Most Iconic American
Aircraft
So I am sitting here this morning thinking about classic aircraft, and aircraft in general (I know, this is nothing new). Over the years, I have talked about aircraft with people that are and are not into aviation. It got me to thinking about what aircraft are iconic, and instantly recognizable by even people that don't know much about aviation. So here is my list of American iconic aircraft. Obviously, this is going to be from an American perspective as that is where I live. I will do another entry later on aircraft that are iconic from other parts of the world.
#1. Douglas DC-3/C-47 Skytrain/Dakota
The Douglas DC-1 prototype was built in in 1933 in response to a TWA requirement for a modern airliner. TWAs requirements were very specific; an all-metal monoplane (single wing) powered by three supercharged engines of at least 500 hp. It would have a crew of 2 and at least 12 passengers. The range had to be at least 1,080 miles with a top speed of at least 185 MPH. Rate of climb, cruising speed and other consideration were fairly normal for the day. The last requirement was the unique one. It had to have a satisfactory takeoff under good control, after the loss of one engine while fully loaded, from any TWA airport. The DC-1 first flew on June 23, 1933 from Santa Monica. The requirements from TWA had three engines. To prove that the design was strong, Douglas flew an entire flight from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Winslow Arizona on one engine.
The only DC-1 was bought by TWA for $125,000. The prototype cost Douglas $807,000 to build, but it paved the way for additional orders of the improved DC-2. Later, the DC-1 would be sold to Howard Hughes, who had plans to race the airplane (That would have been something!). He never did and it was later sold to Spain, where it crashed on takeoff at Malaga airport in December of 1940. Sadly, the original prototype has been lost to history, but the legacy lives on today.
Today, the DC-3/C-47 is still in use in parts of the world for transport and passenger duties. When an 80 year old design is still useful today, that makes the DC-3 not only an iconic aircraft, but in my opinion, the greatest airplane ever built.
#2 Piper J-3 Cub
Some compare the Piper Cub to the Ford Model-T. It was small, simple and light. While it was intended for flight traing, it became a popular aircraft for general aviation, and is still flown today at airports across the country. The original design, the Taylor E-2 Cub, was built in 1930. William Piper was a big investor in the Taylor Aircraft company of Bradford, Pennsylvania. When the company went bankrupt, Piper bought the assets in the company while keeping C. Gilbert Taylor as president. The J-2 followed, selling 1,200 by 1938. The J-3 design followed after the company moved to Lock Haven. The J-2 and J-3 designs were done by Walter Jamouneau. When the J-3 began selling in 1938, a brand new aircraft with a 40 horsepower engine sold for just over $1,000. The J-3 came at just the right time for the Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP) that began training pilots in 1939 for the eventuality of war in Europe. The J-3 became the primary trainer for the program, and it's success is in the numbers. The CPTP graduated 435,165 pilots who had flown the J-3. By the end of the war, 80% of all US pilots had received their first flight training in the Cub.
Wartime production of the J-3 Cub had a J-3 rolling off the assembly line every 20 minutes! In addition to pilot training, the J-3 was used for liaison, observation, reconnaissance and an air ambulance. Major Charles "Bazooka Charlie" Carpenter improvised racks of infantry bazookas on a Cub to attack German armor!
Between 1938 and 1947 19,888 J-3 Cubs were built. Today, Cub Crafters in Washington and American Legend Aircraft in Texas make modernized cubs with more powerful engines. Today, a J-3 will cost you a lot more than the original asking price. A quick glace at Trade-a-Plane showed J-3s going from $30,000 up!
#3 Bell UH-1 Iroquois "Huey"
The US Army put out a requirement in 1952 for a medical evacuation and utility helicopter. The helicopters used by the Army at that time were underpowered, large and complex. The requirements were revised in 1953 to overcome those challenges. Twenty companies submitted designs. The Bell Model 204 was chosen by the US Army, who ordered three aircraft on February 23, 1955. The first flight of the 204 was on October 20, 1956 with Floyd Carlson, Bell's chief test pilot, at the controls. The Army ordered 100 helicopters in March of 1960, designating them the HU-1A. The original designation of HU-1 led to it being called the "Huey". The designation was changed by the Department of Defense in September of 1962 to UH-1, but the monicker was stuck by then. Many variants followed with the UH-1H being the most common.
