All posts by Bryan Swopes

About Bryan Swopes

Bryan R. Swopes grew up in Southern California in the 1950s–60s, near the center of America's aerospace industry. He has had a life-long interest in aviation and space flight. Bryan is a retired commercial helicopter pilot and flight instructor.

17 July 1962

Aviation, Space Flight, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
With the X-15 under its right wing, the Boeing NB-52A, 52-003, takes of from Edwards Air Force Base, 17 July 1962. The rocketplane's belly is covered with frost from the cryogenic propellants. (U.S. Air Force)
With Major Robert M. White and the X-15 under its right wing, the Boeing NB-52A Stratofortress, 52-003, takes of from Edwards Air Force Base, 17 July 1962. The rocketplane’s belly is covered with frost from the cryogenic propellants. (U.S. Air Force)

17 July 1962: At 9:31:10.0 a.m., the Number 3 North American Aviation X-15, 56-6672, was airdropped from a Boeing NB-52A Stratofortress, 52-003, over Delamar Dry Lake, Nevada. Air Force project test pilot Major Robert M. (“Bob”) White was in the cockpit. This was the 62nd flight of the X-15 Program, and Bob White was making his 15th flight in an X-15 hypersonic research rocketplane. The purpose of this flight was to verify the performance of the Honeywell MH-96 flight control system which had been installed in the Number 3 ship. Just one minute before drop, the MH-96 failed, but White reset his circuit breakers and it came back on line.

North American Aviation X-15 56-6672 immediately after being dropped by the Boeing NB-52 Stratofortress. (NASA)
North American Aviation X-15 56-6672 immediately after being dropped by the Boeing NB-52 Stratofortress. (NASA)

After dropping from the B-52’s wing, White fired the X-15’s Reaction Motors XLR-99 rocket engine and began to accelerate and climb. The planned burn time for the 57,000-pound-thrust engine was 80.0 seconds. It shut down 2 seconds late, driving the X-15 well beyond the planned peak altitude for this flight. Instead of reaching 280,000 feet (85,344 meters), Robert White reached 314,750 feet (95,936 meters). This was an altitude gain of 82,190 meters (269,652 feet), which was a new Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Record for Altitude Gain, Aeroplane Launched from a Carrier Aircraft.¹ (The B-52 typically launched the X-15 from an altitude of about 45,000 feet (13,716 meters.) The rocketplane reached Mach 5.45, 3,832 miles per hour (6,167 kilometers per hour).

Because of the increased speed and altitude, White was in danger of overshooting his landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California. He passed over the north end of Rogers Dry Lake and crossed the “high key”—the point where the X-15 landing maneuver begins—too high and too fast at Mach 3.5 at 80,000 feet (24,384 meters). Without power, White made a wide 360° turn over Rosamond Dry Lake then came back over the high key at a more normal 28,000 feet (8,534.4 meters) and subsonic speed. He glided to a perfect touch down, 10 minutes, 20.7 seconds after being dropped from the B-52.
A North American Aviation X-15 rocketplane just before touchdown on Rogers dry Lake. A Lockheed F-104 Starfighter chase plane escorts it. The green smoke helps the pilots judge wind direction and speed. (NASA)
North American Aviation X-15 56-6672 just before touchdown on Rogers Dry Lake. A Lockheed F-104 Starfighter chase plane escorts it. The green smoke helps the pilots judge wind direction and speed. (NASA)

This was the first time that a manned aircraft had gone higher than 300,000 feet (91,440 meters). It was also the first flight above 50 miles. For that achievement, Bob White became the first X-15 pilot to be awarded U.S. Air Force astronaut wings.

Command Pilot Astronaut insignia, United States Air Force
Command Pilot Astronaut insignia, United States Air Force

Major White had been the first pilot to fly faster than Mach 4, Mach 5 and Mach 6. He was the first to fly over 200,000 feet, then over 300,000 feet. He was a graduate of the Air Force Experimental Test Pilot School and flew tests of many aircraft at Edwards before entering the X-15 program. He made at total of sixteen X-15 flights.

A P-51 Mustang fighter pilot with the 355th Fighter Group in World War II, he was shot down by ground fire on his fifty-third combat mission, 23 February 1945, and captured. He was held as a prisoner of war until the war in Europe came to an end in April 1945.

