F2H-2N Banshee Inboard Profile

An inboard profile drawing from 1950 of the F2H-2N Banshee showing fuel tanks, tail hook and some flight controls.

Click here to view profile

F2H-3 Banshee General Arrangement Drawing

An F2H-3 Banshee General Arrangement blueprint from 8/18/1951. Since this is an original 64 year old blueprint, I have left the image as it really is and not “Photo shopped it”. Enjoy

Click here to view the blueprint

500th Blog Post

A little self promotion, as I am happy to say that I uploaded my 500th post to this blog yesterday. (And I got a new Grand Daughter as well!)

F2H-2P Banshee General Arrangement and Markings/Insignia Drawings

Still more Banshee drawings. This time the F2H-2P Photo Recon Version General Arrangement and Markings/Insignia Drawings.

Click here to view drawings

F2H-2N Banshee General Arrangement and Markings/Insignia Drawings

Some more Banshee blueprint drawings. This time the F2H-2N General Arrangement and Markings/Insignia Drawings.

Click here to view drawings

F2H-2 Banshee General Arrangement and Markings/Insignia Drawings

More Banshee drawings. This time the F2H-2 General Arrangement and Markings/Insignia Drawings.

Click here to view drawings

F2H-1 Banshee General Arrangement and Markings/Insignia Drawings

Actual F2H-1 McAir Blue Print General Arrangement drawings along with Markings and Insignias. The next few posts are microfilm prints from my collection made some 50 years ago, and the quality varies greatly!

Click here to view drawings

McAir Flight Ramp Aerial Photos

Several nice aerial shots of the McDonnell Aircraft flight ramp during the 1950’s and 1960’s. Demons, Voodoos and F-4 Phantoms are everywhere! Credit: The Greater St. Louis Air and Space Museum

Click here to view photos

Douglas C-132 Update #1

Additional information on the Douglas C-132 proposal. More photos to follow.

The newspaper article comes from Jack Abercrombie who has this to say: "My first job after graduation was as an aerodynamicist on the C-132 at Douglas Tulsa.  The very day before reporting for work, the newspaper in Tulsa reported the contract cancellation.  What an interesting way to start a career."

Credit: Jack Abercrombie

Click here for newspaper article and more photos

Click here for original blog post

B-58 Escape Capsule Photos and Brochures

Convair B-58 Escape Capsule photos and B-58 Hustler News brochures dated May 1961. Also, the Air Force Flight Test Center’s first capsule test report from 1962.
Click here to view photos
Click here to view first brochure
Click here to view second brochure
Click here to view test report

Postwar Aviation Advertisements

More advertisements from the pages of vintage National Geographic Magazines. This time, from the post WWII era of civil aviation. Credit: Bill Lukasik’s Historical Collection

Click here to view ads

Prewar and WWII Aviation Advertisements

A selection of prewar and WWII advertisements from the pages of vintage National Geographic Magazines.      

Some very interesting ads here! Credit: Bill Lukasik’s Historical Collection

Click here to view ads

MDC Product Ad Sheets here

F-4M/Phantom FGR.2 “XV424”

This is a very nice picture of an original F-4M-35-MC (cn 3084/0056) aircraft in a view that is seldom seen. It turns out that this aircraft is some what famous due to the Alcock & Brown's special paint and record breaking run in 1979. It was later converted to an FGR.2.

History from the Thunder and Lightning’s web site: "XV424 served with 6, 29, 54, 56, 92 and 111 Squadrons plus 228 OCU. In 1979 she was painted in a special scheme to mark the anniversary of Alcock & Brown's crossing of the Atlantic, and made a record-breaking commemorative dash across the Atlantic on the 21st of June that year. On retirement she was earmarked for preservation with the RAF Museum and is now on permanent display at Hendon. She is in absolutely superb condition, having never suffered outdoor storage like so many Phantoms, and looks like she was rolled in to the museum yesterday. XV424 is displayed with a nice selection of stores and has steps so you can get a look at the cockpit."

Photos are included that show the aircraft thru the stages of it’s life.

Click here to view photos

F-101B Voodoo Landing Gear and Drag Chute Structure

Illustrations of the F-101B drag chute and nose and main landing gear structure and assembly.

