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2019 AAHS Annual Event Announcement AAHS ANNUAL MEETING • Saturday luncheon at the Pima Museum that includes an AAHS-only restoration facility tour More details on the weekend activities, ticket pricing, and hotel reservations will be available on the |
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During WWII, the Eighth Air Force was the United States Army Air Force command under which strategic bombing missions in Europe were conducted from August 17, 1942, until April 25, 1945. At peak strength, the Eighth included 40 heavy bomber groups, 15 fighter groups and four specialized groups. By mid-1944, manpower strength was over 200,000 people capable of flying 2,000 bombers and 1,000 fighters on a single mission attacking multiple targets.[1] The organization that came to be known as The Mighty Eighth was officially formed on February 22, 1944. Prior to that date, Eighth Air Force was the command and control organization over four subordinate operational components: VIII Bomber Command When the Eighth Air Force was activated at Savannah Air Base, Georgia on January 2, 1942, it had nothing approximating its strength two years later. VIII Bomber Command, activated at Langley Field, Va., was reassigned to Savannah Air Base on February 10, 1942. A day later, an advanced detachment became operational at RAF Bomber Command Headquarters at RAF Daws Hill, England. It prepared for units to arrive from the United States. Overall, the entire troop buildup in England came under the code name Operation Bolero. The first combat group that arrived in England was the ground echelon of the 97th Bombardment Group, which arrived at RAF Polebrook on June 9, 1942. The 97th was equipped with Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses. Concurrently, the 1st Fighter Group, equipped with Lockheed P-38 Lightnings and the 60th Troop Carrier Group, flying Douglas C-47s were part of the first phase of movement.[2] Beginning on June 26, 1942, 386 airplanes were transferred to England. They included 164 P-38s of the 1st and 14th Fighter Groups, 119 B-17s from the 97th, 301st and 92nd Bomb Groups and 103 C-47s from the 60th and 64th Troop Carrier Groups.3 These air movements were great improvements over transferring the fighters by ship. Flying the fighters to England was quicker with less exposure to German submarines and did not subject the aircraft on a ship’s deck to salt spray. . . . |
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American Overseas Airline - AOA, 1945 - 1950 Pan American Airways (PAA) was unhappy with the transatlantic competition from American Export Airlines (AEA) and contested their operation on at least two occasions, thereby contributing to the birth of American Overseas Airlines. Juan Trippe, president of PAA, had powerful friends in Washington, D.C., and lobbied the Senate Appropriations Committee to reject a mail subsidy to AEA. He later challenged the right of a shipping company, American Export Lines, parent company of AEA, to operate an airline. “The Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938 forbade one common carrier to acquire control of another common carrier in a different area of transportation.” However, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) decided in AEA’s favor as they were starting an airline not acquiring an airline. Pan American Airways later contested that decision in court and won forcing American Export Lines to divest itself of the airline. Juan Trippe considered PAA the “chosen instrument” for U.S. International air travel and aggressively fought all competition. AEA operated for approximately five years from 1940 to 1945 on north and south transatlantic routes to Europe and Africa. AEA also operated military flights under U.S. government, Air Transport Command (ATC) contracts during WWII, (AAHS Journal Vol 63, No.1, Spring 2018) and was not anxious to see PAA take them over. Pan American and many of the other U.S. airlines had also participated in supporting the war effort with aircraft and crews under ATC contracts, thereby gaining experience in international operations and over-water flying. When the U.S. entered the war Gen. “Hap” Arnold, commander of the U.S. Army Air Force, recruited airline executives to form the ATC appointing American Airlines (AA) president, C.R. Smith (Cyrus Rowlett) as deputy commander where he became a major general over-seeing by war’s end over 200,000 service men and women in the world’s largest airline. ATC served all theatres of war including over the “Hump” in Burma. Juan Trippe was also invited to join ATC but declined being more valuable in support of Pan American Airways. Alexander N. Kemp an insurance executive was appointed to the AA board of directors in Smith’s absence, and Ralph Damon became executive vice president of the airline. In early 1942 American Airlines fleet was reduced from 79 to 43 by U.S. government acquisition of DC-3s in support of military operations. American Airlines also operated under contract to the ATC and their first North Atlantic survey flight was made on October 8, 1942. December 16, 1942, another American survey flight departed La Guardia across the South Atlantic to India. American