Preparing for a Regulus cruise missile launch and recovery mission at then ALF Bonham. 136087, 136026 and 136095 are FJ-3D drone controllers, 139474 is an FJ-4. Photo by: Charles Hansen / Library of Congress

The Fleetwings (officially Kaiser-Fleetwings by now) Model 44 was a dive bomber designed for the US Navy to replace the Curtiss Helldiver. Here the prototype is returning from an early (possibly first) test flight which took place on 12 April 1945 piloted by William H. Engle. It is landing on one of the new paved runways at Fleetwings Field which the USN had built in support of the BTK-1 project. The engine was a P&W R-2800-22W giving 2400 hp and a novel design feature was an exhaust pump engine cooling system. This proved unsatisfactory and was eventually replaced with conventional cowl flaps. Collection holder William Engle is the son of Fleetwings test pilot William H. Engle.

Evening arrival of one of the two Super Hornets at Aero India 2019. Wearing the tail code 'NF', this aircraft belongs to VFA-27 "Royal Maces" that traces its history to 1967 as VA-27. Based at Iwakuni, Japan, the squadron is part of Carrier Air Wing 5, and when embarked operates from USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76).

Not a TV-2 Seastar, but a TV-1 Shooting Star. In 1948 the US Navy received a batch of F-80Cs to speed up conversion to jet fighters. They were allocated naval serials of a cancelled batch of Martin Maulers. This one is from the Naval Air Reserve unit at NAS St. Louis (Lambert), but it seems that it stayed at NAS Oakland (OAK) after its arrival here. In 1956 it went to NAS Willow Grove, but was not flown anymore and has been preserved there at the Wings of Freedom Museum. Photo from: US Navy / National Naval Aviation Museum

USS Bennington was an ASW carrier from 1959, operating S2F Trackers and the HSS Seabat helicopters of HS-8. A couple of AD-5W airborne early warning aircraft were also embarked. Following four XHSS-1s, 137851 was the third S-58 production airframe. It was supplied to South Vietnam in 1968. Photo by: Charles Hansen / Library of Congress

More Furies converted to drone controllers. Guided Missile Group 1 was raised at NAS North Island in 1955. Its tail code was changed to ZZ in 1957. Photo from: US Navy / National Naval Aviation Museum

FJ Furies of utility squadron VU-1. 135784, 136107 and 136087 are FJ-3D drone controllers, 139474 is an FJ-4. The squadron was busy with a Regulus cruise missile test. Photo by: Charles Hansen / Library of Congress

Photo by Jim Tunney.

Photo by Jim Tunney.

On display inside the hangar of CV-10 USS Yorktown.

'HS-8 helicopters at ALF Bonham.' 143930 is also seen. HS-8 was based in California. This location on Kauai, Hawaii was originally a private airfield of the Knudsen family. In 1928, Charles Kingsford Smith used Barking Sands for his flight across the Pacific in the Fokker F.VII-3m Southern Cross. Other names were Mana Airport, Bonham AFB and Bonham Auxiliary Landing Field. Photo by: Charles Hansen / Library of Congress