MASTERS OF THE AIR THE MIGHTY EIGHTH
r of Liberation The Yea
ur op e O ve r th e S k ie s of E
8 Days • September 5 – 12, 2019 • Save $1,000 per couple when booked by December 28, 2018
Hear Their Stories
Learn Their Names
Stand Where History Was Made
Learn how brash young American pilots completely transformed life in wartime England
Discover the role of the bomber crews during intense, chaotic, and dangerous combat missions
Imagine the roar of the engines of the B-17s, B-24s, and fighter escorts as they took to the skies in Thorpe Abbotts and Rougham
Masters of the Air is a story of life in wartime England, in bombed-out London, and in the tiny hamlets these brash young Americans completely transformed. In East Anglia, many airmen fell in love with British girls they met in the local pubs, and over 45,000 American servicemen brought home English brides after the war. The beautiful countryside and stately manor homes give way to the remains of air bases, some of them with their control towers still visible on the skyline. Featuring author and historian Donald L. Miller, PhD
Join us in honoring the brave men of the 8th Air Force in the places that offered them a fantastic welcome over 75 years ago and that still work diligently to preserve their legacy today.
For more information, contact us at 1-877-813-3329 x 257 or travel@ww2museumtours.org
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november 2018 DEPARTMENTS 5 MAILBAG 6 BRIEFING 10 aviators A German pilot became the first aviator to bomb a capital city when he dropped several small explosives on Paris in the early days of WWI. By C.G. Sweeting
The B-17F Memphis Belle has a new home at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.
14 restored Fresh from a meticulous restoration, the iconic B-17F Memphis Belle is now on display at its new Dayton home. By Frederick A. Johnsen
26 Luftwaffe’s Fighter General
16 EXTREMES
34 Why Betty Bombed
18 STYLE
Mitsubishi’s G4M “Betty” bomber was designed for range and speed, but its lack of self-sealing fuel tanks and armor protection doomed many Japanese aircrews. By Stephan Wilkinson
44 The Flying Parson
Clergyman and accomplished WWII pilot Dean Hess, called back into service to help train the fledgling South Korean air force, worked tirelessly to save hundreds of Korean War orphans. By Don Bedwell
Werner Mölders and Adolf Galland
Showcasing products of interest to aviation enthusiasts and pilots.
24 LETTER FROM AVIATION HISTORY 66 REVIEWS 70 FLIGHT TEST 72 AERO ARTIFACT
52 Operation Spring High
In July 1965 North Vietnam’s first SA-2 missiles found their mark against a McDonnell F-4C Phantom. The U.S. attempt to take out the missile sites three days later devolved into a deadly fiasco. By Mark Carlson
60 The Tommy Scout
World War I revealed America’s need to produce a homegrown scout plane, and three British ex-pats answered the call with the Tommy Scout. By Mark C. Wilkins
ON THE COVER: Lieutenant General Adolf Galland banks his Messerschmitt Me-262A-1 toward a flight of Martin B-26C Marauders on April 26, 1945, in an illustration by Jack Fellows. Galland shot down two of the Marauders, but was then shot down himself by a Republic P-47D flown by James Finnegan. Cover: ©2018 Jack Fellows, ASAA.
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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: U.S. AIR FORCE; BUNDESARCHIV BILD 146-1972-003-64, PHOTO O. ANG; COURTESY OF DAWN SCHNEIDER; SUEDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG PHOTO/ALAMY
Famed World War II fighter ace Adolf Galland faced some of his most bitter battles on the German home front. By Barrett Tillman
German innovation reached its limits in the attempt to develop compact eyes in the sky for U-boats. By Robert Guttman
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NOVEMBER 2018 / VOL. 29, NO. 2
Aviation History
You’ll find much more from Aviation History on the web’s leading history resource: HistoryNet.com
Death By P-38 It seemed a suicide mission: Fly 400 miles by dead reckoning over open ocean and under radar while evading Japanese fighters to intercept a Mitsubishi G4M1 “Betty” carrying Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. But the 16 P-38 pilots charged with shooting down the Pearl Harbor mastermind pulled it off.
Interview With Adolf Galland Luftwaffe fighter general Adolf Galland shares his memories of the war, Hitler, his arch-nemesis Hermann Göring, his lost brothers and the plane crash that almost killed him.
First Blood in Korean Skies On June 25, 1950, North Korean forces crossed the 38th Parallel and invaded the South. The situation on the ground looked grim, but U.S. F-82 Twin Mustang fighters stepped up in the first air battles of the war.
