This Date in Aviation History: March 10 - March 13

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
03/13/2018 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 March 10 through March 13.

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US Air Force

March 10, 1959 – The first flight of the Northrop T-38 Talon. Following the birth of the jet fighter during WWII, development progressed at a rapid pace. But with that development came a trend towards complexity, size and weight. They also became much more expensive. In 1952, Northrop began work on a lightweight delta-winged fighter called the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , but the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! engine alone would have weighed almost 4,000 pounds, and the program never progressed beyond preliminary drawings and a mock up. But in 1953, Northrop engineers learned of a new engine under development by General Electric that was intended for use in long-range missiles. The very small yet very powerful !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! weighed a mere 600 pounds, yet it produced about 3,000 pounds of thrust, giving it the highest thrust-to-weight ratio of any engine in its class.

A General Electric J85 being placed in a Northrop F-5 Tiger II, a descendant of the T-38

Led by !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (the man who designed the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ), the Northrop design team saw an opportunity to buck the trend in fighter design by building a small, simple, yet extremely powerful fighter, with not one but two engines. Dubbed the N-156 by Northrop, the new fighter was initially developed for the US Navy, who planned to operate smaller fighters from the decks of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . But when the Navy decided to phase out the escort carrier, they dropped the idea of a small fighter. Undaunted, Northrop continued with development of their new fighter, now called the N-156F, spending their own money to do so. (The N156F would eventually resurface as the F-5 Freedom Fighter, and win the International Fighter Aircraft competition in 1970.)

A T-38C Talon in NASA livery

By the mid-1950s, the Air Force began looking for a two-seat, supersonic trainer to replace its aging fleet of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . In an example of perfect timing, Northrop delivered the N-156T, which they had adapted from the N-156F fighter into a trainer. Thus, where most two-seat trainers are developed from existing operational fighters, the T-38 actually predates the F-5. Following the first flight of what was now called the YT-38 Talon, the Air Force quickly adopted the new trainer in 1961 and eventually purchased nearly 1,200 of them. The Talon went on to become the primary jet trainer for the US Air Force, and some estimates put the number of military pilots trained in the T-38 at more than 50,000. During an 11-year production run from 1961-1972, a total of 1,146 Talons were built.

A privately-owned T-38 in USAF Thunderbirds livery

The Talon continues to be the workhorse of the US Air Force Air !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (AETC), preparing pilots for the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!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 T-38 was flown by the US Air Force Thunderbirds from 1974-1982 as a more fuel efficient and less expensive alternative to the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II during the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and NASA operates a fleet 32 Talons for astronaut flight training and for use as a chase plane. The Talon has been in service for over 50 years, and the Air Force is currently fielding proposals for a replacement as part of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . A contract is expected to be awarded to one of seven entrants by spring of 2018, with initial operational capability for the T-X slated for 2024. Therefore, the Talon will be flying for a while longer. Only time will tell if any new trainer will be able to match the capability and affordability of the venerable T-38. (US Air Force photo)

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US Navy

March 12, 1959 – The first flight of the Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King. With their ability to sneak up virtually undetected on enemy ships, the submarine has been the scourge of surface ships since WWI. In the days before radar and sophisticated tracking aircraft, it was not uncommon that the first sign of an attack came when lookouts spotted the telltale wake of a torpedo racing through the water. The airplane proved to be a vital tool in detecting and fighting against submarines, but their role was initially limited to observation, and they had no means to detect submarines with anything but the naked eye. By WWII, and in the years immediately after, radar and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! were added to the anti-submarine arsenal, but the earliest sets were too large to fit in a single aircraft. It wasn’t until 1954 that the US Navy had a single, dedicated anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft in the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , but these aircraft were still tied to large carriers.

Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King prototype performing a water landing (US Navy)

However, rapid advances in turboshaft technology meant that helicopters, operating from carriers or offshore platforms, could now perform the ASW mission. In 1957, the US Navy awarded a contract to !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! to develop a helicopter that would combine hunter and killer capabilities into a single aircraft and help protect the American fleets and homeland from as many as 200 nuclear-armed Soviet submarines. The all-weather SH-3 was powered by a pair of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! turboshaft engines turning a 5-bladed main rotor that greatly improved range and power over earlier piston engines. The turboshafts carried the Sea King to a maximum speed of 166 mph, and also afforded the added safety of being able to operate on a single engine. Since the Sea King would be operating in the open ocean, it also featured a watertight hull with inflatable sponsons that allowed it to land on the surface of the water, making it the world’s first amphibious helicopter.

A US Navy SH-3A Sea King from Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron 2 (HS-2) “Golden Falcons” deploys its AN/AQS-13 dipping sonar. (US Navy)

The Sea King was introduced in 1961, the same year that the first Soviet nuclear-powers submarine ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ) was commissioned, and carried out its ASW mission using !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and a magnetic anomaly detector to find submerged submarines. A data link enable the Sea King to rapidly share information with surface ships in the fleet. Once a submarine was found, the Sea King could attack it with anti-submarine torpedoes or even the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! fitted with a hydrostatic fuse so it could function as a depth charge. Though the Sea King was primarily designed to find and destroy subs, it soon became a jack of all trades for the Navy, delivering cargo and transporting personnel between ships or on land. During the Vietnam War, armored Sea Kings armed with machine guns were used to rescue downed pilots, and the Sea King served as the primary recovery aircraft for the astronauts and their space capsules during the manned space programs.

A USMC VH-3US lands at the US Capitol in Washington, DC (US Marine Corps)

By 1990, the Navy replaced the Sea King in the ASW role with the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and the remaining Sea Kings were configured for logistical support and search and rescue. The SH-3 was ceremonially retired by the Navy in 2006, with official retirement taking place in 2009. Though the SH-3 no longer serves the fleet, the Marine Corps !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! continues to operate Sea King as the VH-3, known as Marine One when the President of the United States is on board. Entering service in 1961, The VH-3 will soldier on until a replacement is found under the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Throughout its service life, the Sea King has been constantly upgraded, and it exists in a host of variants, including those built under license by Agusta in Italy, Mitsubishi in Japan, and Westland in the United Kingdom. The H-3 was also built in a civilian version called the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! which remains in production.

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Library and Archives of Canada

March 12, 1930 – The death of William George “Billy” Barker. During WWI, fighter pilots became almost mythical figures whose death-defying feats over the battlefield made them heroes who epitomized both the danger and thrill of aerial combat. While the exploits of many British, American, French and German airmen in WWI are well known, William “Billy” Barker became the most decorated serviceman in the history of Canada, as well as in the history of the British Empire and Commonwealth of Nations, though it’s very likely that only war historians and Canadians know his name.

Barker was born on November 3, 1894 in Dauphin, Manitoba, and though he wasn’t a particularly skilled pilot (he made his first solo flight after only 55 minutes of dual instruction), and suffered several incidents during his piloting career, he made up for his average flying skills with aggressiveness, audacity, and highly accurate marksmanship. Barker learned to shoot at a young age, and became an excellent shot while riding on horseback. He further honed his shooting skills as an infantry machine gunner, then joined the Air Service in 1916, flying first as an armed observer. After qualifying as a pilot, he flew 404 operational hours between September 1917 and September 1918, shooting down 46 aircraft and balloons. His personal !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! became the most successful individual fighter plane in the history of the Royal Flying Corps.

Barker with his Sopwith Camel in 1918 (Library and Archives of Canada)

For his service as a pilot, Barker was decorated numerous times, and his list of medals includes the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and two Bars, two !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and the French !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . But it was his valor “in the face of the enemy” on Sunday, October 27, 1918, that earned him the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (roughly equivalent to the American !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ), the highest decoration attainable in the United Kingdom. Returning to base and flying his !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! fighter, Barker crossed enemy lines near the Forêt de Mormal at 21,000 feet. After downing one enemy plane, he was attacked by a formation of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . By his own admission, he was being careless and failed to see his attackers. As the battle spiraled toward the ground, Barker found himself fighting 15 or more enemy planes. He was wounded three times in the legs, and his left elbow was shattered, but he still managed to control his fighter and dispatch three more enemy planes. Wounded and bleeding seriously, Barker crash landed behind Allied lines and was taken to a field dressing station by members of an RAF Kite Balloon Section (the fuselage of his Snipe was recovered and now resides at the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in Ottawa).

