Tag Archives: First Flight

31 December 1968

December 31, 2024AviationCCCP-68001, Eduard Vaganovich Elyan, Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), First Flight, Izdeliye 044, Kuznetsov NK-144, Supersonic Airliner, Supersonic Transport, Tupolev Tu-144, Эдуа́рд Вага́нович Еля́нBryan Swopes

31 December 1968: At Zhukovsky Airport, located on the banks of the Moskva River, 22 miles (36 kilometers) southeast of central Moscow, the prototype Tupolev Tu-144 supersonic airliner took off on its first flight. Tupolev Design Bureau test pilot Eduard Vaganovich Elyan (Эдуа́рд Вага́нович Еля́н ) was the aircraft commander. The prototype, known as Izdeliye 044, carried the Soviet registration number CCCP-68001.

The flight lasted 37 minutes. The new airplane was reported as responsive and easy to fly. There were no significant problems.

This test flight took place two months before the first flight of the rival Aérospatiale Concorde supersonic airliner.¹

Tupolev Design Bureau test pilot Эдуа́рд Вага́нович Еля́н (Eduard Vaganovich Elyan) in the cockpit of the prototype Tupolev Tu-144. (Фото © Sputnik / Евгений Умнов ǁ armeniasputnik.am)

Tupolev Tu-144 prototype crew following the first flight. Eduard Elyan is at left. Andrei Nikolayevich Tupolev and Aleksey Andreevich Tupolev are at the center of the image. (Tupolev PJSC)

The Tupolev Tu-144 was prototype large four-engine double-delta-winged supersonic transport aircraft with a “droop” nose for improved low speed cockpit visibility. The airplane was assembled at Zhukovsky Airport from parts manufactured at the Tupolev Experimental Design Bureau plant (also known as OKB-156, or MMZ Opyt). It was flown by a flight test crew of four. The prototype completed 9 October 1968.

Izdeliye 044 was 59.50 meters (195 feet, 2.5 inches) long, with a wingspan of 27.65 meters (90 feet, 8.6 inches) and overall height of 11.35 meters (37 feet, 2.9 inches). The wing had an approximate area of 438 square meters (4,715 square feet). At the root, the double delta wing had a chord of 35.60 meters (116 feet, 9.6 inches). The fuselage was cylindrical with an external diameter of 3.00 meters (9 feet, 10.1 inches). The prototype had a maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) of 160,000 kilograms (352,740 pounds).

CCCP-68001 first went supersonic 5 June 1969. It reached Mach 2.02 on 26 May 1970. The highest speed reached by the prototype was Mach 2.30, and its highest altitude, 16,960 meters (55,643 feet). Izdeliye 044 made a total 180 flight hours over 120 flights. Its final flight took place 27 April 1973. The prototype was scrapped at Zhukovsky.

e Tupolev Tu-144 prototype rollout. (Tupolev PJSC)

Izdeliye 044 was powered by four Kuznetsov NK-144 engines with a maximum thrust of 171.6 kilonewtons (38,577 pounds thrust) per engine. Its maximum thrust while supersonic was 127.5 (28,663 pounds thrust). The NK-144 is a two-spool, axial-flow turbofan engine with afterburner. It uses a 2-stage fan section, 14-stage compressor section (11 high- and 3 low-pressure stages), and a 3-stage turbine (1 high- and 2 low-pressure stages). The NK-144 is 5.200 meters (17 feet, 0.7 inches) long, 1.500 meters (4 feet, 11.1 inches) in diameter and weighs 2,827 kilograms (6,233 pounds). (The prototype had all four engines placed side by side along the aircraft centerline).

Tupolev Tu-144 engines mounted side by side. (Tupolev PJSC)

The Tu-144 was intended to carry 120 passengers on international flights. It was designed to have a cruise speed of 2,200 kilometers per hour (1,367 miles per hour), a maximum speed of 2,443 kilometers per hour (1,518 miles per hour), and service ceiling of 18,500 meters (60,696 feet). Its planned range was 2,920 kilometers (1,814 statute miles).

Tupolev Tu-144 under construction. (Tupolev PJSC, via Kazan National Research Technical University)

The production Tupolev Tu-144 aircraft was lengthened 6.2 meters (20 feet, 4.1 inches), added canards, had changes to wing which included shortening the chord at the root 2.10 meters (6 feet, 10.7 inches), increasing the span 0.35 meters (1 foot, 1.8 inches), drooping and squaring off the wing tips, a significant increase in wing area, changes to engine placement and shape of the nacelles, and the location of the landing gear. The engines were upgraded to the improved NK144A.