Love history? Sign up for our free monthly e-newsletter at: historynet.com/newsletters Let’s Connect Like Aviation History Magazine on Facebook Digital Subscription Aviation History is available via Zinio and other digital subscription services
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CARL VON WODTKE EDITOR LARRY PORGES SENIOR EDITOR JON GUTTMAN RESEARCH DIRECTOR CONTRIBUTING EDITORS WALTER J. BOYNE, STEPHAN WILKINSON ARTHUR H. SANFELICI EDITOR EMERITUS
STEPHEN KAMIFUJI CREATIVE DIRECTOR BRIAN WALKER GROUP ART DIRECTOR PAUL FISHER ART DIRECTOR MELISSA A. WINN DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY GUY ACETO PHOTO EDITOR CORPORATE DOUG NEIMAN CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER ROB WILKINS DIRECTOR OF PARTNERSHIP MARKETING TOM GRIFFITHS CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT GRAYDON SHEINBERG CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT ADVERTISING MORTON GREENBERG SVP ADVERTISING SALES MGreenberg@mco.com COURTNEY FORTUNE ADVERTISING SERVICES CFortune@historynet.com RICK GOWER REGIONAL SALES MANAGER Rick@rickgower.com TERRY JENKINS REGIONAL SALES MANAGER TJenkins@historynet.com RICHARD VINCENT REGIONAL SALES MANAGER RVincent@historynet.com DIRECT RESPONSE ADVERTISING NANCY FORMAN / MEDIA PEOPLE 212-779-7172 EXT 224 nforman@mediapeople.com © 2018 HISTORYNET, LLC SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION: 800-435-0715 OR SHOP.HISTORYNET.COM YEARLY SUBSCRIPTIONS IN U.S.: $39.95 Aviation History (ISSN 1076-8858) is published bimonthly by HistoryNet, LLC 1919 Gallows Road, Suite 400, Vienna, VA 22182-4038, 703-771-9400 Periodical postage paid at Tysons, Va., and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER, send address changes to Aviation History, P.O. Box 422224, Palm Coast, FL 32142-2224 List Rental Inquiries: Belkys Reyes, Lake Group Media, Inc. 914-925-2406; belkys.reyes@lakegroupmedia.com Canada Publications Mail Agreement No. 41342519, Canadian GST No. 821371408RT0001 The contents of this magazine may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the written consent of HistoryNet, LLC
PROUDLY MADE IN THE USA
U.S. AIR FORCE
Steve Hinton pilots the Lockheed P-38F Glacier Girl near Langley Air Force Base in Virginia.
Mailbag
CAP FATHER AND SON enjoyed the Civil Air Patrol article [“CAP’s Civilian Combat Pilots,” July] and it recalled the period when I was a young cadet in the Meriden Squadron, Connecticut Wing, in 1948 through 1953. My three encampments and training at Westover AFB more than prepared me for my eventual entry into the Air Force with my immediate first stripe. It was interesting to note in the photo on page 52 that the cadets studying maps are wearing Connecticut Wing shoulder patches. I can thank CAP for the prime motivation to obtain my private pilot certificate and enjoy the thrills and satisfaction of aviation activities for a lifetime. >
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF ROBERT S. SPELLACY VIA GENE RUTLAND
> My CAP pride carried
squadron room at Don Scott Field in Worthington, Ohio. The enclosed pictures show me as a CAP cadet sitting in a Stinson L-5 [above] and my son Captain David M. Spellacy [below]. Robert S. Spellacy Laguna Vista, Texas
to the next generation when my son joined the Ohio Wing at 12 years old. After earning the Mitchell Award, he joined the Ohio Air National Guard scholarship program and served through college. He became a Marine Corps officer after graduation, but his love for aviation never waned. He
NEPTUNE SENTINELS
finally earned his naval flight officer wings just in time for the Gulf War’s “Desert Storm.” While flying his OV-10A Bronco on the first day of the ground war, he was hit by an Iraqi SAM and shot down. He did not survive and became the only Marine air wing casualty of the war. A memorial is kept in his honor in the CAP
Amazing! Finally a longoverdue article on the venerable Lockheed P2V Neptune [“Sea Sentinel,” July]. “Largely forgotten” is so true except by all the guys who flew them. Whether pilot, navigator, plane captain, radioman, ordnance man or any of the other crew members, the P2 was one heck of an airplane. I flew the P2V-7 with VP-2 out of NAS Whidbey Island from 1962 to 1965. We deployed to Alaska and the Aleutians for usually five to six months at a time. We flew long hours looking for Russian subs and actually “caught” a few. We did shipping reconnaissance, tracked foreign whaling and fishing fleets, once in a while
conducted a search and rescue, snooped with ECM gear and occasionally got chased by MiGs. Lots of icy runways, crosswind landings and approaches down to minimums or below. I loved that airplane. She certainly was not the most beautiful airplane in the world but she was a good, stable, rugged airplane and did what you asked her to do. After my five years in the Navy I spent many years as a 747 captain for Northwest Airlines. We often flew over the Aleutians but at 37,000 feet. Quite a different perspective from my P2 days. Dave Bowen Oak Harbor, Wash. I really enjoyed your July issue. For many years I had wondered if I had imagined seeing a P2 in Army markings. I was stationed at NAF Naha on Okinawa, assigned to Fleet Composite Squadron 5, Detachment A. One day in the early ’70s I was riding the base shuttle bus and as it passed the flight line there was a P2 sitting there, and I thought I saw on the side of the fuselage ARMY instead of NAVY. Later I tried to get back to the flight line to check it out, but it had already departed. All these years I wondered if I had really seen it. Now I know that the Army did in fact operate some P2s. I saw a number of P2s from reserve squadrons at NAS North Island, and Fleet Composite Squadrons 3 and 5 operated them as target drone launchers. Doug Swift Pontiac, Ill.
