Daily Archives: October 23, 2023

23 October 1958

Aviation, , , , , , , , ,
American Airlines’ first Boeing 707-123 airliner, N7501A, is rolled out. (Boeing)

23 October 1958: American Airlines accepted delivery of its first jet airliner, Boeing 707-123 N7501A (serial number 17628, line number 7). The new airplane had made its first flight on 5 October. Christened Flagship Michigan, American Airlines advertised its new 707 as the “Astrojet.”

On 29 October 1958, the new 707 flew from Los Angeles to New York with 39 passengers, all officials of the airline or the Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA). The flight departed at 6:58 a.m., Pacific Standard Time (13:58 UTC), and arrived at Idlewild Airport at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. (18:30 UTC).

American Airlines’ first regularly-scheduled commercial passenger flight with the 707 took place 25 January 1959, also from Los Angeles to Idlewild. The duration of the flight was 4 hours, 3 minutes.¹

The Boeing 707 was developed from the earlier Model 367–80, the “Dash Eighty.” It is a four-engine jet transport with swept wings and tail surfaces. The leading edge of the wings are swept at a 35° angle. The airliner had a flight crew of four: pilot, co-pilot, navigator and flight engineer. The airliner could carry a maximum of 189 passengers.

The 707-123 was 145 feet, 1 inch (44.221 meters) long with a wing span of 130 feet, 10 inches (39.878 meters). The top of the vertical fin stood 42 feet, 5 inches (12.929 meters) high. The 707 pre-dated the ”wide-body” airliners, having a fuselage width of 12 feet, 4 inches (3.759 meters). The airliner’s empty weight is 122,533 pounds (55,580 kilograms). Maximum take off weight is 257,000 pounds (116,573 kilograms).

Boeing 707-123 N7501A, American Airlines Astrojet, Flagship Michigan, at Seattle. (American Airlines)

The first versions were powered by four Pratt & Whitney Turbo Wasp JT3C-6 turbojet engines, producing 11,200 pounds of thrust (49,820 kilonewtons), and 13,500 pounds (60.051 kilonewtons) with water injection. This engine was a civil variant of the military J57 series. It was a two-spool axial-flow turbojet engine with a 16-stage compressor and 2 stage turbine. The JT3C-6 was 11 feet, 6.6 inches (3.520 meters) long, 3 feet, 2.9 inches (0.988 meters) in diameter, and weighed 4,235 pounds (1,921 kilograms).

At MTOW, the 707 required 11,000 feet (3,353 meters) of runway to take off.

The 707-123 had a maximum speed of 540 knots (1,000 kilometers per hour). It’s range was 2,800 nautical miles (5,186 kilometers).

In 1961, N7501A was upgraded to the 707-123B standard. This included a change from the turbojet engines to quieter, more powerful and efficient Pratt & Whitney JT3D-1. The JT3D-1 was a dual-spool axial-flow turbofan engine, with a 2-stage fan section, 13-stage compressor (6 low- and 7 high-pressure stages), 8 combustion chambers and a 4-stage turbine (1 high- and 3 low-pressure stages). This engine was rated at 14,500 pounds of static thrust (64.499 kilonewtons) at Sea Level, and 17,000 pounds (75.620 kilonewtons), with water injection, for takeoff (2½ minute limit). Almost half of the engine’s thrust was produced by the fans. Maximum engine speed was 6,800 r.p.m. (N1) and 10,200 r.p.m. (N2). It was 11 feet, 4.64 inches (3.471 meters) long, 4 feet, 5.00 inches (1.346 meters) wide and 4 feet, 10.00 inches (1.422 meters) high. It weighed 4,165 pounds (1,889 kilograms). The JT3C could be converted to the JT3D configuration during overhaul.

The 707-123B wings were modified to incorporate changes introduced with the Boeing 720, and a longer tailplane installed.

N7501A was sold to Tigerair, Inc., 12 April 1978. It was then sold to Cyprus Airways in March 1979, and reregistered 5B-DAM. When landing at Bahrain International Airport, 19 August 1979, the airliner’s nose wheel collapsed and it was damaged beyond economical repair.

Boeing 707-123B 5B-DAM (s/n 17628) at Bahrain International Airport after sustaining damage when its nose wheel collapsed on landing, 19 August 1979. (Steve Fitzgerald/Wikimedia Commons)

The Boeing 707 was in production from 1958 to 1979. 1,010 were built. Production of 707 airframes continued at Renton until the final one was completed in April 1991.

