Warplane Survivors USA: Ohio, Dayton, 1, National Museum of the USAF: Aero to de Havilland

National Museum of the USAF

Aero to de Havilland

Dayton, National Museum of the United States Air Force (NMUSAF), 1100 Spaatz St., Wright-Patterson AFB, 45433-7102.

(NMUSAF Photo)

Aero Commander U-4B (Serial No. 58-4647), C/N 680-315-10.

(NMUSAF Photos)

Aeronca L-3B Grasshopper (Serial No. 42-36200).  Built during the Second World War, the L-3B on display in the NMUSAF found its way into private hands as surplus after the war.  Completely restored by its previous owner, Paul Grice of Waynesville, Ohio, the airplane was flown to the museum in 1984.

(NMUSAF Photos)

American Helicopter Co. XH-26 Jet Jeep (Serial No. 01841).  The XH-26 is a one-man, pulsejet-driven helicopter powered by two pulsejets on the end of each rotor blade tip.  American Helicopter chose the name "Jet Jeep" because the XH-26 would be used like an aerial Jeep.  When collapsed, its storage container fit on a trailer towed by the one-quarter ton Jeep.  If stripped for air drop, the Jet Jeep weighed less than 300 pounds, and it could be assembled by two men in just 20 minutes.  It could also burn the same fuel as a Jeep.  The Army and USAF evaluated five prototype Jet Jeeps, and they performed well.  Unfortunately, the pulsejets were so loud that the Army found the aircraft unsuitable, and cost considerations forced the cancellation of the program.

(Pi3.124 Photo)

Apollo 15 Command Module Endeavour.  Apollo 15 was the ninth manned mission in the United States' Apollo program, the fourth to land on the Moon, and the eighth successful manned mission.  It was the first of what were termed "J missions", long stays on the Moon, with a greater focus on science than had been possible on previous missions.  It was also the first mission on which the Lunar Roving Vehicle was used.  The mission began on 26 July1971, and ended on 7 August.  At the time, NASA called it the most successful manned flight ever achieved.  Apollo 15 used Command/Service Module CSM-112, which was given the call sign Endeavour, named after the HMS Endeavour, and Lunar Module LM-10, call sign Falcon, named after the USAF Academy mascot.

(NMUSAF Photo)

Avro 504K, replica, Reg. No. G-CYEI, painted as 1620, D.9029.  The Royal Canadian Air Force's Aircraft Maintenance & Development Unit built the aircraft on display in 1966-1967 with a 110-hp Le Rhone J rotary engine and original parts.  It arrived at the NMUSAF in May 2003, and it is painted to represent one of the 52 Avro 504K aerobatic trainers used at the AEF No. 3 Instruction Center, Issoudun, France, in 1918.

(Valder137 Photo)

(NMUSAF Photos)

Avro CF-100 Canuck Mk. 4A (Serial No. 100504).  The all-weather CF-100 was the only Canadian-designed and Canadian-built fighter to go into large-scale production.  Powered by two Canadian-designed Orenda jet engines, the CF-100 entered service with the 445 Squadron in 1953.  In 1957 the two-seat CF-100 became an integral part of the newly formed U.S.-Canadian North American Air Defense (NORAD) system.  Side-by-side with USAF units, nine Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) CF-100 squadrons helped protect the continent from potential Soviet bomber attack across the North Pole.  Although RCAF fighter squadrons phased out the CF-100 in 1961-1962, it continued to serve as an electronic warfare aircraft well into the 1970s.  Placed on display in 2005, the NMUSAF's aircraft is painted to appear as a 428 Squadron CF-100 Mk. 4A in the mid-1950s.

(NMUSAF Photos)

(Alvintrusty Photo)

(Clemens Vasters Photo )

Avro Canada VZ-9AV Avrocar (Serial No. 58-7055), AV-7055.  The Avrocar was the result of a Canadian effort to develop a supersonic, vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) fighter-bomber in the early 1950s.  However, its circular shape gave it the appearance of a “flying saucer” out of science fiction movies of the period.  A.V. Roe (Avro) Aircraft Limited (later Avro Canada) based its design concept for the Avrocar on using the exhaust from turbojet engines to drive a circular “turborotor” which produced thrust.  By directing this thrust downward, the turborotor would create a cushion of air (also known as “ground effect”) upon which the aircraft would float at low altitude.  When the thrust was directed toward the rear, the aircraft would accelerate and gain altitude.  In 1952, the Canadian government provided initial funding but dropped the project when it became too expensive.  Avro offered the project to the U.S. government, and the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force took it over in 1958.  Each service had different requirements: the Army wanted to use it as a subsonic, all-terrain troop transport and reconnaissance craft, but the USAF wanted a VTOL aircraft that could hover below enemy radar then zoom up to supersonic speed.  Avro’s designers believed they could satisfy both services, but these two sets of requirements differed too much.  Research data originally indicated that a circular wing might satisfy both the Army’s and Air Force’s requirements, and Avro built two small test vehicles to prove the concept.  Designated the VZ-9AV Avrocar (VZ stood for experimental vertical flight, 9 for the ninth concept proposal, and AV for Avro).  Tests with scale models at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, indicated that the cushion of air under the Avrocar would become unstable just a few feet off the ground.  The aircraft would be incapable of reaching supersonic speeds, but the testing went ahead to determine if a suitable aircraft could be developed for the Army.  The first prototype, the Avrocar on display in the NMUSAF, was sent to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, California.  There, wind tunnel tests proved that the aircraft had insufficient control for high speed flight and was aerodynamically unstable.  The second Avrocar prototype underwent flight tests that validated the wind tunnel tests.  If it flew more than three feet above the ground, the Avrocar displayed uncontrollable pitch and roll motions, which the Avro engineers called "hubcapping."  The Avrocar could only reach a maximum speed of 35 mph, and all attempts to end the hubcapping failed.  The project was cancelled in December 1961.  The second prototype aircraft went to the U.S. Army Transportation Museum at Fort Eustis, Virginia, and the first prototype Avrocar came to the NMUSAF in 2007.

(NMUSAF Photos)

Beechcraft GB-2 (UC-43) Traveler/Staggerwing (Serial No. 44-76068), painted as 9139.  The aircraft on display in the NMUSAFwas donated by Maj. Richard River, USAF (Ret), of Chillicothe, Ohio.  It was flown to the museum in May 1974.  Procured by the Army during the Second Worlfd War, it was assigned to the Navy as a GB-2.  It is painted as a UC-43 assigned to the 8th Air Force in England in 1943.

