Daily Archives: January 15, 2024

15 January 2009: “The Miracle on the Hudson”

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U.S. Airways’ Airbus Industrie A320-214 N106US. (Bureau of Aviation Accidents Archives)

15 January 2009: At 3:25 p.m., Eastern Standard Time, U.S. Airways Flight 1549 departed from Runway 4 at LaGuardia International Airport (LGA) enroute to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) with a stop at Charlotte, North Carolina (CLT). On board were 150 passengers and 5 crewmembers. The pilot-in-command was Captain Chesley Burnett Sullenberger III, and the co-pilot was First Officer Jeffrey B. Skiles.

Flight 1549 (radio call sign, “Cactus Fifteen-Forty-Nine”) was an Airbus Industrie A320-214, with registration N106US.

Captain Chesley B. Sullnberger
Captain Chesley B. Sullenberger, U.S. Airways

Captain Sullenberger was a 1973 graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and had served as a pilot in McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom IIs until 1980, when he left the Air Force and began a career as an airline pilot with Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA). To date, “Sully” had flown 19,663 total hours with 4,765 hours in the Airbus A320.

First Officer Skiles was also a highly experienced pilot with 15,643 total hours, but this was his very first flight aboard the A320 after completing the airline’s pilot transition course.

First Officer Jeffrey B. Skiles
First Officer Jeffrey B. Skiles, U.S. Airways

First Officer Skiles was the pilot flying on the first leg of the flight. The airliner was climbing and gaining airspeed, when at 3:27:11, it collided with a large flock of Canada Geese at an altitude of 2,818 feet (859 meters), approximately 4.5 miles (7.2 kilometers) from the runway. Birds were ingested in both engines which immediately lost thrust. Captain Sullenberger took over the controls while Skiles began the engine restart procedure.

A portion of the Cockpit Voice Recorder transcript follows:

15:27:07  Sullenberger: After takeoff checklist complete.

15:27:10.4 Sullenberger: Birds.

15:27:11 Skiles: Whoa.

15:27:11:4 (Sound of thump/thud(s), followed by shuddering sound.)

15:27:12 Skiles: Oh (expletive deleted).

15:27:13 Sullenberger: Oh yeah. (Sound similar to decrease in engine noise/frequency begins.)

15:27:14 Skiles: Uh oh.

15:27:15 Sullenberger: We got one rol — both of ’em rolling back.

15:27:18 (Rumbling sound begins and continues until approximately 15:28:08.)

15:27:18.5 Sullenberger: Ignition, start.

Canada geese (Branta candensis maxima) in flight.
Canada geese (Branta canadensis maxima) in flight.

15:27:32.9 Sullenberger: MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY. Uh this is uh Cactus Fifteen-Thirty-Nine [sic] hit birds, we’ve lost thrust (in/on) both engines we’re turning back  towards LaGuardia.

15:27:42 LaGuardia Departure Control: OK uh, you need to return to LaGuardia? Turn left heading of uh Two Two Zero.

15:27:43 (sound similar to electrical noise from engine igniters begins.)

15:28:02 Skiles: Airspeed optimum relight. Three hundred knots. We don’t have that.

15:28:03 Flight Warning Computer: Sound of single chime.

15:28:05 Sullenberger: We don’t.

15:28:05 LGA Departure Control: Cactus Fifteen-Twenty-Nine [sic], if we can get it for you do you want to try to land Runway One Three?

15:28:05 Skiles: If three nineteen. . .

15:28:10.6 Sullenberger: We’re unable. We may end up in the Hudson.

Break Transcript

The cockpit of a U.S. Airways Airbus A320-214, N108UW, the same type airliner as the flown by Sullenberger and Skiles. Photograph © Quinn Savit. Used with permission.
The cockpit of a U.S. Airways Airbus A320-214, N108UW, the same type airliner flown by Sullenberger and Skiles. (Photograph © Quinn Savit. Used with permission.)

15:29:28 Sullenberger: We’re gonna be in the Hudson.

