Jan. 21, 1951: The U. S. Air Force F-84 Thunderjet makes its first kill, when Lt. Col. William E. Bertram of the 27th Fighter Escort Wing, shoots down a MiG-15 during the Korean War. Originating as a 1944 U.S. Army Air Forces proposal for a “day fighter,” the F-84 first flew in 1946. Although it entered service in 1947, the Thunderjet was plagued by so many structural and engine problems that a 1948 U.S. Air Force review declared it unable to execute any aspect of its intended mission and considered canceling the program. The aircraft was not considered fully operational until the 1949 F-84D model and the design matured only with the definitive F-84G introduced in 1951. The Thunderjet became the Air Force’s primary strike aircraft during the Korean War, flying 86,408 sorties and destroying 60 percent of all ground targets in the war as well as eight Soviet-built MiG fighters. More than half of the 7,524 F-84s produced served with NATO nations, and it was the first aircraft to fly with the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds demonstration team. The F-84 was the first production fighter aircraft to utilize inflight refueling and the first fighter capable of carrying a nuclear weapon, the Mark 7 nuclear bomb. Modified F-84s were used in several unusual projects, including the FICON and Tom-Tom dockings to the B-29 Superfortress and B-36 bomber motherships, and the experimental XF-84H Thunderscreech turboprop.
Jan. 21, 1960: The Little Joe 1B Launch Escape System launched from Wallops Field, Va. Little Joe 1B was a test of the Mercury spacecraft, conducted as part of the U.S. Mercury program. The mission also carried a female rhesus monkey named Miss Sam in the Mercury spacecraft. Little Joe 1B flew to an apogee of 9.3 statute miles and a range of 11.7 miles out to sea. Miss Sam survived the 8 minute 35 second flight in good condition. The spacecraft was recovered by a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter and returned to Wallops Island within about 45 minutes. Miss Sam was one of many monkeys used in space travel research.
Jan. 21, 1972: Test pilots John Christiansen and Lyle Schaefer made the first flight of the Lockheed YS-3A Viking at the Lockheed facility in Palmdale, Calif. The flight lasted 90 minutes. A total of 187 S-3s were built at the Lockheed plant in Burbank, Calif. The S-3A entered U.S. Navy service in 1974 and eventually served with 18 Navy squadrons, accumulating more than 1.7 million flight hours. The Viking was retired from fleet service in 2009.
Jan. 21, 1976: British Airways and Air France inaugurated scheduled passenger service on the supersonic Concorde jet. Taking off simultaneously, the British Airways Concorde took off from London Heathrow headed for Bahrain, while the Air France Concorde took off from Paris Orly Airport headed for Brazil with a stop in Senegal.
Jan. 21, 2004: An F-117 Nighthawk from the F-117 CTF successfully released two types of Joint Direct Attack Munitions for the first time. The autonomous GBU-31 (v) 1/B [blast effect] and GBU-31 (v) 3/B [deep penetrator] “smart bombs” were designed to penetrate hardened targets. The test was conducted at the PIRA range.
Jan. 22, 1968: A Saturn 1B rocket launched from Launch Complex 37B at Cape Kennedy Air Force Station, Fla., at 10:48 p.m. The rocket carried LM-1, an unmanned Apollo Program lunar lander into a low-Earth orbit. The Apollo 5 mission was used to test the Grumman-built Lunar Module in actual spaceflight conditions. Engines for both the descent and ascent stages had to be started in space, and be capable of restarts. Although the mission had some difficulties as a result of programming errors, it was successful and a second test flight with LM-2 determined to be unnecessary and was cancelled. The Lunar Module was a two-stage vehicle designed to transport two astronauts from Lunar Orbit to the surface of the Moon, provide shelter and a base of operations while on the Moon, and then return the astronauts to lunar orbit, rendezvousing with the Apollo Command and Service Module. It was designed and built by the Grumman Aerospace Corporation at Bethpage, Long Island, N.Y.
