30 December 1947: OKB Mikoyan test pilot Captain Viktor Nikolaevich Yuganov made the first flight of the Mikoyan and Gurevich I-310 prototype, S01. This would be developed into the legendary MiG-15 fighter.
S01 was a single-seat, single-engine prototype for a fighter interceptor designed to attack heavy bombers. It was intended to reach the high subsonic speed range. The wings and tail surfaces were swept to 35° at 25% chord. The wings were given 2° anhedral.
The prototype was 10.11 meters (33 feet, 2 inches) long with a wingspan of 10.08 meters (33 feet, ¾ inch). Its empty weight was 3,380 kilograms (7,452 pounds) and the takeoff weight was 4,820 kilograms (10,626 pounds).
I-310 S01 was powered by a Rolls-Royce Nene turbojet engine, one of 55 purchased from Rolls-Royce in 1947, then reverse-engineered by Vladimir Yakovlevich Klimov as the Klimov RD-45. The Nene used a single-stage centrifugal-flow compressor and single-stage axial-flow turbine. It was rated at 5,000 pounds of thrust (22.24 kilonewtons) at 12,400 r.p.m., for takeoff.
The I-310 had a maximum speed of 905 kilometers per hour (562 miles per hour) at Sea Level (0.74 Mach), and 1,042 kilometers per hour (648 miles per hour)—0.99 Mach—at 2,600 meters (8,530 feet). The service ceiling was 15,200 meters (49,869 feet). It could climb to 5,000 meters (16,404 feet) in 2 minutes, 18 seconds, and to 10,000 meters (32,808 feet) in 7 minutes, 6 seconds. Endurance was 1 hour, 31 minutes. Maximum range for S01 was 1,395 kilometers (867 miles).
The prototype was armed with one Nudelman N-37 37 mm cannon and two Nudelman-Rikhter NR-23 23 mm cannon.
The the first production MiG 15 flew 31 December 1948, one year and one day after the prototype. More than 18,000 were built.
The first production Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 fighter. (Unattributed)Viktor Nikolaevich Yuganov
Viktor Nikolaevich Yuganov (Виктор Николаевич Юганов) was born at Moscow, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, 23 February 1922. He was a member of the Stalin Flying Club at age 14.
In December 1937, Yuganov entered the Red Army. He graduated from the flight school at Borisoglebsk, Voronezh, Russia, in December 1938. Yuganov was the youngest pilot in the 56th Fighter Regiment.
In July and August 1939, he flew 120 combat sorties during the Battles of Khalkhyn Gol (an undeclared war with Japan) and is credited with having shot down three enemy airplanes.
Viktor Yuganov was transferred to the 19th Fighter Regiment and was involved in the Russo-Finnish War (“The Winter War”) of 1939–1940.
After Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, Yuganov was assigned to the 2nd Independent Fighter Squadron. In January 1942, he was appointed deputy commander of the 521st Fighter regiment at the Kalinin Front. He shot down two more enemy aircraft.
In April 1942 Yuganov was assigned as a test pilot at the Gromov Flight Research Institute at Zhukovsky Air Base near Moscow and remained there until March 1945. He then became an inspector on the Air Staff for the Moscow Military District. In December 1946 he resumed test flying, this time at Mikoyan Design Bureau. Three years later, Yuganov returned to the Flight Research Institute where he continued testing the MiG-15.
Viktor Yuganov was awarded the Order of Lenin, and three times, the Order of the Red Banner. He died at Moscow, 24 July 1964.
30 December 1944: Four service test Lockheed YP-80A Shooting Stars were sent to Europe in late World War II: Two, 44-83026 and 44-83027, arrived at RAF Burtonwood, Lancashire, England, 30 December 1944; and 44-83028 and 44-83029, were sent to Lesina, Italy, in late January 1945.
Lockheed YP-80 Shooting Stars, 44-83028 and 44-83029, fly past Mount Vesuvius, early 1945. (U.S. Air Force)
The prototype XP-80A, 44-83020, nicknamed Lulu-Belle, was first flown by test pilot Tony LeVier at Muroc Army Air Field (now known as Edwards AFB) 8 January 1944. The first YP-80A flew on 13 September 1944. Thirteen YP-80s were built before the aircraft was put into full production as the P-80A-1-LO.
