NA 80-G-452496
At least one was fitted with bomb racks, one under each wing as evidenced in this picture taken at Pensacola in September 1916.
NA 80-G-463263
The bomb looks almost home made...
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Baby Steps for the Tip of the Spear
One of the U.S. Navy's first airplanes was a swept-wing biplane with no horizontal tail. Burgess was a U.S. shipbuilding company that got into the airplane business in 1910. Beginning with Curtiss and Wright designs, it built airplanes under license for several years. It also bought a manufacturing license for the Dunne D.8 that was developed by John Dunne in England. The Navy bought at least a few as the Burgess-Dunne AH-7 in 1914.
The sweep of the wing was obviously not for speed but to move the pitch control surface far enough aft of the center of gravity to provide sufficient pitching moment for control of angle of attack.
At least one was fitted with bomb racks, one under each wing as evidenced in this picture taken at Pensacola in September 1916.
At least one was fitted with bomb racks, one under each wing as evidenced in this picture taken at Pensacola in September 1916.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Halcyon Days IV
In the summer of 1951 when this picture was taken by VF-51 squadron mate John Moore, Neil Armstrong was not yet 21 and had just been promoted to Ensign. Air Group Five, of which VF-51 was a part, had just deployed on Essex and they were enjoying a day at the beach in Hawaii on their way to the Korean War.
Armstrong had completed four semesters of college at Purdue University, financed by the Navy under the Holloway Plan that obligated him to three years of service at that point before completing his degree. He was designated a Naval Aviator in August 1950, two weeks after his 20th birthday and two months after the start of the Korean War. Although still only a Midshipman, he had the good fortune to be assigned to VF-51 in November. The squadron was in the process of reforming with new personnel and equipment following a deployment on Valley Forge. Although jet transition units had been established to check out pilots, Neil's first flight in a jet was solo in a VF-51 F9F-2B Panther on 5 January 1951. (The Navy was more casual about training then and yet to realize that more rigor was necessary to avoid a horrendous loss of pilots and airplanes.)
Here, Midshipman Armstrong is flying F9F-2B number 116 as the wing man of Lt(jg) Ernie Russell in 107. John Moore took the picture.
Air Group Five deployed aboard Essex on 26 June 1951. The picture of young Armstrong at the beach was taken during final workups in July in Hawaii. On 29 August, little more than a year after becoming a Naval Aviator, he flew his first combat mission. Less than a week later, a cable strung between two hills as a crude antiaircraft booby trap cut off six feet of one of his wings. He managed to herd the badly damaged jet out over the water where he could eject without much risk of capture. He went on to fly a total of 78 combat missions.
Armstrong left the active Navy in the fall of 1952—although he continued to fly in the Naval Reserve through late 1960—and returned to Purdue. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in Aeronautical Engineering and joined NACA. It was a most satisfactory beginning to a storied career.
Thanks to the staff at the Emil Buehler Library at the National Naval Aviation Museum for the pictures. Many of the facts included above were taken from First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong by James R. Hansen.
Armstrong had completed four semesters of college at Purdue University, financed by the Navy under the Holloway Plan that obligated him to three years of service at that point before completing his degree. He was designated a Naval Aviator in August 1950, two weeks after his 20th birthday and two months after the start of the Korean War. Although still only a Midshipman, he had the good fortune to be assigned to VF-51 in November. The squadron was in the process of reforming with new personnel and equipment following a deployment on Valley Forge. Although jet transition units had been established to check out pilots, Neil's first flight in a jet was solo in a VF-51 F9F-2B Panther on 5 January 1951. (The Navy was more casual about training then and yet to realize that more rigor was necessary to avoid a horrendous loss of pilots and airplanes.)
Here, Midshipman Armstrong is flying F9F-2B number 116 as the wing man of Lt(jg) Ernie Russell in 107. John Moore took the picture.
Air Group Five deployed aboard Essex on 26 June 1951. The picture of young Armstrong at the beach was taken during final workups in July in Hawaii. On 29 August, little more than a year after becoming a Naval Aviator, he flew his first combat mission. Less than a week later, a cable strung between two hills as a crude antiaircraft booby trap cut off six feet of one of his wings. He managed to herd the badly damaged jet out over the water where he could eject without much risk of capture. He went on to fly a total of 78 combat missions.
