The first production Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 (SV), No. 101003. (Mikoyan Design Bureau)
31 December 1948: One year and one day after the first flight of the MiG I-310 S01 prototype, the first production Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15, serial number 101003, made its first flight. The production aircraft were based on the third I-310 prototype, S03. No. 101003 was designated МиГ-15(CB) (MiG-15 SV), and was retained by Mikoyan OKB for testing.
The MiG-15 is a single-seat, single-engine turbojet-powered fighter interceptor, designed to attack heavy bombers. Designed for high-subsonic speed, the wings were swept aft to 35° at 25% chord and had 2° anhedral. The wings were very thin to minimize aerodynamic drag and used “fences” to control air flow. The horizontal stabilizer was swept 40°, and the vertical fin, 55.7°.
Rolls-Royce Nene Mk.I and Mk.II turbojet engines had been used in the three I-310 prototypes. The British engine was reverse-engineered by Vladimir Yakovlevich Klimov and manufactured at Factory No. 45 in Moscow as the RD-45F. The engine produced a maximum 22.26 kilonewtons of thrust (5,004 pounds of thrust). It was improved and designated VK-1. Most MiG-15s used this engine.
The production fighter was 10.10 meters (33 feet, 2 inches) long, with a wingspan of 10.08 meters (33 feet, 1 inch) and height of 3.17 meters (10 feet, 5 inches). The total wing area was 20.60 square meters (222 square feet). The interceptor’s empty weight was 3,247 kilograms (7,158 pounds), and its takeoff weight was 4,917 kilograms (10,840 pounds).
The MiG-15 had a cruise speed 974 kilometers per hour (605 miles per hour, 0.79 Mach). Its maximum speed was 1,047 kilometers per hour (565 knots, or 651 miles per hour)—0.99 Mach—at low altitude, and 1,031 kilometers per hour (557 knots, 641 miles per hour, 0.97 Mach) at 5,000 meters (16,404 feet). The maximum rate of climb was 2,520 meters per minute (8,268 feet per minute), and its service ceiling was 15,100 meters (49,541 feet). The fighter had a practical range of 1,335 kilometers (830 miles).
Armament consisted of one Nudelman NS-37 37 mm cannon with 40 rounds of ammunition, and two Nudelman-Rikhter NR-23 23 mm cannon with 80 rounds per gun.
The first MiG 15, 101003, was built at Factory No. 1. Full scale production was considered so important that four other aircraft types were discontinued so that their factories could be used to build MiG-15s. They were also license-built in Poland and Czechoslovakia. More than 18,000 MiG-15s have been built. It has served in the air forces of at least 44 countries.
The MiG-15 soon entered combat in the Korean War. It scored its first air-to-air victory, 1 November 1950, when First Lieutenant Fiodor V. Chizh shot down a U.S. Air Force F-51 Mustang.
Soviet technicians service a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15bis of the 351st Fighter Aviation Regiment at Antung Air Base, China, mid-1952. (Unattributed)
Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner with all engines running, Boeing Field, Seattle, Washington, circa 1939. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives)
31 December 1938: Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner NX19901 made its first flight at Boeing Field, Seattle, Washington. The test pilot was Eddie Allen, with co-pilot Julius A. Barr.
The Model 307 was a four-engine commercial airliner that used the wings, tail surfaces, engines and landing gear of the production B-17B Flying Fortress heavy bomber. The fuselage was circular in cross section to allow for pressurization. It was the first pressurized airliner and because of its complexity, it was also the first airplane to include a flight engineer as a crew member.
Boeing 307 Stratoliner NX19901 with both propellers on right wing feathered. (Boeing)
The Associated Press news agency reported:
Test Of Big Craft Begins
SEATTLE, Dec. 31—(AP)—The world’s first plane, designed for flying in the sub-stratosphere, the new Boeing “Stratoliner”, performed “admirably” in a 42-minute first test flight in the rain today.
