--------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: F3R00000 Date: 03/19/98 From: JIM SANDERS Time: 11:35am \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: Aviation history 20 October 1, 1956. NASA awards its Distinguished Service Medal to Dr. Richard T. Whitcomb, inventor of the "area rule" concept, which results in aircraft (such as the Convair F-102) having Coke bottle- shaped fuselages in order to reduce supersonic drag. October 26, 1956. Less than sixteen months after design work be- gan, and ironically, the same day that legendary designer Larry Bell dies, company pilot Floyd Carlson makes the first flight of the Bell XH-40 at Fort Worth, Tex. Later redesignated UH-1, the Iroquois, or "Huey" as it is more popularly known, will go on to be one of the significant helicopters of all time. November 11, 1956. With company pilot Beryl A. Erickson at the controls, USAF's first supersonic bomber, the delta-winged Convair B-58 Hustler, capable of flying at speeds of more than 1,000 mph, makes its first flight at Fort Worth, Tex. December 26, 1956. Company pilot Richard L. Johnson makes the first flight of the first Convair F-106 Delta Dart at Edwards AFB, Calif. The F-106, a substantially redesigned and much improved ver- sion of the F-102 interceptor, would remain in service until 1988 and would later be modified into target drones. January 18, 1957. Commanded by Maj. Gen. Archie J. Old, Jr., USAF, three B-52 Stratofortresses complete a 24,325-mile round-the- world nonstop flight in forty-five hours, nineteen minutes, with an average speed of 534 mph. It is the first globe-circling nonstop flight by a jet aircraft. April 11, 1957. With company pilot "Pete" Girard at the controls, the Ryan X-13 Vertijet makes its first full-cycle flight. He takes off vertically from the aircraft's mobile trailer, transitions to horizontal flight, performs several maneuvers, and then lands vertically. May 1, 1957. James H. Douglas, Jr., becomes Secretary of the Air Force. July 1, 1957. Gen. Thomas D. White becomes Air Force Chief of Staff. July 1, 1957. Pacific Air Forces is established. July 13, 1957. President Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes the first chief executive to fly in a helicopter as he takes off from the White House lawn in a Bell UH-13J Sioux. Maj. Joseph E. Barrett flies the President a short distance to a military command post at a remote location as part of a military exercise. July 19, 1957. A Douglas MB-1 Genie aerial rocket is fired from a Northrop F-89J Scorpion, marking the first time in history that an air-to-air rocket with a nuclear warhead is launched and deton- ated. The test took place at 20,000 feet over the Nevada Test Site. July 31, 1957. The DEW Line, a distant early warning radar de- fense installation extending across the Canadian Arctic, is reported to be fully operational. August 1, 1957. NORAD, the joint US-Canadian North American Air Defense Command, is informally established. August 15, 1957. Gen. Nathan F. Twining becomes Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the first USAF officer to serve in this position. October 4, 1957. The space age begins when the Soviet Union launches Sputnik 1, the world's first artificial satellite, into Earth orbit. November 3, 1957. The first animal in space, a dog named Laika, is carried aboard Sputnik 2. The satellite is carried aloft by a modified intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). November 11-13, 1957. Gen. Curtis E. LeMay and crew fly a Boeing KC-135 from Westover AFB, Mass., to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to set a world jet-class record distance in a straight line of 6,322 miles. The crew will set a class speed record on the trip back. December 6, 1957. The first US attempt to orbit a satellite fails when a Vanguard rocket loses thrust and explodes. December 12, 1957. Flying a McDonnell F-101A Voodoo, USAF Maj. Adrian Drew sets a world record of 1,207.34 mph at Edwards AFB, Calif. December 17, 1957. The Convair HGM-16 Atlas ICBM makes its first successful launch and flight. January 31, 1958. Explorer I, the first US satellite, is launched by the Army at Cape Canaveral. The satellite, launched on a Jupiter- C rocket, will later play a key role in the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belt. February 4, 1958. The keel of the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise (CVN-65), is laid at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co. yards in Virginia. February 27, 1958. Approval is given to USAF to start research and development on an ICBM program that will later be called "Minuteman." March 6, 1958. The first production Northrop SM-62 Snark inter- continental missile is accepted by the Air Force after four previous successful launchings. April 8, 1958. An Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker crew flies 10,229.3 miles nonstop and unrefueled from Tokyo to Lajes Field, Azores, in eighteen hours, fifty minutes. May 7, 1958. USAF Maj. Howard C. Johnson sets a