Unmanned Combat Aircraft Tests Move Quickly

Spring 2012 at NAS Patuxent River, Md., and an unusual shape joins the F-35 Joint Strike Fighters flying the pattern at the U.S. Navy’s test center. The tailless flying wing is Northrop Grumman’s X-47B unmanned combat air system demonstrator (UCAS-D), being prepared for autonomous landings on an aircraft carrier in 2013.

The Navy may be late to the unmanned-aircraft game, but it is pushing the technology in terms of both capability and autonomy. In addition to UCAS-D, the service is launching the Autonomous Aerial Cargo/Utility System (Aacus) program to prototype advanced capabilities for vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).

Physics of flight

Ever wonder how an aircraft can defy gravity and achieve flight?

The PHYSICS of FLIGHT is a simple, but very complex topic.  You probably do not realize it but, you visualize the physics of flight everyday.  For example, when you throw a paper airplane at your teacher you are displaying the principles of the physics of flight. 

B-52 Stratofortress

The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is a long-range eight-engine strategic bomber flown by the United states Air Force (USAF) since 1954, replacing the Convair B-36 and the Boeing B-47.

Although built for the role of Cold War-era nuclear deterrent, its conventional capabilities are these days are the more important role in USAF operations, where its long range, heavy weapons load and comparatively economical operation (compared to the rest of the USAF strategic bomber fleet) are extremely useful.

First armed airplane

Extra information continuing from History of flight – Part 3

First Armed Airplane

In 1912, a Wright Brothers plane, the first airplane armed with a machine gun was flown at an airport in College Park, Maryland. The airport had existed since 1909 when the Wright Brothers took their government-purchased airplane there to teach Army officers to fly.

History of flight – Part 3

We will look at the history of flight in three different parts, each part leading us closer to what we now know as aviation. Today’s history of flight is the Wright Brothers – Inventing the Flyer. 

Wright Brothers – Inventing the Flyer

During 1902, the brothers flew numerous test glides using their new glider. Their studies showed that a movable tail would help balance the craft and the Wright Brothers connected a movable tail to the wing-warping wires to coordinate turns. With successful glides to verify their wind tunnel tests, the inventors planned to build a powered aircraft.