This Date in Aviation History: October 10 - October 13

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 10/13/2020 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 October 10 through October 13.

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October 11, 1990 – The first flight of the Rockwell-MBB X-31. The aerial dogfight finds its roots in WWI, when opposing pilots began shooting at each other with rifles and pistols they carried aloft in their aircraft. Very quickly, though, the engagements got much more serious. Pilots armed their aircraft with machine guns, air forces produced dedicated fighter aircraft, and aerial warfare became as much a science as an art. Even in the modern era of supersonic jets and guided missiles, it’s still paramount to “get on the six” of your opponent, maneuvering into position to shoot them down. But pushing beyond an aircraft’s aerodynamic limits can lead to loss of control, putting pilots in grave danger of losing the fight—and their life.

Three paddles mounted at the rear of the X-31's fuselage direct the aircraft’s thrust for greater maneuverability

In 1990, a team of engineers from !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (Rockwell-MBB) joined together to investigate the benefits of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , a system that deflects and directs the engine’s exhaust to augment the traditional control surfaces of the aircraft. The test aircraft was cobbled together from existing and experimental aircraft, and included the front end of a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the landing gear and other components from a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , parts from !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and even a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . The finished aircraft featured a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! wing with forward !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and a thrust vectoring system that used three computer-controlled paddles to direct the jet exhaust. Specifically, the design team wanted to investigate high !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (AOA), the angle of the wing relative to the wind passing over it. At particularly high AOA, traditional aircraft are likely stall, lose lift, and enter a dangerous spin. With thrust vectoring disabled, the X-31 was capable of flight in a 30 degrees nose up attitude. Any more and the aircraft would stall. With thrust vectoring enabled, the X-31 was capable of a remarkable 70-degree AOA while maintaining control, giving the pilots previously unattainable maneuverability.

As part of the test program, the X-31 was pitted against comparable fighter aircraft that did not possess thrust vectoring. The results were quite impressive, with the X-31 tallying a potential kill ratio of 30 to 1. Rockwell-MBB built two test aircraft, and carried out a total of 580 flights before the initial testing program ended in 1995 (the first aircraft was lost in a crash that same year). The second test aircraft was transferred to the US Navy Test Pilot School at Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland for additional research and, at the end of that program in 2003, the aircraft was sent to Germany where it is on display at the Deutsches Meseum Flugwerft Schleissheim. Thrust vectoring is now found operationally on the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the Russian !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , as well as various other experimental aircraft.  

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October 13, 1930 – The first flight of the Junkers Ju 52. With the rapid pace of technological advancement, it is not uncommon for an aircraft to enter service while its replacement is already under development. In the years before and after WWII, it was not uncommon for an aircraft to serve less than 10 years before it was considered obsolete. However, a small handful of aircraft have been resilient enough to exceed fifty years of service. Such a milestone can only be reached by truly breakthrough designs that can stand the test of time and remain relevant long after they were first conceived, or be so rugged and effective that their usefulness continues long after their original technology has been eclipsed by more modern designs. One member of the fifty-year club is the Junkers Ju 52, which began its long career as a workhorse for the Luftwaffe during the Second World War. But the tri-motor aircraft that began ferrying troops in the years before and throughout the war, and continues to ply the airways today, did not begin life with three engines.

Junkers Ju 52/1m, with a single engine in the nose. This arrangement did not provide enough power, so two more engines were added to the wings.

The 52 had its roots in the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , a single-engine transport and cargo plane that was developed from the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the world’s first all-metal transport plane. Junkers began with the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! design, made sturdy with its breakthrough corrugated duralumin fuselage, and enlarged it to increase the passenger and cargo capacity. With power originally coming from a single Junkers or BMW liquid-cooled V-12 engine, the Ju 52/1m (1 motor), with its greater size and weight, proved to be significantly underpowered.

