4 November 1923

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Lieutenant Alford J. Williams, jr., United States Navy, photographed 19 September 1923. (Library of Congress)
Lieutenant Alford Joseph Williams, Jr., United States Navy, photographed 19 September 1923. (Library of Congress)

4 November 1923: At Mitchel Field, Mineola, Long Island, New York, Lieutenant Alford J. Williams, Jr., United States Navy, flew a specially-constructed Curtiss R2C-1 Racer to a new Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Record for Speed Over a 3 Kilometer Course, averaging 429.03 kilometers per hour (266.59 miles per hour).¹

Lieutenant Alford J. Williams, Jr., United States Navy, with a Curtiss R2C-1. (FAI)
Lieutenant Alford J. Williams, Jr., United States Navy, with a Curtiss R2C-1. (FAI)

Two R2C-1 Racers was built for the U.S. Navy by the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company of Hammondsport, New York, and were assigned serial numbers A6691 and A6692. They were single-place, single-engine biplanes with a wooden monocoque fuselage and fabric-covered wings. Curtiss had made every effort to reduce aerodynamic drag, including the use of surface radiators on the wings to cool the engine. The airplane was 19 feet, 3 inches (5.867 meters) long with a wingspan of 22 feet (6.706 meters). The biplane had an empty weight of 1,692 pounds (767 kilograms) and gross weight of 2,112.3 pounds (958.1 kilograms).

Curtiss R2C-1 Racer A6692, with Alford Joseph Williams, 17 September 1923. (Curiss Aeroplane and Motor Company/National Air and Space Museum Archives NASM-CW8G-M-0271)
Curtiss R2C-1 Racer A6692, with Alford Joseph Williams, 17 September 1923. (Curiss Aeroplane and Motor Company/National Air and Space Museum Archives NASM-CW8G-M-0271)

The R2C-1 Racers were powered by a revolutionary 1,209.610-cubic-inch-displacement (19.813 liter) water-cooled, normally-aspirated Curtiss D-12A dual overhead camshaft (DOHC) 60° V-12 engine with four valves per cylinder. The cylinders and water jackets were cast as a monoblock and a drop-forged crankshaft with seven main bearings was used. A Stromberg NA-75 carburetor supplied the air/fuel mixture. The engine turned a two-bladed forged aluminum propeller designed by Sylvanus A. Reed. This fixed-pitch propeller had very thin blades which allowed it to turn at high speed without adverse sonic effects. The D-12A drove this propeller without gear reduction (direct drive, hence the “D” in the engine’s designation). The D-12A was specifically modified as a racing engine and did not have a power rating for normal service, however, it nominally produced 507 horsepower, with a 520 horsepower maximum. It was capable of operating at 2,500 r.p.m. The Curtiss D-12 was 56¾ inches (1.441 meters) long, 28¼ inches (0.718 meters) wide and 34¾ inches (0.882 meters) high. It weighed 678.25 pounds (307.65 kilograms).

Lieutenant Alford J. Williams, Jr., with a Curtiss R2C-1. (FAI)
Lieutenant Alford J. Williams, Jr., with a Curtiss R2C-1. (FAI)

Lieutenant Alford J. Williams, Jr., born at Bronx, New York, 26 July 1891, the first of four children of Alford Joseph Williams, a stone cutter, and Emma Elizabeth Madden William. He entered Fordham University in 1909, graduating with an A.B. degree. In 1913 Williams entered the university’s School of Law. He played professional baseball for two seasons with the New York Giants. Williams was 5 feet, 10 inches (178 centimeters) tall, weighed 145 pounds (66 kilograms), and had light brown hair and blue eyes.

Williams enlisted as a private in the New York National Guard, 4 March 1913. He was assigned to Company E, 7th Infantry. When the United States entered World War I, Williams, by then working as a machinist, joined the United States Naval Reserve Force (U.S.N.R.F.) as a seaman, 2nd class, and was trained in aviation at the Naval Aviation Detachment, Massachussetts Institute of Technology; the Naval Air Station, Bayshore New York; and at Pensacola Florida. During training he was promoted to Chief Quartermaster, Aviation. Williams was commissioned an Ensign,  December 9, 1918.

Ensign Williams served as a gunnery and primary flight instructor at Pensacola, Florida before being assigned as a test pilot at the Naval Air Station at Hampton Roads, Virginia. He was promoted to lieutenant (junior grade), 1 April 1919, and to lieutenant, 1 July 1920. He remained at NAS Hampton Roads until being detached to fly high speed airplanes for the Pulitzer Trophy races. As of 9 October 1922, Williams had a total of 1,042 flight hours.

