Category Archives: Aviation

29 June 1942

June 29, 2025AviationBrowning Machine Gun Caliber .50 AN-M2, Bu. No. 02153, Bu. No. 2170, Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp SSB2-G, Pratt & Whitney R-2800-8, Rex Buren Beisel, Vought-Sikorsky Aircraft Division, Vought-Sikorsky F4U-1 Corsair, Willard Bartlett BoothbyBryan Swopes

Vought-Sikorsky F4U-1 Corsair, Bu. No. 02153, the first production aircraft. (Unattributed)

29 June 1942: The first production Vought-Sikorsky F4U-1 Corsair, Bu. No. 02153, made its first flight at Stratford, Connecticut. (Most sources state 24 or 25 June.)

Many United States newspapers published this short statement on Saturday, 27 June 1942, or Sunday, 28 June 1942:

Navy Will Test Corsair Monday

Copyright, 1942, by the New York Times

Washington, D.C., June 27—The first production model of the new Vought-Sikorsky F4U-1 Navy fighter plane will make its initial flight on Monday at the company’s plant at Stratford, Conn., the Navy Department announced today.

Known as the Corsair, the new gull-winged fighter attains a speed of about 400 mph, and was said by Rear Admiral John Towers to be “the fastest ship-borne plane in the world.”

—Buffalo Courier-Express, Vol. CVII, No. 342, Sunday, 28 June 1942, Section Seven, Page 6, Column 4

The Mobile Labor Journal reported:

Before a mass meeting of the company’s officers, management and employees, members of the International Association of Machinists, AFL, the inverted gull wing model, officially named “Corsair,” was put through its paces. The demonstration was held at 5:30 p.m., E.W.T. [Eastern War Time] in order to give all workers a chance to see the plane they built in actual operation without stopping production.

—Mobile Labor Journal, Vol. 5, No. 22, Friday, 31 July 1942, Page 3, Column 6

Vought-Sikorsky F4U-1 Corsair, Bu. No. 02170, with test pilot Willard Bartlett Boothby, 24 October 1942. This is the seventeenth production F4U-1. (Rudy Arnold/National Air and Space Museum NASM-XRA-1294)

The Corsair was designed by Rex Buren Beisel, and is best known for its distinctive inverted “gull wing,” which allowed sufficient ground clearance for its 13 foot, 4 inch (4.064 meter) diameter propeller, without using excessively long landing gear struts. By joining the fuselage at a 90° angle, less aerodynamic drag was created. The prototype XF4U-1, Bu. No. 1443, had first flown 29 May 1940, with test pilot Lyman A. Bullard in the cockpit.

The F4U-1 was had a length of 33 feet, 4.125 inches (10.163 meters), wingspan of 40 feet, 11.726 inches (12.490 meters) and overall height (to top of propeller arc) of 15 feet, 0.21 inches (4.577 meters). The wings’ angle of incidence was 2°. The outer wing had 8.5° dihedral and the leading edges were swept back 4°10′. With its wings folded, the width of the F4U-1 was 17 feet, 0.61 inches (5.197 meters), and gave it a maximum height of 16 feet, 2.3 inches (4.935 meters). When parked, the Corsair’s 13 foot, 4 inch (4.064 meter) propeller had 2 feet, 1.93 inches (65.862 centimeters) ground clearance, but with the fighter’s thrust line level, this decreased to just 9.1 inches (23.1 centimeters). The F4U-1 had an empty weight of 8,982 pounds (4,074.2 kilograms) and gross weight of 12,162 pounds (5,516.6 kilograms).

Vought-Sikorsky F4U-1 Corsair, Bu. No. 02170, with test pilot Willard Bartlett Boothby, 24 October 1942. (Rudy Arnold/National Air and Space Museum NASM-XRA-1301)

The F4U-1 variant of the Corsair was powered by an air-cooled, supercharged, 2,804.4-cubic-inch-displacement (45.956 liter) Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp SSB2-G (R-2800-8) two-row, 18-cylinder radial engine, with a compression ratio of 6.65:1. The R-2800-8 had a normal power rating of 1,675 horsepower at 2,550 r.p.m. and 44.0 inches of manifold pressure (1.490 bar) at 5,500 feet (1,676 meters); 1,550 horsepower at 21,500 feet (6,553 meters); and 2,000 horsepower at 2,700 r.p.m. with 54.0 inches of manifold pressure (1.829 bar) for takeoff. The engine turned a three-bladed Hamilton Standard Hydromatic constant-speed propeller with a diameter of 13 feet, 4 inches (4.064 meters) through a 2:1 gear reduction. The R-2800-8 was 7 feet, 4.47 inches (2.247 meters) long, 4 feet, 4.50 inches (1.334 meters) in diameter and weighed 2,480 pounds (1,125 kilograms).

