24 June 1994, 14:16 PDT (21:16 UTC)

Aviation, , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Boeing B-52H-170-BW Stratofortress 61-0026, CZAR FIVE TWO, 2:16 p.m. PDT, 24 June 1994. (U.S. Air Force 120101-F-RL411-019)

24 June 1994: At Fairchild Air Force Base, southwest of Spokane, Washington, a Boeing B-52H-170-BW Stratofortress, serial number 61-0026, call sign Czar Five Two, was being flown by Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Alan (“Bud”) Holland, the aircraft commander, with Lieutenant Colonel Mark C. McGeehan, commanding officer of the 325th Bomb Squadron, as the co-pilot. The vice commanding officer of the 92nd Bomb Wing, Colonel Robert E. Wolff, was aboard as the designated safety observer. The fourth crew member, Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth S. Huston, the 325th squadron operations officer, was the radar navigator.

The mission was a practice flight for an upcoming air show demonstration. During the 18 minute flight, virtually every maneuver performed by Lieutenant Colonel Holland exceeded the operating limitations of the B-52, and violated Air Force and Federal Aviation Administration regulations.¹

Bud Holland was notorious for his reckless flying. Many crew members had asked not to be assigned to fly with him. Many prior instances of dangerous flying had occurred. Officers in Holland’s chain of command were aware of these violations, but seemed to tolerate them. Only Lieutenant Colonel McGeehan had tried to have Holland grounded, but he was overruled.

Lieutenant Colonel Bud Holland makes a very low pass with a B-52 Stratofortress at the Yakima bombing range. (U.S. Air Force)
Lieutenant Colonel Bud Holland makes a very low, high-speed pass with a B-52 Stratofortress at the Yakima bombing range. (U.S. Air Force)

Apparently, Holland thought that he was such a great pilot that he could make the B-52 do anything.

While approaching the runway for a touch-and-go, the control tower instructed Czar 52 to go around because of another aircraft that had just landed and was still on the runway. Holland requested to make a left 360° turn around the tower, which was approved.

At an altitude of just 250 feet (76 meters)—the B-52’s wingspan is 185 feet—Holland put the bomber into a nearly 90° left bank. As he approached the 270° point of the turn, Czar 52‘s wings went beyond the 90° point. Holland added power, but no amount of power could keep the B-52 in the air, now. The bomber simply fell out of the sky, impacting the ground with a 95° angle of bank and 150 knots (278 kilometers per hour) indicated air speed. Lieutenant Colonel McGeehan fired his ejection seat, but did not escape before impact. All four officers were killed.

The following You Tube video shows the actual crash of Czar 52. Other videos available on the internet show the entire air show practice, as well as previous examples of Holland’s dangerous flying.

The crash of Czar Five Two is an example of Command Failure. Everyone in the chain of command knew that Bud Holland was a dangerous pilot, but no one, with the exception of Lieutenant Colonel McGeehan, tried to stop him.

61-0026 was one of the last B-52 bombers built by Boeing before production ended in 1962. It was accepted by the U.S. Air Force on 2 June 1962.

The B-52H is a sub-sonic, swept wing, long-range strategic bomber. It was originally operated by a crew of six: two pilots, a navigator and a radar navigator, an electronic warfare officer, and a gunner. (The gunner was eliminated after 1991). The airplane is 159 feet, 4 inches (48.565 meters) long, with a wing span of 185 feet (56.388 meters). It is 40 feet, 8 inches (12.395 meters) high to the top of the vertical fin. The B-52H uses the vertical fin developed for the B-52G, which is 22 feet, 11 inches (6.985 meters) tall. This is 7 feet, 8 inches (2.337 meters) shorter than the fin on the XB-52–B-52F aircraft, but the fin’s chord is longer.

The wings of the B-52H have a total area of 4,000 square feet (371.6 square meters). The leading edges are swept aft to 36° 58′. The angle of incidence is 6°, and there is 2° 30′ dihedral. (The wings are very flexible and exhibit pronounced anhedral when on the ground.) To limit twisting in flight, the B-52H has spoilers on top of the wings rather than ailerons at the trailing edges.

The bomber has an empty weight of 172,740 pounds (78,354 kilograms) and its Maximum Takeoff Weight (MTOW) is 488,000 pounds (221,353 kilograms).

Boeing B-52H-170-BW Stratofortress 61-0026, circa 1978. The bomber is painted in the “SIOP” camouflage scheme.

The most significant difference between the B-52H and the earlier Stratofortresses is the replacement of the eight Pratt & Whitney J57-series turbojet engines with eight Pratt & Whitney Turbo Wasp JT3D-2 (TF33-P-3) turbofans, which are significantly more efficient. They are quieter and don’t emit the dark smoke trails of the turbojets.

