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The Lost Art of Aerial Storytelling
In the summer skies of 1953, aboard the American Airlines Flagship “Southerner,” Captain Willis Proctor practiced a rare kind of aviation—one that fused technical mastery with narrative care. He wasn’t just a pilot; he was a curator of the American landscape, a voice bridging altitude and history. On his vacations, Proctor walked the ground he flew over, studying the Kaibab Plateau, tracing the paths of Spanish explorers, listening for the echoes of tribal memory and pioneer grit. Then, from the cockpit, he transformed his research into a living story, guiding passengers not just across the country, but into its history.
Flight, in Proctor’s hands, became a form of cultural stewardship. His commentary turned the cabin into a classroom, the window into a lens on the American landscape. Passengers saw the Painted Desert not as a blur beneath the fuselage, but as a chapter in a shared American narrative.
Today, commercial jets cruise at 40,000 feet, above the realm of recognition. The land below is abstracted, and the voices overhead are procedural. The shades stay down. The view is optional. In our pursuit of speed and efficiency, we’ve lost something quieter but profound: the chance to be spoken to by the land, to be guided by someone who cared enough to learn its stories.
Captain Proctor’s legacy is a reminder that travel can be more than transit—it can be communion. His flights were not just routes on a map, but rituals of attention. And though the altitude has changed, the longing remains: for a voice that knows the terrain, for a window that opens not just to scenery, but to meaning.
The story of Captain Willis Proctor feels almost mythic now: a pilot who not only flew his route but studied it, walked its terrain, and shared its stories. His voice over the intercom wasn’t just informative—it was an act that thrilled thousands of passengers.
[Note: Willis Heath Proctor (1890-1964) retired from American Airlines in June, 1950, the first man on any U.S. airline ever to reach retirement age while still a pilot. Source -- www.findagrave.com/memorial/3425499/willis-heath-proctor ]
From 1942 to 1945, the thunder of P-38 Lightnings was heard around the world. U. S. Army pilots flew the P-38 over Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Pacific; from the frozen Aleutian Islands to the sun-baked deserts of North Africa. Measured by success in combat, Lockheed engineer Clarence "Kelly" Johnson and a team of designers created the most successful twin-engine fighter ever flown by any nation. In the Pacific Theater, Lightning pilots downed more Japanese aircraft than pilots flying any other Army Air Forces warplane.
Johnson and his team conceived this twin-engine, single-pilot fighter airplane in 1936 and the Army Air Corps authorized the firm to build it in June 1937. Lockheed finished constructing the prototype XP-38 and delivered it to the Air Corps on New Year's Day, 1939. Air Corps test pilot and P-38 project officer, Lt. Benjamin S. Kelsey, first flew the aircraft on January 27. Losing this prototype in a crash at Mitchel Field, New York, with Kelsey at the controls, did not deter the Air Corps from ordering 13 YP-38s for service testing on April 27. Kelsey survived the crash and remained an important part of the Lightning program. Before the airplane could be declared ready for combat, Lockheed had to block the effects of high-speed aerodynamic compressibility and tail buffeting, and solve other problems discovered during the service tests.
The most vexing difficulty was the loss of control in a dive caused by aerodynamic compressibility. During late spring 1941, Air Corps Major Signa A. Gilke encountered serious trouble while diving his Lightning at high-speed from an altitude of 9,120 m (30,000 ft). When he reached an indicated airspeed of about 515 kph (320 mph), the airplane's tail began to shake violently and the nose dropped until the dive was almost vertical. Signa recovered and landed safely and the tail buffet problem was soon resolved after Lockheed installed new fillets to improve airflow where the cockpit gondola joined the wing center section. Seventeen months passed before engineers began to determine what caused the Lightning's nose to drop. They tested a scale model P-38 in the Ames Laboratory wind tunnel operated by the NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) and found that shock waves formed when airflow over the wing leading edges reached transonic speeds. The nose drop and loss of control was never fully remedied but Lockheed installed dive recovery flaps under each wing in 1944. These devices slowed the P-38 enough to allow the pilot to maintain control when diving at high-speed.
Just as the development of the North American P-51 Mustang, Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, and the Vought F4U Corsair (see NASM collection for these aircraft) pushed the limits of aircraft performance into unexplored territory, so too did P-38 development. The type of aircraft envisioned by the Lockheed design team and Air Corps strategists in 1937 did not appear until June 1944. This protracted shakedown period mirrors the tribulations suffered by Vought in sorting out the many technical problems that kept F4U Corsairs off U. S. Navy carrier decks until the end of 1944.
Lockheed's efforts to trouble-shoot various problems with the design also delayed high-rate, mass production. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the company had delivered only 69 Lightnings to the Army. Production steadily increased and at its peak in 1944, 22 sub-contractors built various Lightning components and shipped them to Burbank, California, for final assembly. Consolidated-Vultee (Convair) subcontracted to build the wing center section and the firm later became prime manufacturer for 2,000 P-38Ls but that company's Nashville plant completed only 113 examples of this Lightning model before war's end. Lockheed and Convair finished 10,038 P-38 aircraft including 500 photo-reconnaissance models. They built more L models, 3,923, than any other version.
To ease control and improve stability, particularly at low speeds, Lockheed equipped all Lightnings, except a batch ordered by Britain, with propellers that counter-rotated. The propeller to the pilot's left turned counter-clockwise and the propeller to his right turned clockwise, so that one propeller countered the torque and airflow effects generated by the other. The airplane also performed well at high speeds and the definitive P-38L model could make better than 676 kph (420 mph) between 7,600 and 9,120 m (25,000 and 30,000 ft). The design was versatile enough to carry various combinations of bombs, air-to-ground rockets, and external fuel tanks. The multi-engine configuration reduced the Lightning loss-rate to anti-aircraft gunfire during ground attack missions. Single-engine airplanes equipped with power plants cooled by pressurized liquid, such as the North American P-51 Mustang (see NASM collection), were particularly vulnerable. Even a small nick in one coolant line could cause the engine to seize in a matter of minutes.
The first P-38s to reach the Pacific combat theater arrived on April 4, 1942, when a version of the Lightning that carried reconnaissance cameras (designated the F-4), joined the 8th Photographic Squadron based in Australia. This unit launched the first P-38 combat missions over New Guinea and New Britain during April. By May 29, the first 25 P-38s had arrived in Anchorage, Alaska. On August 9, pilots of the 343rd Fighter Group, Eleventh Air Force, flying the P-38E, shot down a pair of Japanese flying boats.
Back in the United States, Army Air Forces leaders tried to control a rumor that Lightnings killed their own pilots. On August 10, 1942, Col. Arthur I. Ennis, Chief of U. S. Army Air Forces Public Relations in Washington, told a fellow officer "… Here's what the 4th Fighter [training] Command is up against… common rumor out there that the whole West Coast was filled with headless bodies of men who jumped out of P-38s and had their heads cut off by the propellers." Novice Lightning pilots unfamiliar with the correct bailout procedures actually had more to fear from the twin-boom tail, if an emergency dictated taking to the parachute but properly executed, Lightning bailouts were as safe as parachuting from any other high-performance fighter of the day. Misinformation and wild speculation about many new aircraft was rampant during the early War period.
Along with U. S. Navy Grumman F4F Wildcats (see NASM collection) and Curtiss P-40 Warhawks (see NASM collection), Lightnings were the first American fighter airplanes capable of consistently defeating Japanese fighter aircraft. On November 18, men of the 339th Fighter Squadron became the first Lightning pilots to attack Japanese fighters. Flying from Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, they claimed three during a mission to escort Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers (see NASM collection).
On April 18, 1943, fourteen P-38 pilots from the 70th and the 339th Fighter Squadrons, 347th Fighter Group, accomplished one of the most important Lightning missions of the war. American ULTRA cryptanalysts had decoded Japanese messages that revealed the timetable for a visit to the front by the commander of the Imperial Japanese Navy, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. This charismatic leader had crafted the plan to attack Pearl Harbor and Allied strategists believed his loss would severely cripple Japanese morale. The P-38 pilots flew 700 km (435 miles) at heights from 3-15 m (10-50 feet) above the ocean to avoid detection. Over the coast of Bougainville, they intercepted a formation of two Mitsubishi G4M BETTY bombers (see NASM collection) carrying the Admiral and his staff, and six Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters (see NASM collection) providing escort. The Lightning pilots downed both bombers but lost Lt. Ray Hine to a Zero.
In Europe, the first Americans to down a Luftwaffe aircraft were Lt. Elza E. Shahan flying a 27th Fighter Squadron P-38E, and Lt. J. K. Shaffer flying a Curtiss P-40 (see NASM collection) in the 33rd Fighter Squadron. The two flyers shared the destruction of a Focke-Wulf Fw 200C-3 Condor maritime strike aircraft over Iceland on August 14, 1942. Later that month, the 1st fighter group accepted Lightnings and began combat operations from bases in England but this unit soon moved to fight in North Africa. More than a year passed before the P-38 reappeared over Western Europe. While the Lightning was absent, U. S. Army Air Forces strategists had relearned a painful lesson: unescorted bombers cannot operate successfully in the face of determined opposition from enemy fighters. When P-38s returned to England, the primary mission had become long-range bomber escort at ranges of about 805 kms (500 miles) and at altitudes above 6,080 m (20,000 ft).
On October 15, 1943, P-38H pilots in the 55th Fighter Group flew their first combat mission over Europe at a time when the need for long-range escorts was acute. Just the day before, German fighter pilots had destroyed 60 of 291 Eighth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses (see NASM collection) during a mission to bomb five ball-bearing plants at Schweinfurt, Germany. No air force could sustain a loss-rate of nearly 20 percent for more than a few missions but these targets lay well beyond the range of available escort fighters (Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, see NASM collection). American war planners hoped the long-range capabilities of the P-38 Lightning could halt this deadly trend, but the very high and very cold environment peculiar to the European air war caused severe power plant and cockpit heating difficulties for the Lightning pilots. The long-range escort problem was not completely solved until the North American P-51 Mustang (see NASM collection) began to arrive in large numbers early in 1944.
Poor cockpit heating in the H and J model Lightnings made flying and fighting at altitudes that frequently approached 12,320 m (40,000 ft) nearly impossible. This was a fundamental design flaw that Kelly Johnson and his team never anticipated when they designed the airplane six years earlier. In his seminal work on the Allison V-1710 engine, Daniel Whitney analyzed in detail other factors that made the P-38 a disappointing airplane in combat over Western Europe.
- Many new and inexperienced pilots arrived in England during December 1943, along with the new J model P-38 Lightning.
- J model rated at 1,600 horsepower vs. 1,425 for earlier H model Lightnings. This power setting required better maintenance between flights. It appears this work was not done in many cases.
- During stateside training, Lightning pilots were taught to fly at high rpm settings and low engine manifold pressure during cruise flight. This was very hard on the engines, and not in keeping with technical directives issued by Allison and Lockheed.
- The quality of fuel in England may have been poor, TEL (tetraethyl lead) fuel additive appeared to condense inside engine induction manifolds, causing detonation (destructive explosion of fuel mixture rather than controlled burning).
- Improved turbo supercharger intercoolers appeared on the J model P-38. These devices greatly reduced manifold temperatures but this encouraged TEL condensation in manifolds during cruise flight and increased spark plug fouling.
Using water injection to minimize detonation might have reduced these engine problems. Both the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and the North American P-51 Mustang (see NASM collection) were fitted with water injection systems but not the P-38. Lightning pilots continued to fly, despite these handicaps.
During November 1942, two all-Lightning fighter groups, the 1st and the 14th, began operating in North Africa. In the Mediterranean Theater, P-38 pilots flew more sorties than Allied pilots flying any other type of fighter. They claimed 608 enemy a/c destroyed in the air, 123 probably destroyed and 343 damaged, against the loss of 131 Lightnings.
In the war against Japan, the P-38 truly excelled. Combat rarely occurred above 6,080 m (20,000 ft) and the engine and cockpit comfort problems common in Europe never plagued pilots in the Pacific Theater. The Lightning's excellent range was used to full advantage above the vast expanses of water. In early 1945, Lightning pilots of the 12th Fighter Squadron, 18th Fighter Group, flew a mission that lasted 10 ½ hours and covered more than 3,220 km (2,000 miles). In August, P-38 pilots established the world's long-distance record for a World War II combat fighter when they flew from the Philippines to the Netherlands East Indies, a distance of 3,703 km (2,300 miles). During early 1944, Lightning pilots in the 475th Fighter Group began the 'race of aces.' By March, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas J. Lynch had scored 21 victories before he fell to antiaircraft gunfire while strafing enemy ships. Major Thomas B. McGuire downed 38 Japanese aircraft before he was killed when his P-38 crashed at low altitude in early January 1945. Major Richard I. Bong became America's highest scoring fighter ace (40 victories) but died in the crash of a Lockheed P-80 (see NASM collection) on August 6, 1945.
Museum records show that Lockheed assigned the construction number 422-2273 to the National Air and Space Museum's P-38. The Army Air Forces accepted this Lightning as a P-38J-l0-LO on November 6, 1943, and the service identified the airplane with the serial number 42-67762. Recent investigations conducted by a team of specialists at the Paul E. Garber Facility, and Herb Brownstein, a volunteer in the Aeronautics Division at the National Air and Space Museum, have revealed many hitherto unknown aspects to the history of this aircraft.
Brownstein examined NASM files and documents at the National Archives. He discovered that a few days after the Army Air Forces (AAF) accepted this airplane, the Engineering Division at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio, granted Lockheed permission to convert this P-38 into a two-seat trainer. The firm added a seat behind the pilot to accommodate an instructor who would train civilian pilots in instrument flying techniques. Once trained, these test pilots evaluated new Lightnings fresh off the assembly line.
In a teletype sent by the Engineering Division on March 2, 1944, Brownstein also discovered that this P-38 was released to Colonel Benjamin S. Kelsey from March 3 to April 10, 1944, to conduct special tests. This action was confirmed the following day in a cable from the War Department. This same pilot, then a Lieutenant, flew the XP-38 across the United States in 1939 and survived the crash that destroyed this Lightning at Mitchel Field, New York. In early 1944, Kelsey was assigned to the Eighth Air Force in England and he apparently traveled to the Lockheed factory at Burbank to pick up the P-38. Further information about these tests and Kelsey's involvement remain an intriguing question.
One of Brownstein's most important discoveries was a small file rich with information about the NASM Lightning. This file contained a cryptic reference to a "Major Bong" who flew the NASM P-38 on April 16, 1945, at Wright Field. Bong had planned to fly for an hour to evaluate an experimental method of interconnecting the movement of the throttle and propeller control levers. His flight ended after twenty-minutes when "the right engine blew up before I had a chance [to conduct the test]." The curator at the Richard I. Bong Heritage Center confirmed that America's highest scoring ace made this flight in the NASM P-38 Lightning.
Working in Building 10 at the Paul E. Garber Facility, Rob Mawhinney, Dave Wilson, Wil Lee, Bob Weihrauch, Jim Purton, and Heather Hutton spent several months during the spring and summer of 2001 carefully disassembling, inspecting, and cleaning the NASM Lightning. They found every hardware modification consistent with a model J-25 airplane, not the model J-10 painted in the data block beneath the artifact's left nose. This fact dovetails perfectly with knowledge uncovered by Brownstein. On April 10, the Engineering Division again cabled Lockheed asking the company to prepare 42-67762 for transfer to Wright Field "in standard configuration." The standard P-38 configuration at that time was the P-38J-25. The work took several weeks and the fighter does not appear on Wright Field records until May 15, 1944. On June 9, the Flight Test Section at Wright Field released the fighter for flight trials aimed at collecting pilot comments on how the airplane handled.
Wright Field's Aeromedical Laboratory was the next organization involved with this P-38. That unit installed a kit on July 26 that probably measured the force required to move the control wheel left and right to actuate the power-boosted ailerons installed in all Lightnings beginning with version J-25. From August 12-16, the Power Plant Laboratory carried out tests to measure the hydraulic pump temperatures on this Lightning. Then beginning September 16 and lasting about ten days, the Bombing Branch, Armament Laboratory, tested type R-3 fragmentation bomb racks. The work appears to have ended early in December. On June 20, 1945, the AAF Aircraft Distribution Office asked that the Air Technical Service Command transfer the Lightning from Wright Field to Altus Air Force Base, Oklahoma, a temporary holding area for Air Force museum aircraft. The P-38 arrived at the Oklahoma City Air Depot on June 27, 1945, and mechanics prepared the fighter for flyable storage.
Airplane Flight Reports for this Lightning also describe the following activities and movements:
6-21-45 Wright Field, Ohio, 5.15 hours of flying.
6-22-45Wright Field, Ohio, .35 minutes of flying by Lt. Col. Wendel [?] J. Kelley and P. Shannon.
6-25-45Altus, Oklahoma, .55 hours flown, pilot P. Shannon.
6-27-45Altus, Oklahoma, #2 engine changed, 1.05 hours flown by Air Corps F/O Ralph F. Coady.
10-5-45 OCATSC-GCAAF (Garden City Army Air Field, Garden City, Kansas), guns removed and ballast added.
10-8-45Adams Field, Little Rock, Arkansas.
10-9-45Nashville, Tennessee,
5-28-46Freeman Field, Indiana, maintenance check by Air Corps Capt. H. M. Chadhowere [sp]?
7-24-46Freeman Field, Indiana, 1 hour local flight by 1st Lt. Charles C. Heckel.
7-31-46 Freeman Field, Indiana, 4120th AAF Base Unit, ferry flight to Orchard Place [Illinois] by 1st Lt. Charles C. Heckel.
On August 5, 1946, the AAF moved the aircraft to another storage site at the former Consolidated B-24 bomber assembly plant at Park Ridge, Illinois. A short time later, the AAF transferred custody of the Lightning and more than sixty other World War II-era airplanes to the Smithsonian National Air Museum. During the early 1950s, the Air Force moved these airplanes from Park Ridge to the Smithsonian storage site at Suitland, Maryland.
No reconnaissance aircraft in history has operated in more hostile airspace or with such complete impunity than the SR-71 Blackbird. It is the fastest aircraft propelled by air-breathing engines. The Blackbird's performance and operational achievements placed it at the pinnacle of aviation technology developments during the Cold War. The airplane was conceived when tensions with communist Eastern Europe reached levels approaching a full-blown crisis in the mid-1950s. U.S. military commanders desperately needed accurate assessments of Soviet worldwide military deployments, particularly near the Iron Curtain. Lockheed Aircraft Corporation's subsonic U-2 (see NASM collection) reconnaissance aircraft was an able platform but the U. S. Air Force recognized that this relatively slow aircraft was already vulnerable to Soviet interceptors. They also understood that the rapid development of surface-to-air missile systems could put U-2 pilots at grave risk. The danger proved reality when a U-2 was shot down by a surface to air missile over the Soviet Union in 1960.
Lockheed's first proposal for a new high speed, high altitude, reconnaissance aircraft, to be capable of avoiding interceptors and missiles, centered on a design propelled by liquid hydrogen. This proved to be impracticable because of considerable fuel consumption. Lockheed then reconfigured the design for conventional fuels. This was feasible and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), already flying the Lockheed U-2, issued a production contract for an aircraft designated the A-12. Lockheed's clandestine 'Skunk Works' division (headed by the gifted design engineer Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson) designed the A-12 to cruise at Mach 3.2 and fly well above 18,288 m (60,000 feet). To meet these challenging requirements, Lockheed engineers overcame many daunting technical challenges. Flying more than three times the speed of sound generates 316° C (600° F) temperatures on external aircraft surfaces, which are enough to melt conventional aluminum airframes. The design team chose to make the jet's external skin of titanium alloy to which shielded the internal aluminum airframe. Two conventional, but very powerful, afterburning turbine engines propelled this remarkable aircraft. These power plants had to operate across a huge speed envelope in flight, from a takeoff speed of 334 kph (207 mph) to more than 3,540 kph (2,200 mph). To prevent supersonic shock waves from moving inside the engine intake causing flameouts, Johnson's team had to design a complex air intake and bypass system for the engines.
Skunk Works engineers also optimized the A-12 cross-section design to exhibit a low radar profile. Lockheed hoped to achieve this by carefully shaping the airframe to reflect as little transmitted radar energy (radio waves) as possible, and by application of special paint designed to absorb, rather than reflect, those waves. This treatment became one of the first applications of stealth technology, but it never completely met the design goals.
Test pilot Lou Schalk flew the single-seat A-12 on April 24, 1962, after he became airborne accidentally during high-speed taxi trials. The airplane showed great promise but it needed considerable technical refinement before the CIA could fly the first operational sortie on May 31, 1967 - a surveillance flight over North Vietnam. A-12s, flown by CIA pilots, operated as part of the Air Force's 1129th Special Activities Squadron under the "Oxcart" program. While Lockheed continued to refine the A-12, the U. S. Air Force ordered an interceptor version of the aircraft designated the YF-12A. The Skunk Works, however, proposed a "specific mission" version configured to conduct post-nuclear strike reconnaissance. This system evolved into the USAF's familiar SR-71.
Lockheed built fifteen A-12s, including a special two-seat trainer version. Two A-12s were modified to carry a special reconnaissance drone, designated D-21. The modified A-12s were redesignated M-21s. These were designed to take off with the D-21 drone, powered by a Marquart ramjet engine mounted on a pylon between the rudders. The M-21 then hauled the drone aloft and launched it at speeds high enough to ignite the drone's ramjet motor. Lockheed also built three YF-12As but this type never went into production. Two of the YF-12As crashed during testing. Only one survives and is on display at the USAF Museum in Dayton, Ohio. The aft section of one of the "written off" YF-12As which was later used along with an SR-71A static test airframe to manufacture the sole SR-71C trainer. One SR-71 was lent to NASA and designated YF-12C. Including the SR-71C and two SR-71B pilot trainers, Lockheed constructed thirty-two Blackbirds. The first SR-71 flew on December 22, 1964. Because of extreme operational costs, military strategists decided that the more capable USAF SR-71s should replace the CIA's A-12s. These were retired in 1968 after only one year of operational missions, mostly over southeast Asia. The Air Force's 1st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron (part of the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing) took over the missions, flying the SR-71 beginning in the spring of 1968.
After the Air Force began to operate the SR-71, it acquired the official name Blackbird-- for the special black paint that covered the airplane. This paint was formulated to absorb radar signals, to radiate some of the tremendous airframe heat generated by air friction, and to camouflage the aircraft against the dark sky at high altitudes.
Experience gained from the A-12 program convinced the Air Force that flying the SR-71 safely required two crew members, a pilot and a Reconnaissance Systems Officer (RSO). The RSO operated with the wide array of monitoring and defensive systems installed on the airplane. This equipment included a sophisticated Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) system that could jam most acquisition and targeting radar. In addition to an array of advanced, high-resolution cameras, the aircraft could also carry equipment designed to record the strength, frequency, and wavelength of signals emitted by communications and sensor devices such as radar. The SR-71 was designed to fly deep into hostile territory, avoiding interception with its tremendous speed and high altitude. It could operate safely at a maximum speed of Mach 3.3 at an altitude more than sixteen miles, or 25,908 m (85,000 ft), above the earth. The crew had to wear pressure suits similar to those worn by astronauts. These suits were required to protect the crew in the event of sudden cabin pressure loss while at operating altitudes.
To climb and cruise at supersonic speeds, the Blackbird's Pratt & Whitney J-58 engines were designed to operate continuously in afterburner. While this would appear to dictate high fuel flows, the Blackbird actually achieved its best "gas mileage," in terms of air nautical miles per pound of fuel burned, during the Mach 3+ cruise. A typical Blackbird reconnaissance flight might require several aerial refueling operations from an airborne tanker. Each time the SR-71 refueled, the crew had to descend to the tanker's altitude, usually about 6,000 m to 9,000 m (20,000 to 30,000 ft), and slow the airplane to subsonic speeds. As velocity decreased, so did frictional heat. This cooling effect caused the aircraft's skin panels to shrink considerably, and those covering the fuel tanks contracted so much that fuel leaked, forming a distinctive vapor trail as the tanker topped off the Blackbird. As soon as the tanks were filled, the jet's crew disconnected from the tanker, relit the afterburners, and again climbed to high altitude.
Air Force pilots flew the SR-71 from Kadena AB, Japan, throughout its operational career but other bases hosted Blackbird operations, too. The 9th SRW occasionally deployed from Beale AFB, California, to other locations to carryout operational missions. Cuban missions were flown directly from Beale. The SR-71 did not begin to operate in Europe until 1974, and then only temporarily. In 1982, when the U.S. Air Force based two aircraft at Royal Air Force Base Mildenhall to fly monitoring mission in Eastern Europe.
When the SR-71 became operational, orbiting reconnaissance satellites had already replaced manned aircraft to gather intelligence from sites deep within Soviet territory. Satellites could not cover every geopolitical hotspot so the Blackbird remained a vital tool for global intelligence gathering. On many occasions, pilots and RSOs flying the SR-71 provided information that proved vital in formulating successful U. S. foreign policy. Blackbird crews provided important intelligence about the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and its aftermath, and pre- and post-strike imagery of the 1986 raid conducted by American air forces on Libya. In 1987, Kadena-based SR-71 crews flew a number of missions over the Persian Gulf, revealing Iranian Silkworm missile batteries that threatened commercial shipping and American escort vessels.
As the performance of space-based surveillance systems grew, along with the effectiveness of ground-based air defense networks, the Air Force started to lose enthusiasm for the expensive program and the 9th SRW ceased SR-71 operations in January 1990. Despite protests by military leaders, Congress revived the program in 1995. Continued wrangling over operating budgets, however, soon led to final termination. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration retained two SR-71As and the one SR-71B for high-speed research projects and flew these airplanes until 1999.
On March 6, 1990, the service career of one Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird ended with a record-setting flight. This special airplane bore Air Force serial number 64-17972. Lt. Col. Ed Yeilding and his RSO, Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Vida, flew this aircraft from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. in 1 hour, 4 minutes, and 20 seconds, averaging a speed of 3,418 kph (2,124 mph). At the conclusion of the flight, '972 landed at Dulles International Airport and taxied into the custody of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. At that time, Lt. Col. Vida had logged 1,392.7 hours of flight time in Blackbirds, more than that of any other crewman.
This particular SR-71 was also flown by Tom Alison, a former National Air and Space Museum's Chief of Collections Management. Flying with Detachment 1 at Kadena Air Force Base, Okinawa, Alison logged more than a dozen '972 operational sorties. The aircraft spent twenty-four years in active Air Force service and accrued a total of 2,801.1 hours of flight time.
Wingspan: 55'7"
Length: 107'5"
Height: 18'6"
Weight: 170,000 Lbs
Reference and Further Reading:
Crickmore, Paul F. Lockheed SR-71: The Secret Missions Exposed. Oxford: Osprey
Publishing, 1996.
Francillon, Rene J. Lockheed Aircraft Since 1913. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1987.
Johnson, Clarence L. Kelly: More Than My Share of It All. Washington D.C.:
Smithsonian Institution Press, 1985.
Miller, Jay. Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works. Leicester, U.K.: Midland Counties
Publishing Ltd., 1995.
Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird curatorial file, Aeronautics Division, National Air and Space Museum.
Boeing's B-29 Superfortress was the most sophisticated propeller-driven bomber of World War II and the first bomber to house its crew in pressurized compartments. Although designed to fight in the European theater, the B-29 found its niche on the other side of the globe. In the Pacific, B-29s delivered a variety of aerial weapons: conventional bombs, incendiary bombs, mines, and two nuclear weapons.
On August 6, 1945, this Martin-built B-29-45-MO dropped the first atomic weapon used in combat on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, Bockscar (on display at the U.S. Air Force Museum near Dayton, Ohio) dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. Enola Gay flew as the advance weather reconnaissance aircraft that day. A third B-29, The Great Artiste, flew as an observation aircraft on both missions
Transferred from the United States Air Force.
Manufacturer: Boeing Aircraft Co.
Martin Co., Omaha, Nebr.
Date: 1945
Country of Origin: United States of America
Dimensions:
Overall: 900 x 3020cm, 32580kg, 4300cm (29ft 6 5/16in. x 99ft 1in., 71825.9lb., 141ft 15/16in.)
Materials:
Polished overall aluminum finish
Physical Description:
Four-engine heavy bomber with semi-monoqoque fuselage and high-aspect ratio wings. Polished aluminum finish overall, standard late-World War II Army Air Forces insignia on wings and aft fuselage and serial number on vertical fin; 509th Composite Group markings painted in black; "Enola Gay" in black, block letters on lower left nose.
Boeing's B-29 Superfortress was the most sophisticated, propeller-driven, bomber to fly during World War II, and the first bomber to house its crew in pressurized compartments. Boeing installed very advanced armament, propulsion, and avionics systems into the Superfortress. During the war in the Pacific Theater, the B-29 delivered the first nuclear weapons used in combat. On August 6, 1945, Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr., in command of the Superfortress Enola Gay, dropped a highly enriched uranium, explosion-type, "gun-fired," atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, Major Charles W. Sweeney piloted the B-29 Bockscar and dropped a highly enriched plutonium, implosion-type atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. Enola Gay flew as the advance weather reconnaissance aircraft that day. On August 14, 1945, the Japanese accepted Allied terms for unconditional surrender.
In the late 1930s, U. S. Army Air Corps leaders recognized the need for very long-range bombers that exceeded the performance of the B-17 Flying Fortress. Several years of preliminary studies paralleled a continuous fight against those who saw limited utility in developing such an expensive and unproven aircraft but the Air Corps issued a requirement for the new bomber in February 1940. It described an airplane that could carry a maximum bomb load of 909 kg (2,000 lb) at a speed of 644 kph (400 mph) a distance of at least 8,050 km (5,000 miles). Boeing, Consolidated, Douglas, and Lockheed responded with design proposals. The Army was impressed with the Boeing design and issued a contract for two flyable prototypes in September 1940. In April 1941, the Army issued another contract for 250 aircraft plus spare parts equivalent to another 25 bombers, eight months before Pearl Harbor and nearly a year-and-a-half before the first Superfortress would fly.
Among the design's innovations was a long, narrow, high-aspect ratio wing equipped with large Fowler-type flaps. This wing design allowed the B-29 to fly very fast at high altitudes but maintained comfortable handling characteristics during takeoff and landing. More revolutionary was the size and sophistication of the pressurized sections of the fuselage: the flight deck forward of the wing, the gunner's compartment aft of the wing, and the tail gunner's station. For the crew, flying at extreme altitudes became much more comfortable as pressure and temperature could be regulated. To protect the Superfortress, Boeing designed a remote-controlled, defensive weapons system. Engineers placed five gun turrets on the fuselage: a turret above and behind the cockpit that housed two .50 caliber machine guns (four guns in later versions), and another turret aft near the vertical tail equipped with two machine guns; plus two more turrets beneath the fuselage, each equipped with two .50 caliber guns. One of these turrets fired from behind the nose gear and the other hung further back near the tail. Another two .50 caliber machine guns and a 20-mm cannon (in early versions of the B-29) were fitted in the tail beneath the rudder. Gunners operated these turrets by remote control--a true innovation. They aimed the guns using computerized sights, and each gunner could take control of two or more turrets to concentrate firepower on a single target.
Boeing also equipped the B-29 with advanced radar equipment and avionics. Depending on the type of mission, a B-29 carried the AN/APQ-13 or AN/APQ-7 Eagle radar system to aid bombing and navigation. These systems were accurate enough to permit bombing through cloud layers that completely obscured the target. The B-29B was equipped with the AN/APG-15B airborne radar gun sighting system mounted in the tail, insuring accurate defense against enemy fighters attacking at night. B-29s also routinely carried as many as twenty different types of radios and navigation devices.
The first XB-29 took off at Boeing Field in Seattle on September 21, 1942. By the end of the year the second aircraft was ready for flight. Fourteen service-test YB-29s followed as production began to accelerate. Building this advanced bomber required massive logistics. Boeing built new B-29 plants at Renton, Washington, and Wichita, Kansas, while Bell built a new plant at Marietta, Georgia, and Martin built one in Omaha, Nebraska. Both Curtiss-Wright and the Dodge automobile company vastly expanded their manufacturing capacity to build the bomber's powerful and complex Curtiss-Wright R-3350 turbo supercharged engines. The program required thousands of sub-contractors but with extraordinary effort, it all came together, despite major teething problems. By April 1944, the first operational B-29s of the newly formed 20th Air Force began to touch down on dusty airfields in India. By May, 130 B-29s were operational. In June, 1944, less than two years after the initial flight of the XB-29, the U. S. Army Air Forces (AAF) flew its first B-29 combat mission against targets in Bangkok, Thailand. This mission (longest of the war to date) called for 100 B-29s but only 80 reached the target area. The AAF lost no aircraft to enemy action but bombing results were mediocre. The first bombing mission against the Japanese main islands since Lt. Col. "Jimmy" Doolittle's raid against Tokyo in April 1942, occurred on June 15, again with poor results. This was also the first mission launched from airbases in China.
With the fall of Saipan, Tinian, and Guam in the Mariana Islands chain in August 1944, the AAF acquired airbases that lay several hundred miles closer to mainland Japan. Late in 1944, the AAF moved the XXI Bomber Command, flying B-29s, to the Marianas and the unit began bombing Japan in December. However, they employed high-altitude, precision, bombing tactics that yielded poor results. The high altitude winds were so strong that bombing computers could not compensate and the weather was so poor that rarely was visual target acquisition possible at high altitudes. In March 1945, Major General Curtis E. LeMay ordered the group to abandon these tactics and strike instead at night, from low altitude, using incendiary bombs. These firebombing raids, carried out by hundreds of B-29s, devastated much of Japan's industrial and economic infrastructure. Yet Japan fought on. Late in 1944, AAF leaders selected the Martin assembly line to produce a squadron of B-29s codenamed SILVERPLATE. Martin modified these Superfortresses by removing all gun turrets except for the tail position, removing armor plate, installing Curtiss electric propellers, and modifying the bomb bay to accommodate either the "Fat Man" or "Little Boy" versions of the atomic bomb. The AAF assigned 15 Silverplate ships to the 509th Composite Group commanded by Colonel Paul Tibbets. As the Group Commander, Tibbets had no specific aircraft assigned to him as did the mission pilots. He was entitled to fly any aircraft at any time. He named the B-29 that he flew on 6 August Enola Gay after his mother. In the early morning hours, just prior to the August 6th mission, Tibbets had a young Army Air Forces maintenance man, Private Nelson Miller, paint the name just under the pilot's window.
Enola Gay is a model B-29-45-MO, serial number 44-86292. The AAF accepted this aircraft on June 14, 1945, from the Martin plant at Omaha (Located at what is today Offut AFB near Bellevue), Nebraska. After the war, Army Air Forces crews flew the airplane during the Operation Crossroads atomic test program in the Pacific, although it dropped no nuclear devices during these tests, and then delivered it to Davis-Monthan Army Airfield, Arizona, for storage. Later, the U. S. Air Force flew the bomber to Park Ridge, Illinois, then transferred it to the Smithsonian Institution on July 4, 1949. Although in Smithsonian custody, the aircraft remained stored at Pyote Air Force Base, Texas, between January 1952 and December 1953. The airplane's last flight ended on December 2 when the Enola Gay touched down at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. The bomber remained at Andrews in outdoor storage until August 1960. By then, concerned about the bomber deteriorating outdoors, the Smithsonian sent collections staff to disassemble the Superfortress and move it indoors to the Paul E. Garber Facility in Suitland, Maryland.
The staff at Garber began working to preserve and restore Enola Gay in December 1984. This was the largest restoration project ever undertaken at the National Air and Space Museum and the specialists anticipated the work would require from seven to nine years to complete. The project actually lasted nearly two decades and, when completed, had taken approximately 300,000 work-hours to complete. The B-29 is now displayed at the National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.
Inventory number: A19500100000
From 1942 to 1945, the thunder of P-38 Lightnings was heard around the world. U. S. Army pilots flew the P-38 over Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Pacific; from the frozen Aleutian Islands to the sun-baked deserts of North Africa. Measured by success in combat, Lockheed engineer Clarence "Kelly" Johnson and a team of designers created the most successful twin-engine fighter ever flown by any nation. In the Pacific Theater, Lightning pilots downed more Japanese aircraft than pilots flying any other Army Air Forces warplane.
Johnson and his team conceived this twin-engine, single-pilot fighter airplane in 1936 and the Army Air Corps authorized the firm to build it in June 1937. Lockheed finished constructing the prototype XP-38 and delivered it to the Air Corps on New Year's Day, 1939. Air Corps test pilot and P-38 project officer, Lt. Benjamin S. Kelsey, first flew the aircraft on January 27. Losing this prototype in a crash at Mitchel Field, New York, with Kelsey at the controls, did not deter the Air Corps from ordering 13 YP-38s for service testing on April 27. Kelsey survived the crash and remained an important part of the Lightning program. Before the airplane could be declared ready for combat, Lockheed had to block the effects of high-speed aerodynamic compressibility and tail buffeting, and solve other problems discovered during the service tests.
The most vexing difficulty was the loss of control in a dive caused by aerodynamic compressibility. During late spring 1941, Air Corps Major Signa A. Gilke encountered serious trouble while diving his Lightning at high-speed from an altitude of 9,120 m (30,000 ft). When he reached an indicated airspeed of about 515 kph (320 mph), the airplane's tail began to shake violently and the nose dropped until the dive was almost vertical. Signa recovered and landed safely and the tail buffet problem was soon resolved after Lockheed installed new fillets to improve airflow where the cockpit gondola joined the wing center section. Seventeen months passed before engineers began to determine what caused the Lightning's nose to drop. They tested a scale model P-38 in the Ames Laboratory wind tunnel operated by the NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) and found that shock waves formed when airflow over the wing leading edges reached transonic speeds. The nose drop and loss of control was never fully remedied but Lockheed installed dive recovery flaps under each wing in 1944. These devices slowed the P-38 enough to allow the pilot to maintain control when diving at high-speed.
Just as the development of the North American P-51 Mustang, Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, and the Vought F4U Corsair (see NASM collection for these aircraft) pushed the limits of aircraft performance into unexplored territory, so too did P-38 development. The type of aircraft envisioned by the Lockheed design team and Air Corps strategists in 1937 did not appear until June 1944. This protracted shakedown period mirrors the tribulations suffered by Vought in sorting out the many technical problems that kept F4U Corsairs off U. S. Navy carrier decks until the end of 1944.
Lockheed's efforts to trouble-shoot various problems with the design also delayed high-rate, mass production. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the company had delivered only 69 Lightnings to the Army. Production steadily increased and at its peak in 1944, 22 sub-contractors built various Lightning components and shipped them to Burbank, California, for final assembly. Consolidated-Vultee (Convair) subcontracted to build the wing center section and the firm later became prime manufacturer for 2,000 P-38Ls but that company's Nashville plant completed only 113 examples of this Lightning model before war's end. Lockheed and Convair finished 10,038 P-38 aircraft including 500 photo-reconnaissance models. They built more L models, 3,923, than any other version.
To ease control and improve stability, particularly at low speeds, Lockheed equipped all Lightnings, except a batch ordered by Britain, with propellers that counter-rotated. The propeller to the pilot's left turned counter-clockwise and the propeller to his right turned clockwise, so that one propeller countered the torque and airflow effects generated by the other. The airplane also performed well at high speeds and the definitive P-38L model could make better than 676 kph (420 mph) between 7,600 and 9,120 m (25,000 and 30,000 ft). The design was versatile enough to carry various combinations of bombs, air-to-ground rockets, and external fuel tanks. The multi-engine configuration reduced the Lightning loss-rate to anti-aircraft gunfire during ground attack missions. Single-engine airplanes equipped with power plants cooled by pressurized liquid, such as the North American P-51 Mustang (see NASM collection), were particularly vulnerable. Even a small nick in one coolant line could cause the engine to seize in a matter of minutes.
The first P-38s to reach the Pacific combat theater arrived on April 4, 1942, when a version of the Lightning that carried reconnaissance cameras (designated the F-4), joined the 8th Photographic Squadron based in Australia. This unit launched the first P-38 combat missions over New Guinea and New Britain during April. By May 29, the first 25 P-38s had arrived in Anchorage, Alaska. On August 9, pilots of the 343rd Fighter Group, Eleventh Air Force, flying the P-38E, shot down a pair of Japanese flying boats.
Back in the United States, Army Air Forces leaders tried to control a rumor that Lightnings killed their own pilots. On August 10, 1942, Col. Arthur I. Ennis, Chief of U. S. Army Air Forces Public Relations in Washington, told a fellow officer "… Here's what the 4th Fighter [training] Command is up against… common rumor out there that the whole West Coast was filled with headless bodies of men who jumped out of P-38s and had their heads cut off by the propellers." Novice Lightning pilots unfamiliar with the correct bailout procedures actually had more to fear from the twin-boom tail, if an emergency dictated taking to the parachute but properly executed, Lightning bailouts were as safe as parachuting from any other high-performance fighter of the day. Misinformation and wild speculation about many new aircraft was rampant during the early War period.
Along with U. S. Navy Grumman F4F Wildcats (see NASM collection) and Curtiss P-40 Warhawks (see NASM collection), Lightnings were the first American fighter airplanes capable of consistently defeating Japanese fighter aircraft. On November 18, men of the 339th Fighter Squadron became the first Lightning pilots to attack Japanese fighters. Flying from Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, they claimed three during a mission to escort Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers (see NASM collection).
On April 18, 1943, fourteen P-38 pilots from the 70th and the 339th Fighter Squadrons, 347th Fighter Group, accomplished one of the most important Lightning missions of the war. American ULTRA cryptanalysts had decoded Japanese messages that revealed the timetable for a visit to the front by the commander of the Imperial Japanese Navy, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. This charismatic leader had crafted the plan to attack Pearl Harbor and Allied strategists believed his loss would severely cripple Japanese morale. The P-38 pilots flew 700 km (435 miles) at heights from 3-15 m (10-50 feet) above the ocean to avoid detection. Over the coast of Bougainville, they intercepted a formation of two Mitsubishi G4M BETTY bombers (see NASM collection) carrying the Admiral and his staff, and six Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters (see NASM collection) providing escort. The Lightning pilots downed both bombers but lost Lt. Ray Hine to a Zero.
In Europe, the first Americans to down a Luftwaffe aircraft were Lt. Elza E. Shahan flying a 27th Fighter Squadron P-38E, and Lt. J. K. Shaffer flying a Curtiss P-40 (see NASM collection) in the 33rd Fighter Squadron. The two flyers shared the destruction of a Focke-Wulf Fw 200C-3 Condor maritime strike aircraft over Iceland on August 14, 1942. Later that month, the 1st fighter group accepted Lightnings and began combat operations from bases in England but this unit soon moved to fight in North Africa. More than a year passed before the P-38 reappeared over Western Europe. While the Lightning was absent, U. S. Army Air Forces strategists had relearned a painful lesson: unescorted bombers cannot operate successfully in the face of determined opposition from enemy fighters. When P-38s returned to England, the primary mission had become long-range bomber escort at ranges of about 805 kms (500 miles) and at altitudes above 6,080 m (20,000 ft).
On October 15, 1943, P-38H pilots in the 55th Fighter Group flew their first combat mission over Europe at a time when the need for long-range escorts was acute. Just the day before, German fighter pilots had destroyed 60 of 291 Eighth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses (see NASM collection) during a mission to bomb five ball-bearing plants at Schweinfurt, Germany. No air force could sustain a loss-rate of nearly 20 percent for more than a few missions but these targets lay well beyond the range of available escort fighters (Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, see NASM collection). American war planners hoped the long-range capabilities of the P-38 Lightning could halt this deadly trend, but the very high and very cold environment peculiar to the European air war caused severe power plant and cockpit heating difficulties for the Lightning pilots. The long-range escort problem was not completely solved until the North American P-51 Mustang (see NASM collection) began to arrive in large numbers early in 1944.
Poor cockpit heating in the H and J model Lightnings made flying and fighting at altitudes that frequently approached 12,320 m (40,000 ft) nearly impossible. This was a fundamental design flaw that Kelly Johnson and his team never anticipated when they designed the airplane six years earlier. In his seminal work on the Allison V-1710 engine, Daniel Whitney analyzed in detail other factors that made the P-38 a disappointing airplane in combat over Western Europe.
- Many new and inexperienced pilots arrived in England during December 1943, along with the new J model P-38 Lightning.
- J model rated at 1,600 horsepower vs. 1,425 for earlier H model Lightnings. This power setting required better maintenance between flights. It appears this work was not done in many cases.
- During stateside training, Lightning pilots were taught to fly at high rpm settings and low engine manifold pressure during cruise flight. This was very hard on the engines, and not in keeping with technical directives issued by Allison and Lockheed.
- The quality of fuel in England may have been poor, TEL (tetraethyl lead) fuel additive appeared to condense inside engine induction manifolds, causing detonation (destructive explosion of fuel mixture rather than controlled burning).
- Improved turbo supercharger intercoolers appeared on the J model P-38. These devices greatly reduced manifold temperatures but this encouraged TEL condensation in manifolds during cruise flight and increased spark plug fouling.
Using water injection to minimize detonation might have reduced these engine problems. Both the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and the North American P-51 Mustang (see NASM collection) were fitted with water injection systems but not the P-38. Lightning pilots continued to fly, despite these handicaps.
During November 1942, two all-Lightning fighter groups, the 1st and the 14th, began operating in North Africa. In the Mediterranean Theater, P-38 pilots flew more sorties than Allied pilots flying any other type of fighter. They claimed 608 enemy a/c destroyed in the air, 123 probably destroyed and 343 damaged, against the loss of 131 Lightnings.
In the war against Japan, the P-38 truly excelled. Combat rarely occurred above 6,080 m (20,000 ft) and the engine and cockpit comfort problems common in Europe never plagued pilots in the Pacific Theater. The Lightning's excellent range was used to full advantage above the vast expanses of water. In early 1945, Lightning pilots of the 12th Fighter Squadron, 18th Fighter Group, flew a mission that lasted 10 ½ hours and covered more than 3,220 km (2,000 miles). In August, P-38 pilots established the world's long-distance record for a World War II combat fighter when they flew from the Philippines to the Netherlands East Indies, a distance of 3,703 km (2,300 miles). During early 1944, Lightning pilots in the 475th Fighter Group began the 'race of aces.' By March, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas J. Lynch had scored 21 victories before he fell to antiaircraft gunfire while strafing enemy ships. Major Thomas B. McGuire downed 38 Japanese aircraft before he was killed when his P-38 crashed at low altitude in early January 1945. Major Richard I. Bong became America's highest scoring fighter ace (40 victories) but died in the crash of a Lockheed P-80 (see NASM collection) on August 6, 1945.
Museum records show that Lockheed assigned the construction number 422-2273 to the National Air and Space Museum's P-38. The Army Air Forces accepted this Lightning as a P-38J-l0-LO on November 6, 1943, and the service identified the airplane with the serial number 42-67762. Recent investigations conducted by a team of specialists at the Paul E. Garber Facility, and Herb Brownstein, a volunteer in the Aeronautics Division at the National Air and Space Museum, have revealed many hitherto unknown aspects to the history of this aircraft.
Brownstein examined NASM files and documents at the National Archives. He discovered that a few days after the Army Air Forces (AAF) accepted this airplane, the Engineering Division at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio, granted Lockheed permission to convert this P-38 into a two-seat trainer. The firm added a seat behind the pilot to accommodate an instructor who would train civilian pilots in instrument flying techniques. Once trained, these test pilots evaluated new Lightnings fresh off the assembly line.
In a teletype sent by the Engineering Division on March 2, 1944, Brownstein also discovered that this P-38 was released to Colonel Benjamin S. Kelsey from March 3 to April 10, 1944, to conduct special tests. This action was confirmed the following day in a cable from the War Department. This same pilot, then a Lieutenant, flew the XP-38 across the United States in 1939 and survived the crash that destroyed this Lightning at Mitchel Field, New York. In early 1944, Kelsey was assigned to the Eighth Air Force in England and he apparently traveled to the Lockheed factory at Burbank to pick up the P-38. Further information about these tests and Kelsey's involvement remain an intriguing question.
One of Brownstein's most important discoveries was a small file rich with information about the NASM Lightning. This file contained a cryptic reference to a "Major Bong" who flew the NASM P-38 on April 16, 1945, at Wright Field. Bong had planned to fly for an hour to evaluate an experimental method of interconnecting the movement of the throttle and propeller control levers. His flight ended after twenty-minutes when "the right engine blew up before I had a chance [to conduct the test]." The curator at the Richard I. Bong Heritage Center confirmed that America's highest scoring ace made this flight in the NASM P-38 Lightning.
Working in Building 10 at the Paul E. Garber Facility, Rob Mawhinney, Dave Wilson, Wil Lee, Bob Weihrauch, Jim Purton, and Heather Hutton spent several months during the spring and summer of 2001 carefully disassembling, inspecting, and cleaning the NASM Lightning. They found every hardware modification consistent with a model J-25 airplane, not the model J-10 painted in the data block beneath the artifact's left nose. This fact dovetails perfectly with knowledge uncovered by Brownstein. On April 10, the Engineering Division again cabled Lockheed asking the company to prepare 42-67762 for transfer to Wright Field "in standard configuration." The standard P-38 configuration at that time was the P-38J-25. The work took several weeks and the fighter does not appear on Wright Field records until May 15, 1944. On June 9, the Flight Test Section at Wright Field released the fighter for flight trials aimed at collecting pilot comments on how the airplane handled.