Vought-Sikorsky F4U-1 Corsair, circa 1942. (Rudy Arnold)

The F4U-1 had a cruise speed of 186 miles per hour (299 kilometers per hour) at Sea Level. Its maximum speed at Sea Level was 365 miles per hour (587 kilometers per hour). During flight testing, an F4U-1 reached 431 miles per hour (694 kilometers per hour) at 20,300 feet (6,187 meters) with War Emergency Power. The service ceiling was 38,200 feet (11,643 meters) and its maximum range was 1,510 miles (2,430 kilometers) with full main and outer wing tanks.

The Corsair was armed with six air-cooled Browning AN-M2 .50-caliber machine guns, three in each wing, with 400 rounds of ammunition per gun.

Three Browning AN-M2 .50-caliber machine guns and belted ammunition installed in the left wing of a Vought-Sikorsky F4U-1 Corsair, 11 August 1942. (Vought-Sikorsky VS-6015)

A total of 12,571 Corsairs were manufactured by the Vought-Sikorsky Aircraft Division (F4U-1), Goodyear Aircraft Corporation (FG-1D) and Brewster Aeronautical Corporation (F3A-1). The Corsair served the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps in World War II and the Korean War. Corsairs also served in other countries’ armed forces. Its last known use in combat was in Central America in 1969.

Vought-Sikorsky F4U-1 Corsair, circa 1942. (Rudy Arnold/National Air and Space Museum NASM-XRA-1329)

29 June 1937

June 29, 2025AviationAmelia Earhart, Around-The-World-Flight, Australia, Fred Noonan, Lae, Lockheed Aircraft Company, Lockheed Electra 10E Special, Northern Territory, NR16020, Port Darwin, Territory of New GuineaBryan Swopes

Photo of a replica of Earhart's Lockheed Electra 10E, flown by Linda Finch. (Tony Bacewicz / The Hartford Courant) — This is a photograph of Linda Finch’s Lockheed Electra over the Arafura Sea at sunset, 8 May 1997, as she recreated the flight of Amelia Earhart. (Tony Bacewicz /The Hartford Courant)

29 June 1937: Leg 28. Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan fly the Lockheed Electra 10E, NR16020, from Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, to Lae, Territory of New Guinea.

“Lae, New Guinea, June 30th. After a flight of seven hours and forty-three minutes from Port Darwin, Australia, against head winds as usual, my Electra now rests on the shores of the Pacific. Beyond the Gulf of Huon the waters stretch into the distance. Somewhere beyond the horizon lies California. Twenty-two thousand miles have been covered so far. There are 7,000 to go.

“From Darwin we held a little north of east, cutting across the Wellington Hills on the northern coast of Arnhem Land, which is the topmost region of Australia’s Northern Territory. The distance to Lae was about 1,200 miles. Perhaps two-thirds of it was over water, the Arafura Sea, Torres Strait and the Gulf of Papua.

“Midway to New Guinea the sea is spotted with freakish islands, stony fingers pointing towards the sky sometimes for hundreds of feet. We had been told the clouds often hang low over this region and it was better to climb above its hazardous minarets than to run the risks of dodging them should we lay our course close to the surface. Then, too, a high mountain range stretches the length of New Guinea from northwest to southeast. Port Moresby was on the nearer side, but it was necessary to clamber over the divide to reach Lae situated on the low land of the eastern shore. As the journey progressed we gradually increased our altitude to more than 11,000 feet to surmount the lower clouds encountered. Even at that, above us towered cumulus turrets, mushrooming miraculously and cast into endless designs by the lights and shadows of the lowering sun. It was a fairy-story sky country, peopled with grotesque cloud creatures who eyed us with ancient wisdom as we threaded our way through its shining white valleys. But the mountains of cloud were only dank gray mist when we barged into them, that was healthier than playing hide-and-seek with unknown mountains of terra firma below. Finally, when dead reckoning indicated we had traveled far enough, we let down gingerly. The thinning clouds obligingly withdrew and we found ourselves where we should be, on the western flanks of the range with the coastline soon blow us. Working along it, we found Lae and sat down. We were thankful we had been able to make our way successfully over those remote regions of sea and jungle – strangers in a strange land.”