The Tupolev Tu-144 was the first supersonic transport to enter service, 26 December 1975.² In actual commercial service, the Tu-144 was extremely unreliable. It was withdrawn from service after a total of just 102 commercial flights, including only 55 passenger flights.

A total of 17 Tu-144s were built, including one pre-production aircraft, five Tu-144S series production aircraft, and ten improved Tu-144Ds with Kolosev RD-36-51A engines. One of the Tu-144Ds, RA-77114, was converted to a Tu-144LL for the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). This airplane made its last flight in 1999.

Eduard Vaganovich Elyan was born at Baku, Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, 20 August 1926. From 1938 he lived in Norilsk, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Rrepublic, a recently established mining settlement in Krasnoyarsk Krai, approximately 185 miles (300 kilometers) north of the Arctic Circle. (Norilsk is now a large, closed city). He also lived in Moscow and Sverdlovsk.

Elyan attended the Sverdlovsk Air Force School in 1944, and entered the Soviet military in June of that year. He underwent initial pilot training at the 9th Military Aviation School at Buguruslan, Orenburg Oblast, Russia, then Borisglebsk Military Aviation School of Pilots, Voronezh Oblast, graduating in 1948. He remained there as a flight instructor until 1951.

From 1951 to 1953, Elyan attended the test pilot school at Zhukovsky. He then began working at the Flight Research Institute at Zhukovsky, in 1953.

From March 1958 through August 1960, Elyan served as a test pilot for the Sukhoi Design Bureau (OKB-51). He then went on to the Tupolev OKB, remaining there until December 1981.

In 1967, Elyan was named an Honored Test Pilot of the Soviet Union. In 1969, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) awarded him the Paul Tissandier Diploma for his accompliushments in aviation. On 26 April 1971, Elyan was named Hero of the Soviet Union, awarded the order of Lenin and the Gold Star Medal.

Tupolev Tu-144D CCCP-77111 on fire, 23 May 1978.

On 23 May 1978, Elyan made an emergency belly landing of a Tu-144D, CCCP-77111, in an open field near Yegoryevsk. During the airliner’s sixth test flight, a fuel leak started a fire in the right wing. Three engines had to be shut down in succession and it was impossible to return to Ramenskoye Airport, where the flight had originated. The Tu-144D touched down at about 380 kilometers per hour (236 miles per hour). Two crewmen were killed when the nose cone collapsed on impact. The aircraft continued to burn after landing. The six survivors escaped. Elyan was seriously injured.

Wreckage of Tupolev Tu-144D CCCP-77111. (Tu-144 SST)

Elyan stopped test flying in 1982. He worked as an engineer for Mikoyan OKB. He retired in 1996.

Eduard Vaganovich Elyan died at Rostov-on-Don 6 April 2006. His remains were buried at the Northern Cemetery there.

¹ See This Day in Aviation for 2 March 1969 at https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/2-march-1969/

² See This Day in Aviation for 26 December 1975 at https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/26-december-1975/

31 December 1948

December 31, 2024Aviationc/n 101003, Fighter, First Flight, Interceptor, Klimov RD-45F, Klimov VK-1, MiG-15 (SV), Mikoyan Design Bureau, Mikoyen-Gurevich MiG-15Bryan Swopes

The first production Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 (SV), No. 101003. (Mikoyan Design Bureau)

31 December 1948: One year and one day after the first flight of the MiG I-310 S01 prototype, the first production Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15, serial number 101003, made its first flight. The production aircraft were based on the third I-310 prototype, S03. No. 101003 was designated МиГ-15(CB) (MiG-15 SV), and was retained by Mikoyan OKB for testing.

The MiG-15 is a single-seat, single-engine turbojet-powered fighter interceptor, designed to attack heavy bombers. Designed for high-subsonic speed, the wings were swept aft to 35° at 25% chord and had 2° anhedral. The wings were very thin to minimize aerodynamic drag and used “fences” to control air flow. The horizontal stabilizer was swept 40°, and the vertical fin, 55.7°.

