Tag Archives: Harmon Trophy

28–29 July 1929

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Maryse Bastie
Maryse Bastié (FAI)

28–29 July 1929: Maryse Bastié was the first woman to set a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) world aviation record.  She took off from the Aéroport de Paris-Le Bourget at 5:18:15 a.m., 28 July 1929, and landed at 8:05:45 a.m., 29 July. She had remained airborne for 26 hours, 47 minutes, 30 seconds.¹

Mme Bastié’s Barograph record. (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale)

The official Fédération Aéronautique Internationale records database credits Mme Bastié with eight world records for distance and duration.

Caudron C. 109 F-AHFE. (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale)

Mme Bastié’s airplane was a two-place, single-engine, Caudron C. 109 parasol-wing monoplane, F-AHFE, serial number 5804.1.

The C. 109 had a length of 6.440 meters (21 feet, 1.5 inches), wing span of 11.50 meters (37 feet, 8.8 inches) and height of 2.530 meters (8 feet, 3.6 inches). Its empty weight was 330 kilograms (727.525 pounds) and gross weight, 532 kilograms (1,173 pounds).

The standard C. 109 had a fuel capacity of 57 liters (15 U.S. gallons), and carried 15 litres (4 U.S. gallons) of lubricating oil for the engine. Its maximum speed was 120 kilometers per hour (75 miles per hour).

Société des Moteurs Salmson 9AD (NASM 2022-01819)

F-AHFE was powered by a naturally aspirated, air-cooled, Société des Moteurs Salmson 9AD 2,959.8 cubic centimeter (180.62 cubic inches) nine cylinder radial engine. The 9AD had a cylinder bore diameter of 69.9 millimeters (2.752 inches), and piston stroke of 85.7 millimeters (3.374 inches). It was rated at 45 chaval vapeur at 2,000 r.p.m. (44.37 horsepower). The engine was 69.1 centimeters (27.20472 inches) long and 63 centimeters (24.8031 inches) in diameter. It weighed 69.9 kilograms (154.1 pounds).

F-AHFE had set two other FAI world records. On 25 October 1927, Raymond Delmotte flew over a closed circuit from Villacoublay to Saran in France, for a distance of 1 535,20 kilometers (953.93 statute miles).² Two days later, 27 October 1927, Max Knipping flew from Le Bourget, Paris, France, to Königsberg, Germany, a distance of 1 581,84 kilometers.³

The airplane was first registered to M. Cuadron as F-ESDE, 06.11.25. It was the sold to M. Bastié at Issy. Later, Guy Bart, Chennevieres-sur-Marne; André Lemoine, Reims; and Pierre Gaston Lapanne at Nancy.

Marie-Louise Bombec was born at Limoges, Haute-Vienne, France, 27 February 1898. She was the daughter of Joseph Bombec and Celine Filhoulaud. She married Babtiste Gourinchas at Limoges, 11 February 1915. Their son, Germain Gourinchas, was born 22 September 1915.

In 1918, Mme Gourinches was employed as a secretary-typist at the Limoges electric company.

Marie-Louise and her husband separated 29 May 1920, and divorced 24 December 1920. Germain died of typhoid fever, 6 June 1935, in Ferryville (now known as Manzil Būrgībah), Bizerte, Tunisia.

On 22 May 1922, Mme Gourinches married a pilot, M. Louis Bastié, at Limoges. With her husband, she ran a shoe store in Cognac.

After taking instruction from Guy Bart, she first soloed 8 September, 1925, at Bordeaux, Gironde, Aquitaine, France. Mme Bastié earned Brevet de Pilot N° 1036, 29 September 1925.

On 15 October 1926, she received a telegram informing her that her husband, Louis, had been killed.

In 1928, she officially changed her name from Marie-Louise to Maryse.

On 13 July 1928, she flew her Caudron C.109, F-AHFE, from Le Bourget Aerodrome, Paris, France, to Trzebiatów, Pomeranina, a distance of 1,058 kilometers (657 statute miles).

On 11 October 1928, she became to first woman in France to obtain a public transport license, N° 1136. She was only the second woman in France to earn a professional pilot’s license.

