Scandinavian Airlines System Douglas DC-7C LN-MOD, Guttorm Viking (SAS)
24–25 February 1957: Scandinavian Airlines System began flying regularly scheduled passenger flights from Copenhagen to Tokyo, via the North Pole, with the new Douglas DC-7C Seven Seas airliner, LN-MOD, named Guttorm Viking. The route of flight was Copenhagen, Denmark to Anchorage, Alaska, and onward to Tokyo, Japan. The airliner took of at 11:35 a.m. local time (11:35 UTC). The flight crew included Captain Hedell Hansen and Captain Kare Herfjord.
Simultaneously (8:35 p.m., 24 February), Reidar Viking, LN-MOE, took off from Tokyo, en route Copenhagen. The two airliners rendezvoused over the North Pole at 21:37, 24 February, UTC. ¹
En hälsning från Tokio med första reguljära SAS-turen via Nordpolen – den snabbaste hälsning Ni någonsin fått från Japan. “A greeting from Tokio with the first regular SAS-flight via the North Pole – the fastest greeting You ever have got from Japan.” This SAS postcard was mailed 26 February 1957. (Famgus Aviation Post Cards)
The polar route cut 2,000 miles (3,219 kilometers) and took a total of 32 hours, rather than the previous 50 hour flight. The airliner returned on February 28, after 71 hours, 6 minutes.
Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) had invited hundreds of media representatives and more than a thousand others to attend the send off fromKøbenhavns Lufthavn, Kastrup. To ensure that there were no problems to delay the departure, a second fully-fueled and serviced DC-7C was standing by.
Guttorm Viking, a Scandinavian Airlines System Douglas DC-7C, LN-MOD, at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport, August 1967. (Lars Söderström )
There were 47 passengers aboard the Guttorm Viking, including Prince Axel of Denmark, and Thor Heyerdahl (Kon-Tiki). Reidar Viking carried 45, with the Prince and Princess Mikasa of Japan.
Guttorm Viking made a refueling stop at Anchorage, Alaska, landing at 2:22 a.m. (07:22 UTC, and departing on schedule at 9:00 a.m. (14:00 UTC). It landed at Tokyo at 8:15 a.m., 26 February, Japan Standard Time (23:15, 25 February, UTC), 15 minutes ahead of schedule. The elapsed time of the flight was 32 hours, 31 minutes.
Reidar Viking landed at Copenhagen at 8:45 a.m. local time, Monday 24 February (08:45, 24 February, UTC), 35 hours, 40 minutes after departing Tokyo. The airliner had to make an additional fuel stop at Oslo, Norway, because of unexpected headwinds.
Reidar Viking, a Scandinavian Airlines System Douglas DC-7C, LN-MOE, at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport, May 1967. (Lars Söderström )
The DC-7C Seven Seas was the last piston-engine airliner built by Douglas Aircraft Company, intended for non-stop transcontinental and transatlantic flights. The DC-7 combined the fuselage of a DC-6 with the wings of a DC-4. The DC-7C version had 5 feet (1.524 meters) added to the wing roots for increased fuel capacity. By moving the engines further away from the fuselage, aerodynamic drag was reduced and the passenger cabin was quieter. The DC-7 had an extra 40-inch (1.016 meters) “plug” added to the fuselage just behind the wing. The DC-7C added another 40-inch plug ahead of the wing. The engine nacelles were also lengthened to provide room for additional fuel tanks.
The DC-7C was operated by two pilots, a navigator and a flight engineer. It had a maximum capacity of 105 passengers, requiring 4 flight attendants.
The airliner was 112 feet, 3 inches (34.214 meters) long with a wingspan of 127 feet, 6 inches (38.862 meters) and an overall height of 31 feet, 10 inches (9.703 meters). The empty weight was 72,763 pounds (33,005 kilograms). The maximum takeoff weight was 143,000 pounds (64,864 kilograms).
