Jackie Cochran with the Lockheed TF-104G Starfighter, N104L. (FAI)
1 May 1963: At Edwards Air Force Base, California, Jacqueline (“Jackie”) Cochran, Colonel, U.S. Air Force Reserve, established a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI)World Speed Record when she flew this two-place Lockheed TF-104G Starfighter, FAA registration N104L, named Free World Defender, over a 100-kilometer (62.137-mile) closed circuit at an average speed of 1,937.15 kilometers per hour (1,203.69 miles per hour).¹
Jackie Cochran wrote about flying the 100-kilometer course in her autobiography:
The 100 kilometer closed course was so damn difficult. Imagine an absolutely circular racetrack, about a quarter of a mile wide, on the ground with an inner fence exactly 63 miles long. Now, in your mind’s eye, leave the track and get into the air at 35,000 feet. Fly it without touching the fence in the slightest. It’s tricky because if you get too far away from the inner fence, trying not to touch, you won’t make the speed you need to make the record. And if you get too close, you’ll disqualify yourself.
Eyes are glued to the instrument panel. Ears can hear the voice of the space-positioning officer. You are dealing in fractions of seconds. And your plane isn’t flying in flat position. It’s tipped over to an 80-degree bank to compensate for the circle. That imaginary inner fence may be to your left, but you don’t head your plane left. That’d lose altitude. Instead, you pull the nose up a bit and because the plane is so banked over, you move closer to the fence. You turn.
—Jackie Cochran: An Autobiography, by Jacqueline Cochran and Maryann Bucknum Brinley, Bantam Books, New York 1987, Page 314.
She had flown this same F-104 to an earlier speed record at Edwards Air Force Base, 12 April 1963.
N104L was retained by Lockheed for use as a customer demonstrator to various foreign governments. In 1965 Lockheed sold N104L to the Dutch Air Force, where it served as D-5702 until 1980. It next went to the Turkish Air Force until it was retired in 1989.
Lockheed TF-104G Starfighter N104L, World Speed Record holder. (Lockheed)
During the Cold War, the United States routinely flew reconnaissance missions over Soviet Bloc territory, including over the Soviet Union itself. There have been unconfirmed reports that as many as 40 U.S. aircraft were shot down, and more than 200 airmen killed. Several hundred may have been captured and held as prisoners.
1 May 1960: Near Degtyansk, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, a Central Intelligence Agency/Lockheed U-2C, 56-6693, “Article 360,” flying at approximately 80,000 feet (24,384 meters) on a Top Secret reconnaissance mission, was hit by shrapnel from an exploding Soviet V-750VN (S-75 Desna) surface-to-air missile.
With his airplane damaged and out of control, pilot Francis Gary Powers bailed out and parachuted safely but was immediately captured. A trailing MiG-19 fighter was also shot down by the salvo of anti-aircraft missiles, and its pilot killed.
The trial of Francis Gary Powers, 17 October 1960. Mr. Powers is standing in the prisoner’s dock at the right side of the image. (Getty Images/Popperfoto)
Gary Powers was interrogated by the KGB (Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti, the Committee for State Security of the Soviet Union, a military intelligence/counterintelligence service) for 62 days. He was held at the notorious Lubyanka Prison in Moscow then prosecuted for espionage. Found guilty, Powers was sentenced to three years imprisonment and seven years of hard labor.
Суд над Ф. Г. Пауэрсом в колонном зале Дома Союзов Суд над Ф. Г. Пауэрсом в колонном зале Дома Союзов “The trial of F. G. Powers in the column hall of the House of Unions.” (newsko.ru)
After almost two years, Powers was exchanged for William August Fisher, (AKA Rudolf Ivanovich Abel, and Vilyam Genrikhovich Fisher) a long-time Soviet intelligence officer who had been captured in the United States in 1957. [This story was recounted in the Steven Spielberg motion picture, “Bridge of Spies,” which starred Tom Hanks. The film received six Academy Award nominations in 2015.]
