The McDonnell Douglas F-4S Phantom II is one of the most successful jet fighters in history.

With its excellent speed, maneuverability, and firepower, the Soviet-built MiG-15 shocked the West when it entered combat in Korea.

At the end of the Second World War, the United States emerged as an economic, political, and military superpower. Having assembled the largest fleet of military and naval aircraft in history and having used that resource with decisive effect in every theater of war, the United States continued to rely heavily on air power as the primary deterrent to conventional and nuclear conflict during the immediate postwar years. Military aviation had evolved rapidly during the war, and by the end of hostilities, jet-powered aircraft were clearly emerging as the dominant frontline air weapon. New technologies, particularly in vertical flight, promised to revolutionize the battlefield although conventional, piston-engined aircraft still remained important contributors.

Polish Air Force pilot Lt. Franciszek Jarecki wore this leather flightsuit when he defected to the West in his MiG-15.

Following the lead of Germany and Britain, the United States quickly turned to the development of a new generation of jet-powered aircraft during the mid- to late-1940s. Turbojet engines produced previously unimaginable levels of power that readily lent itself to aircraft propulsion. Because of the high fuel consumption, the first generation of turbojet engines was first incorporated into military fighters, where speed rather than efficiency was the most important performance factor. America’s first jet, the Bell XP-59 Airacomet, incorporated a British de Havilland engine designed by Frank Halford and based on Sir Frank Whittle’s pioneering centrifugal-flow design. The reliability and adequate power available from this engine guaranteed that the first generation of jet combat engines would use this configuration. Though too slow for frontline service, the XP-59, the first one of which is in the Museum’s Milestones of Flight gallery, trained a new generation of U.S. jet fighter pilots who flew the new Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star as the military’s first operational jet fighter. The first XP-80 is also in the Museum’s collection and is exhibited in the Jet Aviation gallery.

The P-80, which became the F-80 upon creation of the independent U.S. Air Force in September 1947, was a superlative fighter design by Clarence “Kelly” Johnson of the famous Lockheed “Skunk Works.” It set numerous speed records after it entered service late in 1945 and proved itself in combat five years later in the skies over Korea, claiming the world’s first jet-to-jet victory despite being technologically outclassed by the superlative, second-generation, Soviet swept-wing MiG-15.

In 1947, in response to the high accident rate of the aircraft in service, Lockheed recognized the need for a two-seat trainer version of the P-80. Risking $1 million of company funds, Lockheed assembled a design team under Don Palmer to develop the aircraft. Having received the approval of the Army Air Forces in August 1947, Palmer and his team stretched a P-80C airframe with two fuselage plugs to make room for an additional pilot. A graceful one-piece canopy covered the two pilots and their ejection seats, but fuel capacity was reduced from 425 to 353 gallons. Ironically, the lengthened fuselage was aerodynamically better, thereby giving the new TF-80C slightly improved performance than its F-80C predecessor.

After its first flight on March 22, 1948, with famed test pilot Tony LeVier at the controls, the TF-80C Shooting Star became the mainstay of the U.S. Air Force jet training program. Redesignated the T-33A in May 1949, the Shooting Star was powered by a single centrifugal-flow Allison J33 engine producing from 4,600 to 5,400 pounds of thrust depending on the variant. Top speed was 600 miles per hour while the T-33 typically cruised at 435 miles per hour.

Based on the P-80 fighter, the Lockheed T-33A trained several generations of jet pilots.

The Shooting Star remained in service with the U.S. Air Force until the early 1960s when the supersonic Northrop T-38 Talon supplanted it. The U.S. Navy flew the Shooting Star from 1949 until the early 1960s, as well, under the designation To-2 and TV-2. T-33s were also acquired by the Royal Canadian air force for the training of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) pilots during the 1950s, as were Canadair-built versions fitted with Rolls-Royce Nene engines. France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Turkey, Greece, and other nations flew the venerable T-33 for decades. A total of 5,691 were built for the U.S. Air Force and Navy with an additional 1,058 built by Lockheed for foreign air forces. This does not include the 210 T-33s built by Kawasaki and the 656 constructed by Canadair under license. The lasting success of this classic design is a fitting tribute to the genius of Kelly Johnson.

Delivered to the Air Force on September 16, 1954, the Museum’s T-33, serial number 53-5226N, spent its entire career with the District of Columbia Air National Guard at Andrews Air Force Base until it was retired in 1987. Maintained in exemplary condition, the aircraft has required little routine maintenance and only occasional buffing to preserve its excellent appearance.

On June 25, 1950, the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union heated up when communist North Korea attacked southward in an attempt to subjugate the entire Korean peninsula. Greatly outnumbered, the American, United Nations (UN), and South Korean forces fought a gallant delaying action until the frontlines finally stabilized around the southern port city of Pusan. There, in the Pusan perimeter, the allied forces regrouped while tenaciously holding the line.

Instrumental in the success in stemming the North Korean advance was the use of air power. U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps units rushed to Korea from bases in Japan and throughout the Pacific and threw themselves into the battle. Straight-winged F-80s, McDonnell F2H Banshees, and Republic F-84 Thunderjets flew beside World War II-vintage Douglas B-26s, Corsairs, and Mustangs, wreaking havoc on the motorized columns of the North Korean army. By September, Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s UN forces had launched the brilliantly successful amphibious landings at Inchon, outflanking the enemy and virtually destroying the North Korean army. Within weeks, the UN armies crossed over the border at the 38th parallel and were rapidly approaching the border with China at the Yalu River.

Ignoring warnings from the new communist government in China not to advance further, MacArthur pressed onward. To his shock, on the 25th of November, hundreds of thousands of soldiers from the People’s Liberation Army of the newly-formed People’s Republic of China crossed the Yalu and quickly overwhelmed the UN forces. After months of bitter fighting throughout the harsh winter of 1950-51, the front line stabilized along the 38th parallel. Again air power proved crucial in stemming the communist tide but at a cost.

Concurrent with the entry of China into the conflict was the introduction of a new air weapon, the presence of which challenged the Americans and British for air superiority. A swift, swept-wing fighter carrying the red star of North Korea soon appeared over the Yalu. Suddenly the UN air forces found themselves at a marked disadvantage. This aircraft, hitherto unknown in the West, was quickly identified as the Soviet-made MiG-15. Also unknown to UN forces, these aircraft were flown by some of the best pilots from the Soviet air force, including the top Allied ace from World War II, Ivan Kozhedub, who led these units.

The Soviet Union had been researching swept-wing design for many years before the Korean War. As with engineers in the West, Soviet designers found the wartime research conducted by their German counterparts particularly useful and immediately began several programs to validate the innovative design. By the late 1940s, several experimental Soviet swept-wing aircraft had taken to the air with promising results. Engineers at the Mikoyan Gurevich design bureau, better known as MiG, were heavily involved in the creation of a new swept-wing fighter to supplant its straight-winged MiG-9 currently in service with the Red Air Force. Although no suitable engines existed in the Soviet Union with sufficient thrust for the new aircraft, MiG was instructed to proceed on the assumption that a suitable engine would be found in time—through spying or by diplomacy.

To the astonished glee of MiG, the British government of Prime Minister Clement Attlee decided that the sale of Britain’s latest jet engines to the Soviet Union would somehow encourage better relations. Delighted to accept this unexpected windfall, the Soviet authorities acquired 25 Rolls-Royce Nene and 30 Rolls-Royce Derwent engines in September 1946. Within months, Soviet engineers at the Klimov bureau had disassembled, copied, and begun production of unauthorized copies of these two excellent power plants. Immediately, the RD-45, as the Nenes were designated, was supplied to MiG for installation in their new fighter, the MiG-15. In fact, the I-130 prototype of the MiG-15 was actually fitted with one of the original British Nenes.

First flown on May 27, 1948, the MiG-15 entered production in October. The aircraft was designed as an interceptor and air superiority fighter. Armed with one 37 mm and two 23 mm cannons, the MiG carried terrific firepower that could easily destroy a large bomber. With its anhedral swept-wing, cruciform tail, and powerful engine, the MiG-15 was a formidable opponent. Capable of reaching a top speed of 652 miles per hour, the diminutive aircraft had a service ceiling of 55,000 feet and a phenomenal initial climb rate of over 10,000 feet per minute. It could fly higher and climb faster than any fighter from the West.

When the MiG-15 entered combat late in 1950, UN forces were caught completely off guard. The Lockheed F-80s, Grumman F9F Panthers, Republic F-84 Thunderjets, McDonnell F2H Banshees, and Gloster Meteors of the UN forces were suddenly made obsolescent. Desperate to stem this sudden reversal of fortune, the U.S. Air Force rushed its latest fighter, the North American F-86 Sabre, to the Korean battle zone.

Almost immediately, the F-86 regained air superiority. Despite the slightly better performance characteristics of the excellent MiG-15, the F-86 was more stable at transonic speeds and was therefore a superior gun platform. When flown by better-trained American pilots, the F-86 dominated the skies over Korea. In December 1950, the first swept-wing jet-versus-jet combat took place with the Sabre of Lt. Col. Bruce Hinton emerging victorious. Soon U.S. Air Force pilots were racking up impressive victory tallies, officially downing 10 MiGs for every Sabre shot down, though subsequent new research into former Soviet archives has revealed that the ratio was less. Many severely wounded MiGs, claimed by Sabre pilots as kills, managed to limp across the Yalu River and find sanctuary at their Chinese bases, as the Sabres weren’t allowed to pursue their adversaries for political reasons. Regardless of the tally, Sabres ruled supreme in the Korean skies, an impressive accomplishment considering that many of the MiG pilots were experienced Soviet veterans from World War II. The superiority of American combat pilots over those of North Korea, China, and the Soviet Union aside, the success of the F-86 can be attributed to its excellent design.

Work on what would eventually become the F-86 began in January 1945 with a contract from the U.S. Navy to North American Aviation for the production of the FJ-1 Fury carrier-based, straight-wing jet fighter. With a top speed of 550 miles per hour, the Fury became the first operational fighter to serve at sea.

Concurrently, North American proposed a land-based version to the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF). Interested, the USAAF ordered two prototypes plus a static-test version to be powered by the same General Electric J35 turbojet and equipped with six .50-caliber machine guns. While development was underway, the Air Force had digested much captured German research on swept-wing design. Intrigued with the possibilities of greatly increased aircraft performance using this new wing configuration, the Air Force changed the contract to specify the inclusion of a new wing with a 35-degree sweep.

The swept-wing North American F-86 Sabre ruled the skies during the Korean Conflict.

While the change delayed delivery for a year, the results justified the effort. The new XP-86 was a sleek design, featuring swept wing and tail surfaces, a straight-through engine intake, and a pressurized cockpit in the nose with a full-blown canopy that provided excellent visibility. First flown on October 1, 1947, the Sabre met all its lofty performance expectations, even exceeding the speed of sound during a test flight in 1948. The XP-86 incorporated automatic leading-edge slots, boosted ailerons, and, most important, a full “flying” tail. This latter feature, which enabled the pilot to change the angle of incidence of the horizontal stabilizer and thereby smooth the airflow at transonic speeds, was later to prove critical in the aircraft’s combat success.

Orders were placed for hundreds of Sabres, which were redesignated F-86s in 1948 after the creation of the independent U.S. Air Force. They were fitted with more-powerful GE J47 centrifugal-flow turbojets that produced 5,200 pounds of thrust. This gave the F-86A a top speed of 675 miles per hour, an initial climb rate of 7,600 feet per minute, and a service ceiling of 48,300 feet. No other operational aircraft in the Air Force’s inventory could match it, and when the Korean War broke out, no other aircraft could match the vaunted MiG-15.

