This Date in Aviation History: November 18 - November 20

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
11/20/2015 at 12:35 • Filed to: planelopnik, planelopnik history

Welcome to This Date in Aviation History , getting you caught up on milestones and important historical events in aviation from November 18 through November 20.

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November 18, 1978 – The first flight of the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet. In the 1970s, the US Navy faced a situation where they had an excellent fleet defense fighter in the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , but they needed a new multi-role fighter to replace their aging fleet of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . However, developing a new fighter to fit their requirements was sure to be an enormously expensive endeavor. To fill the gap, Grumman offered a stripped down version of the F-14, and McDonnell Douglas suggested a naval variant of their !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . But to modify both aircraft would have cost roughly the same as a brand new design. So the Navy turned its attention to the two fighters that had recently competed for the US Air Force Lightweight Fighter (LWF) contract, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . General Dynamics had won the Air Force contract, but the Navy felt that the F-16 would not make a suitable carrier fighter, as its landing gear was too narrow and it had only a single engine. So they decided to adopt a carrier-modified version of the YF-17 instead, and that plane became the F/A-18 Hornet. To make the YF-17 compatible for carrier operations, the airframe, undercarriage and tailhook were all strengthened, the landing gear was widened and given catapult attachments, and folding wingtips were installed to allow for carrier storage. For long overwater missions, the fuel capacity was increased, giving the F/A-18 its distinctive dorsal hump, and additional fuel storage was added to the wings. And the partial fly-by-wire system of the YF-17 was replaced by a quadruple-redundant, complete fly-by-wire system. Production of the Hornet began in 1978, and the new fighter entered service with the Navy and Marine Corps in 1983. And it wasn’t long before the Hornet began combat operations, taking part in action against Libya as part of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in 1986. When the Navy started phasing out the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! the 1990s, the Hornet took over its ground attack mission, and as a testament to its truly multi-role design, Hornets shot down Iraqi aircraft and dropped bombs on the same mission during the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in 1990. The Hornet has seen numerous upgrades during its service life, and almost 1,500 have been built for service with the Navy and Marine Corps, plus numerous export countries. McDonnell Douglas also produced the larger and more advanced !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , but that is actually an entirely new aircraft based on the original Hornet design, and not a true variant. (US Navy photo)

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November 18, 1964 – The first flight of the Grumman C-2 Greyhound. To most of us who shipped packages in the days before the Internet, COD stands for “Collect On Delivery,” a now-outdated way to send a package and have the recipient pay for the shipping. But to the US Navy, COD means “Carrier Onboard Delivery,” and it is a vital way for the carrier and its battle group to receive mail, replacement jet engines, personnel, or any other critical supplies more quickly than can be done by !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ships. But in order to provide a useful cargo load, the airplane has to be big, and there are restrictions on the size of aircraft that can be operated safely from carrier decks. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! to operate the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! from carriers were undertaken in 1963, and while those tests proved that the Herk could carry as much as 85,000 pounds and still land and take off, the Navy decided that it was just too risky and the project was abandoned. It was better to have a dedicated carrier aircraft perform the task. Before the advent of the Greyhound, COD had been carried out by the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , a variant of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , a piston-powered antisubmarine warfare (ASW) aircraft, but limitations in its payload and range meant that a more robust aircraft was needed. So the Navy turned to another large carrier aircraft, and one they already had in their inventory, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which began life as an !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (AEW) platform. By removing the radome, widening the fuselage and adding a rear cargo door, the Navy found just what it was looking for, and the new aircraft was designated the C-2 Greyhound. Its turboprop engines provided more power, and up to 10,000 pounds of cargo and/or passengers can be carried as far 1,500 miles. And, like the Hawkeye, the wings of the Greyhound can be folded for carrier storage. The C-2 proved to be a true workhorse, delivering 2 million pounds of cargo, 2 million pounds of precious mail, and 14,000 passengers during operations in Europe and the Mediterranean from 1985 to 1987. They also flew during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm during the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , as well as Operation Enduring Freedom as part of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . However, despite its capabilities, the Greyhound’s days appear to be numbered, as the Navy has decided on a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! to replace the C-2 in 2015 with the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! for all future COD missions, in spite of Grumman’s bid to modernize the fleet of Greyhounds. It remains to be seen of the Osprey can offer the same stellar operational capabilities as its venerable predecessor. (US Navy photo)

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Short Take Off

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November 18, 1955 – The first powered flight of the Bell X-2, a joint project between Bell, the Air Force and the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) to produce a rocket-powered plane that would explore flight characteristics between Mach 2-3. Nicknamed Skybuster , a name seldom used officially, the X-2 was carried aloft by a Boeing B-50 Superfortress mother ship, and the two X-2s that were built completed 20 test flights before the program ended. Pilot Milburn G. Apt became the first person to exceed Mach 3 on September 27, 1956, but he lost control of the aircraft and was killed in the ensuing crash. (NASA photo)

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November 19, 1999 – The launch of Shenzhou 1, the first mission as part of China’s efforts to develop a manned space program. The unmanned Shenzhou 1 was used mainly as a test for the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! rocket that would lift future missions into space, and as such, crew capsule was equipped with minimal systems, and did not include any life-support systems for future crews. The Shenzhou 1 completed 14 orbits of the Earth before re-entering the atmosphere and landing in Mongolia. China’s first manned mission, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , took place on October 15, 2003. (Photo of Long March 2F by DLR via !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! )

