X-15 56-6670 with NB-52A 52-003, 13 April 1960. (NASA)
13 April 1960: Major Robert M. White, USAF, was the first U.S. Air Force test pilot to fly an X-15.
Carried aloft by a Boeing NB-52A Stratofortress, serial number 52-003, the first of three X-15 hypersonic research aircraft, 56-6670, was airdropped at 0915 above Rosamond Dry Lake. Major White ignited the two Reaction Motors XLR-11 rocket engines and with a burn time of 4 minutes, 13.7 seconds, the X-15 accelerated to Mach 1.9 (1,254 miles per hour/2,018 kilometers per hour) and reached 48,000 feet (14,630 meters). Both numbers were slightly short of the planned Mach 2.0 (1,320 miles per hour/2,124 kilometers per hour) and 50,000 feet (15,240 meters).
After 8 minutes, 52.7 seconds, Bob White and the X-15 touched down at Edwards Air Force Base.
This photograph shows the second North American Aviation X-15A, 56-6671, flaring to land on Rogers Dry Lake, Edwards Air Force Base, California The rear skids are just touching down. The white patches on the aircraft’s belly are frost from residual cryogenic propellants remaining in its tanks. (U.S. Air Force)
Over the next 32 months Bob White made 16 flights in the X-15. He was the first pilot to fly faster than Mach 4, Mach 5 and Mach 6. He flew it to Mach 6.04, 4,093 miles per hour (6,587 kilometers per hour) and 314,750 feet (95,936 meters), setting a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) record for an altitude gain of 82,190 meters (269,652 feet).¹
White was one of six pilots ² awarded astronaut wings for his flights in the X-15.
Major Robert M. White exits the cockpit of an X-15 at Edwards AFB. White is wearing a David Clark Co. MC-2 full-pressure suit. (U.S. Air Force)
¹ FAI Record File Number 9604
² Joe Henry Engle, William J. (“Pete”) Knight, Robert A. Rushworth, Joseph Albert Walker, Robert Michael White, and Michael James Adams (posthumous)
Prototype Northrop YT-38-5-NO Talon 58-1191 at Edwards AFB, 10 April 1959. (U.S. Air Force)
10 April 1959: Northrop test pilot Lewis A. Nelson made the first takeoff of the prototype YT-38-5-NO Talon, serial number 58-1191, at Edwards Air Force Base, California.
A private venture by Northrop, the Talon was designed by a team led by Edgar Schmued, famous for his work on the North American Aviation P-51 Mustang, F-86 Sabre and the F-100 Super Sabre. The Talon is a twin-engine advanced trainer capable of supersonic speeds. More than 5,500 hours of wind tunnel testing was performed before the airplane’s final configuration was determined.
After testing, the two YT-38s were modified to the YT-38A configuration. The modified aircraft was accepted by the United States Air Force and ordered into production as the T-38A Talon.
The T-38 was the world’s first supersonic flight trainer. The Northrop T-38A Talon is a pressurized, two-place, twin-engine, jet trainer. Its fuselage is very aerodynamically clean and uses the “area-rule” (“coked”) to improve its supersonic capability. It is 46 feet, 4.5 inches (14.135 meters) long with a wingspan of 25 feet, 3 inches (7.696 meters) and overall height of 12 feet, 10.5 inches (3.924 meters). The one-piece wing has an area of 170 square feet (15.79 square meters). The leading edge is swept 32º. The airplane’s empty weight is 7,200 pounds (3,266 kilograms) and maximum takeoff weight is approximately 12,700 pounds (5,761 kilograms).
Northrop YT-38-5-NO 58-1191 in flight over Edwards AFB, 10 April 1959. (U.S. Air Force)
The T-38A is powered by two General Electric J85-GE-5 turbojet engines. The J85 is a single-shaft axial-flow turbojet engine with an 8-stage compressor section and 2-stage turbine. The J85-GE-5 is rated at 2,680 pounds of thrust (11.921 kilonewtons), and 3,850 pounds (17.126 kilonewtons) with afterburner. It is 108.1 inches (2.746 meters) long, 22.0 inches (0.559 meters) in diameter and weighs 584 pounds (265 kilograms).
