Beechcraft T-6A Texan II primary trainer. (Master Sgt. David Richards, U.S. Air Force)
23 May 2000: The United States Air Force received its first Beechcraft T-6A Texan II primary trainer at Randolph Air Force Base, San Antonio Texas. It is a militarized version of the Pilatus PC-9. The cockpit has a full digital “glass cockpit” instrument panel and is equipped with ejection seats for the student and instructor.
The Texan II is named after the World War II-era North American Aviation AT-6 Texan, which was the advanced trainer used by the United States military from 1940 to 1955. The T-6A is used as a primary trainer by both the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy.
The Texan II is a two-place, single engine low-wing monoplane with retractable tricycle landing gear. It is 33 feet, 4 inches (10.160 meters) long with a wingspan of 33 feet, 5 inches (10.185 meters) and height of 10 feet, 8 inches (3.251 meters). It has an empty weight of 4,707 pounds (2,135 kilograms), gross weight of 6,300 pounds (2,858 kilograms) and maximum takeoff weight of 6,500 pounds (2,948 kilograms).
The airplane is powered by a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-68 turboprop engine which produces 1,100 shaft horsepower and drives a 4-bladed Hartzell propeller.
The Texan II has a cruise speed of 320 miles per hour (515 kilometers per hour), service ceiling of 31,000 feet (9,449 meters) and range of 1,036 miles (1,667 kilometers).
Flight of two Beechcraft AT-6 Texan II trainers. (U.S. Air Force)
Jackie Cochran in cockpit of the Canadair Sabre Mk.3, with Major Charles E. Yeager, U.S. Air Force (Air Force Flight Test Center History Office, U.S. Air Force)
23 May 1953: At Edwards Air Force Base, California, Jackie Cochran set another Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) speed record with the Canadair CL-13 Sabre Mk.3, No. 19200. Flying over a 500-kilometer closed circuit without payload, the Orenda-powered Sabre averaged 952.032 kilometers per hour (591.565 miles per hour). ¹
The following week a morning opened up with conditions satisfactory, except for a fifteen-knot wind, and I went around the course five times for a 500-kilometer record of 590 miles per hour. The plane, without the carrying of external tanks, had fuel for only seventeen minutes of full-power low-altitude flying, so for this longer run I had to carry the external tanks, which slowed the airplane down by about 40 miles per hour. Even so, I only had fuel for twenty-seven minutes of full-power flying, which was insufficient, so I had to make the runs pulling 94 per cent of full power rather than full power. I landed on the dry lake bed just as I did after the 100-kilometer run and again with two minutes of fuel remaining.
—The Stars at Noon, by Jacqueline Cochran, Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1954, Chapter XII, at Pages 230–231.
During May and June 1953, Cochran, a consultant to Canadair, flew the Sabre Mk.3 to FAI records over the 15/25 kilometer straight course, the 100-kilometer closed circuit, the 500-kilometer closed circuit and to an altitude record of 14,377 meters (47,168.635 feet). She was the first woman to “break the Sound Barrier” when she flew No. 19200 to Mach 1.04.
The Canadair Sabre Mk.3 was a one-of-a-kind CL-13 Sabre (an F-86E Sabre manufactured by Canadair Ltd. under license from North American Aviation, Inc.) built to test the prototype Avro Canada Gas Turbine Division Orenda 3 engine. Modifications to the F-86 airframe were required to install the new, larger engine.
Jackie Cochran in the cockpit of the Canadair Sabre Mk.3 No. 19200 at Edwards AFB. (LIFE Magazine)
The Orenda 3 was an axial-flow turbojet engine with a 10-stage compressor, six combustion chambers and single-stage turbine. It produced 6,000 pounds of thrust (16.69 kilonewtons), a 15% improvement over the General Electric J47-GE-13 installed in the standard F-86E. The Orenda was 121.3 inches (3.081 meters) long, 42 inches (1.067 meters) in diameter and weighed 2,650 pounds (1,202 kilograms).
Canadair Ltd. was an aircraft manufacturer located at Cartierville, Montreal, Canada, owned by the American submarine builder, Electric Boat Company. Canadair also built licensed versions of the Douglas DC-4 (powered by Rolls-Royce Merlin engines) and the Lockheed T-33 two-place jet trainer. In 1954, the company became a part of General Dynamics.
