Monthly Archives: March 2025

26 March 1940

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Curtiss-Wright CW-20T, NX19436, s/n 101. (Unattributed)

26 March 1940: At Lambert–St. Louis Municipal Airport, just to the west of the Mississippi River in the state of Missouri, test pilots Edmund Turney (“Eddie”) Allen and Dean Cullen Smith took the prototype Curtiss-Wright CW-20T, NX19436, for its first flight.

BIMOTORED GIANT READY FOR TESTS

Curtiss-Wright Substratosphere Plane Works Smoothly in Takeoff

By DEVON FRANCIS

Associated Press Aviation Editor.

     ST. LOUIS, March 27.—The world’s first bi-motored transport plane designed and powered to eliminate the hazard attending the failure of one engine on takeoff was made ready for two months or more of flight-testing today before being offered to commercial airlines.

     The 19-ton, 36-passenger Curtiss-Wright substratosphere transport was engineered to permit one engine to go dead at any point on the take-off as a pilot climbs for altitude and still maintain safe flight.

     Each of its engines produces 1700 horsepower. The largest engines ever to be fitted to a transport plane heretofore have been of 1500 horsepower. Either one of the new transport’s engines will carry it to an altitude of 13,000 feet.

     Fastened to the 108-foot wing with rubber cushions to produce what Curtiss-Wright engineers described as “dynamic balance,” the engines transmit only about 50 per cent of the normal vibration to the cabin of the plane.

     C, s/n 101. W. France, vice president and general manager of the St. Louis airplane division of the company, yesterday witnessed the maiden take-off of the transport from the ground. Then he climbed to the control tower of the St. Louis municipal airport for an innovation in airplane testing.

     France called the test pilot, Eddie Allen of Seattle, on the tower radiophone.

     Dean Smith, co-pilot, answered.

     “Dean,” he said, “that looked grand. Congratulations.”

     “O. K.,” replied Smith, “I’ll tell Eddie.”

     A little later Allen brought the huge plane into a smooth landing. He remarked that the plane had flown 190 miles an hour on only 30 per cent of its power. Transports usually cruise at 50 to 55 per cent.

     The additional testing will be for an approved type certificate from the government.

—Buffalo Evening News, Vol. CXIX, No. 142, Wednesday, 27 March 1940, Page 18, Column 3

Curtiss-Wright CW-20T NX19436, s/n 101. (Unattributed)

The Curtiss-Wright CW-20T, NX19436, (manufacturer’s serial number 101) was a prototype twin-engine commercial airliner designed by George Augustus Page, Jr. Originally built with a twin-tail configuration, flight testing resulted in a change to a single, large vertical fin and rudder. Designed to be pressurized, the fuselage had a Figure 8 cross section, with the cabin floor at the narrowest point for increased strength. In this prototype, the fuselage was faired over to provide a smooth, more cylindrical shape. Considerable wind tunnel testing had been performed by CalTech in Pasadena, California, resulting in a very sleek nose section.

Curtiss-Wright CW-20T NX19436. (Unattributed)

On 20 June 1941, the United States Army Air Forces ¹ purchased the CW-20T and designated it as the Curtiss C-55, serial number 41-21041. It would become the prototype of the C-46 Commando military transport. The Army Air Forces returned the C-55 to Curtiss-Wright for modifications.

Curtiss-Wright CW-20T NX19436, after modification to a single tail configuration, photographed at Midway Airport, Chicago, 19 May 1941. (Midway Airport)

The CW-20T was 76 feet, 4 inches (23.266 meters) long with a wingspan of 108 feet, 0 inches (32.918 meters). It was powered by two air-cooled, supercharged, 2,603.7-cubic-inch-displacement (42.688 liters) Wright Aeronautical Corporation Cyclone 14 GR2600A5B-5 (R-2600-17A) two-row, 14-cylinder radial  engines, driving three-bladed Curtiss Electric C-533-D controllable-pitch propellers through a 16:9 gear reduction. This engine had a compression ration of 6.9:1 and required 100/130 aviation gasoline. It was rated at 1,500 horsepower at 2,400 r.p.m., and 1,700 horsepower at 2,500 r.p.m. It was 5 feet, 3.1 inches (1.603 meters) long, 4 feet, 6.26 inches (1.378 meters) in diameter and weighed 1,980 pounds (898 kilograms). Only four of these engines were built.

Curtiss-Wright CW-20T NX19346, at right, with a CW-21B prototype, NX19441. (Unattributed)

NX14936 was sold to the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) in September 1941 and registered in the United Kingdom as G-AGDI. The airline named it St. Louis. It was converted to a 24-passenger configuration with long-range fuel tanks. It frequently flew between Lisbon, Gibraltar and Malta. The airplane was scrapped 29 October 1943.

British Overseas Airways Corporation Curtiss-Wright CW-20T, G-AGDI, “St. Louis,” at Gibraltar, circa 1942. (Imperial War Museum)

After the necessary redesign, which included a large cargo door and strengthened floor, and the substitution of 2,000 horsepower Pratt & Whitney R-2800-51 engines for the Wright Cyclone 14s of the C-55, the Army Air Forces ordered the airplane into production as the C-46A-CU Commando. An order was placed for 200 aircraft. The U.S. Navy placed 160 in service as the R5C-1. Curtiss-Wright built the C-46 at St. Louis and Buffalo, New York. The first, 41-5159, was delivered 13 July 1942. More than 3,000 C-46s were built in nearly 30 variants. Two C-46A-1-HI Commandos were built by Higgins Aircraft at Michoud, Louisiana.

