This week in AFLCMC history - May 9 - May 15, 2022

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  • By Air Force Life Cycle Management Center History Office
09 May 1961 (Bombers Directorate)  

The first operational Boeing B-52H was received by 379th Bomb Wing, at Wurtsmith AFB, Michigan. Tail number 60-001 was dubbed the “State of Michigan,” though in more recent times it is known as “Memphis Belle IV.” While over 400 of the B-52A through F were built, the G model represented more significant structural changes to the aircraft, including internal wing fuel tanks, a new nose and tail, and a rearranged crew station. The B-52H, the last built in 1962, featured the G’s changes and added new engines (the Pratt & Whitney TF33s now slated for replacement) and a Vulcan Gatling-type gun for the tail armament (later deleted). The B-52H is the only version still in operational service (As shown in photo above).
 
11 May 1918 (AFLCMC) 
 
The American Expeditionary Forces in France received the first US-made DH-4 airplanes. The DH-4 was a multi-purpose British design chosen by an American advisory team in 1917 as the focus of American aircraft production. The newly-established Dayton-Wright Aircraft Company built these south of Dayton, Ohio, while the Air Service managed the acquisition process from nearby downtown offices. The DH-4 suffered from a litany of development problems, many associated with converting from British to American manufacturing methods. Used as a light bomber, photoreconnaissance, observation, and even a “battler,” (see 15 May below) the DH-4 was the only US-built plane to see combat in WWI. 

12 May 1934 (Bombers Directorate) 

The Army Chief of Staff authorized Wright Field to negotiate contracts for preliminary design work of Project A, the very first long-range, 4-engine heavy bomber program that was the progenitor of the famous heavy bombers of World War II. Strategic bombing was the yet-unproven doctrine, developed in large part by the Air Corps Tactical School at Maxwell Field, that guided Air Corps acquisition from this point forward. Wright Field had $609,300 for Martin and Boeing to develop a bomber capable of travelling 5,000 miles, at a speed of 200mph, and carrying 2000 pounds of bombs. The resulting Boeing B-15 was not a success, but provided valuable experience in developing the follow-on B-17. 

13 May 1985 (Digital Dir./Air Force Security Assistance & Coop. Dir.) 

The Air Force released a Request for Proposals to industry for the PEACE CUBE Program. PEACE CUBE was a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program to provide the government of Somalia with a Command, Control, and Communications System. It included a Somali Ministry of Defense Command Center, Local Area Communications to other headquarters located in Mogadishu, and Long Haul Communication between the Command Center and Sector Headquarters located throughout Somalia. On 1 Oct 1984 the Somali government signed a $6.5 million Letter of Offer and Acceptance which initiated the PEACE CUBE program. A year later, the Electronic Systems Division at Hanscom awarded the Phase One PEACE CUBE contract to Contel-Page Systems, Inc. The system became operational in 1987. 

14 May 1974 (Fighters & Adv. Aircraft Dir./Air Force Security Assistance & Coop. Dir.) 

Northrop rolled out the new F-5F at its Hawthorne, California, plant. The original design concept began in the mid-1950s as a lightweight, low-complexity fighter to offset the increasingly large and technology-heavy Century Series fighters and the Navy’s F-4 Phantom. The USAF first chose the platform as its new supersonic trainer, the T-38 Talon. While it did not catch on as an Air Force fighter, it proved popular as an export aircraft in both 1– and 2-seat variants, serving allied nations around the globe throughout the 1960s. A second generation, the F-5E Tiger II increased all of its performance attributes, again primarily for Foreign Military Sales. The F-5F was the 2-seat, combat-capable trainer version. Northrop built almost 150 of the –F model, while others were built under license overseas. The US Air Force and Navy found the F-5E and F to be useful as “aggressor” aircraft, mimicking the size and performance of Soviet bloc planes. 

15 May 1942 (Fighters & Advanced Aircraft Dir.) 

The U.S. Army Air Forces re-designated its interceptor and pursuit units as “fighter” units. The “P” mission designator for Pursuit aircraft continued to be used until 11 June 1948, when it was changed to “F” for fighter, while the former “F” for photoreconnaissance was changed to “R” for recon. “P” became Navy nomenclature for “Patrol” aircraft. The Army originally had no specific naming system beyond what the manufacturers provided (such as the DeHavilland DH-4), which lasted through World War I. Pursuit aircraft were typically single-seat dogfighters, while “fighters” or “battlers” were more heavily armed 2-seaters. After the war, the Army Air Service adapted the French system for aircraft types, using the first letter as shorthand for its mission. A P-51 (later F-51) Mustang shown here. 

50 Years Ago This Week in AFLCMC History: 10 May 1972 

Since the first Ground Attack-Experimental (GAX) plane came out of McCook Field in Dayton in 1919, the Air Force and its predecessors have engaged in a continuous debate with the Army over the necessity for aircraft specifically designed for the Close Air Support (CAS) mission. The Army’s position in the 1920s was that air forces were best used in direct support of troops on the ground, while the Air Service/Corps/Force, advocated for independent control of those assets in the pursuit of more strategic objectives. The result was a 50-year legacy of mostly multi-purpose or repurposed fighters and bombers for ground attack, with precious few planes designed from the start for this role. 

During the Korean War, leftover World War II piston-engine fighter-bombers and the first generation of straight-wing jets primarily equipped with machine guns, unguided rockets, and napalm performed CAS with mixed effectiveness. The wholesale replacement of these low-and-slow flying aircraft by the high-speed Century Series tactical fighters demonstrated the limits of multi-role aircraft in CAS during the Vietnam War a decade later. Loiter time, accuracy, and vulnerability to ground fire were all critical issues. As a result, the USAF relied on Navy-developed platforms, like the venerable A-1 Skyraider  and the new A-7 Corsair II for CAS. 

In late 1966, the Air Force Chief of Staff Gen John McConnell kicked off the Attack Experimental (A-X) program to develop an aircraft specifically for close air support with more firepower and performance than the A-1 and greater endurance and survivability—at less expense—than the contemporary jets. Several of the program’s critical events happened in 1970: the formal Request for Proposals, the responses from seven contractors, and the down-select to the two finalists, Fairchild Republic’s YA-10A and Northrop’s YA-9A. 

The acquisition reforms of the day called for a prototype “fly-off” between the competing designs. Both aircraft were completed in the spring of 1972 and shipped from their respective factories to Edwards AFB for flight testing. While meeting the same requirements for CAS, and designed around the massive new (though not yet available) GAU-10 Avenger 30mm rotary cannon, the approaches were visibly different, with the YA-9 having a some-what more conventional arrangement than the YA-10. 

On 10 May 1972, Northrop test pilot Howard “Sam” Nelson took the YA-10A, tail number 71-1369, for its maiden flight. The YA-9A replicated that feat on 30 May. Each prototype was in the air for over 300 hours total by the time the Air Force announced that Fairchild won the contract on 18 January 1973. Congress forced an additional fly-off against the A-7, which proved to be no contest. The A-10 Thunderbolt II went into production in 1975, with a total of 716 built by 1984. Though the “Warthog” has received many upgrades over its 50 years and plans to retire it entirely have come and gone, it is still in service, and has long outlived its manufacturer.