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33-466: The AAM-A-1 project began in 1946 with the awarding of a study contract, under the designation MX-799 , to the Ryan Aeronautical Company for the development of a subsonic air-to-air missile, which would be used by interceptor aircraft for the destruction of enemy bombers. A contract for the development of the missile, designated AAM-A-1 Firebird, was awarded in 1947. The AAM-A-1 Firebird

66-449: A 145 hp (108 kW) Warner Super Scarab radial engine. The SC-W was a larger three-seater aircraft with a sliding canopy and side-by-side front seating. The prototype SC-M was originally powered by a Menasco C-4 inline engine, however testing revealed that more power was needed. Thirteen examples of the SC-W were built, although the last one was assembled from surplus parts decades after

99-416: A 15-second powered flight time. Guidance was provided during midcourse flight by radio command , with an operator in the launching aircraft transmitting corrections to the missile. Terminal guidance used active radar homing , with a small radar set fitted in the nose of the missile, with the missile's warhead being detonated by a proximity fuze , a backup impact fuze also being fitted. Flight testing of

132-614: A 50% stake in Continental Motors Corporation , the aircraft-engine builder, in 1965. In the 1950s, Ryan was a pioneer in jet vertical flight with the X-13 Vertijet , a tail-sitting jet with a delta wing which was not used in production designs. In the early 1960s, Ryan built the XV-5 Vertifan for the U.S. Army, which used wing- and nose-mounted lift vanes for V/STOL vertical flight. Other Ryan V/STOL designs included

165-515: A 95HP Menasco B4 engine before the follow-on ST-A (A for A erobatic ) was developed with a more powerful 125HP Menasco C4 engine. A single ST-B was produced, this being an ST-A with only one seat and an extra fuel tank where the front cockpit normally was; this aircraft was subsequently converted back to ST-A standard. The ST-A was further developed as the ST-A Special , with a super-charged 150HP Menasco C4-S engine of increased power. In 1937

198-691: A hand-cranked intertia engine starter. Variants, designated the PT-16s and PT-20s, also had their wheel pants, fairings and tail cones removed. Variants in the series included the STM-2P single-seat version armed with a machine gun delivered to Nationalist China ; and the STM-S2, which could be fitted with landing gear or with EDO Model 1965 floats . After the ST-M came the ST-3 , a substantial redesign in 1941 partly brought about by

231-415: A longer and more circular wider fuselage, this being suggested by the circular radial engine. Other changes included a revised rudder, balanced ailerons and elevators, and strengthened main landing gear with the legs spaced further apart. The streamlining spats covering the mainwheels, found on ST series aircraft to that point, were deleted as well. The ST-3 served as the basis for military versions ordered by

264-574: A series of two seat, low-wing monoplane aircraft built in the United States by the Ryan Aeronautical Company . They were used as sport aircraft, as well as trainers by flying schools and the militaries of several countries. T. Claude Ryan was the founder of the Ryan Aeronautical Company, the second incarnation of a company with this name, and the fourth company with which he had been involved to bear his name (the first, Ryan Airlines,

297-548: The Ryan ST-A Aerobatic with a more powerful 125 hp (93 kW) Menasco C-4 in 1935. This aircraft now had enough power for aerobatic display, and it won the 1937 International Aerobatic Championships. A further improved ST-A Special was built in 1936, with a supercharged 150 hp (110 kW) Menasco C-4S . In 1937 and 1938, a second civilian aircraft model was introduced, the S-C Sport Coupe , or SC-W with

330-597: The VZ-3 Vertiplane . Ryan developed the highly accurate radar system used on the Apollo Lunar Module . In 1968, the company was acquired by Teledyne for $ 128 million and a year later became a wholly owned subsidiary of that company as Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical Company. Northrop Grumman purchased Teledyne Ryan in 1999, with the products continuing to form the core of that firm's unmanned aerial vehicle efforts. Ryan ST The Ryan ST s are

363-735: The Japanese were shipped to Australia, where 34 entered service in the Royal Australian Air Force as trainers. Many of those that survived until the end of World War II were then placed on the civil register in Australia and elsewhere, and some are still flying more than 70 years after they were built. PT-16 Numbers used from World Air Forces There are a number of surviving Ryan ST series aircraft remaining. The survivors range from project aircraft in various stages of completion to restored flying examples. There are remaining examples of