Armstrong left the active Navy in the fall of 1952—although he continued to fly in the Naval Reserve through late 1960—and returned to Purdue. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in Aeronautical Engineering and joined NACA. It was a most satisfactory beginning to a storied career.
Thanks to the staff at the Emil Buehler Library at the National Naval Aviation Museum for the pictures. Many of the facts included above were taken from First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong by James R. Hansen.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Halcyon Days III
The two new all-weather fighters were the McDonnell F3H Demon that is next in the formation with a Douglas F4D Skyray below it. These are finally about to get to the fleet, having been in development since first flights in 1951. Both were delayed by the J40 engine fiasco (as was the A3D, but it had an earlier start) that required an engine substitution. The A3D and the F4D were subsequently powered by the P&W J57 while the F3H had to make do with the Allison J71.
The last three are all powered by the Wright J65 engine. From top to bottom, they are the North American FJ-4 Fury, Grumman F11F-1 Tiger, and Douglas A4D-1 Skyhawk. None of these three (or the F4D for that matter) were selected for development after a formal competition. The FJ-4 and the F11F (as the F9F-8 and then F9F-9) were initiated with budget designated for product improvement of a production airplane, the FJ-3 and F9F-6 respectively. The A4D rose from the ashes of the A2D program and was the beneficiary of its budget. (Before McNamara, the services had a lot more flexibility in airplane development.)
Most of the six were not as successful as hoped. The FJ-4 and the F11F were what the fighter class-desk officer at the time believed to be most appropriate for a day fighter: light, small, simple (inexpensive), maneuverable. The FJ-4 didn't even have an afterburner although Grumman had the foresight to add one to its F11F. As a result, the F8U, which was won a true competition against a specification that emphasized speed, almost literally blew them away. The FJ-4 fighter was relegated to the Marine Corps; the Navy subsequently bought some FJ-4Bs as an attack aircraft to give Ed Heinemann something to think about during early A4D development and production when it felt that Douglas wasn't being responsive to its concerns.
The F4D never got an armament capability that made it an effective all-weather aircraft. Although it deployed several times, it was really not suited for defending the carrier if the skies were cloudy. The Marine Corps operated it longer and didn't mind its shortcomings. The F3H wound up armed with the Sparrow missile, so it had a true all-weather capability. It also begat the McDonnell F4H Phantom and that alone justified its existence.
As for the big A3D and the little A4D, they both enjoyed long and honored careers, the A3D in part because it was big and the A4D, because it was little...
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
The Vought F5U: Missed it by that much...
Once upon a time, NACA engineer Charles Zimmerman postulated that a very low-aspect-ratio wing would provide low-speed lift and short takeoff and landing performance. The wing ultimately became a disc with large propellers mounted at the forward outboard edges and rotating in opposite directions to the wingtip vortices. These made the wing even more effective at low speeds and increased the effective aspect ratio for cruise. Wind tunnel testing established the feasibility of the concept. Zimmerman joined Vought in 1937 where he designed and flew a model that demonstrated the configuration's potential for very low speed flight. Vought proposed a concept demonstrator, its V-173, to the Navy, which was intrigued enough to provide Vought with a contract for one in May 1940.
The V-173 was not small but fortunately it was light, a wooden and metal frame covered by fabric, since it was only powered by two 80-hp Continental engines.
Its first flight was on 23 November 1942. It was almost its last, since Boone Guyton found it difficult to get it turned back around to return for landing. Control modifications were made before its next flight that provided better handling qualities.
The Navy had already ordered a production version, the F5U. It was exactly the same size as the V-173, but of all-metal construction and powered by two 1,350-hp P&W R-2000 engines.
The mockup had three-bladed propellers but it was soon apparent to the engineers that the installed power and necessary rotor-hub gimbal (the blades had to "flap" to relieve root bending loads) dictated a design with four blades.
The development of the propellers and qualification of the gearboxes that interconnected the engines and the propellers delayed the program. It may have made its first low-power ground runs with F4U propellers. (The left-hand one appears to have the propeller blades rotated 180 degrees in the hub.)
The F5U's propellers had a much larger root chord and the opposed blades were paired. Note that the blade pairs were also staggered fore and aft.
