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.
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The prototype Lockheed C-5A Galaxy, 66-8303, at Marietta, Georgia, 30 June 1968. (Bettmann/CORBIS)Lockheed test pilot Leo J. Sullivan. (Photograph courtesy of Neil Corbett, Test and Research Pilots, Flight Test Engineers)
30 June 1968: At 7:47 a.m., Eastern Daylight Time, the first Lockheed C-5A Galaxy transport, serial number 66-8303, took off on its maiden flight at Marietta, Georgia. Chief Engineering Test Pilot Leo J. Sullivan and test pilot Walter E. Hensleigh, flight engineer Jerome H. Edwards, and E. Mittendorf, flight test engineer, made up the flight crew. U.S. Air Force test pilot Lieutenant Colonel Joseph S. Schiele was also on board.
The C-5A weighed 497,000 pounds (225,435 kilograms) at takeoff. After a 3,800 foot (1,158 meters) takeoff roll, it lifted off at 123 knots (142 miles per hour/228 kilometers per hour). It remained in takeoff configuration while it climbed to 10,000 feet (3,048 meters) at 140 knots (161 miles per hour/259 kilometers per hour). The flight lasted 1 hour, 34 minutes. On landing, the Galaxy’s touchdown speed was 116 knots (133 miles per hour/215 kilometers per hour).
Lockheed C-5A Galaxy 66-8303 during its first flight. (Code One Magazine)
The Lockheed C-5A Galaxy (Lockheed Model L-500) is a long-range, heavy lift military transport with high, “shoulder-mounted” wings and a “T-tail.” It has a flight crew of two pilots, two flight engineers and three load masters. The airplane’s cargo compartment can be accessed by a ramp at the rear of the fuselage, and the nose can be raised to allow cargo to be loaded from the front. The wings’ leading edges are swept to 25°. Four turbofan engines are mounted on pylons beneath the wings. The landing gear has 28 wheels in five units, and can “kneel” to bring the cargo deck closer to the ground for loading and unloading.
The C-5 is a truly giant aircraft. It is 247 feet, 10 inches (75.540 meters) long with a wingspan of 222 feet, 9 inches (67.894 meters) and overall height of 65 feet, 1 inch (19.837 meters). The cargo compartment has a height of 13 feet, 6 inches (4.115 meters) and width of 19 feet (5.791 meters). It is 143 feet, 9 inches (43.825 meters) long. The C-5A has a maximum takeoff weight of 840,000 pounds (381,018 kilograms) and a maximum cargo weight of 270,000 pounds (122,470 kilograms).
A McDonnell Douglas KC-10 Extender refuels a Lockheed C-5A Galaxy. (U.S. Air Force)
The C-5A, C-5B and C-5C are powered by four General Electric TF-39 high-bypass turbofan engines, rated at 43,000 pounds of thrust, each. The C-5M uses four General Electric F138 engines rated at 51,250 pounds of thrust, each.
The Galaxy has a cruise speed of 0.77 Mach and maximum speed of 0.79 Mach. Its service ceiling is 35,700 feet (10,881 meters) and its unrefueled range is 2,400 nautical miles (3,862 kilometers).
Lockheed C-5A Galaxy 66-8304, the second airplane, during a test flight near Edwards Air Force Base, California. (U.S. Air Force)
Lockheed produced 81 C-5A Galaxy transports for the U.S. Air Force between 1969 and 1973. These were followed by 50 C-5Bs. Two C-5As were modified to C-5Cs to carry larger “space cargo.” Remaining C-5s in the fleet are being modified to an improved C-5M Super Galaxy variant.
The first prototype C-5A, 66-8303, was destroyed by and explosion and fire after being defueled at Dobbins Air Force Base, 17 October 1970. One person was killed.
An M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank being loaded on the forward cargo ramp of a Lockheed C-5M Super Galaxy. The transport’s nose has been raised to provide loading access from the front of the airplane. The tank weighs 139,081 pounds (63,086 kilograms). (Roland Balik/U.S. Air Force)
United Airlines’ Douglas DC-7 City of San Francisco, N6301C, sister ship of Mainliner Vancouver. (UAL)
30 June 1956: At approximately 10:32 a.m., two airliners, United Airlines’ Douglas DC-7 serial number 44288, Mainliner Vancouver, Civil Aeronautics Administration registration N6324C, and Trans World Airlines’ Lockheed L-1049-54-80 Super Constellation serial number 4016, Star of the Seine, N6902C, were over the Grand Canyon at 21,000 feet (6,400 meters).
Both airliners had departed Los Angeles International Airport shortly after 9:00 a.m. TWA Flight 2 was headed for Kansas City Municipal Airport with 64 passengers and 6 crew members. United Flight 718 was enroute to Chicago Midway Airport with 53 passengers and 5 crew members.
The airplanes were over the United States desert southwest, which, at that time, was outside of radar-controlled airspace. They were flying around towering cumulus clouds to comply with regulations that they “remain clear of clouds.”
