Tag Archives: Aéroport de Paris – Le Bourget

19 January 1950

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Avro Canada CF-100 Mark 1, 18101 (Avro Canada, via Harold A. Skaarup)

19 January 1950: At Malton Airport,¹ northwest of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the Gloster Aircraft Company’s chief test pilot, Squadron Leader William Arthur Waterton, AFC and Bar, GM, took the prototype Avro Canada CF-100 Mark 1, serial number 18101, for its first flight. Waterton, a Canadian, had been loaned to Avro Canada by Gloster for the test flight. (Avro Canada and Gloster were both owned by the Hawker Siddeley Group. Waterton was the most experienced jet aircraft pilot in the group at the time.)

The first flight lasted approximately 40 minutes, reaching 180 knots (207 miles per hour/333 kilometers per hour) and 5,000 feet (1524 meters). The only problem was that the button for cycling the landing gear would not operate, so Waterton decided to continue the flight with the gear down.² After landing Waterton said,

     “She handled extremely well. Avro Canada seems to have overcome many points of criticism in existing fighters.”

—Manchester Evening News,  #25,159 Friday, January 20, 1950, Page 5 Column 4

Bill Waterton later wrote,

     The trouble had been simple. The shock-absorbing undercarriage legs were British developed and, unknown to the makers, were contracting slightly in the cold. Consequently, when the ‘plane’s weight came off the wheels, the legs did not “stretch” as much as they should have done—there was insufficient “stretch” to release the electrically triggered safety switch. When modifications were made the undercarriage gave no further trouble.

—The Quick and The Dead, Squadron Leader W.A. Waterton, G.M., A.F.C. and bar. Frederick Muller Ltd., London, 1956, Chapter 11 at Page 168

Avro Canada CF-101 Mark 1 18101 with government officials and test pilot Bill Waterton (Library and Archives Canada, MIKAN No. 4047130/Neil Corbett, Test & Research Pilots, Flight Test Engineers)

CF-100 18101 was the first of two Mark 1 prototypes for a twin-engine, all-weather, long range fighter. It had originally been designated XC-100. It was a large two-place aircraft, with a low, straight wing and a high-mounted horizontal stabilizer. It had tricycle landing gear. Each strut mounted two tires to support the weight of the aircraft. The two engines were mounted in long nacelles above the wings and on either side of the fuselage.

The CF-100 Mark 1 prototypes were 52 feet, 6 inches (16.002 meters) long, with a wing span of 52 feet, 0 inches (15.850 meters) and overall height of 14 feet, 6.4 inches (4.430 meters). They had an empty weight of 19,185 pounds (8,702 kilograms), and gross weight of 31,877 pounds (14,459 kilograms).

The prototypes were powered by two Rolls-Royce Avon RA.2 turbojet engines. (Some sources say the engines were RA.3s, though a specific mark is not described.) The Avon R.A.2 was a single-spool, axial flow turbojet with a 12-stage compressor section and single-stage turbine. It was rated at 6,000 pounds of thrust (26.69 kilonewtons). The RA.2 weighed 2,400 pounds (1,089 kilograms). The RA.2 also powered the English Electric Canberra B.1 prototype. Production CF-100s would be powered by the Avro Canada Orenda engine.

The Mark 1 had a maximum speed of 552 miles per hour (888 kilometers per hour) at 40,000 feet (12,192 meters). It could climb at 9,800 feet per minute (49.8 meters per second). Its service ceiling was 50,000 feet (15,240 meters).

The two Mark 1s had no radar and were not armed.

Avro Canada CF-100 Mark 1 18101, FB D. (Avro Canada)

Following the two Mark 1 prototypes, Avro Canada produced ten Mark 2 pre-production aircraft, two of which were trainers. The first operational variant was the CF-100 Mark 3. It was equipped with radar and armed with eight Browning M3 .50-caliber machine guns with 200 rounds of ammunition per gun.

The Mark 4 was equipped with a more powerful radar. In addition to the machine guns, armament consisted of 58 unguided 2.75 inch (70 millimeter) Mark 4 Folding Fin Aerial Rockets (FFARs), each with a 6 pound 92.7 kilogram) explosive warhead. These were carried in wingtip pods.

Two Avro Canada CF-100 Mark 4B all-weather, long-range interceptors, 18423 and 18470. (Royal Canadian Air Force)

On 18 Dec 1952, Avro Canada test pilot Janusz Żurakowski put CF-101 Mark 4 serial number 18112 into a dive from 30,000 feet (9,144 meters) and reached Mach 1.10.  This was the first time that a straight wing aircraft exceeded Mach 1 without rocket power.

The majority of CF-100s were the Mark 5 variant. These had a greater wing span and larger horizontal stabilizer. The machine guns were eliminated.

Avro Canada CF-100 Mark 5 18539. (Royal Canadian Air Force)

A total of 692 of all types were built. 53 were sold to the Belgian Air Force. The CF-100 remained in service with the Royal Canadian Air Force until 1981.

