Tag Archives: Pratt & Whitney Wasp C

24–25 October 1931

Aviation, , , , , , , ,
Ruth Rowland Nichols (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale 12430–1)

24–25 October 1931: Ruth Rowland Nichols set a new Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Record for Distance in a Straight Line Without Landing when she flew from Oakland Municipal Airport, Oakland, California, to Bowman Field, Louisville, Kentucky. The official distance credited by the FAI was 3 182.65 kilometers (1,977.61 stature miles).¹

Flying a Lockheed Model 5 Vega Special, serial number 619, registered NR496M, Ruth Nichols took off from Oakland at 5:17:30 p.m., Pacific Standard Time (01:17:30 UTC), 24 October, after a takeoff roll of approximately 2,500 feet (762 meters). Present to observe her flight were National Aeronautic Association officials R. W. St. John and Eddie Cooper.

Her route took her to Reno, Nevada, where she was reported overhead at 6:35 p.m.; Salt Lake City, Utah, at 9:57 p.m.; and Cheyenne, Wyoming at 12:07 a.m., 25 October.

The flight had been in good weather until she passed Chicago, Illinois. Then with low ceilings and high winds, she was blown off course. After another hour, she decided to land at Louisville, Kentucky, to refuel. At 9:40 a.m., Central Standard Time (15:40 UTC), 25 October, she landed at Bowman Field, (now known as Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, LOU). Her flight took 14 hours, 23 minutes.

Nichols’ record broke the previous record which had been set by Maryse Bastié (née Marie-Louise Bombec) of 2 976,91 kilometers (1,849.77 statute miles), 29 June 1931, when she flew from Paris, France to Yurino, Mari Autonomous Oblast, USSR.²

Ruth Rowland Nichols with the Crossley Radio Corporation’s Lockheed Vega 1 NR496M, serial number 619, which she had named “Akita.” (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale)

The Pomona Progress Bulletin had reported on 20 October that a shipment of 648 gallons of special aviation gasoline, along with 36 gallons of oil, consigned to Nichols, had arrived at Oakland from Baltimore, Maryland. There was speculation in several newspapers that she would fly from Oakland to Honolulu, Hawaii.

The Scranton Republican reported:

Society Flier Hangs Up New Distance Mark

Ruth Nichols Claims Record held by Frenchwoman Following Hop Of Over 2,000 Miles

     LOUISVILLE, Ky., Oct. 25 (AP)—Ruth Nichols, Rye, N. Y., aviatrix who left Oakland, Ca., last night on a projected nonstop flight to New York, landed at Bowman field here at 9:40 a .m. today. Officials at the airport said she evidently had lost her way.

     Although some distance from the end of her flight, the aviatrix apparently had achieved her goal, a new distance record for women. Airport officials said they were positive she had flown more than 2,000 miles, although the sealed instruments of the plane had not been examined. The air mileage from Oakland to Louisville is approximately 2,000 miles in a direct line.

Takes Off Today

     The present woman’s distance record of 1.810 miles is held by Maryse Bastie, French woman.

     Miss Nichols planned to refuel here and proceed to New York in the morning.

     NEW YORK, Oct. 25 (AP) — Ruth Nichols, society aviatrix, Rye, N. Y., landed at Louisville, Ky., at 11 a. m. today, having flown from Oakland, Cal., somewhat more than 2,000 miles. In a long distance telephone message to her mother, at Floyd Bennett field here, she said she had said a new women’s distance record.

     Miss Nichols left Oakland at 8:17:30 p.m. (E. S. T.) yesterday.

     She planned to reach Floyd Bennett field tomorrow morning.

     The world’s distance flight for women at which Miss Nichols aimed was established June 30, last, by Mlle. Maryse Bastie, Paris flyer,who flew from the French capital across southern Europe into Russia, a distance of 1,810 miles.

     LOUISVILLE, Ky., Oct. 25 (AP) — Ruth Nichols, who landed at Bowman field here today, plans to leave early Monday morning for New York, officials at the airport said. Miss Nichols was reported resting at the home of a friend.

     Breaking aviation records is nothing new to Miss Nichols. She already has established women’s records for a one-stop transcontinental flight, altitude and speed.

     She set the transcontinental mark in a flight from Los Angeles to New York, Dec. 10, 1930, with a stop at Wichita, Kans. Her time for the 2,300 miles coast-to-coast flight was 13 hours, 21 minutes and 43 seconds.

Holds Altitude Mark

     Her plane is credited with flying to a height of 28,743 feet last March 6, at Jersey City to create a women’s altitude record. He altimeter showed a height of 30,064 feet, but the national aeronautic association, in approving the new mark, fixed the height at the lower figure.