On 28 July 1929 Maryse Bastié, flying a Caudron C.109 parasol-winged, strut-braced monoplane, F-AHFE, to set a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) world record for duration of 26 hours, 47 minutes, 30 seconds, at Le Bourget. (FAI Record File Number 10446)

On 10 June 1930, she set another FAI world record for duration, 22 hours, 24 minutes, flying a Klemm L 25 I monoplane powered by an air-cooled 2.979 liter (181.77 cubic inch displacement) Salmson AD.9 nine-cylinder radial direct-drive engine, which was rated at 50 horsepower at 2,000 r.p.m. (FAI Record File Number 12337)

Maryse with her Klemm L 25 I monoplane. (Conservatoire Aeronautique du Limousin)

On 18 August 1930, she set another FAI world record for duration, 25 hours, 55 minutes, again flying the Klemm. (FAI Record File Number 12338)

At Le Bourget, 4 September 1930, she set two FAI world records for duration, 37 hours, 55 minutes, flying the Klemm monoplane. (FAI Record File Numbers 12339, 12341)

On 29 June 1931, Mme Bastié flew the Klemm from the Le Bourget airport, Paris, France, to Urino, Russia, U.S.S.R., to set three FAI world records for distance: 2,976,31 kilometers (1,849.39 statute miles). The duration of the flight was 30 hours, 30 minutes. (FAI Record File Numbers 12345, 12346, 14886). For this flight, she was awarded the Order of the Red Star by the Presidium of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

She was awarded the Harmon Aviatrix Trophy for 1931. On 20 March 1932, Bastié was appointed Femme Chevalier de la légion d’honneur.

On 30 December 1936, Maryse Bastié flew a Caudron C.635 Simoun, F-ANXO, from Dakar, French West Africa, across the South Atlantic Ocean to Natal, Brazil, solo, in 12 hours, 5 minutes.

Maryse flew this Caudron C.635 Simoun across the South Atlantic Ocea., solo, in 12 hours, 5 minutes, 30 December 1936. (Association des Amis di Musee de l’Air)

On 22 February 1937, France promoted her to Officier Ordre national de la Légion d’honneur.

During the German occupation of France, Mme Bastié was suspected of being a member of La Résistance française (the French Resistance). She was detained by the Gestapo at the Fresnes Prison, south of Paris, but was released after 15 days.

On 3 May 1944, she volunteered for l’Armee de l’air, the French air force, and was assigned as a pilot-journalist in the Minister’s office. On 24 November 1944, she was appointed a lieutenant of l’Armee de l’air. On 2 November 1945, she was assigned command of pilot schools.

On 17 April 1947, Mme Bastié was promoted to Commandeur Ordre national de la Légion d’honneur. The following month, 15 May 1947, she was promoted to Capitaine, l’Armee de l’air, with her rank retroactive to 25 May 1946.

Maryse Bastie (1898-1952) French woman pilot, here receiving the Legion of Honour in 1944; (Tallandier)

Capitaine Maryse Bastié, l’Armée de l’air, was killed 6 July 1952 when the airplane she was aboard as a passenger, the second prototype Nord 2501 Noratlas, F-WFUN, was demonstrating single engine operation crashed and burned at an air show at the Lyon-Bron Airport (LYN).

¹ FAI Record File Number 10446

² FAI Record Number 9185

³ FAI Record 9166

© 2023, Bryan R. Swopes

3 June 1961

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Major Eugene Moses, Navigator, 1st Lieutenant David F. Dickerson, Defensive Systems Officer, and Major Elmer E. Murphy, Aircraft Commander, with Colonel James K. Johnson, stand in front of the Convair B-58, The Firefly, 11 May 1961. (University of North Texas Libraries)
Major Eugene Moses, Navigator, 1st Lieutenant David F. Dickerson, Defensive Systems Officer, and Major Elmer E. “Gene” Murphy, Aircraft Commander, with Colonel James K. Johnson, stand in front of the Convair B-58, The Firefly, 11 May 1961. All three airmen were killed when their B-58 crashed at the Paris Air Show, 3 June 1961. (University of North Texas Libraries)

3 June 1961: At the Paris Air Show, Aéroport de Paris – Le Bourget, Paris, France, the Blériot, Harmon and Mackay Trophy-winning Convair B-58A-10-CF Hustler, 58-2451, The Firefly, crashed, killing the aircrew, Major Elmer E. Murphy, Major Eugene Moses, and First Lieutenant David F. Dickerson. The B-58 was totally destroyed.

Only days earlier, The Firefly—with a different aircrew—had set a new speed record for its flight from New York to Paris.

On leaving Le Bourget for the return trip to the United States, Major Murphy engaged in low-altitude aerobatics. There are reports that while performing a slow roll, the bomber entered a cloud bank. The pilot lost visual reference, but the roll caused the attitude indicator to exceed its limits. Disoriented and without instrument flight capability, the B-58 crashed.