After the speed records, No. 19200 was sent to North American Aviation for evaluation. Today, it is on static display outdoors at Wetaskiwin Regional General Airport (CEX3), Alberta, Canada.
Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Electra 10E Special, NR16020, is refueled at Miami, Florida.
23 May 1937: Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, her husband, George Palmer Putnam, and aircraft mechanic Ruckins D. “Bo” McKinney, arrive at Miami, Florida, aboard her Lockheed Electra 10E Special, NR16020. This completed the fourth leg of her second attempt to fly around the world.
. . . on Sunday morning, May 23, headed on southeastward for Miami. From New Orleans we laid a straight course across the north-easterly “corner” of the Gulf of Mexico to Tampa, a matter of about 400 miles. It was Bo’s first considerable over-water flying and I am not sure he was very enthusiastic about it. That Sunday afternoon we reached Miami, and dug in for a week of final preparation, with the generous aid of Pan American personnel.
— Amelia Earhart
Great Circle courses from New Orleans, Louisiana, to Tampa, Florida, 413 nautical miles, then on to Miami, for a total of 591 nautical miles (680 statute miles/1,094 kilometers). (Great Circle Mapper)
The Miami Tribune reported:
—Miami Tribune, Vol. IV, No. 191, Monday, 24 May, 1937, Page 1
AMELIA EARHART PAYS MIAMI SURPRISE VISIT IN ‘LABORATORY’
Amelia Earhart, world famous flyer, paid Miami a surprise visit yesterday, landing at the 36th st. airport at 2:43 p.m. in her “Flying Laboratory,” 4 hours and 31 minutes out of New Orleans on a shakedown cruise for the plane, which had just been rebuilt after its crash in Honolulu on a projected world flight.
Miss Earhart was accompanied by her publisher-husband, George Palmer Putnam. Capt. Fred Noonan, her navigator on the trip that ended in Honolulu on March 20 when a tire was blown in an attempt to takeoff at Luke field after a record breaking flight from the American mainland and by her mechanic, “Bo” Mc-Kneeley.
Other members of the welcoming committee were David Putnam, manager of the Fort Pierce airport, and his wife. David is Putnam’s son by a former marriage. The younger Putnam’s had been informed earlier of the pending arrival, but had not made their information public.
Miami’s first news of her arrival came a little more than an hour before her landing when a radio message was received at Pan American Airways. George Hussey, chairman of the mayor’s reception committee, and R. V. Waters, president of the Greater Miami Airport association, hurried to the field to greet the celebrated arrivals, and to invite Miss Earhart to appear in Bayfront park tonight at the city’s welcome for Capt. Dick Merrill and Jack Lambia. The invitation was accepted.
“We’re just out on a shakedown trip,” Miss Earhart said. “Miami wasn’t on our route as originally planned, but on reaching New Orleans we decided to continue the trip and visit David.
“We crossed the Gulf, and with the navigation of Captain Noonan, hit Tampa squarely on the nose and within one minute of the time he said he would be over the city, and when one considers wind drift, that’s pretty good navigation. We expect to stay here two or three days.”
All of the facilities of the 36th st. airport being taxed with Eastern Airlines planes, Miss Earhart stopped there but a few minutes, then hopped over to Municipal airport, where hanger space was arranged for her plane.
—Miami Tribune, Vol. IV, No. 191, Monday, 24 May, 1937, Page 3, Columns 2–4
22 May 1991: After nearly 30 years in service with West Germany, the F-104 Starfighter made its last flight before retirement. The Luftwaffe was the largest single operator of the Lockheed F-104 with nearly 35% of the total worldwide production in West German service. 915 F-104F two-place trainers and F-104G fighter-bombers were built, with most going to the Luftwaffe, but 151 were assigned to the West German Navy.
Designed by the legendary Kelly Johnson as a Mach 2 interceptor, the Starfighter was used as a fighter bomber by Germany. The F-104G was most-produced version of the Lockheed Starfighter. It had a strengthened fuselage and wings, with hardpoints for carrying bombs, missiles and additional fuel tanks. Built by Lockheed, they were also licensed for production by Canadair, Dornier, Fiat, Fokker, Messerschmitt and SABCA.
