Lieutenant Robert W. Crafton, U.S. Navy, and Captain Louis K. Keck, U.S. Marine Corps, with the record-setting Sikorsky HSS-2 Sea King. (FAI)
5 February 1962: A Sikorsky HSS-2 Sea King (later redesignated SH-3A) became the world’s fastest helicopter by establishing a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) world speed record for helicopters of 339 kilometers per hour (210.645 miles per hour) over a 19 kilometer (11.8 mile) course between Milford and New Haven, Connecticut.¹ The pilots were Lieutenant Robert Wiley Crafton, United States Navy and Captain Louis K. Keck, United States Marine Corps. Both pilots were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the American Helicopter Society’s Frederick L. Feinberg Award.
Having served the United States Navy for 45 years, the Sea King is still in service world-wide, most notably as the VH-3D “Marine One” presidential helicopter.
Sikorsky HSS-2 Sea King, Bu. No. 147xxx, modified for the speed record attempt. (FAI)
The Sikorsky HSS-2 Sea King was the first of the S-61 series of military and civil helicopters. It is a large twin-engine helicopter with a single main rotor/tail rotor configuration. The fuselage is designed to allow landing on water. The XHSS-2 made its first flight 11 March 1959. The helicopter was originally used as an anti-submarine helicopter.
The HSS-2 is 72 feet, 6 inches (22.098 meters) long and 16 feet, 10 inches (5.131 meters) high with all rotors turning. The helicopter’s width, across the sponsons, is 16 feet. The main rotors and tail can be folded for more compact storage aboard aircraft carriers, shortening the aircraft to 46 feet, 6 inches (14.173 meters). The empty weight of the HSS-2 is 10,814 pounds (4,905 kilograms). The overload gross weight is 19,000 pounds (8,618 kilograms).
The main rotor has five blades and a diameter of 62 feet, 0 inches (18.898 meters). Each blade has a chord of 1 foot, 6¼ inches (0.464 meters). The rotor blade airfoil was the NACA 0012, which was common for helicopters of that time. The total blade area is 222.5 square feet (20.671 square meters), and the disc area is 3,019 square feet (280.474 square meters). The tail rotor also has five blades and a diameter of 10 feet, 4 inches (3.150 meters). They each have a chord of 7–11/32 inches (0.187 meters). At 100% NR, the main rotor turns 203 r.p.m. and the tail rotor, 1,244 r.p.m.
The HSS-2 was powered by two General Electric T58-GE-6 turboshaft engines, which had a Normal Power rating of 900 horsepower, and Military Power rating of 1,050 horsepower; both ratings at 19,555 r.p.m. at Sea Level. The main transmission was rated for 2,000 horsepower, maximum. (Later models were built with more powerful T58-GE-8 engines. Early aircraft were retrofitted.)
The HSS-2 has a cruise speed of 125 knots (144 miles per hour/232 kilometers per hour) at Sea Level, and a maximum speed of 133 knots (153 miles per hour/246 kilometers per hour) at Sea Level. The service ceiling is 12,100 feet (3,688 meters). The hover ceiling at normal gross weight is 5,200 feet (1,585 meters), out of ground effect (HOGE), and 7,250 feet (2,210 meters), in ground effect (HIGE). The HSS-2 had a combat endurance of 4 hours and a maximum range of 500 nautical miles (575 statute miles/926 kilometers).
The Sea King was primarily an anti-submarine aircraft. It could be armed with up to four MK 43 or MK 44 torpedoes and one MK 101 nuclear-armed depth bomb. Other weapons loads included four MK 14 depth charges and four MK 54 air depth bombs.
In 1962, the HSS-2 was redesignated SH-3A Sea King. Many early production aircraft have remained in service and have been upgraded through SH-3D, SH-3G, etc. In addition to the original ASW role, the Sea Kings have been widely used for Combat Search and Rescue operations. Marine One, the call sign for the helicopters assigned to the President of the United States, are VH-3D Sea Kings. Sikorsky produced the last S-61 helicopter in 1980, having built 794. Production has been licensed to manufacturers in England, Italy, Canada and Japan. They have produced an additional 679 Sea Kings.