The big ship, with a wingspread of 107 feet, three inches, climbed to 4,000 feet, the ceiling, and cruised between here, Tacoma and Everett. Speed was held down to 175 miles an hour.
“The control and stability and the way it handled were very nice,” Edmund T. Allen, pilot, said. “She performed admirably.”
The 33-passenger ship was built to fly at altitudes of 20,000 feet.
No more tests are planned until next week. The supercharging equipment for high altitude flights will be installed later.
—Arizona Republic, Vol. IL, No. 228, Sunday, 1 January 1939, Page 2, Column 4
Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner NX19901 taking of at Boeing Field, Seattle, Washington. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives)
Giant ‘Stratoliner” Wheeled From Factory, On First Flight
SEATTLE, Dec. 31—(AP)—The newest thing in aviation—a giant, 33-passenger stratoliner named and built by Boeing Aircraft Company—met enthusiastic approval of its test pilot today after preliminary test runs.
Scarcely 24 hours after it left the factory, the newest Boeing plane tested its wings yesterday. Test Pilot Edmund T. Allen taxied the plane along the ground, gunned it a bit and flew it in the air a short time at an altitude from 15 to 30 feet.
Allen did not class the short hop as the ship’s maiden flight, which he said formally remained to be made, probably within a week.
He said the big ship, minus general airplane characteristics, would not require any super-airports as the demonstration showed it would be able to take off and land at any ordinary-sized field.
The stratoliner has four 1,100-horsepower motors which will enable it to cruise at an altitude of four miles at a speed of more than four miles a minute.
Most unusual feature of the silver colored plane is the shape of the cabin, which bears a distinct resemblance to a metal dirigible. The cabin is circular throughout its length of 74 feet, four inches.
The shape was adopted because of the necessity of sealing the cabin so passengers can enjoy low-level atmospheric conditions while soaring at high altitudes. The door, instead of opening outwards, is opened from the inside, so that the higher air pressure in the cabin will keep it sealed.
The stratoliner’s wings compare in design with the Boeing flying fortresses but because of the larger cabin, the wing span is 107 feet, three inches, greater than that of the bombers, the new plane’s height is 17 feet, three inches.
“Outside of scientific and engineering circles the substratosphere has been generally regarded as something far away and mystical, but now it is being brought ‘down to earth,’ C. L. Engtvedt, president of Boeing said.
“The stratoliner will fly below the true stratosphere, but above the heavy air belt that brews surface weather conditions. Here we get most of the benefits of the stratosphere without getting into complex problems of flight in the extremely rare atmosphere and low temperature of the true stratosphere,” he said.
Engtvedt predicted stratosphere type planes would lend a tremendous stimulus to the growth of air transportation.
The first three stratoliners are being built for pan-American airways. Six more are in the course of construction for buyers whose identity has not been announced.
—Eugene Register-Guard, Vol. 95, No. 1, January 1, 1939 at Page 3, Columns 5 and 6
On March 18, 1939, during its 19th test flight, the Stratoliner went into a spin, then a dive. It suffered structural failure of the wings and horizontal stabilizer when the flight crew attempted to recover. NX19901 was destroyed and all ten persons aboard were killed.¹
Boeing 307 Stratoline NX19901. (Boeing)Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner NX19901. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives)Boeing 307 Stratoliner NX19901, right rear quarter. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives, Catalog #:01_00091289)Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner NX19901. The engine cowlings have been removed. The inboard right engine is running. The arrangement of passenger windows differs on the right and left side of the fuselage. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives)
The Boeing Model 307 was operated by a crew of five and could carry 33 passengers. It was 74 feet, 4 inches (22.657 meters) long with a wingspan of 107 feet, 3 inches (32.690 meters) and overall height of 20 feet, 9½ inches (6.337 meters). The wings had 4½° dihedral and 3½° angle of incidence. The empty weight was 29,900 pounds (13,562.4 kilograms) and loaded weight was 45,000 pounds (20,411.7 kilograms).
