One of the first Boeing 707 airliners delivered to Pan American World Airways, Clipper Maria, N707PA. (Pan Am)
10 December 1958: Using a Boeing 707 leased from Pan American World Airways, National Airlines became the first U.S. airline to operate jet airliners within the United States.
Pan American’s Clipper America, N710PA, a Boeing 707-121, departed Idlewild Airport (IDL), New York City, New York, at 9:54 a.m., Eastern Standard Time, bound for Miami International Airport (MIA), Florida, 949 nautical miles (1,092 statute miles/1,756 kilometers) to the south-southwest. The National Airlines pilots were Captain Roger Whittacker and Captain David B. Gannon. The airliner carried 102 passengers.
N710PA arrived at Miami at 12:39 p.m. Departing Miami at 2:13 p.m., returned to New York and touched down at Idlewild at 4:52 p.m. The 707 was flown on a scheduled Pan Am flight that night.
A contemporary news magazine article discussed the lease arrangement:
National Airlines timetable, 26 October 1958. (Don Henchel Collection via Airline Timetable Images)
“Monday, Dec. 08, 1958: One of the few U.S. airlines climbing out of the labor fog last week was National Airlines, whose routes stretch along the Atlantic Coast to Florida. On Dec. 10 National will inaugurate the first domestic jet airliner service with daily flights on the rich New York-Miami run. Using 600-m.p.h. Boeing 707s under a complicated lease-stock deal with Pan American, which already flies jets across the Atlantic, National will make the 1,100-mile run in 2 hr. 15 min. To make sure that it can fly jets, National signed contracts with its pilots, flight engineers and mechanics running into 1960. National is paying well to be the first domestic jet operator. Plans call for three 707s under lease around the first of the year, each one costing an estimated $216,000 per month to operate and maintain. To sweeten the kitty. National has also agreed to a stock exchange that, if CAB approves, will eventually give Pan Am a big voice in its affairs. In a $16 million swap, the two lines will exchange 400,000 shares of stock, and Pan Am will get a two-year option to buy another 250,000 shares of National stock at $22.50 per share. The effect would be to give National a minor (6%) interest in Pan American, while Pan Am could gain 36% of National if it exercises its option. . . .”
— TIME Magazine, 8 December, 1958
American Airlines was the first domestic carrier to fly its own Boeing 707s, with the first flight from Los Angeles to new York, 25 January 1959.
National Airlines was a domestic carrier, founded in 1930. Pan Am acquired the airline 7 January 1980.
National Airlines advertisement, Fall 1958. (Don Henchel Collection via Airline Timetable Images)
The Boeing 707 was developed from the earlier Model 367–80, the “Dash Eighty.”
The Boeing Model 707-121 was a four-engine jet transport with swept wings and tail surfaces. The leading edge of the wings were swept at a 35° angle. The airliner had a flight crew of four: pilot, co-pilot, navigator and flight engineer.
The 707-121 was 145 feet, 1 inch (44.221 meters) long with a wing span of 130 feet, 10 inches (39.878 meters). The top of the vertical fin stood 42 feet, 5 inches (12.929 meters) high. The 707 pre-dated the ”wide-body” airliners, having a fuselage width of 12 feet, 4 inches (3.759 meters). The airliner’s empty weight is 122,533 pounds (55,580 kilograms). Maximum take off weight is 257,000 pounds (116,573 kilograms).
The first versions were powered by four Pratt & Whitney Turbo Wasp JT3C-6 turbojet engines, producing 11,200 pounds of thrust (49.82 kilonewtons), and 13,500 pounds (60.051 kilonewtons) with water injection. This engine was a civil variant of the military J57 series. It was a two-spool axial-flow turbojet engine with a 16-stage compressor and 2 stage turbine. The JT3C-6 was 11 feet, 6.6 inches (3.520 meters) long, 3 feet, 2.9 inches (0.988 meters) in diameter, and weighed 4,235 pounds (1,921 kilograms).
