23 April 1918: at 09:55 a.m., near Saint-Gobain, France, 1st Lieutenant Paul Frank Baer, 103rd Aero Squadron (Pursuit), shot down an enemy Albatross C two-place biplane. This was Baer’s fifth victory in aerial combat, making him the first American “ace.” ¹ [Official credit for this shoot-down is shared with Lt. C. H. Wilcox.]

Paul Frank Baer was born 29 January 1894 at Fort Wayne, Indiana, the fourth of four children of Alvin E. Baer, a railroad engineer, and Emma B. Parent Baer.

In 1916, Baer served under Brigadier John J. General Pershing during the Mexican Expedition to capture the outlaw and revolutionary Francisco (“Pancho”) Villa. He then went to France and enlisted the Aéronautique Militaire, in 20 February 1917. He was sent for flight training at the Avord Groupemant des Divisions d’Entrainment (G.D.E.). He graduated as a pilot, 15 June 1917, with the rank of corporal.

After flight training, Corporal Baer was assigned to Escadrille SPA 80, under the command of Capitaine Paul Ferrand, 14 August 1917 to 20 January 1918, flying the SPAD S.VII C.1 and SPAD S.XIII C.1. Baer was next transferred to Escadrille N. 124, the Escadrille Américaine, under Georges Thénault. This unit was equipped with the Nieuport-Delâge Ni-D 29 C1.

After the United States entered the War, Baer was transferred to the 103rd Aero Squadron, American Expeditionary Forces, and commissioned as a 1st Lieutenant with a date of rank retroactive to 5 November 1917. At that time, the 103rd was under the command of Major William Thaw II, and was operating near La Cheppe, France, flying the SPAD S.VII C.1 chasseur.

Lieutenant Baer is officially credited by the United States Air Force with 7.75 enemy airplanes shot down between 11 March and 22 May 1918, ² and he claimed an additional 7. (Credit for two airplanes was shared with four other pilots.) After shooting down his eighth enemy airplane on 22 May 1918, Baer and his SPAD S.XIII C.1 were also shot down. He was seriously injured and was captured by the enemy near Armentières and held as a Prisoner of War. At one point, Baer was able to escape for several days before being recaptured.

For his service in World War I, 1st Lieutenant Paul Frank Baer was awarded the United States’ Distinguished Service Cross with one oak leaf cluster (a second award). He was appointed Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur by Raymond Poincaré, the President of France. He was also awarded the Croix de Guerre with seven palms.

After World War I, Baer, as a “soldier of fortune,” organized a group of pilots to fight against “the Bolsheviks” in Poland. He returned to the United States, departing Boulogne-sur-mer aboard T.S.S. Nieuw Amsterdam, and arriving at New York City, 4 November 1919. He then flew as a test pilot, an air mail pilot in South America, and worked as an aeronautical inspector for the U.S. Department of Commerce, based at Brownsville Airport, Texas. In 1930, he was employed as a pilot for the China National Aviation Corporation.

Baer was flying from Nanking to Shanghai for with an amphibious Loening Air Yacht biplane, named Shanghai. The airplane crashed after striking the mast of a boat on the Huanpu River. He died at the Red Cross Hospital at Shanghai, China, at 9:00 a.m., 9 December 1930. A Chinese pilot, K. F. Pan, and an unidentified female passenger were also killed. General Hsiung Shih-hui and four other passengers on board were seriously injured.

Paul Baer’s remains were returned to the United States aboard S.S. President McKinley and were buried at the Lindenwood Cemetery in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

In 1925 a new airport was opened in Fort Wayne and named Paul Baer Municipal Airport. During World War II, the airport was taken over by the military and designated Baer Army Airfield. It is now Fort Wayne International Airport (FWA).

¹ TDiA would like to thank CMSgt Bob Laymon USAF (Ret.) (AKA, “Scatback Scribe”) for pointing out that while Lt. Baer was the first American to become an ace flying in the American service, that,

“The first American Ace was actually Gervais Raoul V. Lufbery, an American immigrant that was serving with the French Air Service when he shot down his 5th German plane in 1916: http://www.veterantributes.org/TributeDetail.php?recordID=903 ”

² U.S. AIR SERVICE VICTORY CREDITS, WORLD WAR I, USAF Historical Study No. 133, Historical Research Division, Air University, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, June 1969, at Page 7

© 2019, Bryan R. Swopes

Operation Margin: Just over a month after the first combat missions flown by the new Avro Lancaster B Mk.I very long range heavy bomber, Acting Squadron Squadron Leader John Dering Nettleton, RAF, commanding No. 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron, lead one of two formations of six Lancasters from RAF Waddington and RAF Woohall Spa, in Lincolnshire, England, on a very low altitude daylight penetration of enemy territory to attack the Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg AG (MAN) diesel engine factory at Augsburg, Bavaria, in the south of Germany. The factory was a source of diesel engines for Nazi Germany’s U-boat fleet. It was a target of high military importance, and the daylight attack was very dangerous.

Each Lancaster carried four 1,000 pound (454 kilogram) bombs. The two formations (the other was from No. 97 Squadron) crossed the English Channel at an altitude of just 50 feet (15 meters) in an effort to evade detection by enemy radar.

During the flight across France and into Germany, Nettleton’s flight was under almost constant attack by enemy fighters. Only two 44 Squadron Lancasters made it to the target and dropped their bombs, but one of those was almost immediately shot own. Only Nettleton’s bomber, Lancaster B. Mk.I R5508, KM B, survived to return to England.

The other flight, led by Squadron Leader John Sherwood, flew a different route and all six arrived at Augsburg. After bombing the factory, Sherwood’s Lancaster was hit by antiaircraft fire, caught fire, crashed and exploded. Only Sherwood survived. Another was hit but was able to drop its bombs on the target before crashing. Another Lanc was badly damaged, but dropped its bombs and made it away.

Of the twelve Lancasters that had set out, just five returned. All were damaged, one of them beyond repair.

Of the 85 airmen on the mission, 49 were listed as missing in action.

Seventeen 1,000 pound bombs had made direct hits on the factory, but only twelve detonated. Though the target suffered significant damage, production of U-boat engines continued.

Squadron Leader Nettleton was awarded the Victoria Cross. Flight Lieutenant David Jackson Penman, DFC, of No. 97 Squadron was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. Flt Lt Brian R. W. Hallows, Acting Flt Lt Charles S. C. McClure, Acting Flying Officer Ernest W. Rodley, Pilot Officer Patrick A. Deverill DFM, Plt Off Patrick A Dorehill, Plt Off Gilbert C. Hooey, Plt Off Edward L. Ifould, and Plt Off Desmond O. Sands were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Flight Sergeant Frank H. Harrison, Flt Sgt Brian G. Lough, Flt Sgt Leonard H. Mutter, Sergeant Charles F. Churchill, Sgt Thomas H. Goacher, Sgt Donald N. Huntley, Sgt Ronald P. Irons, Sgt Kenneth O. Mackay, Sgt Douglas L. Overton, and Sgt John T. Radcliffe were awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal.

John Dering Nettleton was born 28 June 1917 at Nongoma, Zululand, Union of South Africa. He was the son of John Hennah Nettleton and Ethel Maud Barker Nettleton, and the grandson of Admiral Alfred Thomas Dering Nettleton, Royal Navy. Nettleton was educated at the Western Province Preparatory School, an Anglican Church school in Claremont, a suburb of Cape Town.

In 1930, at the age of 13, Nettleton went aboard the South African training ship, S.A.T.S. General Botha (formerly, H.M.S. Thames) as a cadet. After graduating three years later, he served as third officer of the 6,919 ton merchant ship, S.S. Mattawin.

He was appointed a midshipman, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (South African Division), 3 September 1935. He rose to the rank of lieutenant, RNVR.

Following his time at sea, Nettleton returned to Cape Town where he became an apprentice civil engineer.

Nettleton sailed with his mother, Mrs. Nettleton, from Durban, South Africa, aboard the Union-Castle Mail Steamship Company liner, S.S. Winchester Castle, arriving at Southampton, England, 11 April 1938.

While in England, Nettleton joined the Royal Air Force, and began flight training at the No. 8 Elementary and Reserve Flying Training Squadron at Reading. He was given a Short Service Commission as a Pilot Officer in the Royal Air Force, 14 December 1938 ¹ and reported to No. 12 FTS at RAF Grantham in Lincolnshire, but within two weeks was reassigned to No. 11 FTS at RAF Shawbury, in Shropshire. He graduated 22 July 1939.

Nettleton was appointed an Acting Pilot Officer (41452) on probation, with effect 3 September 1939—the same day that the United Kingdom and France declared war on Germany, following that country’s invasion of Poland.² He was assigned to No. 207 Squadron, an operational training unit for the Fairey Battle, a single-engine light bomber powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, based at RAF Cottesmore in the East Midlands of England.

Pilot Officer Nettleton was soon reassigned to No. 98 Squadron at RAF Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, which was also equipped with the Battle. In November 1939, he returned to Cottesmore for transition training to the Handley Page HP.52 Hamden twin-engine medium bomber, with No. 185 Squadron.

