Republic XP-84 prototype 45-59475 at landing at Muroc Army Airfield, California, 1946. (U.S. Air Force )Wallace A. Lien
28 February 1946: At Muroc Army Airfield, California, (now, Edwards Air Force Base) the first of three prototype Republic Aviation Corporation XP-84 Thunderjet fighter bombers, serial number 45-59475, made its first flight with company test pilot Wallace Addison Lien in the cockpit.
Alexander Kartveli, Chief Engineer of the Republic Aviation Corporation, began working on the XP-84 during 1944 as a jet-powered successor to the company’s P-47 Thunderbolt fighter bomber. The prototype was completed at the factory in Farmingdale, New York, in December 1945. It was then partially disassembled and loaded aboard Boeing’s prototype XC-97 Stratofreighter and flown west to Muroc Army Airfield in the high desert of southern California. It was reassembled and prepared for its first flight.
The prototype Republic XP-84, as yet unpainted. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archive)
The XP-84 was 37 feet, 2 inches (11.328 meters) long, with a wingspan of 36 feet, 5 inches (11.100 meters) and overall height of 12 feet, 10 inches (3.912 meters). The wings had a total area of 260 square feet ( square meters). The leading edges were swept aft to 6° 15′. The angle of incidence was 0° with -2° of twist and 4° dihedral. The airplane had an empty weight of 9,080 pounds (4,119 kilograms) and gross weight of 13,400 pounds (6,078 kilograms).
Republic XP-84. (U.S. Air Force photo)
The XP-84 was powered by a General Electric J35-GE-7 engine. The J35 was a single-spool, axial-flow turbojet engine with an 11-stage compressor and single-stage turbine. The J35-GE-7 was rated at 3,750 pounds of thrust (16.68 kilonewtons) at 7,700 r.p.m. (5-minute limit). The engine was 14 feet, 0.0 inches (4.267 meters) long, 3 feet, 4.0 inches (1.016 meters) in diameter and weighed 2,400 pounds (1,089 kilograms).
The first of three prototypes, Republic XP-84 Thunderjet 45-59475 is parked on the dry lake at Muroc Army Airfield. (U.S. Air Force)
The XP-84 had a cruise speed of 440 miles per hour (708 kilometers per hour) and maximum speed of 592 miles per hour (953 kilometers per hour). The service ceiling was 35,000 feet (10,668 meters), which it could reach in approximately 13 minutes. The maximum range was 1,300 miles (2,092 kilometers).
Republic XP-84 Thunderjet 45-59475. (U.S. Air Force)Republic XP-84 Thunderjet 45-59475. (U.S. Air Force)Republic XP-84 Thunderjet 45-59475. (U.S. Air Force)Republic XP-84 Thunderjet 45-59475. (U.S. Air Force)Republic XP-84 Thunderjet 45-59475 in flight. (U.S. Air Force)
Wallace Addison Lien was born at Alkabo, in Divide County, at the extreme northwest corner of North Dakota, 13 August 1915. He was the second of six children of Olaf Paulson Lien, a Norwegian immigrant and well contractor, and Elma Laura Richardson Lien.
Wallace A. Lien (The 1939 Gopher)
Wally Lien graduated from the University of Minnesota Institute of Technology 17 June 1939 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering (B.M.E.). He was a president of the Pi Tau Sigma (ΠΤΣ) fraternity, a member of the university’s cooperative book store board, and a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (A.S.M.E.). He later studied at the California Institute of Technology (CalTech) at Pasadena, California, and earned a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering.
Lien worked as a an engineer at a steel sheet mill in Pennsylvania. He enlisted in the the United States Army at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 18 February 1941. He was accepted as an aviation cadet at Will Rogers Field, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 11 November 1941. 26 years old, Lien was 6 feet, 2 inches (1.88 meters) tall and weighed 174 pounds (79 kilograms). During World War II, Lien remained in the United States, where he served as a test pilot at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio. He conducted flight tests of the Bell YP-59A Airacomet and the Lockheed XP-80 Shooting Star. Having reached the rank of Major, he left the Air Corps, 16 February 1946. Lien then worked for the Republic Aviation Corporation, testing the XP-84. A few months later, Lien went to North American Aviation, where he made the first flight of the the XFJ-1 Fury, 11 September 1946
Wally Lien married Miss Idella Muir at Elizabeth, New Jersey, 26 December 1946. They would have two children.
