware, Jr
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Lockheed U-2
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It provides day and night, high-altitude, all-weather intelligence gathering. The U-2 has also used for electronic sensor research, satellite calibration. Early versions of the U-2 were involved in several events through the Cold War, being flown over the Soviet Union, China, Vietnam, in 1960, Gary Powers was shot down in a CIA U-2A over the Soviet Union by a surface-to-air missile. Another U-2, piloted by Major Rudolf Anderson, Jr. was lost in a fashion during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. The U-2 is one of a handful of types to have served the USAF for over 50 years. The newest models entered service in the 1980s, the current model, the U-2S, received its most recent technical upgrade in 2012. They have taken part in post–Cold War conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, after World War II, the U. S. military desired better strategic aerial reconnaissance to help determine Soviet capabilities and intentions. Richard Leghorn of the USAF suggested that an aircraft that could fly at 60,000 feet should be safe from the MiG-17, the Soviet Unions best interceptor, which could barely reach 45,000 feet. He and others believed that Soviet radar, which used American equipment provided during the war, the highest-flying aircraft available to America and its allies at the time was the English Electric Canberra, which could reach 48,000 feet. Air Research and Development Command mandated design changes made the aircraft more durable for combat. The Soviet Union, unlike the United States and Britain, had improved radar technology after the war and it was thought that an aircraft that could fly at 70,000 feet would be beyond the reach of Soviet fighters, missiles, and radar. Another USAF officer, John Seaberg, wrote a request for proposal in 1953 for an aircraft that could reach 70,000 feet over a target with 1,500 nmi of operational radius. The USAF decided to solicit designs only from smaller companies that could give the project more attention. Under the code name Bald Eagle, it contracts to Bell Aircraft, Martin Aircraft. Officials at Lockheed Aircraft Corporation heard about the project and decided to submit an unsolicited proposal, to save weight and increase altitude, Lockheed executive John Carter suggested that the design eliminate landing gear and avoid attempting to meet combat load factors for the airframe. The company asked Clarence Kelly Johnson to come up such a design. Johnson was Lockheeds best aeronautical engineer, responsible for the P-38 and he was also known for completing projects ahead of schedule, working in a separate division of the company, informally called the Skunk Works. Johnsons design, named CL-282, was based on the Lockheed XF-104 with long, slender wings, the design was powered by the General Electric J73 engine and took off from a special cart and landed on its belly
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Eastern Bloc
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The Eastern Bloc was the group of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact. The terms Communist Bloc and Soviet Bloc were also used to denote groupings of states aligned with the Soviet Union, although these terms might include states outside Central and Eastern Europe. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, who viewed the Soviet Union as a socialist island, Eastern Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Bessarabia in northern Romania were recognized as parts of the Soviet sphere of influence. Lithuania was added in a secret protocol in September 1939. During the Occupation of East Poland by the Soviet Union, the Soviets liquidated the Polish state, Soviet authorities immediately started a campaign of sovietization of the newly Soviet-annexed areas. Soviet authorities collectivized agriculture, and nationalized and redistributed private and state-owned Polish property, the international community condemned this initial annexation of the Baltic states and deemed it illegal. In June 1941, Germany broke the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact by invading the Soviet Union, from the time of this invasion to 1944, the areas annexed by the Soviet Union were part of Germanys Ostland. Thereafter, the Soviet Union began to push German forces westward through a series of battles on the Eastern Front, from 1943 to 1945, several conferences regarding Post-War Europe occurred that, in part, addressed the potential Soviet annexation and control of countries in Central Europe. I think that if I give him everything I possibly can and ask for nothing from him in return, noblesse oblige, he wont try to annex anything and will work with me for a world of democracy and peace. While meeting with Stalin and Roosevelt in Tehran in 1943, Churchill stated that Britain was vitally interested in restoring Poland as an independent country, Britain did not press the matter for fear that it would become a source of inter-allied friction. In February 1945, at the conference at Yalta, Stalin demanded a Soviet sphere of influence in Central Europe. Stalin eventually was convinced by Churchill and Roosevelt not to dismember Germany, after resistance by Churchill and Roosevelt, Stalin promised a re-organization of the current pro-Soviet government on a broader democratic basis in Poland. He stated that the new primary task would be to prepare elections. In addition to reparations, Stalin pushed for war booty, which would permit the Soviet Union to directly seize property from conquered nations without quantitative or qualitative limitation, a clause was added permitting this to occur with some limitations. At first, the Soviets concealed their role in other Eastern Bloc politics, as a young communist was told in East Germany, its got to look democratic, but we must have everything in our control. Moscow-trained cadres were put into crucial power positions to fulfill orders regarding sociopolitical transformation, elimination of the bourgeoisies social and financial power by expropriation of landed and industrial property was accorded absolute priority. These measures were publicly billed as reforms rather than socioeconomic transformations, the bloc system permitted the Soviet Union to exercise domestic control indirectly. Crucial departments such as responsible for personnel, general police, secret police
