Category Archives: Aviation

10 September 1952

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An XF-99 BOMARC surface-to-air missile for booster research. Note that there are no wing-mounted ramjet engines on this prototype, photographed 1 September 1952. (U.S. Air Force)
Boeing XF-99 Bomarc launch. (U.S. Air Force)

10 September 1952: The Boeing Michigan Aeronautical Research Center (BOMARC) XF-99 surface-to-air antiaircraft guided missile made its first flight when launched from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on the east coast of Florida. This flight  was a test of the missile’s liquid-fueled Aerojet General booster engine.

The surface-to-air missile was developed as a defense against Soviet intercontinental nuclear-armed bombers, such as the Tupolev Tu-4 and Tu-16. At the time, the missile was considered to be an unmanned aircraft and was given a fighter designation, F-99, later redesignated IM-99, then CIM-10.

Tupolev Tu-16 long range strategic bomber.

After launch, the Bomarc would be guided toward its target by the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) system. Once with 10 miles (16 kilometers) of the target, the missile would home in using its own radar. The warhead would be detonated by a proximity fuse.

The operational Bomarc missile was armed with a W-40 nuclear warhead. The W-40 was a boosted fission implosion device which had been developed as the primary for the Mk-28 thermonuclear bomb. It was 1 foot, 5.9 inches (0.455 meters) in diameter, 2 feet, 7.64 inches (0.804 meters) long, and weighed 385 pounds (175 kilograms). The warhead had a yield of 10 kilotons. Its effective radius was approximately 0.6 mile (1 kilometer).

The Bomarc A was 46 feet, 10 inches (14.2748 meters) long, with a diameter of 2 feet, 11, inches 9 meters). It had a wingspan of 18 feet, 2 inches (5.5372 meters), and height of 10 feet, 4 inches (3.1496 meters), It weighed 15,619 pounds (7,085 kilograms).

The Bomarc A first stage was powered by a liquid-fueled Aerojet General LR59-AG-13 engine, producing 35,875 pounds of thrust (159.6 kilonewtons). The second stage was driven by two Marquardt RJ43-MA-7 ramjet engines, of 11,500 pounds of thrust, each (51.15 kilonewtons).

Launch of a Bomarc surface-to-air missile. (U.S. Air Force)

Because the hypergolic liquid fuel of the Bomarc A was highly corrosive and dangerous to handle, the missile could not be fueled until just before launch, which required approximately two minutes. This significantly reduced the time available to intercept enemy bombers. To eliminate the delay, the Bomarc B used a Thiokol XM-51 solid fuel rocket engine, which increased the first stage thrust to 50,000 pounds (222.4 kilonewtons).

While the Bomarc A used vacuum tubes in its electronic circuitry, the Bomarc B was solid state. Its intercept pulse doppler radar was produced by Westinghouse.

Original variants of the Bomarc could reach a speed of 1,975 miles per hour (3,658 kilometers per hour), had a range of 260 statute miles (418 kilometers), and could reach an altitude of 65,000 feet (19,812 meters). The Bomarc B had a range of 440 miles (708 kilometers) and could reach 100,000 feet (30,480 meters). Slightly heavier, it weighed 16,032 pounds (7,272 kilograms. During testing, the missile could reach Mach 4.

The Bomarc was in operational service from 1959 until 1970. As originally planned, the Bomarc would be based at 52 sites within the United States and Canada, with 120 missiles each, but in actuality, there were only eight sites in the U.S. and two in Canada. Boeing produce 260 Bomarc As, and 570 Bomarc Bs.

Bomarc surface-to-air missiles at Maguire Air Force Base, southeast of Trenton, New Jersey. (U.S. Air Force 090603-F-1234P-002)
Bomarc surface-to-air missiles at Maguire Air Force Base, southeast of Trenton, New Jersey. (U.S. Air Force 090603-F-1234P-002)

© 2023, Bryan R. Swopes

9 September 1972

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Captain Charles Barbin DeBellevue, U.S. Air Force, with his F-4D Phantom II at Udorn RTAFB, 1972. (U.S. Air Force)

9 September 1972: Captain Charles Barbin DeBellevue, United States Air Force, a Weapons System Officer flying on F-4D and F-4E Phantom II fighters, became the high-scoring American Ace of the Vietnam War when he and his pilot, Captain John A. Madden, Jr., shot down two Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG 19¹ fighters of the Không Quân Nhân Dân Việt Nam (Vietnam People’s Air Force), west of Hanoi.