world altitude record of 91,243 feet in a Lockheed F-104A Starfighter. Nine days later, USAF Capt. Walter W. Irwin sets a world speed record of 1,404.09 mph, also in an F-104. May 27, 1958. The first flight of the McDonnell F4H-1 (F-4) Phantom II is made by company pilot Robert Little (who was wearing street shoes at the time) at the company's facility in Saint Louis, Mo. On May 20, 1978, McDonnell Douglas will deliver the 5,000th F-4. June 17, 1958. Boeing and Martin are named prime contractors to develop competitive designs for the Air Force's X-20 Dyna-Soar boost-glide space vehicle. This project, although later canceled, is the first step toward the space shuttle. End of Part 20 === --- DB 1.39/004487 * Origin: Volunteer BBS (423) 694-0791 V34+/VFC (1:218/1001.1) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: F3R00001 Date: 03/20/98 From: JIM SANDERS Time: 03:44am \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: News-098 CORONA, Calif. (March 19) - Two small planes collided Thursday evening and ignited raging fires as debris plunged into a house and condominium about a half-mile apart. At least two people were killed. The collision happened in uncontrolled airspace about 3 miles southeast of Corona, 50 miles east of Los Angeles. The Federal Avi- ation Administration didn't know what kind of planes were involved or how many people were aboard. One body was found at the four-unit condominium, Corona fire spokesman Fred Lynch said. A second body also was located, but it wasn't immediately clear from which site. It also wasn't known whether the dead were residents or occupants of the planes. Jimmy Summers, who lives near the two-story home, was getting papers out of his car when he heard a big boom. "Then I heard some kind of other noise - that's when I saw two planes coming down," he said. "They kind of came nose down, kind of spinning a little bit. No smoke, no fire from either one of them." Firefighters said a woman and two young girls escaped the fire at the home. "The roof was fully ablaze. There was no saving whatever hit the roof. It was completely engulfed," Summers said. "One of the neigh- bors had a garden hose trying to put it out." Summers said the neighborhood is affluent, with homes ranging in value from $300,000 to $500,000 each. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 45 dead in Afghan airlines jet crash SHARKI BARATAYI, Afghanistan -- March 20, 1998 02:30 a.m. EST -- Forty-five people were killed when an Afghan airlines Boeing 727 smashed into a mountainside in bad weather, an airline official said Friday. AFP journalists at the site said rescuers had brought down 32 body bags and another 15 bags of body parts from the charred mountain. Searchers found the wreckage of the plane on Sharki Baratayi mountain near the town of Charasyab, 15 kilometers south of Kabul, but the rescue attempt is being hampered by mines left over from the Afghan-Soviet war, which ended in 1989. The director general of Ariana Afghan airlines, Hassan Jan, said the plane crashed at 2 p.m. (5:30 a.m. EST) Thursday as it hit a cloud bank, rain and sleet near the capital. "It was not technical problems, just bad weather, but we have to go down there and find the black box," he said. Initial reports had put the number of dead at 22. But Ariana officials at the site confirmed 45 people had been on the plane, including the 10 crew members and several Ariana staff. He added there is also a possibility Taliban officials, who fre- quently use the route, may have been among the casualties, as many Taliban pick-up trucks had rushed to the scene. Little remains of the plane, which smashed into the mountain around 100 meters below the summit, leaving a black scorch mark around 200 meters wide and 100 meters high. Officials said the search for the black box flight recorder is continuing. ------------------------------------------------------------------- UPDATE FOR ABOVE Small planes collide in air, crash on homes; 3 dead CORONA, Calif. March 20, 1998 00:48 a.m. EST - Two small planes collided Thursday and ignited raging blazes as debris plunged onto a house and a condominium about a half-mile apart. Three people on the planes were killed. There were no reports of fatalities or injuries on the ground. The bodies of two men were found at the condominium, Corona fire spokesman Fred Lynch said. A second body was found in the house, Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. Mark Lohman said. The FAA didn't know what kind of planes were involved and how many people were aboard. === --- DB 1.39/004487 * Origin: Volunteer BBS (423) 694-0791 V34+/VFC (1:218/1001.1) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: F3R00002 Date: 03/20/98 From: JIM SANDERS Time: 11:27am \/To: JAY HANIG (Read 0 times) Subj: Re: news-072 JAY, In a message dated 03-18-98 you wrote ... > 16 Mar 98 12:45, Jim Sanders wrote to Jay Hanig: > Calm yourself. You have to figure that people are going to respond to > the postings for whatever reason. This is an "echo", after all. Just a