The airplanes collided at about a 25° angle. The accident report describes the impact:
First contact involved the center fin leading edge of the Constellation and the left aileron tip of the DC-7. The lower surface of the DC-7 left wing struck the upper aft fuselage of the L-1049 with disintegrating force. The collision ripped open the fuselage of the Constellation from just forward of its tail to near the main cabin door. The empennage of the L-1049 separated almost immediately. The plane pitched down and fell to the ground. Most of the left outer wing of the DC-7 had separated and aileron control was restricted. . . .
This illustration depicts the collision. (Milford Joseph Hunter/LIFE Magazine)
The Constellation struck the ground near Temple Butte at an estimated 475 miles per hour (765 kilometers per hour). The DC-7’s left wing was so badly damaged that it went into an uncontrolled left spin and crashed at Chuar Butte. All 128 persons on the two airliners were killed.
This, as well as other accidents, resulted in significant changes in the United States air traffic control system.
A Trans World Airlines Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation, sister ship of Star of the Seine, photographed over the Grand Canyon. (TWA)
Amelia Earhart with her Lockheed Electra 10E Special, NR16020, at Lae, Territory of New Guinea.
30 June 1937. Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan are delayed at Lae, Territory of New Guinea.
“Everyone has been as helpful and co-operative as possible—food, hot baths, mechanical service, radio and weather reports, advice from veteran pilots here—all combine to make us wish we could stay. However, tomorrow we should be rolling down the runway, bound for points east. Whether everything to be done can be done within this time remains to be seen. If not, we cannot be home by the Fourth of July as we had hoped, even though we are one day up on the calendar of California. It is Wednesday here, but Tuesday there. On this next hop we cross the 180th Meridian, the international dateline when clocks turn back twenty-four hours.”
This view of the Space Shuttle Atlantis still connected to Russia’s Mir Space Station was photographed by the Mir-19 crew on July 4, 1995. Cosmonauts Anatoliy Y. Solovyev and Nikolai M. Budarin, Mir-19 Commander and Flight Engineer, respectively, temporarily undocked the Soyuz spacecraft from the cluster of Mir elements to perform a brief fly-around. They took pictures while the STS-71 crew, with Mir-18’s three crew members aboard, undocked Atlantis for the completion of this leg of the joint activities. Solovyev and Budarin had been taxied to the Mir Space Station by the STS-71 ascent trip of Atlantis. (NASA GPN-2000-001315)
29 June 1995. Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-71) docks with the Russian space station Mir for the first time.
This was the 100th manned U.S. space flight.
Atlantis‘ crew consisted of Spacecraft Commander Roger Lee (“Hoot”) Gibson, on his fifth and final space flight; Shuutle Pilot Charles Joseph Precourt; and five Mission Specialists: Ellen Louise Shulman Baker, Gregory Jordan Harbaugh, Bonnie Jeanne Dunbar, Anatoly Yakolvlevich Solovyev, and Nikolai Mikhailovich Budarin.
Atlantis had launched from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, at 19:32:19 UTC, 27 June 1995.
Atlantis docked with Mir at 13:00:16 UTC on 29 June. It remained docked for 4 days, 22 hours, 9 minutes, 26 seconds.
Cosmonauts Solovyev and Budarin remained on board Mir, and when Atlantis returned to Earth it carried Genady Mikhailovich Strekalov, Vladamir Nikolayevich Dezhurov, and Norman Earl Thagard, each of whom had completed their assignments aboard Mir.
Atlantis landed at the Kennedy Space Center Space Shuttle Landing Facility, 14:55:28 UTC, 7 July 1991. The total duration of Mission STS-71 was 9 days, 19 hours, 23 minutes, 9 seconds.
Captain Steven L. Bennett, United States Air Force. (U.S. Air Force 090617-F-1234P-040)
Medal of Honor
The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the MEDAL OF HONOR posthumously to
CAPTAIN STEVEN L. BENNETT
UNITED STATES AIR FORCE
20th Tactical Air Support Squadron, Pacific Air Forces.
Place and date of action: Quang Tri, Republic of Vietnam, 29 June 1972.
For service as set forth in the following Citation:
Capt. Bennett was the pilot of a light aircraft flying an artillery adjustment mission along a heavily defended segment of route structure. A large concentration of enemy troops was massing for an attack on a friendly unit. Capt. Bennett requested tactical air support but was advised that none was available. He also requested artillery support but this too was denied due to the close proximity of friendly troops to the target. Capt. Bennett was determined to aid the endangered unit and elected to strafe the hostile positions. After 4 such passes, the enemy force began to retreat. Capt. Bennett continued the attack, but, as he completed his fifth strafing pass, his aircraft was struck by a surface-to-air missile, which severely damaged the left engine and the left main landing gear. As fire spread in the left engine, Capt. Bennett realized that recovery at a friendly airfield was impossible. He instructed his observer to prepare for an ejection, but was informed by the observer that his parachute had been shredded by the force of the impacting missile. Although Capt. Bennett had a good parachute, he knew that if he ejected, the observer would have no chance of survival. With complete disregard for his own life, Capt. Bennett elected to ditch the aircraft into the Gulf of Tonkin, even though he realized that a pilot of this type aircraft had never survived a ditching. The ensuing impact upon the water caused the aircraft to cartwheel and severely damaged the front cockpit, making escape for Capt. Bennett impossible. The observer successfully made his way out of the aircraft and was rescued. Capt. Bennett’s unparalleled concern for his companion, extraordinary heroism and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty, at the cost of his life, were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself and the U.S. Air Force.
