This Date in Aviation History: June 16 - June 19

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 06/19/2018 at 12:35 • Filed to: wingspan, Planelopnik, TDIAH

15

12

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Welcome to This Date in Aviation History , getting of you caught up on milestones, important historical events and people in aviation from June 16 through June 19.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

June 17, 1959 – The first flight of the Dassault Mirage IV. The world entered the atomic age when the United States !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 in the hopes that it would hasten the end of WWII. For a time, the US had a monopoly on nuclear weapons, but it wasn’t long before the Russians fielded an operational bomb of their own in 1949. They were quickly followed by England, France, and today there are nine nuclear-capable nations in the world. But in the days before the first !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! the only way to deliver a nuclear bomb to an enemy target was with a deep penetration bomber, one that could fly high and fast into enemy territory in the hopes of evading enemy interceptors and antiaircraft fire.  

Beginning in 1954, French Prime Minister Pierre Mendès France decided that France needed its own nuclear arsenal to put it on par with the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britan. France initiated development of a three-pronged nuclear deterrence ( Force de frappe, later called Force de dissuasion ) that would ultimately include land, sea and air assets each capable of carrying out nuclear attacks against the Soviet Union (or other foreign belligerents). In 1957, work began on a supersonic bomber capable of carrying a nuclear weapon, and Dassault offered the Mirage IV, which was a substantially enlarged version of their single-engine !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! fighter. Where the Mirage II was powered by a single engine, the Mirage IV was powered by two !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! afterburning turbojets capable of pushing the bomber to a top speed of Mach 2.2. The wing surface was doubled over that of the fighter, and the wing was also much thinner than the Mirage III for high-speed performance. It could be armed with either a single free-fall nuclear bomb, a single nuclear missile, or 16 conventional bombs. Though Mirage IV carried three times more fuel than its predecessor, its armed range of 670 miles was still less than the Mirage III, and would have required multiple refuelings in the event that it had to reach deep inside the Soviet Union. And, if the nuclear mission had to be carried out, it would have been a one-way trip. The aircraft would not have had sufficient fuel to return, and its home bases would likely have been annihilated.

A Mirage IV carries out a reconnaissance mission over Kuwait during the Gulf War of 1991 (US Air Force)

When the Mirage IV entered service in October 1964, it formed the first element of France’s nuclear triad, with 36 aircraft forming nine squadrons of four aircraft each. To carry out their missions, the Mirages worked in pairs, with one aircraft carrying a nuclear weapon while the other served as a tanker to refuel the attack aircraft. At the height of operations, there were always at least 12 aircraft in the air, with 12 more on the ground ready to deploy in four minutes should the need arise. The other twelve could be readied within 45 minutes. For seven years, the Mirage IV was France’s only means of delivering a nuclear weapon, as the land and sea components of the Force de dissuassion were not available until 1971. Dassault produced a total of 62 aircraft, and the Mirage IV served in the nuclear deterrence role until it was superseded by strategic nuclear missiles. The bomber variants were retired in 1996, though the reconnaissance versions served until 2005.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

(US Air Force)

June 18, 1981 – The first flight of the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk. Though the Nighthawk is very much a product of 20th century technology, the radar detection it was meant to avoid traces back to a time 100 years earlier. In 1886, German physicist !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (for whom the eponymous !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! is named) discovered that radio waves could be reflected back from solid objects and, by 1904, another German, the inventor !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , discovered the ability to use radio waves to detect metal objects. By WWII, radar (which is actually an acronym for radio detection and ranging ) was used by the Royal Air Force to detect incoming German bombers, and radars were installed on aircraft to direct bombers to targets and to create the first night fighters. Following the war, development of radar technology made the sets ever more powerful, increasing the range and diminishing the size of targets that could be detected. But what if you could make an aircraft that was invisible to radar, or at least one that had a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (RCS) so small that a large aircraft appeared the size of a small bird? While not truly invisible, it would be impossible to detect the aircraft out of all the other normal clutter on a radar screen.

The Have Blue technology demonstrator (US Air Force)

The idea that an aircraft might be made nearly invisible to radar was first proposed by Russian mathematician !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in 1964, though the shapes necessary rendered the concept impossible at the time because the aircraft would be unflyable. It wasn’t until fly-by-wire flight control computers became more sophisticated that the idea could finally become a reality. The Nighthawk program began with work at Lockheed’s !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! led by engineer !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! on a technology demonstrator known as the Hopeless Diamond, a nickname derived from the shape of the aircraft. It was hopeless because nobody believed would ever fly. On paper, Lockheed engineers believed that the new design would be 1,000 times less visible than any other aircraft ever created at Lockheed, and would show up on a radar screen as an object about the size of a marble. In 1976, the Air Force awarded a contract to develop the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! project, the stealth demonstrator that proved the concept and eventually led to development of the F-117 Nighthawk.