Appointed the Navy’s chief test pilot, he was considered to be a protégé of Rear Admiral William A. Moffet. This placed him in the center of a rivalry between Moffett and Captain Ernest J. King (later, Fleet Admiral). While Moffett was in Europe, Captain King had Lieutenant Williams transferred to sea duty. Williams was angry and in an ill-considered action, resigned his commission.

In 1925 Williams married Miss Florence Wright Hawes of Georgia.

During the 1930s, Williams requested and received a commission as a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps, and was soon promoted to the rank of major. However, Major Williams publicly advocated a separate Air Force, and for this he was forced to resign from the military.

Williams wrote Aviation from an Airman’s Standpoint, which was published in 1934.

Al Williams with his “Gulfhawk,” a Grumman G-22, NR1050. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives, Catalog #: 01_00092281)

Williams later served as Aviation Sales Manager for the Gulf Refining Company, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He commuted with a Grumman G-58A Gulfhawk (a civil version of the F8F Bearcat fighter).

Gulfhawks. 15_001356

Al Williams retired from Gulf in 1951, and passed away 15 June 1958. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Alford J. Williams, Jr. with his Grumman G-58A Gulfhawk, NL3025. (San Diego Air and Space Museum Archives)
Alford J. Williams, Jr., with his Grumman G-58A, NL3025. (San Diego Air and Space Museum Archives)

¹ FAI Record File Number 8753

© 2017, Bryan R. Swopes

4 November 1909

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John Theodore Cuthbert Moore-Brabazon with a pig in a basket aboard his Short Biplane No. 2, 4 November 1909.

4 November 1909: John Theodore Cuthbert Moore-Brabazon (later, 1st Baron Brabazon of Tara, GBE, MC, PC) flew a small pig in a wicker basket tied to a strut of his Short Brothers Biplane No. 2. He flew approximately 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers).

Short Brothers Ltd., founded in 1897 as a balloon manufacturer, began building airplanes in 1908. It was the first company to build production airplanes. The Short Biplane No. 2 was designed by Horace Leonard Short. It was similar to the Wright Brothers Model A Flyer, which Short Brothers had been building under license in the United Kingdom. Rather than the Wright’s system of wing-warping, the Biplane No. 2 used ailerons. The first production batch consisted of six airplanes.

Front view of Moore-Brabazon’s Short No. 2. “Mr. J. T. C. Moore-Brabazon’s new biplane, designed and constructed by Messrs. Short Bros., with which he has been making flights at Shellbeach, being brought up to the starting rail after a flight.” Cropped image. (Flight)
Front quarter view of Moore-Brabazon’s Short No. 2. “Getting Mr. Moore-Brabazon’s Short biplane in place on to the starting rail.” Cropped image. (Flight)
“Side view, on the starting rail, of Mr. Moore Brabazon’s biplane, just constructed by Messrs. Short Bros.” (Flight)
“Three-quarter view, from the back, of the Short biplane, constructed for Mr. Moore-Brabazon.” Cropped image. (Flight)

The Biplane No. 2 was 32 feet, 0 inches in length (9.754 meters) with a wingspan of 48 feet, 8 inches (14.834 meters). Its gross weight was 1,485 pounds (674 kilograms).

Green D.4 gasoline engine, designed by Gustavus Green, 1909. Copper waterjackets encase the individual cast steel cylinders which are bolted to the aluminum crankcase. (Wikipedia)

The Short Biplane No. 2 was powered by a water-cooled, normally-aspirated 8.990 liter (548.602-cubic-inch) Green Engine Co., Ltd., D.4 single overhead camshaft inline 4-cylinder engine, which produced 61.6 horsepower at 1,150 r.p.m., and turned two wooden 2-bladed propellers in a pusher configuration, by means of chain drive. The Green engine produced 67.8 horsepower at 1,210 r.p.m. during a 7 minute maximum power test. The Green D.4 was 44 inches (1.118 meters) long, 33½ inches (0.851 meters) high and 17 inches (0.432 meters) wide. It weighed 287 pounds (130.2 kilograms) with the flywheel.

The Short Biplane No. 2 had a maximum speed of approximately 45 miles per hour (72 kilometers per hour).

Moore-Brabazon’s pig.

