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  • AFRL Pulsed Detonation Engine

    AFRL (Air Force Research Laboratory) personnel developed this Pulsed Detonation Engine (PDE) in the 2000s using mostly inexpensive, off-the-shelf automotive components. The engine worked by detonating the fuel-air mixture in repeated, controlled explosions. The resulting shockwaves created a peak

  • Republic YRF-84F FICON

    Please note: This aircraft is in storage.The museum’s YRF-84F participated in two U.S. Air Force experimental programs, the development of the F-84F fighter-bomber and later testing of the “parasite” fighter concept.The museum’s YRF-84F was the prototype of the F-84F Thunderstreak, which became a

  • Boeing YQM-94A Compass Cope B

    The YQM-94A was a high altitude, long-range, Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) tested in the 1970s. It was designed for long-endurance photographic reconnaissance and electronic surveillance missions.Piloted from the ground, the YQM-94A received guidance signals through a radio link. A television and

  • Northrop-McDonnell Douglas YF-23A Black Widow II

    The YF-23A competed in the late 1980s/early 1990s against the YF-22A in the Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) program.During the late 1970s, a new generation of Soviet fighters and Surface-to-Air Missiles (SAMs) prompted the US Air Force to find a replacement for the F-15 Eagle air superiority

  • Hawker Siddeley XV-6A Kestrel

    The British-built Kestrel was a prototype Vertical/Short TakeOff and Landing (VSTOL) aircraft successfully tested in the 1960s. An improved version, known as the Harrier, became the world's first operational VSTOL fighter when it entered Royal Air Force (RAF) service in 1969.The first Kestrel began

  • Bell Helicopter Textron XV-3

    The product of a 1951 joint U.S. Air Force-U.S. Army initiative, the Bell XV-3 became the world's first successful Vertical Short TakeOff and Landing (VSTOL) tilt-rotor aircraft. By combining the takeoff and hovering capabilities of a helicopter with the speed and range of a fixed-wing aircraft, the

  • Fairchild XSM-73 Bull Goose

    The Fairchild XSM-73 Bull Goose was a pilotless decoy missile designed in the 1950s to simulate the radar signatures of large bombers. If several ground-launched, intercontinental-range SM-73 decoys saturated and confused enemy defenses, the real bombers had a better chance of getting through to

  • American Helicopter Co. XH-26 Jet Jeep

    In 1951 at the request of the U.S. Army, the U.S. Air Force developed the XH-26, a one-man, pulsejet-driven helicopter. Rather than having an internal engine like other helicopters, the Jet Jeep was powered by two pulsejets on the end of each rotor blade tip. American Helicopter chose the name

  • McDonnell XH-20 Little Henry

    The XH-20 was essentially a test stand built to research ramjet-propelled helicopter rotor blades. The XH-20 first flew in May 1947, but its fuel was delivered through a flexible line from tanks on the ground. In May 1948, it made its first flight with self-contained fuel tanks. Being a test stand,

  • Bell XGAM-63 Rascal

    Please note: This aircraft is in storage.The Rascal was an air-to-surface, supersonic guided missile tested in the 1950s. It was a “stand-off” nuclear weapon to be launched from Strategic Air Command (SAC) bombers up to 100 miles away from the target.The first launch of a guided Rascal took place in