This Date in Aviation History: December 15 - December 18

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 12/18/2018 at 12:35 • Filed to: wingspan, planelopnik history, Planelopnik

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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 December 15 through December 18.

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A Boeing 787-Dreamliner arrives at Dallas-Fort Worth airport after a flight from Beijing, a distance of nearly 7,000 miles (Tim Shaffer)

December 15, 2009 – The first flight of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. In the modern age of air travel, the battle among airline designers, particularly Boeing and Airbus, has been fought over passenger load and efficiency, with each company seeking ways to fly passengers to distant destinations while using less fuel. A large part of that effort has gone into engine design, and modern high-bypass turbofan engines have become marvels of efficiency. With as many miles per gallon as possible being wrung out of the engines, the other major area that money savings can be found is in the use of new materials for the construction of the aircraft itself, materials that are strong yet light, as weight is one of the great enemies of fuel efficiency.

The prototype Boeing 787 departs from Paine Field in Everett, Washington on its maiden flight (Dave Sizer)

Boeing began to tackle the problem fuel efficiency back in the late 1990s, when, as the airliner sales market started to cool off, they sought replacement aircraft to bolster sagging sales of their wide-body !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . They considered the 747X, a lengthened version of the 747-400, and even the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , a radical delta wing aircraft which offered higher speeds than were obtainable in current aircraft. The radical Sonic Cruiser was eventually abandoned in 2002 in favor of a more traditional design, which would become the 787, but much of what Boeing learned in the development of the Sonic Cruiser, particularly the use of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , was put to use on what Boeing now called the Dreamliner. Boeing gave the new airliner the internal designation 7E7, and it was the first production airliner to be built from one-piece, composite sections rather than riveted aluminum. Ultimately, the final breakdown of materials was 50% composite, 20% aluminum, 15% titanium, 10% steel, and 5% other materials.

!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! to Boeing, the savings in weight for this type of construction, coupled with two new engines, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! high-bypass turbofans, made the 787 20% more fuel efficient than the 767 while carrying more passengers. The engines generate from 53,000-74,000 pounds of thrust, and have a massive fan diameter of 9.5 feet. The serrated edges of the engine nacelle, which Boeing calls chevrons, help reduce the noise from the jet exhaust by controlling the way the exhaust mixes with the cooler air bypassing the engine core. The chevrons are so effective that hundreds of pounds of sound-dampening insulation can be removed. Depending on the variant, the 787 can accommodate as many as 440 passengers in a single-class configuration (787-10), and can fly 8,786 miles on a single load of fuel.

The development of such a pioneering airliner as the 787 was plagued with delays. Boeing struggled to get the Dreamliner down to its intended weight, as some parts had to be redesigned with titanium, and other delays in obtaining fasteners and difficulty with the software kept pushing back delivery dates. All told, Boeing lost nearly $30 billion while delivering the first 500 787s. Nevertheless, Boeing had 677 orders for the Dreamliner by 2007, more than any other previous widebody. Following yet more delays, extensive testing, and certification, the first Dreamliner was officially delivered to the 787’s launch customer, All Nippon Airways (ANA), on September 25, 2o11 at the Boeing factory in Everett, Washington, and it entered service the following month. As of September 2017, Boeing had received !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! for 1,283 Dreamliners, with 600 delivered. Production delays have pushed back some deliveries, but Boeing has worked hard to streamline the production process, and as of 2018, the company had orders for just over 1,400 787s, and recently rolled out the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which will enter service with China Southern Airlines. Despite the early setbacks, Boeing has begun to turn the corner on the profitability of the 787, and has plans to deliver as many as 14 a month beginning in 2019.

