DOCSLIB.ORG

The Development of the B-52 and Jet Propulsion : a Case Study in Organizational Innovation / Mark D

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Development of the B-52 and Jet Propulsion : a Case Study in Organizational Innovation / Mark D Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mandeles, Mark David, 1950- The development of the B-52 and jet propulsion : a case study in organizational innovation / Mark D. Mandeles. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Aeronautics, Military-Research-United States-History. 2. B-52 bomber- Research- History. 3. Jet propulsion-History. I. Title. UG643.M35 1998 98-14703 358.4070973-dc21 CIP Printed March 1998 Digitize Copy from March 1998 Printing November 2002 NOTE: Pagination changed DISCLAIMER This publication was produced in the Department of Defense school environment in the interest of academic freedom and the advancement of national defense-related concepts. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense or the United States government. This publication has been reviewed by security and policy review authorities and is cleared for public release. ii Contents Page Disclaimer........................................................................................................................ ii Foreword......................................................................................................................... xi About the Author .......................................................................................................... xiii Acknowledgments......................................................................................................... xiv Chapter 1 Introduction ......................................................................................................1 Chapter 2 Innovation and Military Revolutions ..............................................................4 Chapter 3 Logic and Procedure of Analysis ..................................................................17 Chapter 4 Prelude: Jet Propulsion and the Air Force.....................................................29 Chapter 5 The Introduction of Jet Propulsion into the B-52..........................................54 Chapter 6 Conclusion.....................................................................................................99 Table 1 USAF Engine Development Time....................................................................42 Table 2 B-52 TimeLine..................................................................................................56 Table 3 Maximum Takeoff Weights and Combat Radii................................................66 Table 4 XB-52 Performance Requirements...................................................................75 Table 5 Boeing Company Comparison of Basic Turbopropand Basic Turbojet Models ...................................................................................................87 Appendix XB-52 Program Select Senior Personnel ....................................................115 v Foreword The B-52 and Jet Propulsion: A Case Study in Organizational Innovation is a coherent and nonpolemical discussion of the revolution in military affairs, a hot topic in the national security arena. Mark Mandeles examines an interesting topic, how can the military better understand, manage, and evaluate technological development programs. We see Murphy’s Law (anything that can go wrong, will go wrong) in operation. No matter how carefully the military designs, plans, and programs the process of technological development, inevitably, equipment, organizations, and people will challenge the desired expectations. Mandeles argues convincingly that recognizing the inevitability of error may be the single most important factor in the design of effective organizations and procedures to foster and enhance innovative technology and concepts. The book focuses on the introduction of jet propulsion into the B-52. This case study illustrates the reality that surprises and failures are endemic to development programs where information and knowledge are indeterminate, ambiguous, and imperfect. Mandeles’ choice of the B-52 to illustrate this process is both intriguing and apt. The military had no coherent search process inevitably leading to the choice of a particular technology; nor was decision making concerning the B-52 development program coherent or orderly. Different mixtures of participants, problems, and solutions came together at various times to make decisions about funding or to review the status of performance projections and requirements. Three aspects of the B-52’s history are striking because they challenge conventional wisdom about rationally managed innovation. First, Air Force personnel working on the B-52 program did not obtain the aircraft they assumed they would get when the program began. Second, the development process did not conform to idealized features of a rational program. While a rationally organized program has clear goals, adequate information, and well-organized and attentive leadership, the B-52 development process exhibited substantial disagreement over, and revision of, requirements or goals, and ambiguous, imperfect, and changing information. Third, the “messy” development process, as described in the book, forestalled premature closure on a particular design and spurred learning and the continuous introduction of new knowledge into the design as the process went along. Military innovations involve questions about politics, cooperation and coordination, and social benefits, and like other development