Jackie Cochran with her record-setting Seversky AP-7A, NX1384. (FAI)
15 September 1939: Jackie Cochran set a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Speed Record flying a Seversky AP-7A, civil registration NX1384, over a 1,000 kilometer course, from Burbank, California, to San Mateo, approximately 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of San Francisco, and back to Burbank. Her average speed was 492.34 kilometers per hour (305.93 miles per hour).¹
Jackie Cochran with the Seversky AP-7A, NX1384. Her racing number, 13, has not yet been painted on the fuselage. (San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive)
The Los Angeles Times reported:
Woman Flyer Sets Air Record
Jacqueline Cochran Betters Speed Mark for 1000 Kilometers
Streaking a path across the hills to the north of Union Air Terminal, a tiny silver pursuit plane yesterday roared a successful climax to Jacqueline Cochran’s bid for a new 1000-kilometer speed record. Her time: 2h. 2m. for an average of 309 m.p.h. to San Mateo and return.
The slim, brown-eyed pilot, America’s No. 1 woman speed flyer, settled her sleek Seversky on the runway, braked the ship to a stop and pulled off her helmet to loose a flood of tawny hair before the propeller blades stopped turning.
STARTS AFTER LUNCH
“Whew!” she said. “Has anyone got a cigarette?”
It was shortly after lunch that Miss Cochran, clad in green slacks and coat, climbed into her 1200-horsepower ship and thundered down the runway to climb in circles to 10,000 feet. Loosing a trail of blue smoke at this altitude she was officially clocked on the course by Larry Therkelson, Southland representative of the National Aeronautic Association, who checker her in again at the same level 2h. and 2m. later.
KEEPS PLANE HIGH
After entering the course, Miss Cochran said, she nosed her low-wing monoplane upward again, climbing to 15,000 feet. At San Mateo, she dropper to 10,000 feet again to circle a pylon, and climbed back to the higher level for the return race.
Miss Cochran said she used oxygen almost continuously during the flight.
It was the second time the comely woman flyer attempted to shatter her own record of 203 m.p.h., her first try last Aug. 26 having gone awry because N.A.A. officials were unable to clock her as she swung above Union Air Terminal at 14,700 feet.
—Los Angeles Times, Vol. LVIII, Saturday, 16 September 1939, Page 6, Column 6
Jackie Cochran’s Seversky AP-7, NX1384, at the Union Air Terminal, Burbank, California, September 1939. (Unattributed)
The Seversky AP-7 was an improved civil version of the Seversky P-35 fighter, which was the first U.S. Army Air Corps single engine airplane to feature all-metal construction, an enclosed cockpit and retractable landing gear. It was designed by Major Alexander Nikolaievich Prokofiev de Seversky, a World War I Russian fighter ace.
Cochran’s AP-7A was a specially-built racer, modified from the original AP-7 with a new, thinner, wing and different landing gear arrangement. It was powered by a an air-cooled, supercharged, 1,829.39-cubic-inch-displacement (29.978 liter) Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp S1B3-G (R-1830-11) two-row 14-cylinder radial engine rated at 850 horsepower at 2,450 r.p.m. at 5,000 feet (1,524 meters), and 1,000 horsepower at 2,600 r.p.m. for take off. The engine turned a three-bladed Hamilton-Standard controllable-pitch propeller through a 3:2 gear reduction. The R-1830-11 was 4 feet, 8.66 inches (1.439 meters) long with a diameter of 4 feet, 0.00 inches (1.219 meters), and weighed 1,320 pounds (599 kilograms).
This is the same airplane in which she won the 1938 Bendix Trophy.
