Some cool five axis machining parts photos:
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: major hall panorama (P-40 et al)
Image by Chris Devers
See far more photographs of this, and the Wikipedia post.
Information, quoting from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Curtiss P-40E Warhawk (Kittyhawk IA):
Whether or not recognized as the Warhawk, Tomahawk, or Kittyhawk, the Curtiss P-40 proved to be a effective, versatile fighter during the initial half of Globe War II. The shark-mouthed Tomahawks that Gen. Claire Chennault’s "Flying Tigers" flew in China against the Japanese stay among the most well-liked 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 Company
Date:
1939
Country of Origin:
United States of America
Dimensions:
General: 330 x 970cm, 2686kg, 1140cm (10ft 9 15/16in. x 31ft 9 7/8in., 5921.6lb., 37ft four 13/16in.)
Materials:
All-metal, semi-monocoque
Physical Description:
Single engine, single seat, fighter aircraft.
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird port panorama (Bowlus 1-S-2100 Senior Albatross “Falcon” overhead)
Image by Chris Devers
See far more images of this, and the Wikipedia report.
Particulars, quoting from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Bowlus 1-S-2100 Senior Albatross "Falcon"
Hawley Bowlus created the Senior Albatross series from a style he called the Bowlus Super Sailplane. In Germany, designers and pilots led the world in the building and flying of high-overall performance gliders, and Bowlus was strongly influenced by their perform. He and German glider pioneer, Martin Schempp, taught courses in aircraft style and construction at the Curtiss-Wright Technical Institute in Glendale, California. The two instructors led a group of students that built the Super Sailplane in 1932. The Super’ served as a prototype for the Senior Albatross.
In May possibly 1934, Warren E. Eaton acquired the Senior Albatross now preserved at NASM from Hawley Bowlus. Eaton joined the U. S. Army Air Service and flew SPAD XIII fighters (see NASM collection) in the 103rd Aero Squadron, 3rd Pursuit Group, at Issoudon, France, from August 27, 1918, to the Armistice. He was credited with downing a single enemy aircraft in aerial combat. Right after the war, Eaton founded the Soaring Society of America and became that organization’s first president.
Gift of Mrs. Genevieve J. Eaton.
Manufacturer:
Bowlus-Dupont Sailplane Company
Date:
1933
Country of Origin:
United States of America
Dimensions:
Wingspan: 18.8 m (61 ft 9 in)
Length: 7.two m (23 ft 7 in)
Height: 1.six m (5 ft four in)
Weight: Empty, 153 kg (340 lb) Gross, 236 kg (520 lb)
Components:
Originally skinned with mahogany and covered with lightweight cotton "glider cloth," then covered with a shellac-primarily based varnish. In 2000, restorers removed original fabric and shellac coating, recovered with Grade A cotton fabric followed by numerous coats of nitrate dope, then lemon shellac, finishing with numerous coats of Johnson Wax.
Physical Description:
Monoplane glider with strut-braced, gull-kind wing mounted higher on monocoque fuselage wooden construction with steel and aluminum fittings and controls fuselage and wing leading edge covered with mahogany plywood. Fuselage skin applied over laminated Spruce bulkheads. Landing gear consists of single-wheel and …. [size?] tire mounted beneath forward fuselage, spring-steel tail skid beneath rudder.
Cockpit covered with hood made from laminated Spruce bulkheads and covered with Mahogany plywood. Circular openings cut into hood on either side of pilot’s head. Instrumentation: altimeter, airspeed, variometer plus a bank-and-turn indicator powered by low-speed venturi tube installed on retractable mount beneath right wingroot.
Places aft of wing spar and all manage surfaces covered with glider cloth. Cloth is doped straight onto ribs and plywood skin without stitching for smooth finish. Continual-chord wing from fuselage to mid-span, tapered profile from mid-span to wingtip continuous-chord,
split-trailing edge flaps and higher-aspect ratio ailerons. A Gö 549 airfoil is employed at the wing root, becoming symmetrical at the tip.