The Hueys were quickly pressed into service in Vietnam, with the first Hueys arriving in March 1962 as part of the 57th Medical Detachment of the US Army. The USAF and Navy both used the Huey in Vietnam for a wide variety of missions from troop transport, assault and med-evac to reconnaissance and search and rescue. A number of foreign militaries also used the Huey. The Army began phasing the Huey out as Blackhawks replaced them, but there are still many used today in other branches and in foreign service.
In civilian service, Hueys work with police and fire departments to provide air cover for pursuits, fire support for fighting fires and search and rescue. For a design that is nearly 70 years old and to still be an effective aircraft is testament to the Huey.
#4 North American P-51 Mustang
The North American P-51 Mustang was the first fighter aircraft manufactured by North American Aviation. Designed as the NA-73X in October 1940, it was called the Mustang I by the British. The original XP-51s assigned to the USAAF were powered by the Allison engines. The Allisons did well at low to medium altitudes, but had poor performance at high altitude. The USAAF ordered the A-36 Apache version of the P-51 as a dive bomber that was used in North Africa, Italy and India.
In the autumn of 1942, Mustangs were equipped with the Rolls Royce Merlin engines for testing. In the US, and experimental P-51 with the Merlin engine flew 441 MPH at 29,800 feet. This was almost 100 MPH faster than the Allison powered P-51A! With the speed, handling and range of the Mustang, the 8th Air Force now had a fighter that could carry the fight well into the heart of Germany escorting the bombers for protection and the ability to hunt for targets of opportunity. The P-51s also escorted B-29s in the Pacific, flying from Iwo Jima. In addition to the bomber escort duties, the Mustang also flew low level fighter bomber missions against targets in Japan.
The Mustangs also flew in Korea. The flew with Reserve and Guard units of the US until 1957. The rights to the design were purchased from North American by Cavalier Aircraft Corporation after WWII. Between surplus war aircraft and the new ones manufactured by Cavalier, the Mustang served in the air forces of more than 50 nations. Some of them were used in military service well into the 1980s. Over 15,000 Mustangs were made by North American.
#5 Vought F4U Corsair
As a kid growing up in the 1970s, I remember watching
Baa Baa Black Sheep. Seeing the exploits of the Black Sheep Squadron and those magnificent gull-wing fighters left quite an impression on me. The Corsair first flew at the end of May 1940 and was introduced in 1942. On October 1, 1940, the Corsair became the first single-engine fighter to fly faster than 400 MPH during a flight from Stratford to Hartford. The Corsair had many leaps in aviation technology for it's time and with it came some early teething problems. The long nose of the Corsair made it impossible to see over the nose on landing or when taxiing. These problems were worked out as the Corsair began service in the Pacific.
The Corsair did well as a fighter, but also performed very well in the ground support role as a fighter bomber. The versatile load of weapons made it an effective weapon in the battle for Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Corsairs flew over 64,000 operational sorties during WWII claiming 2,140 aerial victories. They also delivered 15,621 tons of bombs.
The Corsairs also few well in Korea, mostly in the close-air support mission profile. Marine Captain Jesse G. Folmar shot down a MiG-15 in September of 1952 while flying his Corsair. Corsairs were credited with 12 aerial victories over Korea, even though their main mission was close-air support and ground attack, proving that they could still pack a sting if attacked.
A number of foreign Navies also used the Corsair, including the United Kingdom and France. Later, Corsairs were used by Central American countries in various wars in the 1960s and 1970s. Over 12,500 Corsairs were built between 1942 and 1953 by Vought, Goodyear and Brewster. The last military Corsair was retired from service by Honduras in 1979. There are a number of survivors flying today. The oldest flying Corsair, featured in the photo above, an F4U-1, is flown by the Plane of Fame Museum in Chino, California.
#6 Lockheed Constellation
The Lockheed L-049 Constellation was designed by Kelly Johnson and Hall Hibbard in response to a 1939 TWA request for a 40-passenger transcontinental airliner with a 3,500 mile range. Lockheed had been working on a similar design since 1937 called the L-044 Excalibur. The wing design was very similar to that of the P-38 Lightning, only larger. The distinctive three tail shape and sleek fuselgae gave it a clean line while it was powered by the giant, 18-cylinder Wright R-3350 radial engines. This gave the Constellation a top speed of 375 MPH and a cruise speed of 340 MPH.
