A McDonnell F4H-1 Phantom II, Bu. No. 148423, climbing during Project High Jump. (U.S. Navy)
3 April 1962: At NAS Point Mugu, Ventura County, California, a future NASA astronaut, United States Navy test pilot Commander John Watts Young, set a new Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) time-to-altitude world record by flying his McDonnell Aircraft Corporation F4H-1 Phantom II, Bureau of Aeronautics serial number (Bu. No.) 149449,¹ from the surface to 25,000 meters (82,021 feet) in 3 minutes, 50.44 seconds.²
Commander John W. Young, United States Navy, with a McDonnell F4H-1 Phantom II. (U.S. Navy)
John Young had set another FAI record on 21 February, reaching a height of 3,000 meters (9,843 feet) in 34.523 seconds with the Phantom II at NAS Brunswick, Maine.³ Young set a total of 21 FAI records. Three remain current.
This was one of a series of time-to-altitude record flights flown at with F4H-1 149449 during February, March and April 1962. Flown by four other pilots, 149449 also set time-to-altitude records for 3,000, 6,000, 9,000, 12,000, 15,000, and 20,000 meters.
A bridle restrained the F4H-1 on the runway while its engines were run up to full afterburner. The pilot fired an explosive bolt to release the airplane for flight.⁴
Point Mugu’s Runway 21 ends on the edge of the Pacific Ocean and the elevation is 9 feet (2.7 meters) above Sea Level. The restricted airspace of the Pacific Missile Test Range assured that these flights could be conducted safely and without interfering with civilian air traffic. The U.S. Air Force had used the same runway when it conducted time-to-altitude record flights with a Lockheed F-104A Starfighter in 1958.
Project High Jump McDonnell F4H-1 Phantom II. (U.S. Navy)
John Young was a test pilot assigned to the Naval Air Test Center, NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, where he was a project officer for F4H and F8U armament systems. He was selected as a NASA astronaut and served as Pilot of Gemini III; backup pilot, Gemini IV; Commander for Gemini 10; Command Module Pilot on Apollo 10; back-up commander for Apollo 13; Commander, Apollo 16; and back-up commander for Apollo 17. Later, he was Commander of the maiden flight of the space shuttle Columbia STS-1 and again for STS-9. He was in line to command STS-61J.
Record-setting McDonnell F-4B-11-MC Phantom II, Bu. No. 149449, VF-151, USS Coral Sea (CV-43). (U.S. Navy)
McDonnell F4H-1 Phantom II Bu. No. 149449, redesignated F-4B-11-MC, served with VF-96 aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ranger (CV-61), VF-151 aboard USS Coral Sea (CV-43) and was later assigned to Marine Air Group 13, VMFA-323, “Death Rattlers,” based at Chu Lai Air Base, Republic of South Vietnam.
On 2 August 1968, 149449 was hit by small arms fire near An Hoa, 17 miles southeast of Da Nang. On returning the damaged airplane to Chu Lai, the Phantom’s landing gear could not be extended. The pilot, Major DanieI I. Carroll, USMC, and Weapons System Officer, First Lieutenant R.C. Brown, USMC, ejected one mile (1.6 kilometers) off the coast. Both were rescued by a U.S. Army helicopter.
The record-setting Phantom II was lost in the South China Sea.
Another F4H-1 Phantom II flown during Project High Jump was Bu. No. 148423, shown in the photograph above (top). In 1971, -423 was withdrawn from service and used as a ground trainer at the Naval Air Technical Training Center (NATTC) at Millington, Tennessee. It was later converted to the QF-4B drone configuration. It was reported preserved at the Herlong Airport, near Jacksonville, Florida. In 2002, part of the airplane was used as a cockpit display at the USS Hornet (CV-12) Museum, Alameda, California. In 2004, the nose section was transferred to the Pacific Coast Air Museum, Santa Rosa, California.⁵
¹ USN McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, by Peter E. Davies, Osprey Publishing, Oxford, United Kingdom, 2016, Introduction, Page 10
² FAI Record File Number 9092
³ FAI Record File Number 9078
⁴ Engineering the F-4 Phantom II: Parts into Systems, by Glenn E. Bugos, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 1996, Chapter 5, Page 105
⁵ Warplane Survivors USA: Florida Warplanes, by Harold A. Skaarup, https://www.silverhawkauthor.com/post/warplane-survivors-usa-florida-warplanes-book
Bell Model 47, s/n 1, NX41962. This helicopter would be re-registered NC1H. (Niagara Aerospace Museum)
3 April 1946: The first commercially certified helicopter, Bell Model 47 NC1H, serial number 1, was being flown by two Bell Aircraft Corporation test pilots, Edward F. Hensley and Gerald Arthur (“Jay”) Demming. Hensley was teaching Demming to fly the aircraft.
