This Date in Aviation History: September 25 - September 27

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 09/27/2019 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 September 25 through September 27.

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A US Navy A-7E Corsair II from Attack Squadron 146 (VA-146) “Blue Diamonds” in 1974. (US Navy)

September 26, 1965 – The first flight of the LTV A-7 Corsair II. Throughout the history of military aviation, there have been a handful of aircraft that were named after successful predecessors, such as the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which took its name from the potent !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! fighter and ground attack aircraft of WWII, and the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which continued the use of ghostly aircraft nicknames that started with the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in 1945. So, when !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (LTV) needed a nickname for their new hard-hitting ground attack aircraft, they found inspiration in the rugged and deadly !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! of WWII and Korea, one of the preeminent fighters of the piston era.

In 1962, the US Navy began a search for a new attack aircraft to replace the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , hoping to improve both the range and payload provided by the diminutive A-4. The Navy also required that the new attack aircraft show improvements in target accuracy in order to reduce the costs associated with bombs that missed their mark. By 1963, the Navy finalized their requirements and announced the VAL (heavier-than-air, attack, light) competition and, to save money, they stipulated that the aircraft be based on an existing design. Vought turned to their !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , a supersonic air superiority fighter that entered service with the Navy in 1957. But the Crusader was built for speed, with a long narrow fuselage and afterburning turbojet engine, and ground attack missions call for subsonic speeds closer to the ground. So Vought shortened and broadened the fuselage and removed the variable incidence wing that helped lower the Crusader’s landing speeds. They also increased the wingspan and replaced the Crusader’s afterburning turbojet with an !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! turbofan that had no afterburner, since there would be no need for the A-7 to fly at supersonic speeds. Vought gave the A-7 an !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! radar that offered better targeting than the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and also installed a head-up display (HUD), the first for a US fighter. The Navy selected the A-7 as the winner of the VAL competition in 1964, and it received the nickname Corsair II a year later.

A US Air Force A-7D Corsair II from the 76th Tactical Fighter Squadron drops Mark 82 hi-drag bombs over a bombing range in Florida. (US Air Force)

By 1967, Navy A-7s were in action over Vietnam, flying from the aircraft carrier USS Ranger (CVA-61). However, the hot humid conditions of Southeast Asia limited the amount of power available to Navy pilots, and they could not carry a full load of weapons and fuel. The lack of power led pilots to nickname the Corsair II “SLUF,” which stood for Short Little Ugly Fucker. The Corsair II was also pressed into service with the US Air Force when they identified the need for a robust subsonic ground attack aircraft to support US Army troops. Reluctant at first to take the Navy airplane, the Air Force relented under pressure from Secretary of Defense !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , with the stipulation that their version would have a still more powerful engine and an !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! rotary cannon rather than the two single-barreled 20mm cannons on the Navy version. This aircraft was designated the A-7D, and was later adopted by the Navy as the A-7E. All told, the Navy and Air Force flew more than 100,000 A-7 sorties during the war.

A US Navy A-7E Corsair II from attack squadron VA-72 Blue Hawks passes over a ruined fort in the Saudi desert during Operation Desert Shield in 1990. (US Navy)

By the end of the Vietnam War, the Air Force began passing the Corsair II over to the Air National Guard (ANG) in favor of the F-4 Phantom II, but the Navy continued flying A-7s, and they saw action over !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and Libya, and limited use in the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . The Air Force and Navy retired their A-7s in 1991, while the ANG finally retired their Corsair IIs in 1993. The Greek Hellenic Air Force flew the A-7 until 2014, 47 years after the type’s maiden flight.