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November 19, 1960 – The first flight of the Hawker Siddeley P.1127. Following the development of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ducted fan engine by the Bristol Engine Company, Hawker Siddeley decided to use the new engine to create a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! aircraft to fulfill a NATO specification for a light tactical fighter. With funding and technical assistance from the US, six P.1127 prototypes were built, with the first flight and hover achieved on November 19, 1960. The P.1127 was subsequently developed into the Kestrel FGA and finally the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which entered service in 1969. (NASA photo)

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November 20, 1953 – Scott Crossfield pilots the Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket past Mach 2. The Skyrocket was a Navy-funded project to construct a jet- and rocket-powered aircraft to explore supersonic flight. The D-588-2 was the second in a planned series of three aircraft that was to culminate in the mockup of an actual fighter, but the third aircraft was never built. Douglas built three Skyrockets , and between them they flew 313 test missions. Crossfield’s flight marked the first time that anybody had exceeded Mach 2 in a piloted aircraft. The final mission was flown in August of 1956, and much valuable data was collected about control of aircraft during supersonic flight. (NASA photo)

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Recent Aviation History Posts

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If you enjoy these Aviation History posts, please let me know in the comments. And if you missed any of the past articles, you can find them all at !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

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DISCUSSION (27)

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > ttyymmnn
11/20/2015 at 12:42

Kinja'd!!!

One thing I never understood about these: How is it that Northrop designed the YF-17, and McDonnel Douglas scored with the F/A-18? Afaik there was no merger, since the B2 came along later from Northrop. So... wut?

BringBackTheCommodore > ttyymmnn
11/20/2015 at 12:49

Nice writeup! Big day in Naval Aviation history today.

HammerheadFistpunch > ttyymmnn
11/20/2015 at 12:49

Boy, that YF-17 was a svelte little bugger.

Kinja'd!!!

ttyymmnn > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer
11/20/2015 at 12:52

Northrop had partnered with McDonnell Douglas on the Navy Air Combat Fighter proposal in order to capitalize on the latter’s experience building Navy fighters (F-4 Phantom II, etc.). The two companies partnered on the F-18, with Northrop building the center and aft fuselage and vertical stabilizers, while McDD built the rest. Final assembly was done by McDD. (Northrop merged with Grumman in 1994.) By the time the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet came around, McDD had merged with Boeing, so the Super Hornet gets the Boeing name on it.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ttyymmnn
11/20/2015 at 12:52

Kinja'd!!!

Always such a fantastically ugly plane. From what I’ve heard, not a very pleasant way to get onboard, but a very effective one.

ttyymmnn > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
11/20/2015 at 12:55

And in this tragic case, an unpleasant way to get offboard, too. In this video, the C-2 was taking off with a jet engine on board that came loose on the cat shot and shifted aft of the COG. I’m pretty sure the crew was lost.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ttyymmnn
11/20/2015 at 12:58

Semi-backflip stalls are not a pretty thing.

ttyymmnn > HammerheadFistpunch
11/20/2015 at 13:01

It was a beautiful plane, and was actually derived from the F-5. You can see a particular resemblance in the wing shape, shoulder fairings, and fuselage silhouette.

Kinja'd!!!

HammerheadFistpunch > ttyymmnn
11/20/2015 at 13:01

Man the F-5 is a sexy beast. I never had any love for the F/A-18 though...not sure why.

ttyymmnn > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
11/20/2015 at 13:02

No, they’re not. Did you ever see the video of the 747 that crashed at Kandahar?

Jake Huitt - Two Alfas And A Nissan, Not A Single Running Car > ttyymmnn
11/20/2015 at 13:04

Never knew the F-18 and C2 both shared 11/18 as a first fly date. That’s really cool.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ttyymmnn
11/20/2015 at 13:14

No, hadn’t seen that. I, like a fool, just had to read the comments on that...

Kinja'd!!!

ttyymmnn > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
11/20/2015 at 13:33

For some reason, Youtube comments never load on my browser. I’m not in any hurry to figure out why.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ttyymmnn
11/20/2015 at 13:35

I’ll give you a taste: one wondered why the crew didn’t immediately rush back to stabilize the load when they realized something was wrong...

ttyymmnn > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
11/20/2015 at 13:39

Kinja'd!!!

RallyWrench > ttyymmnn
11/20/2015 at 13:53

Excellent work as always. The Skyrocket sure was a pretty aircraft. Neat to see a jump jet in bare metal, it looks like something out of a Jules Verne book.

ttyymmnn > RallyWrench
11/20/2015 at 13:57

Thank you, kind sir. The D-558-2 Skyrocket was indeed a beautiful girl, but you should have seen her ugly older sister, the D-558-1.

Kinja'd!!!

Cé hé sin > ttyymmnn
11/20/2015 at 14:06

55 years sine the ancestor of the Harrier flew? Yikes.

RallyWrench > ttyymmnn
11/20/2015 at 14:07

Ack! Put it away! It’s like a flying submarine.

ttyymmnn > Cé hé sin
11/20/2015 at 14:09

And it’s still flying, at least in the US. The Marines won’t let them go, as they nervously bide their time waiting for the F-35B. And waiting. And waiting....

ttyymmnn > RallyWrench
11/20/2015 at 14:11

The awkward early days of jet aviation are fascinating. Until we got the data from the Germans on swept wing technology, the best we could do was bolt jet engines onto straight-wing planes. Those were the days of, “Stick a jet on it and see what happens.”