25 June 1937: Leg 25. After flying from Bandoeng to Soerabaya the previous day, a problem with Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Electra 10E Special, NR16020, could not be repaired there, forcing her to return to Bandoeng.
“In the air, and afterward, we found that our mechanical troubles had not been cured. Certain further adjustments of faulty long-distance flying instruments were necessary, and so I had to do one of the most difficult things I had ever done in aviation. Instead of keeping on I turned back the next day to Bandoeng. With good weather ahead, the Electra herself working perfectly, the pilot and navigator eager to go, it was especially hard to have to be “sensible.” However, lack of essential instruments in working order would increase unduly the hazards ahead. At Bandoeng were the admirable Dutch technicians and equipment, and wisdom directed we should return for their friendly succor. So again we imposed ourselves upon these good people to whom I shall be grateful always for their generosity and fine spirit. A particular niche in my memory is occupied by Colonel L.H.V. Oyen, Commander of the Air Force, H.A. Vreeburg, chief engineer, and so many K.N.I.L.M. personnel to whom I would like again to say ‘Thank you’.”
— Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Electra 10E Special, NR16020, at Bandoeng, Java, Dutch East Indies, June 1937. (Purdue University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections)Bandoeng to Soerabaya, 352.26 miles (566.91 kilometers). (Google Maps)
First flight of the Junkers F.13 at Dessau, Germany, 25 June 1919. (Junkers)
25 June 1919: Junkers Flugzeugwerke Aktiengesellschaft test pilot Emil Monz made the first flight of the Junkers F.13 at Dessau, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It was the first airplane to be built of all-metal construction specifically for commercial passenger service. The the first flyable prototype, constructor’s number (c/n) 533, carried the identification mark D 183. Professor Junkers had named the airplane Herta in honor of his oldest daughter.¹
Up to this time, airplanes had been primarily constructed of wood. Wood is susceptible to changes in dimension because of temperature and humidity, and it can warp over time. This effects the flight characteristics of the aircraft. Wood is also vulnerable to termites.
By building the airplane of metal, a much more rigid structure was created. The airplane’s flight characteristics did not change over time. Also, because metal is so much stronger than wood, an all-metal airplane could be significantly lighter than one built of wood.
The cockpit of the Junkers F.13 accommodated a crew of two. (Junkers)Otto Reuter (Junkers)
Designed by Chief Engineer Otto Reuter, the F.13 was a single-engine, low-wing monoplane (tiefdecker) with a corrugated duralumin skin over a duralumin structure. It had a flight crew of two and four passengers could be carried in a comfortable enclosed cabin of the same size as automobiles of the time. The single wing was cantilevered and, unusually for the time, used no braces or support wires.
The prototype had a wingspan of 14.47 meters (47 feet, 5.7 inches). The wingspan was increased to 14.82 meters (48 feet, 7.5 inches) in production airplanes. The airplane was 9.59 meters (31 feet, 5.6 inches) long and 4.10 meters (13 feet, 5.4 inches) high. It had a maximum takeoff weight of 1,800 kilograms (3,968 pounds).
The first of three prototypes to fly, Junkers F.13 D 183, Herta, photographed on 19 August 1919. (Junkers)
The first F.13 was powered by a water-cooled, normally-aspirated 14.778 liter (901.81 cubic inch) Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft Mercedes D.IIIa vertical inline six-cylinder engine. This was a single overhead cam right-hand tractor direct-drive engine. It used two valves per cylinder and a compression ratio of 4.64:1. It produced 174 horsepower at 1,400 r.p.m., and drove a two-bladed, fixed-pitch laminated wood propeller. The D.IIIa weighed 660.0 pounds (299.4 kilograms), including the propeller hub and exhaust manifold.
Production airplanes used BMW and Junkers engines.
The F.13 had a maximum speed of 170 kilometers per hour (106 miles per hour).
The passenger compartment of the Junkers F.13 seated for passengers. (Junkers)
In production from 1919 to 1932, a total of 332 Junkers F.13s were built. Some remained in service in the late 1930s.
In 1920, D 183 was confiscated by the Inter-Allied Control Commission. Later, the F.13 flew for Lufthansa. The registration mark was changed to D 1 and it was named Nachtigall (Nightingale).
