USAFM Pictures and other info

First off, I only was up there one day instead of two due to weather and other issues, so my photographing was seriously curtailed as I wanted to hit the gift shop for some new books 😀

On that note, before we get into pics, here’s what I got:

1. Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor. Wallace and Holder, Schiffer, 1998. Nice book, much better than their work on the Blackbird. Some good info here on the YF-23, YF-120, and a bunch of great color photos.

2. F-22 Raptor. Sweetman, MBI, 1998. Good concise overview of the ATF program to that point, and a lot of great color pictures here as well, including some of the original ATF designs. Goes nice with Sweetman’s book on the JSF program. And his old book on the B-2, if you have one too 😀

3. Sukhoi Interceptors (Red Star Volume 16). Gordon, Midland, 2004. The Red Star series are great. Gotta love these books. I may get another one or two when I go back on Sunday… Anyway these are a great Russian-type counterpart to the Aerofax series. This one is no exception, covering the oft-ignored Su-9 and Su-11, as well as the Su-15 and other derivatives and designs of the period from Sukhoi.

4. Warbird Tech Volume 25-Lockheed Martin F-117 Nighthawk. Jenkins, Specialty Press, 1999. These are great for modelers, but they are also very nice histories on occasion. The four I have bought (B-1, F-117, Blackbirds, XB-70) have all been great additions to my library and have always added some new information to my knowledge base. This one in particular doesn’t offer all that much in the way of new or exciting info, but there are some great tidbits that I haven’t seen before. Plus the pictures are way cool 😎

5. May 2004 issue of Airpower magazine. Yeah, yeah…it came out when I was in Baghdad and covered early US cruise missile systems. Leave me alone 😀

6. Warbird Tech Volume 10-Lockheed Blackbirds. Jenkins and Landis, Specialty Press, 2004. Okay, when these two guys got together to write the last book on the list below, they apparently decided what the hell, let’s update this one. Jenkins’ original VOlume 10 came out in 1997 and was probably the best book on the Blackbird family that didn’t have the name Goodall on the cover anywhere. This time the book has been updated, reprinted on the glossy paper found in, for example, the XB-70 volume, and there are a lot of new pictures and drawings. All in all a great book, and one you should definitely look out for, even if you have the old version.

7. A Pilot’s Account Of Flying The XB-70. Al White, 2003. I don’t think you’ll find this one anywhere other than the USAF Museum. A great little concise pamphlet-type thing where the first XB-70 pilot, and the only survivor of the A/V-2 midair incident, shares his thoughts on flying one of the world’s most exotic aircraft. Defintiely worth the $5 cover price if you’re a fan of the Great White Bird.

8. Valkyrie-North American’s Mach 3 Superbomber. Jenkins and Landis, Specialty Press, 2004. The ultimate reference work on the XB-70 program. The whole program is covered in every detail from start to finish. The level of detail found here is unprecedented in any other book on the XB-70. The XF-103/XF-108, Sukhoi T-4, and all aspects of the aircraft, program, mission, weapon systems, etc are all covered. This one you simply have to see to believe. Jenkins and Landis’ Warbird Tech volume on the XB-70 was apparently a preview for this one. The two of them are turning in to quite the team.

Now, on to the pictures.

Here’s your “key” of sorts:
F-102A
B-2
AIM-4D
Tacit Rainbow
Tomahawk
AGM-86B
AGM-129
B-2 exhaust
RF-4C nose art
F-117A FSD #2
Tornado GR.1

These were SERIOUSLY cropped to get ’em in here, if anybody wants a full-size shot let me know.