Pilot Officer Nettleton was promoted to the rank of Flying Officer, 3 September 1940.³

This Day in Aviation was unable to confirm the date of Nettleton’s promotion to Flight Lieutenant, but Wikipedia states that it occurred in February 1941.

On 26 June 1941, Flight Lieutenant Nettleton joined No. 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire. This squadron was the first to completely convert to the Avro Lancaster, with the first “Lanc” arriving on Christmas Eve, 24 December 1941.

Flight Lieutenant Nettleton was promoted to Acting Squadron Leader, 17 July 1941.

Flight Officer Nettleton was promoted to Flight Lieutenant (War Substantive), 3 September 1941.⁴

Squadron Leader Nettleton, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, was Mentioned in Despatches, 24 September 1941.⁵

On 11 June 1942, Squadron Leader (acting) J.D. Nettleton, VC, was Mentioned in Despatches.⁶

Squadron Leader John Dering Nettleton married Section Officer Betty Isobel Havelock, Women’s Auxiliary Air Force, of Paignton, Devon, at Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England, 1 July 1942. They would have one son, John Dering Nettleton, born 19 February 1944.

Squadron Leader Nettleton was next posted to No. 44 Conversion Flight. In November 1942, he was assigned to No. 1661 Heavy Conversion Unit, also at RAF Waddington.

Squadron Leader Nettleton was promoted to Wing Commander (acting), 4 January 1943, and returned to combat operations with No. 44 Squadron.

Squadron Leader Nettleton was promoted to the rank of Wing Commander (War Substantive), Reserve of Air Force Officers, 2 June 1943.⁷

At 10:23 p.m., 12 July 1943, Wing Commander Nettleton took off from RAF Dunholm Lodge, Lincolnshire, in Lancaster KM Z (ED331), as on 295 Lancasters sent to attack Turin, Italy. ED331 never returned. The bodies of Nettleton and his crew, Flt Lt Dennis Cramp, Flt Lt Ian Milne Wood, Fg Off Fred irving Calcutt, Fg Off Kenneth Stanly Juniper, Fg Off Arthur Ronald Ludlow, Plt Off John Edward Money, and Flt Sgt Dennis Ernest Arthur Seager, were never recovered.

Wing Commander Nettleton was just 26 years old. His name is listed on Panel 118 of the Runnymede Memorial at Englefield Green, Surrey.

The Avro Lancaster made its first flight 9 January 1941, and flew its first combat mission (with No. 44 Squadron) on 3 March 1942. The Lancaster B Mk.I was operated by a crew of seven: pilot, flight engineer, navigator/bombardier, radio operator and three gunners.  It was a large, all-metal, mid-wing monoplane with retractable landing gear. It was 68 feet, 11 inches (21.001 meters) long with a wingspan of 102 feet, 0 inches (31.090) meters and an overall height of 19 feet, 6 inches (5.944 meters). The Mk.I had an empty weight of 36,900 pounds (16,738 kilograms) and its maximum takeoff weight was 68,000 pounds (30,909 kilograms)

Early production Lancasters were equipped with four liquid-cooled, supercharged, 1,648.96-cubic-inch-displacement (27.01 liter), Roll-Royce Merlin XX single overhead camshaft (SOHC) 60° V-12 engines, which were rated at 1,480 horsepower at 3,000 r.p.m. to 6,000 feet (1,829 meters). The Merlins drove three-bladed, 13 feet, 0 inch (3.962 meters), de Havilland Hydromatic quick-feathering, constant-speed airscrews (propellers), through a 0.420:1 gear reduction.

The Mark I had a maximum economic cruise speed of 267 miles per hour (430 kilometers per hour) at 20,800 feet (6,340 meters), and a maximum speed of 286 miles per hour (460 kilometers per hour) at 20,000 feet (6,096 meters) at a gross weight of 45,300 pounds (20,548 kilograms). Its service ceiling was 20,000 feet (6,096 meters) at 64,500 pounds (29,257 kilograms). It had a range of  2,530 miles (4,072 kilometers) with a 7,000 pound (3,175 kilogram) bomb load.

The Lancaster was designed to carry a 14,000 pound (6,350 kilogram) bomb load, but modified bombers carried the 22,000 pound (9,979 kilogram) Grand Slam bomb.

For defense, the standard Lancaster had eight Browning .303-caliber Mark II machine guns in three power-operated turrets, with a total of 14,000 rounds of ammunition.

According to the Royal Air Force, “Almost half all Lancasters delivered during the war (3,345 of 7,373) were lost on operations with the loss of over 21,000 crew members.”

Only two airworthy Avro Lancasters are in existence.

¹ National Library of Scotland, UK, British Air Force Lists 1919–1945

² The London Gazette, Issue 34705,10 October 1939, Page 6796

³ The London Gazette, Supplement 34989, 12 November 1940, Page 6494

⁴ The London Gazette, Number 35309, 14 October 1941, Page 5968

⁵ The London Gazette, Number 35284, 24 September 1941, Page 5572

⁶ The London Gazette, Number 35586, 11 June 1942, Page 2519

⁷ The London Gazette, Supplement 36113, 30 July 1943, Page 3443

© 2023, Bryan R. Swopes

Russell Lowell Maughan was born at Logan, Utah, 28 March 1893. He was the sixth of eight children of Peter Weston Maughan, an accountant, and Mary Lucinda Naef Maughan. As a young boy he delivered newspapers on horseback, and worked as a farm laborer. He attended high school at Brigham Young College.

He attended Utah Agricultural College, a military land grant college in Logan. He graduated with a bachelor of science degree in agriculture, 8 May 1917. (The college was known as the “West Point of the West.”) He then attended the Reserve Officers Training Corps (R.O.T.C.) camp at The Presidio of San Francisco and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Infantry Section, Officer’s Reserve Corps, United States Army, 28 May 1917.

Transferring to the Signal Officers Reserve Corps, Lieutenant Maughan’s commission was vacated 15 August 1917, and he was assigned, as a private first class, to the United States Army School of Military Aeronautics at Berkeley California, for eight weeks of training. He then trained as a pilot at Rockwell Field, San Diego, California. He was commissioned as a first lieutenant, Signal Officers Reserve Corps, 8 January 1918.

Lieutenant Maughan arrived in France 22 March 1918. He received advanced flight training at Issoudun Aerodrome.In June 1918, Lieutenant Maughan was incorrectly reported as missing in action in France, or having having been killed. His parents believed that this was false information spread by Germany as propaganda. Maughan flew his first combat mission 1 September 1918.

Flying a Société Pour L’Aviation et ses Dérivés SPAD S.XIII C.1, First Lieutenant Maughan was officially credited with four aerial victories during World War I. He shot down one enemy airplane on 10 October 1918, another on 18 October, and two on 27 October. Lieutenant Maughan was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross:

MAUGHAN, RUSSELL L.

First Lieutenant (Air Service), U.S. Army

Pilot, 139th Aero Squadron, American Expeditionary Forces

Citation:

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to First Lieutenant (Air Service) Russell L. Maughan, United States Army Air Service, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with 138th Aero Squadron, U.S. Army Air Service, A.E.F., near Sommerance, France, 27 October 1918. Accompanied by two other planes, Lieutenant Maughan was patrolling our lines, when he saw slightly below him an enemy plane (Fokker type). When he started an attack upon it he was attacked from behind by four more of the enemy. By several well-directed shots he sent one of his opponents to the earth, and, although the forces of the enemy were again increased by seven planes, he so skillfully maneuvered that he was able to escape toward his lines. While returning he attacked and brought down an enemy plane which was diving on our trenches.

General Orders: War Department, General Orders No. 46 (1919), Amended Supplement 1

Action Date: October 27, 1918

His commission in the Signal Officers Reserve Corps was vacated 10 September 1920 and he was appointed a first lieutenant, Air Service, United States Army, retroactive to 1 July 1920.

On 14 August 1919, Lieutenant Maughan married Miss Ila May Fisher at Logan, Utah. Miss Fisher was a 1919 graduate of the University of Utah. They would have four children, Russell L., Jr., Weston Fisher, Ila May, and Mary Ann. They divorced sometime after 1940. (His sons, Russell and Weston, both attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. During World War II, Russell, Jr., was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.)

Following the War, Lieutenant Maughan became a test pilot at McCook Field, Ohio. In 1921, he was reassigned to the 91st Observation Squadron, based at the Presidio of San Francisco.

On 14 October 1922, flying a Curtiss R-6 Racer, A.S. 68564, he won the Pulitzer Trophy Race at Selfridge Field, near Mount Clemens, Michigan, before a crowd of 200,000 spectators. He set two Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Speed Records during the race: 330.41 kilometers per hour (205.31 miles per hour) over a distance of 100 kilometers, and 331.46 kilometers per hour (205.96 miles per hour) over a distance of 200 kilometers).

Again flying the Curtiss R-6 Racer, A.S. 68564, on 29 March 1923, Maughan, set a third FAI World Record for Speed of 380.75 kilometers per hour (236.59 miles per hour) at Wilbur Wright Field, Riverside, Ohio.

On 9 July 1923, Lieutenant Maughan attempted a transcontinental flight, but his airplane, a Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company XPW-8 Hawk, A.S. 23-1201, was damaged on landing at Avenue City, Missouri, and was unable to continue. He made another attempt 10 days later. That flight came to an end when an oil leak forced him to land at Rock Springs, Wyoming.