Like the CW-20T, the C-46A/R5C-1 was also 76 feet, 4 inches (23.266 meters) long with a wingspan of 108 feet, 0 inches (32.918 meters) and overall height of 21 feet, 8 inches (6.604 meters). The wing area was 1,360 square feet (126.35 square meters). It had an empty weight of 30,241 pounds (13,717 kilograms) and maximum take off weight of 52,000 pounds (23,586 kilograms). The maximum payload was 10,000 pounds (4,536 kilograms). The maximum package size was 7 feet, 6 inches × 5 feet × 6 feet, 8 inches (2.286 × 1.524 × 2.032 meters).

The C-46A was powered by two air-cooled, supercharged, 2,804.4-cubic-inch-displacement (45.956 liter), Pratt & Whitney R-2800-51 two-row, 18-cylinder radial engines with a compression ratio of 6.65:1. They drove three-bladed propellers through a 2:1 gear reduction. These engines had a Normal Power rating of 1,600 horsepower at 2,400 r.p.m. at 5,700 feet (1,737 meters), or 1,400 horsepower at 13,000 feet (3,962 meters). The Military Power rating was 2,000 horsepower at 2,700 r.p.m. at 1,500 feet (457 meters), or 1,600 horsepower at 13,500 feet (4,115 meters). Takeoff power was 2,000 horsepower at 2,700 r.p.m. The R-2600-51 was 6 feet, 3.72 inches (1.923  meters) long, 4 feet, 4.50 inches (1.335 meters) in diameter, and weighed 2,300 pounds (1,043 kilograms). All R-2600-51s were built by the Ford Motor Company.

The C-46A had a maximum speed of 233 knots (268 miles per hour/432 kilometers per hour) at 16,100 feet (4,907 meters). Its service ceiling was 20,600 feet (6,279 meters). With a fuel capacity of 3,000 gallons (11,356 liters), the maximum range was 1,960 nautical miles (2,256 statute miles/3,630 kilometers) at 121 knots (139 miles per hour/224 kilometers per hour).

During World War II, the C-46 famously flew “The Hump,” from bases in Burma, over the Himalaya Mountains, and into China.

The first Curtiss-Wright C-46A-CU Commando, 41-5159, circa 1942. (U.S. Air Force)

¹ The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) became the United Army Air Forces (USAAF) on 20 June 1941.

© 2023, Bryan R. Swopes

26 March 1938

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A. E. Clouston on the wing of Australian Anniversary, Croydon, 26 March 1938.

26 March 1938: On Saturday afternoon at 5:40 p.m., RAE Farnborough test pilot Flying Officer Arthur Edmond Clouston ¹ and his co-pilot, newspaper correspondent Victor Anthony Ricketts,² landed at Croydon, London. England, completing an 11-day, 26,450-mile (42,567 kilometers) round trip flight from England to New Zealand and return. Their airplane, a twin-engined de Havilland DH.88 Comet, G-ACSS, named Australian Anniversary in honor of the 150th anniversary of the founding of Australia, finished the course in 10 days, 21 hours, 22 minutes. During the flight, four Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Records for Speed Over a Recognised Course were set.³

The Comet was one of three built especially for the 1934 MacRobertson Trophy Air Race, England to Australia, which it had won with an elapsed time of 70 hours, 54 minutes.

De Havilland DH-88 Comet G-ACSS, Australian Anniversary, Blenheim, New Zealand, 20 March 1938 (National Library of New Zealand)

Clouston and Ricketts departed Gravesend, Kent, England, at 8:17 p.m., Tuesday, 15 March 1938. They arrived at Blenheim, on New Zealand’s South Island, at 04:57 G.M.T., Sunday, 20 March. They began the return trip at 10:20 G.M.T., 21 March.

After listing the stops during the flights, with times and distances for each leg, FLIGHT commented:

     Set down thus in bare figures, that it may be kept on record, the story of the flight sounds, perhaps, prosaic. But against this background may be pictured the actual sensations of the two men who made it; the ten-hour 2,000-miles stretches, sometimes protracted to 12 hours by head winds; the incessant roar, scream and bumping in the cramped tandem cockpit, the desire for sleep; the anxieties of taking-off from small aerodromes in “thin” tropical air with nearly a ton of petrol; fog, cloud and thunderstorms, all of which were encountered. These things considered, one may marvel at the enthusiasm of people who will do them—and it so happens that quite “uncommercial” enthusiasm has played a large share in the present flight.

—FLIGHT, The Aircraft Engineer & Airships, No. 1527, Vol. XXXIII, 31 March 1938, Page 318, Column 2

The de Havilland DH.88 Comet was a two-place, twin engine monoplane with retractable landing gear. It was built of wood, with a framework covered with spruce plywood for the skin of the fuselage, and a layer of doped fabric covering the wings.

The airplane was 29 feet, 0 inches (8.839 meters) long with a wingspan of 44 feet, 0 inches (13.411 meters) and overall height of 10 feet, 0 inches (3.048 meters). It had an empty weight of 2,930 pounds (1,329 kilograms) and loaded weight of 5,500 pounds (2,495 kilograms).

De Havilland DH.88 Comet three-view illustration with dimensions. (Flight, 20 September 1934, Page 969)

The Comet was originally powered by two air-cooled, normally-aspirated, 9.186 liter (560.573-cubic-inch-displacement) de Havilland Gipsy Six R engines. The Gipsy Six was an inverted, inline six-cylinder, direct-drive engine. The R version had the compression ratio increased from 5.25:1 to 6.5:1, and produced 223 horsepower at 2,400 r.p.m. for takeoff. The engines turned two-bladed, variable pitch propellers.

