Riverside, California
Riverside is a city in Riverside County, United States, located in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. Riverside is the county seat of the eponymous county and named for its location beside the Santa Ana River, it is the most populous city in the Inland Empire and in Riverside County, is located about 55 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. It is part of the Greater Los Angeles area. Riverside is the 59th most populous city in the United States and 12th most populous city in California; as of the 2010 Census, Riverside had a population of 303,871. Riverside was founded in the early 1870s, it is the birthplace of the California citrus industry and home of the Mission Inn, the largest Mission Revival Style building in the United States. It is home to the Riverside National Cemetery; the University of California, Riverside, is located in the northeastern part of the city. The university hosts the Riverside Sports Complex. Other attractions in Riverside include the Fox Performing Arts Center, Riverside Metropolitan Museum, which houses exhibits and artifacts of local history, the California Museum of Photography, the California Citrus State Historic Park, the Parent Washington Navel Orange Tree, the last of the two original navel orange trees in California.
In the late 1700s and early 1800s the area was inhabited by the Serrano people. Californios such as Bernardo Yorba and Juan Bandini established ranches during the first half of the 19th century. In the 1860s, Louis Prevost launched the California Silk Center Association, a short-lived experiment in sericulture. In the wake of its failure, John W. North purchased some of its land and formed the Southern California Colony Association to promote the area's development. In March 1870, North distributed posters announcing the formation of a colony in California. North, a staunch temperance-minded abolitionist from New York State, had founded Northfield, Minnesota. A few years some navel orange trees were planted and found to be such a success that full-scale planting began. Riverside was temperance minded, Republican. There were four saloons in Riverside; the license fees were raised. Investors from England and Canada transplanted traditions and activities adopted by prosperous citizens; as a result, the first golf course and polo field in southern California were built in Riverside.
The first orange trees were planted in 1871, with the citrus industry Riverside is famous for beginning three years when Eliza Tibbets received three Brazilian navel orange trees sent to her by a personal friend, William Saunders, a horticulturist at the United States Department of Agriculture in Washington, D. C; the trees came from Brazil. The Bahia orange did not thrive in Florida; the three trees were planted on the Tibbetts' property. One of them died. After the trampling, the two remaining trees were transplanted to property belonging to Sam McCoy to receive better care than L. C. Tibbetts, Eliza's husband, could provide; the trees were again transplanted, one at the Mission Inn property in 1903 by President Theodore Roosevelt, the other was placed at the intersection of Magnolia and Arlington Ave. Eliza Tibbets was honored with a stone marker placed with the tree; that tree still stands to this day inside a protective fence abutting what is now a major intersection. The trees thrived in the southern California climate and the navel orange industry grew rapidly.
Many growers purchased bud wood and grafted the cuttings to root stock. Within a few years, the successful cultivation of many thousands of the newly discovered Brazilian navel orange led to a California Gold Rush of a different kind: the establishment of the citrus industry, commemorated in the landscapes and exhibits of the California Citrus State Historic Park and the restored packing houses in the downtown's Marketplace district. By 1882, there were more than half a million citrus trees in California half of which were in Riverside; the development of refrigerated railroad cars and innovative irrigation systems established Riverside as the richest city in the United States by 1895. As the city grew, a small guest hotel designed in the popular Mission Revival style, known as the Glenwood Tavern grew to become the Mission Inn, favored by presidents and movie stars. Inside was housed a special chair made for the sizable President William Howard Taft; the hotel was modeled after the missions left along the California coast by Franciscan friars in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Postcards of lush orange groves, swimming pools and magnificent homes have attracted vacationers and entrepreneurs throughout the years. Many relocated to the dry climate for reasons of health and to escape Eastern winters. Victoria Avenue, with its scattering of elegant turn-of-the-century homes, citrus-lined paseo, serves as a reminder of European investors who settled here. Riverside is the 59th largest city in the United States, the 12th largest city in California, the largest city in California's Inland Empire metro area. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 81.4 square miles, of which 81.1 square miles is land and 0.3 square miles is water. The elevation of downtown Riverside is 860 feet. Hills within the city limits include Mount Rubidoux, a
Douglas A-26 Invader
The Douglas A-26 Invader is an American twin-engined light bomber and ground attack aircraft. Built by Douglas Aircraft Company during World War II, the Invader saw service during several major Cold War conflicts. A limited number of modified United States Air Force aircraft served in Southeast Asia until 1969, it was a fast aircraft capable of carrying a large bomb load. A range of guns could be fitted to produce a formidable ground-attack aircraft. A re-designation of the type from A-26 to B-26 led to confusion with the Martin B-26 Marauder, which first flew in November 1940, some 20 months before the Douglas design's maiden flight. Although both types were powered by the used Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp eighteen-cylinder, double-row radial engine, they were different and separate designs — the Martin bomber originated in 1939, with more than twice as many Marauders produced in comparison to the Douglas design; the A-26 was Douglas Aircraft's successor to the A-20 Havoc known as Douglas Boston, one of the most successful and operated types flown by Allied air forces in World War II.