Wright Field's Aeromedical Laboratory was the next organization involved with this P-38. That unit installed a kit on July 26 that probably measured the force required to move the control wheel left and right to actuate the power-boosted ailerons installed in all Lightnings beginning with version J-25. From August 12-16, the Power Plant Laboratory carried out tests to measure the hydraulic pump temperatures on this Lightning. Then beginning September 16 and lasting about ten days, the Bombing Branch, Armament Laboratory, tested type R-3 fragmentation bomb racks. The work appears to have ended early in December. On June 20, 1945, the AAF Aircraft Distribution Office asked that the Air Technical Service Command transfer the Lightning from Wright Field to Altus Air Force Base, Oklahoma, a temporary holding area for Air Force museum aircraft. The P-38 arrived at the Oklahoma City Air Depot on June 27, 1945, and mechanics prepared the fighter for flyable storage.
Airplane Flight Reports for this Lightning also describe the following activities and movements:
6-21-45 Wright Field, Ohio, 5.15 hours of flying.
6-22-45Wright Field, Ohio, .35 minutes of flying by Lt. Col. Wendel [?] J. Kelley and P. Shannon.
6-25-45Altus, Oklahoma, .55 hours flown, pilot P. Shannon.
6-27-45Altus, Oklahoma, #2 engine changed, 1.05 hours flown by Air Corps F/O Ralph F. Coady.
10-5-45 OCATSC-GCAAF (Garden City Army Air Field, Garden City, Kansas), guns removed and ballast added.
10-8-45Adams Field, Little Rock, Arkansas.
10-9-45Nashville, Tennessee,
5-28-46Freeman Field, Indiana, maintenance check by Air Corps Capt. H. M. Chadhowere [sp]?
7-24-46Freeman Field, Indiana, 1 hour local flight by 1st Lt. Charles C. Heckel.
7-31-46 Freeman Field, Indiana, 4120th AAF Base Unit, ferry flight to Orchard Place [Illinois] by 1st Lt. Charles C. Heckel.
On August 5, 1946, the AAF moved the aircraft to another storage site at the former Consolidated B-24 bomber assembly plant at Park Ridge, Illinois. A short time later, the AAF transferred custody of the Lightning and more than sixty other World War II-era airplanes to the Smithsonian National Air Museum. During the early 1950s, the Air Force moved these airplanes from Park Ridge to the Smithsonian storage site at Suitland, Maryland.
Whether it was the Tomahawk, Warhawk, or Kittyhawk, the Curtiss P-40 was a successful and versatile fighter aircraft during the first half of World War II. The shark-mouthed Tomahawks that General Claire Chennault led against the Japanese remain among the most popular airplanes of the war. In the Phillipines, Lt. Boyd D. Wagner became the first American ace of World War II while flying a P-40E when he shot down six Japanese aircraft during mid-December 1941. P-40s were first-line Army Air Corps fighters at the start of the war but they soon gave way to more advanced designs such as the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and the Lockheed P-38 Lightning (see NASM collection for both aircraft). The P-40 is not ranked among the best overall fighters of the war but it was a rugged, effective design available in large numbers early in the war when America and her allies urgently required them. The P-40 remained in production from 1939 to the end of 1944 and a total of 13, 737 were built.
Design engineer Dr. Donovan R. Berlin layed the foundation for the P-40 in 1935 when he designed the agile, but lightly-armed, P-36 fighter equipped with a radial, air-cooled engine. The Curtiss-Wright Corporation won a production contract for 210 P-36 airplanes in 1937-the largest Army airplane contract awarded since World War I. Worldwide, fighter aircraft designs matured rapidly during the late 1930s and it was soon obvious that the P-36 was no match for newer European designs. High altitude performance in particular became a priceless commodity. Berlin attempted to improve the P-36 by redesigning it in to accommodate a turbo-supercharged Allison V-1710-11 inline, liquid-cooled engine. The new aircraft was designated the XP-37 but proved unpopular with pilots. The turbo-supercharger was not reliable and Berlin had placed the cockpit too far back on the fuselage, restricting the view to the front of the fighter. Nonetheless, when the engine was not giving trouble, the more-streamlined XP-37 was much faster than the P-36.
Curtiss tried again in 1938. Berlin had modified another P-36 with a new Allison V-1710-19 engine. It was designated the XP-40 and first flew on October 14, 1938. The XP-40 looked promising and Curtiss offered it to Army Air Corps leaders who evaluated the airplane at Wright Field, Ohio, in 1939, along with several other fighter proposals. The P-40 won the competition, after some modifications, and Curtiss received an order for 540. At this time, the armament package consisted of two .50 caliber machine guns in the fuselage and four .30 caliber machine guns in the wings.
After production began in March 1940, France ordered 140 P-40s but the British took delivery of these airplanes when Paris surrendered. The British named the aircraft Tomahawks but found they performed poorly in high-altitude combat over northern Europe and relegated them to low-altitude operations in North Africa. The Russians bought more than 2,000 P-40s but details of their operational history remain obscure.
When the United States declared war, P-40s equipped many of the Army Air Corps's front line fighter units. The plucky fighter eventually saw combat in almost every theater of operations being the most effective in the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater. Of all the CBI groups that gained the most notoriety of the entire war, and remains to this day synonymous with the P-40, is the American Volunteer Group (AVG) or the Flying Tigers. The unit was organized after the Chinese gave former U. S. Army Air Corps Captain Claire Lee Chennault almost 9 million dollars in 1940 to buy aircraft and recruit pilots to fly against the Japanese. Chennault's most important support within the Chinese government came from Madam Chiang Kai-shek, a Lt. Colonel in the Chinese Air Force and for a time, the service's overall commander.
The money from China diverted an order placed by the British Royal Air Force for 100 Curtiss-Wright P-40B Tomahawks but buying airplanes was only one important step in creating a fighting air unit. Trained pilots were needed, and quickly, as tensions across the Pacific escalated. On April 15, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt quietly signed an Executive Order permitting Chennault to recruit directly from the ranks of American military reserve pilots. Within a few months, 350 flyers joined from pursuit (fighter), bomber, and patrol squadrons. In all, about half the pilots in the Flying Tigers came from the U. S. Navy and Marine Corps while the Army Air Corps supplied one-third. Factory test pilots at Bell, Consolidated, and other companies, and commercial airline pilots, filled the remaining slots.
The Flying Tigers flew their first mission on December 20. The unit's name was derived from the ferocious fangs and teeth painted on the nose of AVG P-40s at either side of the distinctive, large radiator air intake. The idea is said to originate from pictures in a magazine that showed Royal Air Force Tomahawks of No. 112 Squadron, operating in the western desert of North Africa, adorned with fangs and teeth painted around their air intakes. The Flying Tigers were the first real opposition the Japanese military encountered. In less than 7 months of action, AVG pilots destroyed about 115 Japanese aircraft and lost only 11 planes in air-to-air combat. The AVG disbanded on July 4, 1942, and its assets, including a few pilots, became a part of the U. S. Army Air Forces (AAF) 23rd Fighter Group in the newly activated 14th Air Force. Chennault, now a Brigadier General, assumed command of the 14th AF and by war's end, the 23rd was one of the highest-scoring Army fighter groups.
As wartime experience in the P-40 mounted, Curtiss made many modifications. Engineers added armor plate, better self-sealing fuel tanks, and more powerful engines. They modified the cockpit to improve visibility and changed the armament package to six, wing-mounted, .50 caliber machine guns. The P-40E Kittyhawk was the first model with this gun package and it entered service in time to serve in the AVG. The last model produced in quantity was the P-40N, the lightest P-40 built in quantity, and much faster than previous models. Curtiss built a single P-40Q. It was the fastest P-40 to fly (679 kph/422 mph) but it could not match the performance of the P-47 Thunderbolt and the P-51 Mustang so Curtiss ended development of the P-40 series with this model. In addition to the AAF, many Allied nations bought and flew P-40s including England, France, China, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, and Turkey.
The Smithsonian P-40E did not serve in the U. S. military. Curtiss-Wright built it in Buffalo, New York, as Model 87-A3 and delivered it to Canada as a Kittyhawk IA on March 11, 1941. It served in No. 111 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). When the Japanese navy moved to attack Midway, they sent a diversionary battle group to menace the Aleutian Islands. Canada moved No. 111 Squadron to Alaska to help defend the region. After the Japanese threat diminished, the unit returned to Canada and eventually transferred to England without its P-40s. The RCAF declared the NASM Kittyhawk IA surplus on July 27, 1946, and the aircraft eventually returned to the United States. It had several owners before ending up with the Explorer Scouts youth group in Meridian, Mississippi. During the early 1960s, the Smithsonian began searching for a P-40 with a documented history of service in the AVG but found none. In 1964, the Exchange Club in Meridian donated the Kittyhawk IA to the National Aeronautical Collection, in memory of Mr. Kellis Forbes, a local man devoted to Boys Club activities. A U. S. Air Force Reserve crew airlifted the fighter to Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, on March 13, 1964. Andrews personnel restored the airplane in 1975 and painted it to represent an aircraft of the 75th Fighter Squadron, 23rd Fighter Group, 14th Air Force.
The German Junkers company, based at Dessau, Saxony, had pioneered the use of metal, specifically an aluminum alloy, when in introduced the Junkers-F 13 in 1919. Marketing this monoplane aircraft, clearly superior to the wood-and-fabric, or metal frame-and-wood, mostly biplane, competition throughout Europe, was difficult, because of the severe restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles and the Peace Treaties that had settled the conditions of reparations forced on Germany after the Great War of 1914-18. By the end of the 1920s decade, however, the situation had eased. German aircraft manufacturers had evaded the restrictions by building in foreign countries, and normal industrial conditions returned to Germany so that the innovative aircraft manufacturers regcained momentum.
At Dessau, Junkers had already built several tri-motored transport aircraft and an enormous four-engined one, the G 38. Then, to begin the new decade, still using the same corrugated-skin structural technology, designer Ernst Zindel produced the Junkers-Ju 52. Which made its first flight on 11 September 1930. This was a single-engined aircraft, intended for hauling freight, and equipped with several large doors and a hatch in the roof. Its performance was impressive. In the winter of 1931, in Montreal, Canada, one took off, carrying almost four tons, in 17-1/2 seconds. But the world's depressed economy handicapped sales, and only seven Ju 52s were built.
In 1932, the German national airline, Deutsche Luft Hansa, had to transfer two Rohrbach Rolands to Deruluft, jointly-owned by Germany and the Soviet Union, to maintain an important air link between Berlin and Moscow. By this time, Andrei Tupolev's design team in Moscow had introduced the ANT-9, which, compared to the Fokker-Grulich and Dornier aircraft in the Deruluft fleet, appeared elegant and aerodynamically efficient. Furthermore the performance matched its looks, and with a demonstration flight through Europe in 1929, Mikhail Gromov had, in effect, put out a challenge to the German manufacturers.
Zindel responded by converting the Ju 52 to a tri-motor, with three 525 hp BMW (Pratt & Whitney-licensed) Hornet engines. It made its debut in 1932 and was destined to become one of the best-known European transport aircraft in history, and certainly the one produced in the greatest numbers. The Junkers-Ju 52/3m - to use the correct designation of the tri-motored version - carried up to 17 passengers, or about three tons of freight, and cruised at about 150 mph. Its best feature was its ability to take off from or land on almost any reasonably-sized field, even a football field.
As an airliner, it was used all over Europe, with seveeral national airlines. The German flag carrieer, Deutsche Luft Hansa (D.L.H.), had more than 200 of them, and such was its popularity among pilots that it was affectionately known as "Tante Ju," or "Auntie Ju" - rather as Americans referred to the Douglas DC-3 or C-47 as the "Gooney Bird." It was exported all over the world, seeing good service in many countries of South America, in China, and in South Africa.
As a military transport, it was a great work-horse. Of the estimated 4,835 built, 2,804 were for the Luftwaffe, for which it performed valiantly during the Second World War, as a troop carrier, bomber, and ambulance. Most spectacularly, an armada of Ju 52/3m's parachuted troops into Allied-held Crete, and 170 of the fleet of 493 were shot down. Soviet sources claim that 676 were shot down or destroyed in the unsuccessful attampt to relieve von Paulus's army trapped in Stalingrad. Many of these flew to the battle zone, loaded to the full with supplies, at the expense of the fuel needed to make the return flight.
Additional numbers of the "Tante Ju's" were produced in France under the Vichy Government, as the A.A.C.1, by the Ateliers Aéronautiques de Colombes, where construction continued after the war ended. The same occurred in Generalissimo Franco's Spain, as the CASA 352/3m, and these were produced until 1952, and used extensively by the Spanish Air Force. They were even used by the British, and when the war ended, were flown by British European Airways on Scotland Irish Sea. Services. The last flight by the pre-war D.L.H. Is believed to have been one from Oslo, Norway, to Aarhus, Denmark, on l5 May 1945. The floatplane version of the Ju 52/3m had maintained the essential communications service along the coast of Norway throughout the Second World War; and is believed to have continued for a few days after the termination of hostilities because no order came through telling that dismembered unit of D.L.H. to stop.
Rather like the indefatigable DC-3, quite a few Tante Ju's continued to keep flying after the end of the Second World War. But their fatality rate during the conflict had been harsh, and not many were left, except in foreign countries. The last one is believed to have been retired from commercial airline service in New Guinea during the late 1960s. A few are still to be seen flying today, notably one owned b y the present-day Lufthansa, which proudly maintains it in perfect flying condition for sight-seeing flights and air show demonstrations. The Swiss Air Force owns three at the Dubendorf airfield, near Zurich, and conducts sight-seeing flights to the Swiss Alps.
In 1987, arrangements were made with Lufthansa for a generous donation of a Junkers-Ju 52/3m to the National Air and Space Museum. The aircraft is a CASA-built one that was built in 1951/2, and sold in the mid-1970s to Fairoaks Aviation in England., where is was given limited exemption to fly, often for movie film work. It was sold to Lufthansa in 1987, and completely restored, overhauled, and refurbished at Hamburg, with the engines completely overhauled by B.M.W. in Munich. It was disassembled, shipped to Baltimore, and then road-hauled to Washington's Dulles Inteernational Airport, where it was re-assembled by Page Aviation. It is the only foreign-built transport aircraft in the NASM collection.
The Arado Ar 234 B Blitz (Lightning) was the world's first operational jet bomber and reconnaissance aircraft. Two Junkers Jumo 004 B turbojets powered this clean, graceful design. Speed made the Blitz virtually immune to attacks from piston-engined Allied fighters. The jet's maximum velocity topped 735 kph (456 mph). Although overshadowed by the more famous Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter, the relatively few Ar 234s that reached Luftwaffe units before the end of the German surrender provided excellent (if ultimately futile) service, particularly as reconnaissance aircraft.
Development of the Ar 234 began in 1940. The German Aviation Ministry issued an order to Dr. Walter Blume, technical director of the state-owned Arado concern, to design and build a reconnaissance aircraft propelled by the turbojet engines then under development by BMW and Junkers. Rüdiger Kosin led the design team. Largely free from Air Ministry interference, Kosin created a high-wing monoplane with two turbojet engines mounted in nacelles under the wings. The rear fuselage contained two downward-looking recon-
naissance cameras. To reduce weight and free space for larger fuselage fuel tanks, the initial prototype series dispensed with a conventional landing gear in favor of retractable skids mounted beneath the fuselage and nacelles. The airplane would taxi and takeoff atop a wheeled trolley that the pilot jettisoned as the jet left the runway. Ground crews recovered the trolley and refurbished it for the next flight.
Engine problems repeatedly slowed flight testing the first Ar 234. BMW and Junkers both experienced trouble building jet engines in quantities sufficient for both the Me 262 and
Ar 234 programs. Although Arado completed the Ar 234 V1 airframe in late 1942, the Messerschmitt aircraft took priority and claimed the trickle of flight-ready engines that Junkers managed to turn out. Consequently, the Ar 234 V1 did not fly until July 30, 1943.
Before it flew, the Air Ministry directed Arado to redesign the landing gear and give the jet a bombing capability. Kosin and his team enlarged the fuselage slightly to accommodate a conventional tricycle landing gear and added a semi-recessed bomb bay under the fuselage. To allow the pilot to act as a bombardier, Kosin mounted a Lotfe 7K bombsight in the fuselage floor ahead of the control column, which the pilot swung out of his way to use the sight. A Patin PDS autopilot guided the aircraft during the bombing run. The pilot-bombardier used another periscope sight during shallow-angle, glide bombing.
The first prototype for the revised design, designated Ar 234 V9, flew on March 12, 1944. The bomber version, designated Ar 234 B-0, became the first subtype built in quantity. The Air Ministry ordered 200 Ar 234 Bs and Arado built them at a new Luftwaffe airfield factory at Alt Lönnewitz in Saxony. The factory finished and delivered all 200 airplanes by the end of December 1944 but managed to roll out another 20 by war's end. The initial order had called for two versions of the Ar 234 B: the B-1 reconnaissance aircraft and the B-2 bomber but Arado built only the B-2 version. The company converted B-2 airframes into reconnaissance aircraft.
Plans called for more advanced versions of the Arado jet, including the Ar 234 C powered by four BMW 003 A-1 engines and fitted with a pressurized cockpit. Subvariants of the "C" model included the C-3 multi-role aircraft and the C-3N two-seat nightfighter. However, only 14 Ar 234 Cs left the Arado factory before Soviet forces overran the area. The four-engine Ar 234 was, however, the fastest jet aircraft of World War II. Prototypes for the more advanced Ar 234 D reconnaissance aircraft and bomber with provision for a second crewman were under construction but not completed at war's end.
A Luftwaffe pilot flew the first Ar 234 combat mission on August 2, 1944, when Erich Sommer piloted the V5 prototype on a reconnaissance sortie over the Allied beachhead in Normandy. He encountered no opposition. During his two-hour flight, Sommer gathered more useful intelligence than the Luftwaffe obtained during the previous two months. Virtually immune to interception, the Ar 234 continued to provide the German High Command with valuable reconnaissance until nearly the end of the war. The intelligence gathered, however, allowed German military planners to do little more than delay inevitable defeat.
Only one Luftwaffe unit, KG 76 (Kampfgeschwader or Bomber Wing 76), was equipped with Ar 234 bombers before Germany's surrender. As the production of the Ar 234 B-2 increased in tempo during fall 1944, the unit received its first aircraft and began training at Burg bei Magdeburg. The unit flew its first operations during December 1944 in support of the Ardennes Offensive. Typical missions consisted of pinprick attacks conducted by less than 20 aircraft, each carrying a single 500 kg (1,100 lb.) bomb. The unit participated in the desperate attacks against the Allied bridgehead over the Rhine at Remagen during mid-March 1945, but failed to drop the Ludendorff railway bridge and suffered a number of losses to anti-aircraft fire. The deteriorating war situation, coupled with shortages of fuel and spare parts, prevented KG 76 from flying more than a handful of sorties from late March to the end of the war. The unit conducted its last missions against Soviet forces encircling Berlin during the final days of April. During the first week of May the unit's few surviving aircraft were either dispersed to airfields still in German hands or destroyed to prevent their capture.
The National Air and Space Museum's Blitz, an Arado Ar 234 B-2 bomber carrying Werk Nummer (manufacturer's serial number) 140312, was one of nine Ar 234s surrendered to British forces at Sola airfield near Stavanger, Norway. It is the sole surviving example of an Ar 234. The aircraft had been on strength with 9./KG 76 (Ninth Squadron/ bomber Wing 76) during the final weeks of the war, having served earlier with the unit's eighth squadron. It and three other Ar 234s were collected by the famous "Watson's Whizzers" group of the USAAF (United States Army Air Forces) for shipment to the United States. After flying from Sola to Cherbourg, France on June 24, 1945, the four Ar 234s joined thirty-four other advanced German aircraft aboard the British aircraft carrier HMS Reaper for shipment to the United States. The Reaper departed from Cherbourg on July 20, arriving at Newark, New Jersey eight days later. U. S. Army Air Forces personnel reassembled and flew two Ar 234s, including 140312, to Freeman Field, Indiana, for testing and evaluation. The USAAF assigned the foreign equipment number FE-1010 to this Ar 234 for inventory and tracking purposes.
After receiving new engines and replacement radio and oxygen equipment, FE-1010 was flown to Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, in July 1946 and transferred to the Accelerated Service Test Maintenance Section (ASTMS) of the Flight Test Division. After flight-testing was completed on October 16, 1946, the aircraft remained at Wright field until 1947, when it was moved to Orchard Place Airport, Park Ridge, Illinois. On May 1, 1949, the USAF (United States Air Force after 1947) transferred the Ar 234 and other aircraft at Park Ridge to the Smithsonian Institution. During the early 1950s, the airplanes were finally moved to a new Smithsonian storage facility at Suitland, Maryland to await restoration.
Restoration of the NASM Ar 234 began during 1984 and was completed in February 1989. Because all of the original German paint was stripped off the airframe before the aircraft's transfer to the Smithsonian, restoration specialists applied markings of a typical aircraft of 8./KG 76, the first bomber unit to fly the Blitz. The museum displayed the aircraft during 1993 in the main museum building downtown as part of an exhibit titled "Wonder Weapon? The Arado Ar 234." It is currently in storage at the Paul E. Garber Restoration and Storage Facility awaiting the completion of the museum's new Dulles Center.
Affectionately known in Germany as Tante Ju, or "Auntie Ju," the Junkers Ju 52/3m was one of the most successful European airliners ever made. Designed for Deutsche Luft Hansa in 1932, the Ju 52/3m was a tri-motor version of the single-engine Ju-52. It could carry 17 passengers or 3 tons of freight and had excellent short-field performance. By the mid-1930s, airlines throughout Europe and Latin America were flying them. In World War II, they were the Luftwaffe's primary transports, and some served as bombers.
A total of 4,835 Ju 52/3ms were built, including 170 under license by Construcciones Aeronauticas (CASA) in Spain and more than 400 by Ateliers Aeronautiques de Colombes in France. This airplane is a Spanish-built CASA 352-L. Lufthansa German Airlines acquired it for promotional flights, then donated it to the Smithsonian in 1987.
Gift of Mr. Frank Beckmann
Manufacturer: Construcciones Aeronauticas S.A.
Date: 1945
Country of Origin: Spain
Dimensions:
Wingspan: 29 m (95 ft 2 in)
Length: 18.5 m (60 ft 8 in)
Height: 4.5 m (14 ft 9 in)
Weight, empty: 5,346 kg (11,785 lb)
Weight, gross: 9,200 kg (20,282 lb)
Top speed: 290 km/h (180 mph)
Materials:
Overall: Aluminum
Physical Description:
Junkers (CASA) Ju52; low wing tri-motor aircraft; natural corrugated aluminum finish with matte black painted on the nose and engine cowlings; Lufthansa livery with black letter text registration code "D-ADLH" painted on the aft fuselage.
The Do-335 was one of a small group of aircraft marking the pinnacle of international piston-engined development. It was the fastest production piston-engined fighter ever built, attaining 846 kilometers per hour (474 mph) in level flight at a time when the official world speed record was 755 kph (469 mph). Powered by two 1800-hp engines in a unique low-drag configuration and weighing 9600 kg (21,000 lb) loaded, it was an exceptional heavy fighter. This very innovative design also featured an ejection seat, for pilot safety, and a jettisoning fin.
The unconventional layout of the Do-335 -- one engine "pulling" in the nose and another "pushing" in the tail - was patented by Claudius Dornier in 1937. The configuration provided the power of two engines, but with reduced drag and better maneuverability. The German Aviation Ministry (RLM) was interested in the design, but initially wanted Dornier only to produce bombers. By 1942, Dornier was still continuing design work and the war situation was worsening. The Luftwaffe now needed a multi-purpose fighter, and the prototype Do-335V-1 ("V" indicating "versuchs" or "experimental") flew in fighter form in September, 1943 - six years after its conception. Orders were immediately placed for 14 prototypes, 10 A-0 preproduction aircraft, 11 production A-1 single-seaters, and 3 A-10 and A-12 two-seat trainers.
The aircraft was quite large for a single-seat fighter, with a cruciform tail and a tricycle landing gear. The two massive liquid-cooled Daimler-Benz DB-603 engines were used in four different versions, each displacing 44.5 liters (2670 cu in) and weighing 910 kg (2006 lb). The engine produced 1750 hp from 12 cylinders in an inverted V layout using fuel injection and an 8.3:1 compression ratio. The rear three-bladed propeller and dorsal fin were jettisoned by explosive bolts in an emergency, to allow the pilot to bail out safely using a pneumatic ejection seat. The seat, inclined 13 degrees to the rear, was ejected with a force of 20 times gravity. The ventral fin could be jettisoned for a belly landing.
Unlike a normal twin-engined aircraft, with wing-mounted engines, loss of an engine on the Do-335 did not cause a handling problem. Even with one engine out, speed was a respectable 621 kph (348 mph). Because of its appearance, pilots dubbed it the "Ant eater" ("Ameisenbar"), although they described its performance as exceptional, particularly in acceleration and turning radius. The Do-335 was very docile in flight and had no dangerous spin characteristics. Many Do-335 prototypes were built, as the Reich strained desperately to provide day and night fighters and fast reconnaissance aircraft to the failing war effort. One of the many RLM production plans, issued in December 1943, called for the production of 310 Do-335s by late 1945. Initial production was at the Dornier Manuel plant, but this factory was bombed heavily in March-April, 1944, and the Do-335 tooling was destroyed.
Ten Do-335A-0 preproduction aircraft were then produced at Dornier's Oberpfaffenhofen plant in July-October 1944, by which time the Allied bombing campaign was delaying arrivals of engines, propellers, radios, and structural subcomponents. This had a serious effect, because the Do-335 was not a simple aircraft: installation of the electronics alone took 60 hours of assembly, and the electrical parts list was 112 pages long. Production of Daimler-Benz engines, for example, was switched to factories set up in underground salt mines and gypsum mines, but high humidity caused corrosion problems and production dropped 40 percent. Although several preproduction aircraft were issued to combat conversion units some 10 months before the war ended, no Do-335s actually entered combat. Deliveries began to the 1st Experimental Squadron of the Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe ( I/Versuchsverband Ob.d.L.) in late July 1944 for operational trials.
The first of the Do-335A-1 production version left the Dornier line at Friedrichshafen early in 1945, one of only four produced in 1945. It was armed with one 30 mm MK-103 cannon (70 rounds were carried) firing through the propeller hub and two 15 mm MG-151/15 cannon (200 rounds per gun) firing from the top of the forward engine. Even with the fighter situation as desperate as it was, these aircraft were still equipped to carry 500 kg (1100 lb) of bombs internally. Further operational testing, including use of air-to-ground guided missiles, began in Spring 1945 with Trials Unit (Erprobungskommando) 335.
The Do-335A-6 was to be a two-seat night fighter version with the advanced FFO FuG-217J Neptun radar having triple "trident"-like antennas (hence the name "Neptun") on the fuselage and wings, but only a prototype was completed. A total of 37 prototypes, 10 A-0s, 11 A-1s and 2 A-12 trainers were built, although nearly 85 additional aircraft were in assembly when U.S. troops overran the Friedrichshafen factory in late April, 1945. The Vienna-Swechat plant of the Ernst Heinkel AG was also scheduled to build the Do-335 beginning in February, 1945, but production never started.
The NASM aircraft is the second Do-335A-0, designated A-02, with construction number (werke nummer) 240102 and factory registration VG+PH. It was built at Dornier's Rechlin-Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, plant on April 16, 1945. It was captured by Allied forces at the plant on April 22, 1945. After checkout, it was flown from a grass runway at Oberweisenfeld, near Munich, to Cherbourg, France. During this flight, the Do-335 easily outclimbed and outdistanced two escorting P-51s, beating them to Cherbourg by 45 minutes. Under the U.S. Army Air Force's "Project Sea Horse," two Do-335s were shipped to the United States aboard the Royal Navy ship HMS "Reaper" together with other captured German aircraft, for detailed evaluation. This aircraft was assigned to the U.S. Navy, which tested it at the Test and Evaluation Center, Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Maryland. The other aircraft, with registration FE-1012 (later T2-1012), went to the USAAF at Freeman Field, Indiana, where it was tested in early 1946. Its subsequent fate is unknown, and this is the only Do-335 known to exist.
Following Navy flight tests in 1945-48, the aircraft was donated to the Smithsonian's National Air Museum in 1961 but was stored at NAS Norfolk until 1974. It was then returned to Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, where the Dornier company restored it to original condition in 1975. The return trip to Germany required an exemption under U.S. laws concerning the export of munitions. The Dornier craftsmen doing the restoration - many of whom had worked on the original aircraft -- were astonished to find that the explosive charges fitted to blow off the tail fin and rear propeller in an emergency were still in the aircraft and active, 30 years after their original installation! The Do-335 was put on static display at the May 1-9, 1976, Hannover Airshow, and then loaned to the Deutsches Museum in Munich, where it was on prominent display until returned to Silver Hill, MD, for storage in 1986.
No reconnaissance aircraft in history has operated in more hostile airspace or with such complete impunity than the SR-71 Blackbird. It is the fastest aircraft propelled by air-breathing engines. The Blackbird's performance and operational achievements placed it at the pinnacle of aviation technology developments during the Cold War. The airplane was conceived when tensions with communist Eastern Europe reached levels approaching a full-blown crisis in the mid-1950s. U.S. military commanders desperately needed accurate assessments of Soviet worldwide military deployments, particularly near the Iron Curtain. Lockheed Aircraft Corporation's subsonic U-2 (see NASM collection) reconnaissance aircraft was an able platform but the U. S. Air Force recognized that this relatively slow aircraft was already vulnerable to Soviet interceptors. They also understood that the rapid development of surface-to-air missile systems could put U-2 pilots at grave risk. The danger proved reality when a U-2 was shot down by a surface to air missile over the Soviet Union in 1960.
Lockheed's first proposal for a new high speed, high altitude, reconnaissance aircraft, to be capable of avoiding interceptors and missiles, centered on a design propelled by liquid hydrogen. This proved to be impracticable because of considerable fuel consumption. Lockheed then reconfigured the design for conventional fuels. This was feasible and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), already flying the Lockheed U-2, issued a production contract for an aircraft designated the A-12. Lockheed's clandestine 'Skunk Works' division (headed by the gifted design engineer Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson) designed the A-12 to cruise at Mach 3.2 and fly well above 18,288 m (60,000 feet). To meet these challenging requirements, Lockheed engineers overcame many daunting technical challenges. Flying more than three times the speed of sound generates 316° C (600° F) temperatures on external aircraft surfaces, which are enough to melt conventional aluminum airframes. The design team chose to make the jet's external skin of titanium alloy to which shielded the internal aluminum airframe. Two conventional, but very powerful, afterburning turbine engines propelled this remarkable aircraft. These power plants had to operate across a huge speed envelope in flight, from a takeoff speed of 334 kph (207 mph) to more than 3,540 kph (2,200 mph). To prevent supersonic shock waves from moving inside the engine intake causing flameouts, Johnson's team had to design a complex air intake and bypass system for the engines.
Skunk Works engineers also optimized the A-12 cross-section design to exhibit a low radar profile. Lockheed hoped to achieve this by carefully shaping the airframe to reflect as little transmitted radar energy (radio waves) as possible, and by application of special paint designed to absorb, rather than reflect, those waves. This treatment became one of the first applications of stealth technology, but it never completely met the design goals.
Test pilot Lou Schalk flew the single-seat A-12 on April 24, 1962, after he became airborne accidentally during high-speed taxi trials. The airplane showed great promise but it needed considerable technical refinement before the CIA could fly the first operational sortie on May 31, 1967 - a surveillance flight over North Vietnam. A-12s, flown by CIA pilots, operated as part of the Air Force's 1129th Special Activities Squadron under the "Oxcart" program. While Lockheed continued to refine the A-12, the U. S. Air Force ordered an interceptor version of the aircraft designated the YF-12A. The Skunk Works, however, proposed a "specific mission" version configured to conduct post-nuclear strike reconnaissance. This system evolved into the USAF's familiar SR-71.
Lockheed built fifteen A-12s, including a special two-seat trainer version. Two A-12s were modified to carry a special reconnaissance drone, designated D-21. The modified A-12s were redesignated M-21s. These were designed to take off with the D-21 drone, powered by a Marquart ramjet engine mounted on a pylon between the rudders. The M-21 then hauled the drone aloft and launched it at speeds high enough to ignite the drone's ramjet motor. Lockheed also built three YF-12As but this type never went into production. Two of the YF-12As crashed during testing. Only one survives and is on display at the USAF Museum in Dayton, Ohio. The aft section of one of the "written off" YF-12As which was later used along with an SR-71A static test airframe to manufacture the sole SR-71C trainer. One SR-71 was lent to NASA and designated YF-12C. Including the SR-71C and two SR-71B pilot trainers, Lockheed constructed thirty-two Blackbirds. The first SR-71 flew on December 22, 1964. Because of extreme operational costs, military strategists decided that the more capable USAF SR-71s should replace the CIA's A-12s. These were retired in 1968 after only one year of operational missions, mostly over southeast Asia. The Air Force's 1st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron (part of the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing) took over the missions, flying the SR-71 beginning in the spring of 1968.
After the Air Force began to operate the SR-71, it acquired the official name Blackbird-- for the special black paint that covered the airplane. This paint was formulated to absorb radar signals, to radiate some of the tremendous airframe heat generated by air friction, and to camouflage the aircraft against the dark sky at high altitudes.
Experience gained from the A-12 program convinced the Air Force that flying the SR-71 safely required two crew members, a pilot and a Reconnaissance Systems Officer (RSO). The RSO operated with the wide array of monitoring and defensive systems installed on the airplane. This equipment included a sophisticated Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) system that could jam most acquisition and targeting radar. In addition to an array of advanced, high-resolution cameras, the aircraft could also carry equipment designed to record the strength, frequency, and wavelength of signals emitted by communications and sensor devices such as radar. The SR-71 was designed to fly deep into hostile territory, avoiding interception with its tremendous speed and high altitude. It could operate safely at a maximum speed of Mach 3.3 at an altitude more than sixteen miles, or 25,908 m (85,000 ft), above the earth. The crew had to wear pressure suits similar to those worn by astronauts. These suits were required to protect the crew in the event of sudden cabin pressure loss while at operating altitudes.
To climb and cruise at supersonic speeds, the Blackbird's Pratt & Whitney J-58 engines were designed to operate continuously in afterburner. While this would appear to dictate high fuel flows, the Blackbird actually achieved its best "gas mileage," in terms of air nautical miles per pound of fuel burned, during the Mach 3+ cruise. A typical Blackbird reconnaissance flight might require several aerial refueling operations from an airborne tanker. Each time the SR-71 refueled, the crew had to descend to the tanker's altitude, usually about 6,000 m to 9,000 m (20,000 to 30,000 ft), and slow the airplane to subsonic speeds. As velocity decreased, so did frictional heat. This cooling effect caused the aircraft's skin panels to shrink considerably, and those covering the fuel tanks contracted so much that fuel leaked, forming a distinctive vapor trail as the tanker topped off the Blackbird. As soon as the tanks were filled, the jet's crew disconnected from the tanker, relit the afterburners, and again climbed to high altitude.
Air Force pilots flew the SR-71 from Kadena AB, Japan, throughout its operational career but other bases hosted Blackbird operations, too. The 9th SRW occasionally deployed from Beale AFB, California, to other locations to carryout operational missions. Cuban missions were flown directly from Beale. The SR-71 did not begin to operate in Europe until 1974, and then only temporarily. In 1982, when the U.S. Air Force based two aircraft at Royal Air Force Base Mildenhall to fly monitoring mission in Eastern Europe.
When the SR-71 became operational, orbiting reconnaissance satellites had already replaced manned aircraft to gather intelligence from sites deep within Soviet territory. Satellites could not cover every geopolitical hotspot so the Blackbird remained a vital tool for global intelligence gathering. On many occasions, pilots and RSOs flying the SR-71 provided information that proved vital in formulating successful U. S. foreign policy. Blackbird crews provided important intelligence about the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and its aftermath, and pre- and post-strike imagery of the 1986 raid conducted by American air forces on Libya. In 1987, Kadena-based SR-71 crews flew a number of missions over the Persian Gulf, revealing Iranian Silkworm missile batteries that threatened commercial shipping and American escort vessels.
As the performance of space-based surveillance systems grew, along with the effectiveness of ground-based air defense networks, the Air Force started to lose enthusiasm for the expensive program and the 9th SRW ceased SR-71 operations in January 1990. Despite protests by military leaders, Congress revived the program in 1995. Continued wrangling over operating budgets, however, soon led to final termination. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration retained two SR-71As and the one SR-71B for high-speed research projects and flew these airplanes until 1999.
On March 6, 1990, the service career of one Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird ended with a record-setting flight. This special airplane bore Air Force serial number 64-17972. Lt. Col. Ed Yeilding and his RSO, Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Vida, flew this aircraft from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. in 1 hour, 4 minutes, and 20 seconds, averaging a speed of 3,418 kph (2,124 mph). At the conclusion of the flight, '972 landed at Dulles International Airport and taxied into the custody of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. At that time, Lt. Col. Vida had logged 1,392.7 hours of flight time in Blackbirds, more than that of any other crewman.
This particular SR-71 was also flown by Tom Alison, a former National Air and Space Museum's Chief of Collections Management. Flying with Detachment 1 at Kadena Air Force Base, Okinawa, Alison logged more than a dozen '972 operational sorties. The aircraft spent twenty-four years in active Air Force service and accrued a total of 2,801.1 hours of flight time.
Wingspan: 55'7"
Length: 107'5"
Height: 18'6"
Weight: 170,000 Lbs
Reference and Further Reading:
Crickmore, Paul F. Lockheed SR-71: The Secret Missions Exposed. Oxford: Osprey
Publishing, 1996.
Francillon, Rene J. Lockheed Aircraft Since 1913. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1987.
Johnson, Clarence L. Kelly: More Than My Share of It All. Washington D.C.:
Smithsonian Institution Press, 1985.
Miller, Jay. Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works. Leicester, U.K.: Midland Counties
Publishing Ltd., 1995.
Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird curatorial file, Aeronautics Division, National Air and Space Museum.
Boeing's B-29 Superfortress was the most sophisticated, propeller-driven, bomber to fly during World War II, and the first bomber to house its crew in pressurized compartments. Boeing installed very advanced armament, propulsion, and avionics systems into the Superfortress. During the war in the Pacific Theater, the B-29 delivered the first nuclear weapons used in combat. On August 6, 1945, Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr., in command of the Superfortress Enola Gay, dropped a highly enriched uranium, explosion-type, "gun-fired," atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, Major Charles W. Sweeney piloted the B-29 Bockscar and dropped a highly enriched plutonium, implosion-type atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. Enola Gay flew as the advance weather reconnaissance aircraft that day. On August 14, 1945, the Japanese accepted Allied terms for unconditional surrender.
In the late 1930s, U. S. Army Air Corps leaders recognized the need for very long-range bombers that exceeded the performance of the B-17 Flying Fortress. Several years of preliminary studies paralleled a continuous fight against those who saw limited utility in developing such an expensive and unproven aircraft but the Air Corps issued a requirement for the new bomber in February 1940. It described an airplane that could carry a maximum bomb load of 909 kg (2,000 lb) at a speed of 644 kph (400 mph) a distance of at least 8,050 km (5,000 miles). Boeing, Consolidated, Douglas, and Lockheed responded with design proposals. The Army was impressed with the Boeing design and issued a contract for two flyable prototypes in September 1940. In April 1941, the Army issued another contract for 250 aircraft plus spare parts equivalent to another 25 bombers, eight months before Pearl Harbor and nearly a year-and-a-half before the first Superfortress would fly.
Among the design's innovations was a long, narrow, high-aspect ratio wing equipped with large Fowler-type flaps. This wing design allowed the B-29 to cruise at high speeds at high altitudes but maintained comfortable handling characteristics during slower airspeeds necessary during takeoff and landing. More revolutionary was the size and sophistication of the pressurized sections of the fuselage: the flight deck forward of the wing, the gunner's compartment aft of the wing, and the tail gunner's station. For the crew, flying at altitudes above 18,000 feet became much more comfortable as pressure and temperature could be regulated in the crew work areas. To protect the Superfortress, Boeing designed a remote-controlled, defensive weapons system. Engineers placed five gun turrets on the fuselage: a turret above and behind the cockpit that housed two .50 caliber machine guns (four guns in later versions), and another turret aft near the vertical tail equipped with two machine guns; plus two more turrets beneath the fuselage, each equipped with two .50 caliber guns. One of these turrets fired from behind the nose gear and the other hung further back near the tail. Another two .50 caliber machine guns and a 20-mm cannon (in early versions of the B-29) were fitted in the tail beneath the rudder. Gunners operated these turrets by remote control--a true innovation. They aimed the guns using computerized sights, and each gunner could take control of two or more turrets to concentrate firepower on a single target.
Boeing also equipped the B-29 with advanced radar equipment and avionics. Depending on the type of mission, a B-29 carried the AN/APQ-13 or AN/APQ-7 Eagle radar system to aid bombing and navigation. These systems were accurate enough to enable relatively accurate bombing through cloud layers that completely obscured the target. The B-29B was equipped with the AN/APG-15B airborne radar gun sighting system mounted in the tail to assist in providing accurate defense against enemy fighters attacking at night. B-29s also routinely carried as many as twenty different types of radios and navigation devices.
The first XB-29 took off at Boeing Field in Seattle on September 21, 1942. By the end of the year the second aircraft was ready for flight. Fourteen service-test YB-29s followed as production began to accelerate. Building this advanced bomber required massive logistics. Boeing built new B-29 plants at Renton, Washington, and Wichita, Kansas, while Bell built a new plant at Marietta, Georgia, and Martin built one in Omaha, Nebraska. Both Curtiss-Wright and the Dodge automobile company vastly expanded their manufacturing capacity to build the bomber's powerful and complex Curtiss-Wright R-3350 turbo supercharged engines. The program required thousands of sub-contractors but with extraordinary effort, it all came together, despite major teething problems. By April 1944, the first operational B-29s of the newly formed 20th Air Force began to touch down on dusty airfields in India. By May, 130 B-29s were operational. In June, 1944, less than two years after the initial flight of the XB-29, the U. S. Army Air Forces (AAF) flew its first B-29 combat mission against targets in Bangkok, Thailand. This mission (longest of the war to date) called for 100 B-29s but only 80 reached the target area. The AAF lost no aircraft to enemy action but bombing results were mediocre. The first bombing mission against the Japanese main islands since Lt. Col. "Jimmy" Doolittle's raid against Tokyo in April 1942, occurred on June 15, again with poor results. This was also the first mission launched from airbases in China.
With the fall of Saipan, Tinian, and Guam in the Mariana Islands chain in August 1944, the AAF acquired airbases that lay several hundred miles closer to mainland Japan. Late in 1944, the AAF moved the XXI Bomber Command, flying B-29s, to the Marianas and the unit began bombing Japan in December. However, they employed high-altitude, precision, bombing tactics that yielded poor results. The high altitude winds were so strong that bombing computers could not compensate and the weather was so poor that rarely was visual target acquisition possible at high altitudes. In March 1945, Major General Curtis E. LeMay ordered the group to abandon these tactics and strike instead at night, from low altitude, using incendiary bombs. These firebombing raids, carried out by hundreds of B-29s, devastated much of Japan's industrial and economic infrastructure. Yet Japan fought on. Late in 1944, AAF leaders selected the Martin assembly line to produce a squadron of B-29s codenamed SILVERPLATE. Martin modified these Superfortresses by removing all gun turrets except for the tail position, removing armor plate, installing Curtiss electric propellers, and modifying the bomb bay to accommodate either the "Fat Man" or "Little Boy" versions of the atomic bomb. The AAF assigned 15 Silverplate ships to the 509th Composite Group commanded by Colonel Paul Tibbets. As the Group Commander, Tibbets had no specific aircraft assigned to him as did the mission pilots. He was entitled to fly any aircraft at any time. He named the B-29 that he flew on 6 August Enola Gay after his mother. In the early morning hours, just prior to the August 6th mission, Tibbets had a young Army Air Forces maintenance man, Private Nelson Miller, paint the name just under the pilot's window.
Enola Gay is a model B-29-45-MO, serial number 44-86292. The AAF accepted this aircraft on June 14, 1945, from the Martin plant at Omaha (Located at what is today Offut AFB near Bellevue), Nebraska. After the war, Army Air Forces crews flew the airplane during the Operation Crossroads atomic test program in the Pacific, although it dropped no nuclear devices during these tests, and then delivered it to Davis-Monthan Army Airfield, Arizona, for storage. Later, the U. S. Air Force flew the bomber to Park Ridge, Illinois, then transferred it to the Smithsonian Institution on July 4, 1949. Although in Smithsonian custody, the aircraft remained stored at Pyote Air Force Base, Texas, between January 1952 and December 1953. The airplane's last flight ended on December 2 when the Enola Gay touched down at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. The bomber remained at Andrews in outdoor storage until August 1960. By then, concerned about the bomber deteriorating outdoors, the Smithsonian sent collections staff to disassemble the Superfortress and move it indoors to the Paul E. Garber Facility in Suitland, Maryland.
The staff at Garber began working to preserve and restore Enola Gay in December 1984. This was the largest restoration project ever undertaken at the National Air and Space Museum and the specialists anticipated the work would require from seven to nine years to complete. The project actually lasted nearly two decades and, when completed, had taken approximately 300,000 work-hours to complete. The B-29 is now displayed at the National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.
Boeing's B-29 Superfortress was the most sophisticated, propeller-driven, bomber to fly during World War II, and the first bomber to house its crew in pressurized compartments. Boeing installed very advanced armament, propulsion, and avionics systems into the Superfortress. During the war in the Pacific Theater, the B-29 delivered the first nuclear weapons used in combat. On August 6, 1945, Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr., in command of the Superfortress Enola Gay, dropped a highly enriched uranium, explosion-type, "gun-fired," atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, Major Charles W. Sweeney piloted the B-29 Bockscar and dropped a highly enriched plutonium, implosion-type atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. Enola Gay flew as the advance weather reconnaissance aircraft that day. On August 14, 1945, the Japanese accepted Allied terms for unconditional surrender.
In the late 1930s, U. S. Army Air Corps leaders recognized the need for very long-range bombers that exceeded the performance of the B-17 Flying Fortress. Several years of preliminary studies paralleled a continuous fight against those who saw limited utility in developing such an expensive and unproven aircraft but the Air Corps issued a requirement for the new bomber in February 1940. It described an airplane that could carry a maximum bomb load of 909 kg (2,000 lb) at a speed of 644 kph (400 mph) a distance of at least 8,050 km (5,000 miles). Boeing, Consolidated, Douglas, and Lockheed responded with design proposals. The Army was impressed with the Boeing design and issued a contract for two flyable prototypes in September 1940. In April 1941, the Army issued another contract for 250 aircraft plus spare parts equivalent to another 25 bombers, eight months before Pearl Harbor and nearly a year-and-a-half before the first Superfortress would fly.
Among the design's innovations was a long, narrow, high-aspect ratio wing equipped with large Fowler-type flaps. This wing design allowed the B-29 to cruise at high speeds at high altitudes but maintained comfortable handling characteristics during slower airspeeds necessary during takeoff and landing. More revolutionary was the size and sophistication of the pressurized sections of the fuselage: the flight deck forward of the wing, the gunner's compartment aft of the wing, and the tail gunner's station. For the crew, flying at altitudes above 18,000 feet became much more comfortable as pressure and temperature could be regulated in the crew work areas. To protect the Superfortress, Boeing designed a remote-controlled, defensive weapons system. Engineers placed five gun turrets on the fuselage: a turret above and behind the cockpit that housed two .50 caliber machine guns (four guns in later versions), and another turret aft near the vertical tail equipped with two machine guns; plus two more turrets beneath the fuselage, each equipped with two .50 caliber guns. One of these turrets fired from behind the nose gear and the other hung further back near the tail. Another two .50 caliber machine guns and a 20-mm cannon (in early versions of the B-29) were fitted in the tail beneath the rudder. Gunners operated these turrets by remote control--a true innovation. They aimed the guns using computerized sights, and each gunner could take control of two or more turrets to concentrate firepower on a single target.
Boeing also equipped the B-29 with advanced radar equipment and avionics. Depending on the type of mission, a B-29 carried the AN/APQ-13 or AN/APQ-7 Eagle radar system to aid bombing and navigation. These systems were accurate enough to enable relatively accurate bombing through cloud layers that completely obscured the target. The B-29B was equipped with the AN/APG-15B airborne radar gun sighting system mounted in the tail to assist in providing accurate defense against enemy fighters attacking at night. B-29s also routinely carried as many as twenty different types of radios and navigation devices.
The first XB-29 took off at Boeing Field in Seattle on September 21, 1942. By the end of the year the second aircraft was ready for flight. Fourteen service-test YB-29s followed as production began to accelerate. Building this advanced bomber required massive logistics. Boeing built new B-29 plants at Renton, Washington, and Wichita, Kansas, while Bell built a new plant at Marietta, Georgia, and Martin built one in Omaha, Nebraska. Both Curtiss-Wright and the Dodge automobile company vastly expanded their manufacturing capacity to build the bomber's powerful and complex Curtiss-Wright R-3350 turbo supercharged engines. The program required thousands of sub-contractors but with extraordinary effort, it all came together, despite major teething problems. By April 1944, the first operational B-29s of the newly formed 20th Air Force began to touch down on dusty airfields in India. By May, 130 B-29s were operational. In June, 1944, less than two years after the initial flight of the XB-29, the U. S. Army Air Forces (AAF) flew its first B-29 combat mission against targets in Bangkok, Thailand. This mission (longest of the war to date) called for 100 B-29s but only 80 reached the target area. The AAF lost no aircraft to enemy action but bombing results were mediocre. The first bombing mission against the Japanese main islands since Lt. Col. "Jimmy" Doolittle's raid against Tokyo in April 1942, occurred on June 15, again with poor results. This was also the first mission launched from airbases in China.