Seversky AP-7 NX1384, seen from below. In this early configuration, the landing gear folds rearward. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives)
Three Boeing B-47E Stratojet strategic bombers assigned to the 306th Bombardment Wing (Medium), based at MacDill AFB, Florida. The airplane closest to the camera is Boeing-Wichita-built B-47E-95-BW 52-0545. The lead aircraft is Lockheed-Marietta-built B-47E-25-LM 52-0250. These aircraft are similar in appearance to the B-47s flown in the 1955 General Electric Trophy Race. (U.S. Air Force)
4 September 1955: Three Boeing B-47 Stratojet strategic bombers raced from March Air Force Base near Riverside, California, to Philadelphia International Airport, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in competition for the General Electric Trophy. They departed from March Field at ten minute intervals beginning at 3:30 a.m. Pacific Standard Time (11:30 UTC). The winning bomber was the third to takeoff.
The winning airplane, B-47B-50-BW 51-2314, assigned to the 443d Bombardment Squadron (Medium), 320th Bombardment Wing (Medium), 15th Air Force, completed the 2,337 miles (3,761 kilometers) course in 3 hours, 57 minutes, 59.2 seconds, averaging 589.294 miles per hour (948.377 kilometers per hour).
A Boeing B-47B-50-BW Stratojet, 51-2307, assigned to the 320th Bombardment Wing (Medium) (denoted by the two diagonal stripes on its tail) at March Air Force Base, California, circa 1953. This is the same type aircraft that won the 1955 General Electric Trophy. (U. S Air Force)
The second-place B-47, (probably an RB-47E) from the 3rd Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, 26th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, Lockbourne AFB, located east of Columbus, Ohio, finished with an average speed of 585.263 miles per hour (941.890 kilometers per hour). The third-place Stratojet, assigned to the 306th Bombardment Wing (Medium), MacDill AFB, near Tampa, Florida, finished with a speed of 584.167 miles per hour (940.127 kilometers per hour). (B-47s of the 306th were featured prominently in the 1955 motion picture, “Strategic Air Command.”)
Great Circle Course from March AFB, California, to Philadelphia International Airport, Pennsylvania, 2,342 statute miles (3,769 kilometers). (Great Circle Mapper)
A crowd of spectators, estimated to number about 60,000, was present to see the finish of the race.
The race was timed by officials of the National Aeronautic Association. The chief timer was Roger Wolfe Kahn.¹
—AP Wirephoto, Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester, New York, 5 September 1955, Page 1, Columns 3–5
The winning four-man crew consisted of Major Leonard J. Stevens, aircraft commander; Major Freeman J. Weedman, co-pilot; Captain Glenn J. Fornes, navigator; and Staff Sergeant James P. Flohe, crew chief. The second-place B-47 was flown by Maj. William E. Yingling, aircraft commander; Lieutenant Herbert M. Plynter, co-pilot; Captain Joseph D. Brown, navigator; and Airman 1st Class P. J. Clemons, crew chief. The third-place bomber was flown by Lieutenant Colonel Warren H. Smith, Jr., aircraft commander; Captain John S. Schrader, co-pilot, Major John E. Terry, navigator; and Master Sergent Carlton Spiers, crew chief.
On the same day, four North American Aviation F-100C Super Sabres competed in the Bendix Trophy Race from George AFB, California, to Philadelphia. The average speed of the fourth-place Super Sabre was slower than that of all three B-47s, and 23.843 miles per hour (38.372 kilometers per hour) slower than the GE Trophy winning B-47. (It should be noted, though, that the F-100s had to make two fuel stops during their cross-country flight, while the B-47s flew the course non-stop.)
A Boeing B-47B Stratojet rocket-assisted takeoff (ATO). The black smoke from the engines indicates water-methanol injection is in use. 15 April 1954. (U.S. Air Force 061024-F-1234S-011)
Designed by Boeing, the Stratojet was a high-subsonic-speed strategic bomber and reconnaissance aircraft, in service from 1951 until 1977. The B-47 could fly higher and faster than jet fighters of the time, and it was also highly maneuverable. The B-47 was flown by a two pilots in a tandem cockpit. A navigator/bombardier was at a station in the nose.
