Amelia Earthart, Fred Noonan and W. Hanlo at Bandoeng, Java, Dutch East Indies, 22 June 1937. (Purdue University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections)
22–24 June 1937: Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Electra 10E Special, NR16020, undergoes maintenance at Bandoeng, Java, Dutch East Indies, while Amelia and Fred Noonan visit a volcano.
“I went for an inspection trip myself. My first objective was an active volcano, to the crater rim of which one can drive in half an hour up a beautiful mountain road. . . At 5,000 feet the trees began to dwarf and the vegetation became less dense. At 6,500, only scrub trees which bred in and soil persisted. I could smell sulfur fumes for some time before rounding the last curve leading to the lower edge of the pit. Hundreds of feet below, emerald water had collected in a pool at the bottom. Here and there jets of yellow-white steam issued from crevices. . . .”
—Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Electra 10E Special, NR16020, undergoing maintenance at Bandoeng, Java, Dutch East Indies, 21–27 June 1937. (Purdue University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections)
Amelia Earhart climbs out of the cockpit of her Lockheed Electra at Bandoeng, Java, Dutch East Indies, 21 June 1937. (Purdue University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections)
21 June 1937: Leg 23. Singapore, Straits Settlements to Bandoeng, Java, Dutch East Indies, 538 nautical miles (619 statute miles/997 kilometers).
“From Singapore early in the morning, we headed for Java. Our course first lay over the open sea, then along the westerly shores of Sumatra, finally cutting deep across its southeast portion. In the first hour of flying we crossed the equator for the third time in our air voyage and definitely passed ‘down under’ into the nether world of Australasia. . .
“The landscapes of the southern hemisphere were beautiful to look upon. . . countless tiny islands, glowing emeralds in settings of turquoise. . . narrow ribbons of beach, separating the deeper green of their verdure from the exquisite turquoise tones that mark the surrounding shallow water, which in turn merge into darker blue as the waters deepen. . .
“After my plane had been comfortably put in its hangar and K.N.I.L.M. (a local organization, sister company to Netherlands Airline, famed K.L.M.) mechanics had begun their inspection.”
—Amelia Earhart
Steel drums of aviation gasoline pre-positioned for Amelia Earhart at Bandoeng, Java, Dutch East Indies. (Purdue University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections)Great Circle route between Singapore, Straits Settlements, and Bandoeng, Java, Dutch East Indies, 538 nautical miles (619 statute miles/997 kilometers). Great Circle Mapper)
Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Electra 10E Special, NR16020, being serviced at Rangoon, British Burma, 19 June 1937. (Purdue University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections)
20 June 1937: Leg 22. Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan fly the Electra from Rangoon, British Burma, to Bangkok, Siam, and then on to Singapore, Straits Settlements.
“Moist clouds were our companions as we left Rangoon the next morning, bound for Bangkok, Siam. First, we crossed the upper reaches of the Gulf of Martaban, flying over Moulmein. . . A great range of mountains extends north and south along the western border of Siam, separating it from the long arm of Burma that reaches down into the Malay Peninsula. Through squally weather we climbed to 8,000 feet and more, topping this mountain barrier. On its eastern flanks the clouds broke and there stretched before us a dark green forest splashed with patches of bright color, cheerful even in the eyes of a pilot who recognized in all the limitless view no landing place. The country fell away gradually to the east, the hills flattening out into heavy jungle. Then we crossed the Mei Khlaung River, with little villages scattered along its banks, the wide expanses of irrigated land burdened with rice crops.
“Bangkok itself lies in a vast plain with mountains in the distant background. . . After refueling at Bangkok (the airport was one of the best we encountered) we started for Singapore, more than 900 miles away. . . Though we did not sight them, there were two transport planes that day on the same route which we flew. The Imperial Airways machine left Rangoon first and the K.L.M. Douglas at daybreak. Our Wasp-motored Lockheed left fifteen minutes later. All stopped at Bangkok, then followed different courses to Singapore. We arrived there first, at 5:25 P.M. local time, because we cut straight and did not stop along the way.”
—Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart wrote beautifully. Her notes are full of color and texture. She describes the land and the sea and the sky, the towns and cities and the people. Her descriptions bring all of these to life.
Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Electra 10E Special, NR16020, being serviced at Singapore, Straits Settlements, 20 June 1937. (Purdue University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections)Great Circle route, Rangoon, Burma, to Bangkok, Siam, 330 nautical miles (379 statute miles/611 kilometers); and then to Singapore, Straits Settlements, 761 nautical miles (875 statute miles/1,409 kilometers) (Great Circle Mapper)
Colonel Boyd flies the Lockheed XP-80R over the 3 kilometer course at Muroc Army Air Field, 19 June 1947. (U.S. Air Force)
19 June 1947: At Muroc Army Airfield (now, Edwards Air Force Base) Colonel Albert Boyd, United States Army Air Forces, set a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Record for Speed Over a 3 Kilometer Course, with an average speed of 1,003.81 kilometers per hour (623.74 miles per hour).¹ This was not just a class record, but an absolute world speed record.