With the fall of Saipan, Tinian, and Guam in the Mariana Islands chain in August 1944, the AAF acquired airbases that lay several hundred miles closer to mainland Japan. Late in 1944, the AAF moved the XXI Bomber Command, flying B-29s, to the Marianas and the unit began bombing Japan in December. However, they employed high-altitude, precision, bombing tactics that yielded poor results. The high altitude winds were so strong that bombing computers could not compensate and the weather was so poor that rarely was visual target acquisition possible at high altitudes. In March 1945, Major General Curtis E. LeMay ordered the group to abandon these tactics and strike instead at night, from low altitude, using incendiary bombs. These firebombing raids, carried out by hundreds of B-29s, devastated much of Japan's industrial and economic infrastructure. Yet Japan fought on. Late in 1944, AAF leaders selected the Martin assembly line to produce a squadron of B-29s codenamed SILVERPLATE. Martin modified these Superfortresses by removing all gun turrets except for the tail position, removing armor plate, installing Curtiss electric propellers, and modifying the bomb bay to accommodate either the "Fat Man" or "Little Boy" versions of the atomic bomb. The AAF assigned 15 Silverplate ships to the 509th Composite Group commanded by Colonel Paul Tibbets. As the Group Commander, Tibbets had no specific aircraft assigned to him as did the mission pilots. He was entitled to fly any aircraft at any time. He named the B-29 that he flew on 6 August Enola Gay after his mother. In the early morning hours, just prior to the August 6th mission, Tibbets had a young Army Air Forces maintenance man, Private Nelson Miller, paint the name just under the pilot's window.
Enola Gay is a model B-29-45-MO, serial number 44-86292. The AAF accepted this aircraft on June 14, 1945, from the Martin plant at Omaha (Located at what is today Offut AFB near Bellevue), Nebraska. After the war, Army Air Forces crews flew the airplane during the Operation Crossroads atomic test program in the Pacific, although it dropped no nuclear devices during these tests, and then delivered it to Davis-Monthan Army Airfield, Arizona, for storage. Later, the U. S. Air Force flew the bomber to Park Ridge, Illinois, then transferred it to the Smithsonian Institution on July 4, 1949. Although in Smithsonian custody, the aircraft remained stored at Pyote Air Force Base, Texas, between January 1952 and December 1953. The airplane's last flight ended on December 2 when the Enola Gay touched down at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. The bomber remained at Andrews in outdoor storage until August 1960. By then, concerned about the bomber deteriorating outdoors, the Smithsonian sent collections staff to disassemble the Superfortress and move it indoors to the Paul E. Garber Facility in Suitland, Maryland.
The staff at Garber began working to preserve and restore Enola Gay in December 1984. This was the largest restoration project ever undertaken at the National Air and Space Museum and the specialists anticipated the work would require from seven to nine years to complete. The project actually lasted nearly two decades and, when completed, had taken approximately 300,000 work-hours to complete. The B-29 is now displayed at the National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.
The German Junkers company, based at Dessau, Saxony, had pioneered the use of metal, specifically an aluminum alloy, when in introduced the Junkers-F 13 in 1919. Marketing this monoplane aircraft, clearly superior to the wood-and-fabric, or metal frame-and-wood, mostly biplane, competition throughout Europe, was difficult, because of the severe restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles and the Peace Treaties that had settled the conditions of reparations forced on Germany after the Great War of 1914-18. By the end of the 1920s decade, however, the situation had eased. German aircraft manufacturers had evaded the restrictions by building in foreign countries, and normal industrial conditions returned to Germany so that the innovative aircraft manufacturers regcained momentum.
At Dessau, Junkers had already built several tri-motored transport aircraft and an enormous four-engined one, the G 38. Then, to begin the new decade, still using the same corrugated-skin structural technology, designer Ernst Zindel produced the Junkers-Ju 52. Which made its first flight on 11 September 1930. This was a single-engined aircraft, intended for hauling freight, and equipped with several large doors and a hatch in the roof. Its performance was impressive. In the winter of 1931, in Montreal, Canada, one took off, carrying almost four tons, in 17-1/2 seconds. But the world's depressed economy handicapped sales, and only seven Ju 52s were built.
In 1932, the German national airline, Deutsche Luft Hansa, had to transfer two Rohrbach Rolands to Deruluft, jointly-owned by Germany and the Soviet Union, to maintain an important air link between Berlin and Moscow. By this time, Andrei Tupolev's design team in Moscow had introduced the ANT-9, which, compared to the Fokker-Grulich and Dornier aircraft in the Deruluft fleet, appeared elegant and aerodynamically efficient. Furthermore the performance matched its looks, and with a demonstration flight through Europe in 1929, Mikhail Gromov had, in effect, put out a challenge to the German manufacturers.
Zindel responded by converting the Ju 52 to a tri-motor, with three 525 hp BMW (Pratt & Whitney-licensed) Hornet engines. It made its debut in 1932 and was destined to become one of the best-known European transport aircraft in history, and certainly the one produced in the greatest numbers. The Junkers-Ju 52/3m - to use the correct designation of the tri-motored version - carried up to 17 passengers, or about three tons of freight, and cruised at about 150 mph. Its best feature was its ability to take off from or land on almost any reasonably-sized field, even a football field.
As an airliner, it was used all over Europe, with seveeral national airlines. The German flag carrieer, Deutsche Luft Hansa (D.L.H.), had more than 200 of them, and such was its popularity among pilots that it was affectionately known as "Tante Ju," or "Auntie Ju" - rather as Americans referred to the Douglas DC-3 or C-47 as the "Gooney Bird." It was exported all over the world, seeing good service in many countries of South America, in China, and in South Africa.
As a military transport, it was a great work-horse. Of the estimated 4,835 built, 2,804 were for the Luftwaffe, for which it performed valiantly during the Second World War, as a troop carrier, bomber, and ambulance. Most spectacularly, an armada of Ju 52/3m's parachuted troops into Allied-held Crete, and 170 of the fleet of 493 were shot down. Soviet sources claim that 676 were shot down or destroyed in the unsuccessful attampt to relieve von Paulus's army trapped in Stalingrad. Many of these flew to the battle zone, loaded to the full with supplies, at the expense of the fuel needed to make the return flight.
Additional numbers of the "Tante Ju's" were produced in France under the Vichy Government, as the A.A.C.1, by the Ateliers Aéronautiques de Colombes, where construction continued after the war ended. The same occurred in Generalissimo Franco's Spain, as the CASA 352/3m, and these were produced until 1952, and used extensively by the Spanish Air Force. They were even used by the British, and when the war ended, were flown by British European Airways on Scotland Irish Sea. Services. The last flight by the pre-war D.L.H. Is believed to have been one from Oslo, Norway, to Aarhus, Denmark, on l5 May 1945. The floatplane version of the Ju 52/3m had maintained the essential communications service along the coast of Norway throughout the Second World War; and is believed to have continued for a few days after the termination of hostilities because no order came through telling that dismembered unit of D.L.H. to stop.
Rather like the indefatigable DC-3, quite a few Tante Ju's continued to keep flying after the end of the Second World War. But their fatality rate during the conflict had been harsh, and not many were left, except in foreign countries. The last one is believed to have been retired from commercial airline service in New Guinea during the late 1960s. A few are still to be seen flying today, notably one owned b y the present-day Lufthansa, which proudly maintains it in perfect flying condition for sight-seeing flights and air show demonstrations. The Swiss Air Force owns three at the Dubendorf airfield, near Zurich, and conducts sight-seeing flights to the Swiss Alps.
In 1987, arrangements were made with Lufthansa for a generous donation of a Junkers-Ju 52/3m to the National Air and Space Museum. The aircraft is a CASA-built one that was built in 1951/2, and sold in the mid-1970s to Fairoaks Aviation in England., where is was given limited exemption to fly, often for movie film work. It was sold to Lufthansa in 1987, and completely restored, overhauled, and refurbished at Hamburg, with the engines completely overhauled by B.M.W. in Munich. It was disassembled, shipped to Baltimore, and then road-hauled to Washington's Dulles Inteernational Airport, where it was re-assembled by Page Aviation. It is the only foreign-built transport aircraft in the NASM collection.
No reconnaissance aircraft in history has operated in more hostile airspace or with such complete impunity than the SR-71 Blackbird. It is the fastest aircraft propelled by air-breathing engines. The Blackbird's performance and operational achievements placed it at the pinnacle of aviation technology developments during the Cold War. The airplane was conceived when tensions with communist Eastern Europe reached levels approaching a full-blown crisis in the mid-1950s. U.S. military commanders desperately needed accurate assessments of Soviet worldwide military deployments, particularly near the Iron Curtain. Lockheed Aircraft Corporation's subsonic U-2 (see NASM collection) reconnaissance aircraft was an able platform but the U. S. Air Force recognized that this relatively slow aircraft was already vulnerable to Soviet interceptors. They also understood that the rapid development of surface-to-air missile systems could put U-2 pilots at grave risk. The danger proved reality when a U-2 was shot down by a surface to air missile over the Soviet Union in 1960.
Lockheed's first proposal for a new high speed, high altitude, reconnaissance aircraft, to be capable of avoiding interceptors and missiles, centered on a design propelled by liquid hydrogen. This proved to be impracticable because of considerable fuel consumption. Lockheed then reconfigured the design for conventional fuels. This was feasible and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), already flying the Lockheed U-2, issued a production contract for an aircraft designated the A-12. Lockheed's clandestine 'Skunk Works' division (headed by the gifted design engineer Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson) designed the A-12 to cruise at Mach 3.2 and fly well above 18,288 m (60,000 feet). To meet these challenging requirements, Lockheed engineers overcame many daunting technical challenges. Flying more than three times the speed of sound generates 316° C (600° F) temperatures on external aircraft surfaces, which are enough to melt conventional aluminum airframes. The design team chose to make the jet's external skin of titanium alloy to which shielded the internal aluminum airframe. Two conventional, but very powerful, afterburning turbine engines propelled this remarkable aircraft. These power plants had to operate across a huge speed envelope in flight, from a takeoff speed of 334 kph (207 mph) to more than 3,540 kph (2,200 mph). To prevent supersonic shock waves from moving inside the engine intake causing flameouts, Johnson's team had to design a complex air intake and bypass system for the engines.
Skunk Works engineers also optimized the A-12 cross-section design to exhibit a low radar profile. Lockheed hoped to achieve this by carefully shaping the airframe to reflect as little transmitted radar energy (radio waves) as possible, and by application of special paint designed to absorb, rather than reflect, those waves. This treatment became one of the first applications of stealth technology, but it never completely met the design goals.
Test pilot Lou Schalk flew the single-seat A-12 on April 24, 1962, after he became airborne accidentally during high-speed taxi trials. The airplane showed great promise but it needed considerable technical refinement before the CIA could fly the first operational sortie on May 31, 1967 - a surveillance flight over North Vietnam. A-12s, flown by CIA pilots, operated as part of the Air Force's 1129th Special Activities Squadron under the "Oxcart" program. While Lockheed continued to refine the A-12, the U. S. Air Force ordered an interceptor version of the aircraft designated the YF-12A. The Skunk Works, however, proposed a "specific mission" version configured to conduct post-nuclear strike reconnaissance. This system evolved into the USAF's familiar SR-71.
Lockheed built fifteen A-12s, including a special two-seat trainer version. Two A-12s were modified to carry a special reconnaissance drone, designated D-21. The modified A-12s were redesignated M-21s. These were designed to take off with the D-21 drone, powered by a Marquart ramjet engine mounted on a pylon between the rudders. The M-21 then hauled the drone aloft and launched it at speeds high enough to ignite the drone's ramjet motor. Lockheed also built three YF-12As but this type never went into production. Two of the YF-12As crashed during testing. Only one survives and is on display at the USAF Museum in Dayton, Ohio. The aft section of one of the "written off" YF-12As which was later used along with an SR-71A static test airframe to manufacture the sole SR-71C trainer. One SR-71 was lent to NASA and designated YF-12C. Including the SR-71C and two SR-71B pilot trainers, Lockheed constructed thirty-two Blackbirds. The first SR-71 flew on December 22, 1964. Because of extreme operational costs, military strategists decided that the more capable USAF SR-71s should replace the CIA's A-12s. These were retired in 1968 after only one year of operational missions, mostly over southeast Asia. The Air Force's 1st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron (part of the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing) took over the missions, flying the SR-71 beginning in the spring of 1968.
After the Air Force began to operate the SR-71, it acquired the official name Blackbird-- for the special black paint that covered the airplane. This paint was formulated to absorb radar signals, to radiate some of the tremendous airframe heat generated by air friction, and to camouflage the aircraft against the dark sky at high altitudes.
Experience gained from the A-12 program convinced the Air Force that flying the SR-71 safely required two crew members, a pilot and a Reconnaissance Systems Officer (RSO). The RSO operated with the wide array of monitoring and defensive systems installed on the airplane. This equipment included a sophisticated Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) system that could jam most acquisition and targeting radar. In addition to an array of advanced, high-resolution cameras, the aircraft could also carry equipment designed to record the strength, frequency, and wavelength of signals emitted by communications and sensor devices such as radar. The SR-71 was designed to fly deep into hostile territory, avoiding interception with its tremendous speed and high altitude. It could operate safely at a maximum speed of Mach 3.3 at an altitude more than sixteen miles, or 25,908 m (85,000 ft), above the earth. The crew had to wear pressure suits similar to those worn by astronauts. These suits were required to protect the crew in the event of sudden cabin pressure loss while at operating altitudes.
To climb and cruise at supersonic speeds, the Blackbird's Pratt & Whitney J-58 engines were designed to operate continuously in afterburner. While this would appear to dictate high fuel flows, the Blackbird actually achieved its best "gas mileage," in terms of air nautical miles per pound of fuel burned, during the Mach 3+ cruise. A typical Blackbird reconnaissance flight might require several aerial refueling operations from an airborne tanker. Each time the SR-71 refueled, the crew had to descend to the tanker's altitude, usually about 6,000 m to 9,000 m (20,000 to 30,000 ft), and slow the airplane to subsonic speeds. As velocity decreased, so did frictional heat. This cooling effect caused the aircraft's skin panels to shrink considerably, and those covering the fuel tanks contracted so much that fuel leaked, forming a distinctive vapor trail as the tanker topped off the Blackbird. As soon as the tanks were filled, the jet's crew disconnected from the tanker, relit the afterburners, and again climbed to high altitude.
Air Force pilots flew the SR-71 from Kadena AB, Japan, throughout its operational career but other bases hosted Blackbird operations, too. The 9th SRW occasionally deployed from Beale AFB, California, to other locations to carryout operational missions. Cuban missions were flown directly from Beale. The SR-71 did not begin to operate in Europe until 1974, and then only temporarily. In 1982, when the U.S. Air Force based two aircraft at Royal Air Force Base Mildenhall to fly monitoring mission in Eastern Europe.
When the SR-71 became operational, orbiting reconnaissance satellites had already replaced manned aircraft to gather intelligence from sites deep within Soviet territory. Satellites could not cover every geopolitical hotspot so the Blackbird remained a vital tool for global intelligence gathering. On many occasions, pilots and RSOs flying the SR-71 provided information that proved vital in formulating successful U. S. foreign policy. Blackbird crews provided important intelligence about the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and its aftermath, and pre- and post-strike imagery of the 1986 raid conducted by American air forces on Libya. In 1987, Kadena-based SR-71 crews flew a number of missions over the Persian Gulf, revealing Iranian Silkworm missile batteries that threatened commercial shipping and American escort vessels.
As the performance of space-based surveillance systems grew, along with the effectiveness of ground-based air defense networks, the Air Force started to lose enthusiasm for the expensive program and the 9th SRW ceased SR-71 operations in January 1990. Despite protests by military leaders, Congress revived the program in 1995. Continued wrangling over operating budgets, however, soon led to final termination. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration retained two SR-71As and the one SR-71B for high-speed research projects and flew these airplanes until 1999.
On March 6, 1990, the service career of one Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird ended with a record-setting flight. This special airplane bore Air Force serial number 64-17972. Lt. Col. Ed Yeilding and his RSO, Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Vida, flew this aircraft from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. in 1 hour, 4 minutes, and 20 seconds, averaging a speed of 3,418 kph (2,124 mph). At the conclusion of the flight, '972 landed at Dulles International Airport and taxied into the custody of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. At that time, Lt. Col. Vida had logged 1,392.7 hours of flight time in Blackbirds, more than that of any other crewman.
This particular SR-71 was also flown by Tom Alison, a former National Air and Space Museum's Chief of Collections Management. Flying with Detachment 1 at Kadena Air Force Base, Okinawa, Alison logged more than a dozen '972 operational sorties. The aircraft spent twenty-four years in active Air Force service and accrued a total of 2,801.1 hours of flight time.
Wingspan: 55'7"
Length: 107'5"
Height: 18'6"
Weight: 170,000 Lbs
Reference and Further Reading:
Crickmore, Paul F. Lockheed SR-71: The Secret Missions Exposed. Oxford: Osprey
Publishing, 1996.
Francillon, Rene J. Lockheed Aircraft Since 1913. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1987.
Johnson, Clarence L. Kelly: More Than My Share of It All. Washington D.C.:
Smithsonian Institution Press, 1985.
Miller, Jay. Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works. Leicester, U.K.: Midland Counties
Publishing Ltd., 1995.
Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird curatorial file, Aeronautics Division, National Air and Space Museum.
n 1950, the Fulton Airphibian became the first roadable aircraft, an aircraft designed to be used as a car or an airplane to be certificated by the Civil Aviation Administration (CAA). Other roadable aircraft had already been built, for example Waldo Waterman's Arrow/Aerobile and William Stout's Skycar, both of which are in the NASM collection--as well as other designs, but none won certification.
Robert Fulton Jr., developed his Airphibian as a flexible means of business and personal transportation. During World War II, he flew his own aircraft around the country for government contract work, and quite often he had been left at airports with unreliable or inadequate means of transportation into towns. The roadable aircraft would be flown to an airport and, with the disengagement of the wings and tail, it would become a car, capable of being driven to the final destination. Fulton designed the Airphibian as a high-wing monoplane, similar in appearance to a Stinson Voyager but with a distinctive four-wheel landing gear with fairings/fenders. It had a conventional fabric-covered steel-tube aft fuselage and empennage, straight tapered cantilever wings of metal rib and fabric construction, and a semi-monocoque forward fuselage that detached and converted into a car.
Following Fulton's desire for secrecy, Army Air Force Captain Frazer Dougherty piloted the first flight of the prototype off of a remote grass strip near Middleburg, VA in the spring of 1945. Dougherty and Fulton had met at a dinner party at avation entrepeneur and engineer Grover Loening's New York home and Dougherty soon became the company test pilot. Engineers Ted Polhemus and Franz Alverez and veteran mechanic Wayne Dasher were the technical team that worked on Fulton's aerial gunnery simulator and also built the Airphiban prototype. To acquire the funding for design, certification, and production, Fulton formed Continental, Inc. at the Danbury Airport, Danbury, Connecticut.
The first production prototype test flight was May 21, 1947. Ground handling was considered excellent in both the roadable and airplane configurations. Normal turning of the steering wheel provided steering on the road. The right rudder pedal provided normal brake operation, the left pedal operated the clutch, and an accelerator provided power. The engine drove the rear wheels through a torque converter, drive shaft, combined transmission and differential, and universal joints. All four wheels could be braked for ground operations; only the rear two wheels could be braked for taxiing. Normal speeds were 110 mph in the air and 55 mph on the ground.
The propeller, rear fuselage, and wings were removed for road operations. Attachment to the aircraft was accomplished by backing the car to the fuselage, leveling the tail and wings, moving three locking levers that inserted and locked large pins into fittings. The spar and tail parts slid into horizontally-inclined U-fittings. After locking into place, the two outrigger wheels that support the wings and the retractable tail wheel were cranked up into storage position. The propeller was removed from its bracket on the side of the fuselage, the prop spinner was removed, the propeller screwed on with a built-in wrench, and the spinner replaced again. The engine would not start if everything was not properly connected. The design is actually composed of seventeen different inventions.
In December 1950 the CAA approved the FA-2 with a strut-braced wing and 150 hp electric drive engine. The first production model, FA-2-101, N74153, flew in 1950. It had an Aircooled Motors 6A4150-B-3 modified engine. A cantilever wing model, the FA-3 was certificated by the CAA in June 1952 and the production model, FA-3-101, was flown shortly thereafter. This aircraft, N74154, is NASM's aircraft. Robert Fulton received an order for eight production models, to be used by CAA inspectors themselves, and they were built but not delivered. Instead, several company officers felt that that they were not getting enough of a return on their investment in the certification process, so, in 1953, they pulled out of the deal, taking the financial backing and several Airphibians with them.
In 1960, Joseph J. Ryan, a former Continental officer, donated N74154 to the Museum. Three other Airphibians remained near Charlottesville, Virginia, for many years but were returned to the Fulton workshop in Connecticut; one went to Europe, and one is in New Jersey.
The Airphibian represents a technical success as a flying car, but, despite being a media favorite during public demonstrations around the U.S. and in Great Britain, it did not become a marketable design. The prototypes were driven over 200,000 miles and made more than 6,000 car/plane conversions. The conversion process, however, was judged to be too complicated and lengthy. Performance in the air was considered sluggish due to the weight penalty of automotive parts, a perennial problem in aerocars. Therefore, the search for a practical flying car continues today. Nonetheless, the Airphibian was the first aircar to receive CAA certification and only the Taylor Aerocar, which was inspired by the Airphibian, has received certification as well.
The Museum received Fulton Airphibian FA-3-101, with a Franklin 6A4-165-B3 engine. The car portion was briefly displayed in the new National Air and Space Museum's General Aviation gallery in 1976 and at the Pate Museum of Transportation in Arizona. In 1997 and 1998, Robert Fulton, Jr.'s son, Robert III, restored the Airphibian at the family home in Newtown, Connecticut. Robert Fulton, Jr. and his Airphibian were the centerpiece of the 1998 Louis-Vuitton Car Show at Rockefeller Center in New York City. The Airphibian was then displayed at the National Aviation Museum in Ottawa, Ontario for several years before being installed at the Udvar-Hazy Center in 2009.
Before designing the Airphibian, Robert Fulton, a trained architect, bought a Luscombe and taught himself how to fly. He began his career in aeronautics as a motion picture photographer recording the progress the Boeing Clipper flying boats across the Pacific Ocean in a film for Pan American Airways entitled Trans Pacific; Pan American’s New Horizons Magazine also featured Fulton photography.
When the United States entered World War II, Fulton conceived of a ground flight trainer with controls that tilted and swung a horizon on a screen, the Aerostructor. It failed to gain support, but was transformed into the Gunairstructor for gunnery training. The U.S. Navy ordered 50 of these trainers.
The Fulton Skyhook Air Rescue System and Aerial Recovery System, also in the Museum collections, are perhaps his most unsung but bold aerial successes. The U.S. Air Force, from the Korean War through the Vietnam War and beyond, used the Air Rescue System for the retrieval of personnel from covert maneuvers or crew downed in hostile territory, day and night, land and sea. Dr. William Leary’s Operation Cold Feet tells the story of this critical life saving device for deep reconnaissance missions. Before the heavy lift helicopter, the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army used the Skyhook Aerial Recovery System for the retrieval of equipment and materiel. Characteristically, Fulton invented seven separate components that were integrated into one single effective system. The ingenious system was based on the inflation of a small blimp that was dropped or carried by personnel. Aircraft spotted the blimp to which was attached a nylon rope and the personnel in a harness. A wide hooking device attached to the nose of the aircraft, either an HC-130H Hercules or AC-1 Caribou, would snag the line and begin the lift and reel-in process at the back of the aircraft. Skyhook evolved into derivative retrieval systems including: Skyrange (recovery of objects in the air), Searange (recovery of items lying on the water), Seasled (high-speed recovery of quantities of persons in the water with a boat) and others.
Robert Edison Fulton was a Renaissance man whose life transcended one technology or one career. As a young man, he rode around the world on a motorcycle using a 35mm motion picture camera to document the individual cultures and societies of the inter-war years (early 1930s) and produced a film, One Man Caravan. He established the Robert Fulton Company on a hilltop in western Connecticut, complete with a grass airstrip. His home revealed his architectural talents and he also pioneered aspects of sound recording technology, electric pianos, and modern glass panes. Overall, Robert Fulton held a minimum of 70 patents. Later, in his 90s, his artistic career continued to flourish in sculpture and photography and he even had a one-man show in a New York City art gallery. He died in 2004 at age 95.
Fulton’s dream of a roadable aircraft was impossible for him to bring to reality, and it might even be considered a bit impractical, however, the idea lives on and the potential is appreciated. The Fulton Skyhook system was a highly successful retrieval system that is a hidden success. Used for several decades, it nonetheless remains one of those unknown marvels of technology that do not make the headlines or are not widely marketed. The importance of the system can be attested to by those whose lives have been saved and by the operations that were completed but, unfortunately, many of these operations were covert and thus truly unknown. The Gunairstructor was an early flight simulator and a progenitor of today’s video displays and games.
His Airphibian, though seemingly whimsical, tugs at our desire for better air and ground transportation and provides a practical starting point for future designs. His willingness to work with the military to improve and produce new systems reveals the depth of the man serving his country and using his immense imagination and technical skill for the greater good. All inventors bubble with ideas and we depend upon these ideas to improve our lives and take us to the future. His son remarked that perhaps his father’s legacy might not be understood “because he makes everything look too easy. There is no evidence of effort. There is only clear and severe application.”
Whether it was the Tomahawk, Warhawk, or Kittyhawk, the Curtiss P-40 was a successful and versatile fighter aircraft during the first half of World War II. The shark-mouthed Tomahawks that General Claire Chennault led against the Japanese remain among the most popular airplanes of the war. In the Phillipines, Lt. Boyd D. Wagner became the first American ace of World War II while flying a P-40E when he shot down six Japanese aircraft during mid-December 1941. P-40s were first-line Army Air Corps fighters at the start of the war but they soon gave way to more advanced designs such as the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and the Lockheed P-38 Lightning (see NASM collection for both aircraft). The P-40 is not ranked among the best overall fighters of the war but it was a rugged, effective design available in large numbers early in the war when America and her allies urgently required them. The P-40 remained in production from 1939 to the end of 1944 and a total of 13, 737 were built.
Design engineer Dr. Donovan R. Berlin layed the foundation for the P-40 in 1935 when he designed the agile, but lightly-armed, P-36 fighter equipped with a radial, air-cooled engine. The Curtiss-Wright Corporation won a production contract for 210 P-36 airplanes in 1937-the largest Army airplane contract awarded since World War I. Worldwide, fighter aircraft designs matured rapidly during the late 1930s and it was soon obvious that the P-36 was no match for newer European designs. High altitude performance in particular became a priceless commodity. Berlin attempted to improve the P-36 by redesigning it in to accommodate a turbo-supercharged Allison V-1710-11 inline, liquid-cooled engine. The new aircraft was designated the XP-37 but proved unpopular with pilots. The turbo-supercharger was not reliable and Berlin had placed the cockpit too far back on the fuselage, restricting the view to the front of the fighter. Nonetheless, when the engine was not giving trouble, the more-streamlined XP-37 was much faster than the P-36.
Curtiss tried again in 1938. Berlin had modified another P-36 with a new Allison V-1710-19 engine. It was designated the XP-40 and first flew on October 14, 1938. The XP-40 looked promising and Curtiss offered it to Army Air Corps leaders who evaluated the airplane at Wright Field, Ohio, in 1939, along with several other fighter proposals. The P-40 won the competition, after some modifications, and Curtiss received an order for 540. At this time, the armament package consisted of two .50 caliber machine guns in the fuselage and four .30 caliber machine guns in the wings.
After production began in March 1940, France ordered 140 P-40s but the British took delivery of these airplanes when Paris surrendered. The British named the aircraft Tomahawks but found they performed poorly in high-altitude combat over northern Europe and relegated them to low-altitude operations in North Africa. The Russians bought more than 2,000 P-40s but details of their operational history remain obscure.
When the United States declared war, P-40s equipped many of the Army Air Corps's front line fighter units. The plucky fighter eventually saw combat in almost every theater of operations being the most effective in the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater. Of all the CBI groups that gained the most notoriety of the entire war, and remains to this day synonymous with the P-40, is the American Volunteer Group (AVG) or the Flying Tigers. The unit was organized after the Chinese gave former U. S. Army Air Corps Captain Claire Lee Chennault almost 9 million dollars in 1940 to buy aircraft and recruit pilots to fly against the Japanese. Chennault's most important support within the Chinese government came from Madam Chiang Kai-shek, a Lt. Colonel in the Chinese Air Force and for a time, the service's overall commander.
The money from China diverted an order placed by the British Royal Air Force for 100 Curtiss-Wright P-40B Tomahawks but buying airplanes was only one important step in creating a fighting air unit. Trained pilots were needed, and quickly, as tensions across the Pacific escalated. On April 15, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt quietly signed an Executive Order permitting Chennault to recruit directly from the ranks of American military reserve pilots. Within a few months, 350 flyers joined from pursuit (fighter), bomber, and patrol squadrons. In all, about half the pilots in the Flying Tigers came from the U. S. Navy and Marine Corps while the Army Air Corps supplied one-third. Factory test pilots at Bell, Consolidated, and other companies, and commercial airline pilots, filled the remaining slots.
The Flying Tigers flew their first mission on December 20. The unit's name was derived from the ferocious fangs and teeth painted on the nose of AVG P-40s at either side of the distinctive, large radiator air intake. The idea is said to originate from pictures in a magazine that showed Royal Air Force Tomahawks of No. 112 Squadron, operating in the western desert of North Africa, adorned with fangs and teeth painted around their air intakes. The Flying Tigers were the first real opposition the Japanese military encountered. In less than 7 months of action, AVG pilots destroyed about 115 Japanese aircraft and lost only 11 planes in air-to-air combat. The AVG disbanded on July 4, 1942, and its assets, including a few pilots, became a part of the U. S. Army Air Forces (AAF) 23rd Fighter Group in the newly activated 14th Air Force. Chennault, now a Brigadier General, assumed command of the 14th AF and by war's end, the 23rd was one of the highest-scoring Army fighter groups.
As wartime experience in the P-40 mounted, Curtiss made many modifications. Engineers added armor plate, better self-sealing fuel tanks, and more powerful engines. They modified the cockpit to improve visibility and changed the armament package to six, wing-mounted, .50 caliber machine guns. The P-40E Kittyhawk was the first model with this gun package and it entered service in time to serve in the AVG. The last model produced in quantity was the P-40N, the lightest P-40 built in quantity, and much faster than previous models. Curtiss built a single P-40Q. It was the fastest P-40 to fly (679 kph/422 mph) but it could not match the performance of the P-47 Thunderbolt and the P-51 Mustang so Curtiss ended development of the P-40 series with this model. In addition to the AAF, many Allied nations bought and flew P-40s including England, France, China, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, and Turkey.
The Smithsonian P-40E did not serve in the U. S. military. Curtiss-Wright built it in Buffalo, New York, as Model 87-A3 and delivered it to Canada as a Kittyhawk IA on March 11, 1941. It served in No. 111 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). When the Japanese navy moved to attack Midway, they sent a diversionary battle group to menace the Aleutian Islands. Canada moved No. 111 Squadron to Alaska to help defend the region. After the Japanese threat diminished, the unit returned to Canada and eventually transferred to England without its P-40s. The RCAF declared the NASM Kittyhawk IA surplus on July 27, 1946, and the aircraft eventually returned to the United States. It had several owners before ending up with the Explorer Scouts youth group in Meridian, Mississippi. During the early 1960s, the Smithsonian began searching for a P-40 with a documented history of service in the AVG but found none. In 1964, the Exchange Club in Meridian donated the Kittyhawk IA to the National Aeronautical Collection, in memory of Mr. Kellis Forbes, a local man devoted to Boys Club activities. A U. S. Air Force Reserve crew airlifted the fighter to Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, on March 13, 1964. Andrews personnel restored the airplane in 1975 and painted it to represent an aircraft of the 75th Fighter Squadron, 23rd Fighter Group, 14th Air Force.
The notable French aircraft manufacturer Société Anonyme des Establissements Nieuport was formed in 1909 and rose to prominence before World War I with a series of elegant monoplane designs. The namesakes of the company, Edouard de Niéport and his brother Charles, were both killed in flying accidents before the war. (The spelling of the company name was a slight variation of the brothers' surname.) The talented designer Gustave Delage joined the firm in 1914 and was responsible for the highly successful war-time line of sesquiplane V-strut single-seat scouts, the most famous of which were the Nieuport 11 and the Nieuport 17.
The Nieuport 28C.1 was developed in mid-1917 and was the first biplane fighter design produced by Nieuport that had relatively equal-chord upper and lower wings. In an attempt to compete with the superior performance of the Spad VII and the recently introduced Spad XIII, Nieuport explored the use of a more powerful motor than the types employed in the sesquiplane series. The availability of a more powerful, and heavier, 160-horsepower Gnôme rotary engine prompted the decision to increase the surface area of the lower wing to compensate for the greater weight of the new power plant, hence eliminating the typical Nieuport sesquiplane V-strut configuration.
In early 1918, the French Air Service rejected the new Nieuport design as a front-line fighter in favor of the sturdier, more advanced Spad XIII. However, the Nieuport 28 found a place with the newly arriving American squadrons. Having no suitable fighter design of its own, the United States adopted the Nieuport 28 as a stop-gap measure before the much-in-demand Spad XIIIs could be made available from the French. The Nieuport 28 performed creditably as the first operational pursuit aircraft in the fledgling U.S. Air Service of the American Expeditionary Force. Thus, the primary significance of the Nieuport 28 for the national aeronautical collection is that it was the first fighter aircraft to serve with an American fighter unit under American command and in support of U.S. troops. It was also first type to score an aerial victory with an American unit. On April 14, 1918, Lieutenants Alan Winslow and Douglas Campbell of the 94th Aero Squadron, both piloting a Nieuport 28, each downed an enemy aircraft in a fight that took place directly over their home airfield at Gengoult.
The Nieuport 28 made its mark in aviation history after World War I as well. Of the 297 total Nieuport 28 fighters procured by the United States from the French government during World War I, 88 were returned to the United States after the war. Twelve Nieuports, along with examples of several other European types brought back, were used by the U.S. Navy from 1919 to 1921 for shipboard launching trials. Many, often harrowing, launches were undertaken. Some of the twelve Navy Nieuport 28s were destroyed in accidents. The surviving aircraft, worn out beyond repair, were surplused after the trials. The other seventy-six Nieuport 28s that were brought back to the United States after the war were operated by the U.S. Army at various bases and airfields in the 1920s, such as McCook, Mitchel, and Bolling Fields.
The Nieuports that survived their post-war U.S. military service found their way into various private hands. Several were modified for air racing, having their wings clipped, adapting non-standard interplane struts, and other changes. A number found their way into Hollywood movies, most notably in the famous Dawn Patrol films of 1930 and 1938. Still others became privately-owned airplanes flying in various sporting and commercial capacities. The specific history of these uses remains quite sketchy.
In short, although aesthetically pleasing and by all reports delightful to fly, the Nieuport 28 type gained fame more for simply being available rather than for any inherently superior performance or design qualities. Nevertheless, in American aviation history, the Nieuport 28 holds a number of important firsts and was used in several significant ways. Because of its varied and interesting role in U.S. aviation history, this aircraft has a richly deserved place in the NASM collection.
The museum's Nieuport 28 has a complex and confusing history. It was acquired in 1986 from Cole Palen, founder and operator of the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome. He flew the aircraft regularly in his air shows from 1958 to 1972. Immediately before its transfer to NASM, the airplane was on loan from Palen to the Intrepid Sea/Air/Space Museum in New York.
Upon close inspection, it became clear that the NASM aircraft is a composite of several different Nieuport 28s. The various components had been owned by a number of different people and used in a variety of capacities over a long period of time. As a result, the pieces have been shuffled around a lot and re-built many times. A large number of parts were not original and in many cases the replacement parts were not prepared to original specification. As a result, a serious investigation of the history of the NASM airframe was undertaken to determine as near as possible the provenance of the museum's Nieuport 28.
When it was acquired a number of erroneous assumptions were passed on, probably uncorroborated stories from Cole Palen. Initially the aircraft was believed to have been a war-time product and that it flew with the U.S. Air Service in World War I. Additionally, it was purported to have been one of the twelve U.S. Navy Nieuports tested in 1919-1921, that it was used in the Hollywood epic "Dawn Patrol," and that Howard Hughes had owned it at one point. Painstaking research has demonstrated that nearly all of these assumptions were untrue.
To determine the actual history of the NASM Nieuport, the logical place to begin was with the numbers and markings on the airframe. There are five different serial numbers on the airplane. The fuselage number on the firewall is 6497. The upper wings have a manufacturing date of February 1919 with serial numbers 7103 (left panel) and 7226 (right panel). The lower left wing panel is marked as having been fabricated in November 1918 with serial number 6465. The lower right was made in October 1918 with serial number 6432.
The first obvious conclusion drawn from these data was that the NASM Nieuport 28 is essentially a postwar product. The lower wing panels were made at the very end of the war, which concluded on November 11, 1918. The fuselage serial number being higher than the lower wing numbers dates it as very late 1918 or very early 1919. The upper wings are dated 1919. Therefore, the NASM aircraft could not have been a war veteran. Further, given the late production dates, it can be concluded that the NASM aircraft must be a modified and improved postwar version of the Nieuport 28C.1, sometimes referred to as a Nieuport 28A.
A third conclusion drawn from the serial numbers was that the components are probably from at least five different aircraft. This is not necessarily so, as wing panels, tail units, fuselages, etc., were assembled from production line manufacture. Nevertheless, given that the serial numbers are so far apart, it is hard to believe that all the present components represent one original aircraft. The upper and lower wing sets could have been originally paired together as their respective numbers are relatively close together. But the 6400 series serial numbered wings and 7000 series numbered wings were unlikely to have been on the same airframe when the airplane first left the factory. Moreover, the NASM airplane, on at least one occasion, probably more, was put together from "best available components" from a collection of Nieuport 28 airframes. The most reasonable interpretation based on the evidence is that the NASM Nieuport 28 is not a documented single airframe with a continuous history. It is an amalgam of component parts of several aircraft brought together many years after their original individual manufacture.
Certain that the NASM aircraft is not a war-time Nieuport, the next step was to try to determine its provenance in post-war U.S. military service. Research at the National Archives unearthed the twelve serial numbers of the aircraft tested by the U.S. Navy. None of the five numbers on the NASM Nieuport matches any of those of the Navy airplanes, definitively dispelling the belief that the aircraft was in that group. The lack of evidence on the airframe of the exclusively Navy modifications also supports the view that NASM's is not one of the twelve Navy Nieuports.
Further research demonstrated that seventy-six other Nieuport 28s were operated by the U.S. Army at various bases and fields around the country such as McCook, Mitchel, and Bolling Fields. A reasonable conclusion is that the NASM aircraft was at one of these Army facilities in the early 1920s before the airplane, as a complete airframe or component parts, found its way into private hands. Unfortunately, no records have thus far been found that place the NASM Nieuport 28, or any of its components, at any particular U.S. military post.
After the U.S. military disposed of the Nieuport 28s in its inventory in the mid-to-late-1920s, tracing more than a few of them becomes extremely difficult. Those that were not destroyed in accidents or simply junked were surplused on the open market. Private individuals scarfed them up, re-built and modified them, and used them in a wide variety of private and commercial ventures. Some were converted into air racers. Some were used in Hollywood films. Still others became air show performers and the like. Details on any particular Nieuports used in these capacities remain all but impossible to come by.
What of the claim that the NASM aircraft participated in the making of the two Dawn Patrol films? Four original Nieuport 28s were acquired by Garland Lincoln, a war-time U.S. Air Service instructor and movie stunt pilot, for the 1930 production of Dawn Patrol. The airplanes did not fly in the film, they were only run up and taxied. Some have argued that the NASM aircraft is one of these four. At best, this can only be said of the fuselage. Several famous photographs from the production show a line-up of the four Nieuports. All four Dawn Patrol Nieuports had their wings shortened by several feet. This is quite clear in the photographs. The NASM airplane has full-span wings, at least proving that the NASM wing set was not part of any of the Dawn Patrol aircraft. The fuselage of the Nieuport is probably from one of the four Garland Lincoln airplanes used in the film. The next phase of the story points in that direction.
At this point, the trail of the NASM Nieuport begins to emerge, faintly. Garland Lincoln sold his entire stable of airplanes, including the four original Nieuports, to Paramount Pictures in 1938. In 1941, Paramount sold the lot to United Air Services, a firm owned by movie stunt pilot, Paul Mantz, and which in 1946 became Paul Mantz Air Services. None of the Nieuport 28 airplanes that Mantz had acquired was in flying condition. Photographs taken by Don Brady in the mid-1950s at Orange County Airport show these airplanes to be disassembled and derelict. Beyond the four clipped-wing Nieuports first sold by Garland Lincoln to Paramount in 1938, Mantz apparently acquired at least one other set of original Nieuport 28 wings at some time before the parts were photographed by Brady at Orange County in the 1950s.
In 1957, Paul Mantz traded one Nieuport 28 to James H. "Cole" Palen of the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, Rhinebeck, New York, for a Standard J-1. (Mantz later added approximately $200 to the trade to compensate for the Nieuport 28 being in poorer condition than the Standard J-1.) The fact that Palen's Nieuport, i.e., the NASM airplane, has full-span wings supports the belief that Mantz must have acquired more Nieuport 28 parts beyond the four clipped-wing airplanes that were in the original "Dawn Patrol" movie. Palen apparently selected the "best components" of those stored at Orange County airport to complete one aircraft. Cole Palen died in 1993, and some years earlier his home burned, destroying all his records. To confirm anything regarding his transaction with Mantz is now impossible.
The provenance of the NASM Nieuport 28 from this point on is clear. Palen completed the restoration of the aircraft to flying condition in 1958 and flew it regularly at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, and at other special shows elsewhere, until he retired the airplane in 1972. It was on display at Rhinebeck for several years before being lent to the Intrepid Air/Sea/Space Museum. It was on display there until 1986 when the Nieuport was traded to NASM for an original Nieuport 10 trainer, and transported directly from the Intrepid to the museum.
This brings us back to the original question: What is the history of the NASM Nieuport 28? Based on the foregoing research, the best interpretation is that it is an assemblage of components of various aircraft that were all manufactured at the very end or soon after World War I, which almost certainly means that they were originally Nieuport 28 "type A" rather than standard 28C.1 parts. The components undoubtedly emanated from the seventy-six Nieuport 28s operated by the U.S. Army at numerous installations in the 1920s. Without serial numbers by location for these aircraft, it is impossible to place any of the NASM components at any specific military airfield. The period between disposal by the military and acquisition by Paul Mantz is extremely sketchy. For the most part, it can only be determined what the NASM aircraft is not, rather than what it is (e.g., that it is not one of the twelve Navy aircraft, that its wings are not from any of the four Garland Lincoln Nieuports, etc.).
Regarding the origin of the NASM Nieuport 28, all that can be said with certainty is that the airplane comprises original components that can be narrowed down only to the seventy-six post-war U.S. Army Nieuports. The circumstantial evidence that Palen received Nieuport parts from Mantz, who obtained Nieuport parts from Lincoln, tantalizingly suggests that the NASM fuselage could be from one of the Dawn Patrol aircraft. The evidence cannot support anything more definitive.
In light of the vague provenance of the NASM Nieuport, some considered judgement was required concerning the final configuration and markings of the aircraft when it was restored by the museum. One obvious possibility would have been to restore the aircraft closest to what the documentation suggests the parts represent, namely a post-war U.S. Army experimental/training aircraft. Despite the apparent common sense to that approach, there were several strong reasons not to take this route. First, there are no clues indicating at which Army installation the NASM Nieuport operated, not even a single component of the airframe. It would not only have been a pure guess which airplane it is, but total conjecture even with which airfield it was associated. Further, details on the markings of only a handful of the Army post-war aircraft exist. Painting it as one of these would only in the most remote sense represent the correct aircraft. Moreover, the Nieuport 28 type is in the national collection primarily because of its place in U.S. air operations during World War I, not because of its minor role as a post-war trainer.
Configuring it as a U.S. Navy aircraft, with the unique modifications of that use of the Nieuport 28, would have been interesting. But as it was known definitively that the NASM aircraft is not one of the Navy airplanes, and that only twelve were employed in this specialized role over a short period of time, to follow this course seemed inappropriate. For similar reasons, restoring it as one of the movie airplanes did not make sense. At best, only the fuselage of the NASM Nieuport 28 can be linked to any of the film work, and that only circumstantially. More significantly, movies represent only a small part of the Nieuport 28's history. Further, the movie Nieuports only were run up on the ground; they never actually flew in the films.
This presented the final option, which was taken: configuring the airplane as one of the war-time U.S. Air Service Nieuport 28s. Even though the NASM Nieuport is certainly not a war veteran because it was manufactured after the United States ceased to use them in combat, the best alternative was to configure the airplane in this fashion. As noted above, the main reason for inclusion of a Nieuport 28 in the NASM collection is to document the aircraft type first used by organized American units under American colors in combat. Because the history of the NASM Nieuport cannot be documented with any specificity, and certain configurations can be ruled out, the most reasonable approach was to represent the aircraft in accordance with the justified rationale for bringing it into the collection. Therefore, it was restored to a 28C.1 configuration and painted and marked as a U.S. Air Service combat Nieuport.
The particular Nieuport 28C.1 that the museum chose to represent was that of First Lieutenant James A. Meissner of the 94th Aero Squadron, U.S.A.S., a/c serial number 6144. This aircraft was chosen, rather than one of the more famous ones such as Eddie Rickenbacker's, Douglas Campbell's or Alan Winslow's, because it is representative of the famous "hat-in-the-ring" 94th Aero Squadron without misleading museum visitors into thinking that the NASM aircraft is actually one of the especially well-known American Nieuport 28s. Furthermore, Meissner's number 6144 has an interesting history in its own right.
On two occasions, with Meissner at the controls, 6144 experienced the infamous wing failure in a dive associated with the Nieuport 28. He landed safely both times. Meissner went on to command the 147th Aero Squadron. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross with Oak Leaf Clusters and the Croix de Guerre. He scored a total of 5 2/3 victories while flying with the 94th and the 147th. (Meissner is often credited with eight victories, but in 1969, the U.S. Air Force divided the credit of shared victories among all the pilots involved. Before this, each was given full credit for the victory in their totals. Having several shared victories, Meissner's official tally was reduced accordingly.) He survived the war, leaving the Air Service in 1919. Meissner's aircraft carried the standard factory-applied French camouflage, the famous "hat-in-the-ring" insignia, and standard U.S. wing and tail markings of the period, making it especially representative of the way American Nieuport 28s appeared when flown in the first U.S. air combat operations.
On two occasions, 6144 experienced the infamous structural failure of the wings in a dive associated with the Nieuport 28. Meissner landed his aircraft safely both times. Meissner later commanded the 147th Aero Squadron, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and Croix de Guerre, and was credited with a total of eight victories, flying with both the 94th and the 147th. He survived the war, leaving the Air Service in 1919. Meissner's aircraft carried the standard factory-applied French camouflage, the famous "hat-in-the-ring" insignia, and standard U.S. wing and tail markings of the period. It thus well represents the way American Nieuport 28s appeared when flown in the first U.S. air combat operations.
The airplane is painted as Meissner's appeared after May 10, 1918, after repairs from the first wing fabric shedding incident. Before this date, Meissner's Nieuport carried a black, or possibly red, number "14" on the fuselage sides and probably on the wings. He shot down one enemy aircraft with the airplane so marked, for which he was awarded the DSC. After May 10, the "14" on the fuselage was replaced with a white "8" with a thin black outline. A white "8" (with no black outline) also was applied to the top of the upper left wing of Meissner's 6144 upon repairing and re-numbering the airplane. Marked as number "8," Meissner shot down three more enemy aircraft in 6144 and experienced a second wing structure failure. Number "8" was chosen because more photographs exist of 6144 as number "8" and because it flew longer with this marking.
Whether it was the Tomahawk, Warhawk, or Kittyhawk, the Curtiss P-40 was a successful and versatile fighter aircraft during the first half of World War II. The shark-mouthed Tomahawks that General Claire Chennault led against the Japanese remain among the most popular airplanes of the war. In the Phillipines, Lt. Boyd D. Wagner became the first American ace of World War II while flying a P-40E when he shot down six Japanese aircraft during mid-December 1941. P-40s were first-line Army Air Corps fighters at the start of the war but they soon gave way to more advanced designs such as the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and the Lockheed P-38 Lightning (see NASM collection for both aircraft). The P-40 is not ranked among the best overall fighters of the war but it was a rugged, effective design available in large numbers early in the war when America and her allies urgently required them. The P-40 remained in production from 1939 to the end of 1944 and a total of 13, 737 were built.
