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  • Air Commandos

    1st Air Commandos2nd & 3rd Group Air Commandos (World War II)Click here to return to Memorial Park.

  • A-10 Thunderbolt: Close Air Support, Close Cooperation

    On April 6, 2003, Lt. Col. Raymond Strasburger and Capt. Gregory Thornton, A-10 Thunderbolt II pilots in the 75th Fighter Squadron, were operating near Baghdad when they heard a ground forward air controller call out: "We are taking heavy fire, we need you now!" Strasburger and Thornton made

  • An Evolving Service Modeled on the FBI

    After becoming a separate service in 1947, the Air Force needed a single investigative branch to replace an inefficient mix of Army investigative functions. Founded in 1948, the new Office of Special Investigations (OSI) united a number of security-related groups. Organized similarly to the FBI,

  • A McDonnell Douglas KC-10 refuels a Lockheed SR-71

    (approximately 1/48 scale)Tankers, like the KC-10 and the smaller Boeing KC-135, permit the refueling of other aircraft in flight, extending their range to permit global missions. Fuel is transferred to the receiver aircraft by way of a boom mounted on the tanker's lower aft fuselage. Operation of

  • Atomic Bomb Alarm: Early Days of Early Warning

    In the 1960s, The U.S. Air Force needed a sure way to know quickly whether Soviet bombers or missiles had struck American cities and bases with nuclear weapons. This small device, part of a nationwide "Bomb Alarm Display System," was designed to send warning signals to military command centers to

  • ALQ-131 ECM Pod

    The ALQ-131 is an advanced electronic countermeasures (ECM) pod designed to provide an aircraft self-protection against radar threats. The ALQ-131 accomplishes this by responding with a combination of noise, repeater or transponder electronic jamming techniques. The pod weighs 600 pounds, with

  • AIM-9 Sidewinder Air-to-Air Missile

    The AIM-9 is a 200-pound supersonic air-to-air missile carried by A-10, F-4, F-15, F-16 and F-111 aircraft. It is a "heat seeking" missile with a range of 1-2 miles and is generally used during the day in clear weather conditions. The Sidewinder has been continually improved since entering service

  • AGM-65 Maverick

    The AGM-65 is a highly accurate, 460-pound air-to-ground missile employed by A-10 and F-16 aircraft. The Maverick carries a 125 pound shaped charge warhead optimized against heavy armor or reinforced structures. It uses either TV or infra-red imaging guidance and provides a long range "launch and

  • Avro CF-100 Mk.4A Canuck

    The all-weather CF-100 was the only Canadian-designed and Canadian-built fighter to go into large-scale production. Powered by two Canadian-designed Orenda jet engines, the CF-100 entered service with the 445 Squadron in 1953. In 1957 the two-seat CF-100 became an integral part of the newly formed

  • Allison J35-A-35A Turbojet

    Originally developed by the General Electric Co., the J35 was the USAF's first axial-flow (straight-through airflow) compressor engine. Late in 1947 complete responsibility for the production of the engine was transferred to the Allison Division of General Motors. More than 14,000 J35s had been