(NMUSAF Photo)

Beechcraft C-45H Expeditor (Serial No. 41-27561), painted as (Serial No. 52-37493).

Beechcraft C-45H Expeditor (Serial No. 52-10893).

(NMUSAF Photo)

Beechcraft AT-10 Wichita (Serial No. 127193).  The museum placed this AT-10 on display in June 1997.

(Stahlkocher Photo)

Beechcraft AT-11 Kansan (Serial No. 42-37493), C/N 4086.  The AT-11 on display in the NMUSAF is one of 1,582 ordered by the USAAF between 1941 and 1945, 36 of which were modified as AT-11A navigation trainers.  It was donated to the museum by the Abrams Aerial Survey Corp., Lansing, Michigan, in 1969, and is painted to represent a trainer in service during the autumn of 1943.

(NMUSAF Photo)

Beechcraft VC-6A King Air (Serial No. 66-7943).

(NMUSAF Photos)

Beechcraft  QU-22B Pave Eagle (Serial No. 69-7699), C/N EB-7.  The NMUSAF's QU-22B went on display in 2002.

(NMUSAF Photos)

Beechcraft  T-34A Mentor (Serial No. 53-3310), TD-310, C/N G-71.  Suspended from the ceiling.  The Mentor was the standard USAF primary trainer until the introduction of the Cessna T-37 jet trainer in the late 1950s.  As they were replaced by T-37s, many T-34s were turned over to base aero clubs.  In all, the USAF acquired 450 T-34As.  350 were built in the United States and 100 more were produced in Canada under license.  The US Navy and 10 foreign militaries also used the T-34.

(Master Sgt. David Richards, USAF Photo)

Beechcraft T-6A Texan II (Serial No. 06-3851).  The Texan II is a single-engine, two-seat primary trainer designed to train Joint Primary Pilot Training, or JPPT, students in basic flying skills common to USAF and Navy pilots.  The trainer is phasing out the aging T-37 fleet throughout Air Education and Training Command.  The T-6A in the NMUSAF was assigned to the 71st Flying Training Wing at Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma, and was received by the museum in 2010.

(NMUSAF Photos)

Bell P-39Q Airacobra (Serial No. 44-3887), 31, painted as (Serial No. 41-7073).  The NMUSAF's P-39Q is painted as a P-39D flown by Lt. Leslie Spoonts of the 57th Fighter Squadron on Adak Island during the Aleutians Campaign.  The P-39Q on display was obtained by the Air Force Museum Foundation from Hardwick Aircraft Co., El Monte, California, in 1966.

(Goshimini Photo)

(NMUSAF Photos)

(Clemens Vasters Photo)

Bell P-63E Kingcobra (Serial No. 43-11728), 1L76, painted to represent an RP-63A.  The P-63E on display in the NMUSAF was donated by Bell Aircraft Corp. in 1958.  Although it lacks the armour plate and other "pinball" features, it is marked and painted in the unusual color scheme of an RP-63A.

Bell XP-59A, one of three prototypes.  The first prototype XP-59A flew in the fall of 1942 at Muroc Dry Lake (now Edwards Air Force Base), California.  (USAF Photo)

(NMUSAF Photo)

(Ken LaRock, USAF Photos)

(Valder137 Photo)

(Clemens Vasters Photo)

Bell P-59B Airacomet (Serial No. 44-74936), painted as (Serial No. 44-22650), C/N 27-58.  Bell built 50 P-59A and P-59B production aircraft, some of which were flown by the 412th Fighter Group, the USAF’s first jet fighter unit.  The P-59B on display in the NMUSAF was obtained from Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, in February 1956.

(USAF Photo)

Bell UH-13J Sioux (Serial No. 57-2728), C/N 1575.

(NMUSAF Photos)

Bell UH-1P Iroquois (Serial No. 64-15476), C/N 7026.  The UH-1P nicknamed the "Huey" on display in the NMUSAF, served in South Vietnam with the 20th Special Operations Squadron flying dangerous, highly-classified missions inserting special operations personnel into Laos and Cambodia.  In June 1969, it was converted into a UH-1P gunship equipped with two rocket pods and two miniguns.  The museum's UH-1P is configured and painted to appear as the UH-1F flown by Captain Jim Fleming on 26 Nov 1968.  On this day, he braved intense enemy fire to rescue a small reconnaissance team that was about to be overrun by a much larger enemy force.  For his bravery, Fleming was awarded the Medal of Honor.

Bell TAH-1P Cobra (Serial No. 76-22599), C/N 24033).

(Jaydec Photo)

(Clemens Vasters Photo)

(USAF Photos)

(Don Popp, USAF Photos)

(NMUSAF Photos)

Bell X-1B (Serial No. 48-1385).  The X-1B was one of a series of rocket-powered experimental airplanes designed to investigate supersonic flight problems.  The X-1B’s flight research primarily related to aerodynamic heating and the use of small “reaction” rockets for directional control.  The X-1B made its first powered flight in October 1954.  A few months later, the U.S. Air Force transferred the X-1B to the NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics), predecessor to NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), which conducted the heating and control tests.  The X-1B tests played an important role in developing the control systems for the later X-15.  On test missions, the X-1B was carried under a "mother" airplane and released between 25,000-35,000 feet.  After release, the rocket engine fired under full throttle for less than five minutes.  After all fuel (an alcohol-water mixture) and liquid oxygen had been consumed, the pilot glided the airplane to earth for a landing.  The X-1B made its last flight in January 1958, and it was transferred to the NMUSAF a year later.

(NMUSAF Photos)

(Valder137 Photos)

Bell X-5 (Serial No. 50-1838).  The X-5 was the world's first high-performance airplane to vary the sweepback of its wings in flight . It investigated the characteristics of variable sweep aircraft in flight and the feasibility of producing aircraft with this feature . The X-5 was based upon the design of a Messerschmitt P. 1101 airplane discovered in Germany at the end of the Second World War (and which could vary its sweep only on the ground).  Two X-5s were built, and the first flight occurred in June 1951 . One of the X-5s was destroyed in October 1953, when it failed to recover from a spin at 60 degrees sweepback.  The other was delivered to the NMUSAF in March 1958.