PUNCHING OUT I thoroughly enjoyed the article “Punching Out” in the July issue. I was hoping that the writer would have mentioned the most dangerous ejection seats in the inventory today and perhaps the oldest, the two downward ejection seats on a B-52. Although the pilot and copilot eject upward normally, along with the electronic warfare officer and gunner (when we had one), the navigator and radar navigator/bombardier eject down. We used to joke that no funeral would be necessary if a navigator had to eject out of a B-52 during a low-level mission. The seat would plant us three feet underground and the seat back would stick up and act as our tombstone. Major Stephen Shahabian U.S. Air Force (ret.) Foxboro, Mass. Regarding the photo on page 57 in the July issue of George Aird ejecting from a crippled English Electric Lightning F.1 in September 1962, I was in the U.S. Air Force, stationed in England near Bedford, at that time. The news report on the telly had some humorous tones. George’s chute didn’t deploy, but he survived. He crashed into a hot house (at left in the photo), landing in the farmer’s recent supply of fresh manure. So George came off “smelling like a rose.” The name of the nearby village, Staynes, was mentioned for added giggles. Anyway, the good news is George was lucky! Russ Breighner Arlington, Va.
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november 2018
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TOP: JAMES DUNN; INSET: U.S. POSTAL SERVICE
Centennial speedmails Addison Pemberton leads Ben Scott and Jeff Hamilton past San Franciscoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Golden Gate Bridge on May 15. Inset: This new U.S. Postal Service stamp commemorates 100 years of airmail service.
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TOP: ASHLEY TINLEY; BOTTOM: BUNDESARCHIV BILD 146-2006-0123 PHOTO HEINRICH HOFFMANN
at journeyโ s end Ethan Lassiter smiles from the cockpit of Logan Tinleyโ s Mooney M-20R Ovation after Tinley (right) completed his around-the-world ๏ฌ ight to raise funds for pediatric care.
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Newest Young Globe-Girdler
Air Quotes
โ ONLY THE SPIRIT OF ATTACK BORNE IN A BRAVE HEART CAN BRING SUCCESS TO ANY FIGHTER AIRCRAFT, NO MATTER HOW HIGHLY DEVELOPED IT MAY BE.โ โ ADOLF GALLAND
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BRIEFING
nevertheless, they persisted Team Jetlaw—(from left) Jess Murphy, Kali Hague and mechanic Frances Portillo—pose with their 1946 Luscombe 8E. Below: Race winners Mariah Ferber and Paige Kessler hold their trophies.
Weather Cuts Air Race Classic Short
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Of the 56 teams that registered to compete this year, 52 IK\]ITTa \WWS W ٺWV 2]VM ! but only 43 completed the course three days later. Racer Taylor Thompson, _PW ÆM_ _Q\P <MIU ZMX resenting California Aeronautical University, told the
Daily Sun: “It was challenging to make the decisions whether to go through the thunderstorms, as some girls did, or to decide to wait it out, which is what we did. We still made it to Fryeburg before some of the other teams did.” Nan Siegel
“We All Fly” Exhibit /IMZ\M [IQL ¹<PQ[ Q[ \PM ÅZ[\ time where we have had to cancel legs in the middle of a race.” In fact all but two WN \PM XTIVVML ÆQOP\ TMO[¸ from Sweetwater to Alva, Okla., and Alva to Beatrice, 6MJ IVL \PM ÅVIT [\ZM\KP from Penn Yan, N.Y., to Fryeburg—were canceled for scoring purposes. Across the competition’s middle sections, participants were told to search out the safest possible routes to complete the course. Gaerte explained that “Normally Q\¼[ I >.: WVTa C^Q[]IT ÆQOP\ rules] race, but we told comXM\Q\WZ[ \PMa KW]TL Æa 1.: CQV[\Z]UMV\ ÆQOP\ Z]TM[E <PI\ ITTW_ML \PMU \W Æa through the bad weather… some chose not to as they were not comfortable.”
