A Sikorsky SH-3D Sea King of HS-4 hovers nearby during recovery operations after Apollo 8 lands in the Pacific Ocean, 27 December 1968. (Otis Imboden/National Geographic)
27 December 1968 15:51:42 UTC, T plus 147:00:42.0: Apollo 8 splashes down in the Pacific Ocean south of the Hawaiian Islands, within 5,000 yards (4,572 meters) of the recovery ship USS Yorktown (CVS-10). The spacecraft arrived before sunrise, landing in 10-foot (3-meter) swells. The parachutes dragged the capsule and left it floating upside down. The inflatable pontoons righted it after about six minutes.
The three astronauts, Frank F. Borman II, James A. Lovell, Jr., and William A. Anders, were hoisted aboard a Sikorsky SH-3D Sea King helicopter, Bu. No. 152711, and flown to the aircraft carrier.
Apollo 8 was the first manned space mission to leave Earth orbit and to travel to another planetary body. It proved all of the space flight techniques that would be required for the upcoming Apollo 11 landing on the Moon.
Sikorsky SH-3D Sea King 66, Bureau of Aeronautics serial number 152711, assigned to HS-4 (“Black Knights”) was the primary recovery helicopter for Apollo 8, Apollo 10, Apollo 11, Apollo 12 and Apollo 13. It was lost at sea off NALF Imperial Beach, California, 4 June 1975. One crewman was killed.
U.S. Navy swimmers prepare the Apollo 8 command capsule to be hoisted aboard USS Yorktown (CVS-10) in the Pacific Ocean, 27 December 1968. (U.S. Navy)
The first prototype North American Aviation XFJ-2B Fury, Bu. No. 133756, lifts off the runway at Los Angeles International Airport, 27 December 1951. (San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive)North American Aviation XFJ-2B Fury prototype Bu. No. 133756 climbs out after takeoff from Los Angeles International Airport, 27 December 1951. (San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive)
27 December 1951: The North American Aviation XFJ-2B Fury, Bu. No. 133756, made its first flight at Los Angeles International Airport with test pilot Robert Anderson Hoover at the controls.
The XFJ-2B was a prototype aircraft carrier-based fighter for the United States Navy and Marine Corps. It was modified from a standard production U.S. Air Force F-86E-10-NA Sabre day fighter. The primary difference was the substitution of four 20 mm Colt Mark 12 autocannon for the six .50-caliber Browning M-3 machine guns of the F-86E. 150 rounds per gun were carried. The aircraft was flown to the Naval Ordnance Test Station, Armitage Field, China Lake, California, for armament testing.
The second and third prototypes were unarmed but fitted with an arrestor hook, catapult points, folding wings and a lengthened nose gear strut to increase the fighter’s static angle of attack for takeoff and landings. These two prototypes were used for aircraft carrier trials.
Production FJ-2 Fury fighters were built at North American’s Columbus, Ohio plant, along with F-86F Sabres for the Air Force.
Prototype North American Aviation XFJ-2B Fury Bu. No. 133756 in flight, eastbound, just southwest of the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Santa Monica Bay and the Santa Monica Mountains are in the background. (North American Aviation, Inc./Boeing)North American Aviation test pilot Robert A. (“Bob”) Hoover with XFJ-2 Fury Bu. No. 133754, the second prototype. Note the extended landing gear strut. (North American Aviation, Inc.)
Robert A. Hoover was one of the world’s best known exhibition pilots. He was a fighter pilot in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. While flying a British Supermarine Spitfire with the 52nd Fighter Group based at Sicily, he was shot down, captured, and held as a prisoner of war at Stalag Luft I in Germany.
After 16 months in captivity, Hoover escaped, stole a Luftwaffe Focke-Wulf Fw 190 and flew it to The Netherlands.
After the war, Bob Hoover trained as a test pilot at Wright Field, Ohio, and remained in the Air Force until 1948. He worked as a test pilot for the Allison Division of General Motors, and then went on to North American Aviation.
Bob Hoover was famous for flying aerobatic demonstrations around the world in his yellow P-51D Mustang and a twin-engine Shrike Commander, both built by North American Aviation.
Robert Anderson Hoover died 25 October 2016 at the age of 94 years.
