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

'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

Already relegated to target towing duties here, this aircraft was later supplied to South Vietnam. Photo from: US Navy / National Naval Aviation Museum

KLM operated a Karachi - Kandahar - Kabul branch line of its Far East route for a while, using a DC-3. Photo by: Johannes Sibinga Mulder / Wereldmuseum

Bamyan was the base for the New Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team in Afghanistan. Photo from: Air Force Museum of New Zealand

The Avro 626 was the first aircraft type for the Egyptian Army Air Force. 27 aircraft were delivered and served until 1944. Photo from: Air Force Museum of New Zealand

A United Air Lines DC-8-11, N8013U, collided with the Super Connie over Staten Island. The Connie broke in three sections and crashed at Miller Field. The DC-8 crashed in Brooklyn. All 128 occupants of the two aircraft and six people on the ground were killed. Photo by: George Silk / Life

President Truman flying over flooded area. Note improper serial presentation on the presidential aircraft - the tail number should read 6505 according to the rules. Photo from: George Skadding / Life

Early Sabre, operated by the factory at this time. To Muroc/Edwards AFB in 1949. Lost in ground accident and fire on 18 June 1951. Photo by: Loomis Dean / Life

Not a film set! The Mariner is from an early batch of unarmed transport aircraft. It has Second Series BuNo 6464 and wears the emblem of NATS on the nose. Photo apparently taken at Tarawa which was taken by US Marines in a bloody battle in November 1943. A seaplane base was established in the atoll's lagoon, supported by a seaplane tender. Photo from: Peter Stackpole / Life

The same operation as in photo of 127789. This is not the big Incheon landing in 1951. 127798 crashed on 2 February 1953. Photo from: US Navy

'Naval review.' Data for the most central aircraft. We gather the R tail code was for Naval Air Reserve units at NAS New York (Floyd Bennett Field). The F9F Panther, E-109, is from NAS Minneapolis (MSP); the F7U Cutlass, I-313, is from NAS Gross Ile, Michigan; and the FJ-1 Fury, K-104, is from very inland NAS Olathe, Kansas! The tail codes for these stations were changed in 1956-57 according to Wikipedia. See photo 682839 for another view. Photo by: Frank Scherschell / Life

'Naval review.' Data for bottom centre aircraft, a fighter-bomber F2H Banshee of Naval Air Reserve, NAS Norfolk. Right row from bottom: F9F Cougar; F3D Skynight 124624; S2F Tracker; and two AD Skyraiders. Second row: the F2H-2B; F9F Panther coded E-109 of NAR, NAS Minneapolis; F7U Cutlass I-003 of NAR, NAS Gross Ile; AF Guardian 130370 / R-189 of NAR, NAS New York(?); and AJ Savage. Third row: FH Phantom(?); AD; FJ-1 Fury K-104 of NAR, NAS Olathe; AD-2 122270; V-173 Flying Pancake; and FR Fireball. A3D Skywarrior tail on the right. Still more types on the far left and behind! NAS Norfolk's P5M Marlin ramp in the background. Photo by: Frank Scherschell / Life

The prototype Bulldog II, probably pictured early in 1928 at Filton from where it was first flown by Cyril Uwins on 21 January. Photo from: Life

Aircraft of the 452nd Bomb Squadron, 322nd Bomb Group, the first Group to fly B-26 Marauders into combat from Britain. On 17 May 1943 it lost ten out of eleven planes with 60 crew on a low-level mission to Holland. Another shot from the same series is said to have been taken over The Channel. Photos dated 1943 or 1944. The Marauder's small wing area is apparent in this shot. Photo from: Frank Scherschel / Life

The Ki-84 Hayate (gale) or 'Frank' is considered the best Japanese fighter available in large numbers during WWII - some 3400 examples were produced from late 1943. This aircraft, captured in the Philippines, was shipped to America in 1945 and later flew as a warbird, N3385G. Sold to Japan in 1973. The only surviving Ki-84, it has been preserved in a museum in Chiran, near Kagoshima, since 1997. Photo from: US Navy - National Naval Aviation Museum

Rarish glimpse of an H-25 Army Mule. The small twin-rotor helicopter seems to be picking up balloonist Maj David Simons from the landing site of his Manhigh II stratospheric balloon on a farm near Frederick, Brown County, South Dakota. Photo by: Yale Joel / Life

The Shiden or 'George' was unusually developed from a floatplane fighter, the N1K Kyofu or 'Rex'. It was a formidable dogfighting aircraft, despite technical issues that were solved in the N1K2-J Shiden Kai with low-set wing. This is assumed to be c/n 5511, Imperial Japanese Navy tail code 201-53, which was captured in the Philippines in January 1945 and given identification number S7 by TAIU-SWPA at Clark Field. It only flew once as such as the undercarriage collapsed on landing. Note that US insignia are a bit off, with old-fashioned rudder striping serving as a warning to Allied pilots. Photo from: US Navy - National Naval Aviation Museum

MATS was originally a joint US Air Force and Navy affair. In December 1956 the USAF was put in control and in 1958, the US Navy had to transfer 32 of its 50 R7V Constellations to the USAF. Perhaps the struggle for these aircraft began earlier since they were allocated 1954 serials, in this case 54-4051. Photo from: US Navy - National Naval Aviation Museum