A Boeing KC-135A Stratotanker refuels a Boeing B-52E Stratofortress. (U.S. Air Force)
30 December 1964: The United States Air Force accepted the last of 732 Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers: KC-135A serial number 64-14840. The new tanker was assigned to the 380th Air Refueling Squadron at Plattsburgh Air Force Base, New York, 12 January 1965.
According to the most recent Air Force Fact Sheet, 414 KC-135R and -135RT tankers are still in service with the United States Air Force: 167 active duty Air Force, 67 Air Force Reserve, and 180 Air National Guard. It is estimated that the fleet is 33% through their design lifetime limits. (There are also 25 special variants of the C-135, such as the OC-135B Open Skies, RC-135S Cobra Ball, RC-135U Combat Sent, RC-135V Rivet Joint, and RC-135W Rivet Joint.)
Boeing RC-135V Rivet Joint, 62-4139. (U.S. Air Force)
Built as an aerial refueling tanker to support the U.S. Air Force fleet of B-52 Stratofortress strategic bombers, an initial order for 24 tankers was soon increased to 250. Eventually 732 KC-135As were built by Boeing, and an additional 81 of other versions.
With the company internal designation of Model 717, the KC-135 was developed from the Model 367-80 proof-of-concept prototype, the “Dash Eighty.” The Stratotanker is very similar in appearance to the Model 707 and 720 airliners but is structurally a different aircraft. It is also shorter than the 707 and has a smaller diameter fuselage.
Boeing KC-135R Stratotankers of the 40th Air Expeditionary Group, forward deployed to support B-52 operations. (SMSGT John Rohrer, U.S. Air Force)
The Stratotanker was originally operated by a flight crew of four: pilot, co-pilot, navigator and refueling boom operator. Upgrades over the decades have simplified operation and the crew has been reduced to two pilots and the boom operator.
The KC-135R is 136 feet, 3 inches (41.529 meters) long (156 feet/47.549 meters with fueling boom extended), with a wingspan of 130 feet, 10 inches (39.878 meters), and overall height of 41 feet, 8 inches (12.700 meters). Its maximum takeoff weight is 322,500 pounds (146,284 kilograms).
The Stratotanker can carry up to 200,000 pounds (90,718 kilograms) of fuel for inflight refueling. It can also be configured to carry 83,000 pounds (37,648 kilograms) of cargo, or 80 passengers.
Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker 64-14840 at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base, Columbus, Ohio, 2018. (Ohio Air National Guard)
The KC-135A was originally powered by four Pratt & Whitney J57-P-59W turbojet engines producing 13,750 pounds of thrust (61.163 kilonewtons) for takeoff, using water injection. The fleet has been re-engined with more efficient CFM International CFM56-2B1 (F108-CF-100) engines. Modified airplanes are designated KC-135R. The CFM56-2 is a two-spool, axial-flow, high-bypass turbofan with a single fan stage, 12-stage compressor section (3 low pressure and 9 high pressure stages), annular combustor, and a 5-stage turbine (1 high pressure and 4 low pressure stages). The engine is rated at 21,634 pounds of thrust (96.233 kilonewtons).
The tanker has a maximum speed of 350 knots (402 miles per hour/648 kilometers per hour) below 26,500 feet (8,077 meters), and 0.90 Mach when above that altitude. It has a range of 1,500 miles (2,424 kilometers) when carrying 150,000 pounds (68,039 kilograms) of transfer fuel. The service ceiling is 50,000 feet (15,200 meters).
The newest Stratotanker in service with the United States Air Force, KC-135R 64-14840 is 59 years old. It is presently assigned to the 121st Air Refueling Wing, Ohio Air National Guard.
The final Boeing Stratotanker, KC-135R 64-14840, remains in service with the 121st Air Refueling Wing, Ohio Air National Guard, based at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base, Columbus Ohio. (Ohio Air National Guard)
30 December 1947: OKB Mikoyan test pilot Captain Viktor Nikolaevich Yuganov made the first flight of the Mikoyan and Gurevich I-310 prototype, S01. This would be developed into the legendary MiG-15 fighter.
