This Date in Aviation History: July 13 - July 16

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 07/16/2019 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 July 13 through July 16.

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July 14, 1951 – The first flight of the Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation. While the history of aviation tends to focus on firsts,   it is also a story of evolution as much as revolution. Oftentimes, an aircraft that was designed for a single purpose is later developed to fulfill a different role, or a successful design will receive variants to enhance performance or capacity. Such is the story of the L-1049 Super Constellation, which began with the first flight of its !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! predecessor in 1943.

The Lockheed L-049 Constellation prototype in 1943. This aircraft was later transferred to the US Army Air Forces as the C-69. (US Navy)

Arguably one of the most graceful aircraft ever to take to the skies, the Constellation, nicknamed “Connie,” started life as a much more plain Jane aircraft, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , a run of the mill, four-engine transport that never entered production. In 1939, eccentric billionaire !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , owner of Transcontinental & Western Airlines (which would become !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ), held a meeting with !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the president of T&WA, along with other Lockheed executives. Among those present was !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , who was destined to become one of America’s greatest aviation engineers. Hughes told Lockheed that the Excalibur wouldn’t meet the needs of his airline, and he wanted something entirely new. So Lockheed went back to the drawing board and, in just three weeks time, presented Hughes with the initial plans for the Connie, now designated L-049. The new airliner, powered by a quartet of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! radial engines, was the most expensive aircraft produced to date, and Hughes himself funded the purchase of 40 aircraft since T&WA didn’t have the funds to pay for them. The first Connies were pressed into military transport service as the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , but production turned to the civilian market after WWII. The Connie enjoyed a successful airline career, and Lockheed built a total of 865 airliners.

Lockheed L1049H Constellation (N6937C) painted in historic TWA livery taxis past a Boeing B-52H Stratofortress at Barksdale Air Force Base in 2004 (US Air Force)

But as flying became more popular, the airlines wanted bigger planes. And Lockheed’s competitors were making strides of their own. In 1950, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! came out with the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , a stretched cargo version of its popular airliner, and were preparing to launch the passenger variant of the DC-6A, the DC-6B, which accommodated 23 more passengers than the Connie. Lockheed had looked into a stretched Constellation, but decided not to build it at the time. However, Douglas’ move forced their hand. Lockheed repurchased the prototype XC-69 Constellation from Hughes Tool Company and lengthened the fuselage by 18 feet, and the newly christened Super Connie now had room for up to 106 passengers.

Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star electronic surveillance platform (US Air Force)

As Lockheed continued to develop the Super Connie, they added more powerful !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! 18-cyliner engines. Compared to the DC-6B, the L-1049 could carry a larger payload, though the Douglas airliner still had a greater range, even when wingtip fuel tanks were added to the Super Connie. Other improvements included strengthened wings and increased cabin soundproofing. The Super Constellation also saw service with the US Air Force and US Navy, who flew a total of 320 Super Connies. The Air Force, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , served as an electronic surveillance platform, while the Navy flew the bulk of the military constellations for transport and early warning. Most of the Super Connies were retired with the advent of jet transports such as the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and the last commercial flight of the L-1049 was made by Dominican Airlines in 1993. The last military variant was retired in 1982. Two Super Connies remain airworthy, with a small number of others awaiting or undergoing restoration.

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(Boeing)

July 15, 1954 – The first flight of the Boeing Dash 80. By the end of WWII, the turbojet engine was beginning to take over as the powerplant of choice for large airliners. However, that change did not take place overnight. After all, technological developments in large piston-powered aircraft during the war had made them relatively safe and reliable, and airlines were reluctant to try something new when the aircraft they had were working just fine. The first step towards commercial jet aviation was taken by !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! with their !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! airliner, which first flew in 1949. And though the Comet eventually found a measure of success, it was very much a product of an earlier era, with wings that were swept only on the leading edge and four engines housed in the wing roots. Boeing, however, was already looking to the future.

The Model 367-80, better known as the Dash 80, is rolled out of Boeing’s facility in Renton, Washington on May 14, 1954. Note the registration N70700. (National Air and Space Museum)

Two years before the first flight of the Comet, Boeing capitalized on German research that had been seized near the end of the war. Armed with data on the benefits of swept wings, Boeing designed the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! for the US Air Force with wings swept back at 35 degrees and engines placed in pods suspended from the wings. In doing so, Boeing set the standard for basic airliner design that remains to this day, and the success of the Stratojet inspired Boeing’s foray into the jet airliner business. The international airliner market was still saturated with piston-powered planes, particularly those built by !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and none of the airlines was interested in buying an untested airplane. So Boeing figured that the only way to prove that their airliner concept worked was to build and fly one.