Finnair (OH-ALL, Kaleva) and Lufthansa (D-AHUS, Heinrich Kroll) Ju 52s at the Helsinki-Malmi Airport in the late 1930s. OH-ALL was shot down by Soviet bombers on June 14, 1940 over Estonia.

After the first seven aircraft were built, the Ju 52/1m became the Ju 52/3m with the addition of two more engines. Rather than V-12 engines, 52/3m sported three !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! air-cooled radial engines, one in the nose and one each on the wings. (This configuration was later copied by Ford for their !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and Junkers successfully sued to block the sale of Trimotors in Europe.) The 3m proved to be an exceptionally rugged and reliable aircraft, and entered service with Lufthansa as a civilian airliner before the outbreak of WWII. But with the nationalization of the German aviation industry in 1935, the Ju 52 became an instrument of war. The size and strength of the 52 were ideal for transport, cargo, and paratroop operations, and aircraft earned it the nicknames Iron Annie and Tante Ju ( Aunt Ju ). It had its baptism of fire with the Colombian Air Force in the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! of 1932-1933, and with Bolivia in the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! of 1932-1935. The Ju 52 made its Luftwaffe combat debut during the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! of 1936-1939, which served as a dress rehearsal for the German invasion of Poland which started WWII.

Despite its utility, the Ju 52's lack of speed (it was only half as fast as the British !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ) meant that combat operations required fighter escort. In one disastrous mission in Holland in 1940, 278 Ju 52s were lost either to anti-aircraft fire or crashes in boggy fields, a record for the most losses of a single type in a single day. But despite the shortcomings of what was by all accounts an obsolete aircraft at the start of the war, the Ju 52 served throughout the conflict because the Germans had no other aircraft that could perform its job in great numbers. German production of the Ju 52 ended with the fall of the Third Reich in 1945, but continued for two more years in factories built in France during the German occupation. In Spain, where it is known as the CASA 352, production continued until 1952. In all, over 4,800 Iron Annies were built, and the Ju 52 served no less than 38 nations. The last country to operate the Ju 52 militarily was Switzerland, who retired their last aircraft in 1982. Surviving Ju 52s continue flying tourists and carrying parachutists to this day.

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Short Takeoff

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October 10, 1958 – A maintenance support aircraft for the US Air Force Thunderbirds crashes near Payette, Idaho. While headed to McChord Air Force Base in the state of Washington, the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! reportedly flew into a flock of Canada geese and crashed, killing five aircraft crew members and 14 maintenance personnel. The investigation could not definitively say that the crash was caused by bird strikes, but the grounding of all C-123s due to a fuel system problem was ruled out as a possible cause. However, the investigation also found that the plane was overloaded, crew rest procedures and been violated, and the pilot’s seat may not have been occupied by a qualified pilot. The crash remains the deadliest accident in Thunderbirds history.

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October 10, 1933 – The bombing of a United Airlines Boeing 247. On a routine transconitental flight, the Boeing airliner (NC13304), carrying three crew and four passengers, exploded and crashed over rural Indiana. All on board were killed. Investigators determined that the cause of the explosion was most likely a nitroglycerin bomb, making the crash the world’s first documented case of air sabotage. Nobody ever claimed responsibility for the bombing, and the perpetrator was never found.

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October 11, 2007 – The death of David Lee “Tex” Hill. Born July 13, 1915 in Terrell Hills, Texas, Hill began his piloting career as a Naval Aviator flying the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . While in the Navy, Hill was recruited by the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , better known as the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , who fought on behalf of Nationalist China in WWII. After the deactivation of the AVG in 1942, Hill was one of only a handful of pilots that reintegrated into the US Army Air Corps, and he tallied six more victories with the 23d Fighter Group to bring his total to 18.25. In 1944, Hill assumed command of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the first operational US jet fighter wing, and later commanded the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! of the Texas Air National Guard (ANG). He flew combat missions in the Korean War, and became the youngest brigadier general in ANG history. For his service, Hill was awarded the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and British !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! among others.