efforts, there appears to be no error-free method to predict at the outset the end results of any given program. This study offers a major lesson to today’s planners: improving the capacity of a number of organizations with overlapping jurisdictions to interact enhances prospects to innovate new weapons and operational concepts. We can mitigate bureaucratic pathologies by fostering interaction among government and private organizations. xi The B-52 and Jet Propulsion integrates a detailed historical case study with a fine understanding of the literature on organization and innovation. It is a story of decision making under conditions of uncertainty, ambiguity, and disagreement. I have seen such stories unfold many times in my work on technological development projects. In the pages that follow those who plan, manage, and criticize technological development programs will find new insights about the process of learning how to make new things. DOV S. ZAKHEIM CEO, SPC International Corporation xii About the Author Mark D. Mandeles won research and university fellowships from the University of California, Davis, and Indiana University. In 1982 he won the USAF Dissertation Fellowship in Military Aerospace History, and subsequently received a doctor of philosophy degree in political science from Indiana University. He also earned a master of arts degree in political science from the University of California, Davis, and a bachelor of arts degree in political science (with honors) from the University of California, Berkeley. For the last 15 years, he has been an analyst or consultant for government and private analytical firms, including the Director of Net Assessment in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Air Force's Gulf War Air Power Survey, the Air Staff (Office of Long-Range Planning), Institute for Defense Analyses, Center for Naval Analyses, US General Accounting Office, Office of Chief of Engineers (US Army Corps of Engineers), Center for Air Force History, Science Applications International Corporation, OC Inc., ANSER, and Delex Systems. He founded the J. de Bloch Group, a research and analysis firm, in 1993. Currently he is analyzing structures of future military organizations for the Office of Net Assessment. His published research and reviews (in Security Studies, Naval War College Review, American Political Science Review, National Defense, Military Affairs, Journal of America's Military Past, and Middle East Insight) include essays on the revolution in military affairs, weapons acquisition, innovation in naval aviation, and ballistic missile and nuclear weapons proliferation. He coauthored Managing "Command and Control" in the Persian Gulf War (Praeger, 1996), and The Introduction of Carrier Aviation into the U.S. Navy and Royal Navy (Naval Institute Press, forthcoming). Dr. Mandeles lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with his wife, Laura, and children, Samantha and Harry. xiii Acknowledgments I have had outstanding help from knowledgeable, kind, and gracious colleagues in preparing this manuscript, including Thomas C. Hone, Laura L. Mandeles, Andrew W. Marshall, Jacob Neufeld, and Jan M. van Tol. Of course, I alone am responsible for any errors they were unsuccessful in persuading me to remove. I also wish to thank the wonderful staff of the John Marshall branch of the Fairfax County (Virginia) Public Library for securing many books through interlibrary loan and Col Allan W. Howey, director of Air University Press, and the AU Press editorial team, Emily Adams and Lula Barnes. xiv To Martin Landau and Andrew W. Marshell Chapter 1 Introduction When asked why he had not submitted more work for publication, Henry Roth, the author of the critically acclaimed 1934 novel, Call It Sleep, responded, “If I had been in a more stable society, one that hadn’t changed so abruptly (due to upheavals of the Great Depression and World War II), I could have gotten-oh, like Dickens. He could count on his society, and his attitude toward that society, being the same from his first novel to the last. I didn’t feel I could
Load more

Recommended publications
  • LESSON 3 Significant Aircraft of World War II
    LESSON 3 Significant Aircraft of World War II ORREST LEE “WOODY” VOSLER of Lyndonville, Quick Write New York, was a radio operator and gunner during F World War ll. He was the second enlisted member of the Army Air Forces to receive the Medal of Honor. Staff Sergeant Vosler was assigned to a bomb group Time and time again we read about heroic acts based in England. On 20 December 1943, fl ying on his accomplished by military fourth combat mission over Bremen, Germany, Vosler’s servicemen and women B-17 was hit by anti-aircraft fi re, severely damaging it during wartime. After reading the story about and forcing it out of formation. Staff Sergeant Vosler, name Vosler was severely wounded in his legs and thighs three things he did to help his crew survive, which by a mortar shell exploding in the radio compartment. earned him the Medal With the tail end of the aircraft destroyed and the tail of Honor. gunner wounded in critical condition, Vosler stepped up and manned the guns. Without a man on the rear guns, the aircraft would have been defenseless against German fi ghters attacking from that direction. Learn About While providing cover fi re from the tail gun, Vosler was • the development of struck in the chest and face. Metal shrapnel was lodged bombers during the war into both of his eyes, impairing his vision. Able only to • the development of see indistinct shapes and blurs, Vosler never left his post fi ghters during the war and continued to fi re.