¹ Please see “This Day in Aviation” for 25 January 1959 at: https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/2023/01/25/

© 2023, Bryan R. Swopes

23 October 1952

Aviation, , , , , , , , , , , , ,
The Hughes XH-17, 50-1842, before its first flight, 23 October 1952. (Old Machine Press/LIFE Magazine)

23 October 1952: At Culver City, California, Hughes Tool Company Aircraft Division test pilots Gale Joseph Moore and Chalmer Donald  Bowen,¹ with flight test engineer Wallace Marion, took the Hughes XH-17, U.S. Air Force serial number 50-1842, for its official first flight. At a height of 20 to 40 feet (6 to 12 meters) above the runway, the helicopter maneuvered for about nine minutes. It reached a speed of 45 miles per hour (72 kilometers per hour), flew backwards, and rotated 360°. (The helicopter had actually become briefly airborne for the first time 16 September 1952.) The crew nicknamed the aircraft “The Monster.”

The Hughes XH-17 airborne 19 September 1952, during a “bounce drill.” (Los Angeles Times, 20 September 1952, Page 1, Columns 3–6)

According to the Los Angeles Times, “Although it was termed a “first flight,” the great machine had previously been airborne frequently in recent weeks at the Hughes strip in Culver City. . . Its fledgling flights have been witnessed by thousands of persons from nearby highways. . . .” Test pilot Moore did not call these flights, referring to them as “bounce drills.”

From left to right: Rea E. Hopper, Chief Engineer, Hughes Aircraft; Howard Robard Hughes, Jr.; Clyde Jones, Director of Engineering; Warren Reed, Assistant; Colonel Carl E. Jackson, U.S. Air Force, Air Research and Development Headquarters, Baltimore, Maryland; Gale Joseph Moore, pilot; Chalmer Donald Bowen, co-pilot; and Marion Wallace, flight test engineer. (Old Machine Press/LIFE Magazine)

The XH-17 was primarily built by the Kellett Aircraft Corporation, a manufacturer of autogyros at Upper Derby, Pennsylvania, in response to a 1946 U.S. Army Air Forces request for a heavy lift helicopter, and originally designated XR-17. It was redesignated XH-17 in June 1948. When Kellett entered bankruptcy, the incomplete helicopter was purchased by the Hughes Tool Company for $250,000 and moved to Culver City, California in 1949.

The Hughes XH-17 was a single main rotor tip-jet-driven helicopter with an auxiliary tail rotor for yaw control. The main rotor diameter was 130 feet (39.624 meters).² The fuselage was 53 feet, 4 inches (16.256 meters) long, and the helicopter had an overall height of 30 feet, 1 inch (9.169 meters). The main rotor turned counter-clockwise, as seen from above (the advancing blade is on the right), at 88 r.p.m. The main rotor blade was 12 inches (30.38 centimeters) thick and had a chord of 4 feet, 10 inches (1.473 meters). Each blade weighed approximately 5,000 pounds (2.268 kilograms) and was fully articulated. Unlike a normal helicopter, the tip-jet-driven blades do not produce torque which needs to be counteracted by a tail rotor. However, an auxiliary tail rotor was used for yaw control. With a diameter of 8 feet, 8 inches (2.642 meters), it was borrowed from a Sikorsky S-55, and turned clockwise as seen from the helicopter’s left side (the advancing blade is below the axis of rotation).

The XH-17’s empty weight was 28,562 pounds (12,956 kilograms), and its maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) was 43,500 pounds (19,731 kilograms). On 15 December 1955, the helicopter lifted a trailer van weighing 7,800 pounds (3,538 kilograms), at that time the heaviest load ever lifted by a helicopter.

The XH-17 was powered by two modified General Electric J35 (7E-TG-180-XR-17A) turbojet engines, mounted on each side of the fuselage. The engines were rated at 1,740 horsepower, each. Bleed air from the engines’ compressors was directed through ducts to the rotor blades to exit through the blade tips. Fuel was injected through GE 33F pressure jet burners and ignited to produce thrust to drive the rotors.

The XH-17 had a cruise speed of 85 miles per hour (137 kilometers per hour), and a maximum speed of 90 miles per hour (145 kilometers per hour) at 8,000 feet (2,438 meters). The helicopter’s service ceiling was 13,100 feet (3,993 meters). With a maximum fuel capacity of 635 U.S. gallons (2,404 liters), the XH-17 had a maximum range of only 30 miles (48 kilometers)

The XH-17 was grounded in December 1955 when its main rotor blades reached their design limit, 10 flight hours. The helicopter was later scrapped.

Gale Joseph Moore, was born at Mauston, Wisconsin, 24 January 1921. He was second of four children of of George Joseph Moore, a dairyman, and Amy Dell Priessnitz Moore. By 1940, the family had moved to Inglewood, California, where Moore worked in a dairy with his father.