(NASA Photo)

(Bell Helicopter Textron Photo)

(Ken LaRock, USAF Photos)

(Valder137 Photos)

(Alvintrusty Photo)

Bell 200 (XV-3) (Serial No. 54-0148).  The Bell XV-3 became the world's first successful Vertical Short Take Off and Landing (VSTOL) tilt-rotor aircraft.  By combining the takeoff and hovering capabilities of a helicopter with the speed and range of a fixed-wing aircraft, the XV-3 offered great military potential.  Bell completed two XV-3s and began hover tests in 1955.  The first XV-3 was damaged beyond repair, but testing continued with the second aircraft.  The first complete conversion from takeoff to horizontal flight and back,  the first ever for a tilt-rotor aircraft, took place in December 1958.  The XV-3 did not go into production, but it paved the way for the modern tilt-rotor CV-22 Osprey.  After testing ended in 1965, the surviving XV-3 went on display at Fort Rucker, Alabama, and later into storage . In 2004, the XV-3 was moved to the Bell Helicopter Textron facility at Arlington, Texas, where a group of current and retired Bell engineers restored the aircraft.  It arrived at the NMUSAF in 2007.

(NMUSAF Photos)

Bell-Boeing CV-22B Osprey, ex-USN (BuNo. 165839), USAF (Serial No. 99-0021).  The CV-22 Osprey is a tiltrotor aircraft that combines the vertical takeoff, hover and vertical landing qualities of a helicopter with the long range, fuel efficiency and speed characteristics of a turboprop aircraft.  Its mission is to conduct long-range infiltration, exfiltration and resupply missions for special operations forces.  Built by Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. and the Boeing Co., the CV-22 is a Special Operation Forces variant of the U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey.  Equipped with integrated threat countermeasures, terrain-following radar, forward-looking infrared sensor (FLIR) and other advanced avionics systems, the CV-22 can operate at low altitude, in bad weather and high-threat environments.  The first operational CV-22 was delivered to Air Force Special Operations Command's 8th Special Operations Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Florida, in November 2006.  The Osprey at the NMUSAF was originally built as a pre-production aircraft for the U.S. Navy.  In 2005 this aircraft was modified into a CV-22B and was designated an Additional Test Asset (ATA).  At Edwards AFB, California, it flew more than 200 developmental test missions.  It was transferred to the USAF in 2007, and was assigned to the 413th Flight Test Squadron, at Hurlburt Field.  Completing over 400 additional test missions, it was flown to the museum in December 2013.

(USAF Photo)

(NMUSAF Photos)

Bensen X-25A Gyrocopter (Serial No. 68-10770).  In early 1968, the U.S. Air Force ordered three X-25 type aircraft to test methods of improving the odds of a downed flyer’s escape.  At the time, the USAF was suffering heavy losses in the Rolling Thunder air campaign over North Vietnam.  The unpowered Bensen X-25 Discretionary Descent Vehicle (also called a “Gyroglider”) theoretically could be stowed in an aircraft, ejected with the pilot and deployed during descent.  Its rotary wings would be brought up to speed as it fell, and the pilot would fly it as an autogyro to a safer landing area.  The X-25A Gyrocopter on display in the NMUSAF represented a more advanced concept with a limited "fly-away" capability.  Though similar to the X-25, the X-25A had a more robust structure, and it was powered by a small engine.  The two-seat X-25B was originally used as an unpowered, towed trainer, but it was later fitted with an engine.  Tests proved that pilots could be quickly and easily trained to fly the X-25.  Even so, with the air war in Vietnam winding down, and doubts about its operational feasibility, the X-25 program ended.  The X-25A was delivered to the museum in 1969.

(NMUSAF Photo)

Blériot, 1909.  Mr. Ernest C. Hall of Warren, Ohio, built the Bleriot on display in 1911 from factory drawings.  With it, he taught himself to fly.  Mr. Hall donated the aircraft to the museum in 1969.

(Boeing P-12B Kelly Field USAF Photo, SDASM Archives)

(NMUSAF Photos)

(Martin McGuire Photo)

Boeing P-12E (Serial No. 31-559).

(USAAC Photos)

(NMUSAF Photos)

Boeing P-26A Peashooter, replica, (Serial No. 0001).  This P-26A is a reproduction, painted to represent the Commander's aircraft of the 19th Pursuit Squadron, 18th Pursuit Group, stationed at Wheeler Field, Hawaii, in 1938.

(NMUSAF Photos)

Boeing Stearman PT-13D Kaydet (Serial No. 42-17800).  The NMUSAF's PT-13D was donated in 1959 by Boeing, and it is painted as it looked leaving the assembly line.

(B-17D)

(USAAF Photos)

(Valder137 Photos)

Boeing B-17D Flying Fortress (Serial No. 40-3097), C/N 2125, the “Swoose”.  The Swoose saw extensive use in the Southwest Pacific theatre of the Second World War and survived to become the oldest B-17 still intact.  It is the only early "shark fin" B-17 known to exist, and the only surviving B-17 to have seen action in the 1941–42 Philippines Campaign, operating on the first day of the United States entry into the war.  It is on loan to the NMUSAF from the NASM.

(USAAF Photo)

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress "The Memphis Belle" on her way back to the United States, 9 June 1943, after successfully completing 25 missions from an airbase in England.

 

(NMUSAF Photos)

(Mark Knapp Photos)

Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress (Serial No. 41-24485), DF-A, C/N 3170 "Memphis Belle".

Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress (Serial No. 42-32076), C/N 7190.

Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress (Serial No. 44-83624), VE, C/N 32265.  On loan to the Air Mobility Command, Dover AFB.

(NMUSAF Photos)

(Greg Hume Photo)

(Goshimini Photo)

Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress (Serial No.), "Shoo Shoo Shoo Baby".  In March 1944 this B-17G was assigned to the 91st Bomb Group, "The Ragged Irregulars", and based at Bassingbourn, England.  There its crew named it Shoo Shoo Shoo Baby, after a popular song.  It flew 24 combat missions during the Second World War, receiving flak damage seven times.  Its first mission, to Frankfurt, Germany, was on 24 March 1944, and its last mission, to Posen, Poland, was on 29 May 29 1944, when engine problems forced it to land in neutral Sweden where the airplane and crew were interned.  In 1968 Shoo Shoo Shoo Baby was found abandoned in France, and the French government presented the airplane to the USAF.  In July 1978 the 512th Military Airlift Wing moved it to Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, for restoration by the volunteers of the 512th Antique Restoration Group.  After a massive 10-year job of restoration to flying condition, the aircraft was flown to the museum in October 1988.

(B-29, USAAF Photo)

(NMUSAF Photos)

Boeing B-29 Superfortress (Serial No. 44-27297), 77, C/N 3615, "Bock’s Car".  The B-29 on display in the NMUSAF, Bockscar, dropped the Fat Man atomic bomb on Nagasaki on 9 August 1945, three days after the atomic attack against Hiroshima.  Bockscar was one of 15 specially modified "Silverplate" B-29s assigned to the 509th Composite Group.  Bockscar was flown to the museum on 26 Sep 1961.