word. You begin to sound like a famous contributor named Je Falls. All he ever contributed was vitrol. He drove many from the conference and left some real sore spots.... If you know soething is wrong... crtiicize the source. -=* Jim Sanders *=- ... A critic is a man who knows the way but can't drive the car. === * MsgView V1.13 [R028] * --- DB 1.39/004487 * Origin: Volunteer BBS (423) 694-0791 V34+/VFC (1:218/1001.1) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: F3R00003 Date: 03/20/98 From: JIM SANDERS Time: 11:27am \/To: SCOTT KERRY (Read 0 times) Subj: Re: f-101 voodoo retirem SCOTT, In a message dated 03-18-98 you wrote ... > -=> Quoting Jim Sanders to Derek Wakefield <=- > Incidentally, 1983 was also the year the Vulcan was retired. I remember > seeing a Vulcan perform a slow roll at Abbotsford. Mighty impressive. Thanks for adding to the Voodoo.. I admired all three of the V-bomber that the RAF had... Not like a B-52 of course. :) but beautiful aircraft... -=* Jim Sanders *=- === * MsgView V1.13 [R028] * Hard to be humble when you are Air Force! --- DB 1.39/004487 * Origin: Volunteer BBS (423) 694-0791 V34+/VFC (1:218/1001.1) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: F3R00004 Date: 03/20/98 From: JIM SANDERS Time: 11:27am \/To: LIONEL BINNIE (Read 0 times) Subj: Re: news-876 LIONEL, In a message dated 03-12-98 you wrote ... > Now those tent-hangars from WW I days, I used to have some pictures of > them on the Western Front: one good reason to be thankful that I wasn't > alive back then. That was one war that I am happy that I missed. If you have access to the National Geographics CD set, got to the January 1918 issue. The whole issue is WW I air operations. RAF, French, Italian, US and Russia. Freddy Raynham said they would not let him fly combat in WW I. Said he was too valuable as a test pilot. He said he did make a trip to Russia to make some tests or do some instructions over there. He was given credit fro being first to spin and EXPLAIN HOW TO RECOVER. I listened to lots of Freddy's tales. We did not have tape recorders in those day. I had a WIRE recorder but it was too large and tempermental to haul around. I enjoyed a lot of his 16 mm movies. Taken back in the 20s. When mapping India and later the Dutch East Indies. I believe he was awarded the George Medal for the mapping of Imperial Airways routes in India. -=* Jim Sanders *=- === * MsgView V1.13 [R028] * Politicians desire unarmed peasants. --- DB 1.39/004487 * Origin: Volunteer BBS (423) 694-0791 V34+/VFC (1:218/1001.1) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: F3R00005 Date: 03/20/98 From: JIM SANDERS Time: 11:27am \/To: GRAHAM DRUMMOND (Read 0 times) Subj: Re: ins GRAHAM, In a message dated 03-09-98 you wrote ... > The preceding article is from the Canadian "Airspace Newsletter", > issue 1/94 printed by the Transport Canada. I hope this article > will be able to help you as much as it helped me to understand > IGS!!! You lost me in the first paragraph! :) I still like to old Rate times Time equal distance plus applied wind effects from a doppler... The new GPS is best fix... In navigation schools, We would joke about a three star fix..... Deneb, Dubhe and Dallas. -=* Jim Sanders *=- === * MsgView V1.13 [R028] * Happy Flying...Both Hanger and Real! --- DB 1.39/004487 * Origin: Volunteer BBS (423) 694-0791 V34+/VFC (1:218/1001.1) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: F3R00006 Date: 03/20/98 From: JIM SANDERS Time: 11:27am \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: New book I recently received an e-mail from Michael Braham, eldest son of "Bob" Braham, RAF most decorated flier and great night fighter ace... There is a new book out about "Bob" called "Night Fighter Ace" by Tony Spooner, RAF pilot. Mike say it is good but a bit too gushy. There is lots of confusion about "Bob" as that was his call-sign name. His real first name was John... Their squadron used first names for call signs and being too many "Johns" in the squadron, they pulled names from a hat and Braham got "Bob" which most of us knew him by. I knew him when he was a 23 year old Wing Commander. The best book is is autobiography, "Scramble" if you can find a copy... A very modest hero. -=* Jim Sanders *=- === * MsgView V1.13 [R028] * --- DB 1.39/004487 * Origin: Volunteer BBS (423) 694-0791 V34+/VFC (1:218/1001.1) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: F3R00007 Date: 03/20/98 From: JIM SANDERS Time: 11:34am \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: Aviation history 21 July 23, 1958. The Boeing Vertol VZ-2A tiltwing research air- craft makes the first successful transition from vertical to horizontal flight and vice versa. July 26, 1958. Capt. Iven C. Kincheloe, Jr., USAF, holder of the world altitude record (126,200 feet, set in the Bell X-2, September 7, 1956), is killed in an F-104 crash. August 1958. The term "aerospace" is used publicly for the first time by Gen. Thomas D. White, USAF Chief of Staff, in an Air Force Magazine article. The term was