Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird port panorama (F-4 Corsair & P-40 Warhawk overhead)

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird port panorama (F-4 Corsair & P-40 Warhawk overhead)

Some cool plastic machining business images:

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird port panorama (F-4 Corsair & P-40 Warhawk overhead)

Image by Chris Devers
See a lot more pictures of this, and the Wikipedia report.

Specifics, quoting from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Curtiss P-40E Warhawk (Kittyhawk IA):

Regardless of whether known as the Warhawk, Tomahawk, or Kittyhawk, the Curtiss P-40 proved to be a productive, versatile fighter during the initial half of Globe War II. The shark-mouthed Tomahawks that Gen. Claire Chennault’s &quotFlying Tigers&quot flew in China against the Japanese remain among the most common airplanes of the war. P-40E pilot Lt. Boyd D. Wagner became the very first American ace of Planet War II when he shot down six Japanese aircraft in the Philippines in mid-December 1941.

Curtiss-Wright constructed this airplane as Model 87-A3 and delivered it to Canada as a Kittyhawk I in 1941. It served until 1946 in No. 111 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force. U.S. Air Force personnel at Andrews Air Force Base restored it in 1975 to represent an aircraft of the 75th Fighter Squadron, 23rd Fighter Group, 14th Air Force.

Donated by the Exchange Club in Memory of Kellis Forbes.

Manufacturer:
Curtiss Aircraft Business

Date:
1939

Country of Origin:
United States of America

Dimensions:
All round: 330 x 970cm, 2686kg, 1140cm (10ft 9 15/16in. x 31ft 9 7/8in., 5921.6lb., 37ft 4 13/16in.)

Components:
All-metal, semi-monocoque

Physical Description:
Single engine, single seat, fighter aircraft.

• • • • •

See far more images of this, and the Wikipedia post.

Specifics, quoting from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird:

No reconnaissance aircraft in history has operated globally in much more hostile airspace or with such total impunity than the SR-71, the world’s fastest jet-propelled aircraft. The Blackbird’s efficiency and operational achievements placed it at the pinnacle of aviation technologies developments in the course of the Cold War.

This Blackbird accrued about two,800 hours of flight time throughout 24 years of active service with the U.S. Air Force. On its final flight, March six, 1990, Lt. Col. Ed Yielding and Lt. Col. Joseph Vida set a speed record by flying from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., in 1 hour, four minutes, and 20 seconds, averaging three,418 kilometers (two,124 miles) per hour. At the flight’s conclusion, they landed at Washington-Dulles International Airport and turned the airplane more than to the Smithsonian.

Transferred from the United States Air Force.

Manufacturer:
Lockheed Aircraft Corporation

Designer:
Clarence L. &quotKelly&quot Johnson

Date:
1964

Country of Origin:
United States of America

Dimensions:
Overall: 18ft 5 15/16in. x 55ft 7in. x 107ft 5in., 169998.5lb. (5.638m x 16.942m x 32.741m, 77110.8kg)
Other: 18ft 5 15/16in. x 107ft 5in. x 55ft 7in. (5.638m x 32.741m x 16.942m)

Materials:
Titanium

Physical Description:
Twin-engine, two-seat, supersonic strategic reconnaissance aircraft airframe constructed largley of titanium and its alloys vertical tail fins are constructed of a composite (laminated plastic-type material) to lessen radar cross-section Pratt and Whitney J58 (JT11D-20B) turbojet engines function large inlet shock cones.

• • • • •

See more photographs of this, and the Wikipedia report.

Particulars, quoting from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Vought F4U-1D Corsair:

By V-J Day, September two, 1945, Corsair pilots had amassed an 11:1 kill ratio against enemy aircraft. The aircraft’s distinctive inverted gull-wing design and style allowed ground clearance for the huge, 3-bladed Hamilton Regular Hydromatic propeller, which spanned much more than 4 meters (13 feet). The Pratt and Whitney R-2800 radial engine and Hydromatic propeller was the biggest and a single of the most strong engine-propeller combinations ever flown on a fighter aircraft.

Charles Lindbergh flew bombing missions in a Corsair with Marine Air Group 31 against Japanese strongholds in the Pacific in 1944. This airplane is painted in the colors and markings of the Corsair Sun Setter, a Marine close-help fighter assigned to the USS Essex in July 1944.

Transferred from the United States Navy.

Manufacturer:
Vought Aircraft Firm

Date:
1940

Nation of Origin:
United States of America

Dimensions:
Overall: 460 x 1020cm, 4037kg, 1250cm (15ft 1 1/8in. x 33ft 5 9/16in., 8900lb., 41ft 1/8in.)

Components:
All metal with fabric-covered wings behind the main spar.

Physical Description:
R-2800 radial air-cooled engine with 1,850 horsepower, turned a three-blade Hamilton Normal Hydromatic propeller with solid aluminum blades spanning 13 feet 1 inch wing bent gull-shaped on both sides of the fuselage.

Hasegawa 1/72 Grumman F-11F-1 Tiger, extended nose, Blue Angel #1

Image by wbaiv
Blue Angels Tigers have been the longest serving Tigers. Its a pretty tiny airplane but technologies was moving so speedily that supersonic in level flight, four X 20mm cannon, and in-flight refueling capability weren’t enough to make a Visual Flight Guidelines (VFR – ie not evening/all weather, no radar in the nose…) fighter extremely interesting to the Navy. For a complete redesign that was initially pitched as a derivative of the F9F Cougar/Panther, the TIger is a fairly neat piece of function.
But with Vought’s F8U-1 Crusader and McDonnell F3H-1 Demon carrying some radar and promising much more, along with much more internal volume for fuel, the Tiger was good, but not very great sufficient.
The massive fin and rudder had been direct final results of the F-100C crash that killed test pilot George Welch- North American doubled the size of the F-100D’s fin and rudder. Grumman revised their prototype really swiftly when word got back from Edwards AFB, where both the F9F-11 and F-one hundred had been getting tested. Soon the F9F-11 was the F-11F-1 and a really modern-sized fin and rudder graced every Tiger that flew. The Tiger was also region ruled from the onset – taking a lesson from the tough luck of the Lockheed YP-90 and Convair YF-102, which looked great but could not get past the drag boost of the &quotsound barrier&quot.
It all seems so incredible, Vought, Lockheed, Grumman, North American, McDonnell, Convair, not to overlook Douglas, Republic, (and dark-horses Northrup, Boeing and Martin) all creating single-seat jet fighters in the USA, although AVRO Canada was conceiving the CF-105 to follow the CF-100s. AVRO, de Havilland, Bristol, Hawker, Supermarine (and other individuals?) have been designing single-seat fighters in the UK NORD and Dassault were lighting up French skies, and Bill Lear Jr was leading the design and style of an indigenous *Swiss* single seat jet. MiG, Yak, Sukoi and Tupolev had been all at it in the Soviet Union also.
Jet engine power and economy were nothing like today- they were heavy, weak, and blew fuel out the tail-pipe as if it expense

An Odd Sense of Tidiness?

Image by Alan Stanton
Beer can on the railings of Chestnuts Park. 30 January 2013.

Our buddy Lix Ixer and I have attempted to envision what may well be in people’s minds when they litter. Especially when an individual seems to take slightly more care than just dropping or tossing away a drink can.

On Harringay Online internet site Liz recommended a list of nine &quottypes&quot of litterers. Study the full version here. The drink-can spiker may belong to Liz’s very first variety.

Liz Ixer’s List of &quottypes&quot of litterers.

1 &quotThere is often an odd sense of ‘tidiness’ about some litterers: these are the ones who meticulously pop their cans and paper down the backs of utility cabinets, balance them on walls or tuck them down the side of planters. A small bit of them knows what they are performing is wrong and they hope by getting ‘tidy’, they offend less (perhaps there is a distant memory of a mum or dad telling them to put it in the bin).&quot

two &quotFervent believers in the Haringey litter gods who should be propitiated with frequent offerings&quot.
3 &quotThose for whom littering is a civil liberties situation. You don’t have the right to inform them what to do with their lives, which includes what they do with their litter.&quot
four &quotSweet old ladies who cautiously sweep their front step and garden every single morning and then open the front gate and whoosh it all into the street. &quot
5 &quotThe group who believe they are keeping men and women in employment by spreading the litter far and wide.&quot
six &quotThe bone idle litterer . . . who can see a litter bin within a stride but can not be arsed to go 1 step out of their way to deposit their waste.&quot
7 &quotCar diners . . . who park up, acquire a fast meals delicacy from the several fine establishments in the area, return to their automobile, fill up on grease and carbs then pile the packaging into the gutter prior to driving off.&quot
eight &quotThe litter deniers …. have two excuses for themselves: ‘my one particular bottle/can/wrapper will not hurt as there is a bag awaiting collection anyway’ or ‘I would use a bin but they are as well manky/complete/hard to use’,&quot
9 &quotThe inebriated. After six lagers for £5, I doubt you could see the bin, let alone navigate your way to it.&quot

The aim is that by by understanding people’s behaviour it may possibly be changed. &quotWe require&quot, says Liz Ixer, &quotto be far more inventive and inventive in how we get people to be far more accountable.&quot

Liz mentions past public education campaigns. Also some current initiatives. Examples incorporate: a lot more incentives for people to recycle decreasing the use of plastic bags higher engagement with little quick meals outlets to assist clean up and with businesses to decrease packaging.

___________________________________

§ Read Liz Ixer’s comprehensive comment on Harringay On the internet web site..
§ This approach to behaviour alter has parallels with concepts in the book: Nudge: Enhancing Choices about Wellness, Wealth and Happiness by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein (2008).
§ Nudge employing a image of a housefly. Explained in a video of Richard Thaler.
§ Video of Cass Sunstein explaining Nudge at the WGBH Cambridge Forum.
§ Aerial view of exactly where I took this photo.
§ Pictures by Liz Ixer on Flickr.
§ By an Edinburgh cash machine – an impulse to tidiness?

.ten a gallon, which it most likely did. But they went faster the propeller engines. Compare the subterfuge and trickery all of these airframe firms of the 1950s were applying to the jet fighters of right now – tail surfaces are are nonetheless sharply swept, but wings got a lot straighter, since yet another ton or two of thrust is easier to make than a thin, tapering, swept structure that is stiff enough to do the job and cheap adequate to construct.
But the F11F or MiG-19, F-one hundred, F-8 Crusader, even the F-4 Phantom look like they’re going twice the speed of an F/A-18 or even the supercruise-capable F-22. (Supersonic without having afterburner).

IMG_6562

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: Vought F4U-1D Corsair

Verify out these surface grinding manufacturer images:

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: Vought F4U-1D Corsair

Image by Chris Devers
See more images of this, and the Wikipedia article.

Details, quoting from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Vought F4U-1D Corsair:

By V-J Day, September 2, 1945, Corsair pilots had amassed an 11:1 kill ratio against enemy aircraft. The aircraft’s distinctive inverted gull-wing design permitted ground clearance for the huge, 3-bladed Hamilton Regular Hydromatic propeller, which spanned more than 4 meters (13 feet). The Pratt and Whitney R-2800 radial engine and Hydromatic propeller was the biggest and one of the most effective engine-propeller combinations ever flown on a fighter aircraft.

Charles Lindbergh flew bombing missions in a Corsair with Marine Air Group 31 against Japanese strongholds in the Pacific in 1944. This airplane is painted in the colors and markings of the Corsair Sun Setter, a Marine close-help fighter assigned to the USS Essex in July 1944.

Transferred from the United States Navy.

Manufacturer:
Vought Aircraft Firm

Date:
1940

Nation of Origin:
United States of America

Dimensions:
All round: 460 x 1020cm, 4037kg, 1250cm (15ft 1 1/8in. x 33ft 5 9/16in., 8900lb., 41ft 1/8in.)

Components:
All metal with fabric-covered wings behind the major spar.

Physical Description:
R-2800 radial air-cooled engine with 1,850 horsepower, turned a 3-blade Hamilton Normal Hydromatic propeller with solid aluminum blades spanning 13 feet 1 inch wing bent gull-shaped on each sides of the fuselage.

Extended Description:
On February 1, 1938, the United States Navy Bureau of Aeronautics requested proposals from American aircraft companies for a new carrier-based fighter airplane. During April, the Vought Aircraft Corporation responded with two styles and 1 of them, powered by a Pratt &amp Whitney R-2800 engine, won the competitors in June. Much less than a year later, Vought test pilot Lyman A. Bullard, Jr., first flew the Vought XF4U-1 prototype on Might 29, 1940. At that time, the largest engine driving the biggest propeller ever flown on a fighter aircraft propelled Bullard on this test flight. The R-2800 radial air-cooled engine developed 1,850 horsepower and it turned a three-blade Hamilton Normal Hydromatic propeller with solid aluminum blades spanning 13 feet 1 inch.

The airplane Bullard flew also had yet another striking function, a wing bent gull-shaped on each sides of the fuselage. This arrangement gave additional ground clearance for the propeller and reduced drag at the wing-to-fuselage joint. Ironically for a 644-kph (400 mph) airplane, Vought covered the wing with fabric behind the principal spar, a practice the firm also followed on the OS2U Kingfisher (see NASM collection).

When naval air strategists had crafted the specifications for the new fighter, the require for speed had overridden all other functionality targets. With this in thoughts, the Bureau of Aeronautics selected the most powerful air-cooled engine available, the R-2800. Vought assembled a team, lead by chief designer Rex Biesel, to design the ideal airframe about this strong engine. The group incorporated project engineer Frank Albright, aerodynamics engineer Paul Baker, and propulsion engineer James Shoemaker. Biesel and his team succeeded in developing a very quickly fighter but when they redesigned the prototype for production, they have been forced to make an unfortunate compromise.

The Navy requested heavier armament for production Corsairs and Biesel redesigned each and every outboard folding wing panel to carry three .50 caliber machine guns. These guns displaced fuel tanks installed in every single wing top edge. To replace this lost capacity, an 897-liter (237 gal) fuselage tank was installed in between the cockpit and the engine. To maintain the speedy and narrow fuselage profile, Biesel could not stack the cockpit on leading of the tank, so he moved it almost three feet aft. Now the wing totally blocked the pilot’s line of sight for the duration of the most vital stages of landing. The early Corsair also had a vicious stall, effective torque and propeller effects at slow speed, a brief tail wheel strut, major gear struts that often bounced the airplane at touchdown, and cowl flap actuators that leaked oil onto the windshield. These issues, combined with the lack of cockpit visibility, made the airplane almost not possible to land on the tiny deck of an aircraft carrier. Navy pilots quickly nicknamed the F4U the ‘ensign eliminator’ for its tendency to kill these inexperienced aviators. The Navy refused to clear the F4U for carrier operations until late in 1944, a lot more than seven years right after the project started.

This flaw did not deter the Navy from accepting Corsairs since Navy and Marine pilots sorely necessary an enhanced fighter to replace the Grumman F4F Wildcat (see NASM collection). By New Year’s Eve, 1942, the service owned 178 F4U-1 airplanes. Early in 1943, the Navy decided to divert all Corsairs to land-based United States Marine Corps squadrons and fill Navy carrier-based units with the Grumman F6F Hellcat (see NASM collection). At its ideal speed of 612 kph (380 mph) at six,992 m (23,000 ft), the Hellcat was about 24 kph (15 mph) slower than the Corsair but it was a joy to fly aboard the carrier. The F6F filled in splendidly until improvements to the F4U certified it for carrier operations. Meanwhile, the Marines on Guadalcanal took their Corsairs into combat and engaged the enemy for the first time on February 14, 1943, six months prior to Hellcat pilots on that battle-scared island initial encountered enemy aircraft.

