A Complete History of U.S. Combat Aircraft Fly-off Competitions
A Complete History of U.S. Combat Aircraft Fly-off Competitions

Author: Erik Simonsen

Publisher:

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781580072274

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Since the first days of rivalry between the Wright Brothers and Glenn Curtiss, aircraft manufacturers have been vying for lucrative military aircraft contracts and competing for prized long-term production runs. As a result, many advanced and now legendary aircraft have been designed, built, and flown in every generation of aviation development. Focusing on the Cold War era, this book shows readers how crucial fly-off competitions have been to the development of America's military air arsenal. This book not only explains in detail how fly-off competitions are conducted, it shows the reader what both competing aircraft designs looked like during their trials, and then what the losing aircraft would have looked like in operational markings had it actually won. Described in vivid detail are the specific aircraft and how they fared, as well as the inside political maneuvering and subterfuge involved in often-controversial aircraft contract awards. Beginning with the Boeing B-47 Stratojet's decisive victory over rival Convair and Martin designs and ending with today's advanced unmanned aerial marvels, this book covers every era of Post-World War II aviation. Author Erik Simonsen uses 120,000 words of text and over 550 photos, some uniquely created for this work, to provide the reader with many of aviation's most tantalizing 'might have beens'.

Lost Fighters
Lost Fighters

Author: William Holder

Publisher: SAE International

Published: 2006-12-06

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 0768069777

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This book, by Bill Holder, discusses the "Lost Fighter" turbojet and turboprop propulsion systems of the exciting jet fighter era in the United States since the mid-1940s. Until now, very little has been published about these fascinating fighter activities that, for a variety of reasons, did not reach fruition. Covering fighters that did not reach beyond an artist's concept stage, to those that were cancelled after an evaluation of flight capabilities, to others that were cast aside after losing a fly-off competition, this book makes use of previously unpublished, primary-source material. It provides a coherent picture of U.S. jet fighter development and evolution. This book also includes hundreds of photos, drawings, and illustrations of the many "Lost Fighters."

The U.S. Combat Aircraft Industry, 1909-2000
The U.S. Combat Aircraft Industry, 1909-2000

Author: Mark A. Lorell

Publisher: Rand Corporation

Published: 2003-10-29

Total Pages: 159

ISBN-13: 083303605X

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Drawing on primary and secondary sources on the aircraft industry, this report provides a brief survey of industry structure, innovation, and competition in the U.S. fixed-wing combat aircraft industry from its earliest days to the present. It supports a much larger research effort examining the future of the structure, innovation, and competition of the U.S. military aircraft industrial base that responds to congressional concerns about that future.

Flying American Combat Aircraft
Flying American Combat Aircraft

Author: Robin Higham

Publisher: Stackpole Books

Published: 2005-07-06

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 0811750515

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Riveting accounts from the pilots who flew such planes as the F-15, B-52, C-130, and many more. Dozens of in-the-cockpit photos.

A Concise History of the U.S. Air Force
A Concise History of the U.S. Air Force

Author: Stephen Lee McFarland

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 96

ISBN-13:

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Except in a few instances, since World War II no American soldier or sailor has been attacked by enemy air power. Conversely, no enemy soldier orsailor has acted in combat without being attacked or at least threatened by American air power. Aviators have brought the air weapon to bear against enemies while denying them the same prerogative. This is the legacy of the U.S. AirForce, purchased at great cost in both human and material resources.More often than not, aerial pioneers had to fight technological ignorance, bureaucratic opposition, public apathy, and disagreement over purpose.Every step in the evolution of air power led into new and untrodden territory, driven by humanitarian impulses; by the search for higher, faster, and farther flight; or by the conviction that the air way was the best way. Warriors have always coveted the high ground. If technology permitted them to reach it, men, women andan air force held and exploited it-from Thomas Selfridge, first among so many who gave that "last full measure of devotion"; to Women's Airforce Service Pilot Ann Baumgartner, who broke social barriers to become the first Americanwoman to pilot a jet; to Benjamin Davis, who broke racial barriers to become the first African American to command a flying group; to Chuck Yeager, a one-time non-commissioned flight officer who was the first to exceed the speed of sound; to John Levitow, who earned the Medal of Honor by throwing himself over a live flare to save his gunship crew; to John Warden, who began a revolution in air power thought and strategy that was put to spectacular use in the Gulf War.Industrialization has brought total war and air power has brought the means to overfly an enemy's defenses and attack its sources of power directly. Americans have perceived air power from the start as a more efficient means of waging war and as a symbol of the nation's commitment to technology to master challenges, minimize casualties, and defeat adversaries.

Early US Jet Fighters
Early US Jet Fighters

Author: Tony Buttler

Publisher:

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 9781902109305

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A fascinating, highly illustrated insight into early post-war jet fighter development by an expert aviation historian and author, Early US Jet Fighters is set to become a standard reference.

Combat Aircraft of the United States Air Force
Combat Aircraft of the United States Air Force

Author: Michael Green

Publisher: Images of War

Published: 2016-07-30

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781473834750

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From its beginning in August 1907, when the U.S. Army Signal Corps created its Aeronautical Division assigned: "to take charge of all matters pertaining to military ballooning, air machines, and all kindred matters." That small portion of the U.S. Army would grow to become its own separate entity, named the U.S. Air Force in 1947. It became othe

The Cutting Edge
The Cutting Edge

Author: Mark A. Lorell

Publisher: Rand Corporation

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 247

ISBN-13: 0833025953

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The proposition that innovation is critical in the cost-effective design and development of successful military aircraft is still subject to some debate. RAND research indicates that innovation is promoted by intense competition among three or more industry competitors. Given the critical policy importance of this issue in the current environment of drastic consolidation of the aerospace defense industry, the authors here examine the history of the major prime contractors in developing jet fighters since World War II. They make use of an extensive RAND database that includes nearly all jet fighters, fighter-attack aircraft, and bombers developed and flown by U.S. industry since 1945, as well as all related prototypes, modifications, upgrades, etc. The report concludes that (1) experience matters, because of the tendency to specialize and thus to develop system-specific expertise; (2) yet the most dramatic innovations and breakthroughs came from secondary or marginal players trying to compete with the industry leaders; and (3) dedicated military R&D conducted or directly funded by the U.S. government has been critical in the development of new higher-performance fighters and bombers.