Category Archives: Aviation

19 August 1940

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North American Aviation NA-62, serial number 62-2834, the first B-25 Mitchell, (U.S. Army Air Corps serial number 40-2165), at Mines Field, Los Angeles California, August 1940. (U.S. Air Force)

19 August 1940: At Mines Field (now known as Los Angeles International Airport), the first North American Aviation B-25 twin-engine medium bomber, serial number 40-2165, took off on its first flight with test pilot Vance Breese at the controls and engineer Roy Ferren in the co-pilot’s position.

Vance Breese

The airplane, North American model NA-62, serial number 62-2834, was developed from two earlier designs which had been evaluated by the U.S. Air Corps but rejected, and it was ordered into production without a prototype being built.

The first few B-25s built—sources vary, but 8–10 airplanes—were built with a constant dihedral wing. Testing at Wright Field showed that the airplane had a slight tendency to “Dutch roll” so all B-25s after those were built with a “cranked” wing, with the outer wing panels having very slight dihedral ¹ and giving it the bomber’s characteristic “gull wing” appearance. The two vertical stabilizers were also increased in size.

40-2165 was retained by North American for testing while the next several aircraft were sent to Wright Field.

Roy Ferren (SDA&SM)

The B-25 was named Mitchell in honor of early air power advocate Brigadier General Billy Mitchell. A total of 9,984 B-25s, F-10 reconnaissance variants and U.S. Navy and Marine Corps PBJ-1 patrol bombers were built by North American Aviation at Inglewood, California and Kansas City, Kansas. The last one, a TB-25J, remained in service with the U.S. Air Force until 1960.

Twenty-three B-25s were built before the B-25A Mitchell went into production. The B-25 was operated by a crew of five. It was 54 feet, 1 inch (16.485 meters) long with a wingspan of 67 feet, 6.7 inches (20.592 meters) and overall height of 16 feet, 4 inches (4.978 meters). The empty weight was 17,258 pounds (7,828 kilograms) and the maximum gross weight was 28,557 pounds (12,953 kilograms).

Scale model of a North American Aviation B-25 medium bomber being tested in a wind tunnel. (4″ × 5″ Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer)

The B-25 was powered by two air-cooled, supercharged, 2,603.737-cubic-inch-displacement (42.688 liter) Wright Aeronautical Division Cyclone 14 GR260

0B665 (R-2600-9) two-row 14-cylinder radial engines which were rated at 1,500 horsepower at 2,400 r.p.m., and 1,700 horsepower at 2,600 r.p.m. for takeoff. These engines (also commonly called “Twin Cyclone”) drove three-bladed Hamilton Standard Hydromatic variable-pitch propellers through 16:9 gear reduction. The R-2600-9 was 5 feet, 3.1 inches (1.603 meters) long and 4 feet, 6.26 inches (1.378 meters) in diameter. It weighed 1,980 pounds (898 kilograms).

Workers installing a Wright Cyclone 14 R-2600 engine on a B-25 at the North American Aviation, Inc., plant, Inglewood, California, circa 1942. (Alfred T. Palmer/Library of Congress LC-DIG-fsac-1a35281)

The medium bomber had a maximum speed of 322 miles per hour (518 kilometers per hour) at 15,000 feet (4,572 meters) and a service ceiling of 30,000 feet (9,144 meters). It could carry a 3,000 pound bomb load 2,000 miles (3,219 kilometers).

Defensive armament consisted of three air-cooled Browning M2 .30-caliber aircraft machine guns and one Browning AN-M2 .50-caliber machine gun.

After testing was completed, B-25 40-2165 was retained by North American and modified as a company transport. On 8 January 1945, flown by Edgar A. Stewart, the airplane suffered an engine failure and made a forced landing at Mines Field—the location of its first flight. The prototype B-25 was damaged beyond repair.