When the Sabre and the MiG first clashed over the Yalu River, the respective characteristics of these two thoroughbreds became readily apparent. With significantly less weight, the MiG-15 could fly higher and climb faster than its American opponent. The MiG was also fitted with very heavy armament: one 37 mm and two 23 mm cannons. Though relatively slow-firing, the MiG’s armament was designed to shoot down heavy bombers and was therefore devastating against smaller aircraft. The Sabre carried six .50-caliber machine guns that produced a high volume of fire that was more than sufficient against World War II-vintage aircraft. This armament, however, was less effective against the durable centrifugal-flow jet engine of the MiG, which could withstand a great deal of punishment.

Coupled with the superior training and expertise of the American pilots, the F-86 also emerged triumphant in most of its engagements because of its radar-ranging gunsight, which was far more accurate than the MiG-15’s World War II-vintage reflector sight. Subsequent improvements based on combat experience greatly improved an already excellent design. By the end of the Korean Conflict, North American F-86s, including the improved F-86E and F, had dominated the air over the entire peninsula. Some 8,443 Sabres of all types were built.

The first unit to fly the Sabre in combat was the Fourth Fighter-Interceptor Wing from Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. In July 1949, it received its first F-86As including the one that would eventually end up at NASM. Our aircraft, along with its squadron mates, was shipped to Korea in December 1950. It was stationed at Kimpo Air Base near Seoul until replaced by F-86Es in mid-1951. The California Air National Guard eventually flew our F-86A until it was transferred to NASM in 1962.

Air power is more than just air-to-air combat. Air superiority over the battlefield is critical to success but battles are won and lost on the ground. Crucial to victory is the application of tactical air power in support of the battlefields. As vividly demonstrated in the Second World War, battlefield success is largely dependent upon the ability of one combatant to put superior volume of fire against the other. Tactical air power in the form of bombers and strike fighters has the ability to place ordnance quickly on any target at any time and has proved to be a key determinant in the outcome of the engagement.

Tactical missions in Korea were undertaken by a wide variety of aircraft. The first generation of straight-wing jet fighters such as the F-80, F-84 Thunderjet, F2H Banshee, and F9F Panther were pressed into service as attack aircraft. Grateful as they were for this support, battlefield commanders preferred the support of slower, piston-engined aircraft that could bomb and strafe more accurately than the swift jets. Conventional aircraft also could loiter over the battlefield much longer than the thirsty jets and therefore were more often available when needed.

Many World War II-vintage aircraft were employed in tactical duties in Korea, particularly the Douglas B-26 Invader, the Vought Corsair, and the North American P-51 Mustang. One of the most successful aircraft developed during that conflict, but which did not see service until after the war, was the Douglas AD Skyraider. Korea was its baptism of fire.

Designed in 1944 to meet a U.S. Navy requirement for a single-seat multi-role dive-bomber and torpedo-bomber, the Douglas XBT2D-1 was another product of the creative mind of Chief Engineer Ed Heinemann and his skilled team. To garner a share of the Navy’s new series of bomber contracts, Heinemann and his team created the initial drawings and performance specifications for this aircraft overnight in a hotel room. By the end of the summer, the aircraft took shape. It was an immensely strong, low-wing monoplane powered by a single Wright R-3350 that initially produced 2,300 horsepower. It had a top speed in service of 320 miles per hour and could carry a heavy load of up to 8,000 pounds as well as four 20 mm wing-mounted cannons.

On March 18, 1945, after a frenetic development period to overcome a growing weight problem, the XBT2D-1 flew four months ahead of schedule. The aircraft was an immediate success, meeting or exceeding all requirements. Hopes for large-scale production, however, were dashed with the end of the war and the wholesale cancellation of military contracts. Despite this, the Navy was pleased with this exceptional new carrier-based bomber and placed an initial order for 277, not including the 25 service test aircraft. By the time the aircraft entered production in 1946, the aircraft had been reclassified as an attack aircraft, receiving the designation AD-1 and officially named the “Skyraider.”

With the outbreak of the Korean Conflict late in June 1950, Skyraiders were rushed into combat in Navy and Marine Corps squadrons. On July 3, AD-4s from Navy attack squadron VA-55 flying from the aircraft carrier USS Valley Forge attacked the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. Quickly the versatile Skyraider earned a well-deserved reputation as an accurate tactical bomber and was the only platform capable of dropping a 2,000-pound bomb with precision on specialized targets.

Production continued unabated long after the Korean War ended in 1953. A total of 3,180 Skyraiders were built before production ended in 1957. This did not, however, mark the end of its remarkable career. Its highly-prized capabilities were called upon once again when the United States became actively involved in the war in Vietnam. Nicknamed the “Spad,” after the rugged French fighter of First World War fame, the A-1—as it was redesignated in 1962—once again excelled in ground support missions against targets in North and South Vietnam. On two occasions a Skyraider actually downed high-performance MiG-17s in air-to-air combat, proving its versatility. By 1968 the Skyraider was phased out of the Navy’s inventory but continued to find success with the U.S. Air Force and the air force of the Republic of South Vietnam.

The Museum’s Skyraider was built in 1954 as an AD-6, one year after the conclusion of the Korean War. It flew for the Navy and saw combat in Vietnam until it was transferred to the Air Force in 1967. As an A-1H, our Skyraider flew as part of the 1st Special Operations Wing before it was transferred to the South Vietnamese air force in 1972. Following the fall of Saigon in April 1975, our Skyraider and its South Vietnamese pilot escaped into Thailand. Through the good offices of David Tallichet of Yesterday’s Air Force, one of these A-1Hs was sent to the Museum in 1983.

Famed for its ruggedness, the Douglas AD Skyraider excelled as a tactical bomber during the Korean Conflict and the Vietnam War.

Skyraiders also served with the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm and served with distinction with the French Armée de L’Air during the difficult campaign in Algeria in the 1950s and early 1960s. So successful was this World War II design that the U.S. Defense Department considered reopening the production line in 1965, but cost considerations precluded this. Nevertheless, the versatility of this classic Ed Heinemann design marks the Skyraider as one of the best attack aircraft ever to fight.

Returning to the Korean War, this conflict quickly settled into a political stalemate in the spring of 1951, but UN air power continued to dominate the battlefield and the skies above. With the exception of “MiG Alley”—the corridor along the Yalu River that divides North Korea and China—communist air power was rarely evident along the 38th parallel. Instead, Chinese and North Korean pilots chose to strike at night to avoid interception in attack aircraft nicknamed by U.S. troops as “bed check Charlies.” These and other nuisance raids were intended as psychological weapons.

One of the most prevalent raiders was a converted trainer, the Yak-18. Designed by the prolific Yakovlev design bureau that produced outstanding fighters during World War II, the Yak-18 was a conventional, single-engine, low-wing monoplane. Work started in 1945 on an aircraft to be built around a five-cylinder, air-cooled, 160-horsepower M-11FR radial. First flown in 1946, the steel-tube, fabric-covered trainer possessing excellent handling characteristics was an immediate success and quickly superseded earlier trainers. Many of the 4,131 Yak-18s saw service with air forces friendly to the Soviet Union. China built 379 under license and, together with their North Korean ally, flew a militarized version on nocturnal attacks against UN ground forces. One Yak-18 fell into American hands when a North Korean pilot and copilot defected to the West in 1954. After testing by the U.S. Air Force, this Yak-18, which had attacked a Seoul fuel depot in June 1953, was transferred to NASM in 1960. Interestingly, Yak-18s remained in production through the 1970s as aerobatic aircraft. This highly modified single-seat version known as the Yak-18P/PM/PS became a star aerobatic performer when fitted with engines of up to 300 horsepower.

The United States also used small trainers, not just for nuisance raids but also for liaison work. As with its Piper L-4 predecessor, the Cessna L-19 Bird Dog started life as a civilian general-purpose aircraft. Based on components from the civilian Models 170 and 195, the L-19 quickly demonstrated its versatility after it entered production in the summer of 1950. Almost immediately, it was rushed to Korea, where it gave sterling service in support of American ground troops. The L-19 spotted for artillery, evacuated the wounded, dropped light bombs, laid communication lines, and performed a host of other vital duties. Fifteen years later in Vietnam, the L-19, redesignated the O-1, also excelled in the dangerous role as forward air controller directing the fire of attack aircraft and artillery.

Though developed before the Korean War, helicopters gained international recognition for their unique capabilities during this conflict. In Korea the helicopter revolutionized the battlefield evacuation of the severely wounded, as immortalized in the movie and television series “M*A*S*H*.” By quickly bringing the severely wounded to nearby surgical hospitals, helicopters gave combat victims the “golden hour” the doctors needed to operate. This so often meant the difference between life and death. The helicopter quickly excelled in many other roles, particularly search and rescue, aerial resupply, and eventually as a combat aircraft.

The Sikorsky XR-4 was America’s first helicopter to enter military service.

For pioneer designer Igor Sikorsky, however, the helicopter was best suited for missions of mercy. Though the helicopter had many creators, Sikorsky was the first to produce a practical craft when his VS-300 first flew in 1939. Unlike earlier designs, Sikorsky’s could hover and maneuver along all axes. The Russian-born inventor had been working on helicopters since the first decade of the 20th century but a lack of suitably powerful engines prevented him from pursuing his dream of rotary-winged flight for 30 years. In the meantime, Sikorsky led the world in the development of large transport aircraft and transocean flying boats before returning to his first aeronautical passion.

With the demonstrated success of his VS-300, Sikorsky received a contract from the Army for constructing a military version. First flown on January 14, 1942, the Sikorsky XR-4 was built of steel tubes covered in doped fabric and powered by a single 165-horsepower, Warner R-550 radial engine. Featuring the single main rotor plus anti-torque rotor design that Sikorsky pioneered (and which has became the industry standard), the XR-4 set a record for a long-distance helicopter flight during its delivery from the factory in Stratford, Connecticut, to the Army Air Forces at Wright Field, Ohio. The XR-4 covered 761 miles in 16 hours and 10 minutes over the course of five days. This was not only a record, it was the first cross-country flight by this or any other helicopter.

Following a successful evaluation, the XR-4 was ordered into production with a more-powerful 180-horsepower engine and a wider three-bladed rotor 38 feet in diameter. In 1943, the first batch of 30 XR-4As and -4Bs were given a thorough service test under extreme conditions from frigid Alaska to tropical Burma. In Burma and The Philippines, R-4s carried in supplies and carried out the wounded. Of the 131 XR-4s built, the U.S. Coast Guard flew 20 and the Royal Air Force operated 45. The original XR-4 was transferred to the Smithsonian in 1947 after more advanced types entered the military inventory.

One of those more advanced types was the XR-5. Using the same rotor configuration of the smaller XR-4, the XR-5 first flew on August 18, 1943. With a gross weight of 4,850 pounds, this helicopter was almost twice the size of its predecessor and was designed specifically for observation and rescue work. Its 450-horsepower Pratt & Whitney R-985 gave the XR-5 a top speed of 106 miles per hour and the ability to carry a crew of two plus two passengers on external litters. The XR-5 was the first helicopter to join the Air Rescue Service and served as the basic design for the civil S-51 series. The XR-5 remained in service until 1954 and in 1960 an XR-5 was transferred to the Museum.

Igor Sikorsky was only one of many helicopter pioneers in the United States. In Philadelphia, a center of rotary-wing research, Frank Piasecki, Elliott Daland, and Donald Meyer formed the P-V Engineering Forum to pursue their ideas about vertical flight. The word “helicopter” was not used in the name of the company because investors were hesitant to spend money on so-called “crackpot” ideas. The result of their fruitful collaboration was the PV-2, which first flew on April 11, 1943, with Piasecki at the controls. This was not only the PV-2’s first flight but Piasecki’s as well. Built on a shoestring budget, the tiny single-seat PV-2 flew well and it was hoped that it would turn into an aerial automobile for a new mass market. That hope never materialized, but the Navy was sufficiently impressed with Piasecki’s engineering acumen to contract for a larger, radically different helicopter intended to lift heavy loads.