The Boeing B-47B Stratojet was the first full-production model. The B-47B is 106 feet, 10 inches (32.563 meters) long with a wingspan of 116 feet, 0 inches(35.357 meters), and an overall height of 27 feet, 11 inches (8.509 meters). The wings are shoulder-mounted with the leading edges swept aft to 36° 37′. Their angle of incidence is 2° 45′ and there is no dihedral. (The wings are very flexible, showing marked anhedral on the ground and flexing upward when in flight.) The B-47B has an empty weight of 78,102 pounds (35,426 kilograms), and a maximum takeoff weight of 185,000 pounds (83,915 kilograms). The maximum in-flight weight (after air refueling) was 221,000 pounds (100,244 kilograms).
From 1953 to 1957, the B-47B fleet underwent an extensive modification program which brought them up to the B-47E configuration.
The B-47B was originally powered by six General Electric J47-GE-11 turbojet engines in four nacelles mounted on pylons below the wings. All B-47Bs after serial number 51-2046 were equipped with J47-GE-23 engines. The airplanes built with the -11 engines were retroffitted with the -23s. Under the modification and upgrade program, the -23s were replaced by the J47-GE-25. This engine has a 12-stage axial-flow compressor, eight combustion chambers, and single-stage turbine. The J47-GE-25 is rated at 5,970 pounds of static thrust at Sea Level, at 7,950 r.p.m. and 1,250 °F. (677 °C.) turbine outlet temperature (TOT). (7,200 pounds of thrust with water injection). It has a maximum diameter of 3 feet, 1 inch (0.940 meters), length of 12 feet, 0 inches (3.658 meters) and weighs 2,653 pounds (1,203 kilograms).
The B-47B was also equipped with solid-fuel rocket engines (JATO) located in the aft fuselage. These produced a maximum 33,000 pounds of thrust (146.8 kilonewtons) for 14 seconds.
The B-47B Stratojet had a cruise speed of 433 knots (498 miles per hour/802 kilometers per hour), and maximum speed of 528 knots (608 miles per hour/978 kilometers per hour) at 16,300 feet (4,968 meters). The service ceiling was 42,100 feet (10,333 meters) and combat ceiling 40,800 feet (12,436 meters).
The combat radius of the B-47B was 1,704 nautical miles (1,961 statute miles/3,156 kilometers) with a 10,000 pound (4,536 kilograms) bomb load. Two jettisonable underwing fuel tanks could carry 1,780 gallons (6,738 liters) each. The maximum ferry range was 3,861 nautical miles (4,443 statute miles (7,151 kilometers).
Boeing B-47E-55-BW Stratojet 51-2394, similar in appearance to bombers in the 1955 General Electric Trophy Race. Photographed 7 April 1956. (U.S. Air Force)
For defense the B-47B was armed with two Browning AN-M3 .50-caliber machine guns in a remotely-operated tail turret, with 600 rounds of ammunition per gun. The co-pilot acted as the gunner using an optical sight. The machine guns were later replaced by two M24A1 20 mm autocannons and radar control.
The maximum bomb load of the B-47B was 18,000 pounds (8,165 kilograms). The B-47 could carry two 7,600 pound (3,447 kilogram) Mark 15 two-stage radiation implosion thermonuclear bombs, each with an explosive yield of up 3.8 megatons, depending on the version, or a single 10,670 pound (4,808 kilogram) B-41 three-stage, 25 megaton bomb.
Beginning in 1953, the B-47B fleet underwent an extensive modification program which brought them up to the B-47E configuration.
A total of 2,032 B-47s were built by a consortium of three aircraft manufacturers: Boeing Airplane Company, Wichita, Kansas; Douglas Aircraft Company, Tulsa, Oklahoma; Lockheed Aircraft Company, Marietta, Georgia. 399 of these were B-47Bs.
The Stratojet is one of the most influential aircraft designs of all time and its legacy can be seen in almost every jet airliner built since the 1950s: the swept wing with engines suspended below and ahead on pylons. The B-47 served the United States Air Force from 1951 to 1977. From the first flight of the Boeing XB-47 Stratojet prototype, 17 December 1947, to the final flight of B-47E 52-166, was 38 years, 6 months, 1 day.
