Some cool china two shot mold manufacturer photos:
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: Photomontage of principal entrance view, which includes P-40 Warhawk & F-four Corsair up front, SR-71 Background beneath in the close to distance, and the Space Shuttle Enterprise beyond
Image by Chris Devers
Blogged on ☛ HoloChromaCinePhotoRamaScope‽ as: Bye bye, Miss American Pie.
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Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Curtiss P-40E Warhawk (Kittyhawk IA):
No matter whether known as the Warhawk, Tomahawk, or Kittyhawk, the Curtiss P-40 proved to be a profitable, versatile fighter for the duration of the 1st half of World War II. The shark-mouthed Tomahawks that Gen. Claire Chennault’s "Flying Tigers" flew in China against the Japanese remain amongst the most common airplanes of the war. P-40E pilot Lt. Boyd D. Wagner became the initial 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 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 Business
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.)
Supplies:
All-metal, semi-monocoque
Physical Description:
Single engine, single seat, fighter aircraft.
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Quoting 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 complete 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 technology developments during 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 three,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:
General: 18ft 5 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. (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-sort material) to reduce radar cross-section Pratt and Whitney J58 (JT11D-20B) turbojet engines feature massive inlet shock cones.
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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 and style allowed ground clearance for the large, three-bladed Hamilton Normal 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 biggest and 1 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-support fighter assigned to the USS Essex in July 1944.
Transferred from the United States Navy.
Manufacturer:
Vought Aircraft Company
Date:
1940
Nation of Origin:
United States of America
Dimensions:
Overall: 460 x 1020cm, 4037kg, 1250cm (15ft 1 1/8in. x 33ft five 9/16in., 8900lb., 41ft 1/8in.)
Components:
All metal with fabric-covered wings behind the primary spar.
Physical Description:
R-2800 radial air-cooled engine with 1,850 horsepower, turned a 3-blade Hamilton Common Hydromatic propeller with solid aluminum blades spanning 13 feet 1 inch wing bent gull-shaped on both sides of the fuselage.
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See more pictures of this, and the Wikipedia article.
Details, quoting from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Space Shuttle Enterprise:
Manufacturer:
Rockwell International Corporation
Country of Origin:
United States of America
Dimensions:
General: 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)
Components:
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 first Space Shuttle orbiter, "Enterprise," is a full-scale test automobile employed for flights in the atmosphere and tests on the ground it is not equipped for spaceflight. Although the airframe and flight control elements are like these of the Shuttles flown in space, this car has no propulsion method and only simulated thermal tiles because these characteristics were not needed for atmospheric and ground tests. "Enterprise" was rolled out at Rockwell International’s assembly facility in Palmdale, California, in 1976. In 1977, it entered service for a nine-month-long method-and-landing test flight program. 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 "Enterprise" to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum.
Transferred from National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: Northrop P-61C Black Widow
Image by Chris Devers
Examine & contrast:
Northrop P-61C Black widow:
* Front view
* Above view
Star Wars ARC-170 Fighter:
* Official page
* Wikia
* Wikipedia
* Toy assessment
I place it to you that they are the Exact same Factor.
* twin engines
* double-cockpit in front
* gunner’s cockpit in back
* broad wing coming out from the middle
• • • • •
See much more photographs of this, and the Wikipedia post.
Details, quoting from Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum: Steven F. Udvar-Hazy | Northrop P-61C Black Widow:
The P-61 Black Widow was the very first U.S. aircraft created to find and destroy enemy aircraft at evening and in negative climate, a feat created possible by the use of on-board radar. The prototype first flew in 1942. P-61 combat operations started just right after D-Day, June six, 1944, when Black Widows flew deep into German airspace, bombing and strafing trains and road targeted traffic. Operations in the Pacific started at about the very same time. By the finish of Planet War II, Black Widows had noticed combat in each theater and had destroyed 127 enemy aircraft and 18 German V-1 buzz bombs.
The Museum’s Black Widow, a P-61C-1-NO, was delivered to the Army Air Forces in July 1945. It participated in cold-weather tests, high-altitude drop tests, and in the National Thunderstorm Project, for which the leading turret was removed to make space for thunderstorm monitoring gear.
Transferred from the United States Air Force.
Manufacturer:
Northrop Aircraft Inc.
Date:
1943
Country of Origin:
United States of America
Dimensions:
General: 450 x 1500cm, 10637kg, 2000cm (14ft 9 3/16in. x 49ft 2 9/16in., 23450.3lb., 65ft 7 3/8in.)
Extended Description:
The P-61 Black Widow was the very first United States aircraft developed from the begin to discover and destroy other aircraft at night and in poor weather. It served in combat for only the final year of Planet War II but flew in the European, Mediterranean, Pacific, and China-Burma-India theaters. Black Widow crews destroyed 127 enemy aircraft and 18 robot V-1 buzz bombs.
Jack Northrop’s large fighter was born for the duration of the dark days of the Battle of Britain and the London Blitz in 1940. British successes against German daylight bombers forced the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) to shift to night bombing. By the time Royal Air Force (RAF) Spitfires could launch, climb out, and then attempt to intercept these raids, the bombers crews had normally dropped their loads and turned for property. An aircraft was required to patrol the skies more than England for up to seven hours during the night, and then follow radar vectors to attack German aircraft ahead of they reached their target. U.S. Army Air Corps officers noted this requirement and decided that America should have a evening fighter if and when it entered the war.
