Daily Archives: August 1, 2024

1 August 1977

Aviation, , , , , , , , , , , ,
Wreckage of KNBC television's "Telecopter", Bell JetRanger N4TV. Pilot Francis Gary Powers and cameraman George Spears were killed when the helicopter crashed at Sepulveda Basin, Van Nuys, California, 12;48 p.m., 1 August 1977. (Joe Kennedy, Los Angeles Times Staff Photographer)
Wreckage of KNBC television’s “Telecopter,” Bell 206B JetRanger N4TV. Pilot Francis Gary Powers and cameraman George Spears were killed when the helicopter crashed at the Sepulveda Basin, Van Nuys, California, 12:48 p.m., 1 August 1977. (Joe Kennedy, Los Angeles Times Staff Photographer)
Francis Gary Powers with KNBC's Bell 206B JetRanger, N4TV, (Unattributed)
Francis Gary Powers with KNBC’s Bell 206B JetRanger, N4TV. (Check-Six.com)

1 August 1977: Francis Gary Powers, a pilot and news reporter for KNBC Television (Channel 4) in Los Angeles, California, was flying the company’s “Telecopter,” a camera and transmitter-equipped Bell Model 206B Jet Ranger, N4TV. He and a cameraman, George R. Spears, had been reporting on the aftermath of the disastrous Sycamore Canyon Fire in Santa Barbara County and were returning to their base, the KNBC Heliport at the television studios near the Ventura Freeway in Burbank.

At approximately 12:35 p.m., PDT, (19:35 UTC), the JetRanger was eastbound, about 1 mile southwest of Van Nuys Airport (VNY). Powers called Van Nuys Tower and requested to land there as the helicopter was low on fuel. The last transmission was: “TV Four just lost—”

Francis Gary Powers was a highly-experienced airplane pilot. At the time of the crash, Powers had 7,193 total flight hours, with 381 hours in the Bell 206. He had attended the Bell 206B Pilot Transition Training Course at the Bell Helicopter Training School, Fort Worth, Texas.

When TDiA attended the Bell Helicopter Training Academy in 1981, the crash of Power’s JetRanger was discussed by the school’s instructors in great detail, and described Mr. Powers’ last day from the moment he left home. The high-profile accident involving Bell’s leading civil product had been thoroughly investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and by Bell’s own experts. ¹

Powers, returning from covering the fire in Santa Barbara for Channel 4 News, flew past the Santa Barbara Municipal Airport (SBA), Oxnard Airport (OXR), and Camarillo Airport (CMA), all of which were almost directly along his course, and all of which could have provided fuel for the Bell 206.

Power's Bell 206B JetRanger was completely destroyed when it crashed August 1977. (CBS News/AP Photo/Nick Ut)
Power’s Bell 206B JetRanger, N4TV, was completely destroyed when it crashed 1 August 1977. (CBS News/AP Photo/Nick Ut)

Powers passed those airports, but just a few miles short of his destination, 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) to the southwest of Van Nuys Airport (VNY), the busiest general aviation airport in the United States, the helicopter’s turboshaft engine stopped because of fuel starvation. The JetRanger crashed in an open field. Both Powers and his cameraman, George Robert Spears, were killed.

Examination of news photographs of the wreck show that the JetRanger was completely destroyed on impact. It appears to have struck the ground in a nose-down attitude. Surprisingly, damage to the main rotor assembly is slight, with no twisting, tearing, or failure of the doublers at the blade root, as are commonly seen.

An engine failure over a large, level open space, should have resulted in no damage to the aircraft or injuries to its occupants. The autorotation characteristics of the Bell 206-series helicopters are excellent, among the best of any helicopter. The extent of the damage to the airframe, though, when compared to the relatively slight damage to the main rotor assembly, convinces TDiA that the helicopter was not in autorotation, but in free fall. The main rotor blades were not turning within the autorotation r.p.m. range of 355–440 r.p.m.

There are reports that Powers turned the helicopter away from a group of children playing in the open field, but this would not have been possible with the main rotor turning at the very low rotational speeds demonstrated by the lack of twist damage.