15:29:33 LGA Departure Control: I’m sorry say again Cactus?

15:29:53 LGA Departure Control: Cactus Fifteen-Forty-Nine radar contact is lost you also got Newark Airport off your two o’clock in about seven miles.

15:29:55 Ground Proximity Warning System: PULL UP. PULL UP. PULL UP. PULL UP. PULL UP. PULL UP.

15:30:01 Skiles: Got flaps out.

15:30:03 Skiles: Two hundred fifty feet in the air.

15:30:04 Ground Proximity Warning System: TOO LOW. TERRAIN.

15:30:06 Ground Proximity Warning System: TOO LOW. GEAR.

15:30:06 Skiles: Hundred and seventy knots.

15:30:09 Skiles: Got no power on either one? Try the other one.

15:30:09 Radio from another flight: Two One Zero uh Forty-Seven-Eighteen. I think he said he’s going in the Hudson.

15:30:15 Ground Proximity Warning System: CAUTION TERRAIN.

15:30:16 Skiles: Hundred and fifty knots.

15:30:17 Skiles: Got flaps two, you want more?

15:30:19 Sullenberger: No let’s stay at two.

15:30:21 Sullenberger: Got any ideas?

15:30:22 LGA Departure Control: Cactus Fifteen-Twenty-Nine [sic] if you can uh. . . you got uh Runway uh Two Nine available at Newark it’ll be two o’clock and seven miles.

15:30:23 Ground Proximity Warning System: CAUTION TERRAIN.

15:30:23 Skiles: Actually not.

15:30:24  Ground Proximity Warning System: TERRAIN TERRAIN. PULL UP. PULL UP. (“Pull Up” repeats until the end of the recording.)

15:30:38 Sullenberger: We’re gonna brace.

End Transcript

Flight track of U.S. Airways Flight 1549. (National Transportation Safety Board)

Though air traffic controllers had made runways available at the three closest airports for an emergency landing, Flight 1549 did not have enough airspeed and altitude to reach any of them. Despite the best efforts of Captain Sullenberger and First Officer Skiles to restart the two damaged engines, there was no alternative but to ditch the airliner into the Hudson River.

The A320 hit the water in a slight nose-up attitude at approximately 130 knots (150 miles per hour, 241 kilometers per hour). The airliner quickly slowed then began drifting with the tide. The force of the impact had twisted the airframe and the cargo door seals began to leak. N106US began to settle into the water.

Cabin attendants opened the doors and activated the emergency slides, which acted as flotation rafts. Passengers quickly evacuated the airliner and many of them stood on the wings to stay out of the frigid water.

U.S. Airways Flight 1549 afloat in the Hudson River on the afternoon of 15 January 2009.
U.S. Airways Flight 1549 afloat in the Hudson River on the afternoon of 15 January 2009.

Before he left his airplane, Captain Sullenberger twice went through the cabin to make sure than no one was left aboard. He was the last person to leave Flight 1549.

Rescue efforts were immediately under way. Everyone on board was saved, and there were just five serious injuries sustained during the emergency.

This accident is known as “The Miracle on the Hudson” and the crew of U.S. Airways Flight 1549 are regarded as national heroes.

This was the most successful ditching on an airliner since Pan American World Airways Flight 6, a Boeing 377 Stratocruiser named Sovereign of the Skies, went down in the Pacific Ocean, 15 October 1956.

U.S. Airways Airbus A320 N106US floating on the Hudson River, 15 January 2009. (Steven Day/AP/NBC News)

U.S. Airways Flight 1549 was flown with an Airbus Industrie A320-214, s/n 1024, registration N106US. It was built at Aéroport de Toulouse – Blagnac, France in 1999. At the time of the accident, N106US had 25,241.08 total flight hours on the airframe in 16,299 cycles.

The A320-200 series is a medium-range, narrow body twin engine airliner, introduced during the mid-1980s. It uses “fly-by-wire” systems and was the first airliner with “side stick controllers.” The airliner is flown by a pilot and co-pilot.