The F4U had an quick influence on the Pacific air war. Pilots could use the Corsair’s speed and firepower to engage the more maneuverable Japanese airplanes only when the benefit favored the Americans. Unprotected by armor or self-sealing fuel tanks, no Japanese fighter or bomber could withstand for far more than a few seconds the concentrated volley from the six .50 caliber machine guns carried by a Corsair. Major Gregory &quotPappy&quot Boyington assumed command of Marine Corsair squadron VMF-214, nicknamed the ‘Black Sheep’ squadron, on September 7, 1943. During much less than five months of action, Boyington received credit for downing 28 enemy aircraft. Enemy aircraft shot him down on January three, 1944, but he survived the war in a Japanese prison camp.

In Might and June 1944, Charles A. Lindbergh flew Corsair missions with Marine pilots at Green Island and Emirau. On September three, 1944, Lindbergh demonstrated the F4U’s bomb hauling capacity by flying a Corsair from Marine Air Group 31 carrying three bombs every single weighing 450 kg (1,000 lb). He dropped this load on enemy positions at Wotje Atoll. On the September 8, Lindbergh dropped the first 900-kg (two,000 lb) bomb during an attack on the atoll. For the finale 5 days later, the Atlantic flyer delivered a 900-kg (2,000 lb) bomb and two 450-kg (1,000 lb) bombs. Lindbergh went ahead and flew these missions following the commander of MAG-31 informed him that if he was forced down and captured, the Japanese would nearly certainly execute him.

As of V-J Day, September 2, 1945, the Navy credited Corsair pilots with destroying two,140 enemy aircraft in aerial combat. The Navy and Marines lost 189 F4Us in combat and 1,435 Corsairs in non-combat accidents. Starting on February 13, 1942, Marine and Navy pilots flew 64,051 operational sorties, 54,470 from runways and 9,581 from carrier decks. During the war, the British Royal Navy accepted 2,012 Corsairs and the Royal New Zealand Air Force accepted 364. The demand was so fantastic that the Goodyear Aircraft Corporation and the Brewster Aeronautical Corporation also produced the F4U.

Corsairs returned to Navy carrier decks and Marine airfields for the duration of the Korean War. On September 10, 1952, Captain Jesse Folmar of Marine Fighter Squadron VMF-312 destroyed a MiG-15 in aerial combat more than the west coast of Korea. However, F4U pilots did not have several air-to-air encounters over Korea. Their major mission was to assistance Allied ground units along the battlefront.

Following the World War II, civilian pilots adapted the speedy bent-wing bird from Vought to fly in competitive air races. They preferred modified versions of the F2G-1 and -2 originally built by Goodyear. Corsairs won the prestigious Thompson Trophy twice. In 1952, Vought manufactured 94 F4U-7s for the French Navy, and these aircraft saw action more than Indochina but this order marked the end of Corsair production. In production longer than any other U.S. fighter to see service in Globe War II, Vought, Goodyear, and Brewster built a total of 12,582 F4Us.

The United States Navy donated an F4U-1D to the National Air and Space Museum in September 1960. Vought delivered this Corsair, Bureau of Aeronautics serial quantity 50375, to the Navy on April 26, 1944. By October, pilots of VF-ten had been flying it but in November, the airplane was transferred to VF-89 at Naval Air Station Atlantic City. It remained there as the squadron moved to NAS Oceana and NAS Norfolk. During February 1945, the Navy withdrew the airplane from active service and transferred it to a pool of surplus aircraft stored at Quantico, Virginia. In 1980, NASM craftsmen restored the F4U-1D in the colors and markings of a Corsair named &quotSun Setter,&quot a fighter assigned to Marine Fighter Squadron VMF-114 when that unit served aboard the &quotUSS Essex&quot in July 1944.

• • •

Quoting from Wikipedia | Vought F4U Corsair:

The Likelihood Vought F4U Corsair was a carrier-capable fighter aircraft that saw service mainly in Globe War II and the Korean War. Demand for the aircraft soon overwhelmed Vought’s manufacturing capability, resulting in production by Goodyear and Brewster: Goodyear-built Corsairs were designated FG and Brewster-constructed aircraft F3A. From the initial prototype delivery to the U.S. Navy in 1940, to final delivery in 1953 to the French, 12,571 F4U Corsairs had been manufactured by Vought, in 16 separate models, in the longest production run of any piston-engined fighter in U.S. history (1942–1953).

The Corsair served in the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marines, Fleet Air Arm and the Royal New Zealand Air Force, as nicely as the French Navy Aeronavale and other, smaller sized, air forces until the 1960s. It rapidly became the most capable carrier-based fighter-bomber of World War II. Some Japanese pilots regarded it as the most formidable American fighter of World War II, and the U.S. Navy counted an 11:1 kill ratio with the F4U Corsair.

F4U-1D (Corsair Mk IV): Constructed in parallel with the F4U-1C, but was introduced in April 1944. It had the new -8W water-injection engine. This adjust gave the aircraft up to 250&nbsphp (190&nbspkW) far more power, which, in turn, improved performance. Speed, for example, was boosted from 417 miles per hour (671&nbspkm/h) to 425 miles per hour (684&nbspkm/h). Since of the U.S. Navy’s require for fighter-bombers, it had a payload of rockets double the -1A’s, as nicely as twin-rack plumbing for an extra belly drop tank. Such modifications necessitated the require for rocket tabs (attached to totally metal-plated underwing surfaces) and bomb pylons to be bolted on the fighter, nonetheless, causing additional drag. Moreover, the role of fighter-bombing was a new task for the Corsair and the wing fuel cells proved also vulnerable and had been removed.[] The additional fuel carried by the two drop tanks would nonetheless allow the aircraft to fly relatively extended missions despite the heavy, un-aerodynamic load. The normal armament of six machine guns have been implemented as properly. The canopies of most -1Ds had their struts removed along with their metal caps, which had been utilized&nbsp— at one point&nbsp— as a measure to avoid the canopies’ glass from cracking as they moved along the fuselage spines of the fighters.[] Also, the clear-view style &quotMalcolm Hood&quot canopy utilised initially on Supermarine Spitfire and P-51C Mustang aircraft was adopted as standard equipment for the -1D model, and all later F4U production aircraft. Additional production was carried out by Goodyear (FG-1D) and Brewster (F3A-1D). In Fleet Air Arm service, the latter was known as the Corsair III, and both had their wingtips clipped by 8&quot per wing to enable storage in the reduce hangars of British carriers.

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: Space Shuttle Enterprise (starboard view)

Image by Chris Devers

See much more photographs of this, and the Wikipedia article.

Specifics, quoting from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Space Shuttle Enterprise:

Manufacturer:
Rockwell International Corporation

Nation of Origin:
United States of America

Dimensions:
All round: 57 ft. tall x 122 ft. lengthy x 78 ft. wing span, 150,000 lb.
(1737.36 x 3718.57 x 2377.44cm, 68039.6kg)

Materials:
Aluminum airframe and body with some fiberglass attributes payload bay doors are graphite epoxy composite thermal tiles are simulated (polyurethane foam) except for test samples of actual tiles and thermal blankets.

The initial Space Shuttle orbiter, &quotEnterprise,&quot is a full-scale test vehicle employed for flights in the atmosphere and tests on the ground it is not equipped for spaceflight. Though the airframe and flight control elements are like those of the Shuttles flown in space, this car has no propulsion program and only simulated thermal tiles due to the fact these attributes had been not required for atmospheric and ground tests. &quotEnterprise&quot was rolled out at Rockwell International’s assembly facility in Palmdale, California, in 1976. In 1977, it entered service for a nine-month-extended strategy-and-landing test flight system. Thereafter it was utilised for vibration tests and fit checks at NASA centers, and it also appeared in the 1983 Paris Air Show and the 1984 World’s Fair in New Orleans. In 1985, NASA transferred &quotEnterprise&quot to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum.

Transferred from National Aeronautics and Space Administration

• • •

Quoting from Wikipedia | Space Shuttle Enterprise:

The Space Shuttle Enterprise (NASA Orbiter Automobile Designation: OV-101) was the very first Space Shuttle orbiter. It was constructed for NASA as element of the Space Shuttle program to execute test flights in the atmosphere. It was constructed without having engines or a functional heat shield, and was therefore not capable of spaceflight.

Originally, Enterprise had been intended to be refitted for orbital flight, which would have created it the second space shuttle to fly soon after Columbia. Even so, during the construction of Columbia, information of the final style changed, particularly with regard to the weight of the fuselage and wings. Refitting Enterprise for spaceflight would have involved dismantling the orbiter and returning the sections to subcontractors across the country. As this was an pricey proposition, it was determined to be significantly less expensive to develop Challenger around a physique frame (STA-099) that had been designed as a test post. Similarly, Enterprise was deemed for refit to replace Challenger following the latter was destroyed, but Endeavour was constructed from structural spares instead.

Service

Construction started on the very first orbiter on June four, 1974. Designated OV-101, it was originally planned to be named Constitution and unveiled on Constitution Day, September 17, 1976. A create-in campaign by Trekkies to President Gerald Ford asked that the orbiter be named after the Starship Enterprise, featured on the television show Star Trek. Although Ford did not mention the campaign, the president—who throughout Globe War II had served on the aircraft carrier USS&nbspMonterey&nbsp(CVL-26) that served with USS&nbspEnterprise&nbsp(CV-6)—said that he was &quotpartial to the name&quot and overrode NASA officials.

The design of OV-101 was not the exact same as that planned for OV-102, the first flight model the tail was constructed differently, and it did not have the interfaces to mount OMS pods. A big number of subsystems—ranging from main engines to radar equipment—were not installed on this vehicle, but the capacity to add them in the future was retained. As an alternative of a thermal protection program, its surface was mostly fiberglass.

In mid-1976, the orbiter was utilized for ground vibration tests, permitting engineers to evaluate information from an actual flight vehicle with theoretical models.

On September 17, 1976, Enterprise was rolled out of Rockwell’s plant at Palmdale, California. In recognition of its fictional namesake, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and most of the principal cast of the original series of Star Trek have been on hand at the dedication ceremony.

Method and landing tests (ALT)

Major write-up: Strategy and Landing Tests

On January 31, 1977, it was taken by road to Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, to commence operational testing.

Although at NASA Dryden, Enterprise was used by NASA for a range of ground and flight tests intended to validate elements of the shuttle plan. The initial nine-month testing period was referred to by the acronym ALT, for &quotApproach and Landing Test&quot. These tests incorporated a maiden &quotflight&quot on February 18, 1977 atop a Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) to measure structural loads and ground handling and braking traits of the mated method. Ground tests of all orbiter subsystems have been carried out to verify functionality prior to atmospheric flight.

The mated Enterprise/SCA combination was then subjected to five test flights with Enterprise unmanned and unactivated. The objective of these test flights was to measure the flight qualities of the mated mixture. These tests were followed with three test flights with Enterprise manned to test the shuttle flight manage systems.

Enterprise underwent five cost-free flights where the craft separated from the SCA and was landed beneath astronaut handle. These tests verified the flight qualities of the orbiter style and were carried out below numerous aerodynamic and weight configurations. On the fifth and final glider flight, pilot-induced oscillation issues have been revealed, which had to be addressed ahead of the very first orbital launch occurred.

On August 12, 1977, the space shuttle Enterprise flew on its personal for the initial time.

Preparation for STS-1

Following the ALT plan, Enterprise was ferried among several NASA facilities to configure the craft for vibration testing. In June 1979, it was mated with an external tank and solid rocket boosters (known as a boilerplate configuration) and tested in a launch configuration at Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39A.

Retirement

With the completion of vital testing, Enterprise was partially disassembled to allow specific elements to be reused in other shuttles, then underwent an international tour visiting France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the U.S. states of California, Alabama, and Louisiana (in the course of the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition). It was also used to match-check the never-utilised shuttle launch pad at Vandenberg AFB, California. Lastly, on November 18, 1985, Enterprise was ferried to Washington, D.C., where it became property of the Smithsonian Institution.

Post-Challenger

Soon after the Challenger disaster, NASA regarded as employing Enterprise as a replacement. However refitting the shuttle with all of the necessary gear required for it to be utilized in space was considered, but alternatively it was decided to use spares constructed at the identical time as Discovery and Atlantis to develop Endeavour.

Post-Columbia

In 2003, right after the breakup of Columbia in the course of re-entry, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board performed tests at Southwest Research Institute, which used an air gun to shoot foam blocks of similar size, mass and speed to that which struck Columbia at a test structure which mechanically replicated the orbiter wing major edge. They removed a fiberglass panel from Enterprise’s wing to perform analysis of the material and attached it to the test structure, then shot a foam block at it. Even though the panel was not broken as a outcome of the test, the influence was sufficient to permanently deform a seal. As the reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) panel on Columbia was 2.five occasions weaker, this recommended that the RCC major edge would have been shattered. Further tests on the fiberglass had been canceled in order not to threat damaging the test apparatus, and a panel from Discovery was tested to determine the effects of the foam on a similarly-aged RCC leading edge. On July 7, 2003, a foam influence test designed a hole 41&nbspcm by 42.five&nbspcm (16.1&nbspinches by 16.7&nbspinches) in the protective RCC panel. The tests clearly demonstrated that a foam impact of the sort Columbia sustained could seriously breach the protective RCC panels on the wing leading edge.

The board determined that the probable trigger of the accident was that the foam effect triggered a breach of a reinforced carbon-carbon panel along the major edge of Columbia’s left wing, permitting hot gases generated for the duration of re-entry to enter the wing and trigger structural collapse. This caused Columbia to spin out of handle, breaking up with the loss of the entire crew.

Museum exhibit

Enterprise was stored at the Smithsonian’s hangar at Washington Dulles International Airport just before it was restored and moved to the newly constructed Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum‘s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles International Airport, where it has been the centerpiece of the space collection. On April 12, 2011, NASA announced that Space Shuttle Discovery, the most traveled orbiter in the fleet, will be added to the collection when the Shuttle fleet is retired. When that occurs, Enterprise will be moved to the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in New York City, to a newly constructed hangar adjacent to the museum. In preparation for the anticipated relocation, engineers evaluated the vehicle in early 2010 and determined that it was secure to fly on the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft after once more.

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: P-40 Warhawk & F-4 Corsair hanging more than the SR-71 Blackbird, amongst other folks

Some cool machined components companies photos:

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: P-40 Warhawk & F-4 Corsair hanging over the SR-71 Blackbird, amongst other folks

Image by Chris Devers
Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Curtiss P-40E Warhawk (Kittyhawk IA):

Whether or not identified as the Warhawk, Tomahawk, or Kittyhawk, the Curtiss P-40 proved to be a profitable, versatile fighter in the course of the very first half of World War II. The shark-mouthed Tomahawks that Gen. Claire Chennault’s &quotFlying Tigers&quot flew in China against the Japanese stay among the most popular airplanes of the war. P-40E pilot Lt. Boyd D. Wagner became the very first American ace of Globe War II when he shot down six Japanese aircraft in the Philippines in mid-December 1941.