Robert Anderson Hoover, Test Pilot, with North American Aviation F-100D-30-NA Super Sabre 55-3702A. (The Washington Post)
Mauna Loa viewed from Hilo, Hawaii. (Donnie MacGowan, Lovingthebigisland’s Weblog)Advancing lava flow, December 1935. (USGS)
27 December 1935: When an eruption of Mauna Loa, a volcano on the Island of Hawaii (ongoing since late November) threatened the town of Hilo on the island’s northeastern coast, a decision was made to try to divert the flow of lava by aerial bombing. (The population of Hilo in 1935 was 15,633.)
Until recently, Mauna Loa was thought to be the largest volcano on Earth, but has been downgraded to second-place status by the Tamu Massif in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. It is a shield volcano, meaning that it was built up of fluid lava flows, as opposed to a stratovolcano, such as Vesuvius, which is created by the build up of solids like ash and pumice. The summit of Mauna Loa is 13,679 feet (4,169 meters) above Sea Level, but the volcano actually rises 30,085 feet (9,170 meters) from the floor of the Pacific Ocean.
“Lava flows from Pu’u ‘O’o Crater on Kilauea,” one of five active volcanoes on the Island of Hawaii in the Hawaiian Islands. (USGS)
The mission was planned by Lieutenant Colonel George S. Patton. The U.S. Army Air Corps’ 23d Bombardment Squadron, 5th Composite Group, based at Luke Field on Ford Island, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii, sent three Keystone B-3A and two Keystone B-6A bombers. The five airplanes dropped twenty 600-pound (272.2 kilogram) Mark I demolition bombs, each containing 355 pounds (161 kilograms) of TNT, with 0.1-second delay fuses.
A Keystone bomber flying over the Ko’olau Range on the island of Oahu, Territory of Hawaii. (U.S. Air Force)
Five of the twenty bombs struck molten lava directly; most of the others impacted solidified lava along the flow channel margins. . . Colonel William C. Capp (USAF, ret.), a pilot who bombed the lower target, reported direct hits on the channel, observing a sheet of red, molten rock that was thrown up to about 200′ elevation and that flying debris made small holes in his lower wing. Bombs that impacted on solidified, vesicular pahoehoe along the flow margin produced craters averaging 6.7 m diameters and 2.0 m depth. . .
Pilots observed that several bombs collapsed thin lava tube roofs, although in no case was sufficient roof material imploded into the tube to cause blockage. The extrusion of lava ceased within a week, however, and Jaggar wrote that the bombing caused the fluid pahoehoe to thicken and block the vent by the process of gas release. . . .
—Diversion of Lava Flows by Aerial Bombing — Lessons from Mauna Loa Volcano, Hawaii, by J.P. Lockwood, USGS, and F.A. Torgerson, USAF, abstract.
A flight of three Keystone B-3A bombers of the 23d Bombardment Squadron take off at Luke Field on the island of Oahu, Territory of Hawaii. Diamond Head is visible in the background. (U.S. Air Force)
Eventually the lava turned to follow the natural drainage toward Hilo, instigating a crisis. On December 26, the flow was moving 1.6 km per day (1 mile per day), and at that rate scientists calculated the flows would reach Kaumana Road by January 9 (disrupting mochi-pounding parties). A suggestion to bomb the eruption was made. The U.S. Army Officer who planned the bombing operation was then Lt. Colonel George S. Patton, who would go on to WWII fame.
Three Keystone B-6As of 20th Bombardment Squadron, 2d Bomb Group, release their bombs on a practice mission. (U.S. Air Force)
On December 27, U.S. Army planes dropped bombs, targeting the lava channels and tubes just below the vents at 2,600 m (8,600 ft). The object was to divert the flow near its source. The results of the bombing was declared a success by Thomas A. Jaggar, Director of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.
Jagger wrote that ‘the violent release of lava, of gas and of hydrostatic pressures at the source robbed the lower flow of its substance, and of its heat.’ The lava stopped flowing on January 2, 1936.
“Aerial view of a bomb detonating on Mauna Loa near the 8,500-foot elevation source of the 1935 lava flow on the morning of Dec. 27, 1935. This was one of twenty 600-pound bombs dropped on the lava flow that morning by the Army Bombing Squadron from Luke Field, O’ahu. Photo by Army Air Corps, 11th Photo Section.” (Big Island Now)
The Keystone B-3A was a twin-engine two-bay biplane bomber, among the last biplanes used by the United States Army. It was operated by a crew of five. The B-3A was 48 feet, 10 inches (14.884 meters) long with a wingspan of 74 feet, 8 inches (22.758 meters). The maximum gross weight was 12,952 pounds (5,875 kilograms).