The A320-214 is 37.57 meters (123 feet, 3 inches) long with a wingspan of 34.10 meters (111 feet, 11 inches) and overall height of 11.76 meters (38 feet, 7 inches). Average empty weight of the airplane is 42,600 kilograms (93,917 pounds) and the maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) is 78 tonnes (171,961 pounds).

N106US was powered by two CFM International CFM56-5B4/P high bypass turbofans engines, producing up to 120.102 kilonewtons (27,000 pounds of thrust) each. It is a two-spool axial-flow engine with a single-stage fan, 13 stage (4 low- and 9 high-pressure stages) compressor section and 4-stage (1 high- and 3 low-pressure stages) turbine section. The engine is 72.0 inches (1.829 meters) in diameter, 102.4 inches (2.601 meters) long and weighs 5,250 pounds (2,381 kilograms).

Rescue operation of Cactus 1549, 15 January 2009. (Wikipedia)

The A320-200 series has a cruising speed of 0.78 Mach (828 kilometers per hour, 515 miles per hour) at 11,000 meters (36,090 feet) and a maximum speed of 0.82 Mach (871 kilometers per hour, 541 miles per hour) at the same altitude. The airliner’s service ceiling is 12,000 meters (39,370 feet) and the maximum range, fully loaded, is 6,100 kilometers (3,790 miles).

The Airbus A320 series is still in production. As of 31 December 2018, 8,605 A320s had been built.

N106US remains in the condition that it was in when removed from the Hudson River. It i stored outside at the departure end of Runway 36C, Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT), Charlotte, North Carolina.

Captain Chesley Burnett Sullenberger III retired from U.S. Airways 10 March 2010. First Officer Jeffrey B. Skiles remained with the airline, although he took an extended leave of absence.

U.S. Airways' Airbus A320-214 N106US on display at the Carolinas Aviation Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina. (RadioFan)
U.S. Airways’ Airbus A320-214 N106US was previously on display at the Carolinas Aviation Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina. The museum is not presently in operation, but is scheduled to reopen in mid-2024, renamed the Sullenberger Aviation Museum, adjacent to the Charlotte Douglas International Airport. N106US has been moved to the new facility. (RadioFan)
Airbus A320-214 N106US during move to new facility. (Sullenberger Aviation Museum)

© 2024, Bryan R. Swopes

Medal of Honor, Captain Joseph Jacob Foss, United States Marine Corps Reserve.

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Captain Joseph Jacob Foss, United States Marine Corps
Captain Joseph Jacob Foss, United States Marine Corps Reserve

13 October 1942–15 January 1943: During a 95-day period in the early days of World War II, Captain Joe Foss, United States Marine Corps, shot down 26 enemy aircraft. He was the first American ace of World War II to match the World War I record of Captain Edward V. Rickenbacker.

Admiral William F. Halsey, U.S. Navy, awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross to Captain Foss for heroism and extraordinary achievement for having shot down seven enemy airplanes (six fighters and a bomber) from 13 October to 30 October 1942.

Joseph Jacob Foss was born near Sioux Falls, South Dakota, 17 April 1915. He was the oldest son of Frank Ole Foss, a farmer, and Mary Esther Lacey Foss. He was educated at Washington High School, Augustan College, Sioux Falls College and the University of South Dakota, graduating in 1940, having majored in Business Administration.

Beginning in 1938, Joe Foss began taking flight lessons. Through a Civil Aeronautics Administration course at the university, he gained additional flight experience, and received a private pilot certificate from the C.A.A.

2nd Lieutenant Joe Foss, USMCR, Naval Aviator
Lieutenant Joe Foss, USMCR, Naval Aviator

Foss had enlisted in the South Dakota National Guard in 1937, serving as a private assigned to the 147th Field Artillery Battalion until he joined the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, 14 June 1940. Because of his prior service, the following day, Private Foss was promoted to private first class, and assigned to active duty as a aviation flight student. He successfully completed elimination flight training and qualified as an aviation cadet.