Wallace Addison Lien died at Colorado Springs, Colorado, 28 October 1994, at the age of 79 years. He was buried at the Shrine of Remembrance Veterans Honor Court, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Lockheed XC-69 Constellation 43-10309 (L-049 NX25600) in flight. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archive)
9 January 1943: At the insistence of the United States Army Air Forces, Boeing’s Chief Test Pilot, Eddie Allen, made the first flight of the Lockheed L-049 Constellation prototype, NX25600, from Lockheed Air Terminal at Burbank, California, to Muroc Army Airfield (today known as Edwards Air Force Base). Lockheed’s Chief Test Pilot, Milo G. Burcham, was the co-pilot.
Lockheed XC-69 Constellation 43-10309 (L-049 NX25600) in flight. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archive)
Also on board were Lockheed’s chief research engineer, Clarence L. (“Kelly”) Johnson; Rudy Thoren, Johnson’s assistant; and Dick Stanton, chief mechanic.
The Lockheed Constellation was designed by a team led by Chief Engineer Hall Livingstone Hibbard, left, and Chief Research Engineer Clarence Leonard “Kelly” Johnson. (Lockheed)
When the flight ended after 58 minutes, Allen said, “This machine works so well that you don’t need me anymore!” With that, Allen returned to Seattle.
The Los Angeles Times reported:
SUPER TRANSPORT PLANE IN DEBUT
Lockheed’s Air Marvel Makes First Flight; Believed to Be World’s Largest and Fastest; Built Like Fighter, Can Outspeed Jap Zero
BY MARVIN MILES
Into the winter sky yesterday swept a brilliant new star—Lockheed super-transport Constellation.
First of a galaxy to come, the four-engine colossus sped down the long east-west runway at Lockheed Air Terminal, skipped nimbly off the concrete and boomed upward with the surging roar of 8000 unleashed horses.
A few breath-taking seconds’ full throttle had written a matter-of-fact climax to two years of secret development that evolved a 60-passenger transport faster than a Jap Zero fighter.
There were no fanfares, no speeches—simply an unvarnished war production takeoff, emphasizing as nothing else could the grim driving need for huge work planes to carry the battle swiftly to the ends of the earth.
Yet it was the first significant aviation event of 1943.
Lockheed XC-69 Constellation 43-30109 during its first flight, 9 January 1943. (Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company)
Built along the slim, graceful lines of a fighter the craft is faster than any four-engine bomber now in service. It can cross the continent in less than 9 hours,fly to Honolulu in 12. Even at half power its cruising speed is approximately 100 miles per hour faster than that of a standard airliner!
Within its supercharged cabin, air-density will remain at the 8000-foot level when the Constellation is cruising at “over-the-weather” altitudes up to 35,000 feet. So great is its power that the monster can maintain 25,000 feet on three engines, 16,500 on two.
As for economy of operation, the new sky queen can fly her full load hour after hour using but one gallon of gasoline per mile.
Lockheed XC-69 Constellation 43-10309 (L-049 NX25600) at Lockheed Air Terminal, with engines running. Looking west-northwest across the San Fernando Valley. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archive)
ONE TAXI TEST
At the controls when the super-transport lifted its tricycle gear in flight were Eddie Allen, Army pilot and veteran four-engine flyer, and Milo Burcham, Lockheed test pilot noted for his substratosphere testing of the P-38. Also in the ship were C.L. (Kelly) Johnson, chief research engineer for the aircraft company; Rudy Thoren, Johnson’s assistant, and Dick Stanton, chief mechanic.
Chief Research Engineer Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson (left) and Chief Engineering Test Pilot Milo G. Burcham, with the XC-69 Constellation. (Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company)
There was but one taxi test yesterday, highlighted by a brief blaze in one of the four engines following a backfire as the ship turned to roll back to the head of the runway.
The fire was doused quickly and the Constellation stood ready for her maiden flight, he nose into a gentle breeze, the focal point of hundreds of eyes of workers, Army guards and officials watched expectantly.
Each engine “revved up”in turn, sending deep-throated echoes over the sun-drenched terminal.
Then the four black propellers whirled as one.