Captain Louis K. Keck, USMC (left), and Lieutenant Robert W. Crafton, U.S. Navy, in the cockpit of their Sikorsky HSS-2 Sea King. (U.S. Navy NH69960)
Boeing B-47E-55-BE Stratojet 51-2394, similar in appearance to Ivory Two. Photographed 7 April 1956. (U.S. Air Force)
On the night of 4–5 February 1958, two Boeing B-47 Stratojet bombers from MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, were flying a simulated bombing mission. The second bomber, B-47B-50-BW serial number 51-2349, was under the command of Major Howard Richardson, USAF, with co-pilot 1st Lieutenant Bob Lagerstrom and radar navigator Captain Leland Woolard. Their call sign was “Ivory Two.”
Aircrew of B-47, left to right, Major Howard Richardson, Lieutenant Bob Lagerstrom and Captain Leland Woolard. (U.S. Air Force)
Carried in the bomb bay of Ivory Two was a 7,600-pound (3,448 kilogram) Mark 15 Mod. 0 two-stage radiation-implosion thermonuclear bomb, serial number 47782. The bomb had been developed by the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The Mod. 0 had an explosive yield of 1.69 megatons.¹
Bomb, thermonuclear, Mark 15. (Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information)
After completing their simulated bombing mission, the B-47s were returning to their base in Florida.
On the same night pilots of South Carolina Air National Guard were on alert at Charleston Air Force Base with their North American Aviation F-86L Sabre interceptors. The fighters were fully armed with twenty-four 2.75-inch (70 mm) rockets. At 00:09 a.m., the pilots were alerted for a training interception of the southbound B-47s. Within five minutes three F-86Ls were airborne and climbing, with air defense radar sites directing them. In one of the F-86Ls, 52-10108, an upgraded F-86D Sabre, was 1st Lieutenant Clarence A. Stewart, call sign, “Pug Gold Two.”
The flight of interceptors came in behind the bombers at about 35,000 feet (10,668 meters). Tracking their targets with radar, they closed on the lead B-47, Ivory One, from behind. Ivory Two was about 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) in trail of Ivory One, but the airborne radars of the Sabres did not detect it, nor did the ground-based radar controllers.
This North American Aviation F-86L-60-NA Sabre, 53-1047, of the 444th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, Charleston Air Force Base, South Carolina, is similar to 1st Lieutenant Clarence A. Stewart’s F-86L-50-NA 52-10108, which was destroyed in the collision with the B-47, 5 February 1958. (U.S. Air Force)
At 00:33:30, 5 February, Lieutenant Stewart’s fighter collided with the right wing of Major Richardson’s bomber. The Sabre lost both wings. Lieutenant Stewart fired his ejection seat. His descent from the stratosphere took twenty-two minutes and his hands were frostbitten from the cold. He spent five weeks in an Air Force hospital. Pug Gold Two crashed in a farm field about 10 miles (16 kilometers) east of Sylvania, Georgia.
Damage to the right wing and aft fuselage of B-47B 51-2349. (U.S. Air Force)
The B-47 was heavily damaged. The outboard engine had been dislodged from its mount on the wing and hung at about a 45° angle. The wing’s main spar was broken, the aileron was damaged, and the airplane and its crew were in immediate jeopardy. The damage to the flight controls made it difficult to fly. If the number six engine fell free, the loss of its weight would upset the airplane’s delicate balance and cause it to go out of control, or the damaged wing might itself fail.
Damage to the right wing of B-47B 51-2349. (U.S. Air Force)
Major Richardson didn’t think they could make it back to MacDill, and the nearest suitable airfield, Hunter Air Force Base, Savannah, Georgia, advised that the main runway was under repair. A crash on landing was a likely outcome.
Damage to the aft fuselage and vertical fin of B-47B 51-2349. (U.S. Air Force)
With this in mind, Richardson flew Ivory Two out over Wassaw Sound, and at an altitude of 7,200 feet (2,195 meters) the hydrogen bomb was jettisoned. It landed in about 40 feet (12 meters) of water near Tybee Island. No explosion occurred.
The B-47 safely landed at Hunter AFB, but was so badly damaged that it never flew again. Major Richardson was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his handling of the incident.
