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Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
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Explore the people, places, events, achievements, struggles and stories that shaped our journey.
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
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Katherine Johnson’s mathematical calculations helped guide some of America’s most important early space missions while she confronted the racial and gender barriers faced by Black women in twentieth-century America.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
The Douglas XP-48 was a small, lightweight fighter aircraft, designed by Douglas Aircraft in 1939 for evaluation by the U.S. Army Air Corps. Intended to be powered by a small inline piston engine, the contract was cancelled before a prototype could be constructed, due to the Army's concerns about the projected performance of the aircraft.
Tucker XP-57 was the designation of a lightweight fighter which was proposed to the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) in 1940. Nicknamed the "Peashooter", it was developed by the Tucker Aviation Corporation under Preston Tucker, who later became famous for the Tucker '48 Sedan. To minimize weight, the aircraft was to have a steel tubular frame with aluminum skin and plywood wings. The inline-8 engine, designed by Harry Miller of Indy 500 racing fame, was to sit behind the pilot in a configuration similar to the P-39 Airacobra. The USAAC ordered an XP-57 prototype. When design was delayed due to financial problems in the company, the contract was allowed to lapse. No production aircraft was built because the USAAC was moving towards larger fighters and had lost interest in the project.
The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is an American twin-engine, all-weather fighter aircraft designed by McDonnell Douglas (now part of Boeing). Following reviews of proposals, the United States Air Force (USAF) selected McDonnell Douglas's design in 1969 to meet the service's need for a dedicated air superiority fighter. The Eagle took its maiden flight in July 1972, and entered service in 1976. It is among the most successful modern fighters, with over 104 victories and no losses in air-to-air combat. The Eagle has been exported to several countries, including Israel, Japan, and Saudi Arabia. Although the F-15 was originally envisioned as a pure air superiority fighter, its design included a secondary ground-attack capability that was largely unused. It proved flexible enough that an improved all-weather strike derivative, the F-15E Strike Eagle, was later developed. That fighter entered service in 1989 and has been exported to several nations. Several additional Eagle and Strike Eagle subvariants have been produced for foreign customers, with production of enhanced variants ongoing. The F-15 was the principal air superiority fighter of the USAF and several U.S. allies during the late Cold War, replacing the F-4 Phantom II. The Eagle was first used in combat by the Israeli Air Force in 1979 and saw extensive action in the 1982 Lebanon War. In USAF service, the aircraft saw combat action in the 1991 Gulf War and the conflict over Yugoslavia. The USAF began replacing its air superiority F-15 fighters with the F-22 Raptor in the 2000s. However, reduced procurement of the F-22 pushed the retirement of the remaining F-15C/D, mostly in the Air National Guard, to 2030 and forced the service to supplement the F-22 with an advanced Eagle variant, the F-15EX, to maintain enough air superiority fighters. The F-15 remains in service with several countries.
The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American tandem two-seat, twin-engined, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber that was developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy. It entered service with the Navy in 1961, then was adopted by the United States Marine Corps and the United States Air Force, and within a few years became a major part of their air arms. In total, 5,195 Phantoms were built from 1958 to 1981, making it the most-produced American supersonic military aircraft in history and a signature combat aircraft of the Cold War. The Phantom is a large fighter with a top speed over Mach 2.2. It can carry more than 18,000 pounds (8,200 kg) of weapons on nine external hardpoints, including air-to-air missiles, air-to-ground missiles, and various bombs. Like some other interceptors of its time, the F-4 was initially designed without an internal cannon, but some later models incorporated an internal M61 Vulcan rotary cannon. Beginning in 1959, it set 15 world records for in-flight performance, including an absolute speed record and an absolute altitude record. The F-4 was used extensively during the Vietnam War, first as the principal air superiority fighter for the U.S. Air Force (USAF), Navy (USN), and Marine Corps (USMC), and later as a ground-attack and aerial reconnaissance aircraft. During the Vietnam War, all five American servicemen who became aces – one USAF pilot and two weapon systems officers (WSOs), one USN pilot, and one radar intercept officer (RIO) – did so in F-4s. The Phantom remained a major part of U.S. military air power into the 1980s, when it was gradually replaced by more modern aircraft such as the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon in the USAF, the F-14 Tomcat in the USN, and the F/A-18 Hornet in the USN and USMC. The F-4G Phantom was used for reconnaissance and Wild Weasel (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses) missions in the 1991 Gulf War, and finally left combat service in 1996. It was the only aircraft used by both U.S. flight-demonstration teams: the USAF Thunderbirds (F-4E) and the USN Blue Angels (F-4J). The F-4 was also operated by the armed forces of 11 other nations. Israeli Phantoms saw extensive combat in several Arab–Israeli conflicts, while Iran used its large fleet of Phantoms, acquired before the fall of the Shah, in the Iran–Iraq War. The F-4 remains in active service with the Hellenic Air Force and the Turkish Air Force. Turkey's most recently upgraded F-4E Terminator variant is to remain in service until at least 2030.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Joe Louis.