All-flying elevator mounted on duraluminum torque-tube, rudder hinged to box-beam post, each surfaces constructed up from Spruce and covered with glider cloth.
Extended Description:
Long just before he created and built the Bowlus-DuPont "Falcon," William Hawley Bowlus had contributed to aviation history. In 1926, T. Claude Ryan hired him as factory manager at the Ryan Airlines, Inc., plant at San Diego, California. Late in February 1927, Bowlus and twenty Ryan workmen, supervised by chief engineer Donald A. Hall and Charles A. Lindbergh, built a long-variety monoplane based on the Ryan M-two. Lindbergh christened the modified M-2 the "Spirit of St. Louis." It is stated that Bowlus recommended a number of design and style functions that Lindbergh authorized and incorporated in the finished airplane. Bowlus renewed his friendship with Lindbergh late in 1929. He taught the ocean flyer and his wife, Anne Morrow, to fly sailplanes and in January 1930, both Charles and Anne completed their initial solo glider flights.
Hawley Bowlus created the Senior Albatross series from a design and style that he called the Bowlus Super Sailplane. In Germany, designers and pilots led the planet in building and flying high-functionality gliders and Bowlus was strongly influenced by their function. He and German glider pioneer, Martin Schempp, taught courses in aircraft design and style and building at the Curtiss-Wright Technical Institute in Glendale, California. The two instructors led a group of students who built the Super Sailplane in 1932. The Super Sailplane served as a prototype for the Senior Albatross. The wing of the Super was almost a copy of the German "Wein" sailplane developed and flown with wonderful accomplishment in 1930 and 1931 by Robert Kronfeld. Each gliders employed the same Goettingen 549 wing airfoil and even the ideas of the handle surfaces curved to almost identical contours. When Bowlus constructed the Senior Albatross series, the cockpit enclosure closely resembled an additional record-setting and influential German sailplane, the "Fafnir," made by Alexander Lippisch especially for pilot Gunther Groenhoff.
Richard C. du Pont was also an crucial character in the history of the Senior Albatross. By the time he finished high college, this heir to the Delaware-based chemical empire could fly gliders with some ability. In the course of his initial year at the University of Virginia, he founded a campus soaring club. His passion for motorless flight drew him farther away from conventional academics and in 1932, he transferred to the Curtiss-Wright Technical Institute. Du Pont was almost certainly among the students who constructed the Super Albatross.
In 1933, du Pont teamed with Hawley Bowlus and the two males set up shop in San Fernando, California, to develop gliders. Bowlus furnished the design and style expertise and performed considerably of the building. Du Pont supplied enthusiasm, labor, and financing. The Bowlus-DuPont Sailplane Business became an official entity in 1934 not in California, but in Delaware. The firm folded in September 1936 but in the course of its short corporate life, the modest factory constructed four examples of the Senior Albatross but no two had been constructed precisely alike. All 4 sailplanes did have ‘gull’ wings (each and every wing was bent down slightly at about mid-span) and this function differentiates these airplanes from the prototype Super Sailplane. Bowlus fitted two with wing flaps, rather than spoilers, for far better speed and altitude handle for the duration of landing. Mahogany plywood skinned a single and spruce plywood covered the other three aircraft. Bowlus sold each of these handcrafted airplanes for ,500.
In 1935, Hawley Bowlus began operate on a two-seat Senior Albatross constructed from aluminum but other distractions delayed completion till 1940. In 1939, Ernest Langley and Jim Gough constructed an additional Senior Albatross at the Bowlus ranch in California.