The TF-33 is a two-spool axial-flow turbofan engine with 2 fan stages, a 14-stage compressor section (7-stage intermediate pressure, 7-stage high-pressure) and and a 4-stage turbine (1-stage high-pressure, 3-stage low-pressure). The TF33-P-3 has a maximum continuous power rating of 14,500 pounds of thrust (64.499 kilonewtons) at 9,750 r.p.m., N1. Military Power, limited to 30 minutes, is 16,500 pounds (73.396 kilonewtons) at 10,000 r.p.m., N1. Each engine produces a maximum of 17,000 pounds of thrust (75.620 kilonewtons) at 10,050 r.p.m., N1, with a 5-minute limit. The TF33-P-3 is 11 feet, 4.32 inches (3.4625 meters) long, 4 feet, 4.93 inches (1.3442 meters) in diameter and weighs 3,900 pounds (1,769 kilograms).

The B-52H has a cruise speed of 456 knots (525 miles per hour/845 kilometers per hour). It has a maximum speed, with Military Power, of 555 knots (639 miles per hour/1,028 kilometers per hour) at 20,700 feet (6,309 meters)—0.906 Mach. The service ceiling is 46,900 feet (14,295 meters). The unrefueled range is 8,000 miles (12,875 kilometers). With inflight refueling, its range is limited only by the endurance of its crew.

The B-52H was armed with a 20mm M61A1 Vulcan six-barreled rotary cannon in a remotely-operated tail turret. The gun had a rate of fire of 4,000 rounds per minute, and had a magazine capacity of 1,242 rounds. After 1991, the gun and its radar system were removed from the bomber fleet. The flight crew was reduced to five.

The B-52H can carry a wide variety of conventional free-fall or guided bombs, land-attack or anti-ship cruise missiles, and thermonuclear bombs or cruise missiles. These can be carried both in the internal bomb bay or on underwing pylons. The bomb load is approximately 70,000 pounds (31,751 kilograms).

At the time of the crash, 61-0026 had a total of 12,721.5 hours on its airframe. It was the only B-52 remaining at Fairchild AFB and had been meticulously maintained and inspected. There were no discrepancies related to the accident. It was valued at $73,700,000.

Boeing B-52H-170-BW Stratofortress 61-0026. (U.S. Air Force)
Boeing B-52H-170-BW Stratofortress 61-0026. (U.S. Air Force)

Arthur Alan (“Bud”) Holland was born 7 September 1947, in Suffolk, Virginia. He was the son of Arthur Leroy and Virginia Holland.

Holland attended Campbell University, Bules Creek, North Carolina, where he was a cadet in Reserve Officers Training Corps. He received a commission as a second lieutenant, United States Air Force Reserve in January 1971.

Holland and his wife, Sarah Anne, had two daughters, Heather Lee and Mary Margaret.

At the time of his death, Holland had served in the U.S. Air Force for over 23 years. He was a rated Command Pilot with a total of 5,275.3 flying hours, with 5,038.3 hours in the B-52 series (61.1 hours combat, B-52G).

Holland’s remains were interred at Fairmont Memorial Park, Spokane, Washington.

¹ In the official U.S. Air Force Aircraft Accident Investigation Board report (AFR 110-14), the list of regulations and technical orders violated by Lieutenant Colonel Holland on this 18 minute flight takes up three full pages (Page 23, 24, and 25).

© 2018, Bryan R. Swopes

24 June 1993

Aviation, , , , , ,
Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers in storage at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona. (Unattributed)
Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers in storage at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona. (Unattributed)

24 June 1993: In compliance with an arms control treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union, the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center (AMARC) at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona, immediately began the destruction of 363 Boeing B-52 Stratofortress strategic bombers.

Boeing B-52s awaiting destruction at Davis-Monthan AFB. (Unattributed)

© 2015, Bryan R. Swopes

24 June 1982

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CGI illustration of British Airways' Speedbird 9 descending without power, surrounded by St. Elmo's Fire. (Anynobody)
CGI illustration of British Airways’ SPEEDBIRD 9 descending without power, surrounded by St. Elmo’s Fire. (Anynobody)

24 June 1982: British Airways Flight 9, a Boeing 747-236B, G-BDXH, City of Edinburgh, enroute from London, England, to Aukland, New Zealand, was cruising at 37,000 feet (11,278 meters) with 248 passengers and 15 crewmembers on board. The airliner was under the command of Captain Eric H. J. Moody, with Senior First Officer Roger Greaves and Senior Flight Engineer Barry Townley-Freeman on the flight deck. It operated with the call sign, “Speedbird 9.”