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An F-35A Lightning II aircraft assigned to Hill Air Force Base, Utah, prepares to be refueled by a 459th Air Refueling Wing KC-135 Stratotanker during a flight to Graf Ignatievo Air Base, Bulgaria, April 28, 2017. (US Air Force)

December 15, 2006 – The first flight of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. Back in the early 1960s, both the US Navy and US Air Force needed to replace aging aircraft, and newly appointed Defense Secretary !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , well known for his micromanagement of America’s war efforts in Vietnam, ordered that both branches must pursue a common aircraft in an effort to save money. Even though the two branches had very different requirements, McNamara dictated that the new aircraft, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , would be designed first for the Air Force, and development of a carrier-based version for the Navy would follow. Finding that there was no chance that the F-111 would become a successful naval fighter bomber, the Navy eventually pulled out of the program and went their own way, developing the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

The prototype X-35 photographed during a test flight over Edwards Air Force Base in California (US Air Force)

Despite the difficulties faced by the US military in developing a single platform to satisfy very different requirements, the Pentagon once again embarked on a similar path with the announcement of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (JSF) competition in 1993. The goal was to develop a single basic aircraft that would serve the very different missions of the Air Force, Navy and US Marine Corps, as well as the needs of numerous export countries. It was hoped that the new fighter could perform the combined missions of the various aircraft it was slated to replace: the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . The competition for what would become the largest defense contract in history was fought between the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and the X-35, which first flew on October 24, 2000, was declared the winner in 2001.

Not a steam gauge in sight. The cockpit of the F-35 features huge flat screens, and doesn’t even include a compass. In the event of power loss, batteries will power the screens long enough for the pilot to make an emergency landing. (Lockheed Martin)

Drawing on elements of their !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , Lockheed included features of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , integrated avionics, a computerized maintenance management system, and data networking to provide the pilot with unparalleled situational awareness. More than a simple attack plane, the F-35 would be a digital information hub, capable of taking data from both satellites, aircraft, and ground forces and combining it to form a complete picture of the battle space. The use of nanocomposites, specifically !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! reinforced epoxy, makes the F-35 the first mass-produced aircraft to employ these lightweight yet strong materials. The Lightning II is powered by a single !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! afterburning turbofan engine and, while it is not capable of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , it can maintain a speed of Mach 1.2 for a distance of 150 miles.

An F-35B assigned to the Patuxent River Integrated Test Force performs flight trials aboard the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08) on November 3, 2018. The Royal Navy and Royal Air Force will operate the F-35B to replace the Harrier GR9 and Tornado GR4.

To fulfill the varied requirements of the different branches of the military, Lockheed produces the F-35 in three main variants: the F-35A, a traditional fighter-bomber for the Air Force; the F-35B, a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (STOVL) version for the Marine Corps; and the F-35C, a fully navalized variant for the US Navy. The Marine STOVL version has a pivoting engine nozzle for hovering, while the same engine powers a forward lift fan through a complex drive shaft. Takeoffs can be performed either vertically or by using a ski ramp, and a test program is underway to determine the feasibility of operating the F-35B from existing helicopter carriers.

The entire F-35 program has been plagued with delays, software development problems and massive cost overruns. By 2014, it was $163 billion over budget and seven years behind schedule. Considering the entire development costs and operating budget for a planned 55 years of service, the F-35 program is projected to cost $1.1 trillion, making it the most expensive weapons program in history. These problems have led some international customers to reduce their commitment to buying the new fighter, but plans are still in the works for 3,146 F-35s to be built and delivered by 2035, with 1,763 ordered for the US Air Fore, 247 for the US Navy, and 733 for the US Marine Corps. The F-35 is also exported to 13 other nations. In spite of continuing problems and systems that were not ready for battle, the Marines declared initial operating capability of the F-35B in July 2015, and the Air Force declared the F-35A combat ready in 2016, and forward deployment of the F-35A has already begun to global hotspots. The Navy’s F-35C is expected to be deployed for the first time in 2o21.

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(US Library of Congress)

December 17, 1903 – The Wright Brothers make the first powered flight in the world’s first practical airplane. While the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! were not the first to fly, Wilbur and Orville were the first to build and fly a heavier-than-air aircraft under its own power and to control the aircraft in flight. After a series of tests of gliders to perfect their designs, the brothers set up shop at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina to make their first attempts at powered flight. Following a failed first attempt on December 14 that resulted in a damaged aircraft, Orville took off on December 17, with Wilbur running alongside, and piloted the Wright Flyter for 12 seconds and covered a distance of 120 feet. Subsequent flights managed distances of 175 feet and 200 feet.