     The following month—April 13—Miss Nichols flew more than 210 miles an hour at Detroit for a new women’s speed record.

     Miss Nichols was severely injured June 22, when she damaged her plane in landed at St. John, N. B.,preliminary to a transatlantic flight. She had flown from Floyd Bennett field in Brooklyn and while trying to land in the face of the sun misjudged her distance.

     She was taken home a week later by airplane, the pilot being Clarence Chamberlin, transatlantic flier who had been Miss Nichols’ adviser in her aviation activities.

     Her managers announced last month that she had definitely postponed another attempt at spanning the ocean because of unfavorable weather conditions.

—The Scranton Republican, Vol. 157, No. 22, 26 October 1931, Page 1, Column 6 and Page 2, Column 6

The following day, 26 October, Nichols was preparing to depart Louisville enroute to Floyd Bennett Field, New York. Leaking fuel caught fire while she was warming up the Vega’s engine. The Oakland Tribune reported:

RUTH NICHOLS ESCAPES AS PLANE BURNS

Society Girl on Flight From Oakland Leaps Out of Flaming Ship in Kentucky

Gasoline Catches Fire After ‘Record’ Hop; Plans for Atlantic Trip Revealed

     Ruth Nichols’ monoplane, in which the aviatrix had just set an unofficial non-stop distance record for women in a flight from Oakland, was virtually destroyed by fire today at Louisville, Ky., according to dispatches received here.

     The Aviatrix escaped by leaping from the cockpit and was pulled away from the blazing plane by mechanics. She was not injured.

     The plane burst into flames as the society girl aviatrix was warming up the motor by taxiing the ship over the turf preparatory to taking off for New York.

     Spectators saw a burst of flame from gasoline pouring out of a valve and mechanics shouted to Miss Nichols to cut off the motor. She said she was unable to hear their voices but knew from their gestures that something was wrong and closed the throttle before leaping from the ship.

     Field attendants armed with extinguishers succeeded in putting out the fire.

VALVE RELEASED AND LETS OUT GASOLINE.

     Attendants at the field said they believed a dump valve had been released by the vibration of the motor as Miss Nichols was warming up the ship and that in some manner not determined the fuel flowing from the valve had been ignited.

     Miss Nichols was bespattered with liquid from the fire extinguishers. She said she was not frightened and would be in the air again as soon as she could get another plane. She estimated the loss at $10,000, explaining that the plane cost $25,000 but the motor and other parts could be salvaged.She said she would remain to supervise dismantling the ship for reconstruction if the factory so desired.

     The dump valve, she said, had given her some trouble in California but she had had a new one installed before starting.

     Miss Nichols landed at Bowman field, Louisville, at 7:40 a. m. yesterday, approximately 14 hours after leaving the Oakland airport in an attempt to set a new woman’s non-stop distance record.

     She and airport attendants were confident that she had achieved her goal, estimating the distance from Louisville to Oakland at 2000 miles and pointing out that the course flown by Miss Nichols was even longer. The official women’s distance record is 1810 miles held by Maryse Bastie, of France.

     The barograph from Miss Nichols’ ship, sealed here before she took off, was removed at Louisville for shipment to the bureau of aeronautics at Washington for computation.

LOW CEILING, WINDS BLEW HER OFF COURSE.

     The aviatrix said she had a “fine trip” from Oakland to Chicago but then encountered a low ceiling and winds which blew her from her course.

     “Wandering around used up lots of gasoline and I decided to land and refuel,” Miss Nichols said. “I flew around about an hour trying to get my bearings.”

     Miss Nichols spent the night at the home of Lieutenant Albert M. Moody and this morning telephoned to Clarence Chamberlain to meet her at Floyd Bennett airport in New York “to have a sundae.”

     The mishap today was the second the aviatrix has experienced in recent months. Last summer she wrecked her ship at St. John, N. B., on the first leg of  projected Atlantic flight and suffered several broken vertebrae. For a long time she wore a plaster cast and now wears a steel corset to protect her injured spine.

PLANS STILL CONSIDERED FOR ATLANTIC FLIGHT.

     Dispatches from Louisville said Miss Nichols apparently had not given up her plans for an Atlantic flight although she said she did not care to “talk about plans I might not be able to carry out.”

     “Possibly I will attempt the flight next summer,” she said. “I feel sure that I can make it and have absolutely no fear. The main obstacle to success is the wear and tear on nerves and body. While considerable skill is required, endurance is the more important qualification.”

—Oakland Tribune,  Vol. CXV, No. 118, 26 October 1931, Page 1, Column 1

Ruth Nichols’ Lockheed Vega. (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale 12340–2)

Nichols’ airplane was a 1928 Lockheed Model 5 Vega Special, serial number 619, registered NR496M, and owned by Powell Crosley, Jr.

