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  • HAM's Undergarment & Flight Jacket

    HAM's UndergarmentAn astrochimp named HAM (for Holloman Aerospace Medical Center) wore this undergarment on his Jan. 31, 1961 suborbital flight on Mercury-Redstone 2. Biomedical sensors recorded his pulse, respiration, breath-depth and temperature during the 16.5 minute flight, in which HAM was

  • Home at Last: MIAs Since the End of the War

    The Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office leads the effort to find, recover and identify remains of Americans missing in action (MIA). Since 1973, remains of more than 700 MIAs in Southeast Asia have been returned to the U.S. and identified. Around 1,800 remain unaccounted

  • Hitting Sanctuaries: Cambodia

    During the 1960s, the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong enjoyed sanctuaries in Cambodia, crossing the border for attacks into South Vietnam and then fleeing back across the border to safety. Moreover, the North Vietnamese, with permission of the "neutral" Cambodian government, used Cambodian ports and

  • Helio U-10D Super Courier

    The Super Courier was a light utility transport developed from a civilian design first tested in 1949. Its short takeoff and landing (STOL) capability allowed it to operate from a clearing the size of a football field, and its ability to fly slowly at speeds of approximately 25-35 mph made it an

  • Honeywell C-1 Autopilot

    The HoneywellC-1 Autopilot was an electronic-mechanical system used to lessen pilot fatigue by automatically flying an airplane in straight and level flight. It could also be used to fly the aircraft through gentle maneuvers. When combined with the Norden bombsight, it created the stability

  • Heavy Bombers

    In the summer of 1943, the U.S. began building up its heavy bomber forces in Europe at a more rapid rate, and greater numbers of B-17s and B-24s were dispatched against targets inside Germany. However, whenever they flew beyond the range of their P-47 escort, however, they risked being mauled by

  • Hitler’s Juggernaut

    Hitler's juggernaut invaded Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, and another World War began. The rapidity with which Poland fell to the invaders, largely due to the Luftwaffe, had a stunning effect upon many Americans. What little lethargy remained was shattered in April-June 1940 when Norway, Holland, Belgium

  • High Altitude Research

    In continuing its program for investigating flight at high altitudes, the Air Corps ordered from Lockheed a twin-engine airplane designated the XC-35. This was the world's first airplane specifically constructed with a pressure cabin. For its achievements with the XC-35 in high-altitude research,

  • Halberstadt CL IV

    Introduced into combat during the last great German offensive of World War I, the CL IV supported German troops by attacking Allied ground positions. Equipped with both fixed and flexible machine guns, hand-dropped grenades and small bombs, the CL IV proved very effective in this role, but it lacked

  • Heavier-than-Air Flight

    Heavier-than-air vehicles generally achieve flight with aerodynamic lift created by airflow over a surface (usually a wing). There were three basic types of early heavier-than-air vehicles -- kites, gliders and airplanes. Kites are unpowered, tethered craft. Gliders fly freely. Both kites and