Yogi, an American black bear used as a test subject.
21 March 1962: A two-year-old black bear (Ursus americanus) named “Yogi” was ejected from a supersonic Convair B-58A Hustler to test the B-58’s escape capsule. Ejected at 35,000 feet (10,668 meters) from a B-58 flying at Mach 1.3 (approximately 870 miles per hour/1,400 kilometers per hour), the bear landed unharmed 7 minutes, 49 seconds later.
Previous testing with human subjects had resulted in fatalities so it was decided to continue with animal subjects while problems were resolved. Black bears were used for these tests because their internal organs are arranged similar to humans.
An escape capsule is launched from the Defensive Systems Officer position of a Convair B-58 Hustler. (U.S. Air Force)
The rocket booster carried the capsule 225 feet (69 meters meters) above the B-58 before beginning its descent.
Regrettably, although the bears survived the ejection tests, they were killed so that their organs could be examined. This would not be acceptable today.
Cornelia Clark Fort with a Fairchild PT-19A Cornell trainer. (U.S. Air Force)
21 March 1943: Cornelia Clark Fort, a pilot in the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (the WAFS), was ferrying a new Vultee BT-13A Valiant basic trainer, serial number 42-42432, from the airplane factory at Downey, California, to an airfield in Texas. She was leading a flight of five BT-13s with the others being flown by inexperienced military pilots.
A flight of Vultee BT-13A Valiant basic trainers, 41-22226, 41-22666 and 41-23050. (Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum NASM A19600288000a)
The left wing of Fort’s airplane was struck from behind by another airplane, BT-13A 42-42450, flown by Flight Officer Frank E. Stamme, Jr., U.S. Army Air Corps.
Fort’s BT-13 crashed approximately 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of Merkel, Texas, and Cornelia Fort was killed. Her body was found in the wreckage of the airplane. The canopy latches were still fastened.
The Associated Press reported:
Woman Ferry Pilot Killed
LONG BEACH, Calif., March 22. (AP)—The army air transport command’s ferrying division has announced the death of Cornelia Fort, twenty-three-year-old Nashville, Tenn., pilot.
Miss Fort was killed, the command said, on a routine ferrying flight yesterday at Merkel, Tex. She was the second woman to sign up with the women’s auxiliary ferrying squadron, and had had 1100 hours in the air.
Cause of the accident has not been learned, the command reported.
Fifteen months ago, a private flying instructor, Miss Fort was giving a lesson over Honolulu when the Japs attacked. Her surprised student almost piloted their plane into an enemy ship before she grabbed the controls, she related later.
Following her evacuation from the Hawaiian islands, she joined the auxiliary ferrying squadron and was stationed here. Miss Fort was the daughter of Cornelia Clark Fort of Fortland farms, near Nashville.
Cornelia Clark Fort was the first female pilot killed while on active duty with the United States military. She was 24 years old. Miss Fort was buried at the Mount Olivet Cemetery, Nashville, Tennesee.
Cornelia Clark Fort. (Tennessee State Library and Archives)
Cornelia Clark Fort was born into an affluent family in Nashville, Tennessee, 5 February 1919. She was the fourth of five children of Dr. Rufus Elijah Fort and Louise Clark Fort. Her father was a prominent surgeon who co-founded the National Life and Accident Insurance Company. The family lived at Fortland, an estate east of Nashville.
Cornelia Clark Fort. (1936 Milestones)
Cornelia attended the Ward-Belmont School in Nashville, then studied at the Ogontz School in Philadelphia. (Amelia Earhart had also attended Ogontz.) In 1937, Miss Fort transferred to Sarah Lawrence College, Yonkers, New York, where she studied Literature. She graduated 10 June 1939.
After taking a flight with a friend, Jack Caldwell, in January 1940, she pursued an interest in aviation, starting flight lessons the following day. Miss Ford had earned her pilot certificate and flight instructor certificate by June 1940. She was the first woman to become an instructor at Nashville. With the Civilian Pilot Training Program, she first went to Fort Collins, Colorado, where she taught for about three months, then went on to Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii.
