Phantom II: A Pictorial History of the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II

Phantom II: A Pictorial History of the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II (SS 6010) By Lou Drendel
Publisher: Squadron/Signal Publications 1977 | 64 Pages | ASIN: B0006CVU7E | PDF | 5 MB

I have always been an airplane "nut". My preoccupation with aeronautlca dates back to a chirdhood filled with the reats ol the great airmen and aircraft of World War II and Korea. Somehow, in the late fifties and early sixties. I lost my status us an airplane enthusiast. Oh, I still knew a Spitfire from a Sabre, but the late models might Just as well not have existed, for all I knew, (or cared) Looking back on it now. I realize that my malaise was not uncommon. Specifically, it was a preoccupation with girls and fast cars. Anyway. 1 lost the better part ol a decade of aeronautical advances because ol II When I finally awoke to find myself married and driving a four door Chevelie, I re-ahzed that I had a lot of catching up to do if I was to regain my status ol an aerophile.

Westland Wessex

Westland Wessex (Warpaint Series 65) By Charles Stafrace
Publisher: Warpaint Books Ltd 2007 | 61 Pages | ASIN: B00131QMBG | PDF | 20 MB

With the end of the Second World War and the bitter experience of the success of German submarines against Allied shipping, the United States Navy began serious evaluation of the use of helicopters for anti-submarine warfare. This came about when it was discovered that a sonar transducer lowered from a helicopter and dipped into the sea could detect the presence of a nearby submarine. By the time of the Korean War helicopters had joined the US fleet in limited anti-submarine warfare, rescue work, plane guard, medical evacuation and other utility tasks. By 1955 HSS-I helicopters of the US Navy, better known as the Sikorsky S-58 operating from aircraft carriers and other warships, were carrying dipping sonar, homing torpedoes and a four-man crew for submarine hunting operations. Similar interest was being shown by the British Royal Navy, which was experimenting with indigenous types.

Aces of the Eighth - Fighter Pilots Planes & Outfits of the VIII Air Force (SS 6001)

Aces of the Eighth - Fighter Pilots Planes & Outfits of the VIII Air Force (SS 6001) By Gene B. & Hess, William N. Stafford
Publisher: Squadron Signal Publications 1973 | 64 Pages | ASIN: B002L4MKO2 | PDF | 24 MB

In March 1943 the skies over occupied Europe were dominated by an experienced and confident Luftwaffe. Many of the German pilots were veterans of more than three years of aerial warfare against first rate opposition, and even the inability of the Germans to bring the Royal Air Force to its knees in the Battle of Britain had not dampened the morale of the men. There had been some drain on the air power on the Western Front to meet the needs of other fronts, but this drain had been almost insignificant in terms of total strength. The Germans were much more concerned with the nocturnal bombing raids of the RAF than the feeble attempts of the Americans to mount a daylight bomber offensive.

Both of the great air powers in Europe had tried daylight bombing and had found that it led to excessive losses for the attacking force. It was only natural to believe that the American philosophy of precision daylight bombing would run on to the same hard rocks of reality that had forced the Germans and the British to seek the relative safety of darkness for bombing missions. The major problem was the inability to protect the bombers from concerted attacks by fighters.

TAC: A pictorial history of the USAF Tactical air forces 1970-1977

TAC: A pictorial history of the USAF Tactical air forces 1970-1977 By Lou Drendel
Publisher: Squadron / Signal 1978 | 64 Pages | ASIN: B0000EE0X0 | PDF | 22 MB

The sub-title on the cover reads; "A Pictorial History of the USAF Tactical Air Forces 1970-1977." It could just as well read: "A Pictorial Survey of the aircraft of USAF Tactical Air Forces 1970-1977." or, "TAC's transition from yesterday to tommorrow." Both would be true. In fact, it was for the latter reason that I chose to portray TAC in the 70's. At the beginning of this decade, only three new aircraft types had been added to TAC's inventory in the previous ten years. (A-7D, F-111, and OV-10) Of the dozens of types that were operated by TAC, many dated back as far as World War II.
The Air War in Vietnam had thrust tactical air into the future, with new tactics and technology, and it was obvious that new aircraft were needed to accomodate the resultant changes. Some of the "new" aircraft are merely modifications of existing types. Others are all new, and have performance margins built into them that will more than likely assure their continued role in TAC to the end of this century. They are all here, and they provide a panoramic view of TAC's diversity and flexibility, past, present, and future.