Junkers F.13 D 1, Nachtigall, in Luft Hansa livery at Berlin-Templehoff.Emil Monz
Emil Monz was born 9 June 1893, in Stuttgart, Germany. He was the son of Karl and Mathilde Monz. He married Fräulein Maline Georgine Erhardt, 24 January 1915, at Weingarten u. Wilhelmsdorf, Württrmberg, Deutschland.
During World War I, Monz was a reconnaissance pilot for the German Empire.
On 13 September 1919, Monz flew the second F.13, with seven passengers on board, to an altitude of 6,750 meters (22,146 feet). This was an unofficial world record.
Emil Monz died 18 February 1921 when the Junkers F.13 that he was flying, D 128, crashed in a snowstorm enroute to Stuttgart.
¹ While it is believed that Professor Junkers named the prototypes after his daughters Herta and Annelise, sources vary over which name was applied to which aircraft. The confusion may be a result of the serial numbers. The first F.13 to fly was c/n 533, while the second had an earlier number, c/n 531.
Boeing B-52H-170-BW Stratofortress 61-0026, CZAR FIVE TWO, 2:16 p.m. PDT, 24 June 1994. (U.S. Air Force 120101-F-RL411-019)
24 June 1994: At Fairchild Air Force Base, southwest of Spokane, Washington, a Boeing B-52H-170-BW Stratofortress, serial number 61-0026, call sign Czar Five Two, was being flown by Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Alan (“Bud”) Holland, the aircraft commander, with Lieutenant Colonel Mark C. McGeehan, commanding officer of the 325th Bomb Squadron, as the co-pilot. The vice commanding officer of the 92nd Bomb Wing, Colonel Robert E. Wolff, was aboard as the designated safety observer. The fourth crew member, Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth S. Huston, the 325th squadron operations officer, was the radar navigator.
The mission was a practice flight for an upcoming air show demonstration. During the 18 minute flight, virtually every maneuver performed by Lieutenant Colonel Holland exceeded the operating limitations of the B-52, and violated Air Force and Federal Aviation Administration regulations.¹
Bud Holland was notorious for his reckless flying. Many crew members had asked not to be assigned to fly with him. Many prior instances of dangerous flying had occurred. Officers in Holland’s chain of command were aware of these violations, but seemed to tolerate them. Only Lieutenant Colonel McGeehan had tried to have Holland grounded, but he was overruled.
Lieutenant Colonel Bud Holland makes a very low, high-speed pass with a B-52 Stratofortress at the Yakima bombing range. (U.S. Air Force)
Apparently, Holland thought that he was such a great pilot that he could make the B-52 do anything.
While approaching the runway for a touch-and-go, the control tower instructed Czar 52 to go around because of another aircraft that had just landed and was still on the runway. Holland requested to make a left 360° turn around the tower, which was approved.
At an altitude of just 250 feet (76 meters)—the B-52’s wingspan is 185 feet—Holland put the bomber into a nearly 90° left bank. As he approached the 270° point of the turn, Czar 52‘s wings went beyond the 90° point. Holland added power, but no amount of power could keep the B-52 in the air, now. The bomber simply fell out of the sky, impacting the ground with a 95° angle of bank and 150 knots (278 kilometers per hour) indicated air speed. Lieutenant Colonel McGeehan fired his ejection seat, but did not escape before impact. All four officers were killed.
The following You Tube video shows the actual crash of Czar 52. Other videos available on the internet show the entire air show practice, as well as previous examples of Holland’s dangerous flying.
The crash of Czar Five Two is an example of Command Failure. Everyone in the chain of command knew that Bud Holland was a dangerous pilot, but no one, with the exception of Lieutenant Colonel McGeehan, tried to stop him.
61-0026 was one of the last B-52 bombers built by Boeing before production ended in 1962. It was accepted by the U.S. Air Force on 2 June 1962.
The B-52H is a sub-sonic, swept wing, long-range strategic bomber. It was originally operated by a crew of six: two pilots, a navigator and a radar navigator, an electronic warfare officer, and a gunner. (The gunner was eliminated after 1991). The airplane is 159 feet, 4 inches (48.565 meters) long, with a wing span of 185 feet (56.388 meters). It is 40 feet, 8 inches (12.395 meters) high to the top of the vertical fin. The B-52H uses the vertical fin developed for the B-52G, which is 22 feet, 11 inches (6.985 meters) tall. This is 7 feet, 8 inches (2.337 meters) shorter than the fin on the XB-52–B-52F aircraft, but the fin’s chord is longer.
