2 April 1942

Aviation, , , , , , , ,
B-25 Mitchell bombers aboard USS Hornet (CV-8), with USS Gwin (DD-433) and USS Nashville (CL-43), somewhere in the Pacific, April 1942. (U.S. Navy)
B-25 Mitchell bombers aboard USS Hornet (CV-8), with USS Gwin (DD-433) and USS Nashville (CL-43), somewhere in the Pacific, April 1942. (U.S. Navy)

2 April 1942: After loading sixteen North American Aviation B-25B Mitchell medium bombers and their crews of the 17th Bombardment Group (Medium) at NAS Alameda, the recently commissioned United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8) departed San Francisco Bay with her escorts and headed for a secret rendezvous with Vice Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., and Task Force 16.

The new carrier was under command of Captain Marc A. Mitscher. The strike group was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel James H. (“Jimmy”) Doolittle, U.S. Army Air Corps. Until the second day at sea, only six U.S. military officers knew of the mission.

The photograph above shows some of the bombers secured on Hornet‘s flight deck. An escorting destroyer, USS Gwin (DD-433) is closing from astern, with light cruiser USS Nashville (CL-43) in the distance. Two more ships are on the horizon.

USS Hornet (CV-8), 27 October 1942. (U.S. Navy)
USS Hornet (CV-8), Captain Marc A. Mitscher, U.S.N., commanding, 27 October 1942. The aircraft carrier is painted in Measure 12 camouflage, Sea Blue 5-S, Ocean Gray 5-O and Haze Gray 5-H. (U.S. Navy)

USS Hornet was a brand new Yorktown-class aircraft carrier, commissioned 20 October 1941. It had just completed its shakedown cruise in the Atlantic when it was sent west for this mission.

The ship was 824 feet, 9 inches (251.384 meters) long, overall, with a maximum width of 114 feet (34.747 meters). Hornet‘s dimensions at the waterline (full load displacement) were 761 feet (232 meters) long with a beam of 83 feet, 3 inches (25.375 meters). Its draft was 28 feet (8.5 meters).

The flight deck had two hydraulic catapults, and three elevators for bringing aircraft up from the hangar deck. A third catapult was on the hangar deck, launching aircraft laterally.

Powered by four geared steam turbines driving four propeller shafts, Hornet‘s engines produced 120,000 shaft horsepower. The carrier’s maximum speed was 33.84 knots (39.94 miles per hour/62.67 kilometers per hour), and maximum range, 12,500 nautical miles (14,385 kilometers).

North American Aviation B-25B Mitchell medium bomber tied down on the flight deck of U.S.S. Hornet (CV-8). An escorting destroyer, USS Gwin, (DD- ) closes on the carrier's right rear quarter. (U.S. Navy)
A 17th Bombardment Group North American Aviation B-25B Mitchell medium bomber tied down on the flight deck of U.S.S. Hornet (CV-8). An escorting destroyer, USS Gwin, (DD-433 ), Commander John S. Higgins, U.S.N., commanding, closes on the carrier’s right rear quarter. The sixteen Army bombers used all the space available on Hornet’s flight deck.(U.S. Navy)

The aircraft carrier’s primary armament was its air wing, consisting of a squadron each of Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters, Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers and Douglas TBD Devastator torpedo bombers. For the Halsey-Doolittle Raid, Hornet‘s air wing was stored on the hangar deck and unavailable.

“To make room for the Army bombers, Hornet had struck her own planes below. Wildcats and Devastators, with wings folded, and dismantled SBDs were packed into every available space, even hung from the overhead. So, except for her few guns, the carrier was defenseless until she rendezvoused with Task Force 16. . . .”

—History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Volume III, The Rising Sun in the Pacific, by Samuel Eliot Morison, Little, Brown & Company, Boston, 1988, Chapter XX at Page 392.

For defense, the ship was lightly armored, with 2.5–4 inches (6.35–10.2 centimeters) of belt and deck armor. She also carried eight 5-inch, 38-caliber (5″/38) dual-purpose guns in single mounts, thirty 20mm Oerlikon autocannon, twenty water-cooled 1.1-inch, 75-caliber (1.1″/75) guns in four-gun mounts, and twenty-four Browning .50-caliber (12.7 millimeter) machine guns.

Including the ship’s air wing, the complement was 2,919 men.

USS Hornet fought at the Battle of Midway, June 3–7, 1942. She was sunk at the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, 26 October 1942, having been hit by two airplanes, 8 bombs, 16 torpedoes and an unknown number of 5-inch shells.¹

USS Hornet (CV-8) at Peral Harbor, Hawaii, following the Halsey-Doolittle Raid, 1942. The ships is painted in Measure 12 (Modified) camouflage, with Sea Blue 5-s, Ocean Gray 5-O and Haze Gray 5-H coloration.
USS Hornet (CV-8) at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, following the Halsey-Doolittle Raid, 1942. The ship is painted in Measure 12 (Modified) camouflage with splotches, with Navy Blue 5-N, Sea Blue 5-S, Ocean Gray 5-O and Haze Gray 5-H coloration.

