Dec. 17, 1900: First prize of 100,000 francs offered for communications with extraterrestrials. Martians excluded-considered too easy.
Dec. 17, 1903: Wilbur and Orville Wright of Dayton, Ohio, conducted the first successful manned powered-airplane flights near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, using their experimental craft, the Wright Flyer. The Wright Flyer was the first successful heavier-than-air powered aircraft. Designed and built by the Wright brothers, they flew it four times on Dec. 17, 1903, near Kill Devil Hills, about four miles south of Kitty Hawk, N.C. Today, the airplane is exhibited in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Smithsonian Institution describes the aircraft as “the first powered, heavier-than-air machine to achieve controlled, sustained flight with a pilot aboard.” The flight of the Wright Flyer marks the beginning of the “pioneer era” of aviation.
Dec. 17, 1935: The Douglas DC-3 made its maiden flight.
The Douglas DC-3 was a propeller-driven airliner which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s and1940s, and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version of the Douglas DC-2. It is a low-wing metal monoplane with conventional landing gear, powered by two radial piston engines of 1,000- 1,200 hp. The DC-3 had a cruise speed of 207 mph, a capacity of 21 to 32 passengers or 6,000-pounds of cargo, and a range of 1,500 miles, and can operate from short runways.
The DC-3 had many exceptional qualities compared to previous aircraft. It was fast, had a good range, and was more reliable, and carried passengers in greater comfort. Before the war, it pioneered many air travel routes. It was able to cross the continental U.S. from New York to Los Angeles in 18 hours and with only three stops. It is one of the first airliners that could profitably carry only passengers without relying on mail subsidies.
Following the war, the airliner market was flooded with surplus transport aircraft and the DC-3 was no longer competitive due to its size and speed. It was made obsolete on main routes by more advanced types such as the Douglas DC-4 and Lockheed Constellation, but the design proved adaptable and useful on less glamorous routes.
Civil DC-3 production ended in 1942 at 607 aircraft. Military versions, including the C-47 Skytrain, the Dakota in British RAF service, and Soviet- and Japanese-built versions, brought total production to more than 16,000.
Dec. 17, 1958: An Edwards test team, responding to the contractor’s request, began an evaluation of a helicopter stability augmentation system developed by Vertol Aircraft Corporation. The project was conducted on an H-21 Workhorse at Vertol’s facilities at Philadelphia, Penn.
Dec. 17, 1968: NASA pilot Fitz Fulton and Lt. Col. Ted Sturmthal flew the North American XB-70 Valkyrie on its final supersonic test flight. On Feb. 4, 1969, the aircraft was flown to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, where it is on display now.
Dec. 17, 1969: Test requirements for interim nuclear certification of the FB-111A were completed.
Dec. 17, 1969: The U.S. Air Force closes Project Blue Book, concluding no evidence of extraterrestrial spaceships behind thousands of UFO sightings. The project was one of a series of systematic studies of unidentified flying objects conducted by the Air Force and started in 1952. It was the third study of its kind, following projects Sign (1947) and Grudge (1949). A termination order was given for the study in December 1969, and all activity under its auspices officially ceased on January 19th, 1970. Project Blue Book had two goals:
- To determine if UFOs were a threat to national security, and
- To scientifically analyze UFO-related data.
Thousands of UFO reports were collected, analyzed, and filed. As a result of the Condon Report (1968), which concluded there was nothing anomalous about UFOs, and a review of the report by the National Academy of Sciences, Project Blue Book was terminated in December 1969. The Air Force supplies the following summary of its investigations:
- No UFO reported, investigated, and evaluated by the Air Force was ever an indication of threat to our national security;
- There was no evidence submitted to or discovered by the Air Force that sightings categorized as “unidentified” represented technological developments or principles beyond the range of modern scientific knowledge; and
- There was no evidence indicating that sightings categorized as “unidentified” were extraterrestrial vehicles.
By the time Project Blue Book ended, it had collected 12,618 UFO reports, and concluded that most of them were misidentifications of natural phenomena (clouds, stars, etc.) or conventional aircraft. According to the National Reconnaissance Office a number of the reports could be explained by flights of the formerly secret reconnaissance planes U-2 and A-12. A small percentage of UFO reports were classified as unexplained, even after stringent analysis. The UFO reports were archived and are available under the Freedom of Information Act, but names and other personal information of all witnesses have been redacted.