Recent satellite image of the open area where Power's JetRanger. crashed (Google)
Recent satellite image of the open area where Power’s JetRanger crashed: “. . . vacant field. . . 1000 feet North of Oxnard and 941 feet East of Shoshone – Tarzana. . . .” Van Nuys Airport (VNY) is about one mile to the north east. (Google)

This crash was caused by pilot error.

Abstract of NTSB Report LAX77FA060. (National Transportation Safety Board)
Abstract of NTSB Report LAX77FA060. (National Transportation Safety Board)
Francis Gary Powers at Milligan College, 1949.

Francis Gary Powers was born 17 August 1929 in Letcher County, Kentucky. He was the son of Oliver Windfield Powers, a mortarman in the coal industry, and Ida Melinda Ford Powers.

Powers attended Milligan College at Elizabethton, Tennessee, from 1947 to 1950. He studied biology. He was a member of the school’s pre-med club, and was junior class manager of the intramural council. He was also on the varsity track team.

Francis Gary Powers entered United States Air Force in 1950, trained as a pilot and was commissioned in 1952. He flew the Republic F-84G Thunderjet fighter bomber with the 468th Strategic Fighter Squadron, 506th Strategic Fighter Wing, at Turner Air Force Base, Albany, Georgia. He received special training in delivery of the Mark 7 tactical nuclear weapon at Kirkland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Republic F-84G Thunderjet fighter bombers of the 506th Strategic Fighter Wing, 1954. (U.S. Air Force)
Republic F-84G-25-RE Thunderjet fighter bombers of the 506th Strategic Fighter Wing, 1954. (U.S. Air Force)
Francis G. Powers, Civilian pilot of the U2 American jet plane shot down over Russia. The photo was taken some years ago when he was a U.S. Air Force pilot. Powers resigned his Air Force Reserve commission in 1956. The State Department admitted, May 7, 1956 that a high altitude U.S. jet plane made an intelligence flight over the Soviet Union, but said it was not authorized in Washington. (AP Photo)
1st Lieutenant F.G. Powers with a swept-wing Republic F-84F-50-RE Thunderstreak fighter bomber. (U.S. Air Force)

In 1956, 1st Lieutenant Powers was released from the U.S. Air Force to participate in the Central Intelligence Agency’s Project Aquatone. He was now a civilian government employee, although he was promised that he could return to the Air Force and that he would keep his seniority and would be promoted on schedule.

Francis Gary Powers gained world-wide notoriety when the Lockheed U-2A he was flying,  “Article 360,” (USAF serial number 56-6693) was shot down over Russia, 1 May 1960. Powers was captured and held prisoner at the notorious Lubyanka Prison where he underwent 62 days of interrogation at the hands of the Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti (the Committee for State Security, or simply, the KGB). Powers was placed on trial in Moscow and was convicted of espionage. He was sentenced to prison for ten years.

The trial of Francis Gary Powers, August 1960. Mr. Powers is standing in the prisoner's dock at the right side of the image. (Getty Images/Popperfoto)
The trial of Francis Gary Powers, August 1960. Mr. Powers is standing in the prisoner’s dock at the right side of the image. (Getty Images/Popperfoto)

After almost two years, he was exchanged for William August Fisher, (AKA Rudolf Ivanovich Abel, Vilyam Genrikhovich Fisher) a long-time Soviet intelligence officer that had been caught in the United States in 1957. [This story was recounted in the recent motion picture, “Bridge of Spies,” which starred Tom Hanks. The film received six Academy Award nominations in 2015.]

After his release from the Soviet Union, Powers was employed as a test pilot for Lockheed, 1962–1970. He then became an airborne traffic and news reporter for several Los Angeles-area radio and television broadcast stations.