CF-100 Mark 1 18102 was used to test wingtip-mounted fuel tanks. It crashed 5 April 1951 and was destroyed. Test pilot Flight Lieutenant Bruce Warren and flight engineer Jack Hieber were killed. The crew may have suffered hypoxia.

18101 was retained for testing. It was scrapped in 1965.

“Royal Air Force test pilot Squadron Leader Bill Waterton (1916-2006) AFC, of the RAF High Speed Flight, posed at a RAF station in England in August 1946. Bill Waterton, with fellow test pilots Neville Duke and Edward Donaldson, are preparing to attempt to break the world air speed record in a Gloster Meteor F4 jet aircraft. (Photo by Edward Malindine/Popperfoto via Getty Images)” Waterton’s ribbons are the Air Force Cross and the 1939–45 Star campaign medal.

William Arthur Waterton was born 18 March 1916, at Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He was the first of two sons of William Albert Waterton, a police officer, and Mary Elizabeth Sereda Waterton. After high school, he attended Camrose Normal School, Alberta, a college for teachers. He then spent two years the Royal Military College, Kingston, Ontario, graduating 1937. While there, he was a boxer. Waterton was commissioned in the 19th Alberta Dragoons in 1938.

Waterton crossed the Atlantic Ocean to attend the Civil Flying Training School, Hanworth, Feltham, Middlesex. He departed St. John, New Brunswick, aboard the 22,022 gross registered ton (62,322 cubic meters) Canadian Pacific passenger liner Duchess of Richmond, arriving at Liverpool on 17 April 1939.

Duchess of Richmond (John H. Brown & Co., Ltd.)

On 10 June 1939, Bill Waterton was granted a short service commission in the Royal Air Force as an Acting Pilot Officer on probation for six years on the active list. (RAF serial number 42288)

Six months later,18 November 1939, Acting Pilot Officer on probation William Arthur Waterton was graded as Pilot Officer on probation.

A Hawker Hurricane Mk.I, N2320, assigned to No. 242 Squadron, Royal Air Force, circa 1940.

Pilot Officer Waterton was assigned to No. 242 Squadron, the first all-Canadian fighter squadron, at RAF Church Fenton, southeast of Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, England. The Second World War had been underway for twelve weeks.

On 25 May 1940 his Hawker Hurricane Mk.I ² (squadron code “LE”), was disabled by anti-aircraft fire over Dunkerque, France. Waterton made it across the English Channel to Dover where he crash landed, suffering a severe head injury. Waterton was unconscious in a London hospital for five days, and remained hospitalized for three months.

Waterton’s Hurricane was repaired and returned to service.

On 18 Nov 1940, Pilot Officer on probation Waterton was confirmed in his appointment and promoted to the rank of Flying Officer.

After returning to flight status, Flying Officer Waterton was assigned as a flight instructor with No. 6 Operational Training Unit (OTU).

Flying Officer Waterton was promoted to the rank of Flight Lieutenant, 18 January 1941.

Waterton served as a flight instructor in Canada in throughout 1942.

Air Force Cross

Flight Lieutenant William Arthur Waterton was awarded the Air Force Cross, 1 January 1943.

Waterton was next assigned to the Transatlantic Ferry Command, then transferred to No. 124 Squadron at RAF Manston, where he flew the Supermarine Spitfire Mk.VI and VII. In September 1943, he was assigned to No.1409 (Meteorological) Flight at RAF Oakington, which was equipped with unarmed de Havilland Mosquitos.

In May 1944, Waterton was assigned to the Air Fighting Development Unit (Central Fighter Establishment) at RAF Wittering, testing captured enemy aircraft and comparing them to Allied aircraft.

On 13 April 1945, Flight Lieutenant Waterton was transferred to reserve and called up for Air Force service.

Flight Lieutenant Waterton was promoted to the rank of Squadron Leader in June 1946.

Waterton attended No. 5 Empire Test Pilots School at Hanworth, where he had begun his aviation career in 1939.

After the War, Waterton was selected for the RAF High Speed Flight. Along with Group Captain Edward Mortlock (“Teddy”) Donaldson and Squadron Leader Neville Frederick Duke, he was to attempt a world speed record with the Gloster Meteor F. Mk.IV fighter.

Gloster Meteor F. Mk.4 EE549, the world record holder, at RAF Tangmere, 1 August 1946. (FlightGlobal)

On Friday, 16 August 1946, Squadron Leader Waterton flew Gloster Meteor F. Mk.IV EE550 ³ to 620 miles per hour (998 kilometers per hour) over a 3 kilometer course. Although this was 14 miles per hour (23 kilometers per hour) over the existing record, it was not an official record.