Dec. 17, 1988: The USS Tennessee, the first submarine to carry Trident 2 missiles, was commissioned. The Tennessee was the first Ohio-class submarine commissioned capable of launching the Trident II ballistic missile (D5). On March 21, 1989, off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Fla., the Tennessee attempted the first submerged launch of the D5 which failed four seconds into the flight. Once the problem was understood, relatively simple changes were made and the first successful submerged test launch of a D5 missile was completed on Aug. 2, 1989, by the Tennessee’s Blue Crew. She is the fourth ship and first submarine of the U.S. Navy to be named for Tennessee, the 16th state.
Dec. 17, 2003: On the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers first powered flight, SpaceShipOne flight 11P, made its first rocket-powered flight and became the first privately built craft to achieve supersonic flight. This was the crafts 11th flight of a total of 17. All flights were made from the Mojave Air and Space Port.
SpaceShipOne was an experimental air-launched rocket-powered aircraft with sub-orbital spaceflight capability at speeds of up to 3,000 feet per second, using a hybrid rocket motor. The design features a unique “feathering” atmospheric reentry system where the rear half of the wing and the twin tail booms folds 70 degrees upward along a hinge running the length of the wing; increasing drag while remaining stable. SpaceShipOne completed the first crewed private spaceflight in 2004. That same year, it won the $10 million Ansari X Prize and was immediately retired from active service. Its mother ship was named “White Knight”. Both craft were developed and flown by Mojave Aerospace Ventures, which was a joint venture between Paul Allen and Scaled Composites, Burt Rutan’s aviation company. Allen provided the funding of approximately $25 million.
Dec. 18, 1940: The Curtiss SB2C Helldiver made its first flight. The Helldiver, also known as the A-25 Shrike, was a dive bomber developed by Curtiss-Wright during World War II. As a carrier-based bomber with the U.S. Navy, in Pacific theaters, it supplemented and replaced the Douglas SBD Dauntless. A few survivors are extant. Initially, poor handling characteristics and late modifications caused lengthy delays to production and deployment, to the extent that it was investigated by the Truman Committee, which turned in a scathing report. This contributed to the decline of Curtiss as a company. Neither pilots nor aircraft carrier skippers seemed to like the aircraft. Nevertheless, the type was faster than the Dauntless, and by the end of the Pacific War, the Helldiver had become the main dive bomber and attack aircraft on Navy carriers. By the time a land-based variant, known as the A-25 Shrike, became available in late 1943, the Western Allied air forces had abandoned dedicated dive-bombers. A majority of A-25s delivered to the U.S. Army Air Forces were transferred to the US Marine Corps, which used the type only in one side campaign and non-combat roles. The British Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force also cancelled substantial orders, retaining only a few aircraft for research purposes.
Dec. 18, 1958: Project SCORE, the world’s first communications satellite, is launched. A product of a highly secretive project, SCORE (Signal Communications by Orbiting Relay Equipment) was launched aboard the Atlas rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla. Once in orbit, it relayed the first message sent to Earth from space – a short statement by American President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Dec. 18, 1972: President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will engage North Vietnam in Operation Linebacker II, a series of Christmas bombings, after peace talks collapsed with North Vietnam on Dec. 13.
Dec. 19, 1945: The Grumman AF Guardian made its first flight. The Guardian was the first purpose-built anti-submarine warfare carrier-based aircraft to enter service with the U.S. Navy. It consisted of two airframe variants, one for detection gear, the other for weapons. The Guardian remained in service until August 1955, when it was replaced by the twin-engined Grumman S-2 Tracker. The Guardian was the largest single-engine piston-powered carrier aircraft ever to see service.
The original design concept for the aircraft that would become the Guardian, the XTB2F of 1944, was for a twin-engined aircraft with a 3,600-pound warload and a range of 3,700 miles. This was considered to be too large for practical use from an Essex-class aircraft carrier, and was cancelled in 1945, replaced by a modified Grumman F7F Tigercat, the XTSF-1. However, this too was considered impractical, and another alternative, the internally developed Grumman Model G-70, was selected instead, being given the Navy designation XTB3F-1. This was designed as mixed-power aircraft, with a Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp radial engine in the nose and a Westinghouse 19XB turbojet in the tail. Originally, the Westinghouse engine was to be the new X24C which was to emerge as the J34 series. When it became apparent the X24C delivery schedules would not meet the airframe schedule, the 19XB-2B was substituted. This was found to be unsuitable, and the jet engine was removed without ever having been used in flight.
