12. Lockheed C-5A Galaxy. Four generations of Lockheed transports were on the Pennsylvania Air National Guard ramp at Harrisburg International Airport in Middletown, Pennsylvania, in this photo taken on 17 April, sometime in the early 1970s (the photo caption didn’t specify a year). The lineup consisted of a C-121 Constellation, C-130E Hercules, C-141A StarLifter, C-5A Galaxy, and another C-121. Considering the unit was designated the 193rd Tactical Electronic Warfare Group at the time, the aircraft on the ends were most likely EC-121S airborne radio/TV broadcast platforms modified for the Coronet Solo (later Commando Solo) psychological warfare mission. Now designated as the 193rd Special Operations Wing, the unit’s mission was only partially declassified in 1989. Today, the 193rd SOW flies the EC-130J Commando Solo II broadcast platform. Photo by SSgt. Dave Hamilton.
11. Convair B-58 Hustler. Last B-58 #116 Leaving Assembly Line.
10. North American B-25 Mitchell. B-25 Mitchell bombers of the US 42nd Bomber Group practicing skip-bombing off New Caledonia, 13 Aug 1943.
9. Kawasaki Ki-45. One half right front view of a Kawasaki Ki-45 Toryu (Nick) twin engine night fighter aircraft parked on an airfield apron. Circa 1945.
8. Convair NB-36H. The NB-36H (originally designated XB-36H) Crusader was used in the studies and testing of an airborne nuclear reactor. The reactor carried aloft was not to be used for aircraft propulsion but primarily for determining many unknown factors pertaining to the effects of nuclear reaction. The NB-36H (US Air Force serial number 51-5712), featured a lead-lined flight deck and windows that were ten-to-twelve inches thick to reduce the potential radiation hazard, was flown forty-seven times between September 1955 and March 1957, accumulating 215 hours of flight time, during eighty-nine of which the reactor was operated. The aircraft was scrapped in 1958.
7. North American XB-70 Valkyrie. Photo by Ralph Crane.
6. Focke-Wulf Fw 190D-9 at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. (U.S. Air Force photo)
5. McDonnell Douglas F-4D Phantom II. A U.S. Air Force F-4D Phantom aircraft assigned to the 119th Fighter Wing "Happy Hooligans", North Dakota Air National Guard, armed with AIM-7 Sparrow missiles flies an intercept mission over the Arctic Ocean, during a flight to Keflavik, Iceland in 1983. Eight Russian TU-95 Bear bombers were intercepted by Hooligan pilots during the deployment. (U.S. Air Force Photo)
4. Fairchild C-123 Provider. A South Korean air force Fairchild C-123K Provider aircraft waits to pick up troops at a highway landing strip during the joint South Korean/United States exercise "Team Spirit '89" on 24 March 1989.
3. Antonov An-14 in flight. Arsenyev, Primorsky Krai, USSR. 1971
2. Douglas C-74 Globemaster. The Globemaster was developed after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The long distances across the Atlantic, and especially the Pacific Ocean to the combat areas indicated a need for a transoceanic heavy-lift military transport aircraft. Douglas Aircraft Company responded in 1942 with a giant four-engined design. Development and production modifications issues with the aircraft caused the first flight to be delayed until 5 September 1945, and production was limited to 14 aircraft after the production contract was canceled after V-J Day.
1. Lockheed C-130 Hercules. Low level flight by a Hercules during Exercise Saif Sareea II in Oman, 2001.