The cockpit of a Boeing 307 Stratoliner, photographed 12 March 1940. (Boeing)Cutaway illustration of a Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner. (NASM SI-89-4024)
The airliner was powered by four air-cooled, geared and supercharged, 1,823.129-cubic-inch-displacement (29.875 liter) Wright Cyclone 9 GR-1820-G102 9-cylinder radial engines with a compression ratio of 6.7:1, rated at 900 horsepower at 2,200 r.p.m., and 1,100 horsepower at 2,200 r.p.m. for takeoff. These drove three-bladed Hamilton-Standard Hydromatic propellers through a 0.6875:1 gear reduction in order to match the engine’s effective power range with the propellers. The GR-1820-G102 was 4 feet, 0.12 inches (1.222 meters) long, 4 feet, 7.10 inches (1.400 meters) in diameter, and weighed 1,275 pounds (578 kilograms).
Boeing Model 307 Stratoliners under construction. (SDASM Archives Catalog #: 00061653)
The maximum speed of the Model 307 was 241 miles per hour (388 kilometers per hour) at 6,000 feet (1,828.8 meters). Cruise speed was 215 miles per hour (346 kilometers per hour) at 10,000 feet (3,048 meters). The service ceiling was 23,300 feet (7,101.8 meters).
Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner NX19901 with all engines running. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives, Catalog #: 01_00091291)A Transcontinental and Western Airlines (TWA) Boeing 307 Stratoliner with cabin attendants. (Trans World Airlines)
As a result of the crash of NX19901, production Stratoliners were fitted with a vertical fin similar to that of the B-17E Flying Fortress.
Pan American Airways’ Boeing 307 Stratoliner NC19903, photographed 18 March 1940. Note the new vertical fin. (Boeing via Goleta Air and Space Museum)
During World War II, TWA sold its Stratoliners to the United States government which designated them C-75 and placed them in transatlantic passenger service.
Boeing C-75 Stratoliner “Comanche,” U.S. Army Air Corps serial number 42-88624, formerly TWA’s NC19905. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives, Catalog # 01_00091316)Two TWA stewardesses with a Boeing 307 Stratoliner, circa 1950. (San Diego Air & Space Museum)
In 1944, the 307s were returned to TWA and they were sent back to Boeing for modification and overhaul. The wings, engines and tail surfaces were replaced with those from the more advanced B-17G Flying Fortress. The last one in service was retired in 1951.
Of the ten Stratoliners built for Pan Am and TWA, only one remains. Fully restored by Boeing, NC19903 is at the Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian Institution.
The only existing Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner, NC19903, Clipper Flying Cloud, at the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. (Photo by Dane Penland, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution)
¹ Please see This Day in Aviation for 18 March 1939 at: https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/18-march-1939/
Wilbur Wright at Camp d’Avours, 1 January 1909. (Special Collections and Archives, Wright State University Libraries)
31 December 1908: At Camp d’Auvours, 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) east of Le Mans, France, Wilbur Wright flew a 1907 Wright Flyer a distance of 124.7 kilometers (77.48 miles) over a triangular course in 2 hours, 20 minutes, 23 seconds, setting a record for duration and distance. He won the first Michelin Trophy and a ₣20,000 prize.
The International Michelin Trophy was a prize given over eight years by Michelin et Cie, the French tire company, to the Aéro-Club de France, to award on behalf of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. The winner would be the pilot who by sunset, 31 December of each year, held the record which had been established by the Aéro-Club. The actual trophy would be given the aeronautical club whose members had won the most times during the eight year period. ₣160,000 was to be divided and presented to each winning pilot.
The Wright Model A, produced from 1907 to 1909, was the world’s first series production airplane. It was slightly larger and heavier than the Wright Flyer III which had preceded it. It was a two-place, single-engine canard biplane built of a wooden framework braced with wires and covered with muslin fabric. A new system of flight controls allowed the pilot to sit upright rather than lying prone on the lower wing.
