27 June 1952

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Jean L. Ziegler in the cockpit of Bell X-2 46-675 after landing on Rogers Dry Lake, at Edwards Air Force Base, California, 27 June 1952. (NASA)

27 June 1952: The Bell X-2 research rocketplane, with company test pilot Jean Leroy (“Skip”) Ziegler at the controls, was airdropped from a “mothership,” a Boeing B-50A-5-BO Superfortress, 46-011, over Edwards Air Force Base, California. This was the first flight of the X-2 Program, and was an unpowered glide flight for pilot familiarization.

On touch down, the nose wheel collapsed and the aircraft slid across the dry lake bed, but was not seriously damaged.

Two X-2 rocketplanes, serial numbers 46-674 and 46-675, were built by the Bell Aircraft Corporation, which has also built the X-1 series. The second X-2 was the first one to fly.

Bell Aircraft Corporation test pilot Jean Leroy (“Skip”) Ziegler standing next to the Bell X-2 rocket plane on Rogers Dry Lake, California, after the first glide flight, 27 June 1952. The nose wheel collapsed on landing. (NASM)

The X-2 was a joint project of the U.S. Air Force and NACA (the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the predecessor of NASA). The rocketplane was designed and built by Bell Aircraft Corporation of Buffalo, New York, to explore supersonic flight at speeds beyond the capabilities of the earlier Bell X-1 and Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket. In addition to the aerodynamic effects of speeds in the Mach 2.0–Mach 3.0 range, engineers knew that the high temperatures created by aerodynamic friction would be a problem, so the aircraft was built from Stainless Steel and K-Monel, a copper-nickel alloy.

The Bell Aircraft Corporation X-2 was 37 feet, 10 inches (11.532 meters) long with a wingspan of 32 feet, 3 inches (9.830 meters) and height of 11 feet, 10 inches (3.607 meters). Its empty weight was 12,375 pounds (5,613 kilograms) and loaded weight was 24,910 pounds (11,299 kilograms).

Bell X-2 46-675 on its transportation dolly at Edwards Air Force Base, california, 1952. (NASA)
Bell X-2 46-675 on its transportation dolly at the NACA High Speed Flight Station, Edwards Air Force Base, California, 1952. (NASA)

The X-2 was powered by a throttleable Curtiss-Wright XLR25-CW-1 rocket engine that produced 2,500–15,000 pounds of thrust burning alcohol and liquid oxygen. Rather than use its limited fuel capacity to take off and climb to altitude, the X-2 was dropped from a modified heavy bomber as had been the earlier rocketplanes. The launch altitude was 30,000 feet (9,144 meters). After the fuel was exhausted, the X-2 glided to a touchdown on Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards Air Force Base.

A four-engine Boeing B-50A Superfortress bomber, serial number 46-011, was modified as the ”mothership.” A second Superfortress, B-50D-95-BO 48-096, was also modified to carry the X-2, and was redesignated EB-50D. During the flight test program, the X-2 reached a maximum speed of Mach 3.196 (2,094 miles per hour, 3,370 kilometers per hour) and a maximum altitude of 126,200 feet (38,466 meters).

On 12 May 1953, less than one year after the first glide flight, Skip Ziegler was in the cockpit of 46-675 while it was being carried on a captive test flight aboard the B-50A Superfortress. An internal explosion destroyed the X-2 and killed Ziegler and another crewman aboard the mothership. The rocketplane fell into Lake Ontario and neither it nor Ziegler’s body were ever recovered. The Superfortress was able to land, but was so badly damaged that it never flew again.

Jean L. "Skip" Ziegler, with the Bell X-5 at Edwards Air Force Base, 1952. (LIFE Magazine via Jet Pilot Overseas.
Jean Leroy “Skip” Ziegler, with the Bell X-5 at Edwards Air Force Base, 1952. (LIFE Magazine via Jet Pilot Overseas.)

© 2018, Bryan R. Swopes

27 June 1941

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Douglas XB-19 38-471 long-range heavy bomber prototype takes off from Clover Field, Santa Monica, California, 27 January 1941. (W.J. Gray/Douglas Aircraft Company/The Boeing Company)
Major Stanley M. Ulmstead

27 June 1941: The experimental Douglas XB-19 long range heavy bomber took off on its first flight from Clover Field, Santa Monica, California. The four-engine airplane, which had originally been designated XBLR-2, serial number 38-471, was under the command of Major Stanley Milward Ulmstead, U.S. Army Air Corps, with 7 additional crewmembers. (Ulmstead had previously made the first flight of the Boeing XB-15.)

Major Ulmstead flew the XB-19 from Santa Monica to March Field in Riverside County. The duration of the flight was 55 minutes.

Douglas XB-19 at Clover Field. (U.S. Air Force 060526-F-1234S-026)
Douglas XB-19 in flight. (U.S. Air Force 050406-F-1234P-055)

The Douglas XB-19 was a gigantic airplane for its time. The airplane was 132 feet, 1-7/8 inches (40.281225 meters) long with a wingspan of 212 feet, 0 inches (64.618 meters) and overall height of 41 feet, 4½ inches (12.611 meters). Its empty weight was 86,000 pounds (39,009 kilograms), and the gross weight, 140,000 pounds (63,503 kilograms). The maximum takeoff weight was 162,000 pounds (73,482 kilograms).