The missing Mark 15 has never been found and is considered to be “irretrievably lost.” It is known as “The Tybee Bomb.”
Clarence Arville Stewart was born 17 October 1934 at Drew, Mississippi. He was the son of John B. Stewart and Cleta R. Stewart. Stewart soloed a airplane for the first time at the age of 13 years. By the time he was 15, he had enlisted in the Mississippi National Guard. His actual age was discovered as his unit was preparing to deploy during the Korean War, and he was sent home.
After studying at the Mississippi Delta Community College at Moorehead, Mississippi, Stewart enlisted in the U.S. Air Force as an aviation cadet. On graduation from flight training, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant, United States Air Force Reserve, in 1956.
In 1958, Lieutenant Stewart married Miss Patricia Ann Hudson of Beaufort, South Carolina. They would have three children. Mrs. Stewart passed away in 2010.
This Republic F-105D Thunderchief, 61-0165, is the sister ship of 61-0160, the aircraft flown by Captain Clarence A. Stewart on 2 June 1966. (John E. Considine/NASM-91A14248)
Eight years after the mid-air collision with the B-47, Captain Stewart was in Thailand, assigned to the 421st Tactical Fighter Squadron, 388th Tactical Fighter Wing, based at Korat Royal Thai Air Base. Flying a strike mission on 2 June 1966, the the engine of his Republic F-105D-20-RE Thunderchief, 61-0160, exploded. Stewart ejected from his airplane for the second time in his career. The fighter bomber went down approximately 55 miles (89 kilometers) northeast of Korat. Captain Stewart was picked up by helicopter.
Captain Clarence A. Stewart
Stewart flew over 100 combat missions over North Vietnam. He was awarded the Silver Star for his actions of 1 August 1966: “While leading a flight of F-105s against an oil storage tank fabrication in North Viet Nam, Capt. Stewart was caught in a deadly cross fire from several SA-2 missile sites. He was turned back from the target three separate times by a total of eight SA-2 surface-to-air missiles, yet he persisted in his attack until his communication equipment was seriously damaged by an exploding missile and his flight had only recover fuel remaining. In the midst of the SAM barrage, Captain Stewart demonstrated his calm and courageous leadership by directing his wingman’s escape from an uprushing missile.” Major Stewart was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for another flight in which he destroyed two anti-aircraft sites.
The following year, Major Stewart was assigned as chief of the Aerial Review Control Team based at Eglin Air Force Base. The unit was responsible for controlling air shows, other than those flown by The Thunderbirds. (A junior member of the team was 1st Lieutenant Steve Ritchie, future fighter ace.)
Lieutenant Colonel Stewart retired from the Air Force in 1977. He died at Fort Walton Beach, Florida, 15 January 2015.
Boeing B-47B-50-BW 51-2348, sister ship of Ivory Two. (U.S. Air Force)
Designed by Boeing, the Stratojet was a high-subsonic-speed strategic bomber and reconnaissance aircraft, in service from 1951 until 1977. The B-47 could fly higher and faster than jet fighters of the time, and it was also highly maneuverable. The B-47 was flown by a two pilots in a tandem cockpit. A navigator/bombardier was at a station in the nose.
The Boeing B-47B Stratojet was the first full-production model. The B-47B is 106 feet, 10 inches (32.563 meters) long with a wingspan of 116 feet, 0 inches(35.357 meters), and an overall height of 27 feet, 11 inches (8.509 meters). The wings are shoulder-mounted with the leading edges swept aft to 36° 37′. Their angle of incidence is 2° 45′ and there is no dihedral. (The wings are very flexible, showing marked anhedral on the ground and flexing upward when in flight.) The B-47B has an empty weight of 78,102 pounds (35,426 kilograms), and a maximum takeoff weight of 185,000 pounds (83,915 kilograms). The maximum in-flight weight (after air refueling) was 221,000 pounds (100,244 kilograms).
From 1953 to 1957, the B-47B fleet underwent an extensive modification program which brought them up to the B-47E configuration.