Wreckage of YP-80A 83-026. (U.S. Air Force)
On 28 January 1945, 44-83026 caught fire in flight. The airplane disintegrated and crashed at Bold, near Widnes, Cheshire, at 12:01 p.m. Its pilot, Wright Field test pilot Major Frederic Austin Borsodi, was killed.
The third YP-80A, 44-83027, was modified to install a prototype Rolls-Royce Nene B.41 engine. It crashed at Syerston, 14 November 1945. The airplane was damaged beyond repair.
Lockheed YP-80A Shooting Star 44-83028 at Foggia, Italy, 1945. (U.S. Air Force)
Both 44-83028 and 44-83029 were returned to the United States, 16 June 1945. -028 was later converted to a pilotless drone. During a cross-country flight, -029 made a forced landing in rural West Virginia. The airplane was repaired and returned to service. It was destroyed in a crash near Brandenburg, Kentucky, 2 August 1945.
Lockheed YP-80A 44-83029 made a forced landing in West Virginia, Summer 1945. (Defense Media Network)
The Lockheed P-80-1-LO was the United States’ first operational jet fighter. It was a single-seat, single engine airplane, designed by a team of engineers led by Clarence L. (“Kelly”) Johnson. The prototype XP-80A, 44-83020, nicknamed Lulu-Belle, was first flown by test pilot Tony LeVier at Muroc Army Air Field (now known as Edwards AFB) 8 January 1944.
The P-80A was 34 feet, 6 inches (10.516 meters) long with a wingspan of 38 feet, 10.5 inches (37 feet, 7.5 inches with “clipped” wing tips) (11.849 or 11.468 meters) and an overall height of 11 feet, 4 inches (3.454 meters). The wings had 1° incidence with -1° 30° twist, and 3° 50′ dihedral. The leading edges were swept aft 9° 18′ 33″. The total wing area was 237.70 square feet (22.08 square meters). The P-80A weighed 7,920 pounds empty (3,593 kilograms) and had a maximum takeoff weight of 14,000 pounds (6,350 kilograms).
Early production P-80As were powered by either an Allison J33-A-9 or a General Electric J33-GE-11 turbojet engine. The J33 was a licensed version of the Rolls-Royce Derwent. It was a single-shaft turbojet with a 1-stage centrifugal compressor section and a 1-stage axial-flow turbine. The -9 and -11 engines were rated at 3,825 pounds of thrust (17.014 kilonewtons) at 11,500 r.p.m. They were 8 feet, 6.9 inches (2.614 meters) long, 4 feet, 2.5 inches (1.283 meters) in diameter and weighed 1,775 pounds (805 kilograms).
The P-80A-1 had a maximum speed of 510 miles per hour (821 kilometers per hour) at Sea Level, 520 miles per hour (837 kilometers per hour) at 20,000 feet (6,096 meters), and 495 miles per hour (797 kilometers per hour) at 40,000 feet (12,192 meters). The service ceiling was 45,000 feet (13,716 meters).
Several hundred of the early production P-80 Shooting stars had all of their surface seams filled, and the airplanes were primed and painted. Although this process added 60 pounds (27 kilograms) to the empty weight, the decrease in drag allowed a 10 mile per hour (16 kilometers per hour) increase in top speed. The painted surface was difficult to maintain in the field and the process was discontinued.
The P-80A Shooting Star was armed with six Browning AN-M3 .50-caliber aircraft machine guns mounted in the nose, with 300 rounds of ammunition per gun.
Frederic Austin Borsodi was born at Houston, Texas, 4 November 1916. He was the second of two sons of Victor Howard Borsodi, an immigrant from Austria and a government fuel contractor, and Lindsley Louise Snodgrass Borsodi.
Frederic Austin Borsodi, 1935
Borsodi studied at the Kincaid School, Houston, Texas, and The Hill School at Pottstown, Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 1935. He then attended the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1937, Borsodi traveled to England aboard RMS Queen Mary as a member of the Yale golf team. He graduated from Yale in 1939 with a bachelor of science degree.