The National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., announced plans to open its first exhibition devoted to general aviation in four decades. Launched with a $10 million gift from the Thomas W. Haas Foundation, the new collection of civilian aircraft is slated for display in 2021. Among the airplanes greeting visitors will be Challenger III—the highly modified, hightech Pitts Special flown by legendary aerobatics pilot Sean D. Tucker (above)—in an appropriately upsidedown position, suspended over the entrance.
TOP & MIDDLE: ©AIR RACE CLASSIC; BOTTOM: EMMANUEL CANAAN
he 42nd annual Air Race Classic turned into a race against stormy weather as much as a competition among women pilots. What was meant to be a contest across 2,656 miles— during which teams compete to achieve the best score against a benchmark speed NWZ \PMQZ [XMKQÅK IQZKZIN\ calculated after a three-day cross-country course—was shortened by organizers to 900 miles due to dangerous storms between Sweetwater, Texas, and Fryeburg, Maine. The winners this year were \_W ÅZ[\ \QUM XIZ\QKQXIV\[ Nashville Flight Training team members Mariah Ferber and Paige Kessler, piloting a 1998 Cessna 172R. They earned a top score of ! XWQV\[ ÅVQ[PQVO _Q\P an elapsed time of 5 hours, 50 minutes and 24 seconds. This year’s competition was hosted by the Maine and New Hampshire chapter of The Ninety-Nines, the international organization of women pilots founded Ja !! NMUITM ÆQMZ[ QV ! ! Interviewed by New Hampshire’s Conway Daily Sun at the competition’s conclusion on June 22, Air Race Classic Board President Lara
RAF Control Center Uncovered he Royal Observer Corps was the eyes and ears of Britain’s Royal Air Force. Within 12 seconds of an enemy airplane appearing in the sky, the :7+ PIL QLMV\QÅML Q\ XTW\\ML Q\ IVL ZMTIaML \PM QVNWZUI\QWV \W \PM :). Allied planes and downed aircraft were also tracked. Until recently, very few traces of that network remained, but restoration of a medieval civic building in Bury St. Edmunds led to an unexpected discovery. A locked room revealed the original ROC control center responsible for charting air movements across East Anglia—a crucial hub in the British defense network. The control center survived by chance: It was used to track nuclear movements until the late 1960s. By then the building had been given listed status requiring it to remain unchanged. ) JTI[\ _ITT KW^MZ[ \PM MV\ZIVKM ][ML Ja \PM :7+ [\I= ٺX[\IQZ[ I OI[ XZWWN door leads into the control room, where a map of East Anglia hangs. A gallery overlooks a control table designed to match the geographical area covered by the control room. Six plotters sat around the table, connected by telephone to WJ[MZ^MZ[ QV \PM ÅMTL _PW QVLQKI\ML _PMV I XTIVM _I[ [XW\\ML <PM XTW\\MZ[ marked it on the map using positions given by the “clock that saved Britain,” a ]VQY]M [MK\WZ KTWKS LQ^QLML QV\W Å^M UQV]\M [MOUMV\[ 7J[MZ^MZ[ QV \PM OITTMZa would immediately notify the RAF of the position of incoming aircraft. Guided tours are available. See burystedmundsguildhall.org.uk. Angela Youngman
Whale of an Airplane
n 1948 Boeing introduced the first of a series of widebody transport aircraft that it called the 377PG, soon better known as the Pregnant Guppy. In the 1960s, turboprop engines allowed the production of even more grotesque-looking Super Guppies. Boeing’s European competitor Airbus got into the act in 1994 with its A330-600ST, or Super Transporter, whose peculiar nose configuration earned it the nickname Beluga. On July 21 an even larger flying whale, the Airbus A330-200XL (above), took off from Blagnac Airport in Toulouse, France, to begin a 10-month testing period. If all goes well, five will be built in 2019. Meanwhile, in response to a 20,000-person poll taken on the matter, the “Beluga XL” has been given appropriate eyes and mouth to emphasize its distinctive appearance.
