This Northrop/McDonnell Douglas YF-23 Article is from a Lotnictwo Aviation International magazine. Dated April 1992. (I have translated into English using AI)
Tuesday, June 24, 2025
Northrop/McDonnell Douglas YF-23 Article
Monday, June 23, 2025
A proposal by McDonnell Aircraft to turn the F-88 into a photo reconnaissance aircraft. This is a poor copy of that historically interesting proposition. Date 22 April 1949.Friday, June 20, 2025
A copy of an article on the Focke Wulf Fw-190 D-9 Aircraft Drawings and Details. Lots of good details and illustrations.Thursday, June 19, 2025
A copy of Pilot’s Manual for the Focke-Wulf Fw-190A-5/A-6 aircraft, dated January 1944. Lots of drawings!Wednesday, June 18, 2025
A copy of the Pilot Handbook of Operation and Flight for the Douglas C-54/A Skymaster aircraft. Dated 1 June 1942.Tuesday, June 17, 2025
A number (29) of FW-190 photos.Pre and post war. Several color photos also.Monday, June 16, 2025
Copies of the third years F-4 Phantom II Society magazine called Smoke Trails. An excellent society to be part of for F-4 info.Friday, June 13, 2025
A good copy of the F2H-3/4 Banshee Markings and Insignia Drawing.Thursday, June 12, 2025
Copies of the second years F-4 Phantom II Society magazine called Smoke Trails. An excellent society to be part of for F-4 info.Wednesday, June 11, 2025
A copy of Vol II of the General Dynamics F-111A, F-111E and FB-111A Structural Description Report (FZM-12-4144B). Dated December 28 1970.Tuesday, June 10, 2025
A copy of the Grumman TBF-1/TBM-1(Avenger 1) Pilot's Handbook. Dated 1943.Monday, June 9, 2025
A nice article on the McDonnell XF-88 Voodoo. From the No. 4 Aero Magazyn Lotniczy 2007 magazine. I have included an english translation (Done with AI) to the PDF.Friday, June 6, 2025
A short article on the paint scheme and colors used on the Iranian F-4D, with actual color chips. Article from an early issue of Phantom Flyer.Thursday, June 5, 2025
A copy of a Harpoon Missile Proposal from 1972. Lots of diagrams!Wednesday, June 4, 2025
News packets were prepared for the press and other media whenever a new aircraft or model was introduced. They contained photos, fact sheets, descriptions and sometimes booklets. This was the press release packet for the Spanish EF-18.Tuesday, June 3, 2025
A number (128) of F-4 Phantom II photos from the company and armed services sources.Monday, June 2, 2025
An undated company report on the F-4 Phantom II Development and History. Great stuff!Friday, May 30, 2025
A nice brief artile on the Hughes H-4 Hercules’ first flight. From the November 2007 Boeing Frontiers Magazine.Thursday, May 29, 2025
A very nice early poster from McDonnell Aircraft introducing the F-4 Phantom II aircraft. From early 1960’s.Friday, May 23, 2025
Update!
I will be gone next week for a few days as it is my 58th wedding anniversary!
So, we are going away for a few days.
Ron
A number of MDC lithograghs of Douglas commercial and military aircraft. Three views and specs on rear. Circa 1968.Thursday, May 22, 2025
A McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Company brochure for the AGM-84 Harpoon Missile. Lot’s of company aircraft and missile side views. Dated 1996.Wednesday, May 21, 2025
A written history of the McDonnell FD-1/FH-1 Phantom aircraft. This report was prepared by the Historian’s office of the Naval Air Systems Command. Credit: Greater St. Louis Air and Space MuseumTuesday, May 20, 2025
B-47 Drogue Chute at Wright-Patterson Photos
From Bill Kuhlman: “I ran across some photos of the Boeing B-47 drogue chute testing done at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The need for and use of a drogue chute is well explained on the Boeing B-47 Wikipedia page My father was involved in this testing as an Aerodynamic Development Engineer from June 1950 to March 1953. In addition to nine sequenced photos of the test B-47 landing, there's a copy of a Pioneer Parachute advert showing both the drogue and ribbon parachutes used, plus a photo of the ribbon 'chute in the wind tunnel.” Credit: Bill Kuhlman
Monday, May 19, 2025
Markings and 3-View drawings of the Douglas F3D, F4D, A2D (Skyshark) and AD-1/-6 aircraft. From late 1990’s Modelist-Konstruktor magazines.Friday, May 16, 2025
I love odd aircraft and the Douglas A2D fits that bill. Here are 46 photos for your pleasure!Thursday, May 15, 2025
An exellent 3-View drawing of the Douglas A2D-1 Skyshark aircraft. From the September 1985 Aviation News magazine "Warpaint" series. Drawings by Mike Keep. (I added another 3-view and photo.)Wednesday, May 14, 2025
A nice report on the McAir helicopter projects from 1939 t0 1960. Written by Fred Roos and first presented at the AIAA conforence in January 2003.Tuesday, May 13, 2025
The 1975 booklet on the Blue Angels demonstration team. Lots of nice photos.Monday, May 12, 2025
McDonnell Douglas SkyLab Photos(Reblog)
Some photos and illustrations that I have of the Skylab. I worked on this project twice. Once on how to correct and mitigate the solar array damage and secondly in design engineering finding all of the flammable items and materials (Think Apollo1fire).