The following year, 23 June 1924, Lieutenant Maughan took off from Mitchel Field, Long Island, New York, at 3:58 a.m., Eastern Time, and flew across the country to land at Crissy Field, at the Presidio of San Francisco, California at 9:46 p.m., Pacific Time. This time he was flying another Curtiss PW-8 Hawk, serial number A.S. 24-204, McCook Field Project Number P-361. He covered a distance of 2,670 miles (4,297 kilometers) in 21 hours, 47 minutes. Maughan’s actual flight time was 20 hours, 48 minutes. He averaged 128.37 miles per hour (206.59 kilometers per hour).

This was the “Dawn-to-Dusk Flight.” A bill was introduced in Congress by Representative Paul H. Hunt of Utah, to advance Lieutenant Maughan 500 numbers on the U.S. Army’s list of first lieutenants. For this transcontinental flight, Maughan was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. (Maughan’s D.F.C. was not authorized until 20 February 1928. It was presented to Maughan by Colonel Paul H. McCook, commanding officer, 104th Division, at Fort Douglas, Salt Lake City, Utah, 6 August 1928.)

In 1924, Lieutenant Maughan was assigned to Kelly Field, Texas, as a flight instructor. One of his students was Charles Augustus Lindbergh.

On 1 October 1930, Maughan was promoted to captain, United States Army Air Corps. He served in the Philippine Islands from 1930 to 1935, acting as an advisor to the government until 1932. From 1932 to 1935, he served as the post operations officer. He and his family lived in Manila. They returned to the United States aboard SS Columbus, a Norddeutscher Lloyd passenger liner, arriving at New York City from Southampton, 18 August 1935.

Captain Maughan attended the Air Corps Tactical School at Maxwell Field, Alabama,  in 1936, and the Army Industrial College in Washington, D.C., for the 1936–1937 course of instruction. On 16 June 1936, Captain Maughan was promoted to major (temporary). That rank was made permanent 12 June 1939. He was again promoted, this time to lieutenant colonel, Army of the United States (A.U.S.), 11 March 1940. His A.U.S. rank was vacated 15 October 1941, and his rank as lieutenant colonel, United States Army, was made permanent. Just prior to World War II, Lieutenant Colonel Maughan was sent on a survey tour to identify suitable locations for airfields in Greenland.

In January 1941, Lieutenant Colonel Maughan became the first commanding officer of the 30th Air Base Group at Langley Field, Virginia. He was relieved of this assignment in July and was sent on a survey tour to identify suitable locations for airfields in Greenland.

Lieutenant Colonel Maughan commanded the 60th Transport Group, a Douglas C-47 unit, and also served as acting commanding officer of Westover Army Air Field, Chicopee, Massachusetts. On 27 January 1942, he was promoted to the rank of colonel (temporary), with his date of rank retroactive to 5 January. He then he commanded the 51st Troop Carrier Wing, which included the 60th, as well as eight other transport groups, during Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa.

Colonel Maughan later commanded Lemoore Army Air Field, California, in 1943. He was assigned as commanding officer at Portland Army Air Field, Oregon, 10 July 1944.

On 25 October 1946, Colonel Maughan married Miss Lois Rae Roylance at Reno, Nevada. She was 21 years his junior. They lived in Portland, Oregon.

Colonel Maughan was discharged from the U.S. Air Force, 30 November 1947, at the U.S. Army Hospital at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The reason was disability in the line of duty.

For his military service, Colonel Maughan was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the World War I Victory Medal, the American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal.

Colonel Russell Lowell Maughan, United States Air Force (Retired), developed ventricular fibrillation while undergoing surgery at the 3700th U.S. Air Force Hospital, Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas, 21 April 1958. He died two hours later. He was 65 years of age. He was buried at the Logan City Cemetery, Logan, Utah.

© 2025, Bryan R. Swopes

15 March 1945: Technical Sergeant Sator Sierra (“Sandy”) Sanchez, 353rd Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 301st Bombardment Group (Heavy), 15th Air Force, based at Lucera Air Field, Italy, volunteered for his 66th combat mission. He flew as the top turret gunner of a Lockheed-Vega B-17G-25-VE Flying Fortress, 42-97683. The mission was to attack the Braunkohle-Benzin AG synthetic oil refinery at Schwarzheide, Ruhland, Germany.

Visibility was unlimited above a 10,000 foot (3,048 meters) 7/10th undercast. While approaching the target at about 1415 hours, the B-17 was attacked by fighters and anti-aircraft guns. Its number two engine (inboard, left wing) was damaged and caught fire. It could not be feathered. Fire spread all along the wing. The aircraft commander, 1st Lieutenant Dale Thornton, ordered the crew to abandon the aircraft. Nine of the crew were able to bail out, but with Sergeant Sanchez still aboard, the bomber pitched up, rolled over, then exploded. Sandy Sanchez was killed. His remains were never located. The survivors were captured and held as prisoners of war at Stalag Luft VI-A.

In 1993, four of the crew of 42-97693, pilot (former 1st Lieutenant) Dale Thornton, co-pilot (2nd Lieutenant) Edward Naracci, navigator (1st Lieutenant) Leslie J. Tyler and radar navigator (2nd Lieutenant) Stephen J. Stofko, returned to Germany to search for the crash site of their bomber. A portion of 42-97683’s vertical fin was found near Bad Muskau, Germany, near the border with Poland. It was recovered by the 52nd Equipment Maintenance Squadron, based at Spangdahlem Air Base, then placed in the collection of the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

Sanchez’ final mission was flown during his third combat tour. After completing his first combat tour of 25 missions with the 334th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 95th Bombardment Group (Heavy), 8th Air Force, during which he had shot down six enemy fighters as a tail and top turret gunner, he volunteered for a second tour. (At that time, after completing 25 missions, bomber crew members in the 8th Air Force were rotated back to the Unites States for rest, recuperation and eventual reassignment.) He then flew 19 more missions. In addition to the six enemy aircraft destroyed, Sanchez was also credited with two probably destroyed and one damaged.

In recognition of his 44 combat missions, a brand new Boeing B-17G-45-BO Flying Fortress, 42-97290, was named Smilin’ Sandy Sanchez in his honor, and emblazoned with the number “44.” This was the first time that a bomber had been named after an enlisted man.

Technical Sergeant Sanchez was sent back to the United States as a gunnery instructor. Repeatedly volunteering for a third combat tour, he was returned to the European Theater of Operations, assigned to the 301st Bomb Group in Italy. He flew his 45th combat mission in November 1944.

Sator Sierra Sanchez was born at Joliet Township, Illinois, 22 March 1921. His mother died of tuberculosis when he was two years old, and his father was shot to death when he was eight. He and his sister were raised by their stepmother until she also died in 1934.

In high school, “Sandy” Sanchez participated in the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (JROTC). After graduating, he worked in the Civilian Conservation Corps, then enlisted in the United States Army, 20 December 1939, at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin. He was assigned to the 7th Infantry Division. In May 1941, he was transferred to the Army Air Corps and trained as an aircraft mechanic.

On 14 March 1943, while working on the flight line at Merced Army Airfield, California, Sergeant Sanchez observed an empty, runaway Vultee BT-13 Valiant trainer. He ran toward it but was hit in the back by the airplane’s horizontal stabilizer. Trying again, he succeeded in climbing into rear cockpit. He shut off the engine and fuel and turned it away from a hangar filled with other aircraft and men. Although the BT-13 crashed into another airplane, undoubtedly Sergeant Sanchez had saved many lives. For this action he was awarded the Soldier’s Medal. This is the highest honor that a soldier could receive for valor in a non-combat situation.

When he completed training as an aerial gunner at Las Vegas Army Air Field, Sanchez was promoted to staff sergeant. He was then sent to England to serve with the 95th Bomb Group. He flew his first combat mission 15 September 1943 as the waist gunner of a B-17. After two missions he was assigned to the crew of Boeing B-17F 42-29943, Situation Normal.

On 10 October 1943, Staff Sergeant Sanchez flew as tail gunner on Situation Normal during an attack on Munster, Germany. He shot down a Messerschmitt Bf 109 and a Junkers Ju 88. Several members of the crew were wounded. Sanchez was awarded the Silver Star.

Sandy Sanchez was promoted to technical sergeant 15 April 1944.

In addition to the Silver Star and Soldier’s Medal, Technical Sergeant Sandor Sierra Sanchez was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Purple Heart with one Oak Leaf Cluster (two awards, one posthumous), and the Air Medal with two silver and one bronze Oak Leaf Clusters (12 awards).

The B-17G named after Technical Sergeant Sanchez, 42-97290 (MSN 7792), was built Boeing’s Wichita, Kansas, Plant II. It was delivered to the United Airlines Modification Center at Cheyenne, Wyoming, 15 February 1944. It arrived at the staging base at Kearney Field, Nebraska,  27 February, 1944. On 11 March 1944, the B-17 was flown to Presque Isle, Maine, and then across the North Atlantic Ocean to England. Initially assigned to the 398th Bombardment Group at RAF Nuthampstead (USAAF Station 131), 22 April 1944, 42-97290 was transferred six days later to the 334th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 95th Bombardment Group (Heavy) at RAF Horham (USAAF Station 119), in East Anglia. It was given the squadron marking BG-H. On its twenty-third mission, 19 May 1944, Smilin’ Sandy Sanchez was damaged in combat near Berlin, Germany. The crew flew the bomber to Akesholm, Sweden, where they and the B-17 were interned. 42-92790 was later scrapped.