—Amelia Earhart

Great Circle route from Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, to Lae, Territory of New Guinea, 1,002 nautical miles (1,153 statute miles/1,856 kilometers). (Great Circle Mapper)

29 June 1931

June 29, 2025AviationDr.-Ing. Hanns Klemm, Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, Klemm Leichtflugzeugbau GmbH L 25.I, La Trottinette, Maryse Bastié, Salmson 9Ad, Société des Moteurs Salmson, World Record for Distance in a Straight Line Without LandingBryan Swopes

29 June 1931: Maryse Bastié set three Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Records for Distance in a Straight Line Without Landing ¹ when she flew a Klemm L 25.I monoplane, La Trottinette, 2,976.91 kilometers (1,849.77 statute miles) from Le Bourget Airport, Paris, France, to Yurino, Mari Autonomous Oblast, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Maryse Bastié with her Klemm L 25.I (Conservatoire Aéronautique du Limousin)

The Klemm Leichtflugzeugbau GmbH L 25.I was designed by Dr.-Ing. Hanns Klemm. It was a single place, single engine light airplane with an open cockpit and conventional fixed landing gear. It was constructed of wood, and covered with plywood. The airplane was 7.3 meters (23 feet, 11.4 inches) feet) long with a wingspan of 13 meters (42 feet, 7.8 inches) and height of 1.75 meters (5 feet, 8.9 inches). The total wing area was 20 square meters (215.3 square feet). The airfoil was the Göttingen 385. It had an empty weight 285 kilograms (628 pounds), gross weight 500 kilograms (1,102 pounds)

The Klemm L 25.I was powered by a normally-aspirated, air-cooled, 2.979 liter (181.77 cubic inch displacement) Société des Moteurs Salmson AD.9 nine-cylinder radial direct-drive engine, which was rated at 45 pferdestarke (44.4 horsepower) at 2,000 r.p.m. The engine was 69.1 centimeters (2 feet, 3.2 inches) long, 63 centimeters (2 feet, 0.8 inches) in diameter, and had a dry weight of 69.9 kilograms ( 154.1 pounds).

The Klemm L 25.I had a maximum speed of 140 kilometers per hour (87 miles per hour). With a fuel capacity of 50 liters (13 gallons), its range was 650 kilometers (404 miles)). The service ceiling was 6,500 meters (21,325 feet).

More than 600 were built in Germany between 1929 and 1936. More were built under license in England and the United States.

¹ FAI Record File Numbers 12345, 12346, 14886

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (29 June 1900–31 July 1944)

June 29, 2025Aviation42-68223, Aéronautique Militaire, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger comte de Saint Exupéry, Aviator, Chevalier de la légion d'honneur, Compagnie générale aéropostale, Flight to Arras, Forces Aériennes Françaises Libres, Lockheed F-5B Lightning, Night Flight, Officier de la Légion d’honneur, The Little Prince, Wind Sand and Stars, World War IIBryan Swopes

Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, comte de Saint-Exupéry, Officier de la Légion d’honneur. (Galerie Gallimard)

29 June 1900: Famed French aviator, poet and author, Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, comte de Saint Exupéry, was born at No. 8 rue Payrat,¹ Lyon, Departement du Rhône, Rhône-Alpes, France. He was the third of five children of Jean Marc Martin comte de Saint-Exupéry and Andrée Louise Marie de Boyer de Fonscolombe de la Mole, comtesse de Saint-Exupéry. As the oldest son, Antoine inherited his father’s title of nobility.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. (*Succession de Saint-Exupéry d’Agay* via *www.antoinedesaintexupery.com)*

While serving in the French cavalry, Saint-Exupéry took private flying lessons. He made his first solo flight 9 July 1921, and soon earned a civil pilot’s certificate. Now eligible for military flight training, he was transferred to the Aéronautique Militaire in Morocco, where he was awarded his military aviator’s certificate, No. 19398, 23 December 1921.

