Hélène Dutrieu (Library of Congress)Pierre Lafitte
22 December 1910: Hélène Dutrieu won the first Coupe Fémina by flying her Farman airplane 60.8 kilometers (37.8 miles) in 1 hour, 9 minutes at Étampes, about 48 kilometers (29 miles) southwest of Paris, France.
The Fémina Cup was established by Pierre Antoinne Baptiste René Lafitte, publisher of Fémina, a ladies’ magazine. A prize of ₣2,000 was awarded to the woman who had completed the longest flight of the year.
Mlle Dutrieu won the prize again the following year with a distance of 243.8 kilometers (151.5 miles) and duration of 2 hours, 58 minutes.
Hélène Dutrieu was just the fourth woman to become a licensed airplane pilot. She began training with a Santos-Dumont Damoiselle, in which she crashed on her first flight. After trying with another aircraft builder, she went to the Farman brothers, who loaned her one of their airplanes and taught her to fly it. She held Aéro-Club de Belgique certificate number 27, issued at the end of August 1910, and a few months later, 25 November, she also received certificate number 27 from the Aéro-Club de France.
Mlle Hélène Dutrieu with a Santos-Dumont Damoiselle, just before her first flight, 1908. (Unattributed)
Hélène Dutrieu was born 10 July 1877 at Tournai, Belgium, to Florent Dutrieu and Clothilde van Thieghem. She became a professional bicycle racer and at the age of 20, Mlle Dutrieu won the women’s cycling world championship and won again in 1898. She also won the Grand Prix d’Europe.
In addition to bicycle racing, Hélène Dutrieu raced motorcycles, cars and airplanes. For her athletic accomplishments, the King of Belgium awarded her the Cross of St. André with Diamonds, and in 1913, France made her a Chevalier de la légion d’honneur, the first woman so honored for aviation.
During World War I, Mlle Dutrieu served as an ambulance driver, and was assigned to supervise all ambulances at one hospital. Later she was director of the Campagne à Val-Grâce military hospital.
Mlle Ditrieu married a member of the French Assembly in 1922 and became a citizen of France. Mme Dutrieu-Mortier served as a vice president of the Aéro-Club de France.
Hélène Dutrieu-Mortier died at Paris, 27 June 1961 at the age of 83 years.
Hélène Dutrieu in her Farman airplane, 1911 (Unattributed)
Clipper Maid of the Seas, Pan American World Airways’ Boeing 747-121 N739PA, takes off at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) 12 March 1987. (Ted Quackenbush via Wikipedia)
21 December 1988: Pan American World Airways’ Flight 103 was a scheduled transatlantic passenger flight, originating at Flughafen Frankfurt am Main (FRA) with stopovers at London Heathrow Airport (LHR) and John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), with a final destination of Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW).
The first leg from Frankfurt to London was flown with a Boeing 727. The transatlantic segment of Flight 103 was flown by a Boeing 747-121, N739PA, named Clipper Maid of the Seas. It departed Heathrow at 1825 hours UTC, with 16 crewmembers and 243 passengers. The 747 climbed to the north and leveled off at at 31,000 feet (9,449 meters) at 1856 hours.
At approximately 1903, a time bomb which had been placed inside luggage carried in the airliner’s cargo hold detonated. Explosive decompression magnified the effects of the bomb. The airliner broke into five large sections and fell to the ground at the town of Lockerbie, Scotland.
The impact crater of Boeing 747 N739PA at Sherwood Crescent, Lockerbie. The wings and fuselage center section struck here, 49.5 seconds after the explosion. 200,000 pounds (91,000 kilograms) of jet fuel ignited, destroying many homes. (Martin Cleaver/syracuse.com)
All 259 persons on board the 747 were killed, as were another 11 persons on the ground.
The time bomb is believed to have been placed aboard the airliner by agents of the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, acting on orders of the Brotherly Leader and Guide to the Revolution of Libya, Muammar al-Gaddafi. One of these, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, was convicted of 270 counts of murder in a Scottish criminal court seated in The Netherlands. The defense twice appealed the case, but prior to a decision in the second appeal, al-Megrahi dropped his appeal and asked to be released from jail because it was believed that he would very soon die of cancer. The Scottish court did release him and he returned to Libya on 14 August 2009, on board Colonel Gadaffi’s personal aircraft. He reportedly died 20 May 2012.