Designed by Ed Heinemann, Robert Donovan, Ted R. Smith, the innovative NACA 65-215 laminar flow airfoil wing of the A-26 was the work of project aerodynamicist A. M. O. Smith; the Douglas XA-26 prototype first flew on 10 July 1942 at Mines Field, El Segundo, with test pilot Benny Howard at the controls. Flight tests revealed excellent performance and handling, but engine cooling problems led to cowling changes and elimination of the propeller spinners on production aircraft. Repeated collapses during testing led to reinforcement of the nose landing gear; the A-26 was built in two different configurations. The A-26B had a gun nose, which could be equipped with a combination of armament including.50 caliber machine guns, 20mm or 37mm auto cannon, or a 75mm pack howitzer. The gun nose version housed six.50 caliber machine guns termed the "all-purpose nose" commonly known as the "six-gun nose" or "eight-gun nose". The A-26C's "glass" nose termed the "Bombardier nose", contained a Norden bombsight for medium altitude precision bombing.
The A-26C nose section included two fixed M-2 guns replaced by underwing gun packs or internal guns in the wings. After about 1,570 production aircraft, three guns were installed in each wing, coinciding with the introduction of the "eight-gun nose" for A-26Bs, giving some configurations as many as 14.50 in machine guns in fixed forward mounts. An A-26C nose section could be replaced with an A-26B nose section, or vice versa, in a few man-hours, thus physically changing the designation and operational role; the "flat-topped" canopy was changed in late 1944 after about 820 production aircraft, to a clamshell style with improved visibility. Alongside the pilot in an A-26B, a crew member served as navigator and gun loader for the pilot-operated nose guns. In an A-26C, that crew member served as navigator and bombardier, relocated to the nose section for the bombing phase of an operation. A small number of A-26Cs were fitted with dual flight controls, some parts of which could be disabled in flight to allow limited access to the nose section.
Access was through the lower section of the right-hand instrument panel, open to allow access to the nose for the bombardier, who would sit next to the pilot. This was similar to British designs like the Lancaster, Blenheim/Beaufort, etc. A tractor-style "jump seat" was located behind the "navigator's seat." In most missions, a third crew member in the rear gunner's compartment operated the remotely controlled dorsal and ventral gun turrets, with access to and from the cockpit possible via the bomb bay only when, empty. The gunner operated both dorsal and ventral turrets via a novel and complex dual-ended periscope sight, a vertical column running through the center of the rear compartment, with traversing and elevating/depressing periscope sights on each end; the gunner sat on a seat facing rearward, looked into a binocular periscope sight mounted on the column, controlling the guns with a pair of handles on either side of the column. When aiming above the centerline of the aircraft, the mirror in the center of the column would flip, showing the gunner what the upper periscope was seeing.