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(Author unknown)

September 27, 1964 – The first flight of the BAC TSR-2. By the 1950s, the general doctrine of aerial bombardment, either nuclear or conventional, was to penetrate enemy territory by flying as high and fast as possible, beyond the reach of enemy fighters and interceptors. In England, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which first flew in May 1949, had a service ceiling of 48,000 feet, and could fly over enemy territory with relative impunity. But the arrival of the surface-to-air missile (SAM) changed the conventional bombing doctrine practically overnight, and a new breed of attack aircraft came to the fore, known as !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Since radar-guided SAMS of the era worked on line of sight to track incoming targets, the new bombing method was to fly as low as possible, under the radar, and use terrain features to further mask the attacking aircraft. These high speed, ground-hugging aircraft could carry either conventional or nuclear weapons, and their interdictor role called for them to fly deep behind enemy lines and destroy logistics targets such as airfields and railroad hubs, thus preventing the enemy from bringing troops and supplies to the front lines.

To that end, the British government issued Operational Requirement 399 (GOR.399) in 1956, an extraordinarily ambitious list of requirements for a new light bomber that would fly at supersonic speeds in all weather conditions, be capable of carrying both tactical nuclear weapons and conventional weapons, have either short takeoff and landing (STOL) or vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capabilities, and be able to perform both bombing and reconnaissance missions. In January 1959, the Ministry of Supply selected a consortium of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (which, along with the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! were forced into a merger in 1960 to form the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , or BAC) to produce what would be called the TRS-2 (Tactical Strike Reconnaissance, Mach 2). The new aircraft was designed around the strengths of each company, with Vickers-Armstrongs building the front half of the aircraft and wings, while English Electric built the rear.

Aircraft XR219 in flight, the only TSR-2 to fly. Twenty-four test flights were made over a six-month period before the project was canceled. (Author unknown)

The TSR-2 was powered by two !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! afterburning turbojets developed from those used on the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , engines which would later power the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . It was capable of a sustained cruise of Mach 2.05, with a dash speed of Mach 2.35, and a theoretical top speed of Mach 3. In an effort to save money, no prototypes were built. The first tranche of aircraft were supposed to be finished production aircraft, and testing commenced with the first two completed airframes. Despite some early mechanical difficulties, test pilots reported that the TSR-2 flew well. Still, the initial requirements had to be reworked to reflect the realities of the TSR-2's performance. Though the first aircraft was supposed to be a finished production airframe, the sophisticated radars and other electronics had yet to be installed, and the costs of the aircraft continued to climb.

Some in the British government believed that the TSR was made obsolete by the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and when combined with cost and complexity of the aircraft, as well as delays in development, the decision was made to cancel the program on April 6, 1965, the day scheduled for the maiden flight of the second aircraft. Following contentious debate, the British government announced that it would instead procure the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! rather than develop their own interdictor, even though considerable money and effort had already been put into the TSR-2. And, to add insult to injury, the British government later rescinded their order of F-111s when that program ran into it own costly delays. Within six months of cancellation, all uncompleted aircraft, plus all tooling, were scrapped. Only two aircraft survived, neither of which is complete. The two finished aircraft, including the one that took part in testing, were destroyed to test for weaknesses in the airframe to gunfire and shrapnel. Only one completed aircraft survived, and is housed at the RAF Museum, Cosford. A second airframe, much less complete, resides at the Imperial War Museum Duxford.  

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Short Takeoff

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(US Air Force)

September 25, 2015 – The first flight of the Boeing KC-46 Pegasus, the newest aerial refueling and strategic airlifter slated to enter service with the US Air Force in late 2019 or early 2020. In 2011, the Pegasus was announced as the winner of the Air Force !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! competion over a Northrop Grumman/Airbus offering in a protracted and often acrimonious debate over which aircraft would replace 100 older !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . The Pegasus is based on the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! widebody airliner and will have seating for up to 114 people or 65,000 pounds of cargo and will be capable of transferring over 207,000 pounds of fuel. The Air Force has placed an order for a total of 36 aircraft, and the tankers will be based at McConnell Air Force Base in Kansas. The first was delivered to the Air Force in January 2019, but problems with systems such as the remote controlled refueling boom, cargo tie downs, and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! inside the aircraft have seriously delayed the operational capability of those aircraft delivered so far.