S01 was a single-seat, single-engine prototype for a fighter interceptor designed to attack heavy bombers. It was intended to reach the high subsonic speed range. The wings and tail surfaces were swept to 35° at 25% chord. The wings were given 2° anhedral.
The prototype was 10.11 meters (33 feet, 2 inches) long with a wingspan of 10.08 meters (33 feet, ¾ inch). Its empty weight was 3,380 kilograms (7,452 pounds) and the takeoff weight was 4,820 kilograms (10,626 pounds).
I-310 S01 was powered by a Rolls-Royce Nene turbojet engine, one of 55 purchased from Rolls-Royce in 1947, then reverse-engineered by Vladimir Yakovlevich Klimov as the Klimov RD-45. The Nene used a single-stage centrifugal-flow compressor and single-stage axial-flow turbine. It was rated at 5,000 pounds of thrust (22.24 kilonewtons) at 12,400 r.p.m., for takeoff.
The I-310 had a maximum speed of 905 kilometers per hour (562 miles per hour) at Sea Level (0.74 Mach), and 1,042 kilometers per hour (648 miles per hour)—0.99 Mach—at 2,600 meters (8,530 feet). The service ceiling was 15,200 meters (49,869 feet). It could climb to 5,000 meters (16,404 feet) in 2 minutes, 18 seconds, and to 10,000 meters (32,808 feet) in 7 minutes, 6 seconds. Endurance was 1 hour, 31 minutes. Maximum range for S01 was 1,395 kilometers (867 miles).
The prototype was armed with one Nudelman N-37 37 mm cannon and two Nudelman-Rikhter NR-23 23 mm cannon.
The the first production MiG 15 flew 31 December 1948, one year and one day after the prototype. More than 18,000 were built.
The first production Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 fighter. (Unattributed)Viktor Nikolaevich Yuganov
Viktor Nikolaevich Yuganov (Виктор Николаевич Юганов) was born at Moscow, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, 23 February 1922. He was a member of the Stalin Flying Club at age 14.
In December 1937, Yuganov entered the Red Army. He graduated from the flight school at Borisoglebsk, Voronezh, Russia, in December 1938. Yuganov was the youngest pilot in the 56th Fighter Regiment.
In July and August 1939, he flew 120 combat sorties during the Battles of Khalkhyn Gol (an undeclared war with Japan) and is credited with having shot down three enemy airplanes.
Viktor Yuganov was transferred to the 19th Fighter Regiment and was involved in the Russo-Finnish War (“The Winter War”) of 1939–1940.
After Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, Yuganov was assigned to the 2nd Independent Fighter Squadron. In January 1942, he was appointed deputy commander of the 521st Fighter regiment at the Kalinin Front. He shot down two more enemy aircraft.
In April 1942 Yuganov was assigned as a test pilot at the Gromov Flight Research Institute at Zhukovsky Air Base near Moscow and remained there until March 1945. He then became an inspector on the Air Staff for the Moscow Military District. In December 1946 he resumed test flying, this time at Mikoyan Design Bureau. Three years later, Yuganov returned to the Flight Research Institute where he continued testing the MiG-15.
Viktor Yuganov was awarded the Order of Lenin, and three times, the Order of the Red Banner. He died at Moscow, 24 July 1964.
30 December 1944: Four service test Lockheed YP-80A Shooting Stars were sent to Europe in late World War II: Two, 44-83026 and 44-83027, arrived at RAF Burtonwood, Lancashire, England, 30 December 1944; and 44-83028 and 44-83029, were sent to Lesina, Italy, in late January 1945.
Lockheed YP-80 Shooting Stars, 44-83028 and 44-83029, fly past Mount Vesuvius, early 1945. (U.S. Air Force)
The prototype XP-80A, 44-83020, nicknamed Lulu-Belle, was first flown by test pilot Tony LeVier at Muroc Army Air Field (now known as Edwards AFB) 8 January 1944. The first YP-80A flew on 13 September 1944. Thirteen YP-80s were built before the aircraft was put into full production as the P-80A-1-LO.