A Boeing B-47B-40-BW Stratojet 51-2212 of the 306th Bombardment Wing (Medium) rolling out after landing at MacDill AFB, Florida. This airplane is similar to B-47B 51-2349, Ivory Two. (U.S. Air Force)
The B-47B was originally powered by six General Electric J47-GE-11 turbojet engines in four nacelles mounted on pylons below the wings. All B-47Bs after serial number 51-2046 were equipped with J47-GE-23 engines. The airplanes built with the -11 engines were retroffitted with the -23s. Under the modification and upgrade program, the -23s were replaced by the J47-GE-25. This engine has a 12-stage axial-flow compressor, eight combustion chambers, and single-stage turbine. The J47-GE-25 is rated at 5,970 pounds of static thrust at Sea Level, at 7,950 r.p.m. and 1,250 °F. (677 °C.) turbine outlet temperature (TOT). (7,200 pounds of thrust with water injection). It has a maximum diameter of 3 feet, 1 inch (0.940 meters) and length of 12 feet, 0 inches (3.658 meters) and weighs 2,653 pounds (1,203 kilograms).
The B-47B was also equipped with solid-fuel rocket engines (JATO) located in the aft fuselage. These produced a maximum 33,000 pounds of thrust (146.8 kilonewtons) for 14 seconds.
The B-47B Stratojet had a cruise speed of 433 knots (498 miles per hour/802 kilometers per hour), and maximum speed of 528 knots (608 miles per hour/978 kilometers per hour) at 16,300 feet (4,968 meters). The service ceiling was 42,100 feet (10,333 meters) and combat ceiling 40,800 feet (12,436 meters).
The combat radius of the B-47B was 1,704 nautical miles (1,961 statute miles/3,156 kilometers with a 10,000 pound (4,536 kilograms) bomb load. Two jettisonable underwing fuel tanks could carry 1,780 gallons (6,738 liters) each. The maximum ferry range was 3,861 nautical miles (4,443 statute miles (7,151 kilometers).
For defense the B-47B was armed with two Browning AN-M3 .50-caliber machine guns in a remotely-operated tail turret, with 600 rounds of ammunition per gun. The co-pilot acted as the gunner using an optical sight. The machine guns were replaced by two M24A1 20 mm autocannons and radar control.
The maximum bomb load of the B-47B was 18,000 pounds (8,165 kilograms). The B-47 could carry two 7,600 pound (3,447 kilogram) Mark 15 two-stage radiation implosion thermonuclear bombs, each with an explosive yield of up 3.8 megatons, depending on the version, or a single 10,670 pound (4,808 kilogram) B-41 three-stage, 25 megaton bomb.
Beginning in 1953, the B-47B fleet underwent an extensive modification program which brought them up to the B-47E configuration.
A total of 2,032 B-47s were built by a consortium of aircraft manufacturers: Boeing Airplane Company, Wichita, Kansas; Douglas Aircraft Company, Tulsa, Oklahoma; Lockheed Aircraft Company, Marietta, Georgia. 399 of these were B-47Bs.
The Stratojet is one of the most influential aircraft designs of all time and its legacy can be seen in almost every jet airliner built since the 1950s: the swept wing with engines suspended below and ahead on pylons. The B-47 served the United States Air Force from 1951 to 1977. From the first flight of the Boeing XB-47 Stratojet prototype, 17 December 1947, to the final flight of B-47E 52-166, was 38 years, 6 months, 1 day.
¹ The Mark 15 Mod. 0 prototype, the Zombie device, was tested in Operation Castle, Test Nectar, 13 May 1954, at Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands. A video of the detonation can be seen at:
Eastern Air Lines’ Lockheed L-749A-79 Constellation NX101A (Ed Coates Collection)
5 February 1949: An Eastern Air Lines Lockheed L-749A Constellation, serial number 2610, N115A, flew from Los Angeles to LaGuardia Airport, New York, in 6 hours, 17 minutes, 39-2/5 seconds, setting a new West-to-East transcontinental speed record for transport aircraft.
Captain Fred E. Davis was in command, with First Officer M.L. Jordan and Flight Engineer E. L. Graham, Eastern’s Chief Flight Engineer. The flight was timed by officials of the National Aeronautic Association.