The General Electric Trophy winner, B-47B 51-2314, was sent to The Boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona, 16 December 1960.
This Day in Aviation would like to express great thanks to Mr. A. W. Greenfield, Director, Contest & Records Board, National Aeronautic Association, for his help in researching this article.
Boeing RB-47E-1-BW Stratojet, 51-5259—the reconnaissance variant. (U.S. Air Force)
¹ Roger Wolff Kahn (19 October 1907–12 July 1962) was a jazz musician, composer and band leader. He was featured on the cover of TIME Magazine, 19 September 1927. Kahn also had a life-long interest in aviation. In 1933, he became a test pilot for the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation. Following World War II, as director of Grumman’s Department of Service and Product Support, he flew a custom-built Grumman G-58B, a civilian version of the Grumman F8F-2 Bearcat. He was the vice president of the Institute of Aeronautical Sciences, and served as chairman of the National Aeronautic Association. He had logged more than 7,000 flight hours.
Major Alexander P. de Seversky in his Seversky AP-7, NX1384, at Floyd Bennett Field, 1938. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives)
29 August 1938: At 7:37 a.m., Alexander Nikolaevich Prokofiev-Seversky departed Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn, New York, flying a Seversky AP-7 Pursuit, NX1384, an all-metal monocoque monoplane of his own design and manufacture, enroute to the Lockheed Air Terminal, Burbank, California, a distance of 2,457 miles (3,954 kilometers). He completed the flight in 10 hours, 2 minutes, 55.7 seconds, setting a new speed record for an East-to-West Transcontinental Flight. Major Seversky refueled during a 30-minute stop at Kansas City.
Larry Therkelson of the National Aeronautic Association was the official timer for the record attempt.
Seversky AP-7 NX1384, seen from below. In this configuration, the landing gear retracts rearward. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives)
The Los Angeles Times reported:
SEVERSKY SETS RECORD
Flies across Country in Few Minutes More than Ten Hours
Maj. Alexander P. (Sascha) de Seversky, who flew fighting planes for the Czar of Russia and now builds pursuit ships for the American Army, yesterday notched another hour off the already incredibly narrow time-space separating the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
In a “civilianized” fighter made at his Long Island factory, de Seversky thrashed along the 2600-mile airway from Floyd Bennett Field, N.Y., to Union Air Terminal, Burbank, in ten hours, three minutes, seven seconds, better than 260 miles per hour.
START AND FINISH
He had gobbled a husky breakfast of oatmeal, orange juice and toast in Manhattan as dawn arose over the skyscrapers (at 3:37 a.m. P.S.T.)
Under a blazing Southland sun that shot the mercury to 100 deg. at Burbank, he toyed with a chicken sandwich fifteen minutes after he set his pursuiter’s trim wheels down at exactly 1:40:07 p.m.
De Seversky was greeted—warmly—by Jacqueline Cochran, America’s No. 1 woman speed flyer for whom he was ferrying the all-metal monoplane to Los Angeles. She will retrace his course in the small hours of Saturday, seeking the lion’s share of the $30,000 Bendix Trophy purse.
It was, he said, “Practically nothing.”
TIME WASTED
In a new age of aeronautics, when pilots break records just in the day’s work during routine assignments, de Seversky stands with the best of ’em.
His time and speed would have been materially bettered if he’d been “trying,” he admitted. At Kansas City, plopping down into TWA’s hangars for refueling, he wasted a precious twenty-nine minutes while mechanics tinkered with his tricky gasoline system.
“Once I was traveling more than 300 miles an hour,” De Seversky admitted.
MERELY A WARM-UP
How much faster he could have flown, the esrtwhile White Russian declined to say—”Wait until ‘Jacky’ starts for Cleveland in the Bendix race,” he interposed.