The dual horizontal elevators were placed forward and the dual vertical rudders aft. The biplane was 31 feet (9.449 meters) long with a wingspan of 41 feet (12.497 meters). The wings had a chord of 6.6 feet, and vertical separation of 6 feet. The airplane had an empty weight of approximately 800 pounds (363 kilograms).
The Model A was powered by a single water-cooled, fuel-injected, 240.528 cubic-inch-displacement (3.942 liter) Wright vertical overhead-valve inline four-cylinder gasoline engine with 2 valves per cylinder and a compression ratio of 4.165:1. It produced 32 horsepower at 1,310 r.p.m. During three years of production (1908–1911) Wright “4-40” engines were built that operated from 1,325 to 1,500 r.p.m. Power output ranged from 28 to 40 horsepower. These engines weighed from 160 to 180 pounds (72.6–81.6 kilograms).
Two 8½ foot (2.591 meters) diameter, two-bladed, counter-rotating propellers, driven by a chain drive, are mounted behind the wings in pusher configuration. They turned 445 r.p.m.
The Wright Model A could fly 37 miles per hour (60 kilometers per hour).
Wilber Wright’s Model A Flyer in France, 1909. The derrick supports a weight, which, when dropped, pulls the airplane across the ground with a cable and puller arrangement until it reaches flying speed. (Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company)
First Officer Lynn Rippelmeyer and Captain Emilie Jones, Air Illinois. (Lynn Ripplemer Collection/University of Houston)
30 December 1977: Captain Emilie Jones and First Officer Lynn Rippelmeyer of Air Illinois, a commuter airline based at Carbondale, Illinois, were assigned as the flight crew of a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter. Their flight originated at Southern Illinois Airport (MDH) at Carbondale, flew to St. Louis, Missouri (STL), and then on to Quincy Regional Airport (UIN), Quincy, Illinois. The return flight was UIN-STL-MDH. They flew two complete trips on that day.
This was the first time that an all-female crew flew a scheduled flight for a United States airline.
MDH→STL→UINCaptain Emilie Jones and First Officer Lynn Rippelmeyer planning a flight, circa 1977. (Lynn Rippelmer Collection/University of Houston)
Their airliner was a 1969 de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter Series 200, N3257, serial number 192. The Twin Otter is a twin-engine light transport with a strut-braced high wing and fixed tricycle landing gear. The airplane can be flown with on or two pilots and can carry a maximum of 20 passengers. The Series 200 is 51 feet, 9 inches (15.777 meters) long, with a wingspan of 65 feet, 0 inches (19.812 meters) and height of 19 feet, 6 inches (5.944 meters). The wing has an area of 420 square feet (39.02 square meters). The wing has 3° dihedral. There is no sweep. The airplane has an empty weight of 5,850 pounds (2,654 kilograms), and maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) of 11, 566 pounds (5,246 kilograms).
Air Illinois’ de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, N3257, the turboprop airliner flown by Captain Emilie Jones and First Officer Lynn Rippelmeyer on 30 December 1977, photographed at Meigs Field, Chicago, Illinois, 15 May 1980. (Ron Kluk/Twin Otter World)
The DHC-6 Series 100 and 200 were powered by two United Aircraft of Canada Limited PT6A-20 turboprop engines. The PT6A-20 has a three-stage axial-flow, single-stage centrifugal flow compressor section, and single-stage turbine. Its maximum takeoff power rating is 550 shaft horsepower at 38,000 r.p.m. N2, (2,200 r.p.m. NP). The engines drive three-bladed Hartzell constant speed propellers with a diameter of 8 feet, 6 inches (2.591 meters).
de Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter Series 200–400 three-view illustration with dimensions.
The Twin Otter has a maximum operating speed (VMO) of 160 knots (184 miles per hour/296 kilometers per hour) from Sea Level to 10,000 feet (3,048 meters), and a never-exceed speed( VNE) of 202 knots (232 miles per hour/374 kilometers per hour). Its range is 771 nautical miles (887 statute miles/1,428 kilometers), and the ceiling is 20,000 feet (6,096 meters).