Blick am 10.02.1962 über den Schlagbaum auf Westberliner Seite auf die Glienicker Brücke in Berlin. (Berliner Kurier)
Francis Gary Powers entered the United States Air Force as an aviation cadet in 1950. He graduated from pilot training and was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1952. Powers was then assigned to the 468th Strategic Fighter Squadron, 506th Strategic Fighter Wing at Turner Air Force Base, Georgia, where he flew the Republic F-84G Thunderjet fighter bomber. He received special training in the delivery of the Mark 7 variable-yield tactical nuclear bomb.
In 1956, 1st Lieutenant Powers was released from the U.S. Air Force to participate in the Central Intelligence Agency’s Project Aquatone. He was now a civilian government employee, although he was promised that he could return to the Air Force and that he would keep his seniority and would be promoted on schedule.
Lockheed test pilot Francis Gary Powers, wearing a David Clark Co. MC-3 capstan-type partial-pressure suit and ILC Dover MA-2 helmet for protection at high altitude. The aircraft is a Lockheed U-2F, N800X, at Van Nuys Airport, California. (Lockheed Martin)
After his release from the Soviet Union, Powers was employed as a test pilot for Lockheed, 1962–1970. He then became an airborne traffic and news reporter for several Los Angeles-area radio and television broadcast stations.
Powers was killed in the crash of a Bell 206B JetRanger helicopter at Van Nuys, California, 1 August 1977.
On 24 November 1986, the Distinguished Flying Cross was awarded posthumously to Powers “For Extraordinary Achievement While Participating in Aerial Flight 1 May 1960.”
After reviewing his record at the request of his son, Francis Gary Powers, Jr., on 15 February 2000, the U.S. Air Force retroactively promoted him to the rank of Captain, effective 19 June 1957, and further credited his military service to include 14 May 1956–1 March 1963, the time he was with the CIA. The award of the Prisoner of War Medal was also authorized.
On June 15, 2012, General Norton Schwartz, Chief of Staff of the Air Force, awarded Captain Francis Gary Powers the Silver Star (posthumous).
Lockheed U-2A 56-6696, sister ship of the reconnaissance aircraft flown by Francis Gary Powers, 1 May 1960. (U.S. Air Force)
Article 360 had been built as a U-2A, the last aircraft of the initial production block. It was delivered to Groom Lake, Nevada, 5 November 1956, and was used for test and development until May 1959, when it was converted to the U-2C configuration.
The Lockheed U-2C was a very high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft used by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and the United States Air Force. It was 49 feet, 7 inches (15.113 meters) long with a wingspan of 80 feet, 2 inches (24.435 meters) and height of 15 feet, 2 inches (4.623 meters). The wings had a total area of 600 square feet (55.7 square meters). The U-2C’s zero fuel weight was 13,870 pounds (6,291 kilograms) and gross weight was 23,970 pounds (10,873 kilograms).
The U-2C was powered by a Pratt & Whitney J75-P-13B turbojet engine rated at 17,000 pounds of thrust (75.62 kilonewtons) at Sea Level. This was a two-spool axial-flow turbojet with a 15-stage compressor (8 low- and 7 high-pressure stages) and 3-stage turbine (1 high- and two low-pressure stages).
The U-2C’s cruise speed was 0.72 Mach at 57,000–59,000 feet, (17,374–17,983 meters), and its maximum speed was 0.87 Mach at 62,000 feet (18,898 meters), though the airplane was placarded for a maximum operating speed (MMO/VMO) of 0.80 Mach, or 240 knots. The maximum range was 4,600 nautical miles (8,519 kilometers). It could operate at 76,000 feet (23,165 meters).
SA-2B Guideline anti-aircraft surface-to-air missile on display at the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. (NASM 2006-1301)
The В-750ВН (13Д) Десна (V-750VN 13D Desna) (NATO designation: SA-2B Guideline) is a two-stage ground-controlled anti-aircraft missile. The two-stage rocket is 10.841 meters (35 feet, 6.8 inches) long, and its loaded weight is 2,283 kilograms (5,033 pounds). First built at Plant N41, it became operational in 1959.
The missile could reach an altitude of 30,000 meters (98,425 feet) and had a maximum range of 34 kilometers (21 miles). It carried a 191 kilogram (421 pound) blast fragmentation warhead.