Jan. 22, 1970: The first regularly scheduled commercial flight of the Boeing 747 began in New York and ended in London some six and a half hours later. Capt. Robert M. Weeks, Capt. John Noland and Flight Engineer August “Mac” McKinney flew the Pan American World Airways Boeing 747-121, N736PA, Clipper Young America, from New York to London. The 6 hour, 14 minute inaugural passenger-carrying flight of the new wide-body jet. Carried a cabin crew of 17 and 332 passengers.
Jan. 23, 1934: The Berliner-Joyce XF3J made its first flight. The XF3J was an American biplane fighter, built by Berliner-Joyce Aircraft. It was submitted to the U.S. Navy for their request for a single-seat carrier-based fighter powered by a 625 hp Wright R-1510-26 engine. The XF3J had elliptical fabric covered wings which gave it the appearance of a butterfly. The fuselage was semimonocoque metallic with an aluminum skin. The undercarriage was fixed, and would be the last biplane fighter without a retractable gear that the U.S. Navy would test. The aircraft performed satisfactorily in testing, but more promising aircraft had been developed and, in September 1935, the program was terminated
Jan. 23, 1939: The prototype Douglas 7B twin-engine attack bomber, suffered a loss of vertical fin and rudder during a demonstration at Mines Field (now Los Angeles International Airport). The aircraft, in a flat spin, crashed into a parking lot and burned. Douglas test pilot, Johnny Cable, bailed out at 300 feet, his parachute unfurls but there is not enough time to deploy and he is killed on impact. The flight engineer, John Parks, rides the airframe in and dies on impact. However, 33-year-old French Air Force Capt. Paul Chemidlin, ridiing in the aft fuselage near the top turret, survives the crash suffering with a broken leg, sever back injuries and a slight concussion. The Model 7B made its first flight on Oct. 26, 1938, and attracted the attention of a French Purchasing Commission visiting the United States. The French discreetly participated in the flight trials, so as not to attract criticism from American isolationists. When the aircraft crashed, the presence of a foreigner on a test flight for an aircraft still under development caused a scandal in the press. Despite the crash, the French were impressed enough to place an order for 100 production aircraft on Feb. 15, 1939, following this up with an order for 170 more in October 1939. As a result of the French order, Heinemann carried out another major redesign of the aircraft. The revised aircraft, the DB-7, first flew on Aug. 17, 1939. In 1939, the Army Air Corps decided that the new bomber was best placed to meet its requirements for an attack bomber, which had been updated in 1938 from those that gave rise to the Model 7B, and in June 1939, it ordered 186 aircraft powered by Wright R-2600 engines, under the designations A-20 Havoc and A-20A. The aircraft was in service with several Allied air forces, including the United States, the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force. It was also used by the air forces of Australia, South Africa, France, and the Netherlands during the war, and by Brazil afterwards.
Jan. 23, 1951: The Douglas F4D-1 Skyray, later redesignated as the F-6 Skyray, made its first flight. The Skyray was an American carrier-based fighter/interceptor built by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Although it was in service for a relatively short time (1956–1964) and never entered combat, it was the first carrier-launched aircraft to hold the world’s absolute speed record, at 752.943 mph, and was the first U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps fighter that could exceed Mach 1 in level flight. It was the last fighter produced by the Douglas Aircraft Company before it merged with McDonnell Aircraft and became McDonnell Douglas. The F5D Skylancer was an advanced development of the F4D Skyray that did not go into service.
Jan. 23, 1971: NASA astronaut Gene Cernan was flying a 1967 Bell Model 47G-3B-1 helicopter on a proficiency flight to practice vertical approaches as a warmup for a lunar landing. Will fuel tanks full, the helicopter was heavy, so Cernan decided to burn some fuel by flying along the Indian River in Florida before the vertical approaches. While doing so, Cernan nosed over and swooped down to “dance the chopper around island beaches and among the boaters, steadily getting closer to the surface …
“Without realizing the danger, I flew into a trap that was the plague of seaplane pilots. Without ripples, the water provided no depth perception and my eyes looked straight through the clear surface to the reflective river bottom. I had lost sight of the water. But I was in control, or at least I thought so. . . until the toe of my left skid dug into the Indian River.”