MILESTONES FROM TOP: ©2018 AIRBUS/S. RAMADIER; BURY ST. EDMUNDS GUILDHALL; U.S. AIR FORCE
Stealth Bomber Debuts hirty years ago, in November 1988, Northrop officially unveiled its long-rumored B-2 Spirit bomber at Air Force Plant 42 in California. Popularly known as the “stealth bomber” for its ability to evade even the most advanced enemy detection systems, the B-2 flying wing boasts a top speed of 630 mph and a 6,000-nautical-mile range. Aerial refueling allows it to deliver its payload of nuclear or conventional weapons practically anywhere in the world without a pit stop. The demise of the Soviet Union in 1991 reduced the primary need for the B-2 bomber, and the Air Force’s
planned procurement dropped from 132 planes to 21. The B-2 distinguished itself in its first important combat role in 1999 during the Kosovo War, where it bombed multiple Serbian targets, and later saw service in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan. While there’s no doubt the B-2 “bat wing” is one of the coolest looking airplanes to grace the skies, its price tag has always raised eyebrows. On top of its $40 billion development expense and an average total cost of more than $2 billion per airplane, it’s also a bear
to keep up, with each hour of flight requiring nearly 120 hours of maintenance. The Air Force has announced plans to phase out the B-2 over the course of the next 15 years and replace it with the as-yet-unproduced B-21.
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EXPERIMENT IN TERROR Leutnant Ferdinand von Hiddessen and his observer drop bombs and a message on Paris on August 30, 1914, in a Merv Corning painting.
The Five O’Clock Taube THE FIRST AIR RAID ON A CAPITAL CITY DID LITTLE DAMAGE BUT SET A PRECEDENT FOR THE TERROR BOMBINGS THAT WOULD FOLLOW BY C.G. SWEETING he people of Paris were nervous, and with good reason. In the days since the August 3, 1914, declaration of war between France and Germany, the Germans had advanced rapidly through Belgium and northern France, and their First Army had reached the Marne River, just 30 miles east of Paris. Parisians could hear the distant rumble of artillery, feeding their fears. Their morale was further depressed when the French government and many wealthy families fled the city and headed southwest to Bordeaux. To prepare the French capital for a siege, General Joseph Galliéni commandeered every taxi in Paris and rushed all available reinforcements to the front in what was called the “taxi cab army.” Many anxious residents remembered the
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German victory in the 187071 Franco-Prussian War, and the occupation of Paris. Just after noon on August 30, Parisians heard something above them and looked up to see a strange airplane shaped like a giant bird, with German crosses under the wings. Some recognized it as a Taube (dove), and people watched with curiosity as its observer dropped four small bombs by hand from about 6,000 feet. The first bomb reportedly exploded near the Gare de L’Est (or Nord) railway station, the second in a courtyard at 107 Quai Valmy. The third landed in the street at 66 Rue des Marais, and the fourth bomb broke through a skylight in the Rue des Recollets but failed to explode. One woman was reported killed and four people wounded.
As it turned out, the bombs were not as alarming to the populace as a small object with a streamer that was dropped into a street, where it was retrieved and taken to the gendarmes. Inside the sand-filled pouch were a few propaganda leaflets and a message in French that read: “The German army is at the gates of Paris. There is nothing for you to do but surrender. Lt. von Hiddessen.” The message made the front pages of the next day’s Parisian newspapers. Ferdinand von Hiddessen, the pilot in this first raid by an airplane on a national capital, had joined the German army and been commissioned a 2nd lieutenant in 1908. In 1910 Leutnant von Hiddessen learned to fly at the August Euler School and received pilot license No. 47. He participated in army maneuvers and entered several aviation contests, winning numerous prizes. In June 1912 he took part in Germany’s first airmail flight, and later collected weather data for meteorological research. When war broke out von Hiddessen was serving in Feldflieger Abteilung (field flying detachment) 11. Assigned to an army corps for observation and reconnaissance, it was equipped with six license-produced Rumpler Taube monoplanes. The birdlike Taube, designed in 1910 by Igo Etrich, featured wing-warping lateral control and a 100-hp Mercedes or Daimler engine that gave it a top speed of 75 mph. Von Hiddessen’s commander had selected him for the Paris mission because of his extensive flying experience. After von Hiddessen and his observer dropped their payload, their main concern was the return flight. They were worried that the Taube would run out of fuel
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during the 2½-hour mission, but they landed safely at their field at Saint-Quentin in northern France. Von Hiddessen returned to Paris at about 5 p.m. the next day and dropped two more small bombs, with one failing to explode. On September 1 another Taube dropped six bombs, killing three people and wounding 16. The following day three planes were reported over the city around 5 p.m., and Parisians began referring to the interlopers as the “Five O’clock Taubes.” Newspapers and city officials urged residents to stay FRONT PAGE NEWS An article in the Paris edition of the New York Herald Tribune reported on the Taubes’ attacks on the city.