When he pressed the handles downward, as the bead passed the centerline the mirror would automatically flip, transferring the sight "seamlessly" to the lower periscope. The guns would aim wherever the periscope was aimed, automatically transferring between upper and lower turrets as required, computing for parallax and other factors. While novel and theoretically effective, a great deal of time and trouble was spent trying to get the system to work which delayed production, it was difficult to keep maintained in the field once production started; the Douglas company began delivering the production model A-26B to the United States Army Air Forces on 10 September 1943, with the new bomber first seeing action with the Fifth Air Force in the Southwest Pacific theater on 23 June 1944, when Japanese-held islands near Manokwari were attacked. The pilots in the 3rd Bomb Group's 13th Squadron, "The Grim Reapers", who received the first four A-26s for evaluation, found the view from the cockpit to be restricted by the engines and thus inadequate for low-level attack.
General George Kenney, commander of the Far East Air Forces stated that, "We do not want the A-26 under any circumstances as a replacement for anything."Until changes could be made, the 3d Bomb G
Folland Gnat
The Folland Gnat is a British compact swept-wing subsonic fighter aircraft, developed and produced by Folland Aircraft. Envisioned as an affordable light fighter in contrast to the rising cost and size of typical combat aircraft, it was procured as a trainer aircraft for the Royal Air Force as well as by export customers, who used the Gnat in both combat and training capacities. Designed by W. E. W. Petter, the Gnat has its origins in the preceding private venture Folland Midge; the issuing of Operational Requirement OR.303 by the British Air Ministry served to motivate the type's development, the Gnat was submitted to meet this requirement. Its design allowed for its construction and maintenance tasks to be carried out without specialised tools, making it suitable for use in countries that had not yet become industrialised; the Gnat has been viewed as a major motivating factor towards the issuing of the NATO NBMR-1 requirement, which sought to make available a common strike/attack light fighter with which to equip the air forces of the various NATO members.
Although never used as a fighter by the Royal Air Force, the Gnat T.1 jet trainer variant was adopted and operated for some time. In the United Kingdom, the Gnat became well known due to its prominent use as the display aircraft of the RAF's Red Arrows aerobatic team; the Gnat F.1 was exported to Finland and India. The Indian Air Force became the largest operator and manufactured the aircraft under licence. Impressed by its performance during combat, India proceeded to develop the improved HAL Ajeet, a modified variant of the Gnat. In British service, the Gnat was replaced by the Hawker Siddeley Hawk. In October 1950, WEW "Teddy" Petter, a British aircraft designer of Westland Aircraft and English Electric, joined Folland Aircraft as its managing director and chief engineer. Upon joining the firm, Petter conducted a study into the economics behind modern fighter manufacturing, concluded that many combat aircraft entailed far too great a cost in terms of man-hours and material to be mass-produced during a major conflict.
While the British Air Staff emphasised quality over quantity, the economics involved in the anticipated vast wartime production of many of the RAF's aircraft of the time, such as the Hawker Hunter and the Gloster Javelin interceptors, were viewed as questionable. Petter examined the prospects for producing a more affordable but capable "light fighter", including a survey of available modern engines to power the type. Having identified suitable powerplant arrangements along with methods of making multiple key design aspects, such as the manufacturing of the fuselage and wings, more affordable, Folland promptly commenced work upon this lightweight fighter concept, financing the project using existing company funds; the light fighter project soon received the Fo-141 designation along with the name Gnat. Development of the Gnat and the specifics of its design were influenced by the issuing of Operational Requirement OR.303, which sought a capable lightweight fighter aircraft. Work to develop the Gnat went irrespective of any external orders or financing.