Click here to view illustrations

F4H-1 Forward Fuselage and Landing Gear Structure

F4H-1 forward fuselage nomenclature and canted and regular fuselage stations. Also, nose and main landing gear illustrations.

Click here to view drawings

What Killed Douglas Aircraft

The involved tale of why McDonnell Aircraft got to buy Douglas Aircraft in 1967. This paper was authored by Jonathan S. Leonard from the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley

Having been there at that time, I can say two things: First that old man MAC admired Donald Douglas and, since he had always wanted to build commercial aircraft (Think Model 119/220), he was happy to keep the company in business. Second that he knew how a merge was supposed to go, in that the new company became McDonnell Douglas and the Douglas name (and the “bug”) didn’t disappear! Other companies forgot this!!

Click here to download the paper in PDF form

or download from the University here

Convair 240 Series of Aircraft Article

A nice short article on the piston-engined Convair 240 series of aircraft. These were built as a possible replacement for the Douglas DC-3. This article includes a list of all the 240 series aircraft built.

Click here to view article

Phantoms Coming - Thuds Going

An article by Don Spearing on the 301st TFW (Carswell AFB) conversion to F-4D’s from F-105’s. With two pages of photos.

Click here to view the article

F-15 Eagle Flight Leader Magazine

The summer 1990 issue of the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle Flight Leader Magazine’'. The article include: One wing F-15, F-15E birdstrike and survivability, F-15 Lantirn, F-15 success on night raids and F-15E advanced cockpit design.
Click here to view magazine

Additional McAir Building 42 Photos

More McDonnell Aircraft Flight Test building 42 photos. These have some very interesting aircraft parked on the ramp!

Click here to view photos

Original post here

AV-8B Italian Navy Article

Another McDonnell Douglas , Aerospace Digest article from 1994. This time it is on the AV-8B in Italian Navy service.

Click here to view article

F-4 Phantom II Hill AFB “Pharewell”

A McDonnell Douglas, Aerospace Digest article from 1994 on the “Pharewell” of the last Programmed Depot Maintenance F/RF-4 aircraft. The last aircraft was an RF-4C going to the Nevada ANG in Reno.

click here to view article

F-4B,C,D and E Front Cockpit Panel Drawings

A nice, simple one-page illustration of the front cockpit instrument panels for the F-4B, F-4C, F-4D and F-4E aircraft. Credit: IPMS Phoenix magazine “Dirty Plastic”

Click here to view drawings

The F-4 Phantoms of Fighter Town

An April 1975 article by Richard P. Lutz, Jr. on the markings of F-4B, F-4J and F-4N aircraft at Miramar, CA. Credit: IPMS:USA Update Vol. 10, No. 4

Click here to view article

McAir Multi-Role Fighter

An article also from the Sept McAir “Team Talk’ on the upcoming McDonnell entry to the Multi-Role Fighter (Which became the F-16, I believe). It is interesting as it details some of the paperwork that we had to deal with, even to just start a new project!

Click here to read the article

Space Shuttle Transportation System Booklet

An “oldie” from Rockwell from when the Shuttle was new. It contains mission parameters, data, 3-view drawings and cross section cuts of the Shuttle.

Click here to view booklet

T-45 Goshawk Training System Brochure

A copy of the 1991(?) T-45 Training System Brochure. It lays out the entire T-45 system and has a lot of facts and figures. Credit: The Greater St. Louis Air and Space Museum

Click here to view brochure

F-4 Flight Manuals and Guides

Several additional manuals and guides are available from the F-4 Phantom II Society here.

The Flight Manuals and Guides are at the bottom of the page. I recommend this site for all their good work on my favorite aircraft, the F-4 Phantom II! Stop by and enjoy the riches.

F-4E Flight Manual (Complete)

A complete earlier copy of the F-4E flight manual TO 1F-4E-1, dated 1 February 1979. Credit: The F-4 Phantom II Society

Download here or here or here or here (17.5 Megs)

A later manual (1990) update is here

Mo ANG 110th TFS Farewell to the F-4 Phantom II

An article from the Sept McAir “Team Talk” on the retirement of F-4’s from the 110th Tactical Fighter Squadron (131 TFW). The retirement date was September 14th, 1991 at Lambert Field, St Louis, Missouri. The last aircraft was number 68-338. I have added a picture of it in service and as a St. Louis pole exhibit along with the squadron symbol . In early 2015, this aircraft was transferred to Whiteman Air Force Base for display.

