This Date in Aviation History: November 21 - November 23

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 11/23/2018 at 12:35 • Filed to: wingspan, Planelopnik, TDIAH

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Welcome to This Date in Aviation History , getting of you caught up on milestones, important historical events and people in aviation from November 21 through November 23.

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(UK Government)

November 22, 1916 – The first flight of the Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5. The airplane became an integral instrument of war during the First World War, and the exploits of dashing fighter pilots in their flying machines captured the public’s imagination. Iconic aircraft such as the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! became iconic symbols of the war in the air and, as two of the top performing fighters of the war, they remain fixed in our memories and have even found a place in popular culture ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! “flies” his Sopwith Camel doghouse against the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! flying a Dreidecker). But, just as the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! overshadowed the workhorse !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in WWII, the Camel overshadowed its stablemate, the Royal Aircraft S.E.5 (Scout Experimental 5), though both aircraft worked together to gain air supremacy over the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (German Air Force).

A Royal Flying Corps S.E.5a during WWI. A wartime censor has obscured aircraft serial numbers in the photo.

Unlike the Camel, which was powered by a heavy !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! spinning at the front of the fighter, the S.E.5, developed by !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and Major !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , was designed around the new 150 hp !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! water-cooled V8 turning a geared propeller. As opposed to the rotating engine of the Camel, the stationary V8 meant that the S.E.5 didn’t have the weight and torque of an entire engine spinning at the front of the plane, and that helped to make the S.E.5 a very stable aircraft to fly, particularly in the hands of inexperienced pilots. That stability also made it a superb platform for gunnery. But despite its stability, the S.E.5 was still a solid dogfighter and, while it couldn’t quite match the Camel in a tight scrap, the S.E.5 outperformed it at high altitude and was more effective against the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! when the German fighter arrived over the battlefield in 1918. The !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! built three prototypes at their Farnborough factory, but two were lost to crashes, one of which claimed the life of Royal Aircraft’s chief test pilot and designer !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . The cause of the crashes was traced to problems with the wing construction, so the S.E.5 was redesigned to strengthen the wing, resulting in one of the most rugged aircraft of the war, and giving the S.E.5 particularly good strength in a high-speed dive.

The officers of No. 85 Squadron, including Major Edward Mannock, gather in front of their Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5a scouts at St Omer aerodrome in France in 1918 (Imperial War Museum)

The S.E.5 entered service in March 1917 and was flown by some of the Allied Powers’ greatest and most decorated pilots, such as top Canadian ace !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and leading South African ace !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Three out of England’s four top aces, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , all spent time in the S.E.5. After the production of 77 aircraft, the original Hispano-Suiza 8 engine was replaced with a slightly more powerful Hispano-Suiza 8b that provided a welcome boost of 50 hp over the original power plant. This engine was subsequently replaced by a 200 hp !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , a high-compression version of the Hispano-Suiza 8 which also did away with the problematic gear drive of the earlier engine. This became the standard engine for what was now known as the S.E.5a. Over 5,000 S.E.5s were produced during the war, and most were retired soon after the war’s end. A handful continued into civilian life, and two original S.E.5s remain airworthy, along with a number of original aircraft on static display and a number of reproductions for private use and filmmaking.

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Short Takeoff

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November 21, 1952 – The first flight of the Percival Pembroke, a twin-engine, light transport aircraft that was developed from the earlier !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Introduced in 1953, the Pembroke replaced the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! with the RAF for transport duties, where it was known as the Percival C.1, and it followed standard RAF practice of having the passenger seats face rearward for safety. In addition to its transport duties, the Percival served as a reconnaissance aircraft with both the RAF and the Finnish Air Force, and production ended in 1958 after 128 aircraft were built. The Percival served the RAF until 1988.

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(Author unknown)

November 22, 2003 – A DHL cargo plane is struck by a missile near Baghdad. The !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! cargo craft was performing a rapid climbout from Baghdad airport when Iraqi !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! fighters struck the aircraft’s left wing with a shoulder-launched !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! air defense missile. The missile strike caused the aircraft to lose complete hydaulic control, but the flight crew was able to return to the airport using only engine thrust for steering, making a high-speed landing and departing the runway before coming to a stop. For their exceptional piloting skills, the crew was awarded the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and the Flight Safety Foundation !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

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November 22, 1982 – The death of Jean Batten. Batten was born in New Zealand on September 15, 1909, and became one of the most famous aviatrixes of her time. She chose to become a pilot after a flight with famed Australian aviator !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and took her first solo flight in 1930. In 1934, piloting a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! biplane, Batten beat the record for solo flight from England to Australia by completing the trip in just under 15 days, shaving four days off the old record. The following year, Batten set a record for flight from England to Brazil, and then another record in 1936 flying from England to New Zealand. For her exploits, Batten was awarded the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! three times, and was named !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (CBE) in 1936. Her career ended with the start of WWII, when her !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (pictured) was pressed into military service and she was not permitted to fly it. Batten became a recluse, living in various places around the world, before she succumbed to an infection from a dog bite at age 73 while living in Spain.