On the morning of 7 December 1941, Cornelia Fort was practicing touch-and-goes with a student at John Rodgers Airport, near Honolulu.
Shortly before 8:00 a.m., Miss Fort saw a silver military-type airplane approaching her Interstate Cadet at high speed. She took over the flight controls from Mr. Suomala and put the trainer into a steep climb. The other airplane flew directly under, close enough that she felt the vibrations of its engine. She saw that its wings carried the “rising sun” insignia of the Empire of Japan.
Fort landed the Cadet at John Rogers Airport, which was being attacked by Japanese airplanes. Another trainer on the ground was destroyed by machine gunfire and its instructor killed.
“WAFS WELCOMED—Mrs. Nancy H. Love (left), commander, is shown in this photo greeting Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Command recruits at New Castle, Del. The fledglings are, left to right, Cornelia Fort, Helen Clark, Aline Rhonie and Betty Gillies.” (AP Wirephoto, The Evening Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), Vol. 65—No. 137, Thursday, 24 September 1942, Page 28, Columns 5–8)
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, all civilian aircraft were grounded. Cornelia Fort was able to return to the mainland United States in early 1942. In September she was one of the first 25 women accepted into the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron. Miss Fort was assigned to the 6th Ferrying Group based at Long Beach, California.
Pilots of the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron at Long Beach Army Airfield, 7 March 1943. Left to right, Barbara Towne, Cornelia Clark Fort, Evelyn Sharp, Barbara Erickson and Bernice Batten. The airplane is a Vultee BT-13 Valiant. (Image Courtesy of the WASP Archive, The TWU Libraries’ Woman’s Collection, Texas Woman’s University, Denton, Texas)
Air & Space/Smithsonian quoted from a letter written by Fort in a January 2012 article:
“I dearly loved the airports, little and big. I loved the sky and the airplanes, and yet, best of all I loved the flying. . . I was happiest in the sky at dawn when the quietness of the air was like a caress, when the noon sun beat down, and at dusk when the sky was drenched with the fading light.”
—Cornelia Clark Fort, 1942.
Cornelia Clark Fort’s military identification card. (Nashville Public Library)
Frank Edward Stamme, Jr., was born at Dorchester, Illinois, 3 January 1920. He was the first of four children of Frank Edward Stamme, a machinist, and Bertha Catherine Peters Stamme.
Stamme enlisted as a private in the U.S. Army Air Corps at San Francisco, California, 5 November 1941. He had brown hair, gray eyes, was 6 feet, 1 inch (1.85 meters) tall and weighed 159 pounds (72 kilograms). At the time of the collision, he had approximately 250 hours flight time. Stamme was released from military service 16 January 1947. He died 19 February 1987 at San Pablo, California.
Vultee BT-13A Valiant 42-43130, the same type aircraft flown by Cornelia Fort and Frank Stamme, 21 March 1943. (U.S. Air Force)
The Vultee BT-13A Valiant was an all-metal, two-place, single engine, low-wing monoplane with fixed landing gear. The airplane was 28 feet, 10 inches (8.788 meters) long with a wingspan of 42 feet, 0 inches (12.802 meters) and height of 11 feet, 4-3/8 inches (3.464 meters). It had an empty weight of approximately 3,375 pounds (1,531 kilograms) and “maximum recommended flying weight” of 4,745 pounds (2,152 kilograms).
The BT-13A was powered by an air-cooled, supercharged, 986.749-cubic-inch-displacement (16.170 liter) Pratt & Whitney R-985-AN-1, -AN-3, or R-985-25 nine-cylinder radial engine. These engines had a compression ratio of 6:1, with Normal Power ratings from 420 horsepower at 2,200 r.p.m. at Sea Level to 450 horsepower at 2,300 r.p.m., and 440 horsepower to 450 horsepower at 2,300 r.p.m. for Takeoff. They were direct-drive engines which turned a two-bladed variable-pitch propeller. These engines were 3 feet, 6.38 inches (1.076 meters) long, 3 feet, 9.75 inches (1.162 meters) in diameter and weighed from 648 to 685 pounds (294–311 kilograms).