On 8 August 1940, Aviation Cadet Foss was sent to the Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, for pilot training. After graduating, 31 March 1941, Joseph Jacob Foss was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps Reserve, and received the gold wings of a Naval Aviator.

Lieutenant Foss remained at Pensacola, assigned as a flight instructor. He was promoted to 1st lieutenant, 10 April 1942, with date of rank retroactive to 31 March 1942. His next assignment was to the Naval School of Photography, also located at Pensacola, and then to Marine Photographic Squadron 1 (VMD-1) at NAS North Island, San Diego, California, July 1942.

Lieutenant Foss requested training as a fighter pilot but he was considered to be too old. (He was 26.) While at San Diego, though, Foss was able to transition to the Grumman F4F Wildcat. He was promoted to the rank of captain, 11 August 1942. He was assigned to Marine Fighter Squadron 121 (VMF-121) as the unit’s executive officer.

Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat, circa 1942. (U.S. Navy)

VMF-121 was sent to Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands aboard USS Copahee (ACV-12), a Bogue-class escort carrier. While still about 350 miles away from the island, the squadron was launched for Henderson Field, 9 October 1942. Joe Foss flew his first combat mission 13 October during which he shot down a Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter (Allied reporting name, “Zeke”). His F4F Wildcat was badly damaged by enemy fighters.

Captain Foss and ammo loaders
Captain Joseph J. Foss, USMCR, in the cockpit of a Grumman F4F Wildcat, circa 1943. (Getty Images/Bettmann 515466188)

Captain Foss had extraordinary gunnery skills and frequently shot down more than one enemy aircraft per mission. His combat victories included nineteen Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters, a Nakajima A6M2-N “Rufe” (a float plane variant of the Zero), three Mitsubishi G4M “Betty” medium bombers, two Mitsubishi F1M2 “Pete” reconnaissance float planes and an Aichi E13A “Jake” reconnaissance float plane.

During the his three month period, Captain Foss had to make three engine out landings as a result of damage sustained by his Wildcat from enemy aircraft, and was himself shot down near the island of Malaita. He was rescued by local fishermen.

Joe Foss was stricken by malaria and was sent to Australia for treatment. In April 1943 he was returned to the United States and assigned to Headquarters Marine Corps at Washington, D.C.

In a ceremony at the White House, 18 May 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt presented Captain Foss the Medal of Honor.

Screen Shot 2016-01-10 at 13.02.26

Captain Joseph J. Foss, United States Marine Corps. (LIFE Magazine)

Joe Foss was promoted to the rank of major, 1 June 1943. On 17 July took command of Marine Fighter Squadron 115 (VMF-115), then training at Marine Corps Air Station Santa Barbara, Goleta, California. The new fighter squadron was equipped with Chance Vought F4U-1 and Goodyear FG-1 Corsairs. The squadron departed San Diego, California, 13 February 1944 aboard USS Pocomoke (AV-9), a seaplane tender, and arrived at Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides on 4 March. The fighters flew to a new base at Emirau in the Bismarck archipelago on 2 May and VMF-115 was assigned to Marine Air Group 12. The unit was in combat the following day. In the last half of the month, the squadron was visited by Col. Charles A Lindbergh. He flew four combat missions with VMF-115, 26–30 May.

Marine Fighter Squadron 115 (VMF-115) at MCAS Santa Barbara, Goleta, California, 1944. Major Joe Foss is in th e center of the back row, wearing flight helmet with goggles, standing in front the of Corsair's propeller blade.
Marine Fighter Squadron 115 (VMF-115) at MCAS Santa Barbara, Goleta, California, 1944. Major Joe Foss is in the center of the back row, wearing flight helmet with goggles, standing in front the of Corsair’s propeller blade.

Major Foss had a recurrence of malaria. On 21 September 1944, he was relieved of command of VMF-115 and returned to the United States for medical treatment, assigned to NAS Klamath Falls. In February 1945, he was back at MCAS Santa Barbara as an operations and training officer.

