Daily Archives: September 16, 2024

16 September 2011

Aviation, , , , , , , , , ,
Unlimited Division racer The Galloping Ghost just before impact. The pilot is not visible in the cockpit. (AP photo/Grass Valley Union/Tim O’Brien via The Press Democrat)

16 September 2011: In the late afternoon, six highly-modified World War II-era fighters were competing in a preliminary heat for the Unlimited Division championship of the National Championship Air Races, being held at the Reno-Stead Airport (RST), about 12 miles (19 kilometers) northwest of the central business district of the city of Reno, Nevada. The field elevation is 5,050 feet above Sea Level (1,539 meters). The races were being flown over an 8.4-mile (13.5 kilometers) ovate course, marked by ten pylons. All turns were made to the left.

The competitors for Heat 2A were three North American Aviation P-51D Mustangs, a Goodyear F2G-1 Corsair, a Grumman F8F-2 Bearcat, and two Hawker Sea Furies.

The Galloping Ghost taking off at Reno-Stead Airport in 2010. (Shawna Malvini Redden, the bluest muse)

The Galloping Ghost, race number 177, was flown by its owner, James Kent Leeward. On lap number three, Leeward was 4.5 seconds behind the second-place P-51, Voodoo, and 8.8 seconds behind the heat leader, Strega, also a radically-modified Mustang. The airplane was at approximately 445 knots (512 miles per hour, or 824 kilometers per hour) as it rounded Pylon 8 in a steep left bank.

At 16:24:28.9 Pacific Daylight Time, The Galloping Ghost‘s angle of bank rapidly increased from 73° to 93° in just 0.83 seconds. (The NTSB referred to this as a “left-roll upset.”) (Wake vortices from the leading air racers may have been a factor in this left-roll upset. Investigators found that they could not exclude the possibility.) The air racer, corrected by its pilot’s aileron input, rolled back to the right, but then violently pitched up. The airplane essentially flew itself into an inside loop, then crashed into the ground directly in front of a seating area.

The left elevator trim tab falls away from The Galloping Ghost. (Julia Kirchenbauer, from NTSB Accident Brief AAB-12/01)
177 rolls inverted. The left elevator trim tab is missing. (AP photo/Grass Valley Union/Tim O’Brien via The Press Democrat)
The Galloping Ghost in its final dive. (Ward Howes/The Los Angeles Times)
Impact 1 (Ward Howes/The Los Angeles Times)

The Galloping Ghost was totally destroyed. Jimmy Leeward and 11 spectators were killed, with at at least 69 others injured.

The Galloping Ghost had been built in 1944 as a P-51D-15-NA Mustang, serial number 44-15651, by North American Aviation, Inc., at its Inglewood, California factory. Following World War II, the very low-time fighter was sold off as surplus equipment.

North American Aviation P-51D Mustang NX79111, “The Galloping Ghost,” circa 1947. (San Diego Air & Space Museum)

Registered NX79111 and carrying the race number 77, it was flown by Bruce Raymond in the 1946 Thompson Trophy Race, finishing in fourth place. In 1947, Steve Beville flew The Galloping Ghost in the Kendall Trophy Race, finishing in first place with an average speed  of 384.602 miles per hour (618.957 kilometers per hour). He then finished in fourth place in the Thompson race. For the 1948 National Air Races, Bruce Raymond was back in the cockpit of number 77. He finished in fourth place in the SOHIO Trophy Race, first in the Tinnerman Trophy Race, and second in the Thompson. In 1949, Beville again flew 77 in the SOHIO and Thompson Trophy Races, finishing fourth in both.

North American Aviation P-51D-15-NA Mustang NX79111, The Galloping Ghost, photographed in 1948. (Classic War Birds)

The airplane was later raced as Miss Candace and Jeannie.

On 18 September 1970, N79111 crash landed near the Reno-Stead Airport following an engine failure during a race. The P-51 was substantially damaged.