CIA pilot Francis Gary Powers, in partial pressure suit, with a Lockheed U-2. Date and location unknown.
Lockheed pilot Francis Gary Powers, wearing a David Clark Co. MC-3 partial-pressure suit and International Latex Corporation MA-2 helmet, with a Lockheed U-2F high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, N800X, (Article 342, serial number 56-6675) at Burbank Airport, circa 1963–1966. (Lockheed Martin)

Gary Powers and his first wife, Barbara Gay Powers, divorced in 1963. He then married Claudia Edwards Downey at Fauquier, Virginia, 26 October 1963. This was also her second marriage. They would have a son, Francis Gary Powers II. (Mrs. Barbara Powers remarried in 1964.)

On 24 November 1986, the Distinguished Flying Cross was awarded posthumously to Powers “For Extraordinary Achievement While Participating in Aerial Flight 1 May 1960.” After reviewing his record at the request of his son, Francis Gary Powers, Jr., on 15 February 2000, the U.S. Air Force retroactively promoted him to the rank of Captain, effective 19 June 1957, and further credited his military service to include 14 May 1956–1 March 1963, the time he was with the CIA. The award of the Prisoner of War Medal was also authorized.

On June 15, 2012, General Norton Schwartz, Chief of Staff of the Air Force, awarded Captain Francis Gary Powers the Silver Star (posthumous).

news photographer
News photographer George R. Spears in the right rear seat of a Bell 206. (Associated Press via Newseum)

George Robert Spears was born at Chicago, Illinois, 17 July 1934, the fourth of five children of William E. and Nora Neelom Spears. He married Annette A. Montalbano in Chicago, 26 May 1956. They had three children and lived at Northridge, California. He had worked for KNBC since June 1976.

N4TV was built as a Bell Model 206A JetRanger, serial number 433, at Hurst, Texas, in 1969. It was first owned by the Los Angeles, California, independent television station KTLA (Channel 5), and registered N555TV. The helicopter was later upgraded to the Model 206B standard with the installation of a more powerful Allison 250-C20 engine. When purchased by KNBC, a National Broadcasting Company affiliate, 433 was reregistered N4TV.

The Bell Model 206B JetRanger is a 5-place, single-engine, light civil helicopter based on Bell Helicopter Company’s unsuccessful OH-4 entrant for the U.S. Army’s Light Observation Helicopter (LOH). It is flown by a single pilot in the right front seat. Dual flight controls can be installed for a second pilot. The helicopter is 39 feet, 8 inches (12.090 meters) long, with rotors turning. On standard skid landing gear, the overall height is 9 feet, 4 inches (2.845 meters). The main rotor has a diameter of 33 feet, 4 inches (10.262 meters) and turns counterclockwise (as seen from above) at 394 r.p.m. (100% NR). The empty weight is approximately 1,700 pounds (771 kilograms), depending on installed equipment, and its maximum gross weight is 3,200 pounds (1,451.5 kilograms).

The 206A was powered by an Allison 250-C18 turboshaft engine rated at 370 shaft horsepower at 6,016 r.p.m., and derated to 317 s.h.p., the transmission’s limit. The later 206B and 206B-2 had a 400 horsepower 250-C20 engine, and 206B-3s had 250-C20B, -C20J or -C20R engines installed, which produced 420 shaft horsepower. The helicopter’s transmission, however, is limited to 317 horsepower input.)

The JetRanger has a maximum speed of 150 miles per hour (241 kilometers per hour). Its best rate of climb is at 60 miles per hour (97 kilometers per hour) and best glide distance is at 80 miles per hour (129 kilometers per hour). The service ceiling is 13,500 feet (4,115 meters) and maximum range is 430 miles (692 kilometers).

Note: The Model 206A-1 was adopted by the U.S. Army as the OH-58A Kiowa. Though very similar in appearance to the Model 206A and 206B, the OH-58A differs significantly. Few of the parts are interchangeable between the types.

Three view drawing of the Bell Model 206A/B JetRanger with dimensions. (Bell Helicopter TEXTRON)
Three view drawing of the Bell Model 206A/B JetRanger with dimensions. (Bell Helicopter TEXTRON)

Between 1967 and 2010, Bell Helicopter built 4,491 JetRangers and 2,275 OH-58 Kiowas. Nealy 1,000 more were built under license by other manufacturers.