© 2018, Bryan R. Swopes

3 November 1965

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North American Aviation X-15A-2 56-6671 on Rogers Dry Lake. In addition to the lengthened fuselage and external tanks, the nose wheel strut is longer and the windshields have been changed to an oval shape. A wheeled dolly supports the aft end of the rocketplane. (NASA)
North American Aviation X-15A-2 56-6671 on Rogers Dry Lake. In addition to the lengthened fuselage and external tanks, the nose wheel strut is longer and the windshields have been changed to an oval shape. A wheeled dolly supports the aft end of the rocketplane. (NASA)

3 November 1965: Major Robert A. Rushworth made the first flight of the modified X-15A-2 rocketplane, Air Force serial number 56-6671. After a landing accident which caused significant damage to the Number 2 X-15, it was rebuilt by North American Aviation. A 28-inch (0.71 meter) “plug” was installed in the fuselage forward of the wings to create space for a liquid hydrogen fuel tank which would be used for an experimental “scramjet” engine that would be mounted on the the ventral fin. The modified aircraft was also able to carry two external fuel tanks. It was hoped that additional propellant would allow the X-15A-2 to reach much higher speeds.

The first flight with the new configuration was an “envelope expansion” flight, intended to test the handling characteristics of the X-15A-2, and to jettison the tanks (which were empty on this flight) to evaluate the separation and trajectory as they fell away from the rocketplane in supersonic flight.

Boeing NB-52A Stratofortress 52-003, The High and Mighty One, with North American Aviation X-15A-2 56-6671 mounted to the pylon under its right wing. The external propellant tanks have been brightly painted to aid tracking after they are jettisoned. (U.S. Air Force)
Boeing NB-52A Stratofortress 52-003, The High and Mighty One, with North American Aviation X-15A-2 56-6671 mounted to the pylon under its right wing. The external propellant tanks have been brightly painted to aid tracking after they are jettisoned. (U.S. Air Force)

The X-15A-2 was dropped from the Boeing NB-52A Stratofortress 52-003, over Cuddeback Lake, 37 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert of southern California. This was the only time during the 199-flight X-15 Program that this lake was used as a launch point.

The X-15 was released at 09:09:10.7 a.m., PST. Bob Rushworth ignited the Reaction Motors XLR99-RM-1 rocket engine and it ran for 84.1 seconds before its fuel supply was exhausted. This engine was rated at 57,000 pounds of thrust (253.549 kilonewtons).

The X-15 climbed to 70,600 feet (21,519 meters) and reached Mach 2.31 (1,514 miles per hour/2,437 kilometers per hour.)

The test flight went well. The external tanks jettisoned cleanly and fell away. The recovery parachute for the liquid oxygen tank did not deploy, however, and the tank was damaged beyond repair.

Rushworth and the X-15A-2 touched down on Rogers Dry Lake after a flight of 5 minutes, 1.6 seconds.

© 2016, Bryan R. Swopes

3 November 1962

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The French fishing trawler F/V Jeane Gougy aground at at Land’s End, Cornwall, England, 3 November 1962. (Royal Maritime Museum)

3 November 1962: The French fishing trawler F/V Jeanne Gougy with a crew of 18 ran aground during a storm at Armored Knight Rock, Land’s End, Cornwall, England. 15-foot waves rolled the ship over on its port side. The seamen were trapped aboard the wreck.

The waves prevented the life boat from the Royal National Life Boat Institution (RNLI) Sennen Cove Lifeboat Station was unable to approach the wreck because of the heavy weather, but recovered two dead fishermen offshore.

A Westland Whirlwind HAR.10 helicopter from No. 22 Squadron’s Search and Rescue Detachment at RAF Chivenor on the north coast of Devon was assigned to attempt a rescue. The Whirlwind was flown by Flight Lieutenants John Lorimer Neville Canham, D.F.C., and Flight Lieutenant John Trevor Egginton, with winch operator Sergeant Eric Charles Smith.

Westland Whirlwind HAR.10, No. 22 Squadron, hoists survivors from the wreck of F/V Jeanne Goudy, 3 November 1962.

Sergeant Smith was lowered into the sea to recover another body, which was then hoisted aboard the helicopter. The Sennen Cove lifeboat and the Whirlwind returned to their respective bases.

Later that morning, observers from the shore saw several men inside the Jeanne Gougy‘s pilot house. A helicopter and the Penlee lifeboat, Soloman Brown, hurried to the scene, but conditions were still too extreme for a lifeboat to approach the trawler.

The helicopter hovered over the capsized fishing trawler while Sergeant Smith was lowered to the ship’s pilot house. A rescue line was also rigged to the nearby rocks. Sergeant Smith rigged two men for hoisting to the hovering helicopter and continued searching for additional survivors. Four sailors were rescued by the line to the shore. Twelve of the fishermen did not survive.

