LCOL William P. Benedict and LCOL Joseph O. Fletcher in cockpit of C-47 enroute the North Pole, 3 May 1952.
3 May 1952: A ski-equipped United States Air Force Douglas C-47A Skytrain, piloted by Lieutenant Colonels William P. Benedict and Joseph O. Fletcher, USAF, was the first airplane to land at the North Pole.¹ The navigator was 1st Lieutenant Herbert Thompson. Staff Sergeant Harold Turner was the flight engineer and Airman 1st Class Robert L. Wishard, the radio operator.
Also on board was Arctic research scientist Dr. Albert P. Crary and his assistant, Robert Cotell. Additional personnel were Fritza Ahl, Master Sergeant Edison T. Blair and Airman 2nd Class David R. Dobson.
Colonel Fletcher was commanding officer of the 58th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, Eielson Air Force Base, Fairbanks, Alaska. He was responsible for establishing Drift Ice Stations within the polar ice cap for remote weather observation bases. Ice Island T-3 was renamed Fletcher’s Ice Island in his honor. He became a world authority on Arctic weather and climate. Various geographic features, such as the Fletcher Abyssal Plain in the Arctic Ocean, and the Fletcher Ice Rise in the Antarctic are also named for him.
Crew and passengers of the C-47A Skytrain, 43-15665, at The North Pole, 3 May 1952. (A2C David R. Dobson, United States Air Force, via fly.historicwings.com)
The airplane flown on this expedition was Douglas C-47A-90-DL Skytrain 43-15665.
The Douglas C-47 in the photograph below is similar to the Skytrain that Benedict and Fletcher landed at the North Pole, however it is a screen image from the RKO/Winchester Pictures Corporation motion picture, “The Thing from Another World,” which was released just one year earlier, 29 April 1951. Howard Hawks’ classic science fiction film involves an Air Force C-47 Skytrain crew that flies in support of a remote Arctic research station.
Screen Image of a ski-equipped Douglas C-47 Skytrain, “Tropical Tilly.” (RKO Pictures)
The Douglas C-47A Skytrain is an all-metal twin-engine, low wing monoplane transport with retractable landing gear. It was operated by a minimum flight crew of two pilots, a navigator and a radio operator. The wing is fully cantilevered and the fuselage is of semi-monocoque construction. Control surfaces are fabric-covered.
The C-47 is 64 feet, 5½ inches (19.647 meters) long with a wingspan of 95 feet (28.956 meters) and height of 17 feet (5.182 meters). Empty weight of the C-47A is 17,257 pounds (7,828 kilograms) and the maximum takeoff weight is 29,300 pounds (13,290 kilograms).²
The C-47A is powered by two 1,829.4-cubic-inch-displacement (29.978 liter) air-cooled, supercharged R-1830-92 (Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp S1C3-G) two-row 14-cylinder radial engines. These were rated at 1,200 horsepower at 2,700 r.p.m. at Sea Level for takeoff. The maximum continuous rating for normal operation was 1,060 horsepower at 2,550 r.pm., up to 7,500 feet (2,286 meters). Each engine drives a three-bladed Hamilton Standard Hydromatic constant-speed full-feathering propeller with a diameter of 11 feet, 6 inches (3.505 meters) through a 16:9 gear reduction. The R-1830-92 is 48.19 inches (1.224 meters) long, 61.67 inches (1.566 meters) in diameter, and weighs 1,465 pounds (665 kilograms).
The C-47 has a cruising speed of 185 miles per hour (298 kilometers per hour) at 10,000 feet (3,048 meters) and service ceiling of 24,100 feet (7,346 meters).
The C-47-DL could carry 6,000 pounds (2,722 kilograms) of cargo, or 28 fully-equipped paratroopers. Alternatively, 14 patients on stretchers could be carried, along with three attendants.
43-15665 crashed on Fletcher’s Ice island 3 November 1952. It has since sunk to the floor of the Arctic Ocean.
Derelict C-47A 43-15665 at T-3, Fletcher’s Ice Island.
¹ At least one source states that a Soviet expedition aboard three Lisunov Li-2 transports (a license-built Douglas DC-3) landed near the North Pole on 23 April 1948.