At MTOW, the 707 required 11,000 feet (3,352.8 meters) of runway to take off.
The 707-121 had a maximum speed of 540 knots (1,000 kilometers per hour). It’s range was 2,800 nautical miles (5,185.6 kilometers).
N710PA, c/n 17589, was delivered to Pan American 29 September 1958. It was later renamed Clipper Caroline. In 1965, the airliner was upgraded to the 701-121B configuration. After being sold by Pan Am, it served with a number of different companies. It was scrapped in 1984.
Note: Thanks to regular TDiA reader Tom Facer for suggesting this post.
Jackie Cochran with her record-setting North American Aviation P-51B Mustang, NX28388. (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale)
10 December 1947: Near the Santa Rosa Summit in the Coachella Valley of southeastern California, Jackie Cochran flew her green North American Aviation P-51B Mustang, NX28388, over a 100-kilometer (62 miles) closed circuit, averaging 755.668 kilometers per hour (469.549 miles per hour). She set both a U.S. National and a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Record.¹
These records still stand.
Jackie Cochran’s green North American Aviation P-51B-15-NA Mustang, NX28388. (FAI)National Aeronautic Association Certificate of Record in the San Diego Air & Space Museum Archive. (Bryan R. Swopes)
Distinguished Flying Cross
For a series of six records set in her P-51, Jackie Cochran, who held a commission as a colonel in the United States Air Force, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 2, 1926, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to Colonel Jacqueline Cochran, United States Air Force, for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight from 1947 to 1951. During this period, Colonel Cochran piloted an F-51 aircraft in which she established six world speed records. At Coachella Valley, California, flying a closed-circuit 100-kilometer course, Colonel Cochran established a new speed record of 469.549 miles per hour. In other flights from Thermal, Indio, and Palm Springs, CA, Colonel Cochran established world speed records for the 3-, 15-, 500-, 1000-, and 2000-kilometer courses. The professional competence, aerial skill, and devotion to duty displayed by Colonel Cochran reflect great credit upon herself and the United States Air Force.
NX28388 was the first of three P-51 Mustangs owned by Jackie Cochran. It was a North American Aviation P-51B-15-NA Mustang built at Inglewood, California in 1944. It was assigned NAA internal number 104-25789 and U.S. Army Air Corps serial number 43-24760.
Cochran bought it from North American Aviation, Inc., 6 August 1946. The airplane was registered to Jacqueline Cochran Cosmetics, Inc., 142 Miller Street, Newark, New Jersey, but was based at Jackie’s C-O Ranch at Indio, California. The Mustang was painted “Lucky Strike Green” and carried the number 13 on each side of the fuselage, on the upper surface of the left wing and lower surface of the right wing.
NX28388 was powered by Packard V-1650-7 Merlin V-12, serial number V332415.
Jackie Cochran flew NX28388 in the 1946 Bendix Trophy Race and finished second to Paul Mantz in his P-51C Mustang, Blaze of Noon. Cochran asked Bruce Gimbel to fly the Mustang for her in the 1947 Bendix. There was trouble with the propeller governor and he finished in fourth place. In May 1948, Jackie set two more speed records with NX28388. Jackie and her green Mustang finished in third place in the 1948 Bendix race. She asked another pilot, Lockheed test pilot Sampson Held, to ferry the fighter back to California from Cleveland, Ohio after the race, but,
“. . . my plane crashed, carrying my associate, Sam Held, with it to his death.” —The Stars At Noon, by Jacqueline Cochran, Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1954, Chapter IV at Page 79.
NX28388 had crashed six miles south of Sayre, Oklahoma, 8 September 1948, killing Sam Held. Two witnesses saw a wing come off of the Mustang, followed by an explosion.