The wings of the B-52H have a total area of 4,000 square feet (371.6 square meters). The leading edges are swept aft to 36° 58′. The angle of incidence is 6°, and there is 2° 30′ dihedral. (The wings are very flexible and exhibit pronounced anhedral when on the ground.) To limit twisting in flight, the B-52H has spoilers on top of the wings rather than ailerons at the trailing edges.
The bomber has an empty weight of 172,740 pounds (78,354 kilograms) and its Maximum Takeoff Weight (MTOW) is 488,000 pounds (221,353 kilograms).
Boeing B-52H-170-BW Stratofortress 61-0026, circa 1978. The bomber is painted in the “SIOP” camouflage scheme.
The most significant difference between the B-52H and the earlier Stratofortresses is the replacement of the eight Pratt & Whitney J57-series turbojet engines with eight Pratt & Whitney Turbo Wasp JT3D-2 (TF33-P-3) turbofans, which are significantly more efficient. They are quieter and don’t emit the dark smoke trails of the turbojets.
The TF-33 is a two-spool axial-flow turbofan engine with 2 fan stages, a 14-stage compressor section (7-stage intermediate pressure, 7-stage high-pressure) and and a 4-stage turbine (1-stage high-pressure, 3-stage low-pressure). The TF33-P-3 has a maximum continuous power rating of 14,500 pounds of thrust (64.499 kilonewtons) at 9,750 r.p.m., N1. Military Power, limited to 30 minutes, is 16,500 pounds (73.396 kilonewtons) at 10,000 r.p.m., N1. Each engine produces a maximum of 17,000 pounds of thrust (75.620 kilonewtons) at 10,050 r.p.m., N1, with a 5-minute limit. The TF33-P-3 is 11 feet, 4.32 inches (3.4625 meters) long, 4 feet, 4.93 inches (1.3442 meters) in diameter and weighs 3,900 pounds (1,769 kilograms).
The B-52H has a cruise speed of 456 knots (525 miles per hour/845 kilometers per hour). It has a maximum speed, with Military Power, of 555 knots (639 miles per hour/1,028 kilometers per hour) at 20,700 feet (6,309 meters)—0.906 Mach. The service ceiling is 46,900 feet (14,295 meters). The unrefueled range is 8,000 miles (12,875 kilometers). With inflight refueling, its range is limited only by the endurance of its crew.
The B-52H was armed with a 20mm M61A1 Vulcan six-barreled rotary cannon in a remotely-operated tail turret. The gun had a rate of fire of 4,000 rounds per minute, and had a magazine capacity of 1,242 rounds. After 1991, the gun and its radar system were removed from the bomber fleet. The flight crew was reduced to five.
The B-52H can carry a wide variety of conventional free-fall or guided bombs, land-attack or anti-ship cruise missiles, and thermonuclear bombs or cruise missiles. These can be carried both in the internal bomb bay or on underwing pylons. The bomb load is approximately 70,000 pounds (31,751 kilograms).
At the time of the crash, 61-0026 had a total of 12,721.5 hours on its airframe. It was the only B-52 remaining at Fairchild AFB and had been meticulously maintained and inspected. There were no discrepancies related to the accident. It was valued at $73,700,000.
Boeing B-52H-170-BW Stratofortress 61-0026. (U.S. Air Force)
Arthur Alan (“Bud”) Holland was born 7 September 1947, in Suffolk, Virginia. He was the son of Arthur Leroy and Virginia Holland.
Holland attended Campbell University, Bules Creek, North Carolina, where he was a cadet in Reserve Officers Training Corps. He received a commission as a second lieutenant, United States Air Force Reserve in January 1971.
Holland and his wife, Sarah Anne, had two daughters, Heather Lee and Mary Margaret.
At the time of his death, Holland had served in the U.S. Air Force for over 23 years. He was a rated Command Pilot with a total of 5,275.3 flying hours, with 5,038.3 hours in the B-52 series (61.1 hours combat, B-52G).