Col. William Barker sits in a German fighter that was captured after his final battle (Library and Archives of Canada)

Barker remained in hospital for three months, during which time the First World War came to an end. After the war, Barker entered into an airplane business venture with fellow fighter ace and Victoria Cross recipient !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . In 1922, he returned to service as a wing commander with the fledgling !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , serving until 1926 and, upon leaving the RCAF, Barker became the first president of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Throughout his relatively brief postwar career, Barker struggled with both his war wounds and alcoholism. He died in 1930 after losing control of his !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! biplane during a demonstration flight at Rockcliffe Air Station in Ottawa, and his state funeral was attended by 50,000 people. Barker was just 35 years old.

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Short Takeoff

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March 10, 1978 – The first flight of the Dassault Mirage 2000. Based on the delta wing !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the Mirage 2000 was developed in the 1970s as a lightweight fighter to compete with the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! for the export market. Since the Mirage 2000 was based on an existing successful aircraft, the prototype was ready for its first flight in just 27 months.. The Mirage 2000 entered service in November of 1982, and just over 600 examples were produced, with many sold to Dassault’s export customers. The type saw service with the French during the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and in Afghanistan, and it remains in service today, though it is currently being phased out in favor of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

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US Air Force

US March 10, 1966 – US Air Force Maj. Bernard “Bernie” Fisher earns the Congressional Medal of Honor. Fisher was leading a two-ship team of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! as part of six aircraft supporting US troops in the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in Vietnam. One of the Skyraiders, piloted by Maj. D.W. “Jump” Myers was hit and forced to land on an airstrip belonging to South Vietnamese militia ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ) and US Special Forces that was under attack. With the closest rescue helicopter at least 3o minutes away, Fisher landed his Skyraider under heavy enemy fire and picked up the downed pilot. Dodging craters and debris on the runway, Fisher took off, his Skyraider riddled with holes from small arms fire. For his actions, Maj. Fisher was awarded the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , becoming the first member of the US Air Force to receive the decoration in the Vietnam War.

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UK Government

March 10, 1936 – The first flight of the Fairey Battle. The Battle was originally conceived as a replacement for older biplane bombers, but even though it was powered by the same !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! V-12 engine used in some of the most successful aircraft of WWII, it was severely hampered by its size and weight. While the Battle was a significant improvement over the biplanes it replaced, it was completely obsolete by the outbreak of WWII. In addition to its lack of speed and average handling, the Battle also lacked an armored cockpit and self-sealing fuel tanks, making it vulnerable to antiaircraft fire and enemy fighters. Nevertheless, Battles saw extensive, if somewhat futile, service in the early days of the war, but were withdrawn from frontline service by the end of 1941.

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UK Government

March 10, 1925 – The first flight of the Supermarine Southampton, one of the most successful flying boats of the period between the World Wars. The Southampton was developed from the earlier !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and was designed by !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , who would late become famous for his design of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Based on the success of the Swan, the Southampton was ordered into production straight from the drawing board, and a total of 83 were produced from 1924-1934. Following its delivery to the RAF in 1925, the Southampton took on its principal role of maritime reconnaissance, the Mark I was fitted with a pair of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! engines gave it a top speed of 95 mph and a range of 544 miles, or a little more than six hours in the air, though later variants received a variety of powerplants.