Jackie Cochran’s North American Aviation P-51B Mustang, NX28388, on the flight line at the Cleveland National Air Races, 1948. The airplane behind the Mustang is Tex Johnston’s Bell P-39Q, “Cobra II.” (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives)
The P-51B was the first production Mustang to be built with the famous Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, and was virtually identical to the P-51C variant. (The P-51Bs were built by North American Aviation, Inc., at Inglewood, California. P-51Cs were built at North American’s Dallas, Texas plant.) They were 32 feet, 2.97 inches (9.829 meters) long, with a wingspan of 37 feet, 0.31-inch (11.282 meters) and overall height of 13 feet, 8 inches (4.167 meters) high. The fighter had an empty weight of 6,985 pounds (3,168 kilograms) and a maximum gross weight of 11,800 pounds (5,352 kilograms).
P-51Bs and Cs were powered by a liquid-cooled, supercharged, 1,649-cubic-inch-displacement (27.04-liter) Packard V-1650-3 or -7 Merlin single overhead cam (SOHC) 60° V-12 engine which produced 1,380 horsepower at Sea Level, turning 3,000 r.p.m and 60 inches of manifold pressure (V-1650-3) or 1,490 horsepower at Sea Level, turning at 3,000 r.p.m. with 61 inches of manifold pressure (V-1650-7). These were license-built versions of the Rolls-Royce Merlin 63 and 66. The engine drove a four-bladed Hamilton-Standard Hydromatic constant speed propeller with a diameter of 11 feet, 2 inches (3.404 meters).
The P-51B/C had a cruise speed of 362 miles per hour (583 kilometers per hour) and the maximum speed was 439 miles per hour (707 kilometers per hour) at 25,000 feet (7,620 meters). The service ceiling was 41,900 feet (12,771 meters). With internal fuel, the combat range was 755 miles (1,215 kilometers).
In military service, armament consisted of four Browning AN/M2 .50-caliber machine guns, mounted two in each wing, with 350 rounds per gun for the inboard guns and 280 rounds per gun for the outboard.
1,988 P-51B Mustangs were built at North American’s Inglewood, California plant and another 1,750 P-51Cs were produced at Dallas, Texas. This was nearly 23% of the total P-51 production.
Jackie Cochran with her “Lucky Strike Green” North American Aviation P-51B-15-NA Mustang, NX28388, circa 1948. (Library of Congress)
Captain Colin Purdie Kelly, Jr., Air Corps, United States Army, by Deane Keller, 1942. (U.S. Air Force)
10 December 1941:¹ A single B-17C Flying Fortress heavy bomber, 40-2045, departed from Clark Field, on the island of Luzon, Commonwealth of the Philippines, alone and without escort, to search for an enemy aircraft carrier which had been reported near the coastal city of Aparri, at the northern end of the island. The aircraft was under the command of Captain Colin P. Kelly, Jr., Air Corps, United States Army, of the 14th Bombardment Squadron, 19th Bombardment Group.
Kelly’s Flying Fortress had not been fully fueled or armed because of an impending Japanese air raid. It carried only three 600-pound (272 kilogram) demolition bombs in its bomb bay.
While enroute to their assigned target area, Captain Kelly and his crew sighted a Japanese amphibious assault task force north of Aparri, including what they believed was aFusō-class battleship. The crew was unable to locate the reported aircraft carrier and Kelly decided to return to attack the ships that they had seen earlier.
A Boeing B-17C assigned to the 19th Bombardment Group at Iba Airfield, approximately 100 miles (160 kilometers) northwest of Manila on the island of Luzon, Commonwealth of the Philippine Islands, October 1941. (U.S. Air Force Historical Research Agency)
Kelly made two passes at 20,000 feet (6,096 meters) while the bombardier, Sergeant Meyer Levin, set up for a precise drop. On the third run, Sergeant Meyer released the three bombs in trail and bracketed the light cruiser IJN Natori. It and an escorting destroyer, IJN Harukaze, were damaged by near misses.