Curtiss-Wright constructed this airplane as Model 87-A3 and delivered it to Canada as a Kittyhawk I in 1941. It served till 1946 in No. 111 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force. U.S. Air Force personnel at Andrews Air Force Base restored it in 1975 to represent an aircraft of the 75th Fighter Squadron, 23rd Fighter Group, 14th Air Force.

Donated by the Exchange Club in Memory of Kellis Forbes.

Manufacturer:
Curtiss Aircraft Firm

Date:
1939

Nation of Origin:
United States of America

Dimensions:
All round: 330 x 970cm, 2686kg, 1140cm (10ft 9 15/16in. x 31ft 9 7/8in., 5921.6lb., 37ft four 13/16in.)

Supplies:
All-metal, semi-monocoque

Physical Description:
Single engine, single seat, fighter aircraft.

• • • • •

See much more images of this, and the Wikipedia article.

Details, quoting from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird:

No reconnaissance aircraft in history has operated globally in more hostile airspace or with such total impunity than the SR-71, the world’s quickest jet-propelled aircraft. The Blackbird’s functionality and operational achievements placed it at the pinnacle of aviation technology developments for the duration of the Cold War.

This Blackbird accrued about two,800 hours of flight time throughout 24 years of active service with the U.S. Air Force. On its last flight, March 6, 1990, Lt. Col. Ed Yielding and Lt. Col. Joseph Vida set a speed record by flying from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., in 1 hour, 4 minutes, and 20 seconds, averaging 3,418 kilometers (2,124 miles) per hour. At the flight’s conclusion, they landed at Washington-Dulles International Airport and turned the airplane over to the Smithsonian.

Transferred from the United States Air Force.

Manufacturer:
Lockheed Aircraft Corporation

Designer:
Clarence L. &quotKelly&quot Johnson

Date:
1964

Country of Origin:
United States of America

Dimensions:
All round: 18ft five 15/16in. x 55ft 7in. x 107ft 5in., 169998.5lb. (5.638m x 16.942m x 32.741m, 77110.8kg)
Other: 18ft 5 15/16in. x 107ft 5in. x 55ft 7in. (5.638m x 32.741m x 16.942m)

Components:
Titanium

Physical Description:
Twin-engine, two-seat, supersonic strategic reconnaissance aircraft airframe constructed largley of titanium and its alloys vertical tail fins are constructed of a composite (laminated plastic-kind material) to reduce radar cross-section Pratt and Whitney J58 (JT11D-20B) turbojet engines feature massive inlet shock cones.

• • • • •

Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Vought F4U-1D Corsair :

By V-J Day, September 2, 1945, Corsair pilots had amassed an 11:1 kill ratio against enemy aircraft. The aircraft’s distinctive inverted gull-wing style permitted ground clearance for the enormous, three-bladed Hamilton Common Hydromatic propeller, which spanned a lot more than four meters (13 feet). The Pratt and Whitney R-2800 radial engine and Hydromatic propeller was the largest and one particular of the most strong engine-propeller combinations ever flown on a fighter aircraft.

Charles Lindbergh flew bombing missions in a Corsair with Marine Air Group 31 against Japanese strongholds in the Pacific in 1944. This airplane is painted in the colors and markings of the Corsair Sun Setter, a Marine close-help fighter assigned to the USS Essex in July 1944.

Transferred from the United States Navy.

Manufacturer:
Vought Aircraft Business

Date:
1940

Country of Origin:
United States of America

Dimensions:
All round: 460 x 1020cm, 4037kg, 1250cm (15ft 1 1/8in. x 33ft 5 9/16in., 8900lb., 41ft 1/8in.)

Supplies:
All metal with fabric-covered wings behind the primary spar.

Physical Description:
R-2800 radial air-cooled engine with 1,850 horsepower, turned a three-blade Hamilton Standard Hydromatic propeller with solid aluminum blades spanning 13 feet 1 inch wing bent gull-shaped on each sides of the fuselage.

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: Vought F4U-1D Corsair, with P-40 Warhawk and SR-71 Blackbird in background

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: Vought F4U-1D Corsair, with P-40 Warhawk and SR-71 Blackbird in background

Some cool precision machining company images:

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: Vought F4U-1D Corsair, with P-40 Warhawk and SR-71 Blackbird in background

Image by Chris Devers
Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Curtiss P-40E Warhawk (Kittyhawk IA):

Whether known as the Warhawk, Tomahawk, or Kittyhawk, the Curtiss P-40 proved to be a successful, versatile fighter during the first half of World War II. The shark-mouthed Tomahawks that Gen. Claire Chennault’s "Flying Tigers" flew in China against the Japanese remain among the most popular airplanes of the war. P-40E pilot Lt. Boyd D. Wagner became the first American ace of World War II when he shot down six Japanese aircraft in the Philippines in mid-December 1941.

Curtiss-Wright built this airplane as Model 87-A3 and delivered it to Canada as a Kittyhawk I in 1941. It served until 1946 in No. 111 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force. U.S. Air Force personnel at Andrews Air Force Base restored it in 1975 to represent an aircraft of the 75th Fighter Squadron, 23rd Fighter Group, 14th Air Force.

Donated by the Exchange Club in Memory of Kellis Forbes.

Manufacturer:
Curtiss Aircraft Company

Date:
1939

Country of Origin:
United States of America

Dimensions:
Overall: 330 x 970cm, 2686kg, 1140cm (10ft 9 15/16in. x 31ft 9 7/8in., 5921.6lb., 37ft 4 13/16in.)

Materials:
All-metal, semi-monocoque

Physical Description:
Single engine, single seat, fighter aircraft.

• • • • •

Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird:

No reconnaissance aircraft in history has operated globally in more hostile airspace or with such complete impunity than the SR-71, the world’s fastest jet-propelled aircraft. The Blackbird’s performance and operational achievements placed it at the pinnacle of aviation technology developments during the Cold War.

This Blackbird accrued about 2,800 hours of flight time during 24 years of active service with the U.S. Air Force. On its last flight, March 6, 1990, Lt. Col. Ed Yielding and Lt. Col. Joseph Vida set a speed record by flying from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., in 1 hour, 4 minutes, and 20 seconds, averaging 3,418 kilometers (2,124 miles) per hour. At the flight’s conclusion, they landed at Washington-Dulles International Airport and turned the airplane over to the Smithsonian.

Transferred from the United States Air Force.

Manufacturer:
Lockheed Aircraft Corporation

Designer:
Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson

Date:
1964

Country of Origin:
United States of America

Dimensions:
Overall: 18ft 5 15/16in. x 55ft 7in. x 107ft 5in., 169998.5lb. (5.638m x 16.942m x 32.741m, 77110.8kg)
Other: 18ft 5 15/16in. x 107ft 5in. x 55ft 7in. (5.638m x 32.741m x 16.942m)

Materials:
Titanium

Physical Description:
Twin-engine, two-seat, supersonic strategic reconnaissance aircraft; airframe constructed largley of titanium and its alloys; vertical tail fins are constructed of a composite (laminated plastic-type material) to reduce radar cross-section; Pratt and Whitney J58 (JT11D-20B) turbojet engines feature large inlet shock cones.

• • • • •

Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Vought F4U-1D Corsair :

By V-J Day, September 2, 1945, Corsair pilots had amassed an 11:1 kill ratio against enemy aircraft. The aircraft’s distinctive inverted gull-wing design allowed ground clearance for the huge, three-bladed Hamilton Standard Hydromatic propeller, which spanned more than 4 meters (13 feet). The Pratt and Whitney R-2800 radial engine and Hydromatic propeller was the largest and one of the most powerful engine-propeller combinations ever flown on a fighter aircraft.

Charles Lindbergh flew bombing missions in a Corsair with Marine Air Group 31 against Japanese strongholds in the Pacific in 1944. This airplane is painted in the colors and markings of the Corsair Sun Setter, a Marine close-support fighter assigned to the USS Essex in July 1944.

Transferred from the United States Navy.

Manufacturer:
Vought Aircraft Company

Date:
1940

Country of Origin:
United States of America

Dimensions:
Overall: 460 x 1020cm, 4037kg, 1250cm (15ft 1 1/8in. x 33ft 5 9/16in., 8900lb., 41ft 1/8in.)

Materials:
All metal with fabric-covered wings behind the main spar.

Physical Description:
R-2800 radial air-cooled engine with 1,850 horsepower, turned a three-blade Hamilton Standard Hydromatic propeller with solid aluminum blades spanning 13 feet 1 inch; wing bent gull-shaped on both sides of the fuselage.

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: Aichi M6A1 Seiran

Image by Chris Devers
Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Aichi M6A1 Seiran (Clear Sky Storm):

Aichi chief engineer, Toshio Ozaki, designed the M6A1 Seiran to fulfill the requirement for a bomber that could operate exclusively from a submarine. Japanese war planners devised the idea as a means for striking directly at the United States mainland and other important strategic targets, like the Panama Canal, that lay thousands of kilometers from Japan. To support Seiran operations, the Japanese developed a fleet of submarine aircraft carriers to bring the aircraft within striking distance. No Seiran ever saw combat, but the Seiran/submarine weapons system represents an ingenious blend of aviation and marine technology.

This M6A1 was the last airframe built (serial number 28) and the only surviving example of the Seiran in the world. Imperial Japanese Navy Lt. Kazuo Akatsuka ferried this Seiran from Fukuyama to Yokosuka where he surrendered it to an American occupation contingent.

Transferred from the United States Navy.

Manufacturer:
Aichi Aircraft Company (Aichi Kokuki KK)

Date:
1945

Country of Origin:
Japan

Dimensions:
Overall: 460 x 1160cm, 3310kg, 1230cm (15ft 1 1/8in. x 38ft 11/16in., 7297.2lb., 40ft 4 1/4in.)

Physical Description:
Wings rotated back, folded back to lie flat against the fuselage. 2/3 of each side of the horizontal stabilizer also folded down, likewise the tip of the vertical stabilizer.

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: P-38 Lightning, with B-29 Enola Gay behind it

Image by Chris Devers

See more photos of this, and the Wikipedia article.

Details, quoting from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Lockheed P-38J-10-LO Lightning

In the P-38 Lockheed engineer Clarence "Kelly" Johnson and his team of designers created one of the most successful twin-engine fighters ever flown by any nation. From 1942 to 1945, U. S. Army Air Forces pilots flew P-38s over Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Pacific, and from the frozen Aleutian Islands to the sun-baked deserts of North Africa. Lightning pilots in the Pacific theater downed more Japanese aircraft than pilots flying any other Allied warplane.

Maj. Richard I. Bong, America’s leading fighter ace, flew this P-38J-10-LO on April 16, 1945, at Wright Field, Ohio, to evaluate an experimental method of interconnecting the movement of the throttle and propeller control levers. However, his right engine exploded in flight before he could conduct the experiment.

Transferred from the United States Air Force.

Manufacturer:
Lockheed Aircraft Company

Date:
1943

Country of Origin:
United States of America

Dimensions:
Overall: 390 x 1170cm, 6345kg, 1580cm (12ft 9 9/16in. x 38ft 4 5/8in., 13988.2lb., 51ft 10 1/16in.)

Materials:
All-metal

Physical Description:
Twin-tail boom and twin-engine fighter; tricycle landing gear.

Long Description:
From 1942 to 1945, the thunder of P-38 Lightnings was heard around the world. U. S. Army pilots flew the P-38 over Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Pacific; from the frozen Aleutian Islands to the sun-baked deserts of North Africa. Measured by success in combat, Lockheed engineer Clarence "Kelly" Johnson and a team of designers created the most successful twin-engine fighter ever flown by any nation. In the Pacific Theater, Lightning pilots downed more Japanese aircraft than pilots flying any other Army Air Forces warplane.

Johnson and his team conceived this twin-engine, single-pilot fighter airplane in 1936 and the Army Air Corps authorized the firm to build it in June 1937. Lockheed finished constructing the prototype XP-38 and delivered it to the Air Corps on New Year’s Day, 1939. Air Corps test pilot and P-38 project officer, Lt. Benjamin S. Kelsey, first flew the aircraft on January 27. Losing this prototype in a crash at Mitchel Field, New York, with Kelsey at the controls, did not deter the Air Corps from ordering 13 YP-38s for service testing on April 27. Kelsey survived the crash and remained an important part of the Lightning program. Before the airplane could be declared ready for combat, Lockheed had to block the effects of high-speed aerodynamic compressibility and tail buffeting, and solve other problems discovered during the service tests.

The most vexing difficulty was the loss of control in a dive caused by aerodynamic compressibility. During late spring 1941, Air Corps Major Signa A. Gilke encountered serious trouble while diving his Lightning at high-speed from an altitude of 9,120 m (30,000 ft). When he reached an indicated airspeed of about 515 kph (320 mph), the airplane’s tail began to shake violently and the nose dropped until the dive was almost vertical. Signa recovered and landed safely and the tail buffet problem was soon resolved after Lockheed installed new fillets to improve airflow where the cockpit gondola joined the wing center section. Seventeen months passed before engineers began to determine what caused the Lightning’s nose to drop. They tested a scale model P-38 in the Ames Laboratory wind tunnel operated by the NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) and found that shock waves formed when airflow over the wing leading edges reached transonic speeds. The nose drop and loss of control was never fully remedied but Lockheed installed dive recovery flaps under each wing in 1944. These devices slowed the P-38 enough to allow the pilot to maintain control when diving at high-speed.

Just as the development of the North American P-51 Mustang, Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, and the Vought F4U Corsair (see NASM collection for these aircraft) pushed the limits of aircraft performance into unexplored territory, so too did P-38 development. The type of aircraft envisioned by the Lockheed design team and Air Corps strategists in 1937 did not appear until June 1944. This protracted shakedown period mirrors the tribulations suffered by Vought in sorting out the many technical problems that kept F4U Corsairs off U. S. Navy carrier decks until the end of 1944.

Lockheed’s efforts to trouble-shoot various problems with the design also delayed high-rate, mass production. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the company had delivered only 69 Lightnings to the Army. Production steadily increased and at its peak in 1944, 22 sub-contractors built various Lightning components and shipped them to Burbank, California, for final assembly. Consolidated-Vultee (Convair) subcontracted to build the wing center section and the firm later became prime manufacturer for 2,000 P-38Ls but that company’s Nashville plant completed only 113 examples of this Lightning model before war’s end. Lockheed and Convair finished 10,038 P-38 aircraft including 500 photo-reconnaissance models. They built more L models, 3,923, than any other version.

To ease control and improve stability, particularly at low speeds, Lockheed equipped all Lightnings, except a batch ordered by Britain, with propellers that counter-rotated. The propeller to the pilot’s left turned counter-clockwise and the propeller to his right turned clockwise, so that one propeller countered the torque and airflow effects generated by the other. The airplane also performed well at high speeds and the definitive P-38L model could make better than 676 kph (420 mph) between 7,600 and 9,120 m (25,000 and 30,000 ft). The design was versatile enough to carry various combinations of bombs, air-to-ground rockets, and external fuel tanks. The multi-engine configuration reduced the Lightning loss-rate to anti-aircraft gunfire during ground attack missions. Single-engine airplanes equipped with power plants cooled by pressurized liquid, such as the North American P-51 Mustang (see NASM collection), were particularly vulnerable. Even a small nick in one coolant line could cause the engine to seize in a matter of minutes.