Captain DeBellevue was assigned to the 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 432nd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, at Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base. With Captain Richard S. Ritchie, he had previously shot down four MiG 21 fighters using AIM-7 Sparrow radar-guided missiles. Then while flying a combat air patrol in support of Operation Linebacker, he and Captain Madden, aboard F-4D-29-MC Phantom II 66-0267, call sign OLDS 01, used two AIM-9 Sidewinder heat-seeking missiles to destroy the MiG 19s. These were Madden’s first two aerial victories, but for DeBellevue, they were number 5 and 6.

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG 19

Madden and DeBellevue had fired two AIM-7 Sparrow radar-guided missiles at a MiG-21 which was on approach to land at the Phúc Yên Yen air base northwest of Hanoi, but both missiles missed. The MiG was then shot down by gunfire from an F-4E flown by Captain Calvin B. Tibbett and 1st Lieutenant William S. Hargrove (after two of their missiles also missed). The flight of Phantoms was then attacked by MiG 19s. DeBellevue reported:

We acquired the MiGs on radar and positioned as we picked them up visually. We used a slicing low-speed yo-yo to position behind the MiG-19s and started turning hard with them. We fired one AIM-9 missile, which detonated 25 feet from one of the MiG-19s. We then switched the attack to the other MiG-19 and one turn later we fired an AIM-9 at him.

I observed the missile impact the tail of the MiG. The MiG continued normally for the next few seconds, then began a slow roll and spiraled downward, impacting the ground with a large fireball. Our altitude was approximately 1,500 feet at the moment of the MiG’s impact.

— Aces and Aerial Victories: The United States Air Force in Southeast Asia 1965–1973, by R. Frank Futrell, William H. Greenhalgh, Carl Grubb, Gerard E. Hasselwander, Robert F. Jakob and Charles A. Ravenstein, Office of Air Force History, Headquarters USAF, 1976, Chapter III  at Pages 104–105.

Screen Shot 2014-09-13 at 17.44.20 The first MiG-19, damaged by the Sidewinder’s close detonation, crashed on the runway at Phuc Yen.

After becoming the war’s highest-scoring American ace, Chuck DeBellevue was sent to Williams Air Force Base, Arizona, for pilot training. He became an aircraft commander of F-4E Phantom IIs. He retired from the Air Force as a colonel in 1998, after 30 years of service.

DeBellevue’s F-4D, 66-0267, was destroyed by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. It was reassembled with parts from other damaged Phantoms and is on display as a “gate guard” at Homestead Air Force Base, Florida.

F-4D-29-MC 66-7463, in which he scored his first and fourth kills with Steve Ritchie, is on display at the United States Air Force Academy. Like DeBellevue, this airplane is also credited with 6 victories. DeBellevue’s F-4E-36-MC, 67-0362, in which he and Ritchie shot down their second and third MiG 21s, was sold to Israel in 1973.

McDonnell F-4D-29-MC Phantom II 66-0267, flown by Madden and DeBellevue, 9 September 1972, on display at the main gate, Homestead AFB, Florida. (© Europix)

¹ Many VPAF MiG 19s were the Chinese-built Shenyang J-6 variant.

© 2017, Bryan R. Swopes

9 September 1940

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North American Aviation NA-73X prototype, NX19998, at Mines Field, California, 9 September 1940. (North American Aviation, Inc.)

9 September 1940: North American Aviation completed assembly of the NA-73X, the first prototype of the new Mustang Mk.I fighter for the Royal Air Force. This was just 117 days after the British Purchasing Commission had authorized the construction of the prototype. The airplane was designed by a team led by Edgar Schmued. The 1,150-horsepower Allison V-12 engine had not yet arrived, so the NA-73X was photographed with dummy exhaust stacks. The prototype’s company serial number was 73-3097. It had been assigned a civil experimental registration number, NX19998.