Petter believed that a compact and simplified fighter would offer the advantages of low purchase and operational costs, that the Gnat should be capable of being manufactured both cheaply and easily. The emergence of new lightweight turbojet engines, several of which were well advanced in their own development process enabled the envisioned light fighter concept to be realised; the Gnat was intended to be powered by a Bristol BE-22 Saturn turbojet engine, capable of generating 3,800 lbf of thrust. However, development of the Saturn was cancelled. In order that the project would not be delayed before reaching the prototype stage, Petter's unarmed proof-of-concept demonstrator for the Gnat was instead powered by the less powerful Armstrong Siddeley Viper 101 turbojet engine, capable of generating 1,640 lbf of thrust. While using a different powerplant from later-built prototypes and production aircraft, the demonstrator still used a nearly-identical airframe along with similar onboard systems so that these could be proved in advance of the Gnat itself being built.
This demonstrator was designated Fo-139 Midge. On 11 August 1954, the Midge performed its maiden flight, piloted by Folland's chief test pilot Edward Tennant. Despite the low-powered engine, the compact jet was able to break Mach 1 while in a dive and proved to be agile during its flying trials. On 20 September 1955, the Midge was destroyed in a crash, due to human error; the Midge due to its nature as a private venture, had only a short lifespan, however had served as a proof-of-concept demonstrator for the subsequent aircraft. It had failed to interest the RAF as a combat aircraft at that time, but officers did issue encouragement of the development of a similar aircraft for training purposes; the larger Gnat, being developed in parallel with the Midge, was an improved version of the original fighter design. The first prototype Gnat was built as a private venture by Folland. Subsequently, six further aircraft were ordered by the British Ministry of Supply for evaluation purposes. On 18 July 1955, the Folland prototype, serial number G-39-2, first flew from RAF Boscombe Down, Wiltsh
Lockheed D-21
The Lockheed D-21 is an American supersonic reconnaissance drone. The D-21 was designed to be launched from the back of a M-21 carrier aircraft, a variant of the Lockheed A-12 aircraft; the drone had maximum speed in excess of Mach 3.3 at an operational altitude of 90,000 feet. Development began in October 1962. Known by the Lockheed designation Q-12, the drone was intended for reconnaissance deep into enemy airspace; the D-21 was designed to carry a single high-resolution photographic camera over a preprogrammed path release the camera module into the air for retrieval, after which the drone would self-destruct. Following a fatal accident when launched from an M-21, the D-21 was modified to be launched from a Boeing B-52 Stratofortress. Several test flights were made, followed by four unsuccessful operational D-21 flights over the People's Republic of China, the program was canceled in 1971. In the 1960s Lockheed's secret Skunk Works developed the Mach 3 A-12 reconnaissance aircraft for the Central Intelligence Agency.
After the shooting down of the U-2 piloted by Gary Powers in 1960, a number of different concepts were proposed as alternatives. Kelly Johnson, the leader of Skunk Works, developed the concept of a long-range drone that used much of the A-12's technology. In October 1962 the CIA and the US Air Force instructed Lockheed to study a high-speed, high-altitude drone concept. Johnson specified speeds of Mach 3.3–3.5, an operational altitude of 87,000–95,000 feet, a range of 3,000 nautical miles. It was intended to make a one-way trip, eject its camera payload at the end of the mission for recovery self-destruct, it had a double-delta wing similar to the A-12's wing design. The Q-12 was to be air-launched from the back of an A-12, used key technology from the A-12 project, including titanium construction and radar cross-section reduction design features. Johnson wanted to power the Q-12 with a ramjet engine built by the Marquardt Corporation for the Boeing CIM-10 Bomarc long-range surface-to-air missile.
Marquardt and Lockheed had collaborated on several programs and had a close working relationship. The engine, the RJ43-MA-11, required modification, since it was only designed to burn as long as the missile needed to hit a target, while the Q-12's engine needed to operate at high temperatures for at least an hour and a half at high altitudes; the modified engine was designated RJ43-MA20S-4. A full-scale mockup of the Q-12 was ready by 7 December 1962, had undergone preliminary tests to measure its radar cross-section. Marquardt had successfully tested the modified RJ-43 in its wind tunnel in the meantime. However, the CIA was not enthusiastic about the Q-12 because the agency was overextended at the time with U-2 missions, getting the A-12 up to speed, covert operations in Southeast Asia; the Air Force, was interested in the Q-12 as both a reconnaissance platform and a cruise missile, the CIA decided to work with the USAF to develop the new drone. Lockheed was awarded a contract in March 1963 for full-scale development of the Q-12.
