Category Archives: Aviation

26 October 1938

Aviation, , , , , , , ,
Smith repeat's Long's climb from a car speeding across Rosamond Dry Lake to the cockpit of the Piper J-3C Cub, "Little Bear,"
Tommy Smith repeats Harley Long’s climb from a car speeding across Rosamond Dry Lake to the cockpit of the Piper J-3C Cub, “Little Bear,” 30 October 1938. Long is flying the airplane. The automobile may be a 1935 Ford Model 48. (Santa Rosa Republican, Vol. 74, Number 264, Friday, 4 November 1938, Page 17, Columns 3–5)

26 October 1938: During an attempt to set a world endurance record with the Piper J-3C Cub, Little Bear, NX21679, one of the two pilots, Thomas Harvey Smith,¹ became ill. It was decided to replace him.

The other pilot, Clyde Henry Schleiper, lowered a rope from the Cub to a car driving on Rosamond Dry Lake. (Rosamond Dry Lake is a playa just west of present day Edwards Air Force Base in the high desert of southern California.) Support personnel attached a parachute to the rope which was then lifted to the airplane. Schlieper climbed to an altitude of 2,000 feet (609.6 meters) while Smith put on the parachute. Smith then jumped, landing safely.

Rosamond Dry Lake. (Museum of Art & History)

Once again flying close to the surface, Schleiper lowered the rope. This time, supporters in the car attached a rope ladder, which Schlieper attached to the airplane. While two men in the car held the lower end of the ladder, the replacement pilot, Laurenza Harley Long ² climbed the ladder from the car to the Cub’s cockpit. The transfer took place without incident.

On 30 October, a second transfer took place. While Harley Long flew the Cub, Schlieper parachuted to the dry lake. On landing, high winds dragged his parachute several hundred feet across the sand. Tommy Smith, recovered from his illness, repeated Long’s climb up the rope ladder to the Cub’s cockpit.

Little Bear took off at Metropolitan Airport, Van Nuys, California, at 1:25 p.m., 23 October 1938. It was forced to land on Rosamond Dry Lake at 3:38 p.m., 1 November, because the auxiliary fuel tank was leaking. The total duration of the flight was 218 hours, 23 minutes.

[Note: The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) stopped recognizing records for duration in 1932 over concerns about pilot fatigue. The National Aeronautic Association also discontinued this type of record in 1935.]

Laurenza Harley Long, a flight instructor for Aircraft Associates, Municipal Airport, Long Beach, California.

Laurenza Harley Long was born 12 October 1908 in Vernon County, Missouri. He was the son of Henry Harrison Long, a farm laborer, and Olive Belle Wheeler Long.

Long’s 1940 Selective Service card describes him as having brown hair, blue eyes, and a ruddy complexion. He was 5 feet, 7½ inches (1.7145 meters) tall and weighed 180 pounds (81.65 kilograms).

Harley Long married Miss Mariam Evelyn Cochrum at Los Angeles, California, 16 December 1927. At the time, Long was employed by the Alpha Beta Market in Whittier, California. They would have a daughter, Luanne.

Long later married Mrs. Addie Mae Berg (neé Addie Mae Hamman) in Arizona, on New Years Eve, 31 December 1934. (Mrs. Berg had been granted a divorce from Selmer Berg, in May.) Long was at that time employed as a laundry driver. Harley and Addie Long would have three children, daughters Harlene and Linda, and son Laury.

Harley Long learned to fly at the Aircraft Associates Flying School at Municipal Airport, Long Beach, California, in 1935. He would later be employed there as a flight instructor.

Long served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, rising to the rank of captain. He was assigned 6th Ferrying Division, Air Transport Command. In 1946, Captain Long was stationed in Hawaii.

“AIR MEDAL AWARDED—Capt. Harley Long (right), veteran Long Beach pilot, is shown above yesterday as Col. C. E. Duncan, commanding officer of the Long Beach Air Force Reserve Training Center, awarded him the Air Medal for meritorious achievement while with the Air Forces during World War II.—(Official Air Force Photo.)” (Long Beach Press-Telegram, Vol. LXI, No. 282, Sunday, 7 November 1948, Page 40, Columns 3 and 4)

Following World War II, Long returned to Aircraft Associates. Unable to fly due to illness, he was employed as an aircraft dispatcher.

