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Planes, planes and more planes...
MONDAY 3/29/2004
 

North American F-86 Sabre -- cute nose!

This plane's front end looks like a cartoon character.

Comments on the rest of this page are from Bruce...he's the plane guy...besides, he did not like it when I said the F-86 Sabre had a "cute nose." 

Trivia question for you (answer at the bottom of the page).  France teamed with the UK to build the first supersonic passenger transport, the Concorde.  Who built the second supersonic passenger transport?

 

   
  Yep, the famous SR-71 Blackbird. The pilots of this plane called it the "The Sled", and once you see it up close, it is easy to see why. Very long, very wide, and very, very shallow/flat. Made to go over 3000mph.
    A Benoist-Korn Mark XII biplane. An example of a very early (1912) American production aircraft. Interesting that the ailerons are mounted at the ends of the wings. They appear to be warping ailerons, not hinged.
The Northrop NM-1 Flying Wing. First example of a flying wing - led to eventual development of the B-2 bomber.    
    One of my [Bruce's] favorite planes, the
P-38 Lightening. I believe this was the first production aircraft to fly faster than 400mph.
Boeing B-29-45-MO Superfortress also known as the "Enola Gay."     
   
  P-40 Warhawk. Made particularly famous by the WWII Flying Tigers squadron in China. 
 
Aside...from Heather... Bruce and his brother, who shared a bedroom growing up, had a poster of the Warhawk pinned to their wall.  No Farrah Faucet for these guys...their pin-ups had motors!
 
  F-4 Corsair seen from the bottom (the Warhawk is above). The Corsair prop spans 13 feet!
    The first pressurized airliner - Boeing 307 Stratoliner. Pan American flew this particular plane and called it the "Clipper Flying Cloud".

Another classic - Grumman G-21 Goose. This is a amphibious aircraft - can land in water or on land.

 

The Goose is sitting under the tail of the Concorde, which will give you some indication of how tall the Concorde is.

    

   

Three interesting planes here, from front to back:

Mignet-Crosley Flying Flea - no ailerons, elevator or rudder pedals, but it has two main wings...a strange plane.

Bell XV-15 Tiltrotor - a very large prop sits out on the end of the wings. The entire engine nacelle and prop rotate on the end of the wing, and can point any direction between up and forward. This allows it to hover like a helicopter, or fly like a plane.

Concorde - first supersonic passenger transport.

The museum's aeronautics web site (click on picture) has more information about most of their planes on display.

     
Q:   Who built the second supersonic passenger transport?
A:   Russians
   
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