x planes

Curtiss XP-55 Ascender prototype fighter, 1940s

Seversky SEV-X-BT with groundcrew, circa 1936

Grumman XF7F-1 Tigercat, circa 1942

Argentinian Air Force FMA Pucara, Argentina, June 19, 2009
(photo by Marcelo Allende)

UPDATE: the whole sequence here

Grumman XF5F-1 ‘Skyrocket’ - prototype twin-engine shipboard fighter interceptor, early 1940s

Republic F-84F Thunderstreak, 3 Sqn Belgian Air Force, Late 1950’s

via/Copyright Sierra Bravo Aeropictures

In late April 1945, United States intelligence personnel began a search for top secret German weapons of war, codenamed operation ‘Lusty’. They amassed over 6,000 tons of equipment.

Two ships - the HMS Reaper and USS Richard J. Gatling - transported the bounty to the US (operation ‘Seahorse’)

HMS Reaper carried 40 German airframes, including ten Messerschmitt Me-262 jet fighters, which were flown to France by America’s first (unofficial) Jet Squadron - ‘Watson’s Whizzers’

“Doak VZ-4, testing at Edwards AFB”

DOAK Model-16, late 1950s

Douglas XA2D-1 Skyshark

“Macchi 200 “Saettas” (lightning bolt) of the 1st Stormo, photo dated 20 September 1940.”