On 6 November 1948, Colonel C.E., Duncan, commanding the United States Air Force Reserve Training Center at Long Beach, California, presented the Air Medal to Captain L. H. Long, U.S. Air Force Reserve. The citation read,

Capt. L. H. Long, 0488751, Air Corps, Army of the United States. For meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight from Nov. 29, 1942, to March 2, 1946. As a pilot of both transport and tactical type aircraft, Capt. Long successfully completed many operational flights over vast stretches of Atlantic and Pacific Ocean areas, often within combat zones where enemy interception and antiaircraft fire were probable and expected. The high degree of competence and exemplary devotion to duties displayed by Capt. Long in the performance of hazardous flight duties reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.

Harley Long died 16 April 1949 at the U.S. Naval Hospital, Long Beach, California, after an extended illness which had been contracted during his wartime service in the South Pacific. His remains were interred at Rose Hills Memorial Park, Whittier, California.

Piper J-3C Cub NX21679, “Little Bear.” Left to right, Wes Carroll and Clyde Henry Schlieper, 20 October 1938. (Watson Airfotos, Inc./Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum NASM-7A3719)

NX21679 was a Piper J-3C-50 Cub. It was owned by Harvey Martin, president of Aircraft Associates, a Piper distributor for Arizona, California and Nevada. The J-3C was a single-engine, two-place, high-wing monoplane with fixed landing gear. It was developed from the earlier Taylorcraft J-2 and the Piper J-3. The cockpit had a tandem configuration. The airplane was constructed of a welded steel tube fuselage, and the wings had wooden spars and riveted aluminum ribs. It was covered with doped fabric.

Piper J-3C Cub cutaway illustration

The Piper J-3C Cub was 22 feet, 4½ inches (6.820 meters) long, with a wingspan of 35 feet, 2½ inches (10.732 meters). Its height, when parked in 3-point attitude, was 8 feet, 6 inches (2.591 meters) to the top of the propeller arc. The wing has a chord of 5 feet, 3 inches (1.600 meters). It has an angle of incidence of 1° 37′ and 0° 41′ negative twist. The variable incidence horizontal stabilizer has a span of 9 feet, 6 inches (2.896 meters). The J-3C had an approximate empty weight of 670 pounds (304 kilograms), depending on installed equipment, and a maximum gross weight of 1,110 pounds (503 kilograms)

The J-3C-50 Cub was powered by an air-cooled, normally-aspirated, 171.002-cubic-inch-displacement (2.802 liter) Continental A50-1 horizontally-opposed four-cylinder overhead-valve engine with a compression ratio of 5.4:1. It was rated at 50 horsepower at 1,900 r.p.m. at Sea Level, and required a minimum of 73-octane gasoline. The direct-drive engine turned a two-blade laminated wood propeller with a maximum diameter of 6 feet, 9 inches (2.057 meters). The A50 series engines had a dry weight ranging from 160 to 176 pounds (75.6 to 79.8 kilograms), depending on variant (-1 through -9)

The J-3C-50 had a maximum capacity of 12 gallons (45.4 liters) of gasoline and 1 gallon (3.8 liters) of lubricating oil. The airplane had a maximum speed in level flight of 90 miles per hour (145 kilometers per hour), and 122 miles per hour (196 kilometers per hour) in a glide or dive.

Piper J-3C Cub. Hans Groenhoff Collection, NASM-HGC-1121)

“Lock Haven Yellow”

Thomas H. Smith

¹ On 28 May 1939, Thomas Harvey Smith departed Old Orchard Beach, Maine, aboard his Aeronca 65C Chief, NX22456, in an attempt to fly across the Atlantic Ocean to Croydon Airport, London, England. He was never seen again. In August 1941, the crew of a RCAF Douglas Digby Mk.I (B-18A Bolo) discovered the wreck of the airplane north of Burgeo, Newfoundland. A note had been left in the airplane by Smith, saying that he was going to attempt to walk to safety,

The note reads:

Iced down at 10:40 E.S.T. A.M.
May 28-1939
Thomas H. Smith

Have some food and emergency supplies.
I’m walking South then will walk
west if I hit ocean. North-Northwest
that is down the mountain. If I can’t
find a house will try to come back
to ship. Weather sleeting – Thermo-
meter dropping – Am afraid to stay in ship
for fear of freezing while asleep.
THS.

Note left in wreck of Aeronca by Thomas Harvey Smith. (Microfilm record, Maxwell Air Force Base, via Phil Mosher, “Mystery Cloaks Fate of Flier.”)

