Monthly Archives: September 2024

11 September 1920

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Edison E. (“Monte”) Mouton (left) and fellow Air Mail pilot Rexford Levisee, with DH-4 at Reno, Nevada, ca. 1921. (Schoettner Foto., Reno, Nev./National Postal Museum, Curatorial Photo Collection)

11 September 1920: At 2:33 p.m., Edison E. (“Monte”) Mouton landed at Marina Field near The Presidio of San Francisco, completing the final leg of the first transcontinental air mail flight by the U.S. Postal Service. Airplane No. 151 carried 6 sacks of First Class mail from Mineola, New York.

Mouton, a pilot assigned to Salt Lake City, taking over the flight for another pilot, flew No. 151 from Reno, Nevada, to San Francisco, California, a distance of 250 miles (402 kilometers), in 1 hour, 58 minutes.

The mail sacks were immediately taken from the airplane to the central post office, where they were distributed. Two of the mail sacks were sent to Washington State and one sack to Oregon on the 4 o’clock train.

The entire cross-country flight had taken 75 hours.

Edison Esadore Mouton was born in California, 10 December 1894, the first of three children of Edward E. Mouton, a farmer, and Gertrude F. Winters Mouton.

Monte Mouton, then living in Carson City, Nevada, enlisted in the U.S. Army when the United States entered World War I. He served as a pilot with the Lafayette Escadrille in France during World War I, and was commissioned a second lieutenant, Air Service, American Expeditionary Forces. He rose to the temporary rank of colonel. Lieutenant Mouton was honorably discharged 14 May 1919. He was later an officer in the Air Corps Reserve, holding the rank of major.

Mouton was employed by the United States Aerial Mail Service from 8 September 1920 to 22 May 1927. During that time, Edison flew 3,804.54 hours and covered 369,730 miles (595,023 kilometers), flying the mail. He then became a supervising inspector for the Department of Commerce, serving for six years before resigning to enter private industry. Mouton was vice president and general manager of Nevada Air Transport, Inc., a regional airline serving the state of Nevada.

Edison E. Mouton married Miss Claire Yerington, 27 April 1921, at Reno, Nevada. (“Yerington,” as in, Yerington, Nevada. Miss Yerington’s grandfather was the superintendent of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad, which serviced the “Comstock Lode” silver mines.) Miss Yerington was described as “a strikingly beautiful blonde,” and “an intrepid devotee of the air and knows the intricacies of an automobile as well as any mechanician.” They divorced in November 1928 but were remarried 20 March 1929. They had two children.

Edison Esadore Mouton died at San Francisco Airport, San Francisco, California, 5 July 1940, an apparent suicide. He is buried at the San Francisco National Cemetery, San Francisco, California.

© 2017, Bryan R. Swopes

10 September 1993

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The 1,000th Boeing 747-400 is rolled out. (Wikipedia)
The 1,000th Boeing 747 is rolled out. (Wikipedia)

10 September 1993: Boeing completed production of the 1,000th 747 commercial transport, a 747-412, c/n 27068, delivered to Singapore Airlines and assigned civil registration 9V-SMU.

The 747-400 was a major development of the 747 series. It had many structural and electronics improvements over the earlier models, which had debuted 18 years earlier. New systems, such as a “glass cockpit,” flight management computers, and new engines allowed it to be flown with a crew of just two pilots, and the position of Flight Engineer became unnecessary. The most visible features of the –400 are its longer upper deck and the six-foot tall “winglets” at the end of each wing, which improve aerodynamic efficiency be limiting the formation of wing-tip vortices.

At the time of its first flight, Boeing had already received orders for 100 747-400s. It would become the most popular version, with 694 aircraft built by the time production came to an end 15 March 2007.

