The Air Park in the National Museum of the United States Air Force is an outdoor exhibit featuring a number of different aircraft.
McDonnell Douglas F-15A Eagle
According to the Museum:
The F-15A Eagle is an all-weather fighter designed to gain and maintain air supremacy. As the first U.S. fighter with engine thrust greater than its basic weight, the F-15A can accelerate while in a vertical climb. Its great power, light weight, and large wing area combine to make the Eagle a very agile fighter. The USAF ordered more than 350 A models for operational service.
The Eagle first flew on July 27, 1972, at Edwards AFB, Calif., and it has been produced in single-seat (F-15A and C) and two-seat versions (F-15B and D) over its many years of USAF service. The two-seat F-15E Strike Eagle version is a dual-role fighter that can engage both ground and air targets. Also, various models of F-15s are used by Israel, Japan, Saudi Arabia, the Republic of Singapore and South Korea.
Fairchild Republic A-10A Thunderbolt II
According to the Museum:
The A-10 was designed specifically for close air support of ground forces. It is named for the famous P-47 Thunderbolt, a fighter often used in a close air support role during World War II. The A-10 is very maneuverable at low speeds and low altitudes to ensure accurate weapon delivery, and it carries the systems and armor needed to survive in this environment. It is intended for use against all ground targets but is particularly effective against tanks and other armored vehicles.
The Thunderbolt II's great endurance gives it a large combat radius and long loiter time in a battle area. Its short takeoff and landing capability permits operation from airstrips close to the front lines. The A-10 was developed with a robust but simple design allowing for efficient maintenance at forward bases with limited facilities.
Lockheed AC-130A Spectre Gunship
According to the Museum:
The C-130 was originally designed as an assault transport capable of operating from unpaved, hastily prepared airstrips. On Aug. 23, 1954, the Hercules made its first flight. By 1976 more than 1,200 C-130s had been ordered, including aircraft equipped for radar weather mapping and reconnaissance, mid-air space capsule recovery, search and rescue, ambulance service, drone launching, and mid-air refueling of helicopters. The C-130 could transport up to 92 combat troops and their gear or 45,000 pounds of cargo. Where facilities were inadequate, the Hercules could deliver its cargo by parachute or by low altitude ground-cable extraction without landing.
Twenty-eight C-130s were converted to side-firing gunships, primarily for night attacks against ground targets. This AC-130A was modified at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, as the prototype for the gunship version and was initially equipped with four 20mm and four 7.62mm multi-barrel guns, a searchlight and target sensors. After testing in Southeast Asia in 1967, it was used as a test bed for additional armament, sensor and fire control development. Later AC-130 gunships mounted improved sensors, a digital fire control computer and heavier armament.
Boeing EC-135E Aria
According to the Museum:
During the early 1960s, NASA and the Department of Defense needed a mobile tracking and telemetry platform to support the Apollo space program and other unmanned space flight operations. In a joint project, NASA and the DoD contracted with the McDonnell Douglas and the Bendix Corporations to modify eight Boeing C-135 Stratolifter cargo aircraft into Apollo/Range Instrumentation Aircraft (A/RIA). Equipped with a steerable seven-foot antenna dish in its distinctive "Droop Snoot" or "Snoopy Nose," the EC-135N A/RIA became operational in January 1968. The Air Force Eastern Test Range (AFETR) at Patrick Air Force Base, Fla., maintained and operated the A/RIA until the end of the Apollo program in 1972 when the USAF renamed it the Advanced Range Instrumentation Aircraft (ARIA).
Boeing C-17 Globemaster III
According to the Museum:
Entering service in 1993, the C-17 Globemaster III is the U.S. Air Force's newest, most versatile cargo aircraft to enter the airlift force. The C-17 is capable of rapid strategic delivery of troops and all types of cargo to main operating bases or directly to small, austere airfields. It can also perform tactical airlift and airdrop missions or transport litters and ambulatory patients during aeromedical evacuations.
A crew of three (pilot, copilot and loadmaster) operates the C-17, which can carry about 170,000 pounds of cargo. The large aft door will accommodate almost all of the U.S. Army's air-transportable vehicles and palletized cargo, including the Army's M-1 Abrams main battle tank. The C-17 can take off and land on runways as short as 3,500 feet and only 90 feet wide. Its four Pratt & Whitney F117-PW-100 engines can reverse their thrust to help slow it down on landings. The thrust reversers direct the engine exhaust upward and forward to prevent dust and debris from being sucked into the engine intakes. These reversible engines also allow the pilot to back the plane or even turn it around on a narrow runway using a three-point star turn method.
More airplane photo tours
Air Force Museum: World War II German Planes (photo diary)
Museum of Flight: World War II bombers (photo diary)
Museum of Flight: The Boeing 747 Prototype (photo diary)
Yanks Air Museum: Military Jets (Photo Diary)
Yanks Air Museum: World War II Bombers (Photo Diary)
Planes of Fame: P-38 Lightning (Photo Diary)
Planes of Fame: Some Jet Fighters (Photo Diary)
Stonehenge Air Museum: Jet Airplanes (Photo Diary)