This Date in Aviation History: August 3 - August 6

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 08/06/2019 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 August 3 through August 6.

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Lightnings of No. 74 “Tiger” Squadron in flight (UK Government)

August 4, 1954 – The first flight of the English Electric Lightning P.1A. The world entered the nuclear age on August 6, 1945 when the US dropped the first of two atomic bombs on Japan in the hopes of ending the war and avoiding a bloody invasion. Though we live today with the Damoclean sword of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (ICBM), 14 years passed after WWII before the Soviets fielded the world’s !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in 1959. During those intervening years, the only method of delivering a nuclear weapon to a target was with high-flying high-speed bombers designed to outrun defensive fighters. Therefore, it was vital to intercept the nuclear-armed bombers as early as possible, and this called for a special breed of fighter aircraft, one that could take off at a moment’s notice and fly as fast as possible to reach the bombers before the bombers could reach their target.

The Short SB.5 research aircraft, which was used to test different wing sweep angles. (Author unknown)

The idea of an !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! was not new, and the concept dates all the way back to WWI. But in the jet age, supersonic speed became the all important factor in their development. When the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! Lightning entered service in 1960, it was the Royal Air Force’s only interceptor capable of Mach 2 speed. But this modern bomber hunter traces its roots all the way back to 1947, when English Electric, the maker of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! bomber, was awarded a contract to develop a supersonic research aircraft. English Electric designers knew they would have to employ a swept wing to achieve supersonic speeds, but they first had to determine the optimal amount of sweep. To do this, English Electric contracted with the Irish firm !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! to create the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , a scaled down research aircraft whose wing and tailplane could be adjusted to different angles for testing. Based on data gathered from the SB.5, English Electric chose an untapered wing with a severe 60-degrees of sweep, giving the Lightning its unique shape.

Another feature unique to the Lightning was its engine layout. Rather than place the two turbojet engines side-by-side, English Electric stacked the engines one on top of the other. This arrangement gave the Lightning the power to reach Mach 2 while also reducing drag and minimizing the frontal area of the fighter. The prototype Lightnings were powered by a pair of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! non-afterburning (or “non-reheating” to the British) axial flow turbojets. Though the Sapphires were not as powerful as the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! turbojets which would be fitted on production Lightnings, the interceptor still passed the sound barrier on its maiden flight. Following the successful testing of the prototypes, the P.1B, with its new Avon turbojet engines, took its first flight 1957, and the addition of a crude afterburner meant the Lightning could now reach Mach 2. With so much power available to Lightning pilots, the interceptor could achieve an altitude of 36,000 feet in less than three minutes, and tests showed that the Lightning was capable of intercepting a high-flying !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! spyplane. But all that speed came at a cost. The Lightning burned fuel voraciously, and many of its missions were determined simply by the amount of fuel it could carry.

The Lightning entered service with the RAF in 1960 as the Lightning F1, and its primary mission was intercepting Soviet bombers and providing protection to airfields so British nuclear bombers, known as the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , could take off. Subsequent variants added to the Lightning’s capability with more weapons and improved radar. While the RAF was the primary operator of the Lightning, it was also exported to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and a total of 337 aircraft were produced. In its nearly 30 years of service, the Lightning was never used in combat, and only claimed one aircraft shot down: an unmanned RAF !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! that was flying towards East Germany after its pilot ejected. Nevertheless, Lightnings kept vigil on the border so of the British Isles and intercepted Soviet reconnaissance aircraft. The RAF retired their Lightnings in 1988, but a small number of aircraft still flying in the hands of private pilots.  

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WASP pilots Frances Green, Margaret (Peg) Kirchner, Ann Waldner and Blanche Osborn at the four engine school at Lockbourne AAF, Ohio circa 1944 (US Air Force)

August 5, 1943 – The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) is formed. Prior to the enactment of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in 1948, which enabled women to serve as permanent, regular members of the US armed forces, most American women served in non-military support organizations such as the US Navy’s !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (WAVES) and the US Army’s !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (WAC). The only way for women to serve officially in the active duty military was as an Army nurse or in other support roles. During WWII, about 400,000 American women answered their country’s call, and more than 500 died, 16 from enemy fire. But with so many American men fighting overseas or serving in the military stateside, jobs that were traditionally filled only by men were being very capably filled by women for the first time. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! became a symbol of the new American workforce helping to supply Arsenal of Democracy with planes, tanks and ammunition, and for the first time, women began serving as pilots.