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 (SV), No. 101003. (Mikoyan Design Bureau)

Rolls-Royce Nene Mk.I and Mk.II turbojet engines had been used in the three I-310 prototypes. The British engine was reverse-engineered by Vladimir Yakovlevich Klimov and manufactured at Factory No. 45 in Moscow as the RD-45F. The engine produced a maximum 22.26 kilonewtons of thrust (5,004 pounds of thrust). It was improved and designated VK-1. Most MiG-15s used this engine.

The production fighter was 10.10 meters (33 feet, 2 inches) long, with a wingspan of 10.08 meters (33 feet, 1 inch) and height of 3.17 meters (10 feet, 5 inches). The total wing area was 20.60 square meters (222 square feet). The interceptor’s empty weight was 3,247 kilograms (7,158 pounds), and its takeoff weight was 4,917 kilograms (10,840 pounds).

The MiG-15 had a cruise speed 974 kilometers per hour (605 miles per hour, 0.79 Mach). Its maximum speed was 1,047 kilometers per hour (565 knots, or 651 miles per hour)—0.99 Mach—at low altitude, and 1,031 kilometers per hour (557 knots, 641 miles per hour, 0.97 Mach) at 5,000 meters (16,404 feet). The maximum rate of climb was 2,520 meters per minute (8,268 feet per minute), and its service ceiling was 15,100 meters (49,541 feet). The fighter had a practical range of 1,335 kilometers (830 miles).

Armament consisted of one Nudelman NS-37 37 mm cannon with 40 rounds of ammunition, and two Nudelman-Rikhter NR-23 23 mm cannon with 80 rounds per gun.

The first MiG 15, 101003, was built at Factory No. 1. Full scale production was considered so important that four other aircraft types were discontinued so that their factories could be used to build MiG-15s. They were also license-built in Poland and Czechoslovakia. More than 18,000 MiG-15s have been built. It has served in the air forces of at least 44 countries.

The MiG-15 soon entered combat in the Korean War. It scored its first air-to-air victory, 1 November 1950, when First Lieutenant Fiodor V. Chizh shot down a U.S. Air Force F-51 Mustang.

Soviet technicians service a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15bis of the 351st Fighter Aviation Regiment at Antung Air Base, China, mid-1952. (Unattributed)

31 December 1938

December 31, 2024AviationAirliner, Boeing Aircraft Company, Boeing C-75 Stratoliner, Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner, Eddie Allen, Edmund Turney Allen, First Flight, NC19903, NX19901, s/n 1994, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Test Pilot, Wright Aeronautical Corporation, Wright Cyclone 9 GR-1820-G102Bryan Swopes

Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner with all engines running, Boeing Field, Seattle, Washington, circa 1939. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives)

31 December 1938: Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner NX19901 made its first flight at Boeing Field, Seattle, Washington. The test pilot was Eddie Allen, with co-pilot Julius A. Barr.

The Model 307 was a four-engine commercial airliner that used the wings, tail surfaces, engines and landing gear of the production B-17B Flying Fortress heavy bomber. The fuselage was circular in cross section to allow for pressurization. It was the first pressurized airliner and because of its complexity, it was also the first airplane to include a flight engineer as a crew member.

Boeing 307 Stratoliner NX19901 with both propellers on right wing feathered. (Boeing)

The Associated Press news agency reported:

Test Of Big Craft Begins

SEATTLE, Dec. 31—(AP)—The world’s first plane, designed for flying in the sub-stratosphere, the new Boeing “Stratoliner”, performed “admirably” in a 42-minute first test flight in the rain today.

The big ship, with a wingspread of 107 feet, three inches, climbed to 4,000 feet, the ceiling, and cruised between here, Tacoma and Everett. Speed was held down to 175 miles an hour.

“The control and stability and the way it handled were very nice,” Edmund T. Allen, pilot, said. “She performed admirably.”

The 33-passenger ship was built to fly at altitudes of 20,000 feet.

No more tests are planned until next week. The supercharging equipment for high altitude flights will be installed later.

—Arizona Republic, Vol. IL, No. 228, Sunday, 1 January 1939, Page 2, Column 4

Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner NX19901 taking of at Boeing Field, Seattle, Washington. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives)

Giant ‘Stratoliner” Wheeled From Factory, On First Flight

SEATTLE, Dec. 31—(AP)—The newest thing in aviation—a giant, 33-passenger stratoliner named and built by Boeing Aircraft Company—met enthusiastic approval of its test pilot today after preliminary test runs.

