There are 54 airplanes from 1950 to 1959 in the Military Factory.
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Antonov An-12 (Cub) The Antonov An-12 "Cub" was a product of requirement by the Soviet Union during the Cold War years. With more land area to defend than any other superpower of the time, the Soviet military was faced with the daunting prospect...
Antonov An-24 (Coke) The An-24 "Coke" was yet another in the long line of military transport aircraft produced during the Cold War by the Antonov bureau. The An-24 differed from earlier Antonov products in that it was designed and built to strict...
Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck The Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck is an often overlooked indigenous Canadian aircraft design that performed admirably well throughout a bulk of the Cold War years. The system, partnered with America in the NORAD program, was char...
Avro Shackleton The existence of the Avro Shackleton is based directly on the evolution of the Avro Lancaster bomber. In an effort to increase the Lancaster's long-range performance at high altitudes, the Avro set to work on the Mk IV model ...
Avro Vulcan The Avro Vulcan was a high-level low-range heavy bomber of the United Kingdom developed during the Cold War. The delta-shape aircraft became a respected design over the years and would eventually see combat action in the Falk...
BAC TSR-2 Much in the vain of the North American XB-70 Valkyrie system for the United States, the TSR-2 was to be England’s super Cold War bomber. The system was to provide the United Kingdom with a supersonic low-level bomber capable ...
Boeing 707 The 707 model series for The Boeing Company proved to be the catalyst for their commercial market successes to come. The 707 introduced a model design that was initially conceived of as a private venture, targeting both milit...
Boeing B-52 Stratofortress The mammoth B-52 series of long-range, high-altitude strategic bombers was originally conceived of as an eight-engine turboprop system and successor to the B-50 heavy bomber. The initial B-52 plans were later redrawn to make ...
Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker The KC-135 Stratotanker proved to be a monumental product for the Boeing corporation in more ways than one, firstly solidifying its position as the premiere airliner manufacturer throughout the world and secondly offering the...
Breguet Br.1050 Alize (Tradewind) The Breguet Br.1050 "Alize" (meaning "tradewind") was a French production aircraft suitable for carrier-based anti-submarine warfare (ASW) tactics. The system was fielded in limited quantity throughout the Cold War and proved...
Convair F-102 Delta Dagger The F-102 Delta Dagger was a very typical Americana aircraft design in the years following the Korean War, particularly doing away with the smooth lines and straight wing features commonplace in the years following World War ...
Convair F-106 Delta Dart The Convair F-106 Delta Dart began its production life as a direct successor to the interim F-102 Delta Dagger (detailed elsewhere on this site). Like the F-102 before it, the F-106 was designed to meet and "greet" high-flyin...
Dassault Etendard The base Dassault-produced Etendard (meaning "Standard") was a private venture that was initially greeted without much fervor. When the French Navy came looking for a lightweight carrier-capable platform, the Etendard series ...
Dassault Mirage III Though now outclassed by the latest in Next Generation aircraft, the Mirage III - for a time - was the best European fighter ever developed. The delta-wing system, proving so true in early pioneering developments, offered up ...
Dassault Mystere / Super Mystere The Dassault-produced Mystere series of turbojet aircraft appeared just when the French nation was in the rebuilding stages following World War Two. The owner of Dassault, himself a captive of one of the many German concentra...
de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou The Caribou series proved to be such an effective battlefield transport aircraft that more than a few were pressed into service as captured C-7's in the hands of the North Vietnamese. The type continues to serve in limited nu...
de Havilland D.H.110 Sea Vixen In the 1950's, the de Havilland production of the Sea Vixen became the Royal Navy's first swept wing fighter design and Britain's first all-missile aircraft. The Sea Vixen was selected to replace the Sea Venom and became a fo...
Douglas B-66 Destroyer The Douglas-produced B-66 Destroyer was a light bomber designed by Ed Heinemann to replace the aging A-26 Invader in service with the United States Strategic Air Command (SAC). Based highly on the existing United States Navy ...