Borsodi entered the United States Navy as an aviation cadet, 1 September 1939. He had brown hair and eyes, was 5 feet, 10 inches (1.78 meters) tall and weighed 160 pounds (72.6 kilograms). He trained as a pilot at the Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida, and was commissioned as an ensign, 15 May 1940.
Miss Marcia Chase
In January 1940, Aviation Cadet Borsodi became engaged to Miss Marcia Chase of Hartford, Connecticut. Miss Chase was a graduate of Smith College. Their wedding took place 8 June 1940 at the Asylum Hill Congregational Church in Hartford. They would have two daughters, Lindsley Chase and Barbara Chase Barsodi.
Ensign Borsodi was assigned to the battleship USS Nevada (BB-36), then based at Pearl Harbor, in July 1940. He and Mrs. Borsodi returned to the continental United States aboard SS Lurline, 25 September 1940.
On 12 April 1941, Ensign Borsodi was transferred to the Air Corps, United States Army, and commissioned a second lieutenant. Lieutenant Borsodi was assigned as an experimental test pilot at Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Corporation, from March to August 1941.
Borsodi was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant 12 November 1942.
Lieutenant Borsodi was assigned to the 86th Fighter Squadron, 79th Fighter Group, in North Africa during Operation Torch. During the Battle of the Mareth Line, in southern Tunisia, March 1943, Lieutenant Borsodi was flying a ground attack mission when his Curtiss-Wright P-40 was hit by anti-aircraft fire. On fire and unable to make it back to friendly lines, he was forced to bail out in the midst of the battle. A New Zealand tank crew rescued him and returned him to Allied lines.
Lieutenant Borsodi was promoted to captain, 10 April 1943. Captain Borsodi was credited with shooting down three enemy aircraft on 20 April 1943, including a Messerchmitt Bf 109 fighter and Junkers Ju 88 bomber. On 9 June 1943, he assisted in shooting down a fourth. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Borsodi was promoted to major, 1 October 1943.
In November 1943, Major Borsodi returned to the United States, flying a captured enemy bomber. In January 1944, he was assigned as Chief, Fighter Test Branch, Air Technical Services Command, at Wright Field, Ohio.
Major Frederic Austin Borsodi, United States Army Air Forces, had been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with one oak leaf cluster (two awards); and the Air Medal with six oak leaf clusters (seven awards.) His remains were buried at the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial, Coton, Cambridgeshire, England.
29 December 1972: Eastern Air Lines Flight 401, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, was en route from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), New York, to Miami International Airport (MIA), Florida, with a crew of 13 and 163 passengers. The flight was under the command of Captain Robert Albin Loft, a 32-year-veteran of Eastern Air Lines. The co-pilot was First Officer Albert John Stockstill, a former U.S. Air Force pilot who had flown with Eastern as a flight engineer for 12 years before upgrading to first officer the previous year. The Second Officer (flight engineer) was Donald Louis Repo. He was employed as a mechanic by Eastern in 1947, and had qualified as a flight engineer in 1955.
On approach to MIA, the flight crew lowered the landing gear. The indicator light for the nose gear did not illuminate. Captain Loft informed the Miami control tower that he was abandoning the approach and requested a holding pattern. Miami Approach Control placed Flight 401 in a “race track” pattern at 2,000 feet (610 meters), west of MIA.
The flight crew confirmed that the landing gear was operating properly, and confirmed that the incandescent light bulb for the gear position indicator was burned out. Still, all three members of the flight crew, as well as a fourth Eastern Air Lines employee who was in the cockpit, continued to investigate the light’s malfunction. While they did so, the airplane entered a very gradual descent which went unobserved by the crew.