The missile had a Circular Error Probability (CEP) of 65 meters (213 feet), meaning that 50% of the missiles launched could be expected to come within 65 meters of the target. Early warheads produced approximately 8,000 fragments, each with an initial velocity of 2,500 meters per second (5,592 miles per hour). The maximum blast radius against a high altitude target was about 250 meters (820 feet).
The rocket’s first stage had a maximum diameter of 0.654 meter (2 feet, 3.6 inches) and fin span of 2.586 meters (8 feet, 5.8 inches). It was powered by a solid fuel Kartukov PRD-18 engine. The engine burned for 3–5 seconds and produced a maximum 455 kilonewtons (102,288 pounds) of thrust.
The second stage was 8.139 meters (26 feet, 8.4 inches) long with a maximum diameter of 0.500 meters (1 foot, 7.7 inches). The maximum fin span was 1.691 meters (5 feet, 6.6 inches). Its loaded weight was 1,251 kilograms (2,758 pounds). The second stage was powered by a C2.711B1 (S2.711V1) hypergolic liquid-fueled rocket engine which produced 30.4 kilonewtons (6,834 pounds) of thrust.
S-75 Dvina/Desna surface-to-air anti-aircraft missile and launcher.
Howard Robard Hughes, Jr., at the controls of a Transcontinental and Western Airlines Lockheed Constellation, demonstrating a new safety device, 1 May 1947. “Four warning lights, part of the apparatus, are in a row directly below the windshield.” (UNLV Digital Collections whh000022)Transcontinental and Western Airlines’ Lockheed L-049 Constellation NC90817 (c/n 2079), “Star of the Adriatic,” taking off from Culver City, 3 May 1947. (UNLV Digital Collections whh 001525
2 May 1947: Record-setting aviator Howard Robard Hughes, Jr., demonstrated an early form of terrain avoidance radar equipment which had been installed on his Transcontinental and Western Airlines Lockheed L-049 Constellation NC90817, Star of the Adriatic.
The Los Angeles Times reported:
Howard Hughes Tests Air Robot
Howard Hughes, manufacturer-pilot and chief stockholder in Trans World Airline, yesterday demonstrated a 16-pound radar device which he believes will act as a “seeing-eye” for transport aircraft flying in darkness or bad weather and prevent a substantial share of airline crashes.
Using one of T.W.A.’s 45-ton Constellations, Hughes personally piloted a radar-equipped plane over—and sometimes practically in—the San Gabriel Mountain canyons north of Mt. Wilson to give visiting aeronautics writers a firsthand peak into the device’s operations.
Warning Lights
The apparatus consists of a robot-radar transmitter and receiver and a set of warning lights and buzzers. The transmitter emits 400 strong electronic pulses every second; the receiver catches them on the “bounce” at the rate of 1000 feet in one-millionth of a second.
Set at 500 and 2000 feet, the device thus gives audio-visual warning when the plane comes within range of objects or terrain at those distances. The “beam” itself is a pulsating cone showing obstructions within a 150-degree arc.
Climb Executed
Hughes demonstrated that the Connie, with its 8800 horsepower, can easily execute a turning climb out of a box canyon inside the 2000-foot warning range given by radar.
All T.W.A. planes will have this device within five weeks, he said, thus becoming the first radar-outfitted commercial transports. In production, the equipment can be made for $130 a set. It will be available “if wanted” to other airlines, he added.
—Los Angeles Times, Vol. LXVI, May 2, 1947. Part I, Page 2, Column 4
TWA’s Lockheed L-049 Constellation NC90817, “Star of the Adriatic,” during a test flight, 2 May 1947. (UNLV Digital Collections whh00310)TWA Lockheed L-049 Constellation NC90817 (c/n 2079), “Star of the Adriatic,” during a test flight, 2 May 1947. (UNLV Digital Collections whh000306)Lockheed L-049 Constellation, NC90817, in flight, 2 May 1947. (UVLV Digital Collection wwh000093)
Hughes Demonstrates New Radar Device to Reduce Plane Crashes
By RALPH M. DIGHTON
CULVER CITY, MAY 1 (AP) —Plane builder Howard Hughes today personally demonstrated what he said was the world’s first successful application of war-developed radar to commercial airliners.
