Tag Archives: World War II

9 September 1940

September 9, 2024AviationAllison Engineering Co., Allison V-1710-39, Allison V-1710-F3R, British Purchasing Commission, c/n 73-3097, Curtiss Electric Propellers, Edgar Schmued, Fighter, Mines Field, Mustang Mk.I, North American Aviation Inc., North American Aviation NA-73X, North American Aviation P-51 Mustang, NX19998, Prototype, Roll Out, Royal Air Force, World War IIBryan Swopes

9 September 1940: North American Aviation completed assembly of the NA-73X, the first prototype of the new Mustang Mk.I fighter for the Royal Air Force. This was just 117 days after the British Purchasing Commission had authorized the construction of the prototype. The airplane was designed by a team led by Edgar Schmued. The 1,150-horsepower Allison V-12 engine had not yet arrived, so the NA-73X was photographed with dummy exhaust stacks. The prototype’s company serial number was 73-3097. It had been assigned a civil experimental registration number, NX19998.

The NA-73X was a single-seat, single-engine, low wing monoplane with retractable landing gear. It was primarily of metal construction, though the flight control surfaces were fabric covered. The airplane was designed for the maximum reduction in aerodynamic drag. The Mustang was the first airplane to use a laminar-flow wing. The fuselage panels were precisely designed and very smooth. Flush riveting was used. The coolant radiator with its intake and exhaust ducts was located behind and below the cockpit. As cooling air passed through the radiator it was heated and expanded, so that as it exited, it actually produced some thrust.

The prototype was 32 feet, 2⅝ inches (9.820 meters) long, with a wing span of 37 feet, 5/16 inch (11.286 meters). Empty weight of the NA-73X was 6,278 pounds (2,848 kilograms) and normal takeoff weight was 7,965 pounds (3,613 kilograms).

Aeronautical Engineer Edgar Schmued with a North American P-51-2-NA (Mustang Mk.IA), 41-37322. (San Diego Air and Space Museum Archives)

The NA-73X was powered by a liquid-cooled, supercharged, 1,710.60-cubic-inch-displacement (28.032 liter) Allison Engineering Company V-1710-F3R (V-1710-39) single overhead cam 60° V-12 engine, with four valves per cylinder and a compression ratio of 6.65:1. It used a single-stage, single-speed supercharger. This was a right-hand tractor engine (the V-1710 was built in both right-hand and left-hand configurations) which drove a 10 foot, 6 inch (3.200 meter) diameter, three-bladed, Curtiss Electric constant-speed propeller through a 2.00:1 gear reduction.

The V-1710-39 had a Normal Power rating of 880 horsepower at 2,600 r.p.m. at Sea Level; Take Off Power rating of 1,150 horsepower at 3,000 r.p.m. at Sea Level, with 44.5 inches of manifold pressure (1.51 Bar), 5 minute limit; and a War Emergency Power rating of 1,490 horsepower at 3,000 r.p.m., with 56 inches of manifold pressure (1.90 Bar). The V-1710-F3R was 7 feet, 4.38 inches (2.245 meters) long, 3 feet, 0.64 inches (0.931 meters) high, and 2 feet, 5.29 inches (0.744 meters) wide. It had a dry weight of 1,310 pounds (594 kilograms).

U.S. Army Air Corps flight tests of the fully-armed production Mustang Mk.I (XP-51 41-038), equipped with the V-1710-39 and a 10 foot, 9-inch (3.277 meters) diameter Curtiss Electric propeller, resulted in a maximum speed of 382.0 miles per hour (614.8 kilometers per hour) at 13,000 feet (3,962 meters). The service ceiling was 30,800 feet (9,388 meters) and the absolute ceiling was 31,900 feet (9,723 meters).

The Curtiss P-40D Warhawk used the same Allison V-1710-39 engine as the XP-51, as well as a three-bladed Curtiss Electric propeller. During performance testing at Wright Field, a P-40D, Air Corps serial number 40-362, weighing 7,740 pounds (3,511 kilograms), reached a maximum speed of 354 miles per hour (570 kilometers per hour) at 15,175 feet (4,625 meters). Although the Mustang’s test weight was 194 pounds (88 kilograms) heavier, at 7,934 pounds (3,599 kilograms), the Mustang was 28 miles per hour (45 kilometers per hour) faster than the Warhawk. This demonstrates the effectiveness of the Mustang’s exceptionally clean design.

Only one NA-73X was built. It made its first flight 26 October 1940 with test pilot Vance Breese. The prototype suffered significant damage when it overturned during a forced landing, 20 November 1941. NX19998 was repaired and flight testing resumed. The prototype’s final disposition is not known.

