Republic chief test pilot Carl Bellinger makes the first flight of the XF-91 Thunderceptor jet/rocket hybrid at Muroc AFB, Calif. This unusual aircraft has variable incidence wings of inverse taper design (wider at the tips than at the roots).
Fresh off the first combat deployment of its new EA-37B, the Air Force is nearly doubling the planned number of new electronic attack jets and projecting more than $3 billion in spending on the program in the next five years.