Wimpress (retired, Boeing Aircraft Co.) And Newberry (Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA) translate their nostalgia about an era when innovative design ideas and flying hardware dominated computer hardware into this case study of a "technology demonstrator" developed by Boeing for the US Air Force in the 1970s. Aircraft history aficionados should relish the numerous blueprints and bandw photographs. No index. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Considers legislation to authorize Federal aircraft construction differential subsidies and to establish a program for the development of commercial aircraft adaptable for military service. Includes discussion of jet aircraft developments by Great Britain.

This report surveys and compares the approaches to prototyping adopted by four countries--Great Britain, France, Israel, and Sweden--during the development of similar new fighter/attack aircraft. It is based primarily on information gathered during interviews and briefings conducted in 1987 with senior government and industry officials of those countries. Basic fighter airframe risks and uncertainties to warrant the manufacture and flight testing of an austere airframe prototype before full-scale development (FSD). However, avionics development and integration are becoming areas of increasingly high technological complexity, uncertainty, and risk. Effective development and adequate testing and integration may be possible only with the help of sophisticated avionics ground labs and with fully missionized prototypes that are essentially pre-production FSD engineering test articles. A combination of both pre-FSD austere prototyping and missionized prototyping may be required to meet the challenges arising in the acquisition environment of the late 1980s.

This book focuses on those American fighter projects of WWII that never reached combat forces, or only in a very limited manner. The book illuminates little known or minimally documented aircraft and projects that significantly advanced fighter design that never went into full-rate production and deployment. The 'standard' types are also examined to illustrate the 'state-of-the-art' at the time, the American posture and capabilities, goals set by national and military leadership, and general factors affecting the course of development for classes of fighters. Hence, this work follows the overall development of American fighter aircraft, but emphasizes those little-known projects that matured to the point of significant design development such as mockups, wind-tunnel models, and especially those yielding flying prototypes. Also includes 'dead-end' variants of service types, those only exported after US evaluation, and aircraft that entered service in only small numbers before being overcome by more advanced models or the end of hostilities.

Considers legislation to authorize Federal aircraft construction differential subsidies and to establish a program for the development of commercial aircraft adaptable for military service. Includes discussion of jet aircraft developments by Great Britain.

This report surveys and compares the approaches to prototyping adopted by four countries--Great Britain, France, Israel, and Sweden--during the development of similar new fighter/attack aircraft. It is based primarily on information gathered during interviews and briefings conducted in 1987 with senior government and industry officials of those countries. Basic fighter airframe development still carries sufficient risks and uncertainties to warrant the manufacture and flight testing of an austere airframe prototype before full-scale development (FSD) is undertaken. However, avionics development and integration are becoming areas of increasingly high technological complexity, uncertainty, and risk. Effective development and adequate testing and integration may be possible only with the help of sophisticated avionics ground labs and with fully missionized prototypes that are essentially pre-production FSD engineering test articles. The report concludes that a combination of both pre-FSD austere prototyping and missionized prototyping may be required to meet the challenges arising in the acquisition environment of the late 1980s.

Experimental and Prototype U.S. Air Force Jet Fighters examines the development of fighter airframes and engines since the end of World War II. The book covers each design that reached the hardware development stage and received an XF or YF designation from the Air Force. Sometimes the airframe/engine combination worked, as it did in the North American F-86 Sabre. Other times, technology failed, as it did in the Convair XP-92 ducted-rocket interceptor. In addition to the changing aerodynamic technologies, the evolution of offensive weapons for each evolution of fighter is also reviewed. Much of the data used in the book came from previously classified Air Force program documents. Dozens of never-before-seen photos highlight this review of Air Force fighter aircraft.