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  • Flashback: Hypersonic Flight to the Edge of Space

    While most of the country was focused on the race to space, a unique test program was just getting underway at Edwards Air Force Base in the high desert of California. This vehicle was like no other, built to withstand the temperatures of hypersonic flight as well as flight to the edge of space, the

  • History in Two: Dyna-Soar

    The Dyna-Soar program (System 464L), initiated on  October 10, 1957, took three separate, but related studies on manned, hypersonic weapons and reconnaissance systems (Hywards (SR-131), Bomi/Brass Bell (SR-12) and Robo (SR-126)) and merged them into a single, three-phased program. The research

  • History of Aircraft Track Landing Gear

    *(Extracted from historical study No. 135: Case History of Track Landing Gear) The design of landing gear is closely related to an aircraft’s mission. In the 1940’s it was thought that heavy bombardment aircraft, if using conventional systems, would require thick, expensive runways. Track landing

  • History in Two: Project MERCURY

    Project MERCURY was established in October 1958 with the following objectives: Place a manned spacecraft in orbital flight around the earth. Investigate man’s performance capabilities and his ability to function in the environment of space. Recover the man and the spacecraft safely.On  April 6,

  • History in Two: The Lunar Landing Research Vehicle

    This month marks the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing in 1969. Over a decade prior to this, and nearly four years before President Kennedy’s famous speech, ARDC’s Ballistic Missile Division began research on high thrust space vehicles capable of lunar flights. In January 1957, the ARDC

  • Woman’s visit to Arnold brings back memories of her family, childhood

    Touching an X-15 model in the A&E Lobby at Arnold Air Force Base, Annette Freres became emotional as she imagined her father doing the same decades earlier as an engineer working at Arnold.Freres recently had the opportunity to visit Arnold AFB, along with her daughter Michelle and high school

  • Special Study: Operation ALLIED FORCE

    One of the most successful campaigns in the history of air power was Operation Allied Force (OAF). Perhaps the goal was not victory alone, for that is not really what most of the air power proponents meant, but rather that someday air power “alone” would form the tip of the spear. However, it is a

  • 75th Anniversary of the P-80

    History in Two articles provide a quick overview of historical milestones in AFMC and the Air Force. The first edition focuses on the 75th Anniversary of the P-80.