The NA-73X was a single-seat, single-engine, low wing monoplane with retractable landing gear. It was primarily of metal construction, though the flight control surfaces were fabric covered. The airplane was designed for the maximum reduction in aerodynamic drag.  The Mustang was the first airplane to use a laminar-flow wing. The fuselage panels were precisely designed and very smooth. Flush riveting was used. The coolant radiator with its intake and exhaust ducts was located behind and below the cockpit. As cooling air passed through the radiator it was heated and expanded, so that as it exited, it actually produced some thrust.

The prototype was 32 feet, 2⅝ inches (9.820 meters) long, with a wing span of 37 feet, 5/16 inch (11.286 meters). Empty weight of the NA-73X was 6,278 pounds (2,848 kilograms) and normal takeoff weight was 7,965 pounds (3,613 kilograms).

Aeronautical Engineer Edgar Schmued with a North American P-51-2-NA (Mustang Mk.IA), 41-37322. (San Diego Air and Space Museum Archives)

The NA-73X was powered by a liquid-cooled, supercharged, 1,710.60-cubic-inch-displacement (28.032 liter) Allison Engineering Company V-1710-F3R (V-1710-39) single overhead cam 60° V-12 engine, with four valves per cylinder and a compression ratio of 6.65:1. It used a single-stage, single-speed supercharger. This was a right-hand tractor engine (the V-1710 was built in both right-hand and left-hand configurations) which drove a 10 foot, 6 inch (3.200 meter) diameter, three-bladed, Curtiss Electric constant-speed propeller through a 2.00:1 gear reduction.

The V-1710-39 had a Normal Power rating of 880 horsepower at 2,600 r.p.m. at Sea Level; Take Off Power rating of 1,150 horsepower at 3,000 r.p.m. at Sea Level, with 44.5 inches of manifold pressure (1.51 Bar), 5 minute limit; and a War Emergency Power rating of 1,490 horsepower at 3,000 r.p.m., with 56 inches of manifold pressure (1.90 Bar). The V-1710-F3R was 7 feet, 4.38 inches (2.245 meters) long, 3 feet, 0.64 inches (0.931 meters) high, and 2 feet, 5.29 inches (0.744 meters) wide. It had a dry weight of 1,310 pounds (594 kilograms).

U.S. Army Air Corps flight tests of the fully-armed production Mustang Mk.I (XP-51 41-038), equipped with the V-1710-39 and a 10 foot, 9-inch (3.277 meters) diameter Curtiss Electric propeller, resulted in a maximum speed of 382.0 miles per hour (614.8 kilometers per hour) at 13,000 feet (3,962 meters). The service ceiling was 30,800 feet (9,388 meters) and the absolute ceiling was 31,900 feet (9,723 meters).

The Curtiss P-40D Warhawk used the same Allison V-1710-39 engine as the XP-51, as well as a three-bladed Curtiss Electric propeller. During performance testing at Wright Field, a P-40D, Air Corps serial number 40-362, weighing 7,740 pounds (3,511 kilograms), reached a maximum speed of 354 miles per hour (570 kilometers per hour) at 15,175 feet (4,625 meters). Although the Mustang’s test weight was 194 pounds (88 kilograms) heavier, at 7,934 pounds (3,599 kilograms), the Mustang was 28 miles per hour (45 kilometers per hour) faster than the Warhawk. This demonstrates the effectiveness of the Mustang’s exceptionally clean design.

Only one NA-73X was built. It made its first flight 26 October 1940 with test pilot Vance Breese. The prototype suffered significant damage when it overturned during a forced landing, 20 November 1941. NX19998 was repaired and flight testing resumed. The prototype’s final disposition is not known.

Originally ordered by Great Britain, the Mustang became the legendary U.S. Army Air Corps P-51 Mustang. A total of 15,486 Mustangs were built by North American Aviation at Inglewood, California and Dallas, Texas. Another 200 were built in Australia by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation.

The P-51 remained in service with the U.S. Air Force until 27 January 1957 when the last one, F-51D-30-NA 44-74936, was retired from the 167th Fighter Squadron, West Virginia Air National Guard. It was then transferred to the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, where it is on display.

North American Aviation NA-73X prototype, left front quarter view. (North American Aviation, Inc.)
North American Aviation NA-73X prototype, NX19998, left front quarter view. (North American Aviation, Inc.)

