- World's
Strangest Aircraft: A Collection of Weird and Wonderful Flying
Machines - Topics include gigantism in passenger planes,
the quest for speed in racers, WWII experimental planes (some
incredibly ahead of their time), lifting-bodies, the X-planes,
tilt-rotors, VTOLs, jet flying boats, and planes built for
oversize cargo. A fun read with great photographs not found
in most aircraft histories.
- XB-70
Valkyrie: The Ride to Valhalla - This complete story of
the XB-70 follows the Mach 3 long-range, high-altitude bomber
from its conception at the height of the Cold War through
its abandonment after 15 years of development,explaining and
illustrating the innovative technologies and materials
that resulted from the project and how they paved the way
for aircraft like the B-1 and F-117. Also described
are the backroom politics surrounding the aircraft and the
crash that killed the crew of one prototype. The lone surviving
XB-70 is the centerpiece of the U.S. Air Force Museum in Dayton,
Ohio.
- X-Planes:
Pushing the Envelope of Flight - Since the first edition
of X-Planes at Edwards was published in 1995, many new types
of civilian (Rutan-types, 717 and 777), military (Bombers,
Fighters, Reconnaissance Drones and Transports) and dedicated
research aircraft (X-planes) have been created by numerous
manufacturers and then flight-tested at the Air Force Flight
Test Center (AFFTC) and NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
(DFRC) at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert of California.
A number of these flight-test programs have concluded but
a number of them are ongoing. These include: Boeing North
American B-1B Lancer'; Northrop Grumman B-2A Spirit; Boeing
C-17A Globemaster III; Boeing F-15E Strike Eagle; Lockheed
Martin/Boeing F-22A Raptor; Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Prototypes
- Boeing X-32 and Lockheed Martin X-35; Lockheed/Boeing/General
Dynamics YF-22A Lightning II; Northrop/McDonnell Douglas YF-23A
Gray Ghost; Boeing 717; Boeing 777; Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
(UAV) - RQ-1 through RQ-8; Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles
(UCAV) - Boeing X-45A and Northrop Grumman X-47A Pegasus;
X-planes, X-32 through X-49.
- X-planes
Photo Scrapbook - The planes and many more are here. Note
the title says this is a Photo Scrapbook. It is. There are
450 black and white photographs and 50 color prints. Along
with the pictures is a bit of commentary explaining what they
were trying to do, what happened, perhaps what happened to
the plane after the testing was completed. Down through the
years a lot of rather funny looking planes have been built
for one purpose or another, And it's great to see so many
unusual planes pictured in one place.
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