Moore attended John C. Fremont High School in Los Angeles, graduating in 1938, and Compton Community College, in Compton, California.

Moore registered for Selective Service (conscription), 15 February 1942, at Hawthorne, California. He was described as having a light complexion, red hair and hazel eyes. He was 5 feet, 11½ inches (1.82 meters) tall and weighed 145 pounds (66 kilograms).

Moore joined the United States Army Air Forces. He trained as a pilot and was commissioned a second lieutenant at Douglas Army Airfield, Arizona, in June 1943. Pilots at Douglas trained on the North American Aviation B-25 Mitchell twin-engine medium bomber. After the war, he left the service as a first lieutenant.

Gale Joseph Moore married Miss Patricia Elise Diehl at the Little Chapel of the Dawn, Santa Monica, California, 13 January 1948. They had one child, Richard D. Moore. They later divorced.

During 1948, Moore joined Los Angeles Airways to fly the Sikorsky S-51.

The Los Angeles Times, 2 October 1947 published photo caption: “NEW MAIL SERVICE — Los Angeles Airways helicopter shown landing on the roof of Terminal Annex Post office yesterday to inaugurate helicopter air-mail service, the first of its kind in the United States. Two flights daily are planned on this run with another to start Oct. 16.” (L.A. Times Photo Archive/UCLA)

On 2 October 1956, Moore took the prototype Hughes Model 269, N78P, for its first flight. This helicopter was later adopted by the United States Army as the TH-55A Osage.

Moore next married Thais E. Hildebrand, three years his senior, in California, 15 December 1961.

Gale Joseph Moore died 18 Nov 2015, at Fernley, Nevada, at the age of 93 years. His remains were interred at the Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Fernley.

Chalmer Donald Bowen and Gale Joseph Moore. (Pauline Annette DiSipio)

Chalmer Donald Bowen was born 21 August 1912 at Delta, Iowa. He was the third of five children of Perman Montague Bowen, a farmer, and Martha (“Mattie”) Esther Taylor Bowen. He attended Van Buren and Wilson schools in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and graduated from the State University of Iowa.

Bowen married Miss Emma Louise Brink at Cedar Rapids, 17 August 1931. They would have two sons. Mrs. Bowen died in 1988.

In 1940, Bowen worked for the Quaker Oats Company in Cedar Rapids as a package room laborer. He registered for conscription 16 October 1940. At that time he was described as having a light brown complexion, with brown hair and blue eyes. He was 5 feet, 7 inches (1.70 meters) tall, and weighed 165 pounds (75 kilograms). He then moved to Burbank, California, in 1942, where he was employed as a flight engineer by the Lockheed Aircraft Company.

Bowen worked as a pilot for Hughes Aircraft for 31 years. He had acted as Howard Hughes’ co-pilot for the only flight of the Hughes H-4 “Spruce Goose,” 2 November 1947.

Charles Donald Bowen died at Montrose, Colorado, 28 February 2011. His remains were interred at Cedar Memorial Park, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

¹ The rotor diameter has been variously described as being 125 feet (38.1 meters) and 136 feet (41.45 meters).

© 2023, Bryan R. Swopes

23 October 1934

Aviation, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Warrant Officer Francesco Agello, Regia Aeronautica. (FAI)
Warrant Officer Francesco Agello, Regia Aeronautica. (FAI)

23 October 1934: At Lago di Garda, Brescia, Italy, Warrant Officer Francesco Agello, Regia Aeronautica, set a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Record for Speed Over a 3 Kilometer Course when he flew the Macchi Aeronautica M.C. 72 float plane, serial number MM 181, to an average speed of 709.21 kilometers per hour (440.68 miles per hour).¹

A contemporary news article described the event:

FLYING the Machi-Castoldi 72 seaplane (3,000 h.p. special 24-cyl. Fiat) at Lake Garda on Tuesday of last week, Warrant-Officer Francesco Agello, of the Italian Royal Air Force, raised his own world’s air speed record by putting up a mean speed (subject to homologation) of 709.202 km./hr. (440.677 m.p.h.) for the usual four flights. His previous record stood at 682.403 km./hr. (423.76 m.p.h.)

The weather conditions under which the attempts were made were ideal, there being just sufficient breeze to take the glassiness off the water, so assisting the takeoff. Temperature was suitable, and the air was free from bumps.