(NMUSAF Photo)

Fat Man Atomic Bomb under Bock's Car.

Boeing B-29A Superfortress (Serial No. 44-62139), C/N 11616, fuselage only.

(NMNA Photo)

Boeing KB-50J refueling U.S. Marine Corps North American FJ-4B Fury (BuNo. 143636) of Marine Attack Squadron VMA-214 Black Sheep, 1960.

Boeing KB-50J Superfortress (Serial No. 49-0389), painted as (Serial No. 48-0114), C/N 16165.

(USAAF Photo)

Boeing B-50D-95-BO, (Serial No. 49- 8096), ca 1946.

(USAF Photo)

Boeing WB-50D (Serial No._48-115), ca 1949.

(Greg5030 Photo)

(NMUSAF Photos)

Boeing WB-50D Superfortress (Serial No. 49-0310), C/N 16086.  In 1953 the USAF decided to replace its aging WB-29 weather reconnaissance aircraft with modified B-50Ds.  Stripped of their defensive armament, 36 B-50Ds were equipped for long-range weather reconnaissance missions with high-altitude atmospheric samplers, Doppler radar, weather radar and a bomb-bay fuel tank for extended range.  Some WB-50 aircraft also flew missions to sample the air for radioactive particles indicating that the Soviet Union had detonated a nuclear weapon.  The WB-50D aircraft accomplished special weather reconnaissance missions with SAC's 97th Bomb Wing until April 1955, when all WB-50s went to the Air Weather Service.  In 1963 the USAF started phasing out the WB-50Ds, and in 1965 the aircraft on display in the NMUSAF became the last WB-50D to be retired.  It was delivered to the museum in 1968.

(USAF Photo)

Boeing KC-97L Stratotanker (Serial No. 53-0355) of the Texas Air National Guard refueling two Fairchild Republic A-10A Thunderbolt IIs, ca 1975.

(Clemens Vasters Photos)

(Mike Freer - Touchdown-aviation Photo)

(NMUSAF Photo)

Boeing KC-97L Stratofreighter (Serial No. 52-2630).  The aircraft on display in the NMUSAF was flown by the 160th Air Refueling Group of the Ohio Air National Guard.  It is named the "Zeppelinheim", and was flown to the museum in August 1976.

(USAF Photo)

Boeing B-47E Stratojet (Serial No. 53-2280), c/n 450-1093.  In 2013 this aircraft was transferred to the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History in Albuquerque, New Mexico for permanent display.

(USAF Photo)

(NMUSAF Photos)

(Clemens Vasters Photos)

Boeing RB-47H Stratojet (Serial No. 53-4299), c/n 450-1323.  During the early part of the Cold War, the U.S. Air Force needed an aircraft to gather information about Soviet air defense radar systems, including details like their location, range and coverage.  The electronic reconnaissance RB-47H, developed from the B-47E, met this requirement, and Boeing completed the first RB-47H in 1955.  Boeing produced 32 newly built RB-47Hs and converted three B-47Es into ERB-47Hs.  The RB-47H first entered service in August 1955.  Over the next decade, RB-47H crews of the 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing (SRW) flew thousands of dangerous “ferret” missions. Flying in radio silence at night along, and sometimes over, the border of the Soviet Union and other communist nations, RB-47Hs collected essential intelligence about the size and capability of Soviet air defense radar networks.  The need for this information and the relatively small number of RB-47Hs forced crews to spend much of their time deployed to places around the world, away from their homes at Forbes AFB, Kansas.  The RB-47H continued in service until the more capable RC-135 replaced it in the mid-1960s.  The NMUSAF’s RB-47H was delivered to the USAF in October 1955.  The aircraft served with the 55th SRW from 1955 until its retirement in 1966.  During this time, it deployed to several locations, including Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, and Yokota Air Base, Japan, and flew missions over the Soviet Union.  The aircraft was acquired by the museum in 1998 from the City of Salina, Kansas.  After extensive restoration by museum personnel, the aircraft went on display in 2003, marked as it appeared in 1960.

Boeing B-52 Stratofortress preparing to taxi on Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, 24 Aug 2016.  The B-52s have served non-stop rotations since 2006, which have been shared between the bomber squadrons from Minot AFB, North Dakota, and Barksdale AFB, Louisiana. (Staff Sgt. Benjamin Gonsier, USAF Photo)

Boeing B-52 Stratofortress (Serial No. 53-0394).

(USAF Photo)

Boeing B-52D-40-BW Stratofortress (Serial No. 56-0695) in flight launching Quail decoy (Serial No. 061127)

(NMUSAF Photo)

(Martin McGuire Photo)

Boeing B-52D Stratofortress (Serial No. 56-0665), c/n 464036.  In June 1965, B-52s entered combat in Southeast Asia.  By August 1973, they had flown 126,615 combat sorties with seventeen B-52s lost to enemy action.  The aircraft on display saw extensive service in Southeast Asia and was severely damaged by an enemy surface-to-air missile on 9 April 1972.  In December 1972, after being repaired, it flew four additional missions over North Vietnam.  Transferred from the 97th Bomb Wing at Blytheville Air Force Base, Arkansas, this aircraft was flown to the Museum in November 1978.

(Valder137 Photo)

Boeing CIM-10 Bomarc Surface to Air Missile.

(NMUSAF Photo)

(Clemens Vasters Photo)

Boeing NKC-135A Stratotanker (Serial No. 55-3123), C/N 17239.  Airborne Laser Laboratory (ALL).

(Greg Hume Photo)

(Clemens Vasters Photo)

Boeing EC-135E (Serial No. 60-0374), C/N 18149.

(NMUSAF Photo)

(KLaRock Photo)

Boeing VC-137C SAM 26000 (Serial No. 62-6000), C/N 18461/303.

(USAF Photo)

Boeing Joint Strike Fighter X-32B demonstrator lifts off on its maiden flight from the company's facility in Palmdale, California, 18 Sep 2000.

(Valder137 Photos)

Boeing X-32A Joint Strike Fighter.  CTOL version.

(NASA Photo)

(Sixflashphoto)

Boeing X-40A Space Maneuver Vehicle.

(NMUSAF Photo)

Boeing Bird of Prey UAV.  The Bird of Prey is a single-seat stealth technology demonstrator used to test "low-observable" stealth techniques and new methods of aircraft design and construction. The secret Bird of Prey project ran from 1992 to 1999, and the aircraft first flew in the fall of 1996. The Bird of Prey was named for its resemblance to the Klingon spacecraft from the science fiction series Star Trek.  Boeing donated the Bird of Prey to the NMUSAF in 2002.

