They were never seen again.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: FINDING AMELIA: The True Story of the Earhart Disappearance, by Ric Gillespie. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, 2006.
© 2021, Bryan R. Swopes
2 July 1937
2 July 1926
2 July 1926: The Air Service, United States Army, becomes the U.S. Army Air Corps.
The first Assistant Secretary of War for Air was Frederick Trubee Davison. Major General Mason Mathews Patrick was appointed Chief of the Army Air Corps.
© 2018, Bryan R. Swopes
1 July 2015
1 July 2015: Bell Helicopter’s new medium transport helicopter, the Model 525 Relentless, N525TA, made its first flight at Bell’s assembly plant in Amarillo, Texas. Test pilots Troy Caudill and Jeff Greenwood were in the cockpit.
The Bell 525 is the first helicopter to use fly-by-wire flight controls. Side stick controllers replace the customary cyclic and collective controls. For the first time for Bell, the 525 uses a five blade main rotor and four blade tail rotor.
The helicopter is designed to be operated by two pilots and carry up to 18 passengers. It is powered by two General Electric CT7-2F1 turboshaft engines, each rated at 1,714 shaft horsepower, maximum continuous power, and 1,979 shaft horsepower for takeoff.
The Model 525 is the largest helicopter built by Bell. It has an overall length of 64.81 feet (19.75 meters) with rotors turning. The fully-articulated main rotor has a diameter of 54.50 feet (16.62 meters) and rotates counter-clockwise, as seen from above. (The advancing blade is on the helicopter’s right.) The mast tilts forward 5°. The four bladed tail rotor is mounted on the left side of a pylon and rotates clockwise when viewed from the helicopter’s left side. (The advancing blade is below the axis of rotation.) It has a diameter of 10 feet (3.05 meters). The pylon is canted to the left at 15°. The 525 Relentless has a maximum gross weight of 20,000 pounds (9,072 kilograms).
The Model 525 has a maximum cruise speed of 160 knots (184 miles per hour/296 kilometers per hour), and maximum range of 580 nautical miles (1,074 kilometers). At its maximum gross weight the helicopter can hover in ground effect (HIGE) at 10,700 feet (3,261 meters), and out of ground effect (HOGE) at 8,100 feet (2,469 meters).
N525TA was destroyed during a test flight approximately 30 miles south of Arlington, Texas, 11:48 a.m., 6 July 2016. While conducting a test to determine never exceed speed (VNE) for single-engine flight, the 525 was flying 185 knots (213 miles per hour/343 kilometers per hour) at 1,975 feet (602 meters), the main rotor blades “departed their normal plane of rotation” and struck the nose and tail. The two test pilots on board, Jason Cori Grogan and Erik Allan Boyce, were killed. Both were majors in the United States Marine Corps Reserve, assigned to HMLA 773. Each pilot was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that the Probable Cause was:
A severe vibration of the helicopter that led to the crew’s inability to maintain sufficient rotor rotation speed (Nr), leading to excessive main rotor blade flapping, subsequent main rotor blade contact with the tail boom, and the resultant in-flight breakup. Contributing to the severity and sustainment of the vibration, which was not predicted during development, were (1) the collective biomechanical feedback and (2) the attitude and heading reference system response, both of which occurred due to the lack of protections in the flight control laws against the sustainment and growth of adverse feedback loops when the 6-hertz airframe vibration initiated. Contributing to the crew’s inability to maintain sufficient Nr in the severe vibration environment were (1) the lack of an automated safeguard in the modified one-engine-inoperative software used during flight testing to exit at a critical Nr threshold and (2) the lack of distinct and unambiguous cues for low Nr.
There are currently three 525s undergoing flight testing. The Federal Aviation Administration certified the Bell 525’s CT7 engines in March 2019.
