Who was James Webb? James E. Webb (1906-1992) ran the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) from 1961 to 1968, during the Presidencies of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson Webb is considered to have done more than any other government official at the time to support both manned and unmanned space science By…
The RP-99 The design study and proposal for a small surveillance drone called the RP-99 were completed in March 1962. This vehicle was to be constructed of fiberglass panels bonded to paper or phenolic honeycomb cores. The RP-99 was to be powered by a McCulloch MC-20, 9-hp engine which drove counter-rotating propellers through a gear…
F/A-18A One Quarter Scale Model From YF-17 to F/A-18A The roots of the F-18 trace back to the early 1970s, when Northrop developed the YF-17 Cobra as part of the US Air Force’s Lightweight Fighter (LWF) competition. Although the YF-17 lost to the General Dynamics YF-16, the Navy saw potential in the twin-engine YF-17 for carrier operations. To adapt…
The Apollo Lunar Module was built for the US Apollo program to achieve the actual transit from Moon orbit to the surface and back. The module was also known as the LM from the manufacturer designation (yet pronounced “LEM” from NASA’s early name for it, “Lunar Excursion Module”). The module was designed to carry two crew in a 6.5…
The museum has a mock-up of the NASA Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV). The CEV was part of a modular space system envisioned by NASA in 2004 called Constellation intended to carry humans to the International Space Station and later to the moon and Mars. The CEV was to be carried into space aboard the Orion…
Lomita Flight Strip In 1941, the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads purchased 480 acres of the Weston Ranch property in what was then Lomita and developed the Lomita Flight Strip as an emergency landing field for military aircraft and a program to encourage civil air transportation projects. Following Pearl Harbor, all civil aviation within 200…
Apollo Cabinet Within the past years, we have celebrated the 50th anniversary of two major milestone of the space program: the first landing of man on the moon, Apollo 11, and the rescue of three astronauts on an aborted mission to the moon, Apollo 13. To place men on the moon required a very large…
The Women in Aerospace Exhibit and accompanying school visit curriculum allows students to learn about the accomplishments and careers of the women profiled. Gender stereotypes often dissuade women from pursuing their interests in the subject areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Visitors are invited to question stereotypes about the capabilities of women in…
The Lockheed YO-3A “Quiet Star” is a single-engined, propeller-driven monoplane that was developed for battlefield observation during the Vietnam War. It was designed to be as quiet as possible, and was intended to observe troop movements in near-silence during hours of darkness. The YO-3A was not armed The YO-3A was designed to a U.S. Army…
Flight Proven NV-144 provides Low Risk Airframe for Reconnaissance and Target Payloads A three-year Northrop development program validated the aerodynamics, propulsion, and controllability of the NV-144. Now the Navy, Marines, and Air Force can use this flight-proven vehicle to minimize technical risks in obtaining a common reconnaissance and target unmanned aeronautical vehicle. By adapting payloads…
The link trainer pictured is a 1942 Model C-3, the term Link Trainer, also known as the “blue box,” is commonly used to refer to a series of flight simulators produced between the early 1930s and early 1950s by Edwin Albert Link, based on technology he pioneered in 1929 at his family’s business in Binghamton,…
The BD-5 Sport Plane was designed by Jim Bede, assisted by Bert Rutan, in the early 1970’s. It was an experimental homebuilt kit, single seat high performance aircraft. It is a low wing pusher propeller configuration. Design features include all-metal construction, mechanical retractable landing gear, detachable wings, and wrist action side stick control as used…