“I used oxygen part of the way, especially when I climbed to 16,000 over the Kansas prairies during a hailstorm,” he said. “This whole flight was nothing but a warm-up. I could have flown nonstop. Instead, I tried different wing loadings and paused at Kansas City. Sometimes I throttled down to less than 240 miles an hour.”
Two hundred and forty!
Between bites of chicken sandwich, De Seversky pointed out that his 1200-horsepower plane can soar 3000 miles without refilling its wing-to-wing tanks that carry 540 gallons of high octane fuel. That, he observed, carries huge military significance.
“We are learning in the Army,” this builder of the nation’s fastest pursuit ships declared, “that bombardment craft are vulnerable to attack from the air unless properly convoyed.
Turn to Page 5, Column 2
Record Upset by Seversky
Continued from First Page
So—the ‘flying fortress’ that cruises 5000 miles must be accompanied by pursuit ships that can go equally as far nonstop. To Europe from America, for example.
THREE UNDER WAY
“In the United States at least three such planes are underway today. I am building one. Others may be twin-engined—such as the ship being readied at the Lockheed plant—and capable of terrific speeds.”
By Christmas of this year, de Seversky promised, a standard military fighter, soon to be released to Air Corps testers, will crack the long-sought-after 400-miles-an-hour mark.
BENDIX MARK SEEN
De Seversky was cool as he braked his craft to a halt under the gaze of Larry Therkelson, official National Aeronautic Association timer. He removed his earphones, slipped out of his jumper and asked, “When’s lunch?” To statements that he had knocked Roscoe Turner’s five-year-old record of 11h. 30m. silly, he only shrugged.
OTHERS IN RACE
Others in the Bendix race will be Frank Fuller and Miss Cochran in Seversky planes, Robert Perlick, Glendale, in a Beechcraft; Robert Hinschey and Charles LaJotte, Glendale, in a Sparton; Ross Hadley, Burbank, in a Beechcraft; George Armistead, Los Angeles, in a Q.E.D. Special; Bernarr Macfadden, New York publisher, and Ralph Francis, former TWA pilot, in a Northrop Gamma; Paul Mantz, Burbank, in a Lockheed Orion; Frank Cordova, New York, in a Bellanca; Lee Gehlbach, New York, in a Wedell-Williams, and Max Constant, Burbank, in a Beechcraft.
—Los Angeles Times, Vol. LVII, Tuesday Morning, 30 August 1938, Page 1, Column 5, and Page 5, Column 2
Jackie Cochran with the Seversky AP-7A, NX1384, at Burbank, California. The landing gear has been modified. Her racing number, 13, has not yet been painted on the fuselage. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives)
NX1384 was built especially for Jackie Cochran. The AP-7 racer was an improved version of Seversky’s P-35A fighter, which was the U.S. Army Air Corps’ first all-metal single-engine airplane with an enclosed cockpit and retractable landing gear.
Cochran’s AP-7 was powered by an air-cooled, supercharged, 1,829.39-cubic-inch-displacement (29.978 liter) Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp S1B3-G (R-1830-11) two-row 14-cylinder radial engine with a compression ratio of 6.7:1. It was rated at 850 horsepower at 2,450 r.p.m. at 5,000 feet (1,524 meters), and 1,000 horsepower at 2,600 r.p.m. for take off. The engine turned a three-bladed Hamilton-Standard controllable-pitch propeller through a 3:2 gear reduction. The R-1830-11 was 4 feet, 8.66 inches (1.439 meters) long with a diameter of 4 feet, 0.00 inches (1.219 meters), and weighed 1,320 pounds (599 kilograms).
Jackie Cochran paints her race number, 13, of the fuselage of her Seversky AP-7. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives)
Two days later, 1 September 1938, Jackie Cochran flew this same airplane to win the Bendix Trophy Race from Burbank to Cleveland, Ohio, a distance of 2,042 miles (3,286 kilometers). Her winning time was 8 hours, 10 minutes, 31.4 seconds, for an average speed of 249.774 miles per hour (401.895 kilometers per hour). After a 40 minute refueling stop, and being congratulated for her Bendix win, she flew on to Bendix, New Jersey, setting a West-to-East Transcontinental Speed Record with a total elapsed time of 10 hours, 7 minutes, 1 second.