Holland’s remains were interred at Fairmont Memorial Park, Spokane, Washington.
¹ In the official U.S. Air Force Aircraft Accident Investigation Board report (AFR 110-14), the list of regulations and technical orders violated by Lieutenant Colonel Holland on this 18 minute flight takes up three full pages (Page 23, 24, and 25).
Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers in storage at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona. (Unattributed)
24 June 1993: In compliance with an arms control treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union, the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center (AMARC) at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona, immediately began the destruction of 363 Boeing B-52 Stratofortress strategic bombers.
Boeing B-52s awaiting destruction at Davis-Monthan AFB. (Unattributed)
CGI illustration of British Airways’ SPEEDBIRD 9 descending without power, surrounded by St. Elmo’s Fire. (Anynobody)
24 June 1982: British Airways Flight 9, a Boeing 747-236B, G-BDXH, City of Edinburgh, enroute from London, England, to Aukland, New Zealand, was cruising at 37,000 feet (11,278 meters) with 248 passengers and 15 crewmembers on board. The airliner was under the command of Captain Eric H. J. Moody, with Senior First Officer Roger Greaves and Senior Flight Engineer Barry Townley-Freeman on the flight deck. It operated with the call sign, “Speedbird 9.”
At 10:42 p.m., local time (13:42 UTC), approximately 110 miles (188 kilometers) south of Jakarta, Indonesia, the airliner’s number four engine began surging and then flamed out. A minute later engine number two also surged and flamed out. Then, simultaneously, engines one and three failed as well.
Mount Galunggung during a 1983 eruption. (R. Hadian, U.S. Geological Survey)
Volcanic dust from erupting Mount Gallanggung, a 7,113 foot (2,168 meters) stratovolcano located in West Java, 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of Bandung, had been ingested by the engines and melted inside the combustion chambers, cutting off the airflow and shutting each of them down. The 747 had a glide ratio of 15:1. The flight crew turned Speedbird 9 toward Jakarta while they went through emergency procedures.
Captain Eric Moody, British Airways (PA)
Captain Eric Moody made the following announcement to the passengers:
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. I trust you are not in too much distress.”
At 13,500 feet (4,115 meters), the flight crew was finally able to get one engine restarted and soon after, a second. Eventually all four engines were running and the 747 began to regain altitude. The Number Two engine again began to surge so the crew shut it down and the 747 remained at 12,000 feet (3,658 meters).
On approach to Jakarta, though good visibility was reported, the flight crew could barely see the airport lights. It was later determined that the windshield was completely sandblasted by the volcanic dust. Speedbird 9 safely landed with no injuries. Captain Moody later said, “The airplane seemed to kiss the earth and we were on the ground safely.”
G-BDXG was repaired and flown back to London, where it underwent further, more extensive repairs.
Captain Moody and Senior Cabin Services Officer Graham Skinner were awarded the Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air. Guinness Book of Records lists Flight 9 as the longest glide of any aircraft not designed for gliding.
CENTRAL CHANCERY OF THE ORDERS OF KNIGHTHOOD ST. JAMES’S PALACE, LONDON S.W.I 11th June, 1983
The QUEEN has been graciously pleased, on the occasion of the Celebration of Her Majesty’s Birthday, to approve the award of The Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air:
The Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air
UNITED KINGDOM
Eric Henry John MOODY, Captain, British Airways.
Graham SKINNER, Cabin Services Officer, British Airways.
—Supplement to the London Gazette, Supplement 49375, Saturday, 11th June 1983, at Page B28
Volcanic ash accumulation on turbine stator vanes from one of Speedbird 9’s Rolls-Royce RB211 engines. (British Airways)
Eric Henry John Moody was born 7 June 1941 at New Forest, Hampshire, England. In January 1966, he married Miss Patricia J. Collard at Southhampton. They would have two children. Captain Moody served with British Airways for 32 years, retiring in 1996 with over 17,000 flight hours. He passed away in March 2024 at the age of 82 years.
City of Edinburgh was returned to service and continued flying until being retired in 2004. It was scrapped at Bournemouth Airport, Dorset, England, in 2009.
British Airways Boeing 747-236B City of Edinburgh, G-BDXG, circa 1981. (Flickr)
