13–15 May 1938: The Gasuden Long Range Monoplane (Kōken-ki), flown by Yuso Fujita, Fukujiro Takahashi and Chikakichi Sekine, established three Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) world records for speed and distance, flying twenty-nine laps over a rectangular course from Kisarazu Airport, Chiba Prefecture; to Chōshi, a peninsula on the eastern shore of Honshu; Ōta, Gunma Prefecture; around the light house at Hiratsuka in Kanagawa Prefecture; and then back to Kisarazu.
The airplane and its crew took off from Kisarazu Airport at 4:55 a.m., 13 May, and landed at 7:21 p.m., 15 May. The duration of the flight was 2 days, 14 hours, 26 minutes.
The crew flew 11,651.01 kilometers (7,239.60 statute miles) without landing; ¹ Speed over 10,000 kilometers (6,213.712 statute miles), 186.20 kilometers per hour (115.70 miles per hour); ² Speed Over a Given Distance of 10,000 Kilometers (6,213.712 statute miles): 186.19 kilometers per hour (115.69 miles per hour). ³
The Gasuden Long Range Monoplane (Kōken-ki) was designed by the Tokyo University Aeronautical Research Institute and was built by Gasuden, the Tokyo Gas and Electric Industry (now, Hino Motors, Ltd.) It was a single-engine, low-wing monoplane with retractable landing gear. The airplane was built primarily of metal, though the wings were covered with Egyptian cotton fabric and painted with eleven coats of red paint. The airplane was called Crimson Wing.
The airplane was 15.06 meters (49.41 feet) long with a wingspan of 27.93 meters (91.63 feet) and overall height 3.84 meters (12.60 feet). Its gross weight was 9,216 kilograms (20,318 pounds).
Crimson Wing was powered by a single Kawasaki-built version of a liquid-cooled Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) single overhead camshaft (SOHC) 60° V-12 aircraft engine with two valves per cylinder. The Kawasaki engine produced 715 horsepower. The engine drove a two-bladed Sumitomo SW-4 fixed-pitch wooden propeller with a diameter of 4.00 meters (13.12 feet).
The airplane had a maximum speed of 245 kilometers per hour (152 miles per hour) at Sea Level.
When Fujita, Takahashi and Chikaichi landed after 62 hours, 21 minutes, the airplane still had 500 liters (132 gallons) of fuel remaining.
¹ FAI Record File Number 9162: Distance Over a Closed Circuit Without Landing
² FAI Record File Number 9163: Speed Over 10,000 Kilometers
³ FAI Record File Number 9552: Speed Over a Given Distance of 10,000 Kilometers
15 May 1930: Ellen Church became the first airline stewardess, now more commonly titled Flight Attendant, on a Boeing Air Transport flight from Oakland, California, to Chicago, Illinois.
A registered nurse and licensed airplane pilot, Miss Church had approached Steve Simpson at Boeing Air Transport (later, United Air Lines) to inquire about being hired as a pilot. Simpson turned her down.
When her request was denied, she suggested that the airline put registered nurses aboard BAT’s airplanes to care for the passengers. She was hired to recruit and train seven additional women as stewardesses. Because of the cabin size and weight-carrying limitations of those early airliners, they were limited to a height of 5 feet, 4 inches (1.63 meters) and maximum weight of 115 pounds (52.2 kilograms). They were required to be registered nurses, but could not to be more than 25 years old. Their salary was $125.00 per month (approximately $2,271 in 2023 dollars).
Miss Church worked for BAT for about 18 months until she was injured in a car accident. After recovering, she then returned to her career in nursing.
Ellen Evalyn Church was born at Cresco, Iowa, 22 September 1904. She was the second of two children of Gaius Windsor Church, a farmer, and Isabella Johnstone Church, an immigrant from Scotland. After graduating from Cresco High School in 1921, Miss Church studied nursing at the University of Wisconsin. She also took flying lessons and became a licensed airplane pilot.
After qualifying as a Registered Nurse (R.N.), Miss Church went to San Francisco, California, where she was employed by The French Hospital. It was while there that she first met Mr. Simpson.
Following her accident in 1932, Ellen Church returned to the University of Wisconsin and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in nursing. By 1936, she had become the Supervisor of Pediatrics at the Milwaukee County Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. By 1940, she was the hospital’s Nursing Supervisor.
In May 1940, Miss Church was featured in a series of photographs comparing her 1930 stewardess’s Boeing Air Transport uniform to that of a “modern” United Air Lines stewardess. The photos included a new Douglas DC-3 airliner.