The BT-13A had a maximum speed (VNE) of 230 miles per hour (370 kilometers per hour). The service ceiling was 21,650 feet (6,599 meters) and range was 725 miles (1,167 kilometers).
Vultee built 9,525 BT-13 and BT-15 Valiant basic trainers between 1940 and 1945. Of these, 7,037 were the BT-13A and SNV-1 variant. By the end of World War II, the Vultee Valiant was considered obsolete and was replaced in U.S. service by the North American AT-6 Texan.
Paul Mantz, Amelia Earhart and Lockheed’s chief pilot, Marshall Headle, with Earhart’s Model 10E Electra Special. (California State University Northridge, Coralie Hewitt Tillack Collection)Marshall Headle, as a junior at MAC,1911 (Index)
Marshall Headle was born 21 March 1893 at Winthrop, Massachussetts, United States of America, He was the third child of Edwin Charles Headle, a clergyman, and Clarendo Yeomans Headle. He attended Winthrop High School before going on to the Massachussetts Agricultural College at Bolton. He graduated in 1912 with a Bachelor of Science degree (B.Sc.) in Floriculture.
Headle enlisted in the United States Army in 1917, and attended aviation ground school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.). His flight training took place at Tours, France. He held the rank of First Lieutenant, Air Service, American Expeditionary Force, United States Army. Lieutenant Headle served as a flight instructor at Tours and at the 2nd Aviation Instruction Center.
1st Lt. Marshall Headle, Air Service, United States Army.
From 1919 to 1922, Headle was attached to the United States Embassy in Paris, France. He then returned to the United States.
Marshall Headle enlisted as a private in the United States Marine Corps, 25 October 1924. He served with the Marines in China as an airplane crew chief and aviator. He was promoted to gunnery sergeant (Gy.Sgt.). He returned to the United States in 1928, and resigned from the Marine Corps to become a civilian pilot.
Lockheed test pilot Marshall Headle with a Lockheed airplane, circa 1930. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives AL77A-032)
In 1929, Headle married Dorothea Evelyn Breeder. They had two children, Marshall Ronald Headle, born in 1932, and Michele Ann Headle. (Mrs. Headle died in Honolulu, Hawaii, 25 May 2010, at the age of 99 years.)
Headle joined Lockheed in 1929, as chief pilot, flight operations. On 30 October 1929, Headle made the first flight of the all-metal Detroit-Lockheed DL-2 Sirius.
In 1930, Headle attempted to set a world altitude record with a 500 kilogram (1,102 pounds) payload, flying a Lockheed Vega. He used a pressurized tank of oxygen with a flexible tube.
Marshall Headle demonstrates his high-altitude breathing apparatus, standing with his Lockheed Vega. (International Newsreel/Shamokin News-Dispatch)Marshall E. (“Babe”) Headle. (Photograph courtesy of Neil Corbett, Test and Research Pilots, Flight Test Engineers)
In 1931, he took the Model 9 Orion, NX960Y, on its first flight.
In 1933, became the company’s chief test pilot, succeeding Wiley Post. He also traveled world-wide demonstrating Lockheed’s airplanes.
Headle also made the first flight of Gerard Vultee’s Vultee V-1A single-engine airliner, 19 February 1933.
On 29 July 1937, he made the first flight of the Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra. The Model 14 fuselage was stretched, resulting in the Model 18 Lodestar. Headle, with Louis Upshaw, took the prototype, NX17385, for its first flight, 21 September 1939. The Lodestar would be developed into the Lockheed Ventura bomber.