The Seven Seas was powered by four 3,347.662-cubic-inch-displacement (54.858 liter) air-cooled, supercharged, fuel-injected, turbocompound Wright Aeronautical Division Cyclone 18 988TC18EA1 or -EA3 two-row, 18-cylinder radial engines (also known as the Duplex-Cyclone), with a Normal Power rating of 2,800 horsepower at 2,600 r.p.m., and 3,700 horsepower at 2,900 r.p.m for takeoff. (A turbocompound engine uses exhaust-driven power recovery turbines to increase power to the crankshaft through a fluid coupling. This increased the engine’s total power output by approximately 20%.) The Cyclone 18 engines drove 13 foot, 11 inch (4.242 meters) diameter, four-bladed, Hamilton Standard Hydromatic 34E60 full-feathering, reversible-pitch, constant-speed propellers through a 0.4375:1 gear reduction. The 988TC18EA1 was 7 feet, 5.53 inches (2.274 meters) in long, 4 feet, 10.59 inches (1.437 meters) in diameter, and weighed 3,645 pounds (1,653 kilograms).
These engines gave the airliner a cruise speed of 308 knots (354 miles per hour/570 kilometers per hour) at 23,500 feet (7,163 meters). The service ceiling was 28,400 feet (8,656 meters) and maximum range was 4,900 nautical miles (5,639 statute miles/9,075 kilometers).
Douglas built 122 DC-7C airliners from 1956 to 1958. Scandinavian Airlines System bought 14 of them. The arrival of the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 turbojet-powered airliners soon made these piston-driven propeller airliners obsolete. Many were converted to freighters, but most were scrapped after only a few years service. Guttorn Viking and Reidar Viking were both scrapped in 1968.
¹ SAS announced that the Guttorm Viking passed the North Pole at 21:37 G.M.T. and the Reidar Viking at 21:43 G.M.T. The planes met at 21:40 G.M.T.
The prototype Lockheed Model 10 Electra X233Y in flight over Southern California, 1934. (James Borden Photography Collection)
24 February 1934:¹ Edmund Turney Allen,² a consulting engineer and test pilot, took the prototype Lockheed Model 10 Electra, serial number 1001, registered X233Y, for its first flight from the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation plant in Burbank, California, to the adjacent United Airport (which soon became United Air Terminal, then Lockheed Air Terminal and is now the Hollywood-Burbank Airport, BUR).
Aerial photograph of United Airport, looking west northwest, early 1930s. The Lockheed factory is just out of frame at the lower left, bordering the railroad tracks. (Burbank Public Library)
The Los Angeles Times reported:
NEW-TYPE PLANE PERFECTED
Lockheed Factory Turns Out First of “Electras,” Latest Word in Swift Transport
The latest forward step by Los Angeles in the field of swift-aircraft manufacture, a 215-mile-an-hour, ten-passenger, low-wing monoplane built by Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, made its first appearance and took to the air in its initial test flight yesterday.
The all-metal airliner, one of the fastest multimotored transport planes in the world and designed for economical performance by airlines enjoying little or no air-mail subsidy, was flown by Edmund T. Allen on its maiden flight from the Lockheed plant to United Airport, Burbank.
The ship, named the Electra, is the first of nine such planes ordered by two airlines, Northwest Airways having placed an order for three and Pan-American Airways awaiting delivery on six Electras. The model follows the single-engine Lockheed Vega, Orion and Sirius models flown by Col. Charles A. Lindbergh, Wiley Post, Col. Roscoe Turner, Amelia Earhart and other noted flyers on record flights.
The Electra’s cruising speed is in excess of 190 miles per hour. It is equipped with controllable-pitch propellers to gain maximum efficiency from its two Wasp Junior engines supercharged to develop 420 horsepower each at 5000 feet.
The craft is equipped with advanced improvements, including new retractable landing gear, wing flaps to insure low, safe landing speed, and a radical new-type tail assembly having two small vertical fins, or rudders,instead of one large one, making for greater maneuverability.
The Electra will be on display at United Airport, and the public, according to United Airlines officials, is invited to inspect it.
—Los Angeles Times, Vol. LIII, 25 February 1934, Page 17, Columns 1 and 2
The prototype Lockheed Electra Model 10 prototype, X233Y, at Union Airport, Burbank, California, before its first flight, 24 February 1934. (James Borden Photography Collection)
The Lockheed Model 10 Electra was designed as a 10-passenger commercial transport and was a contemporary of the Boeing Model 247. This was Lockheed’s first all-metal airplane. The Electra had two engines, a low wing and retractable landing gear. The airplane was designed by Lloyd Stearman and Hall L. Hibbard.