The flat, angled facets which deflect radar signals are clear in this head-on view of the F-117. (US Air Force)

The Nighthawk is instantly recognizable by its faceted shape, a series of flat surfaces that never join at a right angle. This myriad of differently angled flat surfaces works to reflect radar energy away from, rather than back to, the radar receiver. Special !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! coatings are also used to keep the radar signals from bouncing off the aircraft. But radar isn’t the only way to track an aircraft. The heat signature from its jet engines is also easily detectable, so the Nighthawk’s engines are buried deep within the aircraft. However, the engine placement ruled out the use of afterburners, which limited the Nighthhawk to subsonic speeds. The F-117 also relied on redundant, fly-by-wire flight controls that make thousands of corrections per second. Without this system, the aircraft would simply tumble out of control.

Though given the “F” designation for fighter, the Nighthawk was strictly an attack platform for dropping guided bombs or missiles, and has no gun, either internal or external. After being revealed to the public in 1988, the F-117 saw extensive action in the 1991 !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and flew the first missions of the war to knock out Iraqi radar sites. Eventually, Nighthawks flew nearly 1,400 sorties. Though a number of Nighthawks have been lost to accidents, only one was ever lost in combat when it was !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in 1999 during NATO operations over Serbia after Russian radar operators, using modified radars, discovered they could detect the F-117 when its landing gear or bomb bay doors were open. The plane came down relatively intact, and the Serbians invited the Russians and Chinese to inspect the wreckage and gain valuable information on American stealth technology. Lockheed produced a total of 64 Nighthawks, and the F-117 was officially retired in 2008. However, some military observers have reported continuing flights of the F-117 over the US Air Force’s super-secret testing site at Groom Lake in Nevada, popularly known as !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . The reason for these flights remains unclear,

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

June 19-20, 1944 –   The Battle of the Philippine Sea. The use of the airplane in warfare began in WWI and, by WWII, it had become a formidable weapon. The Japanese demonstrated the enormous power of carrier-based warplanes with the surprise !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and the ensuing !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! showed that the airplane had finally replaced the battleship as the center of the modern battle group. In both battles, no two surface ships ever fired a shot at each other, and Midway proved to be a turning point in the Pacific War, with the Japanese advance finally being blunted. The initiative had finally turned to America and her allies. Even though Japan had lost four carriers, Japanese naval aviation wasn’t utterly destroyed, though it was severely hobbled. There remained one more epic carrier battle to be fought. The largest carrier battle in history proved to be the last gasp for Japanese naval air power in WWII.

In the summer of 1944, American forces launched operations as part of their !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! campaign to take the Japanese-held islands of Tinian, Saipan and Guam in the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Despite their losses at Midway, the Japanese were still able to assemble a fleet that included five heavy carriers and four light carriers, five battleships, 11 heavy cruisers, two light cruisers and 28 destroyers to contest the American advance toward the Japanese homeland. On June 16, a US submarine discovered the fleet off the coast of the Philippines as the Japanese turned to face the Americans. To counter the Japanese fleet, the Americans had !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , one of the most powerful armadas ever assembled. Under the command of Admiral !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , TF 58 included seven heavy carriers, eight escort carriers, seven battleships, eight heavy cruisers, 13 light cruisers and 69 destroyers. Mitscher divided his fleet into four carrier task groups and one battleship task group, while the Japanese divided their fleet into four groups based around their carriers.

A Japanese dive bomber goes down in flames while attacking the escort carrier USS Kitkun Bay (CVE-71). (US Navy)

Japanese scout planes spotted the American fleet on the morning of June 19 and launched the first attack. However, American radar discovered the planes 50 miles away from the fleet, and American fighters were waiting for them when they arrived. In the ensuing battle, more than 200 Japanese planes were shot down against the loss of only 23 US aircraft. Meanwhile, US submarines had located the main body of the Japanese flee. First, the carrier !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! was struck with torpedoes, and then the carrier !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which sank four hours later. The Japanese attacked again, but the planes flew in the wrong direction. Nevertheless, the attackers were detected and annihilated by American fighters.