On 16 September 1940, Headle made the first flight of the Lockheed YP-38 service test prototype. Headle was featured in magazine and billboard advertisements for Camel cigarettes in 1941.
Marshall Headle, Lockheed test pilot, was featured in advertising for Camel cigarettes. (Yale University Library)
In 1941, he was injured in an altitude chamber accident and was no longer able to fly.
Prototype Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar, NX17385. (Lockheed Martin)
Marshall Headle died 14 May 1945 at the age of 52 years. He was buried at the Valhalla Memorial Cemetery, Burbank, California.
Lockheed test pilot Marshall Headle with a YP-38 prototype at Burbank, circa 1940. (Lockheed Martin)
Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (Italian Space Agency, or ASI) Astronaut Paolo Angelo Nespoli took this photograph of the “supermoon” from the International Space Station in Earth orbit, March 20, 2011. (ESA/NASA)
The first Boeing 747-8i takes off from Paine Field, 20 March 2011. (Boeing)
20 March 2011: At 9:58 a.m., the prototype Boeing 747–8 International, N6067E, (Line Number 1434) took off on its first flight from Paine Field (PAE), Everett, Washington. Chief Test Pilot Mark Gregory Feuerstein was in command, with co-pilot Captain Paul Stemer. During the flight the 747-8i flew to 20,000 feet (6,096 meters) and 250 knots (288 miles per hour/463 kilometers per hour). Four hours, 26 minutes later, at 2:24 p.m., the prototype landed at Boeing Field (BFI) in Seattle.
Captain Feuerstein said, “It was a great flight. Hard to beat the weather we had today—in fact I’m still a little surprised it worked out the way it did. The airplane was ready. . . and a lot of people. . . put a lot of work into making this airplane what it is. . . This is a testament to how prepared the airplane was. The airplane is actually ready to go fly right now.”
Captain Paul Stemer, Joe Sutter, the “father of the 747,” and Captain Mark Feuerstein. (NYC Aviation)
The Boeing 747-8i International is the final passenger variant of the 747 series. 155 were built before production came to an end in 2022.
Boeing 747-8i International, N6067E, taking off from Boeing Field. (Dave Subelack)
The Boeing 747-8i International is flown by two pilots, and it can carry up to 467 passengers. It is 250 feet, 2 inches (76.251 meters) long with a wingspan of 224 feet, 5 inches (68.402 meters), and height of 63 feet, 6 inches (19.355 meters). The length is an 18 foot, 4 inch (5.588 meters) stretch over the previous 747-400. The leading edges of the wings are swept aft to 37.5°. The total wing area is 5,960 square feet (553.7 square meters). The airliner has an empty weight of 485,300 pounds (220,128 kilograms), and maximum takeoff weight of 987,000 pounds (447,696 kilograms).
The 747-8i and -8F freighter are each powered by four General Electric GEns-2B67 high bypass turbofan engines. These are dual-rotor, axial flow engines with a single fan stage; 13-stage compressor section (3 low-pressure and 10 high-pressure stages); and an 8-stage turbine (2 high- and 6 low-pressure stages. The fan has a diameter of 104.7 inches (2.66 meters). Each engine weighs 12,396 pounds (5,623 kilograms) and produces 66,500 pounds of thrust (295.8 kilonewtons).
The 747-8i’s cruise speed is 0.855 Mach (490 knots/564 miles per hour/908 kilometers per hour), and its maximum speed (VMO) is 516 knots/595 miles per hour/956 kilometers per hour, and the maximum Mach number (MMO) is 0.9 Mach. The service ceiling is 43,100 feet (13,137 meters). With full fuel, 63,034 U.S. gallons (238,610 liters), its range is 7,730 nautical miles (8,896 statute miles/14,316 kilometers).
N6067E was sold to the State of Kuwait 11 March 2012, and re-registered as 9K-GAA.
Boeing 747-8JK 9K-GAA at Salzburg, Austria. (Boeing 747 Queen of the Skies)