Squadron Leader William Arthur Waterton, AFC, RAF, climbing from the cockpit of his Gloster Meteor IV after a speed record attempt, at RAF Tangmere, 1946. (Neil Corbett, Test & Research Pilots, Flight Test Engineers)

On 7 September 1946, Waterton made made five runs over the course with EE550 during a 21 minute period. However, Group Captain Donaldson, flying Meteor IV EE549, established a new Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Record for Speed Over a 3 Kilometer Course, averaging 991 kilometers per hour (615.779 miles per hour). [FAI Record File Number 9848] This exceeded the record record set by Group Captain Hugh Joseph Wilson with Meteor IV EE455, 7 November 1945. [FAI Record File Number 9847] (Please see This Day in Aviation for 7 November 1945 at: https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/7-november-1945/ )

Interestingly, Donaldson had said that he thought that Waterton’s Meteor was the faster of the two.

Group Captain Edward M. Donaldson passing a timing station on the high speed course in Gloster Meteor F. Mk.IV EE549. (Royal Air Force)
“Squadron Leader Bill Waterton leaves Gloster Meteor EE549 at Farnborough after flying from Le Bourget to Croydon in 20 minutes at an average speed of 616 mph on 16 January 1947.” (Mary Evans Picture Library Media ID 18387988)

On 16 January 1947, Bill Waterton flew Meteor IV EE549 (the world record holder) from Aéroport de Paris – Le Bourget, to London, a distance of 208 statute miles, in  20 minutes, 11 seconds, at an average speed of 618.4 miles per hour (995.2 kilometers per hour). (This is not an official record.)

(The Daily Telegraph, No. 28,571, Friday, January 17, 1947, Page 13, Columns 4–5)
Great Circle route from Aéroport de Paris-Le Bourget to Croydon Airport, 174 nautical miles (200 statute miles/322 kilometers). (Great Circle Mapper)

Acting Squadron Leader William Arthur Waterton, R.A.F.O. (Reserve of Air Force Officers), was awarded a Bar to his Air Force Cross (a second award of the AFC), 12 June 1947.

Waterton left the Royal Air Force and joined Gloster Aircraft Co. Ltd. on 21 October 1947as a test pilot at a salary of £1,000 per year. In addition to testing improved Meteor variants, he was also assigned to the experimental E.1/44 and the delta-winged GA.5 Javelin. On 1 April 1948, he was appointed the company’s chief test pilot with an increase to £1,500 per year.

On 6 February 1948, Squadron Leader Waterton, flying a Gloster Meteor F. Mk.IV, VT103, set an Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Record for Speed Over a Closed Circuit of 100 Kilometers, averaging 873.786 kilometers per hour (542.945miles per hour/471.807 knots). The course was  from RAF Moreton Valence, southwest of Gloucester, to Evesham Bridge, Pershore Aerodrome, Defford Aerodrome and Grange Court Junction.⁴

Waterton had made an attempt earlier in the day with a Meteor F. Mk.V, averaging only 522 m.p.h. (840 kilometers per hour). Disappointed, he switched to a standard production Meteor IV and tried again.

The second E.1/44 prototype was the first to fly, with Waterton at the controls, 9 March 1948. (The first had been damaged while being transported by truck.) Waterton called the airplane the Gloster Gormless, “since she was so heavy for her single Nene engine.”

Gloster E.1/44 (Imperial War Museum ATP 17442B)

Waterton took the prototype Gloster GA.5 Javelin, WD804, for its first flight, 26 November 1951.

Gloster GA.5 Javelin WD804. (Royal Air Force)

On 29 June 1952, while Waterton was conducting the Javelin’s 99th flight, it experienced extreme flutter and both elevators separated from the airplane. Using the horizontal stabilizer’s trim control, Waterton was able to land the aircraft at RAF Boscombe Down, Wiltshire, though at a much higher speed than normal. The landing gear collapsed. The aircraft caught fire and was ultimately destroyed.

Bill Waterton was awarded the George Medal by Queen Elizabeth II.

In  July 1953, Bill Waterton married Marjorie E. Stocks at Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

A 1956 First Edition of Bill Waterton’s book, The Quick and the Dead.

Very critical of the safety record of the British aircraft industry, Waterton left Gloster and became an aviation correspondent for the Daily Express. After publishing his autobiography, The Quick and the Dead, in 1956, in which he continued his criticism of the aircraft industry, he was fired. The newspaper said that the aviation industry had stopped buying advertising space.

Bill Waterton returned to Canada, residing at Owen Sound, Ontario.

Squadron Leader William Arthur Waterton, AFC and Bar, GM, Royal Air Force, died 17 April 2006, at Owen Sound. He was 90 years of age. His remains were interred at the Oxenden Cemetery, Oxenden, Ontario, Canada.

¹ Today known as Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ)

² Martin’s Aviation Pages states L1654: https://martinaviationpages.com/25-may-1940/

Royal Air Force Commands Hurricane Mk.I data base says L1852: https://www.rafcommands.com/database/hurricanes/details.php?uniq=L1852

³ EE550 was destroyed 6 January 1951, west of Ashford, Kent. At 20,000 feet (6,096 meters) its pilot, Pilot Officer Thomas Charles Hood, RAF, was seen not wearing his  oxygen mask. The meteor pitched up, rolled over and dived into the ground.