The wings had a chord of 33 feet, 0 inches (10.058 meters) at the root, and a maximum thickness of 8 feet (2.44 meters). The total area was 4,285 square feet (398.09 square meters). Their angle of incidence was 6°, and they had 6° dihedral. The wings were swept aft 10° 13′ at 25% chord.

Douglas XB-19 at March Field 27 January 1941. (U.S. Air Force 060526-F-1234S-027)

The XB-19 was powered by four air-cooled, supercharged, direct-fuel-injected 3,347.662-cubic-inch-displacement (54.858 liter) Wright Aeronautical Division R3350-5 Duplex-Cyclone (GR3350A77) twin-row 18-cylinder radial engines. These had a compression ratio of 6.85:1 and required 100-octane gasoline. They had a normal power rating of 1,620 horsepower at 2,300 r.p.m., and a maximum 2,000 horsepower at 2,400 r.p.m. The R3350-5 was 4 feet, 7.12 inches (1.400 meters) in diameter, 5 feet, 11.5 inches (1.816 meters) long, and weighed 2,450 pounds (1,111 kilograms). The engines turned three-bladed propellers with a diameter of 18 feet, 2 inches (5.537 meters) through a 16:7 gear reduction.

Douglas XB-19 in flight. (U.S. Air Force 060526-F-1234S-031)

The XB-19 had a cruise speed of 135 miles per hour (217 kilometers per hour) and a maximum speed of 224 miles per hour (360 kilometers per hour) at 15,700 feet (4,785 meters). The service ceiling was 39,000 feet (11,887 meters) and the maximum range was 7,750 miles (12,472 kilometers).

Douglas XB-19 in flight. (U.S. Air Force 060526-F-1234S-032)

Defensive armament consisted of two 37 mm cannon, five .50-caliber machine guns, and six .30-caliber machine guns.

Camouflaged Douglas XB-19 38-471 makes a low pass over Wright Field, circa 1942.

The XB-19 was converted to a transport and re-engined with experimental liquid-cooled, turbosupercharged Allison V-3420-11 24-cylinder “double-vee” engines. It was redesignated XB-19A. The airplane was scrapped at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona, in July 1949.

Douglas XB-19A with Allison V3420-11 engines and four-bladed propellers.

© 2020, Bryan R. Swopes

27 June 1940

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Hawker Hurricane Mk.I at NACA Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory. (NASA)

27 June 1940: Acting Flight Lieutenant James William Elias Davies, Royal Air Force, a fighter pilot assigned to No. 79 Squadron at Biggin Hill, was scheduled to be presented with the Distinguished Flying Cross on this date. Instead, he was assigned to lead a flight of three Hawker Hurricanes as escort to reconnaissance aircraft on a mission to Saint-Valery-sur-Somme, just across the English Channel. Flight Lieutenant Davies was flying Hurricane Mk.I P3591.

While still over the Channel, the three Hurricanes were attacked by three enemy Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters. Two Hurricanes were shot down and the third escaped. One RAF pilot safely bailed out, but Jimmy Davies went down with his Hurricane.

Flight Lieutenant Davies was an American citizen, born in New Jersey 26 years earlier. He was the first American airman to be killed in combat during World War II.

James William Elias Davies and his twin sister Isabella Elias Davies were born 29 October 1913 at Bernardsville, New Jersey, United States of America. They were the children of David Ashley Davis, a Welsh immigrant, and Catherine Isabella Elias Davies. In the early 1900s, Mrs. and Mrs. Davies (who was an American citizen of Welsh descent) lived in Wales, but came to the United States in 1912.

In 1936, Jimmy Davies joined the Royal Air Force and was trained as a fighter pilot. On 19 May 1936, Davies was granted a short service commission as an Acting Pilot Officer on probation, and then on 9 November 1938, he was promoted to the rank of Flying Officer.

Flying Officer Davies was Mentioned in Despatches, a notice of which was published in The London Gazette, 20 February 1940. (Supplement: 34795, Page 1056)

Below is the notice of Davies’ award of the Distinguished Flying Cross:

— The London Gazette, 28 June 1940, Issue: 34884, at Page 3945 and Page 3946

© 2021, Bryan R. Swopes

27 June 1937

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Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Electra 10E Special, NR16020, over Java, Dutch East Indies, June 1937.

