Sunday, July 31, 2016
Saturday, July 30, 2016
Douglas D-558-1 Skystreak Photos
Friday, July 29, 2016
“Fly Douglas” Mural
“The Museum of Flying at Santa Monica Airport in November of 2012, unveiled its "Fly Douglas" mural, created by aviation artist, author and historian Mike Machat. The mural was commisioned by the Employees Community Fund of Boeing California. The mural depicts the Douglas Aircraft Company’s DC series of aircraft from the DC-1 to the DC-10.”
Thursday, July 28, 2016
Avro Vulcan B.2 Photo Feature
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
F-4 Wing Bumps and IR Seeker Fairing Cuts
Click here to view the drawings
Additional wing bump info here
Thursday, July 21, 2016
Phantom Flyer Feature Aircraft of the Month
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
F-4K AGM-12 General Arrangement Drawing
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
F-4 and RF-4 Waterlines, Buttock Lines and Fuselage Stations
The small Quality Planning pocket card that I carried for many years with all the F-4 and RF-4 Waterlines, Buttock Lines, Stabilator Stations and Fuselage Stations. A valuable card to have when doing F-4 repairs. Cards are dated March 2, 1967.
Sunday, July 17, 2016
Another F-4 Stores Drawing
Additional stores post here
Friday, July 15, 2016
General Dynamics F-111 External Paint Specifations
Thursday, July 14, 2016
General Dynamics F-111 Escape Module Works
Much more on the escape module here
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
General Dynamics F-111 and B-36 Lithographs
Tuesday, July 12, 2016
General Dynamics F-111 Brochure
Monday, July 11, 2016
General Dynamics F-111 Photos and Info
Sunday, July 10, 2016
Douglas DC-4 Operating Manual
Saturday, July 9, 2016
Douglas DC-8-63 Technical Training Handbook
Friday, July 8, 2016
Douglas DC-8 Flight Operating Manual and Checklist
Thursday, July 7, 2016
DC-10 Aircraft Charateristics for Airport Planning Report
Wednesday, July 6, 2016
800 Posts Today!
Thanks to all the people who have given kind words, encouraged me and helped with material to publish.
Ron
McDonnell Douglas DC-10 Introduction Report
Tuesday, July 5, 2016
F-15B Eagle IFFC/Firefly
Joe Baugher has this to say about this aircraft and program:
“In 1981, a late production F-15B (serial number 77-0166) was modified as the test vehicle for the Integrated Flight Fire Control (IFFC)/Firefly III program. The IFFC program was undertaken by McDonnell under a contract from the Air Force for the development of a system which would modify the Eagle's fire control and flight control systems to accept control inputs from both the pilot and the IFFC flight control system and to tailor flight control response to the various weapons delivery modes. The parallel Firefly III program was conducted by General Electric under an Air Force contract for further development of the fire control system for use against air-to-ground targets.
The coupling of IFFC with Firefly III allows for automatic positioning of the aircraft in order to attack targets that are detected by an electro-optical target designation pod. As part of the program, the F-15B carried a Martin Marietta ATLIS (Automatic Tracking Laser Illumination System) II designation pod in the port forward missile well, linked to the aircraft's fly-by-wire system via a computer. The designation pod enabled the aircraft to release air-to-ground weapons while maneuvering along a three-dimensional flight path, avoiding having to fly directly over the target and thus exposing itself to enemy ground fire.”
The IFFC/Firefly III system was never adopted for production F-15s. However, the work done on the system was helpful in development of the LANTIRN navigation and targeting system which was adopted for the F-15E Strike Eagle.
Monday, July 4, 2016
Sunday, July 3, 2016
Additional Eliminate Range Zero System (EROS) Information
Tommy Thomason commented on my last post with info that all should read:
“Two McAir F-101s collided on 8 June 1960 during production flight test from St. Louis. Because of the nature of these flights, the pilots of the Voodoos were 1) operating in a block of assigned air space rather than at ATC assigned altitudes on airways and 2) focusing on instrument readings, manually recording data, and making changes to switches and knobs: i.e. head down in the cockpit to a greater extent than usual.
As a result of the accident, Mr. Mac immediately implemented a company-funded program to develop a collision-warning system. This resulted in EROS. Once it was developed and qualified, McAir aircraft conducting experimental and and production flight test out of St. Louis routinely carried an EROS pod that communicated with the pods on other airplanes to provide collision warning.”
Also, he found a PDF from 1971 in the Clay Whitehead collection that contains several Collision Avoidance System Letters and Memoranda concerning the EROS project. Note page 10, especially.