Saint-Exupéry was promoted to caporal 5 February 1922. He underwent further training as an officer cadet and received a commission as a sous-lieutenant 10 October 1922.

On 1 May 1923, Sous-lieutenant Saint-Exupéry crashed a Hanriot HD-14 trainer on takeoff. A passenger was severely injured. Saint-Exupery was grounded. The accident was caused by pilot error, and he released from military service, 5 June 1923.

In 1922, Caporal Saint-Exupéry was appointed élève–*officier de réserve* (a reserve officer cadet). In this image, Saint-Exupéry is wearing the badge of a military pilot. (*Succession de Saint-Exupéry d’Agay* via *www.antoinedesaintexupery.com)*

Saint-Exupéry was engaged to marry Mlle. Louise de Vilmorin. Because of the crash, he promised that he would give up aviation and found employment as an office worker. The engagement ended and he went back to flying.

In 1926, he joined la Compagnie Générale d’Entreprise Aéronautique (C.G.E.A.), which in 1927 would become Compagnie générale aéropostale, (C.G.A.)— Aéropostale,—the predecessor of Air France, in North Africa and South America.

“Transport of the mails, transport of the human voice, transport of the flickering pictures—in this century as in others our highest accomplishments still have the single aim of bring men together.” —Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, 1939

Mme. Consuelo Saint-Exupéry, née Consuelo Suncin-Sandoval Zeceña (1901–1979) — Mme. Consuelo Saint-Exupéry

Comte de Saint-Exupéry married Sra. Consuelo Suncin-Sandoval Zeceña, 22 April 1932, at Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, France.

During this time, Saint-Exupéry also began his career as an author. His first book, Courrier Sud, was published in 1929. Vol de Nuit (English edition: Night Flight), was published in 1931. His autobiographical Wind, Sand and Stars, published in 1939, is very highly recommended.

When his friend, Henri Guillaumet, went down in the Cordillera de los Andes, about 123 miles (198 kilometers) west of Mendoza, Argentina, and then walked out over the next five days, Saint-Exupéry wrote:

“What saves a man is to take a step. Then another step. It is always the same step, but you have to take it.”

— Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Terre des hommes (English edition: Wind, Sand and Stars), translated from the French by Lewis Galantière, Harcourt Brace & Company, New York, Chapter II at Page 37

Antonine de Saint-Exupery and Andre Prevost with the Caudron C.630 Simoun, F-ANRY, before the flight to Saigon. — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (center) and André Prévost with the Caudron C.630 Simoun, F-ANRY, before the flight to Saigon. (*Succession de Saint-Exupéry d’Agay via Le Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace*)

On 7 April 1930, Saint-Exupéry was appointed Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur.

On 29 December 1935, while flying his red and white Caudron C.630 Simoun, F-ANRY, in a race from Paris, France, to Sài Gòn, French Indo-China, Saint-Exupéry crashed in the Sahara desert. He and his mechanic, André Prévost, were marooned without food or water. They wandered aimlessly for four days and were near death when they were rescued by a Bedouin tribesman. Saint-Exupéry wrote about the experience in Wind, Sand and Stars, and it was the inspiration for his classic novel, The Little Prince.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry stands next to th ewreck of his Caudron C.630 Simoun, F-ANRY, in the Sahara — *“What saves a man is to take a step. Then another step. It is always the same step, but you have to take it.”* Antoine de Saint-Exupéry stands next to the wreck of his Caudron C.630 Simoun, F-ANRY, in the Sahara, 1935. (Unattributed)

Saint-Exupéry traveled to Spain in 1937 to observe the Spanish Revolution. He was horrified by what he experienced. “War is not an adventure,” he wrote. “It is a disease.”

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was promoted to Officier de la Légion d’honneur in 1939.