Wreckage of YP-80A 83-026. (U.S. Air Force)
On 28 January 1945, 44-83026 caught fire in flight. The airplane disintegrated and crashed at Bold, near Widnes, Cheshire, at 12:01 p.m. Its pilot, Wright Field test pilot Major Frederic Austin Borsodi, was killed.
The third YP-80A, 44-83027, was modified to install a prototype Rolls-Royce Nene B.41 engine. It crashed at Syerston, 14 November 1945. The airplane was damaged beyond repair.
Lockheed YP-80A Shooting Star 44-83028 at Foggia, Italy, 1945. (U.S. Air Force)
Both 44-83028 and 44-83029 were returned to the United States, 16 June 1945. -028 was later converted to a pilotless drone. During a cross-country flight, -029 made a forced landing in rural West Virginia. The airplane was repaired and returned to service. It was destroyed in a crash near Brandenburg, Kentucky, 2 August 1945.
Lockheed YP-80A 44-83029 made a forced landing in West Virginia, Summer 1945. (Defense Media Network)
The Lockheed P-80-1-LO was the United States’ first operational jet fighter. It was a single-seat, single engine airplane, designed by a team of engineers led by Clarence L. (“Kelly”) Johnson. The prototype XP-80A, 44-83020, nicknamed Lulu-Belle, was first flown by test pilot Tony LeVier at Muroc Army Air Field (now known as Edwards AFB) 8 January 1944.
The P-80A was 34 feet, 6 inches (10.516 meters) long with a wingspan of 38 feet, 10.5 inches (37 feet, 7.5 inches with “clipped” wing tips) (11.849 or 11.468 meters) and an overall height of 11 feet, 4 inches (3.454 meters). The wings had 1° incidence with -1° 30° twist, and 3° 50′ dihedral. The leading edges were swept aft 9° 18′ 33″. The total wing area was 237.70 square feet (22.08 square meters). The P-80A weighed 7,920 pounds empty (3,593 kilograms) and had a maximum takeoff weight of 14,000 pounds (6,350 kilograms).
Early production P-80As were powered by either an Allison J33-A-9 or a General Electric J33-GE-11 turbojet engine. The J33 was a licensed version of the Rolls-Royce Derwent. It was a single-shaft turbojet with a 1-stage centrifugal compressor section and a 1-stage axial-flow turbine. The -9 and -11 engines were rated at 3,825 pounds of thrust (17.014 kilonewtons) at 11,500 r.p.m. They were 8 feet, 6.9 inches (2.614 meters) long, 4 feet, 2.5 inches (1.283 meters) in diameter and weighed 1,775 pounds (805 kilograms).
The P-80A-1 had a maximum speed of 510 miles per hour (821 kilometers per hour) at Sea Level, 520 miles per hour (837 kilometers per hour) at 20,000 feet (6,096 meters), and 495 miles per hour (797 kilometers per hour) at 40,000 feet (12,192 meters). The service ceiling was 45,000 feet (13,716 meters).
Several hundred of the early production P-80 Shooting stars had all of their surface seams filled, and the airplanes were primed and painted. Although this process added 60 pounds (27 kilograms) to the empty weight, the decrease in drag allowed a 10 mile per hour (16 kilometers per hour) increase in top speed. The painted surface was difficult to maintain in the field and the process was discontinued.
The P-80A Shooting Star was armed with six Browning AN-M3 .50-caliber aircraft machine guns mounted in the nose, with 300 rounds of ammunition per gun.
Frederic Austin Borsodi was born at Houston, Texas, 4 November 1916. He was the second of two sons of Victor Howard Borsodi, an immigrant from Austria and a government fuel contractor, and Lindsley Louise Snodgrass Borsodi.
Frederic Austin Borsodi, 1935
Borsodi studied at the Kincaid School, Houston, Texas, and The Hill School at Pottstown, Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 1935. He then attended the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1937, Borsodi traveled to England aboard RMS Queen Mary as a member of the Yale golf team. He graduated from Yale in 1939 with a bachelor of science degree.