The 1,000th Boeing 747, Singapore Airline's 747-412 9V-SMU, 20 November 2011. (Wikipedia)
The 1,000th Boeing 747, Singapore Airline’s 747-412 9V-SMU, 20 November 2011. (Wikipedia)

The Boeing 747-400 airliner can carry between 416 and 524 passengers, depending on configuration. It is 231 feet, 10 inches (70.663 meters) long with a wingspan of 211 feet, 5 inches (64.440 meters) and overall height of 63 feet, 8 inches (19.406 meters). Empty weight is 394,100 pounds (178,760.8 kilograms). Maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) is 875,000 pounds (396,893.3 kilograms). While the prototype was powered by four Pratt & Whitney PW4056 turbofan engines, production airplanes could be ordered with PW4062, General Electric CF6 or Rolls-Royce RB211 engines, providing thrust ranging from 59,500 to 63,300 pounds. The –400 has a cruise speed of 0.85 Mach (567 miles per hour, 912 kilometers per hour) and maximum speed of 0.92 Mach (614 miles per hour, 988 kilometers hour). Maximum range at maximum payload weight is 8,355 miles (13,446 kilometers).

Singapore Airlines retired 9V-SMU in December 2010. It was acquired by Aircastle Limited in 2011, converted to a freighter for Aircastle Limited and re-registered as N417AC. It was next leased to Southern Air Inc., 20 January 2012, with a new N-number, N400SA. On 30 December 2014, c/n 27068 was withdrawn from service and placed in storage at MoD St. Athan Airport, Wales. It is reported to have been broken up in December 2015.

Southern Air N400SA
Southern Air Boeing 747-400 N400SA at Flughafen Leipzig/Halle, 10 April 2014. (Ad Meskens via Wikipedia)

© 2021, Bryan R. Swopes

10 September 1956

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North American Aviation North American Aviation F-107A S/N 55-5118 rolling out at Edwards Air Force base. (U.S. Air Force)
North American Aviation F-107A S/N 55-5118 rolling out at Edwards Air Force Base. (U.S. Air Force)
Joel Robert Baker (1920–2011). (Photograph courtesy of Neil Corbett)
Joel Robert Baker (1920–2011). (Photograph courtesy of Neil Corbett)

10 September 1956: North American Aviation test pilot Joel Robert (“Bob”) Baker made the first flight of the F-107A-NA 55-5118, a pre-production tactical fighter bomber, reaching a speed of Mach 1.03. On landing the drogue parachute did not deploy and due to the high speed on rollout, the nose gear strut collapsed, causing minor damage to the new aircraft.

The F-107A was designed as a Mach 2+ fighter bomber capable of carrying nuclear weapons. The plan to carry a Mark 7 bomb in a centerline recess in the aircraft’s belly resulted in the radical appearance of the airplane, with the engine intake mounted above and behind the cockpit.

Based on the F-100 Super Sabre, it was originally designated F-100B, but this was changed to F-107A prior to the first flight.

The North American Aviation F-107A was a single-seat, single-engine supersonic fighter bomber. It was equipped with a very sophisticated stability augmentation system. The F-107A was 61 feet, 10 inches  (18.847 meters) long with a wingspan of 36 feet, 7 inches (11.151 meters) and height of 19 feet, 8 inches (5.994 meters). Its empty weight was 22,696 pounds (10.295 kilograms) and had a maximum takeoff weight of 41,537 pounds (18,841 kilograms).

The airplane was powered by a Pratt & Whitney YJ75-P-11 afterburning turbojet which produced a maximum 24,500 pounds of thrust (108.98 kilonewtons).

This gave the F-107A a maximum speed of 890 miles per hour (1,432 kilometers per hour) at Sea Level, and 1,295 miles per hour (2,084 kilometers per hour) at 36,000 feet (10,973 meters). It could climb at an initial rate of 39,900 feet per minute (202.7 meters per second) and had a service ceiling of 53,200 feet (16,215 meters).

North American Aviation F-107A 55-5118 in flight. (U.S. Air Force)
North American Aviation F-107A 55-5118 in flight. (U.S. Air Force)

The Mark 7 was a variable-yield fission bomb that could be pre-set to detonate with ranges between 8 and 61 kilotons. It weighed approximately 1,700 pounds (771 kilograms).

The second F-107A, 55-5119, was the weapons test aircraft and was armed with four 20mm M39 cannon with 200 rounds per gun.

The F-107A was in competition with Republic’s F-105 Thunderchief, which was selected by the Air Force for production. Only three F-107A test aircraft were built.