The following partial transcript is from the airplane’s Cockpit Voice Recorder:
Miami Approach Control: “Eastern, ah Four Oh One how are things comin’ out there?” [2341:40]
Eastern Air Lines Flight 401: “Okay, we’d like to turn around and come back in.” [2341:44]
Miami Approach Control: “Eastern Four Oh One turn left heading one eight zero.” [2341:47]
First Officer: “We did something to the altitude.” [2342:05]
Captain: “What?” [2342:05]
First Officer: “We’re still at two thousand, right?” [2342:07]
At 11:42:12 p.m., Eastern Standard Time, Flight 401 impacted the surface of an Everglades swamp, 18.7 miles (30.1 kilometers) west-northwest of the end of Runway 9L. The TriStar hit the ground at 227 miles per hour (365 kilometers per hour) in a 28° left bank. Of the 176 persons on board, 99 were killed and 75 were injured. 2 of the injured died later.
Wreckage of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401.
The cause of the accident was “pilot error.” In the simplest terms, the flight crew failed in their primary responsibility to FLY THE AIRPLANE while they dealt with an inconsequential technical issue. At the time, this was the highest number of fatalities in an aircraft accident in the United States.
PROBABLE CAUSE: “The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the failure of the fight crew to monitor the flight instruments during the final 4 minutes of flight, and to detect an unexpected descent soon enough to prevent impact with the ground. Preoccupation with a malfunction of the nose landing gear position indicating system distracted the crew’s attention from the instruments and allowed the descent to go unnoticed.”
— Aircraft Accident Report, Eastern Air Lines, Inc. L-1011, N310EA, Miami, Florida, December 29, 1972, Report Number NTSB-AAR-73-14, Adopted 14 June 1973, Chapter 2.2 at Pages 23–24
Following the crash of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401, and the similar crash of a United Air Lines DC-8, Flight 173, at Portland, Oregon, 28 December 1978, airlines developed a system called Cockpit Resource Management to ensure that the flight crews stayed focused on cockpit priorities while dealing with unexpected issues.
The cabin crew of Flight 401, 29 December 1972: Back row: Pat Ghyssels, Trudy J. Smith, Adrianne Ann Hamilton, lead Flight Attendant, Mercedes V. Ruiz. Front row: Sue F. Tibbs, Dorothy M. Warnock, Beverly Jean Raposa, Stephanie Stanich. Laying on the coat rack, Patricia R. Georgia. Not shown, Sharon R. Transue. Pat Ghyssels and Stephanie Stanich, seated next to each other in jump seats, were killed. (Sharon R. Transue/Eastern Airlines)
Flight 401 was a Lockheed L-1011-385-1 TriStar, a long-range variant of the “wide body” airliner, FAA registration N310EA, (serial number N193A-1011) which had been delivered to Eastern Air Lines 18 August 1972 had entered service three days later. At the time of the crash it had just 986 hours total flight time (TTAF).
The L-1011 was a very technologically advanced airliner, operated by a flight crew of three, and could carry a maximum of 330 passengers. The –385 was 14 feet shorter than the previous TriStar versions, with a length of 164 feet, 2.5 inches (50.051 meters). It had longer wings, spanning 164 feet, 4 inches (50.089 meters). Its overall height was 55 feet, 4 inches (16.865 meters). Empty, it weighed 245,400 pounds (111,312 kilograms). The maximum takeoff weigh was 510,000 pounds (231,332 kilograms) and maximum landing weight, 368,000 pounds (166,922 kilograms).
N310EA was powered by three Rolls-Royce RB.211-22C turbofan engines, with two suspended on pylons under the wings and one in the rear of the fuselage. They produced 42,000 pounds of thrust (186.83 kilonewtons), each.
The L-1011-385-1 had a maximum speed of 0.95 Mach. Its cruising speed was 604 miles per hour (972 kilometers per hour). Range with maximum passengers was 6,151 miles (9,899 kilometers). The service ceiling was 43,000 feet (13,106 meters).
The Lockheed L-1011 was in production from 1968 to 1984. 250 of the airliners were built at Palmdale, California.
