Martin-Omaha B-29-45-MO Superfortress 44-86292, Enola Gay, being moved into position over the pit to load Little Boy, 5 August 1945. (U.S. Air Force)
5 August 1945: In the afternoon, the Glenn L. Martin Company B-29-45-MO Superfortress 44-86292 was towed into position over a 13-foot × 16-foot (3.9 × 4.9 meters) concrete pit on the island of Tinian in the Marshall Group. Down in that pit was the most destructive weapon of war yet devised by man: The Mark I, code named Little Boy.
Little Boy was a nuclear bomb, designed to explode with unimaginable force when two masses of highly enriched uranium were forced together at very high speed. This was a “gun-type” bomb, considered to be so simple that it was not even tested before it was used.
Several hours later, at 0245 6 August 1945, the B-29, which had been named Enola Gay, took off from North Field and headed toward Hiroshima, Japan.
Bomb Unit L-11 in the pit before loading aboard Enola Gay, 5 August 1945. (U.S. Air Force)
Test pilots were not always men. These four women, members of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs), were assigned as engineering test pilots, testing new aircraft and modifications. The airplane behind them is a North American Aviation B-25 Mitchell twin-engine medium bomber. From left to right, Dorothy Dodd Eppstein, Hellen Skjersaa Hansen, Doris Burmeister Nathan and Elizabeth V. Chadwick Dressler. (U.S. Air Force)
5 August 1943: The U.S. Army Air Forces’ Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) under the direction of Nancy Harkeness Love, and the Women’s Flying Training Detachment, led by Jacqueline (“Jackie”) Cochran, are combined to form the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs). General Henry H. (“Hap”) Arnold assigned Jackie Cochran as the Director. Nancy Love was named executive for WASP ferrying operations.
Cochran, Jacqueline (“Jackie”), Director, Women Airforce Service Pilots. (National Archives and Records Administration 4A-23096-K1210)
Cochran had previously served as a Flight Captain with the Royal Air Force Air Transport Auxiliary. After a period of six months, she had returned to the United States at the request of General Arnold, where she served on his staff. In June 1942, she became the first first woman to fly a bomber across the Atlantic Ocean when she ferried a Lockheed Hudson from Canada to Scotland.
Nancy Harkness Love in WASP uniform. The shoulder insignia are those of the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron. (Texas Woman’s University Women Airforce Service Pilots – Official Archive, BornDigital.HOMalone.3)
WASP recruits had to be between 21 and 35 years old, in good health, be a high school graduate, and have a pilot’s license with a minimum of 200 hours flight time. The WASPs received more than 25,000 applications. Of these, 1,879 were accepted. They received four months of military flight training at Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas. Their training was essentially the same primary, basic and advanced training as Army Air Forces pilots. On graduation they received a commercial pilot certificate. 1,074 graduated from training.
WASP pilots were not military personnel. They were civil service employees of the federal government. Trainees were paid $150 per month, and graduates, $250. They received a allowance of $6 per day when away from their assigned base. The women were required to pay for their quarters and meals.
Women Airforce Service Pilots dress uniform. (National Air and Space Museum)
WASP dress uniforms consisted of a jacket and skirt of Santiago Blue wool, two-ply gabardine, and a beret made of the same material. They wore a white shirt with a black tie. Insignia were gold-colored.
WASP pilots Frances Green, Margaret Kirchner, Ann Waldner and Blanche Osborne at the four-engine school at Lockbourne Army Airfield, Ohio, with a Boeing B-17. (U.S. Air Force)
WASPs ferried aircraft from the manufacturers’ factories to military bases, towed targets, and flew airplanes for training bombardiers and navigators. More than 100 of the women, on graduation, were sent directly to a nine-week transition training course on the Martin B-26 Marauder twin-engine medium bomber, and airplane with a reputation of being difficult to fly.
Four members of the United States Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) receive final instructions as they chart a cross-country course on the flight line of U.S. airport. Assigned to the ferrying division of the United States Army Air Transport Command, the women pilots belong to the first class of American women to complete a rigorous nine-week transitional flight training course in handling B-26 Marauder medium bombers. They have been given special assignments with the U.S. Army Air Forces as tow target pilots. (National Archives and Records Administration NARA-535781)WASP Ruth Ellen Dailey with a Lockheed P-38 Lightning. (U.S. Air Force)Florene Miller, one of the original members of Nancy Love’s Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron, preparing a North American Aviation P-51D Mustang for a ferry flight from the factory at Inglewood, California. (U.S. Air Force)
They ferried P-38 Lightnings, P-47 Thunderbolts, P-51 Mustangs, B-17 Flying Fortresses, B-25 Mitchells, and many other types. Some were involved in testing newly-built aircraft, and few served as test pilots at Wright Field, where one, Ann Gilpin Baumgartner, flew the Bell XP-59A Airacomet. Two WASPS, Dora Jean Dougherty and Dorothea Johnson Moorman, were trained to fly the B-29 Superfortress. During the war, 38 WASPs died in service.