(NMUSAF Photos)

Boeing YQM-94A Compass Cope B (Serial No. 71-1840), UAV.

(Greg Davis Photo)

Boeing C-17A Globemaster III aircraft assigned to the 3rd Airlift Squadron, 436th Airlift Wing, unloading cargo pallets off the ramp during a combat offload training scenario 6 Nov 2013, at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware.  Combat offloading is used to prevent an aircraft from remaining on the ground in hostile areas for extended periods.

Boeing YC-17A Globemaster III (Serial No. 87-0025), ED, C/N F-2/T-1.

(NMUSAF Photo)

Boeing YCGM-121B Seek Spinner.  The BRAVE 200 was designed and built by Boeing Military Airplane Co. in the early 1980s and received the military designation YCGM-121B.  It is an unmanned aerial vehicle designed to seek out and attack the radars that control enemy anti-aircraft artillery or surface-to-air missile defenses.  Some radar antennas rotate or spin, hence the name "Seek Spinner."  It is launched from the ground with rocket assistance.  Using instructions programmed into its computer, the YCGM-121B flies to a designated target where it loiters or circles until its sensors detect the enemy radar signal.  The vehicle then follows the radar beam to its source and detonates its warhead, damaging or destroying the radar site.  The Seek Spinner underwent testing for a number of years with promising results.  However, it never became operational.  The last test flight took place in late 1989.  The program was then cancelled due to cost and the availability of alternative systems.  The museum received the Seek Spinner in late 1989.

(Senior Master Sgt. David H. Lipp, USAF Photo)

Bombardier Aerospace Learjet C-21A , North Dakota Air National Guard (NDANG), 119th Fighter Wing (Happy Hooligans), 19 March 2007.  

Bombardier Aerospace Learjet C-21A (Serial No. 84-0064).  This aircraft arrived at the NMUSAF on 28 Aug 2013.

(RAF Photo)

Bristol Beaufighter TF Mk. X (Serial No. NV427), EO-L, RCAF No. 404 Squadron based at Dallachy, Morayshire in the UK, breaking formation during a flight along the Scottish coast, 17 Feb 1945.

(RCAF Photo)

Bristol Beaufighter Mk. X (Serial No. NE255), EE-H, RCAF No. 404 Squadron, RAF Davidstow Moor, UK, 21 Aug 1944.

(USAAF Photo)

Bristol Beaufighter "Fluff" in service with the USAAF, 414th Night Fighter Squadron, at Grottaglie Airfield, Italy, Nov 1943.

(USAAF Photo)

Bristol Beaufighter "Honeychile" in service with the USAAF, 414th Night Fighter Squadron, at Grottaglie Airfield, Italy, Nov 1943.

(NMUSAF Photos)

(Dsdugan Photos)

(Goshimini Photo)

Bristol 156 Beaufighter Mk. 1C (Serial No. A19-43), with parts from (Serial No. KV912).  The NMUSAF's aircraft was built under license by the Fairey Aviation Co. in Stockport, England, and delivered to the Royal Australian Air Force in 1942.  Although flown in combat in the south-west Pacific by 31 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, A19-43 is painted as (Serial No. T5049), "Night Mare", a USAAF Beaufighter flown by Capt. Harold Augspurger, commander of the 415th Night Fighter Squadron, who shot down a Heinkel He 111 carrying German staff officers in September 1944.  The Beaufighter was recovered from a dump at Nhill, Australia, in 1971, where it had been abandoned in 1947.  It was acquired by the USAF Museum in 1988.  A19-43 has been on public display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Dayton, Ohio since October 2006.

(NMUSAF Photos)

Caproni Ca.36 (Serial No.).  This aircraft was restored by museum specialists.  The NMUSAFobtained the Ca. 36 on display from the Museo Aeronautica Caproni di Taliedo in Italy in 1987.

(NMUSAF Photos)

(Dsdugan Photo)

Caquot Type R Observation Balloon.  Caquot balloons were manufactured in great numbers during the First World War; nearly 1,000 were made in the United States in 1918-1919.  During the Second World War, the British produced Caquots once again, but in limited numbers.  The balloon displayed at the museum was manufactured in 1944 in England, and is believed to be the only survivor.  The British used it for parachute testing and noncombat aerial observation and photography until 1960.  The British Ministry of Defense, Royal Aircraft Establishment, presented the Caquot to the museum after it was located with the aid of American and British First World War balloon veterans in 1975.  Assisted by the Goodyear Aerospace Corp. of Akron, Ohio, which had produced these balloons during the First World War, NMUSAF personnel mended and sealed the balloon fabric and prepared it for inflation.  It was placed on display in May 1979.

(NMUSAF Photo)

(Clemens Vasters Photo)

Cessna UC-78B Bobcat (Serial No. 42-71626).  The UC-78 on display in the NMUSAF is one of the 1,806 UC-78Bs built for the USAAF and was acquired by the museum in 1982.

(Greg Goebel Photo),

(NMUSAF Photos)

Cessna O-1G Bird Dog (Serial No. 51-11917).  The USAF ordered more than 3,200 Bird Dogs, most of which were built as L-19As between 1950 and 1959.  The O-1G on display was transferred to the museum in 1971.

(NMUSAF Photo s)

(Greg Goebel Photo)

Cessna O-2A Super Skymaster (Serial No. 67-21331), C/N 337M-0037.  Suspended from the ceiling.  The O-2A on display was assigned to the 20th Tactical Air Support Squadron at Da Nang, South Vietnam, in the late 1960s.  It was transferred to the museum in December 1982.

(NMUSAF Photo)

Cessna U-3A Blue Canoe (Serial No. 58-2124).  The aircraft on display in the NMUSAF is one of several USAF U-3As that were transferred to the U.S. Army.  It was flown to the museum in September 1984.

(NMUSAF Photos)

Cessna LC-126A (Serial No. 49-1949), AR-949, C/N 7328.  Suspended from the ceiling.  Equipped with Edo floats, the LC-126A on display in the NMUSAF is marked as it appeared while serving with the 10th Rescue Squadron at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, in 1949.

(Valder137 Photos)

(NMUSAF Photos)

Cessna A-37A(YA) Dragonfly (Serial No. 62-5951), C/N 40719.  Mounted on pylons.  The A-37 on display in the NMUSAF was one of the two prototype YAT-37Ds evaluated by the USAF.  It was retired to the museum in December 1964.  However, it was recalled to active service in August 1966 for final design testing of the urgently needed A-37 attack aircraft.  This aircraft retired to the museum for a second time in July 1970 as the YA-37A.