The F5U was finally ready to fly in March 1947 but by then it was apparent that new fighters would be jet propelled. Although the F5U reportedly made short hops down the runway at Sikorsky Field, a first flight was not accomplished before the Navy terminated the program and directed that the prototype be destroyed.
Fortunately for aviation enthusiasts, Vought donated the V-173 to the Smithsonian. It languished at the Silver Hill storage facility for many years before being shipped to Grand Prairie, Texas where Vought Heritage volunteers restored it to like-new condition. It is now on display at the Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas, Texas. See http://www.flightmuseum.com/
The V-173 was not small but fortunately it was light, a wooden and metal frame covered by fabric, since it was only powered by two 80-hp Continental engines.
The Navy had already ordered a production version, the F5U. It was exactly the same size as the V-173, but of all-metal construction and powered by two 1,350-hp P&W R-2000 engines.
The development of the propellers and qualification of the gearboxes that interconnected the engines and the propellers delayed the program. It may have made its first low-power ground runs with F4U propellers. (The left-hand one appears to have the propeller blades rotated 180 degrees in the hub.)
The F5U's propellers had a much larger root chord and the opposed blades were paired. Note that the blade pairs were also staggered fore and aft.
The F5U was finally ready to fly in March 1947 but by then it was apparent that new fighters would be jet propelled. Although the F5U reportedly made short hops down the runway at Sikorsky Field, a first flight was not accomplished before the Navy terminated the program and directed that the prototype be destroyed.
Fortunately for aviation enthusiasts, Vought donated the V-173 to the Smithsonian. It languished at the Silver Hill storage facility for many years before being shipped to Grand Prairie, Texas where Vought Heritage volunteers restored it to like-new condition. It is now on display at the Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas, Texas. See http://www.flightmuseum.com/
Tailhook? We don't need no stinking tailhook...
When an aircraft carrier deploys, it departs with an air
wing comprised of several specialized squadrons to provide a full offensive and
defensive capability. The exact
composition of the air wing has varied over the years, but in addition to
fighter and attack squadrons, there are always airborne early warning and
reconnaissance airplanes as well plane guard/utility helicopters. Now
electronic warfare airplanes are a standard part of the air wing.
Fighter and attack squadrons were typically assigned to a
specific air wing for an extended period of time. At one point, in the late
1950s and early 1960s there were usually three fighter squadrons per air wing even
though only two were required for a deployment. Because of the rapid
development of new or improved fighter types at the time, one of the three was
likely to be in transition to a new type and not ready to deploy.
For various reasons, a squadron might not be ready for
deployment with its air wing and a substitute was required. Often, this would
be a Marine Corps squadron since its pilots would all be naval aviators,
qualified for carrier takeoffs and landings. VMFA-333 deployed several times, for example flying F-4s with Carrier Air Wing Eight aboard Nimitz in 1976.
Official U.S. Navy photo via Johan A. (Hans) Engels (see http://www.thunderstreaks.com/)
One very non-traditional Marine Corps squadron deployment took place on the last cruise of Roosevelt. VMA-231, flying AV-8A Harriers, was assigned
to Carrier Air Wing 19 for its cruise in the Mediterranean from October 1976 to
April 1977. Also aboard were two squadrons of F-4Ns and three of A-7Bs, along
with detachments of E-1Bs (for the last deployment of this type), RF-8Gs, and SH-3Gs.
In the mid 1970s, the Navy was seriously evaluating a transition to
V/STOL aircraft for all sea-based, manned, tactical air missions instead of building more big
aircraft carriers equipped with catapults and arresting gear. In early 1976, the CNO briefed OSD on a tentative plan to do so. The assignment of VMA-231 to the
Roosevelt’s air wing was intended to provide insight into the feasibility and
benefits of a operating a V/STOL fighter/bomber at sea.
The Harrier had been in service with the Marine Corps since
1971 and had already been evaluated in an extended series of at-sea trials
aboard, among others, the amphibious assault ship Guam (LPH-9) that was serving as an Interim Sea Control Ship. This
resulted in the development of a corrosion control plan for an extended
deployment among other operational procedures. However, there were still
concerns about the Harrier’s maintenance requirements, hot exhaust, lack of
endurance, etc.