² Data from AAF Manual 51-129-2, Pilot Training Manual for the C-47 Skytrain
Viking 1 launch (Chicago Tribune)Viking 1 launch (AP Wirephoto/Baltimore Sun)
3 May 1949: at 9:14 a.m., Mountain Daylight Saving Time (15:14 UTC), the Viking 1 rocket was launched from the White Sands Proving Grounds in southern New Mexico. The rocket carried a 460 pound (210 kilogram) instrumentation payload.
This was the first launch of a U.S.-designed and -built rocket capable of carrying a payload to space.¹
Viking 1 surrounded by the service gantry. The rocket is angled to the north by 3°. (Drew Ex Machina)
Although the planned engine run time was 65 seconds, Viking 1’s engine shut down after 54.5 seconds. At that time, the rocket had reached a speed of 2,350 miles per hour (3,780 kilometers per hour). After the engine shut down, Viking 1 continued to climb on a ballistic trajectory to an altitude of 50 miles (81 kilometers). As it fell back to Earth, 291 seconds after launch, the rocket broke up and was scattered across many miles of the Proving Grounds.
Viking 1 was a single-stage liquid-fueled rocket. It was built by the Glenn L. Martin Company for the Naval Research Laboratory. It was constructed primarily of aluminum. The skin was rolled into a cylinder and welded. It was 47 feet, 7.5 inches (14.516 meters) long, 2 feet, 8 inches (0.813 meters) in diameter, with a fin span of 9 feet, 2.5 inches (2.807 meters). Each fin had an area of 15 square feet (1.39 square meters). The rocket had a gross weight of 10,824 pounds (4,910 kilograms).
A Reaction Motors XLR10-RM-2 rocket engine. (Reddit)
Viking 1 was powered by a Reaction Motors Inc. XLR10-RM-2 engine. It’s propellant was a mixture of ethanol and water, mixed at a ratio of 95:5. The oxidizer was liquid oxygen. The engine produced 20,800 pounds of thrust (92.523 kilonewtons) at Sea Level, and 24,800 pounds (110.316 kilonewtons) in vacuum. Fuel was fed to the engine by a turbopump driven by high-pressure hydrogen peroxide steam. Turning at 10,000 r.p.m., the turbopump provided propellant at a rate of 110 pounds (50 kilograms) per second.
Static test firing of the Viking 1 rocket engine. (Drew Ex Machina)
The engine was mounted on gymbals which were controlled by gyroscopes. By rapidly angling the engine exhaust away from the rocket’s centerline, the engine was able to stabilize the rocket. A British Pathé news film (available on YouTube) showing the launch of Viking 2 illustrates this:
¹ “Space” is defined as being above the von Kármán Line, the boundary between the Earth’s atmosphrere and outer space, at an altitude of 100 kilometers (62.14 miles)
One of the three Douglas D-558-I Skystreaks. (Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum, NASM A4958D)
3 May 1948: At Muroc Air Force Base in the high desert of southern California (after 1949, known as Edwards AFB), NACA 141, the second of three Douglas D-558-I Skystreak research aircraft, took off on a test flight to study stability at transonic speeds. In the cockpit was National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics Engineering Test Pilot Howard Clifton (“Tick”) Lilly. It was his twentieth flight in the Skystreak.
As Lilly climbed through 200 feet (61 meters), the Skystreak’s J35 turbojet engine suffered a catastrophic compressor failure. Fragments of the compressor cut through the airplane’s flight controls. With Lilly unable to control the airplane, it yawed to the left, then rolled over, and at 3:04 p.m., Pacific Daylight Saving Time (22:04 UTC), crashed onto Rogers Dry Lake. Lilly was decapitated in the crash.
Howard C. Lilly was the first NACA test pilot to be killed during a test flight since the commission had been established in 1915.
NACA Engineering Test Pilot Howard Clifton Lilly.Howard C. Lilly
Howard Clifton Lilly was born 27 August 1916 at Crow, West Virginia. He was the fourth of five children of Ova Ashton Lilly, a locomotive engineer, and Amanda Elmira Bragg Lilly.