Cessna T-37B Tweet (Serial No. 54-2729).

(NMUSAF Photo)

Cessna T-37B Tweet (Serial No. 57-2289), C/N 40222.  Suspended from the ceiling.  The T-37B on display in the NMUSAF was flown to the museum on 8 Oct 1991.

(NMUSAF Photo)

Cessna T-41A Mescalero (Serial No. 65-5251), Reg. No. N5251F, C/N 17253351.  Suspended from the ceiling.  The T-41 on display was flown to the museum in April 1993.

(NMUSAF Photos)

Chance-Vought/LTV XC-142A (Serial No. 62-5924).  Five tilt-wing XC-142As were built in the 1960s to explore the suitability of Vertical/Short TakeOff and Landing (VSTOL) transports.  VSTOL transports permit rapid movement of troops and supplies into and out of unprepared areas.  XC-142As were tested extensively by the US Army, US Navy, USAF and NASA.  An XC-142A first flew conventionally in September 1964 and performed its first transitional flight (vertical takeoff, changing to forward flight, and landing vertically) in January 1965 . In tests, XC-142As were flown from airspeeds of 35 mph backwards to 400 mph forward.  Although the XC-142A did not go into production, it foreshadowed future operational VSTOL transports like the V-22 Osprey.  The aircraft on display in the NMUSAF, the only remaining XC-142A, was flown to the museum in 1970.

(NMUSAF Photos)

Consolidated PT-1 Trusty (Serial No. 26-233).  The PT-1 featured a welded fuselage framework of chrome-molybdenum steel tubing.  A departure from the all-wood structures found in other trainers, the structure proved so sturdy and dependable that the PT-1 earned the nickname "Trusty".  Easy to fly, the Trusty made some students overconfident, and they received a shock when they advanced to faster airplanes with more difficult handling characteristics.  The museum obtained the airplane on display from The Ohio State University in 1957.

(NMUSAF Photos)

(Clemens Vasters Photo)

Consolidated PBY-5 Catalina (Serial No. 44-6595), (BuNo. 46595), painted as OV-10 (Serial No. 44-33879), C/N 1959.  The Brazilian Air Force was one of several Allied nations that received Catalinas during the Second World War.  It operated this Catalina in a variety of roles in the Amazon Basin until 1981.  It was flown to the museum in 1984, and was restored and painted as an OA-10A assigned to the 2nd Emergency Rescue Squadron in the Pacific Theater during the Second World War.

(NMUSAF Photos)

Consolidated B-24D Liberator (Serial No. 42-72843), 24, C/N 2413, "Strawberry Bitch".  The B-24D on display in the NMUSAF flew combat missions from North Africa in 1943-1944 with the 512th Bomb Squadron.  It was flown to the museum in May 1959.  It is the same type airplane as the "Lady Be Good", the world-famous B-24D that disappeared on a mission from North Africa in April 1943 and was found in the Libyan Desert in May 1959.

(NMUSAF Photos)

(Martin McGuire Photo)

Convair B-36J Peacemaker (Serial No. 52-2220), C/N 361.  The B-36 made its maiden flight in August 1946, and in June 1948 the Strategic Air Command received its first operational B-36.  Some B-36s served as photographic reconnaissance aircraft, and others were adapted to launch and retrieve specially modified RF-84F/K reconnaissance planes.  Powered by six Pratt & Whitney R-4360 engines, the B-36J cruised at 230 mph, but for additional bursts of speed its four General Electric J47s increased the maximum speed to 435 mph.  It carried 86,000 pounds of nuclear or conventional bombs.  When production ended in August 1954, more than 380 B-36s had been built for the USAF.  In 1958-1959, the USAF replaced the B-36 with the all-jet B-52.  Although never used in combat, the B-36 was a major deterrent to enemy aggression.  Making the last B-36 flight ever, the aircraft on display flew to the NMUSAF from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, on 30 April 1959.

(USAF Photo)

Convair XC-99 (Serial No. 43-52436) in flight near La Jolla, California, a prototype heavy cargo aircraft, which first flew on 23 November 1947.

(USAF Photo)

Convair XC-99 at Kelly AFB, Texas, 1954.

(USAF Photo)

Convair XC-99 (Serial No. 43-52436), a prototype heavy cargo aircraft, which first flew on 23 November 1947.  In 1953, an AN/APS-42 weather radar with its distinctive “thimble” radome (the black dome on the nose of the aircraft) was installed.  The spectators are looking into the cargo bay, which used a special hoist to load cargo, 31 Dec 1952.

(Mike Freer, Touchdown Aviation Photo)

Convair XC-99 (Serial No. 43-52436).

Convair B-58 Hustler in flight.  (USAF Photo)

(USAF Photo)

Convair RB-58A Hustler (Serial No. 58-1011), with two component pod (TCP).

(USAF Photos)

Convair B-58A Hustler.

(NMUSAF Photos)

(Martin McGuire Photo)

Convair B-58A Hustler (Serial No. 59-2458), C/N 61.  Convair built 116 B-58s: 30 test and pre-production aircraft and 86 for operational service.  Hustlers flew in the Strategic Air Command between 1960 and 1970.  Setting 19 world speed and altitude records, B-58s also won five different aviation trophies.  The B-58A on display in the NMUSAF set three speed records while flying from Los Angeles to New York and back on 5 March 1962.  For this effort, the crew received the Bendix and Mackay Trophies for 1962.  It was flown to the museum in December 1969.

 (NMUSAF Photos)

Convair XF-92A (Serial No. 46-0682), (XP-92), C/N 7-002.  The XF-92A was the world's first jet aircraft to fly with the radical delta-wing configuration pioneered by Germany's Dr. Alexander Lippisch.  Convair used the knowledge learned from the XF-92 to design the delta-wing F-102, the USAF’s first operational supersonic interceptor.  The original 1945 F-92 design concept was a short-ranged, swept-wing, supersonic interceptor powered by a ramjet and several rocket engines.  In the end, this propulsion system proved impractical, and the USAF canceled the F-92 interceptor program.  The USAF, however, accepted the turbojet-powered XF-92A prototype to conduct delta-wing flight research.  The sole XF-92A was flown by Air Force and NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics), predecessor to NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), test pilots from 1948 until its nose gear collapsed on landing in October 1953.  The NMUSAF’s aircraft was delivered in 1969 from the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee.