The B-17G on which Sanchez flew his final mission, 42-97683 (MSN 17-7048), had been built by the Lockheed-Vega Corporation at Burbank, California. It was delivered to the Continental Airlines Modification Center at Denver, Colorado, 26 January 1944, then on 7 March 1944, to the 1st Search and Attack Group (AAF Antisubmarine Command) at Langley Army Airfield, Hampton, Virginia, for crew training. (Presumably, the bomber was equipped with AN/APS-15 (H2X) ground-scanning radar.¹) Finally, on 7 April 1944, the bomber arrived at Grenier Army Airfield, Manchester, New Hampshire, to be ferried across the North Atlantic Ocean to England. On 8 April 1944, it was assigned to the 335th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 95th Bombardment Group (Heavy) at RAF Horham and given the squadron marking OE-M. As the lead airplane on an Operation FRANTIC IV shuttle bombing mission from Poltava Air Base (USAAF Station 559), Ukraine, USSR, to attack an airfield at Szolnok, Hungary, 18 September 1944, 42-97683 was was hit by anti-aircraft gunfire and damaged. Its number four engine (outboard, right wing) caught fire and failed. Four crewmen bailed out and were captured. The bomber continued on to Foggia, Italy, where it crash landed. After being repaired, on 28 October 1944, 42-97683 was assigned to the 352nd Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 301st Bombardment Group (Heavy).

The B-17G was the final production variant of the Flying Fortress. It entered service with the United States Army Air Forces in 1943.

The Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress was a four-engine heavy bomber operated by a combat crew of nine to ten men. It was 74 feet, 8.90 inches (22.781 meters) long with a wingspan of 103 feet, 9.38 inches (31.633 meters) and an overall height of 19 feet, 1.00 inch (5.187 meters). The wings have 3½° angle of incidence and 4½° dihedral. The leading edges are swept aft 8¾°. The total wing area is 1,426 square feet (132.48 square meters). The horizontal stabilizer has a span of 43 feet (13.106 meters) with 0° incidence and dihedral. Its total area, including elevators, is 331.1 square feet (12.18 square meters). The B-17G had an empty weight of 35,972 pounds (16,316.6 kilograms), and the maximum takeoff weight was 67,860 pounds (30,780.8 kilograms).

The B-17G was powered by four air-cooled, supercharged, 1,823.129-cubic-inch-displacement (29.876 liters) Wright Cyclone C9GC (R-1820-97) nine-cylinder radial engines with a compression ratio of 6.70:1. The engines were equipped with remote General Electric turbochargers capable of 24,000 r.p.m. The R-1820-97 had a Normal Power rating of 1,000 horsepower at 2,300 r.p.m. at 25,000 feet (7,620 meters), and 1,200 horsepower at 2,500 r.p.m. for Takeoff and Military Power. The engine could produce 1,380 horsepower at 2,500 r.p.m., War Emergency Power. 100-octane aviation gasoline was required. The Cyclones turned three-bladed, constant-speed, Hamilton Standard Hydromatic propellers with a diameter of 11 feet, 7 inches (3.835 meters) through a 0.5625:1 gear reduction. The R-1820-97 engine was 3 feet, 11.80 inches (1.214 meters) long and 4 feet, 7.10 inches (1.400 meters) in diameter, and weighed 1,315 pounds (596 kilograms).

The B-17G had a cruising speed of 172 knots (198 miles per hour/319 kilometers per hour) at 10,000 feet (3,048 meters). The maximum speed was 285 knots (328 miles per hour/528 kilometers per hour) at 26,700 feet (8,138 meters). The service ceiling was 38,450 feet (11,720 meters) at maximum power.

The B-17G had a fuel capacity  of 2,780 gallons (10,523 liters) in twelve wing tanks. Two “Tokyo tanks” could be installed in the bomb bay, increasing capacity by 820 gallons (3,104 liters). The B-17G combat radius of 689 nautical miles (793 statute miles/1,276 kilometers) with max bomb load, and a maximum ferry range of 2,624 nautical miles (3,031 statute miles/4,878 kilometers).

The B-17G was armed with thirteen Browning AN-M2 .50-caliber machine guns for defense against enemy fighters. Power turrets mounting two guns each were located at the nose, dorsal, and ventral positions. Two guns could be installed in flexible mounts in the nose compartment, one in the radio compartment, two in the waist and two in the tail. 5,970 rounds of ammunition were carried.

The maximum bomb load of the B-17G was 12,800 pounds (5,806 kilograms). The internal bomb bay could be loaded with a maximum of ten 1,000 pound bombs,  eight 1,600 pound (725.75 kilogram) bombs or two 2,000 pound bombs. The physical size of each type limited the number that could be carried in the bomb bay.

The B-17 Flying Fortress was in production from 1936 to 1945. 12,731 B-17s were built by Boeing, Douglas Aircraft Company and Lockheed-Vega. (The manufacturer codes -BO, -DL and -VE follows the Block Number in each airplane’s type designation.) 8,680 of these were B-17Gs, with 4,035 built by Boeing, 2,395 by Douglas and 2,250 by Lockheed-Vega.

A more complete report of Sator Sanchez’ life by Master Sergeant Barry L. Spink can be read at:

https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/AFEHRI/documents/HispanicAmericanAccomplishment/SatorSanchezWWIIGunnerandHero.pdf

¹ After transferring its antisubmarine warfare mission to the United States Navy’s Tenth Fleet in 1943, the 1st Search Attack Group conducted specialized training in low altitude bombing and H2X radar operations with the B-17 and B-24.

© 2023, Bryan R. Swopes

21 February 1910: Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader, Royal Air Force, C.B.E., D.S.O. and Bar, D.F.C. and Bar, FRAeS, DL, the legendary fighter pilot of the Royal Air Force during World War II, was born at St. John’s Wood, London, England. He was the son of Frederick Roberts Bader, a civil engineer, and Jessie Scott MacKenzie Bader.

Bader attended Temple Grove School, Eastbourne, East Sussex, and St. Edward’s School in Oxford. After graduating in 1928, he joined the Royal Air Force as a cadet at the Royal Air Force College Cranwell in Lincolnshire. Bader was granted a permanent commission as a Pilot Officer, “with effect from and with seniority of 26th July 1930.”

Bader lost both legs in the crash of a Bristol Bulldog fighter while practicing aerobatics 14 December 1931 and was medically retired, 30 April 1933.

Following his medical retirement, Douglas Bader joined the Asiatic Petroleum Co., a subsidiary of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Petroleum Maatschappij (Royal Dutch Petroleum Company) and the Shell Transport and Trading Company.

On 5 October 1933, Mr. Bader married Miss Olive Thelma Exley Edwards at the registry office of Hampstead Village, London. Miss Edwards was the daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Ivo Arthur Exley Edwards, R.A.F. On their fourth anniversary, 5 October 1937, a formal wedding ceremony took place at St Mary Abbots Church in Kensington, London.

In 1939, feeling that war with Germany was imminent, Bader applied to the Air Ministry for reinstatement. He was turned down, but was told that if there was a war his request might be reconsidered.

The Air Ministry did reconsider Douglas Bader’s request for reinstatement and after a medical evaluation and other tests, and on 26 November 1939, he was sent to refresher flight training at the Central Flying School where he was evaluated as “Exceptional,” a very rare qualification.

Flying Officer Bader was posted to No. 19 Squadron, RAF Duxford, 7 February 1940. The squadron was equipped with the Supermarine Spitfire. In April, he was reassigned as flight leader of A Flight, No. 222 Squadron, also flying Spitfires from Duxford. On 24 June 1940, Bader took command of No. 242 Squadron at RAF Coltishall, Norfolk, in East Anglia. No. 242 operated the Hawker Hurricane.

On 24 September 1940, Flying Officer Bader was granted the war substantive rank of Flight Lieutenant.

On 1 October 1940, George VI, King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, appointed Acting Squadron Leader Douglas R. S. Bader a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order. The notice in The London Gazette reads,

“This officer has displayed gallantry and leadership of the highest order. During three recent engagements he has led his squadron with such skill and ability that thirty-three enemy aircraft have been destroyed. In the course of these engagements Squadron Leader Bader has added to his previous successes by destroying six enemy aircraft.”

Acting Squadron Leader Bader, D.S.O., was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross 7th January, 1941: “Squadron Leader Bader has continued to lead his squadron and wing with the utmost gallantry on all occasions. he has now destroyed a total of ten hostile aircraft and damaged several more.”

In March 1941, Acting Squadron Leader Bader was promoted to Acting Wing Commander and assigned as Wing leader of 12 Group’s “Big Wing” at RAF Tangmere, just east of Chichester, in West Sussex. The Big Wings were large formations of three to five fighter squadrons acting together to intercept enemy bomber formations.