Another suspect, Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi, believed to have been the bomb maker, was taken into custody by the United States, 11 December 2022. A trial is scheduled to begin 12 May 2025.
Boeing delivered N739PA to Pan American 15 February 1970. The airliner was originally named Clipper Morning Light. At the time of the bombing, it had accumulated 72,464 total flight hours.
The forward section of Clipper Maid of the Seas, near the village of Tundergarth, Scotland.
The 747-100 series was the first version of the Boeing 747 to be built. It was operated by a flight crew of three and was designed to carry 366 to 452 passengers. It is 231 feet, 10.2 inches (70.668 meters) long with a wingspan of 195 feet, 8 inches (59.639 meters) and overall height of 63 feet, 5 inches (19.329 meters). The interior cabin width is 20 feet (6.096 meters), giving it the name “wide body.” Its empty weight is 370,816 pounds (168,199 kilograms) and the Maximum Takeoff Weight (MTOW) is 735,000 pounds (333,390 kilograms).
The 747-100 is powered by four Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7A high-bypass ratio turbofan engines. The JT9D is a two-spool, axial-flow turbofan engine with a single-stage fan section, 14-stage compressor (11 high- and 3 low-pressure stages) and 6-stage turbine (2 high- and 4 low-pressure stages). The engine is rated at 46,950 pounds of thrust (208.844 kilonewtons), or 48,570 pounds (216.050 kilonewtons) with water injection (2½-minute limit). This engine has a maximum diameter of 7 feet, 11.6 inches (2.428 meters), is 12 feet, 10.2 inches (3.917 meters) long and weighs 8,850 pounds (4,014 kilograms).
The 747-100 has a cruise speed of 0.84 Mach (555 miles per hour, 893 kilometers per hour) at 35,000 feet (10,668 meters). The maximum certificated operating speed is 0.92 Mach. The airliner’s maximum range is 6,100 miles (9,817 kilometers).
The Boeing 747 has been in production for 51 years. 1,568 have been delivered as of 7 December 2021. 205 of these were the 747-100 series. The U.S. Air Force has selected the Boeing 747-8 as the next presidential transport aircraft.
Grumman F-14A-1-GR Tomcat Bu. No. 157980, just before its first flight, Calverton, Long Island, New York, 21 December 1970. (Northrop Grumman Corporation)
21 December 1970: At the Grumman Aerospace Corporation plant, Calverton, Long Island, New York, Chief Test Pilot Robert Kenneth Smyth and Project Test Pilot William Howard Miller took off on the very first flight of the F-14A-1-GR Tomcat, Bu. No. 157980.
The F-14 is a long-range fleet defense interceptor designed to operate from the United States Navy’s aircraft carriers. It is a two-place, twin-engine Mach 2+ fighter. The most notable feature are its variable geometry wings (“swing wings”), similar to those of the General Dynamics F-111.
A Grumman F-14A Tomcat during test flight. (U.S. Navy)
The Grumman F-14A Tomcat (Grumman has a long history of naming its fighter aircraft after various cats, e.g., Wildcat, Hellcat, Tigercat, Panther, Cougar, Tiger) is 62 feet, 8 inches (19.101 meters) long with its wingspan varying from 33 feet, 3 inches (10.135 meters) when swept fully aft (overswept), and 64 feet, 1 inches (19.510 meters) when fully extended. The airplane has an overall height of 16 feet, 0 inches (4.879 meters). It has an empty weight of 38,188 pounds (17,322 kilograms) and maximum takeoff weight of 72,566 pounds (32,915 kilograms).
The fighter was initially powered by two Pratt & Whitney JTF10A (TF30-P-412A) afterburning turbofan engines. The JTF10A is a two-spool axial-flow engine. It has a 3-stage fan section, 13-stage compressor section (6 low- and 7 high-pressure stages) and 4-stage turbine (1 high- and 3 low-pressure stages). The engine has a Maximum Continuous Power rating of 10,800 pounds of thrust (48.041 kilonewtons) at 14,300 r.p.m. (N2); Intermediate Power, 12,350 pounds (54.936 kilonewtons) at 14,800 r.p.m. (45-minute limit); and a Maximum Power of 20,900 pounds (92.968 kilonewtons) at 14,780 r.p.m., with afterburner (45-minute limit). The engine is 18 feet, 7.59 inches (5.679 meters) long, 4 feet, 2.5 inches (1.283 meters) in diameter, and weighs 3,971 pounds (1,801 kilograms).