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indoors during the air raids, but many remained in the streets and cafes watching the planes through binoculars and opera glasses. The raids then temporarily ceased, as the German aircraft were needed for reconnaissance at the front on September 6 with the beginning of the Battle of the Marne. German raiders returned on the 8th, but no bombs were dropped. A few subsequent raids caused little damage. Even though the first air raids on Paris accomplished little, and the initial panic they caused quickly dissolved, they set an important precedent as an early aerial example of psychological warfare. They also demonstrated the future potential of air power. Although Paris was within
VON HIDDESSEN
the operating zone of tactical aircraft at that time, the air raids were not directly in support of German ground forces. After fierce fighting in the Battle of the Marne, the Germans withdrew to a line on the Aisne River. The Germans launched
a serious strategic bombing campaign in January 1915 with raids on southern England by Zeppelin airships. In May 1917 raids began employing twin-engine Gotha bombers and multiengine Riesenflugzeuge (giant airplanes), continuing until May 1918. Although the damage and casualty figures were minimal by later standards, the raids had a noticeable psychological impact on the British public. More important, they forced the diversion of large numbers of pursuit planes, anti-aircraft guns and searchlights from the Western Front. After the First Battle of the Marne, von Hiddessen performed observation work until he was shot down over Verdun in 1915. He recovered from serious wounds and remained in a French prisoner of war camp until hostilities ended with the armistice on November 11, 1918. Discharged from the army with the rank of cavalry captain, he became a farmer. The postwar years was a time of great difficulty in Germany, with runaway inflation and widespread unemployment, which saw many disgruntled Germans turning to radical political parties. Von Hiddessen joined the Nazi Party in the 1920s, and from 1933 commanded an SA (Sturm Abteilung) unit. In 1937 he transferred to the newly founded NSFK (Nationalsozialistisches Fliegerkorps), and was later honored for his organizational work in training fledgling pilots. After the outbreak of World War II, he was commissioned a captain in the Luftwaffe in early 1940. The end of the war saw him interned for more than three years. He lived his last years quietly on a small farm in the Black Forest, and died at Neustadt in January 1971.
TOP: BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE DE FRANCE; BOTTOM: COURTESY OF C.G. SWEETING
AvIATORS
RESTORED
ready for display The Boeing B-17F Memphis Belle, fresh from its restoration. Below: Museum specialist Roger Brigner works on the Norden bombsight mount.
memphis Belle reborn again AFTER YEARS OF EXPOSURE TO THE ELEMENTS, THE MOST ICONIC BOMBER OF WORLD WAR II HAS BEEN METICULOUSLY RESTORED AND DISPLAYED AT ITS PERMANENT NEW HOME BY FREDERICK A. JOHNSEN ome aircraft are restored once-and-done. The famed B-17F Flying Fortress Memphis Belle has undergone several treatments over the years, ranging from quick facelifts to an earnest refurbishing in Memphis in the 1980s. In its latest and likely last debut, the celebrated bomber emerged fresh from the well-equipped shops at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. Memphis Belle might easily have joined thousands of surplus warplanes that were unceremoniously scrapped at warâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s end. ,MTQ^MZML \W 7STIPWUIÂź[ )T\][ )ZUa )QZĂ&#x2026;MTL QV )]O][\ ! \PM JWUJMZ _I[ XIZSML _Q\P ZW_[ WN * [ IVL * [ \PM ^I[\ majority of which were quickly salvaged. But when Belle came to the attention of the mayor of its namesake city in Tennessee, I \ZIV[NMZ \Q\TM OIQVML 5MUXPQ[ XW[[M[[QWV WN \PM KWUJI\ veteran Fortress. .TW_V \W \PM 5MUXPQ[ IQZXWZ\ QV ! Belle remained XIZSML \PMZM ]V\QT ! _PMV I P]OM KWVKZM\M XTQV\P _I[ made for the B-17 at the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Army National Guard armory. Belle stood proud, if increasingly ragged, over the next two and a half decades of exposure to the elements until that armory was vacated in 1977. 5MIV_PQTM QV ! JWW[\MZ .ZIVS ,WVWNZQW PIL WZOIV QbML 14
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the Memphis Belle Memorial Committee to care for the famed bomber. In the 1970s and into the 1980s, the renamed Memphis Belle Memorial Association (MBMA) did everything from cosmetic touch-ups to beginning an earnest refurbishing of the old airframe. But Belle remained outdoors, again at the Memphis airport. The MBMAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s members, especially Memphis surgeon Harry Friedman, scoured the countryside for parts to make the B-17 authentic and complete. By 1987, the MBMA and the city had raised enough money and poured in enough work to dedicate a new
Memphis Belle display on Mud Island in the Mississippi River in downtown Memphis. A grand dedication ceremony on May 17 of that aMIZ QVKT]LML I Ă&#x2020;aW^MZ WN seven B-17s as well as modern Air Force bombers. A giant umbrella-like KIVWXa SMX\ \PM ZIQV Wâ&#x20AC;Ť\ Ůşâ&#x20AC;ŹPM bomber, but not the pigeons or general humidity. Aluminum corrosion slowly took its toll. The MBMA knew better accommodations had to be found. In 2002 Belle traveled by truck to a hangar at the former Memphis Naval Air Station. By the following year, a team of professional aircraft mechanics
PHOTOS: U.S. AIR FORCE
some assembly required Clockwise from left: The B-17 is readied for restoration; a control wheel center cap; Belle’s nose art was modeled after a George Petty pinup.