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December 17, 1963 – The first flight of the Lockheed C-141 Starlifter. Napoleon (or perhaps Frederick the Great) famously said that an army marches on its stomach, and experience in WWII demonstrated the true value of the airplane as a means of delivering supplies and materiel to front line troops. By the end of the 1950s, the US Air Force required a new, jet-powered transport and cargo aircraft to replace its aging fleet of piston-powered transports such as the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . As a stopgap measure, the Air Force ordered the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , a cargo variant of the KC-135 aerial tanker, but without any specific logistic capabilities, such as clamshell doors or purpose-built loading ramps, the C-135 was an imperfect solution. In 1960, the Air Force released Specific Operational Requirement 182, which called for an aircraft that could perform both strategic and tactical airlift missions. For the strategic mission, the new airlifter would need a range of at least 3,500 nautical miles while carrying a 60,000-pound load of troops, equipment, or materiel. For its tactical mission, the new aircraft would have to be capable of performing low-altitude air drops of materiel and paratroops. Boeing, General Dynamics and Lockheed responded to the proposal, and the Starlifter was chosen.

Soldiers of the US Army 82nd Airborne board a C-141B in the Caribbean for a flight back to Ft. Bragg during Ocean Venture ‘88 (US Air Force)

The C-141, which had the Lockheed designation Model 300, was designed from the outset as a cargo aircraft, with a high wing that allowed for maximum cargo space and a clamshell door at the rear. Another important feature is a cargo floor that is just 50 inches above the ground, facilitating access to the cargo hold for troops and vehicles. The Starlifter was powered by four !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! turbofans, and the large hold could carry over 70,000 pounds of cargo. The the C-141 showed its mettle when set a world record for heavy cargo drops with a load of 70,195 pounds. As a personnel carrier, the Starlifter could accommodate 154 troops, 123 paratroops or 80 medevac patients on litters.

A stretched C-141B in the foreground, with an earlier C-141A in the background (US Air Force)

Though the Starlifter was large and powerful, one of the drawbacks of the original C-141 was that it tended to fill up with bulky equipment before it reached its cargo weight limit. To address this problem, Lockheed took 270 C-141As and lengthened them 23 feet by adding an additional fuselage section, and the new aircraft was designated C-141B. The Starlifter entered service in 1965 and had an immediate impact on American operations in Vietnam, carrying troops and supplies to Asia and returning with wounded soldiers. During the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! of 1991, Starlifters performed the bulk of strategic airlift missions, transporting 159,462 short tons of cargo and 93,126 passengers over the course of 8,536 missions. The Starlifter became one of the longer-serving aircraft in the Air Force inventory, and its retirement in 2006 ended 41 years of service. A total of 285 C-141s were produced from 1963 to 1968.   (US Air Force photos)

The aircraft in the top photo, tail number 66-0177, better known as the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , was the aircraft that brought home the first US prisoners of war to be released from North Vietnam. First delivered to the Air Force in 1967, the Hanoi Taxi was the final C-141 to be withdrawn from Air Force service when the Starlifter was retired from active service in 2006. The Hanoi Taxi is now housed at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.

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A B-47E of the 22d Bombardment Wing photographed in 1960 (US Air Force)

December 17, 1947 – The first flight of the Boeing B-47 Stratojet. By the end of WWII, the race was on to harness the power of the new jet engine in all applications of military flight. The first operational jet fighters had appeared at the end of the war, and a jet-powered bomber was the next logical step. As early as 1943, the US Army Air Forces asked aircraft designers to start looking at a large bomber that would be powered by jets, and, in 1944, North American Aviation, the Convair Corporation, the Glenn Martin Company, and Boeing all submitted proposals for a traditional, straight-winged aircraft with turbojet engines. All were powered by the new !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! turbojet (GE’s designation of the Allison J35), and Boeing’s design, which they designated the Model 432, had its engines buried in the fuselage to reduce drag.