Scarcely 24 hours after it left the factory, the newest Boeing plane tested its wings yesterday. Test Pilot Edmund T. Allen taxied the plane along the ground, gunned it a bit and flew it in the air a short time at an altitude from 15 to 30 feet.

Allen did not class the short hop as the ship’s maiden flight, which he said formally remained to be made, probably within a week.

He said the big ship, minus general airplane characteristics, would not require any super-airports as the demonstration showed it would be able to take off and land at any ordinary-sized field.

The stratoliner has four 1,100-horsepower motors which will enable it to cruise at an altitude of four miles at a speed of more than four miles a minute.

Most unusual feature of the silver colored plane is the shape of the cabin, which bears a distinct resemblance to a metal dirigible. The cabin is circular throughout its length of 74 feet, four inches.

The shape was adopted because of the necessity of sealing the cabin so passengers can enjoy low-level atmospheric conditions while soaring at high altitudes. The door, instead of opening outwards, is opened from the inside, so that the higher air pressure in the cabin will keep it sealed.

The stratoliner’s wings compare in design with the Boeing flying fortresses but because of the larger cabin, the wing span is 107 feet, three inches, greater than that of the bombers, the new plane’s height is 17 feet, three inches.

“Outside of scientific and engineering circles the substratosphere has been generally regarded as something far away and mystical, but now it is being brought ‘down to earth,’ C. L. Engtvedt, president of Boeing said.

“The stratoliner will fly below the true stratosphere, but above the heavy air belt that brews surface weather conditions. Here we get most of the benefits of the stratosphere without getting into complex problems of flight in the extremely rare atmosphere and low temperature of the true stratosphere,” he said.

Engtvedt predicted stratosphere type planes would lend a tremendous stimulus to the growth of air transportation.

The first three stratoliners are being built for pan-American airways. Six more are in the course of construction for buyers whose identity has not been announced.

—Eugene Register-Guard, Vol. 95, No. 1, January 1, 1939 at Page 3, Columns 5 and 6

On March 18, 1939, during its 19th test flight, the Stratoliner went into a spin, then a dive. It suffered structural failure of the wings and horizontal stabilizer when the flight crew attempted to recover. NX19901 was destroyed and all ten persons aboard were killed.¹

Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner NX19901. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives)

Boeing 307 Stratoliner NX19901, right rear quarter. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives, Catalog #:01_00091289)

Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner NX19901. (San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive, Catalog # 01 00091288) — Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner NX19901. The engine cowlings have been removed. The inboard right engine is running. The arrangement of passenger windows differs on the right and left side of the fuselage. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives)

The Boeing Model 307 was operated by a crew of five and could carry 33 passengers. It was 74 feet, 4 inches (22.657 meters) long with a wingspan of 107 feet, 3 inches (32.690 meters) and overall height of 20 feet, 9½ inches (6.337 meters). The wings had 4½° dihedral and 3½° angle of incidence. The empty weight was 29,900 pounds (13,562.4 kilograms) and loaded weight was 45,000 pounds (20,411.7 kilograms).

The cockpit of a Boeing 307 Stratoliner, photographed 12 March 1940. (Boeing)

Cutaway illustration of a Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner. (NASM SI-89-4024)

The airliner was powered by four air-cooled, geared and supercharged, 1,823.129-cubic-inch-displacement (29.875 liter) Wright Cyclone 9 GR-1820-G102 9-cylinder radial engines with a compression ratio of 6.7:1, rated at 900 horsepower at 2,200 r.p.m., and 1,100 horsepower at 2,200 r.p.m. for takeoff. These drove three-bladed Hamilton-Standard Hydromatic propellers through a 0.6875:1 gear reduction in order to match the engine’s effective power range with the propellers. The GR-1820-G102 was 4 feet, 0.12 inches (1.222 meters) long, 4 feet, 7.10 inches (1.400 meters) in diameter, and weighed 1,275 pounds (578 kilograms).

Boeing Model 307 Stratoliners under construction. (SDASM Archives Catalog #: 00061653)

The maximum speed of the Model 307 was 241 miles per hour (388 kilometers per hour) at 6,000 feet (1,828.8 meters). Cruise speed was 215 miles per hour (346 kilometers per hour) at 10,000 feet (3,048 meters). The service ceiling was 23,300 feet (7,101.8 meters).

Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner NX19901 with all engines running. (San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive, Catalog # 01 00091291) — Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner NX19901 with all engines running. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives, Catalog #: 01_00091291)

A Transcontinental and Western Airlines (TWA) Boeing 307 Stratoliner with cabin attendants. (TWA) — A Transcontinental and Western Airlines (TWA) Boeing 307 Stratoliner with cabin attendants. (Trans World Airlines)

As a result of the crash of NX19901, production Stratoliners were fitted with a vertical fin similar to that of the B-17E Flying Fortress.

Pan American Airways’ Boeing 307 Stratoliner NC19903, photographed 18 March 1940. Note the new vertical fin. (Boeing via Goleta Air and Space Museum)

During World War II, TWA sold its Stratoliners to the United States government which designated them C-75 and placed them in transatlantic passenger service.

Boeing C-75 Stratoliner. (San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive, Catalog # 01 00091316) — Boeing C-75 Stratoliner “Comanche,” U.S. Army Air Corps serial number 42-88624, formerly TWA’s NC19905. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives, Catalog # 01_00091316)

Two TWA stewardesses with a Boeing 307 Stratoliner, circa 1950. (San Diego Air & Space Museum)

In 1944, the 307s were returned to TWA and they were sent back to Boeing for modification and overhaul. The wings, engines and tail surfaces were replaced with those from the more advanced B-17G Flying Fortress. The last one in service was retired in 1951.

Of the ten Stratoliners built for Pan Am and TWA, only one remains. Fully restored by Boeing, NC19903 is at the Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian Institution.

The only existing Boeing Model 307 Stratoliner, NC19903, Clipper Flying Cloud, at the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. (Photo by Dane Penland, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution)

¹ Please see This Day in Aviation for 18 March 1939 at: https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/18-march-1939/

30 December 1947

December 30, 2024AviationFirst Flight, Mikoyan-Gurevich I-310, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG 15, Prototype, Ramenskoye Airfield, Rolls-Royce Nene Mk.I, S01, Viktor Nikolaevich Yuganov, Юганов Виктор НиколаевичBryan Swopes

The Mikoyan and Gurevich I-310 prototype S01.

30 December 1947: OKB Mikoyan test pilot Captain Viktor Nikolaevich Yuganov made the first flight of the Mikoyan and Gurevich I-310 prototype, S01. This would be developed into the legendary MiG-15 fighter.

S01 was a single-seat, single-engine prototype for a fighter interceptor designed to attack heavy bombers. It was intended to reach the high subsonic speed range. The wings and tail surfaces were swept to 35° at 25% chord. The wings were given 2° anhedral.

The prototype was 10.11 meters (33 feet, 2 inches) long with a wingspan of 10.08 meters (33 feet, ¾ inch). Its empty weight was 3,380 kilograms (7,452 pounds) and the takeoff weight was 4,820 kilograms (10,626 pounds).

I-310 S01 was powered by a Rolls-Royce Nene turbojet engine, one of 55 purchased from Rolls-Royce in 1947, then reverse-engineered by Vladimir Yakovlevich Klimov as the Klimov RD-45. The Nene used a single-stage centrifugal-flow compressor and single-stage axial-flow turbine. It was rated at 5,000 pounds of thrust (22.24 kilonewtons) at 12,400 r.p.m., for takeoff.

The I-310 had a maximum speed of 905 kilometers per hour (562 miles per hour) at Sea Level (0.74 Mach), and 1,042 kilometers per hour (648 miles per hour)—0.99 Mach—at 2,600 meters (8,530 feet). The service ceiling was 15,200 meters (49,869 feet). It could climb to 5,000 meters (16,404 feet) in 2 minutes, 18 seconds, and to 10,000 meters (32,808 feet) in 7 minutes, 6 seconds. Endurance was 1 hour, 31 minutes. Maximum range for S01 was 1,395 kilometers (867 miles).

The prototype was armed with one Nudelman N-37 37 mm cannon and two Nudelman-Rikhter NR-23 23 mm cannon.

The the first production MiG 15 flew 31 December 1948, one year and one day after the prototype. More than 18,000 were built.

The first production Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 fighter. (Unattributed)

Viktor Nikolaevich Yuganov (Виктор Николаевич Юганов) was born at Moscow, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, 23 February 1922. He was a member of the Stalin Flying Club at age 14.