The Gipsy Six R engine was designed by Major Frank Bernard Halford C.B.E. F.R.Ae.S., who had designed the four-cylinder de Havilland Gipsy engines and would later design the Goblin and Ghost turbojet engines. Halford was awarded the Silver Medal by the Royal Aeronautical Society for his work on the DH.88 Comet in the MacRobertson race.

The DH.88 had maximum speed of 255 miles per hour (410 kilometers per hour). Its range was 2,925 miles (4,707 kilometers). The service ceiling was 19,000 feet (5,791 meters).

Two additional DH.88 Comets were built. Of the five, one crashed in the Sudan in 1935. The crew safely bailed out. Two more were destroyed in a hangar fire at Istres, France, in June 1940. G-ACSP, Black Magic, which had been flown by Jim and Amy Mollison in the MacRobertson Trophy Race, was located in Portugal and is under restoration at Derby Airfield, England.

De Havilland DH.88 Comet c/s 1966 was purchased by Arthur Octavius Edwards (better known, simply, as A.O. Edwards), and registered G-ACSS, 4 September 1934. Edwards named the airplane Grosvenor House, after a luxury hotel in Park Lane which he had developed from “the biggest and most spectacular” mansion in London.

De Havilland DH.88 Comet K5084 (c/n 1996) in Royal Air Force markings. © IWM (MH 5416)

In June 1935, G-ACSS was “taken charge” by the Air Ministry for flight testing. It was re-painted silver and assigned the RAF identification K5084. While undergoing flight testing, the Comet was damaged during a landing at the Aircraft & Armaments Engineering Establishment (A&AEE) at RAF Martlesham Heath and sold as scrap. It was purchased by Frederick E. Tasker, an architect famous for his Art Deco buildings, and rebuilt by Essex Aero Ltd., Gravesend. Essex replaced the Gipsy Six R engines with Gipsy Six Series II angines.

By June 1937 the racer was once again airworthy. It carried the identification mark “E.1” on the fuselage before reverting to G-ACSS. Flown by A.E. Clouston, it competed in the Istres–Damascus–Paris air race of August 1937, placing fourth.

In October–November 1937, Clouston flew G-ACSS from London to Cape Town and return, establishing records in both directions. ⁴ The Comet was again re-painted, this time beige, and re-named The Burberry after its new sponsor, Burberry Ltd., makers of the classic gabardine “trench coat.”

The Comet was placed in storage and scavenged for parts during World War II. De Havilland employees restored G-ACSS in 1951. It was donated to The Shuttleworth Collection in 1965.

G-ACSS has been restored to flying condition and is in the Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden Aerodrome, Bedfordshire, England.

De Havilland DH.88 Comet G-ACSS, photographed 7 September 2014. (Woldere via Wikipedia)

De Havilland’s experience with the Comet led directly to their success with its big brother, the famous World War II fighter bomber, the DH.98 Mosquito.

Group Captain A. E. Clouston, D.S.O., D.F.C., A.F.C., Royal Air Force. (Art UK)

¹ Air Commodore A.E. Clouston, C.B., D.S.O., D.F.C., A.F.C., Royal Air Force (29162)

Pilot Officer Victor Anthony Ricketts, DFC, Royal Air Force.

² Flight Lieutenant Victor Anthony Ricketts, D.F.C., Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (77341), flying a DH.98 Mosquito B Mk IV with No. 248 Squadron, was killed in action 12 July 1942.

³ FAI Record File Numbers: 13253, 19 March 1938, 209,71 km/h (130.31 m.p.h.); 13254, 20 March 1938, 180,26 km/h (111.85 m.p.h.); 13255, 26 March 1938, 134,31 km/h (83.46 m.p.h.);, and 13256, 26 March 1938, 130,78 km/h (81.26 m.p.h.).

⁴ FAI Record File Numbers: 13242, 16 October 1937, 214,08 km/h (133.02 m.p.h.); 13259, 20 November 1937, 168.26 km/h (105.55 m.p.h.)

© 2019, Bryan R. Swopes

23–26 March 1932

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Blériot-Zappata 110, F-ALCC.

23–26 March 1932: At 6:00 a.m., local time, Jean Baptiste Lucien Bossoutrot and Maurice Rossi took off from Es-Sénia aerodrome near Oran, French Algeria (Algérie française), in an attempt to break their own Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Record for Distance Over a Closed Circuit Without Landing, set the previous year.¹ Their airplane was the same Blériot-Zappata 110, F-ALCC, which set the earlier record. It was named Joseph Le Brix, in honor of another aviator killed the year before.

With good weather, the airplane averaged 146 kilometers per hour (90.7 miles per hour) for 60 hours. The pilots initially ran the V-12 engine at 1,950 r.p.m., but gradually reduced that to 1,400 r.p.m., as the airplane burned off fuel and became lighter. On the third day, Bossoutrot and Rossi encountered strong winds and rain squalls, and at times the Blériot-Zappata’s ground speed dropped to just 90 kilometers per hour (55.9 miles per hour).

At 10:35 a.m., Saturday, after 76 hours, 35 minutes in the air, Bossoutrot and Rossi landed at Es-Sénia. They had flown a distance of 10,601.48 kilometers (6,587.45 miles), setting a new FAI world record.² (They also exceeded their previous World Record for Duration ³ by 1 hour, 12 minutes, though no new record is listed on the FAI’s Internet web site.)

