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  • General Electric J79 Turbojet

    The development of the J79 turbojet began in 1952 as a more powerful follow-up to the General Electric J47 turbojet. The engine generated a maximum of 17,000 pounds of thrust (-15 version) with the afterburner operating.The engine was used on the Convair B-58 Hustler, the first U.S. bomber capable

  • General Electric J73 Turbojet

    The J73 engine was developed by the General Electric Co. from the J47 engine in the early 1950s. The more powerful J73 was used in F-86H aircraft instead of the J47 as in earlier series F-86s. In September 1954, during the National Aircraft Show in Dayton, Ohio, a J73 engine powered an F-86H to a

  • General Electric J47 Turbojet

     The J47 was developed by the General Electric Co. from the earlier J35 engine and was first flight-tested in May 1948 as a replacement for the J35 used in the North American XF-86 Sabre. In September 1948 a J47 powered an F-86A to a new world's speed record of 670.981 mph. More than 30,000 engines

  • Gemini EVA Maneuvering Unit

    This maneuvering unit mockup was designed during the Gemini program of the early 1960s in an effect to study the best ways to work outside of spacecraft. Similar units became operational in the early 1980s during the Space Shuttle program and were used to retrieve several satellites.Click here to

  • Gen. Bernard A. Schriever

    "Father of Air Force Space and Missiles"Bernard A. Schriever was the chief architect of the U.S. Air Force's early ballistic missile and space programs. His visionary leadership in the 1950s and 1960s made the USAF a world leader in developing military science and technology. He directed the

  • Gen. T.D. White: Pioneer Airman and Scholar

    Gen. Thomas Dresser White was the fourth Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force (1957-1961). He was a visionary military leader and a brilliant scholar who helped bring the USAF into the space age.Born in 1901 in Minnesota, Thomas D. White started his military career in the U.S. Army as an infantry

  • German V-2

    Much of the basic theory used by German scientists in the development of the engine for the V-2 came from experimentation by Dr. Robert Goddard in the United States. Post-war American liquid fueled rocket engines evolved directly from the German V-2 engine; later U.S. Air Force space boosters owed

  • Grid-Sphere Passive Communications Satellite

    In 1959 the USAF became interested in the use of satellites as space reflectors for long distance communications. One possibility was a metalized balloon-type structure that could be boosted into space in a small container and inflated after it reached orbit. The NASA ECHO I, launched Aug. 12, 1960,

  • Getting Closer: Precision Guided Weapons in the Southeast Asia War

    Despite early developmental problems, precision guided munitions (PGM) revolutionized the air war in Southeast Asia. By the war's end, laser guidance kits turned standard bombs into "smart bombs," making them 100 times more effective than free-fall, unguided bombs.At first, the U.S. Air Force's

  • Gunship III: Shadows and Stingers

    With few C-130s available for gunship conversion, the Air Force turned to the Korean War-era C-119 transport. The Gunship III program had two versions, the AC-119G Shadow and the AC-119K Stinger.The AC-119G Shadow replaced the AC-47, and it entered combat in January 1969 with the 71st Special