Originally ordered by Great Britain, the Mustang became the legendary U.S. Army Air Corps P-51 Mustang. A total of 15,486 Mustangs were built by North American Aviation at Inglewood, California and Dallas, Texas. Another 200 were built in Australia by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation.

The P-51 remained in service with the U.S. Air Force until 27 January 1957 when the last one, F-51D-30-NA 44-74936, was retired from the 167th Fighter Squadron, West Virginia Air National Guard. It was then transferred to the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, where it is on display.

North American Aviation NA-73X prototype, left front quarter view. (North American Aviation, Inc.) — North American Aviation NA-73X prototype, NX19998, left front quarter view. (North American Aviation, Inc.)

8 September 1944

September 8, 2024Space FlightA4, Aggregat 4, Ballistic Missile, Battery 2./485, Chiswick, Gruppe Nord, London, No. 5 Staveley Road Chiswick, Rocket, Staveley Road, V-2, Vengeance Weapon, Vergeltungswaffen 2, Wassenar, World War IIBryan Swopes

The first V-2 rocket to hit London impacted in Staveley Road at 18:40:52, 8 September 1944, killing 3 persons and injuring 17 others.

8 September 1944: At 18:40:52 hours, the first of 1,358 V-2 rockets hit London, impacting in Staveley Road, Chiswick, “opposite No. 5.”

The warhead detonated and caused extensive damage to the residential area. A crater 20 feet (6.1 meters) deep was in the center of the road and the gas and water mains were destroyed.

This V-2 rocket was fired by Gruppe Nord, Battery 2./485, located at the crossroads of Lijsterlaan and Schouwweg, in the suburb of Wassenar, The Hague, Netherlands.

Three people were killed: a 67-year-old woman, a 3-year-old child and a soldier home on leave. 17 others were injured.

11 homes were demolished, 12 seriously damaged and unusable, and 556 suffered slight or minor damage. 14 families had to be relocated.

A V-2 rocket is being raised to a vertical position for firing.

The V2, or Vergeltungswaffen 2 (also known as the A4, or Aggregat 4) was a ballistic missile with an empty weight of approximately 10,000 pounds (4,536 kilograms) and weighing 28,000 pounds (12,700 kilograms), fully loaded. It carried a 738 kilogram (1,627 pound) (sources vary) explosive warhead of amatol, a mixture of ammonium nitrate and TNT. The propellant was a 75/25 mixture of ethanol and water with liquid oxygen as an oxidizer.

The complete rocket was 14.036 meters (46.050 feet) long, and had a maximum diameter of 1.651 meters (5.417 feet). The rocket was stabilized by four large fins, 3.945 meters (12.943 feet) long, with a maximum span of 3.564 meters (11.693 feet). The leading edge of these fins was swept aft 60° to the “shoulder,” and then to 87° (30° and 3°, relative to the rocket’s centerline). A small guide vane was at the outer tip of each fin, and other vanes were placed in the engine’s exhaust plume.

When launched, the rocket engine burned for 65 seconds, accelerating the rocket to 3,580 miles per hour (5,760 kilometers per hour) on a ballistic trajectory. The maximum range of the rocket was 200 miles (320 kilometers) with a peak altitude between 88 and 128 miles, depending on the desired range. On impact, the rocket was falling at 1,790 miles per hour (2,880 kilometers per hour), about Mach 2.35, so its approach would have been completely silent in the target area.

The V-2 could only hit a general area and was not militarily effective. Germany used it against England, France, The Netherlands and Belgium as a terror weapon. More than 3,200 V-2 rockets were launched against these countries.

V-2 rockets on mobile launchers being prepared for firing. (*Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz*)

7 September 1940

September 7, 2024AviationAerial Combat, Blitz of London, Ernst Heinkel Flugzeugwerke, Heinkel He 111, London Blitz, Luftwaffe, Royal Air Force, The Blitz, The Blitz of London, The Bomb Sight Project, World War IIBryan Swopes

A twin-engine Heinkel He 111 medium bomber over "the U-bend in the Thames, the heart of London's dockland, and a landmark known to every Luftwaffe bomber crew" at 1748 hours GMT, 7 September 1940. (Luftwaffe photograph) — A twin-engine Heinkel He 111 medium bomber over “the U-bend in the Thames, the heart of London’s dockland, and a landmark known to every Luftwaffe bomber crew” at 1748 hours GMT, 7 September 1940. (Luftwaffe photograph)

7 September 1940: at about 4:00 p.m., the Blitz of London began with the German Luftwaffe attacking the city with 348 bombers escorted by 617 fighters. After dark, a second wave of 247 bombers attacked using the fires from the earlier attack to guide them.

Hauptman Hajo Hermann reported:

“A very clear night. . . everywhere, the German bombers were swarming in. . . Everything was lit up by fires, like a huge torch in the night.” Until 7 September, orders were very strict to not bomb indiscriminately, “But now, for the first time, we were allowed to bomb regardless.”