At 10:42 p.m., local time (13:42 UTC), approximately 110 miles (188 kilometers) south of Jakarta, Indonesia, the airliner’s number four engine began surging and then flamed out. A minute later engine number two also surged and flamed out. Then, simultaneously, engines one and three failed as well.

Mount Galunggung during a 1983 eruption. (R. Hadian, U.S. Geological Survey)

Volcanic dust from erupting Mount Gallanggung, a 7,113 foot (2,168 meters) stratovolcano located in West Java, 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of Bandung, had been ingested by the engines and melted inside the combustion chambers, cutting off the airflow and shutting each of them down. The 747 had a glide ratio of 15:1. The flight crew turned Speedbird 9 toward Jakarta while they went through emergency procedures.

Captain Eric Moody, British Airways
Captain Eric Moody, British Airways (PA)

Captain Eric Moody made the following announcement to the passengers:

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. I trust you are not in too much distress.”

At 13,500 feet (4,115 meters), the flight crew was finally able to get one engine restarted and soon after, a second. Eventually all four engines were running and the 747 began to regain altitude. The Number Two engine again began to surge so the crew shut it down and the 747 remained at 12,000 feet (3,658 meters).

On approach to Jakarta, though good visibility was reported, the flight crew could barely see the airport lights. It was later determined that the windshield was completely sandblasted by the volcanic dust. Speedbird 9 safely landed with no injuries. Captain Moody later said, “The airplane seemed to kiss the earth and we were on the ground safely.”

G-BDXG was repaired and flown back to London, where it underwent further, more extensive repairs.

Captain Moody and Senior Cabin Services Officer Graham Skinner were awarded the Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air. Guinness Book of Records lists Flight 9 as the longest glide of any aircraft not designed for gliding.

Screen Shot 2016-06-24 at 09.34.50

CENTRAL CHANCERY OF
THE ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD
ST. JAMES’S PALACE, LONDON S.W.I
11th June, 1983

The QUEEN has been graciously pleased, on the occasion of the Celebration of Her Majesty’s Birthday, to approve the award of The Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air:

The Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service
in the Air

UNITED KINGDOM

Eric Henry John MOODY, Captain, British Airways.

Graham SKINNER, Cabin Services Officer, British Airways.

—Supplement to the London Gazette, Supplement 49375, Saturday, 11th June 1983, at Page B28

Volcanic ash accumulation on turbine stator vanes from one of Speedbird 9’s Rolls-Royce RB211 engines. (British Airways)

Eric Henry John Moody was born 7 June 1941 at New Forest, Hampshire, England. In January 1966, he married Miss Patricia J. Collard at Southhampton. They would have two children. Captain Moody served with British Airways for 32 years, retiring in 1996 with over 17,000 flight hours. He passed away in March 2024 at the age of 82 years.

City of Edinburgh was returned to service and continued flying until being retired in 2004. It was scrapped at Bournemouth Airport, Dorset, England, in 2009.

British Airways Boeing 747-236B City of Edinburgh, G-BDXG, circa 1981. (Flickr)

© 2024, Bryan R. Swopes

24 June 1943

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Lieutenant Colonel William.R. Lovelace II, M.D., U.S. Army Medical Corps, receives the Distinguished Flying Cross from General Henry H. Arnold, Commanding General, U.S. Army Air Forces. (U.S. Air Force)
Lieutenant Colonel William R. Lovelace II, M.D., Medical Corps, United States Army, receives the Distinguished Flying Cross from General Henry H. Arnold, Commanding General, U.S. Army Air Forces. (U.S. Air Force)

24 June 1943: At 12:33 p.m., Lieutenant Colonel William Randolph Lovelace II, M.D., Medical Corps, United States Army, made a record-setting parachute jump from a Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress over Ephrata, Washington, while testing high-altitude oxygen equipment. The altitude was 40,200 feet (12,253 meters). This was his first parachute jump.

Dr. Lovelace returned to Earth after a 23 minute, 51 second descent. This was the highest altitude parachute jump made up to that time.

Lovelace used a Type T-5 back-pack parachute which was opened by a static line attached to the bomber. The shock of the sudden opening of the 28 foot (8.5 meters) diameter parachute caused Lovelace to lose consciousness. He came to at about 30,000 feet (9,144 meters).