Tex Johnston rolls the Dash 80 (Boeing)

Boeing president !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! took a huge gamble and invested $16 million of the company’s money into the development of a prototype airliner that they hoped would satisfy the needs of both the airlines and the US Air Force, who was looking for a jet-powered aerial tanker to keep their new jet fighters in the air. Following just two years of development, Boeing rolled out the Model 367-80, or “Dash 80,” from their Renton, Washington factory on May 15, 1954. Since Boeing was pitching the jet to the Air Force, the Dash 80 had large cargo doors and very few windows and, just one week after the first flight, the Air Force ordered 29 aircraft designated as the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . But Boeing still needed to convince the airlines that they had a winner on their hands. In 1955, Allen invited airline executives to Seattle’s Seafair festival to get a look at the Dash 80. In what has become a legendary stunt, Boeing test pilot !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , who was supposed to do a simple fly by, instead performed a barrel roll in the Dash 80. He later told Allen that he was just “selling airplanes.”

The Dash 80 on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington, DC. (Tim Shaffer)

But the bold move paid off, and Pan Am ordered 20 passenger versions of the Dash 80 (though they hedged their bets and ordered 25 !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! at the same time). Two years later, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! took its maiden flight. The 707 was longer than the Dash 80 and KC-135, and the fuselage was widened to allow five-abreast seating, which eventually grew to six-across. With the Dash 80, Boeing truly had a runaway hit on their hands, and eventually produced just over 800 KC-135s and just over 1,000 707s. Only one Dash 80 was ever built, and after production of the tanker and airliner began, the Dash 80 was used as a platform for testing components of the upcoming !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! tri-jet. Following the Dash 80's retirement in 1970, Boeing donated the aircraft the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in 1972, and it sat at the aircraft !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! at !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in Arizona for 18 years. But such a historic aircraft deserved a better fate, and it was finally restored by Boeing in 1990 and then flown to Washington, DC, where it was enshrined at the Smithsonian’s !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in 2003.

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Apollo 11 lifts off from Kennedy Space Center (NASA)

July 16, 1969 – The launch of Apollo 11. By the early 1960s, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! between the Soviet Union and the West had become the dominant social and political conflict in the world. US President !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! characterized the struggle for world supremacy between Communism and Democracy in a famous !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! to a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961 as a “battle...around the world between freedom and tyranny.” While some of those battles were fought in proxy wars, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! provided a stage for the US and Soviet Union to fight for world prestige and technological bragging rights in a decidedly more peaceful way.

The Apollo 11 crew: Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin. (NASA)

By 1961, the Russians were well ahead of the Americans. They had been the first to put a satellite into Earth orbit in 1957 with !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and were the first to put a man into space when cosmonaut !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! orbited the Earth on April 12, 1961. Following the Russian successes, President Kennedy sought to galvanize the United States into action and challenged the nation to be the first to put a man on the moon. Though Kennedy and NASA trumpeted the scientific gains from such an achievement, he made it clear in a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! on September 12, 1962 at Rice University in Houston that beating the Russians to the Moon was as much a matter of national security as it was a matter of scientific discovery.

We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people. For space science, like nuclear science and all technology, has no conscience of its own. Whether it will become a force for good or ill depends on man, and only if the United States occupies a position of pre-eminence can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace or a new terrifying theater of war.

Following President Kennedy’s declaration that America would be first to the Moon, NASA began working on the technological means to get there. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which was currently underway and carried a single astronaut to space, was followed by !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which carried two astronauts and put the US ahead of the Russians for good in the race to the Moon. The !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! which followed was the most ambitious yet, and the first flight of an unmanned Apollo rocket took place in 1966. The first manned flight was to have been !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! the following year, but a fire in the Command Module during testing on February 21, 1967 killed the three astronauts onboard. Following modifications to the spacecraft, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! carried the first Apollo astronauts into space on October 11, 1968, and subsequent missions served to test systems for the voyage and landing. On May 22, 1969, the Lunar Module of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! came within 50,000 feet of the lunar surface.