The T-38A has a maximum speed of Mach 1.08 (822 miles per hour/1,323 kilometers per hour) at Sea Level, and Mach 1.3 (882 miles per hour/1,419 kilometers per hour) at 30,000 feet (9,144 meters). It has a rate of climb of 33,600 feet per minute (171 meters per second) and a service ceiling of 55,000 feet (16,764 meters). Its range is 1,140 miles (1,835 kilometers).
Northrop YT-38-5-NO Talon 58-1191. (Northrop)
Between 1959 and 1972, 1,187 T-38s were built at Northrop’s Hawthorne, California factory. As of 2014, 546 T-38s remained in the U.S. Air Force active inventory. The U.S. Navy has 10, and NASA operates 15.
Northrop YT-38-5-NO Talon 58-1191. (Northrop)58-1191 and sister ship 58-1192 were converted to YT-38As. (Northrop)Lewis A. Nelson. (Photograph courtesy of Neil Corbett, Test and Research Pilots, Flight Test Engineers)
Lewis Albert Nelson was born 13 September 1920 at San Diego, California, the second of three children of George Walter Nelson, an electrician, and Edith Clarissa Merrill Nelson. He grew up in Santa Cruz, California.
Nelson first flew in a Piper J-3 Cub as a teenager. While attending a junior college in 1939, he was accepted into the Civilian Pilot Training Program and continued while at San Jose State College, San Jose, California.
Nelson enlisted as an aviation cadet in the U.S. Army Air Corps at Moffett Field, California, 12 January 1942. He was 5 feet, 7 inches (1.702 meters) tall and weighed 154 pounds (69.9 kilograms). He served until 1947. He was twice awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
After leaving the Air Corps, Nelson studied aeronautical engineering at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, graduating in 1949. He later earned a master’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Lew Nelson worked as an aeronautical engineer for the National Advisory Commission on Aeronautics (NACA), and joined the Northrop Corporation as a test pilot in 1950. In 1952 he was promoted to Chief Experimental Test Pilot. Nelson made the first flights of a number of Northrop aircraft, such as the F-89 Scorpion, N-156 and F-5. Nelson retired from Northrop in 1986.
He married Elaine M. Miller, Clark County, Nevada, 28 April 1979.
Lewis Albert Nelson died at Menifee, California, 15 January 2015, at the age of 94 years. His remains were buried at sea.
Test pilot Bob Ferry in the cockpit of Hughes YOH-6A 62-4213, with engineer Dick Lofland, before the non-stop coast-to-coast flight. (Hughes Aircraft)
6–7 April 1966: Chief Test Pilot Robert G. Ferry of Hughes Tool Company’s Aircraft Division flies the number three prototype YOH-6A, 62-4213, from the company airport at Culver City, California, non-stop to Ormond Beach, Florida, a distance of 3,561.55 kilometers (2,213.04 miles). Bob Ferry set three Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Records for Distance Without Landing.¹ All three records still stand.
Hughes YOH-6A 62-4213 at Edwards Air Force Base, 1966. (FAI)
Bob Ferry took off at the Hughes Airport at Culver City (just north of LAX) at 2:20 p.m., Pacific Time. The aircraft twas so heavily loaded with fuel that the test pilot exceeded the engine’s torque limit by 21% just to get airborne. When he established a climb he reduced the power to “red line.” During the entire flight he kept the engine at 105% N2 (a 2% overspeed). He landed after 15 hours, 8 minutes of flight.
On 26 March 1966, Allison Engine Company test pilot Jack Schweibold flew the same YOH-6A to set three Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Records for Distance Over a Closed Circuit Without Landing of 2,800.20 kilometers (1,739.96 miles).² One week earlier, 20 March, Jack Zimmerman had set a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Record for Distance Over a Closed Circuit Without Landing of 1,700.12 kilometers (1,056.41 miles).³ Fifty-one years later, these four World Records also still stand.