Jimmy Leeward purchased the fighter in July 1983. After racing it for years, the airplane was placed in storage. Then, beginning in 2007, the airplane underwent a series of radical modifications. Some of these were similar to those made to other Unlimited Division racing planes, however, there was no evidence of engineering before, or flight testing, following these mods.

The most obvious modifications were made to the profile of the P-51D’s fuselage. The standard windshield and bubble canopy were removed and replaced by a much smaller unit. This was smoothly faired into a raised dorsal “razorback” which carried aft from the cockpit to the vertical fin. The lower fuselage, with its Meredith Effect radiator scoop and cooling ducts, was completely removed and a new fuselage belly constructed.

The standard Mustang cooling system was replaced by a “boil off” system in the aft fuselage. Rather than radiators which remove heat from the engine coolant by the passage of air, heat exchangers were immersed in a solution of water and methanol. A 150 gallon supply was in a tank in the left wing.

The Mustang’s wings had been shortened from the standard span of 37 feet, 0 inches (11.278 meters) to 28 feet, 10 inches (8.788 meters). The ailerons were each shortened from about 7 feet (2.1 meters) to 3 feet (0.9 meters). The horizontal stabilizer span was shortened from 14 feet, 10-5/32 inches (4.525 meters) to 12 feet, 1 inch (3.683 meters), and its angle of incidence increased from +0.5° to +0.91°. The vertical fin was offset to the right of the airplane’s longitudinal axis, instead of to the left, as built by the factory. The ailerons were not properly adjusted, which required the pilot to use constant pressure to the right on the control stick to keep the wings level.

On the standard Mustang, both elevators are equipped with adjustable trim tabs on their trailing edges, which the pilot uses to adjust the flight controls’ neutral positions. On The Galloping Ghost, the right elevator trim tab had been deactivated, placing increased load on the left trim tab. The elevators and rudder used weighted counterbalances. These, too, had been modified. The total weight for both elevator counterweights had been raised to 53.5 pounds (24.3 kilograms), nearly four times the maximum allowable weight of 13.75 pounds (6.24 kilograms). Similarly, the rudder counterbalance weight was increased to 25 pounds (11.3 kilograms). The maximum allowable weight was 16.6 pounds (7.5 kilograms).

According to its maintenance records, at the time of the accident, N79111 had flown a total of 1,453.6 hours. Its Packard V-1650-9A Merlin V-12 engine had been overhauled to military specifications at 1,428.9 airframe hours. The four-bladed Hamilton Standard 24D50 propeller had just 24.7 hours since new. The modified airplane had an empty weight of 6,474 pounds (2,936.6 kilograms). Accident investigators estimated its weight at the time of the upset as 7,760 pounds (3,202.4 kilograms).

Wrinkles in fuselage of The Galloping Ghost during the first lap of Heat 2A, 16 September 2011. (Florian Schmehl, from NTSB Accident Brief AAB-12/01)

Photographs taken during the first lap showed significant diagonal wrinkles in the fuselage of The Galloping Ghost, just behind the right wing, which were not present before the race started. A photograph taken during the third lap showed similar wrinkles on the left side of the fuselage. It is apparent that the modifications to the Mustang’s fuselage had significantly weakened its structure.

The left and right elevator trim tabs are attached to their hinges by three screws, each. These are secured by locknuts. NTSB investigators found that two of these screws had broken due to overload during the flight. (One screw was found to have had a pre-existing fatigue fracture.) All of the screws were loose in their locknuts and could easily be turned by hand. All six locknuts were worn beyond limits and were incapable of maintaining torque.

The loose trim tab attachment allowed the trim tabs to flutter because of the aerodynamic loads of very high speed flight. This flutter produced loads beyond the strength of the trim system. These loads caused the linkage to the left tab to break. Without the linkage, flutter increased the movement of the tab beyond its limit and the hinge broke. The left tab moved beyond its normal limit, and caused the the linkage to bend and then fracture. With the left tab uncontrolled, the flutter was transmitted to the right elevator tab which had been fixed in place with a steel rod. The vibrations caused its fixed link assembly to fracture.