The Bell 47 was torn apart by the impact. The cabin section, with Cernan still strapped inside, sank to the bottom of the river. As a naval aviator, he was trained in under water egress. He freed himself from the wreck and made his way to the surface. Gasoline from the ruptured fuel tanks was floating on the water and had caught fire. Cernan suffered some minor burns, but was otherwise unhurt. He was rescued by fishermen who were nearby. An accident investigation board, led by Astronaut James A. Lovell, commander of Apollo 13, concluded that the accident was pilot error, in that Cernan had misjudged his altitude when flying over the water.
Jan. 23, 1990: McDonnell Douglas personnel began a series of performance tests on the MD-11 aircraft. The MD-11 was a derivative of the DC-10, with major improvements: Advanced Technology Engines, a stretched fuselage, winglets, and a two-person cockpit.
Jan. 23, 2007: The Lockheed Martin CATBird made its first flight at the Mojave Air and Space Port. The CATBird is a highly modified Boeing 737-330 designed as an avionics flight testbed aircraft. The name is an adaptive acronym, from Cooperative Avionics Test Bed; coincidentally, CATBIRD is Lockheed’s ICAO-designated company callsign. The aircraft was modified in order to provide an economic means of developing and flight testing the avionics suite for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. CATBird has a distinctive appearance, with an F-35’s nose and a pair of small canards located just aft of the forward entrance doors. Inside, the aircraft is equipped with racks to hold all of F-35’s avionics, as well as an F-35 cockpit. The aircraft was modified under contract by BAE Systems Inc. at their facility at the Mojave Air and Space Port. Work began in December 2003, and the aircraft began post-modification taxi tests in November 2006. First flight took place on Jan. 23, 2007 at Mojave. After the initial flight test program conducted at Mojave, on March 2, 2007, the aircraft was ferried to Lockheed’s Fort Worth facility for Phase 2 of the modification program, which will install the flight test stations and actual avionics and sensor systems to be tested. In 2014 CATBird software test station was upgraded by Northrop Grumman with Tech Refresh 2 hardware which gives the CATBird capability to test F-35 Block 3 Software.
Jan. 24, 1950: The North American YF-93, an American jet fighter prototype, made its first flight with George Welch at the controls. The YF-93 was an American fighter development of the F-86 Sabre that emerged as a radically different variant that received its own designation. Two were built and flown before the project was eventually canceled. In 1947, North American Aviation began a design study, NA-157, to create a true “penetration fighter” to meet the requirements of a long-range version of its F-86A Sabre. In order to accommodate more fuel, a much larger F-86A was envisioned, eventually able to carry 1,961 gallons, both internally and with two 200-gallon underwing drop tanks. The new variant possessed a theoretical unrefuelled range of over 2,000 nautical miles, twice that of the standard production F-86A. The resultant fighter originally designated the F-86C was intended to compete with the XF-88 Voodoo and Lockheed XF-90 to fulfill the U.S. Air Force’s Penetration Fighter requirement for a bomber escort.
In December 1947, the Air Force ordered two prototype NA-157s and, considering the many changes to the F-86, redesignated it YF-93A. Both prototypes were built with NACA inlet ducts; the first, (48-317), was later retro-fitted with more conventional intakes. Six months later, the initial contract was followed up with an order for 118 F-93A-NAs. In 1949, the production order was abruptly canceled as priorities had shifted dramatically following the testing of the ground-breaking Boeing B-47 which reputedly would not need an escort due to its high speed capabilities. With the prototype YF-93As just coming off the production line, the USAF took over the project.