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Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird
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The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird was a long-range, Mach 3+ strategic reconnaissance aircraft that was operated by the United States Air Force. It was developed as a project from the Lockheed A-12 reconnaissance aircraft in the 1960s by Lockheed. American aerospace engineer Clarence Kelly Johnson was responsible for many of the innovative concepts. During aerial reconnaissance missions, the SR-71 operated at high speeds, if a surface-to-air missile launch was detected, the standard evasive action was simply to accelerate and outfly the missile. The SR-71 was designed with a reduced radar cross-section, the SR-71 served with the U. S. Air Force from 1964 to 1998. A total of 32 aircraft were built,12 were lost in accidents, the SR-71 has been given several nicknames, including Blackbird and Habu. It has held the record for the fastest air-breathing manned aircraft since 1976. Lockheeds previous reconnaissance aircraft was the relatively slow U-2, designed for the Central Intelligence Agency, in late 1957, the CIA approached the defense contractor Lockheed to build an undetectable spy plane. The project, named Archangel, was led by Kelly Johnson, head of Lockheeds Skunk Works unit in Burbank, the work on project Archangel began in the second quarter of 1958, with aim of flying higher and faster than the U-2. Out of 11 successive designs drafted in a span of 10 months, despite this, however, its shape made it vulnerable to radar detection. After a meeting with the CIA in March 1959, the design was modified to have a 90% reduction in radar cross-section, the CIA approved a US$96 million contract for Skunk Works to build a dozen spy planes, named A-12 on 11 February 1960. The 1960 downing of Francis Gary Powerss U-2 underscored its vulnerability, the A-12 first flew at Groom Lake, Nevada, on 25 April 1962. Thirteen were built, two variants were developed, including three of the YF-12 interceptor prototype, and two of the M-21 drone carrier. The aircraft was meant to be powered by the Pratt & Whitney J58 engine, but development ran over schedule, the J58s were retrofitted as they became available, and became the standard powerplant for all subsequent aircraft in the series as well as the SR-71. The A-12 flew missions over Vietnam and North Korea before its retirement in 1968, the programs cancellation was announced on 28 December 1966, due both to budget concerns and because of the forthcoming SR-71, a derivative of the A-12. During the later period of its testing, the B-70 was proposed for a reconnaissance/strike role, when it was clear that the A-12 performance potential was much greater, the Air Force ordered a variant of the A-12 in December 1962. Originally named R-12 by Lockheed, the Air Force version was longer and heavier than the A-12, with a longer fuselage to hold more fuel, Reconnaissance equipment included signals intelligence sensors, a side looking airborne radar and a photo camera. Air Force Chief of Staff General Curtis LeMay preferred the SR designation, before the July speech, LeMay lobbied to modify Johnsons speech to read SR-71 instead of RS-71
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Lockheed C-130 Hercules
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The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built originally by Lockheed. Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally designed as a troop, medevac and it is now the main tactical airlifter for many military forces worldwide. Over forty variants and versions of the Hercules, including a civilian one marketed as the Lockheed L-100, the C-130 entered service with the U. S. in the 1950s, followed by Australia and others. During its years of service, the Hercules family has participated in numerous military, the C-130 Hercules is the longest continuously produced military aircraft at over 60 years, with the updated Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules currently being produced. The new transport would have a capacity of 92 passengers,72 combat troops or 64 paratroopers in a compartment that was approximately 41 feet long,9 feet high. Unlike transports derived from passenger airliners, it was to be designed from the ground-up as a transport with loading from a hinged loading ramp at the rear of the fuselage. A key feature was the introduction of the Allison T56 turboprop powerplant, as was the case on helicopters of that era, such as the UH-1 Huey, turboshafts produced much more power for their weight than piston engines. Lockheed would subsequently use the engines and technology in the Lockheed L-188 Electra. The Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter also had a ramp, which made it possible to drive vehicles onto the plane. The ramp on the Hercules was also used to airdrop cargo, the new Lockheed cargo plane design possessed a range of 1,100 nmi, takeoff capability from short and unprepared strips, and the ability to fly with one engine shut down. Fairchild, North American, Martin, and Northrop declined to participate, the remaining five companies tendered a total of ten designs, Lockheed two, Boeing one, Chase three, Douglas three, and Airlifts Inc. one. The contest was an affair between the lighter of the two Lockheed proposals and a four-turboprop Douglas design. The Lockheed design team was led by Willis Hawkins, starting with a 130-page proposal for the Lockheed L-206, both Hibbard and Johnson signed the proposal and the company won the contract for the now-designated Model 82 on 2 July 1951. The first flight of the YC-130 prototype was made on 23 August 1954 from the Lockheed plant in Burbank, the aircraft, serial number 53-3397, was the second prototype, but the first of the two to fly. The YC-130 was piloted by Stanley Beltz and Roy Wimmer on its 61-minute flight to Edwards Air Force Base, Jack Real, kelly Johnson flew chase in a Lockheed P2V Neptune. After the two prototypes were completed, production began in Marietta, Georgia, where over 2,300 C-130s have been built through 2009. The initial production model, the C-130A, was powered by Allison T56-A-9 turboprops with three-blade propellers, deliveries began in December 1956, continuing until the introduction of the C-130B model in 1959. Some A-models were equipped with skis and re-designated C-130D, four-bladed Hamilton Standard propellers replaced the Aeroproducts three-blade propellers that distinguished the earlier A-models