was operating approximately 150 transatlantic flights per month for the U.S. military. In the first 13 months of ATC overseas operation American completed more than 1,000 flights. Domestically, despite the reduction in fleet size American still maintained their regular domestic schedule by increased utilization of each aircraft and the dedication of the AA employees. American’s maintenance base at La Guardia repaired and overhauled the AA airplanes flying for the ATC, and completed special engineering and electronics modifications requested by the military for C-54s, C-46s, C-87 and B-24s. AA at Dallas/Fort Worth played a large part in training commercial flight crews, mechanics, and ground personnel in military operations for ATC and Naval Air Transport Service (NATS). Meanwhile American Export Airlines was quietly searching for a suitable merger partner realizing that after the war ended thousands of surplus aircraft and qualified pilots would be available following discharge from military service. Douglas . . . |
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The Lockheed Model 33 Little Dipper The Lockheed Little Dipper was a single-place, all-metal airplane which never achieved series production, but is still fondly remembered. The Little Dipper began during WWII as an idea of John Thorp. John W. (for Willard) Thorp came from an old California family, in Lockeford, Calif., founded by his grandfather, Dr. Dean Jewett Locke. Thorp When WWII started he went to work for the Vega division of Lockheed Aircraft Co., as a preliminary design engineer, and later Assistant Chief of Preliminary Design. In his spare time he was designing a two-place light airplane for postwar production. His boss, Mac Short, liked the project but thought that it was a bit underpowered for a two-place, and suggested a single-place. In discussions among Thorp, Short and Lockheed President Robert Gross, the idea arose that Thorp’s design could be used by the army as a kind of flying motorcycle to launch thousands of troops over enemy lines. Calculations showed that if the little airplane could be produced in large quantities, the total cost per soldier delivered to battle would be much cheaper than the total system cost of
training and delivering airborne or glider troops, and would have a substantially lower casualty rate. The key would be the “swarm” factor. Fish discourage predators by swimming in schools, tightly packed formations of fish, which confuse
predators and make it hard for them to focus on any one fish for lunch. Similarly, Thorp and Short reasoned, a “swarm” of
single-place airplanes would throw off defenders’ aim. Key design criteria, therefore, were ease and cheapness of manufacture and extreme ease of flying so that otherwise Five designers and five prototyping mechanics were put on the project, reporting to John Thorp, and the first prototype, . . . |
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He Dared to Succed: James Henry Carmichael and A great aviation venture for James Henry Carmichael Junior came to an end on January 31, 1961, when the Civil Aeronautics Board approved the absorption of Capital Airlines into the United Airlines Co., which was put into effect on June 1 of that year. Was it a merger or a takeover? The answer lies in one’s perception of such events. But let’s go back to the beginning of an aviation story. In the Beginning After his parents separated and he moved to his father’s Michigan farm and while watching planes flying overhead, Carmichael sought a different future by taking flying lessons in 1925. These lessons resulted in his soloing in a Jenny and gaining a pilot’s license in 1926 at the age of 19 after merely six hours of instruction. Two years later he obtained a commercial pilot rating, #3490, in 1928. Before going to work for Pittsburgh Airways in 1931 he had been an instructor, charter pilot (1927-1929), a crop duster, a barnstormer, a stunt pilot, a farmer and air mail pilot, as well as flying Stinsons for Ludington Airlines1 between Newark and Washington. The airline went bankrupt in 1933 with its assets and equipment acquired by Eastern Air Transport. Among his other feats he flew a floatplane to an ocean liner headed for Europe to announce the election of Franklin Roosevelt . . . |
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Only one Golden Age flying boat is still in existence - it is Excambian, N41881. She now resides in a beautiful, restored state at the New England Air Museum (NEAM) in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. Sikorsky N41881 (referred to in this article as ‘881’) is the only remaining American-built, commercial, transoceanic, four-engine flying boat. Today, all the other giant seaplanes built in the U.S. - the Boeing 314s, the Martin M-130s, and all of the other big Sikorsky flying boats are now gone - except for 881. As discussed in the Spring 2018 article, all three VS-44As flew across the Atlantic during WWII for the U.S. Naval Air Transport Service (NATS). Excalibur (880) was lost during takeoff from Newfoundland in 1942 and Exeter (882) crashed in 1947 during a night landing near the mouth of the Rio de la Plata while running guns to the Uruguayan rebels. Near the end of WWII, the