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March 11, 1993 – The first flight of the Airbus A321. When Airbus first conceived the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! airliner, they actually envisioned an entire line of aircraft, each one slightly different and tailored to the needs of individual airlines. The A321 was the first derivative of the A320 and features a fuselage stretched almost 22 feet by the addition of one section just forward of the wing and a second section at the rear, allowing for 35 more passengers in a typical 2-class configuration. The A321 also has a greater maximum takeoff weight (MTOW), though its range is slightly less than the A320. This deficiency was addressed in the A321-200, which has additional fuel capacity and more powerful engines. A further development, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , is planned for a 2019 launch.

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March 12, 2004 – The first flight of the Embraer ERJ-190, a member of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! family of medium-range airliners produced by the Brazilian aerospace conglomerate !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . The E190 was the first stretched variant of the original !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and features a larger wing and stabilizer plus new !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! turbofan engines. With accommodation for 96-114 passengers depending on configuration, the E190, and slightly larger E195, are positioned to compete with the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

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NASA

March 12, 1998 – The first free flight of the NASA X-38, a crew return vehicle (CRV) that would have been capable of evacuating up to seven astronauts from the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (ISS) in the case of serious illness, fire, collision with space debris, or the grounding of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Built by !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the X-38 was based on lifting body technology developed in the 1960s and was of a similar shape to the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . The X-38 was to be semi-permanently docked to the ISS until needed, then re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere and land using a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Two atmospheric prototypes were built and used for drop tests, along with one orbital prototype that was 90% complete before severe budget cuts led to the cancellation of the program in 2002.

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March 12, 1955 – The first flight of the Aérospatiale Alouette II, a light observation, liaison, reconnaissance and air-sea rescue helicopter originally manufactured by !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . The Alouette was the first helicopter to make use of a gas turbine engine rather than a heavier piston engine. In addition to its civilian duties, the Alouette II was also converted to a gunship carrying anti-tank missiles or torpedoes. The Alouette II demonstrated its high altitude capabilities in 1956 when it performed the first mountain rescue of a stricken climber from more than 13,000 feet of elevation. The Alouette II was widely exported and, by the end of production in 1975, over 1,300 aircraft had been built.

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NASA

March 13, 1969 – Apollo 9 returns to Earth. A critical rehearsal for the manned landing on the Moon with !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , Apollo 9 was launched from Kennedy Space Center on March 3, 1969 as the third manned mission of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and spent 10 days in Earth orbit. Apollo 9 marked the first flight of the complete Apollo spacecraft, with both the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (CSM) and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (LM) launched atop the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! rocket. During three spacewalks, the crew tested new self-contained spacesuits that would be used on the Moon, and performed docking and flight tests of the LM. The flights of the LM, testing both descent and ascent engines, marked the first flight of a spacecraft that was not designed to return to Earth. Apollo 9 splashed down 160 miles east of the Bahamas, the last time a spacecraft splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean.

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US Navy

March 13, 1914 – The birth of Edward Henry “Butch” O’Hare, a US Navy fighter pilot during WWII and the Navy’s first fighter ace. On February 20, 1942, O’Hare found himself alone and facing nine Japanese bombers attacking his carrier. With limited ammunition, O’Hare flew his !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! at the enemy, destroying five of the bombers and damaging a sixth. O’Hare was awarded the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which recognized his actions as “one of the most daring, if not the most daring, single action in the history of combat aviation.” While leading the first-ever nighttime fighter mission flown launched from a carrier, O’Hare’s !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! was shot down. Neither he nor his fighter were ever found. The Navy destroyer !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (DD-889) was named in his honor, as was Chicago’s !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

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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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DISCUSSION (8)

Mercedes Streeter > ttyymmnn
03/13/2018 at 12:51

TIL: Who KORD is named after! :D

Also, the A321 still holds a place in my heart for being my first ever flight. Long live Fallon the Falcon !

Kinja'd!!!

And I get to ride on an ERJ-175 in a little over a week. :) ...If I don’t get reaccommodated...

Kinja'd!!!

user314 > ttyymmnn
03/13/2018 at 13:05

Kinja'd!!!

Tangentially related to the X-38, that’s a great shot to show off the absolutely insane number of mission markings that stretch down the right side of Balls Eight .

Kinja'd!!!