That helicopter was the PV-3. Aware that the German Fa 61 tandem helicopter actually flew better sideways than it did forward, Piasecki reasoned that by moving the two rotors from the left and right side of the fuselage to positions in the front and rear would create a controllable helicopter capable of lifting much heavier loads than conventional designs. This was an innovative solution to the difficult problem of helicopter efficiency because both rotors provided lift. The distance necessary to separate the rotors dictated a longer fuselage and this, in turn, gave the configuration better stability at the cost of some maneuverability. This was an acceptable tradeoff for the PV-3, which was renamed the XHRP-1 Rescuer and was generally known as the “Dog Ship” for its dachshund-like shape, or the “flying banana” for similar reasons. This new helicopter could carry an 1,800-pound payload, which was significantly greater than other designs of the time.

First flown in March 1945, the XHRP-1 was operated by the Navy for a variety of shipboard tasks including antisubmarine operations, search and rescue, aerial assault, and cargo transport. While the Museum’s example was retired to NASM in 1961, subsequent Piasecki designs evolved into several generations of effective heavy helicopters, first by Piasecki, then by Vertol, and later by Boeing.

Frank Piasecki was one of several vertical flight pioneers who flourished in and around Philadelphia. As early as the 1930s, Philadelphia had become a center of vertical flight research primarily through the efforts of Harold Pitcairn and his series of successful autogiros. Though not capable of hovering, autogiros, with their freely spinning rotors, could take off in an extremely short distance. Basing his designs on those of Spanish inventor Juan de la Cierva, from whom he bought the U.S. manufacturing rights, Pitcairn created a series of moderately successful craft in the late 1920s, including the PCA-1A, one of which is in NASM’s collection. Powered by a single 225-horsepower, tractor-mounted, Wright Whirlwind radial engine, the PCA-1A was the first product of the Pitcairn Cierva Autogiro Company of America (later renamed the Autogiro Company of America) and flew for 198 hours before it was retired in 1931.

This tiny PV-2 helicopter was pioneer Frank Piasecki’s first successful design.

Seven Kellett XO-60 autogyros were built and tested for the Army Air Corps but did not enter service.

Harold Pitcairn was involved in many aspects of aviation. As an early aircraft designer and airline pioneer, he had built the famous series of Pitcairn Mailwing aircraft to carry the air mail in the mid-1920s. His commercial airliner interests were later developed by airline entrepreneur Clement Keys into what would become Eastern Air Lines. Pitcairn’s fertile mind remained entranced by aeronautics and in 1935 he combined the autogiro with the automobile to produce his AC-35. Working under a contract from the Bureau of Air Commerce to produce aircraft for a mass consumer market, Pitcairn based his new machine on his earlier PA-22 cabin autogiro. It was powered by a single 90-horsepower Pobjoy radial that drove the tractor propeller as well as the single tailwheel. This gave the AC-35 enough power to drive 25 miles per hour on the highway. It was fitted with folding rotor blades to allow it to fit into a standard garage. Despite many promising demonstrations, however, and as with every other roadable aircraft design before or since, the AC-35 failed to capture the public’s imagination. They were neither good aircraft nor suitable as automobiles.

Autogiros were seen by many as having military uses. In 1942, the Kellett Autogiro Company, also from Philadelphia, produced the XO-60 for the Army Air Forces. This large aircraft seated a pilot and an observer in tandem underneath a large, multi-paneled canopy. Seven were built and tested during the war, but the advent of the practical helicopter spelled the end of the autogiro as a military aircraft. All were soon retired to museums, including the last one, which was transferred from the Air Force to the Smithsonian in 1949.

While autogiros never found a large market, several small, homebuilt designs did achieve success in the general market in the postwar years. Russian immigrant Igor Benson was an inveterate inventor who was enamored with flight. After working for General Electric and later at the Kaman Aircraft Company, Benson became intrigued with the theories of autorotation. In 1954, he produced a single-seat, unpowered aircraft he called his B-6 Gyroglider. This clever little craft was intended for the nascent homebuilder market. It was designed to be towed behind an automobile to gain speed for flight but could also take off by itself in winds stronger than 25 miles per hour. Built of aluminum tubes and other inexpensive conventional materials, the Gyroglider weighed only 128 pounds empty.

In December 1955, Benson produced the B-8M Gyrocopter, a powered version of his unique glider. As with the Pitcairn AC-35, the Gyrocopter was designed to fit into a garage and was also roadable. One B-8 christened the Spirit of Kitty Hawk took off from the same spot at Kill Devil Hills 60 years to the day after the Wright brothers’ historic flight. The diminutive Gyrocopter went on to set 12 national and international records for its class before it was retired to the Smithsonian in 1969.

Autogiros were an idea whose time never really did come. Helicopters, on the other hand, were the solution to vertical flight. Following the pioneering success of Igor Sikorsky, a host of other enterprising individuals and companies entered the fray. In California, an energetic 17-year-old by the name of Stanley Hiller, Jr., taught himself the rudiments of vertical flight. After creating his own company to build model cars, Hiller teamed up with Harold Sigler, an engineer in his father’s employ, to create his own helicopter. Intuitively aware of the drawbacks of the power-sapping tail rotor in Sikorsky’s design, Hiller built his XH-44 Hiller Copter with co-axial, counter-rotating rotors. Like Frank Piasecki, Hiller taught himself how to fly and at 19 piloted his bright yellow XH-44 on its first flight on May 14, 1944, at the University of California’s football stadium in Berkeley. The co-axial layout proved to be stable and produced much less vibration than Sikorsky’s design. Its success inspired Hiller to incorporate his enterprise as United Helicopters. Interestingly, he would turn his attention to solving the stability and control problems of conventional, tail-rotored helicopters, resulting in a series of highly efficient and successful designs.

Yet he was not satisfied. In 1950, Hiller turned his remarkably creative mind once again to solving the problem of rotor torque. The use of co-axial rotors did work but produced a complicated mechanism with other limitations. Piston engines were barely powerful enough to lift a helicopter with a useful payload. The challenge was to find a way to maximize lift and thrust while eliminating torque. Hiller’s innovative solution was to install a ramjet of his own design on the tip of each blade of a twin-bladed rotor. This unique solution eliminated the torque problems while maximizing thrust. Though using only two Hiller 8RJ2B ramjets, each of which producing only 39 pounds of thrust, the Hiller HOE-1 Hornet could lift a payload that was almost equal to its weight. The drawbacks, and they were severe, were high fuel consumption and ear-splitting noise. The advent of turboshaft engines solved the power problem for helicopters, thus relegating the Hornet to history.

Hiller’s genius for design and for business would serve him well for the rest of his distinguished career. On May 28, 1953, Stanley Hiller gave his XH-44 to the Museum. The Hornet was transferred to NASM from the Navy in 1960.

On a farm in Paoli, Pennsylvania, another enterprising helicopter pioneer found success. Arthur Young had been building sophisticated helicopter models for 13 years following his graduation from Princeton in 1927. Enamored with the possibilities of vertical flight, Young became convinced that the single rotor configuration was the most practical after he attended the first Rotating Wing Aircraft Meeting in Philadelphia in 1938. Prominent among the speakers was Igor Sikorsky, whose presentation swayed Young’s research.

The XH-44 Hiller Copter was Stanley Hiller’s first helicopter.

The Museum’s Bell Model 47 was the first helicopter ever to carry a president of the United States.

Returning home, Young expanded his work and developed his revolutionary stabilizing bar, which when installed above the two bladed main rotors, greatly reduced the controllability problems of rotating blades and was the key to his subsequent success. Spurred by the promising results of his latest experiments, Young met with Larry Bell in the hope that the Bell Aircraft Corporation would back his development of a full-scale helicopter. On November 24, 1941, Bell awarded him a contract for the construction of two helicopter prototypes.

By the summer of 1942, Young and his small design team were hard at work. Built of welded steel tubes and powered by a single flat-six, air-cooled, 160-horsepower Franklin engine, the Model 30 first took flight on June 26, 1943, after months of tethered tests. Nicknamed “Genevieve,” Model 30 No. 1 had an open cockpit and flew in various guises with its metal fuselage painted in bright yellow.

Three Model 30s were built. On January 5, 1945, Bell test pilot Jack Woolams was rescued by a Model 30 after he was forced to bail out of his stricken P-59. On March 14, 1945, Floyd Carlson rescued two ice fishermen from Lake Erie, dramatically highlighting the special capabilities of vertical flight. The Franklin Institute eventually donated Genevieve to NASM in 1964. The second example is preserved in Buffalo. And while the third example no longer exists, it led to the development of one of the most successful and well-known helicopters in history, the famous Bell Model 47.

The Bell Model 30 No. 3 worked very well but the need to keep weight down meant that it usually flew with an uncomfortable open cockpit. To solve this problem, Arthur Young devised a large Plexiglas bubble formed to fit around the cockpit. This gave the needed protection from the rotor wash while providing exceptional visibility. When work began on a more powerful successor to the Model 30, this “goldfish” bowl shape was incorporated into the new design and became a distinguishing feature of Bell’s next helicopter.

The new Model 47 was rolled from Bell’s Niagara Falls factory on December 8, 1945, and flew for the first time that day. Initially equipped with a 175-horsepower Franklin, it was powered by a number of engines during its 28-year production run, culminating in a 305-horsepower Lycoming VO-540. The Model 47 could carry a pilot and a two-man payload. On March 8, 1946, it became the first helicopter to receive a certificate of airworthiness by the Civil Aeronautics Authority, the predecessor to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Countless versions of the Model 47 were produced by Bell in the United States as well as by Augusta in Italy and Kawasaki in Japan. The helicopter found success as a crop duster and in police and rescue operations. It was used in experimental air mail delivery and went into commercial passenger service around the world. Perhaps its most lasting impression was made with the military. As the H-13 Sioux, the Model 47 excelled as a utility helicopter for the U.S. Army. It is this helicopter, made famous in the movie and television series “M*A*S*H,” that evacuated 17,700 combat casualties to mobile surgical hospitals during the Korean War. The Marine Corps and Navy also flew Model 47s as light trainer and utility helicopters.

In 1957, the U.S. Air Force acquired two Bell H-13Js for use as presidential transports. Designated VH-13Js, one of these helicopters, the example currently in the collection, carried President Dwight Eisenhower aloft from the White House lawn on July 13, 1947—the first sitting president to fly in a helicopter. Unfortunately, Eisenhower was not impressed with the uncomfortable ride. Nevertheless, the helicopter had come of age; these two VH-13Js were the first of what would become the presidential flight, now known as Marine One.

Throughout the 1950s, engineers and designers from all the major aircraft manufacturers built new experimental helicopters in the search to perfect this novel flying apparatus. Some worked, some did not. Many attempts were made to produce hybrid machines combining the speed of conventional aircraft and the hovering ability of a helicopter. Tilt wings and tilt rotors were popular ideas that were demonstrated but not refined as they were then too far ahead of the existing technology.

The Bell XV-15 served as the tilt rotor technology demonstrator that led to the development of the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey for the U.S. Marine Corps. This aircraft was delivered to the new Udvar-Hazy Center in September 2003.

The McDonnell Corporation, known for its innovative aircraft, built and flew its XV-1 Convertiplane on July 14, 1954. This aircraft looked similar to a streamlined autogiro but was fully capable of vertical flight. A single 550-horsepower Continental R-975 engine drove a pusher propeller and provided pressurized air to McDonnell pressure jet engines in the rotor tips, each delivering 170 pounds of thrust. Similar to Hiller’s HOE-1 Hornet, this configuration eliminated rotor torque and, with the rotor blades in flat pitch, enabled the XV-1 to set a speed mark for rotary-winged aircraft of 201 miles per hour. Though successful, the XV-1 was overly complex and therefore too expensive, so the project was cancelled.