Borsodi entered the United States Navy as an aviation cadet, 1 September 1939. He had brown hair and eyes, was 5 feet, 10 inches (1.78 meters) tall and weighed 160 pounds (72.6 kilograms). He trained as a pilot at the Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida, and was commissioned as an ensign, 15 May 1940.
Miss Marcia Chase
In January 1940, Aviation Cadet Borsodi became engaged to Miss Marcia Chase of Hartford, Connecticut. Miss Chase was a graduate of Smith College. Their wedding took place 8 June 1940 at the Asylum Hill Congregational Church in Hartford. They would have two daughters, Lindsley Chase and Barbara Chase Barsodi.
Ensign Borsodi was assigned to the battleship USS Nevada (BB-36), then based at Pearl Harbor, in July 1940. He and Mrs. Borsodi returned to the continental United States aboard SS Lurline, 25 September 1940.
On 12 April 1941, Ensign Borsodi was transferred to the Air Corps, United States Army, and commissioned a second lieutenant. Lieutenant Borsodi was assigned as an experimental test pilot at Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Corporation, from March to August 1941.
Borsodi was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant 12 November 1942.
Lieutenant Borsodi was assigned to the 86th Fighter Squadron, 79th Fighter Group, in North Africa during Operation Torch. During the Battle of the Mareth Line, in southern Tunisia, March 1943, Lieutenant Borsodi was flying a ground attack mission when his Curtiss-Wright P-40 was hit by anti-aircraft fire. On fire and unable to make it back to friendly lines, he was forced to bail out in the midst of the battle. A New Zealand tank crew rescued him and returned him to Allied lines.
Lieutenant Borsodi was promoted to captain, 10 April 1943. Captain Borsodi was credited with shooting down three enemy aircraft on 20 April 1943, including a Messerchmitt Bf 109 fighter and Junkers Ju 88 bomber. On 9 June 1943, he assisted in shooting down a fourth. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Borsodi was promoted to major, 1 October 1943.
In November 1943, Major Borsodi returned to the United States, flying a captured enemy bomber. In January 1944, he was assigned as Chief, Fighter Test Branch, Air Technical Services Command, at Wright Field, Ohio.
Major Frederic Austin Borsodi, United States Army Air Forces, had been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with one oak leaf cluster (two awards); and the Air Medal with six oak leaf clusters (seven awards.) His remains were buried at the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial, Coton, Cambridgeshire, England.
29 December 1972: Eastern Air Lines Flight 401, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, was en route from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), New York, to Miami International Airport (MIA), Florida, with a crew of 13 and 163 passengers. The flight was under the command of Captain Robert Albin Loft, a 32-year-veteran of Eastern Air Lines. The co-pilot was First Officer Albert John Stockstill, a former U.S. Air Force pilot who had flown with Eastern as a flight engineer for 12 years before upgrading to first officer the previous year. The Second Officer (flight engineer) was Donald Louis Repo. He was employed as a mechanic by Eastern in 1947, and had qualified as a flight engineer in 1955.
On approach to MIA, the flight crew lowered the landing gear. The indicator light for the nose gear did not illuminate. Captain Loft informed the Miami control tower that he was abandoning the approach and requested a holding pattern. Miami Approach Control placed Flight 401 in a “race track” pattern at 2,000 feet (610 meters), west of MIA.
The flight crew confirmed that the landing gear was operating properly, and confirmed that the incandescent light bulb for the gear position indicator was burned out. Still, all three members of the flight crew, as well as a fourth Eastern Air Lines employee who was in the cockpit, continued to investigate the light’s malfunction. While they did so, the airplane entered a very gradual descent which went unobserved by the crew.
