In 1945 there wasn't a large body of technical knowledge on supersonic flight when the design of the Bell X-1 was formulated. Many engineering and design decisions had to be made based on the best possible estimates of the aircraft's performance. The fusleage's shape was the end product of the study of the .50 caliber bullet, as it was known to be stable at supersonic velocities. Bell's engineers tried to fill in the data gaps on supersonic flight by observing objects known to fly at supersonic speeds- in this case, the .50 caliber round. Discussions with ballistics experts concluded that little was known about the aerodynamics of the round after it was fired, but since there was no question that it was stable at high speeds, its shape formed the basis for the X-1's fuselage.

Source: Bell X-1 Variants, Aerofax Datagraph 3 by Ben Guenther and Jay Miller. Aerofax, 1988, p6.

In 1955 De Havilland began work on the Blue Steak, a medium-range ballistic missile that would have been based in underground silos in eastern England. Powered by two Rolls-Royce RZ.2 liquid-fuelled engines (which were based on the earlier RZ.1 which themselves were based on the US Rocketdyne S-2 engine), it would have been armed with a single nuclear warhead. Several complete systems minus the warhead were live-fired at test stands at RAF Spadeadam and were shown to be very robust and reliable.

In 1960 the Blue Streak was cancelled in favor of the Douglas Skybolt air-launched ballistic missile which was to have been carried by Avro Vulcans in RAF service. Work on the Blue Streak continued as a space launcher, though, with its proven live-fire reliability an asset as a satellite launcher. However, later that year it was cancelled altogether, but all was not lost. The Blue Streak formed the basis for the Europa booster which in turn led to the Ariane launcher used by the European Space Agency.

Source: British Secret Projects, Hypersonics, Ramjets, & Missiles by Chris Gibson and Tony Buttler. Midland Publishing, 2007, p125.

On July 7 of this year the Antares DLR-H2 motor glider became the first piloted aircraft to fly powered only by a fuel cell. The DLR-H2 has a fuel cell and hydrogen tank in underwing pods which powered an electric motor and propeller. Flying for the first time in Hamburg, Germany, the DLR-H2 has a range of 466 miles and a maximum speed of 106 mph with no emissions other than water vapor. The fuel cell delivers 20 kW of power and only 10 kW is needed to maintain level cruise flight. Total efficiency of the system is 44%- approximately twice the efficiency of a conventional piston engine.

Source: Aviation Week & Space Technology, July 13, 2009. "Industry Outlook" edited by Edward H. Phillips, p14.

Forty-three percent of the empty weight of the Rockwell/MBB X-31 is made up of over 600 items from other aircraft. In an effort to reduce costs and development time, off-the-shelf components were used wherever possible in the design and construction of the X-31.

McDD F/A-18 Hornet: Windscreen, canopy, electrical generators, airframe-mounted accessory gearbox, leading edge actuators, cockpit instrumentation, cockpit controls

Lockheed F-16: Main undercarriage, rudder pedals, nosewheel/tire, emergency power unit, fuel pump

Lockheed F-16XL: leading edge flap drives

Lockheed C-130 HTTB: Flight control computers

Bell/Boeing V-22: Rudder acutators, trailing edge control modules

Cessna Citation III: Mainwheels and brakes

Vought A-7: Main tires

Rockwell T-2: Zero-g fuel accumulator

Northrop F-20: Emergency air-start system

Rockwell B-1B: Canard pivot and spindle

Source: World Air Power Journal, Volume 24 (Spring 1996). "Rockwell/MBB X-31" by Robert F. Dorr.

In 1955 the US Air Force evaluated ground-launched version of the Navy's RIM-8 Talos shipboard air defense missile to provide Strategic Air Command bases and Atomic Energy Commission sites with a capable point-defense system from Soviet air strikes. The evaluation stemmed from a USAF concern with relying on the Army's Nike-Ajax system for protection of its installations. The following year, the USAF had requested Defense Department funding for site surveys for Talos installations and had survey teams ready to go once funding was secured; instead the DoD had the evaluation program transferred to the Army's Air Defense Command (ARADCOM) and after a period of testing, it was decided to proceed with the Nike-Hercules missile instead.

The Talos, however, served successfully with the Navy until 1979.

