100 YEARS OF HISTORY
Explore AFRL's history from modern day to our 1917 beginnings at the U.S. Army Air Service's McCook Field.
AFRL CENTURY SERIES
Since its beginnings at the United States Army’s McCook Field in 1917, AFRL’s science and technology pioneers understood that research is the key to air supremacy. The Century Series celebrates AFRL and its predecessor labs’ first 100 years as a leader in the development of advanced aerospace science and technology.
Features
AFRL Century Series – Chapter 1: Labs
Take a look into the evolution of the laboratories that would one day meld into One Air Force Research Laboratory. Since its...
AFRL Century Series – Chapter 2: SENSE
At the beginning of the aviation age, the airplane had one mission, staying in the air. As the speed and altitude of planes...
AFRL Century Series – Chapter 3: PRESSURE
Flying at altitudes over 25,000 feet allows aircraft to fly above turbulence and enables engines to perform more efficiently,...
AFRL Century Series – Chapter 4: PRECISION
Bombing is complicated. Airspeed, direction, wind, and atmospheric conditions all affect the falling munition. The inaccuracy...
AFRL Century Series – Chapter 5: CALCULATE
Aviation pioneers, such as the Wright Brothers, as well as modern-day AFRL scientists and engineers, have all realized that...
AFRL Century Series – Chapter 6: SPECTRUM
AFRL has been researching and utilizing the energy from the electromagnetic spectrum since its early days at McCook Field in...
AFRL Century Series – Chapter 7: MATERIAL
Everything Airmen do and use goes back to materials researched and developed by AFRL’s Materials and Manufacturing...
AFRL Century Series – Chapter 8: THRUST
Thrust is the force that overcomes friction, or drag, on air and space craft allowing them to move forward through the skies...
AFRL Century Series – Chapter 9: PERFORMANCE
The 711th Human Performance Wing (711 HPW) is a unique combination of the Airman Systems Directorate (RH) and the US Air Force...
AFRL Century Series – Chapter 10: SPEED
Air Force pilots routinely fly faster than the speed of sound, but there was a time when it was considered impossible. Then in...