The following partial transcript is from the airplane’s Cockpit Voice Recorder:
Miami Approach Control: “Eastern, ah Four Oh One how are things comin’ out there?” [2341:40]
Eastern Air Lines Flight 401: “Okay, we’d like to turn around and come back in.” [2341:44]
Miami Approach Control: “Eastern Four Oh One turn left heading one eight zero.” [2341:47]
First Officer: “We did something to the altitude.” [2342:05]
Captain: “What?” [2342:05]
First Officer: “We’re still at two thousand, right?” [2342:07]
At 11:42:12 p.m., Eastern Standard Time, Flight 401 impacted the surface of an Everglades swamp, 18.7 miles (30.1 kilometers) west-northwest of the end of Runway 9L. The TriStar hit the ground at 227 miles per hour (365 kilometers per hour) in a 28° left bank. Of the 176 persons on board, 99 were killed and 75 were injured. 2 of the injured died later.
Wreckage of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401.
The cause of the accident was “pilot error.” In the simplest terms, the flight crew failed in their primary responsibility to FLY THE AIRPLANE while they dealt with an inconsequential technical issue. At the time, this was the highest number of fatalities in an aircraft accident in the United States.
PROBABLE CAUSE: “The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the failure of the fight crew to monitor the flight instruments during the final 4 minutes of flight, and to detect an unexpected descent soon enough to prevent impact with the ground. Preoccupation with a malfunction of the nose landing gear position indicating system distracted the crew’s attention from the instruments and allowed the descent to go unnoticed.”
— Aircraft Accident Report, Eastern Air Lines, Inc. L-1011, N310EA, Miami, Florida, December 29, 1972, Report Number NTSB-AAR-73-14, Adopted 14 June 1973, Chapter 2.2 at Pages 23–24
Following the crash of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401, and the similar crash of a United Air Lines DC-8, Flight 173, at Portland, Oregon, 28 December 1978, airlines developed a system called Cockpit Resource Management to ensure that the flight crews stayed focused on cockpit priorities while dealing with unexpected issues.
The cabin crew of Flight 401, 29 December 1972: Back row: Pat Ghyssels, Trudy J. Smith, Adrianne Ann Hamilton, lead Flight Attendant, Mercedes V. Ruiz. Front row: Sue F. Tibbs, Dorothy M. Warnock, Beverly Jean Raposa, Stephanie Stanich. Laying on the coat rack, Patricia R. Georgia. Not shown, Sharon R. Transue. Pat Ghyssels and Stephanie Stanich, seated next to each other in jump seats, were killed. (Sharon R. Transue/Eastern Airlines)
Flight 401 was a Lockheed L-1011-385-1 TriStar, a long-range variant of the “wide body” airliner, FAA registration N310EA, (serial number N193A-1011) which had been delivered to Eastern Air Lines 18 August 1972 had entered service three days later. At the time of the crash it had just 986 hours total flight time (TTAF).
The L-1011 was a very technologically advanced airliner, operated by a flight crew of three, and could carry a maximum of 330 passengers. The –385 was 14 feet shorter than the previous TriStar versions, with a length of 164 feet, 2.5 inches (50.051 meters). It had longer wings, spanning 164 feet, 4 inches (50.089 meters). Its overall height was 55 feet, 4 inches (16.865 meters). Empty, it weighed 245,400 pounds (111,312 kilograms). The maximum takeoff weigh was 510,000 pounds (231,332 kilograms) and maximum landing weight, 368,000 pounds (166,922 kilograms).
N310EA was powered by three Rolls-Royce RB.211-22C turbofan engines, with two suspended on pylons under the wings and one in the rear of the fuselage. They produced 42,000 pounds of thrust (186.83 kilonewtons), each.
The L-1011-385-1 had a maximum speed of 0.95 Mach. Its cruising speed was 604 miles per hour (972 kilometers per hour). Range with maximum passengers was 6,151 miles (9,899 kilometers). The service ceiling was 43,000 feet (13,106 meters).
The Lockheed L-1011 was in production from 1968 to 1984. 250 of the airliners were built at Palmdale, California.
