Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress Swamp Ghost (Pearl Harbor)
Posted on August 06, 2013 By William Sage IV | [email protected] | Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum An early Boeing B-17E aircraft like 41-2446. Note she does not have a tail number, which indicates she has not yet been delivered to the Army Air Forces. United States Army Air Forces aircraft 41-2446 has made an immense […]
McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle
Posted on July 10, 2013 By Ray Panko | [email protected] | Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum Development In the mid-1960s, the U.S. Air Force was concerned. Vietnam was showing that the F-4 could barely take on second-generation Soviet fighters such as the MiG-19 and MiG-21. At the same time, it was known that the Soviet Union […]
Lockheed F-104 Starfighter
Posted on May 15, 2013 By Ray Panko | [email protected] | Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum The Zipper. Designed as a day fighter, the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter was created by placing the most powerful available jet engine in the smallest possible fuselage. USAF pilots called it the Zipper or the Zip. Source: United States Air Force […]
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15bis
Posted on May 02, 2013 By Ray Panko | [email protected] | Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum In November 1950, a fleet of small but very fast MiG-15s began to devastate United Nations fighters and bombers over North Korea. These new swept wing fighters were much faster and more maneuverable than U.S. Air Force fighters being used […]
North American F-86E Sabre
Posted on April 02, 2013 By Ray Panko | [email protected] | Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum Birth of the Sabre. After World War II, countries built many aircraft designs to try to discover the best ways to use jet engines in fighters. All but one of the new designs by North American, with the exception of […]
Boeing B-52 Stratofortress
Posted on February 11, 2013 By Ray Panko | [email protected] | Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum Intercontinental Strategic and Tactical Bomber B-52 dropping up to 81 1,000 pound bombs. Air Force Photograph 041105-O-9999G-012 Since the 1950s, the Boeing B-52 has been America’s “big stick.” This massive and far-ranging aircraft began as a high-level strategic nuclear bomber, […]
Northrop F-5A Freedom Fighter (And T-38 Talon)
Posted on October 11, 2012 By Ray Panko | [email protected] | Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum In the 1950s, with jets growing larger and more expensive, Northrop developed a design for a small, simple, and inexpensive — yet still supersonic — aircraft. The aircraft used two GE J85 engines weighing less than 500 pounds, yet producing […]
The Mig-21 Fishbed
Posted on July 24, 2012 In Vietnam, the great air rivalry was between the massive F-4 Phantom II and the small MiG-21, which American’s called Fishbed. Both were Mach 2 fighters, although most dogfights were fought at much lower speeds. However, they took very different paths to achieve their high speeds. The F-4 was designed […]
Douglas C-47/DC-3 “Cheeky Charlie”
Douglas C-47/DC-3 “Cheeky Charley” Twin-engine Military Transport and Cargo Aircraft with a Crew of Three Figure 1: The Cheeky Charley in Hawaii, in Military Camouflage Source: www.oldprops.ukhome.net Key Points The C-47 “Gooney Bird” was a military version of the Douglas DC-3, which entered service in 1936. The DC-3 is one of the most important transport […]
How fast was the Zero?
Perspective When American pilots first encountered the Zero, they were stunned. The Zero had nearly complete initial dominance. This dominance is sometimes attributed to the A6M’s high speed. In reality, however, the Zero was rather modest in straight-line speed, with a maximum speed for the A6M2 Model 21 of about 317 mph to 332 mph […]
Douglas A3D/A-3 Skywarrior
Posted on March 12, 2012 Nuclear Strike, Tanker, Reconnaissance, and Electronic Warfare Aircraft Figure 1: Our Skywarrior (S/N 144867) in its Original Form Key Points Called the A3D Skywarrior from 1956 to 1962. Redesignated the A-3 Skywarrior in 1962. First intended use: nuclear attack bomber. Later used as tactical strike bomber, electronic warfare, reconnaissance, and […]
Our CH-53D Sea Stallion
Posted on February 21, 2012 Pacific Aviation Museum’s newest aircraft is a Sikorsky CH-53D Sea Stallion, S/N 157173. The CH-53 has been the Marines’ heavy lift helicopter since the days of the Vietnam War. Our aircraft was commissioned in December 1969 and quickly went to Vietnam. It crashed on Oct. 30, 1970, but was retrieved […]
The Hard Life of Snake 298
Posted on June 23, 2011 Bell Helicopter delivered our Bell AH-1G Cobra to the Army on October 1967. Its serial number is 66-15298, indicating that it was ordered in 1966. In February 1966, the 298 arrived in Vietnam. Instead of being assigned to a division, it was assigned to a nondivisional company unit, the 235th […]