Skylab was a space station launched and operated by NASA, the space agency of the United States. Skylab orbited the Earth from 1973 to 1979, and included a workshop, a solar observatory, and other systems. It was launched unmanned by a modified Saturn V rocket, with a mass of 169950 pounds (77 MT). Three manned missions to the station, conducted between 1973 and 1974 using the Apollo Command/Service Module (CSM) atop the smaller Saturn IB, each delivered a three-astronaut crew.
Friday, May 9, 2025
F-3H-G Report and Photos(Reblog)
“The design of what was eventually to emerge as the McDonnell F-4 Phantom began in August of 1953. The McDonnell design team was headed by Herman Barkley. Initially, the goal of the team was to extend the production life of the F3H Demon single-seat carrier-based fighter by boosting its performance and improving its versatility.
Several quite different design concepts emerged, all of them being informally designated by the company as F3H-X since they were all viewed as a natural follow-on to the F3H Demon.
The first of these preliminary designs was the F3H-C or the "Super Demon". The F3H-C was to be powered by a single Wright J67 turbojet and was to be capable of reaching Mach 1.69 at high altitude. The J67 was a license-built version of the British-built Bristol Olympus turbojet engine, and was untried and unproven at the time.
The F3H-E project (also known as Model 98A by the company) was similarly powered, but dispensed with the nose-high attitude of the Demon and stood level on a tricycle undercarriage. It had a 45-degree swept wing of 450 square feet in area. In the event, the J67 engine never did materialize as a realistic powerplant for American aircraft.
The Model 98B (F3H-G) project was to be powered by a pair of Wright J65-W-2 (or W-4) turbojets rated at 7800 lb.s.t. each. The twin-engined configuration was attractive to many in the Navy, because of the increased amount of safety it offered over a single-engined aircraft. The engines were to be fed by a pair of side-mounted air intakes. A low-mounted swept wing and an all-flying straight tailplane were to be used. This wing was slightly larger than that of the F3H-E, with a 530-square foot area. The fuselage was to be designed in conformance with the area rule, in order that minimum transonic drag be achieved.
The F3H-G aircraft was to be equipped with an Aero 11B fire control system and an AN/APQ-150 radar. Armament was to consist of four 20-mm cannon, but provision for a retractable pack carrying 56 two-inch FFAR rockets was also proposed. A heavy load of bombs and fuel tanks could be carried on up to nine external stores stations (four under each wing and one underneath the fuselage). A maximum speed of Mach 1.52 was envisaged.
The J65 was a license-built version of the British-designed Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire engine, and was already in production at the time. Although at that time the Navy was experiencing a good deal of trouble with the J65 engine installed in its North American FJ-3 Fury single-engined fighter, the McDonnell team fully expected that these problems would be resolved by the time that their F3H-G proposal was ready for production.
The F3H-H was similar in overall configuration to the F3H-G, but was to be powered by a pair of higher-thrust General Electric J79 turbojets. The J79 was at that time a new and untried engine. Assuming that the J79 performed as promised, a maximum speed of Mach 1.97 was envisaged.
The Model 98F was the photographic reconnaissance version of the Model 98C.
Models 98C and D were to be fitted respectively with delta and straight wings, and were to be powered either by a pair of Wright J65s or two J79s.
The Model 98E (F3H-J) was to have been similar to Models 98C and D, but with a larger and thinner delta wing.
Herman Barkley's design team decided that the Model 98B with its twin J65s offered the best potential and they abandoned work on all the other configurations. A full-sized mockup of the Model 98B (F3H-G) was built. The company hedged its bets by designing the right side of the mockup for a J79 engine and the left for a J65.
On September 19, 1953, McDonnell submitted its Model 98B project to the Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer) in the form of an unsolicited proposal. Since the Navy as yet had no official requirement for such an aircraft, McDonnell tried to cover all bases by developing interchangeable single- and two-seat noses that could be accommodated to widely different roles. Noses were designed that could carry search radars, missile fire-control systems, mapping radars, cameras, or electronic reconnaissance equipment.
Although the Navy was favorably impressed by the Model 98B proposal, the Grumman XF9F-9 Tiger and the Vought XF8U-1 Crusader which had been ordered respectively in April and June of 1953 appeared to satisfy all the Navy's immediate requirements for supersonic fighters. Nevertheless, the Navy encouraged McDonnell to rework its design into a single-seat, twin-engined all-weather attack aircraft to compete against designs being worked on by Grumman and North American.