The XTB3F-1S carried a crew of two seated side by side and an armament of two 20 mm cannon and 4,000 pounds of bombs, torpedoes and/or rockets. On Dec. 24, 1945, the Navy changed the role of the aircraft from torpedo-bomber to anti-submarine warfare. All the required equipment could not be fitted into a single aircraft, consequently two variants would be produced, one as a “guppy” (hunter) and another as a “scrapper” (killer). The hunter aircraft would not carry any armament, but instead two additional crew members and a ventral radome for AN/APS-20 search radar and electronic countermeasures consisting of an AN/APR-98 countermeasures receiver and AN/AP-70 bearing indicator. This aircraft, the XTB3F-1S, first flew in November 1948. The “killer” deleted the cannon of the torpedo bomber, but retained the bomb bay, added a third crewmember, a searchlight, and short-range radar, and (as the XTB3F-2S) first flew in January 1949.
Dec. 19, 1946: War broke out in Indochina, as troops under Ho Chi Minh launched widespread attacks against the French.
Dec. 19, 1950: A prototype Douglas XA2D-1 Skyshark, BuNo 122988, crashed at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., on its 15th flight. The aircraft was flown by Navy Lt. Cdr. Hugh Wood and was conducting dive tests. The first was initiated from 30,000 feet. During the 5G pullout from the second dive, begun at 20,000 feet, vapor began trailing from the airframe, soon enveloping it, but this stopped when the ventral dive brakes were retracted. While turning back for a visual inspection from the ground, the XA2D began losing altitude rapidly. The pilot attempted to land on the dry lakebed but was unable to flare properly and the dive angle was too steep. With the undercarriage in the down position, the airframe hit the ground at high speed at a 30 degree angle, shearing off the gear. The aircraft then slid several hundred yards before burning, killing the pilot. An investigation found that the starboard power section of the coupled Allison XT40A turboprop engine had failed and did not declutch, allowing the Skyshark to fly on the power of the opposite section, nor did the propellers feather. As the wings’ lift disappeared, a fatal sink rate was induced. Additional instrumentation and an automatic decoupler were added to the second prototype, but by the time it was ready to fly, 16 months had passed, and with all-jet designs being developed, the A2D program was essentially dead.
Dec. 19, 1958: U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Christmas message was the first radio broadcast from space.
“This is the President of the United States speaking. Through the marvels of scientific advance, my voice is coming to you via a satellite circling in outer space. My message is a simple one: Through this unique means I convey to you and all mankind, America’s wish for peace on Earth and goodwill toward men everywhere.”
Dec. 19, 1972: The Apollo 17 command module – America – returned to Earth following its Moon landing mission. The splashdown in the Pacific Ocean came 12 days, 13 hours, 51 minutes and 59 seconds after launching from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. On board “America” were astronauts Eugene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt and Ronald Evans.
Dec. 19, 2000: The Boeing X-32A completed its first aerial refueling. Three contacts were made with a KC-10 tanker at 20,000 feet, traveling at 235 knots.
Dec. 20, 1941: First battle of the American Volunteer Group, better known as the “Flying Tigers” in Kunming, China, during World War II. The First American Volunteer Group (AVG) of the Republic of China Air Force in 1941–1942, nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was composed of pilots from the United States Army Air Corps, Navy, and Marine Corps, recruited under President Franklin Roosevelt’s authority before Pearl Harbor and commanded by Claire Lee Chennault. Their Curtis P-40B Warhawk aircraft, marked with Chinese colors, flew under American control. Their mission was to bomb Japan and defend the Republic of China, but many delays meant the AVG flew in combat after the U.S. and Japan declared war.
The group consisted of three fighter squadrons of around 30 aircraft each that trained in Burma before the American entry into World War II, to defend Republic of China against Japanese forces. The AVG were officially members of the Republic of China Air Force. The group had contracts with salaries ranging from $250 a month for a mechanic to $750 for a squadron commander, roughly three times what they had been making in the U.S. forces. While it accepted some civilian volunteers for its headquarters and ground crew, the AVG recruited most of its staff from the U.S. military.