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(Hans Wendt)

September 25, 1978 – A Pacific Southwest Airlines Boeing 727 and a private plane collide in midair over San Diego. PSA Fight 182, a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (N533PS), was approaching San Diego’s Lindbergh Field (now San Diego International Airport) when it collided with a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . The crew of the 727 had been alerted to the presence of the Cessna, but had lost sight of it and failed to notice when it made an unauthorized change of course. The pilot of the Cessna was under a hood practicing !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (ILS) approaches, but his instructor had no limitations on his vision and failed to see the 727. Air traffic control detected a conflict alert but did not warn the aircraft since they believed that they could see each other. The two aircraft came down in a residential area, killing 142 passengers and nine people on the ground. Following a similar !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the FAA mandated that !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (TCAS) be installed in all commercial airliners flying in US airspace.

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(Andre Wadman)

September 25, 1945 – The first flight of the de Havilland Dove, a short-haul passenger plane that was designed as a feeder to larger airports and one of the most successful designs to come out of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in their search for a domestically produced British airliner following WWII. The Dove was a monoplane successor to the pre-WWII !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! biplane and had accommodations for eight passengers. De Havilland produced 542 Doves from 1946 to 1967, and it entered service in 1946, with the first aircraft purchased by Argentina. The Dove was widely exported, serving airlines around the world, and remains in limited service today.

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September 26, 1951 – The first flight of the de Havilland Sea Vixen, a twin boom, twin-engine, all-weather, carrier-based fighter developed for the British Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm. Development of the Sea Vixen began in 1946 as the DH.110, and its twin boom design was borrowed from the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Where the earlier Venom had been constructed of a composite of wood and metal, the Sea Vixen was of all-metal construction. The Sea Vixen was powered by two !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! axial flow turbojets and was the first British fighter capable of supersonic speeds. It could be armed with a mixture of missiles, bombs, or rockets, but carried no internal gun. The Sea Vixen entered service in 1959 and, while it never saw combat, it was dispatched to flashpoints around the world throughout the 1960s wherever a show of military power was required.

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(US Library of Congress)

September 26, 1912 – The death of Charles Voisin. Born on July 12, 1882, Charles Voisin was an early French pioneer of aviation who founded an aircraft manufacturing company with his brother !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! named Appareils d’Aviation Les Frères Voisin in 1906. The Voisins built airplanes to order for wealthy customers and used these aircraft to further their understanding of controlled flight. Their 1907 biplane, flown by !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , made the first heavier-than-air flight in Europe of more than one minute, and that aircraft, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , formed the basis of their fledgling company. Voisin died from injuries sustained in an automobile accident on September 25, 1912, but the company continued under his brother’s leadership, and produced aircraft for the French during WWI.

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(US Air Force)

September 27, 1956 – Test pilot Milburn G. “Mel” Apt becomes the first to fly at Mach 3, but is killed when his aircraft crashes. Apt was born on April 9, 1924 in Buffalo, Kansas and joined the US Army Air Forces in 1944. Following his military service, Apt received a degree in aeronautical engineering and graduated from the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in 1954. As a test pilot, Apt flew the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! rocket plane and became the first person to exceed Mach 3, though the record-breaking flight ended in tragedy. After the rocket motor burned out, Apt attempted a turn back to base, still flying at Mach 3, and lost control of the X-2. As the aircraft tumbled through the sky, Apt initiated the separation of the escape capsule. The capsule’s drogue chute opened, but the main chute did not, and Apt was killed when the capsule struck the ground.

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(Author unknown)

September 27, 1946 – The death of Geoffrey de Havilland, Jr, OBE. The son of famed aircraft designer !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , Geoffrey de Havilland, Jr. was born on February 18, 1910 at Crux Easton, Hampshire. He served as the chief test pilot for the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , piloted the maiden flights of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and the jet-powered !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1945. During a test flight of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , a radical tailless aircraft based on the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , de Havilland lost control of the aircraft before it broke up and crashed. Investigators determined that de Havilland had died when his head struck the canopy during the violent oscillations, breaking his neck.

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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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user314 > ttyymmnn 09/27/2019 at 13:14

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Because I love the SLUF so, A-7Ds from the 146th TFS formerly out of the old PIT airport :

I got to see one at the Latrobe Air Show in ‘91 or ‘ 92, pretty much right before they were retired. So cool.

