Feb. 4, 1929: At 5:37:30 p.m., Pacific Time, Frank Monroe Hawks took off from Metropolitan Field, Los Angeles, California, (now known as Van Nuys Airport) in a new Lockheed Model 3 Air Express transport. Also on board was Oscar Edwin Grubb, the final assembly superintendent for Lockheed. The pair flew non-stop to Roosevelt Field, Long Island, N.Y., arriving there at 2:59:29 p.m., Eastern Time, on Feb. 5. The duration of the flight was 18 hours, 21 minutes, 59 seconds.

The only previous non-stop West-to-East flight had been flown during August 1928 by Arthur C. Goebel, Jr., and Harry Tucker with their Lockheed Vega–Yankee Doodle. Hawks cut 36 minutes off Goebel’s time. Hawks was a technical adviser to The Texas Company (Texaco), a manufacturer and distributor of petroleum products which sponsored the flight. On his recommendation, the company purchased the Air Express from Lockheed for use as a company transport.

 

 

Feb. 4, 1941: The United Service Organization (USO) is founded. The USO sought to be the GI’s “home away from home” and began a tradition of entertaining the troops that continues today. Involvement in the USO was one of the many ways in which the nation had come together to support the war effort, with nearly 1.5 million people having volunteered their services in some way. The USO initially disbanded in 1947, but was revived in 1950 for the Korean War, after which it continued, also providing peacetime services. During the Vietnam War, USO social facilities were sometimes located in combat zones. The USO has more than 200 locations around the world in 14 countries (including the U.S.) and 27 states.

 

 

Feb. 4, 1945: President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin began a wartime conference at Yalta. The aim of the conference was to shape a post-war peace that represented not just a collective security order but a plan to give self-determination to the liberated peoples of post-Nazi Europe. The meeting was intended mainly to discuss the re-establishment of the nations of war-torn Europe. However, within a few short years, with the Cold War dividing the continent, Yalta became a subject of intense controversy.

 

 

Feb. 4, 1946: The Republic XF-12 Rainbow, an American four-engine, all-metal prototype reconnaissance aircraft, made its first flight. Like most large aircraft of the era, it used radial engines, specifically Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major corncob engines. The XF-12 was referred to as “flying on all fours” meaning: four engines, 400 mph cruise, 4,000 mile-range, at 40,000 feet. The aircraft was designed to maximize aerodynamic efficiency. Although innovative, the jet engine and the end of World War II made it obsolete, and it therefore did not enter production.

 

 

Feb. 4, 1948: Douglas pilot John F. Martin made the first flight of the Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket at Muroc Army Airfield in California. The aircraft, equipped only with the jet engine, was launched from underneath its B-29 mothership. The goals of the program were to investigate the characteristics of swept-wing aircraft at transonic and supersonic speeds with particular attention to pitch-up (un-commanded rotation of the nose of the aircraft upwards), a problem prevalent in high-speed service aircraft of that era, particularly at low speeds during takeoff and landing, and in tight turns. The “2” in the aircraft’s designation referred to the fact that the Skyrocket was the phase-two version of what had originally been conceived as a three-phase program.

The phase-one aircraft, the D-558-1, was jet powered and had straight wings. The third phase, which never came to fruition, would have involved constructing a mock-up of a combat type aircraft embodying the results from the testing of the phase one and two aircraft. The eventual D-558-3 design, which was never built, was for a hypersonic aircraft similar to the North American X-15. Three D-558-2 Skyrockets were built: aircraft one completed 123 flights, aircraft two completed 103 flights, and aircraft number three completed 87 flights.

 

 

Feb. 4, 1969: The North American XB-70Valkyrie, tail number 62-0001, made its final flight. The aircraft, with NASA test pilot Fitz Fulton and Air Force Lt. Col. Emil Sturmthal, were the crew for the flight from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., to Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio. Upon arrival at Wright-Patt, Fulton closed out the plane’s logbook and handed it over to the curator of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.