The first Grumman F-14A Tomcat, 21 December 1970. (U.S. Naval Institute)
Cruise speed for the F-14A is 497 knots (572 miles per hour/920 kilometers per hour). It has a maximum speed of 805 knots (926 miles per hour (1,491 kilometers per hour) at Sea Level (Mach 1.22) and 1,314 knots (1,512 miles per hour/2,434 kilometers per hour) at 38,000 feet (11,582 meters) (Mach 2.29). The airplane’s service ceiling is 41,000 feet (12,497 meters), and its combat ceiling is 57,600 feet (17,556 meters) at 1,030 knots (1,185 miles per hour/1,907 kilometers per hour), Mach 1.80. The Tomcat has a combat radius of 741 nautical miles (853 statute miles/1,372 kilometers), and its maximum ferry range is 1,840 nautical miles (2,117 miles/3,407 kilometers).
The Tomcat is armed with one 20 mm General Electric M61A1 Vulcan six-barrel Gatling gun with 676 rounds of ammunition. It can carry a combination of Hughes AIM-54A Phoenix long range air-to-air missiles, as well as AIM 7E Sparrow and AIM 9H Sidewinders. The F-14 has the capability of simultaneously engaging six independent targets with the Phoenix missile. The AIM-54A is a radar-guided Mach 5 missile with a range of 115 statute miles (185 kilometers). It has a 135 pound (61.2 kilograms) proximity-fused blast fragmentation warhead.
The Grumman F-14 was in production from 1970 until 1991, in three variants, the F-14A, F-14B and F-14D. A total of 712 Tomcats were built. The fighter remained in service with the United States Navy until 2006. 79 F-14As were provided to the Imperial Iranian Air Force, prior to the Islamic revolt. An unknown number of these remain in service with the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force.
Grumman Chief Test Pilot Robert Kenneth Smyth. (Northrop Grumman Corporation)
Dick Johnson and Val Prahl made the first flight of the General Dynamics F-111A, 63-9766, from Carswell Air Force Base, Fort Worth, Texas, 21 December 1964. (U.S. Air Force)
21 December 1964: At 3:25 p.m., Central Standard Time (21:25 UTC), the prototype General Dynamics F-111A, 63-9766 (s/n A1-01), took off from Carswell Air Force Base, Fort Worth, Texas, on its first flight. In the cockpit were test pilots Richard Lowe Johnson and Val Edward Prahl. The airplane rotated (lifted the nose wheel from the runaway) after 2,500 feet (762 meters) and lifted off after approximately 3,000 feet (914 meters). It had been preceded into the air by five chase planes. The takeoff was observed by hundreds of General Dynamics employees, members of the public who lined airport perimeter, and Eugene Martin Zuckert, Secretary of the Air Force.
The F-111A climbed to 10,000 feet (3,048 meters) and the pilots cycled landing gear. Johnson later said, “I have flown several other planes [Convair YF-102 and F-106A] on their first flight and none of the others were able to retract the landing gear the first time out.”
The wings remained at the 26° sweep setting throughout the flight, representing an “average” wing setting.
Because of several compressor stalls and a flap malfunction, the flight was limited to 21 minutes instead of the scheduled 40. Landing speed was only 130 miles per hour (209 kilometers per hour), approximately 50 miles per hour (80 kilometers per hour) slower than current fighters. The faulty flap was caused by a “kinked” spring an an electrical brake switch. Project Chief J. T. Cosby explained that, “The brake keeps the flap from moving after they are positioned. The brake locked when the flaps were lowered to the 35° position for takeoff and stayed locked.” Because of this, the F-111A’s speed limited to 215 miles per hour (346 kilometers per hour) on this flight. After landing, the problem was diagnosed and repaired within two hours.
Following the flight, Dick Johnson was quoted as saying that he was “a little bit more than pleasantly surprised at the takeoff and landing performance. The plane handled extremely well on both takeoff and landing. I felt I had power to spare.”