“. . . The battleship [actually, the light cruiser IJN Natori] was seen about 4 miles offshore and moving slowly parallel with the coastline. . . A quartering approach to the longitudinal axis of the ship was being flown. The three bombs were released in train as rapidly as the bombardier could get them away. The first bomb struck about 50 yards short, the next alongside, and the third squarely amidship. . . A great cloud of smoke arose from the point of impact. The forward length of the ship was about 10 degrees off center to portside. The battleship began weaving from side to side and headed toward shore. Large trails of oil followed in its wake. . . .”
— Narrative Report of Flight of Captain Colin P. Kelly, Air Corps, O-20811 (deceased) on Dec 10, 1947, by Eugene L. Eubank, Colonel, Air Corps, Commanding, Headquarters, 5th Bomber Command, Malang, Java, Feb 19, 1942
A Natori-class light cruiser, IJN Yura, photographed circa 1937. (U.S. Navy)
A group of Japanese Mitsubishi A6M2 Type 0 (“Zero”) fighters of the Tainan Kokutai, including the famed fighter ace Petty Officer First Class Saburō Sakai, attacked Kelly’s bomber as it returned to Clark Field, with the first pass killing Technical Sergeant William J. Delehanty and wounding Private First Class Robert E. Altman. The instrument panel was destroyed and oxygen tanks exploded. A second pass by the fighters set the bomber’s left wing on fire. This quickly spread to the fuselage. The two engines on the right wing failed.
坂井 三郎 PO1 Saburō Sakai, Imperial Japanese Navy
Captain Kelly ordered his crew to bail out and though the fire had spread to the flight deck, Kelly remained at the bomber’s controls. Staff Sergeant James E. Halkyard, Private First Class Willard L. Money, and Private Altman were able to escape from the rear of the B-17. The navigator, Second Lieutenant Joe M. Bean, and the bombardier, Sergeant Levin, went out through the nose escape hatch. As co-pilot Lieutenant Donald Robins tried to open the cockpit’s upper escape hatch, the Flying Fortress exploded. Robins was thrown clear and was able to open his parachute.
Boeing B-17C 40-2045 crashed approximately three miles (4.8 kilometers) east of Clark Field. The bodies of Captain Kelly and Sergeant Delehanty were found at the crash site.
The wreckage was found along a rural road 2 miles west of Mount Aryat (Mount Aryat is about 5 miles east of Clark Field). The tail assembly was missing. Parts . . . were scattered over an area of 500 yards. The right wing with two engines still in place remained almost intact although it was burning when the search party arrived. The fuselage and left side of the plane were badly wrecked and burned. T/Sgt Delehanty’s body was lying about 50 yards north of the wreckage. Capt Kelly’s body . . . was found very near the wreckage with his parachute unopened. . . .
— Narrative Report of Flight of Captain Colin P. Kelly, Air Corps, O-20811 (deceased) on Dec 10, 1947, by Eugene L. Eubank, Colonel, Air Corps, Commanding, Headquarters, 5th Bomber Command, Malang, Java, Feb 19, 1942
Captain Colin Purdie Kelly, Jr., Air Corps, United States Army. (The New York Times)
Colin Purdie Kelly, Jr., was born in Madison County, Florida, 11 July 1915. He was the first of two children of Colin Purdie Kelly, a fresco artist, and Mary Eliza Mays (“Mamie”) Kelly. He had a younger sister, Emmala Mays Kelly. Kelly attended Madison High School, graduating in 1932.
Kelly was appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. His stated intention was to become a bomber pilot.
Cadet Colin Purdie Kelly, Jr., United States Military Academy, circa 1937. (The Howitzer)
According to his West Point yearbook, “C.P.” Kelly,
“. . . has not devoted all his effort to study and consequently not achieved high academic rank, but he has participated in sports and other activities and has found additional time to enjoy thoroughly West Point. He’s positive in his opinions; vigorous in his actions. All-around ability and a knack for making friends bespeak a bright future for him. . . .”
—The Howitzer of 1937, United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, 1937, at Page 218.
Cadet Kelly participated in football, boxing, cross country and track, and sang with the Cadet Chapel choir. Colin Purdie Kelly, Jr., graduated from West Point and was commissioned a second lieutenant, Infantry, United States Army, on 12 June 1937.