The first tilt wing aircraft was the Boeing-Vertol VZ-2A, which first hovered on August 13, 1947. During the 1950s, Boeing acquired Frank Piasecki’s Vertol Company. In the late 1950s, Boeing-Vertol undertook a joint Army-Navy contract to produce an aircraft capable of vertical flight using a tilting wing. Incorporating a three-bladed rotor on each wing and a pair of ducted fans in the tail to control pitch and yaw, the Lycoming YT53-L-1 turboshaft-powered aircraft first flew on August 13, 1957. While much was learned about the difficulties of tilt wing dynamics, the VZ-2A was never able to make the transition from vertical to horizontal flight.

Nearby at Curtiss-Wright, engineers were addressing similarly tough design criteria and produced their own solution, the X-100. In the hope of finding a niche market, Curtiss-Wright combined the tilt rotor layout with deflected exhaust for pitch and yaw control. Although promising, the X-100 was barely able to complete a single transition flight from vertical to horizontal flight, as the 825 engine shaft horsepower of its Lycoming YT-53 turbine was insufficient. The project was abandoned for more promising efforts.

After years of work creating and aircraft that perform like a helicopter but fly much faster, engineers and designers at Bell, together with their counterparts at Boeing, produced the XV-15 Tilt Rotor technology demonstrator. Working with NASA and the U.S. Army, the Bell XV-15 proved that the tilt rotor concept was feasible and after a test career from 1979 until 2003, this, the second XV-15 built, compiled over 700 flight hours. Knowledge gained directly to the Bell MV-22 tilt rotor transport for the U.S. Marine Corps.

During the 1940s and 1950s, other designers became enamored with the possibility of creating tiny personal helicopters. During World War II, Horace Pentecost designed and built a 20-horsepower, 88-pound helicopter that could be strapped on a pilot’s back. Using coaxial rotor blades, the Pentecost E III Hoppi-Copter worked surprisingly well in 20 tethered tests, but fears of a catastrophic accident, if the pilot’s legs buckled, forced the cancellation of the project.

Another similar project showed more promise. The fertile mind of Stanley Hiller was applied to the problem of personal helicopters after World War II. His solution was a flying platform that used two 40-horsepower Nelson H-46 engines to drive a two-bladed, contra-rotating, ducted fan. This Hiller VZ-1 proved successful and was the first device of its type to fly without a safety tether. Built under the auspices of the Office of Naval Research and the Army Air Mobility Division, the VZ-1 was intended for battlefield observation and rapid deployment. Steered only by the shifting weight of the pilot, the flying platform flew well, but its unfortunate inability to autorotate if an engine failed, plus the simple fact that such a device would make the exposed pilot an easy target, derailed the project permanently.

In the early 1950s, the U.S. Navy became increasingly interested in several unconventional ideas for short or vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) fighters. One bizarre-looking but surprisingly effective circular flying-wing design was the product of the highly innovative mind of designer Charles Zimmerman. This odd configuration, with a single, massive, three-bladed propeller at each wing “tip,” ensured a uniform airflow over the 23-foot, 4-inch-diameter wing. Zimmerman correctly surmised that this would impart excellent low-speed handling while preserving high-speed control. While Zimmerman could not persuade the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) to help his research, he was encouraged to turn to industry to fund his efforts. The Vought-Sikorsky division of United Aircraft accepted the challenge and with corporate support the V—173, the so-called “Flying Pancake,” was created.

After successful trials with scale models and intrigued with the ability of the design to effectively hover, the U.S. Navy provided some funding for this promising prototype. Powered by two small 80-horsepower Lycoming engines, the V-173 first flew on November 23, 1942. More than 139 hours of testing confirmed the aircraft’s unusual flight characteristics to such a degree that the Navy ordered an experimental fighter that was based on its configuration. Two Vought XF5Us were built but not flown. The XF5U was to have flown with two 2,000-horsepower Pratt & Whitney R-2000 radials. By the time the fighter took shape, the Navy had turned to jet-powered designs for its future combat aircraft. The original V-173 remains on loan in Texas.

Around this time, the Navy became interested in developing a jet fighter capable of operating from small ships other than conventional aircraft carriers. Inspired by German research on tail-sitting aircraft, the Navy contracted with Convair and Lockheed to design and build a turboprop-powered single-seat fighter capable of taking off and landing on its tail. This unusual and ambitious project resulted in the unsuccessful Lockheed XV-1 (considered by Lockheed’s premier designer Kelly Johnson to be his only failure) and the partially successful Convair XFY, now in the NASM collection. While the Air Force was briefly interested in a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) fighter to operate from unprepared airfields, the Navy forged ahead with its project. It was not yet fully aware of the almost insurmountable difficulties of landing a high-performance fighter tail-first on a pitching deck with the pilot facing upward in a very disorienting position. Nevertheless, Convair produced two XFY-1s, known as the “Pogo,” each powered by a single 5,260-horsepower, Allison T-40-A-14 turboprop that drove Curtiss-Wright contra-rotating propellers 16 feet in diameter.

In a testament to the skill of Convair’s engineers and James “Skeets” Coleman, its courageous test pilot, the aircraft did work. It flew throughout the spring and summer of 1954 and, on November 2 of that year, the “Pogo” completed its first vertical takeoff and landing. The aircraft was difficult to control in the vertical plane and several near-catastrophes were luckily avoided. By this time, the Navy had lost interest and finally recognized that no matter how well the XFY-1 might fly, it was still a propeller-driven fighter in a jet-powered world. It cancelled the project.

Back at Niagara Falls, Bell was pursuing its own VTOL ideas. As early as January 1941, it had patented a tail-sitting VTOL design fitted with a single engine and contra-rotating propellers. In 1944, Arthur Young had designed, but not built, a jet-powered, tail-sitting VTOL attack aircraft. Ironically, when the U.S. Navy opened a competition for a VTOL fighter Bell lost the contract to Convair. Based on its experience, Bell correctly believed that a tail-sitting configuration was operationally impractical. After the cancellation of the XFY-1 and XFV-1, Bell received a developmental contract for a VTOL jet fighter.

To determine whether or not the contemporary technology was sufficient for this challenging undertaking, Bell started work on an ingenious private venture to create an inexpensive proof-of-concept aircraft. To minimize expenses, parts of existing aircraft were incorporated into the Bell Model 65 ATV (Air Test Vehicle). The ATV had a metal fuselage from a Schweitzer 1-23 sailplane, shortened wings from a Cessna 170, and the landing skids off of a Bell 47 helicopter. The power to rise and descend vertically and then make the transition to conventional flight was provided by two Fairchild J44 turbojets, one on each side of the fuselage installed in pivoting mounts. Each engine generated 1,000 pounds of thrust. A small Turbomeca Palouste jet-powered generator provided compressed air for the ATV’s attitude control system that operated through nozzles in the tail and wingtips. Test pilot Dave Howe first flew the ATV in January 1954. Several weeks later, a compressor failure in the right engine caused a fire and significant damage. Repaired, the aircraft flew a total of 4.5 hours before the project was ended in 1955. While a successful transition was never made, the ATV could fly either vertically or horizontally and demonstrated a potential for further development, which was eventually realized in the more sophisticated Bell X-14.

The Bell X-14 succeeded primarily through the use of vectored thrust rather than pivoting the engine. By redirecting the thrust of the jet engines through thrust diverters, vertical and conventional horizontal flight was possible, including transition between both. The most obvious example of this vectored-thrust VTOL technology is seen today in the remarkable British Aerospace Harrier, popularly known as the “Jump Jet.”

The Harrier began life as the Hawker P.1127 in the late 1950s. The creation of Sir Sidney Camm, Ralph Hooper, and the creative minds of Hawker Aviation, the series of aircraft that was ultimately to lead to the formidable Harrier was made possible by the development of the radical Pegasus turbofan engine designed by Dr. Stanley Hooker of the Bristol Engine Company, now a part of Rolls-Royce. This remarkable engine directed cold bypass air through two front pivoting nozzles and hot jet exhaust through two rear pivoting nozzles. Sophisticated controls allowed the pilot to control the vectored thrust with a single VTO throttle while compressed air could be bled from the engine and directed through valves in the wings, nose, and tail, to provide direction control during vertical and transition flight.

Hawker Siddeley’s Kestrel was an improved variant of the P.1127, nine of which were built for a tripartite testing program between Great Britain, the Federal Republic of Germany, and the United States. The Kestrel first flew on March 7, 1964. After successful trials in England, six aircraft were transferred to the United States, designated XV-6As, to be thoroughly evaluated by NASA’s Langley Research Center. The Museum’s example is composed of two aircraft: the tail and fuselage of the second Kestrel, and the wings of the seventh. It flew 210 times before it was retired.

The lengthy trials proved fruitful. The Kestrel demonstrated that a true VTOL aircraft was operationally practical. This would lead to the development of the famous Hawker Harrier (later British Aerospace Harrier) that flies today. The aircraft’s exceptional abilities were ably demonstrated during the Falklands War between Britain and Argentina when Harriers downed 26 Argentine aircraft without a single loss in air-to-air combat. The Harrier can fly at high subsonic speeds and also perform astounding maneuvers using its vectored thrust that conventional aircraft cannot match. Only the Harrier’s short range and payload capability limit its effectiveness. Nevertheless, the Royal Air Force and the U.S. Marine Corps have used the Harrier with great success, particularly in the close air support mission.

The Korean War and the worsening Cold War between the Western democracies and the Soviet bloc forced both sides to increase their research efforts into improving all aspects of military aviation. For the United States, Korea clearly demonstrated the usefulness of the helicopter and underscored the vital requirement to field the most modern combat aircraft to preserve air superiority over the battlefield. Consequently during the mid- to late-1950s, several important new designs took to the sky.

In 1951, the U.S. Navy was interested in a bigger, more powerful and, therefore, more capable helicopter for antisubmarine warfare duties. The Sikorsky H-19 (Model S-55) met these criteria, but suffered from a deficiency in payload and range, as did most early piston-engined helicopters. The solution from H-34 (Model S-58), powered by an air-cooled, 1,525-horsepower, Wright R-1820 radial, which first flew on March 8, 1954. This aircraft had twice the payload as its predecessor and set several speed records in its class, on one occasion averaging 141.9 miles per hour over a 100-kilometer course. S-58s intended for operations to seek and destroy submarines in hunter-killer teams were delivered to the Navy beginning in August 1955.

The Sikorsky UH-34D bore the brunt of the early helicopter operations in Vietnam.

Several variants of the S-58 were soon produced as this helicopter, equipped with an automatic pilot that could also hover, demonstrated its adaptability. Accordingly, the U.S. Marine Corps ordered the HUS-1 (UH-34D) version that had its antisubmarine electronic equipment removed. Up to 16 passengers or an equivalent load of supplies could be carried instead. By 1958, the H-34 was the primary helicopter in the U.S. Army inventory and was deployed around the world. Soon to be a familiar sight on the battlefields of Vietnam, the S-58 would prove to be a worthy assault and utility helicopter, operating in extreme conditions. Some versions were fitted with armament, forerunners of the helicopter gunships that appeared later in the conflict. NASM’s example is a UH-34D Choctaw that was delivered to the Marine Corps on March 31, 1961. It operated with the Marines within the United States until it was transferred to the Museum in 1974.

The Sikorsky S-58 was a familiar sight in the skies around the world during the 1960s. Navy versions were used to recover Mercury astronauts from the ocean, and seven were assigned to a joint Executive Flight Detachment that provided helicopter service for the president and other government VIPs. The U.S. Air Force Reserve also operated this versatile aircraft.