The F-104G is a single-seat, single engine fighter bomber, 58.26 feet (17.758 meters) long with a wingspan of just 21.94 feet (6.687 meters) and overall height of 13.49 feet (4.112 meters). The empty weight is 14,000 pounds (6,350.3 kilograms) and loaded weight is 20,640 pounds (9,362.2 kilograms).
The F-104G was powered by a General Electric J79-GE-11A engine, a single-spool, axial-flow, afterburning turbojet, which used a 17-stage compressor section and 3-stage turbine. The J79-GE-11A is rated at 10,000 pounds of thrust (44.48 kilonewtons), and 15,800 pounds (70.28 kilonewtons) with afterburner. The engine is 17 feet, 4.0 inches (5.283 meters) long, 3 feet, 2.3 inches (0.973 meters) in diameter, and weighed 3,560 pounds (1,615 kilograms).
The maximum speed is 1,328 miles per hour (2,137.2 kilometers per hour). It has a combat radius of 420 miles (675.9 kilometers) or a ferry range of 1,630 miles (2,623.2 kilometers). The service ceiling is 50,000 feet (15,240 meters).
The Starfighter’s standard armament consists of a 20 mm General Electric M61A1 Vulcan 6-barreled Gatling gun, with 750 rounds of ammunition, and up to four AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air heat seeking missiles could be carried on the wingtips or under wing pylons. In place of missiles two wingtip fuel tanks and another two underwing tanks could be carried.
General Electric M61A1 20 mm rotary cannon in the weapons bay of a Messerschmitt-built F-104G Starfighter. (Michael Wolf/Wikipedia)
On NATO alert, the F-104G was armed with a B43 variable-yield nuclear bomb on the fuselage centerline hardpoint. The B43 could be set for explosive force between 170 kilotons and 1 megaton and was designed for high-speed, low-altitude, laydown delivery.
German Air Force F-104G Starfighter DB+127 at the Luftwaffenmuseum der Bundeswehr, Berlin Gatow. The fighter bomber equipped with four external fuel tanks and a ZELL-Verfaren rocket booster for Zero-Length Launch. A B43 nuclear bomb is on the centerline hardpoint. (MoRsE via Wikipedia)
The Starfighter had an undesirable reputation for high accident rates. Over the 31 years the F-104 was in service with Germany, 292 F-104s were lost in accidents, resulting in the deaths of 116 pilots. 41% of these accidents were due to engine failure, and 16% due to bird strikes. This can be attributed the the nature of the mission: high-speed, low-altitude flight, in the poor weather conditions of Europe. (Previously, the Luftwaffe acquired 558 Republic F-84s, of which 202 were lost—a slightly higher accident rate.) The German press, however, gave it the name Witwenmacher (“Widowmaker”).
The last Luftwaffe F-104 to fly was 26+40 from Ingolstadt Manching Airport, 22 May 1991.
After descending to within 8.2 miles (14.4 kilometers) of the Moon’s surface, Lunar Module Snoopy rendezvouses with Command and Service Module Charlie Brown in Lunar Orbit, 22 May 1969. (NASA)
22 May 1969, 21:30:43 UTC: Just over 100 hours after launch from Kennedy Space Center, Snoopy, the Lunar Module for the Apollo 10 mission came within 47,400 feet (14,447.5 meters) of the Lunar surface during a full dress rehearsal for the upcoming Apollo 11 landing. Mission Commander Thomas P. Stafford and Lunar Module Pilot Eugene A. Cernan rode Snoopy toward the surface and back, while John W. Young remained in orbit around the Moon aboard the Command and Service Module, Charlie Brown.
Thomas P. Stafford had flown two previous missions in the Gemini Program, Gemini 6 and Gemini 9. Apollo 10 was his third space flight.
John Watts Young flew six space missions: Gemini 3 and Gemini 10, Apollo 10 and Apollo 16, and Space Shuttle missions STS-1 and STS-9. He was to command STS-61J when the space shuttle fleet was grounded following the loss of Challenger. Young has flown 34 days, 19 hours, 39 seconds in space. He made 3 EVAs with a total of 20 hours, 14 minutes, 14 seconds outside his spacecraft.
Eugene A. Cernan had flown Gemini 9 with Stafford. He would later fly Apollo 17 back to the Moon. On 13 December 1972, Gene Cernan was the last man to stand on the surface of the Moon.
Charlie Brown, the Apollo 10 Command and Service Module in lunar orbit, 22 May 1969. (NASA)