The Sunday Herald (Provo, Utah) reported:

. . . The B-58 took off with five other American supersonic jets for the demonstration and flew back over the airfield at normal speed.

     Then the plane started to make what looked from the ground like a “barrel” maneuver, a roll over, and suddenly disappeared from the view of the audience at the airfield. . . .

—The Sunday Herald, Vol. 39, No. 1, 4 June 1961, Page 2, Column 2

United Press International (UPI) reported,

. . . An eyewitness said the plane appeared to explode in flight after making a “barrel roll.”

     It was “transformed into a ball of fire,” said Dr. J.P Duchon. “We heard a tremendous explosion at the same time.” The B-58 crashed into some farm acreage gouging a 15-feet-deep crater in the ground.

—Pharos Tribune (Logansport, Indiana), 5 June 1961, Page 2, Column 2

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram published the following:

. . . According to reports from [John] Randel [correspondent for the Paris edition of the New York Herald-Tribune] and the Associated Press, this is the way the crash occurred:

     The delta-wing bomber streaked passed the control tower and disappeared into the overcast. No one at Le Bourget Airport, where the air show was being staged, saw any sign of the crash, which occurred about 5 p.m. Paris time (10 a.m. Fort Worth time).

Wheat Field.

     But at the little town of Louvres, three miles north of the airport, there was a tremendous explosion.

     The needle-nose bomber plunged into a wheat field. This was about 10 minutes after takeoff.

     The nearest building was from 500 to 800 yards away.

     Louvres police said they did not know whether the plane exploded in air or when it hit the ground.

     Fuel from the plane caught fire, sending up billows of smoke. Huge craters were cut into the ground by plummeting wreckage, indicating an aerial explosion.

     About 10 fire trucks were soon at the scene spraying water on the burning debris.

Helicopter Lift.

One report said the plane had completed a slow roll and was trying a snap roll when two or three of its four engines ripped off. This report was strictly unofficial. . . .

—Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Vol. 81, No. 123, 3 June 1961, Page 1, Column 1

Convair B-58A-10-CF Hustler, 59-2451, The Firefly.

© 2023, Bryan R. Swopes

26 May 1961

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The flight crew of the Convair B-58A-10-CF Hustler 59-2451, "The Firefly," planning the Washington, D.C.-to-Paris flight, 26 May 1961. Left to right, Captain William L. Polhemus, Captain Raymond R. Wagener and Major William R. Payne. (Jet Pilot Overseas)
The flight crew of the Convair B-58A-10-CF Hustler 59-2451, “The Firefly,” planning the Washington, D.C.-to-Paris flight, 26 May 1961. Left to right, Captain William L. Polhemus, Captain Raymond R. Wagener and Major William R. Payne. (Jet Pilot Overseas)

26 May 1961: The Firefly, the Blériot Trophy-winning Convair B-58A-10-CF Hustler, serial number 59-2451, assigned to the 43rd Bombardment Wing, Carswell Air Force Base, Fort Worth, Texas, set a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Record for Speed Over a Recognized Course by flying from Washington, D.C. to Paris in 3 hours, 39 minutes, 49 seconds, for an average speed of 1,687.69 kilometers per hour (1,048.68 miles per hour).¹

During the same flight, the B-58 flew the New York to Paris segment in 3 hours, 14 minutes, 44.53 seconds, at an average speed of 1,753.16 kilometers per hour (1,089.36 miles per hour).

The aircrew, Major William R. Payne, Aircraft Commander, Captain William L. Polhemus, Navigator, and Captain Raymond R. Wagener, Defensive Systems Officer, won the Harmon and Mackay Trophies for this flight.

Convair B-58A-10-CF Hustler 59-2451, The Firefly, lands at le Bourget, Paris, after the record-setting transatlantic flight, 26 May 1961. (University of North Texas Libraries)
Convair B-58A-10-CF Hustler 59-2451, The Firefly, lands at Aéroport de Paris – Le Bourget, Paris, after the record-setting transatlantic flight, 26 May 1961. (University of North Texas Libraries)
The Blériot Trophy, photographed 12 June 1961. “Side view of The Blériot Trophy on display. It is the figure of a naked man made of black marble in a flying position emerging from clouds. The clouds are white stone and are the figures of women in various poses on top of a marble dome.” (University of North Texas Libraries)
The Mackay Trophy.
The Mackay Trophy
The Harmon International Trophy at the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum. (NASM)
The Harmon International Trophy at the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum. (NASM)

On 3 June 1961, while enroute home, The Firefly crashed only 5 miles from Paris, killing the Blériot Trophy-winning  aircrew, Major Elmer E. Murphy, Major Eugene Moses, and First Lieutenant David F. Dickerson. The B-58 was totally destroyed.