Acting Wing Commander Bader was awarded a Bar to his Distinguished Service Order, 15 July 1941: “This officer has led his wing on a series of consistently successful sorties over enemy territory during the past three months. His qualities of leadership and courage have been an inspiration to all. Wing Commander Bade has destroyed 15 hostile aircraft.”

On 9 August 1941, Bader was himself shot down while flying his Supermarine Spitfire Mk Va, serial W3185, marked “DB”, along the coast of France. His prosthetic legs caught in the cockpit and made it difficult for him to escape, but he finally broke free and parachuted to safety.

Bader was captured and held as a prisoner of war. He was initially held at a hospital in occupied France and it was there that he met and became a life long friend of Adolf Galland, also a legendary fighter pilot—but for the other side! After arrangements were made for replacement legs, Bader escaped.

On 9 September 1941, Acting Wing Commander Bader was awarded a Bar to his Distinguished Flying Cross. “This fearless pilot has recently added a further four enemy aircraft to his previous successes; in addition he has probably destroyed another four and damaged five hostile aircraft. By his fine leadership and high courage Wing Commander Bader has inspired the wing on every occasion.”

He was recaptured and taken to the notorious Offizierslager IV-C at Schloss Colditz near Leipzing, Germany, where he was held for three years. Units of the United States Army 273rd Infantry Regiment, 69th Infantry Division, and the Combat Command Reserve, 9th Armored Division, liberated the prison 15 April 1945 after a two-day battle.

Douglas Bader was repatriated to England. On 28 August 1945, Squadron Leader D.R.S. Bader, DSO, DFC (Ret) was promoted to Wing Commander (temp), and in September, Wing Commander Bader was assigned as commanding officer of the R.A.F. Fighter Leaders School. On 1 December 1945, Wing Commander (temporary) D.R.S. Bader DSO DFC (Ret.) is granted the rank of Wing Commander (War Substantive).

On 21 July 1946, Wing Commander Bader reverted to the retired list, retaining the rank of Group Captain.

During World War II, Group Captain Bader was officially credited with 22 enemy aircraft destroyed, shared credit for another 4; 6 probably destroyed, shared credit for another probable; and 11 damaged. (26–7–11). Group Captan Bader was appointed a Chevalier de la légion d’honneur by France in 1945, and awarded the Croix d’ Guerre.

Bader received civil aviator’s license 3 July 1946. He returned to work for Shell in a management position which involved considerable travel. He flew the company’s Percival Proctor around Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He remained with Shell until 1969, having risen to managing director of Shell Aircraft International.

In the years following World War II, he also worked unceasingly to better the lives of other disabled persons. He would tell them,

“Don’t listen to anyone who tells you that you can’t do this or that. That’s nonsense. Make up your mind, you’ll never use crutches or a stick, then have a go at everything. Go to school, join in all the games you can. Go anywhere you want to. But never, never let them persuade you that things are too difficult or impossible.”

In the New Year’s Honours, 2 January 1956, Douglas Bader was appointed an Ordinary Commander of the Most Excellent Order (C.B.E.), by Her Majesty The Queen, for services to the disabled.

He was the subject of Reach For The Sky, (Collins, London, 1954) a biography written by Paul Brickhill, who also wrote The Great Escape. (Brickhill had been a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft III.) In 1956, a movie of the same name was released, starring Kenneth More as Bader. Bader was the author of Fight For The Sky: The Story of the Spitfire and Hurricane (Sidgwick and Jackson, London, 1973).

Thelma Bader died in 1971 at the age of 64 years. The couple had been married for 38 years.

Bader later married Mrs. Joan Eileen Hipkiss Murray. She had three children from a previous marriage, Wendy, Michael and Jane Murray.

4 June 1976: The London Gazette announced that The Queen would confer the Honour of Knighthood on Group Captain Robert Steuart Bader, C.B.E., D.S.O., D.F.C., “For services to disabled people.”

Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader, CBE, DSO and Bar, DFC and Bar, FRAeS, DL, passed away 5 September 1982, at the age of 72 years.

© 2018, Bryan R. Swopes

The crew were: Lieutenant Colonel Edgar L. Allison, Jr., Mission Commander, of Chatanooga, Tennessee; Captain Richard J. Racette, Aircraft Commander, Niles, Illinois; Capatain David E. Gardner, Pilot, South Gate, California; Major Anthony Liparulo, Navigator, New London, Connecticut; Captain Carl E. Bennett, Navigator, Hamilton, Texas; Technical Sergeant Morelle E. Larouche, Flight Engineer, Holyoke Massachusetts; Technical Sergeant William F. Litton, Flight Engineer, Pennington Gap, Pennsylvania; Technical Sergeant Theodore Trainer, Loadmaster, Wapabo, Washington; Technical Sergeant Robert Landry, Crew Chief, New Orleans, Louisiana; Major Kenneth S. Wayne, Flight Surgeon, Oak Park, Illinois; Staff Sergeant William L. Hippert, Radio Operator, Rahway, New Jersey; and Staff Sergeant Pat E. Carrothers, Radio Operator, Lake Charles, Louisiana.

The crew was assigned to the Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service (ARRS).

General Jack J. Catton, Military Airlift Command, presented Lieutenant Colonel Allison the Distinguished Flying Cross, while the other crewmembers received the Air Medal.

¹ FAI Record File Number 8062.  Ratified – retired by changes of the sporting code.

² FAI Record File Number 8582.

© 2021, Bryan R. Swopes

“Lewis had to make what he considered to be one of the most crucial decisions of his life. Peering at the fog below him, he remembers asking himself a question to plunge or not to plunge…”

TODAY IN COAST GUARD AVIATION HISTORY – 12 FEBRUARY 1971: an HH-3F #1473 assigned to Air Station San Diego, CA and crewed by LCDR Paul R. Lewis (AC), LT Joseph O. Fullmer (CP), ASM3 Larry E. Farmer (FM), AT3 Charles Desimone (AV) and HM3 Richard M. McCollough (AMS) launched in response to an injured or ill “seaman in need of an operation” ¹ from the 492-foot freighter STEEL EXECUTIVE, approximately 220 miles south of San Diego. The WWII-era Type C3-class cargo ship owned by Isthmian Lines, Inc. of New York was on an extended trip from Saigon, South Vietnam to New York City via the Panama Canal with stops in Astoria, OR and various east coast ports. They departed Saigon on 29 January 1971 and on 12 February were southbound for the Panama Canal.² After requesting assistance, the ship reversed course back toward San Diego to reduce transit distance for the helicopter. This is their story.

Friday afternoon at around 4:00 PM, Rescue Coordination Center Long Beach launched the off-going Air Station San Diego HH-3F duty crew on a long range medical evacuation or MEDEVAC. The maintenance crew had to stop downtown vehicle traffic so that #1473 could taxi from the unit’s waterfront location across Harbor Drive to Lindberg Field in order to utilize the runway for a running takeoff – as the aircraft could not get airborne from a hover with a maximum fuel load.³ According to LCDR Lewis, taking off “out of San Diego, it was a clear afternoon,” ⁴ but the sun was lowering in the sky with official sunset at 5:31 PM.

After two hours of night overwater navigation and using a combination of radio direction finding, helicopter radar, and guidance from the STEEL EXECUTIVE, #1473 arrived in the vessel’s vicinity, but was unable to make visual contact through the dense fog which extended from the surface to about 700 feet above the water.

Flight mechanic Larry Farmer described the scene, “We flew over the estimated position at 1,500 feet and it was beautiful, you could see stars clear to either horizon, but glancing down – it looked like a huge layer of thick cotton blanketing the water below us.” ⁵

With visibility less than 1/8 mile, the helicopter directed the vessel to turn on all available topside lighting and dropped two MK-58 marine location markers (floating cylinder that produces smoke and flames for 40-60 minutes) approximately two miles downwind to assist in executing an instrument approach to a hover above the water’s surface. ⁶

Lewis had to make a crucial decision. Peering at the fog below him, he remembers asking himself a question to plunge or not to plunge. ⁷ Lewis knew that the answer could spell a chance at life for the seriously ill merchant seaman. However, there was also his crew, his co-pilot, a radio operator, a corpsman and the aviation survivalman who operated the rescue hoist. Their lives and his own also were at stake. “I decided to lower the helicopter down to the water,” he said in an interview. “By then it was pitch dark. I flew away from where our radar told us the ship was and then went down to about 40 feet from the ocean.” ⁸

To transition from forward flight to a hover, #1473 executed a challenging “beep-to-hover” maneuver, which enabled them to safely approach the water and the ship. The “beep-to-hover” maneuver was developed by LCDR Frank Shelley, test pilot and program manager for HH-52A acquisition testing, to help pilots safely transition to an overwater hover at night and/or in instrument conditions. The HH-3F PATCH (precision approach to a coupled hover) eventually replaced the “beep-to-hover” in late-1971. ⁹ Interestingly, both procedures most closely mimic the ‘early’ MATCH (manual approach to a controlled hover) in the H-60 and H-65 series aircraft – the PATCH and CATCH in these aircraft utilize auto-pilot and trim functions to perform a ‘hands off’ coupled approach to the water.

This “beep-to-hover” maneuver can be disorienting in the clouds at night, particularly when low over the water with little room for error. Both pilots must continuously scan and interpret the flight instruments – this is critically important – while smoothly manipulating the controls to ensure they are hitting various airspeed and altitude windows to fly the correct profile.