The Mach 3+ prototype strategic bomber and high-speed, high-altitude research airplane had completed 83 flights for a total of 160 hours, 16 minutes of flight time.

 

Feb. 4, 2011: Northrop Grumman’s X-47B, an American demonstration Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle, made its first flight at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The X-47B project began as part of DARPA’s J-UCAS program, and subsequently became part of the U.S. Navy’s Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration (UCAS-D) program.

The X-47B is a tailless jet-powered blended-wing-body aircraft capable of semi-autonomous operation and aerial refueling. The X-47B first flew in 2011, and as of 2015, its two active demonstrators have undergone extensive flight and operational integration testing, having successfully performed a series of land- and carrier-based demonstrations. In August 2014, the US Navy announced that it had integrated the X-47B into carrier operations alongside manned aircraft, and by May 2015 the aircraft’s primary test program was declared complete.

In February 2015, the Navy stated that the competition for private tenders for constructing the UCLASS fleet would begin in 2016, with the aircraft expected to enter service in the early 2020s. Reportedly, despite the X-47B’s success in test flights, Navy officials were concerned that it would be too costly and insufficiently stealthy for the needs of the UCLASS project.
In April 2015, it was reported that the X-47B demonstrators would become museum exhibits upon the completion of their flight testing. In June 2015, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus stated that the X-47B test program should continue but that Northrop Grumman should not gain an unfair advantage in the competition for the UCLASS contract.

In July 2015, the Navy stated that the X-47B demonstrators would remain in flying condition rather than being converted to museum exhibits, allowing for a variety of follow-on evaluations. In January 2017 the first X-47B departed NAS Patuxent River, Md., for a cross country trip back to Northrop Grumman’s manufacturing facility in Palmdale, Calif. However, Northrop Grumman announced on Oct. 25, 2017, that it was withdrawing its X-47B from the MQ-25 competition saying the company would have been unable to execute the program under the terms of the service’s request for proposals.

 

 

Feb. 5, 1918: Second Lt. Stephen W. Thompson, flying as a gunner on a French aircraft, became the first member of the United States military to shoot down an enemy aircraft.

Thompson arrived in France in September and was assigned to the U.S. 1st Aero Squadron for training as an observer. Training took place from a field in Amanty. The French day bombardment squadron Br.123, which flew the Breguet 14 B2, was nearby at Neufchateau aerodrome, and Royce was occasionally able to send one of his men along with the French on a raid.

On Feb. 5, 1918, the 1st Aero Squadron had not yet begun combat operations, and Thompson visited a French unit with a fellow member of the 1st Aero Squadron. Both were invited to fly as gunner-bombardiers with the French on a bombing raid over Saarbrucken, Germany. After they had dropped their bombs, the squadron was attacked by Albatros D.III fighters. Thompson shot down one of them. This was the first aerial victory by any member of the U.S. military. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre with Palm for the action.

 

 

Feb. 5, 1929: A Lockheed Model 3 Air Express landed at Roosevelt Field, N.Y. The aircraft, piloted by Frank Hawks, had taken off the day before (Feb. 4) from Metropolitan Field in Los Angeles (now Van Nuys Airport) heading for the East Coast. Also on board the aircraft was the final assembly superintendent for Lockheed — Oscar Grubb. The cross-country flight took 18 hours, 21 minutes, 59 seconds.

The only previous non-stop West-to-East flight had been flown during August 1928 by Arthur C. Goebel, Jr., and Harry Tucker, with their Lockheed Vega. Hawks cut 36 minutes off of Goebelís time.

Hawks was an Air Service, United States Army, pilot who served during World War I. He rose to the rank of captain, and at the time of his record-breaking transcontinental flight, he held a commission as a reserve officer in the Army Air Corps. His flying had made him a popular public figure and he starred in a series of Hollywood movies as “The Mysterious Pilot.”

On Dec. 28, 1920, Amelia Earhart took her first ride in an airplane at Long Beach Airport in California. The 10-minute flight began her life-long involvement in aviation. The airplane’s pilot was Frank Hawks.