Lieutenant Colonel William R. Lovelace II, M.D., Medical Corps, United States Army, wearing a pressure mask, oxygen bottle an parachute, prior to teh high-altitude jump, 24 June 1943. (Lovelace Respiratory Research Insititute)
Lieutenant Colonel William R. Lovelace II, M.D., Medical Corps, United States Army, wearing a re-breathing pressure mask, Type H-2 oxygen bottle and Type T-5 parachute, prior to the high-altitude jump, 24 June 1943. (Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute)

“On active duty with the Army Air Corps as a colonel during World War II, Lovelace used himself as a test subject in further experiments on the problems of high-altitude escape and parachuting. On June 24, 1943, he made his first parachute jump, bailing out of an aircraft 40,200 feet [12,253 meters] above Washington State. Although he was knocked unconscious by the opening shock of the parachute at the high altitude, and his hand was frostbitten when one of his gloves was torn away, valuable data was gained from his ordeal and he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for the experiment. He returned to private practice after the war, and in 1947, founded the Lovelace Clinic in Albuquerque, New Mexico.”

—International Space Hall of Fame at the New Mexico Museum of Space History

Lieutenant Colonel William R. Lovelace II, M.D., Medical Corps, United States Army, lying on the ground after a parachute jump from a B-17 at 40,200 feet, 24 June 1943. (U.S. Air Force)

© 2017, Bryan R. Swopes

24 June 1939

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Boeing 314 NC18603, Yankee Clipper (Harris and Ewing)
Boeing 314 NC18603, Yankee Clipper (Harris & Ewing)

24 June 1939: The Pan American Airways System began scheduled air service from the United States to Britain. The Boeing 314 Yankee Clipper, NC18603, made the first flight from Port Washington, New York, departing at 8:21 a.m. It made intermediate stops at Shediac, New Brunswick, and Botwood, Newfoundland, where fog delayed the flying boat until 12:49 p.m., 28 June. Continuing across the Atlantic, Yankee Clipper made another stop at Foynes, Ireland, and finally arrived at Southampton at 7:25 p.m. that evening.

The largest airplane of the time, the Pan American Clipper flying boat could carry 77 passengers in “one class” luxury, with a ticket priced at $675—that’s in 1939 dollars. ($15,610.71 in 2025) Uniformed waiters served five and six course meals on silver service. Seats could be folded down into beds.

The flight deck of a Boeing 314. At the left, standing, is the airliner's navigator. Beyond him are the captain (left) and co-pilot. On the right side of the cabin are the radio operator and flight engineer. (Unattributed)
The flight deck of a Boeing 314. At the left, standing, is the airliner’s navigator. Beyond him are the captain (left) and co-pilot. On the right side of the cabin are the radio operator and flight engineer. (Unattributed)

The Boeing Model 314 was a large four-engine, high-wing monoplane flying boat designed and built by the Boeing Airplane Company to take off and land on water. It had a crew of 10. The wings and engine nacelles had been designed for Boeing XB-15 heavy bomber. It was 106 feet (32.309 meters) long with a wingspan of 152 feet (46.330 meters). It had a maximum take off weight of 82,500 pounds (37,421 kilograms).

The Boeing 314 was powered by four air-cooled, supercharged, 2,603.737-cubic-inch-displacement (42.668 liter) Wright Aeronautical Division Cyclone 14 GR2600A2, two-row, 14-cylinder radial engines with a compression ratio of 7.1:1. They were rated at 1,200 horsepower at 2,100 r.p.m., and 1,550 horsepower at 2,400 r.p.m. for takeoff, burning 91/96 octane gasoline. These engines (also commonly called “Twin Cyclone”) drove three-bladed Hamilton Standard Hydromatic full-feathering constant-speed propellers with a diameter of 14 feet (4.267 meters) through a 16:9 gear reduction. The GR2600A2 was 5 feet, 2.06 inches (1.576 meters) long and 4 feet, 7 inches (1.387 meters) in diameter. It weighed 1,935 pounds (878 kilograms). The engines could be serviced in flight, with access through the wings.

Pan American Airways’ Boeing 314 NC18603, Yankee Clipper.

The Boeing 314 had a maximum speed of 199 miles per hour (320 kilometers per hour), with a  range of 3,685 miles (5,930 kilometers) at its normal cruising speed of 183 miles per hour (295 kilometers per hour). Its service ceiling was 13,400 feet (4,084 meters). The fuel capacity was 4,246 gallons (16,073 liters).

Boeing built six Model 314 and another six 314A flying boats for Pan American Airways and British Overseas Airways Corporation.

Yankee Clipper was destroyed 22 February 1943 at Lisbon, Portugal. A wing hit the water on landing. 24 of the 39 persons aboard were killed.

This iluustration shows the interior arrangement of the Boeing 314. (Unattributed)
This illustration shows the interior arrangement of the Boeing 314. It was published in LIFE Magazine, circa 1937. (Boeing)

© 2017, Bryan R. Swopes