Click here to view photos

 

.

Aerospace Specification Tables - 1960

A copy of the Aerospace Specification Tables from 1960. This booklet was the “bible” on aircraft, engines, spacecraft and missiles. Many charts with sizes, dimensions thrust data and manufacture’s data. As a boy, I eagerly awaited this booklet in order to keep up with the world’s aerospace, military and civilian  facts! (And , yes, it really is in the weird color.)

Click her to download the booklet in PDF form.

Douglas 1906A Proposal

A photo article from Aviation Week on the  proposed Douglas 1906A Turboprop fleet resupply project, dated April 8, 1957.

The Douglas 1906A project was designed for fleet aerial resupply and U.S. Marine light assault duties. It was to have four Lycoming T55 turboprops. The wing span was to be 102 ft. 5 in. and the length 88 ft. 2 in.

This is a little known proposal; but, there is a good discussion on it at the Secret Projects website.

Click here to view article

Douglas C-132

  

A photo article from Aviation Week on the  proposed Douglas C-132 project, dated April 8, 1957. I have included a few more drawings that I had.

From Wikipedia: The Douglas C-132 was a proposed transport aircraft, based on the company's C-124 Globemaster II. Design studies began in 1951 but the project was cancelled in 1957 by the USAF.

Click here for article and additional info

Additional web sources are here and here

A very detailed article is available from Scott Lowther at Aerospace Products Review

RF-4B NATOPS Flight Manual - Earlier Copy

An earlier copy of the Navair 01-245FDC-1 RF-4B NATOPS Flight Manual, this one is dated December 15 1965. This document contains all the operating and performance data for the RF-4B Phantom II aircraft.

Click here to download the manual in PDF form

Click here for a later copy

Missouri Air National Guard F-100D and F-100F

Some Missouri Air National Guard F-100D and “F” photos that I took while on a tour of the the 131st Tactical Fighter Wing’s facility at Lambert airport in St. Louis, Mo. Note that these photos are before the red tail banner was applied. The photos are very poor; but, as I continue to say – any photo is better than no photo!

Click here to view photos

Click here for lots of good Mo ANG F-100 photos

Click here for a F-100 Camouflage and Markings post

Westinghouse Jet Engine Progress Booklet

An interesting booklet by the Westinghouse Corp extolling the features of their jet engines. Undated; but, appears to be from the early 1950’s. Many photos and illustrations. Of course I like page 4 and 6 for the McAir products!

Click here to download the booklet in PDF form

Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR1 at McAir

I got an inquiry from a reader asking about the Harrier GR1 visit to McAir on July 31 1970 that I ran a photo of in the McAir Building #42 story.

He wants any details and if this early visit was the basis for future collaboration on Harrier II. As I remember, this was a meet and greet for our people to see the Harrier up close. This was during early negotiations for McAir to build the Harrier in the US.

I found a photo of the aircraft in hover and several of it on our ramp from a modeling article by Dick Powers. I included a couple of photos sent to me by Hawker Siddeley of the Kestrel FGA.1,during Tri-partite Evaluation Squadron evaluation.

Click here to view photos

AIM-95 Agile Missile

Since we have been talking about the AIM-82 and AIM-95, here is some additional info from Ron Hinkel via Mark Nankivil on how the AIM-9L took over the AIM-82/95 role:

