Beechcraft XA-38 Grizzly / Destroyer (Model 28)
The XA-38 was a developmental twin-engine heavy fighter produced by the Beech Aircraft firm. By all accounts, she was a stable and fast aircraft comparable to even the single engine speedsters of her day. As promising as her ...

Bell X-1
The Bell X-1 was an advanced technology demonstrator that became the first aircraft in the history of aviation to break the speed of sound. Specifically designed to be airdropped from a B-29 Superfortress, the X-1 would then ...

Bell X-5
The X-5 was an experimental single-seat, single-engine, jet-powered fighter design prototype produced by the Bell Aircraft company and became the first aircraft to make use of in-flight variable geometry wings. Its roots orig...

Bell XFL Airabonita
The XFL "Airabonita" was a Bell Aircraft Company product developed in parallel with the P-39 Airacobra, a land-based USAAF design that eventually achieved operational status. In essence, the Airabonita was a "navalized" versi...

Bell XFM-1 Airacuda
In the same way that the XFM-1 Airacuda was a "different" sort of aircraft, the Bell company itself was "different sort" of aircraft maker. Know more for its unique elements in the P-39 Airacobra piston-engine fighter of Worl...

Boeing / Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche
The RAH-66 Comanche helicopter was to be the next generation answer for the United States Army in replacing its aging series of UH-1, AH-1 Cobra, OH-6 and OH-58 Kiowa helicopters in full. The RAH-66 was designed as the world'...

Boeing X-32
The X-32 STOVL (Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing) technology demonstrator was the Boeing Company's response to the Department of Defense's "Joint Strike Fighter Program" beginning in 1994....

Curtiss XP-42
The Curtiss XP-42 was a further development of the Curtiss P-36 Hawk model though it would share some initial outward similarities to Curtiss' most well known aircraft - the P-40 Warhawk. Later in its development, the XP-42 w...

Curtiss XP-46
The smallish XP-46 was to be the answer for the deficiencies encountered in the P-40 Warhawk platform. Unfortunately for Curtiss, the XP-46 would be doomed by underperformance and sluggish capabilities - essentially dooming t...

Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender
The XP-55 Ascender was an unorthodox attempt by the Curtiss-Wright company that produced just three prototype models. Answering a United States Army Air Corps call for unconventional aircraft designs, the XP-55 fit the bill w...

Curtiss-Wright XP-87 / XF-87 Nighthawk
The XF-87 was a failed proposal attempted by the Curtiss-Wright aircraft design bureau to meet an Air Force requirement for the world's first dedicated radar interceptor aircraft crewed by two personnel and operating under je...

Douglas F5D Skylancer
...

Douglas Skyrocket
...

Douglas Skystreak
...

Douglas X-3 Stiletto
...

Fisher XP-75 / P-75 Eagle
General Motors became a major player in the American manufacturing realm when World War 2 arrived for the United States. With its automotive plants adept at mass-production, it was only fitting that the US military look to su...

General Dynamics F-16XL
Though appearing very much like the F-16 Fighting Falcon base model, the F-16XL was designed as a very different aircraft. The F-16XL was a conversion model development designed to study the effects of laminar airflow at supe...

Grumman X-29
The Grumman X-29 aircraft was a developmental technology demonstrator appearing in the latter years of the Cold War. The design was of a most unique shape - made notable by the forward-swept wings - and was the first aircraft...

Grumman XP-50 Skyrocket
Firmly entrenched as an aircraft supplier to the United States Navy, the Grumman aircraft company set about to supply an equally lucrative deal with the US Army to produce a hybrid high-speed pursuit fighter and light bomber ...

Hughes XR-11 / XF-11
Though only achieving prototype form, the XF-11 was one of the darling designs of famed American aviator Howard Hughes. Looking very much like an oversized Lockheed P-38, the twin-boom XF-11 was designed to fulfill a United S...

Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne
The AH-56 Cheyenne was Lockheed's first and only foray into development of a production helicopter. In many respects, however, the Cheyenne was neither a true helicopter nor was it a true airplane - in many ways that today's...

Lockheed XP-49
The XP-49 was a development of the Lockheed Corporation and a possible replacement for its successful line of P-38 Lightning aircraft. The XP-49 was to be a high-altitude performer with the capabilities of a well-designed fig...