Lilly was given the nickname, “Tickie,” by a friend who, as a child, had been unable to pronounce his middle name, Clifton.
Lilly attended Beaver Elementary School. He graduated from Shady Spring High School, and then attended Beckley College (now, the West Virginia University Institute of Technology), both in Beckley, West Virginia. He also studied at the Concord State Teachers College at Athens, WV (now, Concord University).
Lilly began flying at Mount Hope Airport in Beckley as a member of the Civilian Pilot Training Program. His flight instructor was Karl Williams.
Howard C. Lilly registered for Selective Service (conscription) on 16 October 1940. He was described as having a ruddy complexion with brown hair and blue eyes. Lilly was 5 feet, 10½ inches (179.1 centimeters) tall and weighed 150 pounds (68 kilograms). He was employed as a pressman for the Beckley Newspaper Corporation, and later in the stereotyping department of the Charleston Gazette.
Aviation Cadet Howard C. Lilly, USNR. (Tooley-Myron Studios)
Howard C. Lilly enlisted in the United States Navy as a seaman second class, 11 September 1941, at Washington, D.C. As part of the Navy’s V-5 Program, Seaman Lilly was assigned to U.S. Naval Reserve Aviation Base at Anacostia, D.C., for Elimination Flight Training. He was then transferred to the Naval Reserve Air Base, New Orleans, Louisiana. Although Lilly had hoped to fly fighters, he was assigned to fly seaplanes.
Aviation Cadet Lilly requested to be discharged from the Navy. His request was approved and he was discharged 18 September 1942.
Lilly joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) as a test pilot at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, Hampton, Virginia, in October 1942. He was then assigned to the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory, Cleveland, Ohio, in May 1943.
Mrs. H. Clifton Lilly (Raleigh Register)
Howard C. Lilly married Miss Arline Eveyn Grentzer, 20 July 1945, at the St. James Rectory in Cleveland. The ceremony was officiated by Rev. George R. Betting. Following their wedding, the couple resided at the Westlake Hotel in Cleveland. They divorced in 1947.
On 1 September 1946, Lilly flew a Bell P-63A Kingcobra, 42-69063, in the Thompson Trophy Race at Cleveland. His airplane, with civil registration NX69901 and carrying race number 64, had qualified for the race in eighth place with an average speed of 346.155 miles per hour (557.083 kilometers per hour). He finished in ninth place at an average speed of 328.154 miles per hour (528.113 kilometers per hour). Bell Aircraft test pilot Tex Johnston won the race in his Bell P-39Q Airacobra with an average speed of 373.908 mph (601.746 kilometers per hour).
Howard Clifton Lilly, NACA engineering test pilot, with his 1946 Thompson Trophy racer, Bell P-63A NX69901. (NASA E-49-0091)
In August 1947, Lilly was assigned to NACA’s Muroc Flight Test Unit at Muroc Air Force Base as the commission’s first permanently assigned engineering test pilot there. He first flew the Bell XS-1 rocketplane on 9 January 1948. On 31 March 1948, Lilly flew the XS-1 to Mach 1.10, becoming just the third pilot to break sound barrier. Lilly made six test flight in the XS-1, all in the number two aircraft, 46-063.
Bell X-1 46-063. (NASA E49-001)
On 29 April 1948, Lilly flew the D-558-I to 0.88 Mach at 36,000 feet (10,973 meters). This was the highest speed that a Skystreak had reached up to that time.
Howard Clifton Lilly’s remains were interred at the Arlington National Cemetery. Lilly Avenue at Edwards AFB was named in his honor.
In May 1950, Lilly was posthumously awarded the Air Medal.
One the the three Douglas D-558-I Skystreaks in flight near Muroc Air Force Base. (Naval Aviation Museum)
NACA 141 (U.S. Navy Bureau of Aeronautics serial number 37971) was the second of three Douglas D-558-I Skystreak transonic research aircraft.
The D-558 Program was intended as a three-phase test program for the U.S. Navy and the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA) to investigate transonic and supersonic flight using straight and swept wing aircraft powered by turbojet and/or rocket engines.