The first P-38s to reach the Pacific combat theater arrived on April 4, 1942, when a version of the Lightning that carried reconnaissance cameras (designated the F-4), joined the 8th Photographic Squadron based in Australia. This unit launched the first P-38 combat missions over New Guinea and New Britain during April. By May 29, the first 25 P-38s had arrived in Anchorage, Alaska. On August 9, pilots of the 343rd Fighter Group, Eleventh Air Force, flying the P-38E, shot down a pair of Japanese flying boats.

Back in the United States, Army Air Forces leaders tried to control a rumor that Lightnings killed their own pilots. On August 10, 1942, Col. Arthur I. Ennis, Chief of U. S. Army Air Forces Public Relations in Washington, told a fellow officer "… Here’s what the 4th Fighter [training] Command is up against… common rumor out there that the whole West Coast was filled with headless bodies of men who jumped out of P-38s and had their heads cut off by the propellers." Novice Lightning pilots unfamiliar with the correct bailout procedures actually had more to fear from the twin-boom tail, if an emergency dictated taking to the parachute but properly executed, Lightning bailouts were as safe as parachuting from any other high-performance fighter of the day. Misinformation and wild speculation about many new aircraft was rampant during the early War period.

Along with U. S. Navy Grumman F4F Wildcats (see NASM collection) and Curtiss P-40 Warhawks (see NASM collection), Lightnings were the first American fighter airplanes capable of consistently defeating Japanese fighter aircraft. On November 18, men of the 339th Fighter Squadron became the first Lightning pilots to attack Japanese fighters. Flying from Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, they claimed three during a mission to escort Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers (see NASM collection).

On April 18, 1943, fourteen P-38 pilots from the 70th and the 339th Fighter Squadrons, 347th Fighter Group, accomplished one of the most important Lightning missions of the war. American ULTRA cryptanalysts had decoded Japanese messages that revealed the timetable for a visit to the front by the commander of the Imperial Japanese Navy, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. This charismatic leader had crafted the plan to attack Pearl Harbor and Allied strategists believed his loss would severely cripple Japanese morale. The P-38 pilots flew 700 km (435 miles) at heights from 3-15 m (10-50 feet) above the ocean to avoid detection. Over the coast of Bougainville, they intercepted a formation of two Mitsubishi G4M BETTY bombers (see NASM collection) carrying the Admiral and his staff, and six Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters (see NASM collection) providing escort. The Lightning pilots downed both bombers but lost Lt. Ray Hine to a Zero.

In Europe, the first Americans to down a Luftwaffe aircraft were Lt. Elza E. Shahan flying a 27th Fighter Squadron P-38E, and Lt. J. K. Shaffer flying a Curtiss P-40 (see NASM collection) in the 33rd Fighter Squadron. The two flyers shared the destruction of a Focke-Wulf Fw 200C-3 Condor maritime strike aircraft over Iceland on August 14, 1942. Later that month, the 1st fighter group accepted Lightnings and began combat operations from bases in England but this unit soon moved to fight in North Africa. More than a year passed before the P-38 reappeared over Western Europe. While the Lightning was absent, U. S. Army Air Forces strategists had relearned a painful lesson: unescorted bombers cannot operate successfully in the face of determined opposition from enemy fighters. When P-38s returned to England, the primary mission had become long-range bomber escort at ranges of about 805 kms (500 miles) and at altitudes above 6,080 m (20,000 ft).

On October 15, 1943, P-38H pilots in the 55th Fighter Group flew their first combat mission over Europe at a time when the need for long-range escorts was acute. Just the day before, German fighter pilots had destroyed 60 of 291 Eighth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses (see NASM collection) during a mission to bomb five ball-bearing plants at Schweinfurt, Germany. No air force could sustain a loss-rate of nearly 20 percent for more than a few missions but these targets lay well beyond the range of available escort fighters (Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, see NASM collection). American war planners hoped the long-range capabilities of the P-38 Lightning could halt this deadly trend, but the very high and very cold environment peculiar to the European air war caused severe power plant and cockpit heating difficulties for the Lightning pilots. The long-range escort problem was not completely solved until the North American P-51 Mustang (see NASM collection) began to arrive in large numbers early in 1944.

Poor cockpit heating in the H and J model Lightnings made flying and fighting at altitudes that frequently approached 12,320 m (40,000 ft) nearly impossible. This was a fundamental design flaw that Kelly Johnson and his team never anticipated when they designed the airplane six years earlier. In his seminal work on the Allison V-1710 engine, Daniel Whitney analyzed in detail other factors that made the P-38 a disappointing airplane in combat over Western Europe.

• Many new and inexperienced pilots arrived in England during December 1943, along with the new J model P-38 Lightning.

• J model rated at 1,600 horsepower vs. 1,425 for earlier H model Lightnings. This power setting required better maintenance between flights. It appears this work was not done in many cases.

• During stateside training, Lightning pilots were taught to fly at high rpm settings and low engine manifold pressure during cruise flight. This was very hard on the engines, and not in keeping with technical directives issued by Allison and Lockheed.

• The quality of fuel in England may have been poor, TEL (tetraethyl lead) fuel additive appeared to condense inside engine induction manifolds, causing detonation (destructive explosion of fuel mixture rather than controlled burning).

• Improved turbo supercharger intercoolers appeared on the J model P-38. These devices greatly reduced manifold temperatures but this encouraged TEL condensation in manifolds during cruise flight and increased spark plug fouling.

Using water injection to minimize detonation might have reduced these engine problems. Both the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and the North American P-51 Mustang (see NASM collection) were fitted with water injection systems but not the P-38. Lightning pilots continued to fly, despite these handicaps.

During November 1942, two all-Lightning fighter groups, the 1st and the 14th, began operating in North Africa. In the Mediterranean Theater, P-38 pilots flew more sorties than Allied pilots flying any other type of fighter. They claimed 608 enemy a/c destroyed in the air, 123 probably destroyed and 343 damaged, against the loss of 131 Lightnings.

In the war against Japan, the P-38 truly excelled. Combat rarely occurred above 6,080 m (20,000 ft) and the engine and cockpit comfort problems common in Europe never plagued pilots in the Pacific Theater. The Lightning’s excellent range was used to full advantage above the vast expanses of water. In early 1945, Lightning pilots of the 12th Fighter Squadron, 18th Fighter Group, flew a mission that lasted 10 ½ hours and covered more than 3,220 km (2,000 miles). In August, P-38 pilots established the world’s long-distance record for a World War II combat fighter when they flew from the Philippines to the Netherlands East Indies, a distance of 3,703 km (2,300 miles). During early 1944, Lightning pilots in the 475th Fighter Group began the ‘race of aces.’ By March, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas J. Lynch had scored 21 victories before he fell to antiaircraft gunfire while strafing enemy ships. Major Thomas B. McGuire downed 38 Japanese aircraft before he was killed when his P-38 crashed at low altitude in early January 1945. Major Richard I. Bong became America’s highest scoring fighter ace (40 victories) but died in the crash of a Lockheed P-80 (see NASM collection) on August 6, 1945.

Museum records show that Lockheed assigned the construction number 422-2273 to the National Air and Space Museum’s P-38. The Army Air Forces accepted this Lightning as a P-38J-l0-LO on November 6, 1943, and the service identified the airplane with the serial number 42-67762. Recent investigations conducted by a team of specialists at the Paul E. Garber Facility, and Herb Brownstein, a volunteer in the Aeronautics Division at the National Air and Space Museum, have revealed many hitherto unknown aspects to the history of this aircraft.

Brownstein examined NASM files and documents at the National Archives. He discovered that a few days after the Army Air Forces (AAF) accepted this airplane, the China Engineering Division at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio, granted Lockheed permission to convert this P-38 into a two-seat trainer. The firm added a seat behind the pilot to accommodate an instructor who would train civilian pilots in instrument flying techniques. Once trained, these test pilots evaluated new Lightnings fresh off the assembly line.

In a teletype sent by the China Engineering Division on March 2, 1944, Brownstein also discovered that this P-38 was released to Colonel Benjamin S. Kelsey from March 3 to April 10, 1944, to conduct special tests. This action was confirmed the following day in a cable from the War Department. This same pilot, then a Lieutenant, flew the XP-38 across the United States in 1939 and survived the crash that destroyed this Lightning at Mitchel Field, New York. In early 1944, Kelsey was assigned to the Eighth Air Force in England and he apparently traveled to the Lockheed factory at Burbank to pick up the P-38. Further information about these tests and Kelsey’s involvement remain an intriguing question.

One of Brownstein’s most important discoveries was a small file rich with information about the NASM Lightning. This file contained a cryptic reference to a "Major Bong" who flew the NASM P-38 on April 16, 1945, at Wright Field. Bong had planned to fly for an hour to evaluate an experimental method of interconnecting the movement of the throttle and propeller control levers. His flight ended after twenty-minutes when "the right engine blew up before I had a chance [to conduct the test]." The curator at the Richard I. Bong Heritage Center confirmed that America’s highest scoring ace made this flight in the NASM P-38 Lightning.

Working in Building 10 at the Paul E. Garber Facility, Rob Mawhinney, Dave Wilson, Wil Lee, Bob Weihrauch, Jim Purton, and Heather Hutton spent several months during the spring and summer of 2001 carefully disassembling, inspecting, and cleaning the NASM Lightning. They found every hardware modification consistent with a model J-25 airplane, not the model J-10 painted in the data block beneath the artifact’s left nose. This fact dovetails perfectly with knowledge uncovered by Brownstein. On April 10, the China Engineering Division again cabled Lockheed asking the company to prepare 42-67762 for transfer to Wright Field "in standard configuration." The standard P-38 configuration at that time was the P-38J-25. The work took several weeks and the fighter does not appear on Wright Field records until May 15, 1944. On June 9, the Flight Test Section at Wright Field released the fighter for flight trials aimed at collecting pilot comments on how the airplane handled.

Wright Field’s Aeromedical Laboratory was the next organization involved with this P-38. That unit installed a kit on July 26 that probably measured the force required to move the control wheel left and right to actuate the power-boosted ailerons installed in all Lightnings beginning with version J-25. From August 12-16, the Power Plant Laboratory carried out tests to measure the hydraulic pump temperatures on this Lightning. Then beginning September 16 and lasting about ten days, the Bombing Branch, Armament Laboratory, tested type R-3 fragmentation bomb racks. The work appears to have ended early in December. On June 20, 1945, the AAF Aircraft Distribution Office asked that the Air Technical Service Command transfer the Lightning from Wright Field to Altus Air Force Base, Oklahoma, a temporary holding area for Air Force museum aircraft. The P-38 arrived at the Oklahoma City Air Depot on June 27, 1945, and mechanics prepared the fighter for flyable storage.

Airplane Flight Reports for this Lightning also describe the following activities and movements:

6-21-45 Wright Field, Ohio, 5.15 hours of flying.
6-22-45Wright Field, Ohio, .35 minutes of flying by Lt. Col. Wendel [?] J. Kelley and P. Shannon.
6-25-45Altus, Oklahoma, .55 hours flown, pilot P. Shannon.
6-27-45Altus, Oklahoma, #2 engine changed, 1.05 hours flown by Air Corps F/O Ralph F. Coady.
10-5-45 OCATSC-GCAAF (Garden City Army Air Field, Garden City, Kansas), guns removed and ballast added.
10-8-45Adams Field, Little Rock, Arkansas.
10-9-45Nashville, Tennessee,
5-28-46Freeman Field, Indiana, maintenance check by Air Corps Capt. H. M. Chadhowere [sp]?
7-24-46Freeman Field, Indiana, 1 hour local flight by 1st Lt. Charles C. Heckel.
7-31-46 Freeman Field, Indiana, 4120th AAF Base Unit, ferry flight to Orchard Place [Illinois] by 1st Lt. Charles C. Heckel.

On August 5, 1946, the AAF moved the aircraft to another storage site at the former Consolidated B-24 bomber assembly plant at Park Ridge, Illinois. A short time later, the AAF transferred custody of the Lightning and more than sixty other World War II-era airplanes to the Smithsonian National Air Museum. During the early 1950s, the Air Force moved these airplanes from Park Ridge to the Smithsonian storage site at Suitland, Maryland.

• • •

Quoting from Wikipedia | Lockheed P-38 Lightning:

The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was a World War II American fighter aircraft built by Lockheed. Developed to a United States Army Air Corps requirement, the P-38 had distinctive twin booms and a single, central nacelle containing the cockpit and armament. Named "fork-tailed devil" by the Luftwaffe and "two planes, one pilot" by the Japanese, the P-38 was used in a number of roles, including dive bombing, level bombing, ground-attack, photo reconnaissance missions, and extensively as a long-range escort fighter when equipped with drop tanks under its wings.

The P-38 was used most successfully in the Pacific Theater of Operations and the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations as the mount of America’s top aces, Richard Bong (40 victories) and Thomas McGuire (38 victories). In the South West Pacific theater, the P-38 was the primary long-range fighter of United States Army Air Forces until the appearance of large numbers of P-51D Mustangs toward the end of the war. The P-38 was unusually quiet for a fighter, the exhaust muffled by the turbo-superchargers. It was extremely forgiving, and could be mishandled in many ways, but the rate of roll was too slow for it to excel as a dogfighter. The P-38 was the only American fighter aircraft in production throughout American involvement in the war, from Pearl Harbor to Victory over Japan Day.

Variants: Lightning in maturity: P-38J

The P-38J was introduced in August 1943. The turbo-supercharger intercooler system on previous variants had been housed in the leading edges of the wings and had proven vulnerable to combat damage and could burst if the wrong series of controls were mistakenly activated. In the P-38J model, the streamlined engine nacelles of previous Lightnings were changed to fit the intercooler radiator between the oil coolers, forming a "chin" that visually distinguished the J model from its predecessors. While the P-38J used the same V-1710-89/91 engines as the H model, the new core-type intercooler more efficiently lowered intake manifold temperatures and permitted a substantial increase in rated power. The leading edge of the outer wing was fitted with 55 gal (208 l) fuel tanks, filling the space formerly occupied by intercooler tunnels, but these were omitted on early P-38J blocks due to limited availability.

The final 210 J models, designated P-38J-25-LO, alleviated the compressibility problem through the addition of a set of electrically-actuated dive recovery flaps just outboard of the engines on the bottom centerline of the wings. With these improvements, a USAAF pilot reported a dive speed of almost 600 mph (970 km/h), although the indicated air speed was later corrected for compressibility error, and the actual dive speed was lower. Lockheed manufactured over 200 retrofit modification kits to be installed on P-38J-10-LO and J-20-LO already in Europe, but the USAAF C-54 carrying them was shot down by an RAF pilot who mistook the Douglas transport for a German Focke-Wulf Condor. Unfortunately the loss of the kits came during Lockheed test pilot Tony LeVier‘s four-month morale-boosting tour of P-38 bases. Flying a new Lightning named "Snafuperman" modified to full P-38J-25-LO specs at Lockheed’s modification center near Belfast, LeVier captured the pilots’ full attention by routinely performing maneuvers during March 1944 that common Eighth Air Force wisdom held to be suicidal. It proved too little too late because the decision had already been made to re-equip with Mustangs.