Because of the special and exacting requirements of vertical flight, helicopters have always had high power requirements. The first generation of helicopters suffered from overworked and underpowered air-cooled radial engines. Even the second generation of helicopters, such as the UH-34C, was often operated at the extreme range of their capabilities. The advent of reliable turbojet power coupled to rotary-winged aircraft revolutionized helicopter design and performance. Small, lightweight, but high-powered turboshaft engines solved the power problem while improving reliability and freeing up much needed space for payload and fuel. These engines made the helicopter a practical tool of war and peace.

The first turbine-powered helicopter was the Kaman K-225. Powered by a single 175-shaft-horsepower Boeing 502-2 engine, our K-225 was one of 14 examples built but the only one fitted with the Boeing engine. The K-225, which first flew on December 10, 1951, incorporated Kaman’s unique twin intermeshing rotor system that concentrated power in the main rotors and did not require a conventional tail rotor. This layout served Kaman well in a series of helicopters built for the U.S. Navy and Air Force, particularly for rescue service. The engine conversion proved successful in paving the way for the rapid adoption of turbine power to helicopters.

Proof of the success of the gas turbine in helicopters came in October 1956 with the first flight of the Bell Model 204. Soon to become the ubiquitous symbol of America’s presence on and over the battlefields of Vietnam, the Model 204 flew as the XH-40, HU-1, and finally, the UH-1 in service with all the branches of the U.S. military. Popularly known as the “Huey” (after its HU-1 designation), the Model 204 and its later developments revolutionized 20th century warfare by bringing an unprecedented mobility to the battlefield. The Huey was capable of carrying great loads and surviving much battle damage. Its two-bladed rotors allowed for ease of shipment and storage but they were noisy and so announced the Huey’s presence long before it appeared—a severe drawback over a battlefield. Nevertheless, the Huey is credited with evacuating 390,000 wounded soldiers to safety and became by far the most recognized aircraft of the Vietnam conflict.

The Kaman K-225 was the first helicopter fitted with a gas-turbine engine.

Known as the “Huey,” the Bell HU-1 came to symbolize America’s involvement in the Vietnam War. Many were fitted with smoke rings that could lay down clouds of smoke to obscure the landings and takeoffs from the enemy during combat.

The Huey was designed from experience gained during the Korean War. The U.S. Army, pleased with the success of medical evacuation helicopters, awarded Bell a contract for a new, larger, more-powerful, turbine-powered helicopter for ambulance duties. This new aircraft, designated the Model 204, had to carry an 8,000-pound payload over a radius of 100 nautical miles at 100 knots airspeed. Furthermore, it had to be able to hover out of ground effect up to 6,000 feet yet be small enough to fit inside a Douglas C-124 or Lockheed C-130 transport. Carrying its initial military designation of XH-40, the Model 204 was fitted with a newly designed Lycoming XT53-L-1 turboshaft engine that produced 700 shaft horsepower—the Army’s first turbine-powered helicopter. The Model 204 had a semi-rigid, 44-foot-wide, two-bladed rotor. Installing the engine above the fuselage left sufficient volume to carry eight passengers or four stretchers in addition to the pilot and co-pilot.

The first prototypes were delivered to the U.S. Army in 1958 and they were an immediate success. Soon redesignated HU-1s, the service test versions of the Model 204 were delivered with a more-powerful engine and a fuselage lengthened by 12 inches, which became the standard. In 1960, the Army accepted the first production models and many were soon deployed to Vietnam as American involvement increased in the early 1960s. By 1962, with the unification of all of the service’s designation systems, the HU-1s were reclassified as UH-1s.

A highly adaptable design, the Model 204 was soon fitted in the field with machine guns and rockets to escort unarmed “slicks” that carried troops or wounded. With the formation of the First Cavalry Division in 1965, the Hueys came into their own, transporting troops rapidly throughout the war-torn countryside. Some 400 UH-1Bs were operated by this unit and were instrumental in thwarting a North Vietnamese attack during the Pleiku campaign. Even after the UH-1Bs and Cs were supplanted by the bigger, more powerful Model 205 (UH-1D) transports, the Model 204s continued to serve as gunships through the end of the war. UH-1Bs, fitted with TOW (tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided) antitank missiles were largely responsible for destroying a massed North Vietnamese armored attack during their Easter offensive in 1972. NASM received its UH-1C from the Army National Guard in 1985.

The pressures of the Cold War and the lessons of the Korean War pushed military aircraft builders to build ever more powerful and capable aircraft. Despite the overwhelming success of the F-86 Sabre, the U.S. Air Force and North American Aviation clearly saw that supersonic performance would be a pre-requisite for the next generation of fighters. Consequently, in 1949, engineers at North American began to seek ways to improve the F-86. As a private venture, the company designed the Sabre 45 that featured a 45-degree swept wing. After two years of work, the U.S. Air Force ordered two service test examples designated the YF-100A plus 23 production F-100A Super Sabres, as they came to be called.

The layout of the aircraft was similar to that of the F-86 in that it featured a low-mounted wing and an intake in the nose. It was fitted with a powerful Pratt & Whitney J57 turbojet that produced 16,000 pounds of thrust in afterburner. The new 45-degree wing and the extra power of the J57 enabled the Super Sabre to become the first operational fighter in the world capable of level supersonic flight. It was first flown on May 25, 1953, by North American test pilot George Welch at Edwards Air Force Base.

The Super Sabre quickly set a series of speed records and would have been an immediate success except for a series of accidents that forced a succession of modifications to the wings and tail to improve controllability. While accidents would continue to plague the F-100, it nevertheless enjoyed a long career, and with the advent of the F-100C version it soon developed into a capable fighter-bomber and even set a speed record of Mach 1.25 in August 1955. This variant featured the standard four 20 mm cannons mounted on the underside of the nose but could also carry up to 5,000 pounds of weapons or fuel tanks on four strengthened hardpoints on the wing. The aircraft was also fitted with a probe-and-drogue system for aerial refueling.

In 1956 the F-100D debuted, incorporating an enlarged fin and rudder, inboard landing flaps, a new supersonic autopilot, and a wing strengthened to carry 7,000 pounds of ordnance. The last variants of the F-100D were also equipped with a unique zero-length launching system that enabled the aircraft to take off without a runway from bombproof shelters using rocket assistance. The F-100D was also modified to carry AIM-9B Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, Bullpup air-to-surface missiles, and was even fitted with arrestor hooks for emergency landings.

The Super Sabre first entered combat in the early years of the war in Vietnam. As early as 1965, F-100Ds were operating from bases in South Vietnam against targets in the North. Two-seat F-100Fs were used in dangerous forward-air-control missions from the outset. Though soon supplanted by the larger and more powerful F-105, the North American F-100F pioneered the hazardous “Wild Weasel” missions. Using radar-detecting equipment taken from the secret high-altitude Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, engineers modified the two-seat F-100F to detect and attack enemy antiaircraft radar sites. On December 3, 1965, these specially-modified Super Sabres entered combat and quickly demonstrated their effectiveness. By April 1966, the Wild Weasels were using the new Shrike antiradiation missile against North Vietnamese radars.

Although the Air Force soon turned over the F-100 to Air National Guard units, the pressures of the war forced the Guard to step in and keep the Super Sabres in combat longer than originally anticipated. By the late 1970s, most were withdrawn from service or converted into target drones. NASM’s F-100 is a D version that was accepted by the Air Force in 1957 and served in the United States, Japan, Vietnam, and the Michigan Air National Guard before it was transferred to the Museum in 1978.

The venerable F-100 was the first of the so-called “Century Series” fighters to fly with the U. S. Air Force. Next in numerical order was the McDonnell F-101 Voodoo, which was designed as a long-range, twin-engined, escort and penetration fighter for the Strategic Air Command (SAC). It was powered by two Pratt & Whitney J57s, making it the heaviest and most powerful fighter of its type when it first flew on September 29, 1954. While SAC dropped its requirement for the Voodoo, the Tactical Air Command accepted the F-101, which was designed to carry tactical nuclear weapons as well as its standard four 20 mm cannons and Falcon air-to-air missiles. Air Defense Command employed the long-range F-101B all-weather interceptors that featured an observer and air-to-air nuclear missiles designed to destroy invading Soviet bomber fleets. The most widely used version was the RF-101C reconnaissance variant. With a lengthened nose and large carrying capability, the RF-101 excelled in this new mission. Many were used during the Cuban Missile Crisis and especially in Vietnam. The nose to an RF-101C that served in Vietnam and Laos was received by NASM in 1980.

Designed originally to deliver nuclear weapons, the Mach 2 Republic F-105 Thunderchief carried the brunt of the Air Force’s conventional bombing missions against North Vietnam for much of the war.

While NASM as yet does not own a Convair F-102 or F-106 from the Century Series, the Museum does have a Lockheed F-104 on display in the main building and a Mach 2 Republic F-105D Thunderchief on display at the Udvar-Hazy Center. During the early 1950s, with the threat of massive nuclear destruction only hours away, armed forces on both sides of the Iron Curtain developed specialized aircraft to deliver atomic weapons. In the United States this policy generated several new designs for tactical strike fighters. With less attention being paid to the delivery of conventional weapons, these new aircraft were specially designed for atomic air war. One of the most widely used aircraft of this type was the Thunderchief.

The F-105 was Republic Aviation’s answer to the U.S. Air Force’s requirement for a long-range tactical fighter-bomber to replace the F-84F then in service. The Air Force placed its first order for the Thunderchief in 1954 and specified a supersonic aircraft capable of carrying an 8,000-pound nuclear bombload inside a bomb-bay as well as 4,000 pounds of ordnance or fuel carried on four hardpoints under the wings. This huge aircraft was to be powered by a single Pratt & Whitney J75 turbojet that produced 24,500 pounds of thrust with afterburner. This enabled the aircraft to fly at twice the speed of sound.

The McDonnell Douglas F-4S Phantom II in the Museum’s collection (left) destroyed a MiG-21 in aerial combat. Famous for its speed and agility, the MiG-21 (right) was the most widely produced Mach 2 fighter in history. The Museum owns a rare early MiG-21C.

First flown on October 22, 1955, by Russell M. Roth, the F-105 was an immediate success and became operational with the Air Force Tactical Air Command in 1959. The F-105B production version featured an area-rule fuselage and unique forward-swept air intakes as well as air brakes incorporated into the afterburner fairing. The D version, the type in NASM’s collection, was first built in 1960. This was an all-weather variant fitted with a fully integrated, automatic flight- and fire-control system. It also featured a retractable refueling probe as well as a fixed refueling receptacle. Approximately 300 of this definitive version were built, most of which served with distinction in Vietnam.

Although designed for nuclear war, the F-105D was pressed into service as the Air Force’s primary strike fighter for most of the conflict in Southeast Asia. It was designed for speed and not maneuverability and thus suffered losses when engaged in dogfights with the nimbler MiG-17s and MiG-21s of the North Vietnamese air force. Nevertheless, it gave a good accounting of itself, especially as it was equipped with an internal 20 mm M-61 “Gatling gun” cannon in addition to air-to-air missiles. The Thunderchief excelled in its bomber role, dropping conventional bombs rather than nuclear weapons on a wide range of targets.

The two-seat F-105F operational trainer, as with the earlier F-100F, was converted to the F-105G Wild Weasel version to attack enemy antiaircraft and surface-to-air missile sites. With a gross weight of over 50,000 pounds, the F-105G could carry much more electronic equipment and a larger payload than the F-100F it replaced. The courageous crews of these aircraft would deliberately fly into harm’s way, goading the enemy to turn on their radar. In a deadly game of aerial “chicken,” Wild Weasels would identify and attack these targets with bombs and particularly with the Shrike antiradar missiles in the hope of destroying the radar site before they were hit themselves. By the latter stages of the war, the F-105 was replaced by one of the classic fighters of the jet age, the McDonnell F-4 Phantom II.