The loss of the downward force which the left trim tab applied to its elevator caused the elevator to move upward. This caused the airplane to violently pitch up. Investigators calculated that Leeward would have been subjected to an acceleration of 17.3 Gs, far beyond human tolerance. He was immediately incapacitated.

With its pilot unconscious and the airplane traveling at such high speed, it went completely out of control. It flew inverted into a “helical” pattern and then, with the Merlin engine still at wide-open throttle, crashed into the ground at a very steep angle.

The National Transportation Safety Board reported:

3. PROBABLE CAUSE

          The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the reduced stiffness of the elevator trim tab system that allowed aerodynamic flutter to occur at racing speeds. The reduced stiffness was a result of deteriorated locknut inserts that allowed the trim tab attachment screws to become loose and to initiate fatigue cracking in one screw sometime before the accident flight. Aerodynamic flutter of the trim tabs resulted in a failure of the left trim tab link assembly, elevator movement, high flight loads, and a loss of control. Contributing to the accident were the undocumented and untested major modifications to the airplane and the pilot’s operation of the airplane in the unique air racing environment without adequate flight testing.

—National Transportation Safety Board. 2012. Pilot/Race 177, The Galloping Ghost, North American P-51D, N79111, Reno, Nevada, September 16, 2011. NTSB/AAB-12-01. Washington, DC.

James Kent (“Jimmy”) Leeward with his Unlimited Division racer, The Galloping Ghost. (Marilyn Newton, The Reno-Gazette Journal)

James Kent Leeward was born at Brackenridge, Pennsylvania, 21 October 1936, He was the son of Albert James Leeward and Mary Virginia Leeward. He was educated at the Culver Military Academy, a college-preparatory boarding school at Culver, Indiana. He graduated in 1952.

In July 1959, Leeward married Miss Bette L. Hofacker in Dade County, Florida. They had four children.

At the time of his death, James Kent Leeward was 74 years old.

© 2018, Bryan R. Swopes

16 September 1999

Aviation, , , , , , , , , , ,
NASA 008, known as “Balls 8,” a modified Boeing RB-52B-10-BO Stratofortress, serial number 52-008, with NASA 824, a Lockheed TF-104G Starfighter, N824NA. The DAST 1 drone is under the bomber’s right wing. (NASA)

16 September 1999: 44 years, 3 months and 6 days after its very first flight, NASA’s airborne launch aircraft, or “mothership,” Balls 8, completed its 1,000th flight.

Balls 8, so-called because of the double zeros in it U.S. Air Force serial number, 52-008, is a Boeing NB-52, modified as a drop ship from its original configuration as an RB-52B-10-BO Stratofortress reconnaissance bomber assigned to the Strategic Air Command. It made its first flight 11 June 1955 and was reassigned from SAC to Edwards Air Force Base to support NASA flight testing operations, 8 June 1959. Balls 8 served NASA until 17 December 2004, when it was replaced by a newer NB-52H Stratofortress.

52-008 was altered at the North American Aviation facility at Air Force Plant 42, Palmdale, California. A pylon was mounted under the bomber’s right wing. A large notch was cut into the trailing edge of the inboard flap for the X-15’s vertical fin. A 1,500 gallon (5,678 liter) liquid oxygen tank was installed in the bomb bay. A station for a launch operator was installed on the upper deck of the B-52 at the former electronic countermeasures position. A series of control panels allowed the panel operator to monitor the X-15’s systems, provide electrical power, and to keep the rocketplane’s liquid oxygen tank full as the LOX boiled off during the climb to launch altitude. The operator could see the X-15 through a plexiglas dome, and there were two television monitors.

The NB-52B was used during the X-15 Program and carried the three hypersonic research aircraft aloft on 159 of their 199 flights. (NB-52A 52-003, The High and Mighty One, made the other 40 launches.) It has also been used to carry the X-24 and HiMat lifting body research aircraft and to launch Pegasus research rockets.