Boeing XB-47 prototype in flight. Note the glazed nose position for the bombardier. Production models dropped this feature for a solid nose. (US Air Force)

In May 1945, with WWII drawing to a close, the Allies drove deeper into Germany. With the capture of secret German airfields and test facilities, many of the experimental aircraft and data from German testing programs fell into Allied hands. One of these locations was an aircraft development site in Braunschweig, where the Germans had been working on swept wing technology. American engineers had already begun to investigate the benefits of sweeping the wings of an aircraft, but the newly-captured German data verified the benefits of the design. George Schairer, a Boeing engineer who was a member of the American inspection team in Germany, called back to Boeing and instructed them to stop work on the new straight-wing bomber and to begin a redesign to incorporate a swept wing.

An RB-47 reconnaissance variant takes part in Operation Teapot, a series of nuclear weapons tests in Nevada in 1955. (US Air Force)

Based on the captured German data, a sweep of 35-degrees was incorporated into both the main wing and the tailplane, and the engines were moved from the fuselage to pods under the wings. This configuration of swept wings and podded engines set the standard for large jet aircraft design that remains standard to this day. The thin wing did not allow for traditional landing gear, so a bicycle gear arrangement was employed, with outrigger wheels fitted to the inboard engine pods. Though the B-47 was not supersonic, it was still quite fast for its day, and the Stratojet set a record for transcontinental flight when it crossed the US in less than four hours at an average speed of 698 mph.

B-47Es of Strategic Air Command lined up on the tarmac (US Air Force)

The B-47 served as the cornerstone of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! nuclear deterrence force until it was replaced by the larger !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ,. And, while the Stratojet never saw combat, its reconnaissance variants provided vital surveillance data, as well as electronic intelligence and weather reconnaissance. A total of 2,032 Stratojets were produced, a number that includes 659 that were built under license by Douglas and Lockheed. The final bomber variant, the B-47E, was retired in 1969, while the reconnaissance variant EB-47E served until 1977. No airworthy Stratojets remain today, though 23 are on display around the country.

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December 17, 1935 – The first fight of the Douglas DC-3/C-47 Skytrain. Throughout the history of aviation, there have been many great airplanes, but only a few can be counted in the pantheon of the greatest ever. And it seems fitting that, in a world of computers, jet engines, and fly-by-wire controls, one of the aircraft that truly changed the world is an unassuming propeller plane, one that revolutionized the world of air transport, and also played an indispensable role in winning WWII. That aircraft is the Douglas DC-3, or, in its military dress, the C-47 Skytrain.

By the 1930s, aircraft designers were competing to develop larger passenger aircraft to fill the needs of a burgeoning air travel industry. Transcontinental and Western Air (which later became Trans World Airlines, or TWA) was in stiff competition with United and their !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . To remain viable, the growing company needed a modern airliner of its own. Since Boeing owned United, the manufacturer had an exclusive contract only to sell the 247 to United. So T&WA approached the Douglas Aircraft Company and requested that the company build a new airliner for their own use. That request resulted in the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (“DC” stands for “Douglas Commercial”), of which a single prototype was built, and the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , an excellent plane in its own right, but one that could still be improved upon. After discussions with American Airlines, Douglas began development of what they called the Douglas Sleeper Transport (DST). They began by widening the DC-2 so it could accommodate 14 to 16 side-by-side berths. With the berths removed and seats put in their place, the DST could hold 21 passengers, and this configuration received the designation DC-3. The DC-3 was an immediate success, crossing the country from west to east in as little as 15 hours (with three stops for fuel). Douglas produced just over 600 DC-3s, but it was the outbreak of WWII that pushed the DC-3 into the record books, and into the annals of aviation history.