Click here to download memos in PDF form (104.3 Megs)
Previous posts here, here and here
A nice overview from Popular Science (Aug 1988) of all companies efforts in this field is here
Saturday, July 2, 2016
Additional James S. McDonnell Photos
Original post here
Friday, July 1, 2016
Piaggio-Douglas PD-808 Article #1
From Wikipedia: “The Piaggio PD.808 was designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company of Long Beach, California, as a business jet.
No orders were received by Douglas, and the complete project was bought by Piaggio Aero, which flew the first prototype in August 1965. Piaggio also failed to secure any worthwhile commercial interest, but a few examples were taken by the Italian Air Force.
Only 24 examples of this type, with low-set wings and aft-mounted turbojet engines, were produced, and 22 of these went to the Italian Air Force.”
Thursday, June 30, 2016
Vought F7U-l Cutlass
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
F2H-1 Station Diagrams
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
F-4 Stores Characteristics Charts
Additional stores info here
Monday, June 27, 2016
General Dynamics F-111B Aardvark Flight Manual
Sunday, June 26, 2016
McDonnell Phantom II - Three Service Fighter Pamphlet
Saturday, June 25, 2016
Friday, June 24, 2016
Air National Guard RF-101G/H Photographic Reconnaissance Systems
Thursday, June 23, 2016
Lockheed Aircraft Photo Set
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
More Burnelli CBY-3 Loadmaster Info
He says: “As an aeronautical engineer myself, and Venezuelan civil aviation historian, I have been researching this model for quite a while, with the intention of writing an article in spanish about the type, and its short history at Ransa. History goes that during a test, the load (water drums) got loose and moved around the cargo area, barely allowing the pilots to land. Pilots refused to fly the plane again, but in my opinion, the fact that they landed "safely" speaks well of the capabilities of the plane. Here are other comments from one of my tutors, Alfredo Schael, director of the Venezuelan Transportation Museum in Caracas, about the CBY-3: http://www.laahs.com/content/65-Tracking-RANSA%C2%92s-CBY-3-Loadmaster”
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
F4H-1A Tactical Fighter Proposal
Aircraft was proposed with J79-7B engines instead of J79-8, no tailhook and simplified bombing and navigation changes.
Click here to download proposal in PDF form (44.3 Megs)
Use 
Monday, June 20, 2016
F-15 Eagle Chin Pod Update Addition
Sven says: “The photo in the article actually shows one of the FSD F-15A airframes, 71-0289 I think. The chin pod was also tested on 71-0291, see above: as Chief of Test with the F-15 Program Office. In cleaning out my office I found the referenced photo. At first glance, I thought it was an early 1990s test picture since. In the later days of Desert Storm and for a while afterwards, we were looking at a "Single-Seat SEAD" capability for the MSIP jets - to include direction finding gear a la the chin pod and integrating the AGM-88 on stations 2 and 8. The MSIPs were looking for a mission after air dominance was established.”
Thanks, Sven, for the additional info!
Sunday, June 19, 2016
F-4 Changes Between Models (Updated)
“Those illustrated summaries are a little weak. The F-4A configuration history during development was more complicated, e.g. big noses on airplanes prior to 19 like 10, 12, and 14. The raised canopy was introduced at 19.
The F-4B raised canopy was actually introduced during F-4A production as noted on the first sheet and above.
The F-4J sheet is USMC only, which implies that the maneuver slats were USMC only. If I remember correctly, the maneuver flaps were only a feature on the F-4S, the first lot of which were delivered to the Marines without the maneuver slats.
For some reason, the inflight refueling probe is shown on some sheets but not others.
You might want to link this particular post to this one for completeness and hopefully accuracy: http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2012/12/you-cant-tell-phantoms-without-score.html”
Tommy has studied the Phantom II extensively and is, in my opinion, an expert in early NAVY F-4’s. His website is a must visit for anyone interested in the F-4 Phantom II aircraft. It is at: http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com
Original post here
Saturday, June 18, 2016
F-15 S/MTD McDonnell Douglas Presentation
Click here to download the presentation in PDF form (46.2 Megs)
Friday, June 17, 2016
More F-15 S/MTD Photos
Original post here
Thursday, June 16, 2016
F-15 S/MTD Photos and Articles
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
F-15 S/MTD Flight Testing Article
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
NF-15B S/MTD Photo Feature
Per wikipedia: The NF-15B S/MTD was a modified F-15 Eagle. Developed as a technology demonstrator, the F-15 STOL/MTD carried out research for studying the effects of thrust vectoring and enhanced maneuverability. The aircraft used for the project was pre-production TF-15A (F-15B) No. 1 (USAF S/N 71-0290), the first two-seat F-15 Eagle built by McDonnell Douglas.