Filippo Zappata

The Blériot-Zappata 110 was an experimental long-range airplane ordered by France’s Service Technique de l’Aéronautique, the government agency responsible for coordinating aviation research. It was designed by Italian aeronautical engineer Filippo Zappata and built by Blériot Aéronautique S.A.

The airplane was a single-engine, two-place, high-wing monoplane with fixed landing gear. (A contemporary news article referred to it as a “monomotor monoplane.”)

The pilot and co-pilot navigator were positioned in tandem behind the fuselage fuel tanks. Their outward view was very restricted, with only two small port holes on each side. The forward view was provided by angled mirrors acting as a periscope. There was a bunk located behind the seats for crew rest.

Illustration showing internal arrangement of the Blériot-Zappata 110, from Popular Mechanics Magazine, Vol. 60, No. 6, December 1933, at Page 807 (Illustration by George Horace Davis)

A technical description of the Blériot 110 appeared in the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics Aircraft Circular No. 138, which also contains many technical illustrations of the airplane’s construction, and makes interesting reading. The Blériot 110 was 14.57 meters (47.80 feet) long with a wingspan of 26.50 meters (86.94 feet) and height (to the top of its cabane strut) of 4.90 meters (16.08 feet). The wing had an area of 81 square meters (872 square feet). The airplane’s empty weight was 2,400 kilograms (5,291 pounds) and the gross weight was 7,300 kilograms (16,094 pounds).

The airplane’s wing was built in three sections so that it could be disassembled for ground or sea transportation. The wing had two spruce spars with an oblique aileron support spar that increased its torsional strength but contributed to the airplanes overall light weight. The ribs were of plywood, braced by steel cables. The wing was covered with plywood. The wing was braced by a system of wires above, connecting to the upper cabane strut, and below, to the fuselage. The use of wire bracing allowed the wing to be built with approximately half the weight of a similar cantilevered wing.

The fuselage cross section was rounded at the top, narrowing to a single keel. It was built of frames and longerons which were then covered with three layers of diagonal 5 centimeter-wide whitewood strips, glued and nailed, each layer overlapping the one below at a 45° angle.

Fuel was carried in four fuselage tanks and two wing tanks. The total capacity was 7,020 liters (1,854 gallons).

Hispano-Suiza 12 Lbr SOHC 60° V-12. (Hispano-Suiza)

As originally built, the Blériot-Zappata 110 was powered by a water-cooled, normally-aspirated, 31.403 liter (1916.351 cubic-inch-displacement) Société Française Hispano-Suiza 12 Lbr, a single-overhead-camshaft (SOHC) 60° V-12 engine with a compression ratio of 6.2:1. The engine had a nominal rating of 600 cheval vapeur at 2,000 r.p.m. (592 horsepower), and 640 cheval vapeur for takeoff (631 horsepower). This engine used a 2:1 propeller reduction gear and drove a two-bladed propeller. The engine was 1.939 meters (6.362 feet) long, 0.756 meters (2.480 feet) wide and 1.028 meters (3.373 feet) high. With the reduction gear unit, it weighed 485 kilograms (1.069 pounds).

Hispano-Suiza 12 M SOHC 60° V-12. (Hispano-Suiza)

For the March 23–26 flight, the original engine was replaced by a 27.077 liter (1,652.364 cubic inch displacement) Hispano-Suiza 12 Mc 500 CV électron. This was also a water-cooled, normally-aspirated SOHC 60° V-12. It was a direct-drive engine with a compression ratio of 7:1, and drove a four-bladed propeller. This engine was rated at 500 cheval vapeur at 2,000 r.p.m. (493 horsepower), and a maximum of 640 cheval vapeur at 2,200 r.p.m. (631 horsepower). The cylinders had hardened (nitrided) steel liners, and the crankcase was made of an aluminum/magnesium alloy called Elektron. The 12 Mc was 1.982 meters (6.503 feet) long, 0.760 meters (2.493 feet) wide and 0.920 meters (3.018 feet) high. It weighed 390 kilograms (860 pounds).

The Blériot-Zappata 110 had a maximum speed of 210 kilometers per hour (130 miles per hour). Its ceiling at maximum gross weight was 2,000 meters (6,562 feet). The airplane had maximum range of more than 12,000 kilometers (7,456 miles).

Blériot-Zappata 110 with list of world record flights.

F-ALCC set a number of world records. In 1933 it was transported to America aboard the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique passenger liner S.S. Champlain. Maurice Rossi and Paul Codos flew it non-stop from New York City, New York, to Rayak, Syria, a distance of 9,106.33 kilometers (5,658.41 miles).⁴ ⁵ The airplane was scrapped in 1935.

Jean Baptiste Lucien Bossoutrot, 1932. (Agence Meurisse)

Jean Baptiste Lucien Bossoutrot was born 16 May 1890, at Tulle, Corrèze, Nouvelle-Aquitane, République française. He was the son of Antonin Bossoutrot, an armurier (gunsmith), and Antoinette Nouailhac. He made his first airplane flight in 1910, while employed at a bank. His pilot license, No. 1856, was issued 1 April 1915 by the Aéro-Club de France. The following month, 19 May 1915, he became a pilot in the Aéronautique Militaire. In 1917, he bombed the iron ore mines at Briey, Meurethe-et-Moselle. While this source supplied iron ore to Germany, it also supplied France. Bossoutrot was placed under arrest by General Phillipe Pétain.