Ellen E. Church enlisted in the United States Army, 5 December 1942, entering service at Louisville, Kentucky, the location of the U.S. Army Air Force School of Air Evacuations. She trained as a Flight Nurse and was commissioned as a Lieutenant, Nurse Corps, United States Army Air Forces. She also was responsible for training nurses.
Lieutenant Church was deployed to North Africa on 8 February 1943, caring for soldiers evacuated by air from North Africa and the Mediterranean areas. She served in the combat zones of Tunisia, Sicily, Italy, the invasion of Normandy and the Rhineland. She was promoted to the rank of Captain.
Captain Church returned to the United States, arriving by air aboard a military transport at La Guardia Airport, New York City, New York, 10 September 1944. She was released from military service 18 June 1946.
For her military service, Captain Church was awarded the Air Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with seven campaign stars, and the World War II Victory Medal.
Returning to her civilian career, Miss Church became the Hospital Administrator at Union Hospital, Terra Haute, Indiana.
Miss Church was married to Leonard Briggs Marshall, a bank president, at Indianapolis, Indiana, 11 September 1964.
While riding a horse on 27 August 1965, Ellen Church Marshall fell and suffered a severe head injury. She was taken to Union Hospital, where she died about six hours later. Her remains were buried at Highland Lawn Cemetery, Terre Haute, Indiana.
Ellen Church Field (FAA Location identifier CJJ), an uncontrolled airport 1 mile southwest of her hometown of Cresco, Iowa, was named in her honor.
15 May 1918: The prototype Packard Lepère L U.S.A. C.II made its first flight.
The Packard Lepère L U.S.A. C. II was a single-engine, two-place, two-bay biplane chasseur which was designed by a French aeronautical engineer, Capitaine Georges Lepère, who had previously designed the Section Technique de l’Aeronautique Dorand AR.1 reconnaissance airplane for the Aéronautique Militaire, the military air service of France. The new airplane was built in the United States by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan. It was a two-place fighter, or chasseur, light bomber, and observation aircraft, and was armed with four machine guns.
A contemporary aviation publication reported:
Flying Qualities—The machine exhibits excellent flying qualities, with ready response of all controls. Longitudinal, lateral and directional stability of the machine is good. In taxying, starting and landing it is entirely satisfactory, and on landing it does not roll more than 300 or 400 ft. [91.4–121.9 meters] All stunt maneuvers can readily be performed, and in general, from a pilot’s point of view, the machine is excellent.
The range of vision is very good, the controls well placed, and instruments so arranged that the pilot need only move his eyes.
—AVIATION AND AERONAUTICAL ENGINEERING, Vol. VI, No. 8, 15 May 1919, at Page 426, Column 1.
The Packard Lepère was 25 feet, 3⅛ inches (7.699 meters) long. The upper and lower wings had an equal span of 41 feet, 7¼ inches (12.681 meters), and equal chord of 5 feet, 5¾ inches (1.670 meters). The vertical gap between the wings was 5 feet, ⅝-inch (1.527 meters) and the lower wing was staggered 2 feet, 15/16-inch (0.633 meters) behind the upper wing. The wings’ incidence was +1°. Upper and lower wings were equipped with ailerons, and had no sweep or dihedral. The height of the Packard Lepère, sitting on its landing gear, was 9 feet, 7 inches (2.921 meters). The Packard Lepère had an empty weight of 2,561.5 pounds (1,161.9 kilograms) and its gross weight was 3,746.0 pounds (1,699.2 kilograms).
The fuselage was a wooden structure with a rectangular cross section. It was covered with three layers of veneer, (2 mahogany, 1 white wood) with a total thickness of 3/32-inch (2.38 millimeters). The fuselage had a maximum width of 2 feet, 10 inches (0.864 meters) and maximum depth of 4 feet, 0 inches (1.219 meters).
The wings were also of wooden construction, with two spruce spars and spruce ribs. Three layers of wood veneer covered the upper surfaces. Heavy bracing wires were used. These had an airfoil cross-section and actually provided additional lift. The interplane struts were unusual in that they were fully-framed units.
The Packard Lepère was powered by a water-cooled, normally-aspirated, 1,649.336-cubic-inch-displacement (27.028 liter) Liberty L-12 single overhead cam (SOHC) 45° V-12 engine with a compression ratio of 5.4:1. The Liberty produced 408 horsepower at 1,800 r.p.m. The L-12 as a right-hand tractor, direct-drive engine and it turned turned a two-bladed, fixed-pitch wooden propeller. The Liberty 12 was 5 feet, 7.375 inches (1.711 meters) long, 2 feet, 3.0 inches (0.686 meters) wide, and 3 feet, 5.5 inches (1.054 meters) high. It weighed 844 pounds (383 kilograms).