Lockheed Model 10 Electra X233Y. (aviadejavu)
A young engineer, Clarence L. (“Kelly”) Johnson, an assistant aerodynamicist at the University of Michigan, performed the wind tunnel tests on scale models of the proposed design and recommended changes to the configuration, such as the use of two vertical fins mounted at the outboard ends of the horizontal stabilizer. This became a design feature of Lockheed airplanes into the 1950s and included the Model 14 Super Electra/Hudson, Model 18 Lodestar/PV-1 Ventura, the P-38 Lightning fighter and the L-1649 Starliner, which was produced until 1958. Johnson would become the leader of Lockheed’s legendary “Skunk Works.”
Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson conducted wind tunnel testing of the Model 10 at the University of Michigan. Note the single vertical fin on this wind tunnel model. (Lockheed)
The prototype Electra was was used for certification testing. During a full-load test at Mines Field (now, LAX, Los Angeles International Airport) the Electra’s landing gear malfunctioned. Marshall (“Babe”) Headle, Lockheed’s chief pilot, flew the airplane back to Burbank and made a one-wheel landing. The prototype was slightly damaged but quickly repaired.
Lockheed Model 10 Electra X233Y at Union Airport, Burbank, California, before its first flight, 24 February 1934. (James Borden Photography Collection)Lockheed Model 10 Electra X233Y at Union Airport, Burbank, California, before its first flight, 24 February 1934. (James Borden Photography Collection)Lockheed Model 10 Electra X233Y at Union Airport, Burbank, California, before its first flight, 24 February 1934. (James Borden Photography Collection)Passenger cabin of the Lockheed Model 10 Electra, looking forward. (James Borden Photography Collection)Lockheed Model 10 Electra NC233Y at Northwest Airways, St. Paul, Minnesota, May 1934. (James Borden Photography Collection)Lockheed Model 10 Electra NC233Y, Northwest Airways, St. Paul, Minnesota, 24 May 1934. (James Borden Photography Collection)Lockheed Model 10 Electra NC233Y, St. Paul Minnesota, 24 May 1934. (James Borden Photography Collection)
After testing was competed the prototype Electra was delivered to Northwest Airways, Inc., at St. Paul, Minnesota, in May 1934. The experimental registration was changed to a standard registration, NC233Y, and it was assigned the Northwest fleet number 60.
Like the Boeing 247, the Electra was originally produced with a forward-slanting windshield to prevent instrument light reflection during night flights. This resulted in ground lighting reflections, though, and was changed to a standard, rearward slant with the fifth production airplane. NC233Y was modified by Northwestern’s maintenance staff.
Lockheed built 147 Model 10s in various configurations. The first production variant was the Model 10A. It was 38 feet, 7 inches (11.760 meters) long with a wingspan of 55 feet (16.764 meters), and height of 10 feet, 1 inch (3.073 meters). The wings had a total area of 458.3 square feet (42.6square meters). Their angle of incidence was 0°, and there were 5° 34′ dihedral.
The airplane had an empty weight of 5,455 pounds (2,474 kilograms) and a gross weight of 9,000 pounds (4,082 kilograms).
Three-view illustration of initial configuration of the Lockheed Model 10 Electra.
The Model 10A was powered by two air-cooled, supercharged, 986.749-cubic-inch-displacement (16.170 liters) Pratt & Whitney Wasp Jr. SB 9-cylinder radial engines with a compression ratio of 6:1. They were rated at 400 horsepower at 2,200 r.p.m at 5,000 feet (1,524 meters), and 450 horsepower at 2,300 r.p.m. for takeoff, using 87-octane gasoline. The SB engines were direct-drive and turned two-bladed Smith variable-pitch propellers. The Wasp Jr. SB was 3 feet, 6.59 inches (1.056 meters) long, 3 feet, 11.75 inches (1.162 meters) in diameter, and weighed 645 pounds (293 kilograms). The engines were covered by NACA cowlings.
