AIR PROGRESS FEB 69 NORTHROP T-38 TALON SOPWITH PUP LEARJET 25 RENO UNLIMITED CHEROKEE JAL DC-8

THE USAF HOT TRAINER: NORTHROP T-38 TALON JET: The Northrop T-38 Talon is a two-seat, twinjet supersonic jet trainer designed and produced by the American aircraft manufacturer Northrop Corporation. It was the world's first supersonic trainer as well as the most produced.  The T-38 can be traced back to 1952 and Northrop's N-102 Fang and N-156 fighter aircraft projects. During the mid-1950s, Northrop officials decided to adapt the N-156 to suit a recently issued general operating requirement by the United States Air Force (USAF) for a supersonic trainer to replace the Lockheed T-33. The bid was successful, in no small part on its lower lifecycle cost comparisons to competing aircraft, and the company received an initial order to build three prototypes. The first of these, designated YT-38, made its maiden flight on 10 April 1959. The T-38 was introduced to USAF service on 17 March 1961.  The USAF is the largest operator of the T-38. Additional operators of the T-38 include NASA and the United States Navy. U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in Patuxent River, Maryland, is the principal US Navy operator. Other T-38s were previously used by the US Navy for dissimilar air combat training until replaced by the similar Northrop F-5 Tiger II. Pilots of other NATO nations have commonly flown the T-38 during joint training programs with American pilots. The T-38 remains in service as of 2023 with several air forces. As of 2023, the T-38 has been in service for over 60 years with the USAF, its original operator. In September 2018, USAF announced the replacement of the Talon by the Boeing–Saab T-7 Red Hawk with phaseout to begin in 2023.

BASICS OF PILOTING: WHERE IS THE WIND?

FULL COLOR IN-FLIGHT PORTRAIT: WW1 RFC RAF SOPWITH PUP BIPLANE FIGHTER: The Sopwith Pup is a British single-seater biplane fighter aircraft built by the Sopwith Aviation Company. It entered service with the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps in the autumn of 1916. With pleasant flying characteristics and good manoeuvrability, the aircraft proved very successful. The Pup was eventually outclassed by newer German fighters, but it was not completely replaced on the Western Front until the end of 1917. The remaining Pups were relegated to Home Defence and training units. The Pup's docile flying characteristics also made it ideal for use in aircraft carrier deck landing and takeoff experiments and training.

FULL COLOR IN-FLIGHT PORTRAIT: NORTHROP T-38 TALON JET TRAINER

FULL COLOR IN-FLIGHT PORTRAIT: LEARJET 25: The Learjet 25 is an American ten-seat (two crew and eight passengers), twin-engine, high-speed business jet aircraft manufactured by Learjet. It is a stretched version of the Learjet 24.

COLLEGE PILOTS AT COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY

MILITARY REPORT

HL-10 ROCKET RUNS: The Northrop HL-10 was one of five US heavyweight lifting body designs flown at NASA's Flight Research Center (FRC—later Dryden Flight Research Center) in Edwards, California, from July 1966 to November 1975 to study and validate the concept of safely maneuvering and landing a low lift-over-drag vehicle designed for reentry from space. It was a NASA design and was built to evaluate "inverted airfoil" lifting body and delta planform. It currently is on display at the entrance to the Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base.

UNLIMITED RACING AT RENO

NEW PIPER CHEROKEE 140B: The Piper PA-28 Cherokee is a family of two-seat or four-seat light aircraft built by Piper Aircraft and designed for flight training, air taxi and personal use.[2] The PA-28 family of aircraft comprises all-metal, unpressurized, single piston-engined airplanes with low-mounted wings and tricycle landing gear. They have a single door on the right side, which is entered by stepping on the wing. The PA-28 is the fourth most produced aircraft in history. The first PA-28 received its type certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration in 1960 and the series remains in production to this day. Current models are the Warrior, Arrow, and Archer TX and LX,[4][5] and the Pilot 100 and 100i.[6] The Archer was discontinued in 2009, but with investment from new company ownership, the model was put back into production in 2010. The PA-28 series competed with the now discontinued, similarly low-winged Grumman American AA-5 series and Beechcraft Musketeer designs and continues to compete with the high-winged Cessna 172

JAPAN AIR LINES JAL DOUGLAS DC-8 DITCHES IN SAN FRANCISCO BAY: Japan Air Lines Flight 2 was a scheduled passenger flight on November 22, 1968.[2] The plane was a new Douglas DC-8-62 named Shiga (志賀), flying from Tokyo International Airport (Haneda) to San Francisco International Airport (SFO). Due to heavy fog and other factors, Captain Kohei Asoh mistakenly ditched the plane near Coyote Point in the shallow waters of San Francisco Bay, two and a half miles short of the runway. None of the 96 passengers and 11 crew were injured in the landing.

MR. ALBAR’S STOL MACHINE

McDONNELL DOUGLAS / EASTERN AIRLINES STOL AIRLINER COCKPIT: The Breguet 941 was a French four-engine turboprop short takeoff and landing (STOL) transport aircraft developed by Breguet in the 1960s. Although widely promoted, both by Breguet in France and by McDonnell Aircraft and McDonnell Douglas in the United States, it was not built in large numbers; only one prototype and four production aircraft were built.  McDonnell Aircraft acquired a production licence for the 941 in the United States and began marketing the aircraft with minimal changes as the McDonnell 188. The company also promoted an upgraded version with a circular-section pressurised fuselage, uprated engines, and other enhancements as the 188E. Marketing of the 188E continued after McDonnell merged with Douglas Aircraft to form McDonnell Douglas, and the merged company proposed to build an even larger and more powerful version as the McDonnell Douglas 210.  The 941 prototype was tested extensively in both France and the United States. McDonnell conducted demonstrations with the prototype in late 1964 and again in early 1965. The aircraft was evaluated by both NASA and the US military, but no orders were placed. McDonnell Douglas continued these efforts, using a production 941S for limited passenger operations for two months in 1968 with Eastern Air Lines between busy urban centers in the northeast U.S. The following year, this same aircraft was tested by American Airlines and then by the Federal Aviation Administration to evaluate the STOLport concept for operation from small city airports. Despite these tests, the company found that airlines were primarily interested in operating jets from conventional airports, and did not embrace the novel STOLport concept; no sales resulted and none of the proposed upgraded versions left the drawing boards.

WINGS OF YESTERYEAR: TANDEM ENGINE AIRCRAFT

DeHAVILLAND TIGER MOTH BIPLANES OVER CALIFORNIA