The Flying Tigers began to arrive in China in April 1941. The group first saw combat on Dec. 20, 1941, 12 days after Pearl Harbor (local time). It demonstrated innovative tactical victories when the news in the U.S. was filled with little more than stories of defeat at the hands of the Japanese forces, and achieved such notable success during the lowest period of the war for both the U.S. and the Allied Forces as to give hope to America that it might eventually defeat Japan. AVG pilots earned official credit and received combat bonuses for destroying 296 enemy aircraft, while losing only 14 pilots in combat. The combat records of the AVG still exist and researchers have found them credible. On July 4, 1942, the AVG was disbanded and replaced by the 23rd Fighter Group of the United States Army Air Forces, which was later absorbed into the U.S. 14th Air Force with General Chennault as commander. The 23rd FG went on to achieve similar combat success, while retaining the nose art on the left-over P-40s.
Dec. 20, 1944: With an abundance of male pilots now available to ferry military aircraft from factories to airfields, the U. S. Army Air Forces Air Transport Command’s Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) organization is disbanded. The Women Airforce Service Pilots were a civilian women pilots’ organization, whose members were U.S. federal civil service employees. Members of WASP became trained pilots who tested and ferried aircraft, as well as trained other pilots. Their purpose was to free male pilots for combat roles during World War II. Despite various members of the armed forces being involved in the creation of the program, the WASP and its members had no military standing. WASP was preceded by the Women’s Flying Training Detachment and the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron. Both were organized separately in September 1942. They were pioneering organizations of civilian women pilots, who were attached to the U.S. Army Air Forces to fly military aircraft during World War II. On Aug. 5, 1943, the WFTD and WAFS merged to create the WASP organization.
During its period of operation, each member’s service had freed a male pilot for military combat or other duties. They flew over 60 million miles; transported every type of military aircraft; towed targets for live anti-aircraft gun practice; simulated strafing missions and transported cargo. Thirty-eight WASP members lost their lives and one, Gertrude Tompkins, disappeared while on a ferry mission, her fate still unknown. In 1977, for their World War II service, the members were granted veteran status, and in 2009 awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. This is a photograph of Gertrude Tompkins, who went missing in a P-51D Mustang aircraft after taking off from Mines Field (now Los Angeles International Airport) in California, heading to Palm Springs, and ultimately, New Jersey.
Dec. 20, 1952: An AFFTC test team began Phase II flight tests of the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Company’s YB-60 at the Convair facility in Fort Worth, Texas. The YB-60 was a jet-powered swept wing derivative of the B-36 with which it shared many components. It was in competition with Boeing’s YB-52 to succeed the B-36 Peacemaker as the Air Force’s primary heavy long-range strategic bomber.
Dec. 20, 1957: The initial production version of the jet-powered Boeing 707 makes its first flight at Renton, Wash. Boeing chief test pilot Alvin “Tex” Johnston was at the controls. The first flight was limited to 7 minutes because of bad weather. Later the same day, a second flight was made that lasted 1 h
Dec. 20, 1962: Milton Orville Thompson, a NASA test pilot assigned to the X-15 hypersonic research program, was conducting a weather check along the X-15’s planned flight path from Mud Lake, Nev., to Edwards Air Force Base Calif., scheduled for later in the day. Thompson was flying a Lockheed F-104A-10-LO Starfighter, Air Force serial number 56-749, call sign NASA 749. Completing the weather reconnaissance mission, and with fuel remaining in the Starfighter’s tanks, Milt Thompson began practicing simulated X-15 approaches to the dry lake bed. Thompson’s first approach went fine and he climbed back to altitude for another practice landing. When Milt Thompson extended the F-104’s flaps for the second simulated X-15 approach, he was at the “high key” — over Rogers Dry Lake at 35,000 feet — and supersonic. As he extended the speed brakes and lowered the flaps, NASA 749 began to roll to the left. With full aileron and rudder input, he was unable to stop the roll. Adding throttle to increase the airplane’s airspeed, he was just able to stop the roll with full opposite aileron. Thompson found that he could maintain control as long as he stayed above 402 mph but that was far too high a speed to land the airplane. He experimented with different control positions and throttle settings. He recycled the brake and flaps switches to see if he could get a response, but there was no change. He could see that the leading edge flaps were up and locked, but was unable to determine the position of the trailing edge flaps. He came to the conclusion that the trailing edge flaps were lowered to different angles. After talking to Joe Walker, NASA’s chief test pilot on the radio, the airplane started rolling again, “but this time I could not stop it … I knew I had to get out quick because I did not want to eject supersonic and I was already passing through 0.9 Mach. I let go of the stick and reached for the ejection handle. I bent my head forward to see the handle and then I pulled it. Things were a blur from that point on.” As Thompson descended by parachute he watched the F-104 hit the ground and explode in the bombing range on the east side of Rogers Dry Lake. He wrote, “It was only 7:30 a.m. and still a beautiful morning.”