At the time of its retirement, Balls 8 was the oldest B-52 in service, and also the lowest time B-52. It is on display near the north gate at Edwards Air Force Base.

Balls 8, Boeing NB-52B Stratofortress 52-008, as seen from a KC-135A Stratotanker. (NASA)
Balls 8, NASA’s Boeing NB-52B Stratofortress 52-008 “mothership”, as seen from a KC-135A Stratotanker. (NASA)

Of the 744 B-52 Stratofortresses built by Boeing, 50 were B-52Bs and 27 of these were RB-52B reconnaissance bombers.

The airplane was 156 feet, 6.9 inches (47.724 meters) long with a wingspan of 185 feet, 0 inches (56.388 meters) and overall height of 48 feet, 3.6 inches (14.722 meters). The wings were mounted high on the fuselage (“shoulder-mounted”) to provide clearance for the engines which were suspended on pylons. The wings’ leading edges were swept 35°. The bomber’s empty weight was 164,081 pounds (74,226 kilograms), with a combat weight of 272,000 pounds (123,377 kilograms) and a maximum takeoff weight of 420,000 pounds (190,509 kilograms).

Early production B-52Bs were powered by eight Pratt & Whitney J57-P-1W turbojet engines, while later aircraft were equipped with J57-P-19W and J57-P-29W or WA turbojets. The engines were grouped in two-engine pods on four under-wing pylons. The J57 was a two-spool, axial-flow engine with a 16-stage compressor section (9 low- and 7-high-pressure stages) and a 3-stage turbine section (1 high- and 2 low-pressure stages). These engines were rated at 10,500 pounds of thrust (46.71 kilonewtons), each, or 12,100 pounds (53.82 kilonewtons) with water injection.

The B-52B/RB-52B had a cruise speed of 523 miles per hour (842 kilometers per hour). The maximum speed varied with altitude: 630 miles per hour (1,014 kilometers per hour) at 19,800 feet (6,035 meters), 598 miles per hour (962 kilometers per hour) at 35,000 feet (10,668 meters) and 571 miles per hour (919 kilometers per hour) at 45,750 feet (13,945 meters). The service ceiling at combat weight was 47,300 feet (14,417 meters).

Maximum ferry range was 7,343 miles (11,817 kilometers). With a 10,000 pound (4,536 kilogram) bomb load, the B-52B had a combat radius of 3,590 miles (5,778 kilometers). With inflight refueling, the range was essentially world-wide.

This "score board" painted on the side of Balls 8 shows many of the missions that it flew as a "mothership" for NASA. (NASA)
This “score board” painted on the side of Balls 8 shows many of the missions that it flew as a “mothership” for NASA. (NASA)

Defensive armament consisted of four Browning Aircraft Machine Guns, Caliber .50, AN-M3, mounted in a tail turret with 600 rounds of ammunition per gun. These guns had a combined rate of fire in excess of 4,000 rounds per minute. (Eighteen RB-52Bs were equipped with two M24A1 20 mm autocannon in the tail turret in place of the standard four .50-caliber machine guns.)

The B-52B’s maximum bomb load was 43,000 pounds (19,505 kilograms). It could carry a 15-megaton Mark 17 thermonuclear bomb, or two Mark 15s, each with a maximum yield of 3.8 megatons.

Balls 8 lands on a runway marked on Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards Air Force Base, California. The drogue parachute helps to slow the airplane. (NASA)
Balls 8 lands on a runway marked on Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards Air Force Base, California. The drogue parachute helps to slow the airplane. (NASA)

© 2017, Bryan R. Swopes

16 September 1989

Aviation, , , , , ,
Pilot John Washington with the Strojnik S-4, Laminar Magic. (John Washington Collection)

16 September 1989: Regular TDiA reader John Washington, then a 1st Lieutenant, United States Air Force, set a United States national record for speed over a 3 kilometer course while flying the Stojnik S-4, Laminar Magic (N85AS). Class C-1a/O

Washington’s average speed over the course was 126.72 miles per hour (203.94 kilometers per hour).

