Media Galleries : Aviation History

Collection of photos of F-16s with unique paint schemes.

Interest in designs for vertical takeoff and landing, or VTOL, fighter aircraft began in the 1960s at the height of the Cold War when NATO bases were seen as vulnerable to preemptive attacks. Such aircraft, secured in hardened shelters, could still take off and land from bases with damaged runways.

The F-16, as finally completed in prototype form, was a synthesis of advanced state-of-the-art technologies that had been explored for years, but had never been blended together in a single airframe.

The 3600th US Air Force Air Demonstration Unit was activated at Luke AFB, Arizona, on 1 June 1953. Seven officers and twenty-two enlisted were selected for the first jet fighter demonstration team of the newest US military service branch. All team members were from Luke, home to the USAF advanced flight training school.

The following images represent just a snapshot of some of the Skunk Works’ leaders and aircraft that pushed, and continue to push, the envelope of aviation.

Although retired in 2008, the F-117 Nighthawk would be the basis upon which subsequent stealth fighters, including the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II, would be designed. As remarked during a banquet celebrating the plane’s achievements in 2008, before the F-117, the question to ask was how many aircraft were needed to take out a target. After the Nighthawk, the question was how many targets could be taken out with a single aircraft.

The F-111 was a medium-range interdiction and tactical strike aircraft that also filled the roles of strategic bomber, reconnaissance, and electronic warfare in its various versions. Developed in the 1960s by General Dynamics, the aircraft first entered service in 1967 with the United States Air Force. A total of 563 F-111s rolled off the production line in Fort Worth, Texas.

Construction of the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation plant in Fort Worth was completed in less than a year. Assembly of the first B-24 Liberator bomber began in February 1942 while parts of the facility were still under construction. Women comprised a third of the plant's work force in the war years, which eventually saw production of 3,034 B-24 Liberators.

Every so often employees at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics are asked to clean house. They go through their desk drawers and file cabinets to discard old and unnecessary materials to make space for the new. This process often results in unearthing items of historical significance. This was the case in 1990 and again 2006, when concepts or advanced design drawings, reports, and other documents dating back to the 1940s and ’50s were found.

While the delivery of the last F-22 in May 2012 marks the end of F-22 production, the history of the F-22 program is still being written at the operational and training units, in flight testing of new capabilities, at the support centers, and upgrade and modernization programs that will come in future years.