On 1 August 1937, Lieutenant Kelly married Miss Marion Estelle Wick. The ceremony was held in the Cadet Chapel at West Point. They would have a son, Colin Purdie Kelly III, born at Riverside, California, 6 May 1940. In 1963, “Corky” Kelly would also graduate from the United States Military Academy.
2nd Lieutenant Kelly was assigned to flight training at Randolph Field, Texas. He graduated 13 January 1939, was awarded his pilot’s wings and was transferred from Infantry to the Air Corps. Kelly was then ordered to join the 19th Bombardment Group (Heavy) at March Field, near Riverside, California. He was promoted to first lieutenant 4 June 1940.
A Boeing B-17B Flying Fortress at March Field, Riverside, California, 1940. (LIFE Magazine)
Lieutenant Kelly was assigned to the 11th Bombardment Group (Heavy) at Hickam Field, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii, in April 1941. At about this time, he was promoted to the temporary rank of captain. Kelly served as a squadron operations officer and B-17 check pilot. Nine B-17s of the 14th Bombardment Squadron of the 11th Group were sent to Clark Field in the Philippine Islands, to join the 19th Bombardment Group. Flying to Midway Island, Wake Island, Port Moresby, New Guinea, and Darwin, Australia, they traveled approximately 10,000 miles (16,093 kilometers), 5–12 September 1941. For his actions during this transoceanic flight, Captain Kelly was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
During a reconnaissance mission to Formosa (Taiwan) on 5 December 1941, Captain Kelly observed a large number of Japanese ships steaming toward Luzon. His squadron was then relocated to Del Monte Field on the island of Mindanao.
The Distinguished Service Cross
General Douglas MacArthur later said, “It is my profound sorrow that Colin Kelly is not here. I do not know the dignity of Captain Kelly’s birth, but I do know the glory of his death. He died unquestioning, uncomplaining, with a faith in his heart and victory his end. God has taken him unto Himself, a gallant soldier who did his duty.”
Colin Purdie Kelly, Jr. was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, posthumously. The medal was presented to Mrs. Colin P. Kelly, Jr., by Major General Barney McKinney Giles, U.S. Army Air Corps.
Following the war, Captain Kelly’s remains were returned to the United States, and interred at the Oak Ridge Cemetery, Madison, Florida.
Kelly’s B-17 was the first Flying Fortress in U.S. service to be lost in air combat in World War II.
Boeing B-17C 40-2049, similar to Colin Kelly’s 40-2045. (U.S. Air Force)
The Boeing Model 299H, designated B-17C, was the second production variant ordered by the U.S. Army Air Corps. 38 were built by Boeing, however 20 of these were transferred to Great Britain’s Royal Air Force, designated Fortress B.I. They were initially assigned to No. 90 Squadron.²
The B-17C was 67 feet, 10.6 inches (20.691 meters long with a wingspan of 103 feet, 9⅜ inches (31.633 meters) and the overall height was 15 feet, 5 inches (4.699 meters). The B-17C had an empty weight of 29,021 pounds (13,164 kilograms), gross weight of 39,320 pounds (17,835 kilograms) and maximum takeoff weight of 49,650 pounds (22,521 kilograms).
A Boeing B-17C assigned to Wright Field in natural metal finish, circa 1940. (Rudy Arnold Photographic Collection, National Air and Space Museum Archives, NASM-XRA-0119)
It was powered by four air-cooled, supercharged, 1,823.129-cubic-inch-displacement (29.875 liter) Wright Aeronautical Division Cyclone 9 C666A (R-1820-65) nine-cylinder radial engines. These engines were rated at 1,000 horsepower at 2,300 r.p.m., and 1,200 horsepower at 2,500 r.p.m., for takeoff. They drove three-bladed Hamilton Standard Hydromatic constant-speed propellers through a 0.5625:1 gear reduction. The R-1820-65 was 3 feet, 11.59 inches (1.209 meters) long, 4 feet, 7.12 inches (1.400 meters) in diameter, and weighed 1,315 pounds (596 kilograms).