The Douglas Aircraft Company designed and built three D-558-I Skystreaks and three D-558-II Skyrockets. The Phase I aircraft were flown by Douglas test pilot Gene May and the Navy’s project officer, Commander Turner Caldwell.
Cutaway illustration of the Douglas D-558-I Skystreak. (U.S. Navy)
The D-558-I Skystreak was a single-engine, turbojet-powered airplane. It was built of magnesium and aluminum for light weight, but was designed to withstand very high acceleration loads. It was 35 feet, 8 inches (10.871 meters) long with a wingspan of 25 feet (7.62 meters) and overall height of 12 feet, 1¾ inches (3.702 meters). The airplane had retractable tricycle landing gear. Its empty weight was approximately 7,500 pounds (3,400 kilograms), landing weight at the conclusion of a flight test was 7,711 pounds (3,498 kilograms). The maximum takeoff weight was 10,105 pounds (4,583.6 kilograms). The aircraft fuel load was 230 gallons (870.7 liters) of kerosene.
The D-558-I was powered by a single Allison J35-A-11 turbojet engine. The J35 was a single-spool, axial-flow turbojet with an 11-stage compressor section, 8 combustion chambers and single-stage turbine. The J35-A-11 was rated at 5,000 pounds of thrust (22.24 kilonewtons). The engine was 12 feet, 1.0 inches (3.683 meters) long, 3 feet, 4.0 inches (1.016 meters) in diameter and weighed 2,455 pounds (1,114 kilograms). The J35-A-11 was a production version of the General Electric TG-180, initially produced by Chevrolet as the J35-C-3. It was the first widely-used American jet engine.
Cutaway illustration of J35 turbojet engine. (General Electric)
The D-558-I had a designed service ceiling of 45,700 feet (13,930 meters). Intended for experimental flights of short duration, it had a very short range and took off and landed from Rogers Dry Lake at Muroc. The experimental airplane was not as fast as the more widely known Bell X-1 rocketplane, but rendered valuable research time in the high transonic range.
The three D-558-I Skystreaks made a total of 229 flights.
Douglas test pilot Gene May (left) and Howard C. Lilly with the number two Douglas D-558-I Skystreak, Bu. No. 37971, at Muroc, circa 1948. (NASA E95-43116-8)
Lieutenants John A. Macready and Oakley G. Kelly with their Fokker T-2. (NASM)Captain John A. Macready, Air Service, United States Army. (U.S. Air force)
2–3 May 1923: Air Service, United States Army, pilots Lieutenant John Arthur Macready and Lieutenant Oakley George Kelly made the first non-stop transcontinental flight. Their airplane was a Nederlandse Vliegtuigenfabriek Fokker T-2 single-engine monoplane, U.S. Army serial number A.S. 64233.
The two aviators took off from Roosevelt-Hazelhurst Field, Long Island, New York, at 12:30 p.m., Eastern Time, and landed at Rockwell Field (now, NAS North Island), San Diego, California, the next day at 12:26 p.m., Pacific Time. They had flown 2,470 miles (3,975 kilometers) in 26 hours, 50 minutes, 38.8 seconds, for an average speed of 91.996 miles per hour (148.053 kilometers per hour).
Macready and Kelly had made two previous attempts, flying West-to-East to take advantage of prevailing winds and the higher octane gasoline available in California. The first flight was terminated by weather, and the second by engine failure.
Fokker T-2 A.S. 64233 (FAI)
The Fokker F.IV was built by Anthony Fokker’s Nederlandse Vliegtuigenfabriek at Veere, Netherlands, in 1921. The Air Service purchased two and designated the type T-2, with serial numbers A.S. 64233 and A.S. 64234.
Several modifications were made to prepare the T-2 for the transcontinental flight. Normally flown by a single pilot in an open cockpit, a second set of controls was installed so that the airplane could be controlled from inside while the two pilots changed positions. Additional fuel tanks were installed in the wing and cabin.
Fokker T-2 A.S. 64233. (Sally M. Macready Foundation Collection/NASM)
The Fokker F.IV was a single-engine, high-wing monoplane with fixed landing gear. It was flown by a single pilot in an open cockpit which was offset to the left of the airplane’s centerline. The airplane was designed to carry 8–10 passengers in an enclosed cabin. The F.IV was a scaled-up version of the preceding F.III. It was built of a welded tubular steel fuselage, covered with three-ply plywood. The wing structure had plywood box spars and ribs, and was also covered with three-ply plywood.