The P-38J-25-LO production block also introduced hydraulically-boosted ailerons, one of the first times such a system was fitted to a fighter. This significantly improved the Lightning’s rate of roll and reduced control forces for the pilot. This production block and the following P-38L model are considered the definitive Lightnings, and Lockheed ramped up production, working with subcontractors across the country to produce hundreds of Lightnings each month.

Noted P-38 pilots

Richard Bong and Thomas McGuire

The American ace of aces and his closest competitor both flew Lightnings as they tallied 40 and 38 victories respectively. Majors Richard I. "Dick" Bong and Thomas J. "Tommy" McGuire of the USAAF competed for the top position. Both men were awarded the Medal of Honor.

McGuire was killed in air combat in January 1945 over the Philippines, after racking up 38 confirmed kills, making him the second-ranking American ace. Bong was rotated back to the United States as America’s ace of aces, after making 40 kills, becoming a test pilot. He was killed on 6 August 1945, the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan, when his P-80 Shooting Star jet fighter flamed out on takeoff.

Charles Lindbergh

The famed aviator Charles Lindbergh toured the South Pacific as a civilian contractor for United Aircraft Corporation, comparing and evaluating performance of single- and twin-engined fighters for Vought. He worked to improve range and load limits of the F4U Corsair, flying both routine and combat strafing missions in Corsairs alongside Marine pilots. In Hollandia, he attached himself to the 475th FG flying P-38s so that he could investigate the twin-engine fighter. Though new to the machine, he was instrumental in extending the range of the P-38 through improved throttle settings, or engine-leaning techniques, notably by reducing engine speed to 1,600 rpm, setting the carburetors for auto-lean and flying at 185 mph (298 km/h) indicated airspeed which reduced fuel consumption to 70 gal/h, about 2.6 mpg. This combination of settings had been considered dangerous; it was thought it would upset the fuel mixture and cause an explosion. Everywhere Lindbergh went in the South Pacific, he was accorded the normal preferential treatment of a visiting colonel, though he had resigned his Air Corps Reserve colonel’s commission three years before. While with the 475th, he held training classes and took part in a number of Army Air Corps combat missions. On 28 July 1944, Lindbergh shot down a Mitsubishi Ki-51 "Sonia" flown expertly by the veteran commander of 73rd Independent Flying Chutai, Imperial Japanese Army Captain Saburo Shimada. In an extended, twisting dogfight in which many of the participants ran out of ammunition, Shimada turned his aircraft directly toward Lindbergh who was just approaching the combat area. Lindbergh fired in a defensive reaction brought on by Shimada’s apparent head-on ramming attack. Hit by cannon and machine gun fire, the "Sonia’s" propeller visibly slowed, but Shimada held his course. Lindbergh pulled up at the last moment to avoid collision as the damaged "Sonia" went into a steep dive, hit the ocean and sank. Lindbergh’s wingman, ace Joseph E. "Fishkiller" Miller, Jr., had also scored hits on the "Sonia" after it had begun its fatal dive, but Miller was certain the kill credit was Lindbergh’s. The unofficial kill was not entered in the 475th’s war record. On 12 August 1944 Lindbergh left Hollandia to return to the United States.

Charles MacDonald

The seventh-ranking American ace, Charles H. MacDonald, flew a Lightning against the Japanese, scoring 27 kills in his famous aircraft, the Putt Putt Maru.

Robin Olds

Main article: Robin Olds

Robin Olds was the last P-38 ace in the Eighth Air Force and the last in the ETO. Flying a P-38J, he downed five German fighters on two separate missions over France and Germany. He subsequently transitioned to P-51s to make seven more kills. After World War II, he flew F-4 Phantom IIs in Vietnam, ending his career as brigadier general with 16 kills.

Clay Tice

A P-38 piloted by Clay Tice was the first American aircraft to land in Japan after VJ-Day, when he and his wingman set down on Nitagahara because his wingman was low on fuel.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Noted aviation pioneer and writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry vanished in a F-5B-1-LO, 42-68223, c/n 2734, of Groupe de Chasse II/33, out of Borgo-Porreta, Bastia, Corsica, a reconnaissance variant of the P-38, while on a flight over the Mediterranean, from Corsica to mainland France, on 31 July 1944. His health, both physical and mental (he was said to be intermittently subject to depression), had been deteriorating and there had been talk of taking him off flight status. There have been suggestions (although no proof to date) that this was a suicide rather than an aircraft failure or combat loss. In 2000, a French scuba diver found the wreckage of a Lightning in the Mediterranean off the coast of Marseille, and it was confirmed in April 2004 as Saint-Exupéry’s F-5B. No evidence of air combat was found. In March 2008, a former Luftwaffe pilot, Horst Rippert from Jagdgruppe 200, claimed to have shot down Saint-Exupéry.

Adrian Warburton

The RAF’s legendary photo-recon "ace", Wing Commander Adrian Warburton DSO DFC, was the pilot of a Lockheed P-38 borrowed from the USAAF that took off on 12 April 1944 to photograph targets in Germany. W/C Warburton failed to arrive at the rendezvous point and was never seen again. In 2003, his remains were recovered in Germany from his wrecked USAAF P-38 Lightning.

• • • • •

Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Boeing B-29 Superfortress "Enola Gay":

Boeing’s B-29 Superfortress was the most sophisticated propeller-driven bomber of World War II and the first bomber to house its crew in pressurized compartments. Although designed to fight in the European theater, the B-29 found its niche on the other side of the globe. In the Pacific, B-29s delivered a variety of aerial weapons: conventional bombs, incendiary bombs, mines, and two nuclear weapons.

On August 6, 1945, this Martin-built B-29-45-MO dropped the first atomic weapon used in combat on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, Bockscar (on display at the U.S. Air Force Museum near Dayton, Ohio) dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. Enola Gay flew as the advance weather reconnaissance aircraft that day. A third B-29, The Great Artiste, flew as an observation aircraft on both missions.

Transferred from the United States Air Force.

Manufacturer:
Boeing Aircraft Co.
Martin Co., Omaha, Nebr.

Date:
1945

Country of Origin:
United States of America

Dimensions:
Overall: 900 x 3020cm, 32580kg, 4300cm (29ft 6 5/16in. x 99ft 1in., 71825.9lb., 141ft 15/16in.)

Materials:
Polished overall aluminum finish

Physical Description:
Four-engine heavy bomber with semi-monoqoque fuselage and high-aspect ratio wings. Polished aluminum finish overall, standard late-World War II Army Air Forces insignia on wings and aft fuselage and serial number on vertical fin; 509th Composite Group markings painted in black; "Enola Gay" in black, block letters on lower left nose.

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: X-35B Joint Strike Fighter, A-6E Intruder, F-4S Phantom II, Sikorsky UH-34D Seahorse, UH-1H Iroquois “Huey” Smokey III, F-105D Thunderchief, F4U-1D Corsair, P-40E, SR-71 Blackbird, et al

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: X-35B Joint Strike Fighter, A-6E Intruder, F-4S Phantom II, Sikorsky UH-34D Seahorse, UH-1H Iroquois “Huey” Smokey III, F-105D Thunderchief, F4U-1D Corsair, P-40E, SR-71 Blackbird, et al

Check out these medical component manufacturers images:

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: X-35B Joint Strike Fighter, A-6E Intruder, F-4S Phantom II, Sikorsky UH-34D Seahorse, UH-1H Iroquois “Huey” Smokey III, F-105D Thunderchief, F4U-1D Corsair, P-40E, SR-71 Blackbird, et al

Image by Chris Devers
Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Lockheed Martin X-35B STOVL:

This aircraft is the first X-35 ever built. It was originally the X-35A and was modified to include the lift-fan engine for testing of the STOVL concept. Among its many test records, this aircraft was the first in history to achieve a short takeoff, level supersonic dash, and vertical landing in a single flight. It is also the first aircraft to fly using a shaft-driven lift-fan propulsion system. The X-35B flight test program was one of the shortest, most effective in history, lasting from June 23, 2001 to August 6, 2001.

The lift-fan propulsion system is now displayed next to the X-35B at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles Airport.

On July 7, 2006, the production model F-35 was officially named F-35 Lightning II by T. Michael Moseley, Chief of Staff USAF.

Transferred from the United States Air Force.

Date:
2001

Dimensions:
Wing span: 10.05 m (33 ft 0 in)
Length: 15.47 m (50 ft 9 in)
Height: approximately 5 m (15 ft 0 in)
Weight: approximately 35,000 lb.

Materials:
Composite material aircraft skin, alternating steel and titanium spars. Single-engine, single-seat configuration includes lift-fan and steering bars for vertical flight.

Physical Description:
Short takeoff/vertical landing variant to be used by U.S. Air Force, U.S. Marines and the United Kingdom, equipped with a shaft-driven lift fan propulsion system which enables the aircraft to take off from a short runway or small aircraft carrier and to land vertically.
Engine: Pratt & Whitney JSF 119-PW-611 turbofan deflects thrust downward for short takeoff/vertical landing capability. The Air Force and Navy versions use a thrust-vectoring exhaust nozzle. The Marine Corps and Royal Air Force/Navy version has a swivel-duct nozzle; an engine-driven fan behind the cockpit and air-reaction control valves in the wings to provide stability at low speeds.
Other major subcontractors are Rolls Royce and BAE.

• • • • •

Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Grumman A-6E Intruder:

The Navy’s experience in the Korean War showed the need for a new long-range strike aircraft with high subsonic performance at very low altitude–an aircraft that could penetrate enemy defenses and find and destroy small targets in any weather. The Grumman A-6 Intruder was designed with these needs in mind. The Intruder first flew in 1960 and was delivered to the Navy in 1963 and the Marine Corps in 1964.

The Navy accepted this airplane as an "A" model in 1968. It served under harsh combat conditions in the skies over Vietnam and is a veteran of the 1991 Desert Storm campaign, when it flew missions during the first 72 hours of the war. It has accumulated more than 7,500 flying hours, over 6,500 landings, 767 carrier landings, and 712 catapult launches.

Transferred from the United States Navy, Office of the Secretary

Date:
1960

Country of Origin:
United States of America

Dimensions:
Overall: 16ft 2in. x 52ft 12in. x 54ft 9in., 26745.8lb. (4.928m x 16.154m x 16.688m, 12131.8kg)

Materials:
Conventional all-metal, graphite/epoxy wing (retrofit), aluminium control surfaces, titanium high-strength fittings (wing-fold).

Physical Description:
Dual place (side by side), twin-engine, all-weather attack aircraft; multiple variants.

• • • • •

Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | McDonnell F-4S Phantom II:

The U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps and the air forces of 12 other nations have flown the multi-role Phantom II. In this aircraft, then a Navy F-4J, on June 21, 1972, Cmdr. S. C. Flynn and his radar intercept officer, Lt. W. H. John, spotted three enemy MiG fighters off the coast of Vietnam and shot down one MiG-21 with a Sidewinder air-to-air missile. This Phantom also flew combat air patrols and bombing missions during the Linebacker II bombing campaign that same year.

Later assigned to the Marine Corps, this F-4J was extensively modernized and designated an F-4S. Changes included improving the engines (smokeless), hydraulics, electronics, and wiring; modifying the wings to increase maneuverability; and adding a radar homing and warning antenna, as well as formation tape lights on the fuselage and vertical tail.

Transferred from the United States Navy.

Manufacturer:
McDonnell Douglas Corporation

Date:
1958

Country of Origin:
United States of America

Dimensions:
Overall: 16ft 3in. x 38ft 5in. x 58ft 3in., 39999.6lb. (4.953m x 11.709m x 17.755m, 18143.7kg)
Other: 58ft 3in. x 16ft 3in. x 38ft 5in. (17.755m x 4.953m x 11.709m)

Materials:
All metal, semi-monocoque structure

Physical Description:
Twin-turbojet (J79-GE-8), two-seat (tandem) fighter / bomber. All metal, semi-monocoque structure. Cantilever, low-wing, monoplane. Dog-toothed leading edge of wing (12 degrees), anhedral tail (23 degrees).

• • • • •

Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Republic F-105D Thunderchief :

The F-105 was designed as a supersonic, single-seat, fighter-bomber capable of carrying nuclear weapons or heavy bomb loads at supersonic speeds. The F-105D variant was an all-weather fighter-bomber version, fitted with mono-pulse and Doppler radar for night or bad weather operations. The original weapons bay, designed for nuclear stores, was sealed and fitted with additional fuel tanks. Bombs were carried on multiple weapons racks on the centerline of the fuselage, and on wing pylons. The aircraft was fitted with a retractable in-flight refueling probe. The first F-105D flew on 9 June 1959 and 610 F-105Ds were eventually built.

This aircraft has served in several F-105 units around the world and is restored to its 1967 Vietnam-era 388th Tactical Fighter Wing, 421st Tactical Fighter Squadron camouflage as it flew during its assignment to Korat RTAB, Thailand. This jet also was briefly assigned to the 355 TFW located at Takhli RTAB in 1968. After this "Thud" finished its combat tour-which certainly included missions supporting Operation "Rolling Thunder," "Steel Tiger," and "Barrel Roll"-it returned stateside and began more than a decade assigned to the District of Columbia Air National Guard and was transferred to the Air and Space Museum in late 1981.

Transferred from the United States Air Force.

Manufacturer:
Republic Aviation Corporation

Date:
1961

Country of Origin:
United States of America

Dimensions:
Overall: 19ft 8in., 26854.8lb. (5.994m, 12181.2kg)
Other: 19ft 8in. x 64ft 5in. x 34ft 11in. (5.994m x 19.634m x 10.642m)

Materials:
All metal monoplane, supersonic single-engine jet fighter.

Physical Description:
Single-seat, single-engine, jet, fighter/bomber; USAF.

• • • • •

Beginning in 1962, the H-34 served as the primary Marine Corps assault helicopter of the Vietnam War until its replacement by the turbine-powered CH-46. It began in 1952 as a Navy anti-submarine warfare helicopter evolved from the Sikorsky S-55 series. Initially designated as the HSS-1, it would also go on to see significant service in the combat assault and utility roles with the Army and Marine Corps. Great Britain and France also deployed versions in some of the first helicopter combat assault operations.

A large payload capacity and generous center-of-gravity range made the H-34 series an effective transport helicopter for the1950s. Its weaknesses were a reciprocating engine that struggled in the heat and humidity of Southeast Asia and maintenance intensive mechanical components. This Marine Corps UH-34D never served overseas, but wears the markings of Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 163 that did see extensive combat in Vietnam.

Transferred from the United States Marine Corps

Manufacturer:
Sikorsky Aircraft

Country of Origin:
United States of America

Physical Description:
All equipment that came with the helicopter that is not attached to it is contained in box A19750823002 with the exception of two items. The VIP steps that attach to the side of the aircraft and the long-handled tool to assist with main rotor blade deployment are stored inside the helicopter’s cabin.

• • • • •

Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Bell UH-1H Iroquois "Huey" Smokey III:

In 1956, the Iroquois, commonly known as the Huey, first flew as an Army replacement for the H-13 medevac helicopter of Korean War fame. By the end of the 20th century, Bell had produced more Hueys than any other American military aircraft, except for the Consolidated B-24. Superbly suited to the air mobility and medical evacuation missions in Vietnam, the Huey became an indelible symbol of that conflict.