Major Joe Foss was released from active duty on 8 December 1945. On 20 September 1946 Foss was appointed a lieutenant colonel in the South Dakota Air National Guard. His resignation from the Marine Corps, dated 29 January 1947, was accepted as effective 19 September 1946. He commanded the 175th Fighter Squadron, which was equipped with the North American P-51D Mustang.

North American Aviation F-51D Mustang, 175th Fighter Squadron, South Dakota Air National Guard.
North American Aviation P-51D-25-NA Mustang 44-73564, 175th Fighter Squadron, South Dakota National Guard, 1946. (U.S. Air Force)

The 175th was redesignated as a Fighter Interceptor Squadron in 1951. Colonel Foss was recalled to active duty in the Air Force during the Korean War. He served as Director of Operations and Training, Air Defense Command, and was promoted to brigadier general, 20 September 1953. The 175th FIS began re-equipping with the Lockheed F-94A Starfire in 1 November 1954. In 1958, the squadron shifted to the Northrop F-89 Scorpion, and then the Convair F-102A Delta Dagger in 1960. Ten years later, North American Aviation F-100D Super Sabres came to the 175th.

Northrop F-89D-30-NO Scorpion, South Dakota Air National Guard.
Northrop F-89D-30-NO Scorpion 51-11419, an all-weather interceptor assigned to the South Dakota Air National Guard, at Sioux Falls, 1958. The nose cone of the right wing tip-mounted pod has been removed to show the fifty-two 2.75-inch Folding Fin Aerial Rockets. (John Mollison, SDANG)

While all this was happening, Joe Foss was involved in a political career. After serving two terms in the state legislature, Joseph J. Foss was elected Governor of the State of South Dakota in November 1954. The state’s 20th governor, he was the youngest to hold that office. He was elected a second time and served until 1959. He also served as a commissioner of the American Battle Monuments Commission.

Joe Foss was Commissioner of the American Football League and President of the National Rifle Association.

Brigadier General Joseph J. Foss, United States Air Force
Brigadier General Joseph J. Foss, United States Air Force

Brigadier General Joseph J. Foss, U.S. Air Force, Air Chief of Staff, South Dakota Air National Guard, retired from military service, 15 April 1975. He had been awarded the Medal of Honor, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with two 5⁄16-inch gold stars (three awards), Presidential Unit Citation (Air Force) with oak leaf cluster (second award), Presidential Unit Citation (Navy and Marine Corps) with bronze star (second award), American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with two bronze stars (three campaigns), the World War II Victory Medal and the National Defense Service Medal with bronze star (second award), Air Force Longevity Service Ribbon with oak leaf cluster, Armed Forces Reserve Medal with silver hourglass device (20 years service), and the Air Force Small Arms Expert Marksman Ribbon.

Joseph Jacob Foss died at Scottsdale, Arizona, 1 January 2003. He was 87 years old. General Foss is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

© 2019, Bryan R. Swopes

14–15 January 1935

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Jimmy Doolittle in the cockpit of American Airlines’ Vultee V-1A Special NC13770, January 1935. (NASM)

14–15 January 1935: James Harold Doolittle set a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Record for Speed Over a Recognised Course of 329.98 kilometers per hour (205.04 miles per hour).¹

Doolittle took off from Union Air Terminal, Burbank, California, at 5:27 p.m., Pacific Standard Time, 14 January (8:27 p.m., Eastern Standard Time). Also on board were Mrs. Doolittle and Robert Adamson (1871–1935), an executive with the Shell Oil Company.

Robert Adomson, Mrs. Doolittle and James H. Doolittle ready to board the Vutee V-1A at Union Air Terminal, Burbank, California, 14 January 1935. (Getty Images/Bettman)

The airplane was an Airplane Development Corporation V-1A Special, NC13770, owned by American Airlines and leased to Shell.

Doolittle crossed overhead Floyd Bennett Field at 8:26 a.m., Eastern Standard Time, 15 January. He then landed at Newark Airport, New Jersey, at 8:34½ a.m. The flight from Burbank to Brooklyn had a duration of 11 hours, 59 minutes, and broke a record set two months earlier by Eddie Rickenbacker.