⁴ FAI Record File Number 8882

© 2025, Bryan R. Swopes

29 December 1935: Wind, Sand and Stars

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Saint Exupéry with André Prévot and their Caudron C.630 Simoun, F-ANRY, Aéroport de Paris – Le Bourget 29 December 1935.(Succession de Saint-Exupéry d’Agay via Le Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace)
Antoine de Saint Exupéry with André Prévot and their Caudron C.630 Simoun, F-ANRY, Aéroport de Paris – Le Bourget 29 December 1935. (Succession de Saint-Exupéry d’Agay via Le Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace)

29 December 1935: Early in the morning, Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger comte de Saint Exupéry took off from Aéroport de Paris–Le Bourget  enroute to Saïgon, Cochin-China, as a participant in the long distance Paris-to-Saïgon “raid,” or air race.

The race was sponsored by the Aéro-Club de France, which had offered a prize of ₣1,200,000 (franc français), approximately £16,000 or $70,000, to the winner, providing the finishing time was less than 90 hours. The distance was estimated at 13,800 miles (22,209 kilometers). Any airplane type could be entered in the race as long as it had an official airworthiness certificate and a flight crew of two, or a single pilot with an autopilot.

Antoine de Saint Exupéry was accompanied by André Prévot as the navigator and flight engineer. The airplane was a red and white Caudron C.630 Simoun, c/n 7042.20. It was registered to Saint Exupéry on  9 April 1935 as F-ANRY, a representation of his name (“ANtoine de Saint ExupéRY”). He had flown the Simoun 8,000 miles (12,875 kilometers) in the eight months he had owned it, “. . .and her engine had not skipped a beat; not a bolt in her had loosened.”

Saint Exupery's Caudron C.630 Simoun, F-ANRY, prepares to take off at Le Bourget. (Succession de Saint-Exupéry d’Agay via Le Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace)
Saint Exupery’s Caudron C.630 Simoun, F-ANRY, prepares to take off at Le Bourget. (Succession de Saint-Exupéry d’Agay via Le Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace)

The Société des Avions Caudron C.630 Simoun was a four-place, single-engine, low-wing monoplane with fixed landing gear. It was built of wood, with the surface of the wings and fuselage covered in plywood sheet then covered with doped fabric. Carefully curved aluminum sheet metal covered the top and bottom of the fuselage. The C.630 was 8,70 meters (28 feet, 6½ inches) long with a wingspan of 10,40 meters (34 feet, 1½ inches) and height of 2,25 meters (7 feet, 4½ inches). The airplane’s gross weight was 1,230 kilograms (2,712 pounds).

The engine was an air-cooled, normally-aspirated 9.500 liter (579.736 cubic-inch-displacement) Renault Bengali 6 Pdi inverted inline six-cylinder overhead-valve (OHV) engine with a compression ratio of 5.75:1. It was rated at 180 cheval vapeur (177.5 horsepower) at 2,200 r.p.m. The left-hand-tractor, direct-drive engine turned a two-bladed, metal Helices Ratier variable-pitch propeller. The propeller could be set to coarse pitch by a mechanic prior to takeoff, then an air bladder mechanism could change it to fine pitch for cruise flight. The Bengali 6Pdi weighed 205 kilograms (452 pounds).

The C.630 had a maximum speed of 310 kilometers per hour (193 miles per hour). The service ceiling was 7,500 meters (24,606 feet) and normal range was 1,260 kilometers (783 miles). Twenty C.630s were built before production changed to the slightly improved C.631.

Antoine de Saint Exupéry in the cockpit of his Caudron C.630 Simoun, F-ANRY, at Le Bourget, Paris, France. (Succession de Antoine Saint-Exupéry)

After taking off at Paris, Saint Exupéry followed the Seine to the valley of the Loire and continued south, crossing the southern coast of France near Marseilles. The fliers had been over the Mediterranean Sea for a short while when they saw fuel leaking from the left wing. Prévot calculated that they had lost 20 gallons (76 liters) of fuel. They turned back and landed at Marignane to repair the leak and refuel before continuing. Saint Exupéry wrote, “I drank a cup of coffee while the time lost hurt like an open wound.”

Once again heading across the Mediterranean toward Tunis, they encountered low clouds and heavy rain which forced them down to just 60 feet (18 meters) over the water. They flew along the coast of Sardinia as the weather improved.

F-ANRY crossed the coast of Africa at Bizerte, Tunisia, and about fifteen minutes later landed to refuel. With two hours of daylight remaining, Saint Exupéry and Prévot took off again, now heading toward Benghazi, Libya. They landed there at 11:00 p.m., local time, and in just twenty minutes the airplane had been refueled and once more, they were airborne.