By the end of the battle on June 20, roughly 600 Japanese aircraft had been destroyed, earning the battle the nickname “The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.” Along with the loss of aircraft, the Japanese Navy lost three carriers and an estimated 3,000 dead. The Americans suffered one damaged battleship, 123 aircraft lost, and 109 dead. Though it might have been possible for the Japanese to replace their aircraft, the losses in experienced pilots was a blow from which they would never recover. Even though Japan still had carriers, they no longer had the men or planes to operate effectively from their decks, and the once-proud ships were reduced to the role of a diversionary force four months later in the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which resulted in another decisive victory the the US and her allies.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Short Takeoff

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

June 16, 1984 – The flight of the first all-female commercial airline crew. When !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! was hired by Frontier Airlines in 1973, she was the only woman working as a pilot for a major US airline and, in 1976, the first to be promoted to captain. In the five years following her hire, the number of female pilots rose to 300. By chance, Warner’s name appeared on the pilot rotation for Flight 244, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! service from Dever, CO to Lexington, KY, paired with first officer Barbara Cook. The flight the first time that an airliner cockpit was crewed by two women.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

(Author unknown)

June 16, 1963 – Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman to fly in space. The Soviet Union scored a significant propaganda victory when it put !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! into space in 1961, just three weeks ahead of American !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . To follow that feat, the Soviets thought they could score another victory by being the first to put a woman into space. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , one of five female cosmonauts, launched onboard !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and spent nearly three days in space, completing 48 orbits of the Earth. It would be 20 years before !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! became the first American woman in space (and third woman overall) when she launched onboard the Space Shuttle !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , just two days after the 20th anniversary of Tereshkova’s launch.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

(US Navy)

June 16, 1954 – The first flight of the Lockheed XFV, an experimental aircraft developed by !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in an attempt to provide a fighter aircraft that could operate from the afterdecks of conventional warships. The XFV was designed to take off from a vertical position, transition to horizontal flight, then transition back to vertical and land on its tail. For testing, the XFV was fitted with long landing gear for a traditional horizontal take off, and while some transitions from level to vertical flight and hovering were undertaken, the XFV never took off vertically, due in large part to its underpowered engine. Only one XFV was completed before the project was canceled in 1955.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

(US Air Force)

June 17, 1986 – The final flight of the Boeing B-47 Stratojet. When the final !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (52-0166) was restored to flying status for a one-time ferry flight from Naval Weapons Center China Lake to Castle Air Force Base in California for museum display, it marked the end of one of the most influential designs of the early jet era. Following a 1944 US Air Force request for a new jet-powered bomber, the B-47 entered service with the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in 1951, and by 1956 there were 28 wings of B-47 bombers and 5 wings of RB-47 reconnaissance variants, with many staged at forward bases as part of America’s nuclear deterrence policy. Though the Stratojet never saw combat, it remained the mainstay of SAC’s bomber force into the 1960s. Over 2,000 were produced, and the EB-47E electronic countermeasures variant served until 1977.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

(Author unknown)

June 17, 1961 – The first flight of the HAL HF-24 Marut ( Spirit of the Tempest ), a twin-engine fighter bomber designed by former Focke-Wulf designer !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and the first jet aircraft developed and built in India. Though designed for Mach 2 flight, the lack of a sufficiently powerful engine meant that the Marut could barely reach Mach 1, and following the successful detonation of India’s !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , import restrictions prevented more powerful engines from being fitted. The Marut did see some action as a ground attack aircraft, and during the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , an Indian pilot flying an HF-24 claimed a victory over a Pakistani !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . A total of 147 Maruts were built, and the type was retired in 1985.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

June 17, 1955 – The first flight of the Tupolev Tu-104, (NATO reporting name Camel ), the world’s first successful jet-powered airliner. Though the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! had flown first, the Comet was withdrawn from service in 1954 due to crashes and did not return to service until 1958. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! based the Tu-1o4 on the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! bomber, and when the Tu-104 arrived in London in 1956 it caused much consternation in the West because nobody believed that the Soviets had the technology to produce a modern airliner. The Tu-104 entered service with Czechoslovak Airlines in 1957, and while it had a safety record comparable to other airliners of the time, a series of crashes led to its retirement on commercial routes in 1979, and it was removed from military service by 1980 .

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

(US Army; Earhart photo uthor unknown)

June 17, 1928 – Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. Though best known for her !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! while attempting a circumnavigation of the globe in 1937, Earhart made headlines in 1928 as the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean in an airplane, though she did so as a passenger. In response to !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! famous crossing the previous year, Earhart accompanied pilot !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and copilot/mechanic Louis Gordon on a 22-hour flight from Newfoundland eastward to Wales flying a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! trimotor. Since the flight was made on instruments, Earhart never did any flying during the trip, though on landing, she did tell an interviewer, “...maybe someday I’ll try it alone.” Earhart made her own solo Atlantic crossing in 1932.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

(National Archives)

June 18, 1983 – Sally Ride becomes the first American woman to fly in space. Ride joined NASA in 1978 and went to space in 1983 as a Mission Specialist on board Space Shuttle !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! on mission !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , 20 years after the first woman in space, cosmonaut !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . At age 32, Ride was also the youngest American and the first LGBT astronaut to fly in space. She went to space a second time the following year, again on Challenger , as a Mission Specialist on !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Ride left NASA in 1987, but served on the investigation committees into the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! disasters. After teaching physics at the University of California, San Diego, Ride died of pancreatic cancer in 2012 at age 61.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