Two USAAF C-47As of the 81st Troop Carrier Squadron carry paratroops for Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France, in 1944 (US Air Force)

For military service, Douglas fitted more powerful !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! Twin Wasp 14-cylinder radial engines and strengthened the floor to support military cargo. They removed the seats and replaced them with utility seats that lined the cabin walls and could be folded away. A large door was also added to the side of the plane to facilitate loading and unloading of cargo. The military version received the designation !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (it was known as the R4D in US Navy service, and the Dakota by the British), and it proved indispensable in flying cargo missions over the Himalayas, and supplied troops in every theater of operations in WWII. It also towed gliders for airborne troops, and flew paratroops into battle.

Soldiers unload a Jeep from the cargo doors of a C-47 somewhere in France during WWII (US Army)

The C-47 proved to be extremely rugged and easy to maintain in the field, and Allied commanders, particularly in the Pacific, found that entire armies could now be supplied by the air. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of Allied forces in Europe, said that the C-47 was one of the major tools that helped win the war for the Allies. While “only” 607 DC-3s were built, over 10,000 C-47s were produced in a myriad of variants, with many still flying today. And, while historians make note of aircraft that have flown for over 50 years, there is every possibility that some of the rugged and reliable DC-3s and C-47s will still be flying 100 years after their introduction.

A US Army nurse helps unload jerry cans of gasoline from a C-47 near Reims, France in 1944. (US Army)

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Short Takeoff

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(US Air Force; Author unknown)

December 15, 1944 – The disappearance of Glenn Miller, one of the best-known and most prolific composers and performers of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Wanting to take part in the war effort during WWII, Miller convinced the US Army to allow him to enlist at age 38 to form a “modernized Army band.” He was given the rank of captain and soon promoted to major. While flying as a passenger on a flight from England to France for a performance, Miller’s !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! disappeared over the English Channel and was never found. The reason for the disappearance was never determined, but a likely cause was engine failure from an iced carburetor. Another theory is that his plane strayed into an area where Allied bombers jettisoned unused bombs into the English Channel while returning to England, but plane spotters said that Miller’s aircraft was not headed into that area the last time it was seen.

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December 16, 1994 – The first flight of the Antonov An-70. Developed in the 1980s to replace the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the An-70 is the first large aircraft to be powered by !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! engines, a jet engine in which one or more stages of the turbine fan is outside the engine cowling. The Soviet government originally intended to build as many as 160 An-70s in factories in both Russia and Ukraine, but the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! of the Soviet Union in 1991 led to the cancellation of the project. Only two prototypes were built, the first of which was lost in a mid-air collision in 1995. There were plans to resurrect the project, but Russia declared in 2015 that they had no intention of procuring the An-70.

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Douglas Campbell, center, with Eddie Rickenbacker, left, and Kenneth Marr in 1917 or 1918 (US Army)

December 16, 1990 – The death of Douglas Campbell, America’s first fighter ace. At the outbreak of WWI, the United States lagged behind the rest of Europe in the development of military aircraft, and many Americans went overseas to fly for the British and French. By 1917, the first fully American squadrons arrived in France, though they were still flying French aircraft. One of the first to see action was the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , better known as the Hat in the Ring. When the US entered the war in 1917, Campbell dropped out of Harvard and joined the US Army, where he learned to fly in a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Campbell took part in the 94th’s first combat patrol alongside famed aviators !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and scored his first victory in an aircraft armed with only a single machine gun rather than the customary two. Campbell became the first US aviator to become an ace while flying for an American unit, and ended the war with six victories, earning the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

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December 16, 1960 – Two airliners collide over Staten Island, New York. In what has become known as the Park Slope plane crash, United Airlines Flight 826, a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (N8013U) carrying 84 passengers and bound for Idlewild Airport (later JFK International) collided with TWA Flight 266, a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (N6907C) carrying 44 passengers also en route to Idlewild. All but one passenger were killed on the two airliners, as well as six people on the ground. The sole survivor, 11-year-old Steven Baltz, died the next day from complications caused by inhalation of burning jet fuel. Using information from the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (commonly known as “black boxes”) for the first time since their use was mandated in 1957, investigators found that a faulty VHF transmitter contributed to the United crew’s overshooting their holding point, which caused it to cross paths with the TWA flight. The loss of 134 people was the world’s deadliest crash until 1968, when a US Air Force !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! was !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! over South Vietnam, killing 155, mostly South Vietnamese civilians, being evacuated from the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