Flying east after moonset, Saint Exupéry and Prévot were in total darkness. After three hours a faint glow of his navigation lights on the airplane’s wingtips told Saint Exupéry that he had flown into clouds, with visibility measured in just feet.

At a time when there were no navigation aids, pilots had to navigate by their compass, airspeed indicator and clock. Though Saint Exupéry had met with meteorologists to plan his flight, there was no way to update the weather information after takeoff. He had no way of knowing whether an expected tailwind had held, or if it had changed; was his speed across the ground faster or slower than planned? Had the wind blown him right or left of course? Had the atmospheric pressure changed, causing his altimeter to read higher or lower than the airplane actually was? Flying across the emptiness of the Sahara Desert with no landmarks, in total darkness and now just a few feet of visibility, he and Prévot could only guess at their position.

4 hours, 15 minutes after taking off from Benghazi, the C.630 crashed into gently rising terrain at 170 miles per hour (274 kilometers per hour).

The wreck of Antoine de Saint Exupéry’s Caudron C.630 Simoun, F-ANRY. (Bureau d’Archives des Accidents d’Avions)

The airplane had slid 250 yards across the surface of the plateau and was heavily damaged, but Saint Exupéry and Prévot were unhurt. However, their water was lost. They were left with “. . . a pint of coffee in a battered thermos flask and half a pint of white wine. . . There were some grapes, too, and a single orange.”

Without food or water, Antoine de Saint Exupéry and Andre Prévot wandered across the desert searching for help. They followed mirages, and frequently recrossed their own tracks. They always returned to the wreck of the Simoun. They experienced delusions.

After four days, they were rescued by Bedouin tribesmen.

Antoine de Saint Exupéry stands next to the wreck of his Caudron C.630 Simoun, F-ANRY. (Bureau d’Archives des Accidents d’Avions)

The location of the crash is uncertain, but is believed to be near Wadi el Natrûn in Egypt, west of the Nile Delta.

Saint Exupéry wrote about the experience in Wind, Sand and Stars, published in 1939. It was the basis for his famous novella, The Little Prince.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and the Little Prince Statue by Christiane Guillaumet, Place Bellecour in Lyon
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and the Little Prince
Statue by Christiane Guillaumet, Place Bellecour in Lyon

TDiA’s Highest Recommendation: Wind, Sand and Stars, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, translated from the French by Lewis Galantière, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, New York, New York 10016.

SAINT-EXUPERY, Antoine de. Wind, Sand and Stars. New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, (1939). Octavo, original half black cloth, pictorial endpapers, original dust jacket. (Bauman Rare Books)

© 2018, Bryan R. Swopes

17–22 November 1946

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Avro Lancastrian C.1 VH742 after installation of Rolls-Royce RB.41 Nene Mk.I gas turbine engines. The inboard Merlin engines have been shut down and their propellers feathered. (Royal Air Force)

17 November 1946: A modified Avro 691 Lancastrian C.1, VH742, under the command of Rolls-Royce’s chief test pilot, Captain Ronald Thomas Shepherd, O.B.E., flew from London Heathrow Airport (LHR) to Aéroport de Paris – Le Bourget (LBG) for 17th Salon de Aviation (Paris Air Show) with two Rolls-Royce RB.41 Nene Mk.I turbojet engines for propulsion. The airplane’s two Rolls-Royce Merlin V-12 piston engines were shut down, except for takeoff and landing, and their three-bladed propellers were feathered to reduce drag. It was the first-jet-powered passenger transport to fly from one country to another.

A contemporary aviation industry news article described the event:

The Nene-Lanc, Flies to Paris

THE flight of the Nene Lancaster from London to Paris last Monday, to play its part in connection with the exhibition, may be said to have marked a historic part in British aircraft development, for it constituted the first time that any jet-powered airliner had flown from one country to another. Moreover, since this particular aircraft has been flying fairly regularly since round about the time of the Radlett exhibition, the flight to Paris was no special performance, but merely one more public demonstration of its inherent reliability.

In the hands of Capt. R. T. Shepherd, chief test pilot for Rolls-Royce, the “Nene-Lanc” landed at Le Bourget at 10.58 a.m., G.M.T., after a 50-minute flight from London Airport, giving an average speed of 247.5 m.p.h. [398.3 kilometers per hour] Two passengers were carried in addition to the crew; they were Mr. Roy Chadwick, the Avro designer, and Mr. R. B. William Thompson, Chief Information Officer of the Ministry of Supply.

Capt. Shepherd said that he was very pleased with the aircraft’s performance and added that, but for having to circle Le Bourget Airport Twice before landing, the flight would have been completed in 43 minutes.

— FLIGHT and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER, No. 1978. Vol. L., Thursday, November 21st, 1946 at Page 561, Column 2.

Five days later, VH742 flew back to England:

Return Trip

THE return of the Nene Lancastrian on Nov. 22nd, direct from Le Bourget to Heathrow, was made in only 49 min, including landing, actual flying time from point to point being 41 min—an average speed of 322 mp.h. [518.2 kilometers per hour] This remarkable performance was in spite a beam wind and the dead weight and drag of the two inboard Merlins, which are only used for takeoff and landing.