Apollo 11 was the fifth manned mission of the program, and was launched atop the mighty three-stage !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! rocket, which propelled the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! into orbit around the Moon. Astronauts !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! began orbiting the Moon on July 19, and completed 30 orbits before Armstrong and Aldrin descended to the Moon’s surface on July 20 while Collins remained in orbit in the Command Module. The Lunar Module, piloted by Armstrong, touched down on the Moon at 20:17:40 !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! on Sunday, July 20. After completing the landing checklist, Armstrong made the first of two momentous radio calls: “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”At 02:39 UTC on Monday July 21, 1969, Armstrong descended the Lander’s ladder and placed the first human footprint on the Moon. As he did so, he made the second historic radio call: “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Buzz Aldrin descends the ladder from the Lunar Lander to join Neil Armstrong on the surface of the Moon (NASA)

Aldrin then followed Armstrong down the ladder, and the pair spent about two-and-a-half hours exploring the area around the Lander and collected roughly 48 pounds of rocks and other lunar material. The astronauts also planted an American flag on the Moon as a symbol of American achievement, a potent symbol that carried a message of both victory in the Space Race but also a tacit sense of ownership of the Moon. The Russians eventually abandoned their attempts to reach the Moon, and instead focused their their efforts on maintaining a manned presence in Earth orbit.

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin salutes the American flag at Tranquility Base on the Moon (NASA)

After roughly 22 hours on the Moon’s surface, Armstrong and Aldrin climbed back aboard the Lunar Module and blasted off for a rendezvous with Collins and the Command Module. The three astronauts then turned back toward Earth, and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on July 24. There would be five more Apollo missions that reached Moon and planted five more American flags. The ill-fated !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! mission, while it did not land on the Moon, safely returned the astronauts to Earth. The final flight of the Apollo program was !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in 1972. After Apollo 17, the remaining Apollo hardware was used for the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! projects.

Aldrin’s footprint left behind in the soft, powdery lunar surface (NASA)

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Short Takeoff

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(Author unknown)

July 13, 1982 – The death of LCDR Barbara Allen Rainey. Born on August 20, 1948, Rainey was the first female aviator in the history of the US military, and received her Wings of Gold as a Naval Aviator in 1974. She was also the first woman qualified as a military jet pilot. After retiring from active duty, Rainey joined the Naval Reserves, but returned to active duty as an instructor flying the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . She and a student were killed in a training crash while practicing touch-and-go landings. Due to the extensive damage to the aircraft, the cause of the crash could not be determined. Rainey was 33 years old.

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July 14, 1971 – The first flight of the VFW-Fokker 614, a twin-engined medium-range jetliner designed and built in West Germany as a replacement for the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and notable for the placement of its two engines in pods above the wings rather than below. The location of the two !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! turbofan engines avoided the added structural weight of attaching them to the rear fuselage, and also helped eliminate the possibility of ingestion of debris common in underwing mountings. Due to cost and development delays, only a handful were produced before the project was canceled in 1977. Unfinished aircraft were broken up, and the remainder were bought back by the manufacturer.

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(NASA)

July 14, 1965 – Mariner 4 flies past Mars. Mariner 4 was part of NASA’s !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! that explored planets in the Solar System by flying past to make scientific observations and return photographs. Mariner 4 was launched from !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! on November 28, 1964 and, after its arrival at Mars, it sent back the first images ever returned from deep space. The views of a cratered, seemingly lifeless world changed many scientific opinions previously held about the Red Planet. Mariner 4 collected data for two days as it flew past Mars, and remains in its heliocentric orbit following termination of communications on December 21, 1967.

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(US Navy)

July 14, 1955 – The first flight of the Martin P6M SeaMaster. With the US Air Force becoming the dominant nuclear force after WWII, the US Navy sought to remain relevant in the nuclear strike business by developing a jet-powered strategic bomber that could operate from the world’s oceans and not be tied to carriers or land bases. The SeaMaster arose from a Navy requirement for a sea-based bomber that could carry a 30,000-pound payload over a range of 1,500 miles, and its four Allison J71 turbojets were fitted in the high wing high to prevent ingestion of water. Though the first two prototypes were lost to fatal crashes, development of the SeaMaster continued, and a total of 12 were eventually built. On the verge of entering operational service, the SeaMaster was canceled following the development of the submarine-launched Polaris missile, and the Navy was unsuccessful in marketing the plane as a jet-powered minelayer. Following its cancelation, all copies of the SeaMaster were scrapped.