Robert George Ferry was born 29 November 1923 in Hennepin County, Minnesota, the second child of Lucius M. and Charlotte E. Ferry. He developed an interest in aviation during his teen years. Ferry earned a bachelor’s degree from Florida Southern University. He entered the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1943 and graduated from flight training at Luke Filed, Arizona, in 1945.
Ferry trained as a helicopter pilot at San Marcos Army Air Field, Texas, flying Sikorsky R-5 and R-6 helicopters. After graduation Lieutenant Ferry was assigned to Panama.
In 1947, Robert Ferry married Miss Marti Holt of Austin, Texas. They remained together for 62 years.
Bob Ferry flew 90 combat missions in helicopters during the Korean War. In 1954, he was accepted to the U.S. Air Force Experimental Test Pilot School, Class 54C, at Edwards Air Force Base. (One of Ferry’s classmates was future X-15 pilot, Robert M. White.)
Assigned as a test pilot Bob Ferry flew the McDonnell XV-1 Convertiplane compound helicopter with pressure jet rotor drive and the Bell XV-3, an experimental “tiltrotor.” On 6 January 1959, he completed the conversion from helicopter to airplane mode. He also flew the Hughes XV-9A, an experimental high-speed helicopter, which also used tip jets to drive the rotor. After six years as a test pilot at Edwards, Ferry was assigned to duties in Germany. He retired from the Air Force in 1964 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
Robert G. Ferry, Chief Test Pilot, Hughes Helicopters. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
In 1966, Robert Ferry became chief test pilot at the Hughes Tool Company Aircraft Division at Culver City, California. He tested the OH-6A light observation helicopter and the AH-64 Apache at the Hughes facility at Palomar Airport in north San Diego County. During this time Ferry earned a Masters Degree in Business Administration from the University of San Diego.
Bob Ferry retired from Hughes Helicopters after 18 years. He had flown approximately 10,800 hours in 125 different aircraft. About 8,000 hours were in helicopters. He had been awarded the Iven C. Kincheloe Award for 1959 by the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, the Igor I. Sikorsky International Trophy for his transcontinental record flight, and the 1967 Frederick L. Feinberg Award by the American Helicopter Society.
Lieutenant Colonel Robert G. Ferry, United States Air Force (Retired) died at his home in San Marcos, California, 15 January 2009 at the age of 85 years.
Hughes YOH-6A 62-4211, the first prototype, in its configuration during the three-way LOH competitive testing. (U.S. Army)
The Hughes Model 369 was built in response to a U.S. Army requirement for a Light Observation Helicopter (“L.O.H.”). It was designated YOH-6A, and the first aircraft received U.S. Army serial number 62-4211. It competed with prototypes from Bell Helicopter Company (YOH-4) and Fairchild-Hiller (YOH-5). All three aircraft were powered by a lightweight Allison Engine Company turboshaft engine. The YOH-6A won the three-way competition and was ordered into production as the OH-6A Cayuse. It was nicknamed “loach,” an acronym for L.O.H.
The YOH-6A was a two-place light helicopter, flown by a single pilot. It had a four-bladed, articulated main rotor which turned counter-clockwise, as seen from above. (The advancing blade is on the helicopter’s right.) Stacks of thin stainless steel “straps” fastened the rotor blades to the hub and were flexible enough to allow for flapping and feathering. Hydraulic dampers controlled lead-lag. Originally, there were blade cuffs around the main rotor blade roots in an attempt to reduce aerodynamic drag, but these were soon discarded. A two-bladed semi-rigid tail rotor was mounted on the left side of the tail boom. Seen from the left, the tail-rotor rotates counter-clockwise. (The advancing blade is above the axis of rotation.)
Overhead photograph of a Hughes YOH-6A. Note the blade cuffs. (U.S. Army)
The YOH-6A was powered by a T63-A-5 turboshaft engine (Allison Model 250-C10) mounted behind the cabin at a 45° angle. The engine was rated at 212 shaft horsepower at 52,142 r.p.m. (102% N1) and 693 °C. turbine outlet temperature for maximum continuous power, and 250 shaft horsepower at 738 °C., 5-minute limit, for takeoff. Production OH-6A helicopters used the slightly more powerful T63-A-5A (250-C10A) engine.