VMA-231 worked up to the deployment via a series of
mini-cruises aboard Franklin D. Roosevelt
beginning in late June 1976. These established operating procedures and
familiarized the ship’s company with the unique characteristics of the Harrier,
like the downward-directed engine exhaust in VTOL mode.
U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings October 1977
V/STOL advocates considered the experiment a virtually
unqualified success. Complying with standard carrier cyclic operations (90-minute flight period for the conventional takeoff and landing airplanes) proved to be unnecessary since the Harriers could land in any open space during a launch/land cycle. Benefits demonstrated early on included no time or crew required to hook up to the catapult for takeoff, virtually no waveoffs (and zero bolters), and the ability to back into a designated parking space. The Harriers could also land with the ship steaming out of the wind in conditions that precluded the operation of its conventional airplanes.
Rolling takeoffs were a bit more problematical in some wind over deck conditions but a vertical takeoff was almost always possible. Flight time, however, was limited to 20 minutes by the reduction in fuel required.
Over 2,000 sorties and landings, 15% at night, were accomplished by VMA-231 during the deployment. There were no aircrew or aircraft losses, a non-trivial accomplishment given the accident rate of carrier operations. The promise of V/STOL seemed to have been clearly demonstrated and V/STOL aircraft welcome aboard.
In parallel with and supported by this evaluation, the Navy initiated a set of V/STOL development programs, with V/STOL A being a subsonic multi-mission aircraft and V/STOL B, a supersonic fighter and attack aircraft. (There was also a V/STOL C, which was to be a smaller ASW aircraft to replace the LAMPS Mk III helicopter operating from frigates and destroyers.)
Except for Bell's tiltrotor and Sikorsky's ABC, the V/STOL A concepts used various forms of lift fans and/or high-bypass-ratio jet engines like this Vought proposal.
The V/STOL B designs were equally innovative, in some cases using lift fans for more efficient vertical lift like this McDonnell Douglas concept.
After only a couple of years of studies, however, the Navy reversed course after completing its Sea-Based Air Master Study in 1980. It
concluded that an all-V/STOL approach incorporating existing technology was high risk and in any event would
cost more than utilizing conventional airplanes.
Two aircraft, the V-22 Osprey and the F-35B, did eventually result from the Navy's flirtation with V/STOL, however. The tiltrotor had been proposed for V/STOL A and thereby attracted the attention of the Marine Corps. The F-35B resulted from follow-on research programs to advance V/STOL technology. It's therefore possible that the U.S. Navy might yet transition to V/STOL carriers...
Monday, June 18, 2012
A Designation Story Redux
In A Designation Story (http://thanlont.blogspot.com/2011/10/designation-story.html), I discussed why the WF-2 was a -2 and not a -1.
In it, I mentioned the TF-1, which was the Carrier On-board Delivery (COD) derivative of the ASW S2F as the WF-2 was the AEW derivative of the S2F. I also wrote about the TF-1 in my summary history of COD, http://thanlont.blogspot.com/2011/05/carrier-onboard-delivery.html
All these years, it had never occurred to me that the T in TF didn't make sense for a COD. At the time, T was the mission designation for trainer. The Navy mission designation for transport was R (I don't know why) or JR, if it was a utility transport (I don't know what the difference is between a utility transport and a regular transport is either). So strictly speaking, as a transport it should have been designated RF or a JR3F (there was a JRF and a JR2F). In the 1962 DoD-driven redesignation of Navy airplanes, it was rightfully given a C for Cargo designation, C-1.
It turns out that for some reason, the Navy decided that it would be designated a trainer. And of the five missions listed on the TF-1 SAC, three are training, including the first two:
Of course, it would have been a lot cheaper to build S2Fs without the mission equipment and designate them S2F-1Ts. It would have (and eventually did when the early S2Fs were replaced with more capable S2Fs) been capable of all those missions, albeit with less volume for cargo/passengers and a cabin door smaller than a car's. It wouldn't, however, have been capable of resupplying a carrier with a nuclear weapon the size of the Mk7, which if I remember correctly, was the actual raison d'etre of the TF...