Richard Lowe Johnson (left) and Val Edward Prahl. (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Vol. 84, Number 326, Tuesday, 22 December 1964, Page 9, Columns 3–4)
On the F-111A’s second test flight, 6 January 1965, wings swept from 16° to 72.5°.
A General Dynamics F-111A demonstrates its variable sweep wing. (U.S. Air Force)
63-9766 had been rolled out of the General Dynamics assembly plant on 15 October 1964.
General Dynamics F-111A 63-9766, rollout 15 October 1964. (U.S. Air Force 061003-F-1234S-002)
The General Dynamics F-111A is a large twin-engine strike fighter with variable-sweep wings produced for the U.S. Air Force. A second variant, the F-111B, made its first flight 18 May 1965. It was intended for the U.S. Navy as an interceptor, but proved to be too heavy to operate from aircraft carriers and was not put into production.
The F-111 was a result of Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara’s controversial “TFX” program which would use a single aircraft for both the Air Force and Navy as a fighter, interceptor, tactical fighter bomber, and strategic nuclear-armed bomber. Trying to make a single aircraft perform these different missions resulted in very high cost overruns, and the aircraft gained a negative perception in the news media. The F-111A and its follow-on, the FB-111 “Aardvark,” however, proved to be very effective in precision strike missions.
General Dynamics F-111A 63-9766 with wings partially swept. (U.S. Air Force)
The F-111A was flown by two pilots seated side-by-side in the cockpit. Pre-production aircraft were equipped with ejection seats, but production aircraft had a crew escape module which protected the pilots from the effects of supersonic speed.
The airplane incorporated a state-of-the art terrain-following radar and and inertial guidance computer system that allowed it to fly at a constant height above the ground. The radar searched ahead and to the sides of the aircraft’s flight path and the computer calculated pitch angles to clear obstacles ahead. The system could be programmed to fly the aircraft as low as 200 feet (61 meters) above the ground. These “nap of the earth” profiles allowed the F-111A to avoid detection by radar.
Cockpit of an early General Dynamics F-111A. Note the ejector seats. (U.S. Air Force 061003-F-1234S-015)
The F-111A is 73 feet, 10.6 inches (22.520 meters) long. With the wings fully extended, their span is 63 feet, 0.0 inches (19.202 meters), and fully swept, 31 feet, 11.4 inches (9.738 meters). The airplane has an overall height of 17 feet 1.4 inches (5.217meters). The wings are capable of being swept from 16° to 72.5°. Roll control is transferred to the stabilators when the wings sweep to 42°. It has an empty weight of 46,172 pounds (20,943 kilograms) and maximum takeoff weight of 92,657 pounds (42,029 kilograms).
A Pratt & Whitney TF30 turbofan engine at NASA’s Propulsion Systems Laboratory, 1967. L-R are engineers Fred Looft and Robert Godman. (NASA Glenn Research Center)
Early production F-111As were powered by two Pratt & Whitney TF30-P-1 afterburning turbofan engines, with following aircraft powered by the TF30-P-3. Both are two-spool axial-flow engines with a 3-stage fan section, 13-stage compressor (6 low- and 7 high-pressure stages) and 4-stage turbine (1 high- and 3 low-pressure stages). Both engines are rated at 10,750 pounds of thrust (47.82 kilonewtons), and 18,500 pounds of thrust (82.29 kilonewtons) with afterburner. Both the -1 and -3 engines are 19 feet, 7.5 inches (5.982 meters) long, 4 feet, 0.0 inches (1.219 meters) in diameter, and weigh 3,869 pounds (1,755 kilograms).
The F-111A had a maximum speed of Mach 1.2 at Sea Level, (913 miles per hour/1,225 kilometers per hour), and Mach 2.2 (1,452 miles per hour/2,336 kilometers per hour) at 60,000 feet (18,288 meters). With 5,015.5 gallons (18,985.7 liters) of internal fuel, its range was 3,165 miles (5,094 kilometers). The aircraft could carry external fuel tanks and was capable of inflight refueling.