Also, I was curious to see the losing entries in the VAL competition, so I went looking:

Douglas proposed the A4D-6, an enlarged version of the A-4

Grumman meanwhile put forth a single-seat modification of the A-6

North American’s contender was the FJ-5, a navalized version of the XF-107

facw > user314 09/27/2019 at 13:28

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Neat. Given those choices, I find it pretty plausible they picked the right plane.

ChevytoMazda > ttyymmnn 09/27/2019 at 13:59

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They have an A-7 out front of Alliance high school in Ohio. 

user314 > facw 09/27/2019 at 14:00

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I don’t know, the Super Scooter sounds like it could have been a real h ot r od:

ChevytoMazda > ttyymmnn 09/27/2019 at 14:01

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They have an A-7 hanging out at the Alliance High School in Ohio. Always was interesting hearing about people climbing into it. 

ttyymmnn > ChevytoMazda 09/27/2019 at 14:04

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Many years ago, there used to be one in a field in southeastern VA. It may have just been left there after an emergency landing from NAS Oceana or NALF Fentress. That was 35 years ago, so I’m sure it’s long gone, and that field is now a shopping center.

ttyymmnn > ChevytoMazda 09/27/2019 at 14:06

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So they do! Interesting. Kind of a strange place for a Navy fighter.

ChevytoMazda > ttyymmnn 09/27/2019 at 14:21

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Somehow they talked the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola to lease it to them at no cost. 

Hamtractor > user314 09/27/2019 at 14:47

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I always felt like the A-7 was another airframe that could have been updated and modified well into this century, if fact it would have been a pretty great alternative to the Tucanos and Texans in a COIN, allied air forces, low-intensity conflict scenario. And it looked absolutely badass...

I may be a total dinosaur, but I firmly believe (Rationally? Irrationally?) That we would still be the most dangerous kid on the playground if we had just kept building and upgrading the carrier airwing we ran in 1990. Super Tomcats, Super Hornets, Super Intruders, Super Corsairs, all backed up by navalized B-52s flying outta Guam, Diego Garcia, Reykjavík, etc...

I’m kind of a Red Storm Rising era guy, and I firmly believe that the use of proven equipment integrated with modern tech is where we should have gone while waiting for lasers and AI to become an effective technology. The Navy should have kept building Spruance-class destroyers along with the Burkes. The Zumwalts should have been Ticonderoga Flight II ships, the LCS would have been like Flight IV OHP-class frigates and we should have pursued a 13 CVN fleet. If every hull was equipped with VLS tubes, and we had held onto the Spruance and OHP hulls, we’d have close to 325  ships traversing the ocean with a metric fuck-ton of missiles, a carrier stri ke group capab le of fighting anything within 1000 miles.   Leave the F-22 and F-35 business to the Air Force. Even those platforms are a stop-gap tech, as the next era ships and aircraft will likely be unmanned, lasered up and truly networked...  The next military era will be Skynet.

ttyymmnn > ChevytoMazda 09/27/2019 at 15:16

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The museum probably just wanted to be rid of it.

user314 > ttyymmnn 09/27/2019 at 16:03

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I don’t know why, but I always find it so odd that they have a scabbed on, semi-retractable IFR probe, but other naval aircraft of the same vintage all have fixed probes, except for the F-8 that the SLUF was descended from, which had a full-retractable probe. 

user314 > Hamtractor 09/27/2019 at 17:00

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Eh, we probably could have e k ed another couple years out of the ‘Cats and ‘Truders, but honestly? Their best days were behind them, and refitting them to carry modern weapons would have been a waste of funds. I understand, even share, the attachment to the old birds, but at the end of the day they’re just that: old, worn our birds, and it was time to replace them. Now, were I king, I’d have flat out rejected the entire notion of a JSF, and had separate aircraft developed for all three branches. In hindsight, the Navy should have struck while Regan was talking about a 600 ship navy and started pushing for Tomcat replacement then, rather than trying to latch onto the Air Force’s ATF progra m. You’d think they’d have learned from the F-111 program....