The engine coolant radiator was positioned horizontally in the center section of the Lepère’s upper wing. Water flowed through the radiator at a rate of 80 gallons (303 liters) per minute.
The Packard Lepère had a maximum speed of 130.4 miles per hour (209.9 kilometers per hour) at 5,000 feet (1,524 meters), 127.6 miles per hour (205.4 kilometers per hour) at 10,000 feet (3,048 meters), 122.4 miles per hour (197.0 kilometers per hour) at 15,000 feet (4,572 meters), 110.0 miles per hour (177.0 kilometers per hours) at 18,000 feet (5,486 meters) and 94.0 miles per hour (151.3 kilometers per hour) at 20,000 feet (6,096 meters). Its cruising speed was 112 miles per hour (180 was kilometers per hour). The airplane could climb to 5,000 feet in 4 minutes, 24 seconds, and to 20,000 feet in 36 minutes, 36 seconds. In standard configuration, the Packard Lepère had a service ceiling of 20,200 feet (6,157 meters). Its range was 320 miles (515 kilometers).
The fighter’s armament consisted of two fixed M1918 Marlin .30-caliber aircraft machine guns mounted on the right side of the fuselage, synchronized to fire forward through the propeller arc, with 1,000 rounds of ammunition, and two M1918 Lewis .30-caliber machine guns on a flexible mount with 970 rounds of ammunition.
The Air Service had ordered 3,525 of these airplanes, but when the War ended only 28 had been built. The contract was cancelled.
Six Packard Lepères were used for flight testing at McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio, assigned project numbers P 44, P 53, P 54, P 65, P 70 and P 80. One of these, flown by Major Rudolph W. Schroeder, set two Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Records for Altitude at 9,455 meters (31,020 feet), 18 September 1918.¹ On 6 September 1919, Schroeder flew a Packard Lepère to 8,616 meters (28,268 feet) while carrying a passenger. This set two more World Altitude Records.² Flying P 53, A.S. 40015, he set a fifth FAI altitude record of 10,093 meters (33,114 feet), 27 February 1920.³ On 28 September 1921, Captain John A. Macready flew P 53 to an altitude of 40,800 feet (12,436 meters). On 13 October 1922, 1st Lieutenant Theodore J. Koenig flew P 53 to win the Liberty Engine Builders’ Trophy Race at Selfridge Field, near Mount Clemens, Michigan. Koenig completed ten laps of the triangular racecourse in 2:00:01.54, at an average speed of 128.8 miles per hour (207.3 kilometers per hour).
The only Packard Lepère in existence, serial number A.S. 42133, is in the collection of the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
15 May 1918: The United States Post Office Department began regularly-scheduled transportation of the mail by air. After a short delay the first flight departed from Potomac Park Polo Field, near Washington, D.C., at approximately 11:45 a.m., heading to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the first leg of a relay to New York City, New York. Among many spectators and government officials, there to observe was Thomas Woodrow Wilson, the 28th President of the United States of America.
The weather was described as “fair,” with the air temperature at 70 °F. (21 °C.). The first airplane scheduled to depart was a Curtiss JN-4HM “Jenny,” Signal Corps serial number S.C. 38262. Its pilot was Second Lieutenant George Leroy Boyle, Aviation Section, Signal Officer’s Reserve Corps, United States Army.
S.C. 38262 was a brand new airplane. It had been shipped by railroad from the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company’s plant in Hammondsport, New York, to Hazelhurst Field,¹ Long Island, New York. The airplane was uncrated and assembled, then flown to Bustleton Field, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) from down town Philadelphia.
On the morning of 15 May, Major Reuben H. Fleet flew S.C. 38262 to Washington, D.C., arriving there at 10:35 a.m. Major Fleet met with Lieutenant Boyle to discuss the actual mail flight and assist him with charts for the route. With all the hurried activity, refueling the Jenny was overlooked. When it was time, Boyle was unable to start the airplane’s engine. There was no gasoline available at the polo fields, so some was siphoned from the other airplanes.
Lieutenant Boyle was finally airborne at approximately 11:45 with his load of U.S. Mail.
After taking off, though, Lieutenant Boyle turned toward the south—the wrong direction for Philadelphia.
Boyle soon realized that something was wrong and he landed to try to orient himself. he took off again, but once again recognized that he was lost and landed again, this time, near Waldorf, Maryland. Landing in a soft field, S.C. 38262 nosed over and the propeller was damaged.