U.S. Navy had returned the two remaining VS-44s to American Export Airlines (AEA) who briefly flew them on passenger routes across the Atlantic. AEA sold the two flying boats to Tampa-New Orleans/Tampico Airlines toward the end of 1945, who used them for charters and by the spring of 1947, Tampico sold both VS-44s to Skyways International. By August 1947, 881 was the last VS-44 to carry on with different airlines in the late 1940s and beyond. Three Men Three men played major roles in the history of 881; Charles Blair, Huestis Wells, and Richard Probert. Charles (Charlie) Blair filled a most important role as he was the original AEA/Sikorsky test pilot and later, AEA chief-pilot during most of the WWII transatlantic crossings. Postwar, Blair used his vast knowledge flying the Sikorskys when he participated with different airlines in the late 1940s to the early 1950s and, by 1968 he and his wife Maureen O’Hara Blair obtained ownership of 881 when they added the . . . |
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American Icons at War, Korea 1953 The war of aggression waged by North Korea and its communist allies (1950-1953) severely tested the resolve of the free world and the viability of the United Nations as an enforcer of international law. Fought in the aftermath of the most destructive war in human history and under the shadow of nuclear weapons, the Korean War evolved into a lengthy and indecisive war of attrition that would ultimately end in stalemate. Weary of war and complacent in victory over the Axis Powers, the United States and its allies were ill prepared to confront the massive onslaught from North Korea. Consequently, much of the combat burden fell to WWII veterans and reservists with key skills and experience that were in short supply. Abruptly extracted from civilian careers or peacetime assignments, these “retreads” were thrown into the breach, often equipped with weapons that were obsolete or inadequate. America’s air power in the Far East played a pivotal role in reversing the fortunes of war in Korea and U.S. Marine aviators were in the thick of it, providing air cover and close air support for their brethren on the ground. Although they had already done their part as Naval Aviators in WWII, two of the most iconic figures of America’s “Greatest Generation” were among those who answered the call. Through an improbable twist of fate and/or bureaucratic coincidence, the destinies of Ted Williams, the perennial All Star of Major League Baseball and John Glenn, the future astronaut and first American to orbit the Earth would come together in a most unlikely venue. They literally fought side by side in the hostile and unforgiving skies over the Korean Peninsula, putting their lives on the line in a life and death struggle to hold the line against communist aggression. Ted Williams is best known for his legendary exploits with the Boston Red Sox. He is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest baseball players of all time. During his long and storied career with the Red Sox, he had an exemplary record as a power hitter. His remarkable accomplishments in baseball would have undoubtedly been even greater, but for the fact that his career was twice interrupted by wartime military service. During WWII, Ted Williams took a time-out from The National Pastime to serve his country as a naval aviator. In May 1942, the American League Triple Crown left fielder enlisted in the U.S. Navy and began training as an aviation cadet. During flight training, he proved to be an exceptionally gifted aviator, quickly mastering key skills and qualifying as a fighter pilot.1 In May 1944, he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps and served as a flight instructor in the F4U Corsair at NAS Pensacola, Florida. He was then deployed to the Pacific, but the war ended before his unit saw action in combat. Williams was released from active duty in January 1946 but remained . . . |
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Glenn Curtiss Aviation Engine Valvetrain Developments Glenn Curtiss is widely known as an aviation pioneer during the early days of flight who developed key aviation technological advancements. In addition to numerous aircraft control and airframe innovations, his engines were also quite progressive and developed at a rapid rate during his active years of flight. Two excellent articles have previously outlined Glenn Curtiss’ engine developments. K. M. Molson, curator at the National Aviation Museum in Ottawa, Canada, wrote a Curtiss engine overview and summary in 1966.[1] L. Rinek, published two papers in the mid-1990s outlining Curtiss aviation engines.