While the Air Force carried the war to the enemy from bases primarily in Thailand, the U.S. Navy fought the conflict from the sea from on board sophisticated aircraft carriers. Using almost every warplane in its inventory, the Navy struck targets in the North and South with Douglas A-3 Skywarriors, Douglas A-4 Skyhawks, Grumman A-6 Intruders, and other attack aircraft. During the early stages of the war, Chance Vought F-8 Crusaders provided much-needed air cover and garnered a well-earned reputation for its prowess in aerial combat.

The Vought F8U Crusader was the first supersonic fighter built for the U.S. Navy.

Entering service in December 1956, the F8U Crusader was built in response to the Navy’s request in 1952 for a supersonic day fighter. This innovative aircraft first flew on March 25, 1955, and was powered by a single Pratt & Whitney J57 turbojet that produced 14,800 pounds of thrust in afterburner. The Crusader, the world’s first supersonic carrier-based fighter, featured a unique hydraulically operated, variable-incidence wing that provided good slow-speed performance for carrier landings while maintaining supersonic capability with its 42-degree sweepback. The incidence of the wing could change up to seven degrees and the ailerons and leading edge could droop significantly, which allowed the fuselage to remain relatively level during approach. The Crusader was armed with four 20 mm cannon in the nose and up to four AIM-9 Sidewinder infrared-guided air-to-air missiles mounted on the forward fuselage. In early versions it also had a retractable tray underneath the fuselage that housed 32 Mighty Mouse unguided rockets, which was later deleted in the improved F8U-2N to make room for more fuel.

The F8U was an immediate success in establishing numerous speed records—a remarkable accomplishment for a naval aircraft. On August 21, 1956, Commander R.W. Windsor won the Thompson Trophy when he flew his Crusader a record-setting 1,015 miles per hour over a 15-kilometer closed course. The next year, two Crusaders catapulted from the deck of the USS Bon Homme Richard in the Pacific, flew across the United States, and landed on the deck of the USS Saratoga in the Atlantic in only 3 hours and 28 minutes. On July 16, 1957, U.S. Marine Corps major and future astronaut and Sen. John H. Glenn raced across the country from California to New York establishing an official transcontinental speed record of 725.55 miles per hour over 3 hours and 23 minutes. For this Glenn was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. In December, Chance Vought was awarded the prestigious Collier Trophy for aeronautical achievement for developing the Crusader.

Armed with this formidable aircraft, the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps soon took the Crusader to war. In 1958, Crusaders flew in the eastern Mediterranean during the political turmoil in Lebanon. Reconnaissance variants were widely used during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, providing countless low-altitude photographs of Soviet missiles and launch facilities. The Crusader entered the war in Vietnam as the Navy’s primary fighter. During the early years of the conflict, F-8s (as they were redesignated after 1962) flew combat air patrols, reconnaissance, as well as attack missions against targets in North Vietnam beginning in the summer of 1964. Crusaders drew first blood on June 12, 1966, when an F-8 of Navy fighter squadron VF-211 downed a MiG-17. The four cannons proved particularly useful in close air combat when maneuvering inside the range of air-to-air missiles. Crusaders downed a total of 18 MiGs.

The Chance Vought F-8 Crusader remained in service for many years. Although withdrawn from the fleet beginning in 1972, Crusaders—especially the F-8G reconnaissance version—flew on with Naval Air Reserve units until 1987. The first and the last Crusaders happen to be in the National Collection. NASM owns the prototype XF8U-1, which was received in 1960, as well as an RF-8G, which was added in 1987.

Crusaders also flew with the French navy. Special versions employing boundary-layer control and wings, which provide an even greater range of incidence to enhance low-speed performance, flew from French carriers since the mid-1960s. The Philippine air force has also operated Crusaders for a time.

The F-8 was replaced by one of the greatest and most versatile military jet aircraft in history. With over 5,000 built, the McDonnell F-4 Phantom II dominated air combat in the 1960s and 1970s, serving with the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force, along with the air forces of Great Britain, Germany, Israel, Iran, Greece, Turkey, Spain, South Korea, Australia, Egypt, and Japan. It was a symbol of American air power for over a generation.

The massive, angular Phantom was built as a carrier-borne Navy interceptor. Originally designed as a replacement for the troubled F3H Demon, the F4H evolved from an unsolicited proposal to the U.S. Navy from McDonnell for a single-seat all-weather fighter in 1953. Although this was rejected, the Navy was impressed with the mock-up and encouraged McDonnell to submit a proposal for an all-weather attack aircraft. By 1955, the Navy changed its mind again and approved a contract for the two-seat, twin-engined, missile-armed, YF4H-1 all-weather fighter.

The new F4H was designed around two General Electric J79 turbojets, each eventually producing up to 17,900 pounds of thrust, giving the Phantom a Mach 2.4 top speed and exceptional climbing performance of 50,000 feet per minute or better. Following wind tunnel tests, the design was considerably altered and resulted in the F4H’s unique look. The outer folding wing panels were given 12 degrees of dihedral while the stabilator had 23.5 degrees of anhedral. Following flight tests of the prototype, which first flew on May 27, 1958, and the F4H-1 production version, known after 1962 as the F-4A, the cockpit canopies were enlarged, as was the nose radome. Its original armament was exclusively four Sparrow radar-guided air-to-air missiles, making the Phantom the first all-missile fighter in the U.S. inventory. The aircraft could also carry up to 16,000 pounds of ordnance—more than most of the heavy bombers of World War II.

In December 1958, the F4H beat the Chance Vought F8U-3 Crusader III in a competition for the Navy’s new generation of all-weather, all-missile fighters. By December 1960, the first production Phantoms were entering squadron service with the U.S. Navy.

During testing and early operational service, the Phantom was found to possess exceptional performance. In December 1959, a modified YF4H-1 set an absolute altitude record of 98,556 feet. Numerous time-to-altitude marks were established, as were closed-course speed records. As part of Naval Aviation’s 50th anniversary celebrations on May 24, 1961, one of three Phantoms won the coveted Bendix Trophy by flying across the country in only 2 hours and 47 minutes at an average speed of 870 miles per hour. Three months later, as part of Project Sageburner, an F4H-1 flown by pilot Lt. H. Hardesty and radar intercept officer (RIO) Lt.j.g. E.H. De Esch established a low-altitude speed record of 902.769 miles per hour flying at only 125 feet above the ground over a 3-kilometer course at Edwards Air Force Base. Sageburner is now one of two Phantoms in the National Collection, having been transferred from the Navy in 1968.

The Grumman F-14 Tomcat featured a variable-geometry “swing” wing that greatly aided maneuverability.

Concurrently, the U.S. Air Force, under pressure from budget-conscious Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, evaluated the Phantom as a tactical fighter. Originally designated the F-110A, this Phantom impressed the Air Force with its phenomenal performance, resulting in a production order for F-4Cs—a remarkable accomplishment for a naval fighter.

By the early 1960s, the McDonnell F-4 Phantom II was rapidly becoming the primary all-weather fighter of the U.S. Navy and Air Force, rapidly supplanting earlier types in both inventories. By August 2, 1964, when the Gulf of Tonkin incident sparked America’s full engagement in Vietnam, 13 of the Navy’s 31 deployable fighter squadrons were equipped with Phantoms. The rapid escalation of the ensuing American involvement in Vietnam witnessed the first combat for the Navy’s fastest fighter. In combat operations in Southeast Asia, the Phantom excelled as both a fighter and a bomber—a feat seldom matched in aviation history. Flying top-cover for raids against the North, a total of 22 squadrons of F-4Bs and improved F-4Js shot down 40 MiGs, including five downed by the Navy’s only ace, Lt. Randy Cunningham and his RIO Lt.j.g. William Driscoll. On January 12, 1973, an F-4B also destroyed a MiG-17 in the last downing of an enemy aircraft of the war. Because of their ability to carry a prodigious weapons load, Phantoms also carried out countless bombing missions against a variety of high-value targets and were noted for their ability to withstand heavy damage and return home. Numerous variants and upgrades of the basic F-4 were built for the Navy; the last, the F-4S, featured new wiring, a digital weapons-control system, formation lights, maneuvering slats, and a smokeless engine.

NASM’s other Phantom is an F-4S that was originally built as an F-4B in 1970. On June 21, 1972, while being flown from the USS Saratoga by Cmdr. S.C. Flynn, the executive officer of fighter squadron VF-31, and RIO Lt. W.H. John, this Phantom attacked three MiG-21s and destroyed one with an AIM-9 Sidewinder missile. Modified first as an F-4J and later as an F-4S, the Museum’s Phantom served for the rest of the Vietnam War and afterward with several other squadrons. Its last assignment was with Marine fighter attack squadron VMFA-232 before it was delivered to NASM on November 29, 1988.

The Marines also flew the special RF-4B reconnaissance version operated from land bases in South Vietnam. The Navy and Marine Corps purchased a total of 1,264 Phantoms.

The Phantom also excelled in U.S. Air Force service, quickly becoming the largest operator of this aircraft with a total of 2,840 examples accepted into service. The first F-4C entered Tactical Air Command service in November 1963, at first replacing the venerable Republic F-84F. Soon Air Force Phantoms were equipping squadrons in Europe and the Pacific. Flying from bases in Thailand, Air Force Phantoms entered the Vietnam War in April 1965. The first aerial victory by an Air Force pilot occurred several months later when an F-4C downed two MiG-17s on July 10th.

As with their Navy counterparts, Air Force pilots flew combat air patrol duties as well as hazardous strike and reconnaissance missions against targets throughout Southeast Asia. Air Force Phantoms destroyed approximately 98 enemy aircraft, but it was found that aerial combat was often fought too closely for air-to-air missiles to lock on to their targets. Although the Phantom was not originally designed to carry guns, air combat experience, especially against the highly maneuverable MiG-17, led to the development of a 20 mm gun pod that could be fitted under the centerline of the fuselage. The F-4E was a new variant with a more slender nose and new radar that housed a General Electric M-61 20 mm Gatling gun in the nose for more effective shooting. This variant was built in greater numbers than any other Phantom.

Although eventually replaced by Grumman F-14 Tomcats in the Navy and McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagles in the Air Force, the F-4 Phantom served in frontline units throughout the 1980s and even through the Gulf War of 1991, when Air Force F-4G Wild Weasels effectively attacked and suppressed Iraqi radar. With over 5,000 Phantoms built, it is truly one of the world’s greatest aircraft.

The F-14 could carry a dizzying array of ordnance including the sophisticated AIM-54 Phoenix air-to-air missile designed for long-range fleet air defense (left) as well as conventional bombs (right).

The Museum is fortunate in owning a combat-proven Grumman F-14 Tomcat. Designed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as a high-performance, all-weather, long-range fighter for fleet air defense, it incorporated many hard-won lessons of air combat over Vietnam. The F-14 featured a variable-geometry “swing” wing that created a highly maneuverable aircraft and a powered radar and fire-control computer to fire the long-range Phoenix air-to-air missile. For the first time in a generation, the F-14, although fitted with all of the latest air-to-air missiles, was also equipped with an internal cannon—a 20 mm Gatling for close air combat.

Our aircraft is a former Navy F-14D(R) Tomcat, which is a supersonic, twin-engine, variable-sweep wing, two-place strike fighter. The multiple tasks of navigation, target acquisition, electronic countermeasures, and weapons employment are divided between the pilot and the RIO. Primary missions include precision strike against ground targets, air superiority, and fleet air defense.

As a strike fighter, the Tomcat is capable of deploying an assortment of air-to-ground ordnance (MK-80 series general-purpose bombs, laser-guided bombs, and the Joint Direct Attack Munition [JDAM]) in various configurations, while simultaneously carrying the AIM-7, AIM-9, and AIM-54 air-to-air missiles. The F-14D also has the LANTIRN (Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared for Night) targeting system that allows delivery of various laser-guided bombs for precision strikes in air-to-ground combat missions and for battle damage assessment. With its Fast Tactical Imagery (FTI) system, the F-14 can transmit and receive targeting/reconnaissance imagery in-flight to provide time-sensitive strike capability. This F-14D is also capable of carrying the Tactical Air Reconnaissance Pod System (TARPS) providing in-theater tactical reconnaissance.