This UH-1 compiled a distinguished combat record in Vietnam from 1966 to 1970 with four units, including the 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion of the 1st Cavalry and the 118th and 128th Assault Helicopter Companies. Numerous patches on its skin attest to the ferocity of missions flown while operating as a "Smoke Ship," laying down smokescreens for air assault operations with the 11th Combat Aviation Battalion.

Transferred from the United States Army Aviation Museum

Manufacturer:
Bell Helicopter Company

Date:
1966

Country of Origin:
United States of America

Dimensions:
Rotor Diameter: 14.7 m (48 ft 3 in)
Length: 12.6 m (41 ft 5 in)
Height: 4.2 m (13 ft 7 in)
Weight, empty: 2,580 kg (5,687 lb)
Weight, gross: 4,309 kg (9,500 lb)

Materials:
Overall: Metal airframe, plexiglass windows.

Physical Description:
Utility helicopter, two-blade main and tail rotors, powered by a single GE T-53L13BA turbo-shaft engine. There are oil stains on the lower aft fuselage and beneath the tail rotor gear box. The horizontal stabilizer was removed.

Capital Airlines de Havilland DH 4A Comet

Image by james_gordon_losangeles
CAPITAL AIRLINES PURCHASE COMETS’ was the headline in the Enterprise magazine – the internal magazine of the de Havilland Company. It referred to a (then) recent joint announcement by Capital and de Havilland which disclosed an order for 14 Comet aircraft.
Thus it appeared that de Havilland had done what every other non-American manufacturer needed to do, broken into the United States airliner market in the face of home competition. The argument went: with a foot hold in the U.S. market many more ‘knock on’ sales could be hoped for. So the announcement was of very great significance.
The agreement specified that the Comets would be powered by Rolls-Royce engines, and including spares, the cost was put at some £19 million/USD 7 million (year 2000 = £263/43). Deliveries were to commence in late 1958 with four Comet Mk.4s and late in 1959 with ten of the special variant the Mk.4A.
J.H. Slim Carmichael, who was President of Capital Airlines, said of the deal, The decision to purchase the Comet has been made after a most comprehensive and detailed study of all flight equipment either in production or projected, both in the United States and England. The economical and operating characteristics of the Comet 4A are ideally suited to the Capital system. The Comets will go into service on our major and most competitive routes.
Apparently the same basis for determining economic criteria were used when Capital purchased Viscounts. (ed note – The only financing Capital had available was through the Bank Of England and only for British built aircraft). Projections made before the Viscount purchase had proved accurate when it was introduced on Capital routes in 1955. The Comet order was placed because Capital now wanted a range of pure-jets to operate some 200 mph faster than anything else they then had in use. Capital was one of the biggest domestic carriers in the USA as was illustrated by figures for 1955 which showed that Capital carried 2½ million passengers over some 31 million miles!
Capital’s Mk.4As were to be furnished to accommodate 74 passengers in the utmost luxury by having 68 persons seated four abreast in two large cabins and six in a forward lounge. The expectation was that passengers would be carried in unprecedented smoothness and quietude, even surpassing the qualities of the earlier Comet models while the speed and economy also show a marked advance. The 4A was to be assembled at Chester as well as Hatfield, England.
The Mk.4A was launched in June 1956 as a short range version of the Comet. The fuselage was stretched and the wing span was reduced. Maximum takeoff weight was reduced to 152.5Klb. The Mk.4A died, when the launch customer Capital Airlines cancelled the order. As a result no Mk 4A was ever built.
Unfortunately Capital suffered sudden financial difficulties, a period of uncertainty and numerous fatal incidents, it was forced to give up some of its routes to rival carriers and was absorbed into United Airlines. The foothold into the US market was lost and the Mk.4A was never produced.
The de Havilland DH 106 Comet was the world’s first commercial jet airliner to reach production. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland at the Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom headquarters, it first flew in 1949 and was a landmark in aeronautical design. It featured an extremely aerodynamically clean design with its four de Havilland Ghost turbojet engines buried into the wings, a low-noise pressurised cabin, and large windows; for the era, it was an exceptionally comfortable design for passengers and showed signs of being a major success in the first year upon launching.
However, a few years after introduction into commercial service, Comet airframes began suffering from catastrophic metal fatigue, which in combination with cabin pressurisation cycles, caused two well-publicised accidents where the aircraft tore apart in mid-flight. The Comet had to be withdrawn and extensively tested to discover the cause; the first incident had been incorrectly identified as having been caused by an onboard fire. Several contributory factors, such as window installation methodology, were also identified as exacerbating the problem. The Comet was extensively redesigned to eliminate this design flaw. Rival manufacturers meanwhile developed their own aircraft and heeded the lessons learned from the Comet.
Although sales never fully recovered, the redesigned Comet 4 series subsequently enjoyed a long and productive career of over 30 years. The Comet was adapted for a variety of military roles, such as surveillance, VIP, medical and passenger transport; the most extensive modification resulted in a specialised maritime patrol aircraft variant, the Hawker Siddeley Nimrod. Nimrods remained in service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) until they were retired in June 2011, over 60 years after the Comet’s first flight.
Development
Design studies for the DH 106 Comet 1944–1947
During the Second World War, the Brabazon Committee was formed on 11 March 1943 to determine Britain’s postwar airliner needs. One of the recommendations set a design target of a pressurised, transatlantic mailplane that could carry a ton of payload at a cruising speed of 400 mph (640 km/h).[8] Challenging the widely held scepticism of jet engines as too fuel-hungry and unreliable, committee member Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, head of the de Havilland company, used his influence and the company’s expertise with jets to specify a turbojet-powered design.[7] The committee accepted the proposal, calling it the "Type IV" (of five designs), and awarded the production contract to de Havilland’s Type 106. The first-phase designs focused on short and intermediate range mailplanes with a small passenger compartment and as few as six seats, later redefined as a long-range airliner with 24-seat capacity. Out of all the Brabazon designs, the DH 106 was seen as the riskiest in terms of both introducing untried design elements and for the financial commitment involved.[7] Nevertheless, British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) found the Type IV’s specifications attractive, initially proposing a purchase of 25 aircraft and, in December 1945, when a "firm contract" was laid out, revising the number to 10.
A design team was formed in 1946 under the leadership of Chief Designer Ronald Bishop, who had been responsible for the Mosquito fighter-bomber. A number of unorthodox configurations were considered, all of which were subsequently rejected. The Ministry of Supply was interested in the most radical of the proposed designs and issued Operational Requirement OR207 to Specification E.18/45 for two experimental DH 108s ordered as proof-of-concept aircraft to test swept-wing configurations in both low-speed and high-speed flight.
Even before the DH 108s were completed, further requests from BOAC necessitated a redesign of the DH 106 from the original four-engined (Halford H.1 Goblin-powered) 24-seat airliner to a larger 36-seat version to specification 22/46 in September 1946. With no time to develop the technology required for the tailless configuration, Bishop opted for a more conventional 20˚ swept-wing design with unswept tail surfaces, married to an enlarged fuselage accommodating 36 passengers, arranged four abreast with a central aisle. Four new, more powerful Rolls-Royce Avons were to be incorporated in pairs buried in the wing roots, but Halford H.2 Ghost engines were eventually specified as an interim solution while the Avons cleared certification. The redesigned DH 106 was named the DH 106 Comet in December 1947. First revised orders for both BOAC and British South American Airways for a combined total of 14 aircraft had a projected delivery schedule set for 1952.
During 1947–1948, de Havilland undertook an extensive research and development phase, utilising a number of stress test rigs at Hatfield for small components and large assemblies. Sections of the pressurised fuselage were subjected to the conditions of a flight at altitude in the company’s decompression chamber. The DH 108s were also modified to test the DH 106′s power controls.
The first flight of the first prototype DH 106 Comet (carrying Class B markings G-5-1) took place on 27 July 1949 from Hatfield, and lasted 31 minutes. The pilot was de Havilland Chief Test Pilot John Cunningham, a famous wartime night-fighter pilot, who later commented, "I assumed that it would change aviation, and so it has proved. It was a bit like Concorde. Also on board were co-pilot Harold Tubby Waters, engineers John Wilson (electrics) and Frank Reynolds (hydraulics), along with flight test observer Tony Fairbrother. Fairbrother commented, The world changed as our wheels left the ground.
G-5-1 was publicly displayed at the 1949 Farnborough Airshow before beginning flight trials. A year later, the second prototype made its maiden flight. On 2 April 1951, this aircraft was delivered to the BOAC Comet Unit at Hurn under the registration G-ALZK and carried out 500 flying hours of crew training and route proving.[22] Both prototypes were distinguished by large main wheel units that were replaced by four-wheeled bogies on each main leg for the subsequent production series.
The British Government considered the development of the Comet a highly ideological matter, as high-ranking officials perceived the need to meet foreign competition and surpass them when there was the opportunity to do so:
During the next few years, the UK has an opportunity, which may not recur, of developing aircraft manufacture as one of our main export industries. On whether we grasp this opportunity and so establish firmly an industry of the utmost strategic and economic importance, our future as a great nation may depend.
—Duncan Sandys, Minister of Supply, 1952.
Design
The Comet is an all-metal low-wing cantilever monoplane powered by four jet engines, approximately the length of a Boeing 737, carrying fewer people in a significantly more spacious environment. The earliest Comets had 11 rows of seats with four seats to a row in the 1A configuration used by Air France; BOAC used an even roomier arrangement of 36 seats on 45-inch (1,100 mm) centres. The Comet’s four-place cockpit held two pilots, a flight engineer, and a navigator. The cabin was quieter than those of propeller-driven airliners. Amenities included a galley that could serve hot and cold food and drinks, a bar, and separate men’s and women’s washrooms. For emergencies, life rafts were stored in the wings near the engines and life vests were stowed under each seat bottom.
The clean, low-drag design featured many unique or innovative design elements, including a swept-wing leading edge, integral wing fuel tanks, and four-wheel bogie main undercarriage units designed by de Havilland. Two pairs of de Havilland Ghost 50 Mk1 turbojet engines were buried in the wings close to the fuselage. Chief Designer Bishop chose this configuration because it avoided the drag of podded engines and allowed a smaller fin and rudder, since the hazards of asymmetric thrust were reduced. The engines’ higher mounting in the wings also reduced the risk of ingestion damage (foreign object damage [FOD]), a major problem for turbine engines. These benefits were compromised by increased structural weight and general complexity, including armour for the engine cells (in case of an engine explosion) and a more complicated wing structure. This arrangement also carried higher risk of catastrophic wing failure in case of an engine fire, cited as the main reason the Boeing Aircraft Company chose podded engines in their subsequent jet bomber and airliner designs. The fuel system incorporated underwing pressure refuelling, developed by Flight Refuelling Ltd, which allowed much faster refilling of fuel tanks than was possible previously.
The Comet was originally intended to have two hydrogen peroxide-powered de Havilland Sprite booster rockets for takeoff under hot and high altitude conditions from airports such as Khartoum and Nairobi. These were tested on 30 flights, but the Ghosts were considered powerful enough without them, although Sprite fittings were kept on production aircraft. The later Comet 4 was highly rated for its takeoff performance from high altitude locations such as Mexico City. Newer and more powerful AJ.65 Avon engines replaced the Ghosts on the Comet 2. High engine performance combined with a low weight (compared to the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8), and exceptionally clean design all contributed to its high performance. Early-model Comets had the advantage of requiring low maintenance, the de Havilland Ghost engines being a key contributing factor. Mounting the engines in a low-wing position combined with numerous service panels allowed for "easy" and efficient maintenance.
The Comet’s thin metal skin was composed of advanced new alloys (Directorate of Technical Development 564/L.73 and DTD 746C/L90) and was both chemically bonded using the adhesive Redux and riveted, which saved weight and reduced the risk of fatigue cracks spreading from the rivets. When it went into service with BOAC on 2 May 1952, the Comet was the most exhaustively tested airliner in history. After the Comet entered production, for safety reasons, and to limit the damage to the specimens, a water tank was used instead of the decompression chamber. The entire forward fuselage section was tested for metal fatigue by repeatedly pressurising to 2.75 pounds per square inch (19.0 kPa) overpressure and depressurising through more than 16,000 cycles, equivalent to about 40,000 hours of airline service. The windows were tested under a pressure of 12 psi (83 kPa), 4.75 psi (32.8 kPa) above the normal service ceiling of 36,000 ft (11,000 m). One window frame survived a massive 100 psi (690 kPa), about 1,250% over the maximum pressure it would encounter in service.
In 1953, Sud-Est’s design bureau, while working on the Sud Aviation Caravelle, licensed several design features from de Havilland, a company Sud had previously collaborated with on earlier licenced designs, including the DH 100 Vampire. [N 12] The entire nose and cockpit layout from the Comet 1 was grafted onto the Caravelle.
Operational history
Introduction
The first production aircraft (G-ALYP) flew on 9 January 1951 and subsequently was on loan to BOAC for development flying by the Comet Unit. On 22 January 1952, G-ALYS was the first Comet to receive a Certificate of Airworthiness, six months ahead of schedule. As part of the BOAC route proving trials, on 2 May, G-ALYP took off on the world’s first jetliner flight with fare-paying passengers, beginning scheduled service to Johannesburg. The last Comet from the initial order (G-ALYZ) began flying in September 1952, carrying cargo along South American routes while simulating passenger schedules.
The Comet was a hit with passengers including Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret, who were guests on a special flight on 30 June 1953 hosted by Sir Geoffrey and Lady de Havilland, and thus became the first members of the British Royal Family to fly by jet.[48] A total of 30,000 passengers was carried during the first year of service. For the travelling public, the Comet offered flights about 50% faster than advanced piston-engined types such as the Douglas DC-6 (490 mph for the Comet compared to 315 mph for the DC-6B), and its rate of climb was also far higher, which could cut flight times in half. In August 1953 BOAC scheduled the Comet London to Tokyo in 35 hours, compared to 85 hr 35 min for their Argonaut; Pan Am’s DC-6B flight 2 was scheduled 46 hr 45 min. Smooth, quiet jet flight was a new experience for passengers used to piston-engined airliners (although passengers of today would consider it noisy, particularly when seated aft of the wing). BOAC’s Comets featured the BOAC-designed slumberseat; a comfortable, reclining design, allowing for greater leg room in front and behind. The large picture window view and accommodations for a table setting for a row of passengers afforded a feel of comfort and luxury atypical of airliners of the period. One of the most striking aspects of flight on the Comet was the quiet, vibration-free flying touted by BOAC.
Commercial success was widely expected, with a profitable passenger load factor as low as 43%. The Ghost engine was smooth, relatively simple, fuel-efficient above 30,000 ft (9,144 m),[N had low maintenance costs, and enabled operations above weather the competition had to fly through. At the height of Comet’s early flying career, the BOAC Comet 1 fleet flew routes such as London-Singapore, London-Tokyo, and London-Johannesburg several times a week.
Early accidents and incidents
On 26 October 1952, a BOAC flight departing from Ciampino airport near Rome failed to become airborne and ran into rough ground at the end of the runway. Two passengers sustained only minor injuries, but the aircraft was a total loss. On 3 March 1953, a new Canadian Pacific Airlines Comet 1A (CF-CUN), known as "Empress of Hawaii," being delivered to Australia, also failed to become airborne on takeoff from Karachi, Pakistan. The aircraft plunged into a dry drainage canal and collided with an embankment, killing all five crew and six passengers on board, the first fatal crash of a passenger jet airliner.
Both of these accidents were originally attributed to pilot error as over-rotation had led to a loss of lift from the leading edge of the aircraft’s wing. It was later determined the wing profile led to a loss of lift at high angle of attack, and the engine inlets suffered from a lack of pressure recovery in these conditions as well. The wing leading edge was re-profiled with a pronounced droop and a wing fence was added to control spanwise flow. A fictionalised investigation into these takeoff accidents was the subject of the 1959 novel, Cone of Silence by Arthur David Beaty, a former BOAC captain. Cone of Silence was made into a film in 1960, and Beaty also recounted the story of the Comet’s takeoff accidents in a chapter of his 1984 non-fiction work, Strange Encounters: Mysteries of the Air.
The next fatal accident involving passengers was on 2 May 1953, when a BOAC Comet 1 (G-ALYV) crashed in a severe tropical storm six minutes after taking off from Calcutta/Dum Dum (now Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport), India, killing all 43 on board. The crash was attributed to structural failure of the airframe with witnesses observing the wingless Comet on fire plunging into the Indian Ocean.
India Court of Inquiry
A court of inquiry was convened by the Central Government of India to examine the cause of the accident.[N 17] The conclusions of the inquiry focused on the extreme negative G forces encountered in the thundersquall. A large proportion of the aircraft was recovered and reassembled at Farnborough.[59] The break-up was found to have begun with a left-hand elevator spar failure in the stabiliser. The immediate focus was on the severe turbulence encountered that induced down-loading, which subsequently precipitated the loss of the wings. Examination of the cockpit controls led to a belief that the pilot may have inadvertently overstressed the aircraft when pulling out of a steep dive by over-manipulation of the fully powered flight controls.