 

 

Feb. 5, 1971: Apollo 14, third U.S. manned Moon expedition, lands near Fra Mauro, and Alan Shepard and Edward Mitchell walk on Moon for four hours. This was the third manned lunar landing. It was nine years, eight months, 30 days, 18 hours, 43 minutes, 58 seconds since Shepard had lifted off from Cape Canaveral aboard Freedom 7, becoming the first American astronaut launched into space.

During the two walks on the surface, they collected 94.35 pounds of Moon rocks and deployed several scientific experiments. To the dismay of some geologists, Shepard and Mitchell did not reach the rim of Cone crater as had been planned, though they came close. In Apollo 14’s most famous incident, Shepard hit two golf balls he had brought with him with a makeshift club.

While Shepard and Mitchell were on the surface, Roosa remained in lunar orbit aboard the Command and Service Module, performing scientific experiments and photographing the Moon, including the landing site of the future Apollo 16 mission. He took several hundred seeds on the mission, many of which were germinated on return, resulting in the so-called Moon trees that were widely distributed in the following years. After liftoff from the lunar surface and a successful docking, the spacecraft was flown back to Earth where the three astronauts splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean on Feb. 9, 1971.

 

 

Feb. 6, 1959: The first successful test-fire of the Titan ICBM takes place. The Martin Marietta SM-68A/HGM-25A Titan I was the United States’ first multistage intercontinental ballistic missile, in use from 1959 until 1962. Though the SM-68A was operational for only three years, it spawned numerous follow-on models that were a part of the U.S. arsenal and space launch capability. The Titan I was unique among the Titan models in that it used liquid oxygen and RP-1 as propellants. All subsequent versions used storable propellants instead.

 

 

Feb. 7, 1975: An LTV A-7D Corsair II made the first flight equipped with Honeywell’s Digitac digital flight control system. The system was designed to make tracking easier for tactical fighters by tailoring the handling qualities of the aircraft for the type of weapon delivery mission being flown.

 

 

Feb. 7, 1984: Space shuttle Challenger astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart went on the first untethered spacewalk, which lasted nearly six hours. The STES-11 mission launched Feb. 3, and landed Feb. 11, after deploying two communications satellites.

 

 

Feb. 8, 1933: The Boeing Model 247 made its first flight. The 247 was an early United States airliner, considered the first such aircraft to fully incorporate advances such as all-metal (anodized aluminum) semimonocoque construction, a fully cantilevered wing and retractable landing gear. Other advanced features included control surface trim tabs, an autopilot and de-icing boots for the wings and tailplane. Ordered off the drawing board, the 247 entered service in 1933. Subsequent development in airliner design saw engines and airframes becoming larger and four-engine designs emerged, but no significant changes to this basic formula appeared until cabin pressurization and high-altitude cruise were introduced in 1940, with the Boeing 307 Stratoliner.

 

 

Feb. 8, 1974: After 83 days, four hours, 38 minutes and 12 seconds, the Skylab 4/Apollo command module undocked from the Skylab space station in Earth orbit. Following several orbits, the Apollo capsule reentered the atmosphere and landed in the Pacific Ocean southwest of San Diego California. The crew — Mission Commander Gerald P. Carr, Mission Scientist Edward G. Gibson and Pilot William R. Pogue — were recovered by USS Okinawa (LPH-3), a helicopter carrier. Skylab was an orbital laboratory built from a Saturn S-IVB third stage. It was launched from Cape Canaveral May 14, 1973, as part of a modified Saturn V rocket. The Skylab 4 crew was the third and final group of astronauts to live and the space station. The Skylab 1 mission was unmanned. Skylab’s orbit gradually decayed, and it re-entered the atmosphere near Perth, Australia, July 11, 1979.