The airplane had a cruise speed of 190 miles per hour (306 kilometers per hour) at 5,000 feet (1,524 meters) and maximum speed of 215 miles per hour (346 kilometers per hour) at 8,000 feet (2,438 meters). The service ceiling was 20,000 feet (6,096 meters) and the range at cruise speed was 750 miles (1,207 kilometers).
The prototype Lockheed Model 10 Electra, NC233Y, after cockpit windshield modifications by Northwest Airways, Inc. (San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive, Catalog #: 01_00091576)
Newsreel footage of the Lockheed Model 10 prototype’s first flight, by cinematographer Alfred Dillimtash Black for Fox Movietone News, is in the collection of the Moving Image Research Collections, University of South Carolina, University Libraries, and can be viewed at: https://digital.tcl.sc.edu/digital/collection/MVTN/id/7073
The Electra was “the Lisbon plane” in the classic 1942 motion picture, “Casablanca,” which starred Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid and Claude Rains.
Probably the best-known Lockheed Electra is the Model 10E Special, NR16020, which was built for Amelia Earhart for her around-the-world flight attempt in 1937. She took delivery of the airplane on her 39th birthday, 24 July 1936.
Amelia Earhart with her Lockheed Electra 10E, NR16020, at Burbank, 1937.
The prototype Lockheed Model 10 later carried U.S. registrations NC2332, NC17380, and Canadian registration CF-BRG. It was placed in service with the Royal Canadian Air Force 2 August 1940 with the serial number 7652. One of 15 Lockheed Electras in RCAF service during World War II, it was destroyed by fire at RCAF Station Mountain View, Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada, 14 October 1941.
Statement of Accident (Royal Canadian Air Force/Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum)
¹ Most sources cite 23 February as the date of the first flight.
² Many sources (e.g., Wikipedia) state that Lockheed’s Chief Pilot, Marshall Headle, made the Electra’s first flight.
First Lieutenant William DeVoe Coney, Air Service, United States Army, with an Atlantic Aircraft Corporation DH-4M-2, serial number A.S. 63385. A reproduction of this airplane is in the collection of the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. (Smithsonian Institution)
22–24 February 1921: First Lieutenant William DeVoe Coney, Air Service, United States Army, flew across the North American continent with just a single fuel stop. His airplane was an Atlantic Aircraft Corporation DH-4M-2, a version of the Airco DH.4 designed in England by Geoffrey de Havilland. The following is a contemporary news account of his flight:
First One-Stop Flight Across the United States
Early in January the Chief of the Army Air Service announced that on Feb. 22 an attempt would be made to cross the United States by airplane in a period of twenty-four hours, thus establishing a new trans-continental speed record.
The original schedule called for a flight of 2,079 miles, from Rockwell Field, San Diego, Calif., to Pablo Beach, Jacksonville, Fla., with a stop at Ellington Field, Houston, Tex. This would have cut the journey into two legs of 1,275 miles and 804 miles, respectively. Lieut. William D. Coney, 91st Aero Squadron was to make the flight from the west, while Lieut. Alexander Pearson was to start from the east, both flying specially rebuilt D.H.-4 army airplanes.
Lieutenant William D. Coney’s transcontinental airplane, Atlantic DH-4M-2 A.S. 63385. A reproduction of this airplane is in the collection of the National Museum of the United States Air Force. (Aviation and Aircraft Journal)
Lieutenant Coney’s Flight
Shortly before the flight it was announced that Lieutenant Coney would stop at Love Field, Dallas, Tex., instead of at Ellington Field, because the former affords more complete repair facilities.
Lieutenant Coney took off from at Rockwell Field at 7 p.m. in his attempt to cross the United States within twenty-four hours. He carried, beside a package of official mail from the commander of the San Diego naval air station to the commander of the Pensacola naval air station, two bottles of hot coffee and 4 lb. of chocolate. The use of the hot liquid was particularly advisable in view of the all-night trip, where drowsiness might have fatal results.
The following morning, having outridden heavy snow and rain storms over New Mexico, the pilot was forced to land owing to a shortage of fuel at Bronte, Tex. There he experienced difficulty in re-fueling and the gasoline he finally obtained was of such inferior grade that the Liberty engine refused to start.
Delay in getting high grade gasoline kept Lieutenant Coney on the ground until nightfall, when he again took off, risking a second all-night flight in a dogged attempt to make good his loss of time.