² Disclosure: Laurenza Harley Long (12 October 1908–16 April 1949), also known as Harley L. Long, was TDiA’s 1st cousin, once removed. He was the son of my maternal grandmother’s half sister, Olive Belle Wheeler Long.

© 2024, Bryan R. Swopes

26 October 1925

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Lieutenant James H. Doolittle, USAAS, with the Curtiss R3C-2 Schneider Trophy winner, 1925. (U.S. Air Force)
Lieutenant James H. Doolittle, Air Service, United States Army, with the Curtiss R3C-2 Schneider Trophy winner, 1925. (U.S. Air Force)

26 October 1925: Lieutenant James Harold Doolittle, Air Service, United States Army, won the Coupe d’Aviation Maritime Jacques Schneider (commonly called the Schneider Trophy) when he placed first flying his Curtiss R3C-2 float plane over a 217-mile (349 kilometer) course near Bay Shores on Chesapeake Bay, Maryland.

Doolittle’s average speed for the seven laps around the triangular race course was 232.57 miles per hour (374.29 kilometers per hour). The second-place airplane, a Gloster-Napier III flown by Captain Hubert Broad, averaged 199.16 miles per hour (320.52 kilometers per hour).

Doolittle also set two Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) world records during the race: World Record for Speed Over 100 Kilometers, with an average speed of 377.83 kilometers per hour (234.77 miles per hour);¹  World Record for Speed Over 200 Kilometers, 377.16 kilometers per hour (234.36 miles per hour).²  On the following day, Doolittle set a third FAI record: World Record for Speed Over a 3 Kilometer Course, 395.5 kilometers per hour (245.75 miles per hour).³

Lt. Jmes H. Doolittle and Lt. Cyrus Bettis with the Curtiss R3C (NARA 31758AC)
Lieutenant James H. Doolittle (left) and Lieutenant Cyrus Bettis with the Curtiss R3C-2. (NARA 31758AC)

A contemporary news article commented on Jimmy Doolittle’s performance:

Gloster III Schneider Cup racer, powered by a 700 horsepower Napier Lion VII “broad arrow” W-12.

“. . . according to reports Lieut. Doolittle’s cornering was superb, and must have been to a great extent responsible for the excellent performance. Reports from America—coming, it is thought, from a reliable source—indicate that one particular engine out of the 12 built for the Pulitzer and Schneider Trophy races proved exceptionally good, as will often happen in a batch of engines, and it is believed that this engine was fitted in Doolittle’s Curtiss-Army Racer. This fact, taken in conjunction with the masterly handling of the machine, would seem to account for the wholly unexpected average speed maintained, which was, of course, far and away ahead of the speeds of the British and Italian competitors.”

—FLIGHT, The Aircraft Engineer & Airships, No. 879 (No. 44, Vol. XVII.) October 29, 1923 at Page 703

“The triangular Schneider race course stretched from Bay Shore Park to Gibson Island to the south and across Chesapeake Bay to Huntingfield Point. Contestants had to fly the 50-kilometer (31-mile) course seven times.” Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
The Curtiss R3C-2 Racer on display at the National Air and Space Museum. (Photo by Eric Long, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution)
The Curtiss R3C-2 Racer on display at the National Air and Space Museum. (Photo by Eric Long, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution)

The R3C-2 was a single-engine, single-seat, single-bay biplane, equipped with pontoons for taking off and landing on water. It was built especially for air racing. Two R3Cs were built for the United States Navy and one for the Army. (The Army aircraft is identified by a Navy Bureau of Aeronautics serial number (“Bu. No.”) A-7054. It does not seem to have been assigned an Air Service serial number.) The airplane and its V-1400 engine were both built by the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company, which had been founded by Glenn Hammond Curtiss. The R3C-2 was converted from the R3C-1, the land plane configuration which had been flown by Lieutenant Cyrus Bettis, AS, USA, to win the Pulitzer Trophy Race just two weeks earlier.

The RC3-2 is 22 feet long (6.706 meters), an increase of 2 feet, 3.5 inches (0.698 meters) over the R3C-1 configuration, resulting from the replacement of the fixed wheeled landing gear with the single-step pontoons. The upper wing span is 22 feet (6.706 meters), with a chord of 4 feet, 8¼ inches (1.429 meters). The lower wing span is 20 feet (6.096 meters) with a chord of 3 feet, 3¾ inches (1.010 meters).  Weight empty was 2,135 pounds (968 kilograms) and maximum takeoff weight was 2,738 pounds (1,242 kilograms).