Dec. 21, 1945: Convair’s XP-81 made its first flight with the GE TG-100 (XT-31) turboprop installed. According to the Edwards History Office this was the first turboprop flight in the United States, and marked the first time that an airplane had ever flown with combined turboprop and turbojet power. Because of excessive propeller vibration at high rpm, the flight was terminated after five minutes.
Dec. 21, 1953: The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Track Relocation Project was completed, routing the railroad company’s main transcontinental rail line to the north and away from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Some 31 miles of old track which bisected the lakebed were removed, and more than 25 miles of new track and grading laid. Aircraft could now use the entire 12-mile length of the dry lakebed for runway space, instead of smaller segments. The $4.7 million project was a joint effort of the Air Force, the Army Corps of Engineers, the AT&SF company, and its contractors.
Dec. 21, 1960: Category II systems evaluation began on the North American T-39 Sabreliner. The twin-engine trainer and light transport was the first aircraft to be tested under a dual program by the Air Force and the Federal Aviation Agency.
Dec. 21, 1964: The General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark made its first flight at Carswell Air Force Base, Texas. The Aardvark was a supersonic, medium-range, multirole combat aircraft. Production variants of the F-111 had roles that included ground attack (e.g. interdiction), strategic bombing (including nuclear weapons capabilities), reconnaissance and electronic warfare. Developed in the 1960s by General Dynamics, the F-111 entered service in 1967 with the U. S. Air Force. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) also ordered the type and began operating the F-111C variant in 1973. The F-111 pioneered several technologies for production aircraft, including variable-sweep wings, afterburning turbofan engines, and automated terrain-following radar for low-level, high-speed flight. Its design influenced later variable-sweep wing aircraft, and some of its advanced features have since become commonplace. The F-111 suffered a variety of problems during initial development. A fighter variant, the F-111B, was not accepted for production. The F-111B was intended to perform aircraft carrier-based roles with the U.S. Navy, including long-range interception. U.S. F-111s were retired during the 1990s with the F-111Fs in 1996 and EF-111s in 1998. The F-111 was replaced by the F-15E Strike Eagle for medium-range precision strike missions, while the supersonic bomber role has been assumed by the B-1B Lancer. The Royal Australian Air Force continued to operate the type until December 2010, when the last F-111C was retired.
The name Aardvark was derived from perceived similarities of the aircraft to the animal of the same name: a long nose and low-level, terrain-following capabilities. The word aardvark originated in the Afrikaans language, as a contraction of “earth-pig”, and this was the source of the F-111’s nickname of “Pig,” during its Australian service.
Dec. 21, 1966: The Martin X-23A lifting body made its first flight. The X-23A, also known as the SV-5D, was designed to acquire data relating to lifting maneuverable reentry vehicles in support of several Air Force and NASA programs. The effort was under the auspices of project PRIME (precision recovery including maneuvering entry) and was part of the larger three-part START (spacecraft technology and advanced reentry test) program. Under these programs, the same SV-5 lifting-body shape was tested at both extremes of its speed range — X-23A tested the very-high speed reentry phase; X-24A tested the low-speed landing characteristics. The first PRIME vehicle was launched from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., and Dec. 21, 1966, atop an Atlas SLV-3 launch vehicle. This mission simulated a low Earth orbit reentry with a zero cross-range. The ballute deployed at 99,850 feet, though the recovery parachute failed to completely deploy. The vehicle crashed into the Pacific Ocean.
Dec. 21, 1968: Apollo 8 lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Fla. Aboard were Mission Commander, Air Force Col. Frank Frederick Borman II; Command Module Pilot, U.S. Navy Capt. James Arthur Lovell, Jr.; and Lunar Module Pilot, Air Force Maj. William A. Anders. Apollo 8 was the second manned mission of the Apollo program. It was the first manned spacecraft to leave Earth orbit, travel to and orbit the Moon, then return to Earth.