(NMUSAF Photos)

(Valder137 Photo)

(Clemens Vasters Photos)

(Martin McGuire Photo)

Convair F-102A Delta Dagger (Serial No. 56-1416), C/N 8-10-363.  The F-102A on display in the NMUSAF served the 57th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron in Iceland . On various occasions, it encountered Soviet aircraft flying reconnaissance missions over the arctic.  It was flown to the museum in 1971.

(NMUSAF Photo)

Convair F-106A Delta Dart (Serial No. 58-0787), painted as (Serial No. 59-0082), C/N 8-24-118.  49th FIS.  The aircraft on display in the NMUSAF was involved in an unusual incident.  During a training mission from Malmstrom Air Force Base on 2 Feb 1970, it suddenly entered an uncontrollable flat spin forcing the pilot to eject.  Unpiloted, the aircraft recovered on its own, apparently due to the balance and configuration changes caused by the ejection, and miraculously made a gentle belly landing in a snow-covered field near Big Sandy, Montana.  After minor repairs, the aircraft was returned to service.  It last served with the 49th Fighter Interceptor Squadron before being brought to the museum in August 1986.

(NMUSAF Photo)

Convair C-131D Samaritan (Serial No. 55-0301), C/N 329.

(NMUSAF Photos)

(Clemens Vasters Photo)

(Valder137 Photo)

Convair NC-131H TIFS (Serial No. N793VS), C/N 245.  Total In-Flight Simulator.  This one-of-a kind aircraft was an important in-flight simulator primarily used to study how an aircraft would handle before building an expensive, full-scale prototype.  It was created for the USAF in the late 1960s by the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory of Buffalo, New York (later the Calspan Corp.).  Engineers found the TIFS especially useful for studying how large aircraft would handle during takeoff and landing.  Vertical fins on the wings generated side forces to simulate crosswinds and provided test data.  The TIFS first flew in 1970, and its first research project simulated the B-1 bomber’s flying characteristics.  During its long and successful career, the TIFS simulated many military and NASA aircraft, including the X-40, Tacit Blue, Space Shuttle, B-2, YF-23 and C-17.  Civilian aircraft development projects included the Boeing Supersonic Transport (SST), MD-12X and Indonesian N-250.  It also served to train test pilots. The TIFS came to the NMUSAF in 2008.

(NMUSAF Photo)

(Valder137 Photos)

Culver PQ-14B Manned Aerial Target (Serial No. 44-68462).  The PQ-14B on display in the NMUSAF was donated in 1983 by Mr. Robert E. Parcell of Fort Worth, Texas.  It is painted and marked in a typical Second World War paint scheme, although some PQ-14s remained in service for several years after the war.

(NMUSAF Photos)

Curtiss 1911 Model D.  In 1911 the U.S. Army Signal Corps purchased its second airplane, a Curtiss Model D Type IV.  The military version of the Curtiss Model D could be easily disassembled and transported on Army wagons.  Like other Curtiss aircraft of the time, the Model D was a pusher, meaning the rear-mounted propeller "pushed" the aircraft.  Designated Signal Corps Airplane No. 2, it was accepted at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, on 27 April 1911, one of five airplanes ordered by the Army that year.  The control system for the Curtiss Model D operated differently than that used on Signal Corps No. 1, a Wright aircraft.  A pilot flying the Curtiss operated the ailerons with his shoulders, and the front elevator and rear rudder with the wheel mounted on a column in front of him. Also, rather than sitting next to the pilot, the observer sat behind the pilot.  The Signal Corps scrapped the original aircraft, so museum personnel constructed the reproduction on display, completing it in 1987.  They relied heavily on measurements scaled from early photographs of the original Signal Corps No. 2, because the original drawings and adequate written descriptions were not available.  Additional details were gathered from an existing factory-built Curtiss pusher and from recent drawings.  Except for the engine, which is made of wood and plastic, all materials used in the reproduction are essentially the same as those used in the original.

(Greg Hume Photo)

(NMUSAF Photo)

Curtiss JN-4D Jenny (Serial No. 2805).

(NMUSAF Photos)

(Valder137 Photos)

(Martin McGuire Photo)

Curtiss P-6E Hawk (Serial No. 32-0261), painted as (Serial No. 32-0240).  The NMUSAF's Hawkt is the only original P-6E still in existence.  The P-6E is painted in the colours and markings of the airplane assigned to Captain Ross G. Hoyt, Commanding Officer of the 17th Pursuit Squadron, 1st Pursuit Group, based at Selfridge Field, Michigan in 1933.  Edward S. Perkins of Anniston, Alabama, donated it to the museum, and the Department of Aviation Technology at Purdue University restored it in 1963.

(NMUSAF Photos)

(Martin McGuire Photo)

Curtiss P-36A Hawk (Serial No. 38-0001), 69, C/N 12415.  The P-36A on display in the NMUSAF was the first P-36A delivered to the US Army Air Corps (USAAC).  It was donated by Edward S. Perkins of Anniston, Alabama, in April 1959.  It is painted to represent the P-36A flown by Lt. Philip Rasmussen during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, 7 Dec 1941.

(USAAC Photo)

(Bill Larkins Photo)

Curtiss A-12 Shrike (Serial No. 42-80449).  The A-12 Shrike was the USAAC's second monoplane ground-attack aircraft, and its main attack aircraft through most of the 1930s. A-12s served with the 3rd Attack Group plus the 8th and 18th Pursuit Groups.  Surviving Shrikes were grounded just after the Japanese attack on Pearl harbor in December 1941.

(USAAC Photo)

Curtiss P-40E Warhawk in flight.

(NMUSAF Photos)

Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawk Mk. 1A, ex-RAF (Serial No. AK987), ex-RCAF (Serial No. 1068), USAAF (Serial No. 42-65406), 104, C/N 18731.  The aircraft on display in the NMUSAF is a Kittyhawk (the export version of the P-40E, built for the RAF).  It is painted to represent the aircraft flown by then Colonel Bruce Holloway, a pilot in both the Flying Tigers and its successor Army Air Forces unit, the 23rd Fighter Group.  This P-40 was obtained from Charles Doyle, Rosemount, Minnisota.

(NMUSAF Photos)

Curtiss O-52 Owl (Serial No. 40-2763).

(NMUSAF Photos)

Curtiss C-46D Commando (Serial No. 44-78018), C/N 33414. The C-46D on display in the NMUSAF is painted as a C-46 flying the Hump in 1944.  This aircraft was retired from USAF service in Panama in 1968 and was flown to the museum in 1972.