In it, I mentioned the TF-1, which was the Carrier On-board Delivery (COD) derivative of the ASW S2F as the WF-2 was the AEW derivative of the S2F. I also wrote about the TF-1 in my summary history of COD, http://thanlont.blogspot.com/2011/05/carrier-onboard-delivery.html
All these years, it had never occurred to me that the T in TF didn't make sense for a COD. At the time, T was the mission designation for trainer. The Navy mission designation for transport was R (I don't know why) or JR, if it was a utility transport (I don't know what the difference is between a utility transport and a regular transport is either). So strictly speaking, as a transport it should have been designated RF or a JR3F (there was a JRF and a JR2F). In the 1962 DoD-driven redesignation of Navy airplanes, it was rightfully given a C for Cargo designation, C-1.
It turns out that for some reason, the Navy decided that it would be designated a trainer. And of the five missions listed on the TF-1 SAC, three are training, including the first two:
Sunday, June 10, 2012
An Unusual SB2C
This post is the result of a question posed to me by Angelo Romano, which was both surprising and pleasing. Normally it's me asking Angelo for something and I appreciated the chance to return the favor.
The request was to identify the unit to which this SB2C-4E was assigned. The picture was reportedly taken after the war, possibly at NAS Atlantic City in 1947.
Via Steve Eisenman
It has been published in various places and the aircraft (or one numbered 47) has even been the subject on decal sheets for modelers, with the assigned unit either identified as VS-31 or stated to be unknown.
The camouflage and markings are unusual. First, it is one of the two so-called Atlantic schemes for ASW aircraft commonly seen on TBF/Ms, SBDs, and FMs but almost never on an SB2C. Second, there is that "XVF" marking on the side, where a unit designation would sometimes be at the time.
The unit to which it was formerly assigned was almost certainly VS-31, with the S at that time standing for Scouting, not ASW. (ASW squadrons then were typically designated VC for composite, meaning they operated more than one mission type of aircraft.) VS-31 was an inshore patrol squadron and did not deploy on an aircraft carrier. According to author Marc Frattasio, "VS-31 flew SB2C-4Es from NAS Squantum from the end of 1944 through May 28th 1945. During that time the squadron operated detachments at NAS Atlantic City, NAS Norfolk, and possibly other locations. Previously, the squadron had operated a detachment at NAS Brunswick. To the best of my knowledge VS-31 was the only unit to operate SB2Cs in the Atlantic ASW color scheme." (Marc literally wrote the book on NAS Squantum: see http://www.gis.net/~fm/squantum.htm)
That, however, does not explain the XVF marking. It turns out that on 15 June 1945, the "Navy established Experimental Development Squadron Two Hundred (XVF-200) and Experimental Utility Squadron Twenty Five (XVJ-25) at Naval Air Station Brunswick, Maine, to provide, under the direct operational control of Commander-In-Chief (COMINCH), flight facilities for evaluating and testing tactics, procedure, and equipment for use in special defence tasks particularly those concerned with defence against the Kamikaze."
XVF-200 was assigned F6F-5s and F4U-4s. One might wonder why no Goodyear F2G Corsairs were assigned, since it was purportedly developed specifically to counter the Kamikaze. As it happened, the F2G program began before the Kamikaze tactic became evident in late 1944 so that wasn't its raison d'etre, at least originally. (My tongue-in-cheek explanation is that someone in BuAer wondered how fast a Corsair would go when powered by the humongous P&W R-4360.) And only a handful had been built and flown at the time, whereas the fleet needed to deal with the threat with what they could had or could get right away.
XVJ-25 was assigned a smorgasbord of airplane types to provide transport, target towing, targets, etc. From the 7 September 1945 USN Aircraft Location Report:
(Rockland was NAAF Rockland, Maine. At the moment, I don't know what a WF6-3 is; it's apparently not a typo because there were about 450 in the replacement pool on Guam...)
It would appear that at least a few of the SB2C-4Es were transferred to XVJ-25 from VS-31 when that unit was disestablished.
At some point in late 1945, certainly by 25 January 1946, the date of the USN Aircraft Location Report that Angelo provided to me, XVF-200 was relocated to NALF Fentress, Virginia and XVJ-25, to NAS Atlantic City
Sometime before the date of that report, possibly as a result of that relocation, XVF-200 had also been assigned 12 SB2C-4Es in addition to those being operated by XVJ-25. It is likely that one of these, a former VS-31 airplane, is the one in the picture.