In December 1937, Yuganov entered the Red Army. He graduated from the flight school at Borisoglebsk, Voronezh, Russia, in December 1938. Yuganov was the youngest pilot in the 56th Fighter Regiment.

In July and August 1939, he flew 120 combat sorties during the Battles of Khalkhyn Gol (an undeclared war with Japan) and is credited with having shot down three enemy airplanes.

Viktor Yuganov was transferred to the 19th Fighter Regiment and was involved in the Russo-Finnish War (“The Winter War”) of 1939–1940.

After Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, Yuganov was assigned to the 2nd Independent Fighter Squadron. In January 1942, he was appointed deputy commander of the 521st Fighter regiment at the Kalinin Front. He shot down two more enemy aircraft.

In April 1942 Yuganov was assigned as a test pilot at the Gromov Flight Research Institute at Zhukovsky Air Base near Moscow and remained there until March 1945. He then became an inspector on the Air Staff for the Moscow Military District. In December 1946 he resumed test flying, this time at Mikoyan Design Bureau. Three years later, Yuganov returned to the Flight Research Institute where he continued testing the MiG-15.

Viktor Yuganov was awarded the Order of Lenin, and three times, the Order of the Red Banner. He died at Moscow, 24 July 1964.

29 December 1939

December 29, 2024Aviation39-556, 39-680, Consolidated Aircraft Company, Consolidated Model 32, Consolidated XB-24, Consolidated XB-24B, First Flight, Pratt & Whitney R-1830-33, Pratt & Whitney R-1830-41, Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp S3C4-G, Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp TSC4-G, William B. WheatleyBryan Swopes

The prototype Consolidated XB-24 heavy bomber takes off from Lindbergh Field.

29 December 1939: Consolidated Aircraft Corporation’s chief test pilot, William B. (“Bill”) Wheatley, made the first flight of the XB-24, 39-556, from San Diego Municipal Airport – Lindbergh Field, at San Diego, California. The flight crew included George Newman, co-pilot, and flight engineers Jack Kline and Bob Keith. The flight lasted just 17 minutes.

This airplane (the company designation was Model 32) was the prototype of the B-24 Liberator bomber. The U.S. Army Air Corps had approached Consolidated to set up a second production line for Boeing’s B-17 Flying Fortress four-engine heavy bomber. After looking at Boeing’s Seattle operation, Consolidated’s chief executive, Reuben H. Fleet, told the Air Corps that they could build a better, more modern bomber.

Consolidated XB-24 39-556. (San Diego Air & Space Museum)

The XB-24 was designed to be operated by a seven man crew. It was 63 feet, 9 inches (19.431 meters) long with a wingspan of 110 feet, 0 inches (33.528 meters), and was 18 feet, 8 inches (5.689 meters) high. The wings used the “Davis Airfoil” that had been used on the Model 31, a prototype flying boat, the XP4Y. The root chord was 14 feet, 0 inches (4.267 meters). Their angle of incidence was 3° 0′, with 3° 26° dihedral. The leading edges were swept aft 3° 30′. The total wing area was 1,048 square feet (97.36 square meters).

The empty weight of the XB-24 was approximately 27,500 pounds ( kilograms), and its maximum takeoff weight was 46,400 pounds (21,047 kilograms).

Consolidated XB-24 39-556, 26 December 1939. (San Diego Air & Space Museum)

The XB-24 was powered by four air-cooled, supercharged 1,829.4-cubic-inch-displacement (29.978 liter) Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp S3C4-G (R-1830-33) two-row fourteen-cylinder radial engines. These had a normal power rating of 1,100 horsepower at 2,550 r.p.m. to 6,100 feet (1,859 meters) and 1,000 horsepower at 2,700 r.p.m at 14,500 feet. The takeoff/military power rating was 1,200 horsepower at 2,700 r.p.m. to 5,000 feet (1,524 meters). The engines drove three-bladed Curtiss Electric variable-pitch propellers through a 2:1 gear reduction. The R-1830-33 was 4 feet, 0.06 inches (1.221 meters) in diameter and 5 feet, 3.48 inches (1.612 meters) long. It weighed 1,480 pounds (671 kilograms).