Lieutenant Colonel Paul W. Tibbets with WASP pilots Dorothea Johnson Moorman and Dora Jean Dougherty, at Eglin Field, June 1944. (U.S. Air Force)
As the need for combat pilots lessened in the latter part of World War II, Army Air Forces pilots began to take over the flights that had been assigned to WASPs. The Women Airforce Service Pilots were disbanded 20 December 1944.
After the U.S. Air Force became a separate military service in 1947, Jackie Cochran and Nancy Harkness Love were given commissions as lieutenant colonels, United States Air Force Reserve.
Neil Alden Armstrong, Astronaut, The First Human to Set Foot on the Surface of The Moon. (NASA)
The following is the official NASA biography from the John H. Glenn Research Center:
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
John H. Glenn Research Center
Lewis Field
Cleveland, Ohio 44135
Neil A. Armstrong
Neil A. Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, was born in Wapakoneta, Ohio, on August 5, 1930. He began his NASA career in Ohio.
After serving as a naval aviator from 1949 to 1952, Armstrong joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in 1955. His first assignment was with the NACA Lewis Research Center (now NASA Glenn) in Cleveland. Over the next 17 years, he was an engineer, test pilot, astronaut and administrator for NACA and its successor agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
As a research pilot at NASA’s Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif., he was a project pilot on many pioneering high speed aircraft, including the well known, 4000-mph X-15. He has flown over 200 different models of aircraft, including jets, rockets, helicopters and gliders.
Armstrong transferred to astronaut status in 1962. He was assigned as command pilot for the Gemini 8 mission. Gemini 8 was launched on March 16, 1966, and Armstrong performed the first successful docking of two vehicles in space.
As spacecraft commander for Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing mission, Armstrong gained the distinction of being the first man to land a craft on the moon and first to step on its surface.
Armstrong subsequently held the position of Deputy Associate Administrator for Aeronautics, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. In this position, he was responsible for the coordination and management of overall NASA research and technology work related to aeronautics.
He was Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Cincinnati between 1971-1979. During the years 1982-1992, Armstrong was chairman of Computing Technologies for Aviation, Inc., Charlottesville, Va.
He received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Purdue University and a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Southern California. He holds honorary doctorates from a number of universities.
Armstrong is a Fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and the Royal Aeronautical Society; Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and the International Astronautics Federation.
He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco. He served as a member of the National Commission on Space (1985-1986), as Vice-Chairman of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident (1986), and as Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee for the Peace Corps (1971-1973).
Armstrong has been decorated by 17 countries. He is the recipient of many special honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom; the Congressional Space Medal of Honor; the Explorers Club Medal; the Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy; the NASA Distinguished Service Medal; the Harmon International Aviation Trophy; the Royal Geographic Society’s Gold Medal; the Federation Aeronautique Internationale’s Gold Space Medal; the American Astronautical Society Flight Achievement Award; the Robert J. Collier Trophy; the AIAA Astronautics Award; the Octave Chanute Award; and the John J. Montgomery Award.
Armstrong passed away on Aug. 25, 2012 following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures. He was 82.