Passengers of the return trip included Mr. Roy Chadwick, chief designer and a director of A. V. Roe and Co., Air Comdre. Kirk and Air Comdre. Pike.

—FLIGHT and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER, No. 1979., Vol. L., Thursday, November 28th, 1946 at Page 588, Column 1.

Avro Lancastrian (nene engine test bed). © IWM (ATP 14764B)
Avro Lancastrian C.1 VH742 with Rolls-Royce Nene engines. © IWM (ATP 14764B)

The Rolls-Royce RB.41 Nene engine first been run in October 1944. It  installed in a Lockheed YP-80A Shooting Star, 44-83027, and the engine was first flown 18 July 1945 with Rolls-Royce test pilot Wing Commander John Harvey Heyworth, A.F.C., in the cockpit. The Nene-powered P-80 had made approximately 30 test flights when it was damaged beyond repair at RAF Syerston, 6 December 1945. With test pilot Andy McDowall flying, a fractured fuel pipe caused the engine to flame out from fuel starvation. McDowall tried to glide to a landing but another airplane was on the runway. He touched down on the grass but the landing gears were pushed up through the Shooting Star’s wings.

The jet fighter had been too small to allow for adequate test equipment. A larger aircraft was needed. The R.A.F. assigned VH742 the role of test aircraft.

The new Lancastrian arrived at the Rolls-Royce Flight Test Establishment at Hucknall Aerodrome, Nottinghamshire, 30 October 1945. The modification was engineered and the airplane was modified. The Lanc’s two outboard Rolls-Royce Merlin V-12 engines were removed and two Nene Mk.I engines were installed in underslung nacelles. The wing flaps were shortened by 3 feet, 4 inches (1.016 meters) and the ailerons by 10 inches (0.254 meters) to provide clearance from the jet engines’ exhaust. Sheet steel was installed on the lower surfaces of the wings as protect against the heat.

Three fuel tanks were installed in each of the Lancastrian’s wings. The center tank contained gasoline for the Merlin engines, while the inner and outer tanks, plus two auxiliary tanks in the fuselage, carried kerosene for the jet engines. Fuel capacity was 760 gallons (2,877 liters) of gasoline and 2,420 gallons (9,161 liters) of kerosene.

In the Lancastrian’s cockpit, additional instruments were installed for the turbojets: tachometers reading from 0–20,000 r.p.m.; oil pressure gauges, 0–80 p.s.i.; exhaust gas temperature, 400˚–750 ˚C., and exhaust gas pressure.

The first flight of the modified VH742 took place 14 August 1946, with Ronnie Shepherd in the cockpit. Running on the jet engines alone, the airplane was extraordinarily quiet and vibration free. Like all early turbojets, the Nenes were slow to accelerate from low r.p.m. Test pilots had to use caution. Jim and Harvey Heyworth also flew VH742 during the last half of August.

RB.41 Nene. (Rolls-Royce)
RB.41 Nene. (Rolls-Royce)

The Rolls-Royce RB.41 Nene Mk.I was developed from the earlier RB.40 Derwent.¹ It was considerably larger and produced nearly double the thrust. It was a single-stage centrifugal-flow compressor/single-stage axial-flow turbine, rated at 5,000 pounds of thrust (22.24 kilonewtons) at 12,400 r.p.m. for takeoff.

A second Nene-powered Lancastrian was added to the test fleet at Hucknall the following year. Last Nene flight took place in August 1949.

VH742 had been ordered by the Royal Air Force during World War II as an Avro Type 683 Lancaster B. Mk.III, a very long range heavy bomber, and assigned identity markings PD194. With the end of World War II in Europe, orders for hundreds of Lancaster bombers were cancelled. The partially completed PD194 was modified on the assembly line as a Lancastrian C. Mk.I passenger transport and renumbered as VH742.

The Avro Type 691 Lancastrian was a four-engine civil transport based on the World War II very long range heavy bomber, the Avro Lancaster. The airliner was operated by a flight crew of four and carried one flight attendant. It could carry up to thirteen passengers. The Lancastrian was 76 feet, 10 inches (23.419 meters) long with a wingspan of 102 feet (31.090 meters) and overall height of 19 feet, 6 inches (5.944 meters). The empty weight was 30,220 pounds (13,707.6 kilograms) and gross weight was 65,000 pounds (29,483.5 kilograms).

The Lancastrian Mk.III was powered by four 1,648.9-cubic-inch-displacement (27.04 liter) liquid-cooled, supercharged, Rolls-Royce Merlin T24/2 single overhead camshaft (SOHC) 60° V-12 engines producing 1,650 horsepower and turning three bladed propellers.