“AIM-9L Background #1 - Way Back
In following the recent postings about Sidewinders, and the Aim-9L in particular, it is time I share what I know on how that came about. What I know and think about this subject comes from my assignment as Air Weapons Officer at Naval Weapons Station, China Lake from the fall of 1973 to summer 1976. Air weapons included Air-to-Air and Air-to-Ground. Naturally, Sidewinder projects fell under air-to-air, so I can tell you today that I was there when it was being decided as to what the off-boresight limit and other parameters were to be developed in that missile. IMHO, as good as the -9L was, we, the Navy, gave up too much all-aspect air-to-air weapons capability to accommodate the USAF's lack of success. I'll let you judge later.
Recall the environment of the times; early 70's. Navy performance with F-8s and F-4's getting some Mig kills. AF frustrations with guys in the saddle only to have their Sidewinders go stupid or miss when they should have hit. This was the era of Pirate and the others teaching Navy tactics to them and the start of Top Gun. Now comes a big thrust by USAF brass to stop the embarrassment. Their arguments were that they needed a better Sidewinder, bought so many more missiles than the Navy, and for that they should be given a larger say as to what the next version would be. So they threw money at the project and DoD accepted, even giving them project Management control. The PM at China Lake for the AIM-9L was a LTCOL USAF. I know because I got to shoot one of the development missiles that did not kill the target. The recorded data showed the missile launch to be right in the designed test parameters, but that a circuit failed some where in the weapon system. Obviously, that flaw was fixed as your reported good results in the fleet show.

AIM-9L Background #2 - The Off-Boresight Battle
ACEVAL/AIMVAL Did any of you participate in this 1974-75 Air Farce forced "flyoff to determine what off-boresight capability the next joint missle should have?" In my duty as Air Weapons Officer, I was the Navy operational tech rep to the initial planning and evaluation with NAVWEPSCEN China Lake as the technical folks. China Lake and I were pushing for the 45 degree capability already proven available to our satisfaction and originally planned for the -9L by the Navy. The AF whose mentality at the time, if you recall, was based upon an F-4 with a gun pod, of course, disputed this. That, of course, turned it into a real fighter that could stay with the Migs. What they really wanted was an AIM-9B with minimal off-boresight, but one that worked. So the flyoff went on and the result was a compromise. I think that the AIM-9L off-boresight was set at one half of the 45 degrees and a head on capability was also required. That also had some effect on lowering the off-boresight angle because it was perceived that you had to be closer to head on for the missile performance to catch the guy if he turned away at launch. That does make sense, but I say perceived in that I don't recall if there was any real engineering quality data gathered during these flights to support the operational portion of this decision. Help us if you know something different out there. Technically, you have to remember that all Sidewinders, including the -9L, were fin controlled. That reduced all Sidewinder turning ability two ways. The missile had to go forward for a while to pick up speed before it could turn and the size of the fins were limited because the missile had to fit on the aircraft.