invented by Frank W. Jennings, a civilian writer and editor for the Air Force News Service. August 6, 1958. A Department of Defense Reorganization Act re- moves operational control of combat forces from the individual ser- vices and reassigns the missions to unified and specified commands on a geographic or functional basis. The main role of the services becomes to organize, train, and equip forces. September 1, 1958. A new enlisted supergrade, senior master sergeant (E-8) is created. September 26, 1958. A Boeing B-52D crew sets a world distance record of 6,233.98 miles and a speed record of 560.75 mph (over a 10,000-meter course) during a two-lap flight from Ellsworth AFB, S.D., to Douglas, Ariz., to Newburg, Ore., and back. October 1, 1958. The National Aeronautics and Space Adminis- tration (NASA) is officially established, replacing NACA. December 16, 1958. The Pacific Missile Range begins launching operations with the successful flight of the Chrysler PGM-19 Thor missile, the first ballistic missile launched over the Pacific Ocean. (The first free world firing of ballistic missile under sim- ulated combat conditions.) December 18, 1958. Project Score, an Atlas booster with a com- munications repeater satellite, is launched into Earth orbit. The satellite carries a Christmas message from President Eisenhower that is broadcast to Earth, the first time a human voice has been heard from space. January 8, 1959. NASA requests eight Redstone-type launch vehicles from the Army for Project Mercury development flights. Four days later, McDonnell Aircraft Co. is selected to build the Mercury capsules. January 22, 1959. Air Force Capt. William B. White sets a record for the longest nonstop flight between points in the US, as he flies a Republic F-105 Thunderchief 3,850 miles from Eielson AFB, Alaska, to Eglin AFB, Fla., in five hours, twenty-seven minutes. February 6, 1959. USAF successfully launches the first Martin HGM-25A Titan ICBM. February 28, 1959. USAF successfully launches the Discoverer I satellite into polar orbit from Vandenberg AFB, Calif. April 2, 1959. Chosen from a field of 110 candidates, seven test pilots--Air Force Capts. L. Gordon Cooper, Jr., Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, and Donald K. "Deke" Slayton; Navy Lt. Cmdrs. Walter M. Schirra, Jr., and Alan B. Shepard, Jr., and Lt. M. Scott Carpenter; and Marine Lt. Col. John H. Glenn, Jr.--are announced as the Project Mercury astronauts. April 12, 1959. The Air Force Association's World Congress of Flight is held in Las Vegas, Nev.-- the first international air show in US history. Fifty-one foreign nations participate. NBC-TV telecasts an hour-long special, and Life Magazine gives it five pages of coverage. April 15, 1959. USAF Capt. George A. Edwards sets a speed record of 816.279 mph in a McDonnell RF-101C Voodoo on a 500-kilometer closed course at Edwards AFB, Calif. April 20, 1959. The prototype Lockheed UGM-27A Polaris sea- launched ballistic missile successfully flies a 500-mile trajectory in a Navy test. Three days later, the Air Force carries out the first flight test of the North American GAM-77 Hound Dog air- launched strategic missile at Eglin AFB, Fla. May 28, 1959. Astrochimps Able and Baker are recovered alive in the Atlantic after their flight to an altitude of 300 miles in the nosecone of a PGM-19 Jupiter missile launched from Cape Canaveral Missile Test Annex, Fla. June 3, 1959. The first class is graduated from the Air Force Academy. June 8, 1959. The Post Office enters the missile age, as 3,000 stamped envelopes are carried aboard a Vought RGM-6 Regulus I mis- sile launched from the submarine USS Barbero (SSG-317) in the Atlantic. The unarmed missile lands twenty-one minutes later at the Naval Auxiliary Air Station at Mayport, Fla. June 8, 1959. After several attempts, North American Aviation pilot Scott Crossfield makes the first nonpowered flight in the X-15. July 1, 1959. The first experimental reactor (Kiwi-A) in the nuclear space rocket program is operated successfully in a test at Jackass Flats, Nev. August 7, 1959. First intercontinental relay of voice message by satellite takes place. The voice is that of Maj. Robert G. Mathis, later USAF Vice Chief of Staff. August 7, 1959. Two USAF F-100Fs make the first flight by jet fighter aircraft over the North Pole. September 9, 1959. The Atlas missile is fired for the first time by a SAC crew from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., and the missile type is declared operational by the SAC commander in chief. The shot travels about 4,300 miles at 16,000 mph. September 12, 1959. The Soviet Union launches Luna 2, the first man-made object to reach the moon. September 24, 1959. Company test pilot Robert C. Little makes the first flight of the McDonnell F-101A Voodoo at Edwards AFB, Calif. The "One-oh-Wonder" hits Mach 1.2 on its first flight and will go on to fill several roles for a number of Air Force comands. End of Part 21 --- DB 1.39/004487 * Origin: Volunteer BBS (423) 694-0791 V34+/VFC (1:218/1001.1)