Eastern Air Lines CEO, Frank F. Borman II (Gemini 7, Apollo 8) in the cockpit of a Lockheed L-1011 with Lockheed’s test pilot Henry Baird (“Hank”) Dees. (Eastern Airlines)
Jackie Cochran with her Cobalt Blue North American Aviation P-51C Mustang, N5528N, Thunderbird, circa December 1949. (FAI)
29 December 1949: Jackie Cochran (Lieutenant Colonel, United States Air Force Reserve) flew her North American Aviation P-51C Mustang, Thunderbird, CAA registration N5528N, to two Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) Class C-1 world speed records of 703.38 kilometers per hour (437.06 miles per hour)¹ and a U.S. National record of 703.275 kilometers per hour (436.995 miles per hour) over the 500 kilometer (310.7 mile) Desert Center–Mt. Wilson course in the Colorado Desert of southern California.
She would later be awarded the first of three Distinguished Flying Crosses for this series of flight records.
Thunderbird was Jackie Cochran’s third P-51 Mustang. She had purchased it from Academy Award-winning actor and World War II B-24 wing commander James M. Stewart just ten days earlier, 19 December 1949.
According to Civil Aviation Administration records, the airplane had been “assembled from components of other aircraft of the same type.” It has no U.S. Army Air Corps serial number or North American Aviation manufacturer’s serial number. The C.A.A. designated it as a P-51C and assigned 2925 as its serial number. It was certificated in the Experimental category and registered N5528N.
Thunderbird had won the 1949 Bendix Trophy Race with pilot Joe De Bona, after he had dropped out of the 1948 race. Its engine had been upgraded from a Packard V-1650-3 Merlin to a V-1650-7 for the 1949 race.
Cobalt Blue North American Aviation P-51C Mustang N5528N with Joe De Bona’s race number, 90. (Unattributed).
Jackie Cochran set three world speed records with Thunderbird. In 1953, she sold it back to Jimmy Stewart. After changing ownership twice more, the P-51 crashed near Scott’s Bluff, Nebraska, 22 June 1955 and was totally destroyed. Pilot James M. Cook parachuted with minor injuries.
The P-51B and P-51C Mustangs are virtually identical. The P-51Bs were built by North American Aviation, Inc., at Inglewood, California, while 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.
According to the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum, “At the time of her death in 1980, Jacqueline Cochran held more speed, altitude, and distance records than any other male or female pilot in aviation history.”
Identical to the Inglewood, California-built North American Aviation P-51B Mustang, this is a Dallas, Texas-built P-51C-1-NT, 42-103023. (North American Aviation, Inc.)
Flight Lieutenant Richard Joseph Audet, Royal Canadian Air Force, with his Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk.IX, MK950, assigned to No. 411 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force.
29 December 1944: Flying Officer Richard Joseph Audet, Royal Canadian Air Force, was a section leader of No. 411 Squadron, an RCAF squadron under the control of the Second Tactical Air Force, Royal Air Force. The squadron was based at an advanced airfield in The Netherlands.
In the early afternoon, Audet’s Yellow Section engaged a flight of twelve Luftwaffe fighters, four Messerchmitt Bf 109s and eight Focke-Wulf Fw 190s, near Rheine, in northwestern Germany.
Flying a Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk.IX .5, RR201, Flying Officer Audet led his section into the attack. He later reported:
I was leading Yellow section of 411 Squadron in the Rheine/Osnabruck area when Control reported Huns at Rheine and the squadron turned in that direction. An Me 262 was sighted and just at that time I spotted 12 e/a on our starboard side at 2 o’clock. These turned out to be a mixture of approximately 4 Me 109’s and 8 FW 190’s.
1) I attacked an Me 109 which was the last a/c in the formation of about twelve all flying line astern. At approximately 200 yds and 30° to starboard at 10,000 feet I opened fire and saw strikes all over the fuselage and wing roots. The 109 burst into flames on the starboard side of the fuselage only, and trailed intense black smoke. I then broke off my attack.
2) After the first attack I went around in a defensive circle at about 8500 feet until I spotted an FW 190 which I immediately attacked from 250 yards down to 100 yards and from 30° to line astern. I saw strikes over cockpit and to the rear of the fuselage. It burst into flames from the engine back, and as I passed very close over top of it I saw the pilot slumped over in his cockpit, which was also in flames.