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October 11, 1984 – Astronaut Kathryn Sullivan becomes the first American woman astronaut to perform a spacewalk. During mission !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! of the Space Shuttle !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , Sullivan, along with astronaut !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , spent 3.5 hours in space working on a system to refuel satellites in orbit. Sullivan is the third American woman to fly in space (after !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ), and she took part in a total of three Shuttle missions before leaving NASA in 1993. Sullivan was inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2004, and later served as Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, and NOAA Administrator from 2014-2017.

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Not accident aircraft

October 11, 1984 – Aeroflot Flight 3352 crashes on landing at Omsk Airport. Flight 3352, a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (CCCP-85243) arriving from Novosibirsk, was cleared for landing during a heavy rainstorm while ground crews were permitted to enter the runway and dry it by a traffic controller who then fell asleep. The unlit maintenance trucks moved to the runway and, as the Tu-154 approached, the flight crew could see something on the runway but were unsure exactly what. A call to a second controller, who could not see the runway, confirmed that the runway was clear, and the first controller could not be reached while he slept. When the airliner touched down, it was unable to avoid the drying trucks, two of which carried seven tons of fuel each to power the jet dryers. All 174 passengers were killed in the crash and fire, along with four members of the ground crew. Miraculously, the five-man flight crew survived when the front section of the airliner broke off and careened down the runway away from the inferno. The crash remains the deadliest ever on Russian soil.

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October 11, 1968 – The launch of Apollo 7, the first successful manned Apollo mission. After a 19-month hiatus in manned flights following the fire on !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! that killed three astronauts, Apollo 7 carried out the mission originally scheduled for the ill-fated Apollo 1 crew after improvements were made to the command module and other safety procedures were put in place. The Apollo 7 crew of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (Commander), !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (Command Module Pilot) and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (Lunar Module Pilot) spent 11 days orbiting the Earth. Apollo 7 was also the first manned launch of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! launch vehicle, and the crew performed the first live American television broadcast from space.

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October 11, 1938 – The first flight of the Westland Whirlwind, the first single seat, twin engined Royal Air Force heavy fighter and the first in the RAF to be armed with cannons. As part of an effort to field an fighter with heavier armament than the rifle-caliber guns of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the Air Ministry issued specification F.37/35 in 1935 to develop an aircraft capable of carrying four cannons. The Whirlwind was powered by two !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! V-12 engines which provided a top speed of 360 mph, and it was introduced in 1940. However, its lack of performance at high altitude limited the Whirlwind mainly to ground attack and anti-shipping missions. A total of 116 were built, and the type was retired in 1943.

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Not accident aircraft

October 12, 1997 – The death of John Denver. Born on December 31, 1943, Denver is best known as a successful singer, songwriter, and environmental activist. But he was also an avid pilot, with over 2,700 hours of experience and pilot ratings in both single- and multi-engine aircraft. He also held glider and instrument ratings. On the day of his death, Denver was practicing touch-and-go landings at Monterey Peninsula Airport in California in his !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (N555JD). The builder of the aircraft (not Denver) had placed the fuel gauge and switch for the two fuel tanks behind the pilot’s seat, making it difficult to monitor the fuel level and operate the switch. NTSB crash investigators !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! that Denver attempted to twist his body to operate the switch, then lost control of the aircraft and crashed into Monterey Bay. Investigators also cited unfamiliarity with the aircraft and an insufficient fuel load at takeoff as factors in the crash.

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October 12, 1976 – The first flight of the Sikorsky S-72, a hybrid helicopter/fixed wing aircraft that was developed by NASA and the US Army. Assembled from different parts of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! helicopters, the goal of the research program was to allow in-flight measurements of helicopter rotor characteristics prior to fitting them on prototype helicopters, though the S-72 was also capable of flight without a main rotor. The S-72, also called the Rotor Systems Research Aircraft (RSRA), took its first full compound flight in 1978, and the program ended in 1988.