Overall performance calculations revealed a best glide ratio of 23:1 when flying at 64.4 kph (40 mph). If it became needed, the pilot of a Senior Albatross could push his mount nicely over 161 kph (one hundred mph) as long as he never exceeded a speed of 241.five kph (150 mph). With an achieved pilot at the controls, the Senior Albatross could fly far better than any American airplane with out a motor and they had been quite pleasing to look at too. A quotation from the July 1934 problem of "Aviation," a well-liked periodical, sums up one particular writer’s impressions of the Bowlus-Du Pont Senior Albatross:
"Few flying machines have ever exhibited such an extraordinary combination of workmanship, finish, and aerodynamic refinement, so that it seems really secure to say that the new ships represent the ultimate in soaring design practice in the United States, if not the world."
The pilots who flew the Senior Albatross practically dominated American competitive soaring. In 1933, Richard du Pont flew the 1st Senior Albatross at the fourth U. S. National Soaring Championships held at Elmira, New York. On September 21, du Pont set the American sailplane distance record by flying 196 km (121.six miles). On June 25, 1934, he flew to within 3.2 km (two miles) of New York City and established a new world distance record of 254 km (158 miles). On June 30, 1934, du Pont set the U. S. altitude record for sailplanes by climbing to 1,892 m (six,223 ft). The following year, Lewin Barringer soared his Senior Albatross parallel to the ridges of the Allegheny Mountains for 250.3 km (155.5 miles).
In May 1934, Warren E. Eaton acquired from Hawley Bowlus the Senior Albatross that is now preserved at NASM. Eaton was currently a veteran aviator. He had joined the U. S. Army Air Service and flew SPAD XIII fighters (see NASM collection) in the 103rd Aero Squadron, 3rd Pursuit Group, at Issoudon, France, from August 27, 1918, until Armistice Day, November 11. He was credited with downing one particular enemy aircraft in aerial combat. Following the war, Eaton founded the Soaring Society of America and became that organization’s very first president.
Eaton had commissioned Bowlus to construct this glider soon after he saw Richard C. du Pont fly the second Senior Albatross at the U. S. Nationals the year before. Eaton’s ordered flaps for his aircraft and it was the only Senior Albatross skinned with mahogany plywood. He christened it "Falcon" and it bore the federal aircraft registration number G13763. Many gold decals edged in black also appeared at a variety of areas on the fuselage. "Warren E. Eaton" and "Falcon" appeared on each sides of the nose. A stylized albatross and the organization motto "On the Wings of an Albatross" had been applied to the vertical fin above the words "Bowlus-Du Pont Sailplane Organization."
Eaton initial flew the glider at San Diego. In June, he brought it to the national contest at Harris Hill, New York. At Huge Meadows, Virginia, Eaton set the American soaring altitude record, 2,765 m (9,094 ft), in the course of September 1934. 3 months later, Eaton died in Florida flying a Franklin p glider.
In 1935, Warren Eaton’s widow, Genevieve, donated the "Falcon" to the Smithsonian Institution. It arrived in Washington on May possibly 28 and a couple of days later, museum personnel suspended the glider from the ceiling of the West Hall of the Arts and Industries Developing where it remained on display for many years.
• • • • •
See a lot more photographs of this, and the Wikipedia article.
Information, quoting from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird:
No reconnaissance aircraft in history has operated globally in a lot more hostile airspace or with such total impunity than the SR-71, the world’s quickest jet-propelled aircraft. The Blackbird’s overall performance and operational achievements placed it at the pinnacle of aviation technologies developments in the course of the Cold War.
This Blackbird accrued about 2,800 hours of flight time throughout 24 years of active service with the U.S. Air Force. On its final 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, four 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 more than to the Smithsonian.
Transferred from the United States Air Force.
Manufacturer:
Lockheed Aircraft Corporation
Designer:
Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson
Date:
1964
Nation of Origin:
United States of America
Dimensions:
General: 18ft five 15/16in. x 55ft 7in. x 107ft 5in., 169998.5lb. (5.638m x 16.942m x 32.741m, 77110.8kg)
Other: 18ft five 15/16in. x 107ft 5in. x 55ft 7in. (five.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-type material) to decrease radar cross-section Pratt and Whitney J58 (JT11D-20B) turbojet engines function large inlet shock cones.