Just before 3 p.m. Agello took off and made four runs over the three-kilometre course, clocking as follows:—

[Direction]         Secs.               km./hr.          m.p.h

North-South     15 29/100        705.882        438.614
South-North     15 19.2/100     710.433        441.423
North-South     15 18.1/100     711.462        442.081
South-North     15 23.4/100     709.034        440.738

Warrant Officer Francesco Agello with his Macchi M.C.72. (FAI)
Warrant Officer Francesco Agello with his record-setting Macchi M.C.72, MM 181. (FAI)

After the successful attempt a banquet was held in the Officers’ Mess at Desenzano in Agello’s honour. The speeds were announced, and Col. Bernasconi, who is in command of the High-speed Flight, stated that Signor Mussolini had honoured Warrant-Officer Agello by promoting him to a full lieutenant.

Only a few modifications had been made to the Macchi-Castoldi since the previous attempt, chief among them being the substitution of wooden floats for the metal ones previously used.

Illustration of the Fiat AS.6 V-24 aircraft engine, right side.
Illustration of the Fiat AS.6 DOHC V-24 aircraft engine, right side. (Old Machine Press)

As is well known. the most interesting feature of the machine is the extremely unconventional power-unit, the Fiat A.S.6. The problem of frontal area for such a powerful unit as was specified was solved by placing the twenty-four cylinders (totalling in capacity over fifty litres) in two rows, forming a 60 deg. “vee,” and further, arranging them in two mechanically independent groups.

Each group has its own crank shaft, but a single crank case is used for both. The crank shafts, which rotate in opposite directions, are coupled in the centre by spur-gear reduction units, which drive two airscrew shafts. One of these shafts is hollow, and the other operates within it. The two shafts run forward through the “vee” of the front unit, and each carries an airscrew; so that there are two of the latter, close together, but revolving in opposite directions.

Each engine unit has independent camshafts (two per engine), water pump and dual Marelli magnetos, but a common induction system is used, an eight-jet carburetter being mounted behind the rear unit and mixture being drawn from it passed to the cylinders by a supercharger geared up to 20,000 r.p.m. An interesting point is that this supercharger absorbs 200 h.p., and, since it is driven by the rear engine, the blades of the front airscrew (which the rear engine drives) are given different inclination to correct for the slight difference in power.

The power units develop 3,000 h.p. at 3,200 r.p.m., and weighs 2,045lb., giving a weight per h.p. of 0.706lb. The all-up weight of the machine, with pilot and full tanks, is 6,670lb.

British equipment figured in the success, for Castrol oil and K.L.G. plugs were used.

— FLIGHT, The Aircraft Engineer and Airships, No. 1349, Vol. XXVI, November 1, 1934, at Page 1152.

Warrant Officer Francesco Agello, Regia Aeronautica, with the record-setting Macchi M.C.72, 23 October 1934.
Warrant Officer Francesco Agello, Regia Aeronautica, with the record-setting Macchi M.C.72, 23 October 1934. (Historic Wings)
Left rear quarter view of the Macchi M.C.72. (FAI)
Left rear quarter view of a Macchi M.C.72. (FAI)

The Macchi-Castoldi M.C.72 was designed by Mario Castoldi for Aeronautica Macchi. It was a single-place, single-engine, low-wing monoplane float plane constructed of wood and metal. It was 8.32 meters (27 feet, 3.5 inches) long with a wingspan of 9.48 meters (31 feet, 1.25 inches) and height of 3.30 meters (10.83 feet). The M.C.72 had an empty weight of 2,505 kilograms (5,512 pounds), loaded weight of 2,907 kilograms (6,409 pounds) and maximum takeoff weight of 3,031 kilograms (6,669 pounds).

It was powered by a 50.256 liter (3,067 cubic inch) liquid-cooled, supercharged Fiat S.p.A. AS.6 24-cylinder 60° dual overhead cam (DOHC) V-24 engine with 4 valves per cylinder. The engine produced 3,100 horsepower at 3,300 r.p.m. and drove two counter-rotating metal two-bladed fixed pitch propellers with a diameter of 8 feet (2.56 meters). The counter-rotating blades cancelled the torque effect of the engine.

Surface radiators were placed on top of each wing and surface oil coolers on the floats.

Radiators were placed on the upper surface of each wing. (Aeronautica Militare)
Radiators were placed on the upper surface of each wing. (Aeronautica Militare) 
The Henry De la Vaulx Medal.
The Henry de la Vaulx Medal.

Five Macchi M.C.72 float planes had been built for the 1931 Schneider Trophy race, but problems with the Fiat AS.6 engine, which was essentially two AS.5 V-12s assembled back-to-back, prevented them from competing.