Design engineer Dr. Donovan R. Berlin layed the foundation for the P-40 in 1935 when he designed the agile, but lightly-armed, P-36 fighter equipped with a radial, air-cooled engine. The Curtiss-Wright Corporation won a production contract for 210 P-36 airplanes in 1937-the largest Army airplane contract awarded since World War I. Worldwide, fighter aircraft designs matured rapidly during the late 1930s and it was soon obvious that the P-36 was no match for newer European designs. High altitude performance in particular became a priceless commodity. Berlin attempted to improve the P-36 by redesigning it in to accommodate a turbo-supercharged Allison V-1710-11 inline, liquid-cooled engine. The new aircraft was designated the XP-37 but proved unpopular with pilots. The turbo-supercharger was not reliable and Berlin had placed the cockpit too far back on the fuselage, restricting the view to the front of the fighter. Nonetheless, when the engine was not giving trouble, the more-streamlined XP-37 was much faster than the P-36.
Curtiss tried again in 1938. Berlin had modified another P-36 with a new Allison V-1710-19 engine. It was designated the XP-40 and first flew on October 14, 1938. The XP-40 looked promising and Curtiss offered it to Army Air Corps leaders who evaluated the airplane at Wright Field, Ohio, in 1939, along with several other fighter proposals. The P-40 won the competition, after some modifications, and Curtiss received an order for 540. At this time, the armament package consisted of two .50 caliber machine guns in the fuselage and four .30 caliber machine guns in the wings.
After production began in March 1940, France ordered 140 P-40s but the British took delivery of these airplanes when Paris surrendered. The British named the aircraft Tomahawks but found they performed poorly in high-altitude combat over northern Europe and relegated them to low-altitude operations in North Africa. The Russians bought more than 2,000 P-40s but details of their operational history remain obscure.
When the United States declared war, P-40s equipped many of the Army Air Corps's front line fighter units. The plucky fighter eventually saw combat in almost every theater of operations being the most effective in the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater. Of all the CBI groups that gained the most notoriety of the entire war, and remains to this day synonymous with the P-40, is the American Volunteer Group (AVG) or the Flying Tigers. The unit was organized after the Chinese gave former U. S. Army Air Corps Captain Claire Lee Chennault almost 9 million dollars in 1940 to buy aircraft and recruit pilots to fly against the Japanese. Chennault's most important support within the Chinese government came from Madam Chiang Kai-shek, a Lt. Colonel in the Chinese Air Force and for a time, the service's overall commander.
The money from China diverted an order placed by the British Royal Air Force for 100 Curtiss-Wright P-40B Tomahawks but buying airplanes was only one important step in creating a fighting air unit. Trained pilots were needed, and quickly, as tensions across the Pacific escalated. On April 15, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt quietly signed an Executive Order permitting Chennault to recruit directly from the ranks of American military reserve pilots. Within a few months, 350 flyers joined from pursuit (fighter), bomber, and patrol squadrons. In all, about half the pilots in the Flying Tigers came from the U. S. Navy and Marine Corps while the Army Air Corps supplied one-third. Factory test pilots at Bell, Consolidated, and other companies, and commercial airline pilots, filled the remaining slots.
The Flying Tigers flew their first mission on December 20. The unit's name was derived from the ferocious fangs and teeth painted on the nose of AVG P-40s at either side of the distinctive, large radiator air intake. The idea is said to originate from pictures in a magazine that showed Royal Air Force Tomahawks of No. 112 Squadron, operating in the western desert of North Africa, adorned with fangs and teeth painted around their air intakes. The Flying Tigers were the first real opposition the Japanese military encountered. In less than 7 months of action, AVG pilots destroyed about 115 Japanese aircraft and lost only 11 planes in air-to-air combat. The AVG disbanded on July 4, 1942, and its assets, including a few pilots, became a part of the U. S. Army Air Forces (AAF) 23rd Fighter Group in the newly activated 14th Air Force. Chennault, now a Brigadier General, assumed command of the 14th AF and by war's end, the 23rd was one of the highest-scoring Army fighter groups.
As wartime experience in the P-40 mounted, Curtiss made many modifications. Engineers added armor plate, better self-sealing fuel tanks, and more powerful engines. They modified the cockpit to improve visibility and changed the armament package to six, wing-mounted, .50 caliber machine guns. The P-40E Kittyhawk was the first model with this gun package and it entered service in time to serve in the AVG. The last model produced in quantity was the P-40N, the lightest P-40 built in quantity, and much faster than previous models. Curtiss built a single P-40Q. It was the fastest P-40 to fly (679 kph/422 mph) but it could not match the performance of the P-47 Thunderbolt and the P-51 Mustang so Curtiss ended development of the P-40 series with this model. In addition to the AAF, many Allied nations bought and flew P-40s including England, France, China, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, and Turkey.
The Smithsonian P-40E did not serve in the U. S. military. Curtiss-Wright built it in Buffalo, New York, as Model 87-A3 and delivered it to Canada as a Kittyhawk IA on March 11, 1941. It served in No. 111 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). When the Japanese navy moved to attack Midway, they sent a diversionary battle group to menace the Aleutian Islands. Canada moved No. 111 Squadron to Alaska to help defend the region. After the Japanese threat diminished, the unit returned to Canada and eventually transferred to England without its P-40s. The RCAF declared the NASM Kittyhawk IA surplus on July 27, 1946, and the aircraft eventually returned to the United States. It had several owners before ending up with the Explorer Scouts youth group in Meridian, Mississippi. During the early 1960s, the Smithsonian began searching for a P-40 with a documented history of service in the AVG but found none. In 1964, the Exchange Club in Meridian donated the Kittyhawk IA to the National Aeronautical Collection, in memory of Mr. Kellis Forbes, a local man devoted to Boys Club activities. A U. S. Air Force Reserve crew airlifted the fighter to Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, on March 13, 1964. Andrews personnel restored the airplane in 1975 and painted it to represent an aircraft of the 75th Fighter Squadron, 23rd Fighter Group, 14th Air Force.
The notable French aircraft manufacturer Société Anonyme des Establissements Nieuport was formed in 1909 and rose to prominence before World War I with a series of elegant monoplane designs. The namesakes of the company, Edouard de Niéport and his brother Charles, were both killed in flying accidents before the war. (The spelling of the company name was a slight variation of the brothers' surname.) The talented designer Gustave Delage joined the firm in 1914 and was responsible for the highly successful war-time line of sesquiplane V-strut single-seat scouts, the most famous of which were the Nieuport 11 and the Nieuport 17.
The Nieuport 28C.1 was developed in mid-1917 and was the first biplane fighter design produced by Nieuport that had relatively equal-chord upper and lower wings. In an attempt to compete with the superior performance of the Spad VII and the recently introduced Spad XIII, Nieuport explored the use of a more powerful motor than the types employed in the sesquiplane series. The availability of a more powerful, and heavier, 160-horsepower Gnôme rotary engine prompted the decision to increase the surface area of the lower wing to compensate for the greater weight of the new power plant, hence eliminating the typical Nieuport sesquiplane V-strut configuration.
In early 1918, the French Air Service rejected the new Nieuport design as a front-line fighter in favor of the sturdier, more advanced Spad XIII. However, the Nieuport 28 found a place with the newly arriving American squadrons. Having no suitable fighter design of its own, the United States adopted the Nieuport 28 as a stop-gap measure before the much-in-demand Spad XIIIs could be made available from the French. The Nieuport 28 performed creditably as the first operational pursuit aircraft in the fledgling U.S. Air Service of the American Expeditionary Force. Thus, the primary significance of the Nieuport 28 for the national aeronautical collection is that it was the first fighter aircraft to serve with an American fighter unit under American command and in support of U.S. troops. It was also first type to score an aerial victory with an American unit. On April 14, 1918, Lieutenants Alan Winslow and Douglas Campbell of the 94th Aero Squadron, both piloting a Nieuport 28, each downed an enemy aircraft in a fight that took place directly over their home airfield at Gengoult.
The Nieuport 28 made its mark in aviation history after World War I as well. Of the 297 total Nieuport 28 fighters procured by the United States from the French government during World War I, 88 were returned to the United States after the war. Twelve Nieuports, along with examples of several other European types brought back, were used by the U.S. Navy from 1919 to 1921 for shipboard launching trials. Many, often harrowing, launches were undertaken. Some of the twelve Navy Nieuport 28s were destroyed in accidents. The surviving aircraft, worn out beyond repair, were surplused after the trials. The other seventy-six Nieuport 28s that were brought back to the United States after the war were operated by the U.S. Army at various bases and airfields in the 1920s, such as McCook, Mitchel, and Bolling Fields.
The Nieuports that survived their post-war U.S. military service found their way into various private hands. Several were modified for air racing, having their wings clipped, adapting non-standard interplane struts, and other changes. A number found their way into Hollywood movies, most notably in the famous Dawn Patrol films of 1930 and 1938. Still others became privately-owned airplanes flying in various sporting and commercial capacities. The specific history of these uses remains quite sketchy.
In short, although aesthetically pleasing and by all reports delightful to fly, the Nieuport 28 type gained fame more for simply being available rather than for any inherently superior performance or design qualities. Nevertheless, in American aviation history, the Nieuport 28 holds a number of important firsts and was used in several significant ways. Because of its varied and interesting role in U.S. aviation history, this aircraft has a richly deserved place in the NASM collection.
The museum's Nieuport 28 has a complex and confusing history. It was acquired in 1986 from Cole Palen, founder and operator of the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome. He flew the aircraft regularly in his air shows from 1958 to 1972. Immediately before its transfer to NASM, the airplane was on loan from Palen to the Intrepid Sea/Air/Space Museum in New York.
Upon close inspection, it became clear that the NASM aircraft is a composite of several different Nieuport 28s. The various components had been owned by a number of different people and used in a variety of capacities over a long period of time. As a result, the pieces have been shuffled around a lot and re-built many times. A large number of parts were not original and in many cases the replacement parts were not prepared to original specification. As a result, a serious investigation of the history of the NASM airframe was undertaken to determine as near as possible the provenance of the museum's Nieuport 28.
When it was acquired a number of erroneous assumptions were passed on, probably uncorroborated stories from Cole Palen. Initially the aircraft was believed to have been a war-time product and that it flew with the U.S. Air Service in World War I. Additionally, it was purported to have been one of the twelve U.S. Navy Nieuports tested in 1919-1921, that it was used in the Hollywood epic "Dawn Patrol," and that Howard Hughes had owned it at one point. Painstaking research has demonstrated that nearly all of these assumptions were untrue.
To determine the actual history of the NASM Nieuport, the logical place to begin was with the numbers and markings on the airframe. There are five different serial numbers on the airplane. The fuselage number on the firewall is 6497. The upper wings have a manufacturing date of February 1919 with serial numbers 7103 (left panel) and 7226 (right panel). The lower left wing panel is marked as having been fabricated in November 1918 with serial number 6465. The lower right was made in October 1918 with serial number 6432.
The first obvious conclusion drawn from these data was that the NASM Nieuport 28 is essentially a postwar product. The lower wing panels were made at the very end of the war, which concluded on November 11, 1918. The fuselage serial number being higher than the lower wing numbers dates it as very late 1918 or very early 1919. The upper wings are dated 1919. Therefore, the NASM aircraft could not have been a war veteran. Further, given the late production dates, it can be concluded that the NASM aircraft must be a modified and improved postwar version of the Nieuport 28C.1, sometimes referred to as a Nieuport 28A.
A third conclusion drawn from the serial numbers was that the components are probably from at least five different aircraft. This is not necessarily so, as wing panels, tail units, fuselages, etc., were assembled from production line manufacture. Nevertheless, given that the serial numbers are so far apart, it is hard to believe that all the present components represent one original aircraft. The upper and lower wing sets could have been originally paired together as their respective numbers are relatively close together. But the 6400 series serial numbered wings and 7000 series numbered wings were unlikely to have been on the same airframe when the airplane first left the factory. Moreover, the NASM airplane, on at least one occasion, probably more, was put together from "best available components" from a collection of Nieuport 28 airframes. The most reasonable interpretation based on the evidence is that the NASM Nieuport 28 is not a documented single airframe with a continuous history. It is an amalgam of component parts of several aircraft brought together many years after their original individual manufacture.
Certain that the NASM aircraft is not a war-time Nieuport, the next step was to try to determine its provenance in post-war U.S. military service. Research at the National Archives unearthed the twelve serial numbers of the aircraft tested by the U.S. Navy. None of the five numbers on the NASM Nieuport matches any of those of the Navy airplanes, definitively dispelling the belief that the aircraft was in that group. The lack of evidence on the airframe of the exclusively Navy modifications also supports the view that NASM's is not one of the twelve Navy Nieuports.
Further research demonstrated that seventy-six other Nieuport 28s were operated by the U.S. Army at various bases and fields around the country such as McCook, Mitchel, and Bolling Fields. A reasonable conclusion is that the NASM aircraft was at one of these Army facilities in the early 1920s before the airplane, as a complete airframe or component parts, found its way into private hands. Unfortunately, no records have thus far been found that place the NASM Nieuport 28, or any of its components, at any particular U.S. military post.
After the U.S. military disposed of the Nieuport 28s in its inventory in the mid-to-late-1920s, tracing more than a few of them becomes extremely difficult. Those that were not destroyed in accidents or simply junked were surplused on the open market. Private individuals scarfed them up, re-built and modified them, and used them in a wide variety of private and commercial ventures. Some were converted into air racers. Some were used in Hollywood films. Still others became air show performers and the like. Details on any particular Nieuports used in these capacities remain all but impossible to come by.
What of the claim that the NASM aircraft participated in the making of the two Dawn Patrol films? Four original Nieuport 28s were acquired by Garland Lincoln, a war-time U.S. Air Service instructor and movie stunt pilot, for the 1930 production of Dawn Patrol. The airplanes did not fly in the film, they were only run up and taxied. Some have argued that the NASM aircraft is one of these four. At best, this can only be said of the fuselage. Several famous photographs from the production show a line-up of the four Nieuports. All four Dawn Patrol Nieuports had their wings shortened by several feet. This is quite clear in the photographs. The NASM airplane has full-span wings, at least proving that the NASM wing set was not part of any of the Dawn Patrol aircraft. The fuselage of the Nieuport is probably from one of the four Garland Lincoln airplanes used in the film. The next phase of the story points in that direction.
At this point, the trail of the NASM Nieuport begins to emerge, faintly. Garland Lincoln sold his entire stable of airplanes, including the four original Nieuports, to Paramount Pictures in 1938. In 1941, Paramount sold the lot to United Air Services, a firm owned by movie stunt pilot, Paul Mantz, and which in 1946 became Paul Mantz Air Services. None of the Nieuport 28 airplanes that Mantz had acquired was in flying condition. Photographs taken by Don Brady in the mid-1950s at Orange County Airport show these airplanes to be disassembled and derelict. Beyond the four clipped-wing Nieuports first sold by Garland Lincoln to Paramount in 1938, Mantz apparently acquired at least one other set of original Nieuport 28 wings at some time before the parts were photographed by Brady at Orange County in the 1950s.
In 1957, Paul Mantz traded one Nieuport 28 to James H. "Cole" Palen of the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, Rhinebeck, New York, for a Standard J-1. (Mantz later added approximately $200 to the trade to compensate for the Nieuport 28 being in poorer condition than the Standard J-1.) The fact that Palen's Nieuport, i.e., the NASM airplane, has full-span wings supports the belief that Mantz must have acquired more Nieuport 28 parts beyond the four clipped-wing airplanes that were in the original "Dawn Patrol" movie. Palen apparently selected the "best components" of those stored at Orange County airport to complete one aircraft. Cole Palen died in 1993, and some years earlier his home burned, destroying all his records. To confirm anything regarding his transaction with Mantz is now impossible.
The provenance of the NASM Nieuport 28 from this point on is clear. Palen completed the restoration of the aircraft to flying condition in 1958 and flew it regularly at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, and at other special shows elsewhere, until he retired the airplane in 1972. It was on display at Rhinebeck for several years before being lent to the Intrepid Air/Sea/Space Museum. It was on display there until 1986 when the Nieuport was traded to NASM for an original Nieuport 10 trainer, and transported directly from the Intrepid to the museum.
This brings us back to the original question: What is the history of the NASM Nieuport 28? Based on the foregoing research, the best interpretation is that it is an assemblage of components of various aircraft that were all manufactured at the very end or soon after World War I, which almost certainly means that they were originally Nieuport 28 "type A" rather than standard 28C.1 parts. The components undoubtedly emanated from the seventy-six Nieuport 28s operated by the U.S. Army at numerous installations in the 1920s. Without serial numbers by location for these aircraft, it is impossible to place any of the NASM components at any specific military airfield. The period between disposal by the military and acquisition by Paul Mantz is extremely sketchy. For the most part, it can only be determined what the NASM aircraft is not, rather than what it is (e.g., that it is not one of the twelve Navy aircraft, that its wings are not from any of the four Garland Lincoln Nieuports, etc.).
Regarding the origin of the NASM Nieuport 28, all that can be said with certainty is that the airplane comprises original components that can be narrowed down only to the seventy-six post-war U.S. Army Nieuports. The circumstantial evidence that Palen received Nieuport parts from Mantz, who obtained Nieuport parts from Lincoln, tantalizingly suggests that the NASM fuselage could be from one of the Dawn Patrol aircraft. The evidence cannot support anything more definitive.
In light of the vague provenance of the NASM Nieuport, some considered judgement was required concerning the final configuration and markings of the aircraft when it was restored by the museum. One obvious possibility would have been to restore the aircraft closest to what the documentation suggests the parts represent, namely a post-war U.S. Army experimental/training aircraft. Despite the apparent common sense to that approach, there were several strong reasons not to take this route. First, there are no clues indicating at which Army installation the NASM Nieuport operated, not even a single component of the airframe. It would not only have been a pure guess which airplane it is, but total conjecture even with which airfield it was associated. Further, details on the markings of only a handful of the Army post-war aircraft exist. Painting it as one of these would only in the most remote sense represent the correct aircraft. Moreover, the Nieuport 28 type is in the national collection primarily because of its place in U.S. air operations during World War I, not because of its minor role as a post-war trainer.
Configuring it as a U.S. Navy aircraft, with the unique modifications of that use of the Nieuport 28, would have been interesting. But as it was known definitively that the NASM aircraft is not one of the Navy airplanes, and that only twelve were employed in this specialized role over a short period of time, to follow this course seemed inappropriate. For similar reasons, restoring it as one of the movie airplanes did not make sense. At best, only the fuselage of the NASM Nieuport 28 can be linked to any of the film work, and that only circumstantially. More significantly, movies represent only a small part of the Nieuport 28's history. Further, the movie Nieuports only were run up on the ground; they never actually flew in the films.
This presented the final option, which was taken: configuring the airplane as one of the war-time U.S. Air Service Nieuport 28s. Even though the NASM Nieuport is certainly not a war veteran because it was manufactured after the United States ceased to use them in combat, the best alternative was to configure the airplane in this fashion. As noted above, the main reason for inclusion of a Nieuport 28 in the NASM collection is to document the aircraft type first used by organized American units under American colors in combat. Because the history of the NASM Nieuport cannot be documented with any specificity, and certain configurations can be ruled out, the most reasonable approach was to represent the aircraft in accordance with the justified rationale for bringing it into the collection. Therefore, it was restored to a 28C.1 configuration and painted and marked as a U.S. Air Service combat Nieuport.
The particular Nieuport 28C.1 that the museum chose to represent was that of First Lieutenant James A. Meissner of the 94th Aero Squadron, U.S.A.S., a/c serial number 6144. This aircraft was chosen, rather than one of the more famous ones such as Eddie Rickenbacker's, Douglas Campbell's or Alan Winslow's, because it is representative of the famous "hat-in-the-ring" 94th Aero Squadron without misleading museum visitors into thinking that the NASM aircraft is actually one of the especially well-known American Nieuport 28s. Furthermore, Meissner's number 6144 has an interesting history in its own right.
On two occasions, with Meissner at the controls, 6144 experienced the infamous wing failure in a dive associated with the Nieuport 28. He landed safely both times. Meissner went on to command the 147th Aero Squadron. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross with Oak Leaf Clusters and the Croix de Guerre. He scored a total of 5 2/3 victories while flying with the 94th and the 147th. (Meissner is often credited with eight victories, but in 1969, the U.S. Air Force divided the credit of shared victories among all the pilots involved. Before this, each was given full credit for the victory in their totals. Having several shared victories, Meissner's official tally was reduced accordingly.) He survived the war, leaving the Air Service in 1919. Meissner's aircraft carried the standard factory-applied French camouflage, the famous "hat-in-the-ring" insignia, and standard U.S. wing and tail markings of the period, making it especially representative of the way American Nieuport 28s appeared when flown in the first U.S. air combat operations.
On two occasions, 6144 experienced the infamous structural failure of the wings in a dive associated with the Nieuport 28. Meissner landed his aircraft safely both times. Meissner later commanded the 147th Aero Squadron, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and Croix de Guerre, and was credited with a total of eight victories, flying with both the 94th and the 147th. He survived the war, leaving the Air Service in 1919. Meissner's aircraft carried the standard factory-applied French camouflage, the famous "hat-in-the-ring" insignia, and standard U.S. wing and tail markings of the period. It thus well represents the way American Nieuport 28s appeared when flown in the first U.S. air combat operations.
The airplane is painted as Meissner's appeared after May 10, 1918, after repairs from the first wing fabric shedding incident. Before this date, Meissner's Nieuport carried a black, or possibly red, number "14" on the fuselage sides and probably on the wings. He shot down one enemy aircraft with the airplane so marked, for which he was awarded the DSC. After May 10, the "14" on the fuselage was replaced with a white "8" with a thin black outline. A white "8" (with no black outline) also was applied to the top of the upper left wing of Meissner's 6144 upon repairing and re-numbering the airplane. Marked as number "8," Meissner shot down three more enemy aircraft in 6144 and experienced a second wing structure failure. Number "8" was chosen because more photographs exist of 6144 as number "8" and because it flew longer with this marking.
The Arado Ar 234 B Blitz (Lightning) was the world's first operational jet bomber and reconnaissance aircraft. Two Junkers Jumo 004 B turbojets powered this clean, graceful design. Speed made the Blitz virtually immune to attacks from piston-engined Allied fighters. The jet's maximum velocity topped 735 kph (456 mph). Although overshadowed by the more famous Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter, the relatively few Ar 234s that reached Luftwaffe units before the end of the German surrender provided excellent (if ultimately futile) service, particularly as reconnaissance aircraft.
Development of the Ar 234 began in 1940. The German Aviation Ministry issued an order to Dr. Walter Blume, technical director of the state-owned Arado concern, to design and build a reconnaissance aircraft propelled by the turbojet engines then under development by BMW and Junkers. Rüdiger Kosin led the design team. Largely free from Air Ministry interference, Kosin created a high-wing monoplane with two turbojet engines mounted in nacelles under the wings. The rear fuselage contained two downward-looking recon-
naissance cameras. To reduce weight and free space for larger fuselage fuel tanks, the initial prototype series dispensed with a conventional landing gear in favor of retractable skids mounted beneath the fuselage and nacelles. The airplane would taxi and takeoff atop a wheeled trolley that the pilot jettisoned as the jet left the runway. Ground crews recovered the trolley and refurbished it for the next flight.
Engine problems repeatedly slowed flight testing the first Ar 234. BMW and Junkers both experienced trouble building jet engines in quantities sufficient for both the Me 262 and
Ar 234 programs. Although Arado completed the Ar 234 V1 airframe in late 1942, the Messerschmitt aircraft took priority and claimed the trickle of flight-ready engines that Junkers managed to turn out. Consequently, the Ar 234 V1 did not fly until July 30, 1943.
Before it flew, the Air Ministry directed Arado to redesign the landing gear and give the jet a bombing capability. Kosin and his team enlarged the fuselage slightly to accommodate a conventional tricycle landing gear and added a semi-recessed bomb bay under the fuselage. To allow the pilot to act as a bombardier, Kosin mounted a Lotfe 7K bombsight in the fuselage floor ahead of the control column, which the pilot swung out of his way to use the sight. A Patin PDS autopilot guided the aircraft during the bombing run. The pilot-bombardier used another periscope sight during shallow-angle, glide bombing.
The first prototype for the revised design, designated Ar 234 V9, flew on March 12, 1944. The bomber version, designated Ar 234 B-0, became the first subtype built in quantity. The Air Ministry ordered 200 Ar 234 Bs and Arado built them at a new Luftwaffe airfield factory at Alt Lönnewitz in Saxony. The factory finished and delivered all 200 airplanes by the end of December 1944 but managed to roll out another 20 by war's end. The initial order had called for two versions of the Ar 234 B: the B-1 reconnaissance aircraft and the B-2 bomber but Arado built only the B-2 version. The company converted B-2 airframes into reconnaissance aircraft.
Plans called for more advanced versions of the Arado jet, including the Ar 234 C powered by four BMW 003 A-1 engines and fitted with a pressurized cockpit. Subvariants of the "C" model included the C-3 multi-role aircraft and the C-3N two-seat nightfighter. However, only 14 Ar 234 Cs left the Arado factory before Soviet forces overran the area. The four-engine Ar 234 was, however, the fastest jet aircraft of World War II. Prototypes for the more advanced Ar 234 D reconnaissance aircraft and bomber with provision for a second crewman were under construction but not completed at war's end.
A Luftwaffe pilot flew the first Ar 234 combat mission on August 2, 1944, when Erich Sommer piloted the V5 prototype on a reconnaissance sortie over the Allied beachhead in Normandy. He encountered no opposition. During his two-hour flight, Sommer gathered more useful intelligence than the Luftwaffe obtained during the previous two months. Virtually immune to interception, the Ar 234 continued to provide the German High Command with valuable reconnaissance until nearly the end of the war. The intelligence gathered, however, allowed German military planners to do little more than delay inevitable defeat.
Only one Luftwaffe unit, KG 76 (Kampfgeschwader or Bomber Wing 76), was equipped with Ar 234 bombers before Germany's surrender. As the production of the Ar 234 B-2 increased in tempo during fall 1944, the unit received its first aircraft and began training at Burg bei Magdeburg. The unit flew its first operations during December 1944 in support of the Ardennes Offensive. Typical missions consisted of pinprick attacks conducted by less than 20 aircraft, each carrying a single 500 kg (1,100 lb.) bomb. The unit participated in the desperate attacks against the Allied bridgehead over the Rhine at Remagen during mid-March 1945, but failed to drop the Ludendorff railway bridge and suffered a number of losses to anti-aircraft fire. The deteriorating war situation, coupled with shortages of fuel and spare parts, prevented KG 76 from flying more than a handful of sorties from late March to the end of the war. The unit conducted its last missions against Soviet forces encircling Berlin during the final days of April. During the first week of May the unit's few surviving aircraft were either dispersed to airfields still in German hands or destroyed to prevent their capture.
The National Air and Space Museum's Blitz, an Arado Ar 234 B-2 bomber carrying Werk Nummer (manufacturer's serial number) 140312, was one of nine Ar 234s surrendered to British forces at Sola airfield near Stavanger, Norway. It is the sole surviving example of an Ar 234. The aircraft had been on strength with 9./KG 76 (Ninth Squadron/ bomber Wing 76) during the final weeks of the war, having served earlier with the unit's eighth squadron. It and three other Ar 234s were collected by the famous "Watson's Whizzers" group of the USAAF (United States Army Air Forces) for shipment to the United States. After flying from Sola to Cherbourg, France on June 24, 1945, the four Ar 234s joined thirty-four other advanced German aircraft aboard the British aircraft carrier HMS Reaper for shipment to the United States. The Reaper departed from Cherbourg on July 20, arriving at Newark, New Jersey eight days later. U. S. Army Air Forces personnel reassembled and flew two Ar 234s, including 140312, to Freeman Field, Indiana, for testing and evaluation. The USAAF assigned the foreign equipment number FE-1010 to this Ar 234 for inventory and tracking purposes.
After receiving new engines and replacement radio and oxygen equipment, FE-1010 was flown to Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, in July 1946 and transferred to the Accelerated Service Test Maintenance Section (ASTMS) of the Flight Test Division. After flight-testing was completed on October 16, 1946, the aircraft remained at Wright field until 1947, when it was moved to Orchard Place Airport, Park Ridge, Illinois. On May 1, 1949, the USAF (United States Air Force after 1947) transferred the Ar 234 and other aircraft at Park Ridge to the Smithsonian Institution. During the early 1950s, the airplanes were finally moved to a new Smithsonian storage facility at Suitland, Maryland to await restoration.
Restoration of the NASM Ar 234 began during 1984 and was completed in February 1989. Because all of the original German paint was stripped off the airframe before the aircraft's transfer to the Smithsonian, restoration specialists applied markings of a typical aircraft of 8./KG 76, the first bomber unit to fly the Blitz. The museum displayed the aircraft during 1993 in the main museum building downtown as part of an exhibit titled "Wonder Weapon? The Arado Ar 234." It is currently in storage at the Paul E. Garber Restoration and Storage Facility awaiting the completion of the museum's new Dulles Center.
Vought-Sikorsky Aircraft Division's OS2U Kingfisher was the U. S. Navy's primary ship-based, scout and observation airplane during World War II. Rex Beisel, a design engineer at Vought-Sikorsky Aircraft Company, crafted the OS2U in 1937. Beisel also designed the Vought F4U Corsair fighter (see NASM collection). Beisel's Navy scout was a two-seat monoplane that employed revolutionary spot welding construction to create a smooth, non-buckling fuselage structure. He also used old technology to save weight and increase performance when he covered the wings with fabric aft of the main spar. The Kingfisher handled well in slow flight, thanks to several innovative control features. In addition to the deflector plate flaps that hung from the trailing edge of the wing, the ailerons also drooped at low airspeeds to function much like extra flaps. Beisel also incorporated spoilers to supplement aileron control at low speeds.
The Kingfisher could carry a respectable load. For antisubmarine work, ordnance men could suspend two 45 kg (100 lb) bombs or two 146 kg (325 lb) depth charges. A fixed .30 caliber machine gun was mounted in front of the pilot to fire forward. A gunner seated several feet behind the pilot fired another .30 caliber machine gun on a flexible mount.
The Navy contracted for the prototype XOS2U-1 on March 22, 1937, and this airplane first flew in July 1938, equipped with an air-cooled Pratt & Whitney R-985-4 Wasp Junior radial engine. The first production Kingfisher, the OS2U-1, was delivered early in 1940 and assigned to the battleship "USS Colorado." Fifty-four OS2U-1s soon followed. By early 1941, Vought had built 159 OS2U-2s and the Navy had stationed these airplanes at Naval Air Stations in Pensacola, Florida, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and Alameda, California. The next version, the OS2U-3, was fitted with a Pratt & Whitney R-985-AN-2 or -8 engine. This aircraft had more fuel capacity in self-sealing fuel tanks and armor protection for the crew. This was the last production model and Vought built more of them than any other variant. The Naval Aircraft Factory outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, also manufactured the Kingfisher under the designation OS2N-1. All production ended in 1942.
Under the Lend-Lease program, the United States sent many Kingfishers to Great Britain where they served in the Royal Navy as the Kingfisher I. Other countries received Kingfishers both during and after the war including Australia, the Soviet Union, Uruguay, Chile, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Cuba.
The Kingfisher could perform a variety of tasks - training, scouting, bombing, tactical and utility missions such as towing aerial gunnery targets and chasing practice torpedoes, and even anti-submarine warfare in the Atlantic Ocean. Most OS2Us operated in the Pacific Theater where Kingfisher pilots rescued many downed airmen.
In 1942, a Navy pilot flying a Kingfisher rescued America's World War I ace, Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, and the crew of a B-17D Flying Fortress (see NASM collection) forced to ditch in the Pacific. With Rickenbacker and two other passengers, the bomber and its five-man crew had left Hickam Field, Hawaii, bound for Canton Island in the Phoenix Islands group, 2,898 km (1,800 miles) southwest of Hawaii. The Flying Fortress wandered off course and the crew got lost. When the aircraft eventually ran out of fuel and ditched, the eight survivors put to sea aboard three life rafts. Several weeks passed without food or water. By chance, a Kingfisher crewed by Lt. Willam F. Eadie, pilot, and L.H. Boutte, radioman, spotted the raft carrying Rickenbacker and two other crewmen. Eadie strapped the sickest man into the gunner's seat, and then he lashed Rickenbacker and another man to each wing. A Kingfisher could never take off with such a load, so Eadie began to taxi toward his base on Funafuti Island, about 64.4 km (40 miles) distant. Soon a Navy Patrol Torpedo boat met the airplane and the other five men were soon rescued. Only one of the eight failed to recover from the long ordeal.
The U.S. Navy accepted the museum's Kingfisher, OS2U-3 (Bureau of Aeronautics serial number 5909), on March 15, 1942. In April it left Naval Air Station (NAS), New York and arrived at NAS Norfolk. The following month, it was assigned to the recently commissioned battleship "USS Indiana." After the Indiana arrived in the Pacific, Navy pilots flying this OS2U performed a variety of missions including bombing, utility, and administrative chores at many locations. In December 1942, Navy planners assigned the airplane to the Com F Air scouting squadron VS-5-D-14 (later designated VS-55) at White Poppy, a codename for New Caledonia. Following a six-month stay in the fall of 1943 at NAS Alameda, California, for overhaul, and to receive new combat equipment, the aircraft was shipped to Pearl Harbor and rejoined the "Indiana" in March 1944. This Kingfisher had now flown for 957 hours, 300 of them aboard the "Indiana."
On July 4, 1944, "Indiana" was underway near Rota and Guam to support naval air strikes on those two islands. Lt. jg. Rollin M. Batten, Jr., was flying the NASM OS2U-3 when he was vectored to rescue two U. S. airmen shot down over Guam. Accompanying Batten was Lt. jg. Jensen. Ignoring the fire from nearby Japanese gun batteries, Batten picked both men up and returned them to the "Indiana." This rescue earned Batten the Navy Cross. The award citation reads, in part, "With utter disregard for his own safety, he fearlessly brought his plane down within a mile of many shore batteries, and, in the face of an intense barrage directed at him by the enemy guns, proceeded calmly and deliberately to rescue a downed pilot and his crewman who were swimming in the water and also under enemy gunfire. His intelligent and courageous appraisal of the situation was responsible for the successful rescue, after which he took off cross-wind with the additional load, under extremely difficult circumstances."
By August, this Kingfisher was flying in the Carrier Aircraft Service Unit-34, or CASU-34. This was its last Pacific assignment and the Navy shipped it to NAF Alameda aboard the USS "Bougainville" in December 1944. After six months at Alameda, the Navy shipped the floatplane back to NAS Norfolk. It flew very little and underwent a variety of overhauls and inspections before Navy personnel finally processed the airplane for storage in the spring of 1947. A year later, Kingfisher 5909 was earmarked for the National Air Museum (NAM, now NASM, the National Air and Space Museum). It was prepared for "flyaway to NAS Weeksville (Elizabeth City, North Carolina) for storage until such time as called for by the proposed NAM." However, in January 1949, it returned to NAS Norfolk and remained stored there until the summer of 1960.
In October, the Navy transferred the OS2U to the NAM and it was trucked to what is now the Paul E. Garber Facility in Suitland, Maryland. The Museum lent the aircraft to the USS Massachusetts Memorial at Battleship Cove, Massachusetts, in July 1968 and the Kingfisher returned to the Garber Facility in December 1980. A full-up restoration began in November 1983 and was completed in April 1988. Many components were discovered missing and proved difficult to find during the project. Edward Good of St. Petersburg, Florida, donated the main float and beaching gear and Doan Helicopters Inc., of South Daytona Beach, Florida, provided the wing floats.
No reconnaissance aircraft in history has operated in more hostile airspace or with such complete impunity than the SR-71 Blackbird. It is the fastest aircraft propelled by air-breathing engines. The Blackbird's performance and operational achievements placed it at the pinnacle of aviation technology developments during the Cold War. The airplane was conceived when tensions with communist Eastern Europe reached levels approaching a full-blown crisis in the mid-1950s. U.S. military commanders desperately needed accurate assessments of Soviet worldwide military deployments, particularly near the Iron Curtain. Lockheed Aircraft Corporation's subsonic U-2 (see NASM collection) reconnaissance aircraft was an able platform but the U. S. Air Force recognized that this relatively slow aircraft was already vulnerable to Soviet interceptors. They also understood that the rapid development of surface-to-air missile systems could put U-2 pilots at grave risk. The danger proved reality when a U-2 was shot down by a surface to air missile over the Soviet Union in 1960.
Lockheed's first proposal for a new high speed, high altitude, reconnaissance aircraft, to be capable of avoiding interceptors and missiles, centered on a design propelled by liquid hydrogen. This proved to be impracticable because of considerable fuel consumption. Lockheed then reconfigured the design for conventional fuels. This was feasible and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), already flying the Lockheed U-2, issued a production contract for an aircraft designated the A-12. Lockheed's clandestine 'Skunk Works' division (headed by the gifted design engineer Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson) designed the A-12 to cruise at Mach 3.2 and fly well above 18,288 m (60,000 feet). To meet these challenging requirements, Lockheed engineers overcame many daunting technical challenges. Flying more than three times the speed of sound generates 316° C (600° F) temperatures on external aircraft surfaces, which are enough to melt conventional aluminum airframes. The design team chose to make the jet's external skin of titanium alloy to which shielded the internal aluminum airframe. Two conventional, but very powerful, afterburning turbine engines propelled this remarkable aircraft. These power plants had to operate across a huge speed envelope in flight, from a takeoff speed of 334 kph (207 mph) to more than 3,540 kph (2,200 mph). To prevent supersonic shock waves from moving inside the engine intake causing flameouts, Johnson's team had to design a complex air intake and bypass system for the engines.
Skunk Works engineers also optimized the A-12 cross-section design to exhibit a low radar profile. Lockheed hoped to achieve this by carefully shaping the airframe to reflect as little transmitted radar energy (radio waves) as possible, and by application of special paint designed to absorb, rather than reflect, those waves. This treatment became one of the first applications of stealth technology, but it never completely met the design goals.
Test pilot Lou Schalk flew the single-seat A-12 on April 24, 1962, after he became airborne accidentally during high-speed taxi trials. The airplane showed great promise but it needed considerable technical refinement before the CIA could fly the first operational sortie on May 31, 1967 - a surveillance flight over North Vietnam. A-12s, flown by CIA pilots, operated as part of the Air Force's 1129th Special Activities Squadron under the "Oxcart" program. While Lockheed continued to refine the A-12, the U. S. Air Force ordered an interceptor version of the aircraft designated the YF-12A. The Skunk Works, however, proposed a "specific mission" version configured to conduct post-nuclear strike reconnaissance. This system evolved into the USAF's familiar SR-71.
Lockheed built fifteen A-12s, including a special two-seat trainer version. Two A-12s were modified to carry a special reconnaissance drone, designated D-21. The modified A-12s were redesignated M-21s. These were designed to take off with the D-21 drone, powered by a Marquart ramjet engine mounted on a pylon between the rudders. The M-21 then hauled the drone aloft and launched it at speeds high enough to ignite the drone's ramjet motor. Lockheed also built three YF-12As but this type never went into production. Two of the YF-12As crashed during testing. Only one survives and is on display at the USAF Museum in Dayton, Ohio. The aft section of one of the "written off" YF-12As which was later used along with an SR-71A static test airframe to manufacture the sole SR-71C trainer. One SR-71 was lent to NASA and designated YF-12C. Including the SR-71C and two SR-71B pilot trainers, Lockheed constructed thirty-two Blackbirds. The first SR-71 flew on December 22, 1964. Because of extreme operational costs, military strategists decided that the more capable USAF SR-71s should replace the CIA's A-12s. These were retired in 1968 after only one year of operational missions, mostly over southeast Asia. The Air Force's 1st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron (part of the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing) took over the missions, flying the SR-71 beginning in the spring of 1968.
After the Air Force began to operate the SR-71, it acquired the official name Blackbird-- for the special black paint that covered the airplane. This paint was formulated to absorb radar signals, to radiate some of the tremendous airframe heat generated by air friction, and to camouflage the aircraft against the dark sky at high altitudes.
Experience gained from the A-12 program convinced the Air Force that flying the SR-71 safely required two crew members, a pilot and a Reconnaissance Systems Officer (RSO). The RSO operated with the wide array of monitoring and defensive systems installed on the airplane. This equipment included a sophisticated Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) system that could jam most acquisition and targeting radar. In addition to an array of advanced, high-resolution cameras, the aircraft could also carry equipment designed to record the strength, frequency, and wavelength of signals emitted by communications and sensor devices such as radar. The SR-71 was designed to fly deep into hostile territory, avoiding interception with its tremendous speed and high altitude. It could operate safely at a maximum speed of Mach 3.3 at an altitude more than sixteen miles, or 25,908 m (85,000 ft), above the earth. The crew had to wear pressure suits similar to those worn by astronauts. These suits were required to protect the crew in the event of sudden cabin pressure loss while at operating altitudes.
To climb and cruise at supersonic speeds, the Blackbird's Pratt & Whitney J-58 engines were designed to operate continuously in afterburner. While this would appear to dictate high fuel flows, the Blackbird actually achieved its best "gas mileage," in terms of air nautical miles per pound of fuel burned, during the Mach 3+ cruise. A typical Blackbird reconnaissance flight might require several aerial refueling operations from an airborne tanker. Each time the SR-71 refueled, the crew had to descend to the tanker's altitude, usually about 6,000 m to 9,000 m (20,000 to 30,000 ft), and slow the airplane to subsonic speeds. As velocity decreased, so did frictional heat. This cooling effect caused the aircraft's skin panels to shrink considerably, and those covering the fuel tanks contracted so much that fuel leaked, forming a distinctive vapor trail as the tanker topped off the Blackbird. As soon as the tanks were filled, the jet's crew disconnected from the tanker, relit the afterburners, and again climbed to high altitude.
Air Force pilots flew the SR-71 from Kadena AB, Japan, throughout its operational career but other bases hosted Blackbird operations, too. The 9th SRW occasionally deployed from Beale AFB, California, to other locations to carryout operational missions. Cuban missions were flown directly from Beale. The SR-71 did not begin to operate in Europe until 1974, and then only temporarily. In 1982, when the U.S. Air Force based two aircraft at Royal Air Force Base Mildenhall to fly monitoring mission in Eastern Europe.
When the SR-71 became operational, orbiting reconnaissance satellites had already replaced manned aircraft to gather intelligence from sites deep within Soviet territory. Satellites could not cover every geopolitical hotspot so the Blackbird remained a vital tool for global intelligence gathering. On many occasions, pilots and RSOs flying the SR-71 provided information that proved vital in formulating successful U. S. foreign policy. Blackbird crews provided important intelligence about the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and its aftermath, and pre- and post-strike imagery of the 1986 raid conducted by American air forces on Libya. In 1987, Kadena-based SR-71 crews flew a number of missions over the Persian Gulf, revealing Iranian Silkworm missile batteries that threatened commercial shipping and American escort vessels.
As the performance of space-based surveillance systems grew, along with the effectiveness of ground-based air defense networks, the Air Force started to lose enthusiasm for the expensive program and the 9th SRW ceased SR-71 operations in January 1990. Despite protests by military leaders, Congress revived the program in 1995. Continued wrangling over operating budgets, however, soon led to final termination. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration retained two SR-71As and the one SR-71B for high-speed research projects and flew these airplanes until 1999.
On March 6, 1990, the service career of one Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird ended with a record-setting flight. This special airplane bore Air Force serial number 64-17972. Lt. Col. Ed Yeilding and his RSO, Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Vida, flew this aircraft from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. in 1 hour, 4 minutes, and 20 seconds, averaging a speed of 3,418 kph (2,124 mph). At the conclusion of the flight, '972 landed at Dulles International Airport and taxied into the custody of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. At that time, Lt. Col. Vida had logged 1,392.7 hours of flight time in Blackbirds, more than that of any other crewman.
This particular SR-71 was also flown by Tom Alison, a former National Air and Space Museum's Chief of Collections Management. Flying with Detachment 1 at Kadena Air Force Base, Okinawa, Alison logged more than a dozen '972 operational sorties. The aircraft spent twenty-four years in active Air Force service and accrued a total of 2,801.1 hours of flight time.
Wingspan: 55'7"
Length: 107'5"
Height: 18'6"
Weight: 170,000 Lbs
Reference and Further Reading:
Crickmore, Paul F. Lockheed SR-71: The Secret Missions Exposed. Oxford: Osprey
Publishing, 1996.
Francillon, Rene J. Lockheed Aircraft Since 1913. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1987.
Johnson, Clarence L. Kelly: More Than My Share of It All. Washington D.C.:
Smithsonian Institution Press, 1985.
Miller, Jay. Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works. Leicester, U.K.: Midland Counties
Publishing Ltd., 1995.
Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird curatorial file, Aeronautics Division, National Air and Space Museum.
The German Junkers company, based at Dessau, Saxony, had pioneered the use of metal, specifically an aluminum alloy, when in introduced the Junkers-F 13 in 1919. Marketing this monoplane aircraft, clearly superior to the wood-and-fabric, or metal frame-and-wood, mostly biplane, competition throughout Europe, was difficult, because of the severe restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles and the Peace Treaties that had settled the conditions of reparations forced on Germany after the Great War of 1914-18. By the end of the 1920s decade, however, the situation had eased. German aircraft manufacturers had evaded the restrictions by building in foreign countries, and normal industrial conditions returned to Germany so that the innovative aircraft manufacturers regcained momentum.
At Dessau, Junkers had already built several tri-motored transport aircraft and an enormous four-engined one, the G 38. Then, to begin the new decade, still using the same corrugated-skin structural technology, designer Ernst Zindel produced the Junkers-Ju 52. Which made its first flight on 11 September 1930. This was a single-engined aircraft, intended for hauling freight, and equipped with several large doors and a hatch in the roof. Its performance was impressive. In the winter of 1931, in Montreal, Canada, one took off, carrying almost four tons, in 17-1/2 seconds. But the world's depressed economy handicapped sales, and only seven Ju 52s were built.
In 1932, the German national airline, Deutsche Luft Hansa, had to transfer two Rohrbach Rolands to Deruluft, jointly-owned by Germany and the Soviet Union, to maintain an important air link between Berlin and Moscow. By this time, Andrei Tupolev's design team in Moscow had introduced the ANT-9, which, compared to the Fokker-Grulich and Dornier aircraft in the Deruluft fleet, appeared elegant and aerodynamically efficient. Furthermore the performance matched its looks, and with a demonstration flight through Europe in 1929, Mikhail Gromov had, in effect, put out a challenge to the German manufacturers.
Zindel responded by converting the Ju 52 to a tri-motor, with three 525 hp BMW (Pratt & Whitney-licensed) Hornet engines. It made its debut in 1932 and was destined to become one of the best-known European transport aircraft in history, and certainly the one produced in the greatest numbers. The Junkers-Ju 52/3m - to use the correct designation of the tri-motored version - carried up to 17 passengers, or about three tons of freight, and cruised at about 150 mph. Its best feature was its ability to take off from or land on almost any reasonably-sized field, even a football field.
As an airliner, it was used all over Europe, with seveeral national airlines. The German flag carrieer, Deutsche Luft Hansa (D.L.H.), had more than 200 of them, and such was its popularity among pilots that it was affectionately known as "Tante Ju," or "Auntie Ju" - rather as Americans referred to the Douglas DC-3 or C-47 as the "Gooney Bird." It was exported all over the world, seeing good service in many countries of South America, in China, and in South Africa.
As a military transport, it was a great work-horse. Of the estimated 4,835 built, 2,804 were for the Luftwaffe, for which it performed valiantly during the Second World War, as a troop carrier, bomber, and ambulance. Most spectacularly, an armada of Ju 52/3m's parachuted troops into Allied-held Crete, and 170 of the fleet of 493 were shot down. Soviet sources claim that 676 were shot down or destroyed in the unsuccessful attampt to relieve von Paulus's army trapped in Stalingrad. Many of these flew to the battle zone, loaded to the full with supplies, at the expense of the fuel needed to make the return flight.
Additional numbers of the "Tante Ju's" were produced in France under the Vichy Government, as the A.A.C.1, by the Ateliers Aéronautiques de Colombes, where construction continued after the war ended. The same occurred in Generalissimo Franco's Spain, as the CASA 352/3m, and these were produced until 1952, and used extensively by the Spanish Air Force. They were even used by the British, and when the war ended, were flown by British European Airways on Scotland Irish Sea. Services. The last flight by the pre-war D.L.H. Is believed to have been one from Oslo, Norway, to Aarhus, Denmark, on l5 May 1945. The floatplane version of the Ju 52/3m had maintained the essential communications service along the coast of Norway throughout the Second World War; and is believed to have continued for a few days after the termination of hostilities because no order came through telling that dismembered unit of D.L.H. to stop.
Rather like the indefatigable DC-3, quite a few Tante Ju's continued to keep flying after the end of the Second World War. But their fatality rate during the conflict had been harsh, and not many were left, except in foreign countries. The last one is believed to have been retired from commercial airline service in New Guinea during the late 1960s. A few are still to be seen flying today, notably one owned b y the present-day Lufthansa, which proudly maintains it in perfect flying condition for sight-seeing flights and air show demonstrations. The Swiss Air Force owns three at the Dubendorf airfield, near Zurich, and conducts sight-seeing flights to the Swiss Alps.
In 1987, arrangements were made with Lufthansa for a generous donation of a Junkers-Ju 52/3m to the National Air and Space Museum. The aircraft is a CASA-built one that was built in 1951/2, and sold in the mid-1970s to Fairoaks Aviation in England., where is was given limited exemption to fly, often for movie film work. It was sold to Lufthansa in 1987, and completely restored, overhauled, and refurbished at Hamburg, with the engines completely overhauled by B.M.W. in Munich. It was disassembled, shipped to Baltimore, and then road-hauled to Washington's Dulles Inteernational Airport, where it was re-assembled by Page Aviation. It is the only foreign-built transport aircraft in the NASM collection.