The prototypes, serial numbers 48-317 and -318, began flight tests in 1950 and were entered in a flyoff against the other penetration fighter projects, the XF-88 and XF-90; the XF-88 Voodoo was declared the winner. None of the projects would be ordered. The YF-93As were turned over to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Ames facility for further testing before being used as chase aircraft until 1956.
Jan. 24, 1962: U.S. Air Force Col. Gordon Graham and Col. George Laven, accepted delivery in St. Louis, Mo., from the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, of the first F-110A Spectre. The F-100A was later redesignated the F-4C Phantom II. McDonnell built 5,057 Phantom IIs. They served with U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, the U.S. Air Force, and many allied nations. The last Phantom II, an F-4E, was completed Oct. 25, 1979. The U.S. Air Force retired its last operational Phantoms from service Dec. 20, 2004, 42 years, 10 months, 27 days after receiving the first F-110A.
Jan. 24, 1986: Voyager 2, launched into orbit with Voyager 1 in 1977, began transmitting images from Uranus in 1986. The massive planet showed some evidence of boiling oceanic water. Voyager 2 also found 10 new moons and two new rings around Uranus. Voyager 2 would become the only spacecraft to study all four of the solar system’s outer planets at close range.
Jan. 25, 1926: The Stinson Detroiter made its first flight. The Detroiter was a six-seat cabin airliner for passengers or freight designed and built by the Stinson Aircraft Syndicate, later the Stinson Aircraft Corporation. Two distinct designs used the Detroiter name, a biplane and a monoplane. The first design from the Detroit-based Stinson Aircraft Syndicate was the Stinson SB-1 Detroiter, a four-seat cabin biplane with novel features such as cabin heating, individual wheel brakes and electric starter for the nose-mounted 220 hp Wright J-5 Whirlwind engine. It made its first flight on Jan 25, 1926. This aircraft was soon developed into the six-seat Stinson SM-1D Detroiter, a braced high-wing monoplane version which ultimately made quite a number of significant long-range flights. The aircraft was soon a success and it enabled Stinson to get $150,000 in public capital to incorporate the Stinson Aircraft Corporation on May 4, 1926. Seventy-five of the Wright J-5-powered versions were built, followed by 30 Wright J-6-powered aircraft. From 1928, SM-1 aircraft were used on scheduled services by Paul Braniff’s Braniff Air Lines and by Northwest Airways.
Jan. 25, 1991: A series of X-29 Advanced Technology Demonstrator Aircraft high angle of attack agility test sorties began. According to the Edwards History Office the forward-swept wing experimental jet exhibited better flying qualities in the high angle of attack range than many current operational fighters, and without the weight and complexity of special flaps, slats, or thrust vectoring systems. Find out more about this aircraft online at https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/news/FactSheets/FS-008-DFRC.html
Jan. 26, 1957: The last operational North American P-51 “Mustang” fighter was retired to the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. The aircraft was obtained from the West Virginia Air National Guard. On display at the museum, it is painted as the P-51D flown by Col. C.L. Sluder, commander of the 325th Fighter Group in Italy in 1944. The name of this aircraft, Shimmy IV, is derived from the names of his daughter, Sharon, and his wife, Zimmy.
Jan. 27, 1927: The Douglas T2D made its first flight. The T2D was an American twin-engined torpedo bomber contracted by the military, and required to be usable on wheels or floats, and operating from aircraft carriers. It was the first twin-engined aircraft to be operated from an aircraft carrier. The first three T2D-1’s were delivered to the torpedo bomber squadron VT-2 on May 25, 1927, being used for successful trials aboard the aircraft carrier USS Langley. A further nine T2D-1’s were ordered in 1927, these normally being operated as floatplanes, partly owing to criticism from the U.S. Army of the Navy operating large land-based bombers, and partly as its large size prevented Langley from embarking a full air wing. A further 18 aircraft were ordered in June 1930 as patrol floatplanes, being designated P2D-1. These were operated by Patrol Squadron VP-3 in the Panama Canal Zone until they were replaced by Consolidated PBYs in 1937.