    [Show full text]
  • Flying Wing Concept for Medium Size Airplane
    ICAS 2002 CONGRESS FLYING WING CONCEPT FOR MEDIUM SIZE AIRPLANE Tjoetjoek Eko Pambagjo*, Kazuhiro Nakahashi†, Kisa Matsushima‡ Department of Aeronautics and Space Engineering Tohoku University, Japan Keywords: blended-wing-body, inverse design Abstract The flying wing is regarded as an alternate This paper describes a study on an alternate configuration to reduce drag and structural configuration for medium size airplane. weight. Since flying wing possesses no fuselage Blended-Wing-Body concept, which basically is it may have smaller wetted area than the a flying wing configuration, is applied to conventional airplane. In the conventional airplane for up to 224 passengers. airplane the primary function of the wing is to An aerodynamic design tools system is produce the lift force. In the flying wing proposed to realize such configuration. The configuration the wing has to carry the payload design tools comprise of Takanashi’s inverse and provides the necessary stability and control method, constrained target pressure as well as produce the lift. The fuselage has to specification method and RAPID method. The create lift without much penalty on the drag. At study shows that the combination of those three the same time the fuselage has to keep the cabin design methods works well. size comfortable for passengers. In the past years several flying wings have been designed and flown successfully. The 1 Introduction Horten, Northrop bombers and AVRO are The trend of airplane concept changes among of those examples. However the from time to time. Speed, size and range are application of the flying wing concepts were so among of the design parameters.
    [Show full text]
  • Aerospace Engine Data
    AEROSPACE ENGINE DATA Data for some concrete aerospace engines and their craft ................................................................................. 1 Data on rocket-engine types and comparison with large turbofans ................................................................... 1 Data on some large airliner engines ................................................................................................................... 2 Data on other aircraft engines and manufacturers .......................................................................................... 3 In this Appendix common to Aircraft propulsion and Space propulsion, data for thrust, weight, and specific fuel consumption, are presented for some different types of engines (Table 1), with some values of specific impulse and exit speed (Table 2), a plot of Mach number and specific impulse characteristic of different engine types (Fig. 1), and detailed characteristics of some modern turbofan engines, used in large airplanes (Table 3). DATA FOR SOME CONCRETE AEROSPACE ENGINES AND THEIR CRAFT Table 1. Thrust to weight ratio (F/W), for engines and their crafts, at take-off*, specific fuel consumption (TSFC), and initial and final mass of craft (intermediate values appear in [kN] when forces, and in tonnes [t] when masses). Engine Engine TSFC Whole craft Whole craft Whole craft mass, type thrust/weight (g/s)/kN type thrust/weight mini/mfin Trent 900 350/63=5.5 15.5 A380 4×350/5600=0.25 560/330=1.8 cruise 90/63=1.4 cruise 4×90/5000=0.1 CFM56-5A 110/23=4.8 16
    [Show full text]
  • CANARD.WING LIFT INTERFERENCE RELATED to MANEUVERING AIRCRAFT at SUBSONIC SPEEDS by Blair B
    https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19740003706 2020-03-23T12:22:11+00:00Z NASA TECHNICAL NASA TM X-2897 MEMORANDUM CO CN| I X CANARD.WING LIFT INTERFERENCE RELATED TO MANEUVERING AIRCRAFT AT SUBSONIC SPEEDS by Blair B. Gloss and Linwood W. McKmney Langley Research Center Hampton, Va. 23665 NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION • WASHINGTON, D. C. • DECEMBER 1973 1.. Report No. 2. Government Accession No. 3. Recipient's Catalog No. NASA TM X-2897 4. Title and Subtitle 5. Report Date CANARD-WING LIFT INTERFERENCE RELATED TO December 1973 MANEUVERING AIRCRAFT AT SUBSONIC SPEEDS 6. Performing Organization Code 7. Author(s) 8. Performing Organization Report No. L-9096 Blair B. Gloss and Linwood W. McKinney 10. Work Unit No. 9. Performing Organization Name and Address • 760-67-01-01 NASA Langley Research Center 11. Contract or Grant No. Hampton, Va. 23665 13. Type of Report and Period Covered 12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address Technical Memorandum National Aeronautics and Space Administration 14. Sponsoring Agency Code Washington , D . C . 20546 15. Supplementary Notes 16. Abstract An investigation was conducted at Mach numbers of 0.7 and 0.9 to determine the lift interference effect of canard location on wing planforms typical of maneuvering fighter con- figurations. The canard had an exposed area of 16.0 percent of the wing reference area and was located in the plane of the wing or in a position 18.5 percent of the wing mean geometric chord above the wing plane. In addition, the canard could be located at two longitudinal stations.