The F-111A was designed to carry either conventional or nuclear weapons. It has an internal bomb bay, one hardpoint under the fuselage, and four hardpoints under each wing. With the wings swept to 72.5°, it could carry 18 M117 bombs, but when extended to 26°, it could carry as many as 50. On a nuclear strike mission it could carry the B61 thermonuclear bomb. A General Electric M61A1 Vulcan 20 mm rotary cannon could be installed in the bomb bay, with 2,000 rounds of ammunition..
159 F-111As were built, including 18 pre-production aircraft.
General Dynamics F-111B Bu. No. 151970 (s/n A2-01), the U.S. Navy variant, over Long Island, New York, circa 1965. (National Museum of Naval Aviation 2011.003.299.002)
The prototype General Dynamics F-111A is displayed at the Air Force Flight Test Center Museum at Edwards Air Force Base, California.
General Dynamics F-111A 63-9766 at the Air Force Flight Test Museum, Edwards Air Force Base, California. (Kerry Taylor/Flickr)
A further development of the F-111A, the FB-111A, made its first flight at Carswell on 13 July 1968. It used the larger wing of the F-111B, with stronger landing gear, an enlarged bomb bay and more powerful engines. The FB-111 is known as the “Aardvark.”
Jacqueline Auriol in the cockpit of a SNCASE SE.535 Mistral. (Maurice Jarnoux/Paris Match)
21 December 1952: Flying a Société nationale des constructions aéronautiques du Sud-Est-built DH.100 Mistral powered by a Rolls-Royce Nene 104 turbojet engine, Mme Jacqueline Marie-Thérèse Suzanne Douet Auriol set a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Record for Speed Over 100 Kilometers Without Payload of 855,92 kilometers per hour (531.84 miles per hour).¹
A SNCASE DH.100 Vampire. (National Archives at College Park, National Archives Identifier 19982005)
Jacqueline Auriol Sets New Record
MARSEILLE, France, Dec. 21 (AP)—Jacqueline Auriol, daughter-in-law of the French president, today bettered her own woman’s record for flying over a closed 100-kilometer (62.13 mile) course with an average time of 534.375 miles an hour.
Mrs. Auriol’s flight today beat the record of 511.360 miles an hour which she set in May, 1951. She flew a “Mistral” jet fighter of the French nationalized aircraft industry, powered by a Nene-Hispano Suiza motor. The previous record had been set with a jet “Vampire.”
In three passes at the course from Istre military base north of Marseille to Avignon and return, Mrs. Auriol bettered her record on the second try.
She is the wife of Paul Auriol, son and secretary of the president of the French Republic.
This Day in Aviation has not been able to determine with certainty the exact variant of the SNCASE Mistral that Mme Auriol flew to set this record. The FAI’s online database identifies the aircraft as a “DH.100 Mistral,” but powered by a Rolls-Royce Nene 104 engine. Most contemporary newspaper articles identify the aircraft only as a “Mistral,” and a few, as a “Mistral 76.” So, some speculation is in order.
Initially, Société nationale des constructions aéronautiques du Sud-Est (SNCASE) produced the de Havilland DH.100 Vampire for the Armée de l’air from kits supplied by de Havilland. It went to on to build Vampires based on the FB.5 fighter bomber airframe. SNCASE then developed its own variant, the SE.530 Mistral, which used a Hispano-Suiza-built Rolls-Royce Nene 102 turbojet engine in place of the Vampire’s de Havilland Goblin. (De Havilland designated these fighter bombers as the FB.53 Mistral.) Four SE.530 prototypes were built, followed by 93 production SE.532s. This was further upgraded to the SE.535, which featured enlarged air intakes for the Nene 104 engine, a pressurized cockpit, and a SNCASO ejection seat. It also had an increased fuel capacity. The SE.532s were upgraded to the SE.535 standard. SNCASE built 150 SE.535s.
The 1952 photograph at the head of this article shows Mme Auriol seated in a Mistral with the number 76 painted on its fuselage. Could this be the “Mistral 76” mentioned in the newspaper articles?
Does the number 76 identify this airframe as the 76th of the 93 SE.532s? Since the FAI database states that the engine is a Nene 104, can we further speculate that this 532 has been upgraded to the SE.535 standard?
A French website, FRROM, states that the Mistral flown by Mme Auriol to set the 21 December 1952 speed record was later assigned to 7th Escadres de Chase.