According to Angelo, who has better and more organized files than I do, XVF-200 was subsequently disestablished on 15 March 1946 so strictly speaking, if the picture was taken in 1947, it wasn't at the time assigned to XVF-200. (The snow also suggests Maine in late 1945 or January 1946 although it's not unknown in New Jersey.) XVJ-25 was redesignated VJ-20 on 7 March 1946 and and eight days later, became VX-2. That caused me to correct my blog post on VX squadrons (http://thanlont.blogspot.com/2010/07/vx-squadrons.html).
The request was to identify the unit to which this SB2C-4E was assigned. The picture was reportedly taken after the war, possibly at NAS Atlantic City in 1947.
Warren Bodie photo, Thomas Doll collection via Angelo Romano
The camouflage and markings are unusual. First, it is one of the two so-called Atlantic schemes for ASW aircraft commonly seen on TBF/Ms, SBDs, and FMs but almost never on an SB2C. Second, there is that "XVF" marking on the side, where a unit designation would sometimes be at the time.
The unit to which it was formerly assigned was almost certainly VS-31, with the S at that time standing for Scouting, not ASW. (ASW squadrons then were typically designated VC for composite, meaning they operated more than one mission type of aircraft.) VS-31 was an inshore patrol squadron and did not deploy on an aircraft carrier. According to author Marc Frattasio, "VS-31 flew SB2C-4Es from NAS Squantum from the end of 1944 through May 28th 1945. During that time the squadron operated detachments at NAS Atlantic City, NAS Norfolk, and possibly other locations. Previously, the squadron had operated a detachment at NAS Brunswick. To the best of my knowledge VS-31 was the only unit to operate SB2Cs in the Atlantic ASW color scheme." (Marc literally wrote the book on NAS Squantum: see http://www.gis.net/~fm/squantum.htm)
That, however, does not explain the XVF marking. It turns out that on 15 June 1945, the "Navy established Experimental Development Squadron Two Hundred (XVF-200) and Experimental Utility Squadron Twenty Five (XVJ-25) at Naval Air Station Brunswick, Maine, to provide, under the direct operational control of Commander-In-Chief (COMINCH), flight facilities for evaluating and testing tactics, procedure, and equipment for use in special defence tasks particularly those concerned with defence against the Kamikaze."
XVF-200 was assigned F6F-5s and F4U-4s. One might wonder why no Goodyear F2G Corsairs were assigned, since it was purportedly developed specifically to counter the Kamikaze. As it happened, the F2G program began before the Kamikaze tactic became evident in late 1944 so that wasn't its raison d'etre, at least originally. (My tongue-in-cheek explanation is that someone in BuAer wondered how fast a Corsair would go when powered by the humongous P&W R-4360.) And only a handful had been built and flown at the time, whereas the fleet needed to deal with the threat with what they could had or could get right away.
From the collection of Joe Genne via Rob Mears
XVJ-25 was assigned a smorgasbord of airplane types to provide transport, target towing, targets, etc. From the 7 September 1945 USN Aircraft Location Report:
It would appear that at least a few of the SB2C-4Es were transferred to XVJ-25 from VS-31 when that unit was disestablished.
At some point in late 1945, certainly by 25 January 1946, the date of the USN Aircraft Location Report that Angelo provided to me, XVF-200 was relocated to NALF Fentress, Virginia and XVJ-25, to NAS Atlantic City
Sometime before the date of that report, possibly as a result of that relocation, XVF-200 had also been assigned 12 SB2C-4Es in addition to those being operated by XVJ-25. It is likely that one of these, a former VS-31 airplane, is the one in the picture.
According to Angelo, who has better and more organized files than I do, XVF-200 was subsequently disestablished on 15 March 1946 so strictly speaking, if the picture was taken in 1947, it wasn't at the time assigned to XVF-200. (The snow also suggests Maine in late 1945 or January 1946 although it's not unknown in New Jersey.) XVJ-25 was redesignated VJ-20 on 7 March 1946 and and eight days later, became VX-2. That caused me to correct my blog post on VX squadrons (http://thanlont.blogspot.com/2010/07/vx-squadrons.html).
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