Constructed of wood, the fuselage has four ash longerons and seven birch vertical bulkheads. The framework is covered with two layers of 2-inch (51 millimeter) wide, 3/32-inch (2.38 millimeter) thick spruce strips. These were placed on a 45° diagonal from the fuselage horizontal centerline, with the second layer at 90° to the first. These veneer strips were glued and tacked to the frame. The fuselage was then covered with doped fabric. The wings and tail surfaces are also of wood, with spruce ribs and a covering of spruce strips.

Lieutenant Cyrus Bettis, USAAS, with the Curtiss R3C-1 racer at Mitchel Field, Long Island, New York, 12 October 1925. The surface radiators on the wings can be seen. (Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Co.)

The single-bay wings are wire braced and contain surface radiators made of thin brass sheeting. The radiators contained 12 gallons (45.4 liters) of water, circulating at a rate of 75 gallons (283.9 liters) per minute. By using surface radiators to cool the engine, aerodynamic drag was reduced.

The Curtiss V-1400 engine was developed from the earlier Curtiss D-12. It was a water-cooled, normally aspirated, 1,399.91-cubic-inch-displacement (22.940 liter), dual overhead cam (DOHC) 60° V-12, with a compression ratio of 5.5:1. The V-1400 was rated at 510 horsepower at 2,100 r.p.m., and could produce 619 horsepower at 2,500 r.p.m. It was a direct-drive engine and turned a two-bladed duralumin fixed-pitch propeller with a diameter of 7 feet, 8 inches (2.337 meters). The propeller was designed by Sylvanus Albert Reed, Ph.D. The V-1400 engine weighed 660 pounds (299 kilograms).

The R3C-2 had a fuel capacity of 27 gallons (102 liters). Its range was 290 miles (467 kilometers).

The Coupe d’Aviation Maritime Jacques Schneider at the Science Museum, London. (Wikipedia, edit by Eric Menneteau)

Jimmy Doolittle was one of America’s foremost pioneering aviators. He set many records, won air races, tested and developed new flying equipment and techniques.

He was a highly-educated military officer, having earned his Bachelor of Arts from the University of California Berkeley School of Mines, and M.S and D.Sc. degrees in Aeronautical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

During World War II, Colonel Doolittle planned and led the famous Halsey-Doolittle Raid against Japan, 18 April 1942, for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor.

As a brigadier general, he commanded 12th Air Force in North Africa. Promoted to major general, he was given command of the 15th Air Force in the Mediterranean Theater, and commanded 8th Air Force as a lieutenant general, 1943–1945.

After the war, Lieutenant General Doolittle was placed on the inactive list. On 4 April 1985, by Act of Congress, James H. Doolittle was promoted to General. General Doolittle is the only person to have been awarded both the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Jimmy Doolittle
First Lieutenant James Harold Doolittle, Air Service, United States Army

¹ FAI Record File Number 11866

² FAI Record File Number 11867

³ FAI Record File Number 11868

© 2018, Bryan R. Swopes

26 October 1907

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Winning the Archdeacon Cup. (Wright Brothers Aeroplane Co.)
Henry Farman winning the Archdeacon Cup with his Voisin-Farman I. (Wright Brothers Aeroplane Co.)
Coupe d'Aviation Ernest Archdeacon
Coupe d’Aviation Ernest Archdeacon

26 October 1907: At Issy-les-Moulineaux, France, Henry Farman flew his Voisin-Farman I airplane a distance of approximately 771 meters (2,530 feet) in 52 seconds to win the Coupe d’Aviation Ernest Archdeacon (Ernest Archdeacon Cup) for the longest flight of the year.

The single-place single-engine biplane was built by brothers Charles and Gabriel Voisin, and was very similar to the Voisin-Delagrange I which they had built several months earlier. Henry Farman had requested some slight modifications. He first flew the airplane 30 September 1907.

The Voisin-Farman I was 44 feet, 2 inches (13.462 meters) long, with a wingspan of 35 feet, 5 inches (10.795 meters) and weighed 705 pounds (319.8 kilograms) and gross weight of 1,213 pounds (550 kilograms).

The airplane was powered by a steam-cooled, direct-injected, 487.14 cubic-inch-displacement (7.983 liter) Société Antoinette 8V 90° V-8 direct-drive engine producing 53 horsepower at 1,100 r.p.m. The engine turned a two-bladed pusher propeller. It was designed by Léon Levavasseur. The engine was 1.120 meters (3 feet, 8 inches) long, 0.630 meters (2 feet, 1 inch) wide and (0.540 meters (1 foot, 9 inches) high. It weighed 95 kilograms (209 pounds).