Recommendations from the court revolved around the enforcement of stricter rough air speed limits. The tragedy led to two significant developments: all Comets were equipped with "weather radar" and the introduction of Q feel, a system that ensured that control column forces (invariably called "stick forces") would be proportional to control loads. The artificial feel was the first of its kind to be introduced in any aircraft. The Comet 1 and 1A had been criticised for a lack of feel in their controls, although test pilot John Cunningham contended, it flew extremely smoothly and responded to the controls in the best way de Havilland aircraft usually did.
DH.106 Comet 1 of BOAC at London Heathrow on 2 June 1953
[edit] Comet disasters of 1954
Main articles: BOAC Flight 781 and South African Airways Flight 201
Rome’s Ciampino airport, the site of the first Comet hull loss, was again the origin of more disastrous Comet flights just over a year later. On 10 January 1954, 20 minutes after taking off from Ciampino, Comet G-ALYP ("Yoke Peter"), BOAC Flight 781, broke up in flight and crashed into the Mediterranean off the Italian island of Elba, with the loss of all 35 on board. With no witnesses to the disaster and only "sketchy" and incomplete radio transmissions left behind, there appeared to be no obvious reason for the crash. Engineers at de Havilland immediately recommended 60 modifications aimed at any possible design flaw while the Abell Committee met to determine potential causes of the crash.
Abell Committee Court of Inquiry
Media attention centred upon sabotage; other speculation ranged from "clear-sky" turbulence to an explosion of vapour in an empty fuel tank. The committee soon focused on six potential aerodynamic and mechanical causes: control flutter (which had led to the loss of the de Havilland DH 108 Swallow prototypes), structural failure due to high loads or metal fatigue of the wing structure, failure of the powered flight controls, failure of the window panels leading to explosive decompression, or fire and other engine problems. The committee concluded fire was the most likely cause of the problem, and a number of changes were made to the aircraft to protect the engines and wings from damage which might lead to another fire.
The cost of solving the Comet mystery must be reckoned neither in money nor in manpower.
During this investigation, the Royal Navy conducted recovery operations. The first wreckage was discovered on 12 January and the search continued until August, by which time, 70% of the main structure, 80% of the power section and 50% of the aircraft systems/equipment had been recovered. The forensic reconstruction effort was only lately underway when the Abell Committee reported their findings. On 4 April, Lord Brabazon wrote to the Minister of Transport, "Although no definite reason for the accident has been established, modifications are being embodied to cover every possibility that imagination has suggested as a likely cause of the disaster. When these modifications are completed and have been satisfactorily flight tested, the Board sees no reason why passenger services should not be resumed." Comet flights resumed on 23 March 1954.
On 8 April 1954, Comet G-ALYY ("Yoke Yoke"), on charter to South African Airways, was on a leg from Rome to Cairo (of a longer flight from London to Johannesburg), when it crashed in the waters near Naples. The fleet was immediately grounded once again and a large investigation board was formed under the direction of the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE). Prime Minister Winston Churchill tasked the Royal Navy with helping locate and retrieve the wreckage so that the cause of the accident could be found.[69] The type’s Certificate of Airworthiness was revoked and line production suspended at Hatfield while the BOAC fleet was grounded.
[edit] Cohen Committee Court of Inquiry
An illustration showing the recovered (shaded) parts of the wreckage of the de Havilland Comet 1 G-ALYP "Yoke Peter" and the forward ADF aerial window in the cabin roof where the initial fatigue failure occurred – after an illustration in Air Disasters (1989).
On 19 October 1954, a court of inquiry was set up under the chairmanship of Lord Cohen to examine the causes of the Comet crashes.[70] Investigators under the leadership of Sir Arnold Hall, Director of the RAE at Farnborough, began considering fatigue as the most likely cause of both accidents and initiated further research into measurable strain on the skin. With the recovery of large sections of G-ALYP from the Elba crash and G-ALYU, an extensive "water torture" test eventually provided conclusive results. Stress around the window corners was found to be much higher than expected, and stresses on the skin were generally more than previously expected or tested. This was due to stress concentration, a consequence of the windows’ square shape, the levels of stress at these corners could be two or three times that across the rest of the fuselage.
Before the Elba accident, G-ALYP had made 1,290 pressurised flights and at the time of the Naples accident, G-ALYY had made 900 pressurised flights. Dr. P.B. Walker, Head of the Structures Department (RAE) said he was not surprised by this, noting that the difference was about 3 to 1, and previous experience with metal fatigue suggested a total range of 9 to 1 between experiment and outcome in the field could result in failure. Thus, if the tank test result was "typical", aircraft failures could be expected at anywhere from 1,000 to 9,000 cycles. Engineers subjected an identical airframe, G-ALYU, to repeated re-pressurisation and over-pressurisation, and on 24 June 1954, after 3,057 flight cycles (1,221 actual and 1,836 simulated), G-ALYU burst open. Hall, Geoffrey de Havilland and Bishop were immediately called to the scene, where the water tank was drained to reveal the fuselage had ripped open at a corner of the forward port-side escape hatch cutout. A further test reproduced the same results. By then, the RAE had reconstructed about ⅔ of G-ALYP at Farnborough and found fatigue crack growth from a rivet hole at the low-drag fibreglass forward "window" around the Automatic Direction Finder, had caused a catastrophic breakup of the aircraft in high altitude flight.
The rivet problem was exacerbated by the punch rivet construction technique employed. The windows had been engineered to be glued and riveted, but had been punch riveted only. Unlike drill riveting, the imperfect nature of the hole created by punch riveting may cause the start of fatigue cracks around the rivet. Hall, the principal investigator, concluded, "In the light of known properties of the aluminium alloy D.T.D. 546 or 746 of which the skin was made and in accordance with the advice I received from my Assessors, I accept the conclusion of RAE that this is a sufficient explanation of the failure of the cabin skin of Yoke Uncle by fatigue after a small number, namely, 3,060 cycles of pressurisation.
The Cohen Court closed on 24 November 1954. Although the court found that the basic design of the Comet was sound, nonetheless, de Havilland began a refit programme that involved strengthening the fuselage and wing structure, employing thicker gauge skin and replacing all square windows and panels with rounded ones.
As is often the case in aeronautical engineering, other aircraft manufacturers learned from, and profited by, de Havilland’s hard-learned lessons. Although the Comet had been subjected to the most rigorous testing of any contemporary airliner, the "dynamic stresses" of pressurisation were not well known, and the Comet had pushed ‘the state-of-the-art’ beyond its limits. According to John Cunningham, representatives from American manufacturers such as Boeing and Douglas (privately) "admitted that if it hadn’t been for our [de Havilland’s] problems, it would have happened to one of them.
Resumption of service
The Comet did not resume commercial airline service until 1958.[78] Following the structural problems of the early series, all remaining Comets were withdrawn from service, with de Havilland launching a major effort to build a new version that would be both larger and stronger. The square windows of the Comet 1 were replaced by the oval versions used on the Comet 2, which first flew in 1953, and the skin sheeting was thickened slightly. The remaining Comet 1s and 1As were either scrapped or modified with oval window rip-stop doublers (a thick, structurally strong ring of material that prevents a crack from spreading further), but a program to produce a Comet 2 with more powerful Avons was delayed. All production Comet 2s were modified to alleviate the fatigue problems and most of these served with the RAF as the Comet C2. Development flying and route proving with the Comet 3 allowed BOAC to accelerate the certification of what was destined to be the most successful variant of the type. On 24 September 1958, the Comet 4 received a Certificate of Air Worthiness and, the next day, BOAC took delivery of its first two Comet 4s.
The Comet 4 enabled BOAC to inaugurate the first regular jet-powered transatlantic services to begin that same year, albeit the westward North Atlantic crossing still required a fuel stop at Gander International Airport, Newfoundland. BOAC got publicity by being the first across the Atlantic with the London to New York crossing on 4 October 1958, but by the end of the month Pan Am was flying the Boeing 707 along the same route and in 1959-60 the Douglas DC-8 would be ready. The American jets were larger, faster, longer-ranged, and more cost-effective to operate than the Comet. In analysing the route structure the Comet could fly effectively, BOAC reluctantly cast about for a successor and, by 1958, had entered into an agreement with Boeing to purchase the 707.
In 1959 BOAC began shifting its Comet operations from the Atlantic run to other routes and releasing the Comet to the associate companies, the moves resulting in the Comet 4′s ascendancy as a premier airliner being relatively brief. Besides the 707/DC-8 duo, the imminent introduction of the Vickers VC10 meant the Comet’s competitors assumed more of the role initially pioneered by the Comet, that of high-speed, long-range passenger service.[82] Orders from other air carriers were gradually falling off in the 1960s with a total of 76 of the Comet 4 family delivered from 1958 to 1964. BOAC retired its Comet 4s from revenue service in 1965, but other operators continued flying Comets in commercial passenger service until 1981. Dan-Air played a significant role in the fleet’s later history and, at one time, owned all 48 remaining airworthy civil Comets. On 14 March 1997, a Comet 4C (XS235) which had been acquired by the British Ministry of Technology and used for radio, radar and avionics trials, made the last documented Comet flight.
Variants
Comet 1
DH106 Comet 1 preserved in the colours of BOAC G-APAS, this aircraft also served with the RAF as XM823, now at RAF Cosford
The square-windowed Comet 1 was the first model produced, a total of 12 aircraft in service and test. Following closely the design features of the two prototypes, the only noticeable change was the adoption of four-wheel bogie main undercarriage units, replacing the single main wheels. Four 5,050 lbf (22.5 kN) Ghost 50 Mk 1 (later 5,700 lbf (25 kN) Ghost DGT3 series) engines were fitted. The span was 115 ft (35.05 m), length 93 ft (28.35 m), Maximum Takeoff Weight 105,000 lb (47.628 kg) with 36–48 passenger configurations.
An updated Comet 1A was offered with higher allowed weight and water-methanol injection; 10 were produced. In the wake of the 1954 disasters, all Comet 1s and 1As were brought back to Hatfield, first placed in a protective "cocoon" and retained for testing.[85] All were substantially damaged in stress testing or were scrapped entirely.
Comet 1X: Two RCAF Comet 1As were rebuilt with heavier-gauge skins to a Comet 2 standard for the fuselage, and renamed Comet 1X.
Comet 1XB: Four Comet 1As were upgraded to a 1XB standard with a reinforced fuselage structure and oval windows. Both 1X series were limited in number of pressurisation cycles.[86]
DH 111 Comet Bomber
Originally proposed in 1948 as the "PR Comet", a "high-level photo reconnaissance" adaptation of the Comet 1, de Havilland further developed a bomber variant to Air Ministry specification B35/46 as the DH 111 Comet Bomber with a submission to the Air Ministry on 27 May 1948. The substantially altered airframe powered by four 5,700 lbf (25 kN) Ghost DGT3 engines, was designed around the special bomb, and featured a narrowed fuselage along with a bulbous nose to accommodate the H2S Mk IX radar; the crew of four would be housed in a pressurised cockpit under a large bubble canopy. Additional fuel tanks carrying 2,400 imperial gallons (11,000 L) were built into the fuselage to attain a range of 3,350 miles (5,390 km). The DH 111 proposal was evaluated by the Royal Aircraft Establishment but serious concerns regarding weapons storage led to a negative RAE review. The capability of the proposed V bomber trio also made the DH 111 redundant and further development work at de Havilland was abandoned on 22 October 1948.
Comet 2
The Comet 2 had a slightly larger wing, higher fuel capacity and more powerful Rolls-Royce Avon engines, which all improved the aircraft’s range and performance; some of these changes had been made to make the aircraft more suitable for transatlantic operations.[88] Following the Comet 1 disasters, these models were rebuilt with heavier gauge skin and rounded windows, and the Avon engines featuring larger air intakes and "outward-curving" jet tailpipes.[N 21]
[89] A total of 12 of the 44-seat Comet 2s were ordered by BOAC for the South Atlantic route.[90] The first production aircraft (G-AMXA) flew on 27 August 1953. Although these aircraft performed well on test flights on the South Atlantic, their range was still not suitable for the North Atlantic. All but four Comet 2s were allocated to the RAF with deliveries beginning in 1955. Modifications to the interiors allowed the Comet 2s to be used in a number of different roles. For VIP transport, the seating and accommodations were altered while provisions for carrying medical equipment including iron lungs was incorporated. Specialised ELINT and electronic survelillance capability was later added to some airframes.
Comet 2X: Limited to a single Comet Mk 1 powered by four Rolls-Royce Avon 502 turbojet engines and used as a development aircraft for the Comet 2.
Comet 2E: Two Comet 2 airliners were fitted with Avon 504s in the inner nacelles and Avon 524s in the outer ones. These aircraft were used by BOAC for proving flights during 1957–1958.
Comet T2: The first two of 10 Comet 2s for the RAF were fitted out as crew trainers, with the first aircraft (XK669) flying for the first time on 9 December 1955.
Comet C2: Eight Comet 2s originally destined for the civil market were completed for the RAF and assigned to No. 216 Squadron.
Comet 2R: Three Comet 2s were modified for use in radar and electronic systems development, initially assigned to No. 90 Group (later Signals Command) for the RAF. In service with No. 192 and No. 51 Squadrons, the 2R series were equipped to monitor Warsaw Pact signal traffic and operated in this role from 1958.
Comet 3
The Comet 3, which flew for the first time on 19 July 1954, was a lengthened Comet 2 powered by Avon M502 engines developing 10,000 lbf (44 kN) with greater capacity and range, including the addition of wing pinion tanks. The Comet 3 was destined to remain a development series since it did not incorporate the fuselage-strengthening modifications of the later series aircraft, and was not able to be fully pressurised.[95] Only two Comet 3s were constructed with G-ANLO, the only "flying" Comet 3, demonstrated at the Farnborough SBAC Show in September 1954. The other Comet 3 airframe was not completed to production standard and was used primarily for ground-based structural and technology testing during development of the similarly sized Comet 4. Nine additional Comet 3 airframes were not completed and their construction was abandoned at Hatfield.[96] In BOAC colours, G-ANLO was flown by John Cunningham in a marathon round-the-world promotional tour in December 1955. As a flying testbed, it was later modified with Avon RA29 engines fitted, as well as replacing the original long-span wings with reduced span wings as the Comet 3B and demonstrated in British European Airways (BEA) livery at the Farnborough Airshow in September 1958. Assigned in 1961 to the Blind Landing Experimental Unit (BLEU) at RAE Bedford, the final testbed role played by G–ANLO was in "autoland" experiments. When retired in 1973, the airframe was used for foam arrester trials before the fuselage was salvaged at BAE Woodford, to serve as the mock-up for the Nimrod.
Comet 4
The Comet 4 was a further improvement on the stretched Comet 3 with even greater fuel capacity. The design had progressed significantly from the original Comet 1, growing by 18 ft 6 in (5.64 m) and typically seating 74 to 81 passengers compared to the Comet 1′s 36 to 44. The Comet 4 was considered the definitive series, having a longer range, higher cruising speed and higher maximum takeoff weight. These improvements were possible largely because of Avon engines with twice the thrust of the Comet 1′s Ghosts.
BOAC ordered 19 Comet 4s in March 1955, with G-APDA first flying on 27 April 1958. Deliveries to the airline began on 30 September 1958 with two 48-seat aircraft.[99] BOAC’s G-APDC initiated transatlantic Comet 4 service and the first scheduled transatlantic passenger jet service in history, flying from London to New York with a stopover at Gander, Newfoundland on 4 October 1958. Rival Pan Am’s inaugural Boeing 707 service began later that month.
BEA’s Comets received a welcome response from crews and passengers but they were not so well liked by the baggage handlers. The baggage/cargo holds had doors directly underneath the aircraft, so each item of baggage or cargo had to be loaded upwards from the top of the cab of the baggage truck, through the little hole, then slid along the hold floor to be stacked inside. Likewise, the individual pieces of luggage and cargo had to be retrieved slowly with great effort on arrival.
American operator Capital Airlines ordered 14 Comet 4s in July 1956.[103] The Comet 4A was designed for short-range operations and had a stretched fuselage with short wings (lacking the pinion (outboard wing) fuel tanks of the Comet 4). This order was cancelled but the aircraft were built for BEA as the Comet 4B, with a further fuselage stretch of 38 in (97 cm) and seating for 99 passengers. The first Comet 4B (G-APMA) flew on 27 June 1959 and BEA aircraft G-APMB began Tel Aviv to London-Heathrow service on 1 April 1960.
The last Comet 4 variant was the Comet 4C with the same longer fuselage as the Comet 4B coupled with the longer wings and extra fuel tanks of the original Comet 4, which gave it a longer range than the 4B. The first Comet 4C flew on 31 October 1959 and Mexicana began scheduled Comet 4C flights in 1960. The last two Comet 4C fuselages were used to build prototypes of the Hawker Siddeley Nimrod maritime patrol aircraft. Comet 4C (SA-R-7) was ordered by Saudi Arabian Airlines with eventual disposition to the Saudi Royal Flight for the exclusive use of King Saud bin Abdul Aziz. Extensively modified at the factory, the aircraft included a VIP front cabin, a bed, special toilets with gold fittings and was distinguished by a resplendent green, gold and white colour scheme with polished wings and lower fuselage that was commissioned from aviation artist John Stroud. Following its first flight, the special order Comet 4C was described as "the world’s first executive jet.
Comet 5 design
The Comet 5 was proposed as an improvement over previous models, including a wider fuselage with five-abreast seating, a wing with greater sweep and podded Rolls-Royce Conway engines. Without support from the Ministry of Transport, the proposal languished as a "paper project" only.
Hawker Siddeley Nimrod
Main article: Hawker Siddeley Nimrod.
The last two Comet 4 fuselages produced were modified as prototypes to meet a British requirement for a maritime patrol aircraft for the Royal Air Force, designated Type HS 801. This variant became the Hawker Siddeley Nimrod and was built at the Hawker Siddeley factory at Woodford Aerodrome. Entering service in 1969, five Nimrod variants were produced. The final Nimrod aircraft were retired in June 2011.
Capital Airlines ordered the Comet 4 in July 1956 which were to be supplemented by 10 Comet 4As, a variant modified for Capital. Following financial problems and the takeover by United Airlines, the order was cancelled.