¹ TDiA requested the official NTSB accident investigation report nearly three years ago, and though the request received immediate acknowledgement, the report has not yet been provided.)

UPDATE: 2 years, 11 months and 23 days after TDiA’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, the government responded, saying that all accident records for 1977 were destroyed. They were only kept for seven years during that time.

© 2018, Bryan R. Swopes

Operation Hardtack Teak: 1 August 1958, 09:47:14.99 UTC

Aviation
Operation Hardtack–Teak, M8 Redstone Missile CC-50 (SH) at Johnston Island. Two of the four instrumentation pods are visible in the photograph. (Defense Nuclear Agency)

At 11:47:14.99 p.m., 31 July 1958, Hawaii Standard Time (09:47:14.99, 1 August 1958, UTC), a United States Army M8 Redstone Medium Range Ballistic Missile (MRBM), CC-50,¹ was launched from Johnston Island, approximately 715 nautical miles (822 miles/1,323 kilometers) southwest of Honolulu, Hawaii, in the North Pacific Ocean.

This was part of a series of nuclear weapons effects tests under Operation Hardtack. This individual test (“shot”) was designated Teak.

The Redstone carried a W-39 thermonuclear warhead. It also carried four detachable instrumentation pods, located between each of its fins. These pods were detached from the Redstone at various altitudes during the ascent.

Instrumentation pods attached to the Redstone missile for Operation Hardtack Teak. (United States Army)

At 11:50:5.597 p.m., 2 minutes, 50.607 seconds later, the warhead was detonated at a predetermined altitude of 76.311 kilometers (47.418 miles). The detonation had a yield of 3.8 megatons.

Hardtack–Teak, as seen from Hawaii.

Analysis of the test showed that the warhead detonated 11.192 kilometers (6.964 miles) north, and 800 meters (2,625 feet) east of the intended point in space, and about 50 meters (164 feet) lower than planned. This point was almost directly overhead Johnston Island, just 0.967 kilometers (0.601 miles) south of the launch pad.

M8 Redstone CC-51 (marked SH) was used for Hardtack–Orange. (U.S. Army)

At 11:27.34.498 p.m., Hawaiian Standard Time, 11 August 1958, a second M8 Redstone, CC-51 was launched from Johnston Island, also carrying a W39 warhead.

This warhead detonated at 11:30:8.607 p.m, 41.690 kilometers (25.905 miles) south of Johnston Island, at an altitude of 42.973 kilometers (26.702 miles). The detonation was 4.025 kilometers (2.501 miles) south and 50 meters (164 feet) west of the intended point in space, and 4.716 kilometers (2.930 miles) higher than planned.

The W39 was a two-stage, radiation-implosion thermonuclear warhead designed by the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. It was 104.5 inches (2.654 meters) long, 34.5 inches (0.876 meters) in diameter, and weighed 6,230 pounds (2,826 kilograms). Sixty warheads were produced, and were stockpiled from July 1958 until 1963.

The W39 was also carried in the weapon pod of the Convair B-58A Hustler Mach 2 strategic bomber. A gravity bomb variant, the Mark 39, was carried by the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress.

Cutaway illustration of an M8 Redstone Medium Range Ballistic Missile. (Heroic Relics)

The Redstone missile was designed by the United States Army Guided Missile Development Division. It was a liquid-fueled guided missile intended as a medium range nuclear-armed tactical missile for theater-wide support. Development began in May 1951. Initially, it was intended to carry a 1,500 pound (680 kilogram) payload 500 nautical miles (926 kilometers) with an accuracy of 500 feet (152 meters). The requirement changed to carry a much heavier warhead a shorter distance.

During its development, testing and deployment, the Redstone had several designations, which has lead to some confusion. The M8 Redstone, originally known as the XSSM-G-14, then XSSM-A-14 Major, and for a short time, Ursa, was later redesignated PGM-11.

The first XSSM-G-14, RS-01, was launched 20 August 1953, from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on the east coast of Florida. RS-01 suffered a control system malfunction, and 80 seconds into its flight, the engine failed. Ground control sent a cutoff command signal.

