 REVISED: 1/13/15 |
 External Links  |
While certainly not complete, these links to the "outside world" will have special interest to those who seek information in more detail than can be realistically presented in Aerofiles. A commonality with the non-commercial sites is that they are created and supported by persons whose principal goal is to freely share their knowledge of aeronautica with others. SEE ALSO Organizations, Clubs, and Societies. While we will not be so presumptuous as to assume a cloak of authority by grading sites, we add instinctive comments to apprise our viewers of what might be expected. We also applaud sites that show obvious research efforts and are straightforward and uncomplicated in presentation—no distracting animations, hard-to-read typefaces or other speed-bumps. If you know of history-specific aviation site worthy of presentation here, send us an e-mail, but kindly put "LINK" in the Subject header so we can spot it in our e-mess of e-mails. |
| D A T A B A S E S & R E F E R E N C E | |
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Aircraft Engine Historical Society | The name says it all. A wealth of information and pictures in a well organized site focused on the machinery that made airplanes go. Searchable database. |
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Baugher Military Aircraft Databases: USAAF, USAF USN, USMC |
Massive databases list aircraft of American military services by serial number. Joe stayed up a few nights bolting this one together! Click either of two separate databases. |
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The Jay Miller Collection | An attactive and modest little site from the Arkansas Library System with an overview of their enormous Jay Miller collection. Many pix of interesting and often obscure aircraft presented by thumbnails, but with no attendant data. |
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National Aviation Hall of Fame | More than 150 honorees featured with mini-bios and sketches. Easy linking, well presented. |
| G O V E R N M E N T | |
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Air Force Historical Research Agency | Well maintained site with beaucoup historical info; excellent links to our Air Force past and present; unit histories, personalities, bibliographies. Lamentably light in pictorial matter. |
| Air Force Images | A neck-deep archive of linked photos of current USAF aircraft, as well as press photos archived since 1995 with attendant news releases. Easy navigation with large thumbnails for photos. Official USAF site. |
| Air Mail | National Postal Museum's attractive and informative site. Although designed more for a young audience, it presents the basic history and development of our air mail system in an easy style. Some photos, but primarily text in minuscule type. Java. |
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Federal Aviation Administration | No need to hide under the bed. This time the Friendly Feds offer a site full of links relative to civil aviation. Search tail numbers, investigate your favorite crashes, brush up on FARs. |
| NASA History | Like it promises, the history of NASA and its predecessor NACA. Neat and navigable, but short on graphics. |
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NASA-Dryden FRC Photo Gallery | Loads of great photos, and here's where you find the obscure, the unusual, and the downright weird. Well presented and maintained; lacks hard data. |
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National Air & Space Museum | Attractive site with linked subject matters. Well maintained. Many photos, but, being an operation of your government, only available for an exorbitant annual "permission fee." Pix are watermarked with an invasive logo. |
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National Museum of Naval Aviation | Lots of intriguing stuff waved under your nose here. Try clicking on Site Map first for fastest navigation. |
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USAF Museum (Wright-Patterson AFB) | Much historical content and more photos than you can shake a joystick at. |
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United States Naval Aviation History | Past and present naval air presented with easy and efficient navigation by the Naval Aviation History Office. Data in .pdf files is slow loading, but handy for downloads if you have Acrobat. Pix, 3-views, search engine. |
| M I S C E L L A N E O U S | |
| 1000 Aircraft Photos | A personal tribute to aviation from another 'airport kid' grown tall, who serves up an impressive load of photos of planes from around the world! |
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Abandoned & Little- Known Airfields | Monumental undertaking documents the "ghost fields" that have served their purpose and are disappearing, or have already gone, from maps and memories. Categorized by major geographic areas, and loaded with pics and data. |
| Aeroplanes! | The title says it all. Lots of rare old photos in many and various categories and a wealth of historical information, plus banner links to other aviation sites. The trip is well worth it. |
| Aircraft Advocacy Organizations | Aerofiles' links to clubs and member groups specific to certain types of American civil and military aircraft, plus other societal organizations. |
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Aircraft Resource Center | For scale modelers, this is a very informative site on new kit releases, modification tips, show & tell with many photos. |
| Air Mail Pioneers | Pleasant, uncomplicated site honoring those who put wings on our letters. History and personal narratives, lots of photos. |
| Air Racing | Home page of the Society of Air Racing Historians with lots of info and race schedules, some photos. Unashamedly an F4U Corsair pig-out site! |
| AllStar | Comprehensive Junior High School through College level aviation education reference site. |
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American Aviation Historical Society | Perhaps the single most important source of authoritative reference material, the quarterly AAHS Journal is prized throughout the world. The Web site itself is rather surficial and mainly for members, but it offers information about the organization and its goals and benefits. |
| Lincoln Beachey Tribute | Noteworthy site, dedicated to one of America's early aviation celebrities, is packed with great old photos, even some rare film clips, and much data to the extent of offering translations into seven languages! |
| Cross & Cockade | Actually Cross & Cockade International, a society of WW1 aero historians and buffs. Light on graphics, and American aviation plays a relatively small role, but there is rising interest in The War To End All Wars. Free chat list. |
| Early Birds | Doc Cooper's personal support of the Early Birds organization. His new, expanded site has loads of info and pix on the folks that are the real pioneers of flight. If we rated sites, this would be a solid four-star, but we're not in the rating business. |
| Flying Tigers Tribute | Primarily historical, both AVG and 14th Air Force. Has invasive ad banners and graphics are slow-loading, but there's much value in topic. Home page Java trap! |
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The Golden Age Of Aviation | The Gordon Reublin collection of photos is shown in part with a dissertation about the greatest, most formative era in our nation's aviation history. Java and lots of info, so slow loading. |
| Holcomb's Aerodrome | Very good picture and data site with civil and military aircraft, predominantly American, in categories and thumbnails to speed up the loading process. |
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Horizontally Opposed Aircraft Engines | Jack Erickson's outstanding reference site about those not-so-round American powerplants. A straighforward presentation with no speed bumps. |
| Latin American Aviation Historical Society | While not a Society as such—no memberships or dues, etc—there are some heavy hitters writing articles for this Web-based organization that features an overlooked but very important part of av history. Clean presentation; forum. |
| Pioneer Airplanes | Nice coverage of the world's early flying machines—1909-1915. Smallish, developing site with graphics and plans. |
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Pioneer Pilot Walter E Lees | A personal honorarium to an American pilot who flew some 12,000 hours between 1912 and 1945. Lots of historic photos with thumbnails. |
| Unusual Aviation Pix | This... is an understatement! |
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Women In Aviation Resource Center | Clean, navigable site with good internal links, as well as its own search engine. |
| The Wright Experience | Attractive site has much to offer in this popular subject matter. |