    [Show full text]
  • Air Force Next-Generation Bomber: Background and Issues for Congress
    Air Force Next-Generation Bomber: Background and Issues for Congress Jeremiah Gertler Specialist in Military Aviation December 22, 2009 Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov RL34406 CRS Report for Congress Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Air Force Next-Generation Bomber: Background and Issues for Congress Summary As part of its proposed FY2010 defense budget, the Administration proposed deferring the start of a program to develop a next-generation bomber (NGB) for the Air Force, pending the completion of the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) and associated Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), and in light of strategic arms control negotiations with Russia. The Administration’s proposed FY2010 budget requested no funding specifically identified in public budget documents as being for an NGB program. Prior to the submission of the FY2010 budget, the Air Force was conducting research and development work aimed at fielding a next-generation bomber by 2018. Although the proposed FY2010 defense budget proposed deferring the start of an NGB program, the Secretary of Defense and Air Force officials in 2009 have expressed support for the need to eventually start such a program. The Air Force’s FY2010 unfunded requirements list (URL)—a list of programs desired by the Air Force but not funded in the Air Force’s proposed FY2010 budget—includes a classified $140-million item that some press accounts have identified as being for continued work on a next-generation bomber. FY2010 defense authorization bill: The conference report (H.Rept. 111-288 of October 7, 2009) on the FY2010 defense authorization act (H.R.
    [Show full text]
  • Spacecraft American Aerospace Controls
    Spacecraft For More Than 50 Years, Our Experience Is Your Assurance™ AAC Manufactures high-reliability voltage and current sensors for: Satellites UAVs Commercial Aircraft Missiles Underwater Vehicles Military Aircraft Launch Systems Armored Vehicles Ships Helicopters Industrial Equipment Rail AAC is a Woman-Owned Business and all parts are manufactured at AAC’s Farmingdale, NY location. American Aerospace Controls 570 Smith Street, Farmingdale NY 11735 Phone: +1 (631) 694-5100 – Fax: +1 (631) 694-6739 http://a-a-c.com ©American Aerospace Controls 10-2016 Aircraft-UAVs Rail AAC Quality and Engineering Industrial Defense For More Than 50 Years, Our Experience is Your Assurance™ AAC Engineering and Quality Depart- Since 1965, American Aerospace Controls has been manufacturing high reliability ments are here to work with you on the AC & DC current, voltage and frequency sensors, transducers and detectors. With design and qualification of your parts. an emphasis on engineering solutions and customer support, AAC has developed Our vast experience in space flight app- long-term relationships with some of the largest aerospace, defense, transit and industrial companies around the globe. lications allows us to offer insight into the design and requirements of each unique Space Application. AAC main- AAC in Space tains the highest standards in Quality and Production. AAC sensors have been used on numerous manned and unmanned spacecraft, satellite, rocket and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) programs. AAC has been involved with space flight applications since the mid-1960s. AAC’s extensive From the Mercury Program in the 1960’s to today’s international commercial and knowledge and decades of experience in designing and manufacturing defense satellite systems, AAC engineers have helped design current and voltage transducers and detectors capable of providing high reliability in harsh remote detectors and transducers that are the best available.
    [Show full text]
  • Fly-By-Wire - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia 11-8-20 下午5:33 Fly-By-Wire from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
    Fly-by-wire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 11-8-20 下午5:33 Fly-by-wire From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Fly-by-wire (FBW) is a system that replaces the Fly-by-wire conventional manual flight controls of an aircraft with an electronic interface. The movements of flight controls are converted to electronic signals transmitted by wires (hence the fly-by-wire term), and flight control computers determine how to move the actuators at each control surface to provide the ordered response. The fly-by-wire system also allows automatic signals sent by the aircraft's computers to perform functions without the pilot's input, as in systems that automatically help stabilize the aircraft.[1] Contents Green colored flight control wiring of a test aircraft 1 Development 1.1 Basic operation 1.1.1 Command 1.1.2 Automatic Stability Systems 1.2 Safety and redundancy 1.3 Weight saving 1.4 History 2 Analog systems 3 Digital systems 3.1 Applications 3.2 Legislation 3.3 Redundancy 3.4 Airbus/Boeing 4 Engine digital control 5 Further developments 5.1 Fly-by-optics 5.2 Power-by-wire 5.3 Fly-by-wireless 5.4 Intelligent Flight Control System 6 See also 7 References 8 External links Development http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly-by-wire Page 1 of 9 Fly-by-wire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 11-8-20 下午5:33 Mechanical and hydro-mechanical flight control systems are relatively heavy and require careful routing of flight control cables through the aircraft by systems of pulleys, cranks, tension cables and hydraulic pipes.