Charles Voisin and Henry Farman, 1907. (Unattributed)

© 2016, Bryan R. Swopes

25 October 1994: The “Dog Ship”

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The prototype Bell Model 430, C-GBLL, in flight, circa 1994. (Bell Helicopter TEXTRON)

A “dog ship” is an aircraft retained by a manufacturer for engineering development testing.

25 October 1994: At Bell Helicopter Textron’s plant at Mirabel, Quebec, Canada, the prototype Bell Model 430, registered C-GBLL, made its first flight.

The Bell Model 430 (“Four-Thirty”) is a twin-engine intermediate-weight helicopter, operated by one or two pilots, and which can be configured to carry from 6 to 11 passengers. It has advanced avionics. The standard helicopter is equipped with skid landing gear, and retractable tricycle gear is optional. The 430 was the first helicopter to be certified for instrument flight with a single pilot, without a stability augmentation system. The aircraft is also certified for Category A operations, meaning that if one engine were to fail during takeoff, the helicopter could continue to fly with the remaining engine.

Bell 430 instrument panel with some optional equipment. (Bell Helicopter TEXTRON)

The 430 was developed from the preceding Model 230 (and the 230 from the 222). It was lengthened 1 foot, 6 inches (0.457 meters) and uses a four-bladed semi-rigid main rotor.  Instead of a mechanical rotor head of trunnions, bearings and hinges, the 430 has a “soft-in-plane” fiberglass rotor yoke that is flexible enough to allow the blades to flap, feather and lead/lag.

The Bell 430 is 50 feet, 0.6 inches (15.248 meters) long, with rotors turning. The fuselage is 44 feet, 1 inch (13.437 meters) long. Overall height 12 feet, 1.6 inches (3.697 meters). The span of the stub wings is 11 feet, 6.0 inches (3.454 meters). The fixed horizontal stabilizer has a spa of 11 feet, 5.9 inches (3.453 meters) and a -9° angle of incidence. The vertical fin is canted slightly to the right to unload the tail rotor during high speed flight.

The main rotor mast is tilted 5° forward and 1.15° to the left. The forward tilt helps to keep the passenger cabin level during forward flight, while the left tilt counteracts the translating tendency caused by tail rotor thrust while in a hover.

Bell 430 prototype at Mirabel, Quebec, Canada, December 1995. (Vertiflite)

The main rotor is 42 feet, 0 inches (12.802 meters) in diameter and rotates counter-clockwise as seen from above. (The advancing blade is on the right.) The rotor turns at 348 r.p.m., resulting in a blade tip speed of 765 feet per second (233 meters per second). The blades are of composite construction. They use an asymmetrical airfoil and have a chord of 1 foot, 2.2 inches (0.361 meters). The blades are pre-coned 2° 30′.

The tail rotor is mounted on the left side of the tail boom, with the rotor disc offset 1 foot, 9.5 inches (0.572 meters) to the left of the aircraft centerline. Seen from the helicopter’s left, the tail rotor turns clockwise (the advancing blade is below the axis of rotation). The tail rotor is 6 feet, 10.5 inches (2.098 meters) in diameter, with a chord of 10.0 inches (0.254 meters). The blades are constructed of a stainless steel spar, with a bonded stainless steel skin over an aluminum honeycomb. The tail rotor turns 1,881 r.p.m.

Three-view drawing of the Bell Model 430 with retractable tricycle landing gear. (Bell Helicopter TEXTRON)

In standard configuration, the wheel-equipped Model 430 has an empty weight of 5,364 pounds. Its maximum gross weight is 9,300 pounds (4,218 kilograms).

The 430 is powered by two Rolls-Royce Series IV M250 C40B FADEC turboshaft engines. (The engine was previously known as the Allison 250-C40B. Rolls-Royce acquired Allison in 1995). The engine has full digital electronic controls. The 250-C40B uses a single-stage centrifugal compressor, reverse-flow combustion chamber, and a 4-stage axial-flow turbine section (2-stage gas producer turbine, N1, and 2-stage power turbine, N2.) At 100% N1, the gas producer rotates at 51,000 r.p.m. and the power turbine turns 30,908 r.p.m. The output drive speed is 9,598 r.p.m.