The maximum speed of the B-17C was 323 miles per hour (520 kilometers per hour) at 25,000 feet (7,620 meters). Its service ceiling was 37,000 feet (11,278 meters) and the maximum range was 3,400 miles (5,472 kilometers).
The B-17C could carry 4,800 pounds (2,177 kilograms) of bombs. Defensive armament consisted of one .30-caliber air-cooled machine gun and four .50-caliber machine guns.
According to one source, all eighteen B-17Cs in service with the Army Air Corps were returned to Boeing in January 1941 to be upgraded to the B-17D configuration.
A Boeing B-17C Flying Fortress, similar to Colin Kelly’s 40-2045. The Air Corps began camouflaging its B-17s in olive drab and neutral gray during Spring 1941. (U.S. Air Force)
¹ 10 December in the Commonwealth of the Philippines, which is west of the International Date Line. This would have been 9 December in the United States of America.
² A 1941 book, War Wings: Fighting Airplanes of the American and British Air Forces, by David C. Cooke, published by Robert M. McBride & Company, New York, refers to the B-17C in British service as the “Seattle,” which is in keeping with the R.A.F.’s system of naming bombers after cities.
Squadron Leader James Addams, RAF, at left, and Kelly Johnson with the Lockheed B14L, N7205, Union Air Terminal, Burbank, California, December 1938. (Unattributed)
10 December 1938: At the Union Air Terminal, Burbank, California, Squadron Leader James Addams and Squadron Leader Randle, both Royal Air Force officers, took the prototype Lockheed B14L for its first flight.
The prototype Lockheed B-14L (Hudson Mk.I, N7205) photographed during its first flight, 10 December 1938. Note the mockup dorsal gun turret and painted-out British insignia. (W.J. “Billy” Gray)
The B14L (also identified as Model 214-40-01) was a twin engine light bomber developed by the Lockheed Aircraft Company from its Model 14 Super Electra civil transport. Both types were designed by the legendary Clarence L. (“Kelly”) Johnson. The prototype was purchased by Great Britain and designated Hudson Mk.I. It was assigned the R.A.F. identification N7205.
(Los Angeles Times, Vol. LVIII, Thursday Morning, 22 December 1938, Page 9, Columns 2–4)Squadron Leader James Addams, RAF, and Clarence L. (“Kelly”) Johnson shake hands in front of the prototype Lockheed B14L (Hudson Mk.I N7205) at Union Air Terminal, Burbank, California, December 1938. (The Honolulu Advertiser, Vol. 83, No. 18,694, Saturday, 31 December 1938, Page 2, Columns 3–6_)Lockheed Hudson Mk.I N7205 was partially disassembled and transported to England aboard a ship. (Royal Air Force)Lockheed Hudson Mk.I N7205 at RAF Northolt, South Ruislip, near London, England,1939. (RAF Museum PC98/173/5840/14)
Gunnery tests of the prototype were carried out near Daggett, in the Mojave Desert of southern California, 100 statute miles (161 kilometers) northeast of Burbank.
The Lockheed Hudson was a twin-engine, mid-wing light bomber with conventional retractable landing gear. It was operated by a pilot, navigator/bombardier, radio operator/gunner, and a gunner in a dorsal power-operated turret. The Mk.I was 44 feet 3-7/8 inches (13.510 meters) long, with a wingspan of 65 feet, 6 inches (19.964 meters), and height of 11 feet, 10 inches (3.607 meters). It had an empty weight of 11,630 pounds (5,275 kilograms), and maximum gross weight of 17,500 pounds (7,938 kilograms).