Coincidentally, a house near Boyle’s landing site was the home of Assistant Postmaster General Otto Praeger, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Washington. Boyle was able to call Washington and report in. He and the mail were driven back to Potomac Park.
Major Fleet wanted to replace Boyle, but was overruled by Post Office officials.
S.C. 38262 was repaired, and on 17 May, Lieutenant Boyle and his load of mail, all of which had been stamped to indicate the first day of air mail service, once again took off on schedule at 11:35 a.m., for Philadelphia. This time, though, Boyle was escorted as far as Baltimore, Maryland, by another pilot. (Sources vary. Some say it was Major Fleet, while others say it was Lieutenant James Edgerton, flying S.C. 38274.) From that point, Boyle had been told, he was to simply follow the shoreline of Chesapeake Bay to Philadelphia.
But, once again, Lieutenant Boyle turned the wrong way. At about 2:45 p.m., low on fuel, he landed near Cape Charles, Virginia, about 125 miles (201 kilometers) to the south of Washington, D.C. Boyle was able to borrow gasoline from a farmer and at 4:15 p.m., was airborne once again.
Darkness approached and Boyle’s fuel was running low. Uncertain of his position, at 7:05 p.m., he landed at the Philadelphia Country Club, which was about 15 miles (24 kilometers) short of his actual destination at Bustelton Field. The airplane struck an obstacle and Lieutenant Boyle was thrown from the cockpit, though he suffered only minor injuries. The Jenny, though, was in worse shape. Its left lower wing was torn off, and its upper wing damaged. The airplane would be repaired, but did not return to service until 10 July 1918.
A member of the club drove Boyle and his load of mail to Bustleton Field, where it was loaded on a train for New York City.
Postal Department officials wanted Lieutenant Boyle to continue flying the mail, but Major Fleet refused. This time, rather than being overruled, he was supported in his decision by Secretary of War Newton Diehl Baker Jr.
On 1 March 1918, the U.S. Postal Department and the United States Army agreed that the Army would fly the mail, beginning 15 May 1918. Major Reuben Hollis Fleet, Aviation Section, Signal Corps, was placed in charge of the project by Secretary of War Baker. The Signal Corps ordered 18 airplanes for the purpose: six Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Co, JN-4HTs, serial numbers S.C. 37944, 38262, 38274, 38275, 38276, 37278; six Liberty-powered Curtiss R-4Ls, S.C. 39362–39367; and six JR-1Bs, serial numbers 1–6, from the Standard Aircraft Corporation, Plainfield, New Jersey. Fleet told Curtiss to modify the Jennys by removing the seat and flight controls from the forward cockpit, and to add a hopper to hold the mail. The airplanes were also given increased fuel and lubricating oil capacity. The airplanes were redesignated JN-4HM.
Major Fleet was told to select four pilots, while the Post Office Department would choose another two. He chose 1st Lieutenants Howard Paul Culver, Walter Miller and Torrey H. Webb, and 2nd Lieutenant Stephen Bonsal, Jr.
The two Army pilots chosen by the Post Office were 2nd Lieutenant George L. Boyle and 2nd Lieutenant James C. Edgerton. These two officers had just completed flight training and had only about 60 hours flight time, each.
But George Boyle was engaged to Miss Margaret Grundy McChord, the daughter of Judge Charles Caldwell McChord, Chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission. Lieutenant Edgerton was the son of James A. Edgerton, the purchasing agent of the Post Office.
Not much is known about George Leroy Boyle. He was born at Fort Scott, Kansas, during October 1891. He was the first of four children of Louis C. Boyle, a lawyer who had been born in Canada, and Gertrude Boyle, of Illinois. George had three younger sisters, Catherine G., Clara L., and Gertrude Boyle.
Boyle may have studied at the University of Missouri, Columbia, in 1912, and/or the Kansas City School of Law, Kansas City Missouri, as a member of the Class of 1915.
Boyle is believed to have attended ground school at Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, from 17 November 1917 to 26 January 1918. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Aviation Section, Signal Corps, United States Army, and ordered to report to Park Field at Millington, Tennessee, for primary flight training. He then completed advanced flight training at Ellington Field, Houston, Texas.
One month following his unfortunate beginning as an air mail pilot, George Leroy Boyle married Miss McChord. The ceremony was held at 5:00 p.m., 15 June 1918, in the Red Parlor of the New Willard Hotel, a luxurious Beaux-Arts-style hotel near the center of Washington, D.C. The wedding, “One of the most notable of the June weddings in the capital,” was officiated by Rev. Walter Everett Burnett.