The B-3A was powered by two air-cooled, supercharged, 1,690.537-cubic-inch-displacement (27.703 liters) Pratt & Whitney Hornet A1 (R-1690-3) single-row 9-cylinder radial engines with a compression ratio of 5:1. The engine was rated at 525 horsepower at 1,900 r.p.m., and turned two-bladed propellers through direct drive. The R-1690-3 was 3 feet, 8.88 Inches (1.140 meters) long, 4 feet, 7.44 inches (1.408 meters) in diameter and weighed 800 pounds (363 kilograms).
The B-3A had a maximum speed of 114 miles per hour (184 kilometers per hour) at Sea Level. Cruising speed was 98 miles per hour (158 kilometers per hour) and the service ceiling was 12,700 feet (3,871 meters) —nearly 1,000 feet (305 meters) lower than Mauna Loa’s summit.
Armament consisted of three .30-caliber machine guns and 2,500 pounds (1,133.9 kilograms) of bombs. With a full bomb load, the Keystone B-3A had a range of 860 miles (1,384 kilometers).
63 Keystone B-3As were built for the Air Corps and they were in service until 1940. The 2nd Observation Squadron at Nichols Field, Philippines, was the last unit equipped with the B-3A.
Keystone B-3A, Air Corps serial number 30-281, the first B-3A built. (U.S. Air Force)
The Keystone B-6A was a re-engined B-3A. There was a change to two 1,823.129-cubic-inch-displacement (29.875 liter) air-cooled, supercharged Wright Aeronautical Division Cyclone 9 R-1820E single row 9-cylinder radial engines turning three-bladed propellers. The R-1820E was rated at 575 horsepower at 1,900 r.p.m. The engine weighed 850 pounds (386 kilograms).
Maximum speed increased to 120 miles per hour (193 kilometers per hour) at Sea Level with a cruising speed of 103 miles per hour (166 kilometers per hour). Armament and bomb load remained the same but the service ceiling increased to 14,100 feet (4,298 meters). The range decreased to 350 miles (563 kilometers) with a full bomb load.
39 Keystone B-6As were built and they remained in service until the early 1940s.
A U.S. Army Air Corps Keystone B-6A bomber. (U.S. Air Force)
Newsreel footage of the bombing is available at Critical Past:
Deputy Sheriff Jim Miller Dalton flies ‘Copter 7 over the Solimar Fire, west of the City of Ventura, at sunrise, 26 December 2015. Jim has been flying all night. (Ventura County Sheriff’s Department Air Unit)
26 December 2015: Shortly before midnight, Christmas Day, a wind-driven fire threatened the tiny coastal community of Solimar Beach, just west of the City of Ventura, California. Low humidity and gusty winds whipped the fire out of control and emergency evacuations were ordered. Winds were clocked at 42 miles per hour (19 meters per second). Highway 1, California’s famous Pacific Coast Highway (or just “PCH”) was closed to traffic in both directions.
The Solimar Fire, looking west from the City of Ventura, 26 December 2015. (Austi V. Campbell)
Almost immediately, Copter 7 flew from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department Air Unit base at nearby Camarillo Airport (CMA). The pilot of the helicopter was Deputy Sheriff Jim Miller Dalton, a 45-year-veteran helicopter pilot who has served with the Air Unit for more than twenty years.
Jim Dalton makes a water drop over the Solimar Fire during the night of 25–26 December 2015. (Cal Fire)
Copter 7 is a 1970 Bell HH-1H Iroquois, originally a U.S. Air Force rescue helicopter, serial number 70-2472, and now carrying the FAA registration N205SD. The HH-1H was a variant of the U.S. Army UH-1H transport helicopter.
The Bell Helicopter Co. UH-1H Iroquois (Model 205A-1) is an improved variant of the UH-1D (Model 205), which was itself derived from the UH-1B (Model 204). The type’s initial military designation was HU-1, and this resulted in the helicopter being universally known as the “Huey.”