Col. Boyd flew the Lockheed P-80R Shooting Star, serial number 44-85200, four times over the course, twice in each direction. The record speed was the average of the two fastest consecutive runs. As can be seen in the above photograph, these runs were flown at an altitude of approximately 70 feet (21 meters).
Originally a production P-80A-1-LO Shooting Star, 44-85200 had been converted to the XP-80B, a single prototype for the improved P-80B fighter.
A very early production Lockheed P-80A-1-LO Shooting Star, 44-85004. (U.S. Air Force)
The P-80A-1-LO was a single-place, single-engine, low-wing monoplane powered by a turbojet engine. It was a day fighter, not equipped for night or all-weather combat operations. The P-80A was 34 feet, 6 inches (10.516 meters) long with a wingspan of 38 feet, 10.5037 inches (11.8492 meters) and overall height of 11 feet, 4 inches (3.454 meters). The wing had an angle of incidence of 1°, with 1° 30′ negative twist, and 3° 50′ dihedral. The leading edge was swept aft 9° 18′ 33″. The fighter had an empty weight of 7,920 pounds (3,592 kilograms) and a gross weight of 11,700 pounds (5,307 kilograms).
Lockheed P-80A Shooting Star, three-view illustration with dimensions. (U.S. Air Force)
Early production P-80As were powered by either an Allison J33-A-9 or a General Electric J33-GE-11 turbojet engine. The J33 was a licensed version of the Rolls-Royce Derwent. It was a single-shaft turbojet with a 1-stage centrifugal compressor section and a 1-stage axial-flow turbine. The -9 and -11 engines were rated at 3,825 pounds of thrust (17.014 kilonewtons) at 11,500 r.p.m. They were 8 feet, 6.9 inches (2.614 meters) long, 4 feet, 2.5 inches (1.283 meters) in diameter and weighed 1,775 pounds (805 kilograms).
The P-80A-1 had a maximum speed of 510 miles per hour (821 kilometers per hour) at Sea Level, 520 miles per hour (837 kilometers per hour) at 20,000 feet (6,096 meters), and 495 miles per hour (797 kilometers per hour) at 40,000 feet (12,192 meters). The service ceiling was 45,000 feet (13,716 meters).
The P-80A Shooting Star was armed with six Browning AN-M3 .50-caliber aircraft machine guns mounted in the nose, with 300 rounds of ammunition per gun.
Lockheed P-80B-1-LO Shooting Star 45-8554, 1948. (U.S. Air Force)
After modification to the XP-80B configuration, 44-85200 was powered by an Allison J33-A-17 with water/alcohol injection. Retaining the previous engine’s rating of 3,825 pounds of thrust, when augmented with water/alcohol injection, this increased to 4,500 pounds of thrust (20.017 kilonewtons). Fuel capacity was reduced by 45 gallons (170 liters) to allow for the water/alcohol tank.
The XP-80B was the first American-built fighter to be equipped with an ejection seat.
The P-80B was heavier than the P-80A, with an empty weight of 8,176 pounds (3,709 kilograms) and gross weight of 12,200 pounds (5,534 kilograms). Visually, the two variants are almost identical.
The XP-80B had a maximum speed of 577 miles per hour (929 kilometers) per hour at 6,000 feet (1,829 meters), a 19 mile per hour (31 kilometers per hour) increase. The service ceiling increased to 45,500 feet (13,868 meters).
This photograph of XP-80R shows the cut-down windscreen and canopy, re-contoured wing leading edges and the low-drag, NACA-designed engine intakes. (U.S. Air Force)
44-85200 was next modified to the XP-80R high-speed configuration. The canopy was smaller, the wings were shortened and their leading edges were re-contoured. In its initial configuration, the XP-80R retained the J33-A-17 engine, and incorporated new intakes designed by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA).
The initial performance of the XP-80R was disappointing. The intakes were returned to the standard shape and the J33-A-17 was replaced by a J33-A-35 engine. This improved J33 would be the first turbojet engine to be certified for commercial transport use (Allison Model 400). It was rated at 5,200 pounds of thrust (23.131 kilonewtons) at 11,750 r.p.m. at Sea Level, and 5,400 pounds of thrust (24.020 kilonewtons) with water/methanol injection.
The J33 was a single-spool turbojet with a single-stage centrifugal-flow compressor, 14 combustion chambers, and a single-stage axial-flow turbine. The J33-A-35 had a maximum diameter of 4 feet, 1.2 inches (1.250 meters) and was 8 feet, 8.5 inches (2.654 meters) long. It weighed 1,795 pounds (814 kilograms).