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(UK Government)

July 14, 1948 – The first flight of the Supermarine Seagull, an amphibious air-sea rescue and maritime reconnaissance aircraft and the last propeller plane built by the famed !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! company. As the name Supermarine suggests, the company got its start making floatplanes, and found fame by winning the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! seaplane races in 1927, 1929 and 1931. Work on the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! -powered Seagull began late in WWII to develop a catapult-launched amphibian to replace the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . However, by 1950, when the Seagull was to have entered service, its role had been taken over by helicopters and only two prototypes were built. Supermarine was incorporated into the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in 1960.

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(Author unknown)

July 14, 1936 – The first flight of the Kawanishi H6K, a maritime patrol flying boat built for the Japanese Navy. Influenced by the work of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in Ireland and the earlier !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , itself a license-built and enlarged version of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the H6K entered service in 1938 and saw service in the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and WWII. Though vulnerable to modern fighters flown by the Allies during WWII, the H6K remained in service until the Japanese surrender in 1945, but was replaced in front line service by the more modern !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . A total of 215 were produced.

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(Rudy Arnold)

July 14, 1933 – Wiley Post departs on the first solo circumnavigation of the globe. Post had previously made a trip around the world in 1931 with navigator !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , finishing the trip in eight days and beating the previous record of 21 days held by the airship !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (LZ 127). For his second flight, Post set off alone from !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , again in his !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!   Winnie Mae and, using an autopilot and compass in place of a navigator, completed the journey in just over seven days, breaking his own record. Post was greeted in New York by a throng of 50,000 people, and the Winnie Mae now resides in the Smithsonian’s !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in northern Virginia.

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(NASA)

July 15, 1975 – The launch of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. As a symbol of the policy of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! pursued by the US and the Soviet Union beginning in 1969, the Test Project was the first joint space program initiated by the two !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! adversaries. Both the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! capsules launched on the same date and rendezvoused in space, with the three astronauts and two cosmonauts joining hands and passing between the two docked spacecraft. The crews then carried out joint scientific experiments. The ships remained docked for 44 hours before separating and returning safely to Earth. Today, Russia and the United States continue their partnership in space aboard the International Space Station.

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(US Air Force)

July 15, 1942 – The US Army Air Forces flies its first supply mission from India to China over the Himalayas. In the early days of the fight against Japanese expansion in the Pacific, the only way to resupply Nationalist Chinese and American troops fighting in China was by flying over the eastern !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which pilots referred to as “The Hump.” The dangerous and arduous supply missions, flown first by !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and later by the untested !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , eventually ferried 650,000 tons of supplies against the loss of 594 aircraft and nearly 1,700 personnel.

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(Los Angeles Times; portrait author unknown)

July 15, 1916 – William Boeing founds the Pacific Aero Products Company, the forerunner of the Boeing Airplane Company . After finding success in the lumber industry, Boeing turned his attention to aircraft and went into business with !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! to found the Pacific Aero Products Group and building their first aircraft, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . With America’s entry into WWI, Boeing changed the name to Boeing Airplane Company and built 50 aircraft for the US Navy. Following the war, Boeing concentrated on commercial aircraft, and built an airmail operation that eventually became United Airlines. William Boeing left the company in 1937, but Boeing went on to become one of the largest manufacturers of civilian and military aircraft in the world.

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July 16, 1999 – The death of John F. Kennedy, Jr, the only surviving son of US President !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and First Lady !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Kennedy had departed Essex County Airport in New Jersey in his !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (N9253N) for a flight along the Connecticut coastline to Martha’s Vineyard when the plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, killing Kennedy along with his wife !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and her sister Lauren. The National Transportation Safety Board !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! the probable cause as pilot error, saying that Kennedy likely became disoriented while flying over water at night. Kennedy was not qualified for instrument flight conditions and, while conditions at the time did not require IFR flying, other pilots cited the lack of a visual horizon due to hazy conditions.