© 2020, Bryan R. Swopes
1 July 1960
1 July 1960: A United States Air Force Boeing RB-47H-1-BW Stratojet, 53-4281, assigned to the 38th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, 55th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, based at Forbes Air Force Base, Kansas, was conducting an electronic reconnaissance mission in international airspace over the Barents Sea, north of the city of Murmansk, in the northwest part of the Soviet Union. The RB-47 had departed from RAF Brize-Norton, in Oxfordshire, west-northwest of London, England. The mission was code-named BOSTON CASPER.
On board the RB-47 were a crew of six: Major Willard George Palm, aircraft commander; Captain Freeman Bruce Olmstead, co-pilot/gunner; Captain John Richard McKone, navigator/photographer; and three electronic intelligence officers (known as “Ravens”): Major Eugene E. Posa, Captain Dean Bowen Phillips, and Captain Oscar Lee Goforth.
At Monchegorsk Air Base on the Kola Pennisula, Captain Vasily Ambrosievich Polyakov, 174th Guards Red Banner Fighter Aviation Regiment (Boris Feofontovich Safonov) was on strip-alert in the cockpit of his Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 interceptor. Captain Polyakov was interviewed in 1995 and described being “scrambled” to intercept the American reconnaissance plane. Vectored by radar controllers, he flew north-northwest until he located the B-47.
Polyakov said that he waggled his wings at the bomber—an international signal for the intercepted aircraft to follow the fighter. He saw no response. Controllers then ordered him to shoot down the American airplane.
Captain Polyakov made a firing pass and fired two bursts with the MiG’s three 30 mm autocannon, for a total of 111 rounds expended. He saw the B-47 roll inverted and disappear into the clouds below. He did not see any parachutes, nor did he observe the aircraft crash. Polyakov then returned to his base.
The RB-47’s navigator, Captain McKone, recalled that he had just taken a radar fix of their position when the MiG-19 attacked. 53-4281 was flying at 28,000 feet (8,534 meters) at 425 knots (489 miles per hour/787 kilometers per hour), 50 miles (80 kilometers) to the north of Cape Holy Nose, the northern end of the Kola Peninsula. Their course was 120° (southeast). McKone had given Captain Palm two minor course corrections, both to the left, away from Soviet air space. The American reconnaissance was definitely in international air space. [The Soviet Union claimed a 12 nautical mile (13.8 statute miles/22.2 kilometers) territorial limit.]
The RB-47H was being tracked by NATO ground based radar (probably from Norway). The chart shown above is an “accurate radar plot of the RB-47’s ground track obtained from a ground-based radar tracking facility.” ¹
Captain Olmstead later reported that he had returned fire with the two 20 mm autocannon in the B-47’s tail, expending “two-thirds of my ammunition,” or about 462 rounds. The MiG’s cannon fire knocked out two of the three engines on the left wing.
The bomber entered a spin but Palm and Olmstead were able to recover. After Polyakov’s second firing pass, though, the crew ejected. Now derelict, 53-4821 righted itself and continued to fly to the northeast for approximately 200 miles (322 kilometers).
According to Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., the United States’ Ambassador to the United Nations, the RB-47 “was still in the air twenty minutes later, over the high seas, 200 miles [322 kilometers] from the point alleged by the Soviet Union and flying in a northeasterly direction.”
A Russian source indicated that this was the first air combat victory for the MiG-19.
A National Security Agency SECRET SPOKE document states “After the shoot down, probably all six crewmen bailed out, but only two men, the co-pilot and navigator, survived the splashdown into the icy waters of the Barents.” ²
After six hours in the freezing water, Captains Olmstead and McKone were rescued. McKone had a crushed vertebra as a result of the ejection. The body of Major Posa was also recovered. Major Palm’s body was recovered on 4 July. Captain Goforth and Captain Phillips were never found and were presumed to have died.
Olmstead and McKone were imprisoned in the notorious Lubyanka Prison by the Soviet security service, and interrogated extensively. It wasn’t until 15 July that McKone received medical treatment for his broken back. He would spend the next 97 weeks in traction.