Demming was hovering the helicopter about 15 feet (4½ meters) above the ground and began to transition to forward flight. Checking the instruments, he noticed that the engine was turning 3,100 r.p.m., the upper limit of its operating range. Intending to reduce the r.p.m., he moved the collective pitch control lever.
When the collective pitch lever is raised (controlled by the helicopter pilot’s left hand), it causes the angle of attack of all main rotor blades to increase, “collectively.” While this increases the amount of lift being produced, it also increases drag, which slows the rotation of both the main rotor and engine. Lowering the collective lever has the opposite effect. Drag is reduced, and the rotor and engine accelerate.
In an early helicopter like the Model 47, the pilot must manually correlate engine r.p.m. with main rotor collective pitch and tail rotor collective pitch. A twist-grip throttle is on the forward end of the collective lever for this purpose. Throttle adjustments are continuous during helicopter flight, as any change in the other controls will effect engine speed.
Bell test pilot Edward F. Hensley at the controls of an early version of the Bell 47. Hensley’s right hand is on the “cyclic.” This photograph provides a good view of the the helicopter’s flight control system. The three vertical rods behind the pilot control the stationary swash plate, which is mounted at the top of the cylindrical transmission. The center rod controls collective pitch, and the outer two, cyclic pitch. Above the rotating swash plate, two angled pitch control rods (on either side of the main rotor mast) lead to the stabilizer bar. Smaller rods continue to two hydraulic dampers, and then to the pitch horns on the main rotor blade grips. (Niagara Aerospace Museum)Dual tachometer from a Bell 47G-3B1. Engine r.p.m. is indicated on the outer scale, while rotor r.p.m. is shown on the inner scale.
As Demming was new to the helicopter, he had not yet learned to make these power adjustments automatically. Rather than raise the collective to slow the engine r.p.m., he inadvertently lowered it. This caused a sudden decrease in the rotor blades’ angle of attack and a corresponding decrease in drag. The load on the engine was decreased, but the throttle setting was not reduced accordingly. The engine accelerated to 3,400 r.p.m., which would have driven the main rotor to 378 r.p.m., 5% beyond its maximum operating r.p.m. (“red line”).
Recognizing his error, Demming raised the collective to control the engine/rotor r.p.m.
There was a violent shock. NC1H fell to the ground from a height Demming estimated at 30–50 feet (9–15 meters).
The wreck of the first civil-certified helicopter, Bell Model 47, serial number 1, NC1H, at Niagara Falls Airport, 3 April 1946. The main rotor blades are not seen in this photograph.(Niagara Aerospace Museum)
After the impact, both Demming and Hensley were unconscious. Demming soon regained consciousness and got out of the cockpit, while airport fire/rescue personnel looked after Hensley.
Hensley had fractured three vertebra and was initially not expected to survive his injuries, but he did eventually recover.
NC1H, the first civil-certified helicopter, was damaged beyond repair.
NC1H (Niagara Aerospace Museum)
In photographs of the damaged helicopter, the main rotor yoke, blade grips, pitch horns, drag braces and the main rotor blades are nowhere to be seen. The gimbal ring, static stop, main rotor retaining nut and stabilizer bar are still in place. This suggests that the hub failed and the associated parts were thrown outward, away from the axis of rotation.
With nothing to support it in flight, the rest of the helicopter dropped to the ground like a stone from your hand.
NC1H (originally registered NX41962) had first flown on 8 December 1945, and had received the very first civil helicopter Type Certificate, H-1, on 8 March 1946.
At the time of the accident, NC1H had 75 hours, 42 minutes, total time (TTAF). Its engine had accumulated 136 hours, 50 minutes, since being manufactured (TTSN).
After the crash, NC1H’s registration number was reassigned to s/n 11.
NC1H (Niagara Aerospace Museum)
The Bell 47 series was constructed of a welded tubular steel airframe with a sheet metal cockpit and a characteristic plexiglas bubble canopy. In the original configuration, it had a four-point wheeled landing gear, but this was soon replaced with a tubular skid arrangement. It was a two-place aircraft with dual flight controls.