Laminar Magic was designed by Aleš Strojnik, a physics professor at Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona. Its basic structure was plywood, covered with molded fiberglass aerodynamic panels. It was a mid-wing monoplane consisting of a “pod” containing the cockpit, engine, and tandem landing gear, with an extended “boom” to which the vertical and horizontal stabilizers were attached. The engine was installed in a pusher configuration. The S-4 was 16.5 feet (5.03 meters) long, with a wingspan of 18 feet (5.49 meters). It weighed 498 pounds (225.9 kilograms) with the pilot and full fuel.

Three view illustration with dimensions

The S-4 was powered  by an normally-aspirated, air cooled, 436 cubic centimeter (26.6 cubic inches) Kawasaki Heavy Industries 440 inline two-cylinder, two-stroke, direct-drive engine made for snowmobiles. The engine was capable of producing 38 horsepower at 5,000 r.p.m., and weighed 49 pounds (22 kilograms). A two-bladed fixed-pitch propeller was designed by Bernie Warnke. As installed aboard the S-4, the engine produced an estimated 30 horsepower.

The Federal Aviation Administration registration was cancelled 29 December 1992. The reason given is “Destroyed.”

The Strojnik S-4, N85AS. Note the smaller outriggers, compared to the ones in the photograph above. (Aleš Strojnik)

© 2024, Bryan R. Swopes

16 September 1975

Aviation, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Mikoyan Design Bureau E155MP 83/1 (Mikoyan)
Mikoyan Design Bureau E-155MP 83/1 (OKB Mikoyan)
Alexander Vasilyevich Fedotov (1932–1982)
Alexander Vasilyevich Fedotov

16 September 1975: Alexander Vasilyevich Fedotov, Mikoyan Experimental Design Bureau’s chief test pilot, took the Product 83 prototype, E-155MP 83/1, for its first flight.

Project 83 was a two-seat, twin-engine, Mach 2.8+ interceptor, designed as a successor to the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG 25 “Foxbat” and would be designated the MiG 31. The Soviet Ministry of Defense assigned odd numbered designators to fighter-type aircraft, while NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, gave them identifying names beginning with the letter F. NATO calls the MiG 31 “Foxhound.”

The E-155MP is 22.69 meters (77 feet, 5 inches) long with a wingspan of 13.46 meters (44 feet, 2 inches) and overall height of 5.15 meters (16 feet, 11 inches). Its empty weight is 20,800 kilograms (45,856 pounds), normal takeoff weight 40,600 kilograms (89,508 pounds) and maximum takeoff weight of 46,000 kilograms (101,413 pounds).

Mikoyan Design Bureau Ye-155MP, 83/1, first prototype of the MiG-31 Fox Hound. (Mikoyan)
Mikoyan Design Bureau E-155MP, 83/1, first prototype of the MiG-31 Foxhound. (Mikoyan Experimental Design Bureau)

The aircraft is powered by two low-bypass-ratio Soloviev Design Bureau D-30 F6 turbofan engines, producing 91.00 kN (20,458 pounds of thrust), each, and 152.00 kN (34,171 pounds thrust), each, with afterburners.

The E-155MP had a maximum speed of Mach 2.82 (2,995 kilometers per hour/1,861 miles per hour) at 17,500 meters (57,415 feet) and 1500 (932 miles per hour) at low altitude. The prototype’s service ceiling was 20,000 meters (65,617 feet), and it had a range of 2,150 kilometers (1,336 miles).

The aircraft is unsuitable for air combat manuevering. The airframe is limited to a load factor of 5 Gs.