Bossoutrot was assigned as an acceptance test pilot at Avions Farman. He helped Henri Farman in the development of instrument panels for airplanes. He continued working for Farman after the War.

Bossoutrot served in the military for 7 years, 4 months. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre with three citations.

On 8 February 1919, Bossoutrot flew a Farman F.60 Goliath from Paris to London, carrying twelve passengers and an aircraft mechanic. This is believed to have been the first international commercial passenger flight. In August 1919, Bossoutrot flew an F.60 Goliath while pioneering the Paris-to-Dakar air route.

The journey was made in several stages. Bossoutrot, along with eight passengers, departed from Mogador on 15 August. A radio message was sent at 5:45 a.m., 16 August, requesting wind information at Dakar, but the airplane did not arrive. Because of a loss of one of its propellers, at 7:30 a.m., Bossoutrot made a forced landing on a beach approximately 115 miles (185 kilometers) north of St. Louis. There were no injures, but the airplane was damaged beyond repair.

One 13 November 1920, Jean Baptiste Lucien Bossoutrot was appointed Chevalier de la légion d’honneur.

On 23 August 1925 Bossoutrot was promoted to Officier de la Légion d’honneur.

When Air France was formed in 1933, Bossoutrot was its first captain.

In 1934, Bossoutrot was promoted to Commandeur de la Légion d’honneur.

Lucien Bossoutrot. Assemblée nationale.

Bossoutrot entered politics in the 1930s and was elected to the Assemblée nationale (the national legislature) as a Radical Socialist. He led the Commission on Aeronautics and the Committee of Commerce and Industry in the Chamber of Deputies. These positions allowed him to travel extensively through Europe and the Soviet Union. He raised his concerns to the legislature about the rearmament of Germany which he had seen, but his warnings were generally ignored.

After the surrender of France to Nazi Germany in 1940, Bossoutrot initially supported Marshal Pétain, but later changed his opinion. Because of his opposition, he was arrested by the Vichy government in February 1943. He was held for fifteen months before he was able to escape and join La Résistance française.

Lucien Bossoutrot was married three times. He had a daughter from his first marriage. He had flown more that 7,000 hours, and set at least 36 FAI world records.

Jean Baptiste Lucien Bossoutrot, Commandeur de la Légion d’honneur, died 1 September 1958 at Viry-Châtillon, Seine-et-Oise, France. He was buried at the cimitère des Batignolles, in Paris.

Capitaine Maurice Rossi, Aéronautique Militaire, 1932. (Agence de presse Meurisse)

Maurice Rossi was born 24 April 1901 at Leverdure, La Séfia, Algérie française (French Algeria). He is credited with ten FAI world records. He died in Paris, France, 29 August 1966.

Blériot-Zappata 110, F-ALCC.

¹ FAI Record File Number 9514: 8,822.32 kilometers (5,481.94 miles), 1 March 1931

² FAI Record File Number 9292: 10,601.48 kilometers (6,587.45 miles, 26 March 1932

³ FAI Record File Number 9513: Duration in a Closed Circuit, 75 hours, 23 minutes, 7 seconds, 1 March 1931

⁴ FAI Record File Number 9297: Distance in a Straight Line, 9,104.70 kilometers (5,657.40 miles), 7 August 1933

⁵ FAI Record File Number 9,301: Distance in a Broken Line, 9,106.33 kilometers (5,658.41 miles), 7 August 1933

Armée de l’Air  Capitaine Maurice Rossie (left) with Lieutenant Paul Codos, Paris, France, 1934. The Blériot-Zappata 110 is in the background. (Davis-Monthan Aviation Field Register)

© 2019, Bryan R. Swopes

25 March 1968

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General Dynamics F-111As of 428th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 1968. (U.S. Air Force)

25 March 1968: A U.S. Air Force General Dynamics F-111A, 66-0018, flown by Colonel Ivan H. (“Ike”) Dethman and Captain Richard M. Matteis, completed the type’s first combat mission when it attacked a munitions dump on Tiger Island (Cồn Cỏ), off the coast of North Vietnam. The precision strike mission was flown at night with heavily overcast skies. The fighter bomber carried twelve 750 pound (340 kilogram) M117 bombs on hard points under its wings, and approached the target from the west at 500 knots (575 miles per hour/926 kilometers per hour) at just 500 feet (152 meters) above the ground.

Colonel Dethman later told news reporters that, “the computers clicked over, crosshairs on target, bombs away.” The weather prevented a post-strike damage assessment, but the mission was considered successful.

Three additional single-aircraft combat missions were flown by F-111As that night.

General Dynamics F-111A 66-0018 at Takhli RTAFB, 1968. (U.S. Air Force)

66-0018 was one of six “Combat Lancer” F-111As assigned to Detachment 1, 428th Tactical Fighter Squadron, under the command of Colonel Dethman, which had deployed to Takhli Royal Thai Air Force Base in Thailand from Nellis AFB in the United States just a few days earlier. (Colonel Dethman had previously commanded “Harvest Reaper,” an Air Force project to train pilots to fly the F-111A.)

Two F-111As were lost in the next five days. The aircraft and their crews have never been found. A third went down the following month, but its crew were able to use the escape module and were rescued. Their aircraft had suddenly pitched up and rolled over out of control. It was later determined that a hydraulic actuator valve in the stabilator control system had failed.