Built by the Lockheed Aircraft Company, Burbank, California, the Vega was a single-engine high-wing monoplane with fixed landing gear. It was flown by a single pilot in an open cockpit and could be configured to carry four to six passengers.

The Lockheed Vega was a very state-of-the-art aircraft for its time. The prototype flew for the first time 4 July 1927 at Mines Field, Los Angeles, California. It used a streamlined monocoque fuselage made of molded plywood. The wing and tail surfaces were fully cantilevered, requiring no bracing wires or struts to support them.

The Model 5 Vega is 27 feet, 6 inches (8.382 meters) long with a wingspan of 41 feet (12.497 meters) and overall height of 8 feet, 2 inches (2.489 meters). Its empty weight is 2,595 pounds (1,177 kilograms) and gross weight is 4,500 pounds (2,041 kilograms).

Nichols’ airplane was powered by an air-cooled, supercharged 1,343.804-cubic-inch-displacement (22.021 liter) Pratt & Whitney Wasp C nine-cylinder radial engine with a compression ratio of 5.25:1. It was rated at 420 horsepower at 2,000 r.p.m. at Sea Level, burning 58-octane gasoline. The engine drove a two-bladed controllable-pitch Hamilton Standard propeller through direct drive. The Wasp C was 3 feet, 6.63 inches (1.083 meters) long, 4 feet, 3.44 inches (1.3-7 meters) in diameter and weighed 745 pounds (338 kilograms).

The standard Vega 5 had a cruising speed of 165 miles per hour (266 kilometers per hour) and maximum speed of 185 miles per hour (298 kilometers per hour). The service ceiling was 15,000 feet (4,572 meters). Range with standard fuel tanks was 725 miles (1,167 kilometers).

NR496M was destroyed by fire at Louisville, Kentucky 26 October 1931. The registration was cancelled in 1933.

¹ FAI Record File Number 12340

² FAI Record File Numbers 12345, 12346 and 14886

© 2023, Bryan R. Swopes

3–5 October 1931

Aviation, , , , , , , ,
Hugh Herndon, Jr., (left) and Clyde Pangborn in the cockpit of Miss Veedol, just before takeoff at Sabashiro Beach, Misawa, Honshu, Japan, 3 October 1931. (Aviation Museum)

3–5 October 1931: At 6:01 a.m., local time, 4 October (21:01, 3 October, Greenwich Mean Time), Clyde Edward Pangborn and Hugh Herndon, Jr., flying their Bellanca Skyrocket, Miss Veedol, took off from Sabashiro Beach, on the northern coast of the island of Honshu, Japan. Their destination was Seattle, Washington, 5,500 miles (8,851 kilometers) across the North Pacific Ocean.

Pangborn and Herndon had been on an around-the-world flight, attempting to better the time recently set by Wiley Post and Harold Gatty. The flight was sponsored by Herndon and his mother, Alice Carter Herndon, heiress to the Tide Water Oil Company. Tide Water was the producer of the Veedol line of motor oils and lubricants, so the airplane was named Miss Veedol for public relations purposes.

Delays while traversing the Soviet Union made it impossible to beat the Post/Gatty record time, however, so the pair flew on to Japan, hoping to win prize money offered by several organizations for the first Transpacific flight. They landed in Japan on 8 August, and because they had done so without authorization, were held under house arrest for seven weeks.

Miss Veedol, a Bellanca CH-400 Skyrocket, NR796W, circa 1931. (Granville Oil)

On takeoff, Miss Veedol was seriously overloaded, carrying a reported 915 gallons (3,464 liters) of gasoline and 45 gallons (170 liters) of engine oil. Miss Veedol had been modified by Pangborn so that its landing gear could be dropped, reducing weight by approximately 300 pounds (136 kilograms). The decreased aerodynamic drag resulted in an increase in the airplane’s speed of approximately 15 miles per hour (24 kilometers per hour). Dropping the landing gear would require a belly landing at the destination, however.

When it was time to jettison the landing gear, the mechanism failed, leaving two struts still attached to the airplane. Clyde Pangborn had to go outside the cockpit to remove them.

Pangborn and Herndon flew a Great Circle Course, and the first land that they encountered was Dutch Harbor, at the outer tip of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands.

The Pacific Northwest was shrouded in rain and fog, so the flyers changed their destination from Seattle to Boise, Idaho. Eventually, however, they decided to land at Wenatachee in eastern Washington State.

At 7:14 a.m. Pacific Standard Time, (14:14 G.M.T.), 5 October (they had crossed the International Date Line), Clyde Pangborne flew Miss Veedol onto the ground at Fancher Field, about 5 miles (8 kilometers) northwest of Wenatchee. The total duration of their flight was 41 hours, 13 minutes (1 day, 18 hours, 13 minutes).