Mikoyan Design Bureau E155MP 83/1 (Mikoyan)
Mikoyan Design Bureau E155MP 83/1 (OKB Mikoyan)

The production MiG 31 is armed with one Gryazev-Shipunov GSh-6 23 23mm six-barrel rotary cannon with 260 rounds of ammunition. Four Vympel R-33 long-range air-to-air missiles are carried in fuselage recesses, and various combinations of short and medium range missiles can be carried on pylons under the wings.

The MiG 31 was in production from 1979 until 1994. Beginning in 2010, a modernization program to bring the up to the MiG 31BM configuration. It is believed that approximately 400 MiG 31 interceptors are in service.

A Russian Air Force MiG-31. (Dmitriy Pichugin)
A Russian Air Force MiG 31. (Dmitriy Pichugin via Wikipedia)

Alexander Vasilievich Fedotov born 23 June 1932 at Stalingrad, Russia (renamed Volgograd in 1961). He graduated from the Air Force Special School at Stalingrad,  and in 1950, entered the Soviet Army. Fedotov attended the Armavir Military Aviation School of Pilots at Amravir, Krasnodar Krai, Russia, graduating in 1952, and then became a flight instructor. In 1958 he attended the Ministry of Indutrial Aviation Test Pilot School at Zhukovsky. He was a test pilot for the Mikoyan Experimental Design Bureau from 1958 to 1984. In 1983, Alexander Fedotov was promoted to the rank of Major General in the Soviet Air Force.

On 22 July 1966, Fedotov was honored as a Hero of the Soviet Union. He was named an Honored Test Pilot of the Soviet Union, 21 February 1969. He was qualified as a Military Pilot 1st Class. Fedotov was twice awarded the Order of Lenin, and also held the Order of the Red Banner and the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.

During his career as a test pilot, Major General Fedotov had been forced to eject from an airplane three times. He had also set 15 Fédération Aéronautique Internationale world records for speed, altitude and time to altitude. One of these, FAI Record File Number 2825, in which he flew a Mikoyan E-266M to 37,650 meters (123,534 feet), 31 August 1977, remains the current record. The FAI has also honored him three times with The De la Vaulx Medal (1961, 1973 and 1977), and in 1976 awarded him the FAI’s Gold Air Medal.

Major General Alexander Vasilyevich Fedotov and his navigator, Valerie Sergeyvich Zaytevym, were killed when the second MiG 31 prototype, number 83/2, crashed during a test flight. Neither airman was able to eject.

Major General Alexander Vasilyevich Federov, Hero of the Soviet Union.
Major General Alexander Vasilyevich Federov, Hero of the Soviet Union

© 2017, Bryan R. Swopes

16 September 1958

Aviation, , , , , , , , , , ,
North American Aviation NA-246 Sabreliner prototype, N4060K, during its first flight, 16 September 1958. (North American Aviation, Inc.)

16 September 1958: At Palmdale, in the high desert of southern California, the prototype North American Aviation, Inc., Model NA-246 Sabreliner, N4060K, took off on its first flight. The test pilots were James O’Connor (“J.O.”) Roberts, Jr., and George Mace. Following the flight, Roberts said, “The airplane handled exceptionally well in every maneuver we tried.”

The Sabreliner had been designed and built at North American’s expense to meet the U.S. Air Force specification for the UTX, a twin-engine jet that would be primarily used as a trainer for Air Force pilots in non-flying assignments but who needed to remain proficient. It could also be used as a passenger and cargo transport.

The NA-246 was flown by two pilots and could carry up to four passengers in “club seating.”

In October 1958, the Air Force ordered the Model 265 Sabreliner into production, designated T-39A-1-NA (Serial numbers 59-2868 to -2871). This aircraft could carry up to 7 passengers. In 1962, a commercial variant of the T-39A, the Model 265 Sabreliner, was certified by the Federal Aviation Administration.

North American Aviation Model 256, N4060K, during its first flight, 16 September 1958. (North American Aviation, Inc.)