The Hughes Tool Company Aircraft Division built 1,420 OH-6A Cayuse helicopters for the U.S. Army. The helicopter remains in production as AH-6C and MH-6 military helicopters, and the MD500E and MD530F civil aircraft.
Hughes YOH-6A 62-4213 is in the collection of the United States Army Aviation Museum, Fort Rucker, Alabama.
Chief Test Pilot H. Lloyd Child (left, wearing goggles and flight suit) and Herbert O. Fisher, Chief Production Test Pilot, look at a Curtiss-Wright P-40 Warhawk. (Dmitri Kessel, LIFE Magazine)
4 April 1940: Curtiss-Wright’s Chief Test Pilot H. Lloyd Child took the first production P-40 Warhawk into the air for the first time at Buffalo, New York. The airplane carried the company serial number 13033, and had been assigned Air Corps serial number 39-156.
Curtiss-Wright P-40 Warhawk 39-156. (U.S. Air Force)
The Curtiss-Wright Corporation Hawk 81 (P-40 Warhawk) was a single-seat, single-engine pursuit. It was a low-wing monoplane with an enclosed cockpit and retractable landing gear (including the tail wheel). The airplane was of all-metal construction and used flush riveting to reduce aerodynamic drag. Extensive wind tunnel testing at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory refined the airplane’s design, resulting in a significantly increased top speed.
Curtiss-Wright P-40 Warhawk 39-156. (U.S. Air Force)
The new fighter was 31 feet, 8-9/16 inches (9.666 meters) long with a wingspan of 37 feet, 3½ inches (11.366 meters) and overall height of 9 feet, 7 inches (2.921 meters). The P-40’s empty weight was 5,376 pounds (2,438.5 kilograms) and gross weight was 6,787 pounds (3,078.5 kilograms).
Curtiss-Wright Model 81, P-40 Warhawk 39-156. (San Diego Air & Space Museum Archive)
The P-40 was powered by a liquid-cooled, supercharged, 1,710.597-cubic-inch-displacement (28.032 liter) Allison Engineering Co. V-1710-C15 (V-1710-33), a single overhead cam (SOHC) 60° V-12 engine with a compression ratio of 6.65:1. The V-1710-33 had a continuous power rating of 930 horsepower at 2,600 r.p.m. at 12,800 feet (3,901 meters), and 1,040 horsepower at 2,800 r.p.m. for takeoff, burning 100-octane gasoline. It turned a three-bladed Curtiss Electric constant-speed propeller through a 2:1 gear reduction. The V-1710-33 was 8 feet, 2.54 inches (2.503 meters) long, 3 feet, 5.88 inches (1.064 meters) high, and 2 feet, 5.29 inches (0.744 meters) wide. It weighed 1,340 pounds (607.8 kilograms).
Allison Engineering Co. V-1710-33 V-12 aircraft engine at the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. (NASM)
The cruising speed of the P-40 was 272 miles per hour (438 kilometers per hour) and the maximum speed was 357 miles per hour (575 kilometers per hour) at 15,000 feet (4,572 meters). The Warhawk had a service ceiling of 30,600 feet (9,327 meters) and the absolute ceiling was 31,600 feet (9,632 meters). The range was 950 miles (1,529 kilometers) at 250 miles per hour (402 kilometers per hour).
Curtiss-Wright P-40 Warhawk 39-156.
The fighter (at the time, the Air Corps designated this type as a “pursuit”) was armed with two air-cooled Browning AN-M2.50-caliber machine guns on the engine cowl, synchronized to fire through the propeller arc, with 380 rounds of ammunition per gun. Provisions were included for one Browning M2 .30-caliber aircraft machine gun in each wing, with 500 rounds per gun.