Lockheed P-80R 44-85200 at the National Museum of the United States Air Force
Technicians who modified the XP-80R at Lockheed Plant B-9 Production Flight Test Center, Metropolitan Airport, Van Nuys (just a few miles west of the main plant in Burbank). They nicknamed the modified Shooting Star “Racey.”
Lockheed XP-80R 44-85200 is in the collection of the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
Lockheed P-80R 44-85200 at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.
At the time of the speed record flight, Colonel Boyd was chief of the Flight Test Division at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio.
Albert Boyd was born 22 November 1906 at Rankin, Tennessee, the first of three sons of Kester S. Boyd, a school night watchman, and Mary Eliza Beaver Boyd. In 1924, Boyd graduated from high school in Asheville, North Carolina, then attended Buncombe Junior College in Asheville.
Boyd was one of the most influential officers to have served in the United States Air Force. He entered the U.S. Army Air Corps as an aviation cadet 27 October 1927. After completion of flight training at Maxwell Field, Alabama, Boyd was commissioned as a second lieutenant, Air Corps Reserve, 28 February 1929, and as a second lieutenant, Air Corps, United States Army, 2 May 1929.
Lieutenant Boyd married Miss Anna Lu Oheim at San Antonio, Texas, 8 September 1933. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. G.F. Oheim of New Braunfels, Texas, (1907–1981).
He was promoted to 1st lieutenant 1 October 1934. Lieutenant Boyd served as a flight instructor at Maxwell Field, Alabama, and then Brooks, Kelly and Randolph Fields in Texas.
In 1934, 1st Lieutenant Boyd was assigned as engineering and operations officer at Chanute Field, Rantoul, Illinois. He completed the Air Corps technical School and the Engineer Armament Course. On 24 July 1936, Boyd was promoted to the temporary rank of captain. This rank became permanent 2 May 1939. In 1939 he was assigned to the Hawaiian Air Depot as assistant engineering officer, and was promoted to major (temporary), 15 March 1941. He and Mrs. Boyd lived in Honolulu. His Army salary was $3,375 per year. In December 1941, he became the chief engineering officer.
On 10 October 1941, Major Boyd was given the parallel rank of major, Army of the United States (A.U.S.). On 5 January 1942, Major Boyd was promoted to lieutenant colonel (temporary) and rated a command pilot. (Lieutenant colonel, A.U.S., 21 October 1942.) He was advanced to the rank of colonel, A.U.S. (A.C.), 2 November 1942. Following the end of World War II, Colonel Boyd reverted to his permanent rank of major, 2 May 1946, though he continued to serve in the rank of colonel.
In October 1945, Colonel Boyd was appointed acting chief of the Flight Test Division at Wright Field. He became chief of the division, October 1945, and also flew as an experimental test pilot. Boyd believed that it was not enough for Air Force test pilots to be superior pilots. They needed to be trained engineers and scientists in order to properly evaluate new aircraft. He developed the Air Force Test Pilot School and recommended that flight testing operations be centered at Muroc Field in the high desert of southern California, where vast open spaces and excellent flying conditions were available. He was the first commander of the Air Force Flight Test Center.
Colonel Albert G. Boyd with the Lockheed XP-80R, 44-85200. (U.S. Air Force)
Major Boyd was promoted to colonel, United States Air Force, 2 April 1948, and to brigadier general (temporary), 12 January 1950. When Colonel Boyd took command of Muroc Air Force Base in September 1949, he recommended that its name be changed to honor the late test pilot, Captain Glen Edwards, who had been killed while testing a Northrop YB-49 near there, 5 June 1948. Since that time the airfield has been known as Edwards Air Force Base.
Brigadier General Albert Boyd, USAF, commanding the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base, with Walter Charles Williams, Director of the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics High-Speed Flight Research Center, also at Edwards, circa 1950. The model aircraft is of the Northrop X-4 Bantam. (NASA E95-43116-7)
Brigadier General Boyd’s temporary rank was made permanent 9 October 1951, with his date of rank retroactive to 12 January 1950. He was promoted to major general (temporary), 8 March 1952.
In February 1952, General Boyd was assigned as vice commander of the Wright Air Development Center, and commander, 8 June 1952. His final assignment on active duty was as deputy commander of the Air Research and Development Command at Baltimore, Maryland, from 1 August 1955.
From 1947 until he retired in 1957 as a major general, Albert Boyd flew and approved every aircraft in use by the U.S. Air Force. By the time he retired, he had logged over 21,120 flight hours in more than 700 different aircraft. He had been awarded the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Distinguished Service Medal.
Major General Albert Boyd retired from the Air Force 30 October 1957 following 30 years of service.
Major General Albert Boyd, United States Air Force (U.S.. Air Force 200o416-F-AF999-1007)
General Boyd died at Saint Augustine, Florida, 18 September 1976, at the age of 69 years. He is buried at the Arlington National Cemetery.