[2, 3] While these authors make mention of Curtiss’ engine valvetrain developments, detail is not provided. For those today who look carefully at a Curtis engine on display, it is likely that some unique valvetrain features will be noted. For example, the widely used OX-5 engine in the Jenny aircraft has an interesting push rod appearance. The objective of this article is to focus on Glenn Curtiss’ aviation engine valvetrain developments in greater detail as they were a key factor in the increasing performance that Curtiss was able to achieve over his early years of flight. In this article, schematics will be provided that were developed by the author in order to provide conceptual insights. This will be followed by pictures of related Curtiss engines. For each major development, descriptions and discussion will place each new development in context. The author has enjoyed pursuing this study. He recalls looking at many Curtiss engines, without initially understanding from the ‘outside’ how they worked. Hopefully this article will enliven the understanding of those who have also been interested in Curtiss engines in detail. EARLY AVIATION ENGINES In looking at this figure it is seen that the Intake is Over the Exhaust (IOE). Generally a light spring would keep the intake valve closed during compression, combustion and expansion when the cylinder pressure is above atmospheric or intake manifold pressure. When a vacuum formed during the intake stroke due to the falling piston, it would pull open the intake valve allowing fresh air and fuel to enter the cylinder. For a low speed engine, which was common during the first decade of the twentieth century, this arrangement worked fine. Once the piston reached Bottom Dead Center (BDC), the piston reversed direction and the compression stroke began (middle image in Figure 1). This decreasing cylinder volume caused the in-cylinder pressure to rise above atmospheric (or intake) pressure . . . |
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The Million Dollar Art Treasure of LaGuardia Airport The next time you have the opportunity to travel to New York City, particularly if you fly into LaGuardia Airport, take an hour, or two, to wander over to Terminal A, also known at the Marine Air Terminal. Shuttle buses between terminals are readily available and a short ride (unless you arrive on a JetBlue flight) to Terminal A is well worth the time. As you enter the main terminal area, you will be experiencing what passengers during the Golden Age of flight did, as this terminal building is the oldest continuously operated commercial air terminal. New York’s LaGuardia is a busy airport, serving domestic and regional carriers. Over 75 years ago, however, it was the first important international gateway in the New York area. Named for the one-time mayor of New York City, Fiorello LaGuardia, it was originally a small dirt runway called North Beach Airport. LaGuardia, a licensed pilot and aviation proponent, once flew into New Jersey’s Newark Airport. To the airlines of the day, Newark was close enough to New York City (just across the Hudson River) to be considered “New York”. LaGuardia’s ticket read New York, and he refused to get off the plane in Newark. His dramatic stand forced the airline to fly him across the river and land at North Beach. Newark Airport was growing and LaGuardia’s actions were calculated to illustrate the need for another airport in his city. He had plans to put New York City on the map for air commerce and to make the New York City airport the air gateway to Europe. The Depression-created Works Project Administration (WPA) provided funds for the new airport. Ground breaking took place in September 1937 and two terminals were built. The first, which was torn down and replaced in the 1960s, handled domestic traffic. The second called the “Marine Air Terminal” handled the Pan American Airways Clippers, large Boeing 314 “Flying Boats” capable of carrying up to 74 passengers across the ocean in only . . . |
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Confession Corner: Air Mail Pilot Misses Death Nevada State Journal, February 6, 1927, Jack Bell was a noted reporter in the 1920s and 1930s, writing many aviation oriented articles. A collection of his work can be found on the web at: www.iment.com/maida/family/father/jackbell/pioneerpilots.htm C. Eugene Johnson was a noted Air Mail Service (AMS) pilot from 1921 to 1927. This ex-WWI Army trained pilot was selected fly the first leg of the AMS transcontinental mail service from New York City to San Francisco, inaugurated August 19, 1923. After leaving the AMS, Johnson eventually joined United Air Lines rising to become a vice-president during the 1930s. He passed away in 1975. Another page has been written into the many thrilling experiences of the intrepid flyers of the United States air mail over the “hump.” To aviators throughout the entire world, the stretch of country between Reno and Sacramento is known as the most dangerous flight, either commercial, military or air mail. There are 100 miles of rugged country where it is impossible to set down a ship without a washout. Yesterday morning C. Eugene Johnson took off from Concord at 8:45. The weather was fair and clear when he reached Sacramento. The hump seemed to be clear as he gained altitude. He noticed the beginning of threatening clouds that generally presage a storm over the high Sierras. Accustomed as all the flyers are, he thought nothing of this and took altitude. When he reached the sloping of the high places of the hump the storm fell upon him, a snow so thick and intense that it was impossible to see even the tips of his wings without turning his ship to an angle of 80 degrees. STORM INCREASES GIVES OWN STORY “I left Concord on schedule at 8:45, expecting from the looks of the weather, to make a fine flight, good time, to the Reno field, for the reason that I had a good strong tail wind. It was just fine, even after I left Sacramento. When I got up towards the rough part of the western slope of . . . |