At the completion of this very demanding approach, the helicopter crew found itself in nearly “zero-zero” weather but had executed the approach with such precision that the MK-58s were located. ¹⁰ Barely establishing visual reference with the ocean surface from a 40-foot hover, the helicopter crew was unable to see the vessel’s lights and therefore was hovering at night in a dense fog with minimal visual reference with the ocean surface.

“We made what amounted to an instrument approach to the water,” Lewis explained, “Hovering just over the waves we crawled toward the ship which was about two to three miles away.” ¹¹ At least that’s where a little black box on the instrument panel said the ship was. The aircrew inched forward using the helicopter doppler hover system, the radar, the RDF (radio direction finding, which provided a bearing to a radio signal from the ship). At about one mile out, the STEEL EXECUTIVE’s blip on the helicopter radar was lost in surface clutter – the mood was tense with the aircrew concerned about the combination of low visibility, closure rate, low altitude and vessel rigging obstacles. ¹² At an altitude of 40 feet in extremely limited visibility, the helicopter could literally stumble into the vessel, causing a collision that would doom everyone on board the aircraft and imperil the ship’s crew as well. Eventually, the ship’s surface search radar picked up the helicopter and guided it to her. ¹³ Farmer was on a gunner’s belt leaning out the cabin door and straining to find the ship’s glow. ¹⁴

Lewis praised ASM2 Larry Farmer for far exceeding the scope of duties he’d been trained for – hoisting the injured man off his ship and onto the hovering aircraft. “Farmer actually guided me to the ship.” Lewis said, “I had no visual references so I depended entirely on him. He became our aircraft’s eyes and brought us over the freighter.” ¹⁵

Pucker factor is a slang phrase used by military aviators to describe the level of stress and/or adrenaline response to danger or a crisis situation. The term refers to the tightening of the sphincter caused by extreme concern – on particularly challenging missions, the seat cushions might go missing altogether. The pucker factor had been high since the initial descent into the fog bank, however Farmer remarked that “finally gaining a visual with the ship eased the pucker factor and transformed the aircrew’s outlook from uncertainty of success to ‘we can do this’.” ¹⁶

Huge spotlights pierced the fog, but all Lewis and Farmer could see was the hoist аrеа. Even under ideal weather conditions, positioning a hovering helicopter over the crowded decks of a freighter is a delicate maneuver. “Doing it in pitch darkness while howling 25-mile an hour winds rock ship and aircraft alike is – in the words of the young crewmen who were there with Lewis – something else”. ¹⁷

The pilot and flight mechanic were still concerned with the helicopter’s low hoisting altitude as they surveyed the vessel obstacles – the ship’s towering rigging literally disappeared in the fog above. ¹⁸ Much of the obstacle clearance judgement and decision making fell on the flight mechanic’s shoulders as the pilot was unable to see the hoisting area behind him. The crew was convinced that a ‘basket with trail line’ was the right technique for the situation as it would allow the helicopter to hoist from a position offset 30-40 feet from the ship and facilitate Lewis’ use of the STEEL EXECUTIVE as a hover reference. A trail line is a 105-foot piece of polypropylene line (similar to a water ski rope) with a 300-pound weak-link at one end and a weight bag at the other. The weight bag end of the trail line is paid out below the helicopter and delivered to the persons in distress (usually vertically, but seasoned flight mechanics can literally ‘cast’ the weight bag to a spot). The weak link is then attached to the hoist hook and the helicopter backs away until the pilot can see the hoisting area. The persons in distress can then pull the basket to their location – creating a hypotenuse or diagonal – as opposed to a purely vertical delivery.

Farmer carefully conned the helicopter over the vessel providing voice commands to the pilot – delivering the trail line and, subsequently, the rescue basket to the stern of the STEEL EXECUTIVE. The semi-ambulatory patient was assisted into the basket by the ship’s crew and then hoisted aboard the helicopter. Lewis and Farmer were able to complete the hoist on the first attempt. Farmer appreciatively described Desimone’s efforts: “he spent most of his time working the radios, but he assisted me during the hoists. He was the extra set of hands getting the rescue basket into the cabin and then clearly directed the patient to the back of the cabin.” ¹⁹ Petty Officer McCollough secured the patient for the flight, administered antibiotics and maintained constant watch on the patient’s condition during the return flight. ²⁰

Often forgotten was the job done by Fullmer as Safety Pilot. He continuously scanned the system instruments to ensure the aircraft was operating normally and monitored the flight instruments to ensure obstacle clearance and safe altitude. He effectively conveyed critical information without interfering with Farmer’s conning commands. ²¹

After completing the hoist, it took a few minutes to secure the cabin – Farmer stowed the basket and secured the hoist hydraulics, then closed the cabin door and reported the cabin was secured and ready for forward flight. The pilots then executed a demanding night instrument take-off or ITO from a hover over the water. The ITO is similar to the “beep-to-hover” in terms of relying on aircraft instruments instead of visual cues, but its purpose is the opposite – to get you away from the water and into a forward flight profile at a safe airspeed and altitude. The maneuver was flawlessly executed and the aircrew soon found themselves above the fog bank in clear skies. The helicopter returned to San Diego to deliver the patient to medical authorities. The STEEL EXECUTIVE crewman subsequently recovered. ²²

LCDR Lewis earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for this mission, while ASM3 Farmer earned the Air Medal. The medals were presented by RADM James Williams, Commander, 11th Coast Guard District, in a ceremony at Air Station San Diego on 23 February 1972.

The Lewis and Farmer citations are below:

LCDR Lewis also earned the American Helicopter Society (now the Vertical Flight Society) Frederick L. Feinberg Award on 19 May 1972 at the Sheraton-Park Hotel, Washington, D. C – presented to the pilot or crew of a vertical flight aircraft who demonstrated outstanding skills or achievement during the preceding 18 months.

The award was presented by RADM William A. Jenkins, Chief, Office of Operations, Coast Guard Headquarters, who outlined the case as follows:

“Commander Lewis was selected for his sea rescue of an ill crewman from the merchant ship, S.S. Steel Executive, at night and under extremely hazardous weather conditions. Despite very dense fog, Lt. Cdr. Lewis took off and proceeded to the estimated position of the vessel some 220 miles south of San Diego, Calif. , and — by applying extremely skillful instrument approach procedures — was able to find the vessel with visibility reduced to an eighth of a mile and less at times, and by hovering 50 feet above the vessel, he rescued its seriously ill crewman and safely delivered the patient to medical authorities. The crewman subsequently recovered. This demonstration of courage, skill and airmanship has deservingly earned him the Frederick L. Feinberg Award.” ²³

LCDR Lewis provided the following acceptance speech:

“It’s indeed a deep personal honor for me to receive this award from the American Helicopter Society and from the Kaman organization. But in a sense I really feel that it’s unfortunate that this award should be given to an individual. Without attempting to feign false modesty, I sincerely feel that this award should be shared with many others; specifically the other 3 members of my crew, my service — the Coast Guard — and really, in a sense, you, the members of the American helicopter industry. I am sure there are people sitting here in the audience this evening that participated in the design, the development, and the production of the very fine Sikorsky HH-3 helicopter that was used in this rescue. In honoring the Coast Guard by my selection, I really feel that you honored a service that from the helicopters very beginning — we employed it to rescue thousands of people and saved millions of dollars of property. My rescue that is honored here this evening is really very typical of many other rescues that the Coast Guard has accomplished. And so — even though it’s my name alone that is on this award — I sincerely believe that the honor belongs to my entire crew for that evening that this rescue was accomplished and I feel also that it should be shared with the many other Coast Guard crews who accomplished many other rescues of equal ability or what may it be, but I feel I should share the honor with them.” ²⁴

Later that summer (1972), LCDR Lewis transferred to Air Station St. Petersburg, FL where he continued flying the HH-3F helicopter. Unfortunately, six months after the Feinberg Award presentation, on 16 December 1972, HH-3F #1474 assigned to Air Station St. Petersburg was lost off Sarasota along with the crew LCDR Paul R. Lewis, MAJ Marvin A. Cleveland, USAF (Exchange pilot), AD1 Edward J. Nemetz, AT3 Clinton A. Edwards, and four rescued crewmen from the 54-foot fishing vessel WANDA DENE William Peek, George Dayhoss, Herbert Hardy and Paul Manley. It was late on Saturday when the WANDA DENE, sent out a distress call. The stricken vessel was 35 miles southwest of Key West, taking on water and sinking in rough seas. HH-3F #1474 was launched with its crew of four for a long range rescue. The helicopter arrived overhead the WANDA DENE several hours later and successfully hoisted the four crewmen from the sinking vessel in challenging conditions. The #1474 then flew to Naval Air Station Key West to refuel. From there #1474, now with eight people aboard, departed at about 7 PM for a return flight to St. Petersburg. Normal flight operations were reported with regular radio position reports until about 8:30 PM. Two days later a small portion of the helicopter was found in the Gulf of Mexico south of Fort Myers. Despite a massive search, very little of the aircraft and only one body, that of one of the fisherman, was ever recovered. The cause of the crash was never determined.

