This Date in Aviation History: January 2 - January 5

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 01/05/2016 at 12:35 • Filed to: planelopnik, planelopnik history

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Welcome to This Date in Aviation History , getting you caught up on milestones and important historical events in aviation from January 2 through January 5.

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January 2, 1967 – The National Supersonic Transport program awards a contract to Boeing for its 2707 SST design. By the early 1950s, as the jet engine was revolutionizing passenger aviation, military aviation was exploring the realm of supersonic flight. The next obvious step in the evolution of air travel was to develop a supersonic transport (SST). The Americans, Russians, British and French were all working on developing their own SST, and soon after President John F. Kennedy took office in 1953, he announced what was dubbed Project Horizon, which directed the Federal Aviation Administration to investigate advancements in civil airline design to keep the US competitive with the rest of the world. But when the French and English joined forces and announced their intention to develop !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the Americans realized that they were far behind Europe in development of their own SST. Boeing had been working on their own design since 1952, and by 1958 they had settled on a swing-wing design that would seat about 125 passengers. When the US government announced a competition to select a design, entries were submitted by both Lockheed and Boeing, with Boeing’s variable geometry design being selected over Lockheed’s Concorde lookalike (interestingly, Boeing’s proposal bore a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! to today’s !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! supersonic bomber). But America was somewhat late to the supersonic party, and with the more mature development of the European design, as well as a competing design from the Russians in the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the Americans decided that the only way to compete effectively was to develop a larger and faster SST, one that could travel at speeds up to Mach 3. Once the 2707 reached mock-up, the aircraft showed its true size, being one of the earliest wide-body aircraft to feature two aisles and seven-across seating at its widest section, and capable of accommodating up to 247 passengers in a single-class configuration. But with any aircraft of this size, weight became a serious problem, and the heavy, complex swing-wing design was abandoned in favor of a traditional delta wing. However, despite the glamour of flying at up to three times the speed of sound, the realities of supersonic transport were hard to conquer. Flying that fast meant using enormous amounts of fuel, and in an era when the general public was starting to take a concern in the health of the environment, worries over sonic booms and ozone pollution made SSTs unpopular. In fact, with support from environmental organizations, supersonic commercial flight was eventually banned over the continental US, and some states banned Concorde altogether. By 1971, even with orders for 115 aircraft by 25 airlines, significantly more than those for Concorde, the US Congress cut funding for the American SST. The two Boeing prototypes under construction were never completed, and, in conjunction with a general downturn in the airliner market, Boeing was forced to lay off over 60,000 employees. Despite Concorde’s successful launch, it was never a money maker for European airlines, and there’s every reason to believe that the 2707 would have faced the same economic difficulties. While crossing the Atlantic Ocean in three hours is a great feat, developments in modern jet engine and materials technology have proven that it is far more efficient and economical to travel just shy of Mach 1, though the search for an economical SST continues. (Illustration author unknown)

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Short Take Off

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January 2, 1989 – The first flight of the Tupolev Tu-204, a single-aisle, twin-engine passenger airliner that is comparable to the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and capable of carrying up to 215 passengers depending on variant and class layout. Designed as a replacement for the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! tri-jet, the Tu-204 features significant innovations over its predecessors, such as fly-by-wire controls, a glass cockpit, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and winglets. The Tu-204 was introduced in 1996, and seventy-six have been built, and the aircraft remains in production. (Photo by Oleg Belyakov via !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! )

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January 3, 1963 – The first flight of the Ilyushin Il-62, a narrow-body, long-range airliner developed by Ilyushin as a replacement for the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! turboprop airliner. At the time of its first flight in 1963, the Il-62 the largest airliner in the world, and became the standard long-range Soviet airliner for many years. Many Il-62s remain in service today. Similar to the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the Il-62 groups its four turbofan engines in pods at the rear. It was also the first pressurized Soviet airliner without a circular cross section, and the first Russian jetliner with six-abreast seating. 292 aircraft were built before production ceased in 1995. (Photo by Dmitry A. Mottl via !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! )

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January 3, 1953 – The first flight of the Cessna 310. The 310 was the first twin-engine general aviation aircraft to be produced by Cessna following WWII, and proved particularly popular with the many air taxi services that arose following the war. Seating six, the 310 was faster and cheaper to operate than its closest rival, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and over 6,000 310s were built from 1954 to 1980. The 310 also served the US Air Force as a light utility transport where it was known as the L-27 (later redesignated as the U-3). (Photo by YSSYguy via !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! )

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January 4, 2004 – The Mars Exploration Rover–A ( Spirit ) lands on Mars. Following its launch on June 10, 2003, Spirit was the first of two robotic exploration rovers sent to Mars by NASA, the other being !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (MER-B). Originally intended to have a 90-day mission, Spirit operated for an astonishing 2,269 Earth days and covered nearly 5 miles of the Martian surface. On May 1, 2009, Spirit became stuck in soft soil, and after seven months attempting to get the rover moving again, NASA declared that it could not be freed. Spirit continued to make stationary observations until contact was lost on March 22, 2010. (NASA illustration)