Front view of the first North American B-25 Mitchell, 40-2165. The constant dihedral wing was used on the first nine airplanes built. (U.S. Air Force)
Front view of the first North American Aviation B-25 Mitchell medium bomber, 40-2165, at Mines Field, August 1940. The constant dihedral wing was used on the first nine airplanes built. (U.S. Air Force)
North American Aviation NA-62, B-25 Mitchell 40-2165, left front. (U.S. Air Force)
North American B-25 Mitchell 40-2165, left rear. (U.S. Air Force)
North American Aviation B-25 Mitchell 40-2165, left rear. (U.S. Air Force)
North American Aviation B-25A Mitchell twin-engine medium bomber in flight near Wright Field, Ohio, 1 May 1941. (Rudy Arnold Photo Collection, Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum XRA-4945)
North American Aviation B-25A Mitchell twin-engine medium bomber in flight near Wright Field, Ohio, 1 May 1941. (Rudy Arnold Photo Collection, Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum XRA-4946)
Compare the “cranked” wing of this North American Aviation B-25J Mitchell medium bomber to the prototype in the images above. (U.S. Air Force)

¹ The wing center section of the B-25H and B-25J has 4° 38′ 23″ dihedral. The outer sections have 0° 21′ 39″. The wing has 2° 29′ 37″ negative twist.

© 2019, Bryan R. Swopes

19 August: National Aviation Day

Aviation,
Boeing 314, California Clipper, NC18602, over Oakland, California. Photographed by Clyde Herwood Sunderland, Jr. (1900–1989).

In 1939, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, proclaimed Orville Wright’s birthday, 19 August, as National Aviation Day.

By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation

Whereas the people of the United States may justly claim to have taken a leading part in the development of the science of aeronautics and to enjoy today an outstanding position among the nations of the world in the use of air transport; and

Whereas Public Resolution No. 32, Seventy-fifth Congress, first session, approved May 25, 1937, provides in part:

That the President of the United States is authorized to designate May 28, 1937, as National Aviation Day, and to issue a proclamation calling upon officials of the Government to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on that day, and Inviting the people of the United States to observe the day with appropriate exercises to further and stimulate Interest in aviation in the United States.

Now, Therefore, I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, acting in accord with the purposes of the Congress to stimulate interest in aviation with a view to the further advancement of the science of aeronautics, do hereby call upon the people of the United States to observe May 28, 1937, as National Aviation Day with appropriate exercises, and do direct Government officials to display the flag on all Government buildings on that day.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington this 26th day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and thirty-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and sixty-first.

Signature of Franklin D. Roosevelt
FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT

By the President:
SUMMER WELLES
Acting Secretary of State.

The Boeing XB-15, 35-277, flies past the Wright Brothers Memorial at the Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. (U.S. Air Force)

© 2024, Bryan R. Swopes

Guards Captain Mariya Ivanovna Dolina-Melnikova, Hero of the Soviet Union

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Мария Ивановна Долина (Colorized by Olga Shirnina: “Color by Klimbim”) Used with permission.

18 August 1945: Guards Captain Mariya Ivanovna Dolina, Deputy Commander, 125th Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment, is named Hero of the Soviet Union. She is also awarded the Order of Lenin and Gold Star medal.

Comrade Mariya was one of the Soviet Union’s “Night Witches,” squadrons of women pilots who flew combat missions against the German invaders during hours of darkness. Captain Dolina flew the Petlyakov Pe-2, a twin-engine light bomber.

Petlyakov Pe-2

Mariya Ivanovna Dolina was born 18 December 1922 ¹ at Sharkova, Poltva, Omsk. She was  the oldest of 10 children; the daughter of Red Army soldier who lost a leg during the civil war. The family emigrated from Ukraine to Siberia for work, but returned to the Ukraine in 1934. Mariya attended various schools, at one point having to drop out of high school to find work to help support her family. Eventually, Mariya Ivanovna graduated from high school at Dnepropetrovsk, near the confluence of the Dneiper and Samara rivers in the eastern Ukraine. She attended the Kherson aviation School, then worked as a flight instructor.

In 1941, Comrade Mariya joined the 269th Fighter Regiment, flying 200 missions with the U-2, a biplane trainer used as a light bomber. In 1942 she graduated from Engels military aviation school and transitioned to the Pe-2 with the 587th Dive Bomber Regiment.

Mariya Ivanova was awarded Order of Red Banner, 1 June 1943, and again, 28 July 1944. In January 1945, she was promoted to the rank of Guards Captain, and assigned as deputy commander, 125th Guards Bomber Aviation Regiment. She flew another 72 combat missions.

Captain Dolina married a navigator in her unit, named Mel’nikova. He died in 1972. She then married Litosh Vasily, who had been a mechanic in her regiment. They would have two children.