Curtiss-Wright P-40 Warhawk #247. (Dmitri Kessel, LIFE Magazine)
On 26 April 1939, the U.S. Army Air Corps ordered 524 P-40 Warhawks, the largest single aircraft order up to that time. Only 200 of these aircraft were produced in the P-40 configuration. The Army deferred its order to allow Curtiss-Wright to produce Hawk 81A fighters for France, however that nation fell to enemy forces before any could be delivered. 140 of these French contract fighters were taken over by Britain’s Royal Air Force, which designated them as the Tomahawk Mk.I. Another 16 P-40s were delivered to the Soviet Air Force, having been purchased with gold.
Curtiss-Wright P-40 Warhawk #247. (Dmitri Kessel, LIFE Magazine)
The 8th Pursuit Group at Langley Field, Virginia, was the first Army Air Corps unit to be equipped with the P-40.
Curtiss-Wright P-40 Warhawks of the 8th Pursuit Group at Langley Field, Virginia, 1940.
On 30 May 1942, P-40 39-156 was being flown by 2nd Lieutenant Leon Marcel Zele, 55th Fighter Squadron, 20th Fighter Group, based at Morris Field, North Carolina. At approximately 11:00 a.m., the P-40 crashed near Iron Station, North Carolina. Lieutenant Zele was killed when the airplane exploded.
Chief Test Pilot H. Lloyd Child in the cockpit of a Curtiss-Wright P-40 Warhawk, circa 1940. (Rudy Arnold Collection/NASM)
Henry Lloyd Child was born at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 25 May 1904, the second of two children of Edward Taggart Child, a consulting engineer in shipbuilding, and Lillian Rushmore Cornell Child. He was baptised at the Church of the Good Shepherd, Rosemont, Pennsylvania, 22 December 1913. Child graduated from Flushing High School in Flushing, New York, then attended the Haverford School in Philadelphia.
Henry Lloyd Child, 1926. (The Class Record)
“Skipper” Child majored in mechanical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania where he was a member of the Hexagon Senior Engineering Society and the Phi Sigma Kappa (ΦΣΚ) and Sigma Tau (ΣΤ) fraternities. He was a member of the varsity and all-state soccer team (left halfback), and also played football and tennis. Child graduated with a bachelor of science degree, 15 June 1926.
After graduation from college, Child went to work for the Curtiss-Wright Corporation as a engineer.
Child joined the United States Navy, 23 November 1927. He was trained as a pilot at Naval Air Station Hampton Roads, Norfolk, Virginia, and was commissioned as an Ensign. He was promoted to lieutenant (junior grade), 7 November 1932, and to lieutenant, 11 November 1935.
While maintaining his commission in the Navy, Child returned to Curtiss-Wright as a test pilot. He made the first flight of the P-36 Hawk.
Mr. And Mrs. Henry Lloyd Child (née Allene Anne Gausby), 28 October 1939.
Henry Lloyd Child married Miss Allene Ann Gausby of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, 28 October 1939. They had met in July 1938, while playing in a tennis tournament at Muskoka, Northern Ontario. They would have a daughter, Beverley L. Child.
Miss Allene Ann Gausby
Child became famous as the “World’s Fastest Human” when he put a Hawk 75A demonstrator into a vertical dive from 22,000 feet (6,706 meters) over Buffalo Airport, 24 January 1939. It was believed at the time that he had reached a speed in excess of 575 miles per hour (925 kilometers per hour). A contemporary news report said that the needle of the recording instrument had gone off the edge of the graph paper, and that the actual speed may have been faster than 600 miles per hour (966 kilometers per hour).
H. Lloyd Child’s high speed dive was the subject of an 8-page article in True Comics #6, November 1941. (Parents’ Magazine Press)
H. Lloyd Child worked for Lockheed from 1958 to 1968, when he retired. He died at Palmdale, California, 5 August 1970 at the age of 66 years.
