C

The slowdown in X-Plane development that began in the 1960s hit the aerospace industry full force during the Nixon/Ford/Carter years.  The Apollo Program was winding down along with the Vietnam War, and Cold War one-upsmanship was being replaced with Detente and Ping Pong Diplomacy.  Warplanes were out.  Disco was in.  Certainly no one wanted to spend millions developing new radical new aircraft when the proven old ones were still doing just fine, thank you very much.

A dearth of new X-plane designs meant an equal dearth of new X-plane model kits.  Fortunately, interesting things were brewing out in the California and Nevada deserts.  It would just be a matter of time before they would turn to plastic...

X-Planes & Prototypes

1900-1930

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s