In a test flight for newsmen, a miniature radar device was set to flash warnings when the T.W.A. Constellation Hughes was piloting approcahed within 2,000 feet of terrain obstructions. The range of radar pulse mechanism was reduced to 500 feet for landings.
LIGHT AND CHEAP
The radar device weighs less than 16 pounds, compared with the 700-pound radar equipment carried in the P-60 Black Widow of war fame. Hughes said it could be installed in any plane for $130.
He plans to have these devices placed in all planes operated by Trans World airline, of which he is principal stockholder, in four or five weeks. It will be made available to other airlines at cost. As soon as airline requirements are met, he will release the equipment to private fliers.
“Earlier radar is difficult to interpret and requires a trained operator,” Hughes said. “It was so inefficient that we are throwing it out of our planes. This new device is simple. You set it for what ever range is necessary. I know it is accurate up to 5,000 feet. When the lights flash on, the pilot either climbs of veers to one side, as his knowledge of surrounding topography indicates.
The scope of the device is roughly a quarter of a sphere ahead and below the plane.
During the demonstration, Hughes piloted the Constellation through a canyon in the Santa Monica mountains north of here which pilots usually avoid.
LIGHTS FLASH ON
When the plane was within 2,000 feet of the mountain on the left hand side of the canyon, an amber light flashed in the cockpit. He continued approaching the mountain until he was less than 1,000 feet away. He then veered 160 degrees to the left, climbing at a speed of 300 miles an hour.
Just before he reached the peak, a red light flashed on, indicating the plane was within 500 feet of the mountain. By the time the plane surmounted the peak, both the red and amber lights had flashed off, showing that Hughes had cleared the mountain with the aid of his warning device by more than 2,000 feet.
The co-pilot on the flight was R.C. Loomis, director of the T.W.A. engineering and overhaul base at Kansas City.
–The San Bernardino Daily Sun, Friday, May 2, 1947, Page 2, Column 1 and 2
Star of the Adriatic (serial number 2076), a Lockheed Model L-049-46 Constellation, had been built at Lockheed Aircraft Corporation’s Burbank, California, plant and delivered to Transcontinental and Western in 1946.
The Lockheed Constellation first flew in 1942, and was produced for the U.S. Army Air Corps as the C-69. With the end of World War II, commercial airlines needed new airliners for the post-war boom. The Constellation had transoceanic range and a pressurized cabin for passenger comfort.
The Lockheed L-049 Constellation was operated by a flight crew of four and could carry up to 81 passengers. The airplane was 95 feet, 1 3⁄16 inches (28.986 meters) long with a wingspan of 123 feet, 0 inches (37.490 meters), and overall height of 23 feet, 7⅞ inches (7.210 meters). It had an empty weight of 49,392 pounds (22,403.8 kilograms) and maximum takeoff weight of 86,250 pounds (39,122.3 kilograms).
The L-049 was powered by four air-cooled, supercharged and fuel-injected, 3,347.662-cubic-inch-displacement (54.858 liter) Wright Aeronautical Division Cyclone 18 745C18BA3 two-row 18-cylinder radial engines with a compression ratio of 6.5:1. The -BA3 was rated at 2,000 horsepower at 2,400 r.p.m., or 2,200 horsepower at 2,800 r.p.m., for takeoff, (five minute limit). The engines drove 15 foot, 2 inch (4.623 meter) diameter, three-bladed Hamilton Standard Hydromatic constant-speed propellers through a 0.4375:1 gear reduction. The 745C18BA3 was 6 feet, 4.13 inches (1.934 meters) long, 4 feet, 7.78 inches (1.417 meters) in diameter and weighed 2,842 pounds (1,289.11 kilograms).
The L-049 had a cruise speed of 313 miles per hour (503.72 kilometers per hour) and a range of 3,995 miles (6,429.3 kilometers). Its service ceiling was 25,300 feet (7,711 meters).
22 C-69s and 856 Constellations of all types were built. Designed by the famous Kelly Johnson, the Lockheed Constellation was in production from 1943–1958 in both civilian airliner and military versions. It is the classic propeller-driven transcontinental and transoceanic airliner.