3) My third attack followed immediately on the 2nd. I followed what I believed was an Me 109 in a slight dive. He then climbed sharply and his coupe top flew off at about 3 to 4,000 feet. I then gave a very short burst from about 300 yards and line astern and his aircraft whipped downwards in a dive. The pilot attempted or did bale out. I saw a black object on the edge of the cockpit but his ‘chute ripped to shreds. I then took cine shots of his a/c going to the ground and bits of parachute floating around. I saw this aircraft hit and smash into many flaming pieces on the ground. I do not remember any strikes on this aircraft. The Browning button only may have been pressed.
4) I spotted a FW 190 being pursued at about 5,000′ by a Spitfire which was in turn pursued by an FW 190. I called this Yellow section pilot to break and attacked the 190 up his rear. The fight went downwards in a steep dive. When I was about 250 yards and line astern of this 190 I opened fire. There were many strikes on the length of the fuselage and it immediately burst into flames. I saw this FW 190 go straight into the ground and burn.
5) Several minutes later while attempting to form my section up again I spotted an FW 190 from 4000 feet. He was at about 2000 feet. I dived down on him and he turned in to me from the right. Then he flipped around in a left hand turn and attempted a head-on attack. I slowed down to wait for the 190 to flypast in range. At about 200 yds and 20° I gave a very short burst, but couldn’t see any strikes. This a/c flicked violently, and continued to do so until he crashed into the ground. The remainder of my section saw this encounter and Yellow 4 (F/O McCracken) saw it crash in flames.
—Post Mission Report of Flying Officer R. J. Audet, 29 December 1944
This air battle had been Flying Officer Audet’s first engagement with enemy aircraft. It was over within a matter of minutes. For his actions of 29 December 1944, Richard Audet was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Air Ministry, 16th February, 1945.
The KING has been graciously pleased to approve the following awards in recognition of gallantry and devotion to duty in the execution of air operations:—
Distinguished Flying Cross.
Flying Officer Richard Joseph Audet (Can/J.20136), R.C.A.F., 411 (R.C.A.F.) Sqn.
This officer has proved himself to be a highly skilled and courageous fighter. In December, 1944, the squadron was involved in an engagement against 12 enemy fighters in the Rheine/Osnabrück area. In a most spirited action, Flying Officer Audet achieved outstanding success by destroying 5 enemy aircraft. This feat is a splendid tribute to his brilliant shooting, great gallantry and tenacity.
Flight Lieutenant Richard Joseph Audet in the cockpit of a Supermarine Spitfire. (RCAF)
Richard Joseph Audet was born 13 March 1922 at Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. He was the sixth child of Paul Audet, a rancher, and Ediwisca Marcoux Audet. “Dickie” Audet rode a horse to school at the age of ten years, traveling about 18 miles (29 kilometers) every morning.
Audet studied at Garbutt Business College in Lethbridge, and worked as a stenographer and bookkeeper at RCAF Air Station High River.
Dick Audet enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force at Calgary, Alberta, 28 August 1941. He was trained as a fighter pilot and was commissioned as a Pilot Officer, 24 October 1942. His pilot’s wings were presented to him by The Right Honourable William Lyon MacKenzie King, tenth Prime Minister of the Dominion of Canada.
R.C.A.F. Form R. 100, enlistment document of Richard Joseph Audet. (Royal Canadian Air Force)
Pilot Officer Audet was sent to England, crossing the North Atlantic aboard ship and arriving 6 December 1942. He was assigned to the No. 6 Elementary Flying School at RAF Little Rissington, Gloucestershire, and then No. 17 Advanced Flying Unit at RAF Calvely, Nantwich, Cheshire. He was promoted to Flying Officer 23 April 1943, and transferred to No. 53 Operational Training Unit at RAF Heston, west of London, where he transitioned to the Supermarine Spitfire fighter.
Flying Officer Richard J. Audet married Miss Iris Christina Gibbons of Pinner, a village in the London Borough of Harrow, at Northhampton, Northamptonshire, England, 9 July 1944.
Audet joined No. 411 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force, 14 September 1944. He was promoted to the rank of Flight Lieutenant, 23 October 1944.
During January 1945, Flight Lieutenant Audet was credited with destroying another 6.5 enemy aircraft: 4.5 Focke-Wulf FW-190s (one shared) and two Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighters (one on the ground), and a third Me 262, damaged.