© 2017, Bryan R. Swopes

9 September 1913 (27 August 1913, Old Style)

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Цветная фотография Петра Николаевича Нестерова.  Staff-Captain Pyotr Nikolayevich Nesterov, Imperial Russian Army, is wearing the Order of St. Anna, Order of St. Stanislav, and the Commemorative Medal for the Tercentenary of the Romanov Dynasty. (Colorized by Olga Shirnina: “Color by Klimbim.” Image used with permission.)

9 September 1913 (27 August 1913, Old Style ¹): At the Syretsky military airfield west of Kiev, Ukraine, Imperial Russia, Пётр Николаевич Нестеров (Pyotr Nikolayevich Nesterov), a military officer, flew a Nieuport IV.G into an inside loop, the first time this aerobatic maneuver had ever been performed.

Nesterov’s Loop

Also known as “Nesterov’s Loop,” or a “dead loop,” the inside loop was completed by entering from a dive, pulling the nose up and flying in a closed curve in the vertical plane (with the top of the airplane toward the center of the loop at all times), and then returning to a dive.

This maneuver is now performed beginning and ending in straight and level flight, but airplanes of the time had insufficient power.

Staff-Captain P.N. Nesterov (left) with his aircraft mechanic and the Nieuport IV. (Energy News)

The airplane flown by Lieutenant Nesterov was a Nieuport IV, designed by the French aircraft company, Société Anonyme des Éstablissements Nieuport, and built in Russia by several manufacturers. The variant flown by the Imperial Russian Air Service was powered by an air-cooled, normally-aspirated, 10.292 liter (628.048 cubic inch displacement Société des Moteurs Gnome Gamma seven-cylinder rotary engine, which produced 70 horsepower at 1,200 r.p.m.

“. . . I sat head down for a few moments and did not feel rush of blood to the head, I was sitting tightly, and legs pressed on the pedal … Tools in the open boxes remained in their places. Gasoline and oil also keeps the centrifugal force at the bottom of the tank, ie, at the top, and normally fed to the engine, which worked perfectly the entire upper half of the loop. In general, all this proves that the airplane made ​​regular rotation, only in the vertical plane, as all the time there was a dynamic equilibrium. With this only turning the air is defeated by man. . . . Man mistakenly forgot that in the air the support is everywhere, and he should cease to determine the direction in relation to the earth. “

—The pilot innovator Peter Nesterov, National Technical University of Ukraine, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute

P.N. Nesterov with the Nieuport IV in which he performed an inside loop.

One year later, 8 September 1914 (25 August 1914, Old Style), Nesterov became the first pilot to destroy an enemy aircraft in aerial combat. Flying a Morane Saulnier Type G near Zhovkva, Ukraine, Nesterov rammed an Albatros B.II. Both aircraft were so badly damaged that they crashed. The Austrian pilot, Franz Malina, and observer, Baron Friederich von Rosenthal, were both killed. Nesterov died of injuries the following day.

Monument commemorating P.N. Nesterov and his inside loop at  Kiev, Ukraine. (Unattributed)

¹ Imperial Russia used the Julian Calendar until the October Revolution when the Gregorian calendar was adopted.

© 2017, Bryan R. Swopes

8 September 2001

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Special Air Mission 27000, a Boeing VC-137C, 72-7000, on final approach for landing.

8 September 2001: Special Air Mission 27000, a Boeing VC-137C, serial number 72-7000, served as an airborne office and transport for seven United States presidents over 29 years. It made its last flight from Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland to San Bernardino International Airport, California, where technicians from Boeing disassembled the aircraft and transported it in sections to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum at Simi Valley, California. It was reassembled and is on display inside the Air Force One Pavilion.

Aboard for its final flight were Secretary of the Air Force James G. Roche, Vice Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Lance W. Lord, U.S. Air Force, and former First Lady of the United States, Nancy Reagan.

The VC-137C was a specially-built Model 707-353B four-engine jet airliner. Known by the call sign Air Force One when the President is aboard, it otherwise is referred to as Special Air Mission 27000. Its sister ship, 72-6000, is at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, where it recently was returned to display after renovation.

Boeing VC-137C 72-7000 on display at the Air Force One Pavilion, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, Simi Valley, California. (Wikipedia)

© 2015, Bryan R. Swopes