The Hudson Mk.I was powered by two air-cooled, supercharged, 1,823.129-cubic-inch-displacement (29.875 liter) Wright Aeronautical Division Cyclone 9 GR-1820-G102A radial engines with a compression ratio of 6.3:1. They had a normal power rating of 900 horsepower at 2,200 r.p.m., at Sea Level, and 1,100 horsepower at 2,200 r.p.m. for takeoff. The engines drove three-blade adjustable pitch propellers through a 0.6875 gear reduction. The GR-1820-G102A was 4 feet, 0.12 inch (1.222 meters) long, 4 feet, 7.10 inches (1.400 meters) in diameter, and weighed 1,275 pounds (578 kilograms).
The Hudson Mk.I had a cruise speed of 220 miles per hour (354 km/h), and maximum speed of 246 miles per hour (396 km/h) at 6,500 feet (1,981 meters). Its service ceiling was 25,000 feet (7,620 meters), and its range, 1,960 miles (3,153 kilometers).
The Hudson was armed with two fixed, forward-firing .303-caliber (7.7 × 56mmR) Browning Mk.II machine guns located above the bombardier’s compartment, two .303 Mk.II guns in a power-operated Boulton Paul Aircraft Ltd. dorsal turret and a fifth flexible mount .303 machine gun was located in a ventral position. Each of these guns were capable of firing at a rate of 1,150 rounds per minute.
The bomber could carry four 250 pound (113 kilogram) bombs, or ten 100 pound (45 kilogram) bombs in an internal bomb bay.
“Armourers secure 250-lb GP bombs in the bomb bay of a Lockheed Hudson of No. 224 Sqyadron RAF at RAF Leuchars, Fife, Scotland.” (Flight Lieutenant Stanley Devon, RAF/Imperial War Museums CH 979)
British purchasing Commission contracted for 250 Hudson Mk.I bombers, 23 June 1938. Deliveries began in February 1939, with the 250th Hudson Mk.I delivered in October 1939.
Lockheed built 2,941 Hudson bombers in a number of configurations. 351 of these were Hudson Mk.Is.
Lockheed Hudson Mk.I N7220 (B14L-1616) at Grand Central Air Terminal, Glendale, California, circa 1938. The Boulton Paul dorsal gun turrets would be installed after arrival in Great Britain. (AirHistory.net)Hudson Mark I, N7326 ZS-F (B14L-1622), of No. 233 Squadron RAF based at Aldergrove, County Antrim, preparing to take off from Leuchars, Fife. IWM CH 2429Lockheed Hudson twin-engine bombers being assembled. (Lockheed Martin)Lockheed Hudson assembly line. (Lockheed Martin)Lockheed AT-18A-LO Hudson 42-55569, s/n 414-7291.Lockheed Hudson (SDASM)
Captain Sir Ross Macpherson Smith K.B.E., M.C. and Bar, D.F.C. and Two Bars, A.F.C., and his brother, Lieutenant Sir Keith Macpherson Smith K.B.E. (State Library of South Australia)
10 December 1919: Captain Ross Macpherson Smith, M.C. and Bar, D.F.C. and Two Bars, A.F.C., and his brother, Lieutenant Keith Macpherson Smith, arrived at Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, aboard a Vickers Vimy. Also aboard were Sergeant James Mallett Bennett and Sergeant Walter Henry Shiers. The four had departed Hounslow Heath Aerodrome, London, England, on 12 November, in response to the offer of a £10,000 prize offered by the government of Australia to the first Australian airmen to fly from England to Australia aboard a British airplane.
The flight crew readies the Vickers Vimy for the long-distance flight. (History Trust of South Australia)
The Smith’s airplane, a Vickers F.B.27A Vimy IV, registration G-EAOU, was built for the Royal Air Force, and given serial number F8630. It was too late to serve in combat and was not delivered to the RAF. Vickers modified it for the flight to Australia, adding additional fuel tanks. Total duration of the flight was 28 days, 17 hours, 40 minutes. The journey required 135 hours, 55 minutes of flying time. The distance flown was estimated to be 11,123 miles (17,901 kilometers). The Vimy averaged 81.84 miles per hour (131.71 kilometers per hour).
