McDonnell F4H-1F Flight Manual

A half way decent xerox of the NAVWEPS 01-245-FDA-1 F4H-1 Flight manual dated 15 September 1962.

Click here to download the manual in PDF form

McDonnell F4H-1F Phantom II #6 (BuNo 143391)

F4H-1 #6 (BuNo 143391) during the carrier suitability trials prelims at the Naval Air Test Center (NATC) at Pax River in 1961. I believe that this is a complete sequence of photos. I have also included a color sideview of the aircraft at NATC and a color photo of it on the USS Independence (W/O nose boom).

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Click here to see a previous post

RF-101G/H Flight Manual & Three View Drawing

A copy of the RF-101G/H flight manual, change 1, dated June 15 1971 and a nice three view drawing of the RF-101G.

Click here to download the manual in PDF form

Click here to view the 3-View drawing

McDonnell XP-88 20-Foot Wind Tunnel Spin Model

Photos of the McDonnell XP-88 Spin Model in the Langley Tail Spin 20-foot Tunnel in July of 1952. Both swept and straight wings were tested. “The McDonnell XP-88 was a prototype originating in 1946. It was designed as a long-range fighter to escort bombers. Changes in military priorities in 1950 led to cancellation of the project.” Credit: NASA. Thanks to PaulMM (Overspin) for the tip!

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Factory Floor Photos–Part VI

More Bldg. 002 factory floor assembly photos. This time of F-15 and F-18 aircraft taken in January of 1987.

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McDonnell Douglas Fighter Lineup #2

A very interesting photo showing four different MDC fighters under the Tee Pees! F-4 and F-15 chase planes, the F-18 and AV-8B prototypes all together next to Bldg. 42 in November 1978. An unusual sight!

Click here to view photos

Click here to view these aircraft inside Bldg. 42

NACA XP-88 Wind Tunnel Research Memorandums

Three NACA XP-88 Wind Tunnel research memorandums involving a 1/50th scale model and two 1/24th scale models. One test with the vee tail configuration as shown in the above photos! Credit: The Greater St. Louis Air and Space Museum

Click here to download the 1/50th scale memo

Click here to download the 1/24th scale memo with the conventional tail

click here to download the 1/24th scale memo with the vee tail

Click here to view photos

McDonnell Aircraft-How To Design Good Aircraft

Along with the engineering orientation manual, we were given this little booklet on how to design aircraft. A reminder of simplier times, yes; but, the ideas still hold true. Credit: Dick Synder via The Greater St. Louis Air and Space Museum

Click here to view booklet

McDonnell Aircraft-The Engineering Orientation Manual

A copy of the July 1963 McAir Engineering Orientation Manual. And yes, I was issued a copy of this manual in June 1962. Memories!

Interesting, as the first half has the company info on each of the past products. The last half has the corporate philosophy, for the time, and explains the compensation “Totem Pole” and the general living in St. Louis, MO. Credit: John Holliday via The Greater St. Louis Air and Space Museum

Click here to download the manual in PDF form

McDonnell F-88 Photo Recce Proposal (Model 36H)

 

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.

Click here to download proposal in PDF form

F-4B/RF-4B/C and F-4E/F Loft Line Drawings

Loft Sheet 53-1217 with mold line and section cut drawings of an F-4B and armament sizes and placement. Credit: Greg Kuklinski

Click here to view drawings

Douglas CX-HLS Transport Study

Known as the Experimental Cargo/Heavy Logistics System (CX-HLS), this program sparked
a great competition between Douglas, Boeing and Lockheed and had several iterations; but Lockheed was awarded the contract on October 2nd, 1965 and the result was the C-5 Galaxy. (The  artwork above was from the great RG Smith.) Credit: The Greater St. Louis Air and Space Museum

Boeing and Douglas use the knowledge acquired from their CX-HLS-work on studies for large commercial aircraft projects. This is the actual beginning of the widebody airliner era.

Click here to view drawings

Additional info here, here and here

Signal Corp Specifications and Wright Brothers Military Contract

Copies of the Signal Corp Specifications No. 486, for a heavier-than-air flying machine and the Wright Brothers contract to build such a machine. If you have never seen these documents, take a minute and look them over as they are the basis for all US miltary aircraft!

Click here to view documents

Additional info here and here

F/A-18 Block II Changes

McAir Product Support Digest articles on some of the Block II changes made to the F-18 aircraft.

Click here to view articles

Northrop F-5 Aggressor Tigers

 A couple of nice Aggressor F-5 Tiger photos for your pleasure.
Click here to view photos
Other aggressor aircraft are here, here and here

F-15A/B/C/D Flight Manual

A copy of the Flight Manual T.O.1F-15A-1for the F-15A/B/C/D aircraft from block 7 and up.

Click here to download the manual in PDF form

F-4 Phantom II Air Force Magazine Article

An August 1966 article on the F-4 Phantom II published by the Air Force and Space Digest. Good info on the early F-4's.
Click here to download article in PDF form

Australian F-4 Article

An article from the Australian Aviation magazine's March 1982 edition on the "Fabulous Phantom". Also a page from another of their articles with F-4 First flight dates and total model builds.

Click here to view article

F-18 Hornet Display Model Drawing

A copy of the Loft Sheet 74-0306 drawing with F-18 Hornet Display Model dimensions.

Click here to view drawing 

Iranian F-4D Color Scheme and Paint Chips

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.

Click here to view article

F-15 Armament Handbook

A copy of P.S. 940 from October 1979 with the descriptions of the F-15 armament and ordinance systems.