Source: Rings of Supersonic Steel- Air Defenses of the United States Army 1950-1979 by Mark L. Morgan and Mark A. Berhow. Fort MacArthur Press, 2002 (Second Edition), p28.

Quickly superseded by the swept-wing F9F-6 Cougar, the Grumman F9F Panther was only exported to a single nation, Argentina. In December 1958 the Argentinian naval aviation service took delivery of 24 F9F-2 Panther fighters to operate from its carrier, the ARA Independencia. The aircraft were exclusively land-based as the catapults on the carrier could not handle the Panther at its normal operational weights but a Panther did land once on the vessel.

The only action Argentinian Panthers participated in was during an abortive three-day coup in April 1963 when the Air Force destroyed four Panthers on the ground and one was lost in a collision with a Corsair. The Panthers were used to strafe Army units during the coup. In 1966 the Panthers flew patrols during a period of tension with neighboring Chile. The Panthers were retired in 1969 and replaced with A-4Q Skyhawks.

Source: Combat Aircraft, June-July 2009. "F9F Panther" by LTCDR Rick Burgess, USN (Ret), p71.

The Grob G115 two seat general aviation aircraft is a development of Grob's G110 and G112 light training aircraft and first flew on 15 November 1985. Subsequent improvements in the G115 led to the G115E to become the first aircraft made from glass-fiber reinforced plastics to be certificated by the FAA.

In 1998 the G115 was selected as the Tutor for elementary flight training for the RAF to replace the Chipmunk T.10 and the Bulldog T.1. With 92 aircraft stationed at 14 airfields, the Grob Tutor T.1 is the second most numerous type in RAF service after the Panavia Tornado GR.4 and is also the most widely dispersed single type in Royal Air Force service.

Source: Air International, April 2009. "Grob Tutor: Aircraft of the RAF Part 12" by Jim Winchester, p52.

In 1943 a DeHavilland Mosquito in BOAC markings landed at RAF Leuchars in Scotland carrying a valuable passenger- Danish physicist Niels Bohr, the 1922 winner of the Nobel Prize in physics. In a conference in Washington DC in 1939, Bohr detailed how the uranium isotope U-235 could be used to create a chain reaction in an atomic bomb. By 1943 the Nazis were rounding up and deporting the Jews in Denmark and as his mother was Jewish, Bohr was at risk. Word got out that he was about to be arrested and given the choice between joining Hitler's atomic weapons project or be sent with his family to a concentration camp.

With the help of the British secret service, Bohr was smuggled to Sweden and then flown in an improvised bunk in the bomb bay of the Mosquito from Stockholm to Scotland. From there he was flown onward to England and then the United States to join the Manhattan Project.

The Mosquito flew approximately 200 flights in BOAC colors between Stockholm and the UK during the war conveying clandestine personnel and war materiel. Only the Mosquito was fast enough to evade patrolling German fighters over the North Sea.

Source: Aviation History, September 2009. "The Magnificent Merlin" by Nicholas O'Dell, p32.

In 1965 seven US oil companies were prospecting Alaska's North Slope for oil and found that getting drilling equipment to the area was near impossible- there were no roads to the North Slope and the only way would have been to barge the equipment in via the Arctic Ocean but that could only take place for a few weeks each summer.

The problem was solved by Alaska Airlines who "wet-leased" the civilian Lockheed L-100 Hercules demonstrator from Lockheed for one month. In what became known as the "Thirty Day Miracle" the sole Hercules transported over 2 million pounds of equipment and cargo to dirt strips in the North Slope. Richfield Oil subsequently struck oil at Prudhoe Bay and that set off the great Alaskan oil rush.

Source: Herk: Hero of the Skies, by Joseph Earl Dabney, Copple House Books, 1979, p237-241.

According to the 2008 General Aviation Manufacturers Association report, general aviation contributes more than $150 billion to the US economy each year and employs over 1.2 million workers. About 2/3 of all hours flown by general aviation aircraft are for business purposes. In the United States, general aviation aircraft fly more than 27 million hours and transport 166 million people annually.

Source: Aviation Week and Space Technology, July 6, 2009. "Vision Plan: Cirrus team seeks new financing to fund and revive Vision program" by Frances Fiorino, p30.