XSSM-G-14 Redstone RS-01, 20 August 1953, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. (United States Army)

Twenty-eighty preproduction missiles were built by the Redstone Arsenal at Huntsville, Alabama. Additional test missiles and all production Redstones were manufactured by the Chrysler Corporation Missile Division at the Naval Industrial Reserve Aircraft Plant in Warren, Michigan. Subcontractors included North American Aviation’s Rocketdyne Division, Reynolds Metals Company, and Ford Instrument Company.

The M8 Redstone Block I missile is 69 feet, 4 inches (21.133 meters) long, with a diameter of 5 feet, 10 inches (1.778 meters). It weighs 16,512 pounds (7,490 kilograms) empty, and 61,346 pounds (27,826 kilograms) at ignition. Fully fueled, the Redstone carries 25,090 pounds (11,381 kilograms) of liquid oxygen and 18,800 pounds (8,528 kilograms) of alcohol.

North American Aviation 75-110-A6 liquid fueled rocket engine. Rocketdyne became a division on NAA in 1955. (North American Aviation, Inc. Photographic Department)

Redstone CC-50 and CC-51 were powered by Rocketdyne 75-110-A6 engines. The A6 weighed 1,451 pounds (658 kilograms). This engine burned liquid oxygen and alcohol. It produced 98,138 pounds of thrust (414.299 kilonewtons) at Sea Level. Later production Redstones were powered by the A7 variant, which produced 78,000 pounds of thrust (346.961 kilonewtons) at Sea Level.

The Redstone missile was controlled by an inertial guidance system built by teh Ford Instrument Company.

During powered flight, the Redstone accelerated to a maximum of 4.6g. At engine cutoff, the Redstone had reached Mach 4.8. During atmospheric reentry, the missile experienced a maximum decleration of 7.7 g and maximum and speed of Mach 5.5. At impact, aerodynamic drag had slowed it to Mach 2.3. At a range of 175 nautical miles, the total time of flight was 6 minutes, 15.1 seconds.

M8 Redstone CC-1002, being prepared for launch by Battery A, 217th Field Artillery Missile Battalion, 40th Field Artillery Missile Group (Redstone), at Launch Complex 5, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, 16 May 1958. (NASA MSFC-5800669)

The first launch of an M8 Block I tactical missile, CC-1002, took place at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, 16 May 1958. The launch was carried out by Battery A, 217th Field Artillery Missile Battalion, 40th Field Artillery Missile Group (Redstone). Both the boost and flight phase were normal, and the missile impacted 578 meters (1,896 feet) of the designated point in the Atlantic Missile Range.

Battery A deployed to Europe in June 1958, joining Seventh Army as part of the NATO Shield Force. It was stationed at Des Gouttes Kaserne, Bad Kreuznach, Rhineland-Palatinate, Federal Republic of Germany. The unit consisted of 650 officers and enlisted men. When it arrived in Germany, the 40th FAMG had only one of its basic load of four Redstone missiles.

The Redstone missiles, by then designated PGM-11, were retired from service on 30 October 1964, to be replaced by the MGM-31A Pershing.

There were several variants of the Redstone. Eight modified, man-rated Redstones were produced for NASA’s Project Mercury. More than 800 changes were required, including lengthening the missile to increase fuel capacity for a longer burn time. Astronauts Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr., and Virgil Ivan Grissom were launched on suborbital flights in 1961. Six of these Redstone MLRBs were launched, and all were successful.

Mercury-Redstone 3 launches from LC-5, 09:34:13 EST, 5 May 1961. (NASA)

Another variant of the Redstone was the three-stage Jupiter-C. These missiles were 8 feet longer than the standard Redstone, and used two solid propellant upper stages.

The first Jupiter-C, RS-27, is prepared for launch, 20 September 1956. (U.S. Army)

A four-stage Juno I variant launched the United States’ first satellite, Explorer 1, 1 February 1958.