    [Show full text]
  • Aircraft Classifications, History and Airport Technology Problem 2
    CEE 4674: Airport Planning and Design Spring 2007 Assignment 1: Aircraft Classifications, History and Airport Technology Date Due: Jan/23/2008 Instructor: Trani Problem 2 Read pages 1 and 2 in Chapter 1 in the FAA Advisory Circular 150/5300-13 (Airport Design) before answering this question. Also, read the aircraft classification handout provided in class. Examine the FAA Advisory Circular 150/5300-13 (Airport Design). Specifically examine Appendix 13 of the FAA Advisory Circular which contains information about various aircraft. a) For the aircraft shown in Table 2.1, state the Airplane Design Group (ADG) class, the Terminal Areas Procedures Aircraft Speed Category, and the wake vortex class for each vehicle. b) For each aircraft, calculate the stalling speed (minimum speed for flight) from the known aircraft approach speeds published in the FAA AC. Stalling speed is just 30% below the approach speed. Table 2.1 Aircraft to be Studied. Aircraft ADG and Speed Classification British Aerospace BAe 146-300 C-III Beech Raytheon Bonanza B36TC A-I Airbus A-320-100 C-III Gulfstream G-IV D-II Boeing 777-300 D-V Boeing 747-400 D-V Boeing 737-500 C-III Beech Airliner 1900-C B-II British Aerospace BAe Jetstream 31 B-II Dassault Falcon FAL-900 B-II Cessna Citation I B-II Bombardier DHC-8 Dash 8-300 B-III Hawker HS 125 Series 700 C-I Bombardier CRJ/200 or Canadair CL-600 B-II Cessna 150 A-I McDonnell Douglas MDC-DC-9-82 C-III CEE 4674 A1 Trani Page 1 of 3 c) Match the names with the 2-D drawings (use the number of the aircraft and match by writing on the space to the right of each aircraft).
    [Show full text]
  • 2021-03 Pearcey Newby and the Vulcan V2.Pdf
    Journal of Aeronautical History Paper 2021/03 Pearcey, Newby, and the Vulcan S C Liddle Vulcan to the Sky Trust ABSTRACT In 1955 flight testing of the prototype Avro Vulcan showed that the aircraft’s buffet boundary was unacceptably close to the design cruise condition. The Vulcan’s status as one of the two definitive carrier aircraft for Britain’s independent nuclear deterrent meant that a strong connection existed between the manufacturer and appropriate governmental research institutions, in this case the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) and the National Physical Laboratory (NPL). A solution was rapidly implemented using an extended and drooped wing leading edge, designed and high-speed wind-tunnel tested by K W Newby of RAE, subsequently being fitted to the scaled test version of the Vulcan, the Avro 707A. Newby’s aerodynamic solution exploited a leading edge supersonic-expansion, isentropic compression* effect that was being investigated at the time by researchers at NPL, including H H Pearcey. The latter would come to be associated with this ‘peaky’ pressure distribution and would later credit the Vulcan implementation as a key validation of the concept, which would soon after be used to improve the cruise efficiency of early British jet transports such as the Trident, VC10, and BAC 1-11. In turn, these concepts were exploited further in the Hawker-Siddeley design for the A300B, ultimately the basis of Britain’s status as the centre of excellence for wing design in Airbus. Abbreviations BS Bristol Siddeley L Lift D Drag M Mach number CL Lift Coefficient NPL National Physical Laboratory Cp Pressure coefficient RAE Royal Aircraft Establishment Cp.te Pressure coefficient at trailing edge RAF Royal Air Force c Chord Re Reynolds number G Load factor t Thickness HS Hawker Siddeley WT Wind tunnel HP Handley Page α Angle of Attack When the airflow past an aerofoil accelerates its pressure and temperature drop, and vice versa.