After the war, White accepted a reserve commission while he attended college to earn a degree in engineering. He was recalled to active duty during the Korean War, and assigned to a P-51 fighter squadron in South Korea. Later, he commanded the 22nd Tactical Fighter Squadron (flying the Republic F-105 Thunderchief supersonic fighter bomber) based in Germany, and later, the 53rd TFS. During the Vietnam War, Lieutenant Colonel White, as the deputy commander for operations of the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing, flew seventy combat missions over North Vietnam in the F-105D, including leading the attack against the Paul Doumer Bridge at Hanoi, 11 August 1967, for which he was awarded the Air Force Cross.

He next went to Wright-Patterson AFB where he was director of the F-15 Eagle fighter program. In 1970 he returned to Edwards AFB as commander of the Air Force Flight Test Center. White was promoted to Major General in 1975.

General White retired from the U.S. Air Force in 1981. He died 10 March 2010.

Major Robert M. White, U.S. Air Force, with a North American Aviation X-15 on Rogers Dry Lake, 1961. (NASA)
Major Robert M. White, U.S. Air Force, with a North American Aviation X-15 on Rogers Dry Lake, 1961. (NASA)

¹ FAI Record File Number 9604

© 2017, Bryan R. Swopes

17 July 1938

Aviation, , , , , , , , ,
Douglas Corrigan with his modified Curtiss Model 50 Robin B, NX9243, at Floyd Bennett Field, July 1938.

17 July 1938: For more than ten years it had been Clyde Groce Corrigan’s ambition to emulate his hero, Charles A. Lindbergh, and to fly solo, non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean. An aircraft mechanic, he had worked on the construction of the Spirit of St. Louis as an employee of Ryan Aircraft Co. in San Diego, California.

Corrigan had assumed the first name “Douglas,” possibly out of admiration for “The King of Hollywood,” actor Douglas Fairbanks.

In 1933, Corrigan and his younger brother Harry Groce Corrigan, an aeronautical engineer, bought a 1929 Curtiss Model 50 Robin B, a single-engine, high-wing monoplane. The Robin was 25 feet, 8½ inches (7.836 meters) long with a wingspan of 41 feet (12.497 meters) and height of 7 feet, 9½ inches (2.375 meters). In standard configuration, the Robin weighed 1,472 pounds (667.7 kilograms) empty, and 2,440 pounds (1,106.8 kilograms) loaded. Its cruise speed was 84 miles per hour (135 kilometers per hour) and the maximum speed was 100 miles per hour (161 kilometers per hour). The range was 480 miles (773 kilometers).

Corrigan continuously worked on the airplane, repairing, overhauling, re-skinning, modifying. He replaced the Robin’s original water-cooled 502.65-cubic-inch-displacement (8.237 liter) Curtiss OX-5 V-8 engine (rated at 90 horsepower at 1,400 r.p.m.) with a more modern, more powerful, Wright “J-6-5.” This engine was an air-cooled, supercharged, 539.96-cubic-inch-displacement (8.848 liter) Wright R-540 Whirlwind 150 single-row 5-cylinder radial which produced 150 horsepower at 1,800 r.p.m. The direct-drive engine turned a two-bladed propeller. In this configuration, the airplane was a Robin J-1 (Curtiss Model 50H)He also installed extra fuel tanks. The Whirlwind 150 was 3 feet, 51.1 inches (1.044 meters) long, 3 feet, 9.0 inches (1.143 meters) in diameter, and weighed 370 pounds (168 kilograms).

The Bureau of Commerce had repeatedly refused to authorize Corrigan’s requests to make a trans-Atlantic flight as his airplane was considered unsuitable for such a flight. He decided to go anyway.

Clyde Groce (“Douglas”) Corrigan with a Stinson Junior SM-2AA, NC8431. (Dublin Journal)

In early July 1938, Douglas Corrigan made a non-stop flight from Long Beach, California to Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn, New York. He announced that he would make the return flight and had his Robin fueled with a total of 320 gallons (1,211.3 liters) of gasoline.

At 5:15 a.m., 17 July 1938, Corrigan and his Robin took off from Floyd Bennett Field and disappeared into a cloudy sky. 28 hours, 13 minutes later, he landed at Baldonnell Aerodrome (now known as Casement Aerodrome), County Dublin, Ireland.

He said that he had become disoriented in the clouds, misread his compass and flew East rather than West. He was forever after known as “Wrong Way” Corrigan.