The airplane was slightly damaged in the belly landing but was later repaired.

Miss Veedol after belly-landing at Fancher Field, near Wenatchee, Washington, 5 October 1931. (Unattributed)

For their accomplishment, Pangborn and Herndon were awarded the the White Medal of Merit of the Imperial Aeronautical Society by Consul General Kensuke Horinouchi. The presentation took place at the Japanese consulate on 21 November 1931. The United States National Aeronautic Association awarded the two men its 1931 National Harmon Trophy.

Hugh Herndon, Jr. (left) and Clyde Edward Pangborne, with the damaged Miss Veedol, 5 October 1931. (Frank Kubo Collection, Densho Digital Repository)

Miss Veedol was a 1931 Bellanca Aircraft Corporation of America CH-400 Skyrocket,¹ serial number 3004, registered  NR796W. The CH-400 was a single-engine, high-wing monoplane with fixed landing gear. It was flown by a single pilot and could carry up to five passengers. The CH-400 was 27 feet, 10 inches (8.484 meters) long with a wingspan of 46 feet, 4 inches (14.122 meters) and height of 8 feet, 4 inches (2.540 meters). The standard airplane had an empty weight of 2,592 pounds (1,176 kilograms) and gross weight of 4,600 pounds (2,087 kilograms). Its fuel capacity was 120 gallons (454 liters). Miss Veedol had been modified to carry 620 gallons (2,347 liters) of fuel.

The CH-400 was powered by an air-cooled, supercharged 1,343.804-cubic-inch-displacement (22.021 liter) Pratt & Whitney Wasp C nine cylinder, direct-drive radial engine. The Wasp C was rated at 420 horsepower at 2,000 r.p.m. at Sea Level.² It was 3 feet, 6.63 inches (1.083 meters) long, 4 feet, 3.44 inches (1.307 meters) in diameter, and weighed 745 pounds (338 kilograms).

The production Skyrocket had a cruise speed of 130 miles per hour (209 kilometers per hour), and maximum speed of 155 miles per hour (249 kilometers per hour). Its service ceiling was 20,000 feet (6,096 meters) and the normal range was 750 miles (1,207 kilometers).

Bellanca built 32 CH-400 Skyrockets.

Miss Veedol was repaired and then sold to American Medical Researches, Inc., of New York City. It was repainted and renamed The American Nurse. While on a planned non-stop New York to Rome flight, 13 September 1932, NR796W disappeared. It was last sighted by the crew of S.S. Winnebago, an Anglo-American Oil Company bulk oil carrier, approximately 900 miles (1,448 kilometers) east of New York, at 11:50 p.m., British Summer Time, on the 13th. The pilot, two passengers, and a groundhog (Marmota monax) named Tailwind, were never seen again.

Clyde Edward Pangborn. (James J. Kriegsmann, New York)

Clyde Pangborn was one of the best-known aviators of the Interwar Period. Clyde Edward Pangborn was born 28 October 1894 ³ in Douglas County, Washington. He was the second son of Max Judson Pangborn and Francis Ola Lamb Pangborn, a dressmaker. During his early 20s, Pangborn was employed as a surveyor for the B. H. & S. Smelter at Kellogg, Idaho.

Pangborn enlisted as a Private, United States Army, 11 June 1918. He was trained as a pilot and, on completion, was commissioned a second lieutenant, Air Service, Signal Officers Reserve Corps. He was assigned as a flight instructor at Ellington Field, southeast of Houston, Texas. While in the Air Service, Pangborn taught himself to fly an airplane inverted for extended periods, earning himself the nick-name, “Upside-Down Pangborn.” After the Armistice brought World War I to a close, Second Lieutenant Pangborn was released from service and honorably discharged, 21 May 1919.

Through the 1920s, Pangborn was a “barnstormer,” flying demonstrations and performing stunts (such as “wing walking”) and giving rides. Major Gregory Boyington, United States Marine Corps, took his very first flight in an airplane with Clyde Pangborn as the pilot.

On 22 October 1934, Clyde Pangborn was commissioned as a lieutenant, United States Naval Reserve (Special Service). He held this commission until his death.

Clyde Pangborne married the French actress, Mlle. Jisele A. Duval (also known by her stage name, Swana Beaucaire) at Southampton, England, February 1938. They had met two years earlier when he pulled her out of a snow bank in Switzerland. They were divorced at Reno, Nevada, 3 April 1944.