No reconnaissance aircraft in history has operated in more hostile airspace or with such complete impunity than the SR-71 Blackbird. It is the fastest aircraft propelled by air-breathing engines. The Blackbird's performance and operational achievements placed it at the pinnacle of aviation technology developments during the Cold War. The airplane was conceived when tensions with communist Eastern Europe reached levels approaching a full-blown crisis in the mid-1950s. U.S. military commanders desperately needed accurate assessments of Soviet worldwide military deployments, particularly near the Iron Curtain. Lockheed Aircraft Corporation's subsonic U-2 (see NASM collection) reconnaissance aircraft was an able platform but the U. S. Air Force recognized that this relatively slow aircraft was already vulnerable to Soviet interceptors. They also understood that the rapid development of surface-to-air missile systems could put U-2 pilots at grave risk. The danger proved reality when a U-2 was shot down by a surface to air missile over the Soviet Union in 1960.
Lockheed's first proposal for a new high speed, high altitude, reconnaissance aircraft, to be capable of avoiding interceptors and missiles, centered on a design propelled by liquid hydrogen. This proved to be impracticable because of considerable fuel consumption. Lockheed then reconfigured the design for conventional fuels. This was feasible and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), already flying the Lockheed U-2, issued a production contract for an aircraft designated the A-12. Lockheed's clandestine 'Skunk Works' division (headed by the gifted design engineer Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson) designed the A-12 to cruise at Mach 3.2 and fly well above 18,288 m (60,000 feet). To meet these challenging requirements, Lockheed engineers overcame many daunting technical challenges. Flying more than three times the speed of sound generates 316° C (600° F) temperatures on external aircraft surfaces, which are enough to melt conventional aluminum airframes. The design team chose to make the jet's external skin of titanium alloy to which shielded the internal aluminum airframe. Two conventional, but very powerful, afterburning turbine engines propelled this remarkable aircraft. These power plants had to operate across a huge speed envelope in flight, from a takeoff speed of 334 kph (207 mph) to more than 3,540 kph (2,200 mph). To prevent supersonic shock waves from moving inside the engine intake causing flameouts, Johnson's team had to design a complex air intake and bypass system for the engines.
Skunk Works engineers also optimized the A-12 cross-section design to exhibit a low radar profile. Lockheed hoped to achieve this by carefully shaping the airframe to reflect as little transmitted radar energy (radio waves) as possible, and by application of special paint designed to absorb, rather than reflect, those waves. This treatment became one of the first applications of stealth technology, but it never completely met the design goals.
Test pilot Lou Schalk flew the single-seat A-12 on April 24, 1962, after he became airborne accidentally during high-speed taxi trials. The airplane showed great promise but it needed considerable technical refinement before the CIA could fly the first operational sortie on May 31, 1967 - a surveillance flight over North Vietnam. A-12s, flown by CIA pilots, operated as part of the Air Force's 1129th Special Activities Squadron under the "Oxcart" program. While Lockheed continued to refine the A-12, the U. S. Air Force ordered an interceptor version of the aircraft designated the YF-12A. The Skunk Works, however, proposed a "specific mission" version configured to conduct post-nuclear strike reconnaissance. This system evolved into the USAF's familiar SR-71.
Lockheed built fifteen A-12s, including a special two-seat trainer version. Two A-12s were modified to carry a special reconnaissance drone, designated D-21. The modified A-12s were redesignated M-21s. These were designed to take off with the D-21 drone, powered by a Marquart ramjet engine mounted on a pylon between the rudders. The M-21 then hauled the drone aloft and launched it at speeds high enough to ignite the drone's ramjet motor. Lockheed also built three YF-12As but this type never went into production. Two of the YF-12As crashed during testing. Only one survives and is on display at the USAF Museum in Dayton, Ohio. The aft section of one of the "written off" YF-12As which was later used along with an SR-71A static test airframe to manufacture the sole SR-71C trainer. One SR-71 was lent to NASA and designated YF-12C. Including the SR-71C and two SR-71B pilot trainers, Lockheed constructed thirty-two Blackbirds. The first SR-71 flew on December 22, 1964. Because of extreme operational costs, military strategists decided that the more capable USAF SR-71s should replace the CIA's A-12s. These were retired in 1968 after only one year of operational missions, mostly over southeast Asia. The Air Force's 1st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron (part of the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing) took over the missions, flying the SR-71 beginning in the spring of 1968.
After the Air Force began to operate the SR-71, it acquired the official name Blackbird-- for the special black paint that covered the airplane. This paint was formulated to absorb radar signals, to radiate some of the tremendous airframe heat generated by air friction, and to camouflage the aircraft against the dark sky at high altitudes.
Experience gained from the A-12 program convinced the Air Force that flying the SR-71 safely required two crew members, a pilot and a Reconnaissance Systems Officer (RSO). The RSO operated with the wide array of monitoring and defensive systems installed on the airplane. This equipment included a sophisticated Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) system that could jam most acquisition and targeting radar. In addition to an array of advanced, high-resolution cameras, the aircraft could also carry equipment designed to record the strength, frequency, and wavelength of signals emitted by communications and sensor devices such as radar. The SR-71 was designed to fly deep into hostile territory, avoiding interception with its tremendous speed and high altitude. It could operate safely at a maximum speed of Mach 3.3 at an altitude more than sixteen miles, or 25,908 m (85,000 ft), above the earth. The crew had to wear pressure suits similar to those worn by astronauts. These suits were required to protect the crew in the event of sudden cabin pressure loss while at operating altitudes.
To climb and cruise at supersonic speeds, the Blackbird's Pratt & Whitney J-58 engines were designed to operate continuously in afterburner. While this would appear to dictate high fuel flows, the Blackbird actually achieved its best "gas mileage," in terms of air nautical miles per pound of fuel burned, during the Mach 3+ cruise. A typical Blackbird reconnaissance flight might require several aerial refueling operations from an airborne tanker. Each time the SR-71 refueled, the crew had to descend to the tanker's altitude, usually about 6,000 m to 9,000 m (20,000 to 30,000 ft), and slow the airplane to subsonic speeds. As velocity decreased, so did frictional heat. This cooling effect caused the aircraft's skin panels to shrink considerably, and those covering the fuel tanks contracted so much that fuel leaked, forming a distinctive vapor trail as the tanker topped off the Blackbird. As soon as the tanks were filled, the jet's crew disconnected from the tanker, relit the afterburners, and again climbed to high altitude.
Air Force pilots flew the SR-71 from Kadena AB, Japan, throughout its operational career but other bases hosted Blackbird operations, too. The 9th SRW occasionally deployed from Beale AFB, California, to other locations to carryout operational missions. Cuban missions were flown directly from Beale. The SR-71 did not begin to operate in Europe until 1974, and then only temporarily. In 1982, when the U.S. Air Force based two aircraft at Royal Air Force Base Mildenhall to fly monitoring mission in Eastern Europe.
When the SR-71 became operational, orbiting reconnaissance satellites had already replaced manned aircraft to gather intelligence from sites deep within Soviet territory. Satellites could not cover every geopolitical hotspot so the Blackbird remained a vital tool for global intelligence gathering. On many occasions, pilots and RSOs flying the SR-71 provided information that proved vital in formulating successful U. S. foreign policy. Blackbird crews provided important intelligence about the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and its aftermath, and pre- and post-strike imagery of the 1986 raid conducted by American air forces on Libya. In 1987, Kadena-based SR-71 crews flew a number of missions over the Persian Gulf, revealing Iranian Silkworm missile batteries that threatened commercial shipping and American escort vessels.
As the performance of space-based surveillance systems grew, along with the effectiveness of ground-based air defense networks, the Air Force started to lose enthusiasm for the expensive program and the 9th SRW ceased SR-71 operations in January 1990. Despite protests by military leaders, Congress revived the program in 1995. Continued wrangling over operating budgets, however, soon led to final termination. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration retained two SR-71As and the one SR-71B for high-speed research projects and flew these airplanes until 1999.
On March 6, 1990, the service career of one Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird ended with a record-setting flight. This special airplane bore Air Force serial number 64-17972. Lt. Col. Ed Yeilding and his RSO, Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Vida, flew this aircraft from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. in 1 hour, 4 minutes, and 20 seconds, averaging a speed of 3,418 kph (2,124 mph). At the conclusion of the flight, '972 landed at Dulles International Airport and taxied into the custody of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. At that time, Lt. Col. Vida had logged 1,392.7 hours of flight time in Blackbirds, more than that of any other crewman.
This particular SR-71 was also flown by Tom Alison, a former National Air and Space Museum's Chief of Collections Management. Flying with Detachment 1 at Kadena Air Force Base, Okinawa, Alison logged more than a dozen '972 operational sorties. The aircraft spent twenty-four years in active Air Force service and accrued a total of 2,801.1 hours of flight time.
Wingspan: 55'7"
Length: 107'5"
Height: 18'6"
Weight: 170,000 Lbs
Reference and Further Reading:
Crickmore, Paul F. Lockheed SR-71: The Secret Missions Exposed. Oxford: Osprey
Publishing, 1996.
Francillon, Rene J. Lockheed Aircraft Since 1913. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1987.
Johnson, Clarence L. Kelly: More Than My Share of It All. Washington D.C.:
Smithsonian Institution Press, 1985.
Miller, Jay. Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works. Leicester, U.K.: Midland Counties
Publishing Ltd., 1995.
Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird curatorial file, Aeronautics Division, National Air and Space Museum.
Thunderbolt: the dictionary defines it as "a flash of lightning accompanied by thunder" and it aptly describes the P-47 during World War II. Thunderbolt pilots flew into battle with the thundering roar of a 2000-horsepower radial engine and the deadly flash of eight .50 caliber machine guns. This combination of a robust, reliable engine and heavy armament made the Thunderbolt successful. U. S. Army Forces (AAF) commanders considered it one of the three premier American fighter aircraft, alongside the North American P-51 Mustang and the Lockheed P-38 Lightning (see NASM collection for both aircraft). In the history of aviation, Americans built more P-47s than any other American fighter airplane.
A design history of the Thunderbolt begins in 1935, when the predecessor to Republic Aviation, the Seversky Aircraft Corporation, won an Army Air Corps fighter design competition with an airplane designated the P-35. Alexander Kartveli, Seversky chief designer, used a distinctive semi-elliptical wing plan-form on the P-35 and all the models that followed including the P-47. Kartveli improved on the P-35 with incrementally more powerful engines equipped with superchargers and these airplanes were designated the XP-41 and the P-43 Lancer. The XP-47A was to have been another modest evolutionary step, but aerial combat reports coming back from Europe in 1940 indicated the need for a breakthrough design.
Republic proposed a fighter never seen before nor hardly imagined. It was to be the largest single-engine fighter airplane built and flown by any nation during World War II and Kartveli armed it with the heaviest armament of any fighter yet built, eight .50 caliber machine guns. The designer also proposed using the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 engine, the largest air-cooled radial available. To make the airplane as fast as possible at high altitude, Kartveli designed a turbo-supercharger system that fit inside the aft fuselage of the big fighter. This was a particularly complex design challenge. Because of the importance of smooth airflow inside several hundred feet of ducting that connected the supercharger, near the tail, with the engine in the nose, the turbo air duct system was designed first, and then the rest of the aircraft was made to fit around it. Ducting filled nearly the entire belly of the XP-47B. After the aircraft became operational and several crashes occurred, post-crash analysis revealed that these ducts formed a safety cushion between the pilot and the ground.
The Army was impressed with the new design and ordered 171 P-47Bs. On May 6, 1941, the XP-47B made its first flight but Republic needed nearly two more years of testing and refining before the Thunderbolt was ready for combat. Upon arrival in England in December 1942, pilots greeted the P-47 with mixed emotions. Many fighter pilots were accustomed to more nimble and lightweight fighters such as the Supermarine Spitfire, Hawker Hurricane. Pilots of the 4th Fighter Group, Eighth Air Force, first took the Thunderbolt into combat. The fighter weighed more than twice as much as the Spitfires many men had flown previously, so someone nicknamed the aircraft 'Juggernaut,' a fitting moniker that was soon shortened simply to the Jug.
Early combat sorties, first flown in April 1943, revealed that the Thunderbolt could out-dive all opposing fighters-a definite advantage in aerial combat. The P-47 could also absorb tremendous battle damage and continue to fly, and the eight .50 caliber machine guns that Kartveli installed gave it the greatest projectile throw-weight of any U. S. fighter that served in World War II, except for the Northrop P-61 Black Widow night fighter. However, initial operational experience revealed problems with the engine, radio, landing gear, range and rate of climb. The first three difficulties were soon sorted out but rate of climb was not dramatically improved until December when new broad-chord "paddle-blade" propellers. Range limitations plagued the P-47 as long as it served in the European Theater. In the Pacific, Republic solved the range problem when the firm introduced the P-47N in April 1945 with a completely redesigned wing that held more fuel. The 'N model could fly more than 3,220 km (2,000 miles) and escort Boeing B-29 Superfortresses (see NASM collection) attacking the Japanese home islands.
During the war, the P-47 underwent many other modifications to improve its combat efficiency. The P-47D model featured water injection to boost engine power, more powerful versions of the R-2800 engine, increased fuel capacity, and a "bubble" canopy for less-restricted visibility from the cockpit. Through Lend-Lease, 247 Jugs went to the British and 103 to the Soviet Union. The Brazilians flew the type in combat in the Italian Theater and in the Pacific, the Mexican 201st Fighter Squadron flies Thunderbolts in the Philippines.
Of the 15,683 P-47s built, about two-thirds reached overseas commands. A total of 5,222 were lost-1,723 in accidents not related to combat. The Jug flew more than half a million missions and dropped more than 132 thousand tons of bombs. Thunderbolts were lost at the exceptionally low rate of 0.7 per cent per mission and Jug pilots achieved an aerial kill ratio of 4.6:1. In the European Theater, P-47 pilots destroyed more than 7,000 enemy aircraft, more than half of them in air-to-air combat. They destroyed the remainder on very dangerous ground attack missions.
In fact, the Thunderbolt was probably the best ground-attack aircraft fielded by the United States. From D-Day, the invasion of Europe launched June 8, 1944, until VE day on May 7, 1945, pilots flying the Thunderbolt destroyed the following enemy equipment:
86,000 railway cars
9,000 locomotives
6,000 armored fighting vehicles
68,000 trucks
The last Jug left the Air National Guard in 1954, but many other countries operated them for some years after that.
The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) Thunderbolt is a P-47D-30-RA, Army Air Forces (AAF) serial number 44-32691. The AAF accepted it on October 27, 1944, and delivered the aircraft to Godman Field, Kentucky. The AAF operated the airplane on the U. S. East Coast primarily as an aerial gunnery trainer. On January 27, 1946, the AAF transferred it from the active inventory to the U. S. Army Air Forces Museum in Dayton, Ohio, and then to the National Air Museum (now NASM) along with other military aircraft. The Smithsonian lent the aircraft to Republic Aviation for restoration and display, and to help the company celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first flight of the P-47. Subsequently, NASM displayed the aircraft at its own Paul Garber Facility in Suitland, Maryland, before lending it to the Museum of Flight at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia.
The P-47 has returned to the museum and is now on display in the National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.
On July 15, 1954, a graceful, swept-winged aircraft, bedecked in brown and yellow paint and powered by four revolutionary new engines first took to the sky above Seattle. Built by the Boeing Aircraft Company, the 367-80, better known as the Dash 80, would come to revolutionize commercial air transportation when its developed version entered service as the famous Boeing 707, America's first jet airliner.
In the early 1950s, Boeing had begun to study the possibility of creating a jet-powered military transport and tanker to complement the new generation of Boeing jet bombers entering service with the U.S. Air Force. When the Air Force showed no interest, Boeing invested $16 million of its own capital to build a prototype jet transport in a daring gamble that the airlines and the Air Force would buy it once the aircraft had flown and proven itself. As Boeing had done with the B-17, it risked the company on one roll of the dice and won.
Boeing engineers had initially based the jet transport on studies of improved designs of the Model 367, better known to the public as the C-97 piston-engined transport and aerial tanker. By the time Boeing progressed to the 80th iteration, the design bore no resemblance to the C-97 but, for security reasons, Boeing decided to let the jet project be known as the 367-80.
Work proceeded quickly after the formal start of the project on May 20, 1952. The 367-80 mated a large cabin based on the dimensions of the C-97 with the 35-degree swept-wing design based on the wings of the B-47 and B-52 but considerably stiffer and incorporating a pronounced dihedral. The wings were mounted low on the fuselage and incorporated high-speed and low-speed ailerons as well as a sophisticated flap and spoiler system. Four Pratt & Whitney JT3 turbojet engines, each producing 10,000 pounds of thrust, were mounted on struts beneath the wings.
Upon the Dash 80's first flight on July 15, 1954, (the 34th anniversary of the founding of the Boeing Company) Boeing clearly had a winner. Flying 100 miles per hour faster than the de Havilland Comet and significantly larger, the new Boeing had a maximum range of more than 3,500 miles. As hoped, the Air Force bought 29 examples of the design as a tanker/transport after they convinced Boeing to widen the design by 12 inches. Satisfied, the Air Force designated it the KC-135A. A total of 732 KC-135s were built.
Quickly Boeing turned its attention to selling the airline industry on this new jet transport. Clearly the industry was impressed with the capabilities of the prototype 707 but never more so than at the Gold Cup hydroplane races held on Lake Washington in Seattle, in August 1955. During the festivities surrounding this event, Boeing had gathered many airline representatives to enjoy the competition and witness a fly past of the new Dash 80. To the audience's intense delight and Boeing's profound shock, test pilot Alvin "Tex" Johnston barrel-rolled the Dash 80 over the lake in full view of thousands of astonished spectators. Johnston vividly displayed the superior strength and performance of this new jet, readily convincing the airline industry to buy this new airliner.
In searching for a market, Boeing found a ready customer in Pan American Airway's president Juan Trippe. Trippe had been spending much of his time searching for a suitable jet airliner to enable his pioneering company to maintain its leadership in international air travel. Working with Boeing, Trippe overcame Boeing's resistance to widening the Dash-80 design, now known as the 707, to seat six passengers in each seat row rather than five. Trippe did so by placing an order with Boeing for 20 707s but also ordering 25 of Douglas's competing DC-8, which had yet to fly but could accommodate six-abreast seating. At Pan Am's insistence, the 707 was made four inches wider than the Dash 80 so that it could carry 160 passengers six-abreast. The wider fuselage developed for the 707 became the standard design for all of Boeing's subsequent narrow-body airliners.
Although the British de Havilland D.H. 106 Comet and the Soviet Tupolev Tu-104 entered service earlier, the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 were bigger, faster, had greater range, and were more profitable to fly. In October 1958 Pan American ushered the jet age into the United States when it opened international service with the Boeing 707 in October 1958. National Airlines inaugurated domestic jet service two months later using a 707-120 borrowed from Pan Am. American Airlines flew the first domestic 707 jet service with its own aircraft in January 1959. American set a new speed mark when it opened the first regularly-scheduled transcontinental jet service in 1959. Subsequent nonstop flights between New York and San Francisco took only 5 hours - 3 hours less than by the piston-engine DC-7. The one-way fare, including a $10 surcharge for jet service, was $115.50, or $231 round trip. The flight was almost 40 percent faster and almost 25 percent cheaper than flying by piston-engine airliners. The consequent surge of traffic demand was substantial.
The 707 was originally designed for transcontinental or one-stop transatlantic range. But modified with extra fuel tanks and more efficient turbofan engines, the 707-300 Intercontinental series aircraft could fly nonstop across the Atlantic with full payload under any conditions. Boeing built 855 707s, of which 725 were bought by airlines worldwide.
Having launched the Boeing Company into the commercial jet age, the Dash 80 soldiered on as a highly successful experimental aircraft. Until its retirement in 1972, the Dash 80 tested numerous advanced systems, many of which were incorporated into later generations of jet transports. At one point, the Dash 80 carried three different engine types in its four nacelles. Serving as a test bed for the new 727, the Dash 80 was briefly equipped with a fifth engine mounted on the rear fuselage. Engineers also modified the wing in planform and contour to study the effects of different airfoil shapes. Numerous flap configurations were also fitted including a highly sophisticated system of "blown" flaps which redirected engine exhaust over the flaps to increase lift at low speeds. Fin height and horizontal stabilizer width was later increased and at one point, a special multiple wheel low pressure landing gear was fitted to test the feasibility of operating future heavy military transports from unprepared landing fields.
After a long and distinguished career, the Boeing 367-80 was finally retired and donated to the Smithsonian in 1972. At present, the aircraft is installated at the National Air and Space Museum's new facility at Washington Dulles International Airport.
One of the most exciting aerobatic aircraft of all time was the Grumman Gulfhawk II, built by Grumman in Bethpage, Long Island, for the Gulf Oil Companies. It was delivered to Roosevelt Field, Long Island, in December 1936, to be used by Major Alfred "Al" Williams, former naval aviator and Marine, who at the time was head of Gulf’s aviation department.
This sturdy little biplane nearly matched the F3F standard Navy fighter that was operational at that time. The Gulfhawk II was powered by a Wright Cyclone R-1820-GI 1,000-hp engine equipped with a three-blade Hamilton-Standard propeller. The wings, of unequal span and like those of the earlier F2F-1, were constructed of aluminum spars and ribs and were fabric-covered. The fuselage was monocoque construction covered with a 0.032-inch aluminum alloy, and could accommodate only the pilot. Modifications were made in the construction withstand the high-load factors encountered during aerobatics, and the aircraft was equipped for inverted flying for periods of up to half an hour.
The Gulfhawk II was painted bright orange, with the fuselage having blue trim and the wings black-edged white stripes radiating rearward and outward on the top surface of the upper wing and the bottom surface of the lower wing.
For twelve years, from 1936 to 1948, the plane thrilled many an air show spectator throughout the United States and Europe. It was a feature attraction at such meets as the Cleveland Air Races, the Miami All-America Air Show, and the New York World's Fair, demonstrating precision aerobatics and the then-new technique of dive bombing.
In 1938 the Gulfhawk II was crated and shipped to Europe. Aviation enthusiasts in England, France, Holland, and Germany were treated to Major Williams’ daring maneuvers in the colorful little biplane. During this overseas visit the only other person ever to fly the Gulfhawk II, the famous German World War I ace Ernst Udet, piloted the aircraft over Germany. In exchange, Major Williams became the first American to fly the vaunted Messerschmitt 109.
The Gulfhawk II was also used as a flying laboratory. A new pilot's throat microphone was tried out in it in 1937, and during Word War II, the Gulfhawk II was used to test oils, fuels, and lubricants under extreme operating conditions.
Many aviation cadets viewed the aircraft during its three-month tour of flight-training fields in 1943. Major Williams made the tour at the request of Gen. H. H. Arnold to demonstrate airmanship and precision aerobatic flying.
On October 11, 1948, the Gulfhawk II made its last flight. At Washington National Airport, Major Williams took his plane through a demonstration of aerobatics, and then taxied to a strip adjacent to the airport administration building where he shut off the engine and removed the stick, formally decommissioning the historical airplane. It was then presented to the Smithsonian Institution and became part of the National Air and Space Museum’s collection.
The notable French aircraft manufacturer Société Anonyme des Establissements Nieuport was formed in 1909 and rose to prominence before World War I with a series of elegant monoplane designs. The namesakes of the company, Edouard de Niéport and his brother Charles, were both killed in flying accidents before the war. (The spelling of the company name was a slight variation of the brothers' surname.) The talented designer Gustave Delage joined the firm in 1914 and was responsible for the highly successful war-time line of sesquiplane V-strut single-seat scouts, the most famous of which were the Nieuport 11 and the Nieuport 17.
The Nieuport 28C.1 was developed in mid-1917 and was the first biplane fighter design produced by Nieuport that had relatively equal-chord upper and lower wings. In an attempt to compete with the superior performance of the Spad VII and the recently introduced Spad XIII, Nieuport explored the use of a more powerful motor than the types employed in the sesquiplane series. The availability of a more powerful, and heavier, 160-horsepower Gnôme rotary engine prompted the decision to increase the surface area of the lower wing to compensate for the greater weight of the new power plant, hence eliminating the typical Nieuport sesquiplane V-strut configuration.
In early 1918, the French Air Service rejected the new Nieuport design as a front-line fighter in favor of the sturdier, more advanced Spad XIII. However, the Nieuport 28 found a place with the newly arriving American squadrons. Having no suitable fighter design of its own, the United States adopted the Nieuport 28 as a stop-gap measure before the much-in-demand Spad XIIIs could be made available from the French. The Nieuport 28 performed creditably as the first operational pursuit aircraft in the fledgling U.S. Air Service of the American Expeditionary Force. Thus, the primary significance of the Nieuport 28 for the national aeronautical collection is that it was the first fighter aircraft to serve with an American fighter unit under American command and in support of U.S. troops. It was also first type to score an aerial victory with an American unit. On April 14, 1918, Lieutenants Alan Winslow and Douglas Campbell of the 94th Aero Squadron, both piloting a Nieuport 28, each downed an enemy aircraft in a fight that took place directly over their home airfield at Gengoult.
The Nieuport 28 made its mark in aviation history after World War I as well. Of the 297 total Nieuport 28 fighters procured by the United States from the French government during World War I, 88 were returned to the United States after the war. Twelve Nieuports, along with examples of several other European types brought back, were used by the U.S. Navy from 1919 to 1921 for shipboard launching trials. Many, often harrowing, launches were undertaken. Some of the twelve Navy Nieuport 28s were destroyed in accidents. The surviving aircraft, worn out beyond repair, were surplused after the trials. The other seventy-six Nieuport 28s that were brought back to the United States after the war were operated by the U.S. Army at various bases and airfields in the 1920s, such as McCook, Mitchel, and Bolling Fields.
The Nieuports that survived their post-war U.S. military service found their way into various private hands. Several were modified for air racing, having their wings clipped, adapting non-standard interplane struts, and other changes. A number found their way into Hollywood movies, most notably in the famous Dawn Patrol films of 1930 and 1938. Still others became privately-owned airplanes flying in various sporting and commercial capacities. The specific history of these uses remains quite sketchy.
In short, although aesthetically pleasing and by all reports delightful to fly, the Nieuport 28 type gained fame more for simply being available rather than for any inherently superior performance or design qualities. Nevertheless, in American aviation history, the Nieuport 28 holds a number of important firsts and was used in several significant ways. Because of its varied and interesting role in U.S. aviation history, this aircraft has a richly deserved place in the NASM collection.
The museum's Nieuport 28 has a complex and confusing history. It was acquired in 1986 from Cole Palen, founder and operator of the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome. He flew the aircraft regularly in his air shows from 1958 to 1972. Immediately before its transfer to NASM, the airplane was on loan from Palen to the Intrepid Sea/Air/Space Museum in New York.
Upon close inspection, it became clear that the NASM aircraft is a composite of several different Nieuport 28s. The various components had been owned by a number of different people and used in a variety of capacities over a long period of time. As a result, the pieces have been shuffled around a lot and re-built many times. A large number of parts were not original and in many cases the replacement parts were not prepared to original specification. As a result, a serious investigation of the history of the NASM airframe was undertaken to determine as near as possible the provenance of the museum's Nieuport 28.
When it was acquired a number of erroneous assumptions were passed on, probably uncorroborated stories from Cole Palen. Initially the aircraft was believed to have been a war-time product and that it flew with the U.S. Air Service in World War I. Additionally, it was purported to have been one of the twelve U.S. Navy Nieuports tested in 1919-1921, that it was used in the Hollywood epic "Dawn Patrol," and that Howard Hughes had owned it at one point. Painstaking research has demonstrated that nearly all of these assumptions were untrue.
To determine the actual history of the NASM Nieuport, the logical place to begin was with the numbers and markings on the airframe. There are five different serial numbers on the airplane. The fuselage number on the firewall is 6497. The upper wings have a manufacturing date of February 1919 with serial numbers 7103 (left panel) and 7226 (right panel). The lower left wing panel is marked as having been fabricated in November 1918 with serial number 6465. The lower right was made in October 1918 with serial number 6432.
The first obvious conclusion drawn from these data was that the NASM Nieuport 28 is essentially a postwar product. The lower wing panels were made at the very end of the war, which concluded on November 11, 1918. The fuselage serial number being higher than the lower wing numbers dates it as very late 1918 or very early 1919. The upper wings are dated 1919. Therefore, the NASM aircraft could not have been a war veteran. Further, given the late production dates, it can be concluded that the NASM aircraft must be a modified and improved postwar version of the Nieuport 28C.1, sometimes referred to as a Nieuport 28A.
A third conclusion drawn from the serial numbers was that the components are probably from at least five different aircraft. This is not necessarily so, as wing panels, tail units, fuselages, etc., were assembled from production line manufacture. Nevertheless, given that the serial numbers are so far apart, it is hard to believe that all the present components represent one original aircraft. The upper and lower wing sets could have been originally paired together as their respective numbers are relatively close together. But the 6400 series serial numbered wings and 7000 series numbered wings were unlikely to have been on the same airframe when the airplane first left the factory. Moreover, the NASM airplane, on at least one occasion, probably more, was put together from "best available components" from a collection of Nieuport 28 airframes. The most reasonable interpretation based on the evidence is that the NASM Nieuport 28 is not a documented single airframe with a continuous history. It is an amalgam of component parts of several aircraft brought together many years after their original individual manufacture.
Certain that the NASM aircraft is not a war-time Nieuport, the next step was to try to determine its provenance in post-war U.S. military service. Research at the National Archives unearthed the twelve serial numbers of the aircraft tested by the U.S. Navy. None of the five numbers on the NASM Nieuport matches any of those of the Navy airplanes, definitively dispelling the belief that the aircraft was in that group. The lack of evidence on the airframe of the exclusively Navy modifications also supports the view that NASM's is not one of the twelve Navy Nieuports.
Further research demonstrated that seventy-six other Nieuport 28s were operated by the U.S. Army at various bases and fields around the country such as McCook, Mitchel, and Bolling Fields. A reasonable conclusion is that the NASM aircraft was at one of these Army facilities in the early 1920s before the airplane, as a complete airframe or component parts, found its way into private hands. Unfortunately, no records have thus far been found that place the NASM Nieuport 28, or any of its components, at any particular U.S. military post.
After the U.S. military disposed of the Nieuport 28s in its inventory in the mid-to-late-1920s, tracing more than a few of them becomes extremely difficult. Those that were not destroyed in accidents or simply junked were surplused on the open market. Private individuals scarfed them up, re-built and modified them, and used them in a wide variety of private and commercial ventures. Some were converted into air racers. Some were used in Hollywood films. Still others became air show performers and the like. Details on any particular Nieuports used in these capacities remain all but impossible to come by.
What of the claim that the NASM aircraft participated in the making of the two Dawn Patrol films? Four original Nieuport 28s were acquired by Garland Lincoln, a war-time U.S. Air Service instructor and movie stunt pilot, for the 1930 production of Dawn Patrol. The airplanes did not fly in the film, they were only run up and taxied. Some have argued that the NASM aircraft is one of these four. At best, this can only be said of the fuselage. Several famous photographs from the production show a line-up of the four Nieuports. All four Dawn Patrol Nieuports had their wings shortened by several feet. This is quite clear in the photographs. The NASM airplane has full-span wings, at least proving that the NASM wing set was not part of any of the Dawn Patrol aircraft. The fuselage of the Nieuport is probably from one of the four Garland Lincoln airplanes used in the film. The next phase of the story points in that direction.
At this point, the trail of the NASM Nieuport begins to emerge, faintly. Garland Lincoln sold his entire stable of airplanes, including the four original Nieuports, to Paramount Pictures in 1938. In 1941, Paramount sold the lot to United Air Services, a firm owned by movie stunt pilot, Paul Mantz, and which in 1946 became Paul Mantz Air Services. None of the Nieuport 28 airplanes that Mantz had acquired was in flying condition. Photographs taken by Don Brady in the mid-1950s at Orange County Airport show these airplanes to be disassembled and derelict. Beyond the four clipped-wing Nieuports first sold by Garland Lincoln to Paramount in 1938, Mantz apparently acquired at least one other set of original Nieuport 28 wings at some time before the parts were photographed by Brady at Orange County in the 1950s.
In 1957, Paul Mantz traded one Nieuport 28 to James H. "Cole" Palen of the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, Rhinebeck, New York, for a Standard J-1. (Mantz later added approximately $200 to the trade to compensate for the Nieuport 28 being in poorer condition than the Standard J-1.) The fact that Palen's Nieuport, i.e., the NASM airplane, has full-span wings supports the belief that Mantz must have acquired more Nieuport 28 parts beyond the four clipped-wing airplanes that were in the original "Dawn Patrol" movie. Palen apparently selected the "best components" of those stored at Orange County airport to complete one aircraft. Cole Palen died in 1993, and some years earlier his home burned, destroying all his records. To confirm anything regarding his transaction with Mantz is now impossible.
The provenance of the NASM Nieuport 28 from this point on is clear. Palen completed the restoration of the aircraft to flying condition in 1958 and flew it regularly at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, and at other special shows elsewhere, until he retired the airplane in 1972. It was on display at Rhinebeck for several years before being lent to the Intrepid Air/Sea/Space Museum. It was on display there until 1986 when the Nieuport was traded to NASM for an original Nieuport 10 trainer, and transported directly from the Intrepid to the museum.
This brings us back to the original question: What is the history of the NASM Nieuport 28? Based on the foregoing research, the best interpretation is that it is an assemblage of components of various aircraft that were all manufactured at the very end or soon after World War I, which almost certainly means that they were originally Nieuport 28 "type A" rather than standard 28C.1 parts. The components undoubtedly emanated from the seventy-six Nieuport 28s operated by the U.S. Army at numerous installations in the 1920s. Without serial numbers by location for these aircraft, it is impossible to place any of the NASM components at any specific military airfield. The period between disposal by the military and acquisition by Paul Mantz is extremely sketchy. For the most part, it can only be determined what the NASM aircraft is not, rather than what it is (e.g., that it is not one of the twelve Navy aircraft, that its wings are not from any of the four Garland Lincoln Nieuports, etc.).
Regarding the origin of the NASM Nieuport 28, all that can be said with certainty is that the airplane comprises original components that can be narrowed down only to the seventy-six post-war U.S. Army Nieuports. The circumstantial evidence that Palen received Nieuport parts from Mantz, who obtained Nieuport parts from Lincoln, tantalizingly suggests that the NASM fuselage could be from one of the Dawn Patrol aircraft. The evidence cannot support anything more definitive.
In light of the vague provenance of the NASM Nieuport, some considered judgement was required concerning the final configuration and markings of the aircraft when it was restored by the museum. One obvious possibility would have been to restore the aircraft closest to what the documentation suggests the parts represent, namely a post-war U.S. Army experimental/training aircraft. Despite the apparent common sense to that approach, there were several strong reasons not to take this route. First, there are no clues indicating at which Army installation the NASM Nieuport operated, not even a single component of the airframe. It would not only have been a pure guess which airplane it is, but total conjecture even with which airfield it was associated. Further, details on the markings of only a handful of the Army post-war aircraft exist. Painting it as one of these would only in the most remote sense represent the correct aircraft. Moreover, the Nieuport 28 type is in the national collection primarily because of its place in U.S. air operations during World War I, not because of its minor role as a post-war trainer.
Configuring it as a U.S. Navy aircraft, with the unique modifications of that use of the Nieuport 28, would have been interesting. But as it was known definitively that the NASM aircraft is not one of the Navy airplanes, and that only twelve were employed in this specialized role over a short period of time, to follow this course seemed inappropriate. For similar reasons, restoring it as one of the movie airplanes did not make sense. At best, only the fuselage of the NASM Nieuport 28 can be linked to any of the film work, and that only circumstantially. More significantly, movies represent only a small part of the Nieuport 28's history. Further, the movie Nieuports only were run up on the ground; they never actually flew in the films.
This presented the final option, which was taken: configuring the airplane as one of the war-time U.S. Air Service Nieuport 28s. Even though the NASM Nieuport is certainly not a war veteran because it was manufactured after the United States ceased to use them in combat, the best alternative was to configure the airplane in this fashion. As noted above, the main reason for inclusion of a Nieuport 28 in the NASM collection is to document the aircraft type first used by organized American units under American colors in combat. Because the history of the NASM Nieuport cannot be documented with any specificity, and certain configurations can be ruled out, the most reasonable approach was to represent the aircraft in accordance with the justified rationale for bringing it into the collection. Therefore, it was restored to a 28C.1 configuration and painted and marked as a U.S. Air Service combat Nieuport.
The particular Nieuport 28C.1 that the museum chose to represent was that of First Lieutenant James A. Meissner of the 94th Aero Squadron, U.S.A.S., a/c serial number 6144. This aircraft was chosen, rather than one of the more famous ones such as Eddie Rickenbacker's, Douglas Campbell's or Alan Winslow's, because it is representative of the famous "hat-in-the-ring" 94th Aero Squadron without misleading museum visitors into thinking that the NASM aircraft is actually one of the especially well-known American Nieuport 28s. Furthermore, Meissner's number 6144 has an interesting history in its own right.
On two occasions, with Meissner at the controls, 6144 experienced the infamous wing failure in a dive associated with the Nieuport 28. He landed safely both times. Meissner went on to command the 147th Aero Squadron. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross with Oak Leaf Clusters and the Croix de Guerre. He scored a total of 5 2/3 victories while flying with the 94th and the 147th. (Meissner is often credited with eight victories, but in 1969, the U.S. Air Force divided the credit of shared victories among all the pilots involved. Before this, each was given full credit for the victory in their totals. Having several shared victories, Meissner's official tally was reduced accordingly.) He survived the war, leaving the Air Service in 1919. Meissner's aircraft carried the standard factory-applied French camouflage, the famous "hat-in-the-ring" insignia, and standard U.S. wing and tail markings of the period, making it especially representative of the way American Nieuport 28s appeared when flown in the first U.S. air combat operations.
On two occasions, 6144 experienced the infamous structural failure of the wings in a dive associated with the Nieuport 28. Meissner landed his aircraft safely both times. Meissner later commanded the 147th Aero Squadron, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and Croix de Guerre, and was credited with a total of eight victories, flying with both the 94th and the 147th. He survived the war, leaving the Air Service in 1919. Meissner's aircraft carried the standard factory-applied French camouflage, the famous "hat-in-the-ring" insignia, and standard U.S. wing and tail markings of the period. It thus well represents the way American Nieuport 28s appeared when flown in the first U.S. air combat operations.
The airplane is painted as Meissner's appeared after May 10, 1918, after repairs from the first wing fabric shedding incident. Before this date, Meissner's Nieuport carried a black, or possibly red, number "14" on the fuselage sides and probably on the wings. He shot down one enemy aircraft with the airplane so marked, for which he was awarded the DSC. After May 10, the "14" on the fuselage was replaced with a white "8" with a thin black outline. A white "8" (with no black outline) also was applied to the top of the upper left wing of Meissner's 6144 upon repairing and re-numbering the airplane. Marked as number "8," Meissner shot down three more enemy aircraft in 6144 and experienced a second wing structure failure. Number "8" was chosen because more photographs exist of 6144 as number "8" and because it flew longer with this marking.
Focke-Achgelis Fa 330 A-1 Bachstelze (Water Wagtail)
Henrich Focke startled the aviation world when he flew his Focke-Wulf Fw 61 helicopter in 1937. It quickly shattered all records for helicopter speed, altitude, distance, and endurance. Thanks to Focke and fellow helicopter pioneer, Anton Flettner, Germany entered World War II as the leader in rotorcraft technology. By 1942, the German Navy was already testing Flettner's twin-rotor helicopter, the Fl 282. Navy leaders hoped to use this aircraft to hunt for enemy submarines and protect convoys. The tests convinced them to continue to develop rotary-winged aircraft for shipboard use.
During World War 2, German naval strategy and Britain's survival hinged on the success or failure of the U-boat service to interdict the flow of material from the United States. However, the U-boats depended primarily on visual acquisition of their targets. They rode low in the water and a lookout could not see vessels more than 8 km (5 miles) away, even when surfaced. Small, submarine-launched aircraft offered a novel solution in regions free of enemy patrol aircraft.
Beginning in World War I, several nations experimented with submarine-based observation aircraft with mediocre results and interest waned after the Armistice. The start of World War II renewed interest in Germany and Japan in developing this technology. The German Navy looked first at the Arado Ar 231 but this collapsible seaplane proved a failure. It handled poorly on the water and took too long to assemble and disassemble. As the sub's crew put the airplane together on the open deck, the submarine was extremely vulnerable. As a result, the German Navy quickly terminated the Ar 231 program.
By the spring of 1942, the Battle of the Atlantic was beginning to turn against Germany. The U. S. Navy was deploying increasing numbers of anti-submarine assets to protect the eastern seaboard, once a fertile hunting ground for prowling U-boats. The submarine commanders moved their patrols far out to sea to avoid Allied air cover and roaming destroyers. High sea states in these open waters restricted visibility to several kilometers or less, and U-boat commanders were hard-pressed to acquire targets. The expanse of the open ocean also worsened the target detection problem. Near the coast, Allied ships traveled in relatively narrow areas. A U-boat could wait, just beneath the waves in daylight or float on the surface at night, and expect with some certainty that a target would steam within detection range. Away from the coast, U-boats had to patrol much larger areas and this reduced the chances of detecting Allied ships. German sonar and radar technology lagged behind Allied developments and also made detection of the U-boats easier.
The navy asked Focke-Achgelis GmbH to build a rotorkite that a U-boat could tow aloft to search for targets. The aircraft had to fly high enough to substantially boost the scouting range, yet remain small, easy to store, and mechanically simple to maintain and operate. Focke-Achgelis proposed a clever design best characterized by simplicity. The Fa 330 was simple to fabricate, easy to assemble on deck for flight, and weighed so little that two men could comfortably hoist the entire machine. The Fa 330 needed no engine because the submarine towed the gyro kite through the air. Like a gyro plane, the rotorkite flew by autorotation, meaning that the movement of relative wind through the rotors caused them to turn with sufficient speed to generate lift.
The airframe consisted of two 6.35 cm (2.5 in) diameter steel tubes joined to form an inverted 'T.' One tube served as the fuselage of the aircraft, which mounted the pilot's seat and rear control surfaces. The other tube served as the rotor mast. A control stick hung from the blade hub atop the mast. The pilot moved the stick for direct (no intervening control linkage) pitch and roll control, and he used foot pedals to move the large rudder and control yaw. The horizontal stabilizer had no moving control surfaces. Weight was saved on the rotor hub by using steel cables to support the blades against blade droop when the aircraft was not flying. The cables also limited the blades' range of movement when during flight. Instrumentation consisted of an altimeter, airspeed indicator, and tachometer. Its landing gear consisted of two small skids.
The three-bladed rotor turned freely but was limited to 250 rpm. This limit was reached if the aircraft attained a never-exceed speed of 80 kph (50 mph). Normal flight rpm was about 205 at a standard towing airspeed of 40 km/h (25 mph). A minimum speed of 27 kph (17 mph) was required to maintain autorotation. Blade pitch could only be set before flight by turning adjustment screws. The blades used flapping and dragging hinges equipped with variable dampers. The rotor blades consisted of a 3.2 m (10 ft 4 in) steel spar that supported plywood ribs. The blades were 0.3 m (12 in) wide and skinned with fabric-covered plywood. The blade airfoil was almost symmetrical. The blades were precisely balanced during the manufacturing process, which eliminated the need for difficult and time-consuming manual balancing at sea.
The Fa-330 was stowed in two tubes of approximately 3.75 meters (12 ft 4in) length built vertically into the U-boat's conning tower. One tube contained the blades and tail and the other contained the fuselage. Four crewmen could assemble the entire structure in three minutes in calm conditions. Rotation of the blades in preparation for flight could be done by hand, but if a course pitch (which provided the best operating performance) was preset on the rotor blades this became extremely difficult. In that case, a rope wrapped around drum on the rotor hub was used to get the rotor turning. The Fa 330 took off from a small platform attached to the aft railing of the U-boat's conning tower. A towline extended from an electric winch to a quick release coupling on the Fa 330. Since the primary duty of the Fa 330 was to spot suitable targets, communication with the towing vessel was essential. The pilot used an interphone system that consisted of a telephone cable, which paralleled the towline. Upon landing a rotor brake was provided to quickly stop the rotor spinning. Disassembly time was not much greater than that required for assembly. If the U-boat came under attack and had to make a crash dive the pilot could pull a quick release lever above the seat, and the towline would separate from the aircraft in addition to releasing the rotor hub from the mast. As the rotors departed they pulled a line out, which deployed a parachute. Once the parachute opened, the pilot released his seat buckle, which allowed the remainder of the aircraft structure to fall away. Additionally, the towline quick release coupling could be manually operated without engaging the rotor release.
By early August 1942, Focke-Achgelis had completed the first prototype Fa 330 and had begun operational testing aboard U 523 in the Baltic Sea with positive results, though it clearly demonstrated that the Type VIIC U-boats were to slow to tow the aircraft successfully. A wind tunnel at Chalais-Meudon, France served as a simulator to train several crewmembers from each vessel that carried a Fa 330. Since very few of the prospective pilots had previous flight experience, and would have little opportunity to practice while on patrol, it was essential that the aircraft be easy to fly. The Fa 330 was stable enough that the pilot could release the stick for seconds at a time without a loss of control.
At the time the Fa 330 received clearance for deployment at the beginning of 1943, only the Type IX U-boat, with its surface speed of 18 knots, had sufficient speed to ensure the Fa 330 remained airborne in low wind conditions. The Fa 330 used a steel tow cable 300 meters (984 ft) in length, which allowed it to ascend to a maximum altitude of 220 meters (722 ft) when flying at the top speed of 80 km/h (50 mph). At that altitude, spotting distance was 53 kilometers (33 miles) in clear conditions. Like a kite, the maximum altitude attainable was dependent on airspeed. If the airspeed dropped to 50 km/h (31 mph), then the maximum altitude became 200 meters (656 ft) with a possible spotting distance of 50 kilometers (31 miles). If the speed dropped to the minimum safe towing speed of 35 km/h (22 mph) then the maximum altitude was only 100 meters (328 ft), with a possible spotting distance of 35 kilometers (22 miles).
Unfortunately, the Fa 330 possessed a large radar signature and because most of the Atlantic convoys employed numerous escort vessels for anti-submarine duty by the time the Fa 330 entered service, it was impractical to deploy the rotorkite in that ocean. However, in the Indian Ocean, merchantmen still plied the seas without benefit of the convoy system and the Fa 330 could serve the U-boat service to some effect. The U-boat service began committing its longest-range vessels - the Type IX D2, known as the Monsoon boats, to operate with the Fa 330 in the Indian Ocean, frequently operating out of bases borrowed from the Japanese. The first operational deployment of the type occurred in April 1943 aboard U 177, which managed to sink one vessel on August 5 with the aid of the Fa 330.
Operational details of the Fa 330's combat service are almost nonexistent after the U 177 deployment. This is undoubtedly because of the extremely high loss rate among U-boats, which has meant that very few ships' logs have survived. There were several concerns that prevented wider employment of the Fa 330. A U-boat commander was faced with a choice between risking his entire vessel and crew to recover the pilot, or to crash dive the submarine and leave the unfortunate individual to suffer an almost certain death, in the event that the submarine had been spotted, in addition to the fact that it gave away the U-boats primary advantage - stealth. It appears that some U-boat commanders who were not enamored with the Fa 330 took the opportunity to trade them to the Japanese in exchange for floatplanes to patrol around U-boat bases in Java and Malaya. The Japanese Navy enjoyed more success with submarine launched aircraft. They had several classes of large submarines that could carry, launch and recover seaplanes capable of carrying reasonable weapon loads and which would not give away the submarine's position.
Although Focke-Achgelis was responsible for the development of the Fa 330, Weser-Flugzeugbau in Hoyenkamp actually produced the aircraft with approximately 200 Fa 330s produced alongside Focke-Achgelis's most significant product - the Fa 223 helicopter, which was the largest rotary wing aircraft of the war. The only notable variation that occurred during Fa 330 production was increase in the span of the rotor blades to 3.79 meters (12 ft 5 in). Later production Fa 330s also had mountings for small wheels to be added to the skids to aid in moving the aircraft on the ground. A version of the Fa 330 was under consideration for surface vessels, which was actually a true helicopter that used a 200 lb, 60 horsepower engine, however this design did not progress much beyond the drawing board.
The Fa 330 was viewed with a great deal of interest by the Allies following its discovery on U-852 after it ran aground off the Somali coast during an air attack on May 3, 1944. The performance of the Fa 330 was not as interesting to Allied Intelligence as was the simplicity, ease of production, and speed with which it could be assembled. It was apparent that such a design allowed a significant increase in visual range at sea for very little effort.
After the war, the United States and Britain conducted extensive tests on the Fa 330 to evaluate this type of aircraft for observation purposes. Captured Fa 330s towed behind boats and even jeeps provided positive results, but the introduction of the helicopter into naval operations rendered such concepts obsolete. A number of these easily stored aircraft appeared on the collector's market, even occasionally showing up in Army-Navy surplus stores and a number survive in museums around the world.