After Air Force testing, two F-107s, 55-5118 and 55-5120, were turned over to the NACA High-Speed Flight Station for use as research aircraft. John Barron (“Jack”) McKay was assigned as the project pilot. 55-5118 made only 4 flights for NACA before being grounded. 55-5120 made 42 flights.

Today, 55-5118 is at the Pima Air and Space Museum, Tucson, Arizona. Its sister ship, 55-5119, is at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. The third airplane, 55-5120, was damaged on takeoff with test pilot Scott Crossfield in the cockpit, 1 September 1959. It was not repaired.

The second F-107A, 55-5119, turns from downwind to base leg for landing on Runway 4, Edwards Air Force Base. This was the only one of the three prototypes to be equipped with 20 mm M39 cannon.(U.S. Air Force)
The first XF-107, 118 arrives at HSFS, 6 November 1957. (NASA E-57-3192)

© 2015, Bryan R. Swopes

10 September 1952

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An XF-99 BOMARC surface-to-air missile for booster research. Note that there are no wing-mounted ramjet engines on this prototype, photographed 1 September 1952. (U.S. Air Force)
Boeing XF-99 Bomarc launch. (U.S. Air Force)

10 September 1952: The Boeing Michigan Aeronautical Research Center (BOMARC) XF-99 surface-to-air antiaircraft guided missile made its first flight when launched from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on the east coast of Florida. This flight  was a test of the missile’s liquid-fueled Aerojet General booster engine.

The surface-to-air missile was developed as a defense against Soviet intercontinental nuclear-armed bombers, such as the Tupolev Tu-4 and Tu-16. At the time, the missile was considered to be an unmanned aircraft and was given a fighter designation, F-99, later redesignated IM-99, then CIM-10.

Tupolev Tu-16 long range strategic bomber.

After launch, the Bomarc would be guided toward its target by the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) system. Once with 10 miles (16 kilometers) of the target, the missile would home in using its own radar. The warhead would be detonated by a proximity fuse.

The operational Bomarc missile was armed with a W-40 nuclear warhead. The W-40 was a boosted fission implosion device which had been developed as the primary for the Mk-28 thermonuclear bomb. It was 1 foot, 5.9 inches (0.455 meters) in diameter, 2 feet, 7.64 inches (0.804 meters) long, and weighed 385 pounds (175 kilograms). The warhead had a yield of 10 kilotons. Its effective radius was approximately 0.6 mile (1 kilometer).

The Bomarc A was 46 feet, 10 inches (14.2748 meters) long, with a diameter of 2 feet, 11, inches 9 meters). It had a wingspan of 18 feet, 2 inches (5.5372 meters), and height of 10 feet, 4 inches (3.1496 meters), It weighed 15,619 pounds (7,085 kilograms).

The Bomarc A first stage was powered by a liquid-fueled Aerojet General LR59-AG-13 engine, producing 35,875 pounds of thrust (159.6 kilonewtons). The second stage was driven by two Marquardt RJ43-MA-7 ramjet engines, of 11,500 pounds of thrust, each (51.15 kilonewtons).

Launch of a Bomarc surface-to-air missile. (U.S. Air Force)

Because the hypergolic liquid fuel of the Bomarc A was highly corrosive and dangerous to handle, the missile could not be fueled until just before launch, which required approximately two minutes. This significantly reduced the time available to intercept enemy bombers. To eliminate the delay, the Bomarc B used a Thiokol XM-51 solid fuel rocket engine, which increased the first stage thrust to 50,000 pounds (222.4 kilonewtons).

While the Bomarc A used vacuum tubes in its electronic circuitry, the Bomarc B was solid state. Its intercept pulse doppler radar was produced by Westinghouse.

Original variants of the Bomarc could reach a speed of 1,975 miles per hour (3,658 kilometers per hour), had a range of 260 statute miles (418 kilometers), and could reach an altitude of 65,000 feet (19,812 meters). The Bomarc B had a range of 440 miles (708 kilometers) and could reach 100,000 feet (30,480 meters). Slightly heavier, it weighed 16,032 pounds (7,272 kilograms. During testing, the missile could reach Mach 4.

The Bomarc was in operational service from 1959 until 1970. As originally planned, the Bomarc would be based at 52 sites within the United States and Canada, with 120 missiles each, but in actuality, there were only eight sites in the U.S. and two in Canada. Boeing produce 260 Bomarc As, and 570 Bomarc Bs.

