Cool websites for hot designers! Internet Links for aircraft and spacecraft designers, including companies, universities, government agencies, military, professional societies, museums, and private websites. The emphasis is on resources for designers, but includes museums and photo sites as well.
- Aerospace Companies
- Engineering, Computing, & Consulting Companies
- Government Organizations
- Universities With Aircraft Design
- Aircraft Images, Museums, & Links
- Technical & Professional Societies
- Resources for Designers
- Misc. & Other Stuff
E-mail to Conceptual Research Corporation if you find any dead links. Please don’t ask me to list your “airplanes for sale” site, but “products for sale” sites are OK as long as they are products used by designers such as CFD codes, CAD programs, and such.
Aerospace Companies
- AERO Vodochody (Czech Republic)
- Aerocomp, Inc. (various kit planes)
- AeroVironment
- Airbus Industrie
- Aurora Flight Sciences (UAVs)
- Beechcraft
- Bell Helicopter
- Blue Origin (spacecraft development)
- Boeing
- Bombardier Aircraft
- BAE Systems (British Aerospace)
- Bolly Products – Propellers
- Center for Naval Analyses (CNA)
- Cessna Aircraft
- Composite Technoology Development (materials & tanks)
- Dassault Aviation
- Embraer Aircraft
- Epic Aircraft
- Evergreen Aviation (aircraft modifications)
- General Atomics Aeronautical Systems
- General Electric
- Glasair
- Gulfstream
- Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (India)
- Institute for Defense Analyses
- Israel Aircraft Industries
- Institute of Aviation (Warsaw, Poland)
- Kawasaki Aircraft Group
- Kitfox
- Korean Aerospace Industries
- Kratos
- Kratos Unmanned Systems Div.
- Lancair Aircraft
- Lockheed Martin
- Mojave Airport – the Civilian Flight Test Center
- Mooney Aircraft
- Northrop Grumman
- Pazmany Aircraft Corp. (homebuilts)
- Piper Aircraft
- Pratt & Whitney (part of United Technologies)
- RAND Corporation Project Air Force
- Rand Robinson Eng. (KR-1/2)
- Rolls-Royce Aircraft Engines
- Rotax (small engines)
- SAAB Aircraft (Sweden)
- Scaled Composites
- Schleicher Sailplanes
- Skunkworks (Lockheed-Martin)
- SpaceX
- Teledyne Brown Engineering
- UAV Engines
- Van’s Aircraft (RV-‘s)
- Velocity Aircraft (4-place canard pusher)
- Zenith Aircraft
Engineering, Computing, & Consulting Companies
- AD Airframe Consulting (M.Niu)
- AeroLogic (P. Garrison)
- Aircraft Design Research LLC (D. Raymer)
- Aircraft Designs Inc. (M. Hollmann)
- Analytic Methods Inc. (CFD Software including VSAERO)
- Autodesk AUTOCAD CAD system
- Conceptual Research Corporation
- DARcorporation (J. Roskam)
- University of Dayton Research Institute
- Hexagon (was MacNeal-Schwendler -NASTRAN,PATRAN)
- Public Domain Aeronautical Software (Classic aero codes for PC’s)
- PTC-Parametric Technology (Creo – was ProEngineer)
- Galorath-SEER (cost estimation and project management software)
- Siemens (Unigraphics) NX CAD
- SolidWorks CAD System
- Vehicle Aerodynamics Consultants, Inc. (Paul Glessner)
Government Organizations
- DARPA – the source of much ‘black’ stuff!
- NASA Main Homepage
- Federal Aviation Administration
- Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR’s)
- European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA – like FAA)
- EASA Certification Specs (like FAR’s)
- U.S. Air Force
- Federal Airworthiness Regulations (CFR)
- Air Force Research Lab (WPAFB) Air Vehicles Directorate
- Los Angeles Air Force Base (Spacecraft Operation & Development)
- USAF Air Combat Command
- U. S. Navy
- JANNAF -Joint Army Navy NASA AirForce Interagency Propulsion Committee
- Library of Congress
Universities with Aircraft Design
- US Air Force Academy
- Arizona State Univ.