Click here to download the handbook in PDF form

RF-4B Marine Photo Phantoms Article

An article by Craig Kaston on the deployment of the RF-4B aircraft. Nice info and great markings and insignia side views.

Click here to view article

F-15E Strike Eagle Photo From Above

Another great photo taken from above of an F-15E Strike Eagle! I love these photos as one seldom gets to see the top of an aircraft in flight. I don’t have a copyright on it.

Click here to view photo

Another great shot here

Wolfgang Falck The Man and His Machines

An article from The Best of Crazed Plastic’s 1982 magazine on one of Germany’s WWII ace airman – Oberst Wolfgang Falck.

Click here to view article

More information here and here

PDF Download Improvement

I just found out that by using something called “Trafficshare” on FileFactory; you, the readers, can download my PDF’s directly without the annoying download pages, delays, daily limits and pitches!

This has been implemented and everyone (Up to 100GB/Mo allowance on my account) can now directly download all the PDF’s, just like a premium account, by just clicking the PDF download link. My apologies that I didn’t find it sooner!

Please let me know by way of the comment link below, if this is working for you.

Thanks! Ron

AV-8B Harrier II Passes Flight Test Program

An article named Acing the Test from a 1979 Team Talk, about the McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II passing it’s flight test program with flying colors.

Click here to view article

Douglas C-132 Atlas Missile Carrier Proposal

An interesting side note to the Douglas C-132 saga was this small clipping in Missiles and Rockets magazine about Douglas Aircraft’s proposal to build the C-132 as an Atlas ICBM missile carrier.

Click here to view clipping

Grumman Aircraft Factory Three Views

Some excellent factory drawings from Grumman Aircraft. They include: AF-2S, F8F-1, F9F-5, S2F-1 and SA-16A.

Click here to view drawings

Chance Vought Aircraft Factory Three Views

Sixteen great factory three views, notes and cuts for many aircraft. Included are the F7U-1 & –3, O2U-1, SB2U-1, SBU-1, TBU-1, VE-7, A7D & E, F4U, F-8 and XC-142A. Credit: Greg Kuslinski via The Greater St. Louis Air and Space Museum

Click here to view drawings

Northrop Flying Wings at Edwards AFB

While at Edwards AFB as a Flight Test Engineer in 1973 and 1974, I met Richard Younge, a fellow aviation historian. We became good friends and would go into the desert to find crash sites such as the YB-49. We also became friends with the base historian, Ted Bear, which lead Rich to write this short; but, nice article for the base paper, Desert Wings. It gives a history of the flying wing test program and the base name change.

Click here to view article

RF-4 Forward Fuselage Loft Lines

Loft sheet 53-1349 showing the RF-4 forward fuselage section cuts. This is as accurate as it gets!

Click here to view Loft Sheet

F-4E+ General Arrangement and Inboard Profiles

Scans of McAir blueprints (#53-000003 and #53-000004) from 1969, showing the General Arrangement and Inboard Profiles of the proposed improved F-4E Plus aircraft.

Click here to view blueprints

McDonnell F-4E & RF-4E Foreign Military Sales Door Markings

Copy of McAir blueprint (#53-00016) from 1970, with the F-4E & RF-4E Foreign Military Sales Door Markings information. (This is just sheet 9, anyone have any of the others?)

Click here to view blueprint

RF-4E German Camouflage Paint and Color Requirements

A copy of a German blueprint for the RF-4E Camouflage Paint and Color Requirements.

Click here to view drawing

Israeli RF-4E Forward Fuselage Profiles

Copies of McAir blueprints (#53-00029) from 1969, with the Israeli RF-4E Forward Fuselage Profiles information.

Click here to view blueprints

Israeli F-4E Markings and Insignia

Copies of McAir blueprint (#53-000016) from 1969, with the Israeli F-4E Markings and Insignia requirements.

Click here to see blueprints

McDonnell RF-4E German Markings and Insignia

Copies of McAir blueprints (#53-001018) from 1970, with the Markings and Insignia requirements for the German RF-4E.

Click here to view drawings

McDonnell RF-4E German Paint & Color Requirements

Scans of McAir blueprints (#53-001019) from 1970, with the Paint and Color requirements for the German RF-4E.
Click here to view drawing

McDonnell RF-4E General Arrangement and Inboard Profile

Real scans of McAir blueprints (#53-001001 and 53-001002) from 1969, with the General Arrangement and Inboard Profile of the RF-4E.

Click here to view blueprints

F-18 - A Nest Of Hornets

Another article from the International Modelers Society quarterly magazine. This time on Full Scale Development F-18 Hornets from the Spring 1981, Vol. 16, No. 3 issue.

Click here to download article in PDF form

Click here to see individual pages

McDonnell F-101B Voodoo Article

A very good short article on the McDonnell F-101B Voodoo aircraft from the International Plastic Modelers Society (IPMS) Quarterly publication, Vol. 17, No. 1. This Fall 1981 article was written by Lee Bracken with photos by Duane Kuhn and has the units that flew the Voodoo and a number of illustrations with markings.

Click here to download article in PDF form

Click here to see individual pages

Eagle vs. Mig Article

An authorized McDonnell Douglas Corp. reprint of the “Born In Battle Magazine” article on the Israeli F-15 vs. enemy MiGs. Lots of info and pictures!

Click here to download article as a PDF file

Fairchild A-10 Facts and Figures

A nice article from Phantom Flyer on the early gray colored Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft with lots of facts and figures!Also, I have included an Inboard Profile and two of Mike Badrocke's wonderful cutaway drawings of the A-10.

Click here to view article