Dec. 21, 1970: At the Grumman Aerospace Corporation plant in Calverton, N.Y., Chief Test Pilot Robert Kenneth Smyth and Project Test Pilot William Howard Miller took off on the very first flight of the F-14A-1-GR Tomcat. The F-14 was a long-range fleet defense interceptor designed to operate from the United States Navy’s aircraft carriers. It is a two-place, twin-engine Mach 2-plus fighter. The most notable feature is its variable geometry wings (“swing wings”), similar to those of the General Dynamics F-111. The Grumman F-14 was in production from 1970 until 1991, in three variants, the F-14A, F-14B and F-14D. A total of 712 Tomcats were built. The fighter remained in service with the U.S. Navy until 2006. Seventy-nine F-14As were provided to the Imperial Iranian Air Force, prior to the Islamic revolt. An unknown number of these remain in service with the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force.
Dec, 21, 1979: The NASA AD-1 oblique-wing concept demonstrator makes its first flight at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The AD-1 was both an aircraft and an associated flight test program conducted between 1979 and 1982 at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center (now Armstrong) at Edwards. The program successfully demonstrated an aircraft wing that could be pivoted obliquely from zero to 60 degrees during flight. The unique oblique wing was demonstrated on a small, subsonic jet-powered research aircraft called the AD-1 (Ames-Dryden-1). The aircraft was flown 79 times during the research program, which evaluated the basic pivot-wing concept and gathered information on handling qualities and aerodynamics at various speeds and degrees of pivot. Piloting the aircraft on its first flight was NASA research pilot Thomas C. McMurtry, who was also the pilot on the final flight Aug. 7, 1982. Another well-known test pilot involved in the project was Pete Knight.
Dec. 21, 2005: The C-130J completed Phase 2 of OT&E, culminating nearly five years of Developmental and Operational testing. This phase involved airdrops of heavy equipment, personnel, and container delivery systems, plus new upgrades and participation in a Joint Readiness Training Center exercise with the Army at Fort Polk, Louisiana. The turboprop C-130J had 40 percent greater range and 24 percent more speed than the C-130E and H models. Pictured in this Edwards History Office file photo is the aircraft in flight over Edwards in June 2001.
Dec. 22, 1936: The North American XB-21 made its maiden flight, taking off from Mines Field, Calif. (now LAX). The XB-21 was a prototype bomber aircraft developed by North American Aviation in the late 1930s, for evaluation by the U.S. Army Air Corps. Evaluated against the Douglas B-18 Bolo, it was found to be considerably more expensive than the rival aircraft, and despite the ordering of a small number of evaluation aircraft, only the prototype was ever built. The quoted price for the XB-21 was $122,000 per aircraft, whilst Douglas quoted $64,000 for the Bolo.
Flown by a crew of six to eight men, the XB-21 featured a remarkably strong defensive armament for the time, including as many as five .30-calibre M1919 machine guns. These were planned to be fitted in hydraulically powered nose and dorsal turrets, in addition to manually operated weapons installed in waist and ventral positions. Up to 10,000 pounds of bombs could be carried in an internal bomb bay, with 2,200 pounds of bombs able to be carried over a range of 1,900 miles. Operated by North American Aviation, the XB-21 served as a research aircraft until its retirement.
Dec. 22, 1941: The Consolidated TBY Sea Wolf made its first flight. The Sea Wolf was a U.S. Navy torpedo bomber of World War II. A competitor and contemporary to the Grumman TBF Avenger, the Sea Wolf was subject to substantial delays and never saw combat; only 180 of the type were built before cancellation after VJ Day.
The original design was not by Consolidated Aircraft, but rather by Vought, who designed the then XTBU-1 Sea Wolf to a 1939 Navy requirement. The first prototype flew two weeks after Pearl Harbor. Its performance was deemed superior to the Avenger and the Navy placed an order for 1,000 aircraft. Several unfortunate incidents intervened. The prototype was damaged in a rough arrested landing trial, and when repaired a month later was again damaged in a collision with a training aircraft. Once repaired again, the Navy accepted the prototype. However, by this time Vought was heavily overcommitted to other contracts, especially for the F4U Corsair fighter, and had no production capacity. It was arranged that Consolidated-Vultee would produce the aircraft (as the TBY), but this had to wait until the new production facility in Allentown, Penn., was complete, which took until late 1943. The productions TBYs were radar-equipped, with a radome under the right-hand wing. The first aircraft flew on Aug. 20, 1944. By this time though, the Avenger equipped every torpedo squadron in the Navy, and there was no need for the Sea Wolf; in addition, numerous small problems delayed entry into service. Orders were cancelled after production started, and the 180 built were used for training.