The Seversky AP-7 and its military version, the P-35, would be developed over the next few years to become the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt.
Seversky AP-7 NX1384, c/n 145, with Jackie Cochran’s race number, 13, at Cleveland, Ohio. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives)
Commander Robert W. “Duke” Windsor, Jr., U.S. Navy, flying Chance Vought F8U-1 Crusader, Bu. No. 141345. (University of Texas)Commander Robert W. Windsor, Jr., U.S. Navy, with a Vought F8U Crusader. (U.S. Navy)
21 August 1956: At 40,000 feet (12,192 meters) over Naval Ordnance Test Station China Lake, near Ridgecrest, California, Commander Robert Wilks Windsor, Jr., United States Navy, flew a production Chance Vought Aircraft F8U-1 Crusader, Bu. No. 141345, to 1,015.428 miles per hour (1,634.173 kilometers per hour)—Mach 1.54—over a 15 kilometer (9.3 miles) straight course. This established a new National Aeronautic Association U.S. national speed record, breaking the previous record set by a North American Aviation F-100C Super Sabre two years earlier by 193.16 miles per hour (310.86 kilometers per hour).
“Duke” Windsor was awarded the Thompson Trophy for 1956 at the National Aircraft Show, Will Rogers Field, Oklahoma, during the first weekend of September.
National Aeronautic Association officials check timers after Commander Windsor’s speed record flight. (Vought Aircraft Heritage Foundation via Voughtworks)
F8U-1 Bu. No. 141345 was the twelfth production Chance Vought F8U-1 Crusader. It was a single-place, single-engine turbojet-powered air superiority day fighter designed to operate from the United States Navy’s aircraft carriers.
The F8U-1 (redesignated F-8A in 1962) was 54 feet, 3 inches (16.535 meters) long with a wingspan of 35 feet, 8 inches (10.770 meters) and overall height of 15 feet, 9 inches (14.801 meters). With the wings folded for storage, the span is 22 feet, 6 inches (6.858 meters). The wings were swept aft 42° at ¼-chord.
The swept wing is placed high on the fuselage and its angle of incidence is adjustable in flight. The wing has a total area of 375 square feet (34.84 square meters) and has a “dog tooth” leading edge, extending 1 foot, 0.7 inches (0.323 meters). The leading edges are swept aft to 47° (42° at ¼-chord), and there is 5° anhedral. The horizontal stabilator is placed lower than the wings. Its leading edge is swept aft to 50° and it has 3° 25′ dihedral.
The empty weight of the F8U-1 was 15,513 pounds (7,037 kilograms) with a maximum takeoff weight of 27,500 pounds (12,474 kilograms).
The F8U-1 is powered by a single Pratt & Whitney J57-P-4 engine. The J57 was a two-spool, axial-flow turbojet 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). Its Normal (continuous) rating is 8,700 pounds of thrust (38.70 kilonewtons) at 5,780 r.p.m. The Military Power rating is 10,200 pounds (45.37 kilonewtons) at 6,100 r.p.m., and it can produce 16,000 pounds (71.17 kilonewtons) at 6,100 r.p.m. with afterburner. The J57-P-4 is 20 feet, 10 inches (6.35 meters) long, 3 feet, 5 inches (1.041 meters) in diameter, and weighs 4,860 pounds (2,205 kilograms).
The F8U-1 had a maximum speed of 637 knots (733 miles per hour/1,180 kilometers/hour) at Sea Level, and 880 knots (1,013 miles per hour/1,630 kilometers per hour) at 35,000 feet (10,668 meters). Its service ceiling is 42,300 feet (12,893 meters), and it has a combat ceiling of 51,500 feet (15,697 meters) with afterburner. The airplane’s combat radius is 310 nautical miles (357 statute miles/ kilometers)and the combat range is 1,150 nautical miles (1,323 statute miles/2,130 kilometers) at 494 knots (568 miles per hour/915 kilometers per hour)and 42,100 feet (12,832 meters).
