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Last of Their Kind

Airplanes without equal at the National Air and Space Museum.

  • By Patricia Trenner
  • Air & Space magazine, August 2012
«« Previous | 4 of 12 | Next »»

Eric Long


Boeing X-45 Joint Unmanned Combat Air System
Initially managed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Pentagon’s Skunk Works, the X-45A technology demonstrator for the stealth-equipped swept-wing jet previewed the first unmanned aerial vehicle capable of strike missions. In 2003 the Air Force and Navy folded the X-45 and X-47 programs into the Joint Unmanned Combat Air System. First flight: 2002. Transferred by the Air Force in 2004; one of two built. The other is at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, outside Dayton, Ohio.


«« Previous | 4 of 12 | Next »»



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I wasn't sure how I felt about the decision to put the Wright Flyer on the floor instead of hanging it in the main entry hall. When I saw it in October 2011, I was delighted. I could walk all around it and almost touch it! What a treasure!!

Posted by Beverly Wright Coleman on September 8,2012 | 03:26 AM

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    Air & Space/Smithsonian magazine has been delighting aerospace enthusiasts with the best writing about their favorite subject since April 1986. As an adjunct of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, Air & Space matches the grand scope of the Museum, encompassing every era of aviation and space exploration. With stories that range from the Wright Brothers to the design of NASA's next lunar lander, Air & Space emphasizes the human stories as well as the technology of aviation and spaceflight.

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