Inside History of the Usaf Lightweight Fighters, 1900 to 1975

Inside History of the Usaf Lightweight Fighters, 1900 to 1975 PDF Author: Herbert A. Hutchinson
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 198455574X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 641

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Book Description
This book, in two volumes, attempts to explain the technology developments that evolved in the period from 1900 at Kitty Hawk through the ensuing seventy-five years leading to the development of the United States F-16 Multinational Weapon System in the mid-1970s. By 2017, 4,550 F-16s, all with the first all-electric, fly-by-wire flight control system have been manufactured for use by twenty-six countries. Awestricken birds undoubtedly ask themselves, How do humans do that? as an F-16 streaks by at over two hundred times the airspeed of the bird. This book strives to provide the how-and-why answer to that fascinating story.

Inside History of the Usaf Lightweight Fighters, 1900 to 1975

Inside History of the Usaf Lightweight Fighters, 1900 to 1975 PDF Author: Herbert A. Hutchinson
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 198455574X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 641

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Book Description
This book, in two volumes, attempts to explain the technology developments that evolved in the period from 1900 at Kitty Hawk through the ensuing seventy-five years leading to the development of the United States F-16 Multinational Weapon System in the mid-1970s. By 2017, 4,550 F-16s, all with the first all-electric, fly-by-wire flight control system have been manufactured for use by twenty-six countries. Awestricken birds undoubtedly ask themselves, How do humans do that? as an F-16 streaks by at over two hundred times the airspeed of the bird. This book strives to provide the how-and-why answer to that fascinating story.

The F-16 Fighting Falcon Multinational Weapon System, 1972 to 2019

The F-16 Fighting Falcon Multinational Weapon System, 1972 to 2019 PDF Author: Herbert A. Hutchinson
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1796082082
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 860

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Book Description
This book starts with an overlap of the period from 1963 to 1975, described in final chapters of the “Inside History of the USAF Lightweight Fighters, 1900 to 1975”. The next major portion of this book then describes the Transition Contract to “missionize” the General Dynamics YF-16 and Northrop YF-17 designs into a USAF Air Combat Fighter (ACF) and also to “navalize” both ACF designs for potential procurement as the USN Air Combat Fighter (NACF). The latter portion of this book describes the early F-16 Full Scale Development activities and then describes the numerous Block changes made to increase the capabilities of the production F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft. In the concluding chapter is captured the very purpose for the development of “the fighter pilot’s fighter” – the use of the F-16 in operations world-wide. The F-16 Fighting Falcon Multinational Weapon System became the cornerstone of the fighter inventories of over 25 free-world countries for the past forty years and remains in their future plans for a few decades. F-16C/D service life extensions and upgrades continue to be made.

Flying Camelot

Flying Camelot PDF Author: Michael W. Hankins
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 150176067X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
Flying Camelot brings us back to the post-Vietnam era, when the US Air Force launched two new, state-of-the art fighter aircraft: the F-15 Eagle and the F-16 Fighting Falcon. It was an era when debates about aircraft superiority went public—and these were not uncontested discussions. Michael W. Hankins delves deep into the fighter pilot culture that gave rise to both designs, showing how a small but vocal group of pilots, engineers, and analysts in the Department of Defense weaponized their own culture to affect technological development and larger political change. The design and advancement of the F-15 and F-16 reflected this group's nostalgic desire to recapture the best of World War I air combat. Known as the "Fighter Mafia," and later growing into the media savvy political powerhouse "Reform Movement," it believed that American weapons systems were too complicated and expensive, and thus vulnerable. The group's leader was Colonel John Boyd, a contentious former fighter pilot heralded as a messianic figure by many in its ranks. He and his group advocated for a shift in focus from the multi-role interceptors the Air Force had designed in the early Cold War towards specialized air-to-air combat dogfighters. Their influence stretched beyond design and into larger politicized debates about US national security, debates that still resonate today. A biography of fighter pilot culture and the nostalgia that drove decision-making, Flying Camelot deftly engages both popular culture and archives to animate the movement that shook the foundations of the Pentagon and Congress.

The Lightweight Fighter Program

The Lightweight Fighter Program PDF Author: David C. Aronstein
Publisher: AIAA
ISBN: 9781563471933
Category : Airplanes, Military
Languages : en
Pages : 78

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Book Description
This case study outlines the development of the Lightweight Fighter program, including the development, technology, and flight test history of the YF-16 and YF-17. The streamlined and highly successful Lightweight Fighter program effectively used experimental prototypes to introduce a set of new and advanced technologies to fighter aircraft, and serves as an excellent example of technology management, risk reduction in the development process, and acquisition philosophy.

Lost Fighters

Lost Fighters PDF Author: William Holder
Publisher: SAE International
ISBN: 0768069777
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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Book Description
This book, by Bill Holder, discusses the "Lost Fighter" turbojet and turboprop propulsion systems of the exciting jet fighter era in the United States since the mid-1940s. Until now, very little has been published about these fascinating fighter activities that, for a variety of reasons, did not reach fruition. Covering fighters that did not reach beyond an artist's concept stage, to those that were cancelled after an evaluation of flight capabilities, to others that were cast aside after losing a fly-off competition, this book makes use of previously unpublished, primary-source material. It provides a coherent picture of U.S. jet fighter development and evolution. This book also includes hundreds of photos, drawings, and illustrations of the many "Lost Fighters."