 

 

Feb. 8, 2012: NASA 911, the Boeing 747-146 that was used as a space shuttle carrier, made its last flight, a 20-minute hop from Edwards Air Force Base to Palmdale Plant 42 in California. In 38 years, the aircraft accumulated 33,004.1 flight hours, which is relatively low time for an airliner. NASA 911 made its first flight Aug. 31, 1973, and flew in commercial service with Japan Airlines for 15 years. It was obtained by NASA in 1989 and turned over to Boeing for modification as the second Space Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. NASA 911 is on display at the Joe Davies Heritage Airpark, Palmdale, Calif.

 

 

Feb. 9, 1937: The prototype Blackburn B.24 “Skua” two-seat fighter/dive-bomber makes its maiden flight, piloted by “Dasher” Blake at Brough, Yorkshire. It is Britain’s first dive-bomber. The Skua was a carrier-based low-wing, two-seater, single-radial engine aircraft operated by the British Fleet Air Arm which combined the functions of a dive bomber and fighter. It was designed in the mid-1930s and saw service in the early part of the Second World War. It took its name from the sea bird.

 

 

Feb. 9, 1942: The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff held its first formal meeting to coordinate military strategy during World War II.

 

 

Feb. 9, 1963: Boeing’s Chief Test Pilot, Samuel “Lew” Wallick, Jr., made the first flight of the prototype Boeing Model 727 jet airliner from Renton Municipal Airport, Renton, Wash. Richards “Dix” Loesch, Jr., was the airliner’s co-pilot, and Marvin “Shuly” Shulenberger was the flight engineer. The 727 remained airborne for 2 hours, 1 minute, and landed at Paine Field, Everett, Wash. N7001U had been rolled out at Renton on Nov. 27, 1962. It was painted lemon yellow and copper brown, like the paint scheme of the Model 367-80 prototype, eight years earlier.

 

 

Feb. 9, 1969: At 11:34 a.m., Boeing Chief Test Pilot Jack Wadell, with Engineering Test Pilots Brien Wygle, co-pilot, and Jesse Wallick, flight engineer, took off from Paine Field, Everett, Wash., aboard RA001, the prototype Boeing 747-121, and made a 1 hour, 15-minute test flight. The ship was named City of Everett after the home of the factory where it was built. It was originally registered N7470.

The 747 was the first “wide body” airliner and was called a “jumbo jet.” It is one of the most widely used airliners and air freighters in service world-wide. The last production 747 rolled off the assembly line in December 2022. Boeing built a total of 1,570 747s.

 

 

Feb. 9, 1971: Apollo 14 returns to Earth. Apollo 14 was the eighth crewed mission in the Apollo program, the third to land on the Moon, and the first to land in the lunar highlands. It was the last of the “H missions,” landings at specific sites of scientific interest on the Moon for two-day stays with two lunar extravehicular activities (EVAs or moonwalks). The mission was originally scheduled for 1970 but was postponed because of the investigation following the failure of Apollo 13 to reach the Moon’s surface, and the need for modifications to the spacecraft as a result. Commander Alan Shepard, Command Module Pilot Stuart Roosa, and Lunar Module Pilot Edgar Mitchell launched on their nine-day mission on Jan. 31, 1971. Enroute to the lunar landing, the crew overcame malfunctions that might have resulted in a second consecutive aborted mission, and possibly, the premature end of the Apollo program.

 

 

Feb. 10 1962: American U-2 pilot Gary Powers, shot down and arrested in the Soviet Union May 1, 1960, is exchanged along with American student Frederic Pryor in a well-publicized spy swap for Soviet KGB Colonel Vilyam Fisher (aka Rudolf Abel), a Soviet colonel who was caught by the FBI and put in jail for espionage, at the Glienicke Bridge in Berlin, Germany. Powers had been flying a CIA U-2 reconnaissance mission from Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, over the Ural Mountains. Pictured is Powers while in Soviet custody (left) and the Glienicke Bridge over the Havel River, the border between West Berlin and East Germany. Powers spent one year, nine months and 10 days in Soviet custody.

 

 

Feb. 10, 1994: U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Jeannie Flynn, the first woman selected by the Air Force for training as a combat pilot, completed six months of training on the McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle with the 555th Fighter Squadron at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. Her call sign is “Tally.”