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This year marks the sixtieth anniversary of the first turbojet engine flight. The engine was developed by the Ernst Heinkel company based on a concept pioneered by Dr. Hans von Ohain who passed away earlier this year. Initial flight-testing was conducted with the jet engine mounted under a propeller-driven aircraft. By the summer of 1939, a specially designed test aircraft, the Heinkel He 178, flew purely on jet power. This success led to development of the world's first true jet fighter, the twin-engine He 280. Although the He 280 failed to go into production (an honor that fell to the competing Messerschmitt Me 262) it was a pioneer in several aeronautical technologies. Heinkel's early and enthusiastic support for the turbojet provided a strong impetus to the entire German aero-engine industry. However, his efforts did not lead to a Heinkel turbojet engine production contract.

This paper traces the life and times of Colonel Virginius Evans Clark and his most well known creation, the famous Clark Y airfoil. Despite that fact that he is today mainly remembered (if at all) for that one achievement, Clark was a many faceted and somewhat controversial aviation pioneer. He designed many aircraft and served in several important military and industry positions both during and after the First World War. Clark's eventful career, the various aircraft that he designed and the many applications of his most famous creation are reviewed.

During the mid-1970s, the US embarked on a modest but highly focused effort to demonstrate an aircraft possessing a very low radar signature and sufficient performance to have operational utility. Known as Have Blue, the project was highly successful and led to the F-117 A. This paper discusses issues associated with reducing radar signature to very low levels (levels that are “tactically meaningful,” e.g., capable of defeating realistic threat systems). Radar phenomena and the concept of radar cross section (RCS) are briefly summarized and RCS reduction techniques as they were applied to Have Blue are described. RCS reduction considerations and techniques pioneered by Have Blue have become an integral component of the combat aircraft design process over the past two decades.

Truly revolutionary in concept and execution, the tiny Messerschmitt Me 163B Komet interceptor was the world's first (and to this day represents the only) rocket-powered military combat aircraft to see operational service. It was the product of the integration of a series of progressive developments in flying wing aircraft and bi-propellant rocket motor technology that began in Germany prior to the Second World War. Spurred by the outbreak of the war, the Me 163 was developed as a short-range, point-defense interceptor intended to protect critical high value targets. Designed for horizontal takeoff and landing, the Me 163 incorporated many innovative features such as a jettisonable take-off trolley and retractable landing skid. In keeping with this concept, a number of ingenious items of ground support equipment were developed and fielded such as a post-landing all terrain aircraft recovery vehicle.

Air-launched anti-ship guided missiles (ASGM) have achieved widespread notoriety since the Argentine Navy effectively employed Exocet missiles launched from Super Entendart fighters against Royal Navy warships and supporting auxiliary vessels during the Falklands conflict of the early-1980s. During the same conflict, the Royal Navy used thehelicopter-launched Sea Skua to disable a surfaced Argentine submarine and other small vessels. In subsequent years, Exocet, Sea Skua. Harpoon and other members of the growing air-launched ASGM family have been used in a number of situations culminating in their widespread employment during the Gulf War. Launched from aircraft operating under the protective blanket of coalition air superiority, air-launched ASGMs virtually annihilated the Iraqi surface fleet. Today, the air-launched ASGM has widely proliferated becoming a standard and highly potent weapon in the arsenal of nearly all nations that possess modern combat aircraft.

The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 was one of the truly outstanding fighter aircraft of the Second World War. It distinguished itself over all fronts on which the Luftwaffe fought in conditions ranging from arctic wastes to the deserts of North Africa. The Fw 190 represented the epitome of conventional piston-engine fighter design on the threshold of the jet age. Conceived nearly sixty years ago, flying for the first time on the eve of the war in 1939 and acknowledged as “the best all-around fighter in the world” in the mid-war years, derivatives of the Fw 190 were still pushing the ultimate capability boundary for this class of aircraft at war's end in 1945 (reaching maximum level true airspeeds of 470 mph [about Mach 0.7] at altitudes of well over 40,000 feet). This paper assesses the design attributes and technology approaches, including innovative use of advanced electrical systems, that were used to make the Fw 190 one of the great all-around fighters in aviation history.