The UH-1H is a single main rotor/tail rotor medium helicopter powered by a turboshaft engine. It can be flown by a single pilot, but is commonly flown by two pilots in military service. The helicopter has an overall length of 57 feet, 0.67 inches (17.375 meters) with rotors turning. The fuselage is 41 feet, 5 inches (12.624 meters) long. The two blade semi-rigid, under-slung main rotor has a diameter of 48 feet, 3.2 inches (14.712 meters), and turns counter clockwise when viewed from above. (The advancing blade is on the helicopter’s right.) At 100% NR, the main rotor turns 324 r.p.m. The two blade tail rotor assembly has a diameter of 8 feet, 6 inches (2.591 meters). It is on the left side of the pylon in a pusher configuration and turns counter-clockwise as seen from the helicopter’s left. (The advancing blade is above the axis of rotation.) The helicopter has a height of 13 feet, 7.4 inches (4.150 meters), measured to the top of the mast.
The UH-1H is powered by a Lycoming LTC1K-4 (T53-L-13) turboshaft engine rated at 1,400 shaft horsepower, though it is derated to the helicopter’s transmission limit. The T53-L-13 is a two-shaft free turbine with a 6-stage compressor (5 axial-flow stages, 1 centrifugal-flow stage) and a 4-stage axial-flow turbine (2 high-pressure stages, 2 low-pressure power turbine stages). The T53-L-13 is 3 feet, 11.9 inches (1.217 meters) long, 1 foot, 11.0 inches (0.584 meters) in diameter and weighs 549 pounds (249 kilograms).
The UH-1H has a maximum gross weight of 9,500 pounds (4,309.1 kilograms). Its maximum speed, VNE, is 124 knots (143 miles per hour, or 230 kilometers per hour). With full fuel, 206.5 gallons (781.7 liters), the helicopter has a maximum endurance of three hours.
5,345 UH-1H Hueys were built, and many of the earlier UH-1Ds were upgraded to the UH-1H standard.
The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department Bell HH-1H, ‘Copter 7, takes off from Carpenteria, California, to fight the Thomas Fire, 2017. (Zack Warburg/Newzhawk)
‘Copter 7, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department HH-1H helicopter, was rebuilt and upgraded to Bell’s Huey II configuration in 1998. The revised aircraft features the driveline and rotors of the more powerful Model 212. The tail rotor has been moved to the right side of the tail rotor pylon in a tractor configuration, reversing its direction of rotation to clockwise, as seen from the helicopter’s left side. (The advancing blade is below the axis of rotation.) The original 1,400 shaft horsepower Lycoming T53-L-13 has been replaced with a T53-L-703, rated at 1,800 shaft horsepower (de-rated to the transmission limit). This engine is more durable, more fuel-efficent and increases the Huey’s maximum gross weight to 10,500 pounds (4,763 kilograms). The overhaul interval (TBO) increases from 2,400 hours, to 5,000 hours. The Huey II is optimized for “hot and high” operation, with increased hover ceilings, both in (HIGE) and out (HOGE) of ground effect.
‘Copter 7, a Bell HH-1H Huey operated by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, fighting the Thomas Fire, December 2017. (Skip Robinson/Vertical)
‘Copter 7 also uses the BLR Aerospace FastFin for improved tail rotor performance. Water is dropped from a Simplex Aerospace Model 304 Fire Attack System which can carry 369 gallons (1,397 liters) of water, and is equipped with a snorkel to allow the helicopter to take on water while hovering over a source.
Dalton’s helicopter was soon joined by ‘Copter 16, a Sikorsky S-70A Firehawk of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Mutual aid between agencies is critical with limited air attack resources available.
‘Copter 16, a Sikorsky S-70A Firehawk operated by the Los Angeles County Fire Department, makes a water drop on the Solimar Fire, early on the morning 26 December 2015. (Cal Fire)
After sunrise, ‘Copters 7 and 16 were joined by two more Huey air attack helicopters from the Santa Barbara County Air Support Unit and Cal Fire, along with four fixed-wing air tankers. More than 600 firefighters fought the flames from the ground. Two of them were injured.
By early afternoon on the 26th, the Solimar Fire was contained after burning 1,236 acres (500 hectares). Traffic was restored and residents were allowed to return to their homes.
The fire was caused by arcing power lines.
Jim Dalton retired from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department in March 2016.
He now acts as a consultant as Ventura County modernizes its fleet with the addition of a Subaru Bell 412 EXP (with a second one planned) and three Sikorsky HH-60L Black Hawks, two of which have been converted to the Firehawk configuration by United Rotorcraft.
On 31 August 2023, Jim Dalton was presented with the Federal Aviation Administration’s prestigious Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award.