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The FORUM is presented as an opportunity for each
member to participate in the Journal by submitting interesting or Negatives, slides, black-and-white or color photos with good contrast may be used if they have smooth surfaces. Send submissions to the Editorial Committee marked“Forum of Flight,” P. O. Box 3023 Huntington Beach, CA 92605-3023. Mark any material to be returned: “Return to (your name and complete address).” Or you may wish to have your |
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AAHS BUILDING MOVE UPDATE The new’ office building is a 70-year old barracks building, constructed for ‘temporary’ use on a nearby airfield during WWII. It has had renovations over the years to remove the asbestos, install additional electrical outlets, etc. However, the needs of AAHS’ extensive photo collection and research library space necessitates the update of the floor plan of the building. Below is a ‘to-be’ floorplan of the new headquarters space. The largest change is the development of a “photo vault,” a room with additional fire-proofing and floor reinforcements, designed to house the extensive photo collection, and the heavy, fire-proof safes that many of them are stored in. As of early December, we have begun demolition of the interior area, in preparation for the floor reinforcements. Plans and permits have been submitted to the city, and have passed all permit requirements, save the fire code, which is still in process. We plan to have the interior updated and move-in ready in January 2019, and move a portion of our reference library in first. The photo archive will remain at our Huntington Beach office for the time being, where volunteers are busy digitizing and identifying the slide collection. We will occupy the Huntington Beach office for at least two additional years to continue the photo digitization effort, thanks to the generosity of AAHS member Tim Williams, who has donated funds for this purpose. AAHS member John Turgyan has been a tremendous support in donating the funds for the current building construction. Next year we will be working to allocate further resources to install additional book storage areas using large seavan containers. This will let us keep some ‘free room’ inside our building for needed research and meeting room space. AAHS is already looking to partner with Flabob Airport on upcoming events, such as their celebration of the 40th anniversary of the first manned solar-powered airplane flight, at Flabob in April of 1979. We look forward to holding events ourselves and supporting historic events such as these in our new building, with our new partners at Flabob! More than a Pilot: The Life and Career of a True Aviation Pioneer: Robert N. Buck; Vol 63, No. 2, Summer 2018 A number of you caught a typographic error in this story for which we apologize to both our readers and author. We’re not sure how the error occurred, nor why none of our excellent . . . |
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This issue of the Journal is getting you later than our usual publication schedule; we strive to get all four Journals to you prior to the years’ end and you’ll get your Winter 2018 of the Journal early this year. This year has seen some challenges in both equipment and volunteer resources that delayed the completion of the AAHS Journal and it is one of these challenges we want to bring to your attention. With all the new activity, website improvements, building construction, photo digitization and other improvements going on, we can’t afford to lose sight of what we have done consistently well for 60 plus years, and that is publish good solid aviation history. What is our source for aviation history we record? You! We work with AAHS authors, new writers, experienced researchers and individuals (not AAHS members) who express an interest in exploring a piece of aviation history of personal or professional interest, to document that aviation history for the benefit of you, our members and readers. Without members and friends who show an interest in documenting aviation history WE HAVE NO JOURNAL ARTICLES. We won’t have the raw material we need to generate the fascinating histories we publish in the Journal, and record for future use. If you are interested in writing an article, but struggling to find a research topic to work on, then check out the list of suggested topics that can be found in the “News and Comments from our Members” section of this publication – some of these actually have research material available. Your interests are important to us; you help us make the Journal what it is. We cannot stress enough that the accolades that the AAHS Journal routinely receives for its content is a direct result of YOUR input, and we strive to keep it that way. We look forward to hearing from you! Jerri Bergen |
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American Aviation Historical Society
1956 - 2022, Celebrating over 65+ Years of Service