Following the outbreak of World War II, Saint-Exupéry returned to service with the Armée del’Air, flying in a reconnaissance squadron. With the surrender of France to the German invaders, he fled to Portugal. Saint-Exupéry sailed from Lisbon 20 December 1940 aboard S.S. Siboney, arriving at the Port of New York, 31 December.

In April 1943, he returned to the war flying with the Free French Air Force, the Forces Aériennes Françaises Libres.

He flew a twin-engine Lockheed F-5B, an unarmed photographic reconnaissance variant of the P-38J Lightning fighter. His squadron, 31^e escadre, Groupe 2/33, operated from Borgo, an airfield on the northeast coast of Corsica.

Antoine de Saint Exupery in hi sLockheed F-5B Lightning reconnaissance airplane, circa 1944. (John e Annamaria Phillips Foundation) — *Commandant* Antoine de Saint Exupéry, *Groupe de Chasse 11/33,* *Forces Aériennes Françaises Libres*, in a Lockheed F-5B Lightning photo reconnaissance airplane, circa 1944. “War is not an adventure. It is a disease.” (John e Annamaria Phillips Foundation)

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry flying his Lockheed F-5B-1-LO Lightning near Alghero on the coast of Sardinia, 1944. — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry flying a Lockheed F-5B-1-LO Lightning near Alghero on the coast of Sardinia, 1944. (John e Annamaria Phillips Foundation)

Commandant Saint-Exupéry disappeared with his Lockheed F-5B-1-LO Lightning photo reconnaissance airplane (serial number 42-68223) while on a mission to Grenoble and Annecy, at the base of the French Alps, 31 July 1944.

His identity bracelet was found in 1998 by a fisherman, off the southern coastline of France. Wreckage of the F-5B was located on the sea floor in May 2000.

“Life has meaning only if one barters it day by day for something other than itself.” Commandant Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Free French Air Force, in the cockpit of a Lockheed F-5B Lightning, 1944. (Photograph by John Phillips, LIFE Magazine)

Courrier sud, nrf, Paris, 1929, first edition. (Edition-Originale.com)

Night Flight, first edition in English, 1932 (Rulon-Miller Books)

Terre des Hommes, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Nrf, Paris, 1939. Signed First Edition, 7 000 €. Réf: 59758. (Edition-Originale.com)

Wind, Sand and Stars, by Antoine de Saint Exupery, 1939 (Bauman Rare Books) — Wind, Sand and Stars, first edition, 1939 (Bauman Rare Books)

Flight to Arras, first edition, 1942 (Bauman Rare Books)

Le Petit Prince, first edition, 1943. (Bauman's Rare Books) — *Le Petit Prince*, first edition, 1943. (Bauman Rare Books)

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and the Little Prince Statue by Christiane Guillaumet, Place Bellecour in Lyon — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and the Little Prince,
statue by Christiane Guillaumet, Place Bellecour in Lyon

¹ Later renamed Rue de Saint-Exupéry.

28 June 1945

June 28, 2025Aviation44-51928, B-24M-30-FO, Bomber, Consolidated B-24 Liberator, Ford B-24 Liberator, Ford Motor Company, Willow Run Airplane Plant, Willow Run Bomber Plant, World War IIBryan Swopes

28 June 1945: The very last of 18,482 B-24 Liberator very long range heavy bombers rolled off the assembly line at Ford’s Willow Run Aircraft Plant, located between Belleville and Ypsilanti, Michigan.

More B-24s were built than any other American aircraft type. They were produced by the designer, Consolidated Aircraft, at its San Diego, California and Fort Worth, Texas plants; by Douglas Aircraft at Tulsa, Oklahoma; North American Aviation at Dallas, Texas; and by Ford Willow Run.

Ford built 6,972 B-24s in 776 days and produced kits for 1,893 more to be assembled by the other manufacturers. The Willow Run plant completed a B-24 every 63 minutes.

The last B-24 built was this B-24M, 44-51928, at the Ford Willow Run plant. (The Henry Ford) — The last B-24 built was this B-24M-30-FO Liberator, 44-51928, at the Willow Run bomber plant. (The Henry Ford THF10153 Ford Motor Co. Willow Run Bomber Plant)

44-51928 was flown directly to a storage facility, then later, to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation site at Kingman, Arizona, where it was scrapped.

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