The Museum of Flying

Like the Boeing 737 "family" of jetliners spanning five decades of service, Airbus Industry replicated this concept with their A320 twinjet, shown here as the shorter A319 derivative. Both of these jetliner 'families' will reach more than 10,000 units produced!

Called the "Century Series" for their three-digit designations, this new crop of supersonic U.S. Air Force fighters and interceptors dominated the scene during the early years of the Cold War. Here is the Mach-2 Republic F-105B Thunderchief fighter-bomber.

From props to jets - a Lufthansa Lockheed 1649 Constellation is prepared for a transatlantic flight as a brand-new BOAC de Havilland Comet 4 is parked after making the world's first transatlantic passenger flight from London-New York on Saturday, October 4, 1958.

Did you know that the current Boeing logo was derived from the Douglas Aircraft Company logo symbolizing the World Cruiser trans-global flight of 1924? Boeing's new design came after the merger of the two companies in 1997.

In conjunction with the Museum's new Rotorway Exec helicopter exhibit being installed this Spring, here's a photo of where it all started with small utility helicopters - the famed "Whirlybird," Bell's model 47G, seen here on floats serving the New York Police Dept.

Coming next month to the Museum of Flying - an exclusive art exhibit with 16 original paintings by Craig Kodera depicting the legendary career of famed General Jimmy Doolittle. April will be 78th Anniversary of the historic Doolittle Raid in World War II.

A most ironic photo - Continental DC-10 and Eastern Airbus A300 at New York's LaGuardia Airport in 1984. The DC-10 was originally designed as a 250-passenger twin-engine widebody (like the A300) to operate specifically from this airport. Its third engine was added for transcontinental range capability.

From a newly-discovered treasure trove of factory photos donated to the Museum of Flying, this stunning ramp study of the McDonnell Douglas F-4J Phantom II - most advanced model of the twin-jet fighter in 1966. A total of 522 "J" models were built.

Large fully-detailed scale models were always best for conveying to potential airline customers, and even the travelling public, what new commercial jetliners would look like in service. Seen here, the Douglas DC-9-30 in 1/24-scale, circa 1967.

Many odd, unusual, and unique aircraft concepts were designed and evaluated during the "Fabulous Fifties." One was the Ryan X-13 VertiJet, shown here on conventional landing gear with Ryan Test Pilot Pete Girard at Edwards AFB, CA.

While the Museum of Flying is fully aware of the current and serious Nationwide health situation, we are optimistic about holding our second annual Aviation Expo in August. Here's a "Save The Date" flyer - registration details to be announced soon.

The Museum recently added some new photos and artwork showing the Mach 3+ Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, world's highest performance production aircraft. This rough sketch depicts an SR-71 preparing for a night launch from Air Force Plant 42 at Palmdale, CA in 1990.

Called "the thoroughbred," the rugged and reliable Douglas DC-6 was considered the most successful piston-powered transport ever produced. Here an AIR AMERICA DC-6A "combi" passenger-freighter prepares for flight at Misawa Air Base, Japan, in September 1968.