June 18, 1928 – Explorer Roald Amundsen and his crew disappear in the Arctic. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! was a famed explorer of the Earth’s polar regions, becoming the first to reach the South Pole in 1911. On May 25, 1928 the airship !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!   crashed in the Arctic Ocean while flying around the North Pole, and Amundsen and his crew of five left Tromsø, Norway in a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! floatplane to search for survivors. Flying across the Barents Sea, the aircraft disappeared without a trace, though two months later a piece of a float was found washed ashore, then three months later the gas tank washed ashore. The bodies of Amundsen and his crew were never found.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

June 18, 1916 – The death of Max Immelmann. Immelmann was the first German ace of WWI, and the first to be awarded the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , one of the highest awards of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . He is credited with the creation of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! that bears his name, and had scored 15 victories by the time of his death. Immelmann was one of the first to make use of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! developed by !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! which allowed the pilot to fire directly through the arc of the fighter’s propeller. However, Immelmann’s death resulted from a malfunction of the device, when he shot away the propeller of his !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! Eindecker monoplane and crashed.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

June 19, 2002 – Adventurer Steve Fossett takes off on the first solo balloon circumnavigation of the Earth. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! departed from Northam, Western Australia on June 19 in a balloon named Spirit of Freedom , and flew eastward across the Pacific Ocean, over Chile and Argentina, then across the southern Atlantic Ocean to South Africa and then across the southern Indian Ocean, arriving back in Australia on July 4. The flight covered 20,626 miles, and set numerous distance and flight longevity records. Fossett made other world record flights, including the first solo, nonstop circumnavigation of the Earth in the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Fossett died in the crash of his private plane on September 3, 2007.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Connecting Flights

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

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!!! .

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ttyymmnn 06/19/2018 at 13:00

1

The Zuikaku and Shokaku mentioned above were both unable to make it to Midway, but were involved in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons - something of a foretaste of the results of Philippine Sea. Damage on Enterprise was traded for the destruction of the unique Ryj and far greater aircraft losses. Also present at both Eastern Solomons and Philippine Sea, the cruiser Chikuma, which was instrumental in and later scuttled after the Battle off Samar.

Derpwagon > ttyymmnn 06/19/2018 at 13:17

1

I’ve had the pleasure of hearing the pilot of that lone shot-down F117 speak, he has an awesome story.

Darkbrador > ttyymmnn 06/19/2018 at 13:42

0

Excellent column as usual, but Mendes-France never was president of France.

ttyymmnn > Darkbrador 06/19/2018 at 13:46

0

Thanks. I will edit.

Hamtractor > ttyymmnn 06/19/2018 at 13:57

1

The Mirages were arguably the sleekest looking jets of that era, they looked fast standing still... Not a fan of the French planes much, but that this was cool...

ttyymmnn > Hamtractor 06/19/2018 at 14:02

0

Why u no like Rafale? Or do you mean French planes of that era?

Jetstreamer > ttyymmnn 06/19/2018 at 15:06

0

Everytime I see the F-117 it stops me in my tracks. It is one of the most alien looking aircraft ever. When I visited the USAF National Museum and found it sitting some way back in a corner I couldn’t help myself running straight for it... The things I would do to fly one.

ttyymmnn > Jetstreamer 06/19/2018 at 15:12

0

First and only time I’ve seen one up close (outside of a museum) was in the early 90s at an airshow in Houston, soon after they came out in the open. It was cordoned off, with three USAF guards toting M-16s and signs warning about the use of deadly force, which only added to the mystique. What really fascinates me is that we are now at the point of stealth where we don’t need the flat surfaces any more, and we can make stealthy aircraft that look so much more natural and aerodynamic.

Hamtractor > ttyymmnn 06/19/2018 at 16:49

1

Rafale is OK, but when it comes to “modern” jets, I think the Hornet family and the MiG-29's are more my body type. Of course, I am “that guy” who thinks that most of the Euro designs are just a little off compared to US stuff. Although as an Opponaut, and a Jalopnik, I find the Saabs prety sexy...

The Compromiser > ttyymmnn 06/19/2018 at 22:19

1

I was taking the head of airport security down the ready line on a golf cart and when we swerved to go through the the crowd on the observation line, someone moved the cordon. I hammered on the brakes right before I ran into the landing gear.

ttyymmnn > The Compromiser 06/19/2018 at 22:33

1

Oof.

The Compromiser > ttyymmnn 06/19/2018 at 23:10

0

The night before, he walked through the open and unguarded man door to the isolation hanger, made a coffee, and waited for the airman on duty to find him.

It took a while. He thought the plane was neat to see though. Up close and personal.