The National Air and Space Museum’s Tomcat (BuNo. 159610) was built as an F-14A-85-GR and was one of the few Tomcats that was modified as an F-14D(R) in the early 1990s. It is credited with one MiG kill, earned in 1989 near the coast of Libya.

On January 4, two VF-32 F-14As flying combat air patrol from the USS John F. Kennedy were alerted to a pair of Libyan MiG-23 Floggers. The MiG-23s had taken off from Al Bumbaw Airfield near Tobruk. The F-14s locked on the MiGs with their powerful AWG-9 radar, which usually chased Floggers away. This time the F-14s were threatened by the MiG-23s and were cleared to engage them. During a lengthy (for modern air combat) 6-8-minute air battle, the MiGs continued to threaten the Tomcats and finally, after several attempts to evade the Floggers’ radar threat, the Libyan aircraft were declared hostile and the F-14 crews were cleared to engage. The crew of the lead F-14A fired an AIM-7 Sparrow missile that did not strike its target, but the second F-14A’s AIM-7 did and destroyed one of the MiG-23s. This would later become our Tomcat. The lead F-14 re-engaged the remaining MiG-23, firing an AIM-9 Sidewinder heat-seeking missile that detonated in the Flogger’s tailpipe. Both MiG pilots ejected safely from their destroyed aircraft while the Tomcats returned safely to their carrier.

During the war in Vietnam and in subsequent conflicts, one of the most effective bombers, or strike aircraft, was the Grumman A2F (after 1962 the A-6) Intruder. In early 1957, the U.S. Navy issued a specification for a two-seat, all-weather attack aircraft with short takeoff and landing capability to replace the venerable Douglas AD Skyraider for the Marine Corps as well as to provide the Navy with a bomber for long-range interdiction missions. Grumman responded with the winning proposal for a twin-engined high-wing aircraft, with side-by-side seating for its two-man crew and two Pratt & Whitney J52 turbojets mounted in the forward fuselage under the cockpit. Each J52 could produce 8,500 pounds of thrust in its initial form, giving the aircraft a high subsonic maximum speed and the ability to carry up to 17,280 pounds of conventional and precision-guided ordnance. The Intruder also featured the sophisticated Digital Integrated Attack Navigation Equipment (DIANE) system that linked the search and tracking radar with the aircraft’s navigation and fire-control system for accurate all-weather bombardment. Although testing after the Intruder’s first flight on April 19, 1960, revealed a number of design deficiencies as well as persistent bugs in the DIANE system, the A-6 was effectively modified and soon developed into a highly effective attack aircraft that remained in production for 28 years.

The Intruder entered fleet service in October 1963 and, after the Gulf of Tonkin incident, was quickly drawn into the Vietnam conflict where it excelled in its designated mission. Operating from aircraft carriers off the coast and from Marine Corps bases in South Vietnam and Thailand, Intruders struck at a variety of high-value targets in all kinds of weather throughout the war. Modified A-6s successfully attacked enemy radar sites and KA-6s flew as aerial tankers. Versatile A-6s were even involved with the mining of Haiphong harbor in March 1972.

While Intruders have now been replaced by F/A-18 Hornets, they provided the Navy with exceptional service for three decades. In 1994, the Museum received its Intruder, an A-6E. This version is essentially an A-6A with improved digital radar and computer systems that greatly enhanced the already impressive performance of the Intruder. Our Intruder was built as an A-6A and accepted by the Navy on March 5, 1968. After its initial assignment with attack squadron VA-128, the aircraft was transferred to the Marine Corps, fighting with Marine all-weather attack squadron VMA(AW)-533 in the skies over Vietnam. In 1974, this A-6 was upgraded to A-6E standards by Grumman and returned to service with Marine all-weather attack squadron VMA(AW)-332 in 1975. After flying with several other Marine squadrons, NASM’s Intruder was assigned to Navy attack squadron VA-34 on board the USS America, from which it flew combat and reconnaissance missions in Lebanon and throughout the Middle East.

In 1985, the aircraft was fitted with new wings and returned to service in the Pacific with the Marine Corps. In 1990 and 1991, as part of VMA(AW)-224, it flew in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm. In fact, the aircraft flew several deep-strike missions into Iraq against numerous tactical targets such as bridges and airfields. It also supported the Coalition counterattack at Khafji and soon afterward supported the Marines Corps’s rapid advance into Kuwait. On completion of its last mission on February 27, 1991, our A-6E had flown 414 sorties and dropped 2.3 million pounds of ordnance. After returning home once again, it was transferred to the Museum on April 23, 1994, and flown from Alameda, California, to Andrews Air Force Base.

The Lockheed Martin X-35B is the prototype for the Joint Strike Fighter, the next generation of multipurpose combat aircraft.

While air-to-air combat is a vital role of military aircraft, the air-to-ground attack mission is perhaps the most important role of military aviation, as its success often dictates success on the battlefield. The latest fighter/attack aircraft is under development for the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps, as well as Britain’s famed Royal Air Force. The Lockheed Martin X-35B is the technology demonstrator for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a stealthy, supersonic, multi-role fighter.

The Lockheed X-35 is the prototype of the new F-35 multipurpose attack fighter under construction for the U.S. military and several other air forces from around the world.

The right elevon of the X-35 is installed before the aircraft is moved into in final display area in the Udvar-Hazy Center.

Three operational F-35 versions are planned. The conventional variant, designed for the U.S. Air Force, will be built in the largest quantities. The U.S. Navy’s carrier variant features larger wing and control surfaces, additional wingtip ailerons, and a special structure to absorb the punishment of carrier catapult launches and arrested landings. Originally, the short takeoff/ vertical landing (STOVL) variant was to be used by the Marine Corps, the United Kingdom, and even the U.S. Air Force in smaller numbers. Budget constraints continue to affect the future of the F-35 and the final production run has not yet been determined. The STOVL version (F-35B) is equipped with a shaft-driven lift-fan propulsion system, which enables the aircraft to take off from a short runway or small aircraft carrier and to land vertically. The F-35, as the production version is designated, was conceived as the replacement for many aging fighters such as the F-16, A-10, F/A-18, and AV-8B Harrier. Given the rapid development of unmanned aircraft, the F-35 may also be the last piloted fighter produced in large numbers.

What makes this aircraft so capable is its highly sophisticated engine. The Pratt & Whitney JSF 119-PW-611 turbofan deflects thrust downward for STOVL capability. The U.S. Air Force and Navy versions use a thrust-vectoring exhaust nozzle. The Marine Corps and Royal Air Force/Navy version has a swivel-duct nozzle and an engine-driven fan behind the cockpit and air-reaction control valves in the wings to provide stability at low speeds. This unique propulsion system won the prestigious Collier Trophy in 2001. The Museum is fortunate to preserve the X-35 prototype as well as an example of this remarkable engine next to the aircraft itself.

One of the most dangerous duties in air warfare is that of the forward air controller (FAC). First employed in World War II with Piper L-4 Grasshoppers and equivalent aircraft, this task is extremely risky but highly valuable as it places an observer over the battlefield to identify targets and call in air strikes. During the war in Vietnam, many aircraft were used for this task but one in particular stood out—the Cessna O-2.

For several years, the U.S. Air Force sent light single-engined Cessna O-1 Bird Dogs in harm’s way in search of Viet Cong and North Vietnamese targets in South Vietnam. While the trusty O-1s served admirably, which is why we have one in the collection and on display, their vulnerability to small-arms fire and lack of a second engine placed the FACs at great risk—especially when flying over rugged mountainous terrain. While the military began a competition to find a suitable new military design to fit the FAC requirement, the Air Force looked to Cessna once again for an interim solution.

Based on the civilian Cessna 337, the Cessna O-2 flew highly dangerous missions as a forward air controller directing fire on enemy targets during the Vietnam War.

The Cessna O-1 Bird Dog flew dangerous forward air controller missions over enemy territory, often while under direct fire.

The answer was the O-2A Super Skymaster. This unique light aircraft was based on the popular civilian Model 337 Skymaster, which featured two engines mounted in tandem—one in the nose and one in the tail. Twin booms extended from the upper wing, around the rear propeller, and ended with twin vertical stabilizers and a large elevator, similar to the Lockheed P-38 of World War II fame. Large, clear panels were installed around the central fuselage to increase visibility, and thicker aluminum was used in stressed-skin wings to strengthen the aircraft so it could carry and fire rockets to mark targets.

The O-2 was an immediate success, and with its two 210-horsepower, six-cylinder engines it proved much less susceptible to ground fire, earning a reputation for ruggedness and dependability that belied its civilian origins. Many an O-2 returned to base with severe battle damage but relatively few were lost. In 1983, the Museum received its Super Skymaster after it completed its distinguished career. Having first flown in 1967, our O-2 accumulated 4,851 hours while flying from Da Nang, South Vietnam, as part of the 20th Tactical Air Support Squadron. It served with distinction until 1972, when it was sent home to Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas where it served out its military career as a maintenance trainer.

Other Vietnam-era aircraft in the collection include: a Martin B-57 light-attack and reconnaissance bomber, which was based on the successful British-made, English Electric Canberra design; the nose of a North American RA-5 Vigilante that served as a U.S. Navy reconnaissance and nuclear attack bomber; and a classic Lockheed C-130 A Hercules, the first in a distinguished long line of turboprop-driven military transports that are still in production today.

The Phantoms, Thunderchiefs, Intruders, and other combat aircraft of America’s armed forces encountered the densest and most accurate defenses in history when they attacked targets in North Vietnam. American pilots and aircrew were forced to fly through a gauntlet of radar-guided antiaircraft gunfire and surface-to-air missiles. Complementing the defenses were deadly Soviet-built fighters that excelled in dogfighting and hit-and-run strikes. These weapon systems were all directed by a sophisticated network that identified incoming American aircraft and orchestrated their interception.

The Museum owns two of the Soviet Union’s most fearsome weapons, an SA-2 surface-to-air missile and a rare MiG-21F fighter. Known correctly as the Dvinia, the SA-2 “Guideline” (as it was designated by NATO) was a potent missile created by the Lavochkin design bureau in the early 1950s to intercept high-altitude bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. The Dvinia featured a solid-fueled first-stage booster and a liquid-fueled second stage with a sustainer motor. A “Fan Song” ground radar guided the missile to its target where the SA-2 would detonate its 287-pound warhead with a proximity fuse. The SA-2 could reach Mach 3.5 and an altitude of 80,000 feet, and had a range of 31 miles. These missiles were transported on trailers and installed in fixed batteries near high-priority targets and in cities.

The deadly Soviet SA-2 “Guideline” surface-to-air missile was often encountered in the skies above North Vietnam and in the Middle East in the 1960s and 1970s.

Famous for its speed and agility, the MiG-21F-13 was the most widely produced Mach 2 fighter in history. The Museum owns a rare early MiG-21C.

First operational in 1959, the Dvinia quickly demonstrated its mettle when one downed an American Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft flown by Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) pilot Francis Gary Powers over the Soviet Union on May Day, 1960. This event underscored the vulnerability of high-altitude aircraft to interception by missiles. It also eventually forced the United States to rethink its high-altitude bomber strategy, which led to the cancellation of the B-70 program. Dvinias were quickly built in large numbers and installed throughout the USSR and most of its allies and client states. SA-2s were placed in Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 and were soon sent to Vietnam and the Middle East.

