October 31, 2010 - Consolidated B-24 Liberators •
Consolidated's Fort Worth assembly plant. The photo caption says: "Note the PB4Y-1 for the U.S. Navy being assembled on the far assembly line."

October 30, 2010 - McDonnell Douglas F/A-18C Hornet •
Supersonic, all-weather carrier-capable multirole fighter jet, designed to dogfight and attack ground targets (F/A for Fighter/Attack). First flight 1978.

October 29, 2010 - Arado Ar-234B •
From Germany, the world's first operational jet powered bomber. First flight 1943.

October 28, 2010 - Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde (2 of 2)
Concorde fuselage.
Concorde’s maximum cruising altitude was 60,000 feet. At Concorde’s altitude, the air density is very low; a breach of cabin integrity would result in a loss of pressure severe enough so that the plastic emergency oxygen masks installed on other passenger jets would not be effective, and passengers would quickly suffer from hypoxia despite quickly donning them. Concorde, therefore, was equipped with smaller windows to reduce the rate of loss in the event of a breach, a reserve air supply system to augment cabin air pressure, and a rapid descent procedure to bring the aircraft to a safe altitude.

October 27, 2010 - Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde (1 of 2) •
Supersonic transport, first flown in 1969. The Concorde entered service in 1976 and continued commercial flights for 27 years.

October 26, 2010 - Martin B-26G Marauder •
5,288 of these medium bombers were produced between February 1941 and March 1945. First flight 1940.

October 25, 2010 - Grumman OV-1 Mohawk •
The OV-1 is an armed military observation and attack aircraft, designed for battlefield surveillance and light strike capabilities. It is a twin turboprop, and carried two crewmembers with side by side seating. The Mohawk was intended to operate from short, unprepared runways in support of Army maneuver forces. First flight 1959.

October 24, 2010 - McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing)/ BAE T-45 Goshaw •
The T-45 is used by the United States Navy as an aircraft carrier-capable trainer. First flight 1988.

October 23, 2010 - Boeing-Lockheed Vega XB-38 (B-17) •
The XB-38 was a modification project, done by Lockheed Vega, on the ninth Boeing B-17E. FACT SHEET

October 22, 2010 - Witteman-Lewis XNBL-1 "Barling Bomber"
The XNBL-1 (Experimental Night Bomber, Long Range) was designed by Walter Barling. The Barling Bomber was a large six-engined triplane with a cigar-shaped fuselage. The XNBL-1 had a crew of seven with all of its engines mounted level with the fuselage. The undercarriage consisted of 10 wheels, including two wheels mounted towards the front of the aircraft (to prevent a nose-over on takeoff) and a tail skid.
Although capable of carrying a 5,000 lb bomb load, performance was disappointing. The overly complex structure of three wings and their accompanying struts and bracing wires created so much interference drag that the six engines could barely compensate. A fully-loaded XNBL-1 had a range of only about 170 miles with a top speed of 96 mph. On a flight from Dayton, Ohio to Washington, DC, the Barling Bomber failed to fly over the Appalachian Mountains and had to turn around. First flight 1923.

October 21, 2010 - Avro Canada C102 Jetliner
(Thanks David!)
From David Rees: "This shot was taken in 1953 at Howard Hughes' private air strip in California, where he had flown the aircraft to inspect the engines. In this shot, he has just walked off camera. My wife's uncle is on the ladder."

The Avro C102 Jetliner was a Canadian prototype medium-range jet airliner built by Avro Canada in 1949. It was beaten into the air by only 13 days by the de Havilland Comet, thereby becoming the second jet airliner in the world, yet the name "Jetliner" was more catchy and for many years all such aircraft were colloquially given that name.

October 20, 2010 - Scaled Composites White Knight Two
Maiden flight of VMS Eve (named after Richard Branson's mother) on December 21st, 2008.
The White Knight Two is a Jet-powered carrier aircraft which will be used to launch the SpaceShipTwo spacecraft. It is being developed by Scaled Composites as the first stage of Tier 1b, a two-stage to suborbital-space manned launch system.

October 19, 2010 - Convair B-36A Peacemaker •
Largest mass-produced piston engine aircraft ever made. First flight 1946.

October 18, 2010 - Beechcraft UC-43 Traveler (Staggerwing) •
Powered by 450 horsepower Pratt & Whitney R-985 engine.