As WWII began, the Constellation was pressed into military service as the C-69. A bomber version was proposed as the XB-30, but it was never developed. The C-69s were used mostly as long-range fast transports. Twenty-two of these were completed by the time the war ended, but not all of them entered military service.
The Constellation was well positioned in the post war world for becoming an airliner. TWA received it's first airliner on October 1, 1945. It flew TWAs first transatlantic flight to Paris on December 3, 1945, departing from Washington, DC. Regular New York to Paris service via TWA started in February 1946. The Connie became the first pressurized airliner in widespread use and was flown by at least 16 different airlines worldwide.
The post-war military service of the Constellation designated the Connies as the C-121. These operated as transports, electronic combat aircraft and were the first AWACS aircraft in the RC-121 Warning Star configuration. The last military service for the Connies was in 1978. The final airline service in the Constellation was in 1990. The Constellations were the start of affordable, comfortable airline travel.
#7 Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet
The Boeing 747 was originally designed to compete for a bid for the USAF CX-Heavy Logistics System requirement for a very large strategic transport aircraft. The requirement called for a load capacity of 180,000 lbs, range of 5,000 nautical miles unrefueled and a speed of 500 MPH. The minimum payload area had to be 17 feet wide, 13.5 feet high and 100 feet long with access doors in the front and back. While Boeing lost the bid to the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy, they had other plans for the 747 as well.
The President of Pan Am, Juan Trippe, had been seeking an airliner twice the size of the 707. Airport congestion was a big problem in the 1960s. Trippe believed that new, larger aircraft would help relieve the congestion caused by more passengers being carried by small aircraft. At the time, it was believed that the 747's life as a passenger aircraft would be short, replaced by supersonic airliners. The Boeing team wanted a design that could be easily transitioned into a cargo role if the passenger version suffered a decline in sales. The freight version would be capable of carrying shipping containers 2 wide by 2 high in 2 to 3 rows.
Pan Am ordered 25 747-100s in April 1966 at a cost of $525 million. Pan Am had been involved with the aircraft early on and were able to influence the design and development in a way that has not happened before nor since. When it was introduced, it was generally believed that the aircraft would be obsolete before 400 of them were made. By December of 2012, 1,458 747s had been built, with more still on order. For an aircraft that first flew on February 9, 1969 and is still being produced, the 747 has been a proven design.
#8 Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird
The SR-71 Blackbird was (and still is) an high tech design. It was developed out of the A-12 project in the 1960s to become a reconnaissance aircraft with no equal. With speed and altitude as it's only weapon, no SR-71 was ever lost to enemy action. When a missile launch was detected, the pilot only had to increase his speed. The SR-71 holds the record for the fastest air-breathing manned aircraft and it's top speed is still classified, although it is listed as Mach 3+.
The A-12 concept cam out of the shooting down of Francis Gary Powers over the Soviet Union in 1960 while flying a U-2. Up until that time, it was believed that the Soviets did not have a missile with the range to reach that high. This demonstrated the need for a faster aircraft. Teh CIA worked with Kelly Johnson and the Skunk Works to develop the A-12. The A-12 first flew on April 25, 1962 at Groom Lake. Thirteen aircraft were built in three variants, the A-12 attack aircraft, YF-12A interceptor and a drone carrying M-21. A-12s did fly reconnaissance missions over Vietnam and North Korea before being retired in 1968. The program was cancelled in December of 1966, to be replaced with the SR-71.
The SR-71 is composed of 85% titanium alloy, with the rest composite polymer material. Because of the extremes in temperature that the aircraft would go through, many special manufacturing techniques had to be employed to keep the aircraft skin for breaking or over expanding. Panels would fit loosely on the ground, expanding to properly fit together, in some cases, several inches of expansion. Cooling was achieved by passing fuel behind titanium surfaces in the chines. The first SR-71 flight too place on December 22, 1964 and Plant 42 in Palmdale. The aircraft was reported to reach a speed of Mach 3.4.
The last official flight for the SR-71 was October 9, 1999. Over the course of its operational life, it flew 17,300 sorties for a total of 53,490 flight hours. 11,675 hours of that was at Mach 3 plus. The advent of unmanned drones and satellite technology made the SR-71 too expensive. Additionally, with only 32 produced and not tooling to replace lost airframes, aircraft were being cannibalized to keep them flying. The SR-71 leaves a legacy of speed, altitude and innovation.