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(Bell Helicopter)

December 17, 2017 – The first flight of the Bell V-280 Valor, a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! aircraft being developed for the US Army by Bell Helicopter and Lockheed Martin. The Valor was selected in 2013 as a technology demonstrator for the Army’s !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! program which seeks replacements for the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . While bearing a resemblance to the V-22 Osprey, the major difference with the Valor is that only the gearbox rotates to the vertical, rather than the entire engine nacelle as with the Osprey. Other design elements include a V tail, a carbon fiber reinforced polymer wing for weight reduction, and triple-redundant fly-by-wire controls. In the event of engine failure, one engine is capable of turning both props. The Valor will have a crew of four, room for 14 troops, and, as its designation indicates, a top speed of 280 knots.

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(Author unknown)

December 17, 1956 – The first flight of the Grumman E-1 Tracer. A development of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which was designed for carrier onboard delivery (COD), and itself a variant of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the Tracer was the first purpose-built carrier-borne !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (AEW) aircraft. The original E-1 was fitted with the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!   !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! radar in a large radome above the fuselage to track enemy aircraft, and had the critical capability of being able to separate targets from the background of the ocean’s surface. The Tracer entered service in 1958 with the understanding that it was only an interim design before a more modern aircraft could be developed. A total of 83 were produced before the type was replaced by the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

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(US Army)

December 17, 1944 – Major Richard Bong becomes the top-scoring American fighter ace of WWII. One of America’s most highly decorated fighter pilots, Bong amassed a total of 40 victories over Japanese aircraft in the Pacific Theater, all of which he scored while flying the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . In September 1942, Bong scored his first two victories, earning him the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and in July 1943 he shot down four Japanese fighters over Lae, New Guinea, earning him the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . While assigned to non-combat role as a gunnery instructor, Bong downed eight enemy aircraft, earning him the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Bong was sent home in 1945 to sell !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! as the “ace of aces,” but was killed in August of that year while flying as a test pilot in a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

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(US Air Force)

December 18, 1972 – The beginning of the Linebacker II bombing campaign in Vietnam. As the war in Vietnam ground to its bloody conclusion in 1974, elements of the US Seventh Air Force and US Navy Task Force 77 carried out a bombing campaign of “maximum effort” to bomb targets in the North Vietnamese capital city of Hanoi, as well as the strategic Haiphong harbor, with the goal of forcing the North Vietnamese government to return to peace negotiations. Over the course of 11 days, the bombings, also known as the Christmas Bombings, were carried out by over 2,000 US aircraft, including more than 200 !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! bombers, in the heaviest aerial bombardment since WWII. B-52s flew 741 sorties and dropped 15,237 tons of ordnance on industrial, military, and antiaircraft missile sites, with an additional 5,000 tons of bombs dropped by Navy and Air Force fighter bombers. Sixteen B-52s were lost, while North Vietnam claimed 1,624 civilian casualties. Though the bombing was popular with supporters of the war, the effectiveness of the missions was questionable, and President Nixon said the bombings amounted to “zilch.”

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The prototype Airbus A300, the first airliner produced by Airbus and the world’s first twin-engine wide-body airliner (Airbus)

December 18, 1970 – Airbus Industries is formally established. In an effort to compete with American aircraft manufactures Boeing, McDonnell Douglas and Lockheed, Airbus was formed by an agreement between French Aerospatiale, German Deutsche Airbus, British Hawker Siddeley and Dutch Fokker. The first aircraft developed by the group was the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the world’s first twin-engine wide-body, which took its maiden flight in October 1972. Since then, Airbus has gone on to produce the world’s first digital fly-by-wire airliner in the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , as well as the world’s largest airliner in the double-decker !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and delivered their 10,000th aircraft, the composite !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , in October 2016. Airbus has assembly facilities in France, Germany, Spain, China, England and the United States, and has diversified into military aircraft, corporate jets, air traffic management, and aircraft components.

