An LGM-118 Peacekeeper intercontinental ballistic missile begins to emerge from an underground silo at Vandenberg Air Force Base on the central coast of California. (U.S. Air Force)LGM-118 Peacekeeper launch. (U.S. Air Force)A LGM-118 Peacekeeper intercontinental ballistic missile leaving an underground silo at Vandenberg Air Force Base on the coast of California. (U.S. Air Force 021126-O-9999G-011)The cold launch system ejects Peacekeeper from its canister with high-pressure steam. (U.S. Air Force photo)Shock-absorbing tiles, which help the missile exit its canister, fall away as Peacekeeper is launched. (U.S. Air Force photo)LGM-118 first stage solid-fuel rocket engine firing as shock absorbing tiles continue to fall away. (U.S. Air Force)
7 March 1986: An LGM-118 Peacekeeper intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, with eight unarmed Mark 21 multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles (MIRVs).
U.S. Air Force maintenance crews use a overhead crane and hoist to remove and install W87-0 warhead/Mk-21 Reentry Vehicles from the nose section of an LGM-118 Peacekeeper missile during training at Vandenberg AFB, California. (U.S. Air Force 000701-F-2828D-003)LANDSAT 7 image of Kwajelein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, 12:29:01 UTC, 7 July 2014. (NASA)Mark 21 MIRV warheads arrive at Kwajelein Atoll, 7 March 1986. (Department of Defense)
This photograph shows what it looked like on the receiving end at Kwajelein Atoll, 4,100 miles (6,598 kilometers) away.
Under START II, multiple warhead missiles were deactivated. The last of the LGM-118 Peacekeepers was removed from service by 2005. Some of the boosters have been used for satellite launch vehicles.
Major Robert M. White, U.S. Air Force, climbs out of the cockpit of an X-15 after landing on Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards Air Force Base. (U.S. Air Force)
7 March 1961: Launched over Silver Lake, a dry lake bed near the California/Nevada border, at 10:28:33.0 a.m., Pacific Standard Time, test pilot Major Robert M. White, U.S. Air Force, flew the number two North American Aviation X-15 hypersonic research rocketplane, 56-6671, to Mach 4.43 (2,905 miles per hour/4,675 kilometers per hour) and 77,450 feet (23,607 meters), becoming the first pilot to exceed Mach 4.
This was the first flight for the number two X-15 with the Reaction Motors XLR99-RM-1 engine, which was rated at 57,000 pounds of thrust (253.55 kilonewtons).
The flight plan called for a burn time of 116 seconds, an altitude of 84,000 feet (25,603 meters) and a predicted maximum speed of Mach 4.00. The actual duration of the engine burn was 127.0 seconds. Peak altitude was lower than planned, at 77,450 feet (23,607 meters). The longer burn and lower altitude translated into the higher speed.
The total duration of the flight, from the air drop from the Boeing NB-52B Stratofortress carrier, 52-008, to touchdown at Edwards Air Force Base, was 8 minutes, 34.1 seconds.
Major Robert M. White, U.S. Air Force, with a North American Aviation, Inc., X-15 rocketplane on Rogers Dry Lake, 1961. White is wearing a David Clark Co. MC-2 full-pressure suit with an MA-3 helmet. (NASA)
The first production North American Aviation F-100F-1-NA Super Sabre, 56-3725, taking off at Los Angeles International Airport. (North American Aviation, Inc.)
7 March 1957: North American Aviation test pilot George Mace took off from Los Angeles International Airport in the first production F-100F-1-NA Super Sabre two-place trainer, 56-3725 (NAA serial number 243-1).