The T-39A was 44 feet (13.411 meters) long, with a wingspan of 44 feet, 6 inches (13.564 meters) and overall height of 16 feet (14.874 meters). The wings were swept at 28°. It had an empty weight of approximately 9,250 pounds (4,196 kilograms) and maximum takeoff weight of 17,760 pounds (8,056 kilograms).

The Model 246 prototype was powered by General Electric J85 turbojet engines which produced about 2,000 pounds of thrust (8.90 kilonewtons). The the production T-39A used Pratt & Whitney J60-P-3 engines, rated at 3,000 pounds (13.34 kilonewtons) for takeoff.

The T-39A had a maximum allowable airspeed (VMO) of 350 knots, indicated (KIAS) (403 miles per hour/648 kilometers per hour) from Sea Level to 21,100 feet (6,431 meters). Above that altitude, speed was restricted to 0.77 Mach.

North American Aviation T-39A-1-NA, 62-4478, at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.. (U.S. Air Force)

The prototype was issued an Airworthiness Certificate by the Federal Aviation Administration 25 April 1958. The registration was cancelled 30 June 1970.

James O’Connor Roberts, Jr. (Test & Research Pilots, Flight Test Engineers)

James O’Connor Roberts, Jr., was born 17 April 1924 at Washington, D.C. He was the second son of James O’Connor Roberts, an attorney employed by the United States government, and Leah Irene Harris Roberts. He attended the Peddie School in Highstown, New Jersey, and Yale University, where he was a member of the Kappa Phi Sigma (ΚΦΣ) and Chi Psi (ΧΨ) fraternities.

Roberts enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces as an aviation cadet in February 1943.¹ He had blond hair and blue eyes, was 5 feet, 10½ inches (1.79 meters) tall and weighed 145 pounds (65.8 kilograms). He graduated from pilot training 7 January 1944 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant.

Second Lieutenant James O. Roberts, Jr., married Miss Evelyn Meryle Foss Johnson 19 January 1944 at the Walter Reed Memorial Chapel in Washington, D.C. The ceremony was officiated by Chaplain George F. Cotton. They would have four sons. (Mrs. Roberts later died and he remarried.)

Lieutenant Roberts was assigned to the Aleutian Islands where he flew the Curtiss-Wright P-40 Warhawk.

Following World War II, Lieutenant Roberts returned to Yale to complete his studies, graduating in 1946. He majored in Sociology.

North American Aviation F-86A-5-NA Sabre 48-273, 335th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 4th Fighter-Interceptor Group, in the markings of the Silver Sabres Aerobatic Team, at Langley Air Force Base, circa 1950. (U.S. Air Force)

Remaining in the Air Force after the war, he transitioned to the North American P-51 Mustang and the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star. Assigned to the 4th Fighter Group at Andrews Air Force Base, he was a member of the USAF Champion Gunnery Team and the Silver Sabres Aerobatic Team, flying “slot” and solo. The team flew the North American Aviation F-86A Sabre.

4th Fighter-Interceptor Group North American Aviation F-86A Sabres at Suwon, Korea, June 1951. (U.S. Department of Defense VIRIN: HD-SN-99-03072)

The 4th Fighter-Interceptor Group deployed to Korea in 1950. On 22 December 1950, Captain Roberts was flying one of eight F-86As in an air battle against fifteen Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 fighters. Roberts shot down one of the six MiGs destroyed in the battle. No Sabres were lost. He later shot down a second MiG-15.

Major Roberts resigned from the Air Force in March 1952 and joined North American Aviation as an engineering test pilot. He was involved in testing the F-86H fighter bomber variant of the Sabre, the F-100A Super Sabre, and the F-107A. Roberts was a founding member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots.

Roberts retired from North American after thirty years.

James O’Connor Roberts, Jr., died at Salinas, California, 6 September 2008, at the age of 84 years.

¹ The Department of Veterans Affairs gives an enlistment date of 17 April 1937.

© 2024, Bryan R. Swopes