General Dynamics F-111A at Takhli RTAFB, 1968. (U.S. Air Force 090810-F-1234O-003)

The General Dynamics F-111A is a large twin-engine strike fighter with variable-sweep wings produced for the U.S. Air Force. A second variant, the F-111B, was intended for the U.S. Navy as an interceptor, but proved to be too heavy to operate from aircraft carriers and was not put into production. The F-111A made its first flight at Carswell AFB, Texas, 21 December 1964.

The F-111 was a result of Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara’s controversial “TFX” program which would use a single aircraft for both the Air Force and Navy as a fighter, interceptor, tactical fighter bomber, and strategic nuclear-armed bomber. Trying to make a single aircraft perform these different missions resulted in very high cost overruns, and the aircraft gained a negative perception in the news media. The F-111A and its follow-on, the FB-111, however, proved to be very effective in precision strike missions.

Det. 1, 428th Tactical Fighter Squadron personnel at Takhli RTAFB, 1968. Left-to right: Front row (kneeling): Major Tom Germscheid; Captain Joe Hodges; Colonel Ivan H. (“Ike”) Dethmann; Lieutenant Colonel Dean Salmeier; Lieutenant Colonel Ed Palmgren; Commander Bruce Ashley, USN; Major Roger Nunemaker. Back row (standing): Captain Mac Armstrong; Major Charlie Arnet; Captain Rick Matteis; Captain Joe Keene; Major Les Holland; Major Sandy Marquardt; Major Bill Coltman; Major Hank (“Mac”) MacCann; Captain Bill Sealy; Captain Denny Graham, USN; Lieutenant Commander David “Spade” Cooley, USN; Captain Ken Powell; Captain Norm Rice; and  Major Charlie Tosten. (U.S Air Force)
The crew escape module of General Dynamics F-111A 66-0017, which went down 22 April 1968. Major “Sandy” Marquardt and Captain Joe Hodges are seated inside. (Key.Aero)

The F-111A was flown by two pilots seated side-by-side in the cockpit. Pre-production aircraft were equipped with ejection seats, but production aircraft had a crew escape module which protected the pilots from the effects of supersonic speed. The airplane incorporated a state-of-the art terrain-following radar and and inertial guidance computer system that allowed it to fly at a constant height above the ground. The radar searched ahead and to the sides of the aircraft’s flight path and the computer calculated pitch angles to clear obstacles ahead. The system could be programmed to fly the aircraft as low as 200 feet (61 meters) above the ground. These “nap of the earth” profiles allowed the F-111A to avoid detection by radar.

The cockpit of General Dynamics F-111A 67-0067 at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. (U.S. Air Force 070703-F-1234S-019)

The F-111A is 73 feet, 10.6 inches (22.520 meters) long. With the wings fully extended, their span is 63 feet, 0.0 inches (19.202 meters), and fully swept, 31 feet, 11.4 inches (9.738 meters). The airplane has an overall height of 17 feet 1.4 inches (5.217meters). The wings are capable of being swept from 16° to 72.5°. Roll control is transferred to the stabilators when the wings sweep to 42°.  It has an empty weight of 46,172 pounds (20,943 kilograms) and maximum takeoff weight of 92,657 pounds (42,029 kilograms).

A Pratt & Whitney TF30 turbofan engine at NASA’s Propulsion Systems Laboratory in Cleveland, Ohio, 1967. Left-to-right are engineers Fred Looft and Robert Godman. (NASA Glenn Research Center)

Early production F-111As were powered by two Pratt & Whitney TF30-P-1 afterburning turbofan engines, with following aircraft powered by the TF30-P-3. Both are two-spool axial-flow engines with a 3-stage fan section, 13-stage compressor (6 low- and 7 high-pressure stages) and 4-stage turbine (1 high- and 3 low-pressure stages). Both engines are rated at 10,750 pounds of thrust (47.82 kilonewtons), and 18,500 pounds of thrust (82.29 kilonewtons) with afterburner. Both the -1 and -3 engines are 19 feet, 7.5 inches (5.982 meters) long, 4 feet, 0.0 inches (1.219 meters) in diameter, and weigh 3,869 pounds (1,755 kilograms).

The F-111A had a maximum speed of Mach 1.2 at Sea Level, (913 miles per hour/1,225 kilometers per hour), and Mach 2.2 (1,452 miles per hour/2,336 kilometers per hour) at 60,000 feet (18,288 meters). With 5,015.5 gallons (18,985.7 liters) of internal fuel, its range was 3,165 miles (5,094 kilometers). The aircraft could carry external fuel tanks and was capable of inflight refueling.

A General Dynamics F-111A carrying 16 cluster bombs. (U.S. Air Force 120920-F-DW547-001)

The F-111A was designed to carry either conventional or nuclear weapons. It has an internal bomb bay, one hardpoint under the fuselage, and four hardpoints under each wing. With the wings swept to 72.5°, it could carry 18 M117 bombs, but when extended to 26°, it could carry as many as 50. A General Electric M61 Vulcan 20 mm rotary cannon could be installed in the bomb bay.

The F-111A returned to Vietnam in 1972 and flew more than 4,000 combat sorties during Operations Linebacker and Linebacker II. Attacking heavily defended airfields and surface-to-air missile sites, only six additional F-111As were lost in combat.

159 F-111As were built, including 18 pre-production aircraft. 66-0018 (s/n A1-36) was later converted to an EF-111A Raven electronic warfare aircraft. It was sent to The Boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona, 11 June 1998.

