Some cool precision engineering components pictures:
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center: B-29 Superfortress “Enola Gay” panorama
Image by Chris Devers
Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Lockheed P-38J-10-LO Lightning:
In the P-38 Lockheed engineer Clarence "Kelly" Johnson and his team of designers designed a single of the most successful twin-engine fighters ever flown by any nation. From 1942 to 1945, U. S. Army Air Forces pilots flew P-38s more than Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Pacific, and from the frozen Aleutian Islands to the sun-baked deserts of North Africa. Lightning pilots in the Pacific theater downed a lot more Japanese aircraft than pilots flying any other Allied warplane.
Maj. Richard I. Bong, America’s leading fighter ace, flew this P-38J-10-LO on April 16, 1945, at Wright Field, Ohio, to evaluate an experimental method of interconnecting the movement of the throttle and propeller handle levers. However, his proper engine exploded in flight prior to he could conduct the experiment.
Transferred from the United States Air Force.
Manufacturer:
Lockheed Aircraft Organization
Date:
1943
Nation of Origin:
United States of America
Dimensions:
General: 390 x 1170cm, 6345kg, 1580cm (12ft 9 9/16in. x 38ft 4 5/8in., 13988.2lb., 51ft ten 1/16in.)
Components:
All-metal
Physical Description:
Twin-tail boom and twin-engine fighter tricycle landing gear.
• • • • •
Quoting Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | Boeing B-29 Superfortress "Enola Gay":
Boeing’s B-29 Superfortress was the most sophisticated propeller-driven bomber of World War II and the 1st bomber to home its crew in pressurized compartments. Although developed to fight in the European theater, the B-29 found its niche on the other side of the globe. In the Pacific, B-29s delivered a assortment of aerial weapons: conventional bombs, incendiary bombs, mines, and two nuclear weapons.
On August six, 1945, this Martin-constructed B-29-45-MO dropped the very first atomic weapon used in combat on Hiroshima, Japan. 3 days later, Bockscar (on show at the U.S. Air Force Museum near Dayton, Ohio) dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. Enola Gay flew as the advance weather reconnaissance aircraft that day. A third B-29, The Wonderful Artiste, flew as an observation aircraft on each missions.
Transferred from the United States Air Force.
Manufacturer:
Boeing Aircraft Co.
Martin Co., Omaha, Nebr.
Date:
1945
Nation of Origin:
United States of America
Dimensions:
All round: 900 x 3020cm, 32580kg, 4300cm (29ft 6 five/16in. x 99ft 1in., 71825.9lb., 141ft 15/16in.)
Components:
Polished all round aluminum finish
Physical Description:
Four-engine heavy bomber with semi-monoqoque fuselage and higher-aspect ratio wings. Polished aluminum finish all round, normal late-Globe War II Army Air Forces insignia on wings and aft fuselage and serial quantity on vertical fin 509th Composite Group markings painted in black "Enola Gay" in black, block letters on reduced left nose.
DSM Engineering Plastics:
Image by PressReleaseFinder
DSM’s Akulon Ultraflow polyamide six employed by Miniature Precision Elements for hybrid electric engine covers