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January 4, 1996 – The first flight of the Boeing-Sikorski RAH-66 Comanche. Designed as a stealthy complement to the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! attack helicopter, the Comanche underwent nearly $7 billion of development before being canceled in 2004. The plan was for the Comanche to designate targets for Apache helicopters to destroy, but it would also be armed with missiles of its own to engage armored targets. Two Comanches were built and tested, but the Army decided the money would be better spent upgrading existing helicopters and developing unmanned aircraft. Both Comanches are on display at the United States Army Aviation Museum at Fort Rucker in Alabama. (US Army photo)

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January 4, 1989 – For the second time, US Navy fighters shoot down Libyan fighters over the Gulf of Sidra. Contrary to international convention, Lybian leader !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! had claimed the entire !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! as Lybian territorial waters, rather than the agreed !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . The US Navy, in a challenge to that claim, was operating 80 miles north of Libya when two Libyan !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! fighters appeared to engage two US Navy !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! that were providing air cover for the American fleet. The Tomcats shot down the two MiG-23s, killing the Libyan pilots, though Libya made no attempt to rescue the downed pilots. The Libyan government claimed that the aircraft were reconnaissance planes, but !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! showed that the fighters were armed with missiles and had locked on to the American fighters. (US Navy photo)

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January 4, 1936 – The first flight of the Vought SB2U Vindicator, the first monoplane aircraft to serve as a dive bomber for the US Navy. The Vindicator served the US Navy, Marine Corps, the French Navy and the Royal Navy (where it was known as the Chesapeake), but was mostly obsolete by the outbreak of WWII. A few Vindicators did fight in the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in 1942, but all were relegated to training duties by 1943. Vought produced 262 Vindicators, and the type was retired in 1945. (US Navy photo)

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January 5, 1995 – The death of Benjamin Robert Rich, the second director of Lockheed’s Skunk Works . Rich succeeded the legendary !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! as head of Lockheed’s !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Early in his career with Lockheed, Rich worked on the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! programs, but he is best known as the “Father of Stealth.” Rich championed the development of stealth technology at a time when many inside Lockheed, including the retired Johnson, believed that it was a waste of time. Rich’s team first developed the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! stealth demonstrator, and followed it with the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the world’s first operational stealth aircraft. (Photo via !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! )

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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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BringBackTheCommodore > ttyymmnn 01/05/2016 at 12:39

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Always thought this engine nacelle layout was rather interesting, albeit unusual in appearance.

HammerheadFistpunch > ttyymmnn 01/05/2016 at 12:44

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I didn’t know his middle name was Robert, two of my brothers are found in his complete name.

Jayhawk Jake > ttyymmnn 01/05/2016 at 12:51

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Anyone with even a passing interest in airplanes, stealth, Lockheed, or engineering must read Skunk Works by Ben Rich. Fantastic book, very interesting and very well written.

Rock Bottom > ttyymmnn 01/05/2016 at 12:55

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I love the old SST programs. I used to work in a facility that had done a fair amount of research on the Lockheed and Boeing proposals, as well as the rest of the NASA SCAT program.

1966 “Double Delta” Test (probably related to the Lockheed L-2000 program):

1969 SST (SCAT 15F, I believe):

1994 High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT):

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ttyymmnn 01/05/2016 at 13:00

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I’ve actually flown in one of these. Sans any facelifts to the interior, too!

HammerheadFistpunch > ttyymmnn 01/05/2016 at 13:00

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“$7 billion of development before being canceled” This kind of stuff pisses me off so much. I wonder what the tally would be if we added up all the money we spent on projects that were canned last minute. I would make the F22 and F35 look like bargains.

My X-type is too a real Jaguar > ttyymmnn 01/05/2016 at 13:17

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Commanche was the greatest Helicopter computer game ever made. There I said it there has been no improvement since the mid 90s

ttyymmnn > HammerheadFistpunch 01/05/2016 at 13:18

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“This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military–industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals so that security and liberty may prosper together.”

ttyymmnn > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 01/05/2016 at 13:19

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Did it meet your expectations?

ttyymmnn > Rock Bottom 01/05/2016 at 13:21

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Thanks for the photos. Interestingly, SecDef Robert McNamara argued vehemently against the SST program. A famous bean counter, McNamara may have seen up front that it would be a colossal money pit. Or, he really wanted the money for his own projects.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ttyymmnn 01/05/2016 at 13:22

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It was somewhat dreary and Eastern Bloc-ish, but more or less functional and not horrible. Unlike the ear-rapey Tupolev of a short time previous. It reminded me somewhat of the East Germany exhibits I’ve seen in Berlin.