On 25 July, Major Palm’s body was returned to the United States for burial. Major Posa’s was sent to Severomorsk, then on to Moscow. Eventually his remains were buried in an unknown cemetery. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) lists his status as unknown, non-recoverable.
Following the inauguration of U.S. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Premier Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev of the Soviet Union released Captains Olmstead and McKone as a good will gesture. They arrived back in the United States on 27 January 1961.
Boeing RB-47H Stratojet
The RB-47H Stratojet (Boeing Model 450-172-52) was an electronics reconnaissance variant of the B-47E strategic bomber, designed to detect, identify and locate electronic signals. It was flown by a two pilots in a tandem cockpit. A navigator was located at a station in the nose. Three electronics intelligence officers were in a reconnaissance compartment. The RB-47H Stratojet is 108.7 feet (33.132 meters) long with a wingspan of 116.3 feet (35.448 meters), and an overall height of 28.0 feet (8.534 meters). The wings are shoulder-mounted with an angle of incidence of 2° 45′, and their leading edges are swept aft to 36° 37′. There is no dihedral, but the wings are very flexible and move considerably during flight. They have a total area of 1,428 square feet (132.67 square meters). The RB-47H had an empty weight of 89,230 pounds (40,474 kilograms)—nearly 10,000 pounds (4,536 kilograms) heavier than the B-47E bomber. Its maximum takeoff weight was 218,728 pounds (99,213 kilograms). Once airborne, the maximum weight could be increased to 221,000 pounds (100,244 kilograms) with inflight refueling.
The RB-47H had a basic speed of 419 knots (482 miles per hour/776 kilometers per hour) at 35,000 feet (10,668 meters); combat speed of 460 knots (529 miles per hour/852 kilometers per hour) at 37,200 feet (11,339 meters), and maximum speed of 516 knots (594 miles per hour/956 kilometers per hour) at 15,000 feet (4,572 meters). The service ceiling was 45,000 feet (13,716 meters).
The combat radius of the RB-47H was 1,520 nautical miles (1,749 statute miles/2,815 kilometers. Ferry range with 18,402 gallons (69,659 liters) of fuel was 3,403 nautical miles (3,916 miles/6,302 kilometers).
For defense, the RB-47H was armed with two M24A1 20 mm autocannons with 350 rounds of ammunition per gun. The remotely-operated tail turret was controlled by a radar-computing A-5 fire control system, operated by the co-pilot, whose seat could swivel to allow him to face rearward.
The forward bomb bay was modified to incorporate a pressurized compartment for the electronic intelligence operators’ stations.
A total of 2,032 B-47s were built by a consortium of aircraft manufacturers: Boeing Airplane Company, Wichita, Kansas; Douglas Aircraft Company, Tulsa, Oklahoma; Lockheed Aircraft Company, Marietta, Georgia. 35 of these were the RB-47H variant, produced by Boeing Wichita. Three of these were further modified to ERB-47Hs.
The Stratojet is one of the most influential aircraft designs of all time and its legacy can be seen in almost every jet airliner built since the 1950s: the swept wing with engines suspended below and ahead on pylons. The B-47 served the United States Air Force from 1951 to 1977. From the first flight of the Boeing XB-47 Stratojet prototype, 17 December 1947, to the final flight of B-47E 52-166, was 38 years, 6 months, 1 day.
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19
The MiG-19 is 12.54 meters (41 feet, 1.7 inches) long, with a wingspan of 9.00 meters (29 feet, 6.3 inches) and height of height 3.88 meters (12 feet, 8.8 inches). The wings are swept aft 55° at 25% chord. The total wing area 25.00 square meters (269.10 square feet). The interceptor has an empty weight of 5,298 kilograms (11,680 pounds), and maximum takeoff weight of 7,300 kilograms (16,094 pounds). It carries 1,735 kilograms (3,825 pounds) of fuel, internally.