The F-100 series fighters had a very high accident rate. It was thought that the problem was a lack of pilot experience, so the U.S. Air Force requested that North American Aviation produce a two-seat trainer variant. A production F-100C-20-NA, 54-1966 (NAA serial number 217-151) was modified to the prototype tandem cockpit TF-100C. With test pilot Alvin Swauger White in the cockpit, the TF-100C made its first flight on 3 August 1956.¹
The prototype North American Aviation TF-100C 54-1966 retracting its landing gear on takeoff. (U.S. Air Force 060905-F-1234S-070)Joel Robert Baker (1920–2011). (Photograph courtesy of Neil Corbett)
NAA test pilot Joel Robert (“Bob”) Baker was performing spin tests of the TF-100C north of Kramer Junction, northeast of Edwards Air Force Base in the high desert of southern California, 9 April 1957. The prototype went into an unrecoverable spin, losing parts of its tail surfaces. After the twelfth spin, Baker ejected, suffering minor injuries. 54-1966 crashed north of Edwards and was totally destroyed.
With the F-100D Super Sabre coming into operation, the Air Force ordered a training variant based on that configuration, designated F-100F. Unlike the TF-100C, the F-100F retained full combat capability. Between January 1958 and October 1959, 339 F-100Fs were manufactured at North American Aviation’s Los Angeles plant.
North American Aviation test pilot Alvin Swauger (“Al”) White, with F-100A-5-NA Super Sabre 52-5767, circa 1954. (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)
The two-place tandem cockpit required lengthening the fuselage of the F-100D. The F-100F is 52 feet, 6 inches (16.002 meters) long with the pitot boom folded, and 57 feet, 2 inches (17.424 meters) long with the pitot boom extended. (The F-100F is 3 feet, 2 inches (0.965 meters) longer than the F-100D with the boom folded, and 2 feet, 11 inches (0.889 meters), with the boom extended.) The wingspan and height remain the same, at 38 feet, 9 inches (11.811 meters) and 16 feet, 3 inches (4.953 meters). The gross weight of the F-100F increased 325 pounds (147 kilograms) over the F-100D to to 30,750 pounds (13,948 kilograms).
Cutaway illustration of the J57 afterburning turbojet engine. (U.S. Air Force)
Both the single-place F-100D and tandem seat F-100F were powered by either the Pratt & Whitney Turbo Wasp J57-P-21A or the Ford-built J57-F-21A. The J57 was a two-spool axial flow turbojet which had a 16-stage compressor (9 low pressure and 7 high pressure stages, an eight-unit combustion chamber, a 3-stage turbine (1 high- and 2 low-pressure stages), and an afterburner. The engine had a static rating of 10,200 pounds of thrust (45.372 kilonewtons) at Sea Level, or 16,000 pounds of thrust (71.172 kilonewtons) with afterburner.
Two of the four 20 mm M39 single-barrel revolver cannons were deleted from the F-100F, but it retained the six hard points for underwing stores. The airplane could carry bombs, rockets or guided missiles, such as the AIM-9B Sidewinder or AGM-12B Bullpup. A “Special Store” (a Mark 7, Mark 28, Mark 43, or Mark 57 nuclear bomb) could be carried on the center hardpoint of the left wing. External fuel tanks with capacities ranging from 275 to 450 gallons (1,041–1,703 liters) could also be carried on the inner four hardpoints.
During the Vietnam War, six F-100F Super Sabers were modified as “Wild Weasels” to attack enemy surface-to-air missile sites, using both unguided rockets and the AGM-12B Bullpup guided missile. Several more F-100Fs, in the Wild Weasel I configuration, used radar-homing AGM-45 Shrike anti-radiation missiles to attack the missile sites.
F-100Fs were also used in Operation COMMANDO SABER as high speed forward air controllers to guide air attacks against the Hồ Chí Minh Trail. These operated under the call sign “Misty,” and are known as the Misty FACs.
With the approach on the North American Aviation X-15 hypersonic reearch rocketplane and Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar projects, an aircraft was needed to test the very steep approaches planned for these aerospacecraft. F-100F 56-3725 was modified to increase aerodynamic drag. The drag chute and afterburner were removed and a thrust reverser installed. The standard belly speed brake was replaced by a perforated one with approximately 3 times the area. With these modifications, the modified NF-100F could make its final approach at 230 miles per hour (370 kilometers per hour) instead of the normal 155 miles per hour (249 kilometers per hour).