‘Copter 7 was retired 31 August 2021 after 27 years of service with Ventura County.
Deputy Jim Dalton with the former ‘Copter Nine, Ventura County’s 1975 Bell 212 Twin.
The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department also operates a Bell 206L-1 LongRanger II (‘Copter 3), a Bell HH-1H Iroquois (‘Copter 6) and a Bell 205A-1 (‘Copter 8). A 1975 Bell 212, the former ‘Copter 9, has recently been sold, and the two single engine Hueys will be sold when the second 412EXP arrives. The Department has three very low-time Sikorsky HH-60L Black Hawks (‘Copter 2, ‘Copter 4 and ‘Copter 5) acquired from the General Services Administration. Two were modified to the Firehawk configuration by United Rotorcraft, Englewood, Colorado. The Sikorskys began to enter service in Ventura County in May 2021. The first 412EXP arrived 18 December 2023.
N60VC is one of three Sikorsky HH-60L Black Hawks acquired by Ventura County. The aircraft’s call sign is ” ‘Copter Five.” Two of the Black Hawks have been converted to the Firehawk configuration. (Capt. Romano Bassi/Ventura County Sheriff’s Department)Ventura County’s new ” ‘Copter Nine,” a Subaru Bell 412EPX, N412VC. (Scott Dworkin/Vertical)
26 December 1975: The Tupolev Tu-144S, 004-1, operated by Aeroflot (OAO Aeroflot-Rossiyskiye avialinii) under civil registration CCCP-77106, was the first supersonic transport to enter commercial service when it flew a regularly-scheduled 2,010 mile (3,240 kilometer) route from Moscow Domodedovo Airport to Almaty, Kazakhstan, carrying mail and freight.
004-1 was the first production Tu-144S delivered to Aeroflot. A prototype and a pre-production Tu-144S had been built first. There were a total of 16 Tu-144s completed, with nine production Tu-144S and five Tu-144D models. The first production Tu 144S, CCCP-77102, broke up in flight at the Paris Air Show, 2 June 1973.¹
The Tu-144S was built by Tupolev OKB at the Voronezh Aviation Plant (VASO), Pridacha Airport, Voronezh. It is a large double-delta-winged aircraft with a “droop” nose for improved low speed cockpit visibility and retractable canards mounted high on the fuselage behind the cockpit. It was flown by a flight crew of three and was designed to carry up to 120 passengers.
77106 is 65.50 meters (215 feet, 6.6 inches) long, with a wingspan of 28.00 meters (91 feet, 10.4 inches). The tip of the vertical fin was 11.45 meters (37 feet, 6.8 inches) high. The 144S has a total wing are of 503 square meters (5,414 square feet). Its empty weight is 91,800 kilograms (202,384 pounds) and the maximum takeoff weight is 195,000 kilograms (429,901 pounds). (A number of Tu-144S airliners had extended wing tips, increasing the span to 28.80 meters (94 feet, 5.9 inches) and the wing area to 507 square meters (5,457 square feet).
The Tu-144S was powered by four Kuznetsov NK-144A engines. The NK-144 is a two-spool axial-flow turbofan engine with afterburner. It uses a 2-stage fan section, 14-stage compressor section (11 high- and 3 low-pressure stages), and a 3-stage turbine (1 high- and 2 low-pressure stages). It is rated at 147.0 kilonewtons (33,047 pounds of thrust) for supersonic cruise, and 178.0 kilonewtons (40,016 pounds of thrust) with afterburner for takeoff. The NK-144A is 5.200 meters (17 feet, 0.7 inches) long, 1.500 meters (4 feet, 11.1 inches) in diameter and weighs 2,827 kilograms (6,233 pounds).
The 144S has a cruise speed of Mach 2.07 (2,200 kilometers per hour/1,367 miles per hour) with a maximum speed of Mach 2.35 (2,500 kilometers per hour/1,553 miles per hour). The service ceiling is approximately 20,000 meters (65,617 feet). Its practical range is 3,080 kilometers (1,914 miles).
In actual commercial service, the Tu-144 was extremely unreliable. It was withdrawn from service after a total of just 102 commercial flights, including 55 passenger flights.
004-1 made its first flight 4 March 1975 at Voronezh. On 29 February 1980, it made its 320th and final flight when it was flown to the Central Air Force Museum of Russia at Monino, Russia. The airframe has a total flight time of 582 hours, 36 minutes.