The Constellation took off from Lockheed Air Terminal at Burbank, California, at 7:51:21 a.m., Pacific Standard Time (15:51:21 UTC), and passed over La Guardia at 5:08:02 p.m., Eastern Standard Time (22:08:02 UTC). The Constellation averaged 392 miles per hour over the 2,455 mile flight.
The following day, 6 February, Eddie Rickenbacker, Eastern Air Lines’ president and general manager, announced that that the company had ordered an additional seven Lockheed Constellations at a cost of more that $1,000,000 each, with the first one to be delivered to Miami, Florida, the following week.
The Lockheed L-749A Constellation was a longer-range development of the L-649, with fuel capacity increased by 1,130 gallons (4,278 liters). It was operated by a flight crew of four, with two to four flight attendants. It could carry up to 81 passengers.
The airplane was 97 feet, 4 inches (29.667 meters) long with a wingspan of 123 feet (37.49 meters) and an overall height of 22 feet, 5 inches (6.833 meters). It had an empty weight of 56,590 pounds (25,668 kilograms) and maximum takeoff weight of 107,000 pounds (48,534.4 kilograms).
Three view illustration of the Lockheed L-749 Constellation.
The L-749A was powered by four 3,347.662-cubic-inch-displacement (54.858 liter) air-cooled, supercharged, fuel-injected, Wright Aeronautical Division Cyclone 18 745C18BD1 (R-3350-75), two-row 18-cylinder radial engines with a compression ratio of 6.5:1. This engine, also known as the Duplex-Cyclone, featured “jet stacks” which converted the piston engines’ exhaust to usable jet thrust, adding about 15 miles per hour (24 kilometers per hour) to the airplane’s speed. They had a normal power rating of 2,100 horsepower at 2,400 r.p.m., and 2,500 horsepower at 2,800 r.p.m. for takeoff, (five minute limit). The engines drove 15 foot, 2 inch (4.623 meter) diameter, three-bladed Hamilton Standard Hydromatic 43E60 constant-speed propellers through a 0.4375:1 gear reduction. The 745C18BD1 was 6 feet, 6.52 inches (1.994 meters) long, 4 feet, 7.62 inches (1.413 meters) in diameter and weighed 2,915 pounds (1,322 kilograms).
The L-749 had a cruise speed of 345 miles per hour (555.22 kilometers per hour) and a range of 4,995 miles (8,038.7 kilometers). Its service ceiling was 24,100 feet (7,346 meters).
N115A was leased to California Hawaiian Airlines, 1961–1962. It was purchased by Rutas Internacionales Peruanas SA (RIPSA) in 1966 and re-registered OB-R-833. In 1968 it was withdrawn from service and was scrapped in 1981. Photographs of the derelict record-setting airplane parked at Lima, Peru, in 1980, are just to sad to publish here.
An Eastern Air Lines Lockheed L-749 Constellation, N108A. (LIFE Magazine)
A Transcontinental and Western Airlines Lockheed L-049 Constellation over Paris, France. (Unattributed)
5–6 February 1946: Transcontinental and Western Airlines—TWA—”The Trans World Airline,” flew its first revenue international passengers on a scheduled transatlantic flight from La Guardia Field, New York (LGA) to Aéroport de Paris-Orly, Paris (ORY).
The airplane was a Lockheed L-049 Constellation, serial number 2035, NC86511, named Star of Paris, under the command of Captain Harold F. Blackburn. Captains Jack Hermann and John M. Calder, Navigator M. Chrisman and Flight Engineers Art Ruhanen, Ray McBride and Jack Rouge completed the flight crew. Purser Don Shiemwell and Hostess Ruth Schmidt were in the cabin along with 36 passengers.
Star of Paris departed LaGuardia at 2:21 p.m., EST, 5 February. The flight made brief stops at Gander, Newfoundland (YQX) and Shannon, Ireland (SNN), and arrived at Orly Field, at 3:57 p.m., February 6. The elapsed time was 16 hours, 21 minutes.