The Constellation shot forward, the wind in her teeth, a hurtling, bellowing land monster—until her propellers plucked her from the earth in an incredibly short span of runway and sent her thundering triumphantly toward the sun.
GLIDES BACK EASILY
In a moment she had almost vanished, only to bank in a wide turn and drone back over the terminal twice before leading her covey of lesser following craft off toward the desert to the Army airport at Muroc Dry Lake where she landed gracefully an hour later.
Prototype Lockheed L-049 Constellation NX25600 at Muroc Dry Lake on the high desert of southern California, 9 January 1943. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archive)
Shortly before dusk the giant craft returned to the Burbank terminal, slipped down the long “landing groove” of air and settled easily to the runway.
Her debut was over.
Today she will begin the exhaustive test flights to determine her performance before she is turned over to T.W.A. and the Army for the grueling business of war. . . .
—Los Angeles Times, Vol. LXII, Sunday morning, 10 January 1943, Page 1, Columns 1 and 2; Page 2, Columns 2 and 3. The article continues in Column 4. (The photographs are not a part of the original article.)
The prototype Lockheed XC-69, 43-10309 (NX25600), landing at Lockheed Air Terminal, Burbank, California, 1943. (Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company)
The Lockheed Model 49-46-10, company serial number 049-1961, was designated XC-69 by the U.S. Army Air Forces and assigned serial number 43-10309.
The Constellation was operated by a flight crew of four: two pilots, a navigator and a flight engineer. It could carry up to 81 passengers. The airplane was 95 feet, 1 3⁄16 inches (28.986 meters) long with a wingspan of 123 feet, 0 inches (37.490 meters), and overall height of 23 feet, 7⅞ inches (7.210 meters). It had an empty weight of 49,392 pounds (22,403.8 kilograms) and maximum takeoff weight of 86,250 pounds (39,122.3 kilograms).
The XC-69 was powered by four air-cooled, supercharged, 3,347.662-cubic-inch-displacement (54.858 liter), Wright Aeronautical Division Cyclone 18 745C18BA2 engines. Also known as the Duplex Cyclone, these were a two-row, 18-cylinder radial engines with a compression ratio of 6.5:1, which required 100/130-octane aviation gasoline. They were rated at 2,000 horsepower at 2,400 r.p.m., or 2,200 horsepower at 2,800 r.p.m. for takeoff, (five minute limit). The 745C18BA2 was 6 feet, 4.26 inches (1.937 meters) long, 4 feet, 7.78 inches (1.417 meters) in diameter and weighed 2,595 pounds (1,177 kilograms). The engines drove 15 foot, 2 inch (4.623 meter) diameter, three-bladed Hamilton Standard Hydromatic 43E60 constant-speed propellers through a 0.4375:1 gear reduction.
The L-049 had a cruise speed of 313 miles per hour (504 kilometers per hour) and a range of 3,995 miles (6,429 kilometers). Its service ceiling was 25,300 feet (7,711 meters).
In this photograph of the Lockheed XC-69 prototype at Lockheed Air Terminal, the civil experimental registration numbers, NX25600, are visible on the rudder and under the left wing. Looking northeast, the Verdugo Mountains of Southern California are in the background. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archive)This is a rare color photograph of the prototype Lockheed XC-69 Constellation, 43-10309, (L-049 NX-25600) with a Lockheed UC-101, 42-94148 (ex-Vega 5C NC14236) at Lockheed Air Terminal, Burbank California. This picture represents 15 years of technological advancement. (Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company)
The prototype XC-69 was later re-engined with Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp 2SC14-G (R-2800-83) engines and designated XC-69E. These had a Normal rating of 1,700 horsepower at 2,600 r.p.m., to 7,300 feet (2,225 meters), 1,500 horsepower at 17,500 feet (5,334 meters), and 2,100 horsepower at 2,800 r.p.m. for Takeoff.
Lockheed XC-69 Constellation 43-10309. (Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company)Lockheed XC-69 Constellation 43-10309. (Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company)
After the war, the Constellation prototype was sold to Howard Hughes’ Hughes Aircraft Company for $20,000 and registered as NX67900. In May 1950, Lockheed bought the prototype back from Hughes for $100,000 and it was again registered as NC25600. It had accumulated just 404 flight hours up to this time.