The camera and its film magazines with an inertial navigation system were carried in a cramped "Q-bay" below the drone's air intake. These components were built into a module that fit into the bay and was known as a "hatch"; the hatch would be ejected at the end of the mission and snagged out of the air by a JC-130 Hercules, a technique, developed by the Air Force to recover film canisters from satellites. If the C-130 missed, the hatch was equipped with flotation devices so it could be recovered by ship if released over water. Honeywell built the avionics systems. In late 1963 the project was named Tagboard. Two of the original 18 A-12 aircraft were designated as M-21s with serial numbers 60-6940 and 60-6941; the M-21 was a two-seat version of the A-12, with a pylon on the fuselage centerline between the vertical stabilizers to carry the drone in a nose-up attitude. A D-21 mounted on an M-21 began captive flight-testing on 22 December 1964. Aerodynamic covers were placed over the D-21's intake and exhaust to reduce drag, but had to be removed after the first few tests, as no way of discarding them at Mach 3 without damaging the drone or carrier plane could be devised.
The D-21 was first launched from an M-21 on 5 March 1966. The drone was released but stayed close to the M-21's back for a few seconds, which seemed like "two hours" to the M-21 crew. A second launch took place on 27 April 1966; the Air Force's interest in the program continued and more D-21s were ordered after the second launch. A third flight took place on 16 June with the D-21 flying 1,550 nmi through its complete flight profile, though its camera hatch was not released due to an electronics failure; the fourth and final launch from an M-21 on 30 July ended in disaster. Unlike the three previous launches this one was performed straight and level, not in an outside loop to assist in the separation of the drone from the aircraft; the D-21 suffered engine problems and struck the M-21's tail after separation, leading to the destruction of both aircraft. The two crew landed at sea; the pilot, Bill Park, but the
Grumman F-14 Tomcat
The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is an American supersonic, twin-engine, two-seat, twin-tail, variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft. It was the first such U. S. jet fighter with twin tails. The Tomcat was developed for the United States Navy's Naval Fighter Experimental program after the collapse of the F-111B project; the F-14 was the first of the American Teen Series fighters, which were designed incorporating air combat experience against MiG fighters during the Vietnam War. The F-14 first flew on 21 December 1970 and made its first deployment in 1974 with the U. S. Navy aboard USS Enterprise, replacing the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II; the F-14 served as the U. S. Navy's primary maritime air superiority fighter, fleet defense interceptor, tactical aerial reconnaissance platform into the 2000s; the Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared for Night pod system were added in the 1990s and the Tomcat began performing precision ground-attack missions. In the 1980s, F-14s were used as land-based interceptors by the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force during the Iran–Iraq War, where they saw combat against Iraqi warplanes.
Iranian F-14s shot down at least 160 Iraqi aircraft during the war, while only 12 to 16 Tomcats were lost. The Tomcat was retired from the U. S. Navy's active fleet on 22 September 2006, having been supplanted by the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet; the F-14 remains in service with Iran's air force, having been exported to Iran in 1976. In November 2015, reports emerged of Iranian F-14s flying escort for Russian Tu-95 bombers on air strikes in Syria. Beginning in the late 1950s, the U. S. Navy sought a long-range, high-endurance interceptor to defend its carrier battle groups against long-range anti-ship missiles launched from the jet bombers and submarines of the Soviet Union; the U. S. Navy needed a Fleet Air Defense aircraft with a more powerful radar and longer range missiles than the F-4 Phantom II carried to intercept both enemy bombers and missiles; the Navy was directed to participate in the Tactical Fighter Experimental program with the U. S. Air Force by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara.