Photograph from TWA Skyliner Magazine, 9 February 1961, at Page 4
Confusion exists over which TWA Constellation made the first scheduled flight from LGA to ORY. This is probably because two days earlier, 3 February, another L-049, Paris Sky Chief, NC86505, s/n 2026, also commanded by Hal Blackburn, flew from Washington National Airport (DCA) to Paris Orly as a trial. On that flight, the Constellation averaged 316 miles per hour (509 kilometers per hour). This non-scheduled trip took 14 hours, 47 minutes, total elapsed time, with 12 hours 57 minutes actual flight time. Paris Sky Chief‘s TWA fleet number was 505, while Star of Paris was number 555.
Trans World Airlines Lockheed L-049, Paris Sky Chief, NC86505. (www.sedonalegendhelenfrye.com)Harold F. Blackburn, ca. 1945 (Flying Magazine)
Harold F. Blackburn was born in 1901 at Urbana, Illinois. He joined the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1928, and studied aviation at the University of Southern California. He received his Air Corps pilot’s wings in 1930.
In 1932, Blackburn participated in the relief of the Native American reservations near Winslow, Arizona, which had been cut off by a winter storm. His entire unit, the 11th Bombardment Squadron, based at March Field, Riverside, California, was awarded the Mackay Trophy.
Lieutenant Blackburn married Miss Martha Bondurant in 1932. They would have a son Robert, and daughters Beverly, Bonnie and Betty. Beverly died in infancy 1 December 1943. Blackburn would later marry Helen Jones.
Hal Blackburn began flying with TWA in 1934 and remained with the company for over 25 years. During World War II, he flew Boeing 377s across the South Atlantic for the airline’s Intercontinental Division, of which he would become the manager. In addition to the New York-Paris flight in 1946, Blackburn flew TWA’s first Boeing 707 from New York to Paris in 1961.
“Blackie,” as he is known to his friends, has been an active pilot since 1919. His air time equals three years spent above the earth’s surface during which he has logged more than six and a half million miles . . . The Washington Post named him the “Ideal Father” in 1946. Capt. Blackburn also assisted with the formation of Saudi Arabian Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines and Deutsche-Lufthansa. Viewed by the news media as the ideal model pilot, Capt. Blackburn has been the subject of two lengthy profiles in the New Yorker magazine . . . In 26,800 hours of flying, Capt. Blackburn never injured a passenger, nor damaged an aircraft, and was never late for a flight. Married for 32 years, he is the father of four children and three times a grandfather. He resides in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch Country. He retired from flying in 1962. His last flight, in command of a TWA SuperJet[the company’s name for the Boeing 707 or Convair 880] from Rome to New York, was the subject of an hour-long television documentary.
—The Indiana Gazette, Monday, 14 October 1963, Page 5 at Columns 2–4
Captain Blackburn was the subject of Like a Homesick Angel, a biography by John Bainbridge, Houghton Mifflin, 1964. He died at Oakland, California, 4 August 1989, at the age of 87 years.
A TWA Lockheed L-049 Constellation, NC86517. (Ed Coates Collection)
Star of Paris (serial number 2035), a Lockheed Model L-049-46 Constellation, had been built at Lockheed Aircraft Corporation’s Burbank, California, plant and delivered to Transcontinental and Western in December 1945. The airliner remained in service with TWA until 1 September 1961. During that time it was also named Star of Dublin.
The Lockheed Constellation first flew in 1942, and was produced for the U.S. Army Air Corps as the C-69. With the end of World War II, commercial airlines needed new airliners for the post-war boom. The Constellation had transoceanic range and a pressurized cabin for passenger comfort.
The Lockheed L-049 Constellation was operated by a flight crew of four and could carry up to 81 passengers. The airplane was 95 feet, 1 3⁄16 inches (28.986 meters) long with a wingspan of 123 feet, 0 inches (37.490 meters), and overall height of 23 feet, 7⅞ inches (7.210 meters). It had an empty weight of 49,392 pounds (22,403.8 kilograms) and maximum takeoff weight of 86,250 pounds (39,122.3 kilograms).