McDonnell submitted a formal development proposal for the F3H-G/H to the Navy in August of 1954. The Navy responded in October of 1954 by issuing a letter of intent for two prototypes and a static test aircraft. The Navy assigned the designation AH-1 to the project, reflecting its intended ground attack mission. The AH-1 was to have no less then eleven weapons pylons. Armament was to consist of four 20-mm cannon.
On December 14, 1954, the multirole mission of the aircraft was formally abandoned by the Navy, and McDonnell was requested to rework the proposal as an all-weather interceptor. McDonnell was instructed to remove the cannon and all hardpoints except for a centerline pylon for a 600-US gallon fuel tank. In addition, troughs were to be added for four Raytheon Sparrow semi-active radar homing air-to-air missiles. A Raytheon-designed APQ-50 radar was added, this installation being essentially that installed in the F3H-2 Demon. A second seat was added to accommodate a radar operator.
On April 15, 1955, in a formal letter from the BuAer to the Commander of Naval Operations, the J79 engine was formally adopted, and all work on the J65-powered version was dropped.” Credit: Secret Projects
Thursday, May 8, 2025
A copy of the McDonnell Aircraft product data card showing specifications of all the products from 1939-1952.Wednesday, May 7, 2025
A nice McDonnell Douglas 1983 company brochure showing fighters for today and the future. Good drawings and cut-a-ways.Tuesday, May 6, 2025
A copy of the May 1980 Phantom Flyer article by the McDonnell Scale Modelers’ Club on MDC fighters. By Bob Pukala, I believe. The cover photo is unique with three generation of fighters present! Lots of early aircraft photos.Monday, May 5, 2025
Flight Test F-101A Voodoo (Reblog)
This is a Fight Test F-101A #12 (S/N 532429). Note the faired gun ports and number 12 on it’s nose.
I looked at this photo maybe a half dozen times before I realized what I was seeing! The nose has an instrument photo panel in it, in order to record the in-flight data. This was the way it was done before data link came around!
Either a camera is placed in front of the panel to record the instruments or the camera shoots thru a hole in the panel into a mirror and records the data. It is hard to tell from this photo; but, it may have the center hole.
My first job in Flight Test was to calculate the required distance between the camera lens and the front of the instrument panel on F4H-1 # 8. So, this rare photo has special meaning to me.
Friday, May 2, 2025
A Walk-a-Round of the RF-101C at Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona. Note: There are two walk-a-around sets of photos and a few TO 1-1-4 pages in the Zip file!Thursday, May 1, 2025
A copy of the April 10 1947 article from Flight magazine on the Development of the McDonnell Phantom I (FH-1) aircraft. I added a 3-view drawing that I like.Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Markings and 3-View drawings of the McDonnell FH-1, XF-85, F-2H and F-3H aircraft. From late 1990’s Modelist-Konstruktor magazines.Tuesday, April 29, 2025
A few photos of the F-15 Streak Eagle as it is now at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.Monday, April 28, 2025
Beechcraft AQM-37 Jayhawk Walk Around
Photos of a Beechcraft AQM-37 Jayhawk Walk Around. From Wikipedia: The Beechcraft AQM-37 Jayhawk (originally designated KD2B and Q-12) is an air-launched supersonic target drone manufactured by Beechcraft capable of simulating inbound ICBM warhead packages for fleet shoot-down exercises.
Download here or here or here (14.7 Megs)
Lots of good photos here
Friday, April 25, 2025
A number of photos (51) and info pages for the German V-1 Flying Bomb (FZG-76). Thursday, April 24, 2025
A poor xerox copy of the German V-1 flying bomb (FZG-76) Theory of Operation Manual. Dated 15 April 1970.Wednesday, April 23, 2025
A copy of the German V-1 flying bomb (FZG-76) Fusing System Manual. Dated July 1945. Written in English.Tuesday, April 22, 2025
A copy of the German V-1 flying bomb (FZG-76) Illustrated Parts Catalogue. Dated circa 1944.Monday, April 21, 2025
A copy of the German V-1 flying bomb (FZG-76) Operator and Maintenance Manual. Dated April 1944.Friday, April 18, 2025
A copy of the proposal for the Canadian C-104/Delta All Weather Supersonic Fighter. This is the forerunner of the AVRO Arrow aircraft. Dated January 1952.Thursday, April 17, 2025
Messerschmitt Me 323 Gigant Photos
A number of photos that I have collected of the Messerschmitt Me 323. I have also included a small video of the aircraft unloading.
From Wickipedia: “The Messerschmitt Me 323 Gigant ("Giant") was a German military transport aircraft of World War II. It was a powered variant of the Me 321 military glider and was the largest land-based transport aircraft to fly during the war. In total, 213 were made, with 15 being converted from the Me 321.”
A number of photos (23) of the Lockheed C-141 aircraft during it’s service.
A copy of the Lockheed C-141 Roll-out 1963 Press Book. Lockheed built 285 Starlifters for the USAF. 270 of them were stretched out to make the "B" model. Credit: The Box Art Den