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396-542: The PT-21 and PT-22 was the metal landing gear fairings which covered the main gear structure, leaving the wheels exposed. Otherwise the airframe and its parts and components were interchangeable with the PT-22. One other difference from the later 22 model is in the aileron balance ring. On the 21 it is mounted below the aileron and on the 22 it's on top." The final variant was the ST-4 , which

429-609: The ST-A Special was developed into a military version, the STM (also ST-M) series. The first STMs were virtually identical to the STA-Special. The STM-2 was derived from the STM with changes including wider cockpits to enable military pilots to enter and exit while wearing parachutes , external stringers, and provision for a machine gun on some examples. The military also required a turnover brace and

462-659: The ST-A was procured by the USAAC in 1939 for evaluation as the XPT-16 . This was followed by 15 YPT-16s, the first time the USAAC had ordered a monoplane trainer. These were the first of more than 1,000 Ryan STs to serve the USAAC, its successor, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) and the USN. A large number of STMs were exported in the 1930s and early 1940s (prior to the entry of

495-522: The USAAC and the United States Navy (USN). The ST-3 gave rise to another model developed in 1941 and early 1942, this was the ST-3KR (for K inner R adial). The ST-3KR had a more powerful Kinner R-5 engine fitted and became the definitive model; more than 1,000 military versions were built during World War II as PT-22 Recruits . According to Cassagneres, "The only noticeable difference between

528-523: The United States into World War II) to various air forces, with the biggest customer being the military of the Netherlands East Indies , now Indonesia . The Netherlands East Indies Army and Navy took delivery of 84 STM-2s and 24 STM-S2s in 1940 and early 1941. Another 50 STM-2Es and STM-2Ps were exported to Nationalist China , while a number of STMs were exported to Bolivia , Ecuador , Guatemala , Honduras , Mexico and Nicaragua . The STM

561-717: The XAAM-A-1 prototype missiles began in October 1947, launched from DB-26 Invader bomber and DF-82 Twin Mustang aircraft, the latter of which could carry up to four missiles. The first air-to-air missile to reach the flight-test stage outside of World War II Nazi Germany , the Firebird proved to be reasonably successful in testing, with production being projected for the early 1950s; however its command-guidance system limited it to clear-weather, daytime use only. Although radar beam riding guidance

594-498: The famous aircraft. Ryan had been owner or partner in several previous companies, one of which also bore the name Ryan Aeronautical. The Spirit of St. Louis was not built by the final Ryan Aeronautical entity. The new company's first aircraft was the S-T Sport Trainer , a low-wing tandem-seat monoplane with a 95 hp (71 kW) Menasco B-4 Pirate straight-4 engine. Five were built before production switched to

627-597: The immediate postwar years, Ryan bought the rights to the Navion light aircraft from North American Aviation , selling it to both military and civilian customers. Ryan became involved in the missile and unmanned aircraft fields, developing the Ryan Firebee unmanned target drone, the Ryan Firebird (the first American air-to-air missile) among others, as well as a number of experimental and research aircraft. Ryan acquired

660-640: The initial production run was finished. Interest from the United States Army Air Corps followed. The Menasco engines proved unreliable, and instead Kinner radial engines were fitted. Aircraft were produced as the PT-16 (15 built); PT-20 (30 built); PT-21 (100 USAAF, 100 USN); and finally as the definitive PT-22 Recruit (1,048 built) ordered in 1941 as pilot training began its rapid expansion. Ryan also pioneered STOL techniques in its YO-51 Dragonfly liaison and observation craft, but only three. In

693-425: The loads from the wing spars and six more alclad frames; and alclad skin. It had wings in three sections of hybrid construction; the center section integral with the fuselage had tubular steel spars, the front spar a simple tube with an external brace to the upper fuselage, and the rear spar in the form of a parallel chord truss . The two outer wing panels had wooden spars and alclad ribs, with diagonal rods bracing

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726-552: The unreliability of the Menasco engines fitted to STs to that point. The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) had purchased several dozen ST-M variants under various designations and had Ryan Aeronautical re-engine most with Kinner R-440 radial engines. The USAAC found the modification to be beneficial and asked Ryan Aeronautical to design a variant with this engine as standard, and with airframe modifications considered desirable from in-service experience. The ST-3 that resulted featured