Operated by Mountain Air Cargo of Denver, North Carolina, N3257 was destroyed, 11 October 1985, when it struck rising terrain near Homer City, Pennsylvania. The pilot, Alton W. Cockrell, Jr., the only person on board, was killed.
Lynn Janet Ripplemeyer was born at Valmeyer, Illinois, 3 April 1951. She graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in education. In 1972, she was employed by Trans World Airways (TWA) as a flight attendant, and was later assigned as a flight engineer for the Boeing 727. In 1977, Ms. Ripplemeyer was hired as a first officer by Air Illinois.
In September 1983, Captain Rippelmeyer and First Officer Beverly Himelfarb of People Express Airlines flew a Boeing 737 from Newark, New Jersey, to Syracuse, New York. In 1984, Captain Ripplemeyer was the first woman to command a Boeing 747 on a transoceanic route.
Captain Lynn Rippelmeyer in the cockpit of a Boeing 747. (Lynn Ripplemer Collection/University of Houston)
Chief Warrant Officer 4 James P. Ervin, United States Army (FAI)CW4 William T. Lamb
30 December 1968: At the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation plant at Stratford, Connecticut, Chief Warrant Officer 4 James Paul Ervin, Jr., United States Army, set two Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Records for Time to Altitude while flying a Sikorsky CH-54A Tarhe. The helicopter’s co-pilot for this flight was CW4 William T. Lamb. The “Sky Crane” reached 3,000 meters (9,842.52 feet) in 1 minute, 38.2 seconds, and 9,000 meters (29,527.56 feet) in 7 minutes, 54 seconds.¹ (It climbed through 6,000 meters (19,686 feet) in 2 minutes, 58.9 seconds.²)
Several attempts to break the existing time to altitude records had been made on 29 and 30 December. Erwin decided to deviate from Sikorsky’s recommended climb profile and, instead, climbed vertically until reaching 20,000 feet, and then returned to Sikorsky’s profile.
On the same date, CW4 Lamb, with Erwin as co-pilot, established a World Record for Altitude in Horizontal Flight, of 9,596 meters (31,483 feet).³
According to an article in U.S. Army Aviation Digest, during the record attempt flights, the regional air traffic control center called a commercial airliner which was cruising at 17,000 feet,
“. . . be advised there’s a helicopter at your 9 o’clock position descending out of 27,000 feet at a rate of 4,000 feet per minute.”
The airliner replied, “Good lord, you mean they’re up here now?”
Another pilot on the frequency asked, “What kind of helicopter is that?”
Mr. Ervin was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his achievement.
A third U.S. Army aviator involved in the record attempts was Major James H. Goodloe, as was a Sikorsky test pilot, John J. Dixon.
FAI record-setting Sikorsky CH-54A Tarhe (FAI)
The Sikorsky CH-54A Tarhe is a large single-main-rotor/tail rotor helicopter, specifically designed to carry large external loads. In U.S. Army service, it had a crew of five: pilot, co-pilot, third pilot and two mechanics. The third pilot was in a rear-facing cockpit position and flew the helicopter while it was hovering to pick up or position an external load.
The CH-54A is 88 feet, 5.9 inches (26.972 meters) long and 25 feet, 4.7 inches (7.739 meters) high. The main rotor has six blades and turns counter-clockwise, seen from above. (The advancing blade is on the helicopter’s right side.) The main rotor has a diameter of 72 feet (21.946 meters). The main rotor blades have a chord of 1.97 feet (0.601 meters) and incorporate a twist of -13°. The tail rotor has four blades and is placed on the left side of a vertical pylon in a pusher configuration. The tail rotor turns clockwise, as seen from the helicopter’s left side. (The advancing blade is below the axis of rotation.) The diameter of the tail rotor is 16 feet (4.877 meters). The chord of the tail rotor blade is 1.28 feet (0.390 meters).
The helicopter has an empty weight of 19,120 pounds (8,673 kilograms) a design gross weight of 38,000 pounds (17,237 kilograms) and overload gross weight of 42,000 pounds (19,051 kilograms).