Flight Lieutenant Harold Brownlow Morgan Martin DSO, DFC, RAFVR, 23 June 1943. (Australian War Memorial UK0235)
30 April–1 May 1947: Squadron Leader H.B. “Mick” Martin, D.S.O., D.F.C., pilot, and Squadron Leader Edward Barnes “Ted” Sismore, D.S.O., D.F.C., navigator, departed from Heathrow Airport, London, England, at 20:06 D.B.S.T., 30 April, in a Royal Air Force Transport Command de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito PR.34. They flew to Brooklyn Airport, Capetown, South Africa, arriving at 17:35 D.B.S.T., 1 May.
Martin and Sismore with their DH.98 Mosquito at Capetown, South Africa, 1 May 1947.
The total duration of the 6,717 mile (10,810 kilometer) flight was 21 hours, 31 minutes, 30 seconds. This included a 20 minute refueling stop at El Adem, Libya, and a 25 minute stop at Kisumu, Kenya.
Martin and Sismore cut 23 hours, 36 minutes off of the existing record speed for the route set by Flying Officer A.E. Clouston and Mrs. Betty Kirby-Green with a DH.88 Comet, G-ACSS, 14–16 October 1937. ¹
For their record-breaking ² long-distance flight, Martin and Sismore were awarded the Britannia Trophy of the Royal Aero Club of Great Britain.
Flight Lieutenant E.B. Sismore, RAFVR, with a DH.98 Mosquito. (The Telegraph)
Their airplane was a de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito PR.34, a very long range, high altitude reconnaissance aircraft. It was the fastest of all Mosquito variants. The identification of their Mosquito is undetermined.
The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito was designed and built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company, Limited. It was a twin-engine aircraft constructed primarily of wood. The airplane was flown by a pilot and navigator/bombardier. It was produced in bomber, fighter-bomber, night fighter and photo reconnaissance versions.
The PR.34 was 41 feet, 6 inches (13.649 meters) long, with a wingspan of 54 feet, 2 inches (16.510 meters) and overall height of 15 feet, 3 inches (4.648 meters). Its empty weight was 16,630 pounds (7,543 kilograms) and it had a gross weight of 25,500 pounds (11,567 kilograms)
The Mosquito PR.34 was powered by two liquid-cooled, fuel injected and supercharged, 27.01 liter (1,648.96 cubic inch) Rolls-Royce Merlin 113/114 single overhead camshaft 60° V-12 engines which produced 1,430 horsepower at 27,250 feet (8,306 meters) with 18 inches of boost (1.24 Bar). These engines used S.U. single-point fuel injection. The Merlins drove three-bladed de Havilland Hydromatic constant-speed, quick-feathering, propellers with a diameter of 12 feet, 0 inches (3.658 meters) through a 0.420:1 gear reduction. The Merlin 113 weighed 1,650 pounds (748.4 kilograms) while the 114 was slightly heavier, at 1,654 pounds (750.2 kilograms). The 114 drove a second supercharger for cabin pressurization.
The PR.34 had bulged bomb bay doors to accommodate an 869 gallon auxiliary fuel tank and could carry a 200-gallon (909 liter) “slipper” tank under each wing. The total fuel capacity of the London–Capetown Mosquito was was 1,267 Imperial gallons (5,760 liters).
The DH.98 Mosquito PR.34 had a maximum speed of 422 miles per hour (679 kilometers per hour) at 30,000 feet (9,144 meters). Its service ceiling was 43,000 feet (13,106 meters) and it had a range of 3,340 miles (5,375 kilometers).
There were 181 PR.34s built, with 50 of those constructed by the Percival Aircraft Company.
The first Mosquito PR.34, RG176. (Imperial War Museum Catalogue Number ATP 13464B)AM H.B.M. Martin RAF
(Acting) Squadron Leader Mick Martin (later, Air Marshal Sir Harold Brownlow Morgan Martin, K.C.B., D.S.O. and Bar, D.F.C. and Two Bars, A.F.C., Royal Air Force), was one of the few No. 617 Squadron Avro Lancaster bomber pilots who participated in Operation Chastise, the raid on the Ruhr Valley hydroelectric dams in 1943, to survive the war. (He flew ED909/G, AJ P, “Popsie.” Remarkably, his airplane also survived World War II.) Air Marshal Martin retired from the RAF in 1974. He died 3 November 1988 at the age of 70 years.