The XB-24 had cruise speed of 186 miles per hour (299 kilometers per hour), and a maximum speed of 273 miles per hour (439 kilometers per hour) at 15,000 feet (4,572 meters). The service ceiling was 31,500 feet (9,601 meters). Maximum range was 4,700 miles (4,828 kilometers), or 3,000 miles (7,564 kilometers) with 2,500 pounds (1,134 kilograms) of bombs.

The XB-24 was 38 miles per hour (61 kilometers per hour) slower than the Air Corps specification. A number of changes were made, including replacing the supercharged R-1830-33 engines with turbocharged Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp TSC4-G (R-1830-41) engines. With the addition of the turbochargers, the R-1830-41s were able to maintain 1,200 horsepower up to 25,000 feet (7,620 meters). The propeller gear reduction ratio remained 2:1. At the same time, the round engine cowlings were changed to an elliptical shape that became a characteristic of the B-24. The modified prototype was redesignated XB-24B. In the new configuration, the bomber was able to reach 310 miles per hour (499 kilometers per hour), just 1 mile per hour under the Army’s requirement.

Consolidated XB-24 39-556 in flight near San Diego, California. (U.S. Air Force)

When the Royal Air Force bought several of the YB-24 pre-production airplanes, the Army Air Corps revised the serial numbers assigned to the B-24s. Though it was the same airplane, the XB-24′s designation was changed to XB-24B, and its serial number from 39-556 to 39-680.

The XB-24B was retained by Consolidated, now the Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft Corporation, and in 1944 further modified as a company transport. The prototype was scrapped at Brookley Field, Mobile, Alabama, 20 June 1946.

Consolidated-Vultee XB-24B 39-680 (formerly XB-24 39-556) after modification to a company transport. The large windows in the passenger areas could be covered by Venetian blinds. Photographed 23 April 1945. (San Diego Air & Space Museum)

18,482 B-24 Liberators—more than any other Allied aircraft type—were built during World War II by Consolidated at San Diego, California and Fort Worth, Texas; by North American Aviation at Dallas, Texas; by Douglas Aircraft at Tulsa, Oklahoma. More than half of the total production was built by the Ford Motor Company at Willow Run. During World War II, the B-24 served in every combat theater. In U.S. Navy service, it was designated PB4Y-1 Privateer. It was faster, had a longer range, and could carry a heavier bomb load than the Boeing B-17, but was thought to be less survivable to combat damage. As the war came to an end, hundreds of brand new B-24s were accepted by the Air Corps, but sent immediately to be scrapped rather than placed in service.

William Ballentine Wheatley, (Photograph courtesy of Neil Corbett, Test and Research Pilots, Flight Test Engineers)

William Ballantine Wheatley was born at Chester, New York, 17 December 1902, the first of three children of William A. Wheatley, a public school superintendent, and Mabel Ballantine Wheatley. He was twice married, first, about 1927, to Esther Leary Wheatley, of Massachussetts. They had two children, Mary and William Thomas Wheatley. His second marriage was to Miss Grace Lenore Ray, 18 April 1935, at Washington, D.C. They would have a son, John, and two daughters, Grace and Charlotte Wheatley.

After two years of college, Wheatley joined the U.S. Army Air Corps as an aviation cadet, 3 March 1925. He trained as a pilot at Brooks Field, Texas, and was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant, 13 March 1926. On 4 May 1927, Lieutenant Wheatley was assigned to the 118th Observation Squadron, 43rd Division, Air Service, at Hartford, Connecticut, as a pilot and observer. He served in the Air Corps Reserve until 1937.

In 1928, Wheatley went to work for the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company as a test pilot. He was an air mail pilot in 1928-1929, and then, in February 1929, he became a test pilot for Reuben H. Fleet’s Consolidated Aircraft Corporation at Buffalo, New York. In 1935, Consolidated moved to its new headquarters at Lindbergh Field, San Diego, California. Wheatley moved with it. He and his family lived in a 3 bedroom home about three miles northeast of the airport. In 1940, his salary as chief test pilot of Consolidated was $50,000 per year.¹

Bill Wheatley was killed when a Royal Air Force Liberator B Mk.II, AL503, crashed into San Diego Bay during its acceptance flight, 2 June 1941. Four other Consolidated employees on board also died.

Consolidated Model LB-30, Liberator B Mk.II, AL503, photographed 2 June 1941—the same day it crashed. (Consolidated Aircraft Corporation)

¹ Approximately equivalent to $1,083,439 U.S. dollars in 2023.