31 | May | 2023 | This Day in Aviation

Jacqueline Auriol devant le Mystère IV, en juillet 1955. L'avion a servi de modèle au collier vendu aux enchères mardi 13 mai 2014 à Genève. [AP Photo/Str - Keystone] — Jacqueline Auriol devant le Mystère IV, en juillet 1955. L’avion a servi de modèle au collier vendu aux enchères mardi 13 mai 2014 à Genève. [AP Photo/Str – Keystone]

31 May 1955: Test Pilot Jacqueline Marie-Thérèse Suzanne Douet Auriol flew the Dassault MD.454 Mystère IV N to a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Record for Speed Over a 15/25 Kilometer Straight Course at Brétigny-sur-Orge, France.¹ Her average speed of 1,151 kilometers per hour (715 miles per hour)—0.94 Mach—broke the previous record which had been set two years earlier by her friend, Jacqueline Cochran.

Jacqueline Auriol was awarded the Harmon International Trophy for 1955, the third of four that she would receive.

Dassault Mystere IV N 01 — Dassault MD.454 Mystère IV N 01. (Weygand Collection via FrenchWings.net)

The Société des Avions Marcel Dassault MD.454 Mystère IV N 01 was the first of two prototype two-place, single-engine, swept-wing interceptors. 01 was first flown 19 July 1954 by test pilot Gérrard Muselli. It had a large air-search radar mounted over the intake and was armed with 52 rockets carried in a retractable tray in the belly, very similar to the North American Aviation F-86D Sabre. The fuselage had been lengthened over the single-seat Mystère IV to provide space for the second cockpit.

The Mystère IV N was 49 feet, 11 inches (15.215 meters) long with a wingspan of 37 feet, 6 inches (11.430 meters) and overall height of 15 feet, 1 inch (4.597 meters). Its empty weight was 15,741 pounds (7,140 kilograms) and maximum takeoff weight was 22,572 pounds (10,238 kilograms).

Dassault Mystère IV N 01 F-ZXRM, right side profile. (© Collection Pyperpote)

The Mystère IV N was powered by a Rolls-Royce Avon RA.7R axial flow, afterburning turbojet engine. It used a 12-stage compressor, 8 combustion chambers and 2-stage turbine. It produced 9,500 pounds of thrust (42.258 kilonewtons) at 7,800 r.p.m., with afterburner. The engine was 42.2 inches (1.072 meters) in diameter, 276 inches (7.010 meters) long and weighed 2,960 pounds (1,343 kilograms).

Jacqueline Auriol’s record-setting Dassault Mystère IV N 01 F-ZXRM is on display at the Conservatoire l’Air et l’Espace d’Acquitane, Bordeaux Merignac Airport, France.

Mystère IV N aux cent ans de l'aviation de Mérignac (PA/Wikipedia) — Dassault Mystère IV N 01 on display at the Conservatoire l’Air et l’Espace d’Acquitane, Bordeaux Merignac Airport, France. (PA/Wikipedia)

¹ FAI Record File Number 9074

Fokker F.VII/3m Southern Cross ready for takeoff at Oakland Field, California. (San Diego Air and Space Museum Archives) — Fokker F.VII/3m NC1985, Southern Cross, ready for takeoff at Oakland Field, California. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives)

The crew of Southern Cross, left to right, Lyon, Ulm, Kingsford Smith, Warner. (National Archives of Australia, A1200, L36324)

31 May 1928: At 8:48 a.m., Captain Charles Edward Kingsford Smith, M.C., late of the Royal Air Force, with his three companions, took off from Oakland Field on the San Francisco Bay, aboard Southern Cross, a Fokker F.VIIb/3m three-engine monoplane, U.S. civil registration NC1985. Their immediate destination was Wheeler Field, Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, and from there, to Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, via Suva, on the island of Viti Levu, Fiji. The airplane’s crew was Kingsford Smith, pilot; Charles Ulm, co-pilot, Harry Lyon, navigator; and James Warren, radio operator.

Southern Cross had been salvaged after a crash in Alaska. It was rebuilt using the wings and fuselage of two different Fokkers—an F.VIIa and an F.VIIb—and was powered by three air-cooled, normally-aspirated 787.26-cubic-inch-displacement (12.901 liter) Wright Aeronautical Corporation Model J-5 Whirlwind 9-cylinder radial engines, rated at 220 horsepower, each, at 2,000 r.p.m.

Fokker F.VII/3m 1985, Southern Cross (San Diego Air and Space Museum Archives) — Fokker F.VII/3m NC1985, Southern Cross. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives)

The expense of repairing the airplane took most of Kingsford Smith’s money, so he sold the airplane to Allan Hancock, owner of Rancho La Brea Oil Company, and founder of Santa Maria Airport and Allan Hancock College. Hancock loaned Southern Cross back to Kingsford Smith for the Trans-Pacific flight.

The first leg of the flight to Wheeler Field was 2,408 miles (3,875 kilometers). The elapsed time was 27 hours, 27 minutes.

Fokker F.VII/3m 1985 Southern Cross arrives at Wheeler Field, 1 June 1928 (San Diego Air and Space museum Archives) — Fokker F.VII/3m 1985 Southern Cross arrives at Wheeler Field, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii, 1 June 1928 (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives)

After resting in Hawaii, the crew took off on the second leg to Suva, Fiji, a distance of 3,144 miles (5,060 kilometers). Southern Cross landed at Albert Park. It was the very first airplane to land at Fiji. This was the longest leg and took 34 hours, 33 minutes.

Fokker F.VII/3m Southern Cross at Albert Park, Suva, Fiji, June 1928 (National Library of Australia)

The final leg to Brisbane covered 1,795 miles (2,888 kilometers) and took 21 hours, 35 minutes. They landed at Eagle Farm Airport in Brisbane, at 10:50 a.m., 9 June 1928. 25,000 people were there to see their arrival. This was the first Trans-Pacific flight from the mainland United States to Australia.

Kingsford Smith's Fokker F.VIIB-3m Southern Cross, landing at Brisbane, 1928 — Kingsford Smith’s Fokker F.VIIB/3m NC1985, Southern Cross, landing at Brisbane, 1928

Following its arrival in Australia, the Fokker was re-registered G-AUSU, and later changed to VH-USU. After several other historic flights, Kingsford Smith gave Southern Cross to the government of Australia to be placed in a museum. It was stored for many years but is now on display at the Kingsford Smith Memorial at Brisbane Airport.

Sir Charles Edward Kingsford Smith, MC, AFC (National Archives of Australia, A1200, L93634) — Sir Charles Edward Kingsford Smith, M.C., A.F.C. (National Archives of Australia, A1200, L93634)

Kingsford Smith was invested Knight Bachelor in 1932. He continued his adventurous flights. On 8 November 1935, while flying Lady Southern Cross, a Lockheed Altair, from Allahabad, India, to Singapore, Sir Charles and co-pilot Tommy Pethybridge disappeared over the Andaman Sea.

This Day in Aviation

Important Dates in Aviation History

Daily Archives: May 31, 2023

31 May 1955

31 May 1928