The first production MiG-19 was powered by two Tumansky RD-9B afterburning turbojet engines. The RD-9B is a single-spool, axial-flow engine with a 9-stage compressor and two stage turbine. It is rated at 31.87 kilonewtons, (7,165 pounds of thrust), each. The engine is 5.560 meters (18 feet, 2.9 inches) long; 668 mm (2 feet, 2.3 inches) in diameter, and weighs 725 kg (1,598 pounds).
The MiG-19 has a maximum speed of 1,452 kilometers per hour (902 miles per hour). With internal fuel, its range is 1,390 kilometers (864 statute miles) or 2,200 kilometers (1,367 statute miles) with external tanks. The ceiling is 17,900 meters (58,727 feet). The interceptor’s maximum load factor is 8 gs.
The MiG-19 is armed with three Nudelman-Rikhter NR-23 23 mm cannon. It could carry two 250 kilogram (551 pound) bombs, or two ORO-57K 32-round rocket pods.
Mikoyan-Gurevich produced 2,172 MiG-19s between 1954 and 1968. Additional aircraft were built by China (Shenyang J-6) and Chechoslovakia.
¹ “RED TERROR IN THE SKY: SOVIET AERIAL AGGRESSION, 1946–1986,” by Major Martin C. Alvstad, U.S. Air Force. Air Command and Staff College Student Report Number 87-0095, at Page 1
² NSA DOCID: 3972010 C Q, Page 30
Recommended: The Little Toy Dog, by William L. White, E.F. Dutton & Co., Inc., New York, 1962. (Mr. White was also the author of They Were Expendable, which TDiA also recommends.)
© 2023, Bryan R. Swopes
1 July 1954
Convair B-36J 52-2827 is one of 14 Featherweight III high altitude variants. It was built without the six retractable defensive gun turrets of the standard B-36, retaining only the two 20 mm autocannons in the tail. This reduced the crew requirement to 13. The bomber is 162.1 feet (49.4 meters) long with a wingspan of 230.0 feet (70.1 meters) and overall height of 46.8 feet (14.3 meters). The wings had 2° dihedral, an angle of incidence of 3° and -2° twist. The wings’ leading edges were swept aft to 15° 5′. The airplane’s total wing area was 4,772 square feet (443.33 square meters). The B-36J III has an empty weight of 166,165 pounds (75,371 kilograms) and its maximum takeoff weight is 410,000 pounds (185,973 kilograms).
The B-36J Featherweight III had a cruise speed of 202 knots (232 miles per hour/374 kilometers per hour) and a maximum speed of 375 knots (432 miles per hour (695 kilometers per hour) at 38,000 feet (11,582 meters). The service ceiling was 43,700 feet (13,320 meters). It had a combat radius of 3,465 nautical miles (3,987 statute miles/6,417 kilometers) with a 10,000 pound (4,536 kilogram) bomb load. The maximum ferry range was 8,200 nautical miles (9,436 statute miles/15,186 kilometers).
The B-36J III had a maximum bomb load of 72,000 pounds (32,659 kilograms), carried in four bomb bays. The bomb bay capacity was limited by the physical size of each type weapon, rather than its weight. This ranged from as many as 132 500-pound bombs, 28 2,000-pound bombs, or 4 12,000-pound bombs. It could carry a single 43,600 pound (19,777 kilogram) T-12 Cloudmaker, a conventional explosive earth-penetrating bomb, or several nuclear fission or thermonuclear fusion bombs. By combining the bomb bays, one 41,400 pound (18,779 kilogram) Mk.17 15-megaton thermonuclear bomb could be carried.
For defense, the B-36J Featherweight III two M24A1 20 mm autocannons in a remotely operated tail turret, with 600 rounds of ammunition per gun.
Between 1946 and 1954, 384 B-36 Peacemakers were built. They were never used in combat. Only five still exist.
© 2018, Bryan R. Swopes