During the early years of World War II, Pangborn worked for the Clayton Knight Committee, recruiting unemployed American pilots for the the Royal Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force. He then joined the R.A.F. Transport Command as a civilian pilot. Captain Pangborne ferried aircraft and equipment across the Atlantic from Canada to the United Kingdom. He made approximately 175 Transatlantic flights.

In August 1942, Pangborn flew an Avro Lancaster Mk.I, R5727, across the North Atlantic to be used as a pattern aircraft for Canadian Lancaster production. Though the Lancaster was considered to be a very long-range bomber, a fuel stop was required at Gander. Pangborn flew the Lancaster around Canada and the United States, allowing aeronautical engineers and military personnel to examine the four-engine British bomber.

Avro Lancaster Mk.I R5727 over Montreal, 1942. (Royal Air Force)

Following World War II, Pangborn was awarded the King’s Medal for Service in the Cause of Freedom by His Majesty, George VI.

Clyde Edward Pangborn died 29 March 1958, at Manhattan, New York City, at the age of 63 years. He was buried with military honors at the Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia.

Hugh Herndon Jr., was born at Titusville, Pennsylvania, 3 October 1899. He was the son of Hugh Herndon, Sr., an attorney, and Alice Carter Herndon.

Herndon married Miss Mary Ellen Farley at New York, 14 June 1931. He famously “rescued her from possible death in the tentacles of a large octopus,” at Sandy Key Island in the Bahamas, 15 January 1932. They divorced in 1948. Herndon then married Ruth D. Claiborne, 22 November 1948.

Herndon was an operations manager for Trans World Airlines, based in Cairo, Egypt. He died at his residence at Zamelek, at 10:00 p.m., 4 April 1952. He was cremated and his remains turned over to Mrs. Herndon.

¹ Some sources describe NR796W as a “CH-300 J.” It was registered by the Aeronautics Branch, United States Department of Commerce, as a “CH400 Skyrocket.”

² The Pratt & Whitney Wasp C was also used by the U.S. Army and Navy, designated R-1340-7. In military service, it was rated at 450 horsepower at 2,100 r.p.m. at Sea Level.

³ Washington State Department of Health Birth Index.

© 2017, Bryan R. Swopes

24–25 August 1932

Aviation, , , , , , , , , , , ,
Amelia Earhart with her Lockheed Vega after her record-setting solo nonstop flight across North America, 25 August 1932. (Encyclopedia Britannica)

24–25 August 1932: Amelia Earhart flew her Lockheed Model 5B Vega, NR7952, from Los Angeles, California, to Newark, New Jersey, a distance of 3,939.25 kilometers (2,447.74 miles), in 19 hours, 5 minutes. She had departed Los Angeles Municipal Airport (now known as LAX) at 7:26:54 p.m. Pacific Time, 24 August, and landed at Newark Municipal Airport at 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time the following day. This set a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) women’s World Record for Distance in a Straight Line Without Landing.¹ Her average speed for the flight was 206.42 kilometers per hour (128.27 miles per hour).

National Aeronautics Association Certificate of Record, issued on behalf of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.

Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly solo coast-to-coast. Less than a year later, she would break her own record by almost two hours.

A small crowd gather's around Amelia Earhart an dher Lockheed Model 5B Vega at Newark Municpal Airport, 25 August 1932. (AP)
A small crowd gathers around Amelia Earhart and her Lockheed Model 5B Vega at Newark Municipal Airport, 25 August 1932. (AP)

Built by the Lockheed Aircraft Company, the Model 5 Vega was a single-engine high-wing monoplane. The fuselage was molded wood monocoque construction and the wing was cantilevered wood. The Vega 5B is 27 feet, 6 inches (8.382 meters) long with a wingspan of 41 feet (12.497 meters) and overall height of 8 feet, 2 inches (2.489 meters). Its empty weight is 1,650 pounds (748.4 kilograms) and gross weight is 4,375 pounds (1,985 kilograms).

Aircraft Registration Certificate, Lockheed Vega 5B, serial number 22, NC7952.

Earhart’s modified Vega 5B is powered by an air-cooled, supercharged 1,343.804-cubic-inch-displacement (22.021 liter) Pratt & Whitney Wasp C nine cylinder radial engine. The Wasp C was rated at 420 horsepower at 2,000 r.p.m. at Sea Level.² It was 3 feet, 6.63 inches (1.083 meters) long, 4 feet, 3.44 inches (1.307 meters) in diameter, and weighed 745 pounds (338 kilograms). It drove a two-bladed Hamilton Standard controllable-pitch propeller through direct drive.

Just three months earlier, Earhart had flown solo across the Atlantic Ocean in this same airplane, which she called her “Little Red Bus.” Today, Lockheed Vega NR7952 is in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum.

Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Model 5B Vega, NR7952, at the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum. (NASM)

¹ FAI Record File Number 12342

² The Pratt & Whitney Wasp C was also used by the U.S. Army and Navy, designated R-1340-7. In military service, it was rated at 450 horsepower at 2,100 r.p.m. at Sea Level.

© 2017, Bryan R. Swopes

22 July 1933

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Wiley Hardeman Post, 1898–1935. (Underwood & Underwood)

22 July 1933: At 11:50½ p.m., Wiley Hardeman Post and his Lockheed Model 5C Vega, NR105W, The Winnie Mae of Oklahoma, landed at Floyd Bennett Field, Long Island, New York.

Post had departed from there on 15 July and in 7 days, 18 hours, 49½ minutes, he flew 15,596 miles (25,099.3 kilometers), circling the Northern Hemisphere. He made 11 stops for fuel and rest, and had one minor accident which required repairs to the airplane. (Note the Standard propeller clearly visible in the photograph below.)

In 1931, he had flown approximately the same route, with a navigator, Harold Gatty, aboard. For this flight Post was by himself.

This was the first solo around-the-world flight. Wiley Post was the first pilot to have flown around the world twice.

Wiley Post climbs out of the cockpit of his Lockheed Vega monoplane, Winnie Mae, after completing the first solo flight around the world at Floyd Bennet Field, Long Island, N.Y., midnight, July 22, 1933. Wiley set a new record with the distance of 15,596 miles, 25,099 kilometer, in 7 days, 18 hours, 49 minutes. (AP Photo)
“Wiley Post climbs out of the cockpit of his Lockheed Vega monoplane, Winnie Mae, after completing the first solo flight around the world at Floyd Bennett Field, Long Island, N.Y., midnight, July 22, 1933. Wiley set a new record with the distance of 15,596 miles, 25,099 kilometer, in 7 days, 18 hours, 49 minutes.” (AP Photo)

The Vega was a single-engine, high-wing monoplane was designed by John Knudsen (“Jack”) Northrop and Gerrard Vultee. It was a very state-of-the-art aircraft for its time. It used a streamlined monocoque fuselage made of spiral strips of vertical grain spruce pressed into concrete molds and held together with glue. The wing and tail surfaces were fully cantilevered, requiring no bracing wires or struts to support them.

The techniques used to build the Vega were very influential in aircraft design. It also began Lockheed’s tradition of naming its airplanes after stars and other astronomical objects.

The Winnie Mae was built by Lockheed Aircraft Company at Burbank, California in 1930 as a Model 5B Vega, serial number 122. It was purchased by an Oklahoma oil driller, Florence C. (“F.C.”) Hall, on 21 June 1930, and named for his daughter, Winnie Mae Hall, The Winnie Mae of Oklahoma. The new airplane was painted white with purple trim. In 1932, NC105W was modified to the Vega 5C standard.

The Lockheed Model 5C Vega is 27 feet, 6 inches (8.382 meters) long with a wingspan of 41 feet (12.497 meters) and overall height of 8 feet, 2 inches (2.489 meters). Its empty weight is 2,595 pounds (1,177 kilograms) and gross weight is 4,500 pounds (2,041 kilograms).

Winnie Mae was powered by an air-cooled, supercharged 1,343.80-cubic-inch-displacement (22.021 liter) Pratt & Whitney Wasp C, serial number 3088, a single-row, nine cylinder, direct-drive radial engine. The Wasp C was rated at 420 horsepower at 2,000 r.p.m. at Sea Level. It was 3 feet, 6.63 inches (1.083 meters) long with a diameter of 4 feet, 3.44 inches (1.307 meters) and weighed 745 pounds (338 kilograms).

The standard Model 5C had a cruise speed of 165 miles per hour (266 kilometers per hour) and maximum speed of 185 miles per hour (298 kilometers per hour). The service ceiling was 15,000 feet (4,570 meters) and range in standard configuration was 725 miles (1,167 kilometers).

An estimated 50,000 spectators greet Wiley Post on his return to Floyd Bennett Field, 22 July 1933. Post is visible jut behind the trailing edge of the Vega's left wing. (Unattributed)
An estimated 50,000 spectators greeted Wiley Post on his return to Floyd Bennett Field, 22 July 1933. Post is visible just behind the trailing edge of the Vega’s left elevator. (Unattributed)

Wiley Post flew the Winnie Mae for F.C. Hall, and flew it around the world in 1931 with Harold Gatty as navigator. Post used it to set several speed records and to compete in the National Air Races. Post purchased the airplane from Hall, 8 July 1931.