The first Bell Model 47 had an overall length (with rotors turning) of 39 feet, 7½ inches (12.078 meters). The main rotor diameter was 33 feet, 7 inches (10.236 meters). The length of the fuselage, from the front of the canopy to the trailing edge of the tail rotor disc, was 29 feet, 3½ inches (8.928 meters). The helicopter’s height, to the top of the main rotor mast, was 9 feet, 2–7/16 inches (2.805 meters).
NC1H had an empty weight of 1,393 pounds (632 kilograms). Its gross weight was 2,100 pounds (953 kilograms).
The Bell 47’s main rotor is a two-bladed, under-slung, semi-rigid assembly that would be a characteristic of helicopters built by Bell for decades. The blades were constructed of laminated wood. A stabilizer bar was placed below the hub and linked to the flight controls through hydraulic dampers. This made for a very stable aircraft. The main rotor turns counter-clockwise, as seen from above. (The advancing blade is on the right.) Its normal operating range is 322–360 r.p.m. (294–360 r.p.m. in autorotation).
The tail rotor is positioned on the right side of the tail boom in a tractor configuration. It has a diameter of 5 feet, 5 inches (1.676 meters) and rotates counter-clockwise as seen from the helicopter’s left. (The advancing blade is above the axis of rotation.) The tail rotor blades were also made of wood.
Power was supplied by an air-cooled, normally-aspirated, 333.991-cubic-inch-displacement (5.473 liter) Franklin Engine Company 6V4-178-B3 vertically-opposed six cylinder engine, serial number 17008, which was rated at 178 horsepower at 3,000 r.p.m. Engine torque was sent through a centrifugal clutch to a transmission. The mast (the main rotor drive shaft) was driven through a two-stage planetary gear reduction system with a ratio of 9:1. The transmission also drove the tail rotor drive shaft, and through a vee-belt/pulley system, a large fan to provide cooling air for the engine.
The new helicopter had a cruise speed of 75 miles per hour (121 kilometers per hour) and a maximum speed (VNE) of 80 miles per hour (129 kilometers per hour). NC1H had a service ceiling of 11,400 feet (3,475 meters).
The Bell 47 was produced at the plant in New York, and later at Fort Worth, Texas. It was steadily improved and remained in production until 1974. In military service the Model 47 was designated H-13 Sioux, (Army and Air Force), HTL (Navy) and HUG (Coast Guard). The helicopter was also built under license by Agusta, Kawasaki and Westland. More than 7,000 were built worldwide and it is believed that about 10% of those remain in service.
In 2010, the type certificates for all Bell 47 models was transferred to Scott’s Helicopter Service, Le Sueur, Minnesota, which continues to manufacture parts and complete helicopters.
Gerald A. (“Jay”) Demming, Bell Aircraft Corporation test pilot. (Niagara Aerospace Museum)
Gerald Arthur (“Jay”) Demming was born 4 July 1918 at Niagara Falls, New York. He was the son of Arthur L. Demming, Jr., a factory foreman, and Marie I. Demming. He attended La Salle High School, graduating in 1936, then the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.
While at college, Demming entered the Civilian Pilot Training Program. He became a multi-engine and instrument flight instructor at Dominion Skyways Ltd., a flight school at Malton, Ontario, Canada. He was next employed as a civilian pilot for the Royal Canadian Air Force.
On 30 May 1942, Jay Demming married Miss Audrey Mary Prowse. They would have two children. They divorced im May 1966 in Brevard County, Florida.
Gerald Arthur Demming died 20 May 1996, at Plant City, Hillsborough, Florida.
Edward Freeland Hensley, Bell Aircraft Corporation test pilot. (LeslieGift)
Edward Freeland Hensley was born 22 November 1910 at Mountain Park, Oklahoma. He was the first of three children of Edward Hensley, owner of a real estate company, and Mamie A. Freeland Hensley. He attended John Brown College at Siloam Springs, Arkansas.
Hensley had brown hair and blue eyes. He was 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighed 135 pounds.
Hensley married Miss Edith Hyla Collins in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 15 August 1931. They would have four children.
In th mid-1930s, Hensley worked for the U.S. Postal Service in Oklahoma City. He was a special deliveries manager.