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(US Air Force)

July 16, 1965 – The first flight of the North American Rockwell OV-10 Bronco, a lightweight, STOL aircraft developed for the US Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps for observation, forward air control, helicopter escort, armed reconnaissance, gunfire spotting, utility and ground attack. Despite its diminutive size, the Bronco can carry up to 6,000 pounds of external stores, as well as paratroops or stretchers, and its turboprop engines allow for at least three hours of loiter time over the battlefield. The Bronco first saw service with the US Marine Corps in Vietnam, and has since served both the US Air Force and US Navy. In civilian use, the Bronco has served NASA and as a firefighting aircraft, and military versions have recently returned to the skies over Afghanistan and Syria in the fight against !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

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July 16, 1948 – The first flight of the Vickers Viscount, a medium range, pressurized airliner and the first airliner in the world to employ turboprop engines. Development of the Viscount resulted from the work of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , a group founded to promote civil aviation in England following WWII. The Viscount entered service with !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (BEA) in 1953 and became one of the most popular and successful post-war transport and cargo aircraft, with 160 aircraft ordered by only the second year of operations. A total of 445 were produced from 1948-1963, and the type was finally retired in 2008.

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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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Nibby > ttyymmnn 07/16/2019 at 12:53

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speaking of dates... you free tonight? ( °  °)

ttyymmnn > Nibby 07/16/2019 at 13:17

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That makes me feel a little  uncomfortable....

InFierority Complex > ttyymmnn 07/16/2019 at 13:22

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The Constellation is just so elegant although I get why some people disagree.

I know the Skyraider gets all the attention of the Vietnam era prop planes but I love the Bronco. I t’s cool that it can still be found doing essentially the same job all these years later.

Nibby > ttyymmnn 07/16/2019 at 13:31

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a simple no would’ve been fine you rudeler

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ttyymmnn 07/16/2019 at 13:35

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Huzzah, a Wiley Post post.

facw > ttyymmnn 07/16/2019 at 13:41

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Good flying boat section there. I especially like the SeaMaster.

ttyymmnn > InFierority Complex 07/16/2019 at 13:46

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It’s always been one of my favorites. Did you see my article about the Convair Charger?

ttyymmnn > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 07/16/2019 at 13:47

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I actually found a photo of the crashed aircraft when Post and Rogers died. 

ttyymmnn > facw 07/16/2019 at 13:47

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Thanks. I added the SeaMaster this year. Really cool aircraft.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ttyymmnn 07/16/2019 at 14:06

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Hmm, yes - I see that a couple of them come up when you search “winnie mae crash”.

Apparently there are several memorials on the site. I’ll have to visit if I’m ever going through Barrow/ Utqiavik .

https://www.nps.gov/articles/rogers-post-site.htm

ttyymmnn > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 07/16/2019 at 14:14

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They weren’t flying Winnie Mae, though. It was an aircraft that Post had cobbled together using t he fuselage of an airworthy Lockheed Orion and the wings of a wrecked experimental Lockheed Explorer . Lockheed wouldn’t do the work for him because they said the parts were incompatible. The plane lost power on takeoff from a lagoon (they had landed to ask directions) and, since it was nose-heavy, nosed in and flipped over. 

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ttyymmnn 07/16/2019 at 14:19

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Whoops, you’re correct.

ttyymmnn > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 07/16/2019 at 14:22

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He did so much of his work in Winnie Mae that it’s hard to imagine him flying anything else.

AfromanGTO > ttyymmnn 07/16/2019 at 17:12

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3 seaplanes in one week! It is a good day!

I found this video I saw of the Seamaster years ago. I wish it was in hd.

TheRealBicycleBuck > ttyymmnn 07/16/2019 at 19:22

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I really like the flying boats. I’ve never seen the SeaMaster before! I’ve thought a Lake or a Searay would make for a fun personal plane since the Icon is way outside my budget. I’d really like a Widgeon, but I couldn’t afford either the plane or the operating costs!

That OV-10 deserves a better picture, one that shows off the AWESOME twin booms and fantastic visibility out of the cockpit.

ttyymmnn > TheRealBicycleBuck 07/16/2019 at 20:29

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I seem to recall having difficulty finding a good shot of the Bronco, or at least one that I could use.

From what I can tell, the SeaMaster would have been a very good aircraft. But missiles and inter-service rivalries torpedoed it.