When the Vega and its Wasp engine had reached 745 hours of operation, they were  overhauled by Braniff Airways at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The Wasp C was modified with cylinders from a Wasp C1. This increased the compression ratio from 5.25:1 to 6.0:1. Using 87-octane aviation gasoline, it could produce 500 horsepower at 2,200 r.p.m. (5-minute limit). The airplane’s original two-bladed Standard fixed-pitch steel propeller was later replaced by a Smith 450-SI controllable-pitch propeller with Pittsburgh Screw and Bolt hollow steel blades.

Among other modifications, Post had the wing’s angle of incidence decreased 10° which increased the Vega’s speed by 10 miles per hour (16 kilometers per hour). The fixed tail skid was shortened to allow the airplane to reach a higher angle of attack for takeoff and landing. For the 1933 around-the-world flight, six auxiliary tanks were installed in the fuselage, giving the Vega a total fuel capacity of 645 gallons (2,442 liters). It was also equipped with a Sperry gyroscopic autopilot.

These modification required the Vega to be licensed in a restricted category, and it was re-registered NR105W.

After Wiley Post was killed in an airplane crash near Barrow, Alaska, 15 August 1935, his widow, Mae Laine Post, sold NR105W to the Smithsonian Institution. It is on display in the Time and Navigation Exhibition at the National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C.

Wiley Post’s Lockheed Model 5C Vega, NR105W, Winnie Mae of Oklahoma, at the National Air and Space Museum. (Photo by Dane Penland, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution)

© 2016, Bryan R. Swopes

15–22 July 1933

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Wiley Hardeman Post (Underwood and Underwood, Washington)
Wiley Hardeman Post (Underwood and Underwood, Washington)

15 July 1933: At 5:10 a.m., Wiley Hardeman Post took off from Floyd Bennett Field, Long Island, New York, on a solo around-the-world flight. His airplane was a Lockheed Model 5C Vega, NR105W, which he previously flown around the world in 1931 with navigator Harold Gatty.

On this flight, Post flew approximately the same route around the Northern Hemisphere, making 11 stops ¹ over a 15,596 mile (25,099.3 kilometer) flight. He returned to Floyd Bennett Field at 11:50½ p.m., 22 July 1933, after 7 days, 18 hours, 49½ minutes. Post’s total flight time was 115 hours, 36½ minutes. ²

This was the first solo around-the-world flight. Wiley Post was the first pilot to have flown around the world twice.

“With his touchdown at Floyd Bennett on this evening of July, 22, Wiley Post became the first person to circumnavigate the earth twice by aircraft. He was the first person to fly around the world alone, and he had done it with all possible speed. Post’s record remains unique. Fourteen years later in 1947 his record was ostensibly broken; but it was done under such radically different circumstances that the new record was really meaningless.” ³

— Wiley Post, His Winnie Mae, and the World’s First Pressure Suit, by Stanley R. Mohler and Bobby H. Johnson, Smithsonian Annals of Flight Number 8, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C., 1971, Chapter 3, at Page 65

Wiley Post with his Lockheed Model 5C Vega, NR105W, at Floyd Bennet Field, Long Island, New York, 15 July 1933. (Rudy Arnold)
Wiley Post with his Lockheed Model 5C Vega, NR105W, at Floyd Bennet Field, Long Island, New York, 15 July 1933. (Rudy Arnold)

The Vega was a single-engine, high-wing monoplane designed by John Knudsen Northrop and Gerard Freebairn Vultee. It was a very state-of-the-art aircraft for its time. It used a streamlined monocoque fuselage made of longitudinal strips of vertical grain spruce pressed into concrete molds and bonded together with cassein glue. The wing and tail surfaces were fully cantilevered, requiring no bracing wires or struts to support them. They were built of spruce spars and ribs, covered with 3/32-inch (2.4 millimeters) spruce plywood.

The techniques used to build the Vega were very influential in aircraft design. It also began Lockheed’s tradition of naming its airplanes after stars and other astronomical objects.

The Winnie Mae was built by Lockheed Aircraft Company at Burbank, California in 1930 as a Model 5B Vega, serial number 122. It was purchased by an Oklahoma oil driller, Florence C. (“F.C.”) Hall, on 21 June 1930, and named for his daughter, Winnie Mae Hall, The Winnie Mae of Oklahoma. The new airplane was painted white with purple trim. In 1932, NC105W was modified to the Vega 5C standard.

The Lockheed Model 5C Vega is 27 feet, 6 inches (8.382 meters) long with a wingspan of 41 feet, 0 inches (12.497 meters) and overall height of 8 feet, 2 inches (2.489 meters). Its empty weight is 2,595 pounds (1,177 kilograms) and gross weight is 4,500 pounds (2,041 kilograms).