North American Aviation NF-100F 56-3725, with thrust reverser and enlarged and perforated belly speed brake, being tested in NASA Ames Full Scale Wind Tunnel, 12 February 1959 (National Aeronautics and Space Administration NACA A-24788)
NF-100F 56-3725 was later reconfigured to a DF-100F drone director.
North American Aviation NF-100F 56-3725 assigned to the Air Research and Development Command, circa 1959. (Mary Evans Picture Library Media ID 21131633)
¹ Some sources state 17 January 1955, and others, 24 January 1956.
Flying without it’s fabric covering, the XHRP’s tubular steel structure is clearly visible. (Piasecki Aircraft Corporation)
7 March 1945: At Morton Grove, Pennsylvania, Frank Nicholas Piasecki, founder (along with Harold Venzie) of the P–V Engineering Forum, made the first flight of the PV-3, a prototype for the first successful tandem rotor helicopter. The United States Navy designated the new helicopter XHRP-X. Two additional prototypes, designated XHRP-1, Bu. Nos. 37968 and 37969, were ordered. The original aircraft, a proof-of-concept aircraft, made its final flight in May.
Because of the arrangement of the fuselage, which allowed vertical clearance between the fore and aft rotors, the helicopter was popularly known as “the Flying Banana.” Internally, like many engineering test aircraft, the XHRP-X was called “the dog ship.”
Frank Piasecki was the first pilot to be licensed by the C.A.A. as a helicopter pilot (who had not previously held an airplane license).
Frank Nicholas Piasecki with the PV-3 (XHRP-X) prototype. (Piasecki Aircraft Corporation)
The PV-3 was designed to be flown by two pilots and be capable of carrying 10 passengers. The fuselage was 47 feet, 2 inches (14.376 meters) long. Each of the three-bladed rotors were 41 feet (12.497 meters) in diameter. The overall height was 13 feet, 11 inches (4.242 meters). The helicopter had an empty weight of 4,279 pounds (1,941 kilograms), and gross weight of 6,420 pounds (2,912 kilograms). The helicopter had fixed tricycle landing gear with castering wheels.
The PV-3 was powered by an air-cooled, supercharged, 971.930-cubic-inch displacement (15.927 liter) Continental-built Wright Whirlwind (R-975), a nine-cylinder radial engine rated at 450 horsepower, mounted in the rear fuselage. A transmission transferred power from the engine to two driveshafts running along the top of the fuselage, to remote gearboxes, which in turn, drove the two main rotors. The rotors turned in opposite directions with each canceling the torque effect of the other. No tail (anti-torque) rotor was required, as in single-rotor helicopters. Without a tail rotor, which can absorb as much as 30% of the engines’ power, all the power can be put directly into lift and thrust, making the aircraft much more efficient.
The helicopter had a cruise speed of 100 miles per hour (161 kilometers per hour) and maximum speed of 110 miles per hour (177 kilometers per hour). Its range was 300 miles (483 kilometers).
P–V Engineering Forum PV-3 proof-of-concept prototype in out-of-ground-effect hover. (Piasecki Aircraft Corporation)
The XHRP-1 was ordered into production as the HRP-1 and HRP 2. They were operated by the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Coast Guard. Including the prototypes, 28 of the helicopters were built.
The “Flying Banana” concept was later seen in the Piasecki H-21 Work-Horse, which first flew in 1952.
Piasecki CH-21B Workhorse, 51-15857, at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. (U.S. Air Force)
The Boeing CH-47F Chinook, which is currently in production, is a direct descendant of Frank Piasecki’s PV-3.
The 100th Boeing CH-47F Chinook was delivered to the United States Army in August 2013. (Boeing)