The Army awarded a contract to Northrop on January 30, 1941. The resulting design featured twin tail booms and rudders for stability when the aircraft closed in behind an intruder. It was a massive aircraft with a huge fuel load and two powerful engines. Armament evolved into four 20 mm cannons mounted in the belly firing forward and a powered, remote-controlled turret on leading of the center fuselage equipped with four .50 cal. machine guns. The three-man crew consisted of the pilot, a gunner seated behind him, and a radar observer/gunner at the rear behind the gun turret. Only the pilot could fire the cannons but any of the three could operate the machine guns.
Simultaneously, work was proceeding, at a laboratory run by the Massachusetts Institute of Technologies, to develop the airborne radar set. The Army tested an early design and style in a Douglas B-18 in 1941. The considerably-improved SCR-520 set was ready by early 1942. Meanwhile, Army enthusiasm for the XP-61 created an additional contract on March 10, 1941, for 13 service-test YP-61s. Even prior to these airplanes flew, Northrop received orders for 410 production machines! Northrop test pilot Vance Breeze flew the aircraft on Might 26, 1942. Even though the Black Widow was practically as massive as a medium bomber, it was a accurate fighter. The only prohibited flight maneuvers were outdoors loops, sustained inverted flight, and deliberate spins.
As Northrop sophisticated the design and style toward production, provide issues arose and modifications became needed. The 4-gun top turret was the same sort fitted to the top forward position on the Boeing B-29 Superfortress (see NASM collection) and that bomber had production priority more than the P-61. As a result, several hundred P-61s did not have this turret. These that did seasoned buffeting when the turret was traversed from side to side and a fix took time. By October 1943, the first P-61s were coming off the line. Training began immediately, and the initial night fighters arrived in the European Theater by March 1944. Combat operations started just right after D-Day (June 6) and the Black Widows speedily departed from their original part as defensive interceptors and became aggressors. They flew deep into German airspace, bombing and strafing trains and road targeted traffic and generating travel hard for the enemy by day and at evening.
P-61s arrived in the Pacific Theater at about the identical time as the European Black Widows. For years, the Japanese had operated lone bombers over Allied targets at evening and now U. S. fighters could locate and attack them. Nonetheless, on June 30, 1944, a Mitsubishi BETTY (see NASM collection) became the 1st P-61 kill in the Pacific. Soon, Black Widows controlled the evening skies. On the evening of August 14-15, a P-61 named "Lady in the Dark" by her crew encountered an intruding Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa (Peregrine Falcon) OSCAR (see NASM collection) and sooner or later forced it into the sea without having firing a shot. Even though the war was officially over, no a single was certain that all of the Japanese had heard the message and stopped fighting. The American night fighters flew again the next evening and "Lady in the Dark" once again located a target. It was a Nakajima Ki-44 Shoki (Demon) TOJO and the fighters maneuvered wildly as they attempted to gain an advantage. The P-61 crew lost and reacquired the Ki-44 many occasions then ultimately lost it for great and returned to base. The next day ground troops found the wrecked TOJO. In the darkness, Lady in the Dark’s crew had forced the Japanese pilot to fly into the ground, once more with no firing a shot.
With the war over, the Army cancelled further production. Northrop had built 706 aircraft which includes 36 with a highly modified center fuselage. These F-15As (later redesignated RF-61C) mounted a quantity of cameras in the nose and proved in a position reconnaissance platforms. Many of these airplanes participated in the very first excellent aerial photographic survey of the Pacific islands. A few, plus some particular goal P-61s, stayed in active service till 1950.
NASM’s Black Widow is a P-61C-1-NO, U.S. Army Air Forces serial quantity 43-8330. Northrop delivered it to the Army on July 28, 1945. By October 18, this P-61 was flying at Ladd Field, Alaska, in cold weather tests and it remained there until March 30, 1946. This airplane later moved to Pinecastle Air Force Base, Florida, for participation in the National Thunderstorm Project. The project’s goal was to discover much more about thunderstorms and to use this expertise to far better safeguard civil and military airplanes that operated near them. The U. S. Weather Bureau and the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) undertook the study with cooperation from the Army Air Forces and Navy. With its radar and specific flight characteristics, the P-61 was capable of locating the most turbulent regions of a storm, penetrating them, and returning crew and instruments intact for detailed study.
Pinecastle personnel removed the guns and turret from 43-8330 in July 1946 to make area for new equipment. In September, the aircraft moved to Clinton County Army Air Base, Ohio, exactly where it remained until January 1948. The Air Force then assigned the aircraft to the Flight Test Division at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Soon after declaring the airplane surplus in 1950, the Air Force stored it at Park Ridge, Illinois, on October three along with essential aircraft destined for the National Air Museum.
But 43-8830 was not accomplished flying. NACA asked the Smithsonian to lend them the aircraft for use in an additional specific system. The committee wanted to investigate how aerodynamic shapes behaved when dropped from higher altitude. The Black Widow arrived at the Ames Aeronautical Laboratory, Naval Air Station Moffett Field, California, on February 14, 1951. NACA returned the aircraft and delivered it to the Smithsonian at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, on August ten, 1954. When the engines shut down for the last time, this P-61 had accumulated only 530 total flight hours. Smithsonian personnel trucked it to the Paul Garber Facility in Suitland, Maryland. In 2006, the aircraft was preserved and assembled at the Udvar-Hazy Center. The three different paint schemes from its past service life have been revealed by cautiously removing person layers of paint.