— Duel of Eagles, Group Captain Peter Wooldridge Townsend, C.V.O., D.S.O., D.F.C. and Bar, R.A.F. Cassell Publishers Limited, London, Chapter 27 at Pages 393–394.

Approximately 1,000 Londoners were killed that first night. During the Blitz, London was bombed for 76 consecutive nights.

Smoke rises over the City of London, during the first air raid, 7 September 1940. (NARA)

German military leaders believed that England could only be defeated by invasion. Before Germany could stage a cross-channel invasion, though, it had to gain air superiority. After weeks of relentless devastating attacks against British airfields, Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Göring made a fatal mistake. He shifted to attacking population centers.

A bomb crater at the Elephant and Castle, London, 8 September 1940. (Unattributed)

The primary purpose of the Blitz of London was to force the Royal Air Force to defend the City. Luftwaffe commanders believed that they could destroy the RAF in battle. And the RAF had to be destroyed for an invasion of England to go forward.

By the end, losses in airplanes and crews to both sides were about even, but the RAF survived, thus Germany failed in its goal. There was no invasion.

The crew of this Heinkel He 111 on its way to London is easily visible. (Luftwaffe photograph)

The Heinkel He 111 was the primary Luftwaffe bomber. It had a crew of 5 or 6. The airplane was powered by two liquid-cooled Junkers Jumo 211 inverted V-12 engines, producing 1,200 horsepower each, giving the He 111 a maximum speed of 254 miles per hour (409 kilometers per hour). The bomber was 59 feet (17.98 meters) long with a wingspan of 77 feet (23.4 meters). It was armed with three or more 7.92 mm machine guns, and could carry up to 4,400 pounds (2,000 kilograms) of bombs. It had a maximum range of 1,420 miles (2,285 kilometers).

Fires burning at the Surrey commercial Docks, 7 September 1940. (Unattributed)

The Bomb Sight Project, sponsored by the University of Portsmouth, The National Archives, and the Joint Information Systems Committee (“Jisc”), has scanned the geographic data of every bomb that fell on London from 10 July 1940 to 6 June 1941. Interactive maps can be seen at

http://bombsight.org/#15/51.5050/-0.0900

By clicking on individual icons, information on the location and type of bomb is provided.

Below is the location of every bomb which fell on London before midnight of the first night of The Blitz, 7 September 1940:

First Night of the Blitz—7th September 1940. (The Bomb Sight Project)

5 September 1944

September 5, 2024Aviation343rd Fighter Squadron, 44-14049, 55th Fighter Group, Ace, Aerial Combat, CPL F.W. Bandy, CY J, Fighter, Fighter Pilot, Göppingen, Heinkel He 111, Mustang, North American Aviation, North American Aviation P-51 Mustang, North American Aviation P-51D-5-NA Mustang 44-14049, P-51, P-51D, P-51D-5-NA, Pretty Patty II, RAF Wormingford, SGT W.G. Holmes, TSGT F.S. Westbrook, William H. Allen, World War IIBryan Swopes

LT William H. Allen in the cockpit of his P-51D Mustang, *Pretty Patty II*, along with his ground crew, TSGT F.S. Westbrook, SGT W.G. Holmes and CPL F.W. Bandy. (F. Birtciel)

5 September 1944: Lieutenant William H. Allen, U.S. Army Air Corps, was a fighter pilot assigned to the 343rd Fighter Squadron, 55th Fighter Group, based at RAF Wormingford, Essex, England. After escorting a bombing mission to Stuttgart, Lt. Allen, flying his North American Aviation P-51D-5-NA Mustang, 44-14049, Pretty Patty II, (identification markings CY J) and his flight, which included Lieutenant William H. Lewis, attacked an airfield north of Göppingen, Germany.

Lieutenant Allen became an Ace in one day when he shot down five Heinkel He 111 twin-engine bombers as they took off at two-minute intervals.

The flight of Mustangs shot down a total of 16 enemy aircraft.

LT William H. Allen and his ground crew pose with their P-51D Mustang, *Pretty Patty II*. (F. Birtciel)

2 September 1945

September 2, 2024AviationTokyo Bay, USS Missouri (BB-63), V-J Day, World War IIBryan Swopes

USS Missouri (BB-63) at anchor, Tokyo Bay. (U.S. Navy)

V-J Day: With the signing of the Instruments of Surrender, World War II comes to an end after 6 years, 2 days of total war. At least 78,000,000 people lost their lives.

In the top photograph, American warplanes from Task Force 38 fly over USS Missouri (BB-63), the ship aboard which the documents were signed by the Japanese delegation and Allied military leaders, anchored in Tokyo Bay, 2 September 1945.

This Day in Aviation

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