The engines have a Maximum Continuous Power rating of 695 shaft horsepower, and 808 s.h.p. for takeoff (5-minute limit). If an engine fails, the remaining engine can be operated at 940 s.h.p. for 30 seconds; 880 s.h.p for 2 minutes; and 835 s.h.p. for 30 minutes.

At Sea Level, the Bell Model 430 has a cruise speed of 133 knots (153 miles per hour/246 kilometers per hour), and maximum cruise of 147 knots (169 miles per hour/272 kilometers per hour). VNE is 150 knots (173 miles per hour/278 kilometers per hour). The helicopter’s service ceiling is 20,000 feet (6,096 meters). At its maximum gross weight, the 430 can hover in ground effect (HIGE) at 10,400 feet (3,170 meters) and out of ground effect (HOGE) at 6,200 feet (1,890 meters).

The fuel capacity of the 430 is 187.5 U.S. gallons (708 liters). This gives the helicopter a range of 286 nautical miles (329 statute miles/530 kilometers). A 48 gallon (182 liter) auxiliary fuel tank can be installed in the baggage compartment. With skid landing gear, the fuel capacity is increased to 247 gallons (935 liters), increasing the range to 353 nautical miles (406 statute miles/654 kilometers).

The Bell Model 430 received its Transport Canada certification on 23 February 1996, with the first production aircraft delivered the following month. Production continued for 12 years. The final 430 was delivered in May 2008.

This helicopter is an early production Bell Model 222, sometimes unofficially called a “222A”. (Wikipedia)

C-GBLL was originally built as the sixth Model 222, serial number 47006, and registered by the Federal Aviation Administration as N2759D. The aircraft was used as the prototype of the Bell 222B, which upgraded the engines from the original 618-shaft horsepower Lycoming LTS-101-650C3 turboshaft engines to 680 s.h.p. LTS-101-750Cs. The diameter of the main rotor was increased from 40 feet to 42 feet.

In 1983, N2759D was next used as the prototype for the Model 222UT, which replaced the retractable tricycle landing gear with fixed skids constructed of tubular aluminum. This simplified the helicopter, decreased its empty weight and allowed for an increased fuel capacity. N2759D was transferred to Bell Helicopter Textron Canada at Mirabel. Its U.S. registration cancelled by the FAA on 17 October 1990, and it was re-registered C-GBLL by Transport Canada.

The skid-equipped Bell Model 222UT is often used as an emergency medical transport helicopter. This aircraft, operated by Mercy Air Service Inc., is standing by at Mohave Airport (MHV) in the high desert of southern California. (Unattributed)

Early problems with the Lycoming LTS-101 adversely affected sales of the Bell 222. Bell designed a new variant equipped with Allison 250-C30G engines. This helicopter was designated the Model 230. The first prototype, C-GEXP, with skid gear, made its first flight on 12 August 1991, followed by the second prototype—C-GBLL—on 3 October 1991.

Bell 230 prototype C-GBLL, minus main rotor and mast, and tail rotor, circa 1993. Compare the exhaust stacks to those of the 222UT in the image above. (Fiveprime)

The 430 prototype was given a new serial number, s/n 43901.

Bell 430 prototype C-GBLL, stripped, circa 2012. (Photograph © Pierre Gillard. Used with permission)
Bell 430 C-BCHD (s/n 43902) was the second prototype of the Model 430. This helicopter, previously registered C-GEXP, was built as a Bell 222UT, s/n 47503, before being converted to the first Model 230 prototype in 1991. (© Pierre Gillard Used with permission)

© 2018, Bryan R. Swopes

25 October 1979

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McDonnell Douglas F-4E-67-MC Phantom II, 78-0744, the last of 5,057 Phantoms built at St. Louis, 25 October 1979. (McDonnell Douglas Corporation)

25 October 1979: The 5,057th and very last Phantom II—an F-4E-67-MC, U.S. Air Force serial number 78-0744—was rolled out at the McDonnell Douglas Corporation plant, Lambert Field (STL), St. Louis, Missouri, and the production line was closed.

78-0744 was transferred to the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) under the Foreign Military Sales program Peace Pheasant II and assigned to the 17th Tactical Fighter Wing based at Cheongju International Airport (CJJ). One source says that it was “written off” but details are lacking.

McDonnell Douglas F-4E-67-MC Phantom II 78-0744 in United States Air Force markings. (U.S. Air Force)
McDonnell Douglas F-4E-67-MC Phantom II 78-0744 in United States Air Force markings. (U.S. Air Force)

© 2017, Bryan R. Swopes