Four test pilots, including Francesco Agello, had been selected to fly the airplanes for speed record attempts. Two were killed while testing the M.C.72, and the third died when another airplane crashed. The cause of the accidents were explosions within the engines’ intake tract. Though they ran perfectly on test stands, in flight, they began to backfire, then explode.

It was discovered by Rod Banks, a British engineer who had been called in to develop a special high-octane fuel, that the Fiat engineers had overlooked the ram effect of the 400 mile per hour slipstream. This caused the fuel mixture to become too lean, resulting in predetonation and backfiring. A modification was made to the intake and the problem was resolved.

Macchi M.C.72 at Aeronautica Militare
Macchi M.C.72 MM 181 at the Museo Storico dell’Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force Museum) in Vigna di Valle, Italy. (Unattributed)

Francesco Agello was twice awarded the Henry De La Vaulx Medal by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, and also awarded the Medaglia d’oro al valore aeronautico. In part, his citation read, “A high speed pilot of exceptional courage and, after competition in difficult and dangerous test flights during the development of the fastest seaplane in the world, twice he conquered the absolute world speed record.”

Captain Agello was killed in a mid-air collision, 26 November 1942, while testing a Macchi C.202 Fogore fighter.

Medalglia d'oro al valore aeronautico
Medalglia d’oro al valore aeronautico

¹ FAI Record File Number 4497

© 2016, Bryan R. Swopes

23 October 1911

Aviation, , , , , ,
Captain Carlo Piazza in the cockpit of his Blériot XI. (Aeronautica Militaire Italiana)
Capitán Carlo Piazza in the cockpit of his Blériot XI. (Aeronautica Militaire)
Capitán Carlo Piazza
Capitán Carlo Maria Piazza (1871–1917)

23 October 1911: For the first time, the airplane is used in warfare. Capitán Carlo Maria Piazza, a pilot commanding an aviation unit of the Regio Esercito (the Italian Royal Army), flew a Blériot Type XI on a reconnaissance mission over the Zanzur oasis, south west of Tripoli, Libya, during the Italo-Turkish War (1911–1912).

Aviation author Walter J. Boyne wrote that, “The world’s first combat flight took place on October 23, when the Commander of the Air Fleet, Captain Piazza, took off at 6:19 a.m. to reconnoiter Turkish positions. In a sixty-one minute flight, he discovered several enemy encampments. . . .”

—The Influence of Air Power Upon History, Walter J. Boyne, Pen & Sword Books Limited, 2005, at Page 37.

Capitán Piazza with a Blériot XI, Tripoli, Libya, 17 February 1912.

The Blériot XI was a single-seat, single-engine monoplane, designed by Raymond Saulnier and built by Louis Charles Joseph Blériot. It was 24 feet, 11 inches (7.595 meters) long with a wingspan of 27 feet, 11 inches (8.509 meters) and overall height of 8 feet, 10 inches (2.692 meters). It had an empty weight of 507 pounds (229.9 kilograms).

(Sources give conflicting specifications for the Blériot XI, probably because they were often changed in an effort to improve the airplane. Dimensions given here are from the three-view drawings, below.)

(Flight, No. 149., Vol. III, No. 44, 4 November 1911, at Page 967)

In its original configuration, the Type XI was powered by an air-cooled, 3.774 liter (230.273 cubic inches) Robert Esnault-Pelterie (R.E.P.) two-row, seven-cylinder fan engine (or “semi-radial”), which produced 30 horsepower at 1,500 r.p.m., and drove a four-bladed paddle-type propeller. The R.E.P. engine weighed 54 kilograms (119 pounds). This engine was unreliable and was soon replaced by an Alessandro Anzani & Co. W-3.

The Blériot XI Militaire was powered by a normally-aspirated, air-cooled, 7.983 liter (487.140-cubic-inch-displacement) Société des Moteurs Gnome Omega 7-cylinder rotary engine which produced 50 horsepower at 1,200 r.p.m. The direct-drive engine turned a two-bladed wooden propeller in a left-hand, tractor configuration. The Omega 7 is 79.2 centimeters (2 feet, 7.2 inches) long, 83.8 centimeters (2 feet, 9.0 inches) in diameter, and weighs 75.6 kilograms (166.7 pounds). The prototype of this engine is in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution National Air & Space Museum.

 

Blériot Type XI, front view.
Blériot Type XI, side view.
Blériot Type XI, top view.

The Blériot XI had a maximum speed of 76 kilometers per hour (47 miles per hour) and its service ceiling was 1,000 meters (3,281 feet).

Captain Piazza was killed in action in 1917, during the First World War.

A two-place Blériot Type XI at Il Museo Storico dell’Aeronautica Militare. (Museo Storico A.M.)

© 2018, Bryan R. Swopes