- Technical University of Berlin
- University of Colorado Boulder
- Columbia University
- Cranfield University
- University of California – Davis
- Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
- Cal Poly Pomona
- University of Dayton (Ohio)
- Delft University of Technology
- Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
- ESTACA (Ecole…Techniques Aeronautiques…)
- Georgia Institute of Technology
- University of Glasgow
- University of Illinois
- Imperial College, London
- India Institute of Technology
- Iowa State University
- University of Kansas
- Korean Adv. Inst. of Sci & Tech
- KTH – Swedish Royal Institute of Technology
- Linkoping Institute of Technology (Sweden)
- University of Maryland
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- University of Michigan
- US Naval Academy
- University of Missouri at Rolla
- Technical University of Munich (Germany)
- Ohio State University
- Penn State
- Princeton University
- Purdue University
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
- Stanford
- University of Southern California
- University of Sydney
- Technion -Jet Engine Lab
- Texas A&M
- University of Texas, Arlington
- University of Texas, Austin
- University of Toronto
- Tuskegee University-Aerospace
- University of Virginia
- Virginia Polytechnic Institute
- von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics
- University of Washington
- Wichita State University
- European Workshop on Aircraft Design Education
Aircraft Images, Museums, & Links
- NASA Dryden Research Aircraft Photo Archive – love those old test aircraft!
- Official Air Force photo site
- AJ Field – Aircraft Photo Collection from a Design Engineer Perspective
- Canadian Museum of Flight
- Utrecht University Aircraft Image File – very nice, less-common pictures
- Russian Aviation Page
- Fighter Planes – Pictures and information on over 100 military aircraft
- Ken’s Aviation: Good private site with photos and technical information
- PlanePage.com – nice aircraft photo gallery
- Planes & Choppers (helicopters) – another nice photo gallery
- Luft ’46 – Exotic German aircraft concepts from WWII
- Zijde Aviation Photo’s Aircraft Pictures – Holland
- Unusual Aircraft Pictures – Wow! Did these really happen?
- Secret Projects (UK history site – lots of fun!)
- Aviation History On-Line
- Aviation Museum Locator (US, UK, Canada)
- World Aviation Museum Locator
- U.S. Air Force Museum
- Canadian Flying Museum
- Chino “Planes of Fame” Aviation Museum
- Deutsches (German) Museum – Rare aircraft and great educational exhibits
- Imperial War Museum (UK)
- Pima (Tuscon) Air & Space Museum
- Seattle (Boeing) Museum of Flight
- Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome Museum
- Smithsonian Air & Space Museum
- Flights of Inspiration (UK museum educational site)
- Air and Space Museum, Paris Le Bourget -another great museum
- National Aviation Museum – Canada
- National Museum of Naval Aviation
- San Diego Aerospace Museum
- Western Museum of Flight
- Landings: Aviation links and databases
- Totavia: Aviation Search Engine
- Kewljets (“cool jets”) – good data on lots of airplanes
- Comprehensive technical information on airplanes of the world
- Wing-in-Ground-Effect Aircraft Site
- Airships
- Internet Aerospace Links – Great listing of links
Technical & Professional Societies
- American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (National website)
- Aerospace Industries Association
- Society of Automotive Engineers (big aerospace group, despite the name!)
- Society of Allied Weights Engineers
- American Society of Mechanical Engineers
- Society of Manufacturing Engineers
- EAA-Experimental Aircraft Association
- American Helicopter Society
- Helicopter Association International
- Popular Rotorcraft Association
- Royal Aeronautical Society (Great Britain)
- The Society of Experimental Test Pilots
- Society of Flight Test Engineers
- Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems
- American Society for Engineering Education
- IEEE – Electronics society (includes avionics)
Resources for Designers
- NASA Technical Reports
- NASA Classic Technical Reports from 1917
- Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR’s)
- EASA Certification Specs (like FAR’s)
- Encyclopedia Astronautica
- AerospaceWeb – education resources, calculators, links
- Astronautics Now (Mike Gruntman’s Astronautics & Spacecraft site)
- Standard Atmosphere Computations
- Airfoil Data Site – U. of Illinois
- The Incomplete Guide to Airfoil Usage (Dave Lednicer)
- FAS Military Analysis Network – Site with good technical data on many aircraft
- Aerodynamics for Students
- FoilSim -NASA airfoil simulation (for students)
- Aircraft Spruce & Specialty (parts & materials – get their free catalog)
- Wicks Aircraft Supply (parts & materials)
- Aerospace Online (business directory)
- IrfanView – a free and wonderful image viewer & editor
- Aviation Week
- Boeing’s online Aero Magazine
- Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft
- Lockheed-Martin Aeronautical’s CodeOne Magazine
- Mechanical Engineering Online (ASME)
Misc. & Other Stuff
Please e-mail to Aircraft Design Research LLC if you find any dead links. Updated 1-2025