Explorer 1/Juno I launch, 10:48 p.m., EST, 31 January 1958, from Launch Complex 26A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. (NASA 209738)

¹ The letters “SX” are painted on Redstone CC-50

² The letters “SH” are painted on Redstone CC-51

© 2024, Bryan R. Swopes

1 August 1955

Aviation, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Right profile illustration of the first Lockheed U-2. Image courtesy of Tim Bradley Imaging, © 2015
Right profile illustration of the first Lockheed U-2, Article 341. Image courtesy of Tim Bradley Imaging, © 2015
Anthony W. “Tony” LeVier.

1 August 1955: Test pilot Anthony W. LeVier made the first flight flight of the Lockheed U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance airplane at Groom Lake, Nevada. LeVier was conducting taxi tests in preparation for the planned first flight a few days away, when at 70 knots the U-2 unexpectedly became airborne.

LeVier later said, “I had no intentions whatsoever of flying. I immediately started back toward the ground, but had difficutly determining my height because the lakebed had no markings to judge distance or height. I made contact with the ground in a left bank of approximately 10 degrees.”

On touching down on the dry lake, the U-2’s tires blew out and the brakes caught fire. A landing gear oleostrut was leaking. Damage was minor and the airplane was soon ready to fly. Tony LeVier was again in the cockpit for the first actual test flight on 4 August.

The Lockheed U-2A is a single-place, single-engine aircraft powered by a turbojet engine, intended for very high altitude photographic reconnaissance. Thirty U-2A aircraft were designed and built for the Central Intelligence Agency by Lockheed Aircraft Corporation’s secret “Skunk Works” under the supervision of Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson.

Lockheed U-2, “Article 341,” at Groom Lake, Nevada, 1955. (Lockheed Martin)

The company designation for the proposed aircraft was CL-282. Its fuselage was very similar to the XF-104 Starfighter and could be built using the same tooling. The reconnaissance airplane was produced under the code name Operation AQUATONE.

The U-2A was 46 feet, 6 inches (14.173 meters) long with a wingspan of 80 feet (24.384 meters). Its empty weight was 10,700 pounds (5,307 kilograms) and the gross weight was 16,000 pounds (7,257 kilograms). The engine was a Pratt and Whitney J57-P-37A which produced 10,200 pounds of thrust. This gave the U-2A a maximum speed of 528 miles per hour (850 kilometers per hour) and a ceiling of 85,000 feet (25,908 meters). It had a range of 2,200 miles (3,541 kilometers).

Because of the very high altitudes that the U-2 was flown, the pilot had to wear a David Clark Co. MC-3 partial-pressure suit with an International Latex Corporation MA-2 helmet and faceplate. The partial-pressure suit used a system of capstans and air bladders to apply pressure to the body as a substitute for a loss of atmospheric pressure. Each suit was custom-tailored for the individual pilot.

Robert Sieker
Robert Sieker

On 4 April 1957, Article 341 was flown by Lockheed test pilot Robert Sieker. At 72,000 feet (21,946 meters) the engine flamed out and the cockpit pressurization failed. Parts of the U-2 had been coated with a plastic material designed to absorb radar pulses to provide a “stealth” capability. However, this material acted as insulation, trapping heat from the engine inside the fuselage. This lead to a number of engine flameouts.

Sieker’s partial-pressure suit inflated, but the helmet’s faceplate did not properly seal. He lost conciousness and at 65,000 feet (19,812 meters) the U-2 stalled, then entered a flat spin. Sieker eventually regained consciousness at lower altitude and bailed out. He was struck by the airplane’s tail and was killed. The first U-2 crashed northwest of Pioche, Nevada, and caught fire. Robert Sieker’s body was found approximately 200 feet (61 meters) away.

Because of the slow rate of descent of the airplane while in a flat spin, the impact was not severe. Portions of Article 341 that were not damaged by fire were salvaged by Lockheed and used to produce another airframe.

The first Lockheed U-2A, Article 341. (Lockheed)
The first Lockheed U-2, “Article 341.” (Lockheed Martin)

© 2017, Bryan R. Swopes

Medal of Honor, Second Lieutenant Lloyd Herbert Hughes, United States Army Air Corps

Aviation, , , , , , , ,
Second Lieutenant Lloyd herber Hughes, United States Army Air Corps.
Second Lieutenant Lloyd Herbert Hughes, United States Army Air Corps.