Westland Whirlwind HAR.10, No. 22 Squadron, hoists a man from the fishing trawler F/V Jeanne Gougy at Armoured Knight Rock, Land’s End, Cornwall, England, 3 November 1962. (RNLI Penlee Lifeboat Station)
Sergeant Eric Smith, RAF, is lowered to the wreck of F/V Jeanne Gougy, 3 November 1962. (BFI)
A crewman is transferred from F/V Jeanne Gougy to the cliffs by breeches buoy. (RNLI Penlee Lifeboat Station)

For his bravery during the rescue, Sergeant Smith was awarded the George Medal by Queen Elizabeth II. He was also awarded the Silver Medal of the Société des Hospitalers Sauveteurts Bretons.

The Président de la République française, Charles de Gaulle, conferred the honor of Chevalier du Mérite Maritime on Flight Lieutenant Canham, Flight Lieutenant Egginton and Sergeant Smith.

On 13 June 1964,  Flight Lieutenant John Trevor Egginton was awarded the Air Force Cross.

Wreck of the fishing trawler F/V Jeanne Gougy at Land’s End, 3 November 1962. (RNLI Penlee Lifeboat Station)

The Westland Whirlwind was a license-built variant of the Sikorsky S-55. The HAR.10 was a dedicated search-and-rescue helicopter, powered by a 1,050 shaft horsepower de Havilland Engine Co., Ltd., Gnome H.1000 (Mk.101). The engine was based on the General Electric T58-G-6 turboshaft.

A No. 22 Squadron Westland Whirlwind HAR.10, XP351, hovers during a winch exercise at RAF Thorney Island, 10 July 1964. (Graham P.)

In 1965, Flight Lieutenant Egginton attended the Empire Test Pilots’ School at RAF Boscombe Down. On graduation, he was assigned as a helicopter test pilot with D Squadron (now the Rotary Wing Test and Evaluation Squadron, or RWTES). In 1969, Egginton returned to the Test Pilots’ School as a helicopter flight instructor.

Squadron Leader Egginton retired from the Royal Air Force in 1973. He was awarded the Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air, 2 June 1973.¹

Egginton joined Westland Helicopters at Yeovil as deputy chief test pilot, and later became the company’s chief test pilot. He retired from Westland after 15 years.

In the 1989 New Year’s Honours List, Squadron Leader Egginton was appointed an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.).

Eggington is credited with three Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) world speed records, including the Absolute Speed Record for Helicopters, 400.87 kilometers per hour (249.09 miles per hour), set 11 August 1986.²

Squadron Leader John Trevor Egginton, O.B.E., A.F.C., F.R.Ae.S., Q.C.V.S.A., Chevalier du Mérite Maritime, died at his home in Yeovil, 23 November 2014. He was 81 years of age.

¹ London Gazette No. 45984 at Page 6463

² FAI Record File Number 11659

© 2023, Bryan R. Swopes

3 November 1957

Space Flight, ,
Laika, confined in her capsule prior to launch. She has no room to move, stand or turn around. No consideration was given to return her safely to Earth.

3 November 1957: Laika, a 3-year-old female dog, died in Earth orbit, confined in a small capsule named Sputnik 2. The cause of her death has been variously reported as euthanasia or oxygen starvation, but recent reports state that she died from overheating when the satellite’s cooling system failed.

Laika was a stray dog found on the streets of Moscow. She was trained to accept progressively smaller cages for up to 20 days at a time, and to eat a gelatinous food. She was placed in a centrifuge to expose her to high accelerations. Finally unable to move because of confinement, her normal bodily functions began to deteriorate.

Two days before being launched into orbit, Laika was placed inside her space capsule. The temperatures at the launch site were extremely cold.

Laika
Laika. “The more time passes, the more I’m sorry about it. We shouldn’t have done it. . . We did not learn enough from this mission to justify the death of the dog.”

Sputnik 2 was launched at 0230 UTC, 3 November 1957. During the launch Laika’s respiration increased to four times normal and her heart rate went up to 240 beats per minute. After reaching orbit, the capsule’s cooling system was unable to control the rising temperature, which soon reached 104 °F. (40 °C.). Telemetry indicated that the dog was under high stress. During the fourth orbit, Laika died.

The Soviet space capsule’s life support system was completely inadequate. The conditions which Laika was exposed to during her training and actual space flight were inhumane. There was no means to return her safely to Earth.

In 2008, Russia unveiled a statue of Laika at Star City.

Oleg Gazenko, one of the scientists responsible for her suffering and death said, “The more time passes, the more I’m sorry about it. We shouldn’t have done it. . . We did not learn enough from this mission to justify the death of the dog.”

© 2016, Bryan R. Swopes