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(US Navy)

December 18, 1940 – The first flight of the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver, a dive and torpedo bomber developed for the US Navy as a replacement for the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and as a dive bomber for the US Army known as the A-25 Shrike. The Helldiver was considerably larger than the Dauntless, and featured heavier armament and an internal bomb bay. Early in its development, the Helldiver was plagued by structural deficiencies and poor handling, leading to loss of export customers and an investigation by the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Once its problems were mostly solved, the Helldiver became the primary American dive bomber for the last two years of the war in the Pacific, though the difficulties with the Helldiver’s development caused Curtiss to lose favor with the US military. Over 7,000 Helldivers were produced between 1943 and 1945, and the final Helldivers were retired by the Italian Air Force in 1959 .

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John Alcock (right) with Arthur Brown in 1919 (Author unknown)

December 18, 1919 – The death of John Alcock. Born on November 5, 1892, Alcock received his pilot license in 1912 and began his career as a race pilot for the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Alcock joined the Royal Naval Air Service at the outbreak of WWI, and received the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! for downing two enemy aircraft while piloting a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , though he ended the war as prisoner after ditching his Handley Page bomber in the sea. Following his release at the end of the war, Alcock became a test pilot for !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and gained fame when he and fellow pilot !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! became the first to cross the Atlantic Ocean, flying a modified !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! bomber from St. John’s, Newfoundland to Clifden, Ireland, a voyage of 1,980 miles that took more than 16 hours. Alcock was killed in 1919 in the crash of his !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! on his way to an aviation expo in France.

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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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Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > ttyymmnn 12/18/2018 at 13:03

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So was the A300 one of the first if not the first wide body two engine commercial jet?

Chariotoflove > ttyymmnn 12/18/2018 at 13:05

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Somebody really ought to be paying you for all this professional quality work. Not me, but somebody.

facw > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 12/18/2018 at 13:11

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The prototype Airbus A300, the first airliner produced by Airbus and the world’s first twin-engine wide-body airliner (Airbus) 

ttyymmnn > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 12/18/2018 at 13:14

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Yes. The 747 was the first wide-body. 

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > facw 12/18/2018 at 13:14

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I’m reading impaired .

ttyymmnn > Chariotoflove 12/18/2018 at 13:15

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I agree! And thank you. 

user314 > ttyymmnn 12/18/2018 at 13:15

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This was the best livery of any applied by the USAF. Fact.

I have an irrational fascination with propfans, and I’m quite sad none have reached production

facw > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 12/18/2018 at 13:16

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And in more detail:

1968: 747, 4 engines

1971: DC-10, 3

1972: Tristar, 3

1974: A300, 2  

1980: Il-86, 4

1981: 767, 2

1983: A310, 2

1990: MD-11, 3

1992: Il-96, 4

1993: 777, 2

1993: A340, 4

1994: A330, 2

2005: A380, 4

2007: 787, 2

2010: A350, 2

facw > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 12/18/2018 at 13:17

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Captions are easy to ignore.

ttyymmnn > user314 12/18/2018 at 13:40

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Indeed, that old MAT livery is a winner.

As for profans, don’t former the An-70. You might find this interesting.

user314 > ttyymmnn 12/18/2018 at 14:11

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Ah yes, I remember that issue of A&S. I think I still have it in a box somewhere at home. I kinda miss looking forward to each new issue, back before I could access pretty much anything about aerospace at any time. 

Ash78, voting early and often > ttyymmnn 12/18/2018 at 15:29

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I don’t mean to sound Planist, but almost all current low-wing, wing-nacelle twin-engine jetliners look the same to me. I mean, they all come from the same limited genealogy and draw from the same basic technology, so I’m just speaking the truth. Nothing wrong with that.