Vultee V-1A Special NC13770 at Grand Central Air Terminal, Glendale, California. (NASM)

The Airplane Development Corporation Model V-1A (commonly known as the “Vultee V-1A”) was a large, all-metal, single-engine, low-wing monoplane with retractable landing gear. The V-1A was designed as a high-speed airliner and was of full monocoque construction. It could be flown by one or two pilots and carry up to eight passengers.

The V-1A was designed by Gerard Freebairn Vultee and Richard Palmer,² based on an earlier design by Vultee and Vance Breese, who were working for the Airplane Development Corporation, which they had founded in 1932, but which had been acquired by the Cord Corporation. The prototype made its first flight 19 February 1933 with test pilot Marshall Headle at the controls.

NC13770, serial number 24073, was the eighth V-1A built, and was one of the original ten ordered by American Airlines. The V-1A was 37 feet, 0 inches (11.278 meters) long with a wingspan of 50 feet, 0 inches (15.240 meters) and height of 10 feet, 2 inches (3.099 meters). The wings had root chord of 11 feet, 3 inches (3.429 meters) and tip chord of 5 feet, 0 inches (1.524 meters). Total wing area was 384.0 square feet (35.675 square meters). There was 3° dihedral. The V-1A had an empty weight of 5,212 pounds (2,364 kilograms) and gross weight of 8,500 pounds (3,856 kilograms).

Vultee V-1A Special NC13770 at Grand Central Air Terminal, Glendale, California. (NASM)

The Vultee V-1A was powered by an air-cooled, supercharged, 1,823.129 cubic-inch displacement (29.785 liter) Wright Aeronautical Division Cyclone 9 R-1820-F2 (R-1820-20 or R-1820-102), a nine-cylinder radial engine with a compression ratio of 6.4:1. This was a direct-drive engine with a Normal Power rating of 691 horsepower at 1,950 r.p.m., at Sea Level. It required 87-octane gasoline. The engine turned a three-blade propeller with a diameter of 10 feet, 0 inches (3.048 meters). The R-1820-F2 was 3 feet, 7-3/8 inches (1.102 meters) long, 4 feet, 5-3/4 inches (1.365 meters) in diameter, and weighed 937 pounds (425 kilograms).

The V-1A had a cruise speed of 215 miles per hour (346 kilometers per hour) and maximum speed of 235 miles per hour (378 kilometers per hour). The airplane’s service ceiling was 23,000 feet (7,010 meters). In standard configuration, it had a range of 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers).

Vultee V-1A Special NR13770 taking off from Glendale, California, 17 August 1936. (Wide World Photos)

NC13770 was later sold to Harry Richman of Miami Beach, Florida, who christened the airplane Lady Peace. During the Spanish Civil War, the airplane was captured by the Nationalists. It was used as a transport for the Aviación Nacional Grupo 43, identified as 43-14, and named Capitán Haya. Its U.S. registration was cancelled 8 October 1937. It is believed that the airplane was scrapped in the early 1950s.

Vultee V-1A s/n 24703 (ex-NC13770), Lady Peace, was captured by the Nationalists and assigned the identification number 43-14. (AERONETGCE via Pedro Luz Cunha)
Vultee V-1A s/n 24703 (ex-NC13770) 43-14 in mottled camouflaged. (AERONETGCE via Pedro Luz Cunha)

¹ FAI Record File Number 13232

² Richard Palmer was the designer of Howard Hughes’ record setting H-1.

© 2019, Bryan R. Swopes

15 January 1915

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Lieutenant Byron Quimby Jones, United States Army. (San Diego Air and Space Museum Archives)
Lieutenant Byron Quinby Jones, Aviation Section, Signal Corps, United States Army. (San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive)

15 January 1915: At San Diego, California, Lieutenant Byron Quinby Jones, Aviation Section, Signal Corps, United States Army, set a flight endurance record of 8 hours, 53 minutes, flying a Glenn L. Martin Company Martin T Army Tractor. The flight consumed 30 gallons (114 liters) of gasoline. Lieutenant Jones estimated that he had sufficient fuel remaining for another two hours in the air, but approaching darkness forced him to land.