On 04 March 2011, a dedication ceremony was held at Air Station Clearwater, FL to posthumously name an annex building in honor of the Service and Sacrifice displayed by LCDR Paul R. Lewis. Members of the Lewis Family including daughter Kara Lewis, wife, Jackie Lewis, sister Abby Sauer, son Curt Lewis, daughter Megan Lewis, sister Joan Chaffee, and Abby’s husband, Gene Sauer were in attendance. Here is a section of the presentation that was made that day:

“LCDR Lewis was a tall, athletic Coast Guard Academy graduate who was regarded as the type of officer and pilot that others strive to become. He graduated in 1960, and went to serve his time aboard a Coast Guard cutter before attending flight school.

Prior to being stationed at Air Station St. Petersburg, LCDR Lewis served at the following air stations: Miami, Kodiak and San Diego. LCDR Lewis was known for his exceptional crew resource management and inclusion of his crew in all his flying duties. Among the pilots he was heralded as a flight instructor and examiner who knew the aircraft better than anyone.
LCDR Lewis is notably remembered for being the first Coast Guard pilot awarded the Frederick L. Feinberg Award for a rescue he performed offshore in San Diego. For that same rescue, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.”
While the building was named to honor Lewis, the air station believed Lewis would have wanted to honor the service and sacrifice of his crew as well. Hence, the auditorium within the building was named for Major Cleveland, the conference room for AD1 Nemetz, and the training room for AT3 Edwards.

¹ Staff writer, “Ex-Area Flier Lost In Crash”, Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester, NY. December 19, 1972, page 22. NOTE: The crewman, name and ailment unknown, may have been suffering from appendicitis and needed to get to a higher level of medical care within 6-12 hours. Various articles describe the issue as “severely ill crewman”; “ill crewman”; “seriously ill seaman”; “injured merchant seaman”; “seaman in need of an operation” and “injured crewman”, but I was unable to ascertain the exact ailment.

² Vietnam Era Voyages as reported in Lloyds Shipping Index (SS Steel Executive)

³ Larry Farmer (HH-3F Flight Mechanic) in email message to author on January 12, 2022 (and subsequent phone interview).

⁴ John Phillip Sousa, “Fog Thwarted Mission – Hero Recalls Perilous Rescue,” The San Diego Union, San Diego, CA, February 27, 1972, page B-3.

⁵ Ibid.

⁶ Air Station San Diego – “Awards Board Minutes” – Case #200-71, page 3.

⁷ Sousa newspaper article.

⁸ Ibid.

⁹ LCDR D. K. Shorey, “The PATCH: Precision Approach to Coupled Hover”, Flight Lines, Summer 1972, pages 2-3.

¹⁰ Ibid.

¹¹ Ibid.

¹² Farmer email.

¹³ Air Station San Diego.

¹⁴ Farmer email.

¹⁵ Ibid.

¹⁶ Ibid.

¹⁷ Ibid.

¹⁸ Ibid.

¹⁹ Ibid.

²⁰ Air Station San Diego.

²¹ Ibid.

²² “28th Forum, Trade Exhibit Registers 800 as 533 See Honors Night Awards Distributed” Vertiflite July/August 1972, pages 6-9.

²³ Ibid.
Ibid.
Ormie King, “Ormie King’s Legends of Auburn: Honoring a native son”, The Post Standard, Syracuse, NY. May 05, 2011 – available here: https://www.syracuse.com/neighbors/2011/05/ormie_kings_legends_of_auburn_honoring_a_native_son.html .

²⁴ Ibid.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Retired CAPT Sean M. Cross served 25 years in the Coast Guard as a helicopter pilot and aeronautical engineer. Flying both the MH-60T and MH-65D, he accumulated over 4,000 flight hours while assigned to Air Stations Clearwater, FL; Cape Cod, MA; San Diego, CA; Elizabeth City, NC and Traverse City, MI – which he commanded.

“LCDR Paul R. Lewis is first Coast Guard Aviator name etched on the Feinberg Award and the story of HOW it got there should be preserved for posterity.”

© 2022, Sean M. Cross

6 February 1991: Boeing KC-135E Stratotanker 58-0013, s/n 17758, call sign “Whale 05,” was on a tactical refueling mission during Operation Desert Storm (the Gulf War against Iraq.) Whale 05 was under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Sweeney, with co-pilot Captain Jay N. Selanders, navigator Captain Greg Mermis, and boom operator Senior Master Sergeant Steven Dale Stuckey. The crew and airplane were assigned to the 190th Air Refueling Wing based at Forbes Field (Topeka Regional Airport, FOE), Topeka, Kansas. On this mission, the tanker was carrying 175,000 pounds (79,379 kilograms) of fuel.

While flying at 25,000 feet (7,620 meters), Whale 05 was passed by another KC-135 and encountered severe wake turbulence. The Stratotanker rolled 90° to the right, 90° left, and 90° right again. During this event, both engines on the tanker’s left wing separated from the aircraft.

Whale 05 descended to 17,000 feet (5,182 meters) and headed back to Jeddah-Prince Abdullah Air Base (JED/OEJN), 200 miles (322 kilometers) south west.

On arrival, the Stratotanker’s landing gear had to be lowered manually, as the hydraulic system was damaged. Whale 05 landed safely and rolled to a stop on Runway 34L.

Inspection of the Stratotanker found that all of the bolts attaching the engines to the right wing were cracked or broken. Engineers calculated that the airplane exceeded 2.5gs, more than 80% of the allowable stress.

Each of the crewmembers of Whale 05 were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Boeing KC-135A-Stratotanker 58-0013 (nicknamed “Balls 13” for its serial number) made its first flight 19 February 1959 and delivered to the U.S. Air Force on 12 March 1959. It was converted to the KC-135E configuration in 1986. 58-0013 flew its final mission 11 September 2004. Withdrawn from service, it was sent to The Boneyard (AMARC) at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona, 7 March 2007.

The Stratotanker was originally operated by a flight crew of four: pilot, co-pilot, navigator, and refueling boom operator. Upgrades over the decades have simplified operation and the crew has been reduced to two pilots and the boom operator. The tanker’s maximum transfer fuel load is 200,000 pounds (90,719 kilograms). The KC-135 can carry 83,000 pounds (37,648 kilograms) of cargo, and up to 37 passengers.It can also be configured to carry cargo or up to 32 passengers.

The KC-135A is 136 feet, 3 inches (41.529 meters) long, with a wingspan of 130 feet, 10 inches (39.878 meters) and overall height of 41 feet, 8 inches (12.700 meters). The Stratotanker’s maximum takeoff weight is 322,500 pounds (146,284 kilograms).

The KC-135A was powered by four Pratt & Whitney J57-P-59W turbojet engines. The J57 was a two-spool, axial-flow engine with a 16-stage compressor section (9 low- and 7-high-pressure stages) and a 3-stage turbine section (1 high- and 2 low-pressure stages). These engines were rated at 13,750 pounds of thrust (61.16 kilonewtons), each. The J57-P-59W was 183.5 inches (4.661 meters) long, 38.9 inches (0.988 meters) long and weighed 4,320 pounds (1,920 kilograms).

Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve KC-135s were re-engined with Pratt & Whitney TF33-PW-102 (JT8D-3) low-bypass turbofan engines from retired Boeing 707 airliners and redesignated KC-135E. This was a two-spool turbofan engine with 2 fan stages, a 14-stage compressor section (7 low-pressure and 7 high-pressure stages), and 4 stage turbine (2 high-pressure and 2 low-pressure stages). The TF33-PW-102 was rated at 18,000 pounds of thrust (80 kilonewtons). The engine was 3 feet, 6.5 inches (1.0795 meters) in diameter, 12 feet, 3.5 inches (3.1369 meters) long, and weighed 3,205 pounds (1,454 kilograms).

All KC-135Es were retired from service by 2009.

The Stratotanker fleet has been re-engined with more efficient CFM International CFM56 turbofan engines which produce 21,634 pounds of thrust (96.23 kilonewtons), each. The upgraded aircraft are designated KC-135R.

The tanker has a cruise speed of 530 miles per hour (853 kilometers per hour) at 30,000 feet (9,144 meters). The service ceiling was 50,000 feet (15,240 meters). Its range is 1,500 miles (2,414 kilometers) when carrying 150,000 pounds (68,039 kilograms) of transfer fuel, and the maximum ferry range is 11,015 miles (17,727 kilometers).

Of the 803 KC-135 aircraft built, 396 remain in service with the U.S. Air Force (as of 14 May 2018). It is estimated that the fleet is 33% through their design lifetime limits.

© 2025, Bryan R. Swopes

5 February 1962: A Sikorsky HSS-2 Sea King (later redesignated SH-3A) became the world’s fastest helicopter by establishing a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) world speed record for helicopters of 339 kilometers per hour (210.645 miles per hour) over a 19 kilometer (11.8 mile) course between Milford and New Haven, Connecticut.¹ The pilots were Lieutenant Robert Wiley Crafton, United States Navy and Captain Louis K. Keck, United States Marine Corps. Both pilots were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the American Helicopter Society’s Frederick L. Feinberg Award.

Having served the United States Navy for 45 years, the Sea King is still in service world-wide, most notably as the VH-3D “Marine One” presidential helicopter.

