This Week In AFLCMC History – October 7 - 13, 2024
7 Oct 1969 (Tinker AFB/Fighters and Advanced Aircraft Directorate)
Fifty-five years ago, a Kansas ANG F-100 Super Sabre crashed while attempting an emergency landing at Tinker AFB. Although the pilot survived after successfully ejecting, the co-pilot—Lt James R. Nelms—was killed. The out of control aircraft smashed into the Glenwood Addition of Midwest City, destroying three houses and damaging two others. The 1969 accident followed a 1961 accident that killed two children and a 1968 near miss that damaged property. Ultimately, the 1969 accident made it clear to all that Glenwood was too close to Tinker AFB, and Oklahoma County—with Tinker AFB under threat of closure—hosted a vote on whether it should buy the land and clear it. The vote occurred on 8 May 1973, which was declared “Save Tinker Day” by its proponents, and passed. Five years later, the last houses were removed, and, in 1982, the land was leased to Tinker.
8 Oct 1964 (Hanscom AFB/Digital Directorate)
Today in 1964, 60 years ago, Hanscom AFB’s Electronic Systems Division (ESD) joined M.I.T. Lincoln Laboratory in dedicating the Lincoln Laboratory’s new experimental space communications and radar system, called the Haystack Microwave Research Facility (for its location on Haystack Hill in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts). Described in the papers at the time as being “capable of tracking a .22-caliber bullet 1,000 miles in space,” the dedication ceremony’s keynote speaker was none other than Gen Bernard A. Schriever—the commander of Air Force Systems Command (and the namesake for Schriever Space Force Base in Colorado). In describing the project—which cost $15 million and took four years to design and build—Gen Schriever noted that “[the] Haystack Facility […] will allow us to take the important next steps in microwave technology, radio physics investigations, and ground-based experimental space communications programs.”
9 Oct 1999 (ISR & Special Operations Forces Directorate)
Twenty-five years ago today, the SR-71 (unofficially nicknamed the “Blackbird” on account of its eye-catching—and high-emissivity—black paint scheme) flew its very last flight during an Edwards AFB Open House and Air Show. Designed by the Lockheed Corporation (today Lockheed Martin) from their earlier A-12 and YF-12A aircraft, the SR-71 was a long-range strategic reconnaissance aircraft—that also ranked as the world’s fastest and highest-flying production aircraft. First flying in December 1964, the SR-71 entered service with the Air Force in 1966. It was retired from the operational Air Force inventory on 26 Jan 1990, largely due to its high cost of operation, but continued to fly for NASA through the ’90s. The SR-71’s last flight was performed by NASA 844 (an SR-71 A-model, s/n 61-7980) and it was flown by NASA pilot Rogers E. Smith. Smith flew the SR-71 up to 80,100 feet on this sortie, and achieved speeds of Mach 3.21. The aircraft was actually supposed to fly one more day, with its final flight originally planned for 10 Oct 1999—but a fuel leak grounded it after its flight on the 9th.
10 Oct 1983 (Presidential & Executive Airpower Directorate)
Today in 1983, the Air Force’s new C-20A flew its first operational mission. Derived from the Gulfstream III business jet, the C-20 militarized version of the airplane was a twin-engine, turbofan aircraft dedicated to transporting high-ranking Department of Defense officials—as well as other high-ranking government officials—around the nation and around the world. It was selected in June 1983 as a replacement for the C-140B Jetstar, which had fulfilled a similar role. Eventually, upgrades would bring it all the way to the C-20H model before the aircraft was fully retired from USAF service at the end of August 2017. At least one C-20A is still flying today, however: NASA’s Airborne Science Program’s C-20A. Per its flight schedule, it’s slated to be flying out of Edwards AFB on 10 Oct 2024.