Dec. 22, 1949: At Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., North American Aviation test pilot George C. Welch made the first flight of the YF-86D Sabre. The YF-86D was intended to be an improved variant of the F-86A Sabre day fighter. During development, though, so many changes became necessary that the F-86D shared only about 25 percent of its parts of the F-86A. Essentially a new airplane, the Air Force assigned it the designation YF-95. It would revert to the F-86D designation before it actually flew. The first YF-86D rolled out at North American’s Inglewood Calif., plant in September 1949. In late November it was partially disassembled to be transported by truck to Edwards Air Force Base, about 120 miles. The airplane was then reassembled and ground tested to prepare it for flight.
Dec. 22, 1964: A Lockheed M-21, a special two-place variant of the Central Intelligence Agency’s A-12 Oxcart Mach 3 reconnaissance aircraft, took off for the first time from Groom Lake, Nev. Piloted by William C. Park, Jr., Lockheed’s chief engineering test pilot, the M-21 carried a D-21 drone. Two M-21s were built. Its drone struck the second aircraft during an air launch off the coast of California, July 30, 1966, and both aircraft were destroyed. Bill Park escaped, but the Launch Control Officer, Ray Torick, was killed.
Dec. 22, 1964: A one million-pound thrust, solid rocket motor was successfully fired at the Edwards AFB Rocket Propulsion Laboratory on Leuhman Ridge. The 120″ diameter motor was under development for the Titan III Space Launch Vehicle Program.
Dec. 22, 1964: Lockheed test pilot Robert J. “Bob” Gilliland made a solo first flight of the first SR-71A, 61-7950, at Air Force Plant 42, Palmdale, Calif. The “Blackbird” flew higher than 45,000 feet and more than 1,000 miles per hour before landing at Edwards Air Force Base, 22 miles northeast, to begin flight testing. Lockheed built 32 SR-71As. They entered service with the 4200th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing (later redesignated the 9th SRW) in 1966 and were initially retired in 1989. Several were reactivated in 1995, but finally retired in 1999.
Dec. 22, 1966: The Northrop HL-10 made its first flight. The HL-10 was one of five U.S. heavyweight lifting body designs flown at NASA’s Flight Research Center at Edwards, Calif., from July 1966 to November 1975, to study and validate the concept of safely maneuvering and landing a low lift-over-drag vehicle designed for reentry from space. It was a NASA design and was built to evaluate “inverted airfoil” lifting body and delta planform.
Bruce Peterson was in the cockpit for the maiden flight. Although the XLR-11 rocket engine (same type used in the Bell X-1) was installed, the first 11 drops from the B-52 launch aircraft were unpowered glide flights to assess handling qualities, stability, and control. In the end, the HL-10 was judged to be the best handling of the three original heavyweight lifting bodies (M2-F2/F3, HL-10, X-24A). The HL-10 was flown 37 times during the lifting body research program and logged the highest altitude and fastest speed in the lifting body program. On Feb. 18, 1970, Air Force test pilot Peter Hoag piloted the HL-10 to Mach 1.86. Nine days later, NASA pilot William H. “Bill” Dana flew the vehicle to 90,030, which became the highest altitude reached in the program.
During a typical lifting body flight, the B-52 — with the research vehicle attached to the pylon mount on the right wing between the fuselage and inboard engine pod — flew to a height of about 45,000 feet and a launch speed of about 450 mph. Moments after being dropped, the XLR-11 was lit by the pilot. Speed and altitude increased until the engine was shut down by choice or fuel exhaustion, depending upon the individual mission profile. The lifting bodies normally carried enough fuel for about 100 seconds of powered flight and routinely reached from 50,000 to 80,000 feet and speeds above Mach 1.
Following engine shutdown, the pilot maneuvered the vehicle through a simulated return-from-space corridor into a pre-planned approach for a landing on one of the lakebed runways on Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards. A circular approach was used to lose altitude during the landing phase. On the final approach leg, the pilot increased his rate of descent to build up energy. At about 100 feet altitude, a “flare out” maneuver dropped air speed to about 200 mph for the landing. Unusual and valuable lessons were learned through the successful flight testing of the HL-10. During the early phases of the Space Shuttle development program, lifting bodies patterned on the HL-10 shape were one of three major types of proposals. These were later rejected as it proved difficult to fit cylindrical fuel tanks into the always-curving fuselage, and from then on most designs focused on more conventional delta wing craft. In this photograph, Bill Dana takes a moment to watch NASA’s NB-52B cruise overhead after a research flight in the HL-10. On the left, John Reeves can be seen at the cockpit of the lifting body.