759-433: The wings internally. Alclad sheet was used to form the leading edges, and fabric covered the whole structure. When attached, the outer wings were braced with flying wires to the fixed conventional landing gear and landing wires to the upper fuselage. The fuselage only required eight bulkheads , and no longerons or stringers were required. According to Cassagneres, "The stressed skin, of heavy 18 and 20 gauge 24ST Alclad,

792-400: Was a two-stage weapon, fitted with cruciform wings and tailfins. Control was by differential motion of the wings; the tailfins were fixed. The missile's fuselage was constructed from aluminum alloy, while the nosecone and control fins were molded from plastic. Firebird was fitted with a solid-fuel booster rocket providing initial thrust, before a liquid-fuel sustainer rocket ignited for

825-568: Was a version of the ST-3 with a wooden fuselage, developed in case a shortage of " strategic materials " (i.e. of metal) developed. Such a shortage did not eventuate and the ST-4 was not put into mass-production. Some U.S. Navy versions of the ST-3, the NR-1, were converted to specialized ground trainers to teach cadets how to taxi aircraft when on the ground or after landing, and especially in crosswinds. The main wing

858-613: Was chosen by the South American Air-forces because of the superior performance of the super-charged Menasco engine at the high altitude airports encountered. After the Japanese invasion of the Netherlands East Indies many Ryans in that country were pressed into combat, especially in reconnaissance roles, and large numbers were shot down or destroyed on the ground. Surviving STM-2s and STM-S2s that were not captured by

891-635: Was clipped back to the landing gear; a small nose wheel added to prevent ground loops; a roll cage between cockpits to protect the pilot and cadet; and the throttle modified so the engine could not go over a certain RPM. The first Ryan ST flew for the first time on 8 June 1934 and production began the following year, when nine aircraft were delivered. Except for 1937 (when 46 aircraft were built), production rates remained low for several years, at about one aircraft every two weeks. This changed in 1940 when deliveries to military forces began in earnest; production that year

924-738: Was gained that benefited later programs. A Firebird missile is preserved at the Air Force Space & Missile Museum at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Ryan Aeronautical Company The Ryan Aeronautical Company was founded by T. Claude Ryan in San Diego, California , in 1934. It became part of Teledyne in 1969, and of Northrop Grumman when the latter company purchased Ryan in 1999. Ryan built several historically and technically significant aircraft, including four innovative V/STOL designs, but its most successful production aircraft

957-564: Was just under three aircraft per week. Total production of civil and military aircraft prior to the entry of the United States into World War II amounted to 315. Another 1,253 military versions were produced in 1942 and 1943, for a total of 1,568 aircraft of all models. Most civil aircraft in the ST series were delivered in the United States, although a few were exported to South Africa, Australia and various countries in Latin America. An example of

990-629: Was planned to solve this, the subsonic speed of the weapon was also considered to be insufficient to avoid obsolescence; accordingly, the AAM-A-1's production program was terminated late in 1949, the Hughes Falcon being selected for development as the Air Force's standard intercept missile instead. The test program was considered to be successful, despite the rejection by the USAF, as a considerable amount of knowledge

1023-678: Was riveted to the drop-hammer formed dural bulkhead rings." The main fuselage bulkhead, "was of built-up welded sheet steel and carried the important spar fittings as well as attachment points for the diagonal wing bracing strut, the upper landing wires, and lower flying wires." Cassagneres goes on to state, "The wings were constructed of solid spruce spars, stamped aluminum alloy ribs, and steel compression members, and were fabric covered. Ailerons and flaps were steel and aluminum structure with fabric covering. All tail surfaces were constructed entirely of tubular aluminum alloy with stamped ribs, and fabric covered." Five STs were built, each powered with

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1056-538: Was the Ryan Firebee line of unmanned drones used as target drones and unmanned air vehicles . In 1922, T.C. Ryan founded a flying service in San Diego that would lead to several aviation ventures bearing the Ryan name, including Ryan Airline Company founded in 1925. T.C. Ryan, whose previous companies were best known for building Charles Lindbergh 's transatlantic Spirit of St. Louis , actually had no part in building

1089-553: Was the manufacturer of the Ryan NYP, more famously known as the Spirit of St. Louis ). He began the development of the ST (for "Sport Trainer", and also known as S-T), the first design of the company, in 1933. The ST featured two open cockpits in tandem in a semi-monocoque metal fuselage of two main frames – one steel, the other half of steel and half of aluminium alloy ( alclad ) – to take

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