Distinguished Flying Cross and Bar
On 3 March 1945, Flight Lieutenant Audet was strafing railway trains near Coesfeld, Coesfelder Landkreis, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany, when his Spitfire LF Mk.IXE, MK950, was shot down. The Spitfire was seen to crash in flames and explode. Audet was listed as missing in action, and was presumed to have been killed. His remains were not recovered.
On 9 March 1945, Flight Lieutenant Richard Joseph Audet was posthumously awarded a Bar to his Distinguished Flying Cross (a second award).
There is no grave for Dick Audet. His name appears with those of 20,287 others on the Runnymede Memorial, Surrey, England, and among the nearly 400 on the Lethbridge Cenotaph at Lethbridge, Alberta. Audet Lake, north of Fort McMurray, Alberta, and Rue Richard Joseph Audet in Saugenay, Quebec, were named in his honor.
The aircraft flown by Dick Audet on 29 December 1944, was a Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk.IX .5 (redesignated LF Mk.IXe in 1945), Royal Air Force serial number RR201. The identification letters on the fuselage were DB-G. It was built at built at the Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory, at Warwickshire, West Midlands, in late summer or early fall 1944.
The Supermarine Spitfire was a single-place, single-engine low-wing monoplane of all-metal construction with retractable landing gear. The fighter had been designed by Reginald Joseph Mitchell CBE. The prototype first flew 5 March 1936.
The Spitfire LF Mk.IXe was optimized for low-altitude operations. The Spitfire F Mk.Vb was 29 feet, 11 inches (9.119 meters) long with a wingspan of 36 feet, 10 inches (11.227 meters) and overall height of 11 feet, 5 inches (3.480 meters). The exact dimensions of the LF Mk.IXe are not known but are presumably similar. Some Mk.IXe fighters had “clipped” wings, while others did not.
The LF Mk.IXe had an empty weight of 5,749 pounds (2,608 kilograms) and gross weight of 7,450 pounds (3,379 kilograms).
The Spitfire LF Mk.IXe was powered a liquid-cooled, supercharged, 1,648.959-cubic-inch-displacement (27.022 liters) Rolls-Royce Merlin 66 single overhead camshaft (SOHC) 60° V-12 engine with a compression ratio of 6.00:1. It was equipped with a two-speed, two-stage supercharger. The Merlin 66 was rated at 1,315 horsepower at 3,000 r.p.m. and 12 pounds per square inch boost (0.83 Bar), for Take Off; 1,705 horsepower at 3,000 r.p.m. at 5,750 feet (1,753 meters) and 1,580 horsepower at 3,000 r.p.m. at 16,000 feet (4,877 meters), with 18 pounds boost (1.24 Bar). These power ratings were obtained with 130-octane aviation gasoline. When 150-octane gasoline became available, the Merlin 66 was cleared to use 25 pounds of boost (1.72 Bar). The Merlin 66 had a propeller gear reduction ratio of 0.477:1 and drove a four-bladed Rotol Hydulignum (compressed laminated wood) propeller with a diameter of 10 feet, 9 inches (3.277 meters). The engine weighed 1,645 pounds (746 kilograms).
The Spitfire LF Mk.IXe had cruise speed of 220 miles per hour (354 kilometers per hour) at 20,000 feet (6,096 meters); a maximum speed of 384 miles per hour (618 kilometers per hour) at 10,500 feet (3,200 meters), and 404 miles per hour (650 kilometers per hour) at 21,000 feet (6,401 meters). Diving speed was restricted to 450 miles per hour (724 kilometers per hour) below 20,000 feet (6,096 meters). The airplane’s service ceiling was 42,500 feet (12,954 meters).
The Spitfire LF Mk.IXe was armed with two 20-milimeter Hispano Mk.II autocannon, with 135 rounds of ammunition per gun, and two Browning AN-M2 .50-caliber machine guns, with 260 rounds per gun. The .50-caliber machine guns were mounted in the wings, just inboard of the 20 mm cannon.
This photograph of a Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk.IXe shows the position of the .50-caliber machine guns, inboard of the 20 mm cannon.