Winnie Mae was powered by an air-cooled, supercharged 1,343.804-cubic-inch-displacement (22.021 liter) Pratt & Whitney Wasp C, serial number 3088, a single-row, nine cylinder, direct-drive radial engine. The Wasp C was rated at 420 horsepower at 2,000 r.p.m. at Sea Level. It was 3 feet, 6.63 inches (1.083 meters) long with a diameter of 4 feet, 3.44 inches (1.307 meters) and weighed 745 pounds (338 kilograms).

The standard Model 5C had a cruise speed of 165 miles per hour (266 kilometers per hour) and maximum speed of 185 miles per hour (298 kilometers per hour). The service ceiling was 15,000 feet (4,570 meters) and range in standard configuration was 725 miles (1,167 kilometers).

Wiley Post flew the Winnie Mae for F.C. Hall, and flew it around the world in 1931 with Harold Gatty as navigator. Post used it to set several speed records and to compete in the National Air Races. He purchased the airplane from Hall, 8 July 1931.

Winnie Mae was involved in an accident at Chickasha, Oklahoma, 21 April 1933. Flown by another pilot, the engine stopped on takeoff due to fuel starvation. It was found that gasoline had been stolen from the tanks by being siphoned. The damaged Vega was sent to Braniff Airways at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for repair and an extensive overhaul. One fuselage half was replaced, and the fuselage covered in balloon cloth. The cockpit was rebuilt, all new control cables installed, and the wing repaired and reinforced. The tail surfaces were recovered and the landing gear was sent to Lockheed to be rebuilt. The Wasp SC1 was completely overhauled modified with new cylinders which increased the compression ratio from 5.25:1 to 6.0:1. The carburetor was overhauled by Bendix-Stromberg, and new magnetos installed. Using 87-octane aviation gasoline, it could produce 500 horsepower at 2,200 r.p.m. (5-minute limit). The airplane’s original two-bladed Standard fixed-pitch steel propeller was replaced by a Smith 450-SI controllable-pitch propeller with Pittsburgh Screw and Bolt hollow steel blades.

Among other modifications, Post had the wing’s angle of incidence decreased 10° which reduced aerodynamic drag and increased the Vega’s speed by 10 miles per hour (16 kilometers per hour). The fixed tail skid was shortened to allow the airplane to reach a higher angle of attack for takeoff and landing. For the 1933 around-the-world flight, six fuel tanks were installed in the fuselage and four in the wings, giving the Vega a total fuel capacity of 645 gallons (2,442 liters). It was also equipped with a Sperry gyroscopic autopilot.

These modifications required the Vega to be licensed in a restricted category, and it was re-registered NR105W.

After Wiley Post was killed in an airplane crash near Barrow, Alaska, 15 August 1935, his widow, Mae Laine Post, sold NR105W to the Smithsonian Institution. It is on display in the Time and Navigation Exhibition at the National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C.

Wiley Post's Lockheed 5C Vega, NR105W, "Winnie Mae of Oklahoma", at the National Air and Space Museum.(Photo by Dane Penland, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution)
Wiley Post’s Lockheed 5C Vega, NR105W, The Winnie Mae of Oklahoma, at the National Air and Space Museum. (Photo by Dane Penland, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution)

¹ Berlin, Germany; Königsberg, Germany (now, Kalingrad, Russia); Moscow, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic; Novosibirsk, Siberia, U.S.S.R, ; Irkutsk, Siberia, U.S.S.R.; Rukhlovo, Siberia, U.S.S.R. (Skorvorodino); Khabarovsk, Siberia, U.S.S.R.; Flat, Territory of Alaska; Fairbanks, Territory of Alaska; Edmonton, Alberta, Dominion of Canada; New York City, New York, United States of America.

² The international organization for flight records, the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, requires that a circumnavigation cross all meridians in one direction and be at least the length of the Tropic of Cancer, 22,858.729 miles (36,787.559 kilometers). Post’s flight was short of the required distance, so no official record was set.

³ Floyd Odom, Douglas A-26 Invader NX67834, 7–10 August 1947: Flight, “Just what he as proved is not clear. . . The late Wiley Post took come 187 hours to do the circuit. . . but that was fourteen years ago, in a Lockheed Vega with one 450 horsepower engine. Post had far less aid from navigational facilities, and almost only one piece of equipment common to the Winnie Mae and the Reynolds Bombshell is the automatic pilot, which in both cases enabled the human pilot to take occasional short snatches of sleep. Captain Odom’s engines had to run for 73 hours only, while Post’s kept going for 87. Pilot strain must have been approximately proportional to the length of time, so if human endurance is the criterion, Post’s was the greater achievement.” —FLIGHT, Vol. 52, August 14, 1947, page 154

© 2018, Bryan R. Swopes