Sikorsky CH-54A Tarhe 68-18448, Nevada National Guard, 16 November 1989. (Mike Freer/Wikipedia)
The CH-54A is powered by two Pratt & Whitney JFTD12A-4A (T73-P-1) turboshaft engines, each rated at 4,000 shaft horsepower at 9,000 r.p.m. (N2) maximum continuous power at Sea Level, and 4,500 shaft horsepower at 9,500 r.p.m. (N2) for takeoff, 5-minute limit, or 30 minutes, with one engine inoperative (OEI). The maximum gas generator speed (N1) is 16,700 r.p.m. The T73-P-1 is an axial-flow free-turbine turboshaft engine with a 9-stage compressor section, 8 combustion chambers and a 4-stage turbine section (2-stage gas generator and 2-stage free turbine). It is 107.0 inches (2.718 meters) long, 30.0 inches (0.762 meters) in diameter, and weighs 966 pounds (438 kilograms). The helicopter’s main transmission is limited to a maximum 6,600 horsepower.
It has a useful load of 22,880 pounds (10,342 kilograms) and can carry a payload of 20,000 pounds (9,072 kilograms) from a single point cargo hoist.
The CH-54A has a maximum cruise speed of 115 knots (132 miles per hour, 213 kilometers per hour). It’s range is 217 nautical miles (250 miles, 402 kilometers). The CH-54A has a hover ceiling in ground effect (HIGE) of 10,600 feet (3,231 meters) and its service ceiling is 13,000 feet (3,962 meters).
The U.S. Army ordered 54 CH-54A and 35 CH-54B Tarhes. Sikorsky produced another 12 civil-certified S-64E and S-64F Skycranes. Army CH-54s were retired from service in 1995. Sikorsky sold the type certificate to Erickson Air-Crane, Inc., Medford, Oregon. Erickson operates a fleet of Skycranes for heavy lift, logging and fire fighting, and also produces parts and new helicopters for worldwide customers.
The United States Army has a tradition of using Native American names for its aircraft. Tarhe (pronounced tar-HAY) was a famous chief, or sachem, of the Wyandot People of North America, who lived from 1742–1818. He was very tall and the French settlers called him “The Crane.”
James Paul Ervin, Jr., was born 2 October 1931, in Arkansas. He was the second child of James Paul Erwin and Ruth Booker Ervin. He joined the United States Army in 1948. In 1955, he married his wife, Theresa M. (“Terry”) Ervin. They resided in Columbus, Georgia.
CW4 Ervin was considered a pioneer of Army Aviation. He was one of the first pilots to experiment with armed helicopters, and he served with the first transportation company to be equipped with the Sikorsky CH-34 Choctaw and CH-37 Mohave helicopters. During the Vietnam War, he was assigned to the 478th Aviation Company (Heavy Helicopter). Mr. Ervin retired from the United States Army in July 1969 after 21 years of service.
At 1735, 2 September 1969, as a civilian pilot working for ERA Helicopters in Alaska, Ervin was flying a Sikorsky S-64E Skycrane, N6964E, on the North Slope near Prudhoe Bay, when the helicopter broke up in flight and crashed near a drilling site, Southeast Eileen. Chief Erwin and two others aboard, Byron Davis and Allen Bryan, were killed.
The National Transportation Safety Board determined that a tail rotor pitch control link failed due to a fatigue fracture. The NTSB accident report also cited improper factory installation as a factor.
At the time of the accident, Erwin had a total of 4,787 flight hours with 830 hours in type. He was 37 years old. James Paul Erwin, Jr., is buried at the Marietta National Cemetery, Marietta, Georgia.
An Erickson Air-Crane, Inc., Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane drops water on a forest fire. (Igor I. Sikorsky Historical Archives)
¹ FAI Record File Numbers 9944 and 9961.
² Many sources state that CW4 Erwin set a record for Time to 6,000 meters, and some give the elapsed time as 3 minutes, 31.5 seconds. The FAI Records Database does not list this record.