Commander Robert W. Windsor, Jr., U.S. Navy (right) and Fred Crawford of Thompson Products with the Thompson Trophy. (Vought Heritage)
The F8U-1 was armed with four Colt Mk. 12 20 mm cannon with 500 rounds of ammunition, and two AIM-9 Sidewinder infrared-homing air-to-air missiles. It could also carried thirty-two 2.75-inch Folding Fin Aerial Rockets (FFAR) internally.
Commander Windsow was a Navy test pilot who carried out much of the F8U test program, including the aircraft carrier qualifications aboard USS Forrestal (CVA-59).
Bu. No. 141345 was assigned to the Pacific Missile Test Center (PMTC), NAS Point Mugu, California, in 1961. It was converted to an F-8D, but was withdrawn from service in 1964.
Chance Vought built 1,213 F-8 Crusaders. 318 were the F8U-1 variant. Crusaders were in service with the United States Navy for 30 years.
A Chance Vought F8U-1 Crusader (F-8A), Bu. No. 143806, is on display at the Harold F. Pitcairn Wings of Freedom Aviation Museum at Horsham, Pennsylvania, approximately 30 minutes north of Philadelphia.
Vought Aircraft F8U Crusader Bu. No. 141345 at NAS Point Mugu, circa 1961. (Million Monkey Theater)Midshipman Robert Wilks Windsor, Jr., U.S. Naval Academy, 1941. (Lucky Bag)
Robert Wilks Windsor, Jr. was born at Wilmington, Delaware, 8 October 1918, the son of Robert W. Windsor and Mary B. Hackett Windsor. He studied at the University of Virginia before being appointed as a midshipman at the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, entering 9 July 1937 and graduating in 1941. He was commissioned as an Ensign, United States Navy, 7 February 1941, and promoted to the temporary rank of Lieutenant, effective 1 December 1942.
Trained as a pilot, Windsor was designated a Naval Aviator in 1943. During World War II, he served aboard the battleship USS Colorado (BB-45) and USS McLanahan (DD-615 ), a Benson-class destroyer, in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations. He also commanded Composite Squadron 68 (VC-68) aboard the escort carrier USS Shamrock Bay (CVE-84).
Lieutenant Windsor was promoted to the rank of lieutenant commander, 20 July 1945. He served on the staff of Admiral Marc A. Mitsher. He was promoted to commander, 1 June 1951.
Following World War II, Lieutenant Commander Windsor trained at the Combat Information Center School, and then the Naval Air Test Pilot School at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland. During the Korean War, Commander Windsor flew off of USS Yorktown (CV-10).
USS Currituck (AV-7) at anchor off Santa Catalina Island, California, 12 November 1964. The aircraft is a Martin P5M-2 Marlin. (U.S. Navy)
After two tours as a test pilot, Commander Windsor was promoted to the rank of Captain, 1 July 1959. He served on the naval operations staff. Captain Windsor commanded USS Currituck (AV-7), a sea plane tender, from April 1962 to February 1963. From 31 July 1964 to 11 August 1965, he commanded the aircraft carrier USS Independence (CVA-62), and then served on the staff of Commander, Second Fleet, aboard USS Newport News (CA-148). Captain Windsor retired from the Navy in April 1967, after 30 years of service.
USS Independence (CVA-62) at New York Harbor, July 1964. (U.S Navy)
Captain Windsor married Miss Elizabeth Bethell Foster of Denver, Colorado. They had one son, also named Robert. Mrs. Windsor died in 1963.
Captain Robert Wilks Windsor, Jr., United States Navy (Retired), died at Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, 27 May 2000, at the age of 81 years. He and his wife are buried at the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, San Diego, California.