General Dynamics EF-111A Raven 66-0018, photographed in October 1984. (Dan Stilovich/AirHistory.net)

Ivan Harry (“Ike”) Dethman was born 19 March 1919 at Mansfield, South Dakota. He was the sixth of eleven children of Henry H. Dethman, a carpenter, and Marie D. Christianson Dethman. He grew up in Seattle, Washington.

Dethman registered for the draft (conscription) 6 November 1940. He was described as being 5 feet, 10½ inches (1.791 meters) tall, 158 pounds (71.7 kilograms) with a ruddy complexion, brown hair and blue eyes.

On 1 March 1942, shortly after the United States entered World War II, Dethman enlisted in the United States Army. He was trained as a pilot and flew 161 combat missions in the Douglas A-26 Invader over Italy, France and Germany.

Ivan H. Dethman, 1948.

Following the War, Dethman returned to the United States where he attended the University of Washington, graduating in 1948. While there, he worked on the staff of Forester’s Quarterly.

He remained in the Air Force. His date of rank as a first lieutenant is 30 August 1946. He was assigned to the 27th Tactical Wing at Kearney Army Airfield, Nebraska, and from 1948 to 1950 was an instructor in the Air Training Command. In 1950, he attended the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.

Dethman commanded the 55th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 20th Tactical Fighter Wing, at RAF Weathersfield, England, and then the 474th Tactical Fighter Wing, 1966 to 1967.

Ike Dethman was married to Beverly Jane Smith, later to Anita Eveland, and finally, Marita A. Romson.

During his military career, Colonel Dethman was awarded the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross with one oak leaf cluster (two awards), and the Air Medal with 14 oak leaf clusters (15 awards). He retired from the Air Force 29 December 1972 after thirty years of service.

Colonel Ivan Harry Dethman, U.S. Air Force (Retired), died at Escondido, California, 24 March 2004, at the age of 85 years. His remains are interred at the Arlington National Cemetery.

© 2023, Bryan R. Swopes

25 March 1958

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Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow 25201 (RL 201) with its landing gear lowered during it’s first flight over Avro’s plant at Malton, Ontario, Canada, 25 March 1958. (Hugh MacKechnie, Avro Aircraft Ltd.)
Janusz Żurakowski, 1958

25 March 1958: At 9:51 a.m., the Avro CF-105 Arrow 1, 25201,  began its take off roll on Runway 32 at Melton, Ontario, Canada. In the cockpit was Avro’s Chief Experimental Test Pilot, Janusz (“Zura”) Żurakowski.

The prototype interceptor was followed by two chase planes, an Avro CF-100 Canuck interceptor, flown by test pilot Władysław Jan (“Spud”) Potocki, with photographer Hugh MacKechnie in the rear seat, and an Orenda-powered Canadair CL-13 Sabre, flown by Flight Lieutenant John Fraser (“Jack”) Woodman, C.D., Royal Canadian Air Force.

The Arrow lifted off after a takeoff roll of less than 3,000 feet (914 meters). Leaving the airplane’s landing gear extended, Żurakowski climbed to 5,000 feet (1,524 meters) and put the prototype through some basic maneuvers to evaluate its handling. Satisfied, he raised the landing gear and climbed to 10,000 feet (3,048 meters), where he continued to explore the flight characteristics of the CF-105 and to check its systems for proper functioning. The airplane reached a maximum altitude of 11,000 feet (3,353 meters) and speed of 250 knots (288 miles per hour/463 kilometers per hour).

Landing at Melton after 35 minutes, Żurakowski said, “Everything went exactly to plan. It handled nicely. There was no unexpected trouble.”

Avro CF-105 Arrow 1 25201 landing at Malton, Ontario, following its first flight, 25 March 1958. Speed brakes are deployed under the fuselage. (Avro Aircraft Limited)

The Avro Aircraft Limited CF-105 Arrow 1 was a prototype long-range Mach 2 interceptor built for the Royal Canadian Air Force. It was a large, twin-engine airplane with a high delta wing and an internal weapons bay. To enable high supersonic speeds, the fuselage incorporated the “area rule.”

Due to the perceived threat of the Soviet Union’s nuclear-armed, four-engine Myasishchev M-4 Molot strategic bomber (NATO reporting name “Bison”), development of the CF-105 Arrow was accelerated. The five prototype aircraft were built on a production line, rather than being hand-built as was customary up to that time.

Avro Aircraft Limited CF-105 Arrow 1, 25201 (RL201), photographed after roll out, 4 October 1957. (Library and Archives Canada, MIKAN ID 3596416)

The CF-105 was designed to be flown by a pilot and radar operator in a tandem cockpit. The airplane was 73 feet, 4 inches (22.352 meters) long (80 feet, 10 inches/24.638 meters, including the pitot probe), with a wingspan of 50 feet, 0 inches (15.240 meters) and overall height of 21 feet, 3 inches (6.401 meters). The leading edges of the wings were swept aft at 61° 27′ and incorporated a small “dog tooth” at mid span, and the trailing edges, 11° 12′. The wings had 4° anhedral, and a total area of 1,225 square feet (113.81 square meters).