11 Oct 1995 (Armament Directorate)
On 11 Oct 1995, it was announced that the Air Force had selected the McDonnell Douglas Corporation (today Boeing) as the Phase II EDM prime contractor for the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) program. McDonnell Douglas had been competing with the Lockheed Martin Corporation for the contract. The JDAM program was a joint Air Force and Navy pilot program made possible under the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994, which was designed to save money by foregoing certain acquisition-related rules, regulations, and specifications. The program was intended to produce tail kits for existing unguided free-fall bombs to convert them into guided “smart” bombs. It was successful, with the first kits delivered in 1997 and initial operational testing (IOC) occurring in 1998 and 1999. Each kit costs about $22,000 (in 2007), and they are still in use today.
13 Oct 1954 (Wright-Patterson AFB)
Today, 70 years ago, Wright-Patterson AFB formally acquired 465 acres of land along the Mad River, to what was then the northeastern boundary of the base. The land was granted to the base by the U.S. District Court of Western Ohio through a “declaration of taking,” and was valued at $74,300 in 1950s money (which, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics' CPI inflation calculator, equates to more than $850,000 today). Initially, the new land hosted a sewage and waste treatment plant and a base recreational area called “Hadden Park.” Both were relocated, however, when the Strategic Air Command’s 17th Bombardment Wing and 4043rd Strategic Wing came to the base after 1958. The 1954 land was repurposed into facilities for the 4043rd (which flew KC-135 tankers in support of the Bomb Wing’s B-52s) with the construction of the $25 million West Ramp complex in what used to be called “Area C” of the base. Strategic Air Command would leave Wright-Patt in 1975.
60 Years Ago (12 Oct 1964) in AFLCMC History:
The XB-70A Achieves Supersonic Flight
In 1954, the US Air Force issued a General Operational Requirement calling for a strategic bomber to replace the Boeing B-52—which had not yet even become operational. After further studies and refinement over the ensuing months, Weapons System 110A emerged, specifying a large payload, intercontinental range, subsonic cruise, “maximum possible” speed during a lengthy “penetration dash,” and an operational date of 1963. Only Boeing and North American Aviation elected to take on this considerable challenge. It was just seven years after the tiny, rocket-powered X-1 first “broke the sound barrier,” but now the Air Force wanted to fly a massive bomber across the world, at a minimum of 60,000 feet, going two or three times as fast as Chuck Yeager did. Even current fighters could not hit these performance requirements, regardless of range. To further complicate the design, the contract also called for a reconnaissance version of the plane to be developed simultaneously.
The radical specifications resulted in initially radical designs from Boeing and North American. Both concepts used disposable fuel tanks and weighed three-quarters of a million pounds (for comparison, a B-52 is less than 200,000 pounds). Realizing the folly of this approach, the Air Force permitted more technology/performance tradeoffs and, in 1957, selected North American’s new design, dubbed the XB-70, as the winner. It featured a massive delta wing, six engines that propelled it beyond Mach 3, and an extended “swan neck” front fuselage that was graced by canards (small control wings) on either side.
But from the fall of 1957 into 1958, global events out-paced the program. The Soviets had launched Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite, and the US had drastically accelerated its Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) programs. The ICBMs topped with nuclear warheads could hit the Soviet Union faster (and more cheaply), were nearly invulnerable to interception, and would be ready sooner than massive and expensive bombers like the XB-70. The resulting debate was heavily swayed by the ICBM, the potential vulnerability of even high-speed aircraft to interception or surface to air missiles, and by the cancellation of a related fighter program that used many of the same systems, thereby sharing development costs. After several fits and starts, the XB-70 program was reduced to just two air-frames as prototype/research demonstrators.
The first XB-70 Valkyrie rolled out of the North American plant at Palmdale, California, on 11 May 1964, and made its first flight on 21 September, concluding at the adjacent Edwards AFB for the rest of the test program. The pilots had planned to take the Valkyrie past Mach 1 on that maiden voyage, but its landing gear got stuck in the lowered position. A second attempt had a hydraulic failure and saw a “large amount” of paint peel from the aircraft. Finally, on 12 October 1964, the XB-70 exceeded the speed of sound for the first time. The remaining test program experienced a fair share of difficulties, culminating in a mid-air collision that destroyed the second prototype. NASA briefly flew the remaining airplane for further research, until it made its final journey—to Wright-Patterson AFB for display at the National Museum of the USAF.