On a personal note, I was stationed at RAF Lakenheath in the 1980s and when the SR-71 took off from RAF Mildenhall, 3.5 miles away, you could hear it. Once you heard it, you only had to look in the direction of Mildenhall to see the SR-71 streak into the sky toward it's first tanker stop. What a sight to see.
#9 Boeing B-52 Stratofortress
From it's original conception in 1946 as a straight-winged bomber with 6 turboprop engines to the prototype with swept wings and 8 turbojet engines, the B-52 became a fixture in American airpower. It first flew on April 15, 1952. Originally designed to replace the B-36 Peacemaker and to carry nuclear weapons for deterrence missions, the B-52 has been involved in many wars carrying conventional bombs. The B-52 entered USAF service in February of 1955 and has been active in the fleet since then. There are approximately 85 of the original 744 B-52 built in active service, with 9 spares. Upgrades are expected to take place through 2015 that will keep them operating into the 2040s. All of the B-52 crews today are younger than the airplanes they are flying.
While the official name of the B-52 is the Stratofortress, carrying the fortress name for the B-17 and B-29 bombers, the B-52 is more commonly know as BUFF, or Big Ugly Fat Fellow (or F*cker). The B-52 carried some of the advances and technologies from the B-47. The B-52s in their first few years established firsts and records. The B-52 was the first aircraft to air drop a thermonuclear weapon, over Bikini Atoll on May 21, 1956. In November, 8 B-52s flew the perimeter of the US non-stop in 31 hours, 30 minutes. In January of 1957, 3 B-52s flew around the world non-stop in 45 hours, 19 minutes. Several inflight refuelings were done by KC-97 tankers for the flight. In December of 1960, a B-52G flew 10, 078 miles without refueling. That record would be broken in January of 1962 by a B-52H, flying 12,532 miles without refueling.
The B-52 flew many missions in Vietnam against the North, the Ho Chi Minh trail and other targets. A formation of 6 B-52s could destroy and area 5/8 of a mile wide by 2 miles long. Three B-52s were each credited with a kill of 3 MiG-21s during the war by the gunners on the B-52. Thirty-one B-52s were lost during the war.
Almost 40 years after the first flight of a B-52, another record was set by a B-52. On January 16, 1991, a flight of B-52Gs flew from Barksdale AFB in Louisiana to strike targets in Iraq during the opening of Desert Storm. The mission took 35 hours and flew 14,000 miles, a record for the longest distance combat mission. B-52s flew 1,620 sorties delivering 40% of the munitions dropped by the coalition. B-52Hs are still in operation today, ready for the next conflict. With the BUFF upgrades to fly it into the 2040s, it will be the longest running operational aircraft in history, with nearly 100 years of service!
#10 Northrop B-2 Spirit
The B-2 Spirit is mostly known as the Stealth Bomber. The Spirit was the most expensive aircraft developed to date for the US military. If factoring in the total program cost of development, testing and engineering, the unit cost per aircraft is $2.1 billion. At the time the contract was signed for the B-52, the Cold War was still on, and as it ended, the need for a stealth aircraft that could penetrate enemy defenses to drop a nuclear bomb diminished. The order was paired down from 132 to 21. While it's initial mission was to drop nuclear weapons, it was adapted to drop conventional weapons and was first used in 1999 in Kosovo.
The B-2 was the first aircraft to use GPS guided JDAM smart bombs in combat, in Kosovo. In subsequent years, B-2s have been used to drop munitions on every conflict the US has been involved in, often flying sorties from Whiteman AFB in Missouri. So far, the longest mission for a B-2 was 44.3 hours. In Afghanistan and the second Iraq war, the B-2 has been there to drop precision munitions to minimize civilian casualties.
While the Pentagon works on the requirements for the Next-Generation Bomber program to eventually replace the B-2, it continues to be the tip of the spear for precision strikes against high value targets stealthily.
I found it harder to that I had originally thought it would be to pare down the list to ten aircraft. But while I know some will disagree on the aircraft chosen, I would bet that there are at least a couple of them that will be in agreement. As more and more aircraft become unmanned, the lore and allure of aviation will not be the same. Some of these aircraft will be flying for quite a while though, until they can be replaced, IF they can be.