¹ The research vessel R/V Petrel located the wreck of USS Hornet on the sea floor in January 2019. The ship lies at a depth of 5,330 meters (17,487 feet).

© 2019, Bryan R. Swopes

Major James Thomas Byford McCudden, V.C., D.S.O., M.C., M.M.

Aviation, ,
James Thomas Byford McCudden, V.C., D.S.O., M.C., M.M., Royal Flying Corps, portrait by William Orpen, 1918. (Imperial War Museum)

ACES OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR AND THEIR AIRCRAFT (Q 68557) Major James Thomas Byford McCudden VC DSO MC of No. 60 Squadron RAF seated in the cockpit of an Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5 biplane. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205357343

Interred at Wavans British Cemetery, Beauvoir-Wavans, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France.

© 2023, Bryan R. Swopes

1 April 1960, 11:40:09 UTC, T minus Zero

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TIROS-1/Thor-Able 148 launches from Launch Complex 17A at Cape Canaveral, Florida, 11:40:09 UTC, 1 April 1960. (NASA MSFC-75-SA-4105-2C)

1 April 1960: TIROS-1, the first successful Earth-orbiting weather satellite, was launched at 6:40:09 a.m. (11:40:09 UTC), from Launch Complex 17A at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard a Thor-Able II liquid-fueled rocket. The satellite’s name is an acronym for Television Infra Red Observation Satellite.

The satellite was placed into a nearly-circular low Earth orbit with an apogee of 417.8 miles (672.4 kilometers) and perigee of 396.2 miles (637.6 kilometers). It is still in orbit and circles the Earth once every 1 hour, 37 minutes, 42 seconds. TIROS-1 remained operational for 78 days.

TIROS-1 undergoes vibration testing at the RCA Astro-Electronic Products Division, Princeton, New Jersey. (NASA GPN-2003-00028)

TIROS-1 was built by the RCA Astro-Electronics Division at Princeton, New Jersey. It was constructed of of aluminum and stainless steel. It had a diameter of 3 feet, 6 inches (1.067 meters) and height of 1 foot, 7 inches (0.483 meters.) The satellite weighed 270 pounds (122.47 kilograms). Two television cameras were installed on the satellite. They received electrical power from storage batteries charged by 9,200 solar cells. Images were stored on magnetic tape, then transmitted when in range of a ground receiving station. The first image, which showed large-scale cloud formations, was transmitted the day of the launch.

Technicians mount the TIROS-1 weather satellite to the Thor-Able upper stage carrier. (NASA)

The launch vehicle, Thor 148, consisted of a liquid-fueled Douglas Aircraft Company Thor DM-18A first stage (based on the SM-75 intermediate range ballistic missile) and an Aerojet Able-II second stage, which was developed from the Vanguard rocket series. The Thor-Able was 91 feet (27.8 meters) tall and 8 feet (2.44 meters) in diameter. It weighed 113,780 pounds (51,608 kilograms). The first stage was powered by a Rocketdyne LR79-7 rocket engine which burned RP-1 and liquid oxygen. The engine produced 170,560 pounds of thrust (758.689 kilonewtons) and burned for 165 seconds.

The Able-II second stage was powered by an Aerojet AJ-10 engine which produced 7,800 pounds of thrust (34.696 kilonewtons). The propellant was a hypergolic combination of nitric acid and UDMH (hydrazine). It burned for 115 seconds.

There were sixteen Thor-Able two-stage rockets launched. TIROS-1 was placed in orbit by the last of that series.

The first television image of Earth, transmitted by TIROS-1, 1 April 1960. The image shows Maine, Nova Scotia, the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Atlantic Ocean. (NASA)

© 2019, Bryan R. Swopes

1 April 1959

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The Mercury 7: Front row, left to right, LCDR Walter Marty Schirra, USN; CAPT Donald Kent Slayton, USAF; LCOL John Herschel Glenn, Jr., USMC; LT Malcolm Scott Carpenter, USN. Back row, left to right, LCDR Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr., USN; CAPT Virgil Ivan Grissom, USAF; CAPT Leroy Gordon Cooper, Jr., USAF. (NASA)
The Mercury 7: Front row, left to right, LCDR Walter Marty Schirra, USN; CAPT Donald Kent Slayton, USAF; LCOL John Herschel Glenn, Jr., USMC; LT Malcolm Scott Carpenter, USN. Back row, left to right, LCDR Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr., USN; CAPT Virgil Ivan Grissom, USAF; CAPT Leroy Gordon Cooper, Jr., USAF. (NASA)

“The selection procedures for Project Mercury were directed by a NASA selection committee, consisting of Charles Donlan, a senior management engineer; Warren North, a test pilot engineer; Stanley White and William Argerson, flight surgeons; Allen Gamble and Robert Voas psychologists; and George Ruff and Edwin Levy, psychiatrists. The committee recognized that the unusual conditions associated with spaceflight are similar to those experienced by military test pilots. In January 1959, the committee received and screened 508 service records of a group of talented test pilots, from which 110 candidates were assembled. Less than one month later, through a variety of interviews and a battery of written tests, the NASA selection committee pared down this group to 32 candidates.