Douglas C-124 Globemaster II With the close of World War 2 and the accompanying Berlin Airlift, the United States military saw a need to replace its aged C-74 "Globemaster I" systems with a newer and more capable platform. The C-124 was put forth as a pr...
Douglas F3D / F-10 Skyknight The Douglas F3D series of aircraft holds several distinctions in the world of aviation history and in the circle of United States military aviation. To start off, the F3D became the world's first jet-powered carrier-based nig...
Gloster Javelin The Gloster Javelin was the first twin-engine delta-wing jet fighter design to take up service with any one air force. The system would also become the United Kingdoms first all-weather day or night fighter and the very final...
Grumman F11F / F-11 Tiger The Grumman-produced F11F Tiger was designed at about the time the Grumman Cougar was already close to production. The program goal of the Tiger series was to produce a highly-capable daytime fighter with exceptional dogfight...
Grumman F9F Cougar The F9F Cougar was a direct and further development of the F9F Panther (detailed elsewhere on this site. The similarities between the two were limited to just the forward fuselage of the Panther being used in the Cougar desig...
Grumman F9F Panther The Grumman F9F Panther series saw extensive combat in the Korean War for the United States Navy, accounting for over 78,000 combat sorties. The system was primarily utilized as a close-support strike aircraft but could hold ...
Handley Page Victor The Handley Page Victor was a product of Cold War design to the core. With the advent of the nuclear age apparent, the need for high-altitude nuclear-capable heavy bombers was put into the forefront by all of the superpowers....
Hawker Hunter The Hawker Hunter series of aircraft was designed to replace the post-World War Two Gloster Meteors, also of jet design. The Hunter exceeded the Meteors in a variety of ways including being able to break the sound barrier (al...
Lockheed C-130 Hercules The arrival of the Lockheed-produced C-130 Hercules series of transport lay down the foundation of transport design for decades since its inception. The series ushered in standards such as the high-mounted monoplane wing desi...
Lockheed F-104 Starfighter The uniquely-designed F-104 Starfighter was a successful product by Lockheed based on lessons learned from aircraft design in the Korean War. The system was basic to the core in terms of design - aerodynamics and a solid powe...
Lockheed F-94 Starfire The F-94 (nicknamed "Starfire" in the "C" model only) was developed from the successful twin-seat Lockheed trainer aircraft known as the T-33 Shooting Star, which in itself was based on the single-seat P-80 / F-80 Shooting St...
Lockheed Martin U-2 The U-2 spyplane was a pivotal player during the peak years of the Cold War between the United States of America and the Soviet Union, charged with photographing key installations for the safety of the American homeland and i...
McDonnell Douglas A-4 Skyhawk The A-4 Skyhawk (nicknamed the "Heinemann's Hot Rod" and the "Scooter") came about as a private venture when the Douglas corporation was seeking to replace the aging AD Skyraider (A-1 Skyraider) piston-engine aircraft. The su...
McDonnell F-101 Voodoo The F-101 Voodoo (affectionately known to its pilots as the "One-oh-One Wonder" for its performance capabilities) was a well respected weapons platform designed in the 1950's. The twin-engine, single or two-seat fighter was a...
McDonnell F3H Demon The F3H Demon series of aircraft produced by McDonnell Aircraft was a further development of the company's expertise with carrier-based turbojet-powered aircraft. Ever since the arrival of the Japanese "Zero" to the war front...
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 (Fresco) / Chengdu J-5 As impressive as the later versions of the MiG-15 fighter were (detailed elsewhere on this site), the MiG-17 "Fresco" was a vastly improved development based on lessons learned in the formers design. With the MiG-15 represent...
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 (Farmer) The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 "Farmer" was an entirely new aircraft design though it shared many external similarities with the existing MiG-15 and MiG-17 models. Building upon lessons learned on those former designs, the MiG-1...
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (Fishbed) In many ways, the MiG-21 stands as the pinnacle of the Mikoyan-Gurevich's development in terms of a frontline turbojet fighter. The system became a bridge that connected the post-World War Two jet designs with that of the hig...