For this and other flights at San Diego, Lieutenant Jones was awarded the Mackay Trophy.

Martin T Army Tractor. (U.S. Air Force)
Martin T Army Tractor. (U.S. Air Force)
Clarence H. Mackay

The Mackay Army Aviation Cup was established in 1911 by Clarence Hungerford Mackay, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Postal Telegraph and Cable Corporation. Now known as the Mackay Trophy, it is awarded yearly for “the most meritorious flight of the year” by U.S. Air Force personnel.

Lieutenant Jones was the sixth aviator to be awarded the trophy. The trophy is kept at the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum. It was appraised in the 1960s at a value of $65,000, though it was also estimated that it would cost $650,000 to duplicate it.

The Mackay Trophy. (NASM)
Lieutenant Byron Quimby Jones, United States Army (1888–1959)
Lieutenant Byron Quinby Jones, 14th Cavalry Regiment, United States Army

Byron Quinby Jones was born at Henrietta, New York, 9 April 1888. He was one of four children of Samuel Titus Jones and Sarah Minerva Quinby Jones. He attended School 24 and East High School, Rochester, New York.

Jones entered the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, 15 June 1907, and graduated 12 June 1912 with a bachelor of science degree. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 14th Cavalry Regiment, United States Army.

Lieutenant Jones volunteered for pilot training and was sent to the Signal Corps Aviation School at North Field, San Diego, California. After earning a rating as one of the earliest U.S. military pilots and serving for a year with an active squadron, Jones was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant, Aviation Section, Signal Corps, 23 November 1914. He was then sent to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for the very first post-graduate course in aeronautical engineering.

In addition to he endurance records, “B.Q.” Jones was also the first Army pilot to perform a loop, an intentional stall and recovery, and a “tail spin.”

During World War I, Jones rose to the temporary rank of lieutenant colonel.

Jones married Mrs. Evelyn Clark Chadwick (née Evelyn Kennerly Clark, grand daughter of William Clark, co-leader with Meriwether Lewis of the 1804–1806 Lewis and Clark Expedition), 4 June 1917.

For the next twenty-four years, Jones steadily rose in rank and was an important figure in Army aviation. Assigned to the newly established Air Service, Jones was promoted to the rank of major, 1 July 1920, and lieutenant colonel, 1 August 1935.

In 1939, because of a disagreement with senior Air Corps officers over military aviation doctrine, Lieutenant Colonel Jones requested a return to the Cavalry. He was promoted to the rank of colonel, Army of the United States, 16 November 1940, and colonel, United States Army, 1 February 1942.

Byron Jones graduated from the Army Industrial College in 1926, Command and General Staff School, 1927, and the Army War College, 1929.

Colonel Byron Q. Jones, United States Army

Colonel Jones was a leader in forming a mechanized cavalry and combined arms service. During World War II, he served in the Guadalcanal Campaign, and the staff of General Douglas MacArthur in Australia. He then held several assignments within the continental United States. He was hospitalized for lengthy periods several  times, and finally was discharged from the Army, 31 January 1944.

Colonel Byron Quinby Jones, United States Army (Retired), died at Walter Reed Army Hospital, 30 March 1959, at the age of 70 years. His remains were interred at the Arlington National Cemetery.

Martin T Army Tractor in flight at San Diego. (San Diego Air and Space Museum)
Martin T Army Tractor in flight at San Diego. (San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive)

The Martin T was a two-place, single-engine biplane ordered as a trainer for the Signal Corps. Three were built and given serial numbers S.C.31–33. The airplane was a tractor configuration, with an engine and propeller at the front of the fuselage, rather than behind in a pusher configuration. The Martin T also had a wheeled tricycle undercarriage. Both of these features were relatively new and would become standard.

© 2018, Bryan R. Swopes