Medal of Honor

Lloyd H. Hughes (Air Mission)

Rank and Organization: Second Lieutenant, U.S Army Air Corps, 564th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 389th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 9th Air Force.
Place and Date: Ploetsi Raid, Rumania, 1 Aug 1943.
Entered Service At: San Antonio, Tex.
Born: Alexandria, La.
G.O. Number 17, 26 February 1944.

Medal, Medal of Honor, United States Army, largeCitation: For conspicuous gallantry in action and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. On August 1943, 2d Lt. Hughes served in the capacity of pilot of a heavy bombardment aircraft participating in a long and hazardous minimum-altitude attack against the Axis oil refineries of Ploesti, Rumania, launched from the northern shores of Africa. Flying in the last formation to attack the target, he arrived in the target area after previous flights had thoroughly alerted the enemy defenses. Approaching the target through intense and accurate antiaircraft fire and dense balloon barrages at dangerously low altitude, his plane received several direct hits from both large and small caliber antiaircraft guns which seriously damaged his aircraft, causing sheets of escaping gasoline to stream from the bomb bay and from the left wing. This damage was inflicted at a time prior to reaching the target when 2d Lt. Hughes could have made a forced landing in any of the grain fields readily available at that time. The target area was blazing with burning oil tanks and damaged refinery installations from which flames leaped high above the bombing level of the formation. With full knowledge of the consequences of entering this blazing inferno when his airplane was profusely leaking gasoline in two separate locations, 2d Lt. Hughes, motivated only by his high conception of duty which called for the destruction of his assigned target at any cost, did not elect to make a forced landing or turn back from the attack. Instead, rather than jeopardize the formation and the success of the attack, he unhesitatingly entered the blazing area and dropped his bomb load with great precision. After successfully bombing the objective, his aircraft emerged from the conflagration with the left wing aflame. Only then did he attempt a forced landing, but because of the advanced stage of the fire enveloping his aircraft the plane crashed and was consumed. By 2d Lt. Hughes’ heroic decision to complete his mission regardless of the consequences in utter disregard of his own life, and by his gallant and valorous execution of this decision, he has rendered a service to our country in the defeat of our enemies which will everlastingly be outstanding in the annals of our Nation’s history.

Medal of Honor, Major John Louis Jerstad, United States Army Air Corps

Aviation, , , ,
Major John Louis Jerstad, United States Army Air Corps. (U.S. Air Force)
Major John Louis Jerstad, United States Army Air Corps.

Medal of Honor

John L.  Jerstad (Air Mission)

Rank and organization: Major, U.S. Army Air Corps, 9th Air Force.
Action: Ploesti Raid, Rumania, 1 August 1943.
Entered service at: Racine, Wis.
Born: 12 February 1918, Racine, Wis.
G.O. No: 72, 28 October 1943.

Medal, Medal of Honor, United States Army, largeCitation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty. On 1 August 1943, he served as pilot of the lead aircraft in his group in a daring low-level attack against enemy oil refineries and installations at Ploesti, Rumania. Although he had completed more than his share of missions and was no longer connected with this group, so high was his conception of duty that he volunteered to lead the formation in the correct belief that his participation would contribute materially to success in this attack. Maj. Jerstad led the formation into attack with full realization of the extreme hazards involved and despite withering fire from heavy and light antiaircraft guns. Three miles from the target his airplane was hit, badly damaged, and set on fire. Ignoring the fact that he was flying over a field suitable for a forced landing, he kept on the course. After the bombs of his aircraft were released on the target, the fire in his ship became so intense as to make further progress impossible and he crashed into the target area. By his voluntary acceptance of a mission he knew was extremely hazardous, and his assumption of an intrepid course of action at the risk of life over and above the call of duty, Maj. Jerstad set an example of heroism which will be an inspiration to the U.S. Armed Forces.