from locally based Federal Express was probing the B-17’s structure and replacing corroded metal with new aluminum. It was, by local accounts, the best restoration Belle had received in its halfcentury existence. But all those professional airframe and engine specialists, and all the MBMA supporters, were not enough to keep Belle in Memphis. -ٺWZ\[ \W ZIQ[M N]VL[ NWZ IV enclosed museum fell short. The relationship between Memphis Belle’s Tennessee backers and the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force has ranged from cordial to contentious. By 2005, when it was apparent
funding for the Memphis museum would fall short, the B-17 was transported to the Air Force museum at the MBMA’s request. It’s worth remembering that the only reason Belle exists today is the MVL]ZQVO MٺWZ\[ WN I PIVLN]T of Memphis citizens going back to 1946. Building on the work completed at Memphis, the museum’s restoration team continued the search for corrosion, replacing more structure before reassembling and painting Belle. Some of the Memphis supporters worked _Q\P U][M]U [\I\ ٺW TWKI\M parts and assist the team with information on previous restorations. “Harry Friedman
was a very big help to us,” said museum restoration specialist Casey Simmons. ;QUUWV[ ÅO]ZM[ \PM bomber today has about 90 to 95 percent of its original wartime metal. Working on the B-17 was far more than just another job for him. Simmons said he sometimes had to take a couple steps back during the restoration process and look at the storied bomber just to let it sink in that this was the famous Memphis Belle. Today Belle features rubber de-icer boots on the leading edges of the wings and tail, just as it had in 1943. Those aren’t available anymore, but original manufacturer BFGoodrich made a brand-new set—not airworthy, but a dead ringer. Simmons fabricated a missing glycol heater, using [WUM WZQOQVIT Å\\QVO[ IVL replicating the rest, just so it could be installed inside the structure, where it will never
be seen by most museum visitors. It’s that level of detail—a hallmark of this latest restoration—that elevates Memphis Belle as an iconic artifact from World War II. Thanks to William Wyler’s wartime documentary about the bomber, shot using color 3WLIKPZWUM ÅTU I _MIT\P of contemporary color imagery of Belle survives. Using UIVa XPW\W[ IVL ÅTU KTQX[ the museum team labored over the correct placement and color of all the bomber’s markings. Once the B-17 was stripped down to bare metal, Simmons found a faint scribe line that exactly matched the outline of the pin-up art on the nose. To get it just right, the repainting of Memphis Belle in Dayton was much more arduous, deliberate and time-consuming than it had been during the war. The museum team pondered a complicated reconciliation of wartime wear and tear with aesthetic considerations as they prepared to paint the bomber. Belle is logically displayed with all its mission symbols and markings, as it appeared at the end of its combat tour in May 1943. By that time, however, the aircraft had small but visible nicks and gaps in its KIUW]ÆIOM I[ _MTT I[ NILQVO from hours in the sun. The paint and markings applied to Belle in Dayton represent IV MIZVM[\ MٺWZ\ \W ZMXTQKI\M the right colors, but without the bare spots and oil stains of 1943. The fabric color on the rudder is deliberately lighter than the rest of the olive drab, in keeping with photos of Memphis Belle at the end of Q\[ KWUJI\ \W]Z <PM ÅVQ[PML product is a respectful take on a national icon of WWII.