The airplane a cruise speed of 245 miles per hour (394.3 kilometers per hour) and a maximum speed of 315 miles per hour (506.9 kilometers per hour). The service ceiling was 25,500 feet (7,772 meters) and the range was 4,150 miles (6,679 kilometers).

Rolls-Royce test pilots (left to right) Wing Commander John Harvey Heyworth, AFC; Squadron Leader Alexander James Heyworth, DFC and Bar, FRAeS; Captain Ronald Thomas Shepherd, OBE; Wing Commander Andrew McDowall, DSO, AFC, DFM; and Herbert Clifford Rogers, OBE, DFC; with Merlin 632/ Avon-powered Avro Lancastrian C.2 VL970, circa 1949. Each one of these men served as Chief Test Pilot for Rolls-Royce. (Rolls-Royce)
Rolls-Royce test pilots (left to right) Wing Commander John Harvey Heyworth, A.F.C.; Squadron Leader Alexander James Heyworth, D.F.C. and Bar, FRAeS; Captain Ronald Thomas Shepherd, O.B.E.; Wing Commander Andrew McDowall, D.S.O., A.F.C., D.F.M.; and Herbert Clifford Rogers, O.B.E., D.F.C.; with Merlin 632/ Avon-powered Avro Lancastrian C.2 VL970, circa 1949. Each one of these men served as Chief Test Pilot for Rolls-Royce. (Rolls-Royce)

91 Avro Lancastrians were built, including modified Lancaster bombers. The transport variant first flew in 1943. In addition to the Royal Air Force, commercial Lancastrians were operated by British European Airways, British Overseas Airways Corporation and British South American Airways. The last one was retired in 1960.

Rolls-Royce built more than 1,100 RB.41 Nene engines. It was licensed for production by Pratt & Whitney as the J42. Forty Nenes were sold to the Soviet Union under the condition that they would not be used for military purposes. These were reverse-engineered and produced as the Klimov RD-45 which powered the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 fighter.

¹ While Rolls-Royce named its piston-driven aircraft engines after birds of prey, the turbojet engines were named for rivers.

© 2018, Bryan R. Swopes

26 October 1958

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Pan American World Airways’ Boeing 707-121, N711PA, Clipper America, at Idlewild Airport, New York, 26 October 1958. (Pan American World Airways)

26 October 1958: Pan American World Airways opened the “Jet Age” with the first commercial flight of an American jet airliner. Pan Am’s Boeing 707-121 Clipper America, N711PA, departed New York Idlewild (IDL) on an 8 hour, 41 minute flight to Paris Le Bourget (LBG), with a fuel stop at Gander, Newfoundland (YQX). (The actual flight time was 7 hours.) The distance was 3,634 miles (5,848 kilometers). Aboard were 111 passengers and 11 crewmembers.

A Pan Am company publication explained the need for the stop at Gander:

The Jet could not be fully loaded with fuel before takeoff because of weight restrictions imposed at Idlewild. Fuel capacity of the jet is 17,398 gallons, allowing a cruising range of 4,400 miles. But with a full pay load of passengers, only 9,731 gallons could be taken aboard in New York.

—Pan American Clipper, Vol. XV, No. 11, November 1958, Page 6, Column 5

The Boeing 707 was developed from the earlier Model 367–80, the “Dash Eighty”. It is a four-engine jet transport with swept wings and tail surfaces. The leading edge of the wings are swept at a 35° angle. The airliner had a flight crew of four: pilot, co-pilot, navigator and flight engineer. The 707-121 is 145 feet, 1 inch (44.221 meters) long with a wing span of 130 feet, 10 inches (39.878 meters). The top of the vertical fin stands 42 feet, 5 inches (12.929 meters) high. The 707 pre-dated the ”wide-body” airliners, having a fuselage width of 12 feet, 4 inches (3.759 meters).

The first versions were powered by four Pratt & Whitney Turbo Wasp JT3C-6 turbojet engines, producing 11,200 pounds of thrust (49,820 kilonewtons), and 13,500 pounds (60.051 kilonewtons) with water injection. This engine was a civil variant of the military J57 series. It was a two-spool axial-flow turbojet engine with a 16-stage compressor and 2 stage turbine. The JT3C-6 was 11 feet, 6.6 inches (3.520 meters) long, 3 feet, 2.9 inches (0.988 meters) in diameter, and weighed 4,235 pounds (1,921 kilograms).

The airliner’s empty weight is 122,533 pounds (55,580 kilograms). Maximum take off weight (MTOW) is 257,000 pounds (116,573 kilograms). At MTOW, the 707 required 11,000 feet (3,352.8 meters) of runway to take off. Its maximum speed is 540 knots (1,000 kilometers per hour). It had a range of 2,800 nautical miles (5,185.6 kilometers).

The Boeing 707 was in production from 1958 to 1979. 1,010 were built. As of 2011, 43 707s were still in service.