“Each candidate endured even more stringent physical, psychological, and mental examinations, including total body x-rays, pressure suit tests, cognitive exercises, and a series of unnerving interviews. Of the 32 candidates, 18 were recommended for Project Mercury without medical reservations. On April 1, 1959, Robert Gilruth, the head of the Space Task Group, and Donlan, North, and White selected the first American astronauts. The “Mercury Seven” were Scott Carpenter, L. Gordon Cooper, Jr., John H. Glenn, Jr., Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Alan B. Shepard, Jr., and Donald K. “Deke” Slayton.”

—40th Anniversary of the Selection of the Mercury Seven http://history.nasa.gov/40thmerc7/intro.htm

1 April 1954

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1 April 1954: Dwight David Eisenhower, Thirty-fourth President of the United States of America, signed Public Law 325, an Act of Congress establishing the United States Air Force Academy “for the instruction and preparation for military service of selected persons who shall be known as Air Force cadets.

A commission to select a site for the Air Force Academy was appointed by Secretary of the Air Force Harold E. Talbot. After reviewing 580 proposed locations, three suitable sites were chosen: Alton, Illinois, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The site finally selected is on the eastern slope of the Rampart Range of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, and covers 18,455 acres (7,468 hectares). The Cadet Area is at an elevation of 7,258 feet (2,212 meters) above Sea Level.

The future location of the North Gate, United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado. (U.S. Air Force)

While planning and construction of the future Academy was under construction, the first class of cadets, 306 men the Class of 1959, began their training and education at Lowry Air Force Base, Denver, Colorado, 11 July 1955.

The first class of cadets of the U.S. Air Force Academy, the Class of 1959, are sworn in at Lowry Air Force Base, 11 July 1959. (U.S. Air Force)

The Academy’s first superintendent was Lieutenant General Hubert Reilly Harmon, U.S. Air Force. Harmon had retired 27 February 1953, but was recalled to active duty by request of President Eisenhower, 8 November 1953. General Harmon is considered to be “The Father of the U.S. Air Force Academy.”

Lieutenant General Hubert Reilly Harmon, United States Air Force

“General Harmon’s efforts directly resulted in the establishment of the U.S. Air Force Academy. His visionary leadership has earned him this title.

“General Harmon was a crucial force in the conception and founding of the U.S. Air Force Academy; this role became the capstone of his career. Almost as soon as the Stearns-Eisenhower Board issued its report on the service academies in 1949, General Harmon was assigned as Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff of the Air Force for Air Force Academy matters with responsibility for all planning of the future academy. He took this trust very seriously, and personally coordinated all issues concerning the planning, location, and beginnings of the new institution. He and a small staff worked with Congress to draft the legislation that established the Academy on April 1, 1954. Though retired in 1953, after thirty eight years of service, he returned to active service in November of that year at the request of President Eisenhower, and took his last assignment in August 1954 as first Superintendent of the new Academy. Sacrificing his already failing health, he served for almost two more years before retiring in July 1956. He died in 1957 of lung cancer.

“General Harmon’s contributions to establish the Academy and its legacy as a world-class leadership and academic proving ground deserve our respect and admiration. His achievements have a lasting impact on our Air Force and the officers who graduate from this fine institution.”

—Memorandum in celebration of the U.S. Air Force Academy’s 50th Anniversary, 1 April 2004, signed by James G. Roche, Secretary of the Air Force, and General John P. Jumper, Chief of Staff

The Terrazo. (United States Air Force Academy)

The architectural firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, of Chicago, Illinois, was selected to design the Academy. The lead architect was Walter Andrew Netsch, Jr. A modernist style was chosen, featuring “an asymmetrical arrangement of buildings within a rectangular plan, the raising of buildings on pilotis [pillars, or stilts] and the extensive use of glass.”

An illustration of the original concept of the Air Force Academy features an extensive use of glass. (U.S. Air Force)
An architectural model of the U.S. Air Force Academy campus was unveiled 14 May 1955. (U.S. Air Force)
U.S. Air Force Academy campus under construction, circa June 1955.
U.S. Air Force Academy under construction, looking northwest. (U.S. Air Force)

The most dramatic building at the Academy is the Cadet Chapel, with its 17 spires. The Chapel was completed in 1962. It is currently undergoing a multi-year renovation.

Vandenberg Hall, the original cadet dormitory, has recently been thoroughly renovated and modernized.

Cadet Chapel. (United States Air Force Academy)

© 2019, Bryan R. Swopes