Dec. 23, 1941: The Douglas C-47 Skytrain made its maiden flight. The Douglas C-47 Skytrain was a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in front-line service with various military operators for many years. The C-47 differed from the civilian DC-3 in numerous modifications, including being fitted with a cargo door, hoist attachment, and strengthened floor, along with a shortened tail cone for glider-towing shackles, and an astrodome in the cabin roof. During World War II, the armed forces of many countries used the C-47 and modified DC-3s for the transport of troops, cargo, and wounded. The U.S. naval designation was R4D. More than 10,000 aircraft were produced in Long Beach and Santa Monica, Calif., and Oklahoma City, Okla. The specialized C-53 Skytrooper troop transport started production in October 1941 at Douglas Aircraft’s Santa Monica plant. It lacked the cargo door, hoist attachment, and reinforced floor of the C-47. Only 380 aircraft were produced in all because the C-47 was found to be more versatile.
The C-47 was vital to the success of many Allied campaigns, in particular, those at Guadalcanal and in the jungles of New Guinea and Burma, where the C-47 and its naval version, the R4D, made it possible for Allied troops to counter the mobility of the light-traveling Japanese army. C-47s were used to airlift supplies to the encircled American forces during the Battle of Bastogne in Belgium. Possibly its most influential role in military aviation, however, was flying “The Hump” from India into China. The expertise gained flying “The Hump” was later used in the Berlin Airlift, in which the C-47 played a major role until the aircraft were replaced by Douglas C-54 Skymasters. In Europe, the C-47 and a specialized paratroop variant, the C-53 Skytrooper, were used in vast numbers in the later stages of the war, particularly to tow gliders and drop paratroops. During the invasion of Sicily in July 1943, C-47s dropped 4,381 Allied paratroops. More than 50,000 paratroops were dropped by C-47s during the first few days of the D-Day campaign, also known as the invasion of Normandy, France, in June 1944. In the Pacific War, with careful use of the island landing strips of the Pacific Ocean, C-47s were used for ferrying soldiers serving in the Pacific theater back to the United States.
About 2,000 C-47s (received under Lend-Lease) in British and Commonwealth service took the name “Dakota”, possibly inspired by the acronym “DACoTA” for Douglas Aircraft Company Transport Aircraft.
The U.S. Air Force’s Strategic Air Command had Skytrains in service from 1946 through 1967. The Air Force’s 6th Special Operations Squadron was flying the C-47 until 2008. With all of the aircraft and pilots having been part of the Indian Air Force prior to independence, both the Indian Air Force and Pakistan Air Force used C-47s to transport supplies to their soldiers fighting in the Indo-Pakistan War of 1947. After World War II, thousands of surplus C-47s were converted to civilian airline use, some remaining in operation in 2012, as well as being used as private aircraft.
Several C-47 variations were also used in the Vietnam War by the U.S. Air Force, including three advanced electronic-warfare variations, which sometimes were called “electric gooneys” designated EC-47N, EC-47P, or EC-47Q, depending on the engine used. In addition, HC-47s were used by the 9th Special Operations Squadron to conduct psychological warfare operations over South Vietnam and Laos. EC-47s were also operated by the Vietnamese, Laotian, and Cambodian air forces. A gunship variation, using three 7.62 mm miniguns, designated AC-47 “Spooky,” often nicknamed “Puff the Magic Dragon,” also was deployed. In this photography, C-47s are seen unloading supplies at Tempelhof Airport during the Berlin Airlift.
Dec. 23, 1974: The Rockwell International B-1A Lancer made its first flight from Palmdale Calif. and landed at Edwards. The aircraft commander was Rockwell test pilot and retired Air Force Col. Charles Bock, Jr., with Air Force pilot and B-1 JTF director Col. Emil “Ted” Sturmthal, and flight test engineer Richard Abrams. The 70-minute, 250-mile flight was made within reach of the Rogers Dry Lake runways during which basic flight evaluation was conducted.
Dec. 23, 1986: Richard “Dick” Rutan and Jeana Yeager landed their ultra-long-range aircraft Voyager on Rogers Dry Lake, after completing the first non-stop, unrefueled flight around the world. The Voyager stayed in the air for nine days, three minutes and 44 seconds.