The National Air and Space Museum fully restored its Fa 330 in 1975. It bears the captured aircraft registration number of T2-4618, but it appears likely that the museum's aircraft is actually T2-4616, which was in a display example of captured German technology at Freeman Field in 1946. The Army Air Force then loaned it to Eastern Rotor Craft of Pennsylvania in 1947 for an evaluation after which it into storage for the National Air Museum. T2-4618 conducted a number of flight tests at Wright Field in 1946, during which it was equipped with a wheeled landing gear and towed by a truck. However the relatively large landing gear upset the center-of-gravity and made the aircraft difficult to takeoff and land. After four successful flights the aircraft rolled on landing and sustained some damage. The aircraft was repaired and sent to MacDill Air Force Base for further testing in 1948. There it was towed behind a boat, minus the wheeled undercarriage, for consideration as an aid for U.S. Air Force small rescue boats in spotting downed airmen in the water. Unfortunately in August 1948 the towline broke and the aircraft sank in Tampa Bay, but pilot Capt. Raymond A. Popson managed to escape. The aircraft mysteriously disappeared from where it sank and rumors state that it may have turned up in an army surplus store over twenty years later.
The Fa 330 undoubtedly achieved its designed objectives, however by the time the aircraft entered service the tide had irreversibly turn against the U-boat service. If this simplest of aircraft had been available at the beginning of the war, then merchant shipping might have suffered significantly higher losses. The fact that this design was not used more extensively is more an acknowledgement of allied air and naval supremacy over the sea-lanes than any failure of the equipment to live up to its expectations.
Rotor Diameter:8.53 m (28 ft)
Length: 4.47 m (14 ft 8 in)
Height: 1.67 m (5 ft 6 in)
Weight: Empty, 75 kg (165 lb) [not including 10 kg (22 lb) parachute]
Gross, 175 kg (386 lb)
Serial Number:T2-4616
References and Further Reading:
Butler, Phil. War Prizes. Leicester, England: Midland Counties Publications, 1994.
Showell, Jak P. Mallman. U-Boats Under the Swastika. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval
Institute Press, 1987.
Smith, J.R. German Aircraft of the Second World War. London: Putnam, 1972.
Treadwell, Terry. Strike From Beneath the Sea: A History of Aircraft-carrying
Submarines. Charleston, South Carolina: Tempus Publishing Inc., 1999
Fa 330 curatorial file, Aeronautics Division, National Air and Space Museum.
Roger Connor, REL, 10-16-00
The notable French aircraft manufacturer Société Anonyme des Establissements Nieuport was formed in 1909 and rose to prominence before World War I with a series of elegant monoplane designs. The namesakes of the company, Edouard de Niéport and his brother Charles, were both killed in flying accidents before the war. (The spelling of the company name was a slight variation of the brothers' surname.) The talented designer Gustave Delage joined the firm in 1914 and was responsible for the highly successful war-time line of sesquiplane V-strut single-seat scouts, the most famous of which were the Nieuport 11 and the Nieuport 17.
The Nieuport 28C.1 was developed in mid-1917 and was the first biplane fighter design produced by Nieuport that had relatively equal-chord upper and lower wings. In an attempt to compete with the superior performance of the Spad VII and the recently introduced Spad XIII, Nieuport explored the use of a more powerful motor than the types employed in the sesquiplane series. The availability of a more powerful, and heavier, 160-horsepower Gnôme rotary engine prompted the decision to increase the surface area of the lower wing to compensate for the greater weight of the new power plant, hence eliminating the typical Nieuport sesquiplane V-strut configuration.
In early 1918, the French Air Service rejected the new Nieuport design as a front-line fighter in favor of the sturdier, more advanced Spad XIII. However, the Nieuport 28 found a place with the newly arriving American squadrons. Having no suitable fighter design of its own, the United States adopted the Nieuport 28 as a stop-gap measure before the much-in-demand Spad XIIIs could be made available from the French. The Nieuport 28 performed creditably as the first operational pursuit aircraft in the fledgling U.S. Air Service of the American Expeditionary Force. Thus, the primary significance of the Nieuport 28 for the national aeronautical collection is that it was the first fighter aircraft to serve with an American fighter unit under American command and in support of U.S. troops. It was also first type to score an aerial victory with an American unit. On April 14, 1918, Lieutenants Alan Winslow and Douglas Campbell of the 94th Aero Squadron, both piloting a Nieuport 28, each downed an enemy aircraft in a fight that took place directly over their home airfield at Gengoult.
The Nieuport 28 made its mark in aviation history after World War I as well. Of the 297 total Nieuport 28 fighters procured by the United States from the French government during World War I, 88 were returned to the United States after the war. Twelve Nieuports, along with examples of several other European types brought back, were used by the U.S. Navy from 1919 to 1921 for shipboard launching trials. Many, often harrowing, launches were undertaken. Some of the twelve Navy Nieuport 28s were destroyed in accidents. The surviving aircraft, worn out beyond repair, were surplused after the trials. The other seventy-six Nieuport 28s that were brought back to the United States after the war were operated by the U.S. Army at various bases and airfields in the 1920s, such as McCook, Mitchel, and Bolling Fields.
The Nieuports that survived their post-war U.S. military service found their way into various private hands. Several were modified for air racing, having their wings clipped, adapting non-standard interplane struts, and other changes. A number found their way into Hollywood movies, most notably in the famous Dawn Patrol films of 1930 and 1938. Still others became privately-owned airplanes flying in various sporting and commercial capacities. The specific history of these uses remains quite sketchy.
In short, although aesthetically pleasing and by all reports delightful to fly, the Nieuport 28 type gained fame more for simply being available rather than for any inherently superior performance or design qualities. Nevertheless, in American aviation history, the Nieuport 28 holds a number of important firsts and was used in several significant ways. Because of its varied and interesting role in U.S. aviation history, this aircraft has a richly deserved place in the NASM collection.
The museum's Nieuport 28 has a complex and confusing history. It was acquired in 1986 from Cole Palen, founder and operator of the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome. He flew the aircraft regularly in his air shows from 1958 to 1972. Immediately before its transfer to NASM, the airplane was on loan from Palen to the Intrepid Sea/Air/Space Museum in New York.
Upon close inspection, it became clear that the NASM aircraft is a composite of several different Nieuport 28s. The various components had been owned by a number of different people and used in a variety of capacities over a long period of time. As a result, the pieces have been shuffled around a lot and re-built many times. A large number of parts were not original and in many cases the replacement parts were not prepared to original specification. As a result, a serious investigation of the history of the NASM airframe was undertaken to determine as near as possible the provenance of the museum's Nieuport 28.
When it was acquired a number of erroneous assumptions were passed on, probably uncorroborated stories from Cole Palen. Initially the aircraft was believed to have been a war-time product and that it flew with the U.S. Air Service in World War I. Additionally, it was purported to have been one of the twelve U.S. Navy Nieuports tested in 1919-1921, that it was used in the Hollywood epic "Dawn Patrol," and that Howard Hughes had owned it at one point. Painstaking research has demonstrated that nearly all of these assumptions were untrue.
To determine the actual history of the NASM Nieuport, the logical place to begin was with the numbers and markings on the airframe. There are five different serial numbers on the airplane. The fuselage number on the firewall is 6497. The upper wings have a manufacturing date of February 1919 with serial numbers 7103 (left panel) and 7226 (right panel). The lower left wing panel is marked as having been fabricated in November 1918 with serial number 6465. The lower right was made in October 1918 with serial number 6432.
The first obvious conclusion drawn from these data was that the NASM Nieuport 28 is essentially a postwar product. The lower wing panels were made at the very end of the war, which concluded on November 11, 1918. The fuselage serial number being higher than the lower wing numbers dates it as very late 1918 or very early 1919. The upper wings are dated 1919. Therefore, the NASM aircraft could not have been a war veteran. Further, given the late production dates, it can be concluded that the NASM aircraft must be a modified and improved postwar version of the Nieuport 28C.1, sometimes referred to as a Nieuport 28A.
A third conclusion drawn from the serial numbers was that the components are probably from at least five different aircraft. This is not necessarily so, as wing panels, tail units, fuselages, etc., were assembled from production line manufacture. Nevertheless, given that the serial numbers are so far apart, it is hard to believe that all the present components represent one original aircraft. The upper and lower wing sets could have been originally paired together as their respective numbers are relatively close together. But the 6400 series serial numbered wings and 7000 series numbered wings were unlikely to have been on the same airframe when the airplane first left the factory. Moreover, the NASM airplane, on at least one occasion, probably more, was put together from "best available components" from a collection of Nieuport 28 airframes. The most reasonable interpretation based on the evidence is that the NASM Nieuport 28 is not a documented single airframe with a continuous history. It is an amalgam of component parts of several aircraft brought together many years after their original individual manufacture.
Certain that the NASM aircraft is not a war-time Nieuport, the next step was to try to determine its provenance in post-war U.S. military service. Research at the National Archives unearthed the twelve serial numbers of the aircraft tested by the U.S. Navy. None of the five numbers on the NASM Nieuport matches any of those of the Navy airplanes, definitively dispelling the belief that the aircraft was in that group. The lack of evidence on the airframe of the exclusively Navy modifications also supports the view that NASM's is not one of the twelve Navy Nieuports.
Further research demonstrated that seventy-six other Nieuport 28s were operated by the U.S. Army at various bases and fields around the country such as McCook, Mitchel, and Bolling Fields. A reasonable conclusion is that the NASM aircraft was at one of these Army facilities in the early 1920s before the airplane, as a complete airframe or component parts, found its way into private hands. Unfortunately, no records have thus far been found that place the NASM Nieuport 28, or any of its components, at any particular U.S. military post.
After the U.S. military disposed of the Nieuport 28s in its inventory in the mid-to-late-1920s, tracing more than a few of them becomes extremely difficult. Those that were not destroyed in accidents or simply junked were surplused on the open market. Private individuals scarfed them up, re-built and modified them, and used them in a wide variety of private and commercial ventures. Some were converted into air racers. Some were used in Hollywood films. Still others became air show performers and the like. Details on any particular Nieuports used in these capacities remain all but impossible to come by.
What of the claim that the NASM aircraft participated in the making of the two Dawn Patrol films? Four original Nieuport 28s were acquired by Garland Lincoln, a war-time U.S. Air Service instructor and movie stunt pilot, for the 1930 production of Dawn Patrol. The airplanes did not fly in the film, they were only run up and taxied. Some have argued that the NASM aircraft is one of these four. At best, this can only be said of the fuselage. Several famous photographs from the production show a line-up of the four Nieuports. All four Dawn Patrol Nieuports had their wings shortened by several feet. This is quite clear in the photographs. The NASM airplane has full-span wings, at least proving that the NASM wing set was not part of any of the Dawn Patrol aircraft. The fuselage of the Nieuport is probably from one of the four Garland Lincoln airplanes used in the film. The next phase of the story points in that direction.
At this point, the trail of the NASM Nieuport begins to emerge, faintly. Garland Lincoln sold his entire stable of airplanes, including the four original Nieuports, to Paramount Pictures in 1938. In 1941, Paramount sold the lot to United Air Services, a firm owned by movie stunt pilot, Paul Mantz, and which in 1946 became Paul Mantz Air Services. None of the Nieuport 28 airplanes that Mantz had acquired was in flying condition. Photographs taken by Don Brady in the mid-1950s at Orange County Airport show these airplanes to be disassembled and derelict. Beyond the four clipped-wing Nieuports first sold by Garland Lincoln to Paramount in 1938, Mantz apparently acquired at least one other set of original Nieuport 28 wings at some time before the parts were photographed by Brady at Orange County in the 1950s.
In 1957, Paul Mantz traded one Nieuport 28 to James H. "Cole" Palen of the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, Rhinebeck, New York, for a Standard J-1. (Mantz later added approximately $200 to the trade to compensate for the Nieuport 28 being in poorer condition than the Standard J-1.) The fact that Palen's Nieuport, i.e., the NASM airplane, has full-span wings supports the belief that Mantz must have acquired more Nieuport 28 parts beyond the four clipped-wing airplanes that were in the original "Dawn Patrol" movie. Palen apparently selected the "best components" of those stored at Orange County airport to complete one aircraft. Cole Palen died in 1993, and some years earlier his home burned, destroying all his records. To confirm anything regarding his transaction with Mantz is now impossible.
The provenance of the NASM Nieuport 28 from this point on is clear. Palen completed the restoration of the aircraft to flying condition in 1958 and flew it regularly at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, and at other special shows elsewhere, until he retired the airplane in 1972. It was on display at Rhinebeck for several years before being lent to the Intrepid Air/Sea/Space Museum. It was on display there until 1986 when the Nieuport was traded to NASM for an original Nieuport 10 trainer, and transported directly from the Intrepid to the museum.
This brings us back to the original question: What is the history of the NASM Nieuport 28? Based on the foregoing research, the best interpretation is that it is an assemblage of components of various aircraft that were all manufactured at the very end or soon after World War I, which almost certainly means that they were originally Nieuport 28 "type A" rather than standard 28C.1 parts. The components undoubtedly emanated from the seventy-six Nieuport 28s operated by the U.S. Army at numerous installations in the 1920s. Without serial numbers by location for these aircraft, it is impossible to place any of the NASM components at any specific military airfield. The period between disposal by the military and acquisition by Paul Mantz is extremely sketchy. For the most part, it can only be determined what the NASM aircraft is not, rather than what it is (e.g., that it is not one of the twelve Navy aircraft, that its wings are not from any of the four Garland Lincoln Nieuports, etc.).
Regarding the origin of the NASM Nieuport 28, all that can be said with certainty is that the airplane comprises original components that can be narrowed down only to the seventy-six post-war U.S. Army Nieuports. The circumstantial evidence that Palen received Nieuport parts from Mantz, who obtained Nieuport parts from Lincoln, tantalizingly suggests that the NASM fuselage could be from one of the Dawn Patrol aircraft. The evidence cannot support anything more definitive.
In light of the vague provenance of the NASM Nieuport, some considered judgement was required concerning the final configuration and markings of the aircraft when it was restored by the museum. One obvious possibility would have been to restore the aircraft closest to what the documentation suggests the parts represent, namely a post-war U.S. Army experimental/training aircraft. Despite the apparent common sense to that approach, there were several strong reasons not to take this route. First, there are no clues indicating at which Army installation the NASM Nieuport operated, not even a single component of the airframe. It would not only have been a pure guess which airplane it is, but total conjecture even with which airfield it was associated. Further, details on the markings of only a handful of the Army post-war aircraft exist. Painting it as one of these would only in the most remote sense represent the correct aircraft. Moreover, the Nieuport 28 type is in the national collection primarily because of its place in U.S. air operations during World War I, not because of its minor role as a post-war trainer.
Configuring it as a U.S. Navy aircraft, with the unique modifications of that use of the Nieuport 28, would have been interesting. But as it was known definitively that the NASM aircraft is not one of the Navy airplanes, and that only twelve were employed in this specialized role over a short period of time, to follow this course seemed inappropriate. For similar reasons, restoring it as one of the movie airplanes did not make sense. At best, only the fuselage of the NASM Nieuport 28 can be linked to any of the film work, and that only circumstantially. More significantly, movies represent only a small part of the Nieuport 28's history. Further, the movie Nieuports only were run up on the ground; they never actually flew in the films.
This presented the final option, which was taken: configuring the airplane as one of the war-time U.S. Air Service Nieuport 28s. Even though the NASM Nieuport is certainly not a war veteran because it was manufactured after the United States ceased to use them in combat, the best alternative was to configure the airplane in this fashion. As noted above, the main reason for inclusion of a Nieuport 28 in the NASM collection is to document the aircraft type first used by organized American units under American colors in combat. Because the history of the NASM Nieuport cannot be documented with any specificity, and certain configurations can be ruled out, the most reasonable approach was to represent the aircraft in accordance with the justified rationale for bringing it into the collection. Therefore, it was restored to a 28C.1 configuration and painted and marked as a U.S. Air Service combat Nieuport.
The particular Nieuport 28C.1 that the museum chose to represent was that of First Lieutenant James A. Meissner of the 94th Aero Squadron, U.S.A.S., a/c serial number 6144. This aircraft was chosen, rather than one of the more famous ones such as Eddie Rickenbacker's, Douglas Campbell's or Alan Winslow's, because it is representative of the famous "hat-in-the-ring" 94th Aero Squadron without misleading museum visitors into thinking that the NASM aircraft is actually one of the especially well-known American Nieuport 28s. Furthermore, Meissner's number 6144 has an interesting history in its own right.
On two occasions, with Meissner at the controls, 6144 experienced the infamous wing failure in a dive associated with the Nieuport 28. He landed safely both times. Meissner went on to command the 147th Aero Squadron. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross with Oak Leaf Clusters and the Croix de Guerre. He scored a total of 5 2/3 victories while flying with the 94th and the 147th. (Meissner is often credited with eight victories, but in 1969, the U.S. Air Force divided the credit of shared victories among all the pilots involved. Before this, each was given full credit for the victory in their totals. Having several shared victories, Meissner's official tally was reduced accordingly.) He survived the war, leaving the Air Service in 1919. Meissner's aircraft carried the standard factory-applied French camouflage, the famous "hat-in-the-ring" insignia, and standard U.S. wing and tail markings of the period, making it especially representative of the way American Nieuport 28s appeared when flown in the first U.S. air combat operations.
On two occasions, 6144 experienced the infamous structural failure of the wings in a dive associated with the Nieuport 28. Meissner landed his aircraft safely both times. Meissner later commanded the 147th Aero Squadron, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and Croix de Guerre, and was credited with a total of eight victories, flying with both the 94th and the 147th. He survived the war, leaving the Air Service in 1919. Meissner's aircraft carried the standard factory-applied French camouflage, the famous "hat-in-the-ring" insignia, and standard U.S. wing and tail markings of the period. It thus well represents the way American Nieuport 28s appeared when flown in the first U.S. air combat operations.
The airplane is painted as Meissner's appeared after May 10, 1918, after repairs from the first wing fabric shedding incident. Before this date, Meissner's Nieuport carried a black, or possibly red, number "14" on the fuselage sides and probably on the wings. He shot down one enemy aircraft with the airplane so marked, for which he was awarded the DSC. After May 10, the "14" on the fuselage was replaced with a white "8" with a thin black outline. A white "8" (with no black outline) also was applied to the top of the upper left wing of Meissner's 6144 upon repairing and re-numbering the airplane. Marked as number "8," Meissner shot down three more enemy aircraft in 6144 and experienced a second wing structure failure. Number "8" was chosen because more photographs exist of 6144 as number "8" and because it flew longer with this marking.
The 1912 Gage biplane in the NASM collection is referred to as the Fowler-Gage, in recognition of its owner and pilot, Robert G. Fowler. Beginning in October 1912, Fowler made numerous exhibition and passenger flights in California. He made his most famous flight in the airplane in 1913, flying ocean-to-ocean across Panama. With the Gage now on floats, Fowler started his Isthmus of Panama crossing with a takeoff from the Pacific side at 9:45 a.m. on April 27. It was an extraordinarily dangerous flight, with no open areas available for emergency landings. Nevertheless, he completed the 83 km (52 mi) flight in one hour and 45 minutes, landing with his passenger/cameraman, R.E. Duhem, at Cristobal at 11:30 a.m.
Fowler continued to perform further exhibition and passenger-carrying flights, as well as flying linemen on inspection trips over the transmission lines between Sacramento and Oraville, California, for the Great Western Power Company. He retired the airplane in 1915.
Gift of Robert G. Fowler.
Manufacturer: Gage-McClay Company
Date: 1912-1915
Country of Origin: United States of America
Dimensions:
Wingspan: 13.1 m (43 ft)
Length: 7.6 m (25 ft)
Height: 4.6 m (15 ft)
Weight: 363 kg, without engine (800 lb)
Materials:
Airframe: Wood Covering: Fabric
Physical Description:
Tractor biplane with one 90-horsepower Curtiss OX-5 V-8 engine. Open-frame fuselage. Double wheel landing gear with forward protruding landing skids. Natural finish overall with black markings.
The 1912 Gage tractor biplane in the NASM collection is generally referred to as the Fowler-Gage, in recognition of Robert G. Fowler, who owned and flew this airplane. Fowler learned to fly at the Wright school in Dayton, Ohio, in the summer of 1911. Following his training he shipped a Wright Model B airplane to San Francisco for a try at the $50,000-prize offered by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst for the first U.S. transcontinental flight in thirty days or less. After a number of unsuccessful tries, Fowler finally completed a flight from Los Angeles to Jacksonville, Florida, between October 18, 1911, and February 8, 1912. It was a noteworthy flight, but it was completed after Cal Rodgers made the first transcontinental crossing by air late in 1911 in his famous Wright EX called the Vin Fiz. (Rodgers did not receive the $50,000 Hearst prize, as he exceeded the thirty-day limit.) Fowler spent the spring and summer of 1911 fulfilling exhibition dates in the South, and then returned to California in October 1912 to take possession of a new Gage airplane that he had purchased.
The history of the builder, the Gage-McClay Company, is somewhat unclear. J. Gage is known to have established an aviation school at Griffith Park by late 1911. Early the following year he was marketing an interesting pusher biplane that was characterized as "well built and practical." In March 1912, Cleve T. Shafer, a California aeronautical enthusiast, offered the first long description of this first Gage machine in the popular aviation magazine, Aeronautics. Later in 1912, the firm began to produce tractor biplanes of the type now in the NASM collection.
At least four Gage biplanes were constructed. They were flown by four well-known aviators of the day, Roy Francis, Phil 0. Parmalee, J. Clifford Turpin, and Robert G. Fowler, all of whom were trained at the Wright school or flew on the Wright exhibition team. Each airplane was initially fitted with a 60-horsepower Hall-Scott engine and a 2.1 m (7 ft) propeller. The upper wing had a span of 13 m (42 ft 8 in), while the lower wing spanned 9.1 m (30 ft). One-and-half-meter (5 ft) extensions were available for the lower surface. With these extensions in place, the aircraft had a top speed of 96 kph (60 mph). The control system was reported to be of the "Farman type." This arrangement used a single right-hand lever to provide aileron and elevator control, and a foot bar controlled the rudder.
Fowler picked up the NASM Gage at Griffith Park field in Los Angeles in October 1912. On October 19 and 20, he flew an exhibition at Constan's ostrich farm in Pasadena, and on November 7 he left Griffith Park for San Francisco in a race with a Cadillac automobile. At Saugus, one of the stops along the route, Fowler crashed on takeoff, but with little injury to himself or damage to the airplane. In November 12, 1912, Fowler and his Gage airplane began a week-long series of appearances at the Empress Theater in San Francisco, the pilot lecturing with his aircraft behind him on the stage. On November 22 he flew the Gage from San Francisco to Gilray and back and in December flew in a competition at San Francisco's Tanforan Park. Early the following year he continued flying in the San Francisco area with passenger and exhibition flights. Some time during this period Fowler replaced the original 60-horsepower Hall-Scott engine with an 80-horsepower Hall-Scott, and fitted the Gage with floats.
With the Gage upgraded, Fowler made his most famous flight in the airplane in 1913. He signed a contract for an ocean-to-ocean cross-Panama flight in March. Plans were made to carry a cameraman on the flight to record the event on film. Fowler and his support crew sailed for Panama on April 1, and by April 12 he was making test flights in Panama City.
Robert Fowler started his Isthmus of Panama crossing with a takeoff from the Pacific side at 9:45 a.m. on April 27. It was an extraordinarily dangerous flight, with no open areas available for emergency landings between the takeoff point and the final destination. Treacherous winds over the rough terrain and the ever-present possibility of a sudden change in the weather compounded the difficulties. Nevertheless, he completed the 83 km (52 mi) flight in one hour and 45 minutes, landing with his passenger/cameraman, R.E. Duhem, in the shallow water at Cristobal at 11:30.
Fowler returned to the United States that summer to perform further exhibition and passenger-carrying flights. He also made occasional theatrical appearances to narrate his Panama flight footage. He continued this activity, and ran a flying school, through 1915.
Fowler and his Gage participated in a number of special projects in this period. One of the most interesting began late in 1913. In December Fowler won a contract with the Great Western Power Company to fly linemen on inspection trips over the transmission lines between Sacramento and Oroville. If a break in the power lines was spotted during the 112 km (70 mi) trip, Fowler was to land the repairmen to fix the line on the spot. The trips were scheduled several times a week, but it is not certain how many flights were actually made. On another occasion Fowler and the Gage were employed to carry Christmas mail to Sacramento. Fowler retired the airplane in 1915.
In August 1950 Robert Fowler donated the Gage, without an engine, to the Smithsonian Institution. It was restored by the National Air and Space Museum in 1987-1988. Ideally the museum would have installed a 60- or an 80-horsepower Hall-Scott engine, but none was available at the time. Fowler reported that he had installed a Curtiss OX in the airplane when he set it up for a public display in 1939. The aircraft was not flown with this engine, however. Even though it was not the most desirable solution to the missing engine dilemma, the museum chose to mount an OX-5 from the collection until such time as a Hall-Scott becomes available.
Inventory number: A19510004000
Gaston and René Caudron were among the earliest aircraft manufacturers in France. After building and testing a few original designs in 1909 and early in 1910, the brothers established a flight training school at Crotoy and an aircraft factory at Rue in 1910. The first factory-produced Caudron was the type A4, a 35-horsepower Anzani-powered tractor biplane in which the pilot sat completely exposed behind the rear spar of the lower wing. The next major Caudron design, the type B, was the first to feature the abbreviated fuselage/pilot nacelle, characteristic of many later Caudron aircraft. It was powered by a 70-horsepower Gnôme or 60-horsepower Anzani engine mounted in the front of the nacelle with the pilot immediately behind. Although a tractor, the tail unit of the type B was supported by booms extending from the trailing edge of the wings, an arrangement more commonly featured on pusher aircraft. Lateral control was accomplished with wing warping. The type B established the basic configuration of Caudron designs through the G.4 model.
The first of the well-known Caudron G series aircraft appeared in 1912. Initially designed as a trainer, the type G was developed into the G.2 by the outbreak of the First World War, and saw limited military service in 1914 as single and two-seat versions. By that time the Caudron factory had been relocated to Lyon, where an improved version, designated the G.3, was being produced in significant numbers. Soon a second factory was opened at Issy-les-Moulineaux, near Paris, to meet military demand for the airplane. The G.3 was primarily a two-seat aircraft, but a few were converted to single-seat versions. They were powered variously by 80-horsepower Le Rhône or Gnôme rotary engines or a 90-horsepower Anzani radial. A total of 2,450 G.3s were built, including a small number built under license in Britain and Italy.
The Caudron G.4 was a larger, twin-engined version of the G.3, powered by two 80-horsepower Le Rhônes or 100-horsepower Anzanis. The Anzani-powered Caudron G.4s served mostly as training aircraft. Some of the Anzani-powered G.4s, but not all, had their engines set up to turn in opposite directions to balance the torque of the whirling propellers. All the Le Rhône-powered Caudrons had both engines rotating in the same direction, clockwise from the pilot's orientation. Also, the two vertical tail surfaces of the G.3 were increased to four on the G.4. The twin-engined configuration increased the range of the Caudron and provided a location for a forward-firing machine gun, typically a Hotchkiss or Lewis, although other types were also used. To protect against attacks from behind, some G.4s were fitted with an additional gun mounted on the top of the upper wing and pointed rearward, but this proved to be ineffective and it was frequently removed from operational aircraft. A number of G.4s had a second gun mounted immediately in front of the pilot on the deck of the nacelle (such as on the NASM Caudron). But more often the pilot and observer simply carried hand-held weapons to respond to attacks from the rear. Some G.4s carried a camera for high-altitude reconnaissance.
The prototype G.4 first flew in March 1915, and 1,358 were built in three major versions: the Caudron G.4A2 for reconnaissance, the G.4B2 for bombing, and the G.4E2 for training. The A2 had a wireless set for artillery spotting missions; the B2 could carry up to 100 kg (220 lb) of bombs; and the E2 had dual controls for instruction. A special armored version of the G.4, designated the G.4IB, was deployed to the top French units, the "B" representing Blindage, the French word for armor. In addition to reconnaissance, bombing, and training, the Caudron G.4 also sometimes served as a long-range escort to other bomber aircraft.
By 1916, the G.4 was replacing the G.3 in most Caudron squadrons. Extensively used as a bomber during the first half of 1916, its deployment in that role was severely reduced by the fall of that year. The Caudron's relative slow speed and inability to defend itself from the rear made it increasingly vulnerable to fighter attack as German air defense improved. But Caudrons continued to be widely used as reconnaissance aircraft well into 1917. By early 1918 virtually all Caudron aircraft still in use were relegated to training duties. In addition to the French, Caudrons were used extensively by British and Italian units, and a few were used by the Russians and the Belgians. Ten Caudron G.4s were sold to the United States in November 1917 and transferred to the U.S. Air Service's 2nd Air Instruction Center at Tours. Used exclusively as trainers, none of these Caudrons saw operational service with American units.
The Caudron G.4 was in many respects a pre-war design, with its wing-warping lateral control, light structure, and limited visibility. Yet it has great significance as an early light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft. It was a principal type used when these critical air power missions were being conceived and pioneered in World War I. Although fighter aircraft frequently gain greater attention, the most influential role of aviation in the First World War was reconnaissance. The extensive deployment of the Caudron in this role make it an especially important early military aircraft. Moreover, despite its speed and armament limitations, the Caudron was quite reliable, had a good rate of climb, and was pleasant to fly, all characteristics that made it a good training aircraft after its combat effectiveness was reduced. Many Allied pilots received their initial flight training on the Caudron. For all these reasons the Caudron occupies an important place in aviation history and in the National Air and Space Museum's aircraft collection. As an individual museum specimen, the NASM Caudron G.4 also has great significance. It is among the oldest surviving bomber aircraft in the world. Further, it is the only very early multi-engine airplane in the NASM collection, and one of the very few multi-engine aircraft from this period anywhere.
The Caudron G.4 in the NASM collection, serial # C4263, was built by the Eugene firm and left the factory on December 12, 1916. The marking "12_16" appears on the leading edge of each individual wing section and some other major components of the aircraft, confirming the manufacturing date acquired from archival sources. Its acceptance flight was made at Issy-les-Moulineaux on December 27, 1916. The pilot's name was Gerviès and it was reported that the airplane climbed to 1000 m (3,281 ft) in 7 minutes. The airplane had full radio and photographic equipment, characterized by the A2 reconnaissance variant. Caudron G.4 serial # C4263 saw no operational activity with the French Air Service. It was apparently sent to the Reserve Générale of the Aviation Militaire and remained there until it was purchased by the United States government in early 1917 through the American Ambassador, Mr. Sharp. The Caudron was acquired, along with a Voisin Type 8 (also in the NASM collection) and a Farman aircraft, for technical evaluation by the United States. However, by the time the aircraft were transported to the U.S. and prepared for flight demonstrations, they were already outmoded. This airplane was not among the ten purchased late in 1917 and deployed as trainers. Photographic evidence demonstrates that the NASM Caudron had arrived in the U.S. and was at Langley Field, Hampton, Virginia, at least by July 26, 1917, four months before the contract for the ten training aircraft was executed.
In a 1966 article in the journal Cross & Cockade on the NASM Caudron, the author, Brian Flanagan, states that at some point before the end of the war, "the Caudron and the Voisin were exhibited in a park in Washington, D.C., as part of a war drive display." But he cites no source for this fact.
On July 12, 1918, Lt. Col. L.S. Horner, of the War Department's Bureau of Aircraft Production, wrote to Smithsonian Institution Secretary, Charles Walcott, regarding "obsolete airplanes for exhibition purposes," offering the Caudron, the Voisin, and the Farman aircraft to the Institution. The offer was accepted and the three airplanes were delivered to the museum on September 16 and 17, 1918. The Farman was very incomplete and was deemed unacceptable for exhibition. It was returned to the War Department in June 1921. Because of an oversight when packing the Farman for shipment, its wings remained at the Smithsonian until September 1925, when they were either returned to the War Department or destroyed. The record is unclear.
The Caudron was delivered to the Smithsonian without engines, propellers, or armament. It was soon assembled and suspended in the Arts and Industries building, lacking these components. In 1929, Paul Garber, of the Smithsonian curatorial staff, acquired engines and propellers from the War Department, and had them installed on the Caudron. Unfortunately, Garber was unable to obtain the proper 80-horsepower Le Rhône rotary engines. Only 110-horsepower Le Rhônes were available, and Garber considered these to be at least representative of the correct powerplants. Similarly, the propellers acquired and installed on the airplane were only representative of the period and not the precise type that were actually used on the Caudron. Internal parts of the 110-horsepower Le Rhônes, such as pistons, connecting rods, etc., were removed from the engines to lighten them and put in storage. Smithsonian officials took this action as a safety measure because the airplane was suspended over a public area. The Caudron was displayed in this manner until the late 1960s or early 1970s, when it was removed from the Arts and Industries building and placed in storage at the Garber Facility. It received preservation treatment in 2000. Also at that time, the incorrect 110-horsepower Le Rhône rotary engines were replaced with the proper 80-horsepower Le Rhônes, and correct propellers were fabricated.
One interesting marking on the tail of the NASM Caudron is the term "Blindage 16K" on the rudders. Blindage is the French word for armored, indicating that the museum's airplane could be one of the special G.4IB armored Caudrons. The armor consisted of a heavy metal plate inserted behind the seat of the rear cockpit, protruding upward so as to cover the back and head of the pilot. The armor plate is missing on the NASM Caudron. However, there is a gap, or slot, in the structure immediately behind the seat where such a plate would fit. Photographs of other Caudrons with the armor plate inserted show it in the same location as the slot behind the rear seat on the NASM Caudron. This, along with the marking "Blindage 16 K," strongly indicate that the NASM airplane was an armored version of the Caudron G.4.
The German Junkers company, based at Dessau, Saxony, had pioneered the use of metal, specifically an aluminum alloy, when in introduced the Junkers-F 13 in 1919. Marketing this monoplane aircraft, clearly superior to the wood-and-fabric, or metal frame-and-wood, mostly biplane, competition throughout Europe, was difficult, because of the severe restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles and the Peace Treaties that had settled the conditions of reparations forced on Germany after the Great War of 1914-18. By the end of the 1920s decade, however, the situation had eased. German aircraft manufacturers had evaded the restrictions by building in foreign countries, and normal industrial conditions returned to Germany so that the innovative aircraft manufacturers regcained momentum.
At Dessau, Junkers had already built several tri-motored transport aircraft and an enormous four-engined one, the G 38. Then, to begin the new decade, still using the same corrugated-skin structural technology, designer Ernst Zindel produced the Junkers-Ju 52. Which made its first flight on 11 September 1930. This was a single-engined aircraft, intended for hauling freight, and equipped with several large doors and a hatch in the roof. Its performance was impressive. In the winter of 1931, in Montreal, Canada, one took off, carrying almost four tons, in 17-1/2 seconds. But the world's depressed economy handicapped sales, and only seven Ju 52s were built.
In 1932, the German national airline, Deutsche Luft Hansa, had to transfer two Rohrbach Rolands to Deruluft, jointly-owned by Germany and the Soviet Union, to maintain an important air link between Berlin and Moscow. By this time, Andrei Tupolev's design team in Moscow had introduced the ANT-9, which, compared to the Fokker-Grulich and Dornier aircraft in the Deruluft fleet, appeared elegant and aerodynamically efficient. Furthermore the performance matched its looks, and with a demonstration flight through Europe in 1929, Mikhail Gromov had, in effect, put out a challenge to the German manufacturers.
Zindel responded by converting the Ju 52 to a tri-motor, with three 525 hp BMW (Pratt & Whitney-licensed) Hornet engines. It made its debut in 1932 and was destined to become one of the best-known European transport aircraft in history, and certainly the one produced in the greatest numbers. The Junkers-Ju 52/3m - to use the correct designation of the tri-motored version - carried up to 17 passengers, or about three tons of freight, and cruised at about 150 mph. Its best feature was its ability to take off from or land on almost any reasonably-sized field, even a football field.
As an airliner, it was used all over Europe, with seveeral national airlines. The German flag carrieer, Deutsche Luft Hansa (D.L.H.), had more than 200 of them, and such was its popularity among pilots that it was affectionately known as "Tante Ju," or "Auntie Ju" - rather as Americans referred to the Douglas DC-3 or C-47 as the "Gooney Bird." It was exported all over the world, seeing good service in many countries of South America, in China, and in South Africa.
As a military transport, it was a great work-horse. Of the estimated 4,835 built, 2,804 were for the Luftwaffe, for which it performed valiantly during the Second World War, as a troop carrier, bomber, and ambulance. Most spectacularly, an armada of Ju 52/3m's parachuted troops into Allied-held Crete, and 170 of the fleet of 493 were shot down. Soviet sources claim that 676 were shot down or destroyed in the unsuccessful attampt to relieve von Paulus's army trapped in Stalingrad. Many of these flew to the battle zone, loaded to the full with supplies, at the expense of the fuel needed to make the return flight.
Additional numbers of the "Tante Ju's" were produced in France under the Vichy Government, as the A.A.C.1, by the Ateliers Aéronautiques de Colombes, where construction continued after the war ended. The same occurred in Generalissimo Franco's Spain, as the CASA 352/3m, and these were produced until 1952, and used extensively by the Spanish Air Force. They were even used by the British, and when the war ended, were flown by British European Airways on Scotland Irish Sea. Services. The last flight by the pre-war D.L.H. Is believed to have been one from Oslo, Norway, to Aarhus, Denmark, on l5 May 1945. The floatplane version of the Ju 52/3m had maintained the essential communications service along the coast of Norway throughout the Second World War; and is believed to have continued for a few days after the termination of hostilities because no order came through telling that dismembered unit of D.L.H. to stop.
Rather like the indefatigable DC-3, quite a few Tante Ju's continued to keep flying after the end of the Second World War. But their fatality rate during the conflict had been harsh, and not many were left, except in foreign countries. The last one is believed to have been retired from commercial airline service in New Guinea during the late 1960s. A few are still to be seen flying today, notably one owned b y the present-day Lufthansa, which proudly maintains it in perfect flying condition for sight-seeing flights and air show demonstrations. The Swiss Air Force owns three at the Dubendorf airfield, near Zurich, and conducts sight-seeing flights to the Swiss Alps.
In 1987, arrangements were made with Lufthansa for a generous donation of a Junkers-Ju 52/3m to the National Air and Space Museum. The aircraft is a CASA-built one that was built in 1951/2, and sold in the mid-1970s to Fairoaks Aviation in England., where is was given limited exemption to fly, often for movie film work. It was sold to Lufthansa in 1987, and completely restored, overhauled, and refurbished at Hamburg, with the engines completely overhauled by B.M.W. in Munich. It was disassembled, shipped to Baltimore, and then road-hauled to Washington's Dulles Inteernational Airport, where it was re-assembled by Page Aviation. It is the only foreign-built transport aircraft in the NASM collection.
Woody Edmondson, airshow pilot and aerobatic champion, thrilled airshow crowds with his Monocoupe 110 Special Little Butch throughout the late 1940s. The Monocoupe 110 Special was a special design built for racing and aerobatics from the basic Monocoupe of the 20s and 30s, the airborne sport coupe of the era.
The original Monocoupe design came from Luscombe's desire to build an enclosed two-place aircraft for business or person use, something lighter and more comfortable than open-cockpit biplanes. Luscombe was somewhat influenced by the Belgian Delmonty-Poncelet Limousine, a high-wing monoplane with a side-by-side enclosed cabin and the reverse curve rear fuselage lines that were to become one of the signature identifier features of the Monocoupes. Luscombe founded Central States Aero Company and hired Clayton Folkerts, a young self-taught designer. In 1928, the Mono 22 was the first light aircraft awarded an Aircraft Type Certificate (number 22) and in 1930 it was fitted with a Velie M-5 engine to become the Model 70. Central States Aero Company became Mono Aircraft, Inc., of Moline, Illinois, a subsidiary of the Velie Motors Company, and the Model 113 and the Model 90 followed.
The Model 110 was basically a Model 90 with a 110 hp Warner Scarab radial engine. The Model 110 Special, a clipped-wing version of the 110, grew out of racing pilot Johnny Livingston's desire to have a faster aircraft for the National Air Races. In 1931 his 110 was streamlined with fairings and wheel pants, and in 1932 Livingston asked Monocoupe to shorten the wingspan from the standard 32 feet to 20 feet, reduce the size and shape of the tail, and install a larger 145 hp Warner Scarab engine. The factory shortened the wingspan to just over 23 feet, retaining sufficient wing area to sustain safe flight during high-speed pylon turns. The changes improved the speed from 150 mph to 220 mph. Over several years, a total of ten Specials emerged, seven were built or modified by the factory, and three were modified by homebuilders.
The Monocoupe 110 Special Little Butch, N36Y, was built at the factory in Melbourne, Florida, and test flown on February 3, 1941, by then-Monocoupe president Clare Bunch (Don Luscombe had left the company in 1933). The original base color of the airplane was Monocoupe Blue with an ivory trim. W. J. Coddington bought the aircraft on March 5, 1941, but severely damaged the airplane in a landing accident and returned it to the factory for repairs and resale. Guy Gully of Farrell, Pennsylvania, bought the aircraft on November 16, 1941, but had an accident and sold it to J. D. Reed of Houston, Texas, on August 3, 1943. Reed sold it on March 16, 1944 to W.W. "Woody" Edmondson of Lynchburg, Virginia, who named it Little Butch because of its bulldog-like appearance. Edmondson initially used the airplane for transportation between airports in Virginia and North Carolina where he operated government-sponsored pilot flight training programs during the war. In 1946 he re-entered the airshow circuit and installed a Warner 185 hp Super Scarab. This engine had a pressure carburetor for inverted flying and had a Koppers Aeromatic controllable pitch propeller. He often flew two or three air shows a day all scheduled close to Lynchburg so that he could fly, in his business suit, from one to another.
One day Edmondson severely tested the structural integrity of the airplane by making a high-speed inverted pass and pulling up into a series of vertical rolls. This maneuver always subjected the aircraft to severe negative "g" loading conditions for which the airplane was not originally designed. It went into a series of uncontrollable snap rolls and ended up inverted at about 2,000 feet. Edmondson recovered control but then noticed that the right wing struts had an elbow bend of several inches in them. He reinforced the struts by nesting the next size struts within the existing size streamlined tubing.
In 1946 and 1947 at the Miami Air Manuevers, Edmondson placed second in the aerobatics competition to Bevo Howard in his Bucker Jungmeister, which is also in the NASM collection, but he won in 1948 when the first International Aerobatics Championships were held. Sponsored by Gulf Oil Corporation, he continued to use N36Y on the air-show circuit throughout the east and midwest until 1951. Edmondson sold the airplane to Johnny Foyle, an air show pilot of South Boston, Virginia, on August 22, 1960, who twice flipped the airplane over on landings. Foyle was killed in another airplane accident and John McCulloch, an Eastern Airlines captain from Naples, Florida, bought N36Y on June 18, 1965. McCulloch shipped it to Florida to be rebuilt by Monocoupe specialist C.V. Stewart and then test-flew the rebuilt airplane on March 8, 1966.
McCulloch flew Little Butch throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s from his home in Virginia to airshows all across the eastern half of the U.S, and he frequently flew at the Flying Circus summer air shows in Bealeton, Virginia. McCulloch claims that he is the only owner who never put the airplane on its back. Wishing to preserve this historic and rare airplane, he asked Ken Hyde of Warrenton, Virginia, to restore the aircraft to Edmondson's red and white paint scheme. The airplane flew again in October 1974 and it was then lent to the Shannon Air Museum in Fredericksburg, Virginia. McCulloch donated Little Butch to NASM on December 29, 1981.
Aichi chief engineer, Toshio Ozaki, designed the M6A1 Seiran to fulfill the requirement for a bomber that could operate exclusively from a submarine. Japanese war planners devised the idea as a means for striking directly at the United States mainland and other important strategic targets that lay thousands of kilometers from Japan. To support Seiran operations, the Japanese developed a fleet of submarine aircraft carriers to bring the aircraft within striking distance. No Seiran ever saw combat but the Seiran/submarine weapons system represents an ingenious blend of aviation and marine technology.
Japan was already operating reconnaissance aircraft from submarines before the United States entered World War II. One of these airplanes actually bombed American soil. On September 9, 1942, a Yokosuka E14Y1 GLEN (Allied codename) reconnaissance floatplane launched by catapult from the submarine I-25 and dropped four improvised phosphorus bombs into a forest on the Oregon coast. Five months earlier, the Japanese Navy issued orders to build a new series of submarine aircraft carriers called the I-400 class. Navy planners envisioned a large fleet but eventually only three were completed, I-400 through I-402. The three ships in this class were the largest submarines ever built until the "USS Lafayette" sailed in 1962. An I-400 boat displaced 5,970 metric tons (6,560 tons) submerged and it cruised at 18.7 knots surfaced. These ships could travel 60,000 km (43,000 mi) carrying three Seirans in waterproof compartments. A class of smaller Japanese submarines called the AM class was also modified to carry two Seirans.
Soon after commencing the I-400 program, the Navy directed Aichi to develop the Prototype Special Attack Aircraft M6A1. Chief engineer Ozaki confronted an ambitious challenge: develop an aircraft to haul a 250 kg (400 lb) bomb, or an 800 kg (1,288 lb) bomb or torpedo, and fly at least 474 kph (294 mph) with jettisonable floats in place, or 559 kph (347 mph) without floats. The navy also stipulated that assembling and launching the three M6A1s should require no more than 30 minutes. To fit inside a 3.5 m (11 ft 6 in) diameter, cylinder-shaped hangar, Ozaki designed the main wing spar to rotate 90° once the deck crew removed the two floats. After rotating the wings, the crew folded them back to lie flat against the fuselage. About 2/3 of the each side of the horizontal stabilizer also folded down, likewise the tip of the vertical stabilizer. Deck crews stored the floats and their support pylons in separate compartments.
Aichi completed the first prototype in October 1943 and started flight tests in November. The second prototype joined the test program in February 1944. The Navy was so pleased with the initial results that it ordered production to start even before Aichi delivered the remaining prototypes, and two land-based M6A1-K Nanzan trainers. However, progress virtually stopped after a major earthquake severely disrupted the production line in December 1944. Boeing B-29 bomber raids further disrupted the project. As the war deteriorated in March 1945, the Navy curtailed the submarine program. The first I-400 was finished on December 30, 1944, and the I-401 followed a week later. But I-402 was converted into a submarine fuel tanker and work ended on I-404 and 405. With the submarine fleet now reduced, the Navy required fewer Seirans so this program was also curtailed. Using parts on hand, Aichi eventually built 26 Seirans (including prototypes) and two Nanzan trainers.
Navy leaders organized the 1st Submarine Flotilla and 631st Air Corps and placed Captain Tatsunoke Ariizumi in command of both units. The combined force consisted of the submarine carriers I-400 and I-401, two AM class submarines, the I-13 and I-14, and 10 Seiran bombers. During sea trials, the units practiced hard to reduce the assembly time for the Seiran. Eventually, the crews could launch three aircraft (albeit without floats) in less than 15 minutes! There was a major drawback for without floats, the Seiran pilot could not safely land on the water. His only option was to ditch the bomber near the submarine and await rescue. The aircraft would obviously be lost.
It was perhaps the most ambitious strategic target selected during World War II. Japanese Navy planners chose to strike the locks of the Panama Canal using the 631st Air Corps embarked aboard the 1st Submarine Flotilla. Planners assigned ten Seirans to strike the Gatun Locks with six torpedoes and four bombs. The pilots studied a large-scale model of the lock system and memorized important features of the canal, just as their predecessors did before attacking Pearl Harbor. During these preparations, the Japanese decided to strike first at the U. S. Navy fleet anchored at Ulithi Atoll. On June 25, 1945, Ariizumi received orders for Operation Hikari. This plan required six Seirans and four Nakajima C6N1 MYRT reconnaissance aircraft (see NASM collection). The I-13 and I-14 would carry two MYRTs each and offload them at Truk Island. The MYRT pilots would take off and scout the American fleet at Ulithi, relaying target information to the Seiran crews. The six Seirans would carry out kamikaze attacks on the most important targets-American aircraft carriers and troop transports.
Trouble dogged the entire operation. The I-13, with two MYRTs aboard, was damaged by air attacks then sunk by a U. S. destroyer. The I-400 missed a crucial radio message from Ariizumi's flagship and proceeded to the wrong rendezvous point. On August, 16, 1945, Ariizumi's flotilla received word that the war was over. They were ordered to return to Japan and scuttle the aircraft. The I-400 crew punched holes in floats and pushed the Seirans overboard as sailors aboard I-401 catapulted their M6A1s into the sea.
The National Air and Space Museum M6A1 was the last airframe built (serial number 28) and today it remains the only extant Seiran. Imperial Japanese Navy Lt. Kazuo Akatsuka ferried this Seiran from Fukuyama to Yokosuka where he surrendered it to an American occupation contingent. The aircraft was shipped to United States, then periodically displayed at Naval Air Station Alameda, California, until the U. S. Navy transferred the aircraft to the Paul E. Garber Facility in Silver Hill, Maryland. It arrived in November 1962 but remained in storage outdoors for 12 years until in-door display/storage space became available.
