They're all here--every X-bomber and X-fighter since 1942.On October 2, 1942, the Bell XP-59 Airacomet soared up and away from present-day Edwards AFB, launching the US Army Air Forces into the Jet Age. In the several decades since, hundreds of new variations of experimental and test turbojet-powered bombers and fighters--X-bombers and X-fighters--have taken explosive flight. These aircraft blazed a trail leading to today's B-2 Stealth Bomber and F-35 Joint Strike ...

The stories behind more than 50 secret projects undertaken by the famed Lockheed Martin Skunk Works on behalf of the US Armed Forces, DARPA, and the CIA - all illustrated with official Skunk Works photography and commissioned artworks.Hatched in June 1943 after a special request of the US Army Air Forces to develop a turbojet-powered fighter to counter growing German threats, Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works has gone on to develop remarkable aeronautical and space tec...

This book covers the P/F-51 Mustang and each of its many variants and spin-offs including the A-36 Apache, F-6 Photo Mustang, F-82 Twin Mustang and others. It discusses the Mustangs used by all US allies and friends in many foreign air forces. Also, it adds to the story of its creation through the wise choices made by the British government and its Royal Air Force, especially the transition from its original Alison V-12 to the wizard-like Rolls-Royce V-12 called the Merlin. The book will b...

From November 1942 through to May 1945, the backbone of the USAAF's medium bomber force was provided by the clutch of bomb groups equipped with the B-25 Mitchell.First seeing action in North Africa in the wake of Operation Torch, and in the Battle of El Alamein, the 'bombing twin' proved to be one of the most successful allied combat types in the Mediterranean Theatre of Operations (MTO).The first of four volumes in the Combat Aircraft series on the Mitchel...

In the Cockpit II: Inside History-Making Aircraft of World War II provides close-up access to the instrument panels, controls, and crew stations of 34 legendary World War II aircraft in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's impressive collection. Using a high-end digital camera with a wide-angle lens and complex shooting techniques that combine digital precision with manual dexterity, photographers Eric F. Long and Mark A. Avino expertly capture every detail of the cockp...

The Spanish Civil War, 1936–39, was the curtain-raiser to World War II, and the major international event of the 1930s.It was the first great clash of 20th-century ideologies, between the rebel Nationalist army led by General Franco (right-wing, and aided by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy), and the Republican army of the government (left-wing, and aided by the Communist Soviet Union and many volunteers from liberal democracies). Three years of widespread campaigns ...

Have you ever boarded a plane? It has the technology to take you up the sky but do you really understand how it works? Now is your chance to learn more about the workings of airplanes. This is a book that will definitely attract little learners. The information has been carefully chosen and presented in a highly interactive way. Go ahead and grab a copy today.

In 1945 Britain was the world's leading designer and builder of aircraft -- a world-class achievement that was not mere rhetoric. And what aircraft they were. The sleek Comet, the first jet airliner. The awesome delta-winged Vulcan, an intercontinental bomber that could be thrown about the sky like a fighter. The Hawker Hunter, the most beautiful fighter-jet ever built and the Lightning, which could zoom ten miles above the clouds in a couple of minutes and whose pilots rated flying it as ...

This book describes in considerable detail the people, events ships and aircraft that shaped the Air Service from its origins in the late 19th century to its demise in 1945. The formative years began when a British Naval Mission was established in Japan in 1867 to advise on the development of balloons for naval purposes. After the first successful flights of fixed-wing aircraft in the USA and Europe, the Japanese navy sent several officers to train in Europe as pilots and imported a steady...

The Second World War saw the apex of piston-engine aircraft design, and ushered the world into the jet age. Anybody who studies aviation will know the names: Spitfire, Mustang, Zero, Messerschmitt, Shturmovik. But there were many more aircraft to take to the skies before and during the war, and frequently their stories remain unknown. This book seeks to tell those stories, to bring to the fore the forgotten warbirds. From the valiant Poles fighting the might of the Luftwaffe in their obsol...

The autobiography of the Fairey Aviation test pilot and Naval fighter pilot who broke the World Air Speed Record in 1956.This autobiography of Peter Twiss, the man who flew 1000mph for the first time in history, tells the story of the record-breaking Fairey Delta. It describes the vast organization necessary for the record bid, the political lobbying, and the almost intolerable tension when the flights failed.Faster Than the Sun is also a compelling ...

This classic history of America's high-stakes quest to dominate the skies is "a gripping technothriller in which the technology is real" (New York Times Book Review).From the development of the U-2 to the Stealth fighter, Skunk Works is the true story of America's most secret and successful aerospace operation. As recounted by Ben Rich, the operation's brilliant boss for nearly two decades, the chronicle of Lockheed's legendary Skunk Works is a dr...