This Week In AFLCMC History - June 19 - 25, 2023 Published June 20, 2023 By Air Force Life Cycle Management Center History Office 19 Jun 1968 (Agile Combat Support Dir.) 55 years ago this week, the Air Force released notice to the public that it was testing “fast fix” cement, which hardened in half an hour or less, to repair mortar– and rocket-damaged runways in Southeast Asia. The Fast-Fix material was developed for the Aero Propulsion Laboratory at Wright-Patterson AFB by the Western Co. of Richardson, Texas. Referred to as a “sloppy mixture” with a “buttermilk consistency,” it easily flowed into the irregularities of a broken runway’s pavement, where it hardened with the same strength as concrete that had dried for 28 days according to Aero Propulsion Laboratory project engineer William Nabors. Thanks to these innovations, one can today buy quick-setting cement at any hardware store. 21 Jun 1995 (Wright-Patterson AFB) Today in 1995, a German military airplane flew from Dulles International Airport to Wright-Patterson AFB. Although U.S. observers were on board, and it was part of a training exercise, it was the first time a foreign aircraft surveilled U.S. territory under the then-new “Open Skies Treaty.” This treaty, signed in 1992, enabled the 27 original signatory nations (plus later additions) to fly unarmed surveillance missions over one another’s territory in a show of post-Cold War openness and transparency. These flights were first implemented and overseen in the U.S. by the On-Site Inspection Agency (OSIA); but after OSIA was disestablished in 1998 the role went to the new Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). In 2017, a Russian “Open Skies” surveillance plane created some local news waves flying over Wright-Patterson AFB at an observable height. In 2020, the U.S. formally withdrew from the “Open Skies Treaty.” Russia did so as well in 2021. 22 Jun 1973 (Digital Directorate/Hanscom AFB) 50 years ago today, the Electronic Systems Division (ESD) at Hanscom AFB awarded a $39.5 million contract to the Raytheon Company to create what would become the AN/FPS-108 COBRA DANE tracking radar at Eareckson Air Station on Shemya Island, Alaska. This ground-based tracking radar is a phased-array radar on the L-band frequency capable of tracking and recording data on many objects simultaneously at ranges of up to 2,000 miles away. It is approximately 95 feet in diameter and 120 feet tall—roughly the height of a ten-story office building!—and it remains in operational use today. 23 Jun 1937 (Fighters and Advanced Aircraft Directorate) On today’s date, Lockheed won Air Corps Design Competition X-608 to design a twin-engine interceptor and was awarded the contract to build the XP-38. This initial prototype aircraft would evolve into the P-38 Lightning (with its first flight on Jan 27, 1939), a multi-role fighter that performed a wide variety of missions during WW2, ranging from bombing to escort to strafing to photo reconnaissance. Although it initially had some issues with turbulence and with aerodynamic compressibility at high speeds (predominately when diving), these were corrected in later modifications, and it scored high marks in North Africa and the Pacific. Indeed, according to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, “seven of the top eight scoring USAAF aces in the Pacific flew the P-38.” That being said, it wasn’t produced in as great a quantity as some of the other fighters of WW2, with approximately 10,000 P-38s constructed (vice around 15,000 P-47s and 15,000 P-51s). 24 Jun 1948 (Mobility & Training Aircraft Directorate) 75 years ago today, as the WW2-era alliance between the Allies and the Soviet Union began to fall apart, the Soviet Union established road-, rail-, and waterway blockades of West Berlin—the section of Berlin that the Allies were responsible for following the defeat of Nazi Germany. Because Berlin was deep in Soviet territory at this time, this effectively cut West Berlin off from the rest of the world. Rather than concede to Soviet demands or give up on West Berlin, the Allies enacted a nearly year-long airlift mission, resupplying the city’s more than 2 million people by air. This airlift mission, called Operation Vittles, began on June 26. History would remember it as the “Berlin Airlift.” Over the course of the blockade, more than 2.3 million tons of food, fuel, and supplies were delivered by Allied forces over more than 275,000 flights. At one point, “Air Force and Navy planes were landing at Templehof Airport every 45 seconds.” The Soviet Union lifted the blockade on May 11, 1949. 