AIM-9L Background #3 - The Problem of Off-Boresight Capability
The issue of off-boresight capability was not, IMHO, fully understood completely by even the good guy Navy operators in the ACEVAL/AIMVAL decision loop. Frustrated as we were at China Lake at the time that was somewhat understandable because the whole thing was a humongous political football. And, its awful hard to see how really close the technology is to what you want without having at least some of the system in your hands trying it operationally. Then, having to fight for it in a David and Goliath scenario. They were in a tough position. Eventually, Navy Washington showed us all the real decision. They wanted the Air Force's money, so we were all told to sit down and shut up which we did. It has become even more understandable from your comments about the uncertainty and flux in training, tactics, Top Gun, etc. going on in the fleet.
The problem with off-boresight capability is that it goes against the grain of our training, our weapons to date, and our inherent instinct to best the other guy. We need to show him we are superior to him by getting behind him in the perfect firing so that he can't get away and blasting him out of the sky. Funny, when you think about it. How gallant is slipping up behind some unawares guy just motoring back to base and letting him have it. Not necessarily superior because it was Smiling Jack and he had the performance aircraft to kick your ass, if he had seen you. Further, I don't recall hearing any WWII ace say something like, "I got 123 kills, really 140, but I don't count those where the guy obviously didn't see me."
Yes, those individual kills win battles, especially a lot of them. But wars are won by attrition. That is reducing the number of enemy aircraft faster than he does yours. If I recall correctly, top gun was created in order to improve the kill ratio of Navy F-8s and F-4s to third world Migs. It is particularly important when one side or both have a fixed or limited supply of assets to draw from. IMHO, in the case of an aircraft carrier, a lot faster. What off-boresight capability gives you is a lesser need both air space and aircraft performance wise to be in the position to achieve your kills and very much less exposure to your being in position to be killed.
AIM-9L Background #4 - The Off-Boresight Capability we could Have Had (Agile)
I turned up at China Lake Naval Weapons Center as the newly appointed Air Weapons Officer and Agile Project Pilot in October 1973. The AIM-95 Agile was an air-to-air missile being developed as an advanced replacement for the AIM-9 Sidewinder short-range air-to-air missile. The Navy intended it for the F-14. The US Air Force was developing the AIM-82 missile to equip the F-15 Eagle at the same time. Since both missiles were more or less identical in their role, it was decided to abandon the AIM-82 in favor of the Agile.
The Agile was equipped with a sophisticated, high tech (at the time), Gallium-arsenide infrared band seeker by Hughes. The seeker head had a large off-boresight capability (0 to +/- 165 degrees practical) lock-on capability. The pilot targeted it by using a Helmet Mounted Sight (HMS). A solid-state missile rocket engine was used to provide the go power. Control was achieved by thrust vectoring giving it superior turning capability over the Sidewinder. This combination of greatly improved IR sensor, large off-boresight acquisition and thrust vectoring control would allow Agile to be fired at targets which were not directly ahead•thus making it far easier to achieve a firing position. Did it ever,
I must have flown 20 or 30 test flights with the Agile seeker on F-4s. It was amazing in its ability to detect targets and lock on and track the target aircraft to all angles. Hughes did a fantastic job. The helmet mounted sight to acquire targets worked beautifully. I could climb, dive, stay level, roll inverted, zoom climb or dive, keep my speed up approaching the target or slow to simulate 1 vs. 1 turning and that seeker would lock on as soon as I put the sight on it and pressed the button. What made it even more outstanding was its ability to discriminate the target with a high sun caused hot white cloud background? I easily acquired the target aircraft at off-boresight angles of 0 to about 170 degrees. Now don't restrict your visualization of this to the plane of the wings. You have the whole half cone above you, and you could look down; essentially, wherever you could look you could acquire and shoot a launch and leave Agile. The easier acquisitions occurred when you didn't have to stretch your neck to make them; like between 30 degrees off the nose to about 135 degrees. Tactics, oh yeah! How about this idea? You are about to enter a many on many situation in deuce formation. You both keep the speed up or accelerate, if necessary. You pull up through the fur ball shoot two on the way up. Pull over the top, and shoot two on the way down and run like hell. Eight kills without not much chance of your getting hit. I mean it was going to be that good, I think.
The official line is: The AIM-95A was developed to a point where flight tests were carried out including test firing at China Lake (Not true, to my knowledge) and inclusion in the ACEVAL/AIMVAL Joint Test & Evaluation conducted with both the F-14 and F-15 at Nellis AFB in 1975-78. AIMVAL analysis results indicating limited utility of higher high boresight capability and high cost resulted in opinion that it was no longer regarded as affordable and the project was cancelled in 1975. Instead both the Air Force and Navy developed an improved version of the Sidewinder for use. Although this was intended to be an interim solution, in fact the AIM-9 continues in service today.
The Soviet Union did embark on development of an advanced high boresight SRM with thrust vectoring and subsequently fielded the AA-11/R-73 Archer on the MiG-29 in 1985. NATO learned about their performance due to the German reunification and efforts began to match or exceed the R-73's performance with the IRIS-T, AIM-9X and MICA IR programs.
Author's Note:  "If these used thrust vectoring it was Agile again. If not, how could they compete?"
Ron Hinkel
2 August 2015”

Wikipedia has a good write-up on the AIM-95 here

Another good article on AIM-82/95 is here

F-15 Full Scale Mockup Question (AIM-82) Update

 

Ron Hinkel reports that: (I turned up at China Lake Naval Weapons Center as the newly appointed Air Weapons Officer and Agile Project Pilot in October 1973. The AIM-95 Agile was an air-to-air missile being developed as an advanced replacement for the AIM-9 Sidewinder short-range air-to-air missile. The Navy intended it for the F-14. The US Air Force was developing the AIM-82 missile to equip the F-15 Eagle at the same time. Since both missiles were more or less identical in their role, it was decided to abandon the AIM-82 in favor of the Agile.)”

Jack Abercrombie reports that the program had been canceled in 1970. “The Chicago Tribune in Sep 1970 reported the cancellation of the AIM-82: http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1970/09/03/page/7/article/missile-work-is-canceled-by-air-force . To my recollection, MCAIR never did any wind tunnel testing of the AIM-82/F-15 configuration.”

Click here to see original post