Douglas Corrigan's modified Curtiss Robin at Baldonnell, Ireland, 18 July 1938. (Independent Newspapers/National Library of Ireland, call number IND H 3242)
Douglas Corrigan’s modified Curtiss Robin at Baldonnell, Ireland, 18 July 1938. (Independent Newspapers/National Library of Ireland, call number IND H 3242)

Corrigan’s Curtiss Robin was disassembled and returned to the United States aboard ship. The airplane as placed in storage at his home in southern California. In 1988, the airframe and components were transported to Hawthorne Airport (HHR), at Hawthorne, California, where the airplane was reassembled and placed on display. The Robin is currently in the collection of the Planes of Fame ir Museum, Chino, California. Original records of NX9243 from the Aeronautics Branch, Department of Commerce, are in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum.

Clyde Groce Corrigan¹ was born 22 January 1907 at Galveston, Texas. He was the first of three children of Clyde Sinclair Corrigan, a civil engineer, and Evelyn Groce Nelson Corrigan, a school teacher.

Corrigan began flight instruction in 1924, flying a Curtiss “Jenny” at Grand Central Air Terminal in Glendale, California. Lessons were expensive and his training took time. He first soloed 25 March 1926.

In 1927, Corrigan was employed by B.F. Mahoney Aircraft at San Diego, California. This soon became the Ryan Airlines Company. Corrigan is reported to have worked on the construction of Charles A. Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis.

Douglas Corrigan wrote his autobiography, That’s My Story, which was published 1 January 1938 by E.P. Dutton & Co.

Corrigan starred as himself in the 1939 RKO Radio Pictures movie, “The Flying Irishman,” produced by Pandro S. Berman, directed by Leigh Jason, and written by Ernest Pagano and Dalton Trumbo. The movie was released in the United States on 7 April 1939.

Douglas Corrigan portrayed himself in the 1939 movie, “The Flying Irishman.” (RKO Radio Pictures)

On 17 July 1939, Corrigan married Miss Sarah Elizabeth Marvin at San Antonio, Texas. They would have three sons, Douglas, Harry and Roy.

During World War II, Corrigan flew as a test pilot for Douglas Aircraft Company and for the U.S. Army Air Corps Ferrying Command. Later, he became an orange grower. He and his wife lived at a home in the orchards near Santa Ana, California. Mrs. Corrigan died in 1966, and their youngest son, Roy William Corrigan, was killed in an airplane crash on Santa Catalina Island, off the coast of southern California, in 1972.

Clyde Groce (“Douglas”) Corrigan died at St. Joseph’s Hospital, Orange, California, 9 December 1995. He was 88 years old. He was buried at Fairhaven Memorial Park, Santa Ana, California, alongside his wife and son.

“Wrong Way” Corrigan with his Curtiss Robin at Hawthorne Airport (HHR), California, 1988. (Collector’s Weekly)

¹ On 12 February 1942, The State of Texas Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, issued a corrected birth certificate, showing Corrigan’s name as “Douglas Corrigan.” The affidavit was sworn to by W.M. Marvin, father of Corrigan’s wife.  (NOTE: The original, hand-written certificate of birth gives his name as “Clyde Groce Corrigan.”) His father’s first (given) name was Clyde, and his mother’s middle name was Groce. Corrigan’s younger brother, born the following year, was Harry Groce Corrigan. It seems unlikely that the officially recorded name was in error, as sworn to by Mr. Marvin.

© 2017, Bryan R. Swopes

16 July 1983

Aviation, , , , , , , , , , , , ,
British Airways’ Sikorsky S-61N Mark II, G-BEON, at Newquay Cornwall Airport, 21 July 1982. (Carl Ford)

16 July 1983: At 11:10 a.m., a British Airways Sikorsky S-61N-69 Sea King helicopter, c/n 61-770, registration G-BEON, departed Penzance Heliport (PZE) enroute across the Celtic Sea to St. Mary’s Airport, Isles of Scilly. On board were a crew of 3 and 23 passengers. Visibility was poor due to fog. Flying under visual flight rules, the helicopter was at 250 feet (76 meters) while the pilots tried to maintain visual contact with the surface of the calm sea.

Great Circle route from Penzance Heliport, Cornwall, to St. Mary’s Airport, Iles of Scilly, 33 nautical miles (37 statute miles/60 kilometers) away. (Great Circle Mapper)

Because of the limited visual cues, the crew did not recognize that they were in a slight descent. At approximately 11:35 a.m., the Sikorsky slammed into the ocean at cruise speed. It sank almost immediately. Only six persons survived, including the pilots, Dominic Lawlor and Neil Charleton. The helicopter sank to the sea bed 200 feet (61 meters) below. It was later recovered by the salvage vessel RMAS Seaforth Clansman, along with the bodies of 17 victims.