(Acting) Squadron Leader Ted Sismore (later, Air Commodore Edward Barnes Sismore, D.S.O., D.F.C. and Two Bars, A.F.C., A.E., O.D. (K.), ³ M.B.I.M.), was known as the best long-range low-level navigator in the Royal Air Force. He was the lead navigator for the attack of Amiens Prison, 18 February 1944, and the raid on the Gestapo headquarters at Copenhagen, Denmark in 1945. Air Commodore Sismore retired from the Royal Air Force, 23 June 1976. He died 22 March 2012 at the age of 90 years.
The Britannia Trophy of the Royal Aero Club of Great Britain.
¹ FAI Record File Number 13242
² This flight does not appear to be an official Fédération Aéronautique Internationale record.
³ Order of Dannebrog, Degree of Knight, conferred by His Majesty the King of Denmark, 18 March 1949.
Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson presents the Medal of Honor to Staff Sergeant Maynard Harrison Smith, United States Army Air Corps. (U.S. Air Force)
MEDAL OF HONOR
SMITH, MAYNARD H. (Air Mission)
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army Air Corps, 423d Bombardment Squadron, 306th Bomber Group.
Place and date: Over Europe, 1 May 1943.
Entered service at: Caro, Michigan.
Born: 1911, Caro Michigan.
G.O. No.: 38, 12 July 1943.
Medal of Honor
Citation: “For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty. The aircraft of which Sgt. Smith was a gunner was subjected to intense enemy antiaircraft fire and determined fighter airplane attacks while returning from a mission over enemy-occupied continental Europe on 1 May 1943. The airplane was hit several times by antiaircraft fire and cannon shells of the fighter airplanes, 2 of the crew were seriously wounded, the aircraft’s oxygen system shot out, and several vital control cables severed when intense fires were ignited simultaneously in the radio compartment and waist sections. The situation became so acute that 3 of the crew bailed out into the comparative safety of the sea. Sgt. Smith, then on his first combat mission, elected to fight the fire by himself, administered first aid to the wounded tail gunner, manned the waist guns, and fought the intense flames alternately. The escaping oxygen fanned the fire to such intense heat that the ammunition in the radio compartment began to explode, the radio, gun mount, and camera were melted, and the compartment completely gutted. Sgt. Smith threw the exploding ammunition overboard, fought the fire until all the firefighting aids were exhausted, manned the workable guns until the enemy fighters were driven away, further administered first aid to his wounded comrade, and then by wrapping himself in protecting cloth, completely extinguished the fire by hand. This soldier’s gallantry in action, undaunted bravery, and loyalty to his aircraft and fellow crewmembers, without regard for his own personal safety, is an inspiration to the U.S. Armed Forces.”
Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson reads the Citation for the Medal of Honor awarded to Staff Sergeant Maynard Harrison Smith, 306th Bombardment Group (Heavy). (Imperial War Museum, Roger Freeman Collection FRE 4379)
Sergeant Smith was a ball turret gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress on his first combat mission. The bomber was so badly damaged that, on landing, the airplane’s structure failed from battle damage and it broke in half. There were over 3,500 bullet and shrapnel holes.
Battle damage to the radio operator’s compartment of Boeing B-17F-65-BO 42-29649. The bomber was salvaged 3 May 1943. (U.S. Air Force)
Maynard Harrison Smith was born at Caro, Michigan, 19 May 1911. He was the second child of Henry Harrison Smith, a lawyer, and Mary Christine Gohs Smith, a school teacher.
Smith worked as a clerk in a government insurance office. He married Miss Arlene E. McCreedy at Ferndale, Michigan, 31 July 1929. They had a daughter, Barbara Lou Smith. They divorced 22 October 1932. He later married his second wife, Helene Gene Gunsell, at Caro, Michigan, 30 March 1941.