Trans World Airlines’ Lockheed L-049 Constellation NC90818, Star of the Red Sea, at San Francisco, California, 10 June 1948. (Bill Larkins/Wikimedia)
The L-049 was powered by four air-cooled, supercharged and fuel-injected, 3,347.662-cubic-inch-displacement (54.858 liter) Wright Aeronautical Division Cyclone 18 ¹ 745C18BA3 two-row 18-cylinder radial engines with a compression ratio of 6.5:1. The -BA3 was rated at 2,000 horsepower at 2,400 r.p.m., or 2,200 horsepower at 2,800 r.p.m., for takeoff, (five minute limit). The engines drove 15 foot, 2 inch (4.623 meter) diameter, three-bladed Hamilton Standard Hydromatic constant-speed propellers through a 0.4375:1 gear reduction. The 745C18BA3 was 6 feet, 4.13 inches (1.934 meters) long, 4 feet, 7.78 inches (1.417 meters) in diameter and weighed 2,842 pounds (1,289.11 kilograms).
The L-049 had a cruise speed of 313 miles per hour (503.72 kilometers per hour) and a range of 3,995 miles (6,429.3 kilometers). Its service ceiling was 25,300 feet (7,711 meters).
22 C-69s and 856 Constellations of all types were built. Designed by the famous Kelly Johnson, the Lockheed Constellation was in production from 1943–1958 in both civilian airliner and military transport versions. It is the classic propeller-driven transcontinental and transoceanic airliner.
“TWA Lockheed Constellation at Paris-Orly” by Lucio Perinotto. For more striking paintings by the artist, please visit his web site at http://www.lucioperinotto.com/
On 18 November 1950, TWA’s Constellation NC86511 suffered failures of the two inboard engines while taking off from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The airliner was diverted to nearby Long Beach Airport (LGB) for an emergency landing. The crew made an instrument approach and could not see the runway until the last moment, touching down at approximately midway. The runway was wet and the airplane could not be stopped before running off the end. The right main landing gear collapsed. The Constellation was damaged but repaired and returned to service. It was later renamed Star of Dublin.
TWA Lockheed Constellation after landing accident at Long Beach, California, 18 November 1950. (Aviation Safety Network)
On 1 September 1961, NC86511 was operating as TWA Flight 529 from Chicago Midway Airport (MDW) to Los Angeles, California. Shortly after takeoff a mechanical failure caused to airplane to pitch up and stall. The flight crew was unable to regain control of the Constellation and it crashed in a field near Hinsdale, Illinois. All 78 persons on board were killed.
The crash site of Trans World Airlines’ Flight 529, Lockheed L-049 Constellation s/n 2035, NC86511, Star of Dublin.
Frank Hawks with the red and silver Lockheed Air Express, NR7955. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives)
4–5 February 1929: At 5:37:30 p.m., Pacific Time, Monday, Frank Monroe Hawks took off from Metropolitan Field, Los Angeles, California, (now known as Van Nuys Airport, VNY) in a new Lockheed Model 3 Air Express transport, NR7955, serial number EX-2. Also on board was Oscar Edwin Grubb, the final assembly superintendent for Lockheed. The pair flew non-stop to Roosevelt Field, Long Island, New York, arriving there at 2:59:29 p.m., Eastern Time, on Tuesday. The duration of the flight was 18 hours, 21 minutes, 59 seconds.
Oscar Edwin Grubb and Frank Monroe Hawks, shortly before departing for New York, 4 February 1929. (Getty Images)
The only previous non-stop West-to-East flight had been flown during August 1928 by Arthur C. Goebel, Jr., and Harry Tucker with their Lockheed Vega, Yankee Doodle, NX4769. Hawks cut 36 minutes off of Goebel’s time.
Lockheed Model 3 Air Express NR7955, photographed 1 February 1929. The Air Express was the first production airplane to use the new NACA cowling design. (Crane/NACA)
Hawks was a technical adviser to The Texas Company (“Texaco”), a manufacturer and distributor of petroleum products which sponsored the flight. On his recommendation, the company purchased the Air Express from Lockheed for use as a company transport.
On 17 January 1930,
“Pilot Frank Hawks attempted a takeoff from a soggy field in West Palm Beach, Florida, destroying the aircraft christened ‘Texaco Five’ in a spectacular crash that catapulted it into a row of three parked aircraft. All three occupants were unhurt while the aircraft was destroyed.”
—Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives
NC7955’s Department of Commerce registration was cancelled 31 January 1930.
The Lockheed Model 3 Air Express was a single-engine parasol-wing monoplane transport, flown by a single pilot in an open aft cockpit, and capable of carrying 4 to 6 passengers in its enclosed cabin. The airplane was designed by Gerard Freebairn Vultee and John Knudsen Northrop. It used the Lockheed Vega’s molded plywood monocoque fuselage.
The Model 3 received Approved Type Certificate No. 102 from the Aeronautic Branch, U. S. Department of Commerce.
The Lockheed Air Express was the first production airplane to use the “NACA Cowl,” an engine cowling for radial engines which had been designed by a team led by Fred Ernest Weick of the the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics’ Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory. The new cowling design tightly enclosed the engine and used baffles to control air flow around the hottest parts of the engines. The exit slots were designed to allow the air to exit the cowling at a higher speed than it had entered the intake. The new cowling design provided better engine cooling and caused significantly less aerodynamic drag. The addition of the NACA cowling increased the Air Express’s maximum speed from 157 to 177 miles per hour (253 to 285 kilometers per hour).
The day following Hawks’ transcontinental flight, Vultee sent a telegram to NACA:
COOLING CAREFULLY CHECKED AND OK. RECORD IMPOSSIBLE WITHOUT NEW COWLING. ALL CREDIT DUE TO NACA FOR PAINSTAKING AND ACCURATE RESEARCH. GERRY VULTEE, LOCKHEED AIRCRAFT CO.
The Lockheed Model 3 Air Express was 27 feet, 6 inches (8.382 meters) long with a wing span of 42 feet, 6 inches (12.954 meters) and height of 8 feet, 4½ inches (2.553 meters). The wing area was 288 square feet (26.756 square meters). The wing had no dihedral. The airplane had an empty weight of 2,533 pounds (1,149 kilograms) and gross weight of 4,375 pounds (1,984 kilograms).
The Model 3 was powered by an air-cooled, supercharged 1,343.804-cubic-inch-displacement (22.021 liter) Pratt & Whitney Wasp C nine cylinder, direct-drive radial engine. The Wasp C was rated at 420 horsepower at 2,000 r.p.m. at Sea Level. It was 3 feet, 6.63 inches (1.083 meters) long, 4 feet, 3.44 inches (1.307 meters) in diameter, and weighed 745 pounds (338 kilograms).
The Air Express had a cruising speed of 135 miles per hour (217 kilometers per hour), and maximum speed of 177 miles per hour (285 kilometers per hour). It’s service ceiling was 17,250 feet (5,258 meters).
Frank Hawks, 1930. (San Diego air and Space Museum Archives)
Francis Monroe Hawks was born at Marshalltown, Iowa, 28 March 1897. He was the son of Charles Monroe Hawks, a barber, and Ida Mae Woodruff Hawks. He attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School, Long Beach, California, graduating in 1916. He then studied at the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles.
Frank Hawks was an Air Service, United States Army, pilot who served during World War I. He rose to the rank of Captain, and at the time of his record-breaking transcontinental flight, he held a commission as a reserve officer in the Army Air Corps. Hawks transferred to the U.S. Naval Reserve with the rank of Lieutenant Commander. His date of rank 27 May 1932.
His flying had made him a popular public figure and he starred in a series of Hollywood movies as “The Mysterious Pilot.”
Poster advertising Episode 5 of the movie serial, “The Mysterious Pilot.” (Columbia Pictures)Amelia Earhart and Frank Hawks. (World History Project)
On 28 December 1920, Miss Amelia Earhart took her first ride in an airplane at Long Beach Airport in California. The ten-minute flight began her life-long involvement in aviation. The airplane’s pilot was Frank Monroe Hawks.
Francis M. Hawks married Miss Newell Lane at Lewiston, Montana, 7 August 1918. They had a daughter, Dolly. They later divorced. He next married Mrs. Edith Bowie Fouts at St. John’s Church, Houston, Texas, 26 October 1926.
Frank Hawks was killed in an aircraft accident at East Aurora, New York, 23 August 1938. He was buried at Redding Ridge Cemetery, Redding, Connecticut.