Restoration work began on the floatplane in June 1989 and ended in February 2000, thanks to the outstanding work of a team of staff experts, many volunteers, and several Japanese nationals working at Garber and in Japan. No production drawings survive and the team conducted exhaustive research into how various aircraft systems operated in order accurately reconstruct a number of missing components. They found interesting design features built into the Seiran that ranged in engineering quality from the ingenious to the seemingly absurd. This artifact also bore witness to the difficult working conditions that plagued the Japanese aviation industry at the end of the war. Quality and workmanship were seriously lacking because of extensive damage to equipment and factories and the lack of skilled, professional workers (many were high school students). A metal flap bore damage-probably the result of a bombing raid-hastily covered with fabric patches. They found the interior of fuel tanks contaminated with paper documents. Basic fit and alignment of parts was also poor in many places. Someone, possibly a Japanese student, scratched a complete English alphabet inside one wing panel. Technicians found more graffiti in various areas on the airframe.
Craftsmen were surprised to find no evidence that the pilot could jettison the floats in flight, contrary to claims by the designer. Aichi may have deleted this feature near the end of the M6A1 production run.
The German Junkers company, based at Dessau, Saxony, had pioneered the use of metal, specifically an aluminum alloy, when in introduced the Junkers-F 13 in 1919. Marketing this monoplane aircraft, clearly superior to the wood-and-fabric, or metal frame-and-wood, mostly biplane, competition throughout Europe, was difficult, because of the severe restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles and the Peace Treaties that had settled the conditions of reparations forced on Germany after the Great War of 1914-18. By the end of the 1920s decade, however, the situation had eased. German aircraft manufacturers had evaded the restrictions by building in foreign countries, and normal industrial conditions returned to Germany so that the innovative aircraft manufacturers regcained momentum.
At Dessau, Junkers had already built several tri-motored transport aircraft and an enormous four-engined one, the G 38. Then, to begin the new decade, still using the same corrugated-skin structural technology, designer Ernst Zindel produced the Junkers-Ju 52. Which made its first flight on 11 September 1930. This was a single-engined aircraft, intended for hauling freight, and equipped with several large doors and a hatch in the roof. Its performance was impressive. In the winter of 1931, in Montreal, Canada, one took off, carrying almost four tons, in 17-1/2 seconds. But the world's depressed economy handicapped sales, and only seven Ju 52s were built.
In 1932, the German national airline, Deutsche Luft Hansa, had to transfer two Rohrbach Rolands to Deruluft, jointly-owned by Germany and the Soviet Union, to maintain an important air link between Berlin and Moscow. By this time, Andrei Tupolev's design team in Moscow had introduced the ANT-9, which, compared to the Fokker-Grulich and Dornier aircraft in the Deruluft fleet, appeared elegant and aerodynamically efficient. Furthermore the performance matched its looks, and with a demonstration flight through Europe in 1929, Mikhail Gromov had, in effect, put out a challenge to the German manufacturers.
Zindel responded by converting the Ju 52 to a tri-motor, with three 525 hp BMW (Pratt & Whitney-licensed) Hornet engines. It made its debut in 1932 and was destined to become one of the best-known European transport aircraft in history, and certainly the one produced in the greatest numbers. The Junkers-Ju 52/3m - to use the correct designation of the tri-motored version - carried up to 17 passengers, or about three tons of freight, and cruised at about 150 mph. Its best feature was its ability to take off from or land on almost any reasonably-sized field, even a football field.
As an airliner, it was used all over Europe, with seveeral national airlines. The German flag carrieer, Deutsche Luft Hansa (D.L.H.), had more than 200 of them, and such was its popularity among pilots that it was affectionately known as "Tante Ju," or "Auntie Ju" - rather as Americans referred to the Douglas DC-3 or C-47 as the "Gooney Bird." It was exported all over the world, seeing good service in many countries of South America, in China, and in South Africa.
As a military transport, it was a great work-horse. Of the estimated 4,835 built, 2,804 were for the Luftwaffe, for which it performed valiantly during the Second World War, as a troop carrier, bomber, and ambulance. Most spectacularly, an armada of Ju 52/3m's parachuted troops into Allied-held Crete, and 170 of the fleet of 493 were shot down. Soviet sources claim that 676 were shot down or destroyed in the unsuccessful attampt to relieve von Paulus's army trapped in Stalingrad. Many of these flew to the battle zone, loaded to the full with supplies, at the expense of the fuel needed to make the return flight.
Additional numbers of the "Tante Ju's" were produced in France under the Vichy Government, as the A.A.C.1, by the Ateliers Aéronautiques de Colombes, where construction continued after the war ended. The same occurred in Generalissimo Franco's Spain, as the CASA 352/3m, and these were produced until 1952, and used extensively by the Spanish Air Force. They were even used by the British, and when the war ended, were flown by British European Airways on Scotland Irish Sea. Services. The last flight by the pre-war D.L.H. Is believed to have been one from Oslo, Norway, to Aarhus, Denmark, on l5 May 1945. The floatplane version of the Ju 52/3m had maintained the essential communications service along the coast of Norway throughout the Second World War; and is believed to have continued for a few days after the termination of hostilities because no order came through telling that dismembered unit of D.L.H. to stop.
Rather like the indefatigable DC-3, quite a few Tante Ju's continued to keep flying after the end of the Second World War. But their fatality rate during the conflict had been harsh, and not many were left, except in foreign countries. The last one is believed to have been retired from commercial airline service in New Guinea during the late 1960s. A few are still to be seen flying today, notably one owned b y the present-day Lufthansa, which proudly maintains it in perfect flying condition for sight-seeing flights and air show demonstrations. The Swiss Air Force owns three at the Dubendorf airfield, near Zurich, and conducts sight-seeing flights to the Swiss Alps.
In 1987, arrangements were made with Lufthansa for a generous donation of a Junkers-Ju 52/3m to the National Air and Space Museum. The aircraft is a CASA-built one that was built in 1951/2, and sold in the mid-1970s to Fairoaks Aviation in England., where is was given limited exemption to fly, often for movie film work. It was sold to Lufthansa in 1987, and completely restored, overhauled, and refurbished at Hamburg, with the engines completely overhauled by B.M.W. in Munich. It was disassembled, shipped to Baltimore, and then road-hauled to Washington's Dulles Inteernational Airport, where it was re-assembled by Page Aviation. It is the only foreign-built transport aircraft in the NASM collection.
"Nearly every flight that was made by Excalibur III broke some kind of record," according to this Mustang’s last pilot/owner, Capt. Charles F. Blair, Jr. It was Blair who made it possible for this record-setting airplane to become part of the National Aeronautical Collection in 1953.
The World War II operational life of this Mustang was uneventful, and following the war it was sold as surplus property to A. Paul Mantz. A movie stunt and race pilot, Mantz planned to enter the postwar resumption of the cross-country Bendix Air Race from the West Coast to the site of the National Air Races in Cleveland, Ohio. To eliminate the need for an intermediate stop, he modified the plane, converting the wing into a large fuel tank by sealing the interior. The added fuel capacity of this wetwing" more than doubled the range of the airplane.
This modification had the desired results, for this P-51C came in first in the 1946 and 1947 Bendix Air Races with Mantz at the controls. In 1948 it came in second and in 1949 it finished third, flown by hired pilots Linton Carney and Herman Fish" Salmon respectively. In 1947 Mantz set a coast-to-coast speed record in each direction with this Mustang, then called Blaze of Noon.
Following its last Bendix Race, a challenge of a different nature was in store for this airplane. Charles F. Blair became interested in setting a solo, round-the-world speed record and purchased this Mustang from Mantz. Blair was a very experienced pilot, a captain with Pan American World Airways at the time, and had established his reputation by setting records in flying boats during his numerous crossings of the Atlantic during World War II.
With the eruption of the Korean War, however, Blair had to change his plans, since flying across international borders in a combat plane during wartime would not have been prudent. New plans were set for the plane that Blair had renamed Excalibur Ill, from the Excalibur Flying Boat that he flew for American Export Airlines during World War II. After careful preparations, Blair flew his Mustang from New York to London on January 31, 1951, in 7 hours, 48 minutes, breaking the existing speed record by 1 hour and 7 minutes. This record stands today for reciprocating-engine, propeller-driven airplanes.
In the flight that followed, Blair and Excalibur III established their most noted record. Blair had developed a new method of air navigation in polar regions, where the magnetic compass is unreliable, if not useless. By plotting sunlines at predetermined locations and times, a reliable form of navigation was possible, Blair believed. To prove his theory. he left Bardufoss. Norway, with Excalibur Ill on May 29, 1951. heading north over the ice and snow to Fairbanks, Alaska, via the North Pole. There were no intermediate emergency landing points and no communications or radio navigation aids available to him after departing Norway. Exactly as planned, 10 hours and 27 minutes after takeoff on the other side of the world, Excalibur Ill arrived at Fairbanks. Blair financed the project and was solely responsible for every detail of the flight. For this accomplishment, he was awarded the Harmon International Trophy in 1952 by President Harry Truman. Perhaps even more important. this flight of Exca(ibur Ill changed defense planning for the United States; flights across the northern reaches of the globe by attacking forces were now deemed possible, and steps were taken to prevent them.
This historic flight by Excalibur Ill also carried the first official intercontinental air mail across the North Pole. On the return flight from Fairbanks to New York. another record was set for the first nonstop transcontinental solo crossing of the Alaska-Canadian route from Fairbanks to New York. flown at a leisurely pace in 9½ hours.
For Charlie Blair. there was only one rightful place for this historic airplane and that was the Aeronautical Collection of the Smithsonian Institution. At his suggestion. Pan American purchased the airplane from Blair and donated it tc the National Air Museum on November 6. 1953. It was completely restored in 1977.
n 1950, the Fulton Airphibian became the first roadable aircraft, an aircraft designed to be used as a car or an airplane to be certificated by the Civil Aviation Administration (CAA). Other roadable aircraft had already been built, for example Waldo Waterman's Arrow/Aerobile and William Stout's Skycar, both of which are in the NASM collection--as well as other designs, but none won certification.
Robert Fulton Jr., developed his Airphibian as a flexible means of business and personal transportation. During World War II, he flew his own aircraft around the country for government contract work, and quite often he had been left at airports with unreliable or inadequate means of transportation into towns. The roadable aircraft would be flown to an airport and, with the disengagement of the wings and tail, it would become a car, capable of being driven to the final destination. Fulton designed the Airphibian as a high-wing monoplane, similar in appearance to a Stinson Voyager but with a distinctive four-wheel landing gear with fairings/fenders. It had a conventional fabric-covered steel-tube aft fuselage and empennage, straight tapered cantilever wings of metal rib and fabric construction, and a semi-monocoque forward fuselage that detached and converted into a car.
Following Fulton's desire for secrecy, Army Air Force Captain Frazer Dougherty piloted the first flight of the prototype off of a remote grass strip near Middleburg, VA in the spring of 1945. Dougherty and Fulton had met at a dinner party at avation entrepeneur and engineer Grover Loening's New York home and Dougherty soon became the company test pilot. Engineers Ted Polhemus and Franz Alverez and veteran mechanic Wayne Dasher were the technical team that worked on Fulton's aerial gunnery simulator and also built the Airphiban prototype. To acquire the funding for design, certification, and production, Fulton formed Continental, Inc. at the Danbury Airport, Danbury, Connecticut.
The first production prototype test flight was May 21, 1947. Ground handling was considered excellent in both the roadable and airplane configurations. Normal turning of the steering wheel provided steering on the road. The right rudder pedal provided normal brake operation, the left pedal operated the clutch, and an accelerator provided power. The engine drove the rear wheels through a torque converter, drive shaft, combined transmission and differential, and universal joints. All four wheels could be braked for ground operations; only the rear two wheels could be braked for taxiing. Normal speeds were 110 mph in the air and 55 mph on the ground.
The propeller, rear fuselage, and wings were removed for road operations. Attachment to the aircraft was accomplished by backing the car to the fuselage, leveling the tail and wings, moving three locking levers that inserted and locked large pins into fittings. The spar and tail parts slid into horizontally-inclined U-fittings. After locking into place, the two outrigger wheels that support the wings and the retractable tail wheel were cranked up into storage position. The propeller was removed from its bracket on the side of the fuselage, the prop spinner was removed, the propeller screwed on with a built-in wrench, and the spinner replaced again. The engine would not start if everything was not properly connected. The design is actually composed of seventeen different inventions.
In December 1950 the CAA approved the FA-2 with a strut-braced wing and 150 hp electric drive engine. The first production model, FA-2-101, N74153, flew in 1950. It had an Aircooled Motors 6A4150-B-3 modified engine. A cantilever wing model, the FA-3 was certificated by the CAA in June 1952 and the production model, FA-3-101, was flown shortly thereafter. This aircraft, N74154, is NASM's aircraft. Robert Fulton received an order for eight production models, to be used by CAA inspectors themselves, and they were built but not delivered. Instead, several company officers felt that that they were not getting enough of a return on their investment in the certification process, so, in 1953, they pulled out of the deal, taking the financial backing and several Airphibians with them.
In 1960, Joseph J. Ryan, a former Continental officer, donated N74154 to the Museum. Three other Airphibians remained near Charlottesville, Virginia, for many years but were returned to the Fulton workshop in Connecticut; one went to Europe, and one is in New Jersey.
The Airphibian represents a technical success as a flying car, but, despite being a media favorite during public demonstrations around the U.S. and in Great Britain, it did not become a marketable design. The prototypes were driven over 200,000 miles and made more than 6,000 car/plane conversions. The conversion process, however, was judged to be too complicated and lengthy. Performance in the air was considered sluggish due to the weight penalty of automotive parts, a perennial problem in aerocars. Therefore, the search for a practical flying car continues today. Nonetheless, the Airphibian was the first aircar to receive CAA certification and only the Taylor Aerocar, which was inspired by the Airphibian, has received certification as well.
The Museum received Fulton Airphibian FA-3-101, with a Franklin 6A4-165-B3 engine. The car portion was briefly displayed in the new National Air and Space Museum's General Aviation gallery in 1976 and at the Pate Museum of Transportation in Arizona. In 1997 and 1998, Robert Fulton, Jr.'s son, Robert III, restored the Airphibian at the family home in Newtown, Connecticut. Robert Fulton, Jr. and his Airphibian were the centerpiece of the 1998 Louis-Vuitton Car Show at Rockefeller Center in New York City. The Airphibian was then displayed at the National Aviation Museum in Ottawa, Ontario for several years before being installed at the Udvar-Hazy Center in 2009.
Before designing the Airphibian, Robert Fulton, a trained architect, bought a Luscombe and taught himself how to fly. He began his career in aeronautics as a motion picture photographer recording the progress the Boeing Clipper flying boats across the Pacific Ocean in a film for Pan American Airways entitled Trans Pacific; Pan American’s New Horizons Magazine also featured Fulton photography.
When the United States entered World War II, Fulton conceived of a ground flight trainer with controls that tilted and swung a horizon on a screen, the Aerostructor. It failed to gain support, but was transformed into the Gunairstructor for gunnery training. The U.S. Navy ordered 50 of these trainers.
The Fulton Skyhook Air Rescue System and Aerial Recovery System, also in the Museum collections, are perhaps his most unsung but bold aerial successes. The U.S. Air Force, from the Korean War through the Vietnam War and beyond, used the Air Rescue System for the retrieval of personnel from covert maneuvers or crew downed in hostile territory, day and night, land and sea. Dr. William Leary’s Operation Cold Feet tells the story of this critical life saving device for deep reconnaissance missions. Before the heavy lift helicopter, the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army used the Skyhook Aerial Recovery System for the retrieval of equipment and materiel. Characteristically, Fulton invented seven separate components that were integrated into one single effective system. The ingenious system was based on the inflation of a small blimp that was dropped or carried by personnel. Aircraft spotted the blimp to which was attached a nylon rope and the personnel in a harness. A wide hooking device attached to the nose of the aircraft, either an HC-130H Hercules or AC-1 Caribou, would snag the line and begin the lift and reel-in process at the back of the aircraft. Skyhook evolved into derivative retrieval systems including: Skyrange (recovery of objects in the air), Searange (recovery of items lying on the water), Seasled (high-speed recovery of quantities of persons in the water with a boat) and others.
Robert Edison Fulton was a Renaissance man whose life transcended one technology or one career. As a young man, he rode around the world on a motorcycle using a 35mm motion picture camera to document the individual cultures and societies of the inter-war years (early 1930s) and produced a film, One Man Caravan. He established the Robert Fulton Company on a hilltop in western Connecticut, complete with a grass airstrip. His home revealed his architectural talents and he also pioneered aspects of sound recording technology, electric pianos, and modern glass panes. Overall, Robert Fulton held a minimum of 70 patents. Later, in his 90s, his artistic career continued to flourish in sculpture and photography and he even had a one-man show in a New York City art gallery. He died in 2004 at age 95.
Fulton’s dream of a roadable aircraft was impossible for him to bring to reality, and it might even be considered a bit impractical, however, the idea lives on and the potential is appreciated. The Fulton Skyhook system was a highly successful retrieval system that is a hidden success. Used for several decades, it nonetheless remains one of those unknown marvels of technology that do not make the headlines or are not widely marketed. The importance of the system can be attested to by those whose lives have been saved and by the operations that were completed but, unfortunately, many of these operations were covert and thus truly unknown. The Gunairstructor was an early flight simulator and a progenitor of today’s video displays and games.
His Airphibian, though seemingly whimsical, tugs at our desire for better air and ground transportation and provides a practical starting point for future designs. His willingness to work with the military to improve and produce new systems reveals the depth of the man serving his country and using his immense imagination and technical skill for the greater good. All inventors bubble with ideas and we depend upon these ideas to improve our lives and take us to the future. His son remarked that perhaps his father’s legacy might not be understood “because he makes everything look too easy. There is no evidence of effort. There is only clear and severe application.”
Vought-Sikorsky Aircraft Division's OS2U Kingfisher was the U. S. Navy's primary ship-based, scout and observation airplane during World War II. Rex Beisel, a design engineer at Vought-Sikorsky Aircraft Company, crafted the OS2U in 1937. Beisel also designed the Vought F4U Corsair fighter (see NASM collection). Beisel's Navy scout was a two-seat monoplane that employed revolutionary spot welding construction to create a smooth, non-buckling fuselage structure. He also used old technology to save weight and increase performance when he covered the wings with fabric aft of the main spar. The Kingfisher handled well in slow flight, thanks to several innovative control features. In addition to the deflector plate flaps that hung from the trailing edge of the wing, the ailerons also drooped at low airspeeds to function much like extra flaps. Beisel also incorporated spoilers to supplement aileron control at low speeds.
The Kingfisher could carry a respectable load. For antisubmarine work, ordnance men could suspend two 45 kg (100 lb) bombs or two 146 kg (325 lb) depth charges. A fixed .30 caliber machine gun was mounted in front of the pilot to fire forward. A gunner seated several feet behind the pilot fired another .30 caliber machine gun on a flexible mount.
The Navy contracted for the prototype XOS2U-1 on March 22, 1937, and this airplane first flew in July 1938, equipped with an air-cooled Pratt & Whitney R-985-4 Wasp Junior radial engine. The first production Kingfisher, the OS2U-1, was delivered early in 1940 and assigned to the battleship "USS Colorado." Fifty-four OS2U-1s soon followed. By early 1941, Vought had built 159 OS2U-2s and the Navy had stationed these airplanes at Naval Air Stations in Pensacola, Florida, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and Alameda, California. The next version, the OS2U-3, was fitted with a Pratt & Whitney R-985-AN-2 or -8 engine. This aircraft had more fuel capacity in self-sealing fuel tanks and armor protection for the crew. This was the last production model and Vought built more of them than any other variant. The Naval Aircraft Factory outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, also manufactured the Kingfisher under the designation OS2N-1. All production ended in 1942.
Under the Lend-Lease program, the United States sent many Kingfishers to Great Britain where they served in the Royal Navy as the Kingfisher I. Other countries received Kingfishers both during and after the war including Australia, the Soviet Union, Uruguay, Chile, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Cuba.
The Kingfisher could perform a variety of tasks - training, scouting, bombing, tactical and utility missions such as towing aerial gunnery targets and chasing practice torpedoes, and even anti-submarine warfare in the Atlantic Ocean. Most OS2Us operated in the Pacific Theater where Kingfisher pilots rescued many downed airmen.
In 1942, a Navy pilot flying a Kingfisher rescued America's World War I ace, Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, and the crew of a B-17D Flying Fortress (see NASM collection) forced to ditch in the Pacific. With Rickenbacker and two other passengers, the bomber and its five-man crew had left Hickam Field, Hawaii, bound for Canton Island in the Phoenix Islands group, 2,898 km (1,800 miles) southwest of Hawaii. The Flying Fortress wandered off course and the crew got lost. When the aircraft eventually ran out of fuel and ditched, the eight survivors put to sea aboard three life rafts. Several weeks passed without food or water. By chance, a Kingfisher crewed by Lt. Willam F. Eadie, pilot, and L.H. Boutte, radioman, spotted the raft carrying Rickenbacker and two other crewmen. Eadie strapped the sickest man into the gunner's seat, and then he lashed Rickenbacker and another man to each wing. A Kingfisher could never take off with such a load, so Eadie began to taxi toward his base on Funafuti Island, about 64.4 km (40 miles) distant. Soon a Navy Patrol Torpedo boat met the airplane and the other five men were soon rescued. Only one of the eight failed to recover from the long ordeal.
The U.S. Navy accepted the museum's Kingfisher, OS2U-3 (Bureau of Aeronautics serial number 5909), on March 15, 1942. In April it left Naval Air Station (NAS), New York and arrived at NAS Norfolk. The following month, it was assigned to the recently commissioned battleship "USS Indiana." After the Indiana arrived in the Pacific, Navy pilots flying this OS2U performed a variety of missions including bombing, utility, and administrative chores at many locations. In December 1942, Navy planners assigned the airplane to the Com F Air scouting squadron VS-5-D-14 (later designated VS-55) at White Poppy, a codename for New Caledonia. Following a six-month stay in the fall of 1943 at NAS Alameda, California, for overhaul, and to receive new combat equipment, the aircraft was shipped to Pearl Harbor and rejoined the "Indiana" in March 1944. This Kingfisher had now flown for 957 hours, 300 of them aboard the "Indiana."
On July 4, 1944, "Indiana" was underway near Rota and Guam to support naval air strikes on those two islands. Lt. jg. Rollin M. Batten, Jr., was flying the NASM OS2U-3 when he was vectored to rescue two U. S. airmen shot down over Guam. Accompanying Batten was Lt. jg. Jensen. Ignoring the fire from nearby Japanese gun batteries, Batten picked both men up and returned them to the "Indiana." This rescue earned Batten the Navy Cross. The award citation reads, in part, "With utter disregard for his own safety, he fearlessly brought his plane down within a mile of many shore batteries, and, in the face of an intense barrage directed at him by the enemy guns, proceeded calmly and deliberately to rescue a downed pilot and his crewman who were swimming in the water and also under enemy gunfire. His intelligent and courageous appraisal of the situation was responsible for the successful rescue, after which he took off cross-wind with the additional load, under extremely difficult circumstances."
By August, this Kingfisher was flying in the Carrier Aircraft Service Unit-34, or CASU-34. This was its last Pacific assignment and the Navy shipped it to NAF Alameda aboard the USS "Bougainville" in December 1944. After six months at Alameda, the Navy shipped the floatplane back to NAS Norfolk. It flew very little and underwent a variety of overhauls and inspections before Navy personnel finally processed the airplane for storage in the spring of 1947. A year later, Kingfisher 5909 was earmarked for the National Air Museum (NAM, now NASM, the National Air and Space Museum). It was prepared for "flyaway to NAS Weeksville (Elizabeth City, North Carolina) for storage until such time as called for by the proposed NAM." However, in January 1949, it returned to NAS Norfolk and remained stored there until the summer of 1960.
In October, the Navy transferred the OS2U to the NAM and it was trucked to what is now the Paul E. Garber Facility in Suitland, Maryland. The Museum lent the aircraft to the USS Massachusetts Memorial at Battleship Cove, Massachusetts, in July 1968 and the Kingfisher returned to the Garber Facility in December 1980. A full-up restoration began in November 1983 and was completed in April 1988. Many components were discovered missing and proved difficult to find during the project. Edward Good of St. Petersburg, Florida, donated the main float and beaching gear and Doan Helicopters Inc., of South Daytona Beach, Florida, provided the wing floats.
On February 1, 1938, the United States Navy Bureau of Aeronautics requested proposals from American aircraft manufacturers for a new carrier-based fighter airplane. During April, the Vought Aircraft Corporation responded with two designs and one of them, powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-2800 engine, won the competition in June. Less than a year later, Vought test pilot Lyman A. Bullard, Jr., first flew the Vought XF4U-1 prototype on May 29, 1940. At that time, the largest engine driving the biggest propeller ever flown on a fighter aircraft propelled Bullard on this test flight. The R-2800 radial air-cooled engine developed 1,850 horsepower and it turned a three-blade Hamilton Standard Hydromatic propeller with solid aluminum blades spanning 13 feet 1 inch.
The airplane Bullard flew also had another striking feature, a wing bent gull-shaped on both sides of the fuselage. This arrangement gave additional ground clearance for the propeller and reduced drag at the wing-to-fuselage joint. Ironically for a 644-kph (400 mph) airplane, Vought covered the wing with fabric behind the main spar, a practice the company also followed on the OS2U Kingfisher (see NASM collection).
When naval air strategists had crafted the requirements for the new fighter, the need for speed had overridden all other performance goals. With this in mind, the Bureau of Aeronautics selected the most powerful air-cooled engine available, the R-2800. Vought assembled a team, lead by chief designer Rex Biesel, to design the best airframe around this powerful engine. The group included project engineer Frank Albright, aerodynamics engineer Paul Baker, and propulsion engineer James Shoemaker. Biesel and his team succeeded in building a very fast fighter but when they redesigned the prototype for production, they were forced to make an unfortunate compromise.
The Navy requested heavier armament for production Corsairs and Biesel redesigned each outboard folding wing panel to carry three .50 caliber machine guns. These guns displaced fuel tanks installed in each wing leading edge. To replace this lost capacity, an 897-liter (237 gal) fuselage tank was installed between the cockpit and the engine. To maintain the speedy and narrow fuselage profile, Biesel could not stack the cockpit on top of the tank, so he moved it nearly three feet aft. Now the wing completely blocked the pilot's line of sight during the most critical stages of landing. The early Corsair also had a vicious stall, powerful torque and propeller effects at slow speed, a short tail wheel strut, main gear struts that often bounced the airplane at touchdown, and cowl flap actuators that leaked oil onto the windshield. These difficulties, combined with the lack of cockpit visibility, made the airplane nearly impossible to land on the tiny deck of an aircraft carrier. Navy pilots soon nicknamed the F4U the 'ensign eliminator' for its tendency to kill these inexperienced aviators. The Navy refused to clear the F4U for carrier operations until late in 1944, more than seven years after the project started.
This flaw did not deter the Navy from accepting Corsairs because Navy and Marine pilots sorely needed an improved fighter to replace the Grumman F4F Wildcat (see NASM collection). By New Year's Eve, 1942, the service owned 178 F4U-1 airplanes. Early in 1943, the Navy decided to divert all Corsairs to land-based United States Marine Corps squadrons and fill Navy carrier-based units with the Grumman F6F Hellcat (see NASM collection). At its best speed of 612 kph (380 mph) at 6,992 m (23,000 ft), the Hellcat was about 24 kph (15 mph) slower than the Corsair but it was a joy to fly aboard the carrier. The F6F filled in splendidly until improvements to the F4U qualified it for carrier operations. Meanwhile, the Marines on Guadalcanal took their Corsairs into combat and engaged the enemy for the first time on February 14, 1943, six months before Hellcat pilots on that battle-scared island first encountered enemy aircraft.
The F4U had an immediate impact on the Pacific air war. Pilots could use the Corsair's speed and firepower to engage the more maneuverable Japanese airplanes only when the advantage favored the Americans. Unprotected by armor or self-sealing fuel tanks, no Japanese fighter or bomber could withstand for more than a few seconds the concentrated volley from the six .50 caliber machine guns carried by a Corsair. Major Gregory "Pappy" Boyington assumed command of Marine Corsair squadron VMF-214, nicknamed the 'Black Sheep' squadron, on September 7, 1943. During less than 5 months of action, Boyington received credit for downing 28 enemy aircraft. Enemy aircraft shot him down on January 3, 1944, but he survived the war in a Japanese prison camp.
In May and June 1944, Charles A. Lindbergh flew Corsair missions with Marine pilots at Green Island and Emirau. On September 3, 1944, Lindbergh demonstrated the F4U's bomb hauling capacity by flying a Corsair from Marine Air Group 31 carrying three bombs each weighing 450 kg (1,000 lb). He dropped this load on enemy positions at Wotje Atoll. On the September 8, Lindbergh dropped the first 900-kg (2,000 lb) bomb during an attack on the atoll. For the finale five days later, the Atlantic flyer delivered a 900-kg (2,000 lb) bomb and two 450-kg (1,000 lb) bombs. Lindbergh went ahead and flew these missions after the commander of MAG-31 informed him that if he was forced down and captured, the Japanese would almost certainly execute him.
As of V-J Day, September 2, 1945, the Navy credited Corsair pilots with destroying 2,140 enemy aircraft in aerial combat. The Navy and Marines lost 189 F4Us in combat and 1,435 Corsairs in non-combat accidents. Beginning on February 13, 1942, Marine and Navy pilots flew 64,051 operational sorties, 54,470 from runways and 9,581 from carrier decks. During the war, the British Royal Navy accepted 2,012 Corsairs and the Royal New Zealand Air Force accepted 364. The demand was so great that the Goodyear Aircraft Corporation and the Brewster Aeronautical Corporation also produced the F4U.
Corsairs returned to Navy carrier decks and Marine airfields during the Korean War. On September 10, 1952, Captain Jesse Folmar of Marine Fighter Squadron VMF-312 destroyed a MiG-15 in aerial combat over the west coast of Korea. However, F4U pilots did not have many air-to-air encounters over Korea. Their primary mission was to support Allied ground units along the battlefront.
After the World War II, civilian pilots adapted the speedy bent-wing bird from Vought to fly in competitive air races. They preferred modified versions of the F2G-1 and -2 originally built by Goodyear. Corsairs won the prestigious Thompson Trophy twice. In 1952, Vought manufactured 94 F4U-7s for the French Navy, and these aircraft saw action over Indochina but this order marked the end of Corsair production. In production longer than any other U.S. fighter to see service in World War II, Vought, Goodyear, and Brewster built a total of 12,582 F4Us.
The United States Navy donated an F4U-1D to the National Air and Space Museum in September 1960. Vought delivered this Corsair, Bureau of Aeronautics serial number 50375, to the Navy on April 26, 1944. By October, pilots of VF-10 were flying it but in November, the airplane was transferred to VF-89 at Naval Air Station Atlantic City. It remained there as the squadron moved to NAS Oceana and NAS Norfolk. During February 1945, the Navy withdrew the airplane from active service and transferred it to a pool of surplus aircraft stored at Quantico, Virginia. In 1980, NASM craftsmen restored the F4U-1D in the colors and markings of a Corsair named "Sun Setter," a fighter assigned to Marine Fighter Squadron VMF-114 when that unit served aboard the "USS Essex" in July 1944.
The notable French aircraft manufacturer Société Anonyme des Establissements Nieuport was formed in 1909 and rose to prominence before World War I with a series of elegant monoplane designs. The namesakes of the company, Edouard de Niéport and his brother Charles, were both killed in flying accidents before the war. (The spelling of the company name was a slight variation of the brothers' surname.) The talented designer Gustave Delage joined the firm in 1914 and was responsible for the highly successful war-time line of sesquiplane V-strut single-seat scouts, the most famous of which were the Nieuport 11 and the Nieuport 17.
The Nieuport 28C.1 was developed in mid-1917 and was the first biplane fighter design produced by Nieuport that had relatively equal-chord upper and lower wings. In an attempt to compete with the superior performance of the Spad VII and the recently introduced Spad XIII, Nieuport explored the use of a more powerful motor than the types employed in the sesquiplane series. The availability of a more powerful, and heavier, 160-horsepower Gnôme rotary engine prompted the decision to increase the surface area of the lower wing to compensate for the greater weight of the new power plant, hence eliminating the typical Nieuport sesquiplane V-strut configuration.
In early 1918, the French Air Service rejected the new Nieuport design as a front-line fighter in favor of the sturdier, more advanced Spad XIII. However, the Nieuport 28 found a place with the newly arriving American squadrons. Having no suitable fighter design of its own, the United States adopted the Nieuport 28 as a stop-gap measure before the much-in-demand Spad XIIIs could be made available from the French. The Nieuport 28 performed creditably as the first operational pursuit aircraft in the fledgling U.S. Air Service of the American Expeditionary Force. Thus, the primary significance of the Nieuport 28 for the national aeronautical collection is that it was the first fighter aircraft to serve with an American fighter unit under American command and in support of U.S. troops. It was also first type to score an aerial victory with an American unit. On April 14, 1918, Lieutenants Alan Winslow and Douglas Campbell of the 94th Aero Squadron, both piloting a Nieuport 28, each downed an enemy aircraft in a fight that took place directly over their home airfield at Gengoult.
The Nieuport 28 made its mark in aviation history after World War I as well. Of the 297 total Nieuport 28 fighters procured by the United States from the French government during World War I, 88 were returned to the United States after the war. Twelve Nieuports, along with examples of several other European types brought back, were used by the U.S. Navy from 1919 to 1921 for shipboard launching trials. Many, often harrowing, launches were undertaken. Some of the twelve Navy Nieuport 28s were destroyed in accidents. The surviving aircraft, worn out beyond repair, were surplused after the trials. The other seventy-six Nieuport 28s that were brought back to the United States after the war were operated by the U.S. Army at various bases and airfields in the 1920s, such as McCook, Mitchel, and Bolling Fields.
The Nieuports that survived their post-war U.S. military service found their way into various private hands. Several were modified for air racing, having their wings clipped, adapting non-standard interplane struts, and other changes. A number found their way into Hollywood movies, most notably in the famous Dawn Patrol films of 1930 and 1938. Still others became privately-owned airplanes flying in various sporting and commercial capacities. The specific history of these uses remains quite sketchy.
In short, although aesthetically pleasing and by all reports delightful to fly, the Nieuport 28 type gained fame more for simply being available rather than for any inherently superior performance or design qualities. Nevertheless, in American aviation history, the Nieuport 28 holds a number of important firsts and was used in several significant ways. Because of its varied and interesting role in U.S. aviation history, this aircraft has a richly deserved place in the NASM collection.
The museum's Nieuport 28 has a complex and confusing history. It was acquired in 1986 from Cole Palen, founder and operator of the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome. He flew the aircraft regularly in his air shows from 1958 to 1972. Immediately before its transfer to NASM, the airplane was on loan from Palen to the Intrepid Sea/Air/Space Museum in New York.
Upon close inspection, it became clear that the NASM aircraft is a composite of several different Nieuport 28s. The various components had been owned by a number of different people and used in a variety of capacities over a long period of time. As a result, the pieces have been shuffled around a lot and re-built many times. A large number of parts were not original and in many cases the replacement parts were not prepared to original specification. As a result, a serious investigation of the history of the NASM airframe was undertaken to determine as near as possible the provenance of the museum's Nieuport 28.
When it was acquired a number of erroneous assumptions were passed on, probably uncorroborated stories from Cole Palen. Initially the aircraft was believed to have been a war-time product and that it flew with the U.S. Air Service in World War I. Additionally, it was purported to have been one of the twelve U.S. Navy Nieuports tested in 1919-1921, that it was used in the Hollywood epic "Dawn Patrol," and that Howard Hughes had owned it at one point. Painstaking research has demonstrated that nearly all of these assumptions were untrue.
To determine the actual history of the NASM Nieuport, the logical place to begin was with the numbers and markings on the airframe. There are five different serial numbers on the airplane. The fuselage number on the firewall is 6497. The upper wings have a manufacturing date of February 1919 with serial numbers 7103 (left panel) and 7226 (right panel). The lower left wing panel is marked as having been fabricated in November 1918 with serial number 6465. The lower right was made in October 1918 with serial number 6432.
The first obvious conclusion drawn from these data was that the NASM Nieuport 28 is essentially a postwar product. The lower wing panels were made at the very end of the war, which concluded on November 11, 1918. The fuselage serial number being higher than the lower wing numbers dates it as very late 1918 or very early 1919. The upper wings are dated 1919. Therefore, the NASM aircraft could not have been a war veteran. Further, given the late production dates, it can be concluded that the NASM aircraft must be a modified and improved postwar version of the Nieuport 28C.1, sometimes referred to as a Nieuport 28A.
A third conclusion drawn from the serial numbers was that the components are probably from at least five different aircraft. This is not necessarily so, as wing panels, tail units, fuselages, etc., were assembled from production line manufacture. Nevertheless, given that the serial numbers are so far apart, it is hard to believe that all the present components represent one original aircraft. The upper and lower wing sets could have been originally paired together as their respective numbers are relatively close together. But the 6400 series serial numbered wings and 7000 series numbered wings were unlikely to have been on the same airframe when the airplane first left the factory. Moreover, the NASM airplane, on at least one occasion, probably more, was put together from "best available components" from a collection of Nieuport 28 airframes. The most reasonable interpretation based on the evidence is that the NASM Nieuport 28 is not a documented single airframe with a continuous history. It is an amalgam of component parts of several aircraft brought together many years after their original individual manufacture.
Certain that the NASM aircraft is not a war-time Nieuport, the next step was to try to determine its provenance in post-war U.S. military service. Research at the National Archives unearthed the twelve serial numbers of the aircraft tested by the U.S. Navy. None of the five numbers on the NASM Nieuport matches any of those of the Navy airplanes, definitively dispelling the belief that the aircraft was in that group. The lack of evidence on the airframe of the exclusively Navy modifications also supports the view that NASM's is not one of the twelve Navy Nieuports.
Further research demonstrated that seventy-six other Nieuport 28s were operated by the U.S. Army at various bases and fields around the country such as McCook, Mitchel, and Bolling Fields. A reasonable conclusion is that the NASM aircraft was at one of these Army facilities in the early 1920s before the airplane, as a complete airframe or component parts, found its way into private hands. Unfortunately, no records have thus far been found that place the NASM Nieuport 28, or any of its components, at any particular U.S. military post.
After the U.S. military disposed of the Nieuport 28s in its inventory in the mid-to-late-1920s, tracing more than a few of them becomes extremely difficult. Those that were not destroyed in accidents or simply junked were surplused on the open market. Private individuals scarfed them up, re-built and modified them, and used them in a wide variety of private and commercial ventures. Some were converted into air racers. Some were used in Hollywood films. Still others became air show performers and the like. Details on any particular Nieuports used in these capacities remain all but impossible to come by.
What of the claim that the NASM aircraft participated in the making of the two Dawn Patrol films? Four original Nieuport 28s were acquired by Garland Lincoln, a war-time U.S. Air Service instructor and movie stunt pilot, for the 1930 production of Dawn Patrol. The airplanes did not fly in the film, they were only run up and taxied. Some have argued that the NASM aircraft is one of these four. At best, this can only be said of the fuselage. Several famous photographs from the production show a line-up of the four Nieuports. All four Dawn Patrol Nieuports had their wings shortened by several feet. This is quite clear in the photographs. The NASM airplane has full-span wings, at least proving that the NASM wing set was not part of any of the Dawn Patrol aircraft. The fuselage of the Nieuport is probably from one of the four Garland Lincoln airplanes used in the film. The next phase of the story points in that direction.
At this point, the trail of the NASM Nieuport begins to emerge, faintly. Garland Lincoln sold his entire stable of airplanes, including the four original Nieuports, to Paramount Pictures in 1938. In 1941, Paramount sold the lot to United Air Services, a firm owned by movie stunt pilot, Paul Mantz, and which in 1946 became Paul Mantz Air Services. None of the Nieuport 28 airplanes that Mantz had acquired was in flying condition. Photographs taken by Don Brady in the mid-1950s at Orange County Airport show these airplanes to be disassembled and derelict. Beyond the four clipped-wing Nieuports first sold by Garland Lincoln to Paramount in 1938, Mantz apparently acquired at least one other set of original Nieuport 28 wings at some time before the parts were photographed by Brady at Orange County in the 1950s.
In 1957, Paul Mantz traded one Nieuport 28 to James H. "Cole" Palen of the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, Rhinebeck, New York, for a Standard J-1. (Mantz later added approximately $200 to the trade to compensate for the Nieuport 28 being in poorer condition than the Standard J-1.) The fact that Palen's Nieuport, i.e., the NASM airplane, has full-span wings supports the belief that Mantz must have acquired more Nieuport 28 parts beyond the four clipped-wing airplanes that were in the original "Dawn Patrol" movie. Palen apparently selected the "best components" of those stored at Orange County airport to complete one aircraft. Cole Palen died in 1993, and some years earlier his home burned, destroying all his records. To confirm anything regarding his transaction with Mantz is now impossible.
The provenance of the NASM Nieuport 28 from this point on is clear. Palen completed the restoration of the aircraft to flying condition in 1958 and flew it regularly at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, and at other special shows elsewhere, until he retired the airplane in 1972. It was on display at Rhinebeck for several years before being lent to the Intrepid Air/Sea/Space Museum. It was on display there until 1986 when the Nieuport was traded to NASM for an original Nieuport 10 trainer, and transported directly from the Intrepid to the museum.
This brings us back to the original question: What is the history of the NASM Nieuport 28? Based on the foregoing research, the best interpretation is that it is an assemblage of components of various aircraft that were all manufactured at the very end or soon after World War I, which almost certainly means that they were originally Nieuport 28 "type A" rather than standard 28C.1 parts. The components undoubtedly emanated from the seventy-six Nieuport 28s operated by the U.S. Army at numerous installations in the 1920s. Without serial numbers by location for these aircraft, it is impossible to place any of the NASM components at any specific military airfield. The period between disposal by the military and acquisition by Paul Mantz is extremely sketchy. For the most part, it can only be determined what the NASM aircraft is not, rather than what it is (e.g., that it is not one of the twelve Navy aircraft, that its wings are not from any of the four Garland Lincoln Nieuports, etc.).
Regarding the origin of the NASM Nieuport 28, all that can be said with certainty is that the airplane comprises original components that can be narrowed down only to the seventy-six post-war U.S. Army Nieuports. The circumstantial evidence that Palen received Nieuport parts from Mantz, who obtained Nieuport parts from Lincoln, tantalizingly suggests that the NASM fuselage could be from one of the Dawn Patrol aircraft. The evidence cannot support anything more definitive.
In light of the vague provenance of the NASM Nieuport, some considered judgement was required concerning the final configuration and markings of the aircraft when it was restored by the museum. One obvious possibility would have been to restore the aircraft closest to what the documentation suggests the parts represent, namely a post-war U.S. Army experimental/training aircraft. Despite the apparent common sense to that approach, there were several strong reasons not to take this route. First, there are no clues indicating at which Army installation the NASM Nieuport operated, not even a single component of the airframe. It would not only have been a pure guess which airplane it is, but total conjecture even with which airfield it was associated. Further, details on the markings of only a handful of the Army post-war aircraft exist. Painting it as one of these would only in the most remote sense represent the correct aircraft. Moreover, the Nieuport 28 type is in the national collection primarily because of its place in U.S. air operations during World War I, not because of its minor role as a post-war trainer.
Configuring it as a U.S. Navy aircraft, with the unique modifications of that use of the Nieuport 28, would have been interesting. But as it was known definitively that the NASM aircraft is not one of the Navy airplanes, and that only twelve were employed in this specialized role over a short period of time, to follow this course seemed inappropriate. For similar reasons, restoring it as one of the movie airplanes did not make sense. At best, only the fuselage of the NASM Nieuport 28 can be linked to any of the film work, and that only circumstantially. More significantly, movies represent only a small part of the Nieuport 28's history. Further, the movie Nieuports only were run up on the ground; they never actually flew in the films.
This presented the final option, which was taken: configuring the airplane as one of the war-time U.S. Air Service Nieuport 28s. Even though the NASM Nieuport is certainly not a war veteran because it was manufactured after the United States ceased to use them in combat, the best alternative was to configure the airplane in this fashion. As noted above, the main reason for inclusion of a Nieuport 28 in the NASM collection is to document the aircraft type first used by organized American units under American colors in combat. Because the history of the NASM Nieuport cannot be documented with any specificity, and certain configurations can be ruled out, the most reasonable approach was to represent the aircraft in accordance with the justified rationale for bringing it into the collection. Therefore, it was restored to a 28C.1 configuration and painted and marked as a U.S. Air Service combat Nieuport.
The particular Nieuport 28C.1 that the museum chose to represent was that of First Lieutenant James A. Meissner of the 94th Aero Squadron, U.S.A.S., a/c serial number 6144. This aircraft was chosen, rather than one of the more famous ones such as Eddie Rickenbacker's, Douglas Campbell's or Alan Winslow's, because it is representative of the famous "hat-in-the-ring" 94th Aero Squadron without misleading museum visitors into thinking that the NASM aircraft is actually one of the especially well-known American Nieuport 28s. Furthermore, Meissner's number 6144 has an interesting history in its own right.
On two occasions, with Meissner at the controls, 6144 experienced the infamous wing failure in a dive associated with the Nieuport 28. He landed safely both times. Meissner went on to command the 147th Aero Squadron. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross with Oak Leaf Clusters and the Croix de Guerre. He scored a total of 5 2/3 victories while flying with the 94th and the 147th. (Meissner is often credited with eight victories, but in 1969, the U.S. Air Force divided the credit of shared victories among all the pilots involved. Before this, each was given full credit for the victory in their totals. Having several shared victories, Meissner's official tally was reduced accordingly.) He survived the war, leaving the Air Service in 1919. Meissner's aircraft carried the standard factory-applied French camouflage, the famous "hat-in-the-ring" insignia, and standard U.S. wing and tail markings of the period, making it especially representative of the way American Nieuport 28s appeared when flown in the first U.S. air combat operations.
On two occasions, 6144 experienced the infamous structural failure of the wings in a dive associated with the Nieuport 28. Meissner landed his aircraft safely both times. Meissner later commanded the 147th Aero Squadron, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and Croix de Guerre, and was credited with a total of eight victories, flying with both the 94th and the 147th. He survived the war, leaving the Air Service in 1919. Meissner's aircraft carried the standard factory-applied French camouflage, the famous "hat-in-the-ring" insignia, and standard U.S. wing and tail markings of the period. It thus well represents the way American Nieuport 28s appeared when flown in the first U.S. air combat operations.
The airplane is painted as Meissner's appeared after May 10, 1918, after repairs from the first wing fabric shedding incident. Before this date, Meissner's Nieuport carried a black, or possibly red, number "14" on the fuselage sides and probably on the wings. He shot down one enemy aircraft with the airplane so marked, for which he was awarded the DSC. After May 10, the "14" on the fuselage was replaced with a white "8" with a thin black outline. A white "8" (with no black outline) also was applied to the top of the upper left wing of Meissner's 6144 upon repairing and re-numbering the airplane. Marked as number "8," Meissner shot down three more enemy aircraft in 6144 and experienced a second wing structure failure. Number "8" was chosen because more photographs exist of 6144 as number "8" and because it flew longer with this marking.
Frenchman Roland Magallon developed a microlight aircraft called the Mosquito in 1979 to fill the need for an aircraft combining the simplicity and maneuverability of hang gliders with the stability and flexibility of more traditional powered, fixed-wing aircraft. As the unique configuration became popular, it acquired the nickname 'trike' in reference to the distinctive three-wheeled enclosure suspended beneath the wing and containing the cockpit and engine. Thirteen years the Mosquito, another French designer named Renaud Guy introduced the Cosmos Phase II in 1992. He marketed the aircraft to pilots who wished to operate from airfields, snow, or water, and to those who wanted a good training aircraft. The trike soon found favor as a stable platform for aerial photography, and for towing aloft hang gliders. The pilot flying a Phase II could takeoff and land in less than 61 m (200 ft) and expect to fly approximately 322 km (200 miles) under most conditions. The ultralight cost about $14,000 in early 2004. Production ended in 2005 after dealers sold more than 800.
Trike ultralights such as the Phase II is well-suited to lead the migrations of large birds. Pilots can safely match the bird's cruising speed, which for Whooping cranes is about 24 km/h (38 mph). Trikes are highly maneuverable, they provide excellent visibility, and a guard is fitted easily to the aircraft to shield the birds from the spinning propeller. Direct control of the wing via the crossbar allows a pilot to concentrate more attention on the flock's position relative to the ultralight.
Operation Migration is a member of the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership, along with seven organizations dedicated to saving the Whooping crane from extinction. For many bird species, the ability to migrate is a learned process. Canadian Bill Lishman founded Operation Migration as a non-profit charitable organization in 1994 to develop methods for teaching captive-reared birds to migrate by following ultralight aircraft. Lishman got the idea after watching John Moody fly his Easy Riser at Oshkosh in 1976. Another Canadian, Bill Carrick had trained Canada geese to fly alongside his motorboat using methods pioneered by the 1973 Nobel Prize-winning animal behaviorist, Konrad Lorenz. Carrick encouraged Lishman who in 1988 succeeded in training geese to fly with his own Easy Riser ultralight during short flights near his farm. Lishman teamed with Joe Duff in fall 1993 and the two Canadians led 18 Canada geese from Port Perry, Ontario, to Warrenton, Virginia. Thirteen of the birds proved that the idea worked when they returned to Ontario from Virginia the following spring.
Standing at 1.5 m (5 ft), Whooping cranes are the tallest birds in North America. Their wings span 2.1-2.4 meters (7-8 ft) and they prefer to sleep standing in shallow water to deter predators. They feed on clams, frogs, crabs, and aquatic plants and they mate for life. Whooping cranes are the rarest of the world's 15 crane species. Biologists have estimated they once numbered between about 500 and 1,400 before European settlement began to alter their habitat in 1870. The population had dwindled to just 15 Whooping cranes by 1941 but rebounded to 200 wild birds by 2004. Despite their recovery, a single catastrophe such as a hurricane, avian disease, or a chemical spill could extinguish the species.