(NMUSAF Photos)

Curtiss Wright AT-9A Fledgling (Jeep) (Serial No. 41-12150), built 1942-1943.  The aircraft on display in the NMUSAF was not complete when the museum acquired it.  Some of the parts used to restore it were taken from another incomplete AT-9, while other parts had to be built from "scratch" by museum restoration specialists.

(JFK Presidential Library and Museum Photo)

(Valder137 Photo)

Curtiss Wright X-19.

de Havilland DH-4B,at the Dayton-Wright South Airfield, ca 1918.  (NMUSAF Photo)

de Havilland DH-4B at McCook Field in Dayton, Ohio, ca 1918.  (NMUSAF Photo)

(NMUSAF Photos)

de Havilland DH-4B (Serial No. N-489).  This reproduction DH-4B is marked as a photographic aircraft used by the 12th Aero Squadron in the early 1920's to take pictures of the US/Mexico border and potential emergency landing fields.

de Havilland DH.82A Tiger Moth (Serial No. N-390H).  This aircraft was donated to the museum by Susan and Kurt Hofschneider of Colonia, New Jersey, and J.P. Jordan of Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania.

(NMUSAF Photos)

de Havilland DH.89A Dominie (Serial No. NR695), C/N 6794.  Previously painted as (Serial No. X7454), modified to civil Dragon Rapide standards.  USAAF DH.89s carried RAF serial numbers.  The Dominie was built in the United Kingdom as a military version of the DH 89 Dragon Rapide, an eight-passenger civilian light transport.  The DH 89 was first flown in 1934, and by the time production ended about 10 years later, 728 of the small biplane transports had been built.  More than 530 Dominies were produced for the Royal Air Force and used in communications, transport and training roles.  Six were turned over to the USAAF's Eighth Air Force between 1942 and 1944.  They were used primarily by the 27th Transport Group.  As far as is known, all Dominies flown by Americans carried RAF serial numbers and no USAAF serial numbers were assigned.  The Dominie on display in the NMUSAF was built in 1944 and carried RAF (Serial No. NR695).  It was sold to the government of India in 1945, then sold again to a private concern in 1946.  Eventually, it came to the United States where it was modified to the civilian Dragon Rapide passenger configuration seen here.  It was obtained by the museum and flown there in November 1989.  The aircraft has been modified and painted to represent one of the six Dominies flown by the USAAF during the Second World War.

(NACA Photo)

de Havilland Canada Mosquito B Mk. XX, flown with the U.S. National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Langley Research Center, Virginia, during longitudinal stability and control studies of the aircraft in 1945. This aircraft was  the Canadian version of the Mosquito B Mk. IV bomber aircraft. 145 were built, of which 40 were converted into photo-reconnaissance aircraft for the USAAF, which designated the planes F-8.

(USAAF Photo)

de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito PR Mk. XVI (Serial No. NM345), USAAC, 654th Bomb Squadron, 25th Bombardment Group, at RAF Watton, UK, 1944.

(NMUSAF Photos)

de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito B35 (Serial No. N9797),ex-G-MOSI, ex-G-ASKA, painted as USAAF F-8 (Serial No. NS519).   Mosquitoes were flown by several U.S. Army Air Force units as photographic and weather reconnaissance aircraft and as night fighters.  During the Second World War, the USAAF acquired 40 Canadian Mossies and flew them under the American F-8 (photo reconnaissance) designation.  In addition, the British turned over more than 100 Mosquitoes to the USAAF under Reverse Lend-Lease.  These aircraft retained their British designations.  The aircraft on display in the NMUSAF is a British-built B. Mk. 35 manufactured in 1946 (later converted for towing targets) and is similar to the P.R. Mk. XVIs used by the USAAF.  It was flown to the museum in February 1985.  This Mosquito, serial RS709, has been restored to a Mk. XVI configuration and painted as NS519, a weather reconnaissance aircraft of the 653rd Bombardment Squadron based in England in 1944-1945.  Just before the D-Day, 6 June 1944, invasion of France, black and white stripes were applied almost overnight to a vast majority of American and British aircraft to clearly identify them during the Normandy landings.  In the rush to mark all the aircraft, masking and spraying sometimes gave way to more expeditious method of painting them by hand.  Invasion stripes, like the ones being applied by the ground crewman in the museum's exhibit, would have completely encircled the wings and fuselage.  The 25th Bombardment Group adopted a red tail for their Mosquitoes in August 1944 and removed the invasion stripes from the upper wing and upper fuselage surfaces in September 1944.

(NMUSAF Photo)

de Havilland Canada U-6A Beaver (Serial No. 51-16501), C/N 277.  de Havilland Aircraft of Canada manufactured the U-6A (designated L-20 until 1962), delivering nearly 1,000 to the United States' armed services.  Although flown mostly by the U.S. Army, the USAF employed more than 200 U-6As, primarily for aeromedical evacuation.  However, the USAF also used the U-6A aircraft for courier service, passenger transport, light cargo, reconnaissance, rescue and aerial photography missions.  The U-6A saw USAF service in both the Korean and Southeast Asia Wars.  The museum acquired the U-6A on display in 1980.  It carries markings typical of USAF L-20/U-6 aircraft during the late 1950s and 1960s.

(NMUSAF Photos)

de Havilland Canada C-7A Caribou (Serial No. 62-4193), KA, C/N 138.  The C-7A is a twin-engine, short takeoff and landing (STOL) utility transport built by De Havilland Aircraft of Canada, Ltd.  It was used primarily for tactical airlift missions from short, unimproved airstrips in forward battle areas.  It could carry either 26 fully equipped paratroops, 20 litter patients, or more than three tons of equipment.  In 1961 De Havilland delivered the first 22 out of a total of 159 C-7s to the Army.  Originally designated AC-1, the aircraft was redesignated CV-2 in 1962, and it retained that designation for the remainder of its Army service.  In January 1967, when responsibility for all fixed-wing tactical transports was transferred to the U.S. Air Force, the Caribou received the designation C-7. During the Southeast Asia War, the Caribou's STOL capability made it particularly suitable for delivering troops, supplies, and equipment to isolated outposts. The C-7A on display in the NMUSAF is a Southeast Asia combat veteran that later served with the Air Force Reserve.  It is painted to appear as one of the C-7As flown by Maj. Hunter Hackney on 25 Aug 1968.  On this day, he flew several aerial resupply missions at low altitude through intense enemy fire, incurring heavy damage.  For his heroism, Hackney was awarded the Air Force Cross.

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