October 17, 2010 - Northrop YF-17 Cobra •
Photo - 1976
Prototype lightweight fighter aircraft designed for the United States Air Force's Lightweight Fighter (LWF) technology evaluation program. The LWF was created because many in the fighter community believed that aircraft like the F-15 Eagle were too large and expensive for many combat roles. It lost the LWF competition to the F-16 .
First flight 1974.

October 16, 2010 - Boeing Y1B-9 •
Photo - Boeing Y1B-9 test flight, 1932.
First all-metal monoplane bomber aircraft designed for the United States Army Air Corps. First flight 1931.
The amazing thing is that the first flight of the B-17 was only 4 years after this!

October 15, 2010 - Curtiss C-46 Commandos •
The C-46A had a large cargo door in the left rear fuselage, 40 folding seats, a strengthened cargo floor, and higher-altitude capable engines. This last feature was to become important when the C-46 began flying cargo "over the Hump" from India to China. The C-46 was found to have much better load-hauling capabilities than the C-47 at the altitudes involved.

October 14, 2010 - Curtiss P-36A Hawk •
Also known as the Curtiss Hawk Model 75. First flight 1935.

October 13, 2010 - Lockheed F-104 Starfighters •
The F-104 featured a radical wing design. The wing's leading-edges were so thin (0.016 in/0.41 mm) and sharp that they presented a hazard to ground crews, and protective guards had to be installed during ground operations. First flight 1954.

October 12, 2010 - Petlyakov Pe-2 •
Photo - Russian pilots and ground crew stand in front of a Petlyakov Pe-2 light bomber at Poltava, Russia, during the first shuttle raid -- Italy to Russia and return -- in June 1944.
Russian dive bomber aircraft. First flight 1939.

October 11, 2010 - Boeing C-17 Globemaster III (2 of 2) •
Formerly McDonnell-Douglas C-17
Photo - July 14, 2005.
Soldiers from the XVIII Airborne Corps, Fort Bragg, N.C., sit aboard a C-17 from the 16th Airlift Squadron, before a non-tactical proficiency jump at Pope Air Force Base, N.C.

October 10, 2010 - Boeing C-17 Globemaster III (1 of 2) •
Formerly McDonnell-Douglas C-17
Photo - Thirteen C-17 Globemaster III aircraft fly over the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia during low level tactical training Dec. 20, 2005.
The C-17 is used for rapid strategic airlift of troops and cargo to main operating bases or forward operating bases throughout the world; it can also perform tactical airlift, medical evacuation and airdrop missions. First flight 1991.

October 9, 2010 - Vickers Wellington •
Photo - 1940.
British twin-engine, long range medium bomber. First flight 1936.

October 8, 2010 - Douglas F5D Skylancer •
Photo - 1962 at Edwards AFB.
The F5D was a development of the F4D Skyray jet fighter (see previous photo, October 7, 2010) for the United States Navy. First flight 1956.

October 7, 2010 - Douglas F4D Skyray •
First United States Navy and United States Marine Corps fighter capable of exceeding Mach 1 in level flight. First flight 1951.

October 6, 2010 - Rockwell International B-1B Lancer "Bone" •
Four-engine, variable-sweep wing strategic bomber. First envisioned in the 1960s as a supersonic bomber with sufficient range and payload to replace the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress. The bomber is commonly called the "Bone" (originally from "B-One"). First flight 1974.

October 5, 2010 - McDonnell Douglas F-4B Phantom II •
F-4B Phantom II about to be launched from the aircraft carrier USS Coral Sea during a deployment to Vietnam in 1971/72. The F-4B is armed with AIM-9D Sidewinder missiles and Mk 82 (500 lb/227 kg) bombs. The relatively small weapons load was typical for Coral Sea due to the limited catapult capacity.

October 4, 2010 - Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor •
During a test mission on July 25, 2002, this F-22 became the first Raptor to fire an air-to-air missile at supersonic speed when it fired an AIM-9 Sidewinder.

October 3, 2010 - de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide •
British short-haul passenger airliner.
First flight 1934.

October 2, 2010 - Fokker Dr.1
Renowned as the aircraft in which Manfred von Richthofen (the Red Baron) gained his last 20 victories, and in which he was killed on 21 April 1918.
First flight 1917.

October 1, 2010 - Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II's (Warthogs) •
The A-10's official name comes from the WWII Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, a fighter that was particularly effective at close air support.