His efforts were rewarded by success when he landed on the morning of Feb. 24 at 7:27 a.m. at Pablo Beach, having spanned the United States in 22 hr. 30 min. flying time. The total elapsed time from coast to coast was, owing to fuel shortage, 36 hr. 27 min.
In discussing the journey Lieut. Coney states that he attained the greatest height when passing over the Mississippi River, when he rose to 17,000 feet to escape a heavy fog. In passing over the Rockies, although believing himself high enough to miss any treacherous mountains, he almost sent his De Haviland against a snow capped peak which he barely saw in time to pass around. He was making 200 m.p.h. at the time.
Lieut. Pearson had less luck in his attempt, for he experienced engine trouble en route and had to land for repairs. This required too much time to make it worth while resuming the flight.
Lt. W. D. Coney’s Career
Sec. Lieut. William D. Coney, Air Service, was born in Atlanta, GA., on Nov. 21, 1893. His education was received at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
The month after the United States engaged in the war—in May, 1917—Lieutenant Coney entered the first Officers’ Training Camp at Fort McPherson, Georgia, from which camp he was transferred to the Aviation Ground School at the Georgia Institute of Technology on July 10, 1917. On Sept. 8 of the same year he was sent to Essington, Pennsylvania, where he received flying training. During the latter part of Oct., 1917, he was sent to Kelly Field, San Antonio, Texas, where after graduating on Jan. 8, 1918, he received a commission as Second Lieutenant in the Air Service. At Kelly Field he acted as flying instructor from the date of his graduation until Oct. 1918, when he received orders to proceed to a port of embarkation in New York preparatory to going over seas for active military duty. Due to the signing of the armistice, however, orders covering his sailing were revoked and he was sent to Carlstrom Field, Arcadia, Fla., on Dec. 22, 1918. Here he again acted as flying instructor, and was also a member of the Testing and Engineering Department a this field.
Ordered to Washington on May 15, 1919, Lieutenant Coney served as a member of the Information Group in the office of the Chief of Air Service until Feb 8., 1920. At this time he was sent to Mather Field, Sacramento, Calif., where he was assigned to the 91st Aero Squadron, of which he has been a valuable officer up to the present time.
Lieutenant Coney has rendered efficient service on duty with a detachment of the 91st Squadron in the southern part of the state in connection with the aerial border patrol operating between the United States and mexico. He further proved his value to the Air Service by accomplishing exceptionally fine work during the past season as an aerial forest fire patrol pilot operating out of Medford, Ore.
— Aviation and Aircraft Journal, Volume X, No. 11, March 14, 1921 at Pages 332–333.
A brief account of Lieutenant Pearson’s unsuccessful flight, and Lieutenant Coney’s attempted return flight follows:
“. . . In February 1921, an Army flier, Lieutenant Alexander Pearson, Jr., decided to fly across the continent from east to west. But on the flight to Texas from Jacksonville, his official takeoff point, he became lost over the Big bend of the Rio Grande and drifted across the border to land in Mexico. Pearson was listed as missing until he showed up a few days later, riding into the village of Sanderson, Texas, on a mule. In March of the same year another Army airman, Lieutenant William D. Coney, took off from Florida on what he hoped would be a one-stop flight to the West Coast. But his plane crashed in Louisiana, and Coney died of his injuries a few days later.”
—Famous First Flights That Changed History: Sixteen Dramatic Adventures, by Lowell Thomas and Lowell Thomas, Jr., Lyons Press, 2004, Chapter IV at Page 51.
An official U.S. Air Force history includes this short description:
“Believing he could fly coast to coast within 24 hours, he tried again, leaving Jacksonville on March 25, 1921. Lost in fog and having motor trouble, he hit a tree while landing. Taken to a hospital at Natchez, Mississippi, he died there 5 days later.”
— Aviation in the U.S. Army 1918–1939, by Maurer Maurer, Office of Air Force History, Washington D.C., 1987, Chapter XI at Page 177.
This reproduction of Atlantic Aircraft Corporation DH-4M-2, serial number A.S. 63385, is in the collection of the National Museum of the United States Air Force. (U.S. Air Force)
William DeVoe Coney was born at Atlanta, Georgia, 20 November 1893. He was the third child of Edgar Fairchild Coney, a coal dealer, and Martha Ann Dillon Coney.