Maynard Smith enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps, 31 August 1941. He was trained as an aerial gunner, and on completion, was promoted to the rank of staff sergeant. He was assigned as a ball turret gunner in a B-17 combat crew of the 423rd Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 306th Bombardment Group (Heavy), based at RAF Thurleigh, Bedfordshire, England.
A gunner fires the two Browning .50 caliber machine guns of his electrically-powered Sperry ball turret.
Following the 1 May mission, Staff Sergeant Smith flew only four more combat missions before a medical board diagnosed him with Operational Exhaustion. He was removed from flight status and reverted to his initial rank of private.
While stationed in England, Sergeant Smith met Miss Mary Rayner, a British subject and USO volunteer. They were married in 1944. They would have four children.
Sergeant Smith was released from active duty, 26 May 1945.
Following World War II, Smith worked for the Department of the Treasury. He later founded Police Officers Journal, a magazine oriented toward law enforcement officers.
Based on an examination of certain facts in his life, as well as anecdotes by persons who knew him, it is fair to say the Maynard Smith was a troubled individual. But the extreme courage he displayed on 1 May 1943 cannot be denied.
Maynard Smith died at St. Petersburg, Florida, 11 May 1984 at the age of 72 years. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Staff Sergeant Maynard Harrison Smith, United States Army Air Forces, was the first of only five Air Force enlisted airmen to be awarded the Medal of Honor during World War II. He was also awarded the Air Medal, with one oak leaf cluster (two awards).
This photograph shows SSGT Smith with a Browning Machine Gun, Caliber .50, AN-M2, at the left waist position of a B-17 Flying Fortress. (U.S. Air Force)
Boeing B-17F-65-BO Flying Fortress 42-29649 was delivered to Denver, Colorado, 29 January, 1943. After crossing the North Atlantic Ocean, the new bomber was assigned to the 423rd Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 306th Bombardment Group (Heavy) at RAF Thurleigh, near Bedford, Bedfordshire, England, 24 March 1943. It was identified by the letters RD-V painted on its fuselage.
On 1 May 1943, 42-29649 was one of 18 B-17s of the 306th Bombardment Group assigned to attack German Kriegsmarine submarine pens at Saint-Nazaire, on the Atlantic coast of France. Another 60 B-17s from three other groups were also part of the mission. Only 12 bombers from the 306th arrived over the target, which was heavily obscured by clouds. Each bomber carried two 2,000-pound (907 kilogram) General Purpose bombs, which were dropped from 25,200 feet (7,681 meters) on a heading of 270°. After a 20-second bomb run, the group released its bombs at 11:26 a.m.
Damage to the left side of 42-29649’s radio compartment. (U.S. Air Force)
Flying away from the target area, the 306th flew over the city of Brest at low altitude. 42-29649 was hit by anti-aircraft fire. The group was then attacked by 15–20 Luftwaffe Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighters. Two bombers were shot down over the city and a third ditched near the coast. -649 caught fire and three crewmen bailed out over the water and were lost.
Of the 78 B-17s dispatched, 7 were lost. 73 crewmembers were listed as Missing in Action, 18 Wounded in Action and 2 Killed in Action.
On 1 May 1943, 42-29649 was flown by Captain Lewis P. Johnson, Jr., aircraft commander/pilot; 1st Lieutenant Robert McCallum, co-pilot; 1st Lieutenant Stanley N. Kisseberth, navigator; Staff Sergeant J.C. Melaun, nose gunner and bombardier; Technical Sergeant William W. Fahrenhold, flight engineer/top turret gunner; Staff Sergeant Maynard H. Smith, ball turret gunner; Technical Sergeant Henry R. Bean, radio operator; Staff Sergeant Robert V. Folliard, waist gunner; Staff Sergeant Joseph S. Bukacek, waist gunner; Sergeant Roy H. Gibson, tail gunner. Sergeants Bean, Folliard and Bukacek were killed in action.
This Boeing B-17F-55-BO Flying Fortress, 42-29524, Meat Hound, was also of the 423rd Bombardment Squadron, 306th Bombardment Group. 8th Air Force. It is the same type as the B-17F on which Sergeant Smith was the ball turret gunner. (U.S. Air Force)