Designed to destroy large, predictable targets such as bombers, the Dvinia was less effective against fighters and fighter-bombers. American and, later, Israeli pilots discovered that well-timed turns would often allow fighters to outmaneuver the SA-2s. Miss-timed turns were often fatal, however. It is estimated that over 13,000 Dvinias have been fired in anger over the 40-year operational career of this missile, which is still in service though generally supplanted by superior designs. NASM’s example is an export version designated SA-2B Mod 1 dating from 1969. Although its origins are clouded in mystery, this version saw widespread use in the Arab-Israeli war of continuation in the late 1960s and early 1970s and especially during the Yom Kippur War of October 1973.

The SA-2 missile system and radar-guided antiaircraft artillery were a deadly combination. Compounding the formidable air defenses of North Vietnam were well-coordinated aerial interceptions by Soviet-built MiG-17s and MiG-21s. The subsonic MiG-17 was essentially an improved version of the successful Korean War-vintage MiG-15. The MiG-17, although subsonic, was extremely maneuverable and well armed with cannons. The most formidable interceptor, however, was the supersonic MiG-21, the most widely used jet fighter in history.

Following the end of the Korean Conflict in 1953, the Soviet air force issued a requirement for a lightweight day fighter capable of Mach 2 performance. The fighter was to carry a radar-ranging gunsight, cannon, and reach an altitude of 66,000 feet. The Mikoyan design team quickly envisioned a simple, straightforward design with an air duct in the nose that had an adjustable cone to regulate the air flow. A single Tumansky RD-11 turbojet engine initially produced 8,554 pounds of thrust with afterburner. After much debate and testing, a new “tailed” delta-wing planform was adopted that combined the excellent high-speed performance of a pure delta wing with excellent low-speed handling. After considerable testing and refinement of the aerodynamics and the new engine, the MiG-21F entered operational service in late 1959, three years after its first flight.

After only 99 MiG-21Fs were built, the upgraded MiG-21F-13 entered production. In keeping with developments in the West, Mikoyan added two under-wing pylons to carry K-13 air-to-air missiles. The K-13 was a copy of the effective U.S. AIM-9 infrared guided missile. To minimize the extra weight, one of the two 20 mm cannons was removed. A larger wing was fitted as was an autopilot. With these improvements, the MiG-21F-13 proved itself a highly capable fighter with exceptional maneuverability and performance. An example of this variant was added to NASM’s collection from the U.S. Air Force in 1991.

This low-priced, capable aircraft was sold in huge numbers to the Soviet Union’s allies and friends around the world. Although the engine had a very low time between overhauls, replacements were cheap and plentiful. Soon, numerous Third World countries were enjoying the prestige of fielding a high-performance Mach 2 fighter.

Flown in over 30 conflicts, the MiG-21 earned a well-deserved reputation for its ruggedness and high performance. In the hands of a good pilot, the MiG was more than a match for contemporary Western fighters and was hampered only by its relatively short range and its lack of suitable radar. Although search radar was fitted to the MiG-21PF and a plethora of subsequent versions, it gave the aircraft only limited all-weather capability. Furthermore, the small inlet cone, where the radar was installed, restricted the size and, therefore, the performance of the radar equipment. Nevertheless, the MiG-21 in all of its versions was a formidable adversary that remained in frontline service for over 30 years. Ironically, today MiG-21s are being refitted with modern Western-made electronics that will enable this venerable aircraft to fly on well into the 21st century.

For almost 50 years, the United States and the Soviet Union fought for the primacy of their political and economic systems. While occasionally, as in Korea and Vietnam, the struggle erupted in actual combat, the conflict was fought predominantly during the tenuous peace of the Cold War. Air power remained a crucial part of this battle. While not actively engaged in combat, aircraft, and later spacecraft, were instrumental in gathering crucial intelligence information. Data gathered by these sources provided invaluable information that allowed the America’s political and military leaders to make critical decisions to defend the country and protect the peace.

During the early years of the Cold War, the subsonic Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft was the primary tool used to gather information on the USSR. When intelligence agencies were stymied in their efforts to ascertain the Soviet Union’s intentions concerning the production of intercontinental ballistic missiles, U-2 missions were able to photograph Soviet installations and help analysts determine that the feared “missile gap” between the two nations did not exist. These flights were instrumental in guiding foreign policy.

Unfortunately, the downing of Francis Gary Powers and his U-2 by an SA-2 on May Day, 1960, forced the cessation of these critical flights in the face of international condemnation and President Dwight Eisenhower’s political embarrassment. While a technological masterpiece, the U-2 was clearly vulnerable to Soviet defenses. America’s intelligence community desperately needed a new system that was impervious to interception and that could overfly sensitive sites. Once again, Lockheed’s famous “Skunk Works” under the leadership of Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson answered the call.

In the late 1950s, a secret committee was formed to examine the feasibility of building a reconnaissance aircraft capable of flying faster than three times the speed of sound at altitudes well above 80,000 feet over a range of 3,000 miles. Under the chairmanship of E. M. Land of the Polaroid Corporation, the panel worked closely with Lockheed and Convair engineers along with representatives of the Air Force and Navy and concluded that such an aircraft was indeed possible. With the support of the CIA, the committee’s recommendation to proceed was approved by President Eisenhower in mid-1959. Later that summer, Lockheed was selected to build this unique aircraft under the codename Project OXCART and began engineering studies. On January 30, 1960, Lockheed received approval to start construction on 12 of the new A-11 aircraft.

The engineering challenges were unprecedented. Cruising at Mach 3 would generate tremendous heat in excess of 550 degrees Fahrenheit. Standard aircraft aluminum alloys would fail under such heat. After thorough testing, a special titanium alloy was selected for its light weight, great strength, and resistance to heat. It was also very expensive and very difficult to work with, forcing Lockheed to create special drill bits and to build each aircraft virtually by hand. Special JP-7 fuel was developed to withstand the 350-degree heat expected in the fuel tanks during flight, with nitrogen gas used to render any fumes inert. The fuel tanks were also designed to expand during flight, which unfortunately caused leakage as they cooled down and during refueling. Lubricants were designed to operate between –40 and +600 degrees Fahrenheit. In order to minimize the aircraft’s radar signature, the A-11 was designed with special radar-absorbing materials of laminated plastic especially in the vertical stabilizers and the engine inlets. With so many changes, the aircraft was redesignated the A-12.

As designed, the Lockheed A-12 was a sleek twin-engined delta-winged aircraft with unique “chines” running from the leading edge of the wings along the fuselage to the nose. The specially selected pilot sat in a pressurized cockpit and wore a full pressure suit at all times in case of an emergency at extreme altitudes. Power was provided by two specially-designed Pratt & Whitney J58 turbojets, each producing 34,000 pounds of thrust with afterburners. Because of production delays, the J58s were not ready in time for the A-12’s first official flight on April 30, 1962, although test pilot Louis Schalk had actually flown the A-12 four days earlier at Kelly Johnson’s request. During the initial test flights, Pratt & Whitney J75s normally used on F-105s were fitted as an expedient.

Developed in great secrecy, the A-12 first flew from a remote base at Groom Lake, Nevada, away from prying eyes. Select air traffic controllers were cleared concerning Project OXCART in order that the restricted airspace could be expanded and the flights not reported. Despite the military’s best efforts, the existence of the A-12 was soon reported by airline pilots, the media, and the rumor mill. Eventually, President Lyndon Johnson revealed the aircraft publicly on February 24, 1964. Johnson referred to the aircraft as the A-11 in order to cover the existence of the classified A-12.

Despite its radical configuration and the strict performance requirements, the A-12 proceeded through its testing with fewer difficulties than expected. Although several aircraft were lost during trials, the A-12 was declared operational in November 1965 and flew its first mission, an overflight of North Vietnam, in 1967. Operating from Kadena Air Force Base, Okinawa, A-12s flew numerous missions. On several occasions, the North Vietnamese fired SA-2s missiles with no effect. A-12s were also used over North Korea during the USS Pueblo incident.

Ironically, just as the A-12 was entering service, cost considerations forced the government to streamline its reconnaissance efforts. While the A-12 had been a civilian CIA project in which the military had worked closely, the Air Force needed its own high-performance reconnaissance aircraft. Earlier, the Air Force had ordered an interceptor version of the A-12 to replace the defunct North American XF-108 Rapier project. Designated the YF-12, this new single-seat fighter carried four long-range AIM-47A air-to-air missiles intended to destroy high-altitude Soviet supersonic bombers.

When funding for the YF-12 ceased after the production of only four, the Air Force used the A-12 airframe to create a new reconnaissance aircraft—the SR-71. Slightly larger than the A-12, the SR-71 carried a two-man crew and entered service in January 1966 at Beale Air Force Base, California. Quickly, the SR-71 became the backbone of the Air Force’s reconnaissance fleet. Although only 32 SR-71s were built, they gathered intelligence for more than 30 years over the world’s hot spots, providing critical information to America’s leaders and thereby influencing many crucial decisions. Known popularly, though unofficially, as the “Blackbird,” the SR-71 has flown over Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and the Far East collecting images of sensitive sites faster and more accurately than even satellites on many missions.

Capable of cruising three times faster than the speed of sound, the SR-71A was the world’s preeminent reconnaissance aircraft for almost three decades starting in the early 1960s.

Flown to Dulles International Airport in record-setting time on its last flight in 1990, NASM’s SR-71 was housed in a special building at Dulles until 2003 when the Udvar-Hazy Center was ready. It was then towed across the airport to the Udvar-Hazy Center for final installation in the Boeing Aviation Hangar.

The SR-71 featured a two-man crew.

The Blackbird was designed and built by the famous Lockheed “Skunk Works.”

After a distinguished career, budget considerations forestalled further employment of the SR-71. Despite its unique ability to gather images swiftly from around the world, the SR-71’s high operating costs and the Air Force’s preference for satellites, such as the KH-9 (one of which is in the collection) and KH-11, forced the retirement of the operational Blackbird fleet in 1990.

The Blackbird did not retire quietly. On March 6, 1990, SR-71 number 972 made history when it set a transcontinental speed record. Number 972 took off from Palmdale, California, at 4:30 that morning and headed over the Pacific Ocean where it met a KC-135 and refueled. After a long delay to correct a faulty fuel gauge, the SR-71 climbed to its cruising altitude above 80,000 feet and accelerated to over Mach 3. At 9 a.m. it crossed the West Coast. One minute later it officially entered Los Angeles airspace. Thirty-eight minutes later the Blackbird passed Kansas City and at 10:06:18 it reached Washington, D.C. Two minutes later it was over the Atlantic. After refueling, the SR-71 returned to Washington Dulles International Airport. The crew of Joe Vida and Ed Yeilding made one pass over the crowd of VIPs and astonished airline passengers. Instead of landing after the second approach, the crew lit the afterburners in a dramatic farewell gesture before landing and turning the aircraft over to the Museum. Among the dignitaries on hand to greet them was Ben Rich, the director of Lockheed’s “Skunk Works.” On its last flight, the SR-71 flew coast to coast covering 2,404.05 miles in 67 minutes 54 seconds at 2,124.05 miles per hour. It covered the trip from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., a distance of 2,299.67 miles, in 64 minutes 19 seconds at 2,144.83 miles per hour. To this day the SR-71 remains the fastest jet-powered aircraft in the world.

Aviation has grown by leaps and bounds since the advent of the jet engine. The size of the aircraft has also grown as more powerful engines requiring greater fuel loads enabled larger airframes to carry larger payloads. For an aviation museum this means that newer generations of aircraft will take up even greater amounts of space. Today, the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is fulfilling Paul Garber’s original vision to display virtually the entire aeronautical collection. It is a fitting tribute to his dream and to the hard work and dedication of the staff of the National Air and Space Museum, the keepers of our nation’s hangar.

Almost 50 years after it first flew, the ominous-looking Lockheed SR-71 is still the world’s fastest jet-powered manned aircraft. Affectionately known as the “Blackbird,” the SR-71 could cruise at Mach 3.2, over three times the speed of sound.