Teaching the cranes to follow the ultralights begins before they hatch when aviculturalists expose the eggs to the recorded sound of an ultralight engine. At around 5-7 days old, a silent and disguised aviculturalist wearing a hand puppet that looks like the head and neck of an adult crane introduces each chick to an ultralight aircraft, accompanied by recorded crane brood calls to reassure the youngster. A bird seeing a human face or hearing a human voice while under the staff's care could 'imprint' on humans, losing its natural fear and dramatically decreasing its odds of surviving in the wild. As the bird matures, it will after a few years lose interest in the ultralight. By eight weeks, the bird is following the ultralight as it taxis and flying with the aircraft when the crane is 80-90 days old. Training flights can last as long as a half-hour and each chick can require an average of more than 11 hours to train.
The ultralight pilots lead the Whooping cranes along a migration route that stretches 1,932 km (1,200 miles) across seven states, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida. In 2005, the Operation Migration staff arranged accommodations for the birds at 38 sites spaced from 32 km (20 miles) to 113 km (70 miles) apart, each one selected to avoid populated areas. The migration that year lasted 50 days, split about evenly between flying with the birds and waiting for flyable weather. With the help of a tail wind, a single flight leg can cover 322 km (200 miles) in just over 3 hours. When either weather or cranes refuse to cooperate, a flight can cover less than 37 km (23 miles).
After taking off, the Whooping cranes jockey for the best position and then 'surf'' the strong wing tip vortex generated by the ultralight. A bird can fly with considerably less effort from this coveted position. The other birds maneuver into a diagonal line, wingtip to wingtip, each surfing a similar but less intense vortex generated by flapping wings. The flock settles down and all goes well until, without warning, the crane surfing the ultralight (which it considers another crane thanks to months of careful imprinting) decides to challenge aircraft for the right to lead the formation. The other birds follow and quickly envelope the aircraft. The pilot is suddenly "IFR in cranes" with no choice but to back away from the gaggle, climb above it, and then drop back into the lead. A particularly aggressive bird will sometimes repeatedly challenge for the lead until the ultralight pilot is nearly exhausted.
Crossing the Appalachian Mountains is the most difficult part of migrating with the birds because of the elevation but there are other hazards in the air and on the ground. The birds will follow the ultralight as it descends to treetop height or climbs to several thousand feet, however, low flying is dangerous. Cranes have been injured and killed in collisions with power lines and aircraft. One year during an overnight stop, a Whooping crane succumbed to a bobcat. Another year, a crane probing mud for food lodged its beak inside a spent shotgun shell. An ultralight pilot noticed the bird's predicament during flight and plucked the shell after landing. The birds can tire, break formation, and land, often taking several flight mates with them. When this happens, one of the two ultralight pilots supporting the lead aircraft gives chase, rounds up the stragglers, and then reunites them with the main flock as soon as possible. As John Christian of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service said, Operation Migrations' work "is the wildlife equivalent of putting a man on the moon."
A significant step toward establishing what biologists believe is necessary to insure species survival - two independent groups of 25 wild breeding pairs that can migrate on their own - occurred in March 2006 after a Whooping crane trained using the Operation Migration ultralights migrated on its own from Florida to Wisconsin, the first to do so in more than 100 years. Yet the year also saw the program threatened by land development. Pilots noted a significant increase in the number of houses and businesses occupying once wild habitat along the migration route. The staff must abandon a regular stop in Tennessee because developers had planned to build 1,000 new homes adjacent to the site in 2007. A crane nest site in Florida is also threatened. Despite many difficulties, Operation Migration has developed one of the most innovative and important wildlife conservation programs in history. They are well on their way to saving a species from extinction, and their efforts have boosted public interest in wildlife conservation. Joe Duff's role was critical to the program's success. He led the organization from its inception and developed the training protocols. By 2007, Duff had flown with birds longer than anyone had. He and his staff also led migrations of Trumpeter swans and Sandhill cranes.
Pilots volunteering for Operation Migration flew the Phase II now belonging to the NASM. Using this aircraft, they led Canada geese to South Carolina in 1995, Trumpeter swans to the Chesapeake the following year, Sandhill cranes in 1997, 1998, and 2000, and the first Whooping cranes from Wisconsin to Florida in 2001. In 1996, the aircraft also appeared in the Columbia Pictures film Fly Away Home, starring Anna Paquin and Jeff Daniels. The trike is equipped with a custom-built bird guard enclosing the propeller; radios, GPS navigation, and a sound system to broadcast adult crane calls while flying with the birds.
No reconnaissance aircraft in history has operated in more hostile airspace or with such complete impunity than the SR-71 Blackbird. It is the fastest aircraft propelled by air-breathing engines. The Blackbird's performance and operational achievements placed it at the pinnacle of aviation technology developments during the Cold War. The airplane was conceived when tensions with communist Eastern Europe reached levels approaching a full-blown crisis in the mid-1950s. U.S. military commanders desperately needed accurate assessments of Soviet worldwide military deployments, particularly near the Iron Curtain. Lockheed Aircraft Corporation's subsonic U-2 (see NASM collection) reconnaissance aircraft was an able platform but the U. S. Air Force recognized that this relatively slow aircraft was already vulnerable to Soviet interceptors. They also understood that the rapid development of surface-to-air missile systems could put U-2 pilots at grave risk. The danger proved reality when a U-2 was shot down by a surface to air missile over the Soviet Union in 1960.
Lockheed's first proposal for a new high speed, high altitude, reconnaissance aircraft, to be capable of avoiding interceptors and missiles, centered on a design propelled by liquid hydrogen. This proved to be impracticable because of considerable fuel consumption. Lockheed then reconfigured the design for conventional fuels. This was feasible and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), already flying the Lockheed U-2, issued a production contract for an aircraft designated the A-12. Lockheed's clandestine 'Skunk Works' division (headed by the gifted design engineer Clarence L. "Kelly" Johnson) designed the A-12 to cruise at Mach 3.2 and fly well above 18,288 m (60,000 feet). To meet these challenging requirements, Lockheed engineers overcame many daunting technical challenges. Flying more than three times the speed of sound generates 316° C (600° F) temperatures on external aircraft surfaces, which are enough to melt conventional aluminum airframes. The design team chose to make the jet's external skin of titanium alloy to which shielded the internal aluminum airframe. Two conventional, but very powerful, afterburning turbine engines propelled this remarkable aircraft. These power plants had to operate across a huge speed envelope in flight, from a takeoff speed of 334 kph (207 mph) to more than 3,540 kph (2,200 mph). To prevent supersonic shock waves from moving inside the engine intake causing flameouts, Johnson's team had to design a complex air intake and bypass system for the engines.
Skunk Works engineers also optimized the A-12 cross-section design to exhibit a low radar profile. Lockheed hoped to achieve this by carefully shaping the airframe to reflect as little transmitted radar energy (radio waves) as possible, and by application of special paint designed to absorb, rather than reflect, those waves. This treatment became one of the first applications of stealth technology, but it never completely met the design goals.
Test pilot Lou Schalk flew the single-seat A-12 on April 24, 1962, after he became airborne accidentally during high-speed taxi trials. The airplane showed great promise but it needed considerable technical refinement before the CIA could fly the first operational sortie on May 31, 1967 - a surveillance flight over North Vietnam. A-12s, flown by CIA pilots, operated as part of the Air Force's 1129th Special Activities Squadron under the "Oxcart" program. While Lockheed continued to refine the A-12, the U. S. Air Force ordered an interceptor version of the aircraft designated the YF-12A. The Skunk Works, however, proposed a "specific mission" version configured to conduct post-nuclear strike reconnaissance. This system evolved into the USAF's familiar SR-71.
Lockheed built fifteen A-12s, including a special two-seat trainer version. Two A-12s were modified to carry a special reconnaissance drone, designated D-21. The modified A-12s were redesignated M-21s. These were designed to take off with the D-21 drone, powered by a Marquart ramjet engine mounted on a pylon between the rudders. The M-21 then hauled the drone aloft and launched it at speeds high enough to ignite the drone's ramjet motor. Lockheed also built three YF-12As but this type never went into production. Two of the YF-12As crashed during testing. Only one survives and is on display at the USAF Museum in Dayton, Ohio. The aft section of one of the "written off" YF-12As which was later used along with an SR-71A static test airframe to manufacture the sole SR-71C trainer. One SR-71 was lent to NASA and designated YF-12C. Including the SR-71C and two SR-71B pilot trainers, Lockheed constructed thirty-two Blackbirds. The first SR-71 flew on December 22, 1964. Because of extreme operational costs, military strategists decided that the more capable USAF SR-71s should replace the CIA's A-12s. These were retired in 1968 after only one year of operational missions, mostly over southeast Asia. The Air Force's 1st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron (part of the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing) took over the missions, flying the SR-71 beginning in the spring of 1968.
After the Air Force began to operate the SR-71, it acquired the official name Blackbird-- for the special black paint that covered the airplane. This paint was formulated to absorb radar signals, to radiate some of the tremendous airframe heat generated by air friction, and to camouflage the aircraft against the dark sky at high altitudes.
Experience gained from the A-12 program convinced the Air Force that flying the SR-71 safely required two crew members, a pilot and a Reconnaissance Systems Officer (RSO). The RSO operated with the wide array of monitoring and defensive systems installed on the airplane. This equipment included a sophisticated Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) system that could jam most acquisition and targeting radar. In addition to an array of advanced, high-resolution cameras, the aircraft could also carry equipment designed to record the strength, frequency, and wavelength of signals emitted by communications and sensor devices such as radar. The SR-71 was designed to fly deep into hostile territory, avoiding interception with its tremendous speed and high altitude. It could operate safely at a maximum speed of Mach 3.3 at an altitude more than sixteen miles, or 25,908 m (85,000 ft), above the earth. The crew had to wear pressure suits similar to those worn by astronauts. These suits were required to protect the crew in the event of sudden cabin pressure loss while at operating altitudes.
To climb and cruise at supersonic speeds, the Blackbird's Pratt & Whitney J-58 engines were designed to operate continuously in afterburner. While this would appear to dictate high fuel flows, the Blackbird actually achieved its best "gas mileage," in terms of air nautical miles per pound of fuel burned, during the Mach 3+ cruise. A typical Blackbird reconnaissance flight might require several aerial refueling operations from an airborne tanker. Each time the SR-71 refueled, the crew had to descend to the tanker's altitude, usually about 6,000 m to 9,000 m (20,000 to 30,000 ft), and slow the airplane to subsonic speeds. As velocity decreased, so did frictional heat. This cooling effect caused the aircraft's skin panels to shrink considerably, and those covering the fuel tanks contracted so much that fuel leaked, forming a distinctive vapor trail as the tanker topped off the Blackbird. As soon as the tanks were filled, the jet's crew disconnected from the tanker, relit the afterburners, and again climbed to high altitude.
Air Force pilots flew the SR-71 from Kadena AB, Japan, throughout its operational career but other bases hosted Blackbird operations, too. The 9th SRW occasionally deployed from Beale AFB, California, to other locations to carryout operational missions. Cuban missions were flown directly from Beale. The SR-71 did not begin to operate in Europe until 1974, and then only temporarily. In 1982, when the U.S. Air Force based two aircraft at Royal Air Force Base Mildenhall to fly monitoring mission in Eastern Europe.
When the SR-71 became operational, orbiting reconnaissance satellites had already replaced manned aircraft to gather intelligence from sites deep within Soviet territory. Satellites could not cover every geopolitical hotspot so the Blackbird remained a vital tool for global intelligence gathering. On many occasions, pilots and RSOs flying the SR-71 provided information that proved vital in formulating successful U. S. foreign policy. Blackbird crews provided important intelligence about the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and its aftermath, and pre- and post-strike imagery of the 1986 raid conducted by American air forces on Libya. In 1987, Kadena-based SR-71 crews flew a number of missions over the Persian Gulf, revealing Iranian Silkworm missile batteries that threatened commercial shipping and American escort vessels.
As the performance of space-based surveillance systems grew, along with the effectiveness of ground-based air defense networks, the Air Force started to lose enthusiasm for the expensive program and the 9th SRW ceased SR-71 operations in January 1990. Despite protests by military leaders, Congress revived the program in 1995. Continued wrangling over operating budgets, however, soon led to final termination. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration retained two SR-71As and the one SR-71B for high-speed research projects and flew these airplanes until 1999.
On March 6, 1990, the service career of one Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird ended with a record-setting flight. This special airplane bore Air Force serial number 64-17972. Lt. Col. Ed Yeilding and his RSO, Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Vida, flew this aircraft from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. in 1 hour, 4 minutes, and 20 seconds, averaging a speed of 3,418 kph (2,124 mph). At the conclusion of the flight, '972 landed at Dulles International Airport and taxied into the custody of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. At that time, Lt. Col. Vida had logged 1,392.7 hours of flight time in Blackbirds, more than that of any other crewman.
This particular SR-71 was also flown by Tom Alison, a former National Air and Space Museum's Chief of Collections Management. Flying with Detachment 1 at Kadena Air Force Base, Okinawa, Alison logged more than a dozen '972 operational sorties. The aircraft spent twenty-four years in active Air Force service and accrued a total of 2,801.1 hours of flight time.
Wingspan: 55'7"
Length: 107'5"
Height: 18'6"
Weight: 170,000 Lbs
Reference and Further Reading:
Crickmore, Paul F. Lockheed SR-71: The Secret Missions Exposed. Oxford: Osprey
Publishing, 1996.
Francillon, Rene J. Lockheed Aircraft Since 1913. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1987.
Johnson, Clarence L. Kelly: More Than My Share of It All. Washington D.C.:
Smithsonian Institution Press, 1985.
Miller, Jay. Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works. Leicester, U.K.: Midland Counties
Publishing Ltd., 1995.
Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird curatorial file, Aeronautics Division, National Air and Space Museum.
The Loening OA-1A, San Francisco, in the NASM collection participated in the historic Pan-American Goodwill Flight of 1926 and 1927. The project was proposed by Maj. Gen. Mason Patrick, chief of army aviation. He suggested a flight through Mexico and Central and South America to improve relations with Latin American countries, to encourage commercial aviation, and to provide valuable training for army personnel. (Patrick had planned the successful round-the-world flight of the Douglas World Cruisers in 1924.) The idea was enthusiastically endorsed by the Secretary of War, Dwight Davis, and the Secretary of State, Frank B. Kellogg. Supporters of the flight hoped also that the mission would interest the Latin American nations in U.S. aircraft and engines, emphasize the advantages of aviation for transportation and communications in regions that were without rail or road transport, and to help stimulate the struggling U.S. aircraft industry.
The flight was made by ten pilots in five aircraft. The airplane type selected for the mis-sion was the Loening OA-1A amphib-ian, a design by Grover Loening that had recently been submitted to the army for evaluation as a new observation aircraft. The hull was constructed of duralumin over a wooden frame, and the fuselage was built on top of the hull. The OA-lA was powered by a 420-horsepower, water-cooled Liberty V-12 engine that was mounted inverted. This orientation of the engine was necessary for the propeller to clear the forward end of the hull. However, mounting the engine upside down created maintenance problems. Unless the piston rings were perfectly fitted, oil leaked past them, fouling the spark plugs. It was normal at each stop to remove the twenty-four plugs and clean and replace them before starting the next leg of the journey.
Another time-consuming and laborious task was refueling. Gasoline in steel drums was stored along the route. It had to be hand-pumped through a chamois-covered funnel into the fuel tanks. At a normal rate of sixty gallons per hour, it took more than three hours to fill the Loening's full capacity of 757 liters (200 gallons).
The weight of the each airplane, fully loaded, including all the supplies and baggage carried on the Pan American Flight, was nearly three tons. In spite of the weight, flying character-istics of the OA-1A were very good. An average cruising speed of 136 kph (85 mph) to 144kph (90 mph) was maintained during the Goodwill Flight. The utility of the aircraft and their design and construction details were thoroughly tested, and proved to be excellent. The versatile airplanes were able to make forced landings that would have been impossible for other types of aircraft.
To stimulate public interest, each of the five airplanes was named after a major U.S. city. They were the New York, the San Antonio, the San Francisco, the Detroit, and the St. Louis. Crew members on the Goodwill Flight were:
The New York-Major Herbert A. Dargue, pilot and commander of the flight; First Lieutenant Ennis Whitehead, copilot.
The San Antonio-Captain A.B. McDaniel, pilot; First Lieutenant Charles McK. Robinson, copilot.
The San Francisco-Captain Ira C. Eaker, pilot; First Lieutenant Muir S. Fairchild, copilot.
The Detroit-Captain C.F. Woolsey, pilot; First Lieutenant John W. Benton, copilot.
The St. Louis-First Lieutenant Bernard S. Thompson, pilot; First Lieutenant L. D. Weddington, copilot.
Advance officers visited all the planned stops, selected landing areas, arranged the diplomatic schedule, and selected representatives who were contracted to store the advance ship-ments of engines, spare parts, and other supplies. The flight schedule included fifty-six flying days and seventy-seven de-lay days for maintenance and diplomatic meetings and ceremonies-a total of 133 days. As actually exe-cuted, the journey took 59 flying days and 74 delay days, and was thus completed ex-actly on schedule.
The 35,200 km (22,000 mi) flight began on December 21, 1926, from San Antonio, Texas. The course extended through Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica; across the Panama Canal to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia; down the west coast of South America to Valdivia, Chile; across the Andes Mountains to Bahia Blanca, Argentina; north to Montevideo, Uruguay; up to Paraguay; back down the Paraná River; along the coasts of Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, the Guianas, and Venezuela; thence through the West Indies and up the coast of the United States to Washington, D.C.
Diplomatic functions required that the airplanes remain a day or two at each of twenty-five capital cities on the route. In addition to participating in the ceremonial functions, the pilots also carried out all the maintenance work on the airplanes themselves, as there were no qualified aircraft maintenance technicians along the route. The stops had been carefully selected and spare parts were cached at strategic locations. At many of these places the local residents saw an airplane for the first time. Weather forecasting en route was very unreliable because no advance weather information facilities existed. To add to their difficulties, the pilots could communicate in flight only by hand signals.
One accident marred the tour. As the Detroit and the New York were approaching for a landing at the Argentine Air Service Field at Palomar, Buenos Aires, they collided in mid-air, killing the crew of the Detroit, and destroying both airplanes.
The flight concluded at Bolling Field in Washington, D.C., on May 2, 1927. The fliers were greeted by President Calvin Coolidge and other dignitaries. Within three weeks, however, the historic flight was eclipsed in the public eye by the solo trans-Atlantic flight of Charles A. Lindbergh in the Spirit of St. Louis.
The participants in the two historic flights were also linked in another way. After his official welcome in Washington, Lindbergh flew to New York City for ceremonies on June 13, 1927. He landed at Mitchel Field, Long Island. There the Loening amphibian San Francisco awaited him, with Captain Ira C. Eaker as pilot. Utilizing the aircraft's unique ability to take off from land and alight in the water, Lindbergh was flown to a landing in New York harbor where he boarded a ship that took him to lower Manhattan for his triumphal entry into the city.
One of the long-term legacies of the Pan American Goodwill Fight was that it helped pioneer a trail for later commercial air transport operations. When Pan American Airways began South American air service about two years later, the company selected its stations in a pattern closely following the route of the Goodwill Flight.
The San Francisco was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution by the War Department in December 1927. It was restored by the National Air and Space Museum in 1964-1965.
Hiller Flying Platform (Model 1031-A-1)
During the 1950s the U.S. armed forces were desperately seeking ways to improve the mobility of their troops on battlefields that were subject to attack by nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. Small, one-man helicopters were seen as a possible alternative to large, piston powered helicopters that seemed to be at the limit of their development. The military's greatest technical hurdle was to develop an aircraft that was relatively safe and could easily be flown by a combat infantryman. Stanley Hiller, founder and president of Hiller Helicopters, had built a successful business, founded on innovative approaches to helicopter design, and was more than willing to undertake the challenge. Although the flying platforms that resulted from the company's efforts proved to be an aerodynamic dead end, Hiller did demonstrate the practicality of the ducted fan for more conventional forms of Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) aircraft.
In the late 1940s, noted aeronautical engineer Charles Zimmerman, who had made a name for himself developing Vought's V-173 "Flying Pancake" (see NASM collection), began to develop a new approach to vertical flight. He hypothesized that if a small horizontal platform, with a person balancing on top as on a bicycle, was lifted upward by a vertical thrust vector, then the pilot's innate kinesthetic responses would stabilize the platform and also allow it to be controlled in pitch in roll. Although the high center of gravity of such a configuration would seem to result in severe instability, Zimmerman's theory proved correct. If the platform began to tilt in one direction, then the pilot would naturally lean in the other direction to remain upright. This natural balancing tendency would place the center of gravity above the thrust axis, which would result in an upward pitching moment that counteracted the toppling action, thus maintaining a stable condition. The pilot could control the aircraft simply by leaning in the desired direction and the platform would begin to tilt and gain forward momentum. As the aircraft was controlled by instinct, a person could fly it with minimal training, making it ideal for use by soldiers in the field.
Zimmerman set out to construct a flying platform to prove his hypotheses. His first effort consisted of two small target drone engines mounted vertically to the sides of a small steel-tube truss. The pilot was to stand on the truss holding an attached pole. Control for the contraption, nicknamed the "Flying Shoes," was accomplished entirely by weight shifting against the pole. The Flying Shoes suffered instability problems because the engines provided unequal thrust. Stanley Hiller heard about this experiment and was greatly intrigued. In 1948, Zimmerman made a deal that allowed Hiller Helicopters to continue development, while he returned to his old aeronautical engineering position at the NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, forerunner of NASA) laboratory in Langley, Virginia.
Unfortunately, Hiller's first successful production helicopter, the UH-12, demanded the company's complete attention and the Flying Shoes were quickly set aside. In the meantime Zimmerman convinced his peers of the merits of his theories and with official support, began to develop new experimental kinesthetically controlled flying platforms. The first of these efforts used compressed air channeled through attached fire hoses for thrust, while the second, known as the Whirligig (see NASM collection), used a compressed air-driven propeller on the underside of a lightweight platform to generate thrust. These developments proved to be extremely easy to fly and were stable in flight, although the larger and heavier Whirligig proved to be less stable and more difficult to control than its predecessor.
The military finally began to take notice of Zimmerman's experiments and issued contracts for the construction of prototypes. On September 17, 1953, the Army initiated contracts with De Lackner and Hiller for kinesthetically-controlled flying platforms. As the Office of Naval Research had pre-existing research programs with Hiller, its leadership agreed to manage the program on behalf of the Army. Engineers from both companies then visited the NACA test facilities to view Zimmerman's progress.
De Lackner's approach for their DH-4 Aerocycle (HZ-1) was to have the pilot stand atop a large coaxial rotor system. This arrangement was stable and performed well, but any concept that forced the pilot to stand on the airborne equivalent of a food processor with nothing to prevent inadvertent contact with the rotors was unlikely to generate much enthusiasm. Hiller's engineers went back to Zimmerman's original patent application for his Flying Shoes, in which the rotors were to have been located in what he termed as "venturi rings." These consisted of airfoil profiles formed into a circle. The venturi ring would soon become known as a ducted fan. The ducted fan's airfoil accelerated the airflow into the rotors, increasing thrust to a level approximately 40 percent greater than an unducted propeller of the same diameter. Hiller's solved the Flying Shoes' problem of asymmetric thrust by mounting the counter-rotating propellers co-axially. The Model 1031 used two engines, each directly driving one of the rotors inside the 1.52 m (5 ft) diameter duct.
By September 1954, construction had been completed on the Model 1031, which consisted of a fiberglass duct and steel-tube platform. Initial flights were made by Hiller's chief test pilot, Philip T. Johnston. Because there was little to protect the pilot in the event of an engine failure or loss of control, he was tethered to a high wire suspended between two towers. The Model 1031 proved relatively stable, and easy to handle when hovering. A natural self-correcting tendency in forward flight was noted. This occurred because the forward lip of the duct would generate more lift than the trailing edge causing an upward pitching moment. Unfortunately, while this made the platform almost impossible to topple, it also limited the forward speed to a mere 26 kph (16 mph), and resulted in erratic handling in windy conditions.
Hiller engineers realized that an engine failure on either of the engines would result in a catastrophic loss of control. Thus, a new transmission was installed that allowed the combined power of both engines to power the rotors so that if an engine failure occurred, a rapid descent would occur, but no loss of control. This improved design used the same components as the original platform and was designated as the Model 1031-A. On the Model 1031, differential braking on the rotors had controlled yaw, but with the combined transmission, this was no longer an option, so a pair of movable vanes was placed in the ducted fan's inflow to provide a new mechanism for yaw control.
The Model 1031-A could not operate out of ground effect because of its limited thrust. Hiller engineers determined that loading on the fixed-pitch rotors' was too high and that the only solution was to use longer rotor blades, which necessitated construction of a larger platform, designated the Model 1031-A-1. By this time, the Department of the Army, dissatisfied with De Lackner's progress, had begun to take over control of Hiller's Navy contract. The new platform, with 2.13 m (7 ft) diameter rotors, which first flew on November 20, 1957, was able to operate successfully out of ground effect, but a new problem was encountered. The increased weight of the platform lowered the center of gravity to the level that kinesthetic control was greatly impaired. Hiller engineers attempted to correct this by raising the pilot's platform. However, controllability was still a problem since the total weight of the platform had increased to the stage where weight shift alone could not insure an adequate level of stability or control. The solution to this was the addition of a gyro-stabilization system that used aerodynamic servos similar to those that Hiller had used on the UH-12. The new system, which was linked to four control vanes in the outflow, improved stability in the hover significantly. The most dramatic illustration of the new system occurred when an Army sniper was able to aim and fire his rifle while hovering in free flight, without any thought to aircraft control. However, in forward flight in anything but the calmest conditions, the platform experienced erratic oscillations that the gyrostabilizer could not dampen out. Various duct configurations were tried, but those that showed the greatest increase in stability also produced the least amount of thrust.
While Hiller was just discovering the extent of the Model 1031-A-1's control problems, the Army placed an order for three upgraded models, for its own experimentation. However the Army insisted that the new platforms, designated VZ-1E, should include a third engine as a backup in case of a failure of either of the two main engines. This requirement necessitated construction of a larger platform, with 2.44 m (8 ft) diameter rotors. The extra weight of the additional engine and larger airframe further increased the control difficulties to the point that kinesthetic control was no longer practical. Hiller attempted to remedy the situation by lengthening the ducted fan for greater stability and developing a more conventional control system in which a seated pilot would maintain control with a stick linked to the control vanes that had originally been intended only for yaw. This latest development proved to have a faster forward flight speed than the Model 1031, but did not resolve the control or instability problems. However, the modified VZ-1E did lead to a new line of thinking.
The Hiller engineering team realized that, while they had demonstrated the impracticality of kinesthetically controlled flying platforms in forward flight, the ducted fan idea still held a great deal of promise for more sophisticated VTOL aircraft. Thus, the Office of Naval Research funded the development of a prototype coleopter, or ring-wing VTOL aircraft, consisting of a lengthened ducted fan, which was intended to act as a lifting fuselage when the aircraft pivoted from a vertical to horizontal attitude for high-speed forward flight. A mockup of the coleopter, designated the VXT-8, was constructed, but the design went no further. Control of the coleopter in forward flight would have been extremely difficult. Hiller's final attempt to exploit the merits of the ducted fan was a proposal for an Army "flying jeep" competition. The Hiller design, which was not accepted, consisted of four ducted fans powered by a gas turbine attached to a simple frame. Considering Hiller's experience with ducted fans on the Model 1031, the design may well have revolutionized battlefield transportation if a suitable control system had been developed. By this time, however, turbine helicopters such as Bell's new HU-1 Huey, were overcoming many of the hurdles faced by the piston-engine models, and the flying jeep was abandoned.
Hiller's experimentation with the Model 1031/VZ-1E proved to be of little practical use to the company, which went out of business in 1966. However, the company's efforts did validate the ducted fan, which began to see practical service in hovercraft in the 1960s, and has emerged more recently in several Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) prototypes. In spite of its ultimate failure, the flying platform program proved to be a public relations bonanza for Hiller. When photos of the Flying Platform appeared in the media, the public was immediately captivated, perhaps because the platform's lack of visible propulsion seemed to be inspired from the flying saucer frenzy then sweeping the nation. While the apparent successes of the flying platform were widely reported, its inherent aerodynamic flaws were not publicized. Thus, many enthusiasts, even decades later, felt that a viable mode of transport had been unjustly abandoned. As a result, ducted fan platforms have occasionally appeared in the backyards of amateur inventors, who are unaware of the Model 1031's potentially fatal problems. However, the Hiller Flying Platform's vivid demonstrations of the potential of ducted fan technology may yet result in the inspiration for other new approaches to vertical flight.
Rotor Diameter: 2.13 m (7 ft) each
Platform Diameter: 2.54 m (8 ft 4 in)
Height: 2.13 m (7 ft)
Weight: Empty, 167.8 kg (370 lb)
Gross, 251.7 kg (555 lb)
Engine: 2 Nelson H-59 two-cycle engines, 40 hp each
References and Further Reading:
Gill, Wilbur J. Report No. ARD-236: Summary Report - Airborne Personnel Platform. Palo Alto, CA.: Hiller Aircraft Corporation, 1959.
Spencer, Jay P. Vertical Challenge: The Hiller Aircraft Story. Seattle:
University of Washington Press, 1998.
The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum welcomed today (Aug. 6) the sole surviving Boeing S-307 Stratoliner to its new home when the silver pioneering airliner arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia for display at the museum's new Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. The museum's companion facility, adjacent to the airport, opens to the public Dec. 15.
The luxuriously appointed Stratoliner, built in the late 1930s, was the world's first passenger airplane to be pressurized, allowing it to avoid rough weather by flying at unprecedented altitudes (20,000 feet) for transports of the era.
The airplane has been in the museum's collection since 1972 but because of its size and weight could not be displayed at the museum's flagship building on the National Mall. A team of volunteers and Boeing staff performed extensive restoration work on the airplane in Seattle.
"Visitors to the Udvar-Hazy Center will take one look at this airplane and be transported back to a glamorous age when the world became smaller for the traveler who required speed and luxury," said Gen. J.R. "Jack" Dailey, director of the National Air and Space Museum. "We are indebted to the Boeing restoration team for turning back the clock on this beautiful aircraft."
The Stratoliner arrived in Northern Virginia following an appearance at the Experimental Aircraft Association's annual Fly-In at Oshkosh, Wisc. The airplane flew from Allegheny County Airport near Pittsburgh, where it landed August 5th because of bad weather.
With a wingspan of 107 feet and a cabin nearly 12 feet wide, the Clipper Flying Cloud will be exhibited at ground level in the Udvar-Hazy (pronounced OOD-var HAH-zee) Center aviation hangar.
More than 200 aircraft are ultimately destined for the aviation hangar, which is 10 stories high and the length of three football fields--enough space to hold the museum's building on the National Mall inside with room to spare.
The center will eventually display the 80 percent of the national air and space collection not currently housed at the building on the Mall or on loan to other museums and institutions.
Smaller aircraft at the center will hang at two levels from the aviation hangar's trusses. Rising walkways will allow visitors to see the suspended aircraft up close and give them a sense of soaring.
The Clipper Flying Cloud was delivered to Pan American Airways with two others in 1940. The aircraft carried 33 passengers and a crew of five. The Pan American Airways airplane was reconfigured to seat 45 passengers. Stratoliners included space for berths for overnight travel; paneling in the cabin and lavatory; wall fabric featuring the Pan Am logo, world map and exotic animals; and eight divans.
The Clipper Flying Cloud began service flying Caribbean routes for two years. During World War II, it flew in South America under the direction of the U.S. Army Air Forces. In 1946, it made daily runs between New York and Bermuda. Throughout the next two decades it passed through the hands of several owners, and once served as a presidential plane for the notorious Haitian leader "Papa Doc" Duvalier. After its Haitian sojourn, the Clipper Flying Cloud landed in Arizona.
In 1969, a visiting National Air and Space Museum curator spotted the airplane in Arizona and immediately recognized its historic significance, even while its then-owner planned to convert it into a fire bomber. The Smithsonian subsequently acquired the aircraft and later made arrangements with the Boeing Company for the restoration, dubbed "Operation Flying Cloud," at the Seattle plant where the Stratoliner was originally built.
Boeing technicians and former Pan American employees voluntarily spent six years completely restoring the Stratoliner before it made an emergency landing in Elliott Bay in 2002. Since then, the restoration team has performed additional work so that visitors to the Udvar-Hazy Center will have the opportunity to view the aircraft as it looked the day it rolled off the assembly line more than 60 years ago.
Artifact and exhibit-related deliveries to the center continue on an almost daily basis leading up to the December opening when some 80 aircraft will be in place - more than are currently displayed at the Mall building. Many have been dismantled because of their size and must travel in pieces. Those aircraft are being reassembled in the hangar and moved to their display locations. After the Udvar-Hazy Center opens, deliveries will resume early next year at a slower pace and continue until the facility is full.
The first construction phase of the center also includes the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar, named for the aerospace pioneer; the 164-foot-tall Donald D. Engen Observation Tower, named for the museum's late director; the Claude Moore Education Center, named for the Virginia philanthropist; an IMAX theater; and a food court.
Construction work continues on the McDonnell Space Hangar, which will house America's first space shuttle, Enterprise. The space hangar will be completed by opening day with the Enterprise installed and visible; however, the structure will not be accessible to the public until 2004 as Enterprise undergoes restoration. During the interim, some 50 large space artifacts will be previewed in the aviation hangar. The space hangar will ultimately house some 135 large space artifacts.
Thousands of smaller objects from the museum's collection will also be displayed throughout the Udvar-Hazy Center in customized cases, many adjacent to exhibit stations that will provide historical context through graphics and text.
A second phase of construction for the Udvar-Hazy Center - including a restoration facility, an archival resource center, a conservation lab, a collections processing facility and a study collections storage unit - is planned, with the start date for construction dependent on fund raising. The entire facility will be approximately 760,000 square feet. No federal funds are being used to build the Udvar-Hazy Center.
The National Air and Space Museum, comprised of the Udvar-Hazy Center and the museum's building on the National Mall, will be the largest air and space museum complex in the world. The flagship building is the most popular museum in the world, attracting more than 9 million visitors each year. Attendance at the Udvar-Hazy Center is projected at 3 million people a year.
The Do-335 was one of a small group of aircraft marking the pinnacle of international piston-engined development. It was the fastest production piston-engined fighter ever built, attaining 846 kilometers per hour (474 mph) in level flight at a time when the official world speed record was 755 kph (469 mph). Powered by two 1800-hp engines in a unique low-drag configuration and weighing 9600 kg (21,000 lb) loaded, it was an exceptional heavy fighter. This very innovative design also featured an ejection seat, for pilot safety, and a jettisoning fin.
The unconventional layout of the Do-335 -- one engine "pulling" in the nose and another "pushing" in the tail - was patented by Claudius Dornier in 1937. The configuration provided the power of two engines, but with reduced drag and better maneuverability. The German Aviation Ministry (RLM) was interested in the design, but initially wanted Dornier only to produce bombers. By 1942, Dornier was still continuing design work and the war situation was worsening. The Luftwaffe now needed a multi-purpose fighter, and the prototype Do-335V-1 ("V" indicating "versuchs" or "experimental") flew in fighter form in September, 1943 - six years after its conception. Orders were immediately placed for 14 prototypes, 10 A-0 preproduction aircraft, 11 production A-1 single-seaters, and 3 A-10 and A-12 two-seat trainers.
The aircraft was quite large for a single-seat fighter, with a cruciform tail and a tricycle landing gear. The two massive liquid-cooled Daimler-Benz DB-603 engines were used in four different versions, each displacing 44.5 liters (2670 cu in) and weighing 910 kg (2006 lb). The engine produced 1750 hp from 12 cylinders in an inverted V layout using fuel injection and an 8.3:1 compression ratio. The rear three-bladed propeller and dorsal fin were jettisoned by explosive bolts in an emergency, to allow the pilot to bail out safely using a pneumatic ejection seat. The seat, inclined 13 degrees to the rear, was ejected with a force of 20 times gravity. The ventral fin could be jettisoned for a belly landing.
Unlike a normal twin-engined aircraft, with wing-mounted engines, loss of an engine on the Do-335 did not cause a handling problem. Even with one engine out, speed was a respectable 621 kph (348 mph). Because of its appearance, pilots dubbed it the "Ant eater" ("Ameisenbar"), although they described its performance as exceptional, particularly in acceleration and turning radius. The Do-335 was very docile in flight and had no dangerous spin characteristics. Many Do-335 prototypes were built, as the Reich strained desperately to provide day and night fighters and fast reconnaissance aircraft to the failing war effort. One of the many RLM production plans, issued in December 1943, called for the production of 310 Do-335s by late 1945. Initial production was at the Dornier Manuel plant, but this factory was bombed heavily in March-April, 1944, and the Do-335 tooling was destroyed.
Ten Do-335A-0 preproduction aircraft were then produced at Dornier's Oberpfaffenhofen plant in July-October 1944, by which time the Allied bombing campaign was delaying arrivals of engines, propellers, radios, and structural subcomponents. This had a serious effect, because the Do-335 was not a simple aircraft: installation of the electronics alone took 60 hours of assembly, and the electrical parts list was 112 pages long. Production of Daimler-Benz engines, for example, was switched to factories set up in underground salt mines and gypsum mines, but high humidity caused corrosion problems and production dropped 40 percent. Although several preproduction aircraft were issued to combat conversion units some 10 months before the war ended, no Do-335s actually entered combat. Deliveries began to the 1st Experimental Squadron of the Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe ( I/Versuchsverband Ob.d.L.) in late July 1944 for operational trials.
The first of the Do-335A-1 production version left the Dornier line at Friedrichshafen early in 1945, one of only four produced in 1945. It was armed with one 30 mm MK-103 cannon (70 rounds were carried) firing through the propeller hub and two 15 mm MG-151/15 cannon (200 rounds per gun) firing from the top of the forward engine. Even with the fighter situation as desperate as it was, these aircraft were still equipped to carry 500 kg (1100 lb) of bombs internally. Further operational testing, including use of air-to-ground guided missiles, began in Spring 1945 with Trials Unit (Erprobungskommando) 335.
The Do-335A-6 was to be a two-seat night fighter version with the advanced FFO FuG-217J Neptun radar having triple "trident"-like antennas (hence the name "Neptun") on the fuselage and wings, but only a prototype was completed. A total of 37 prototypes, 10 A-0s, 11 A-1s and 2 A-12 trainers were built, although nearly 85 additional aircraft were in assembly when U.S. troops overran the Friedrichshafen factory in late April, 1945. The Vienna-Swechat plant of the Ernst Heinkel AG was also scheduled to build the Do-335 beginning in February, 1945, but production never started.
The NASM aircraft is the second Do-335A-0, designated A-02, with construction number (werke nummer) 240102 and factory registration VG+PH. It was built at Dornier's Rechlin-Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, plant on April 16, 1945. It was captured by Allied forces at the plant on April 22, 1945. After checkout, it was flown from a grass runway at Oberweisenfeld, near Munich, to Cherbourg, France. During this flight, the Do-335 easily outclimbed and outdistanced two escorting P-51s, beating them to Cherbourg by 45 minutes. Under the U.S. Army Air Force's "Project Sea Horse," two Do-335s were shipped to the United States aboard the Royal Navy ship HMS "Reaper" together with other captured German aircraft, for detailed evaluation. This aircraft was assigned to the U.S. Navy, which tested it at the Test and Evaluation Center, Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Maryland. The other aircraft, with registration FE-1012 (later T2-1012), went to the USAAF at Freeman Field, Indiana, where it was tested in early 1946. Its subsequent fate is unknown, and this is the only Do-335 known to exist.
Following Navy flight tests in 1945-48, the aircraft was donated to the Smithsonian's National Air Museum in 1961 but was stored at NAS Norfolk until 1974. It was then returned to Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, where the Dornier company restored it to original condition in 1975. The return trip to Germany required an exemption under U.S. laws concerning the export of munitions. The Dornier craftsmen doing the restoration - many of whom had worked on the original aircraft -- were astonished to find that the explosive charges fitted to blow off the tail fin and rear propeller in an emergency were still in the aircraft and active, 30 years after their original installation! The Do-335 was put on static display at the May 1-9, 1976, Hannover Airshow, and then loaned to the Deutsches Museum in Munich, where it was on prominent display until returned to Silver Hill, MD, for storage in 1986.
Gaston and René Caudron were among the earliest aircraft manufacturers in France. After building and testing a few original designs in 1909 and early in 1910, the brothers established a flight training school at Crotoy and an aircraft factory at Rue in 1910. The first factory-produced Caudron was the type A4, a 35-horsepower Anzani-powered tractor biplane in which the pilot sat completely exposed behind the rear spar of the lower wing. The next major Caudron design, the type B, was the first to feature the abbreviated fuselage/pilot nacelle, characteristic of many later Caudron aircraft. It was powered by a 70-horsepower Gnôme or 60-horsepower Anzani engine mounted in the front of the nacelle with the pilot immediately behind. Although a tractor, the tail unit of the type B was supported by booms extending from the trailing edge of the wings, an arrangement more commonly featured on pusher aircraft. Lateral control was accomplished with wing warping. The type B established the basic configuration of Caudron designs through the G.4 model.
The first of the well-known Caudron G series aircraft appeared in 1912. Initially designed as a trainer, the type G was developed into the G.2 by the outbreak of the First World War, and saw limited military service in 1914 as single and two-seat versions. By that time the Caudron factory had been relocated to Lyon, where an improved version, designated the G.3, was being produced in significant numbers. Soon a second factory was opened at Issy-les-Moulineaux, near Paris, to meet military demand for the airplane. The G.3 was primarily a two-seat aircraft, but a few were converted to single-seat versions. They were powered variously by 80-horsepower Le Rhône or Gnôme rotary engines or a 90-horsepower Anzani radial. A total of 2,450 G.3s were built, including a small number built under license in Britain and Italy.
The Caudron G.4 was a larger, twin-engined version of the G.3, powered by two 80-horsepower Le Rhônes or 100-horsepower Anzanis. The Anzani-powered Caudron G.4s served mostly as training aircraft. Some of the Anzani-powered G.4s, but not all, had their engines set up to turn in opposite directions to balance the torque of the whirling propellers. All the Le Rhône-powered Caudrons had both engines rotating in the same direction, clockwise from the pilot's orientation. Also, the two vertical tail surfaces of the G.3 were increased to four on the G.4. The twin-engined configuration increased the range of the Caudron and provided a location for a forward-firing machine gun, typically a Hotchkiss or Lewis, although other types were also used. To protect against attacks from behind, some G.4s were fitted with an additional gun mounted on the top of the upper wing and pointed rearward, but this proved to be ineffective and it was frequently removed from operational aircraft. A number of G.4s had a second gun mounted immediately in front of the pilot on the deck of the nacelle (such as on the NASM Caudron). But more often the pilot and observer simply carried hand-held weapons to respond to attacks from the rear. Some G.4s carried a camera for high-altitude reconnaissance.
The prototype G.4 first flew in March 1915, and 1,358 were built in three major versions: the Caudron G.4A2 for reconnaissance, the G.4B2 for bombing, and the G.4E2 for training. The A2 had a wireless set for artillery spotting missions; the B2 could carry up to 100 kg (220 lb) of bombs; and the E2 had dual controls for instruction. A special armored version of the G.4, designated the G.4IB, was deployed to the top French units, the "B" representing Blindage, the French word for armor. In addition to reconnaissance, bombing, and training, the Caudron G.4 also sometimes served as a long-range escort to other bomber aircraft.
By 1916, the G.4 was replacing the G.3 in most Caudron squadrons. Extensively used as a bomber during the first half of 1916, its deployment in that role was severely reduced by the fall of that year. The Caudron's relative slow speed and inability to defend itself from the rear made it increasingly vulnerable to fighter attack as German air defense improved. But Caudrons continued to be widely used as reconnaissance aircraft well into 1917. By early 1918 virtually all Caudron aircraft still in use were relegated to training duties. In addition to the French, Caudrons were used extensively by British and Italian units, and a few were used by the Russians and the Belgians. Ten Caudron G.4s were sold to the United States in November 1917 and transferred to the U.S. Air Service's 2nd Air Instruction Center at Tours. Used exclusively as trainers, none of these Caudrons saw operational service with American units.
The Caudron G.4 was in many respects a pre-war design, with its wing-warping lateral control, light structure, and limited visibility. Yet it has great significance as an early light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft. It was a principal type used when these critical air power missions were being conceived and pioneered in World War I. Although fighter aircraft frequently gain greater attention, the most influential role of aviation in the First World War was reconnaissance. The extensive deployment of the Caudron in this role make it an especially important early military aircraft. Moreover, despite its speed and armament limitations, the Caudron was quite reliable, had a good rate of climb, and was pleasant to fly, all characteristics that made it a good training aircraft after its combat effectiveness was reduced. Many Allied pilots received their initial flight training on the Caudron. For all these reasons the Caudron occupies an important place in aviation history and in the National Air and Space Museum's aircraft collection. As an individual museum specimen, the NASM Caudron G.4 also has great significance. It is among the oldest surviving bomber aircraft in the world. Further, it is the only very early multi-engine airplane in the NASM collection, and one of the very few multi-engine aircraft from this period anywhere.
The Caudron G.4 in the NASM collection, serial # C4263, was built by the Eugene firm and left the factory on December 12, 1916. The marking "12_16" appears on the leading edge of each individual wing section and some other major components of the aircraft, confirming the manufacturing date acquired from archival sources. Its acceptance flight was made at Issy-les-Moulineaux on December 27, 1916. The pilot's name was Gerviès and it was reported that the airplane climbed to 1000 m (3,281 ft) in 7 minutes. The airplane had full radio and photographic equipment, characterized by the A2 reconnaissance variant. Caudron G.4 serial # C4263 saw no operational activity with the French Air Service. It was apparently sent to the Reserve Générale of the Aviation Militaire and remained there until it was purchased by the United States government in early 1917 through the American Ambassador, Mr. Sharp. The Caudron was acquired, along with a Voisin Type 8 (also in the NASM collection) and a Farman aircraft, for technical evaluation by the United States. However, by the time the aircraft were transported to the U.S. and prepared for flight demonstrations, they were already outmoded. This airplane was not among the ten purchased late in 1917 and deployed as trainers. Photographic evidence demonstrates that the NASM Caudron had arrived in the U.S. and was at Langley Field, Hampton, Virginia, at least by July 26, 1917, four months before the contract for the ten training aircraft was executed.
In a 1966 article in the journal Cross & Cockade on the NASM Caudron, the author, Brian Flanagan, states that at some point before the end of the war, "the Caudron and the Voisin were exhibited in a park in Washington, D.C., as part of a war drive display." But he cites no source for this fact.
On July 12, 1918, Lt. Col. L.S. Horner, of the War Department's Bureau of Aircraft Production, wrote to Smithsonian Institution Secretary, Charles Walcott, regarding "obsolete airplanes for exhibition purposes," offering the Caudron, the Voisin, and the Farman aircraft to the Institution. The offer was accepted and the three airplanes were delivered to the museum on September 16 and 17, 1918. The Farman was very incomplete and was deemed unacceptable for exhibition. It was returned to the War Department in June 1921. Because of an oversight when packing the Farman for shipment, its wings remained at the Smithsonian until September 1925, when they were either returned to the War Department or destroyed. The record is unclear.
The Caudron was delivered to the Smithsonian without engines, propellers, or armament. It was soon assembled and suspended in the Arts and Industries building, lacking these components. In 1929, Paul Garber, of the Smithsonian curatorial staff, acquired engines and propellers from the War Department, and had them installed on the Caudron. Unfortunately, Garber was unable to obtain the proper 80-horsepower Le Rhône rotary engines. Only 110-horsepower Le Rhônes were available, and Garber considered these to be at least representative of the correct powerplants. Similarly, the propellers acquired and installed on the airplane were only representative of the period and not the precise type that were actually used on the Caudron. Internal parts of the 110-horsepower Le Rhônes, such as pistons, connecting rods, etc., were removed from the engines to lighten them and put in storage. Smithsonian officials took this action as a safety measure because the airplane was suspended over a public area. The Caudron was displayed in this manner until the late 1960s or early 1970s, when it was removed from the Arts and Industries building and placed in storage at the Garber Facility. It received preservation treatment in 2000. Also at that time, the incorrect 110-horsepower Le Rhône rotary engines were replaced with the proper 80-horsepower Le Rhônes, and correct propellers were fabricated.
One interesting marking on the tail of the NASM Caudron is the term "Blindage 16K" on the rudders. Blindage is the French word for armored, indicating that the museum's airplane could be one of the special G.4IB armored Caudrons. The armor consisted of a heavy metal plate inserted behind the seat of the rear cockpit, protruding upward so as to cover the back and head of the pilot. The armor plate is missing on the NASM Caudron. However, there is a gap, or slot, in the structure immediately behind the seat where such a plate would fit. Photographs of other Caudrons with the armor plate inserted show it in the same location as the slot behind the rear seat on the NASM Caudron. This, along with the marking "Blindage 16 K," strongly indicate that the NASM airplane was an armored version of the Caudron G.4.