For its time, the Fokker was a large airplane. Measurements from the Fokker T-2 at the Smithsonian Institution are: 49 feet, 10 inches (15.189 meters) long, with a wing span of 80 feet, 5 inches (24.511 meters), and height 12 feet, 2 inches (3.708 meters). On this flight, it carried 735 gallons (2,782 liters) of gasoline in three fuel tanks. When it took off from Long Island, the gross weight of the T-2 was 10,850 pounds (4,922 kilograms), only a few pounds short of its maximum design weight.
Fokker T-2, A.S. 64223. (The biplane is a Verville-Sperry M-1.) (Harris & Ewing)
The Fokker F.IV was offered with a choice of engines: A Rolls-Royce Eagle IX V-12, Napier Lion II “broad arrow” W-12, or Liberty L-12 V-12. The T-2 was powered by a water-cooled, normally-aspirated, 1,649.336-cubic-inch-displacement (27.028 liter) Ford-built Liberty L-12 single overhead cam (SOHC) 45° V-12 engine with a compression ratio of 5.4:1. (Serial number A.S. No. 5142) The Liberty produced 408 horsepower at 1,800 r.p.m. The L-12 as a right-hand tractor, direct-drive engine. Installed on A.S. 64233, the engine turned turned a two-bladed Curtiss fixed-pitch walnut propeller with a diameter of 10 feet, 5 inches (3.175 meters). The Liberty 12 was 5 feet, 7.375 inches (1.711 meters) long, 2 feet, 3.0 inches (0.686 meters) wide, and 3 feet, 5.5 inches (1.054 meters) high. It weighed 844 pounds (383 kilograms).
First Lieutenant Oakley G. Kelly, U.S. Army Air Service (FAI)
John Macready and Oakley Kelley won the 1923 Mackay Trophy for this flight. Macready had previously won the award in 1921 and 1922. He is the only pilot to have won it three times.
During testing to determine the feasibility of the flight, on 16–17 April 1923, Lieutenant Kelly and Lieutenant Macready set six Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Records for speed, distance and duration, flying the Fokker T-2. At Wilbur Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, they flew 2,500 kilometers (1,553.428 miles) at an average speed of 115.60 kilometers per hour (51.83 miles per hour); 3,000 kilometers (1,864.114 miles) at 115.27 kilometers per hour (71.63 miles per hour); 3,500 kilometers (2,174.799 miles) at 114.82 kilometers per hour (71.35 miles per hour); 4,000 kilometers (2,485.485 miles) at 113.93 kilometers per hour (70.79 miles per hour); flew a total distance of 4,050 kilometers (2,517 miles); and stayed aloft for 36 hours, 4 minutes, 34 seconds. Their overall average speed was 112.26 kilometers per hour (69.76 miles per hour) seconds.
The United States Army transferred Fokker T-2 A.S. 64223, to the Smithsonian Institution in January 1924. It is on display at the National Air and Space Museum.
U.S. Army Air Service Fokker T-2, A.S. 64233, on display at the Smithsonian Institution, National Air and Space Museum. (NASM)
The first 10 female officers to graduate from the Air Force Undergraduate Pilot Training Program, Class 77-08, with a Northrop T-38A Talon, 2 September 1977. (U.S. Air Force)
2 May 1977: First Lieutenant Christine E. Schott, USAF, was the first woman in the Air Force Undergraduate Pilot Training Program to solo in the Northrop T-38A Talon at Williams AFB, Arizona. She was a member of Class 77-08, which entered on 19 September 1976.
A Northrop T-38A Talon two-place, twin engine supersonic trainer (T-38A-55-NO Talon 64-13302) at Edwards AFB. (U.S. Air Force)
The ten women in this photograph, along with their 36 male classmates, received their Silver Wings on 2 September 1977. They are Captains Connie Engel, Kathy La Sauce, Mary Donahue, Susan Rogers and Christine Schott; First Lieutenants Sandra Scott and Victoria Crawford; Second Lieutenants Mary Livingston, Carol Scherer and Kathleen Rambo.