Hensley was issued a commercial pilot’s license in 1938. By 1940, he was a flight instructor at McConnell Flying Service, Parsons, Kansas. He was next employed as a civilian flight instructor for Brayton Flying Services, inc., at the U.S. Army contract flight school in Cuero Municipal Airport, Cuero, Texas. He then joined Bell Aircraft Corporation as a test pilot.
He later was a test pilot for the Boeing B-47 Stratojet at Wichita, Kansas.
Edward Freeland Hensley died in June 1969 in Wichita.
Test pilot Robert C. Chilton with the North American Aviation prototype NA-73X, NX19998. (North American Aviation, Inc.)
3 April 1941: North American Aviation test pilot Robert Creed Chilton takes his first flight—a one hour familiarization—in the company’s prototype of a new fighter for the Royal Air Force, the NA-73X, NX19998, at Mines Field. (Mines would later become Los Angeles International Airport, LAX.)
The airplane had first been flown by free-lance test pilot Vance Breese, 26 October 1940, and he had flown it several times. North American’s Chief Test Pilot, Paul Baird Balfour, on his first flight in NX19998, ran out of fuel and crash landed in a plowed field 150 yards (137 meters) west of the airfield, 20 November 1940. The prototype had flown just 3 hours, 20 minutes.
The NA-73X was repaired and Bob Chilton was assigned to complete the testing program. The airplane would become the legendary P-51 Mustang, and Chilton would continue to conduct the majority of flight testing on its improvements and modifications.
Test pilot Robert C. Chilton stands on the wing of a North American Aviation P-51B Mustang. (North American Aviation, Inc.)
Robert Creed Chilton was born 6 February 1912 at Eugene, Oregon, the third of five children of Leo Wesley Chilton, a physician, and Edith Gertrude Gray. He attended Boise High School in Idaho, graduating in 1931. Chilton participated in football, track and basketball, and also competed in the state music contest. After high school, Chilton attended the University of Oregon where he was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity (ΣΧ). He was also a member of the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC).
Bob Chilton enlisted as an Aviation Cadet in the U.S. Army Air Corps, 25 June 1937. He was trained as a fighter pilot at Randolph Field and Kelly Field in Texas, and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in 1938. Lieutenant Chilton was assigned to fly the Curtiss P-36 Hawk with the 79th Pursuit Squadron, 20th Pursuit Group, at Barksdale Field, Louisiana. Because of a medical condition, he was released from active duty, 1 April 1939.
At some time prior to 1940, Bob Chilton, married his first wife, Catherine. They lived in Santa Maria, California, where he worked as a pilot at the local airport.
In January 1941, Chilton went to work as a production test pilot for North American Aviation, Inc., Inglewood, California. After just a few months, he was assigned to the NA-73X.
Chilton married his second wife, Betty W. Shoemaker, 15 November 1951.
On 10 April 1952, Bob Chilton returned to active duty with the U.S. Air Force, with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He served as Chief of the Repulic F-84 and F-105 Weapons System Project Office, Air Material Command, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio, until 9 March 1957.
From 1958, Chilton was a vice president for Horkey-Moore Associates, an engineering research and development company in Torrance, California, founded by former North American aerodynamacist Edward J. Horkey. In 1961, he followed Horkey to the Space Equipment Corporation, parent company of Thompson Industries and Kerr Products, also located in Torrance. Chilton served as corporate secretary and contracts administrator.
Chilton married his third wife, Wilhelmina E. Redding (Billie E. Johnson) at Los Angeles, 26 July 1964. They divorced in 1972.
In 1965, Bob Chilton returned to North American Aviation as a flight test program manager. He retired in 1977.
Robert Creed Chilton died at Eugene, Oregon, 31 December 1994, at the age of 82 years.
Lord Clydesdale, flying Westland WP-3 G-ACAZ, approaching the summit of Mt. Everest, 3 April 1933. (The Houston Mount Everest Flying Expedition via National Geographic)
3 April 1933: Squadron Leader Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, Marquess of Douglas and Clydesdale ¹ (Lord Clydesdale)—at the time, the youngest squadron leader in the Royal Air Force, and in command of 602 Squadron—as Chief Pilot of the Houston Mount Everest Flying Expedition, flew a modified Westland PV-3 biplane, G-ACAZ, in formation with Westland PV-6, G-ACBR, over the summit of Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain, elevation 29,029 feet (8,848 meters). The PV-6 was piloted by Flight Lieutenant David Fowler McIntyre, also of 602 Squadron.