Boeing delivered N711PA to Pan American on 17 October 1958. The airliner was named Clipper America,  but was later renamed Clipper Mayflower. It was leased to Avianca (Aerovías Nacionales de Colombia S.A.) from 1960 to 1962. In April 1965 the 707 was upgraded to the –121B standard. This included a change from the turbojet engines to quieter, more powerful and efficient Pratt and Whitney JT3D-1 turbofans, producing 17,000 pounds of thrust. The wings were modified to incorporate changes introduced with the Boeing 720, and a longer tailplane installed. Pan Ayer of Panama purchased Clipper Mayflower 21 February 1975. It was later leased to Türk Hava Yolları, the Turkish national airline, and went on to serve with Air Asia Company Limited (an Air America aircraft service unit) and E-Systems. After 26 years of service, in August 1984 Clipper America was scrapped at Taipei.

Pan American World Airways’ Boeing 707-121, N711PA, Clipper America, arriving at Aéroport de Paris – Le Bourget, Paris, France, 27 October 1958. (Photograph © Jon Proctor. Used with permission.)

© 2018, Bryan R. Swopes

1–2 September 1930

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Breguet Br.19 TF Super Bidon Point d’Interrogation

1 September 1930: At 10:54 a.m., local time (09:54 G.M.T.), Dieudonné Costes and Maurice Bellonte ¹ took off from the Aéroport de Paris – Le Bourget, in a red Breguet Br.19 TF Super Bidon. Their destination was New York, non-stop across the North Atlantic Ocean.  At 6:12:30 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time, 2 September (22:12:30 G.M.T.), they landed at Curtiss Field, Valley Stream, Long Island, New York. The two aviators had flown 5,913 kilometers (3,674 statute miles, 3,193 nautical miles) in a total elapsed time of 37 hours, 18 minutes, 30 seconds.

“Solid black line shows the course that Costes and Bellonte took from Paris. The broken line is the famous Lindbergh route.” (The Brooklyn Daily Times, Wednesday, 3 September 1930, Page 3, Columns 4–6)

More than 25,000 people, including Charles A. Lindbergh, were waiting at Valley Stream to welcome the two French aviators to America.

Breguet Br.19 TF Super Bidon Point d’Interrogation

The Breguet Br.19 TF Super Bidon was named Point d’Interrogation (“Question Mark”—?), because one of the flight’s sponsors—the Coty fragrance company—was a mystery. The airplane is a single-engine, two-place sesquiplane: a biplane with the span of the lower wing substantially shorter than the upper. It was a specially-built long-distance racer which had made its first flight two years earlier, on 23 July 1928. Since then it had been modified from the original TR configuration by lengthening the fuselage, increasing the wing span and the vertical gap between the wings, and increasing the fuel capacity.

The Br.19 TF was 10.718 meters (35 feet, 1.2 inches) long, with an upper wingspan of 18.300 meters (60 feet, 0.5 inches) and lower span of 11.496 meters (37 feet, 8.6 inches). The airplane’s height was 4.080 meters (13 feet, 4.6 inches). The total wing area was 61.940 square meters (666.717 square feet). The Super Bidon had an empty weight of 2,190 kilograms (4,828 pounds) and gross weight of 6,375 kilograms (14,054 pounds).

Costes and Bellonte at Boston, 1930 (Leslie Jones Collection, Boston Public Library)

Two main fuel tanks were placed between the engine and the crew’s cockpits. The tanks’ walls made up the fuselage surface in that area. The total fuel capacity was 5,570 liters (1,471 U.S. gallons), with two additional 166 liter (44 gallon) jettisonable tanks located under the lower wing. (These were removed just prior to takeoff.) The engine was provided with 220 liters of lubricating oil.

The Br.19 TF was powered by a liquid-cooled, normally-aspirated, 36.050 liter (2,199.892-cubic-inch-displacement) Société Française Hispano-Suiza 12Nb single-overhead-cam (SOHC) 60° V-12 engine, which produced 650 cheval-vapeur (641 horsepower) at 2,100 r.p.m. The direct-drive V-12 turned a two-bladed metal propeller.
The Super Bidon has a maximum speed of 250 kilometers per hour (155 miles per hour), and range of 6,700 kilometers (4,163 statute miles).
Dieudonné Costes
Maurice Bellonte (cropped image) NASM
Breguet Br.19 TF, “?”.

¹    Paris, Sept 1 (U.P.)—Dieudonné Coste and the Air Ministry have disagreed over the proper way to spell the famous flyer’s name.

     Not long ago the flyer said he preferred to spell his name “Coste,” dropping the final”s.” which he used until a year ago. He signed autographs without the final “s” before departing for New York. The Air Ministry insisted, however, that the official spelling is “Costes.”

     Coste’s name is pronounced to rhyme with “lost,” making the final letter silent.

     Bellonte’s name is pronounced “Bell-ont,” to rhyme with “jaunt.”

—The Evening Sun, Baltimore, Maryland, Vol. 41, Monday 1 Spetmber 1930, Page 1, Column 3.

© 2021, Bryan R. Swopes