H. Lloyd Child, Curtiss-Wright Corporation chief test pilot. (Test and Research Pilots, Flight Test Engineers)
A McDonnell F4H-1 Phantom II, Bu. No. 148423, climbing during Project High Jump. (U.S. Navy)
3 April 1962: At NAS Point Mugu, Ventura County, California, a future NASA astronaut, United States Navy test pilot Commander John Watts Young, set a new Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) time-to-altitude world record by flying his McDonnell Aircraft Corporation F4H-1 Phantom II, Bureau of Aeronautics serial number (Bu. No.) 149449,¹ from the surface to 25,000 meters (82,021 feet) in 3 minutes, 50.44 seconds.²
Commander John W. Young, United States Navy, with a McDonnell F4H-1 Phantom II. (U.S. Navy)
John Young had set another FAI record on 21 February, reaching a height of 3,000 meters (9,843 feet) in 34.523 seconds with the Phantom II at NAS Brunswick, Maine.³ Young set a total of 21 FAI records. Three remain current.
This was one of a series of time-to-altitude record flights flown at with F4H-1 149449 during February, March and April 1962. Flown by four other pilots, 149449 also set time-to-altitude records for 3,000, 6,000, 9,000, 12,000, 15,000, and 20,000 meters.
A bridle restrained the F4H-1 on the runway while its engines were run up to full afterburner. The pilot fired an explosive bolt to release the airplane for flight.⁴
Point Mugu’s Runway 21 ends on the edge of the Pacific Ocean and the elevation is 9 feet (2.7 meters) above Sea Level. The restricted airspace of the Pacific Missile Test Range assured that these flights could be conducted safely and without interfering with civilian air traffic. The U.S. Air Force had used the same runway when it conducted time-to-altitude record flights with a Lockheed F-104A Starfighter in 1958.
Project High Jump McDonnell F4H-1 Phantom II. (U.S. Navy)
John Young was a test pilot assigned to the Naval Air Test Center, NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, where he was a project officer for F4H and F8U armament systems. He was selected as a NASA astronaut and served as Pilot of Gemini III; backup pilot, Gemini IV; Commander for Gemini 10; Command Module Pilot on Apollo 10; back-up commander for Apollo 13; Commander, Apollo 16; and back-up commander for Apollo 17. Later, he was Commander of the maiden flight of the space shuttle Columbia STS-1 and again for STS-9. He was in line to command STS-61J.
Record-setting McDonnell F-4B-11-MC Phantom II, Bu. No. 149449, VF-151, USS Coral Sea (CV-43). (U.S. Navy)
McDonnell F4H-1 Phantom II Bu. No. 149449, redesignated F-4B-11-MC, served with VF-96 aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ranger (CV-61), VF-151 aboard USS Coral Sea (CV-43) and was later assigned to Marine Air Group 13, VMFA-323, “Death Rattlers,” based at Chu Lai Air Base, Republic of South Vietnam.
On 2 August 1968, 149449 was hit by small arms fire near An Hoa, 17 miles southeast of Da Nang. On returning the damaged airplane to Chu Lai, the Phantom’s landing gear could not be extended. The pilot, Major DanieI I. Carroll, USMC, and Weapons System Officer, First Lieutenant R.C. Brown, USMC, ejected one mile (1.6 kilometers) off the coast. Both were rescued by a U.S. Army helicopter.
The record-setting Phantom II was lost in the South China Sea.
Another F4H-1 Phantom II flown during Project High Jump was Bu. No. 148423, shown in the photograph above (top). In 1971, -423 was withdrawn from service and used as a ground trainer at the Naval Air Technical Training Center (NATTC) at Millington, Tennessee. It was later converted to the QF-4B drone configuration. It was reported preserved at the Herlong Airport, near Jacksonville, Florida. In 2002, part of the airplane was used as a cockpit display at the USS Hornet (CV-12) Museum, Alameda, California. In 2004, the nose section was transferred to the Pacific Coast Air Museum, Santa Rosa, California.⁵
¹ USN McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, by Peter E. Davies, Osprey Publishing, Oxford, United Kingdom, 2016, Introduction, Page 10
² FAI Record File Number 9092
³ FAI Record File Number 9078
⁴ Engineering the F-4 Phantom II: Parts into Systems, by Glenn E. Bugos, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 1996, Chapter 5, Page 105
⁵ Warplane Survivors USA: Florida Warplanes, by Harold A. Skaarup, https://www.silverhawkauthor.com/post/warplane-survivors-usa-florida-warplanes-book