Convair B-58A-10-CF Hustler 59-2451, The Firefly.
Convair B-58A-10-CF Hustler 59-2451, The Firefly.

The B-58A Hustler was a high-altitude Mach 2 strategic bomber which served with the United States Air Force from 1960 to 1970. It was crewed by a pilot, navigator/bombardier and a defensive systems operator, each located in individual cockpits. The aircraft had a delta-winged configuration similar to the Convair F-102A Delta Dagger and F-106 Delta Dart supersonic interceptors. The fuselage incorporates the “Area Rule” which resulted in a “wasp waist” or “Coke bottle” shape for a significant reduction in aerodynamic drag. The airplane’s only control surfaces are two “elevons” and a rudder. There are no flaps.

The “Hustler” was 96.8 feet (29.5 meters) long, with a wing span of 56.8 feet (17.3 meters) and an overall height of 31.4 feet (9.6 meters). The wings’ leading edges were swept back at a 60° angle. The wings had a 3°0′ angle of incidence, 2°14′ dihedral, and a total area of 1,542.5 square feet (143.3 square meters).

The B-58A had an empty weight of 51,061 pounds (23,161 kilograms). Its Maximum Takeoff Weight (MTOW) was 90,000 pounds (40,823 kilograms), but once airborne, it could take on additional fuel from a tanker, raising the bomber’s maximum weight to 125,147 pounds (56,766 kilograms).

The B-58A was powered by four General Electric J79-GE-5 afterburning turbojet engines, suspended under the wings from pylons. These were single-shaft axial-flow engines with a 17-stage compressor and 3-stage turbine. The J79-GE-5 had a continuous power rating of 9,700 pounds of thrust (43.15 kilonewtons), Military Power, 10,000 pounds of thrust (44.49 kilonewtons), and Maximum Power, 15,600 pounds (69.39 kilonewtons) with afterburner. (All ratings at 7,460 r.p.m.) The engine was 16 feet, 10.2 inches (5.131 meters) long and 3 feet, 2.0 inches (0.889 meters) in diameter. It weighed 3,570 pounds (1,619 kilograms).

The bomber had a cruise speed of 626 miles per hour (1,007 kilometers per hour) from 30,000 to 50,000 feet (9,144–15,240 meters), and a maximum speed of 1,319 miles per hour (2,124 kilometers per hour) at 56,100 feet (17,099 meters). The B-58’s service ceiling was 67,200 feet (20,483 meters).

Jet fuel (JP-4) was carried in three tanks inside the airplane’s fuselage, and two tanks in a streamlined drop tank. The total capacity of the five tanks was 15,369 gallons (58,178 liters). Its combat radius was 2,589 miles (4,167 kilometers) and the maximum ferry range was 6,483 miles (10,434 kilometers).

The B-58 weapons load was a combination of W-39, B43 or B61 nuclear bombs. The W-39 was carried in the centerline pod. (A two-component mission pod was also available.) The W-39 was the same warhead used on the PGM-11 Redstone intermediate range ballistic missile and the SM-62 Snark intercontinental cruise missile. It was a two-stage radiation-implosion thermonuclear warhead with an explosive yield of 3.8 megatons. The warhead weighed 6,230 pounds (2,826 kilograms). The B-43 and B-61 bombs were carried on four hardpoints under the fuselage.

There was a defensive General Electric M61 Vulcan 20 mm rotary cannon mounted in the bomber’s tail, with a maximum 1,040 rounds of ammunition. The gun was remotely-controlled by the Defensive Systems Officer.

Convair B-58A-10-CF Hustler 59-2456 with weapons load. (U.S. Air Force)
Convair B-58A-10-CF Hustler 59-2456 with weapons load. (U.S. Air Force)

The Convair Division of General Dynamics built 116 B-58s at Forth Worth, Texas. The first XB-58 flew on 11 November 1956. Production aircraft entered service with the Strategic Air Command in 1960 and were retired in 1970. Only eight aircraft remain in existence.

Convair B-58A strategic bombers in storage at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona. (Aviation Explorer)

¹ FAI Record File Number 4855

© 2018, Bryan R. Swopes