(Signed) GERALD R. FORD
Steven Logan Bennett was born 22 April 1946 at Palestine, Anderson County, Texas. He was one of six children of Elwin Bennett, a seismic surveyor, and Edith Alice Logan Bennett.
Bennett graduated from Youngsville High School in 1964, then went on to attend Southwestern Louisiana Institute, Lafayette, Louisiana. He earned a bachelor of science degree in aeronautical engineering. While at the Institute, Bennett underwent military training as a member of the Air Force Reserve Officers Training Corps (AFROTC). He was commissioned a second lieutenant, United States Air Force Reserve (USAFR) on 12 August 1968.
Lieutenant Steven L. Bennett married Miss Linda Virginia Leveque on 7 September 1968 at the St. Louis Catholic Church, Glenmore, Louisiana. They would have one child, Angela Noelle Bennett.
Selected for pilot training, Lieutenant Bennett was assigned to Webb Air Force Base, Big Spring, Texas. He next was trained as a pilot in Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers at Castle Air Force Base in California. He flew combat missions from air bases in Thailand.
A Boeing B-52DStratofortress crosses the perimeter fence on approach to U-Tapao Airfield, Thailand. (U.S. Air Force)
Lieutenant Bennett returned to the United States where he was trained as a Forward Air Controller (FAC) at Cannon AFB in New Mexico, then returned to Southeast Asia in 1972.
SOLEMN CEREMONY — Vice President Ford pats Angela Bennett Thursday after presenting her mother, Mrs. Linda Bennett of San Antonio, Tex. with the Medal of Honor on behalf of her husband. Air Force Capt. Steven Bennett was killed in Vietnam while attempting to save another’s life. The ceremony took place in the Blair House. (UPI photo)
Vice President Ford presented the Medal of Honor to Mrs. Bennett in a ceremony at Blair House, 8 August 1974. In addition to the Medal of Honor, Captain Bennett was awarded the Purple Heart with one oak leaf cluster (two awards), and the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters (four awards). For his effort to save his fellow airman at the risk of his own life, Captain Bennett earned the Cheney Award.
MV Captain Steven L. Bennett (T-AK 4296)
The Sealift Incorporated container ship, MV Capt. Steven L. Bennett (T-AK-4296), was named in his honor. It served as a Military Sealift Command logistics prepositioning ship for the U.S. Air Force.
A North American Rockwell OV-10 Bronco launches a white phosphorous rocket. (TSGT Bill Thompson, USAF DFST8505744)
The aircraft flown by Captain Bennett on 29 June 1972 may have been North American Rockwell OV-10A-40-NH Bronco 67-14700.¹ The North American Rockwell OV-10A Bronco is a two-place, twin-engine light observation and ground attack airplane. It was built at North American Rockwell’s Columbus, Ohio, plant. It made its first flight 16 July 1965. It has a high wing, two tail booms and a high mounted horizontal stabilizer and elevator. The Bronco is 41 feet, 7 inches (12.675 meters) long, with a wing span of 40 feet, 0 inches (12.192 meters) and height of 15 feet, 1 inch (4.597 meters). The OV-10A has a gross weight of 10,250 pounds (4,649 kilograms), and can carry up to 3,600 pounds (1,633 kilograms) of external stores.
The cruise speed of the OV-10A is 223 miles per hour (359 kilometers per hour), and its maximum speed is 281 miles per hour (452 kilometers per hour). The service ceiling is 26,000 feet (7,925 meters), and the range is 1,240 statute miles (1,996 kilometers).
The OV-10A Bronco is powered by two Garrett-AIReseach T76-G turboprop engines, which drive three-bladed propellers. The T76 has a two-stage centrifugal compressor section and a three-stage axial-flow turbine section. It is rated at 715 shaft horsepower (533 kilowatts). The T76-G is 3 feet, 7.0 inches (1.092 meters) long, 2 feet, 3.0 inches (0.686 meters in diameter, and weighs 341 pounds (155 kilograms).
The Bronco is armed with four M-60C 7.62 mm machine guns, and up to 3,600 pounds (1,633 kilograms) of bombs or rockets.
Three-view illustration with dimensions
¹ Sources state that 67-14700, assigned to the 20th Tactical Air Support Squadron, was shot down by ground fire 8 miles (13 kilometers) southeast of Quang Tri on 30 June 1972. The discrepancy might be due to the International Date Line.