B-47 Stratojet in Action

B-47 Stratojet in Action (Aircraft 28) By Lou Drendel, Tom Y'Blood
Publisher: Squadron Signal Publications 1976 | 50 Pages | ASIN: B0006CW7DU | PDF | 13 MB

The B-47 was the backbone of SAC's bomber fleet In the 'fifties, yet only 2,042 Stratojets were built for the "Cold War" period. Compare this with the over 12,700 B-17s built for use during World War Two. Although only a relatively small number of B-47s were built, those were quite capable of doing the job in the early to middle years of the jet age.

Design on what was to become the B-47 began in 1943. It was not until 1945, however, that its definitive form began to take shape. In competition with the XB-45, XB-46, XB-48 and XB-49, only the last could offer any design advancement that could compare with the XB-47.

With six jet engines, a 35-degree swept wing and a surprisingly small crew of three, the Stratojet was a daring leap forward in aircraft design. The Air Force was very pleased with Boeing's design and two prototypes (46-065 and 46-066) were ordered. 46-065 was rolled out of its Seattle hanger on 12 September 1947. Powered by 3,750-lb. thrust General Electric J35s, it flew on 17 December 1947. Later the entire B-47 fleet was powered by a series of progressively uprated J47 engines.

Convair Model 48 Charger

Convair Model 48 Charger (Coin Aircraft) (Naval Fighters 39) By Steve Ginter, Howie Auten, Johnny Knebel, Jim Fink
Publisher: Naval Fighters 1997 | 72 Pages | ISBN: 0942612396 | PDF | 34 MB

light-light Marine attack aircraft. They wanted a 20-foot wingspan, so that it could operate from unimproved roads with trees or telephone poles along side the road. The landing gear had the stringent requirement to land on a rough road at 20fps rate-of-sink. It was equipped with twin booms, so that the center fuselage could be used for a variety of missions. They called for twin turbo-prop engines that could burn any kind of fuel. The plane must have extremely short takeoff and landing distances...500 feet over a 50 foot obstacle from unimproved fields. Simple electronics with one radio, a pilot and observer.......much debate about controls in the second seat. Low cost, rugged, easy to maintain with minimum support equipment. So simple they even thought the machine guns should be manually charged. They also envisioned an amphibious version where the floats retracted into the booms. Needless to say, their requirements were close to impossible, but neither K. P. or Bill ever relaxed their requirements.

Fj-1 Fury

North American Fj-1 Fury (Naval Fighters 7) By Steve Ginter, Ron Piccian
Publisher:Naval Fighters 1983 | 32 Pages | ISBN: 0942612078 | PDF | 21 MB

It was 1944, and a new age in aviation was dawning in the European skies, the jet age. As more German jets appeared in combat, it became a foregone conclusion that Japan would be producing them too. These facts prompted the Navy to issue a requirement for carrier jet fighters. In late 1944 BuAer sent requests to several manufacturers for jet proposals. Up to that time only one all-jet fighter contract had been issued — for the McDonnell XFD-1 (FH-1) Phantom (see Naval Fighters #3). From the proposals submitted, BuAer technical desk chose three designs to be developed. These were the McDonnell XFD-2 (F2H) Banshee (see Naval Fighter *2), the Chance Vought XF6U Pirate and the North American XFJ-1 Fury.

Since these decisions were taking place in a war environment, the Navy could not bank on one airframe manufacturer or for that matter one engine manufacturer to produce a capable jet to counter the possible Japanese threat. Therefore, the F2H was planned around two of the Westinghouse J-34 turbojets, the F6U around one Westinghouse J-34 turbojet, the FH-1 around two of the Westinghouse 19-XB turbojets and the FJ-1 around one General Electric TG-180, which became the Allison J-35.