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October 12, 1964 – The launch of Voskhod 1, the seventh manned space flight of the Soviet space program. Based on the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! spacecraft, Voskhod 1 had an added solid-fuel retro-rocket fitted to slow its descent. The flight is notable as being the first to carry three crewmen into orbit—a cosmonaut, an engineer, and a physician—and the first in which the cosmonauts did not wear spacesuits. The bulky spacesuits were removed so that all three cosmonauts could fit into a capsule designed for only two. The standard ejection seats were also removed and replaced with three simple bench seats. The flight set an altitude record of 209 miles above the Earth, and the crew carried out biomedical research. Voskhod 1 returned to earth after 24 hours in space.

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October 13, 1972 – An airliner carrying a rugby team and other passengers crashes in the Andes. The chartered Uruguayan Air Force !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! carrying 45 passengers and crew was en route to a rugby match in Chile when the flight crew initiated their descent prematurely through a fog-shrouded mountain pass and crashed high up in the Andes. Twelve passengers died as a direct result of the crash, and five more died the following day from their injuries. A further eight died in an avalanche, and the remaining victims resorted to cannibalism to survive. With no sign of rescue on the way, two survivors walked for nine days to find help, and the remaining 16 survivors were finally rescued on December 23, two months after the crash. Their ordeal was dramatized in the 1993 feature film !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

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October 13, 1950 – The first flight of the Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation, the first major variant of the original L-1049 Constellation to enter production. Faced with competition from the rival !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which could carry more passengers and thus generate more revenue, Lockheed added 18 feet to the fuselage of the L-049 Constellation accommodate up to 105 passengers, increased the fuel capacity, fitted larger windows, and improved the cabin heating and pressurization. The result was an aircraft that equaled the DC-6 in performance and could carry a greater payload, though at a shorter range. The Super Connie also served with the USAF as a transport and part of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (AWACS) as the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

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Connecting Flights

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If you enjoy these Aviation History posts, please let me know in the comments. You can find more posts about aviation history, aviators, and aviation oddities at !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

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user314 > ttyymmnn 10/13/2020 at 14:08

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See, you can explain in aerodynamic terms why TVN/TVC allow aircraft to do what they do, but to actually see one in action:

And I’m forced to go with the Clarkson Explanation .

ttyymmnn > user314 10/13/2020 at 15:51

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I’ve never seen that crash video. Looks like it tried to right itself, and maybe could have been saved? Certainly not second guessing, that spin was hell, it would’ve shook me up. 

ttyymmnn > user314 10/13/2020 at 15:58

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user314 > ttyymmnn 10/13/2020 at 16:16

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Never say never, but the odds were stacked against it:

The crash was caused by ice inside the pitot tube, sending incorrect airspeed data to the flight control computers. Contributing factors included the replacement of a heated pitot tube with an unheated Kiel probe , and ground crew/pilot ignorance of an option to override computer control. The pilot ejected safely. [7] [8] [9] NASA issued in 2005 a film, “X-31: Breaking the Chain,” reviewing the events. [10] The novelty of the X-31 trials was computer control of its revolutionary flight controls (the canard wing and engine baffles) to effect maneuvers impossible for conventional jet fighters. The film discusses at length the combination of independent errors (e.g. that the accompanying chase pilot could not hear the test pilot’s radio conversation with his base) in prompting loss of control, when the test pilot (correctly) ejected to save his life. Film of the crash shows the aircraft in unusual attitudes as the computer applied its false data to attempt to control flight after the pilot ejected.

Only Vespas... > ttyymmnn 10/13/2020 at 23:26

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X-31 looks a lot like the Eurofighter, no?  Great Job, BTW.

ttyymmnn > Only Vespas... 10/14/2020 at 00:12

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It does. The Europeans seem to like that delta/canard planform: Viggen, Gripen, Eurofighter, Rafale.

And thanks!