X-Nico

11 unusual facts about North American Aviation


47th Flying Training Wing

The 47th moved into the jet age in 1949, when the North American B-45 Tornado, bomber replaced the B-26s.

Aviation in Maryland

North American Aviation, built the prototype North American NA-16 trainer at the former Berliner-Joyce factory in Dundalk.

Curtiss XP-46

A myth surrounding the origins of the P-51 Mustang is linked to the North American Aviation (NAA) purchase of test data on the P-40 and P-46.

Dale Weejet 800

Harold Dale, an engineer at North American Aviation had designed several homebuilt aircraft and teamed up with Edward Gagnier, a former North American engineer, to develop the Weejet.

Karl Bendetsen

Major Bendetson was given this assignment after having written the orders for seizure and strike-breaking at a North American Aviation plant, but the army had taken charge of the Air Associates plant in October, prior to his arrival.

Maurice Prather

Instead, he found work as a photographer of wartime airplanes for North American Aviation in Kansas City.

Milton Torres 1957 UFO Encounter

Torres, flying a North American Aviation F-86D Sabre jet approached the object and prepared to fire upon it.

Phillips Report

The so-called "Phillips report" was a document summarizing a review conducted in November-December 1965 by a NASA team headed by Lt Gen Samuel C. Phillips, director of the Apollo manned Moon landing program, to investigate schedule slippage and cost overruns incurred by North American Aviation, manufacturer of the Command/Service Module spacecraft and the second stage of the Saturn V launch vehicle.

Reynold Brown

During World War II he worked as a technical artist at North American Aviation.

Stanley Hooker

Lee Atwood of North American Aviation made it clear that the Meredith Effect had more influence on the performance of the Mustang than its laminar flow wing.

Teterboro Airport

North American Aviation operated a manufacturing plant on the site during World War I.


Edgar Schmued

The talented and inventive Schmued, by now a citizen of the United States, was employed by North American Aviation (NAA) in Dundalk, Maryland.

GM-NAA I/O

It was created in 1956 by Robert L. Patrick of General Motors Research and Owen Mock of North American Aviation.

Irving Kanarek

Kanarek's first career was as an aerospace engineer working for North American Aviation (NAA), where he invented Inhibited Red Fuming Nitric Acid for the Army's Project Nike.

Richard C. Miller

In 1941, during the Second World War, Miller got a job at North American Aviation, where he met Brett Weston.