Guards Captain Dolina transferred to the air force reserve in 1950.

She died 3 March 2010 at the age of 88 years, and was buried at Baikovo.

¹ As she was not old enough to enter the Kherson Aviation School, Mariya Ivanova changed her date of birth to 1920.

© 2021, Bryan R. Swopes

18 August 1943

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The second Sikorsky XR-5, 43-28237 (c/n 34). (Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin Company)

18 August 1943: At Bridgeport, Connecticut, Sikorsky chief test pilot Charles Lester (“Les”) Morris made the first flight of the Vought-Sikorsky VS-327, c/n 33. Also known as the Sikorsky Model S-48, the U.S. Army Air Corps designated the helicopter XR-5 and assigned the serial number 43-28236.

The XR-5 was a significant improvement over the earlier R-4. Its narrow fuselage was streamlined and the cockpit had excellent visibility. The R-4’s box-like fuselage interfered with the downward flow of air from the main rotor, and this was a consideration in the shape of the new helicopter.

The Sikorsky XR-5 (Model S-48) was a single-engine, two-place helicopter. The cabin was built of aluminum with plexiglas windows. The fuselage was built of plastic-impregnated plywood and the tail boom was wood monocoque construction. The main rotor consisted of three fully-articulated blades built of wood spars and ribs and covered with fabric. The three bladed semi-articulated tail rotor was built of laminated wood. The main rotor turned counter-clockwise as seen from above. (The advancing blade is on the helicopter’s right.) The tail rotor was mounted on the helicopter’s left side in a pusher configuration. It turned clockwise as seen from the helicopter’s left.

There were five XR-5 helicopters, followed by twenty-six YR-5A service test helicopters built between November 1944 and July 1945. There were slight changes from the earlier five XR-5A prototypes. The R-5A went into production in July 1945 and more than 300 had been built by the time production ended in 1951.

The helicopter’s fuselage was 41 feet, 7½ inches (12.687 meters) long. The main rotor had a diameter of 48 feet (14.630 meters) and tail rotor diameter was 8 feet, 5 inches (2.2.565 meters), giving the helicopter an overall length of 57 feet, 1 inch (17.399 meters) with rotors turning. It was 13 feet, 1½ inches (4.001 meters) high. The landing gear tread was 12 feet (3.7 meters). The R-5A had an empty weight of 3,780 pounds (1,714.6 kilograms) and maximum takeoff weight of 4,900 pounds (2,222.6 kilograms). Fuel capacity was 100 gallons (378.5 liters).

Chief Test Pilot Les Morris with Captain Jackson E. Beighle, U.S. Army Air Corps, hovers a Sikorsky YR-5A, 43-46603, at Bridgeport, with ten additional passengers, 29 November 1945. (Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin Company)

The helicopter was powered by an air-cooled, supercharged, 986.749-cubic-inch-displacement (16.170 liter) Pratt & Whitney Wasp Jr. T1B4 (R-985 AN-5) direct-drive, nine-cylinder radial engine which was placed vertically in the fuselage behind the crew compartment. This engine was rated at 450 horsepower at 2,300 r.p.m., Standard Day at Sea Level. The R-985 AN-5 was 48.00 inches (1.219 meters) long, 46.25 inches (1.175 meters) in diameter and weighed 684 pounds (310.3 kilograms) with a magnesium crankcase.

The R-5 had a maximum speed (Vne) of 107 knots (123.1 miles per hour/198.2 kilometers per hour). Range was 275 miles (442.6 kilometers). The service ceiling was 14,800 feet (4,511 meters). The absolute hover ceiling was 3,000 feet (914.4 meters).

On 13 September 1943, Dimitry D. (“Jimmy”) Viner was hovering out of ground effect at 75 feet (23 meters) when 43-28236 suffered a tail rotor failure. The helicopter made a hard landing and was dignificantly damaged. Neither Viner nor his passenger were injured.

In 1944, while flying to a war bond rally in Nebraska, XR-5 43-28236 suffered an engine failure and crash landed. The helicopter was damaged beyond repair and was stripped for parts.

Thanks to regular This Day in Aviation reader Mike for suggesting this subject.

Igor Sikorsky in the cockpit of a production R-5 helicopter. (Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin Company)

© 2017, Bryan R. Swopes