Jackie Cochran and Nancy Harkness Love. (US Air Force)

Before the war, pioneering aviators !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! each submitted a proposal to the Army to train women pilots to ferry aircraft from the factories where they were produced to their assigned bases, or to points of embarkation for shipment overseas. They argued that every woman who flew an airplane stateside would free up one male pilot for combat flying in Europe or the Pacific. Despite the lobbying efforts of First Lady !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , their requests were denied. Undaunted, Cochran traveled to England where she joined the British !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and became one of the first American women to fly a military aircraft. In 1942, Love oversaw the creation of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (WAFS), which began by ferrying US Army Air Forces trainers and light aircraft, but eventually transitioned to fighters, bombers, and large transports. Cochran returned to the US as the WAFS started flying and, with approval from General !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , she oversaw the formation of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (WFTD) in the summer of 1942. The two groups worked independently and well until they were merged into the Women Airforce Service Pilots in 1943 under the direction of Cochran to codify training and operational standards. Though more than 25,000 women applied for the program, only 1,074 earned their wings. Primary training took place at !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in Sweetwater, Texas, and graduates not only ferried aircraft but also carried out test flights and towed targets for gunnery practice.

However, while women were doing the same work as their male military counterparts, the Army still resisted allowing them to become pilot officers. Cochran continued to put pressure on the Army Air Forces to grant the WASPs a commission into the USAAF, but Arnold refused. Finally, Cochran issued an ultimatum: give the WASPs a commission or disband the group. Faced with a glut of pilots and trainees, the Army chose to disband the unit in December 1944 rather than create women officers. At the time the WASPs were disbanded, they had delivered 12,650 aircraft around the country and suffered 38 fatalities due to accidents. Despite giving their lives in service to their country, the Army did not afford any military honors at the funeral of a fallen WASP pilot. The pilot’s body was shipped home at family expense, and the family was not allowed to drape the American flag on the coffin. After the war, WASP veterans were barred from the honor of burial at !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! until legislation was signed by President Barack Obama in 2016 allowing their interment.

Surrounded by former WASP pilots and current and retired USAF pilots, President Barack Obama signs S.614 in the Oval Office July 1, 2009 at the White House. The bill awards the Congressional Gold Medal to Women Airforce Service Pilots. (Office of the President)

Though the WASPs opened the door for women military pilots, 30 more years would pass before !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! earned her wings in 1974 and became the first woman commissioned as a pilot in the US armed forces. She served in the US Navy until she lost her life in a training accident in 1982. The US Air Force followed suit in 1978 when it accepted its first female pilot, but women were still officially barred from combat roles until 1993.

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The atomic mushroom cloud over Hiroshima, and the ruins of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall. (US Air Force; Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum)

August 6, 1945 – The United States drops the Little Boy atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. With the American victory in the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in June 1942, the tide of battle in the Pacific turned decisively to America and her allies. The methodical !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! campaign began, with Allied forces capturing strategic islands for the construction of air bases while bypassing large groups of entrenched Japanese soldiers on other islands and cutting off their flow of supplies. With the capture of Guam, Saipan and Tinian by August 1944, the US now had bases close enough to begin flying !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! on strategic bombing missions against the Japanese home island. But even the most modern bomber in the world could only be so accurate from high altitude, and with so much of the Japanese war production spread throughout the cities and into people’s homes, the bombing wasn’t terribly effective. Even after General !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! changed tactics in 1943 to the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! of Japanese cities, resulting in huge loss of life, Japan fought on. It appeared that an invasion of the island would be the only way to end the war.

A map of the planned Operation Downfall, the invasion of Japan. The US Amy estimated that as many as 800,000 US troops would die if the invasion went forward. (US Army)

In the largest amphibious assault of WWII, the US secured the island of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! on June 22, 1945 to serve as a launching point for the planned !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , a two-part invasion of Japan that was slated to begin on November 1, 1945. American war planners knew that an invasion would be costly, with initial estimates expecting 130,000-220,000 Allied casualties. Once it became clear that the Japanese were preparing defenses at the intended landing sites, casualty estimates leapt to 1.7-4 million, with 400,000-800,000 dead. The US went so far as to produce a half million !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! medals in preparation for the invasion. But would it be possible to end the war without an invasion? Could the Americans strike such a devastating blow that the Japanese would finally capitulate?