The two airplanes took off from Purnia, in the northeast of India, at 8:25 a.m. Aboard Lord Clydesdale’s airplane was observer Lieutenant Colonel Latham Valentine Stewart Blacker, O.B.E. (“Blacker of the Guides”), and on McIntyre’s was Sidney R. G. Bonnett, a cinematographer for Gaumont British News. During the ascent to Everest, Bonnett damaged his oxygen hose and lost consciousness due to hypoxia.
Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, Marquess of Douglas and Clydesdale, photographed 12 November 1929 by Bossano Ltd. (National Portrait Gallery, London)
The Bristol Pegasus S.3 was considered to be the only aircraft engine in the world that would be capable of powering an airplane with the necessary personnel and equipment high enough to fly over Everest. It was an air-cooled, supercharged, 1,752.79-cubic-inch-displacement (28.72 liter) nine-cylinder radial engine, with a compression ratio of 5.3:1. It had a Normal Power rating of 525 horsepower at 2,000 r.p.m. at 11,000 feet (3,353 meters), and produced a maximum of 575 horsepower at 2,300 r.p.m. at 13,000 feet (3,962 meters). It had a Takeoff Power rating of 500 horsepower at 2,000 r.p.m. at Sea Level, with a three minute limit. The engine drove a two-bladed, fixed-pitch wooden propeller manufactured by The Airscrew Company Ltd., through either a 0.5:1 or 0.655:1 gear reduction.
After deciding on the engine, the Expedition had to select an airplane. The Westland PV-3 was chosen because it had the highest rate of climb of any airplane ever tested by the Royal Air Force.
Westland WP-3 G-ACAZ, after modifications for the Houston Everest Expedition.
The Westland Aircraft Works PV-3 was a private venture prototype torpedo bomber, based on the earlier Westland Wapiti. It had an all-metal structure and folding wings. Only one was built, and no orders for the airplane were placed. The airplane was modified for the Houston Everest Expedition. The gunner’s open position behind the pilot’s cockpit was replaced with an enclosed cabin for an observer and cameras. The original Bristol Jupiter X.FA engine was replaced by the more powerful Bristol Pegasus S.3 and a large-diameter propeller.
The Houston-Westland was 34 feet, 2 inches (10.414 meters) long with a wingspan of 46 feet, 6 inches (14.173 meters) and overall height of 11 feet, 8 inches (3.556 meters). The airplane had an empty weight of 3,420 pounds (1,551.3 kilograms) and loaded weight of 5,100 pounds (2,313.3 kilograms).
The PV-3 had a maximum speed of 163 miles per hour (262.3 kilometers per hour) and a service ceiling of 35,000 feet (10,668 meters). Burmah-Shell provided a special fuel for operations at very high altitude.
Westland PV-6 G-ACBR
The Westland PV-6 was also a private venture prototype. It was later converted to the Wallace I configuration.
The airplanes carried Williamson Automatic Eagle III survey cameras that would take photographs of the surface at specific intervals as the airplanes flew over known survey locations. It was planned that a photographic mosaic of the terrain and an accurate map could be drawn.
Dame Fanny Lucy Houston, D.B.E. (then, Baroness Byron), by Bassano, Ltd, circa 1910. (National Portrait Gallery, London)
The expedition was financed by Lucy, Lady Houston, D.B.E., who offered to provide up to £15,000 to finance the project. The flight helped to demonstrate the need for specialized equipment for high altitude flight.
For his accomplishment, Lord Clydesdale—later, Air Commodore His Grace The Duke of Hamilton KT GCVO AFC PC DL FRCSE FRGS—was awarded the Air Force Cross.
Flight Lieutenant David Fowler McIntyre, A.F.C., Royal Air Force. (602 Squadron Museum)
Mount Everest, known in Nepal as सगरमाथा (Sagarmāthā), is a mountain in the Mahalangur Range of the the Himalayas. Its peak is believed to be the highest point on Earth. The mountain was “discovered” by the Western world in 1856, during the decades-long Great Trigonometrical Survey of India. Identified as Peak XV, the height of the mountain was measured at 29,002 feet ² (8,839.8 meters) above Sea Level. The Royal Geographical Society named the mountain Everest after Colonel Sir George Everest, FRS, FRAS, the Surveyor General of India from 1830 to 1843. At present, the agreed height of Everest is 8,848 meters (29,029 feet). The upper portion of the mountain is primarily marble and is covered by several meters of ice and snow.