Bomarc surface-to-air missiles at Maguire Air Force Base, southeast of Trenton, New Jersey. (U.S. Air Force 090603-F-1234P-002)
Bomarc surface-to-air missiles at Maguire Air Force Base, southeast of Trenton, New Jersey. (U.S. Air Force 090603-F-1234P-002)

© 2023, Bryan R. Swopes

9 September 1972

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Captain Charles Barbin DeBellevue, U.S. Air Force, with his F-4D Phantom II at Udorn RTAFB, 1972. (U.S. Air Force)

9 September 1972: Captain Charles Barbin DeBellevue, United States Air Force, a Weapons System Officer flying on F-4D and F-4E Phantom II fighters, became the high-scoring American Ace of the Vietnam War when he and his pilot, Captain John A. Madden, Jr., shot down two Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG 19¹ fighters of the Không Quân Nhân Dân Việt Nam (Vietnam People’s Air Force), west of Hanoi.

Captain DeBellevue was assigned to the 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 432nd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, at Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base. With Captain Richard S. Ritchie, he had previously shot down four MiG 21 fighters using AIM-7 Sparrow radar-guided missiles. Then while flying a combat air patrol in support of Operation Linebacker, he and Captain Madden, aboard F-4D-29-MC Phantom II 66-0267, call sign OLDS 01, used two AIM-9 Sidewinder heat-seeking missiles to destroy the MiG 19s. These were Madden’s first two aerial victories, but for DeBellevue, they were number 5 and 6.

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG 19

Madden and DeBellevue had fired two AIM-7 Sparrow radar-guided missiles at a MiG-21 which was on approach to land at the Phúc Yên Yen air base northwest of Hanoi, but both missiles missed. The MiG was then shot down by gunfire from an F-4E flown by Captain Calvin B. Tibbett and 1st Lieutenant William S. Hargrove (after two of their missiles also missed). The flight of Phantoms was then attacked by MiG 19s. DeBellevue reported:

We acquired the MiGs on radar and positioned as we picked them up visually. We used a slicing low-speed yo-yo to position behind the MiG-19s and started turning hard with them. We fired one AIM-9 missile, which detonated 25 feet from one of the MiG-19s. We then switched the attack to the other MiG-19 and one turn later we fired an AIM-9 at him.

I observed the missile impact the tail of the MiG. The MiG continued normally for the next few seconds, then began a slow roll and spiraled downward, impacting the ground with a large fireball. Our altitude was approximately 1,500 feet at the moment of the MiG’s impact.

— Aces and Aerial Victories: The United States Air Force in Southeast Asia 1965–1973, by R. Frank Futrell, William H. Greenhalgh, Carl Grubb, Gerard E. Hasselwander, Robert F. Jakob and Charles A. Ravenstein, Office of Air Force History, Headquarters USAF, 1976, Chapter III  at Pages 104–105.

Screen Shot 2014-09-13 at 17.44.20 The first MiG-19, damaged by the Sidewinder’s close detonation, crashed on the runway at Phuc Yen.

After becoming the war’s highest-scoring American ace, Chuck DeBellevue was sent to Williams Air Force Base, Arizona, for pilot training. He became an aircraft commander of F-4E Phantom IIs. He retired from the Air Force as a colonel in 1998, after 30 years of service.

DeBellevue’s F-4D, 66-0267, was destroyed by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. It was reassembled with parts from other damaged Phantoms and is on display as a “gate guard” at Homestead Air Force Base, Florida.

F-4D-29-MC 66-7463, in which he scored his first and fourth kills with Steve Ritchie, is on display at the United States Air Force Academy. Like DeBellevue, this airplane is also credited with 6 victories. DeBellevue’s F-4E-36-MC, 67-0362, in which he and Ritchie shot down their second and third MiG 21s, was sold to Israel in 1973.

McDonnell F-4D-29-MC Phantom II 66-0267, flown by Madden and DeBellevue, 9 September 1972, on display at the main gate, Homestead AFB, Florida. (© Europix)

¹ Many VPAF MiG 19s were the Chinese-built Shenyang J-6 variant.

© 2017, Bryan R. Swopes