I mean, some of them have single landing gear and some have double sets of wheels, but otherwise they’re all just a bunch of 737 photocopies set to varying degrees of enlargement. The 757 fell off the same tree and rolled a few feet away, but that’s about it.

Ash78, voting early and often > Chariotoflove 12/18/2018 at 15:30

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This comment could be applied to almost everything ever created on the internet! And most wagons ever sold in the US.

Chariotoflove > Ash78, voting early and often 12/18/2018 at 15:35

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But it’s my heartfelt delivery that makes it special.

ttyymmnn > Ash78, voting early and often 12/18/2018 at 16:38

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Boeing set the standard with the of podded engines and swept wings B-47 , and it’s a formula that has certainly been refined, though it has arguably not ever evolved. Back when f86sabre was spending the day in the hospital, I chatted with him about the Boeing NMA. Whatever it ends up looking like, it will still look a lot like a 757. Airline execs aren’t the most daring lot, at least not since Pan Am took a shot with the 707. Unless or until we get some sort of SST, it will be more of the same, with all effort pointed at eking out a few more mpgs.

Now, to your suggestion that they all look alike. I agree, to a point. But from a purely aesthetic point of view, I would argue that Boeing makes much more attractive airplanes than Airbus. The 737 looks like it was sketched on a drafting table by an artistic engineer, while the A32 0 (and all other Airbuses) look like they were designed by a committee because, well, they were. The 737 bends and swoops and looks graceful in the air (at least the short ones do; the MAX loses some of its gracefulness by being so long). The A320, on the other hand, is merely a tube with wings, designed for functionality, more of an appliance . The A220 is attractive, but that wasn’t designed by Airbus.

But, to your point, planespotting has definitely  gotten more difficult. Airbus and Boeing are both making the same airplanes, just in their only slightly different way, and it can be hard to tell them apart on short final. Honestly, I only see more evolution. The next revolution will not be in design, it will be in the cockpit, with the removal of the pilots.

Ash78, voting early and often > ttyymmnn 12/18/2018 at 16:57

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I see it much more clearly here, but would otherwise never notice the difference when they’re 2,500' over my house on the downwind leg (which is fun — I live about 500' higher than the airport 10 miles away, so they tend to be pretty close to the ground while still moving pretty quickly once they pass over me).

I’m finally starting to see more of the big Bombardiers, but for the most part we’re 60% 737, 30% CRJ, and 10% everything else (MD-80, Embraers, plus the occasional National Guard KC-135 or Chinook).

Airbus is indeed a committee and has been from the very beginning.

ttyymmnn > Ash78, voting early and often 12/18/2018 at 17:18

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The SWA livery certainly helps with the swooshiness. But even in a boring AA livery, the 737 looks more graceful. I think it has a lot to do with the shape of the nose. That pointy beak and slightly flattened cheeks have been with us since the Dash 80. It is iconic Boeing. Airbuses are bulbous and uninteresting.

And the 757 is just dead sexy, especially when it’s painted like an aurora borealis.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Ash78, voting early and often 12/18/2018 at 23:29

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A big chunk is convergent design. 

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > ttyymmnn 12/18/2018 at 23:32

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catching up on some old avaition news, the 777x set for test flights in q1 2019

https://www.aviationtoday.com/2018/11/22/boeing-builds-body-first-777x/

ttyymmnn > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas 12/18/2018 at 23:43

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I’m looking forward to it. That’s a lot of airplane. 

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > user314 12/19/2018 at 09:07

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BUT THEY WERE SO NOISY WHEN NASA TESTED THEM!!!!!!!

Ash78, voting early and often > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas 12/19/2018 at 09:18

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Absolutely. I use things like jetliners as an analogy for how in some cases there is such a thing as universally/objectively perfect design. Not “perfect” but along the right lines. And so much of it we gleaned from Nazi research. I’m not a philosophical utilitarian because I believe all human life matters, but I do take slight comfort in knowing how much humanity has been improved by the peaceful application of wartime technology.

user314 > You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much 12/19/2018 at 10:32

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