Fotos inéditas y difíciles < fotos >

[MIGUEL]

Hola Biguá, creo que esta foto de los Grumman F6F 5K corresponde a aparatos usados para estudiar los efectos de las explosiones nucleares en el atolón de Bikini. Es de notar las colas de diferentes colores de los aparatos de las filas de atrás.

A Grumman F6F-5K Hellcat drone awaits its fate on “death row” at Armitage Field, NOTS China Lake, California. (U.S. Navy)
11 September 1953: At Naval Ordinance Test Station China Lake, the experimental Philco/General Electric XAAM-N-7 “Sidewinder” heat-seeking air-to-air missile scored its first “hit” when it passed within 2 feet (0.6 meters) of a radio-controlled Grumman F6F-5K Hellcat. The missile was fired from a Douglas AD-4 Skyraider flown by Lieutenant Commander A.S. (Al) Yesensky, United States Navy. The Sidewinder was later redesignated AIM-9. It entered service in 1956 as the AIM-9B and has been a primary fighter weapon for 58 years.

A Philco/General Electric Sidewinder I missile mounted under the left wing of a Douglas AD-4 Skyraider, Bu. No. 123920, circa 1952. (U.S. Navy)
Future Astronaut Wally Schirra flew many of the early test flights at NOTS China Lake. On one occasion, a Sidewinder came back at him, and only by skill and luck was he able to evade it.

 

[MIGUEL]

Vought F7U Cutlass

 

[MIGUEL]

F7U-3M E-301 USS Intrepid 1956

 

[MIGUEL]

F7U-3M I-310 Jan-Mar 1956 USS Forrestal CVN-59

 

[MIGUEL]

F7U-3M I-302 prob USS Forrestal Jan-Mar 1956

 

[MIGUEL]

With sophisticated radar, the Douglas Skyknight flew night escort missions, giving Navy and Marine aviators the ability to follow the cardinal rule of fighter pilots: See the enemy before he sees you. (San Diego Air & Space Museum)

 

[MIGUEL]

 

[MIGUEL]

 

[MIGUEL]

 

[MIGUEL]

Tupolev Tu-95MS

 

[MIGUEL]

Tu-160

 

[MIGUEL]

 

[MIGUEL]

Hughes Aircraft’s Giant Helicopter, XH-17, 1953

 

[MIGUEL]

 

[MIGUEL]

Vietnam April 1975

 

[MIGUEL]

1914: American aviator Ruth Law

 

[MIGUEL]

 

[MIGUEL]

1910 Blanche Scott (1885-1970), possibly the first American woman aviator and also the second woman to drive across the United States.

 

[MIGUEL]

c. 1914 Hélène Dutrieu (1877-1961), Belgian aviator. Dutrieu was also a cycling champion, stunt motorcyclist, racing car driver, stunt driver and war ambulance driver. She was nicknamed, not unsurprisngly, "The Human Arrow."

 

[MIGUEL]

1927 "Elinor Smith, 16, who will use the Waco plane beside which she is standing in an attempt to set a new altitude record for women. She will also act as co-pilot for George A. Weis, who will take up a Stinson-Detroiter in a new flight endurance attempt." Smith was nicknamed "The Flying Flapper of Freeport."

IMAGE: UNDERWOOD & UNDERWOOD/CORBIS