Neil Alden Armstrong, age 6Ensign Neil A. Armstrong, United States Naval Reserve, 23 May 1952. (U.S. Navy)Ensign Neil Alden Armstrong, United States Navy, circa 1951. (U.S. Navy)Ensign Neil A. Armstrong, as wingman to Lieutenant (j.g.) Ernie Moore, is flying the second Grumman F9F-2 Panther, Bu. No. 125127 (marked S 116), assigned to VF-51, USS Essex (CV-9), 1951. (Naval Aviation Museum)3 September 1951, Ensign Neil A. Armstrong was flying his Grumman F9F-2 Panther, Bu. No., 125122, escorting a photo reconnaissance aircraft over Korea when his airplane was damaged by enemy ground fire. At low altitude, he struck an anti-aircraft cable which further damaged the fighter and made it impossible to land. Armstrong was able to reach friendly territory and ejected safely. This photograph was taken a short time later. (U.S. Navy)NASA Engineering Test Pilot Neil A. Armstrong, 1958. (NASA)NASA test pilot Neil A. Armstrong dons a David Clark Co. MC-2 full-pressure suit before his first flight in the North American Aviation X-15 hypersonic research rocketplane, at Edwards AFB, 30 November 1960. (NASA)Neil Armstrong with the first North American Aviation X-15A, 56-6670, on Rogers Dry Lake after a flight, 1960. Armstrong made seven flights in the X-15, including the longest, “Neil’s Cross Country”. (NASA)NASA Research Test Pilot Neil A. Armstrong with the Bell X-14 at NASA Ames Research Center, February 1964. (NASA via Jet Pilot Overseas)NASA Project Gemini astronaut Neil A. Armstrong during a field training exercise near Cimarron, New Mexico, June 1964. (NASA via Jet Pilot Overseas)Astronauts David R. Scott, Pilot (left) and Neil A. Armstrong, Command Pilot (right) with U.S. Air Force pararescue jumpers at the end of the nearly disastrous Gemini 8 mission, 17 March 1966. (NASA)NASA Project Apollo Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong with a Bell Aerosystems Lunar Landing Research Vehicle, 1969. (Ralph Morse/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)Neil Alden Armstrong, Mission Commander, Apollo 11, 16 July 1969. (NASA)Neil Armstrong steps onto the Moon, 10:56 p.m. EDT, 20 July 1969. (NASA)Neil Alden Armstrong inside the Lunar Module Eagle on the surface of The Moon, 20 July 1969. (Edwin E. Aldrin, NASA)Professor Neil A. Armstrong in his classroom at the University of Cincinnati College of Engineering, 1974. (Peggy Palange, UC Public Information Office)An 8-foot tall bronze statue of Neil Alden Armstrong, sculpted by Chas Fagan, sits in front of the Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana.
Zeppelin LZ 4 over the Bodensee. (Archiv der Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH)
5 August 1908: While on a 24-hour demonstration flight from its base at Lake Constance, down the Rhine to Strasbourg and return, the airship Zeppelin LZ 4 stopped for emergency repairs to one of its engines.
While moored at Flugfeld Stuttgart-Echterdingen, the airship was caught by a storm which tore it away from its mooring. It crashed and caught fire. LZ 4 was completely destroyed.
Airship LZ4 after destruction at Flugfeld Stuttgart-Echterdingen, 5 August 1908.
A prototype Agusta A109 Hirundo hovering in ground effect. (Agusta)
4 August 1971: At its Cascina Costa plant, near the Aeroporto di Milano-Malpensa, northwest of Milan, Italy, Agusta test pilot Ottorino Lancia made the first flight of the prototype Agusta A109 Hirundo, serial number 7101. Also on board was one of the helicopter’s designers, Paolo Bellevita.
The Agusta A109 is an 8-place, light, twin-engine helicopter with a four-blade, fully-articulated main rotor and retractable landing gear. It can be flown by one pilot and carry up to seven passengers. The helicopter is certified for flight in visual meteorological conditions. It was certified by Italy’s Ente Nazionale per l’Aviazione Civile (ENAC) on 28 May 1975, and by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration the following month. The first production helicopters were delivered in 1976.
The original production variant A109 was 10.71 meters (35 feet, 2 inches) in length. The fuselage had a maximum width of 2.88 meters (9 feet, 5 inches) and the helicopter’s overall height was 3.30 meters (10 feet, 10 inches). The maximum gross weight was 2,450 kilograms, or 5,400 pounds.
The main rotor diameter of the A109 is 11.00 meters (36 feet, 1 inch), and turns counter-clockwise, as seen from above. (The advancing blade is on the helicopter’s right side.) In normal operation, the main rotor turns 365–385 r.p.m. (95–100%). In autorotation, the range is 346–424 r.p.m. (90–110%). The two-bladed semi-rigid tail rotor had a diameter of 2.03 meters (6 feet, 8 inches). It is positioned on the left side of the tail boom in pusher configuration. The tail rotor turns clockwise, when seen from the helicopter’s left side. (The advancing blade is below the axis of rotation.)
The A109 was powered by two Allison 250-C20B turboshaft engines. They are rated at 346 shaft horsepower (113% torque), each, for takeoff (five minute limit). With one engine inoperative (OEI), the maximum power of the remaining engine is 400 shaft horsepower (five minute limit) and 385 shaft horsepower, maximum continuous power.
The A109’s maximum speed (VNE) is 168 miles per hour (270 kilometers per hour). The maximum operating altitude is 15,000 feet (4,572 meters). The helicopter’s total useable fuel capacity is 550.0 liters (145.3 gallons).
A prototype Agusta A109 Hirundo in ground effect hover. (Agusta)
The A109 remains in production in both civil and military variants. It is produced in Italy by Leonardo S.p.A. (formerly, AgustaWestland) and in China by Jiangxi Change Agusta Helicopter Co., Ltd.