25 Jun 1947 (Bombers Directorate) On this date, the Boeing B-50 Stratofortress made its first flight. Essentially a heavily upgraded B-29D, these large, four-engine air-planes were among the Air Force’s last propeller-driven, piston-powered bombers. With a range of around 4,900 miles, they mostly served with Strategic Air Command as medium bombers; however, some of the 371 B-50s built between 1947 and 1953 were converted into aerial refuelers (KB-50s), crew trainers (TB-50s), and weather and photo reconnaissance planes (WB-50s and RB-50s respectively). One B-50, the 43rd Bombardment Group’s Lucky Lady II, made history in 1949 by becoming the first airplane to circle the world without stopping (thanks in large part to continued improvements in aerial refueling), making the globe-spanning journey in just over 94 hours. 100 Years Ago in AFLCMC History: The Gallaudet CO-1 (20 Jun 1923) The Gallaudet CO-1, a contractor-built version of the Army Air Service Engineering Division’s first all-metal aircraft design, made its first flight. When the Wright Brothers built and flew their first air-plane in 1903, they established the basic airplane design paradigm that persisted for the next three decades: a wooden frame and structure for wings and fuselage covered by tightly-woven cloth. These materials were well-understood, cheap, abundant, light, and easy to repair, especially in the field. They did have their drawbacks, such as inconsistency, vulnerability to weather, and incompatibility with higher speed flight. In 1909, the Germans introduced an alloy called “duraluminum” (aka “duralumin” or “dural”) that combined the strength of steel with the light weight of aluminum, making all-metal aircraft possible and remaining a standard material to this day. They were also the first to successfully substitute metal structures and skins on aircraft in the 1910s. As with the rest of aviation technology, the US had fallen behind the Europeans in working with metal aircraft. After WWI, the Engineering Division at McCook Field in Dayton sought to rectify that, first by experimenting with internal frames made from duralumin tubes, then by building armored attack planes, and finally attempting all-metal designs. From 1917-1924, McCook Field boasted three in-house design shops, each headed by prominent engineers who later went on to be seminal figures in industry, that developed airplane prototypes from scratch. They then built these prototypes at McCook for flight test. The job of designing an all-metal aircraft fell to Isaac “Mac” Laddon, who headed the large aircraft shop, but was the most experienced structural engineer of the three teams and had designed the armored aircraft. From 1920-1921, Laddon went about designing a clean-sheet, all-duralumin monoplane. This CO-1 was the first of the Engineering Division’s “Corps Observation” aircraft, intended for battlefield surveillance and artillery spotting. McCook’s shops built two of them. The first was used for static testing, meaning it was loaded up with sandbags on its wings, tail, and landing gear to make sure that they could withstand the stresses of flight. The second was for flight test and took to the skies on 26 July 1922. It proved to be excessively heavy, collapsing the landing gear, but earning the distinction of being the first American designed and built all-metal aircraft. The CO-1 was also underpowered, as it had the standard 400hp Liberty engine that was designed during WWI and put into almost every American aircraft for years afterwards. Unfortunately for its mission, it also had poor visibility. The two open cockpits were on top of the fuselage, with the wing blocking most of the downward view. To alleviate that, Laddon designed a cutout where the wing met the body, allowing the pilot and observer a limited line of sight. Despite these problems, McCook let a contract to the Gallaudet aircraft company in 1922 to build three more. The company made some improvements, notably larger ailerons and a reinforced landing gear. Gallaudet delivered the first in April 1923, which was flown on 20 June. The changes were not enough to salvage the design, however, resulting in the cancellation of the contract and the entire CO-1 effort.