Eastern Air Lines CEO, Frank F. Borman II (Gemini 7, Apollo 8) in the cockpit of a Lockheed L-1011 with Lockheed’s test pilot Henry Baird (“Hank”) Dees. (Eastern Airlines)
Jackie Cochran with her Cobalt Blue North American Aviation P-51C Mustang, N5528N, Thunderbird, circa December 1949. (FAI)
29 December 1949: Jackie Cochran (Lieutenant Colonel, United States Air Force Reserve) flew her North American Aviation P-51C Mustang, Thunderbird, CAA registration N5528N, to two Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) Class C-1 world speed records of 703.38 kilometers per hour (437.06 miles per hour)¹ and a U.S. National record of 703.275 kilometers per hour (436.995 miles per hour) over the 500 kilometer (310.7 mile) Desert Center–Mt. Wilson course in the Colorado Desert of southern California.
She would later be awarded the first of three Distinguished Flying Crosses for this series of flight records.
Thunderbird was Jackie Cochran’s third P-51 Mustang. She had purchased it from Academy Award-winning actor and World War II B-24 wing commander James M. Stewart just ten days earlier, 19 December 1949.
According to Civil Aviation Administration records, the airplane had been “assembled from components of other aircraft of the same type.” It has no U.S. Army Air Corps serial number or North American Aviation manufacturer’s serial number. The C.A.A. designated it as a P-51C and assigned 2925 as its serial number. It was certificated in the Experimental category and registered N5528N.
Thunderbird had won the 1949 Bendix Trophy Race with pilot Joe De Bona, after he had dropped out of the 1948 race. Its engine had been upgraded from a Packard V-1650-3 Merlin to a V-1650-7 for the 1949 race.
Cobalt Blue North American Aviation P-51C Mustang N5528N with Joe De Bona’s race number, 90. (Unattributed).
Jackie Cochran set three world speed records with Thunderbird. In 1953, she sold it back to Jimmy Stewart. After changing ownership twice more, the P-51 crashed near Scott’s Bluff, Nebraska, 22 June 1955 and was totally destroyed. Pilot James M. Cook parachuted with minor injuries.
The P-51B and P-51C Mustangs are virtually identical. The P-51Bs were built by North American Aviation, Inc., at Inglewood, California, while P-51Cs were built at North American’s Dallas, Texas, plant. They were 32 feet, 2.97 inches (9.829 meters) long, with a wingspan of 37 feet, 0.31-inch (11.282 meters) and overall height of 13 feet, 8 inches (4.167 meters) high. The fighter had an empty weight of 6,985 pounds (3,168 kilograms) and a maximum gross weight of 11,800 pounds (5,352 kilograms).
P-51Bs and Cs were powered by a liquid-cooled, supercharged, 1,649-cubic-inch-displacement (27.04-liter) Packard V-1650-3 or -7 Merlin single overhead cam (SOHC) 60° V-12 engine which produced 1,380 horsepower at Sea Level, turning 3,000 r.p.m and 60 inches of manifold pressure (V-1650-3) or 1,490 horsepower at Sea Level, turning at 3,000 r.p.m. with 61 inches of manifold pressure (V-1650-7). These were license-built versions of the Rolls-Royce Merlin 63 and 66. The engine drove a four-bladed Hamilton-Standard Hydromatic constant speed propeller with a diameter of 11 feet, 2 inches (3.404 meters).
The P-51B/C had a cruise speed of 362 miles per hour (583 kilometers per hour) and the maximum speed was 439 miles per hour (707 kilometers per hour) at 25,000 feet (7,620 meters). The service ceiling was 41,900 feet (12,771 meters). With internal fuel, the combat range was 755 miles (1,215 kilometers).
In military service, armament consisted of four Browning AN/M2 .50-caliber machine guns, mounted two in each wing, with 350 rounds per gun for the inboard guns and 280 rounds per gun for the outboard.
1,988 P-51B Mustangs were built at North American’s Inglewood, California plant and another 1,750 P-51Cs were produced at Dallas, Texas. This was nearly 23% of the total P-51 production.
According to the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum, “At the time of her death in 1980, Jacqueline Cochran held more speed, altitude, and distance records than any other male or female pilot in aviation history.”
Identical to the Inglewood, California-built North American Aviation P-51B Mustang, this is a Dallas, Texas-built P-51C-1-NT, 42-103023. (North American Aviation, Inc.)