Lockheed XP-58 Chain Lightning
The XP-58 "Chain Lightning" was initially envisioned as a larger version of the successful Lockheed P-38 Lightning twin-boom design capable of downing hordes of enemy bomber formations in single burst shots. The fear covering...

Martin X-24A
...

Martin X-24B
...

McDonnell Douglas / General Dynamics A-12 Avenger II
...

McDonnell XF-85 Goblin
The XF-85 Goblin was an attempt by the McDonnell bureau to realize the dream of a "parasite fighter" program that was actually feasible for use in a wartime environment. The basic theory revolving the parasite fighter was not...

McDonnell XF-88 Voodoo
World War 2 proved to American warplanners that the importance of escort fighters for their bombers could not be overstated. The value added by such systems as the P-51 Mustang, P-47 Thunderbolt and P-38 Lightning systems was...

McDonnell XP-67 Bat / Moonbat
The XP-67 was the first attempt by the McDonnell corporation to build a fighter for the United States Military. The same corporation would go on to built the superb F-4 Phantom II, F-15 Eagle and F-18 Hornet air superiority a...

North American X-10
...

North American X-15
...

North American XB-70 Valkyrie
The XB-70 Valkyrie was intended to be the USAF 'super bomber' for decades to come and was tabbed as the eventual successor to the B-52 Stratofortress in support of the United States Strategic Air Command. Developed with the l...

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...

Northrop Grumman YF-23 Black Widow II
The YF-23 Black Widow II was Northrop Grumman's (along with McDonnell Douglas Corporation) answer to the American ATF (Advanced Tactical Fighter challenge as proposed by the US Air Force. The YF-23 faced off directly with the...

Northrop X-4
...

Northrop XP-56 Black Bullet
The XP-56 "Black Bullet" was designed by the Northrop company to an Army Air Corps proposal known as the R-40C. The XP-56 stood out as yet another radical design and focused on the flying wing concept while incorporating push...

Northrop XP-79
The XP-79 was another of Northrop's flying wing attempts with the initial project being conceived as a rocket-propelled model. The design was dominated by the large horizontal wing surface area with twin vertical tail surface...

Northrop YF-17 (Cobra)
The YF-17 Cobra was a Northrop Aviation creation through NASA to support further testing and research of aircraft at transonic speeds (meaning just underneath the speed of sound, or 700-780mph / 1,127-1,255kph). The YF-17 Cob...

Republic XF-12 Rainbow
The Republic XF-12 "Rainbow" was envisioned as the USAAF's new dedicated strategic reconnaissance platform in the latter years of World War 2, going head-to-head with Howard Hughe's XF-11 creation. Unfortunately for both, the...

Republic XP-72 Super Thunderbolt
The XP-72 Wasp Major Thunderbolt was intended to be an "ultimate" design of the highly successful P-47 Thunderbolt fighter-bomber as produced by Republic. The XP-72 was to incorporate the successful P-47 airframe and mate it ...

Rockwell XFV-12
The XFV-12 aircraft was a proposed Rockwell International design to a United States Navy requirement for a VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) aircraft system. Though a promising concept from the beginning, the XFV-12 was te...

Ryan X-13 Vertijet
...

Vultee XP-54 Swoose Goose
The Vultee XP-54 was one of the more distinct aircraft creations designed during World War 2. Produced through the essentially "empty canvas / blank check" approach by an Army Air Corps initiative (the specification was known...

Vultee XP-81
The Consolidated Vultee XP-81 was a proposed long-range, high-altitude fighter design that was to be the answer for bomber escorting in Europe but, more importantly, throughout the island hopping campaign of the Pacific. The ...

Witteman-Lewis XNBL-1 (Barling Bomber)
The Witteman-Lewis XNBL-1 (popularly known as the "Barling Bomber") was an ambitious heavy bomber design from Walter Barling, an engineer with the United States Army Air Service. The aircraft was designed to a US Chief of Sta...

Wright Flyer (Series)
Though the prospect of manned flight had been around for hundreds, maybe even thousands of years, it would be the Wright Brothers - Orville and Wilbur - that would put theory to practice and produce the first in a series of h...