USA Aviation Designs 1950 & 1960s

Warbirds Online was recently passed on a collection of 1950’s era photos and postcards mainly produced as promotional material by USA aircraft manufacturers in order to promote their innovative designs to garner support from Government and the Defence Department for their submissions to various contracts. Many of these designs were serious production aircraft whilst others were produced specifically to research new technologies and as experimental record breaking aircraft. We wish to thank Noel Spalding for passing this great collection on to us for use in this News article. The images shown in this article are not an exhaustive presentation. However they represent a sampling of the developments of the time.

With the end of WWII and the advent of the “Cold War” aviation innovation and design, particularly in the USA exploded in leaps and bounds. There was a financial incentive for USA Manufacturers to innovate and move ahead in the technology race particularly in Jet powered aircraft and rotor aircraft. WWII had been a great source of income for aircraft manufacturers, mainly through the huge mass production of combat aircraft. With the end of hostilities and the large scale cancellation of contracts for production combat aircraft the incentive was to move to advanced designs for next generation machines. From all of this innovation, some hundreds of new designs emerged, however given that there is only one or at most two manufacturers successful in any competition for new contracts many designs are discarded in these contests.

Whilst most designs in the 1950s were innovative, evolutionary and traditional in concept some were to say the least bizarre and leading edge conceptually.  There emerged for example in the 1950s a renewed interest in the concept of “Parasite” fighters to be carried by bombers on long range missions to protect them against enemy fighters. Types such as the Republic F84 were paired with the Convair B36 bomber and the McDonnell XF-85 Goblin micro fighter for use with B29, B50 etc. Ultimately these Parasite designs represented a concept which failed to garner mainstream success however they did explore new boundaries in technology and aerodynamics which was transferred back into future designs.

Politically there was also much interest in the emerging race for speed records and the sound barrier which gave rise to successive generations of experimental X series record setting aircraft from the Bell X1 to the ultimate development the North American X-15. These aircraft perhaps best represent the ultimate in rapid design and innovative best practice. This innovation also helped drive and stimulate interest in the Space race of the 1950s and 1960 and directly fed technology into that program.

The Naval aviation world was also driven by this technology race with the introduction of new jet powered designs in Aircraft carriers and the last gasp of the large amphibian aircraft now jet powered as well.

Lastly as insurance against the Jet powered generation of aircraft failing the very last of the piston powered aircraft emerged and great as they were as designs they were ultimately overtaken in operational production by the early jets which proved reliable enough to take the lead. An example of this was the Boeing XF8B-1 design which was a great design but just not competitive with new Jet designs.

© John Parker 2021