27 June 1937: Leg 26. Bandoeng, Java, to Koepang, Timor, Dutch East Indies.

“Finally on Sunday, June 27, we left Bandoeng. I had hoped to be able to keep on to Port Darwin on the northern coast of Australia, but the penalty for flying east is losing hours. Depending on the distance covered, each day is shortened and one has to be careful to keep the corrected sunset time in mind so as not to be caught out after dark. For instance, between Koepang and Australia there is a loss of one and a half hours. So, as our landing in Koepang five hours after our start was too late to permit safely carrying on to Darwin that day, we settled down overnight in the pleasant Government rest house, planning to leave the airport at our conventional departure time, dawn. Koepang is on the southerly tip of the island of Timor, the last outpost of the archipelago of Holland-owned islands which string out southeasterly from Sumatra. As a matter of fact half of Timor is not under Dutch but Portuguese control. In the flight from Bandoeng the first 400 miles was over the lovely garden-land of Java. Then we looked down briefly upon Bali, much photographed island of quaint dancers, lovely costumes, lovelier natives, a well-publicized earthy heaven of dulce far niente. Thence we passed over Sujmbawa island, skirted Flores, and cut across a broad arm of the Arafura Sea toward Timor.

“As we left Java the geographic characteristics began to change. From lush tropics the countryside became progressively arid. The appearance of Timor itself is vastly different from that of Java. The climate is very dry, the trees and vegetation sparse. There was little or no cultivation in the open spaces around the airport, the surface of which was grass, long, dry and undulating in a strong wind when we arrived. The field, surrounded by a stout stone fence to keep out roaming wild pigs, we found to be a very good natural landing place. There were no facilities except a little shed for storing fuel, consequently we had to stake down our Electra and bundle it up for the night with engine and propeller covers. That is an all-important job carefully done; no pilot could sleep peacefully without knowing that his plane was well cared for. Our work much amused the natives from a near-by village. When we had to turn the craft’s nose into the wind, all the men willingly and noisily helped us push it as desired.”

—Amelia Earhart

Photo of a replica of Earhart’s Lockheed Electra 10E, flown by Linda Finch. (Tony Bacewicz / The Hartford Courant)
A replica of Earhart’s Lockheed Electra 10E Special over the Arafura Sea, flown by Linda Finch, 1997. (Tony Bacewicz / The Hartford Courant)
Great Circle route from Bandoeng, Java, to Koepang, Timor, Dutch East Indies, 976 nautical miles (1,124 statute miles/1,808 kilometers). (Great Circle Mapper)

© 2019, Bryan R. Swopes

27 June 1923

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Lieutenants Lowell H. Smith and John P. Richter, Air Service, U.S. Army. (U.S. Air Force)

The first successful aerial refueling took place on June 27, 1923, when a DH-4B, Air Service serial number A.S. 23-462, carrying Lieutenants Virgil S. Hine and Frank W. Seifert passed gasoline through a hose to another DH-4B which was flying beneath them carrying Lieutenants Lowell H. Smith and John P. Richter.

Hine and Smith piloted their respective airplanes while Seifert and Richter handled the refueling. A 50 foot (15.24 meter) hose with manually-operated quick-acting valves at each end was used. During the refueling, 75 gallons (284 liters) of gasoline was passed from the tanker to the receiver.

Smith and Richter landed after 6 hours, 38 minutes, when their airplane developed engine trouble. Only one refueling had been completed but that had demonstrated the feasibility of the procedure.

A DH.4B flown by Lieutenant Lowell H. Smith and Lieutenant John P. Richter receives gasoline from another DH.4B, A.S. 23-462, flown by Lieutenants Virgil S. Hine and Frank W. Seifert at Rockwell Field, San Diego, California, 27 June 1923. (U.S. Air Force)

For their accomplishment, all four officers were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

The Airco DH.4 was a very successful airplane of World War I, designed by Geoffrey de Havilland. It was built by several manufacturers in Europe and the United States. The DH-4B was a rebuilt DH.4 with fuel capacity increased to 110 gallons (420 liters). The DH-4B was 30 feet, 6 inches (9.296 meters) long with a wingspan of 43 feet, 6 inches (13.259 meters) and height of 10 feet, 4 inches (3.150 meters). Loaded weight of the standard DH-4B was 3,557 pounds (1,613.4 kilograms).

In place of the Rolls-Royce Eagle VII V-12 of the British-built version, Army Air Service DH-4s were powered by a water-cooled, normally-aspirated, 1,649.336-cubic-inch-displacement (27.028 liter) Liberty L-12 single overhead cam (SOHC) 45° V-12 engine with a compression ratio of 5.4:1. The Liberty produced 408 horsepower at 1,800 r.p.m. The L-12 as a right-hand tractor, direct-drive engine. It turned turned a two-bladed fixed-pitch wooden propeller. 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).

The Liberty L12 aircraft engine was designed by Jesse G. Vincent of the Packard Motor Car Company and Elbert J. Hall of the Hall-Scott Motor Company. This engine was produced by Ford Motor Company, as well as the Buick and Cadillac Divisions of General Motors, The Lincoln Motor Company (which was formed by Henry Leland, the former manager of Cadillac, specifically to manufacture these aircraft engines), Marmon Motor Car Company and Packard. Hall-Scott was too small to produce engines in the numbers required.

The DH-4B had a maximum speed of 128 miles per hour (206 kilometers per hour), service ceiling of 19,600 feet (5,974 meters) and range of 400 miles (644 kilometers).

mid air refueling
The first mid air refueling near San Diego, California, 27 June 1923. (U.S. Air Force)

© 2017, Bryan R. Swopes