Lieutenant William DeVoe Coney was buried at Palmetto Cemetery, Brunswick, Georgia.
23 February 1951: At Istres, France, Société des Avions Marcel Dassault chief test pilot Konstantin Wladimir (“Kostia”) Rozanoff made the first flight of the Mystère MD.452 prototype, F-WFUU, c/n 01. This was a development of the Dassault Ouragan MD.450 with the wings’ leading edge swept from 14° to 30°. It was powered by a Rolls-Royce Nene turbojet engine. Rozanoff believed, though it was not confirmed, that he had broken the Sound Barrier.
A series of prototypes were built before the fighter bomber was put into production as the Mystère IIC. 171 were built between 1954 and 1957.
Kostia Rozanoff with the first prototype Dassault Mystère, F-WFUU, c/n 01. (Dassault Aviation)
The Mystère IIC was a single seat, single engine turbojet-powered fighter bomber produced for the Armée de l’Air. It was 38 feet 6 inches (11.735 meters) long with a wingspan of 42 feet, 9 inches (13.030 meters) and overall height of 14 feet (4.267 meters). The fighter had an empty weight of 11,495 pounds (5,214 kilograms) and maximum takeoff weight of 16,480 pounds (7,475 kilograms). The powerplant was a SNECMA ATAR 101D-1 turbojet which produced 6,610 pounds of thrust (29.403 kilonewtons).
The maximum speed of the Mystère IIC was 660 miles per hour (1,062 kilometers per hour). Its range was 550 miles (885 kilometers) and the service ceiling was 50,000 feet (15,240 meters).
The MD.452 was armed with two Direction des Études et Fabrications d’Armement (DEFA) 30mm revolver cannon with 150 rounds of ammunition per gun, and up to 2,000 pounds (907 kilograms) of bombs.
The prototype Dassault Mystère, F-WFUU, crashed at Istres 3 March 1953 when a wing tip fuel tank broke away and struck the airplane’s tail, killing test pilot Charles Monier.
Kostia Romanoff was killed 3 April 1954 while demonstrating a Mystère IVB.
Konstantin Wladimir Rozanoff, Chief Pilot, Dassault Aviation, with a Mystère IV. (Photograph courtesy of Neil Corbett, Test and Research Pilots, Flight Test Engineers)
Guards Lieutenant Natalya Fedorovna Meklin, Hero of the Soviet Union. (Colorized by Olga Shirnina: “Color by Klimbim.” Image used with permission.)
23 February 1945: Guards Lieutenant Natalya Fedorovna Meklin, a senior pilot with the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, 325th Night Bomber Aviation Division, 4th Air Army, was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union by decree of the Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. This was in acknowledgement of the 840 combat missions that Lieutenant Meklin had flown to date. She was also awarded the Order of Lenin with Gold Star. The medals were presented to her by Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky, 8 March 1945, while she was on duty in Poland. By the end of The Great Patriotic War, she had flown 982 combat sorties.
Natalya Fedorovna Meklin, circa 1940
Natalya Fedorovna Meklin was born 8 September 1922, at Lubny, Poltava, Ukraine. As a teenager, she attended High School No. 79 in Kiev, where she participated in gymnastics and competitive small-bore rifle and pistol shooting. She graduated in 1940.
Following high school, Natalya Fedorovna learned to fly at the Kiev Young Pioneer Palace glider school. In 1941 she went to the Moscow Aviation Institute. During July and August the students were sent to Bryansk to dig tank traps as defense against the Nazi invasion.
Inspired by famed Soviet pilot Marina Mikailovna Raskova, in October 1941 Natalya Fedorovna joined the women’s aviation regiments being formed by Raskova. She was sent to the Engels Military Aviation School, near Saratov, Russia, where she spent seven months in training as a pilot and navigator. Graduating in May 1942, Lieutenant Meklin was assigned to the 588th Night Bomber Aviation Regiment as chief of communications. The unit was then fighting on the southern Caucasian Front.