The prototype Lockheed XC-69 Constellation, 43-10309, is parked at Howard Hughes’ Culver City airport. In the foreground is the Hughes XF-11, 44-70155. Photographed 7 July 1946. (University of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries)The prototype Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation NX25600 (XC-69 43-10309), flying above an inversion layer. The San Gabriel Mountains of Southern California are in the background. (Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company)
Lockheed then converted 049-1961 to a prototype for the L-1049 Super Constellation with another registration, NX6700. In 1952, it was once again converted, this time as an aerodynamic test aircraft for the U.S. Navy PO-1W radar early warning aircraft (later redesignated WV-1 and EC-121 Warning Star). It was also used to test the Allison YT56 turboprop engine by placing it in the #4 position.
Lockheed L-1049 prototype NX6700 as an aerodynamics test aircraft for the U.S. Navy PO-1W airborne early warning Warning Star. (SDASM Archives)
Finally, in 1958, the first Constellation was purchased as a source of spare parts by California Airmotive Corporation and was dismantled.
Lockheed built two XC-69 prototypes. Twenty-two C-69s and 856 Constellations of all types were produced. The Lockheed Constellation was in production from 1943–1958 in both civilian airliner and military transport versions. It is the classic propeller-driven transcontinental and transoceanic airliner.
Your intrepid TDiA correspondent with “Bataan,” General Douglas MacArthur’s Lockheed VC-121A Constellation, 48-613, at Valle Airport, Arizona, 3 July 2012. (Photograph by Mrs. TDiA)
Bell XP-59A Airacomet 42-108784, first flight at Muroc Dry Lake, 1 October 1942. (U.S. Air Force)
1 October 1942: At Muroc Dry Lake, in the high desert north of Los Angeles, California, Bell Aircraft Corporation’s Chief Test Pilot, Robert Morris Stanley, made the first flight of the top secret prototype turbojet-powered fighter, the Bell XP-59A Airacomet, serial number 42-108784. Weather was “C.A.V.U.” (Ceiling and Visibility Unrestricted) and wind was from the west at 20 miles per hour (9 meters per second).
Bell Aircraft Corporation Chief Test Pilot Robert M. Stanley in the cockpit of an XP-59A Airacomet. (National Museum of the United States Air Force)
In his report, Stanley wrote:
4. All take-offs were made using 15,000 r.p.m. on both engines with flaps fully up and with the airplane pulled off the ground at about 80 to 90 m.p.h. Throttle was applied promptly and acceleration during take-off appeared quite satisfactory. The run was estimated to be in the vicinity of 2,000 feet, possibly more. The first flight reached an altitude of approximately 25 feet, and landing was made using partial power without flaps. This take-off had the wind approximately 60° on the right bow and must be considered a cross-wind take-off.
5. Aileron and elevator action appear satisfactory, although the rudder force appears undesirably light causing the airplane to yaw somewhat for very light pedal pressures. Left rudder was needed for take-off due to cross wind.
—Bell Aircraft Corp. Pilot’s Report 27-923-001, at Page 1-12, by Robert M. Stanley, 1 October 1942
Bell XP-59A Airacomet 42-108784 disguised with a false propeller. (U.S. Air Force)One of the three Bell XP-59A prototypes, circa 1942. (U.S. Air Force)Bell Aircraft Corporation XP-59A Airacomet 42-108784. (U.S. Air Force photo)Bell Aircraft Corporation P-59 Airacomet with updated national insignia, after August 1943. (U.S. Air Force photo)Bell Aircraft Corporation XP-59A Airacomet 42-108784. (U.S. Air Force photo)
Stanley made three more flights that day, as high as 100 feet (30.5 meters). The following day, Army Air Corps test pilot Colonel Laurence C. Craigie conducted the “official” first flight, reaching an altitude of 10,000 feet (3,048 meters).
A Bell XP-59A Airacomet prototype in flight near Muroc Army Airfield, 1942. (U.S. Air Force)
Three XP-59A prototypes were built. The number one ship, 42-108784, was affectionately nicknamed Miss Fire, because of the initial difficulty in getting the engines to start.