McNamara wanted "joint" solutions to service aircraft needs to reduce development costs, had directed the Air Force to buy the F-4 Phantom II, developed for the Navy and Marine Corps. The Navy strenuously opposed the TFX as it feared compromises necessary for the Air Force's need for a low-level attack aircraft would adversely impact the aircraft's performance as a fighter. Weight and performance issues plagued the U. S. Navy F-111B would not be resolved to the Navy's satisfaction; the F-111 manufacturer General Dynamics partnered with Grumman on the Navy F-111B. With the F-111B program in distress, Grumman began studying alternatives. In 1966, the Navy awarded Grumman a contract to begin studying advanced fighter designs. Grumman narrowed down these designs to its 303 design. Vice Admiral Thomas F. Connolly, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Air Warfare, flew the developmental F-111A variant on a flight and discovered that it had difficulty going supersonic and had poor carrier landing characteristics.
He testified before Congress about his concerns against the official U. S. Department of the Navy position and, in May 1968, Congress stopped funding for the F-111B, allowing the Navy to pursue an answer tailored to its requirements; the name "Tomcat" was chosen to pay tribute to Admiral Connolly, as the nickname "Tom's Cat" had been used by the manufacturer, although the name followed the Grumman tradition of naming its fighter aircraft after felines. The F-111B had been designed for the long-range Fleet Air Defense interceptor role, but not for new requirements for air combat based on the experience of American aircraft against agile MiG fighters over Vietnam; the Navy studied the need for VFAX, an additional fighter, more agile than the F-4 Phantom for air-combat and ground-attack roles. Grumman continued work on its 303 design and offered it to the Navy in 1967, which led to fighter studies by the Navy; the company continued to refine the design into 1968. In July 1968, the Naval Air Systems Command issued a request for proposals for the Naval Fighter Experimental program.
VFX called for a tandem two-seat, twin-engined air-to-air fighter with a maximum speed of Mach 2.2. It would have a built-in M61 Vulcan cannon and a secondary close air support role; the VFX's air-to-air missiles would be either six AIM-54 Phoenix or a combination of six AIM-7 Sparrow and four AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles. Bids were received from General Dynamics, Ling-Temco-Vought, McDonnell Douglas and North American Rockwell. McDonnell Douglas and Grumman were selected as finalists in December 1968. Grumman was selected for the contract award in January 1969. Grumman's design reused the TF30 engines from the F-111B, though the Navy planned on replacing them with the Pratt & Whitney F401-400 engines under development for the Navy, along with the related Pratt & Whitney F100 for the USAF. Though lighter than the F-111B, it was still the largest and heaviest U. S. fighter to fly from an aircraft carrier, a consequence of the requirement to carry the large AWG-9 radar and AIM-54 Phoenix missiles and an internal fuel load of 16,000 lb.
Upon winning the contract for the F-14, Grumman expanded its Calverton, Long Island, New York facility for evaluating the aircraft. Much of the testing, including the first of many compressor stalls and multiple ejections, took place over Long Island Sound. In order to save time and forestall interference from Secretary McNamara, the Navy skipped the
Bensen B-8
The Bensen B-8 is a small, single-seat autogyro developed in the United States in the 1950s. Although the original manufacturer stopped production in 1987, plans for homebuilders are still available as of 2017, its design was a refinement of the Bensen B-7, like that aircraft, the B-8 was built as an unpowered rotor-kite. It first flew in this form in 1955, on 6 December a powered version, designated B-8M first flew; the design proved to be popular and long-lasting, with thousands of sets of plans sold over the next thirty years. The B-8's design is minimalist, with not much more to the aircraft than a pilot's seat, a single tailfin, a rotor, the powerplant. In May 1968 a B-8 and B-8M were studied by the USAF under the Discretionary Descent Vehicle program as the X-25B and X-25A respectively. In this scheme, it was proposed to integrate combat aircraft ejection seats with a small autogyro or rotor kite to allow downed pilots more control over their post-ejection landing spot; the X-25A and X-25B were used to evaluate the training requirements of the autogyros.