Commander Robert W. “Duke” Windsor, Jr., stands in the cockpit of the record-setting Vought F8U-1 Crusader, Bu. No. 141345, at Armitage Field, NAWS China Lake, California. (U.S. Navy)
An American Airlines Boeing 707-023B Astrojet (720B) at Los Angeles International Airport, 26 December 1962. (Photograph courtesy of Jon Proctor)
15 August 1962: American Airlines’ Captain Eugene M. (“Gene”) Kruse set two National Aeronautic Association Class C-1 records for Speed Over a Commercial Air Route, East to West Transcontinental, when he flew a Boeing 720B Astrojet from New York to Los Angeles, 2,474 miles (3,981.5 kilometers), in 4 hours, 19 minutes, 15 seconds, at an average speed of 572.57 miles per hour (921.46 kilometers per hour). 61 years later, these records still stand.
The National Aeronautic Association has placed Captain Kruse’s records on its “Most Wanted” list: long-standing flight records that it would like to see challenged. Rules require that a new record exceed the old by at least a 1% margin. The performance needed to establish a new record would be 578.30 miles per hour (930.68 kilometers per hour).
The Boeing 720 was a variant of the Model 707, intended for short to medium range flights. It had 100 inches (2.54 meters) removed from the fuselage length and improvements to the wing, decreasing aerodynamic drag.
The Boeing 720 was operated by a flight crew of four and could carry up to 149 passengers. It was 136 feet, 2 inches (41.25 meters) long with a wingspan of 130 feet, 10 inches (39.90 meters) and overall height of 41 feet, 7 inches (12.65 meters). The airplane had an empty weight of 103,145 pounds (46,785 kilograms) and Maximum Takeoff Weight of 220,000 pounds (100,800 kilograms).
The Boeing 720 was powered by four Pratt & Whitney Turbo Wasp JT3C-7 turbojet engines, a civil variant of the military J57 series. The 720B was equipped with the more efficient P&W JT3D-1 turbofan engines. The JT3C-7 was a “two-spool” axial-flow engine with a 16-stage compressor (9 low- and 7 high-pressure stages), 8 combustion tubes, and a 3-stage turbine (1 high- and 2 low-pressure stages). It was rated at 12,030 pounds of thrust (53.512 kilonewtons) for takeoff. The JT3D-1 was a dual axial-flow turbofan engine, with a 2-stage fan section 13-stage compressor (6 low- and 7 high pressure stages), 8 combustion chambers and a 4-stage turbine (1 high- and 3 low-pressure stages). This engine was rated at 14,500 pounds of static thrust (64.499 kilonewtons) at Sea Level, and 17,000 pounds (75.620 kilonewtons), with water injection, for takeoff (2½ minute limit). Almost half of the engine’s thrust was produced by the fans. Maximum engine speed was 6,800 r.p.m. (N1) and 10,200 r.p.m. (N2). It was 11 feet, 4.64 inches (3.471 meters) long, 4 feet, 5.00 inches (1.346 meters) wide and 4 feet, 10.00 inches (1.422 meters) high. It weighed 4,165 pounds (1,889 kilograms). The JT3C could be converted to the JT3D configuration during overhaul.
The maximum cruise speed was 611 miles per hour (983 kilometers per hour) and maximum speed was 620 miles per hour (1,009 kilometers per hour). Range at at maximum payload was 4,370 miles (7,033 kilometers).
Boeing built 154 720 and 720B airliners from 1959 to 1967.
The last flight of a Boeing 720 was on 9 May 2012, when a 720B aircraft used by Pratt and Whitney Canada as a test aircraft was placed in the National Air Force Museum of Canada at Trenton, Ontario.
15 September 1939: Jackie Cochran set a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Speed Record flying a Seversky AP-7A, civil registration NX1384, over a 1,000 kilometer course, from Burbank, California, to San Mateo, approximately 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of San Francisco, and back to Burbank. Her average speed was 492.34 kilometers per hour (305.93 miles per hour).¹