Ross and Keith Macpherson Smith, left of center, wearing khakis and slouch hats, on their arrival at Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, 10 December 1919. (Sotheby’s AU0772)
The route of the flight was London, England to Lyon, France; Rome, Italy; Cairo, Egypt; Damascus, French Mandate of Syria; Basra, Kingdom of Iraq; Karachi, Delhi, and Calcutta, British India; Akyab, and Rangoon, Burma; Singora, Siam; Singapore, Straits Settlements; Batavia and Surabaya, Dutch East Indies; arriving at Darwin at 4:10 p.m. local time, 10 December 1919 (0140, 11 December, GMT).
The flight crew of Vickers Vimy G-EAOU, left to right, Sergeant James Mallett Bennett, Lieutenant Keith Macpherson Smith, Captain Ross Macpherson Smith, M.C. and Bar, D.F.C. and Two Bars, A.F.C., and Sergeant Walter Henry Shiers, at the Sydney Town Hall steps, 14 February 1920. (State Library New South Wales FL3254227)
The Smith brothers were both invested Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (K.B.E.) by George V. Sergeants Bennett and Shiers received commissions as officers.The four airmen divided the £10,000 prize money. (This would be equivalent to £486,460.36, or $651,175.84, in 2017.)
Vickers F.B.27A Vimy IV, G-EAOU, photographed 31 August 1920. (Museums Victoria Collections)
The Vickers Vimy F.B.27 (named after the World War I Battle of Vimy Ridge) was designed and built by Vickers Ltd. (Aviation Department) at Weybridge, Surrey, England. It was a twin-engine, three-bay biplane night bomber built for the Royal Air Force. The Vimy’s construction was typical of the time: a wooden framework covered with doped fabric. The engines were placed in individual nacelles, midway between the upper and lower wings. Each nacelle was supported by four vertical struts. The horizontal stabilizer/elevator were also biplane, and it had two vertical fins/rudders.
The Vimy was 43 feet, 6½ inches (13.272 meters) long with a wingspan of 67 feet, 2 inches (20.472 meters) and height of 15 feet, 8 inches (4.775 meters). The upper and lower wings had a chord of 10 feet, 6 inches (3.200 meters). The total wing area was 1,330 square feet (123.6 square meters). The vertical gap between the wings was 10 feet, 0 inches (3.048 meters) and there was no stagger. Both wings had and angle of incidence of 3½° and 3° dihedral.
The bomber weighed 6,700 pounds (3,039 kilograms) empty, and had a gross weight of 12,500 pounds (5,670 kilograms), though on the intercontinental flight, G-EAOU was routinely operated at a gross weight of 13,000 pounds (5,897 kilograms).
The Vimy was powered by two water-cooled, normally-aspirated, 1,240.5-cubic-inch-displacement (20.3 liter) Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII single overhead cam 60° V-12 engines with two valves per cylinder and a compression ratio of 4.9:1. These engines were rated at 350 horsepower at 1,800 r.p.m., and 360 horsepower at 2,035 r.p.m. (five minute limit). They turned four-bladed, fixed-pitch, wooden propellers through a 1.60:1 gear reduction. The Eagle VIII used four Rolls-Royce/Claudel Hobson carburetors and four Watford magnetos with two spark plugs per cylinder. Fuel consumption at normal power at Sea Level was 23 gallons (87 liters) per hour. The engine weighed 847 pounds (384 kilograms).
Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII aircraft engine. (NASM)
The Vimy had a maximum speed of 98 miles per hour (158 kilometers per hour) at 5,000 feet (1,524 meters). In standard configuration, the bomber had a range of 835 miles (1,344 kilometers). Its service ceiling was 10,500 feet (3,200 meters). This is the same type airplane flown across the North Atlantic ocean by Alcock and Brown six months earlier.
Vickers gave the Vimy IV bomber to the Australian government. G-EAOU is on display at Adelaide Airport, Adelaide, South Australia.
Vickers Vimy, G-EAOU. (John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland)