Jan. 27, 1939: The Lockheed XP-38 Lightning made its first flight at March Field, Calif. This was a short flight, as immediately after takeoff, pilot 1st Lt. Benjamin Kelsey felt severe vibrations in the airframe. Three of four flap support rods had failed, leaving the flaps unusable. Returning to March Field, Kelsey landed at a very high speed with a 18-degree nose up angle. The tail dragged on the runway. Damage was minor and the problem was quickly solved. Designed by an engineering team led by Hall L. Hibbard, which included the legendary Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson, the XP-38 was a single-place, twin-engine fighter designed for very high speed and long range. It was an unusual configuration with the cockpit and armament in a center nacelle, with two longitudinal booms containing the engines and propellers, turbochargers, radiators and coolers. The Lightning was equipped with tricycle landing gear. The nose strut retracted into the center nacelle and the two main gear struts retracted into bays in the booms. To reduce drag, the sheet metal used butt joints with flush rivets. The prototype had been built built at Lockheed’s factory in Burbank, Calif. On the night of Dec. 31, it was transported to March Field aboard a convoy of three trucks. Once there, the components were assembled by Lockheed technicians working under tight security. The prototype XP-38 was damaged beyond repair when, on approach to Mitchel Field, N.Y., Feb. 11, 1939, both engines failed to accelerate from idle due to carburetor icing. Unable to maintain altitude, Lieutenant Kelsey crash landed on a golf course and was unhurt. Testing continued with 13 YP-38A pre-production aircraft and was quickly placed in full production. The P-38 Lightning was one of the most successful combat aircraft of World War II. By the end of the war, Lockheed had built 10,037 Lightnings.
Jan. 27, 1950: A ceremony was held, in connection with Armed Forces Day, to rename the base in honor of Capt. Glen W. Edwards. Edwards’ father was in attendance at the ceremony. The original plaque, shown here, misspelled Edwards’ first name by adding a second ‘n’ — the plaque was later remade and the error was corrected.
Jan. 27, 1959: The Convair 880 made its first flight. The 880 was an American narrow-body jet airliner produced by the Convair division of General Dynamics. It was designed to compete with the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 by being smaller but faster, a niche that failed to create demand. When it was first introduced, some aviation circles claimed that at 615 mph, it was the fastest jet transport in the world. Only 65 Convair 880s were produced over the lifetime of the production run from 1959 to 1962, and General Dynamics eventually withdrew from the airliner market after considering the 880 project a failure. The Convair 990 was a stretched and faster variant of the 880.
Jan. 27. 1967: During a simulation aboard the Apollo spacecraft on the launchpad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a flash fire ignited in the pure oxygen atmosphere of the capsule, killing astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. It was the first fatal accident directly attributed to the U.S. space program, and it led to a redesign of the spacecraft. The Apollo mission of sending astronauts to the moon was resumed in October 1968.
Jan. 27, 1973: A U. S. Navy F-4 Phantom II from USS Enterprise (CVA(N)-65) piloted by Lt. Cmdr. Harley Hall and with Lt. Cmdr. Philip Kientzler as radar intercept officer, is shot down over South Vietnam near the Demilitarized Zone. Both Hall and Kienttzler ejected at 4,000 feet and were seen to land on an island in the Dam Cho Chua and Chua Viet Rivers. Only Kientzler was released at Operation Homecoming in 1973. He reported that during parachute descent they received heavy ground fire, at which time he was hit in the leg. He last saw Hall as they touched the ground. When he asked his guards about his pilot, he was told that he had been killed. This was the last American fixed-wing aircraft lost in the Vietnam War. Hall had previously commanded the U.S. Navy Blue Angels aerial demonstration team.