Kent > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 01/05/2016 at 13:22

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Was it on Air Koryo?

DrJohannVegas > HammerheadFistpunch 01/05/2016 at 13:25

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At one time, before I got sidetracked on a dissertation, I was trying to calculate just this number (and compare it to countries which don’t have annual defense budget reviews/renewals, but rather fund projects as a whole). It’s a lot. It’s scary much. The number might be somewhere in this text, though. I can check later in the week.

Also, I love me some Il-62.

ttyymmnn > Jayhawk Jake 01/05/2016 at 13:25

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I have it (f86sabre sent me a copy when he found out that I hadn’t read it yet). I still haven’t read it yet, but I will.

ttyymmnn > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 01/05/2016 at 13:26

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There is a certain brutal industrial utility to so many Russian designs. I would have liked to put that bird on my life list.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Kent 01/05/2016 at 13:30

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Actually, yes, shockingly. My dad is involved with an aid nonprofit. Long story.

Jayhawk Jake > ttyymmnn 01/05/2016 at 13:33

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I read it a few years ago. The development of Have Blue is downright fascinating, and some of the stories of SR-71 pilots in it are fantastic.

Rock Bottom > ttyymmnn 01/05/2016 at 13:38

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Yeah, I don’t have much to say about his decisions one way or another other than it would have been cool to have an American SST in the sky! Even if it was a money loss, it would have been a neat counter to the TU-144. Was the Concord ever profitable?

ttyymmnn > Rock Bottom 01/05/2016 at 13:41

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Not an easy answer. I’ll let this guy answer it, though.

In the 1970s the Uk and French governments continued to take a cut of any airline profits made, in the case of BA 80% of the profit was kept by the government, whilst the cost of buying the aircraft was covered by a loan offered by the government.

After posting large losses on their Concorde flights in the early 1980s, British Airways paid a flat sum of £16.5 million in 1984 to the UK government to buy their Concordes outright. After doing a market survey, and discovering that their target customers thought that Concorde was more expensive than it actually was, BA progressively raised prices to match. It seems extremely likely that BA then ran Concorde at a handsome profit probably unlike their French counterparts. Although BA refused to open the accounts, it has been reported to be up to £30-£50 million per year and a total profit of £1.75 billion on costs of £1 billion.

From 1978 to 1980 Braniff International Airways leased 10 Concordes, five each from British Airways and Air France. However, the flights were not profitable for Braniff and were usually less than 50% booked, which forced Braniff to end its term as the only U.S. Concorde operator in May of 1980.

On 10 April 2003 British Airways and Air France simultaneously announced that they would retire the Concorde later that year. They cited low passenger numbers following the 25 July 2000 crash, the slump in air travel following 9/11 and rising maintenance costs. ( yahoo )

Rock Bottom > ttyymmnn 01/05/2016 at 14:52

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Well there it is! Thanks!

RallyWrench > ttyymmnn 01/05/2016 at 16:00

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Aaand nobody listened, that happened.

ttyymmnn > RallyWrench 01/05/2016 at 16:04

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Coming from the former Supreme Allied Commander in Europe for WWII, you’d think it would have carried some weight.

RallyWrench > ttyymmnn 01/05/2016 at 16:27

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That’s what always gets me. Of all the people you should listen to about such things...

ttyymmnn > RallyWrench 01/05/2016 at 16:31

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Recent history shows that the people who know the most (scientists, educators, basically anybody with education and experience) are to be shunned in favor of what we want to be true.

RallyWrench > ttyymmnn 01/05/2016 at 16:33

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Anything else would be un-American.

user314 > ttyymmnn 01/05/2016 at 23:13

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I remember reading, probably twenty years ago now, an article in Air & Space on the B-2707 mockup . After the program was shelved, the mockup, crafted from aluminum and featuring a working nose, was sold to a fledgling aviation museum just outside Disney World. After that folded, the building, and the 2707 inside, was used by a church for many years. The front 85 feet made its way to the Hiller museum in California, then finally to the Museum of Flight in Seattle, who is doing a restoration .

ttyymmnn > user314 01/05/2016 at 23:14

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Thanks for the info and the link. I enjoyed the pics.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > ttyymmnn 01/11/2016 at 23:16

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A friend of mine is a procurement specialist. He’s the bean counter that goes in to reduce cost and streamline the process to be more efficent. The DoD is nuts. The way contracts are spread out is insane, to get as many congressional districts as possible, A to get as many politicians in your pocket, B) so that all your eggs aren’t in one basket (in case a company goes under) and C sometime its required (see part A).

The entire DoD bidding process is a shitshow with the US Gov (and thus taxpayers) taking all the risk and the contractors walking away with all the cards.