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November 22, 1946– The first flight of the Martin 2-0-2, a twin-engined passenger airliner that Martin hoped would take the place of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Like the DC-3, the 2-0-2 was not pressurized, and production delays caused many airlines to cancel orders for the 2-0-2 and purchase newer pressurized airliners instead, such as the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . The 2-0-2 entered service with Pennsylvania Central Airlines in 1945, but the crash of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , killing 33, revealed a serious deficiency in the design of the wing spar. The aircraft was redesigned and re-engined, resulting in the 2-0-2a, but sales were hampered by delays and lack of pressurization and only 47 2-0-2s were built. The 2-0-2 was subsequently developed into the pressurized !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which proved to be somewhat more successful. A single 2-0-2 survives today, unrestored, at the Aviation Hall of Fame Museum in New Jersey.

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(Mölders photo via Deutsches Bundesarchiv; Bf 109 photo author unknown)

November 22, 1941 – The death of Werner Mölders, a German Luftwaffe pilot and the leading fighter ace in the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . When combined with his victories in WWII, Mölders was the first pilot in history to claim 100 victories in aerial combat, surpassing WWI ace !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , better known as the Red Baron. Mölders was a leading figure in the development of aerial combat tactics, and is credited with creating the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . For propaganda reasons, Mölders was removed from combat in 1941, in much the same way American aces were brought back to the United States to sell war bonds, but he died at the age of 28 as a passenger in a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! which crashed while attempting to land.

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November 23, 1959 – The first flight of the Boeing 720, a short- to medium-range airliner developed from the successful !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Launched in 1960 with United Airlines, the 720 was smaller than its predecessor and carried fewer passengers, but was developed to operate from shorter runways at airports that were inaccessible to the larger 707. The 720 became a popular charter aircraft, famously for the British band !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , who named their 720 !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . A follow-on variant of the 720, the 720B, replaced the original !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! turbojet engines with !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! turbofan engines, and the 720 was eventually superseded by the Boeing !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

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(US Navy)

November 23, 1942 –   The first flight of the Vought V-173. Nicknamed the “Flying Pancake,” the V-173 was a developmental proof of concept aircraft to create a new fighter for the US Navy that would take advantage of the unorthodox aircraft’s !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! wing and provide lower take off and landing speeds while preserving maneuverability at high speeds. The V-173 was eventually developed into the all-metal !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and, while the design promised excellent performance, the XF5U came at a time when the Navy was transitioning to jet aircraft (it shares a maiden flight date with the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ) and the program was canceled by 1947.

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November 23, 1910 – The death of Octave Chanute. Chanute was born in Paris on February 18, 1832 and emigrated to the US when he was six years old. He became a civil engineer and did the majority of his work building railroad bridges in the Midwest. After retiring from civil engineering, Chanute turned his interests to aviation and began compiling all the information he could find about flight attempts from all around the world and compiled them. He began to work with early pioneers of glider flight, and eventually came in contact with the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in 1900, where his work heavily influenced the brothers in their quest to build a flying machine. Chanute shared his findings freely, but chafed at the Wrights’ refusal to share any of their discoveries with the world. However, he continued to give them advice and helped publicize their achievements. Despite the failure of his own flying machines, Chanute’s work to promote aviation has led some to consider him the father of heavier-than-air flight. The former Chanute Air Force Base in Illinois was named in his honor.

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Connecting Flights

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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!!! . You can also find more stories about aviation, aviators and airplane oddities at !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

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ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > ttyymmnn 11/23/2018 at 13:36

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Excellent as always!

I had an airplane book as a kid and I recall being fascinated with the “Flying Pancake” and other experimental airplanes. I drew strange new designs as one does as a child.

As an adult, I am pleased those drawings have been lost to the sand of time.

ttyymmnn > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) 11/23/2018 at 13:46

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Thanks. I still have a folder of drawings my friend and I made. We took three-view drawings of aircraft, traced them, then turned them into space fighters a la Starblazers. I also have recollections of airplane books I looked at as a kid in the 1970s that had many experimental aircraft that I’ve since written about. I wish I still had some of those books. 

John Norris (AngryDrifter) > ttyymmnn 11/23/2018 at 16:40

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I don’t recall hearing about this. Really interesting, thanks for the ongoing education!

ttyymmnn > John Norris (AngryDrifter) 11/23/2018 at 17:14

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My pleasure!