A mockup of the Little Boy atomic bomb. Released in 1960, this was the first photo of the device to be shown publicly. (US Department of Energy)

Development of a nuclear bomb in the US dates back to before the war, when scientists who had fled Nazi Germany came to America with dire warnings of German advances in atomic science. In 1939, the Americans began working on their own bomb to counter the perceived German threat, with Berlin as a potential target. But work on the bomb progressed slowly, and the first successful test was not carried out until July 1945, after the war in Europe had ended. The organizational effort to create the group of pilots and planes that would drop the new weapon had begun in 1944 with the formation of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! under the command of Colonel !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! at Wendover Army Air Field in Utah. The 509th flew the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! B-29 Superfortress, which was structurally modified to carry the new atomic bombs and was fitted with fuel injection, reversible pitch propellers, and special bomb bay doors that opened and closed quickly. To save weight and carry more fuel, all defensive armament was removed, along with all armor plating. The US now had a working bomb, and the means to carry it to Japan.

Map of Target Area 90-30-748, Hiroshima Area, A-2 Section, XXI Bomber Command, June 1945. (National Archives)

On July 26, 1945, the Allies issued the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! which called for the unconditional surrender of Japan and threatened “prompt and utter destruction” if they did not comply. The Japanese, who had already shown their fanatical desire to fight to the death time and time again throughout the Pacific, rejected the Allies’ call for surrender. The US, faced with the inevitability of a costly invasion, decided to drop the first atomic bomb on Japan. After consideration of numerous cities, Hiroshima was chosen as the first target because of its large military base, but also because the Americans wanted a target that was visible enough to have a psychological impact on the Japanese population.

Early in the morning of August 6, Tibbets and his crew departed Tinian in their Silverplate B-29, named Enola Gay after Tibbets’ mother, for the six-hour flight to Hiroshima. Over Iwo Jima, Enola Gay was joined by two other B-29s. The first was named Great Artiste and was loaded with instruments to measure the explosion. The second, an unnamed B-29, served as a photo ship. Thirty minutes from the target, mission commander Captain !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! armed the   !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!   atomic bomb. Tibbets started the bombing run completely unopposed over the unsuspecting city, and released the bomb at 8:15 am (Hiroshima time). The massive explosion killed 70,000-80,000 people in the city, both soldiers and civilians, roughly 30% of the population. More than 70,000 were injured, and 4.7 square miles of the city were destroyed as massive fires engulfed the wooden buildings in the city. Those residents who survived the blast suffered horrifying burns, radiation sickness, and a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! of other maladies.

The next day, President !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! gave an !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! to the nation, and offered Japan a grave warning:

We are now prepared to obliterate more rapidly and completely every productive enterprise the Japanese have above ground in any city. We shall destroy their docks, their factories, and their communications. Let there be no mistake; we shall completely destroy Japan’s power to make war. . . . If they do not now accept our terms they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth. Behind this air attack will follow sea and land forces in such numbers and power as they have not yet seen and with the fighting skill of which they are already well aware.

The devastated city of Hiroshima (US Navy)

Despite Truman’s promise of more nuclear attacks, the Japanese government remained silent, and did not surrender. So Truman made good on his word. Three days after the bombing of Hiroshima, a second atomic attack, this time on the city of Nagasaki, was carried out by a Silverplate B-29 nicknamed !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . It was only after this second attack, which killed as many as 80,000 civilians, that the Japanese government finally agreed to an unconditional surrender on August 15, 1945, bringing an end to the Second World War.

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Short Takeoff

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August 3, 1981 – The Professional Air Traffic Controllers go on strike. Air traffic controllers in the US had been unionized since 1970 and had a history of poor relations with the Federal Aviation Administration. Demanding better pay, better working conditions, and a 32-hour work week, controllers went on strike in 1981 in contravention of established US laws prohibiting strikes by federal employees. Under the provisions of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , President Ronald Reagan ordered the striking controllers back to work and, when they refused, 11,345 controllers were fired and banned for life from federal service. In 1993, President Bill Clinton reversed the ban, but only 800 controllers regained their jobs, and it took 10 years to fully staff the nation’s air traffic system.

