Monthly Archives: August 2014

//August
2 08, 2014

Albert Scott Crossfield

Inducted in 1982

First To Fly Three Times The Speed Of Sound, 1960

1921 – 2006

On December 10, 1960, a North American Aviation X-15 was launched from beneath the wing of a modified Boeing B-52 while in flight. Pilot Scott Crossfield ignited the rocket barrels, pushing the sleek black bullet-shaped aircraft to a higher altitude and a greater speed than ever before, thus becoming the first man to travel three times the speed of sound, over 2,000 miles per hour.

Crossfield is one of America’s earliest rocket test pilots. While working for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, now NASA, Crossfield made many high speed test flights in aircraft such as the F-100 and the F-102 supersonic fighters, the X-1, X-4, and X-5 rocket planes and the Douglas 558-2 Skyrocket. On November 20, 1953, he set four speed records before becoming the first man to reach Mach 2 (twice the speed of sound) […]

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2 08, 2014

Alberto Santos-Dumont

Inducted in 1981

First To Fly A Heavier-Than-Air Machine In Europe, 1906

1873 – 1932

Brazilian-born, French-educated Alberto Santos-Dumont achieved the first officially observed powered European flight on October 23, 1906, in France. By flying nearly 200 feet in the “14-bis,” he won the Deutsch-Archdeacon Prize of 3,000 francs for surpassing 25 meters (about 80 feet). On November 12, 1906, he improved upon this performance by flying 722 feet in 21 seconds and won the Aero-Club de France prize of 1,500 francs for the first flight of at least 100 meters (240 feet). This flight fell three years and 150 feet short of what the Wright brothers accomplished in 1903 at Kitty Hawk.

Santos-Dumont was probably one of only a few aviation pioneers who could claim significant accomplishments in both lighter-than-air and heavier-than-air flying machines. His early experiments were in dirigible airships of his own design. After many failures, he built a dirigible that […]

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2 08, 2014

Major General Benjamin D. Foulois

Inducted in 1980

First United States Military Aviator

1879 – 1967

Benjamin “Benny” Delahauf Foulois is considered the “father of U.S. military aviation” since he was the first United States officer assigned to pilot a military airplane. In December 1909, Lieutenant Foulois was ordered to Fort Sam Houston, Texas, with instructions to “take plenty of parts and teach yourself to fly.”

Guided via correspondence with Orville Wright, Foulois flew the Army Aeroplane Model 1, a Wright Model A, in March 1910. He experienced his first take-off, solo flight, landing and crash in the space of one day.

A year later, Foulois and Philip Parmalee, a civilian pilot trained by the Wrights, made the first military reconnaissance flight during maneuvers along the Rio Grande. Lieutenant Foulois was later promoted to Major General and served as Chief of the Army Air Service until his retirement in 1935.

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2 08, 2014

First Transatlantic Flight 1919

Inducted in 1979

Lieutenant Commander Albert Read, US Navy

Lieutenant James Breese, US Navy

Ensign Herbert Rodd, US Navy

Lieutenant Elmer Stone, US Coast Guard

Lieutenant Walter Hinton, US Navy

Chief Mechanic’s Mate Eugene Rhoads, US Navy

Commander Albert Read and crew, in their fuel laden Curtiss NC-4 “flying boat,” lifted off the waters of the Newfoundland coast on May 16, 1919. The NC-4 was one of three four-engine Navy planes attempting the first flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

On the first day each plane fared well. They maintained constant radio contact with Navy ships positioned at 50-mile intervals along the route. Conditions changed on the second day. Dense fog and heavy rains forced the NC-1 and NC-3 to land at sea. All of the crewmen were rescued, but the two airplanes were damaged beyond repair.

The NC-4 continued through the fog and bad weather to the Azores Island and waited for the weather to clear. The NC-4 reached […]

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2 08, 2014

Lieutenant Colonel John H. Glenn, Jr.

Inducted in 1978

First American To Orbit The Earth, 1962

1921 -2016

On February 20, 1962, Lieutenant Colonel John Glenn, Jr., United States Marine Corps, lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 9:47 a.m. in a small Mercury capsule. Five hours and three earth orbits later, he splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean. The 81,000-mile trip made Glenn the first American to orbit the earth.

“Friendship 7” was propelled into space by a powerful Atlas rocket. Though delayed several times, the launch was flawless. However, the automatic steering rockets malfunctioned at the end of the first orbit, forcing Glenn to assume manual control.  Shortly after, an electronic indicator warned that the capsule’s heat shield might have come loose. Inspections later found that it was the indicator, not the critically important heat shield, that had failed.