MORE DIRTY TRICKS FROM YOUR SOCIALIST/MARXIST PRESIDENT AND HIS NASTY LITTLE ADMINISTRATION HACKS

Image by SS&SS
Obamacare’s Dirty Tricks

By Peter Ferrara on 1.5.11 @ 6:08AM

Most commentators have focused on the revelation just before Christmas that Obamacare’s end of life death panel consultations rejected by Congress were resurrected by the Obama Administration by regulatory requirement. There is no truth to the rumor that President Obama has agreed, after his term of office ends, to head up a new organization called Democrats Against Democracy.

But while this regulatory authoritarianism is, indeed, yet another dirty trick of Obamacare, it is small potatoes compared to the real dirty tricks of Obamacare. A dirty trick is defined here as burying in vague language in the abusive, several thousand page Obamacare legislation socially repulsive policies that the public overwhelmingly opposed and that Congress denied it was adopting. Like the end of life death panel consultations.

Phasing Out Private Insurance

But as indicated above, the emerging abuses of Obamacare are much graver than that. Also just before Christmas, on December 21, HHS Commissar Kathleen Sebelius claimed authority buried deep within the Obamacare abomination to impose federal price controls on health insurance companies, which members of Congress again denied they were adopting when they passed Obamacare. In fact, she issued a 136 page "regulation" providing precisely for such federal rate regulation.

Most states have long regulated health insurance premiums. The state regulators know from long experience that in this regulation they have to make sure that the insurance company has the money to pay the promised benefits. If the regulators don’t allow sufficient premiums to pay benefits, in the states they know that it is the sickest people covered by the insurance company who lose out. Because then the insurance company goes out of business and the sick people it was covering don’t have the money to pay their medical bills.

State insurance regulation is consequently simply a matter of mathematics. The regulators analyze the cost data, and the actuarial probabilities, and they set premiums based on that data sufficient to allow the insurance company only a modest, reasonable, market rate of return on its operations. As a result, the hard numbers unquestionably show that health insurance companies only make modest if not below average profits at best. That is why in many states there are so few health insurance companies left, and so many of those that remain are actually non-profits.

The resulting bottom line is that health insurance company profits are not a significant factor in overall health costs. And those politicians who rant and rave about them, calculating that they can take political advantage of the clueless and gullible, are shameless demagogues who dishonor our democracy by their participation in it.

Under the new federal power that Sebelius has seized, the supposed smarter, wiser bureaucrats in Washington will review the state regulation, and Washington will decide if the state approved rate increases are "reasonable." If the Washington wise guys decide the increases are not, they will deem the state regulation not "effective," and substitute Washington’s rate regulation.

Sebelius has already decreed, not based on a review of the actual data, that increases over 10% are probably not reasonable, even though many increases across the country are coming in over 20%, based on the analysis described above, as predicted. Indeed, the Red Queen has intimated that even lesser premium increases may be deemed too much.

But there is socialist method behind the madness. Obamacare raises health insurance costs by mandating that health insurers provide expensive new benefits. That is why it was so obvious that Obamacare will raise health insurance costs. But now come the federal regulators who plan to dictate to the insurers that they cannot reflect those costs in higher premiums.

It will work just like the Democrats’ "affordable housing" policies worked in causing the financial crisis. First the regulators forced banks to lend mortgage money to so many who were not financially qualified under traditional lending standards. Bill Clinton bragged in 1995 that through this scheme he had found a way of spreading housing prosperity to so many "without costing the taxpayers a dime."

But now we know how all that turned out. When so many proved unable or unwilling to pay the mortgages, as the displaced traditional lending standards suggested they might, the mortgage backed securities that had been spread so widely throughout the financial system began their downward spiral that froze credit markets, and the whole financial system began to unravel, costing taxpayers a fortune in bailouts and lost jobs.

Left-wing sophisticates know from experience that their grassroots troops can’t follow that logic. Your average grassroots Democrat supporter can’t understand that if the law forces health insurance costs up with required new benefits, but the insurance company can’t raise premiums to cover those higher costs, the company goes out of business.

But this is exactly what the Reds who now run today’s modern Democrat party want. They are planning precisely to use this new federal rate regulation power to drive private insurers out of business, so the only option left will be the outright socialized medicine public option that first the public and then the Congress rejected in the health care "debate" last year. Hence the foundation for the new organization, Democrats Against Democracy.

This plot against the people is already underway in the more Left states that the Democrats still control. On December 22, the Wall Street Journal editorialized regarding the ongoing "political thuggery" in Connecticut regarding former state insurance commissioner Tom Sullivan. The Journal explained, "In September, following a thorough actuarial analysis, Mr. Sullivan approved some rate increases reaching 20% for Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, the largest insurer in the state by membership."

Even though the higher rates applied only to new customers, to cover the new costs of Obamacare, "Attorney General Richard Blumenthal made the approval a centerpiece of his Senate bid, while Mr. Sullivan was demonized by local labor unions." In a letter to Blumenthal explaining his resignation, Sullivan explained that he could not sensibly operate in an environment where "we are required by Congress to approve richer benefit packages, while simultaneously being called upon by you to reduce rates." To complete the travesty, his successor, under federal pressure from the same bureaucrats who have now seized new federal ratemaking power, overturned the increase, and Blumenthal rode his shameless demagoguery to election. Similar travesties are now playing out in Massachusetts as well.

But once the private insurers have been driven out, patients will have nowhere to turn but the friendly Obama national political machine. The leading lights in that operation, such as the recess-appointed, unconfirmed head of Medicare and Medicaid, "Dr. Doom" Donald Berwick, have already made the determination that more votes can be bought redirecting all the money that is now spent saving the sickest and most vulnerable to other causes.

Health Coverage, Not Health Care

President Obama barnstormed the nation promising health care for all, to achieve passage of Obamacare. But the legislation he delivered is already on course to decimate the ability of the health care system to deliver critical health care to the sickest and most vulnerable. Most Democrats and liberals have no idea what they have done. This assault on the most essential health care of the American people, achieved flying under false pretenses, should be recognized as a national scandal.

The assault begins with Medicare. I have previously reported that my analysis of last summer’s annual Medicare Trustees Report concluded that the President’s Obamacare policies involve China cutting trillion in payments to doctors and hospitals for services and treatment to seniors under Medicare, over the first 20 years of full implementation of Obamacare.

Confirmation of this and more now comes from the recently released 2010 Financial Statement of the United States, from the U.S. Treasury Department. That report openly brags, repeatedly, about the Medicare cost savings resulting from Obamacare. The accompanying data reveals, in fact, that the total future Medicare cuts in payments to doctors and hospitals under Medicare accumulate to trillion! The Obama Administration is apparently convinced that its supporters cannot understand that if the government does not pay the doctors and hospitals for medical care and treatment under Medicare, seniors are not going to get medical care and treatment under Medicare.

This is why Medicare’s Chief Actuary has already reported that ultimately under these Obamacare policies Medicare payment rates will be only half of what is paid by Medicaid, where the poor often can’t find access to essential care. The Chief Actuary also reports that even before these cuts already two-thirds of hospitals were losing money on Medicare patients. Cuts of this magnitude will consequently wreak havoc and create chaos in health care for the elderly. Health providers will either have to withdraw from serving Medicare patients, or eventually go into bankruptcy.

Too many conservatives have been reticent to criticize Obamacare for these draconian cuts, out of recognition that Medicare is hopelessly bankrupt over the long run, and will have to be sharply cut in any event. But this view is far too simple minded, for refusing to pay the doctors and hospitals for the health care they provide under Medicare is no way to reform the program.

That would not only suddenly leave seniors without the health care they have been promised, and have come to rely on as a result. It would suddenly leave doctors, clinics, specialists, and hospitals with uneconomic practices for seniors that they entered in good faith on the promise of payment from the government. This is like trying to achieve budget savings in national defense by not paying the manufacturers of the Air Force’s planes, the Navy’s ships, the Army’s tanks and artillery, and the bullets, bombs and guns. How long do you think our national defense would last under that policy? The same goes for health care for America’s seniors.

Think of it this way. You wouldn’t try to balance your own family budget by just refusing to pay your bills, particularly for goods and services you planned to continue to consume. You would recognize that is really just impractical stealing. Yet that is the Obamacare policy for Medicare. Except that what they are really thinking was explained above. They have decided, as every government running socialized medicine programs has, that more votes can be bought with all the money spent on saving the sickest and most vulnerable by spending it elsewhere. That is the dirty little scandal of Obamacare.

Conservatives should assail this socialist assault on the most important of all medical care for the American people, an essential and fundamental component of their rapidly receding highest standard of living in the world, and advance more fundamental, more carefully structured Medicare reforms, that can achieve far more in savings over the long run.

One example of that is the Medicare reforms in the Ryan Roadmap. Seniors would receive vouchers they could use to buy their choice of coverage in the private sector, including Health Savings Accounts. The growth of the voucher amounts would be restrained over time, so seniors would have to pay more out of pocket for such coverage over time than they would otherwise. But at least they would be able to get the essential health care they want and need. The lowest income seniors would be protected by supplemental payments. The Ryan Roadmap has been scored as achieving full solvency for Medicare, and permanently balancing the federal budget over the long run.

But the most long run budget savings by far would be achieved by allowing younger workers to save and invest their Medicare payroll taxes in personal accounts. In retirement, those accounts would finance their health insurance vouchers, and would be able to finance far more because of the accumulation of all the market returns over the years. This would shift huge amounts of spending out of the federal budget altogether, and to the private sector. The general revenues currently used to finance so much of Medicare would be used for means tested supplements for lower income seniors to ensure that they could afford essential coverage and care. But these general revenues devoted to Medicare would be limited to grow no faster than the rate of growth of GDP, providing further huge savings over the long run.

These more basic, more fundamental reforms would be far more politically salable that than the wholesale slaughter of health care for seniors that is going to result from the current Obamacare policies. Seniors showed in the last election that they understand this. Why not conservative political strategists?

Already we see on our current course the beginnings of the disappearance not only of private health insurance, but also of private, independent medical practices as well. Sally Pipes of the Pacific Research Institute reports that while in 2005 at least two thirds of doctors practices were private, independent operations, less than half are today, and that is expected to fall below 40% by the end of this year.

Instead they are fleeing to salaried positions at large hospitals, where they are safe from Obamacare’s draconian cuts in their compensation, and they can sharply reduce the patient load they take on when their personal economic survival is at stake. This trend is strongly supported by President Obama’s top health care aide Nancy-Ann DeParle, who openly cheerleads the consolidation of America’s health care system into modern HMOs, called now Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). Such a system will be far more able to enforce the health care rationing and denial policies of the Obama political machine.

spectator.org/