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(Japanese government)

August 3, 1945 – The first flight of the Kyushu J7W Shinden,   an interceptor developed for the Japanese Navy and notable for its use of a pusher propellor and forward !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Similar in layout to the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the Shinden ( Magnificent Lightning ) was developed to provide defense against !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! raids on the Japanese homeland, and designers planned that the propeller engine could be supplanted by a jet engine in the future. The navy ordered the Shinden into production off the drawing board, but the war ended before development progressed beyond the construction of two prototypes.

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(Author unknown)

August 3, 1921 – The first use of an aircraft to apply pesticides to crops. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , popularly known as crop dusting, was first done from the air in 1906 in New Zealand when seeds were spread from a balloon. But the modern method of using airplanes began in 1921 when US Army pilot Lt. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! flew a modified !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! “Jenny” over a field in Ohio, spreading a load of lead arsenate to kill catalpa sphinx caterpillars as part of a joint operation between the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Today, crop dusting is performed the world over by both converted and purpose-built airplanes, helicopters, and even unmanned aerial vehicles.

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August 4, 1971 – The first flight of the AgustaWestland AW109, a twin-engine lightweight helicopter and the first all-Italian helicopter to enter mass production. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (now AgustaWestland, a subsidiary of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ) originally designed the A109 in the late 1960s with a single engine, but it was soon evident that a second engine was necessary to provide the necessary lifting power. Today, the AW109 is powered by a pair of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! turbine engines and can accommodate up to seven passengers at a top speed of just under 200 mph. The AW109 entered service in 1976 and is flown by military and government agencies all over the world, and commonly serves as an air ambulance or for corporate transportation.

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August 6, 1996 – The first flight of the Kawasaki OH-1, a military scout and observation helicopter developed for the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force and the first helicopter entirely produced in Japan. Nicknamed Ninja, the OH-1 was created as a replacement for the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! light observation helicopter (LOH or “Loach”) and entered service in 2000. The OH-1 is powered by two Mitsubishi TS1 turboshaft engines which provide a maximum speed of 173 mph, and is fitted with an asymmetric !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! tail rotor that reduces noise and vibration. Development also included an attack variant that was rejected in favor of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

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(US Air Force)

August 6, 1945 – The death of Richard Bong, one of the United States’ most decorated fighter pilots and the highest-scoring American ace of WWII. Bong was born in Superior, Wisconsin on September 24, 1920 and received his wings in January 1942. During the war, Bong flew the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! exclusively, and made the first of his 40 victories on December 27, 1942. For his service, Bong was awarded the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in 1944 and was sent home to help sell war bonds. Following the war, Bong became a test pilot for Lockheed, but was killed when the fuel pump of his !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! malfunctioned during takeoff. Bong ejected, but was too close to the ground for his parachute to open fully.

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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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For Sweden > ttyymmnn 08/06/2019 at 12:38

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Who would win in a battle of WASPs vs Seab ees?

Fuckkinja > ttyymmnn 08/06/2019 at 14:55

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My grandmother saved this newspaper. I can only imagine the horrors of WW2. Nice post. As always a nice read. 

ttyymmnn > Fuckkinja 08/06/2019 at 15:03

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Thank you, and thanks for reading. I look forward to reading as much of that as I can when I get home to a bigger screen. And I’ll get cracking on that pie crust, too.

Fuckkinja > ttyymmnn 08/06/2019 at 15:27

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Gma would love her recipe used. I figured I would never lose it if I keep it behind glass.

On the plane note. I have man lands on moon and Apollo 13 news papers also. I can email you any pages  you would like.

ttyymmnn > Fuckkinja 08/06/2019 at 15:52

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I would enjoy reading those, or whatever you can scan/photograph. Nothing quite like reading contemporary accounts. You can reach me at my screen name at gmail.

RacinBob > ttyymmnn 08/06/2019 at 23:42

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I met a fellow on my B-29 ride whose father was a radar repairman on Tinian. He said his father witnessed the takeoff of the Enola Gay. Another there told him as it took off “ you see that plane, it is going to win the war” ......  

ttyymmnn > RacinBob 08/06/2019 at 23:52

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And so it did.

user314 > ttyymmnn 08/07/2019 at 13:36

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Hnng! EE Lightnings with overwing tanks and fuselage-mounted missiles!

Such a gorgeous airplane; shame it so little-known and appreciated this side of the pond.