Lieutenant Boyle’s military career seems to have come to an end at about this time. In 1920, he and Mrs. Boyle (along with her father, Judge McChord) were residents at the Willard, and Boyle was a practicing attorney.
Mrs. Boyle gave birth to a daughter, Josephine Fairchild Boyle, in Washington, D.C., 15 April 1921.
By 1924, the Boyles were living apart. George Boyle was practicing law in Kansas City, Missouri, while Mrs. Boyle and her daughter remained in Washington, D.C.
Nothing else seems to be known about George Leroy Boyle.
There is another interesting story associated with George Boyle and the First Day of U.S. Air Mail service.
The Post Office Department issued a new 24-cent postage stamp for air mail. The stamp was issued on 10 May 1918. Due to an error in printing, the blue portion of the image, the airplane was printed inverted in reference to the red portion. Only about 100 stamps are known to have been printed this way. Known as the “Inverted Jenny,” this is one of the most famous and valuable postage stamp errors known.
The airplane on the stamp, a Curtiss Jenny, is marked with the serial number 38262—Lieutenant Boyle’s airplane.
An example of this stamp sold at auction in 2016 for $1,351,250 (including buyer’s premium).
The Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny” was a single-engine, two place, two-bay biplane, designed and built by the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company, Hammondsport, New York, and used primarily as a training aircraft. It was also produced by five other manufacturers under license: the Fowler-Howell & Lesser Co., San Francisco, California; Liberty Iron Works, Sacramento, California; Springfield Aircraft Corporation, Springfield, Massachusetts; St. Louis Aircraft Corporation, St. Louis, Missouri; and the U.S. Aircraft Corporation.
The JN-4 was 27 feet, 4 inches (8.306 meters) long, with an upper wing span of 43 feet, 7-3/8 inches (13.294 meters) and lower span of 33 feet, 11¼ inches (10.344 meters). The height of the airplane in flight attitude was 9 feet, 10-5/8 inches (3.013 meters). The JN-4H variant had an empty weight of 1,625 pounds (737 kilograms), and gross weight of 2,269 pounds (1,029 kilograms).
The wings had a chord of 4 feet, 11½ inches (1.551 meters), and vertical gap of 5 feet, 1¼ inches (1.556 meters). The lower wing was staggered 1 foot, 4 inches (0.406 meters) behind the upper. The wings had 2º angle of incidence and 1° dihedral. There was no sweep. The ailerons were on the upper wing. The total wing area was 353.06 square feet (32.80 square meters).
While the most common variant of the JN-4, the JN-4D, was equipped with the Curtiss OX-5 engine, the JN-4H was powered by a Wright-Hispano, or more commonly, the “Wright-Hisso,” a design licensed by the Wright-Martin Aircraft Corporation, New Brunswick, New Jersey, from the Société Française Hispano-Suiza. Many sources state that the engine of the JN-4H was a Wright-Hisso E, but almost universally, they indicate that it was rated at 150 horsepower. The Model E, however, was rated at 180 horsepower, while the 150 horsepower engine is identified as the Model A. There was also an improved 150-horsepower Model I. Wright-Martin began producing the Model E in September 1916, All three of these engines are very similar. It is uncertain which model was actually installed in the JN-4HM mail planes.
The Wright-Hispano Models A, E and I were liquid-cooled, normally-aspirated, 717.629-cubic-inch-displacement (11.760 liter) single overhead camshaft (SOHC) 90° V-8 engines. All were direct drive. The A and I variants had a compression ratio of 4.72:1, while the Model E ratio was 5.33:1. The Model E was designed to operate 300 r.p.m. faster than the A or I, and was strengthened for the higher loads. The Models A and I were rated at 150 horsepower at 1,540 r.p.m. at Sea Level. The Model E produced 185 horsepower at 1,750 r.p.m., and 195 horsepower at 1,850 r.p.m. The dry weight of the Model E was 470 pounds (213 kilograms).
The Curtiss JN-4HM had a cruise speed of 75 miles per hour (121 kilometers per hour) and maximum speed of 91 miles per hour (146 kilometers per hour). Its service ceiling was 7,500 feet (2,286 meters) and the airplane’s range was 155 miles (249 kilometers).
¹ On 15 July 1918, Hazelhurst Field was renamed Mitchel Field in honor of James Purroy Mitchel, mayor of New York City, 1914–1917. The name change was officially approved in April 1919. James Mitchel had joined the Aviation Section, Signal Corps. on 6 July 1918, he was killed when he fell from an airplane near Gerstner Field, Louisiana.