The wreck of British Airways S-61N Sea King G-BEON on board RMAS Seaforth Clansman. Isles of Scilly, 1983. (Andrew Besley/cornishmemory.com)

The official investigation determined that the cause of the accident was pilot error by their failure to recognize and correct the unintentional descent while attempting to fly in conditions not suitable for visual flight. This was the worst helicopter accident in terms of fatalities up to that time.

The Sikorsky S-61N is a civil variant of the United States Navy HSS-2 Sea King. The first S-61N, s/n 61143, first flew 7 August 1962. It is a large twin-engine helicopter with a single main rotor/tail rotor configuration. The S-61N fuselage is 4 feet, 2 inches (1.270 meters) longer than that of the HSS-2. The S-61N is 72 feet, 7 inches (22.123 meters) long and 16 feet, 10 inches (5.131 meters) high, with rotors turning.

The main rotor has five blades and a diameter of 62 feet (18.898 meters). Each blade has a chord of 1 foot, 6.25 inches (0.464 meters). The tail rotor also has five blades and a diameter of 10 feet, 4 inches (3.149 meters). They each have a chord of 7–11/32 inches (0.187 meters). At 100% r.p.m., the main rotor turns 203 r.p.m. and the tail rotor, 1,244 r.p.m. The main rotor turns counter-clockwise, as seen from above. (The advancing blade is on the helicopter’s right side.) The tail rotor turns clockwise, as seen from the left side. (The advancing blade is below.)

G-BEON was powered by two General Electric CT58-140-1 turboshaft engines, each of which had maximum power rating of 1,400 shaft horsepower for takeoff and 1,500 SHP for 2½ minutes. The main transmission was rated for 2,300 horsepower, maximum.

The S-61 has a cruise speed of  166 miles per hour (267 kilometers per hour).  The service ceiling is 12,500 feet (3,810 meters). The maximum takeoff weight is 20,500 pounds (9,298.6 kilograms).

Between 1958 and 1980, Sikorsky built 794 S-61 series helicopters. 123 were S-61Ns.

© 2018, Bryan R. Swopes

16 July 1969, 16:16:16 UTC, T + 02:44:16.2

Space Flight, , , , , , , , ,
This 1966 illustration depicts the J-2 engine of the S-IVB third stage firing to send the Apollo spacecraft to the Moon. (NASA)
This 1966 illustration depicts the J-2 engine of the S-IVB third stage firing to send the Apollo spacecraft to the Moon. (NASA)

16 July 1969: At 16:16:16 UTC, T+02:44:16.2, the Apollo 11 S-IVB third stage engine reignited for the Trans Lunar Injection maneuver.

One of the necessary features of the Rocketdyne J-2 engine was its ability to restart. The third stage was first used to place the Apollo 11 spacecraft into Earth orbit and was then shutdown. When the mission was ready to proceed toward the Moon, the J-2 was re-started. Using liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen for propellant, Apollo 11′s S-IVB burned for 5 minutes, 41.01 seconds, with the spacecraft reaching a maximum 1.45 Gs just before engine cut off. The engine was shut down at T+02:50:03.03. Trans Lunar Injection was at 16:22:13 UTC.

© 2015, Bryan R. Swopes

16 July 1969, 13:34:42.30 UTC, T + 2:42.30

Space Flight, , , , , , , ,
Apollo 11 S-1C first stage separation at 2 minutes, 41 seconds, altitude 42 miles (67.6 kilometers), speed 6,164 mph (9,920 kph), has burned 4,700,000 pounds (2,131,884 kilograms) of propellant. (NASA)

16 July 1969: At 13:34:42.30 UTC, 2 minutes, 42.30 seconds after launch, the S-IC first stage of the Apollo 11/Saturn V has burned out and is jettisoned. Apollo 11 has reached an altitude of 42 miles (68 kilometers) and a speed of 6,164 miles per hour (9,920 kilometers per hour). The five Rocketdyne F-1 engines have burned 4,700,000 pounds (2,132,000 kilograms) of liquid oxygen and RP-1 propellant.

After separation, the S-IC first stage continued upward on a ballistic trajectory to approximately 68 miles (109.4 kilometers) altitude, reaching its apex at T+4:29.1, then fell back to Earth. It landed in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 350 miles (563.3 kilometers) downrange.

© 2015, Bryan R. Swopes