Captain Christine E. Schott would later be the first woman in the Air Force to qualify and serve as an aircraft commander on the C-9A Nightingale medical transport.
Above image from “Chronological History of the C-9A Nightingale,” by Cadet 1st Class Janene L. Drummer and Ms. Kathryn A. Wilcoxson, Office of History, Air Mobility Command, Scott AFB, Illinois, March 2001)McDonnell Douglas C-9A Nightingale, 71-0874. (U.S. Air Force)
A private venture by Northrop, the Talon was designed by a team led by Edgar Schmued, famous for his work on the North American Aviation P-51 Mustang, F-86 Sabre and the F-100 Super Sabre. The Talon is a twin-engine advanced trainer capable of supersonic speeds. More than 5,500 hours of wind tunnel testing was performed before the airplane’s final configuration was determined.
The T-38 was the world’s first supersonic flight trainer. The Northrop T-38A Talon is a pressurized, two-place, twin-engine, jet trainer. Its fuselage is very aerodynamically clean and uses the “area-rule” (“coked”) to improve its supersonic capability. It is 46 feet, 4.5 inches (14.135 meters) long with a wingspan of 25 feet, 3 inches (7.696 meters) and overall height of 12 feet, 10.5 inches (3.924 meters). The one-piece wing has an area of 170 square feet (15.79 square meters). The leading edge is swept 32º. The airplane’s empty weight is 7,200 pounds (3,266 kilograms) and maximum takeoff weight is approximately 12,700 pounds (5,761 kilograms).
The T-38A is powered by two General Electric J85-GE-5 turbojet engines. The J85 is a single-shaft axial-flow turbojet engine with an 8-stage compressor section and 2-stage turbine. The J85-GE-5 is rated at 2,680 pounds of thrust (11.921 kilonewtons), and 3,850 pounds (17.126 kilonewtons) with afterburner. It is 108.1 inches (2.746 meters) long, 22.0 inches (0.559 meters) in diameter and weighs 584 pounds (265 kilograms).
The T-38A has a maximum speed of Mach 1.08 (822 miles per hour/1,323 kilometers per hour) at Sea Level, and Mach 1.3 (882 miles per hour/1,419 kilometers per hour) at 30,000 feet (9,144 meters). It has a rate of climb of 33,600 feet per minute (171 meters per second) and a service ceiling of 55,000 feet (16,764 meters). Its range is 1,140 miles (1,835 kilometers).*
In production from 1961 to 1972, Northrop has produced nearly 1,200 T-38s. In 2001, most T-38A and T-38B Talons were upgraded to teh T-38C standard. As of January 2014, the U.S. Air Force had 546 T-38A Talons in the active inventory. It also remains in service with the U.S. Navy, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
“Air-to-air right side view of a USAF T-38 Talon aircraft from the 560th Flying Training Squadron, Randolph AFB, Texas as their wingman banks to the left. (photo U.S. Air Force)”
The Douglas C-47A Skytrain is an all-metal twin-engine, low wing monoplane transport with retractable landing gear. It was operated by a minimum flight crew of two pilots, a navigator and a radio operator. The wing is fully cantilevered and the fuselage is of semi-monocoque construction. Control surfaces are fabric-covered.
The C-47A is powered by two 1,829.4-cubic-inch-displacement (29.978 liter) air-cooled, supercharged R-1830-92 (Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp S1C3-G) two-row 14-cylinder radial engines. These were rated at 1,200 horsepower at 2,700 r.p.m. at Sea Level for takeoff. The maximum continuous rating for normal operation was 1,060 horsepower at 2,550 r.pm., up to 7,500 feet (2,286 meters). Each engine drives a three-bladed Hamilton Standard Hydromatic constant-speed full-feathering propeller with a diameter of 11 feet, 6 inches (3.505 meters) through a 16:9 gear reduction. The R-1830-92 is 48.19 inches (1.224 meters) long, 61.67 inches (1.566 meters) in diameter, and weighs 1,465 pounds (665 kilograms).