Everest as seen from the south. Compare this photograph to the one above.
¹ In 1940, Lord Hamilton succeeded his father, Lieutenant Alfred Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 13th Duke of Hamilton and 10th Duke of Brandon, as 14th Duke of Hamilton and 11th Duke of Brandon.
² Interestingly, in The Map Makers (John Noble Wilford, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1981), it was reported that the Great Survey actually calculated the height of the mountain at 29,000 feet (8,839.2 meters), but it was felt that this value would be taken as an approximation rather than an exact value, so 2 feet were added, resulting in the generally known height of 29,002 feet (8,839.8 meters).
The elevation of the summit may have changed due to a Magnitude 7.8 earthquake that occurred 25 April 2015, and a M 7.3 aftershock on 12 May 2015. Nepal and China both conducted an elaborate survey in 2020. Nepal used the Bay of Bengal as Sea Level, while China used the Yellow Sea. They agreed that the height of the summit of Mount Everest is now 29,032 feet (8,848.86 meters).
Northwest Airlines, Inc., Boeing 377 Stratocruiser N74608. (BAAA)
2 April 1956: On Monday morning at 8:10 a.m., Pacific Standard Time, Northwest Airlines Flight 2 took off from Seattle-Tacoma Airport en route to New York City, with intermediate stops at Portland, Oregon, and Chicago, Illinois. The airliner, a Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, N74608, had a crew of six and carried 32 passengers. The flight was under the command of Captain Robert Reeve Heard, with First Officer Gene Paul Johnson and Flight Engineer Carl Vernon Thomsen.
The weather at “SeaTac” was overcast, with a ceiling at 1,200 feet (366 meters) and 10 miles (16 kilometers) visibility. The wind was from the east-northeast at 7 knots (3.6 meters per second).
The Boeing reached the cloud layer at 145 knots (167 miles per hour/269 kilometers per hour). The engines were throttled back from takeoff power and the wing flaps were retracted. The airplane suddenly began to buffet severely, as if it were about to stall. (A passenger later said that the airplane “shook like a wet dog.”) It also rolled to the left and Captain Heard had to use full opposite aileron to maintain control. N74608 began to lose altitude.
Northwest Airlines Boeing 377 Stratocruiser. (Minnesota Historical Society)
Captain Heard suspected a split-flap condition, in which, one of the flaps remained partially or fully extended. Initially considering a return to SeaTac, Heard decided that it would be safer to proceed to McChord Air Force Base. The situation continued to worsen. Captain Heard, fearing control would quickly be lost, decided to ditch the Stratocruiser in Puget Sound.
N74608 hit the surface 4.7 nautical miles (5.4 statute miles/8.7 kilometers) from the end of Seattle’s Runway 20, The water was smooth and the airliner coasted to a stop. It then began to take on water. All passengers and crew were evacuated. Two passengers suffered minor injuries. Once in the water, they used seat cushions for flotation. (Flight 2 was not required to carry rafts or life vests.) The water temperature was 42 °F. (5.6 °C.). After about fifteen minutes, the Stratoliner sank in 430 feet (131 meters) of water.
A Northwest Airlines DC-3 flew over the scene and dropped three life rafts. Two U.S. Air Force Grumman SA-16 Albatross amphibians and a U.S. Coast Guard 83-foot (56.6 meters) patrol boat soon arrived on scene. Most of the passengers and crew were rescued. However, four passengers, probably suffering from hypothermia, had drowned. Flight Service Attendant David Victor Razey was missing. The accident occurred on his 27th birthday.¹
A crane barge lifts Boeing 377 N74608 clear of the water. (Civil Aeronautics Board)
The wreck of N74608 was located on the floor of Puget Sound. It was initially moved to shallow water where divers were able to examine it. Later, the airliner was lifted onto a barge.
The Number 1 engine is missing. (Civil Aeronautics Board)
The Stratoliner’s Number 1 engine (outboard, left wing) was missing and never found. Investigators found that the cowl flaps of the remaining three engines were all fully open. They should have been closed for takeoff.
When the flight crew went through the pre-takeoff check list, in response to the prompt, “Cowl flaps set for takeoff,” the flight engineer responded, “Set for takeoff,” when they were actually open.