No full-scale operational tests were performed. The U. S. Air Force stopped funding the DDV program with the end of the Vietnam War. One B-8M, named Spirit of Kitty Hawk was used to make a special commemorative flight duplicating the first flight of the Wright brothers' original Flyer on the sixtieth anniversary of the occasion; this same aircraft was flown by Igor Bensen himself between May 1967 and June 1968 to set twelve world and US speed and altitude records for autogyros, the largest number of such records to be held by any non-military rotorcraft. B-8 Gyro-Glider - unpowered rotor-kite intended to be towed behind a car B-8B Hydro-Boat - B-8 with a full boat hull intended to be towed behind another boat B-8M Gyro-Copter - standard motorised version, main production type. Powered by a McCulloch 4318 engine B-8MH Hover-Gyro - twin, coaxial rotor design with powered lower rotor and autorotating upper rotor, giving it the capability of hovering. Upper rotor and drive propeller powered by separate engines B-8MJ Gyro-Copter - B-8M modified for "jump" take off by a small second engine providing power to rotor head with anti-torque provided by rudder correction under power.
B-8MW Hydro Copter - float-equipped B-8M X-25A - B-8M evaluated by USAF. Single example first flown 5 June 1968 and preserved at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base B-8 Super Bug - similar to B-8M but with extra engine to spin up rotor before take-off B-8HD Super Gyro-Copter - development of Super Bug first flown in 1979 with hydraulic drive to pre-rotate rotor rather than separate engine B-8V - B-8 powered by a Volkswagen air-cooled engine B-8W Hydro-Glider - float-equipped B-8 intended to be towed behind a boat X-25B - B-8 evaluated by USAF. Single example first flown 23 January 1968 and preserved at the AFFTC Museum at Edwards Air Force Base. Rotorcraft Minicopter Mk 1 - South African variant with pre-rotator and cockpit fairing. Aeroflyte DGH-1 - 70 hp license-built model from Aeroflyte. US Southwest Soaring Museum New England Air Museum North Carolina Museum of History Data from Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1982–83General characteristics Crew: 1 Length: 11 ft 3 in Main rotor diameter: 20 ft 0 in Height: 6 ft 3 in Main rotor area: 314 ft2 Empty weight: 247 lb Gross weight: 500 lb Powerplant: 1 × McCulloch 4318AX flat-four piston engine, 72 hp Performance Maximum speed: 55 mph Range: 100 miles Endurance: 1.5 hours Service ceiling: 12,500 ft Rate of climb: 1,000 ft/min Aircraft of comparable role and era Brock KB-2 Wallis WA-116 Agile Related lists List of experimental aircraft Simpson, R. W..
Airlife's Rotorcraft. Ramsbury: Airlife Publishing. Pp. 209–10. Taylor, John W. R.. Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1982–83. London: Jane's Yearbooks. ISBN 0-7106-0748-2. Taylor, Michael J. H.. Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions. Pp. 152–53. World Aircraft Information Files. London: Bright Star Publishing. File 890 Sheets 25–26. FAI records set by Igor Bensen in B-8M Plans for B8 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Douglas A-4 Skyhawk
The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is a single seat subsonic carrier-capable attack aircraft developed for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps in the early 1950s. The delta winged, single turbojet engined Skyhawk was designed and produced by Douglas Aircraft Company, by McDonnell Douglas, it was designated A4D under the U. S. Navy's pre-1962 designation system; the Skyhawk is a lightweight aircraft with a maximum takeoff weight of 24,500 pounds and has a top speed of more than 670 miles per hour. The aircraft's five hardpoints support a variety of missiles and other munitions, it is capable of carrying a bomb load equivalent to that of a World War II–era Boeing B-17 bomber, can deliver nuclear weapons using a low-altitude bombing system and a "loft" delivery technique. The A-4 was powered by the Wright J65 turbojet engine. Skyhawks played key roles in the Vietnam War, the Yom Kippur War, the Falklands War. Sixty years after the aircraft's first flight in 1954, some of the 2,960 produced remain in service with the Argentine Air Force.