The women in the night bomber regiments made night attacks behind enemy lines flying the Polikarpov U-2 light bomber. They often approached their target at very low altitude and made gliding attacks. Their effect was to demoralize enemy soldiers and keep them awake. The Germans called them die Nacthexen (the Night Witches).
Lieutenant Meklin circa April 1943. She is wearing the Order of the Red Star and Order of the Patriotic War.
Lieutenant Meklin was awarded the Order of the Red Star on 19 October 1942. In 1943, she became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Comrade Melkin flew 380 combat sorties as a navigator, and was then assigned as a pilot.
In February 1943, the 588th Aviation Regiment was redesignated the 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Unit. On 27 April 1943, Guards Lieutenant Meklin was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, Second Class.
The following year, 14 April 1944, Lieutenant Meklin was awarded the first of three Orders of the Red Banner. A second followed on 14 December 1944, and the third, 15 June 1945.
Following The Great Patriotic War, Lieutenant Meklin’s status became that of a reserve officer. For the next two years, she studies at Moscow University, then in 1947, returned to active duty. She rose to the rank of major. She attended the Military Institute of Foreign Languages, graduating in 1953, and served as a translator in the 6th Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, where she was involved in the development of proposals for the production of various types of nuclear weapons, and preparation and coordination of tactical and technical requirements of nuclear weapons.
In January 1956, Major Meklin married Yuri Fedorovich Kravtsov, and she assumed the name Kravtsova.
Major Natalya F. Kravtsova retired from the Air Force in September 1957. She was employed as a supervising editor at the Publishing House of Military Technical Literature in 1960, and then in 1961 as a translator/editor inn the Bureau of Foreign Military Literature.
On 11 March 1985, Natalya Fedorovna was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, First Class.
Natalya Fedorovna Kravtsova with her son, circa 1960.
Comrade Kravtsova was the author of many articles and books, the last being We Were Called Night Witches (published in 2005).
Natalya Fedorovna Kravtsova, Hero of the Soviet Union, died 5 June 2005, in Moscow. Her remains were interred at the Troyekurovskoye Cemetery in Moscow.
Three-view illustration with dimensions in millimeters. (Самолет У-2 manual)Михаи́л Миха́йлович Гро́мов
The Самолет У-2 (Airplane U-2) was designed by Nikolai Nikolaevich Poliparkov as a basic trainer. It made its first flight 7 January 1928 with test pilot M.M. Gromov. The airplane was produced in two- and three-place variants, some with an enclosed rear cabin. A float plane was also built.
Airplane U-2 was a single-engine, single bay biplane, constructed of a wire-braced wood framework, covered with fabric. There were ailerons on upper and lower wings. It was 8.170 meters (26 feet, 9.7 inches) long, with an upper wing span of 11.400 meters (37 feet, 4.8 inches), and lower span of 10.654 meters (34 feet, 10.9 inches). The wings’ chord was 1.650 meters (5 feet, 5 inches). The vertical gap between wings was 1.777 meters (5 feet, 10 inches), and the lower wing was staggered 0.800 meters (2 feet, 7.5 inches) behind the upper wing. The wings had 2° dihedral, and an angle of incidence of 2° 20′.
The U-2 was powered by a normally-aspirated, air-cooled, 8.590 liter (524.212-cubic-inch-displacement) Shvetsov M-11 five-cylinder radial engine, driving a two-bladed fixed-pitch wooden propeller. The engine produced 90 horsepower at 1,520–1,560 r.p.m.; 100 horsepower from 1,580–1,600 r.p.m.; and a maximum 110 horsepower at 1,650–1,670 r.p.m. The M-11 weighed 165 kilograms (364 pounds).
The U-2 was first armed in 1941. It could carry 350 kilograms (771 pounds) of bombs. A single 7.62×54mmR Shpitalny-Komaritskie (ShKAS) revolver machine gun was mounted in the rear cockpit.
The U-2 was redesignated Polikarpov Po-2 following the War. It was in production from 1928 to 1952. Sources vary as to the number built, ranging from 20,000 to 40,000.
Группа легких бомбардировщиков У-2 271-й ночной бомбардировочной авиационной дивизии летит на задание (“A group of U-2 light bombers of the 271st Night Bomber Aviation Division is flying on a mission.”)Cemetery