At takeoff and climb out speeds, open cowl flaps disrupt the flow of air over the wings. With the wing flaps down, this isn’t noticeable, but when the flaps are retracted, a severe buffeting occurs, as parts of the wing begin to stall.
Investigators found “no failure or malfunction of the aircraft, the power plants, or control systems prior to the ditching.”
Probable Cause:
The Board determines that the probable cause of the accident was the incorrect analysis of control difficulty which occurred on retraction of the wing flaps as a result of the flight engineer’s failure to close the engine cowl flaps—the analysis having been made under conditions of great urgency and within an extremely short period of time available for decision.
—Civil Aeronautics Board Accident Investigation ReportSA-319, File No. 1-0051, 9 November 1956, at Page 8
A Northwest Airlines Boeing 377 Stratocruiser. (Charles M. Daniels Collection, San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives)
Northwest Airlines’ N74608 was one of ten Boeing Model 377-10-30 Stratocruisers ordered by the airline. It was built at Seattle, Washington, in 1949, and assigned the manufacturer’s serial number 15954. N74608 carried Northwest’s fleet number, 708. The 377-10-30 was a variant built specifically for Northwest. It can be identified by the rectangular passenger windows.
At the time of the accident, the airliner had flown a total of 18,489 hours (TTAF).
The Model 377 was a large, four-engine civil transport which had been developed, along with the military C-97 Stratofreighter (Boeing Model 367), from the World War II B-29 Superfortress long-range heavy bomber. It utilized the wings and engines of the improved B-50 Superfortress. The airplane was operated by a flight crew of four. It was a double-deck aircraft, with the flight deck, passenger cabin and galley on the upper deck and a lounge and cargo compartments on the lower. The airliner was pressurized and could maintain Sea Level atmospheric pressure while flying at 15,500 feet (4,724 meters). The Model 377 could be configured to carry up to 100 passengers, or 28 in sleeping berths.
The Stratocruiser was 110 feet, 4 inches (33.630 meters) long with a wingspan of 141 feet, 3 inches (43.053 meters) and overall height of 38 feet, 3 inches (11.659 meters). The airliner had an empty weight of 83,500 pounds (37,875 kilograms) and the maximum takeoff weight was 148,000 pounds (67,132 kilograms).
Flight deck of the Boeing Model 377 Stratocruiser. (Boeing)
N74608 was powered by four air-cooled, supercharged, 4,362.49-cubic-inch-displacement (71.488 liter) Pratt & Whitney Wasp Major B6 engines. These were four-row, 28-cylinder, radial engines with a compression ratio of 6.7:1.
The B6 had a Normal Power rating of 2,650 horsepower at 2,550 r.p.m., at 5,500 feet (1,676 meters), and Maximum Continuous Power rating of 2,800 horsepower at 2,550 r.p.m. at 3,500 feet (1,067 meters). The Takeoff Power rating was 3,500 horsepower at 2,700 r.p.m. with water/alcohol injection.
The engines drove four-bladed Hamilton Standard Hydromatic 24260 constant-speed propellers with a diameter of 17 feet (5.182 meters) through a 0.375:1 gear reduction.
The Wasp Major B6 was 4 feet, 7.00 inches (1.397 meters) in diameter and 8 feet, 0.50 inches (2.451 meters) long. It weighed 3,584 pounds (1,626 kilograms), dry. The propeller assembly weighed 761 pounds (345 kilograms).
In this photograph of the Boeing 377 assembly plant, the airplane’s cowl flaps are visible immediately behind the engines. (Boeing)
The 377 had a cruise speed of 301 miles per hour (484 kilometers per hour) and a maximum speed of 375 miles per hour (604 kilometers per hour). During testing by Boeing, a 377 reached 409 miles per hour (658 kilometers per hour). Its service ceiling was 32,000 feet (9,754 meters) and the range was 4,200 miles (6,759 kilometers).
Boeing built 56 Model 377 Stratocruisers, with Pan American as the primary user, and another 888 military C-97 Stratofreighter and KC-97 Stratotankers.
¹ David Victor Razey was born 2 April 1929 at Maerdy, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. He had brown hair, hazel eyes and a medium complexion. He was 5 feet, 5 inches (1.65 meters) tall and weighed 140 pounds (63.5 kilograms). Razey became resident of the United States in 1949, and was naturalized as a U.S. citizen, 2 August 1954.