The Skyhawk was designed by Douglas Aircraft's Ed Heinemann in response to a U. S. Navy call for a jet-powered attack aircraft to replace the older Douglas AD Skyraider. Heinemann opted for a design that would minimize its size and complexity; the result was an aircraft. It had a wing so compact; the first 500 production examples cost an average of $860,000 each, less than the Navy's one million dollar maximum. The diminutive Skyhawk soon received the nicknames "Scooter", "Kiddiecar", "Bantam Bomber", "Tinker Toy Bomber", and, on account of its speed and nimble performance, "Heinemann's Hot-Rod"; the XA4D-1 prototype set a world speed record of 695.163 mph on October 15, 1955. The aircraft is of conventional post-World War II design, with a low-mounted delta wing, tricycle undercarriage, a single turbojet engine in the rear fuselage, with two air intakes on the fuselage sides; the tail is with the horizontal stabilizer mounted above the fuselage. Armament consisted of two 20 mm Colt Mk 12 cannons, one in each wing root, with 100 rounds per gun, plus a large variety of bombs and missiles carried on a hardpoint under the fuselage centerline and hardpoints under each wing.
The short-span delta wing did not require the complexity of wingtip folding, saving an estimated 200 pounds. Its spars were machined from a single forging; the leading edge slats were designed to drop automatically at the appropriate speed by gravity and air pressure, saving weight and space by omitting actuation motors and switches. The main undercarriage did not penetrate the main wing spar, designed so that when retracted only the wheel itself was inside the wing and the undercarriage struts were housed in a fairing below the wing, thus the wing structure was lighter with the same overall strength. The rudder was constructed of a single panel reinforced with external ribs; the turbojet engine was accessed for service or replacement by removing the aft section of the fuselage and sliding out the engine. This obviated the need for access doors with their hinges and latches further reducing weight and complexity; this is the opposite of what can happen in aircraft design where a small weight increase in one area leads to a compounding increase in weight in other areas to compensate, creating a demand for more powerful, heavier engines, larger wing and empennage area, so on in a vicious circle.
The A-4 pioneered the concept of "buddy" air-to-air refueling. This allows the aircraft to supply others of the same type, reducing the need for dedicated tanker aircraft—a particular advantage for small air arms or when operating in remote locations; this allows for improved operational flexibility and reassurance against the loss or malfunction of tanker aircraft, though this procedure reduces the effective combat force on board the carrier. A designated supply A-4 would mount a center-mounted "buddy store", a large external fuel tank with a hose reel in the aft section and an extensible drogue refueling bucket; this aircraft was launched first. Attack aircraft would be armed to the maximum and given as much fuel as was allowable by maximum takeoff weight limits, far less than a full tank. Once airborne, they would proceed to top off their fuel tanks from the tanker using the A-4's fixed refueling probe on the starboard side of the aircraft nose, they could sortie with both full armament and fuel loads.
The A-4 was used for refueling in U. S. service after the KA-3 Skywarrior tanker became available aboard the larger carriers. The versatility of the capability and the retirement of the Skywarrior meant that the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet now includes this capability; the A-4 was designed to be able to make an emergency landing, in the event of a hydraulic failure, on the two drop tanks nearly always carried by these aircraft. Such landings resulted in only minor damage to the nose of the aircraft which could be repaired in less than an hour; the Navy issued a contract for the type on 12 June 1952, the first prototype first flew from Edwards Air Force Base, California on 22 June 1954. Deliveries to Navy and Marine Corps squadrons commenced in late 1956; the Skyhawk remained in production until 1979, with 2,960 aircraft built, including 555 two-seat trainers
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