The first prototype CF-105 was powered by two Pratt & Whitney J75-P-3 engines. The J75 is a two-spool axial-flow afterburning turbojet. It has a 15-stage compressor section (8 low- and and 7 high-pressure stages) and 3-stage turbine section (1 high- and 2 low-pressure stages). It was rated at 16,500 pounds of thrust (73.40 kilonewtons), and 23,500 pounds (104.53 kilonewtons) with afterburner. The J75-P-3 was 21 feet, 7.3 inches (6.586 meters) long, 3 feet, 7.0 inches (1.067 meters) in diameter and weighed 6,175 pounds (2,801 kilograms). The following Arrow 1s were to be equipped with the similar J75-P-5, while production Arrow 2s would use the more powerful Orenda PS.13 Iroquois.

CF-105 25201 had a calculated operational weight of 48,821.07 pounds (22,144.87 kilograms). With maximum internal fuel, its calculated gross weight was 68,664.07 pounds (31,145.50 kilograms). The maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) was 69,000 pounds (31,298 kilograms).

The size of the Avro CF-105 Arrow 1 can be seen in this photograph of the aircraft with ground personnel. (Avro Aircraft Limited)

The Arrow 1 carried 2,508 Imperial gallons (3,012 U.S. gallons/11,402 liters) of JP-4 in 8 fuel tanks. An additional 500 gallon (600 U.S. gallons/2,273 liters) external long range tank could be carried under the fuselage.

The CF-105 Arrow was predicted to have a maximum speed of Mach 1.98. During flight testing, the highest speed recorded in level flight was Mach 1.90, while in a dive, it reached Mach 1.95. The maximum allowable speed (VNE) was 700 knots (806 miles per hour/1,296 kilometers per hour) EAS (Equivalent Air Speed), or Mach 2.0, (MMO) which ever is lower.

Armament was intended to be four short-range Canadair CL-20 Velvet Glove radar-homing guided missiles, but when this system was cancelled in 1956, substitute weapons selected were either eight Hughes GAR-1 radar-homing or GAR-2 infrared homing guided missiles (later designed AIM-4 Falcon), or three Raytheon AAM-N-2 (later, AIM 7 Sparrow) radar-homing guided missiles in a weapons bay under the fuselage. For speed of handling, the entire weapons bay could be lowered out of the aircraft and replaced with another.

A total of five CF-105 Arrow 1s were built before the program was cancelled by Canadian Prime Minister John George Diefenbaker, on 20 February 1959. The prototypes and the production tooling were ordered to be destroyed.

Avro CF-105 Arrow I, 25201, taking off. (Avro Aircraft Limited)

Janusz Żurakowski was born 12 September 1914 at Ryżawka, Ukraine, Russian Empire. He was the son of Adam Żurakowski and Maria Antonina Szawłowska. He had two brothers, Bronisław and Adam. Following the war between war between the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and the Second Polish Republic, the family fled to Poland.

Janusz attended high school at Lublin, Poland, and learned to fly gliders. He joined the Polish Air Force in 1934, graduating from officer’s school in 1935, and was commissioned a sub-lieutenant. Trained as a fighter pilot, he was assigned to 161 Fighter Squadron, then later served as an instructor.

When Germany invaded Poland, Lieutenant Żurakowski, flying an obsolete single-engine, high-wing PZL P.7 trainer, attacked a flight of seven Dornier 17s twin-engine light bombers, damaging one. When Poland, fell, he made his way to England and joined the Royal Air Force. Pilot Officer Żurakowski served with No. 152 Squadron, and No. 234 Squadron, flying the Supermarine Spitfire Mk.I. He shot down a Messerschmitt Bf 110. He was himself shot down 24 August 1940. He was “captured” by the Home Guard, who apparently took him to be a German airman. He had been reported as killed in action, but was soon returned to his squadron. In early September 1940, he shot down two Messerschmitt Bf 109s. In April 1942, he was promoted to Flight Lieutenant. He served with several other RAF squadrons, rising to the rank of Squadron Leader. He commanded No. 315 Squadron, and was deputy wing leader of Polish No. 1 Fighter Wing. On 17 May 1943, he shot down a Messerschmitt Bf 109G.

Squadron Leader Żurakowski attended the Empire Test Pilot School in 1944. Following the War, he flew with the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) at Boscombe Down, where he flew the de Havilland DH.103 Hornet. He was a noted expert in aerobatics.

In 1947, Żurakowski left the Royal Air Force and was employed as a test pilot for Gloster.

In 1949, Squadron Leader Żurakowski married Anna Alina Danielska in Paris, France. They would have two children, George and Mark.

Żurakowski and his family emigrated to Canada in 1952. He went to work for Avro Aircraft Limited as a test pilot. On 18 September 1952, he became the first pilot in Canada to “break the sound barrier,” when he put an Avro CF-100 Mk 4 into a dive. In 1958, he was selected as the chief test pilot for the CF-105 project. He remained with Avro until 1959.

Following his career in aviation, Żurakowski operated a tourist lodge at Kamaniskeg Lake, Ontario, for the next 40 years.

For his service during World War II, Squadron Leader Żurakowski was awarded the Order Wojenny Virtuti Militari (For Military Virtue), Poland’s highest military award for heroism, and the Krzyż Walecznych (Cross of Valor) with two bars (three awards). In 1999, he was awarded the Order Zasługi Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, an order for people who have performed great service to Poland.

Shortly before his death, Żurakowski co-authored an autobiography, Janusz Żurakowski: Legend of the Skies, with Bill Zuk. (Crecy Publishing, Wythenshawe, England, 2007). His wife and son, George, wrote Janusz Żurakowski: Not Just About Flying, which was published privately in 2021.

Janusz Żurakowski died at Barry’s Bay, Ontario, Canada, 9 February 2004, at the age of 89 years.

© 2023, Bryan R. Swopes