The Cult of the Lightweight Fighter

The Cult of the Lightweight Fighter PDF Author: Michael Wayne Hankins
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, military aviation technology grew expensive and politically divisive, and this is not without precedent. In the 1960s and 1970s, the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Falcon represented a controversial shift both in the cost of development and in tactical doctrine for the United States Air Force (USAF), yet the motivating factors that influenced their design are not fully understood. Most of the literature either has focused on a teleological exploration of technical evolution or has held to a "genius inventor" paradigm, lionizing individual engineers and planners. Other works have focused on these aircraft as factors that changed the Air Force's tactical approach to warfighting or have simply evaluated their combat performance. Although these approaches are valuable, they do not account for the effect that institutional culture and historical memory had on the F-15 and F-16 programs. This dissertation argues that the culture of the fighter pilot community was based on a constructed memory of World War I fighter combat, idealizing a heroic, romanticized image of "Knights of the Air." This fighter pilot community attempted to influence the F-15 and F-16 programs to conform to their vision of an idealized past. Furthermore, a smaller group of these pilots, calling themselves the "Fighter Mafia" (and later the "Reformers") radicalized these ideas, rejecting the Eagle and Falcon as not representative of their ideal vision. Through public and political activism, this group affected the discourse of military technology from the mid-1970s to the present. Drawing on David Nye's work on the connections between technology and cultural historical narratives and identity, this work will demonstrate that culture and institutional historical memory can be important factors in driving the development of military technology.

USAF Fighters

USAF Fighters PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781911639091
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
The United States Air Force has a proud history of flying the fastest, best equipped and most powerful jet fighters in the world. This bookazine features more than 200 profiles including all 17 of the USAF's front line jet fighters, depicted by renowned artist JP Vieira: F-80, F-84, F-86, F-89, F-94, F-100, F-101, F-102, F-104, F-105, F-106, F-111, F-4, F-15, F-16, F-22 and F-35.

F-5 Illustrated

F-5 Illustrated PDF Author: Lou Drendel
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 118

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Book Description
The Northrop F-5 series is one of the longest-serving fighters in the world. The Freedom Fighter was the first 'lightweight fighter" and the first international fighter serving in air forces throughout the free world. The F-5 Tiger II is even more prolific and is still in service with USAF and US Navy aggressor squadrons. The T-38 Talon was derived from the original NF-156 design that produced the Freedom Fighter. The T-38 has trained over 70,000 USAF pilots and is still in service 60 years after its first flight. It is still used by NASA and others. This book contains dozens of very high resolution color photos from the remarkable collection of Gerrit Kok as well as official DOD photos. It covers all the air forces that flew the F-5 series.

Wings That Stay On

Wings That Stay On PDF Author: Edward V. Coggins
Publisher: Turner
ISBN: 9781681621760
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
From the Preface: This book was required. As a former professor of military history at the American Military University (AMU) and a retired USAF Colonel, I wanted to teach a course on the effects of fighter aviation in war. In addition, I wanted to create a course that was a "hands-on" approach to fighter aviation history. Having flown USAF fighters for more than 20 years, I felt I had a good working knowledge of fighter aviation, but when I researched the subject I found I would have to ask my students to read scores of books to provide the background they would need. There was no "single-source" book that covered everything I wanted to cover. I determined to write that book. I wanted to write a straightforward book in plain language that would not bore fighter pilots and at the same time that would be simple enough to be attractive to laymen as well as air power historians. That is what I have done, I have covered some detailed thoughts about fighter flying in what Southern Americans might call "biscuits and gravy" language. The overriding premise of the text, is that the fighter has been the key element in the air power equation and continues in that role today although this role may be changing with the advent of good, reliable, beyond visual range air-to-air missies. This view has not been universally held over the years; however, it is a view that has been held by fighter pilots since the advent of the fighter. More and more historians are beginning to support this view. Table of Contents: World War I; Fighter Development Between Wars; The Air Wars Between World Wars; Fighter Development In World War II; The Korean War; The Fighter In The Vietnam War; The Arab-Israeli Wars; The India-Pakistani Conflicts; The Air War In The Falklands; Soviet Experience In Afghanistan; The Persian Gulf War; The Future; Summary And Conclusions.\; Appendices Definitions.

The Cutting Edge

The Cutting Edge PDF Author: Mark A. Lorell
Publisher: Rand Corporation
ISBN: 9780833026071
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 221

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Book Description
This pictorial history, featuring nearly 40 rare aircraft photos, discusses the major trends in the history of jet fighter design and development in the United States since WWII. With the declining size and experience base of the U.S. military aerospace industry, many worry about the industry's ability to support future military requirements. The authors examine the successes of the past to help shape research and development policies for the future.