Mil Mi-4 (Hound) The broad-reaching Mil Mi-4 series of helicopter (known to NATO as "Hound") first appeared in 1952 and was designed within the Soviet Union as a direct response to the American H-19 Chickasaw helicopter debuting in the Korean...
Myasishchev M-50 / M-52 (Bounder) The M-50 and M-52 bombers were two prototype intercontinental supersonic strategic bombers proposed by the Soviet firm of Myasishchev as early as 1956. Though the project and its design is some fifty years old, very little in...
North American F-100 Super Sabre The acclaimed F-100 Super Sabre was an all new development by the North American Aviation company based on successes achieved with the preceding F-86 Sabre airframe in the Korean War and beyond. The system was suppose to be r...
North American YF-107 Ultra Sabre The YF-107 "Ultra Sabre" prototype represented the final foray into military aviation for the North American Aircraft Corporation. The company that was responsible for such memorable airframes as seen embodied by the P-51 Mus...
Sikorsky H-19 Chickasaw The Sikorsky H-19 Chickasaw was an excellent multipurpose transport helicopter that saw use in various roles on a global scale. The system proved to be a tremendous replacement for the US Army H-5 Dragonfly series and went on...
Sud-Ouest SO 4050 Vautour These limited-production aircraft served with little distinction in French hands but were better served as night fighters and attack aircraft by the Israeli Air Force in later years. The aircraft is oft-noted for its design s...
Supermarine Attacker The Supermarine Attacker was an unspectacular aircraft that was most notably used by the British Royal Navy. The system was initially designed for the Royal Air Force to take advantage of an already existing piston engine fig...
Supermarine Swift The Supermarine Swift series of aircraft was initially designed to supplant the aging and outclassed post-World War Two Gloster Meteor turbojet fighters and was a further development of the Supermarine Attacker. The system wo...
Tupolev Tu-142 (Bear) The Tupolev Tu-142 "Bear" aircraft was a further development of the massive and successful Tu-95 Bear design popularized by its many appearances along the airspace border between the Soviet union and NATO allies during the Co...
Tupolev Tu-16 (Badger) The Tupolev Tu-16 (codenamed "Badger" by NATO) owed its success story to the Cold War and its own versatility. Throughout its production life, the Tu-16 would go on to become arguably the best medium-type bomber platform in s...
Tupolev Tu-28 (Fiddler) The Tupolev-produced Tu-28 (NATO codename of "Fiddler") was a large intercept-capable aircraft built for the simple role of air defense and anti-bomber incursion. Developed at a time when both sides of the Cold War were seeki...
Tupolev Tu-95 (Bear) The Tupolev Tu-95 "Bear" was the Soviet symbol of Cold War prowess, consistently breaking across into American and Canadian airspace to test defensive response times and gather intelligence. The many forms of the Tu-95 produc...
Vickers Vultee Valiant The Valiant was the beginning design in the series of 'V' strategic bombers for the RAF. The Valiant originated as a response for a high-level strategic bomber that could carry nuclear ordinance as well as conventional weapon...
Vought F-8 Crusader The Vought-produced F-8 Crusader was a direct response to a Navy need for a supersonic carrier-based fighter platform. Utilizing nearly the identical powerplant of the F-100 Super Sabre, the F-8 Crusader became the world's fi...
Yakovlev Yak-25 (Flashlight / Mandrake) The Yak-25 (NATO codename of "Flashlight") was yet another jet fighter design introduced by the Soviets during the early decades of the Cold War. The system was designed to patrol the vast northern-most portions of the Soviet...
This page features aircraft covering the time period between 1900 and 1919. During this time, flight was just being pioneered and the air war in World War One would solidify the aircraft as a viable fighting machine. Designs throughout wartime forced aviation engineers to learn at a fast pace, usually outdoing themselves design after design. Such was the air of wartime design for aircraft that many would only live to see service for a matter of months before being replaced by more powerful and deadly versions. Design and production of aircraft for military use would continue at war's end and would cause a boom in military spending for new and faster model capable of much more. Aircraft design during these two decades would still revolve around the tried and true fabric-covered skins with synchronized-firing machine guns in the monoplane or biplane designs.