The Bell XP-59A was conventional single-place airplane with retractable tricycle landing gear. It was primarily of metal construction, though the control surfaces were fabric-covered. The prototype was 38 feet, 10 inches (11.836 meters) long with a wingspan of 49 feet, 0 inches (14.935 meters) and overall height of 12 feet, 3¾ inches (3.753 meters), at rest. The leading edge of the wings were swept aft 7°. The angle of incidence was +2° with -2° twist and 2½° dihedral. The horizontal stabilizer had a span of 16 feet, 8 inches (5.080 meters). Its angle of incidence was +1½° with no dihedral. The vertical fin had 0° offset. The empty weight of the XP-59A was 7,319 pounds (3,320 kilograms) and its maximum gross weight was 10,089 pounds (4,576 kilograms).
A cutaway display of a General Electric I-A turbojet engine. The single-stage centrifugal compressor and single-stage axial-flow turbine are on a single shaft (center). One of the annular combustion chambers is sectioned at the upper left. (National Museum of the United States Air Force)
The experimental fighter was initially powered by two General Electric Type I-A centrifugal reverse-flow turbojet engines, serial numbers 170121 (left) and 170131 (right), each producing 1,250 pounds of thrust (5.561 kilonewtons) at 15,000 r.p.m. These were copies of the British Whittle W.2B engines. They were heavy, underpowered and unreliable.
Performance of the XP-59A was disappointing with a maximum speed of 350 miles per hour (563 kilometers per hour) at Sea Level and 389 miles per hour (626 kilometers per hour) at 35,160 feet (10,717 meters), significantly slower than many piston-engined fighters.
Three XP-59A prototypes and thirteen YP-59A preproduction airplanes were built. The P-59 was ordered into production and Bell Aircraft Corporation built thirty P-59A and twenty P-59B fighters. These were armed with one M4 37mm autocannon with 44 rounds of ammunition and three Browning AN-M2 .50-caliber machine guns with 200 rounds per gun.
Although a YP-59A had set an unofficial altitude record of 47,600 feet (14,508 meters), the Airacomet was so outclassed by standard production fighters that no more were ordered.
Lawrence D. Bell with his XP-59A Airacomet at Muroc Dry Lake. (Robert F. Dorr Collection)
The race for a jet engine-powered fighter had been ongoing for several years, and the United States’ XP-59A was trailing behind. The first jet airplane, the Heinkel He 178, had made its first flight in Germany three years earlier, on 27 August 1939, though it was a proof-of-concept article, not an operational military aircraft. In the United Kingdom, the Gloster E/28.39, also a proof-of-concept aircraft, though more advanced than the Heinkel, made its first flight, 15 May 1941. The world’s first operational jet fighter, the Messerschmitt Me 262, made its first flight on 18 July 1942. It was nearly two years before production Me 262s entered combat, but they were devastating against bomber formations. The Gloster Meteor, the Allies’ first jet fighter, first flew 5 March 1943, and deliveries to fighter squadrons began in July 1944. The de Havilland DH.100 Vampire made its first flight 20 September 1943, but it did not become operational until after the end of World War II.
The XP-59A flew nearly five months before its British cousin, but would not be assigned to an operational squadron, the 445th Fighter Squadron, 412th Fighter Group, until June 1945.
The first American military jet aircraft, Bell XP-59A Airacomet 42-108784, was preserved by the Army at Muroc, and the engines at Wright Field, Ohio. In 1978, these were given to the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum where the prototype was later restored and placed on display.g9
The first American jet-powered aircraft, Bell XP-59A Airacomet 42-108784 on display at the National Air and Space Museum. (NASM)
28 February 1946: At Muroc Army Airfield, California, (now, Edwards Air Force Base) the first of three prototype Republic Aviation Corporation XP-84 Thunderjet fighter bombers, serial number 45-59475, made its first flight with company test pilot Wallace Addison Lien in the cockpit.
The XP-84 was powered by a General Electric J35-GE-7 engine. The J35 was a single-spool, axial-flow turbojet engine with an 11-stage compressor and single-stage turbine. The J35-GE-7 was rated at 3,750 pounds of thrust (16.68 kilonewtons) at 7,700 r.p.m. (5-minute limit). The engine was 14 feet, 0.0 inches (4.267 meters) long, 3 feet, 4.0 inches (1.016 meters) in diameter and weighed 2,400 pounds (1,089 kilograms).