    [Show full text]
  • Evolving the Oblique Wing
    NASA AERONAUTICS BOOK SERIES A I 3 A 1 A 0 2 H D IS R T A O W RY T A Bruce I. Larrimer MANUSCRIP . Bruce I. Larrimer Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Larrimer, Bruce I. Thinking obliquely : Robert T. Jones, the Oblique Wing, NASA's AD-1 Demonstrator, and its legacy / Bruce I. Larrimer. pages cm Includes bibliographical references. 1. Oblique wing airplanes--Research--United States--History--20th century. 2. Research aircraft--United States--History--20th century. 3. United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration-- History--20th century. 4. Jones, Robert T. (Robert Thomas), 1910- 1999. I. Title. TL673.O23L37 2013 629.134'32--dc23 2013004084 Copyright © 2013 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The opinions expressed in this volume are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official positions of the United States Government or of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This publication is available as a free download at http://www.nasa.gov/ebooks. Introduction v Chapter 1: American Genius: R.T. Jones’s Path to the Oblique Wing .......... ....1 Chapter 2: Evolving the Oblique Wing ............................................................ 41 Chapter 3: Design and Fabrication of the AD-1 Research Aircraft ................75 Chapter 4: Flight Testing and Evaluation of the AD-1 ................................... 101 Chapter 5: Beyond the AD-1: The F-8 Oblique Wing Research Aircraft ....... 143 Chapter 6: Subsequent Oblique-Wing Plans and Proposals ....................... 183 Appendices Appendix 1: Physical Characteristics of the Ames-Dryden AD-1 OWRA 215 Appendix 2: Detailed Description of the Ames-Dryden AD-1 OWRA 217 Appendix 3: Flight Log Summary for the Ames-Dryden AD-1 OWRA 221 Acknowledgments 230 Selected Bibliography 231 About the Author 247 Index 249 iii This time-lapse photograph shows three of the various sweep positions that the AD-1's unique oblique wing could assume.
    [Show full text]
  • Horten Ho 229 V3 All Wood Short Kit
    Horten Ho 229 V3 All Wood Short Kit a Radio Controlled Model in 1/8 Scale Design by Gary Hethcoat Copyright 2007 Aviation Research P.O. Box 9192, San Jose, CA 95157 http://www.wingsontheweb.com Email: [email protected] Phone: 408-660-0943 Table of Contents 1 General Building Notes ......................................................................................................................... 4 1.1 Getting Help .................................................................................................................................. 4 1.2 Laser Cut Parts .............................................................................................................................. 4 1.3 Electronics ..................................................................................................................................... 4 1.4 Building Options ........................................................................................................................... 4 1.4.1 Removable Outer Wing Panels .............................................................................................. 4 1.4.2 Drag Rudders ......................................................................................................................... 4 1.4.3 Retracts .................................................................................................................................. 5 1.4.4 Frise Style Elevons ...............................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Aircraft Collection
    A, AIR & SPA ID SE CE MU REP SEU INT M AIRCRAFT COLLECTION From the Avenger torpedo bomber, a stalwart from Intrepid’s World War II service, to the A-12, the spy plane from the Cold War, this collection reflects some of the GREATEST ACHIEVEMENTS IN MILITARY AVIATION. Photo: Liam Marshall TABLE OF CONTENTS Bombers / Attack Fighters Multirole Helicopters Reconnaissance / Surveillance Trainers OV-101 Enterprise Concorde Aircraft Restoration Hangar Photo: Liam Marshall BOMBERS/ATTACK The basic mission of the aircraft carrier is to project the U.S. Navy’s military strength far beyond our shores. These warships are primarily deployed to deter aggression and protect American strategic interests. Should deterrence fail, the carrier’s bombers and attack aircraft engage in vital operations to support other forces. The collection includes the 1940-designed Grumman TBM Avenger of World War II. Also on display is the Douglas A-1 Skyraider, a true workhorse of the 1950s and ‘60s, as well as the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk and Grumman A-6 Intruder, stalwarts of the Vietnam War. Photo: Collection of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum GRUMMAN / EASTERNGRUMMAN AIRCRAFT AVENGER TBM-3E GRUMMAN/EASTERN AIRCRAFT TBM-3E AVENGER TORPEDO BOMBER First flown in 1941 and introduced operationally in June 1942, the Avenger became the U.S. Navy’s standard torpedo bomber throughout World War II, with more than 9,836 constructed. Originally built as the TBF by Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, they were affectionately nicknamed “Turkeys” for their somewhat ungainly appearance. Bomber Torpedo In 1943 Grumman was tasked to build the F6F Hellcat fighter for the Navy.
    [Show full text]