The Sikorsky HSS-2 Sea King was the first of the S-61 series of military and civil helicopters. It is a large twin-engine helicopter with a single main rotor/tail rotor configuration. The fuselage is designed to allow landing on water. The XHSS-2 made its first flight 11 March 1959. The helicopter was originally used as an anti-submarine helicopter.

The HSS-2 is 72 feet, 6 inches (22.098 meters) long and 16 feet, 10 inches (5.131 meters) high with all rotors turning. The helicopter’s width, across the sponsons, is 16 feet. The main rotors and tail can be folded for more compact storage aboard aircraft carriers, shortening the aircraft to 46 feet, 6 inches (14.173 meters). The empty weight of the HSS-2 is 10,814 pounds (4,905 kilograms). The overload gross weight is 19,000 pounds (8,618 kilograms).

The main rotor has five blades and a diameter of 62 feet, 0 inches (18.898 meters). Each blade has a chord of 1 foot, 6¼ inches (0.464 meters). The rotor blade airfoil was the NACA 0012, which was common for helicopters of that time. The total blade area is 222.5 square feet (20.671 square meters), and the disc area is 3,019 square feet (280.474 square meters). The tail rotor also has five blades and a diameter of 10 feet, 4 inches (3.150 meters). They each have a chord of 7–11/32 inches (0.187 meters). At 100% NR, the main rotor turns 203 r.p.m. and the tail rotor, 1,244 r.p.m.

The HSS-2 was powered by two General Electric T58-GE-6 turboshaft engines, which had a Normal Power rating of 900 horsepower, and Military Power rating of 1,050 horsepower; both ratings at 19,555 r.p.m. at Sea Level. The main transmission was rated for 2,000 horsepower, maximum. (Later models were built with more powerful T58-GE-8 engines. Early aircraft were retrofitted.)

The HSS-2 has a cruise speed of 125 knots (144 miles per hour/232 kilometers per hour) at Sea Level, and a maximum speed of 133 knots (153 miles per hour/246 kilometers per hour) at Sea Level. The service ceiling is 12,100 feet (3,688 meters). The hover ceiling at normal gross weight is 5,200 feet (1,585 meters), out of ground effect (HOGE), and 7,250 feet (2,210 meters), in ground effect (HIGE). The HSS-2 had a combat endurance of 4 hours and a maximum range of 500 nautical miles (575 statute miles/926 kilometers).

The Sea King was primarily an anti-submarine aircraft. It could be armed with up to four MK 43 or MK 44 torpedoes and one MK 101 nuclear-armed depth bomb. Other weapons loads included four MK 14 depth charges and four MK 54 air depth bombs.

In 1962, the HSS-2 was redesignated SH-3A Sea King. Many early production aircraft have remained in service and have been upgraded through SH-3D, SH-3G, etc. In addition to the original ASW role, the Sea Kings have been widely used for Combat Search and Rescue operations. Marine One, the call sign for the helicopters assigned to the President of the United States, are VH-3D Sea Kings. Sikorsky produced the last S-61 helicopter in 1980, having built 794. Production has been licensed to manufacturers in England, Italy, Canada and Japan. They have produced an additional 679 Sea Kings.

¹ FAI Record File Number 13121

© 2019, Bryan R. Swopes

4 February 1902: Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Brigadier General, United States Air Force, Medal of Honor, was born at Detroit, Michigan. He was the son of Swedish immigrant Charles August Lindbergh (born Karl Månsson), an attorney, and Evangeline Lodge Land Lindbergh, a high school chemistry teacher. Lindbergh attended Redondo Beach High School, Redondo Beach, California, 1917–1918.

In 1920–1922 Lindbergh was enrolled as an engineering student at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He shared an apartment with his mother who was teaching at the nearby Emerson School. A friend from the university showed Lindbergh a brochure from a flight school. Mrs. Lindbergh is reported to have told the friend, “If Charles goes to flying school, I will hold you responsible.” Soon after, Lindbergh left the university and entered a flying school in Nebraska. In 1927, the University of Wisconsin bestowed the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) on him.

Certainly one of the world’s best known pilots, Lindbergh began flight training at the age of 20. He was an Aviation Cadet, 19 March 1924–16 March 1925, and trained at the United States Army flight schools at Brooks and Kelly Fields, in Texas. One of his flight instructors was Lieutenant Russell Lowell Maughan. He graduated at the top of his class and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Officers Reserve Corps, U.S. Air Service, with date of rank of 14 March 1925.

Lindbergh was promoted to First Lieutenant, Air Corps, 7 December 1925, and to Captain, 13 July 1926. He flew as an Air Mail pilot and gained valuable flight experience.

Lindbergh was the chief pilot of Robertson Aircraft Corporation at Lambert Field, St. Louis, Missouri. The company was contracted to fly the mail to Chicago, with intermediate stops at Springfield and Peoria, Illinois, using several modified de Havilland DH-4 biplanes. On two occasions, 16 September and 3 November 1926, Lindbergh had to bail out of his mail plane at night.

He resigned from Robertson Aircraft and formed a group to finance and build the Spirit of St. Louis.

On 20 May 1927, Lindbergh departed New York in his custom-built Ryan NYP monoplane, Spirit of St. Louis, and 33 hours, 30 minutes later, he landed at Paris, France, becoming the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. For this accomplishment he won the Orteig Prize of $25,000 (about $400,600 in 2022 dollars).

When he returned to the United States, Lindbergh was presented the Distinguished Flying Cross by President Coolidge. On 14 December 1927, by Act of Congress, Lindbergh was awarded the Medal of Honor:

“For displaying heroic courage and skill as a navigator, at the risk of his life, by his nonstop flight in his airplane, the Spirit of St. Louis, from New York City to Paris, France, 20–21 May 1927, by which Capt. Lindbergh not only achieved the greatest individual triumph of any American citizen but demonstrated that travel across the ocean by aircraft was possible.”

Captain Lindbergh was promoted to the rank of Colonel, Officers Reserve Corps, U.S. Army Air Corps, 18 July 1927. In the 1930s, he had various assignments, including evaluating new aircraft at Wright Field.

Two years after his transatlantic flight, Lindbergh married Miss Anne Spencer Morrow, daughter of the United States Ambassador to Mexico, 27 May 1929, at Englewood, New Jersey. They would have six children.

In 1930–1931, the Lindberghs flew a Lockheed Model 8 Sirius named Tingmissartoq from the United States to China, traveling through Canada, Alaska, Siberia, and Japan.  Anne Morrow Lindbergh wrote about the journey in North to the Orient (Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1935). The Sirius was equipped with floats for a part of the trip. In 1933 they flew the Model 8 to explore air routes in Europe, Africa and South America. NR211 is in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution, National Air and Space Museum.

Their first son, Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., was kidnapped from the family’s home, 1 March 1932. A ransom of $50,000 was paid (equivalent to $1,015,526 today), however the boy’s body was found 12 March. At “The Trial of the Century,” Bruno Richard Hauptman was convicted of the crime. He was later executed.

During the mid-1930s, Lindbergh was an active supporter of the rocketry experiments of Dr. Robert H. Goddard. He had other interests a well. With Nobel Prize winner Dr. Alexis Carrel, he invented the Perfusion Pump to allow oxygenated blood to be supplied to human organs. This eventually led to the “heart-lung machine” that made “open heart” surgery possible.

During World War II, Lindbergh served as a civilian adviser and flew the Chance Vought F4U-1 Corsair in combat missions with Marine fighter squadrons VMF-216 and VMF-222. He also flew the Lockheed P-38 Lightning with the Army Air Force 433rd Fighter Squadron, 475th Fighter Group.

On 28 July 1944, Lindbergh was flying “Blue 3” with a flight of P-38s from the 433rd along the north coast of New Guinea. Over Elpaputih Bay, Blue Flight encountered enemy aircraft. Lindbergh shot down one of them. Various sources identify the aircraft as a Mitsubishi Ki-51 Type 99 “Sonia” flown by Captain Saburo Shimada.

He is starting down in a wing over—out of control. The nose goes down. The plane turns slightly as it picks up speed—down—down—down toward the sea. A fountain of spray—white foam on the water—waves circling outward as from a stone tossed in a pool—the waves merge into those of the sea—the foam disappears—the surface is at it was before.

—The Wartime Journals of Charles A. Lindbergh, by Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Harcourt Brace Jovanovoch, Inc., New York, 1970, at page 889

In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower reactivated his Army Air Corps commission and appointed him Brigadier General, United States Air Force.

Charles A. Lindbergh was the author of We (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1927), Of Flight and Life, (Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1948), and The Spirit of St. Louis (Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1953). This third book won the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1954, and is very highly recommended by This Day in Aviation. The book was made into a motion picture in 1957, directed by Billy Wilder and starring Jimmy Stewart as Lindbergh. (This film was a major influence on the author of TDiA.)

In 1972, while accompanying a television crew investigating a “lost tribe” in the Philippine Islands, Lindbergh and the group were stranded when their helicopter broke down. They were rescued by the 31st Aerospace rescue and Recovery Squadron, based at Clark Field.

Charles Lindbergh died on Maui, Hawaii, 26 August 1974. He was buried at the Palapala Ho’omau Church Cemetery, Kipahulu, Maui.

© 2022, Bryan R. Swopes