Glenn guided “Friendship 7” back to earth, demonstrating that an astronaut could cope with in-flight emergencies. This flight was the […]

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1 08, 2014

Crew of First Around-the-World Flight, 1924

Inducted in 1977

Chicago

1st. Lt. Lowell H. Smith, Pilot; 1st. Lt. Leslie P. Arnold, Mechanic

Boston

1st. Lt. Leigh Wade, Pilot; Sgt. Henry H. Odgen, Mechanic;

New Orleans

1st. Lt. Erik H. Nelson, Pilot; 2nd. Lt. John Harding, Jr., Mechanic

On April 6, 1924, four Douglas World Cruisers and eight crewmen set out from Seattle, Washington, to attempt the first around-the-world airplane flight. Some 175 days later, on September 28, three of the bi-planes and the six men aboard became the first to circumnavigate the earth by air.

Named after four major American cities — Seattle, Chicago, Boston, and New Orleans — the airplanes were capable of operating from both land and water and were equipped with the latest navigational aids. Even so, fog, blizzards, thunderstorms and sandstorms took their toll. While flying in dense fog, the “Seattle” crashed on an Alaskan mountainside. It was not replaced. The “Boston” was forced to land at sea and subsequently […]

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1 08, 2014

Major Alford Williams, Jr.

Inducted in 1976

United States Navy’s First Chief Test Pilot; The Father Of Dive Bombing

1891 – 1958

Alford Williams enlisted in the United States Navy at the beginning of World War I and qualified as an aviator and a flight instructor. After being appointed the Navy’s chief test pilot and the head of high-speed research, Lieutenant Williams represented the Navy in the high-speed Pulitzer Trophy air races. In 1923 he achieved a world speed record of 243.7 mph in a Curtiss R2C-1 Racer at the St. Louis Airport and was dubbed the “American speed king.” In October of the same year, he broke the world’s straightaway speed record by flying 266.7 mph at Mitchell Field, New York, in the same airplane.

For 13 years Williams specialized in developing fighter tactics and maneuvers. He conceived and developed the technique of vertical dive-bombing, which became a revolutionary air tactic in World War II.

Williams resigned from […]

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1 08, 2014

Captain Henry T. Merrill

Inducted in 1976

First Pilot To Make A Commercial Round-trip Flight Over The Atlantic, 1937

1894 – 1982

In September 1936, Captain Henry “Dick” Merrill safely piloted his plane, a single engine Vultee VI called “Lady Peace,” in the first round-trip non-stop crossing of the North Atlantic. Harry Richman, a New York entertainer, was his passenger, along with 30,000 ping-pong balls added in the wings for additional flotation.

Eight months later on May 14, 1937, Merrill completed his fourth non-stop round-trip flight over the North Atlantic. Not only was this a record flight (actual flight time of 24 hours, 25 seconds), but it was the first “commercial” round-trip over the Atlantic. With this flight, Merrill proved that speedy and dependable flight service between Europe and the United States was possible.

Merrill made many daring flights during the early days of airmail delivery, prompting Captain Eddie Rickenbacker to label him the “best commercial pilot” in the […]

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1 08, 2014

Calbraith Perry Rodgers

Inducted in 1975

First United States Transcontinental Flight, 1911

1879 – 1912

In 1911 William Randolph Hearst offered a $50,000 prize to the first person to fly from coast to coast within a 30-day period. “Cal” Rodgers, a slender motorcycle racer with only limited flying experience (some of it gained at the Wright School), accepted the challenge. He took off from Long Island, New York, on September 17, determined to reach California and qualify for the award.

Rodgers flew a Wright EX biplane, named the “Vin Fiz” after a soft drink made by his commercial sponsor. The 35-horsepower airplane had no radio and was equipped with only one instrument, a fluttering shoelace to indicate vertical and lateral motion.

Rodgers chose a meandering route across the United States through Chicago and San Antonio to avoid dangerous mountain ranges.  A train carrying his wife, mother, mechanics and $4,000 worth of spare parts followed him. The “Vin Fiz” […]

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1 08, 2014

Captain Edward V. Rickenbacker

Inducted in 1974

America’s Top World War I Ace

1890 – 1973

The development of airplanes, equipment and engines flourished during World War I. Aerial fighting was introduced and innovative tactics were being devised to cope with this potentially devastating new tool of war. New words like “ace,” a pilot who had downed five or more enemy planes, entered the language. Foremost of the American “aces” was Captain Edward Vernon “Eddie” Rickenbacker, who ended the war with 26 victories, the highest number of victories of any of America’s 31 “aces.”

Rickenbacker entered the Army in 1917. He was attached to General John J. Pershing’s staff and served as a driver for Colonel William “Billy” Mitchell, the noted advocate of tactical air power. With Mitchell’s help, Rickenbacker became a fighter pilot and was assigned to the 94th Aero Pursuit Squadron, the famous “Hat in the Ring” Squadron.

Rickenbacker downed his first enemy plane on April 29, […]

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