Happy Birthday: Aircraft

[lordroel]

Happy birthday to:

69 years ago, company test pilot Richard Johnson, made the first flight of the Convair F-102 Delta Dagger at Edwards AFB, CA (Oct 24, 1953). Designed to climb like a rocket the “Deuce” with its radar & nuclear-tipped AAMs became the ultimate interceptor of the 50s.

[lordroel]

Happy birthday to:

82 years ago, company pilot Vance Breese made the maiden flight of the North American NA-73, the prototype for the P-51 Mustang, at Inglewood, California (Oct 26, 1940). The long-legged legend, and the bombers' little friend was born.

[lordroel]

Happy birthday to:

43 years ago, the dedicate interceptor version of the Panavia Tornado made its first flight (Oct 27, 1979). Designated Tornado ADV (for Air Defense Variant), the type entered RAF service in 1986, and was phased out in March, 2011.

[lordroel]

Happy birthday to:

48 years ago, the Dassault-Breguet Super Etendard, the aircraft made famous by the Argentinians during the 1982 Falklands War, made its maiden flight (October 28, 1974).

[lordroel]

Happy birthday to:

68 years ago, company test pilot J.F. Coleman, flying in the radical, turboprop-driven tail-sitting Convair XFY Pogo, made a vertical take-off, changed to horizontal flight, and then returned to vertical for a landing in San Diego (Nov 2, 1954).

[lordroel]

Happy birthday to:

41 years ago, the AV-8B, the American version of the Hawker Siddeley Harrier jump-jet, made its first flight (Nov 5, 1981).

[lordroel]

Happy birthday to:

40 years ago, the Mil Mi-28 “Havoc” the Russian equivalent of the American AH-64 Apache made its maiden flight (Nov 10, 1982).

[lordroel]

Happy birthday to:

66 years ago, company test pilot, Beryl Arthur Erickson, made the maiden flight of the XB-58 Hustler, at Fort Worth, Texas (Nov 11, 1956). The wasp waist, delta-winged Hustler became the first supersonic (Mach 2 capable) bomber to enter United States Air Force service.

[lordroel]

Happy birthday to:

66 years ago, test pilot Roland Glavany made the first flight of the Dassault Mirage III at Melun-Villaroche Aerodrome, Paris (Nov 17, 1956). Mirage III: the remarkably simple, yet highly capable, delta-winged wonder of the world, was born.

[lordroel]

Happy birthday to:

44 years ago, company test pilot Jack Krings made the maiden flight of the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland (Nov 18, 1978). The "Bug" was born!

[lordroel]

Happy birthday to:

63 years ago, the Lockheed P-3 Orion, the four-engine turboprop ASW and maritime surveillance aircraft, made its maiden flight (Nov 26, 1959).

[lordroel]

Happy birthday to:

27 years ago, company test pilot Fred Madenwald made the first flight of the then McDonnell Douglas F/A-18E Super Hornet, at the company’s plant in St. Louis, Missouri (November 29, 1995). The might Rhino was born.

[lordroel]

Happy birthday to:

43 years ago, company pilot Bill Park made the first flight of the Lockheed Have Blue "proof of concept” aircraft at Area 51, Nevada (December 1, 1979). A technology demonstrator that preceded the F-117 Nighthawk.

The dart-shaped Have Blue was the first fixed-wing aircraft designed from an electrical engineering (rather than an aerospace engineering) perspective!

[lordroel]

Happy birthday to:

34 years ago, company test pilot Stig Holmström made the first flight of the @saab JAS 39 Gripen (Dec 9, 1988). Akin to the F-16 and the MiG-29, the Gripen is considered by many to be one of the best and most cost-efficient 4th Gen fighters in the world.

[lordroel]

Happy birthday to:

38 years ago, the dazzling Grumman X-29, featuring forward-swept wing, canard controls, and a host of novel aircraft technologies made its maiden flight at Edwards AFB (Dec 14, 1984).