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EXTREMES
bent bird Assembled for ï¬&#x201A;ight, the Arado Ar-231 looked more misassembled. The ï¬&#x201A;oatplane folded neatly for storage (below), but it performed poorly both on the water and in the air.
Germanyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cockeyed Kites IN THEIR QUEST TO GIVE U-BOATS EYES IN THE SKY, THE NAZIS DEVELOPED AND TESTED TWO SMALL SUB-CARRIED SPOTTER AIRCRAFT BY ROBERT GUTTMAN hen it comes to creating extreme aircraftâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;both good IVL JIL¸Q\¼[ LQâ&#x20AC;«Ù»â&#x20AC;¬K]T\ \W W]\LW 6IbQ /MZUIVa <PM Reichsluftfahrtministerium 5QVQ[\Za WN )^QI\QWV WZ :45 _I[ IXXIZMV\Ta _QTTQVO \W QV^M[\ QV IVa IMZW VI]\QKIT QLMI ZMOIZLTM[[ WN PW_ JQbIZZM .WZ \PMQZ XIZ\ /MZUIV MVOQVMMZ[ PIXXQTa WJTQOML Ja KWUQVO ]X _Q\P [WUM WN \PM UW[\ W]\TIVLQ[P IQZKZIN\ M^MZ KWVKMQ^ML )ZILW¼[ TQ\\TM )Z Ã&#x2020;WI\XTIVM LM[QOVML \W JM \ZIV[XWZ\ML IVL TI]VKPML NZWU I []JUIZQVM PI[ \W KWUM VMIZ \PM \WX WN \PM TQ[\ <PM KWVKMX\ JMPQVL \PM LM[QOV UMIV\ \W N]TÃ&#x2026;TT I ^MZa [\ZQV OMV\ VI^a ZMY]QZMUMV\ NWZ I [XW\\MZ XTIVM KW]TL QV Q\[MTN JM KPIZIK\MZQbML I[ M`\ZMUM )QZKZIN\ WXMZI\QVO NZWU _IZ[PQX[ OMVMZITTa PI^M \W JM KWUXIK\ J]\ QV \PQ[ KI[M \PM IQZXTIVM _I[ \W WXMZI\M NZWU I []JUIZQVM \PI\ PILV¼\ M^MV JMMV J]QT\ aM\ \PM <aXM @1 Unterseekreuzer ,M[QOVML QV ! ! \PM NWW\ TWVO = KZ]Q[MZ _W]TL PI^M JMMV \PM [MKWVL TIZOM[\ []J QV \PM _WZTL IN\MZ \PM 2IXIVM[M Ã&#x2020;WI\XTIVM KIZZaQVO 1 KTI[[ =VTQSM Q\[ 2IXIVM[M KW]V\MZXIZ\[ PW_M^MZ \PM <aXM @1 _W]TL PI^M TIKSML TI]VKPQVO KI\IX]T\[ 1V ILLQ\QWV \PM 2IXI VM[M []J[ PIL PWZQbWV\IT PIVOIZ[ ITTW_QVO \PMQZ IQZKZIN\ \W UW^M LQZMK\Ta WV\W \PM KI\IX]T\ NWZ TI]VKPQVO <PM = KZ]Q[MZ QV KWV\ZI[\ _I[ LM[QOVML \W [\WZM Q\[ IQZKZIN\ QV I ^MZ\QKIT \]JM R][\ NWZ_IZL WN \PM KWVVQVO \W_MZ <PM Ã&#x2020;WI\XTIVM _I[ \W JM [\W_ML QV I VW[M LW_V I\\Q\]LM \W XZW\MK\ \PM IQZNZIUM NZWU LZQXXQVO WQT IVL N]MT ?PMV VMMLML Q\ _W]TL JM PWQ[\ML WV\W \PM LMKS _Q\P I KZIVM I[[MUJTML TW_MZML W^MZ \PM [QLM IVL \PMV Ã&#x2020;W_V Wâ&#x20AC;«\ Ùºâ&#x20AC;¬PM _I\MZ 16
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OPPOSITE PHOTOS: COURTESY OF WOLFGANG MUEHLBAUER; TOP RIGHT: NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM/DANE PENLAND; BOTTOM RIGHT: HISTORYNET ARCHIVE
As with several of Germanyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s other ambitious naval programs, construction of the Type XI U-cruisers was cancelled at the beginning of World War II in order to conserve raw materials for more vital weapons production. For unknown reasons, though, Ar-231 development con\QV]ML <PM Ă&#x2026;Z[\ XZW\W\aXM of Aradoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s little scout made Q\[ UIQLMV Ă&#x2020;QOP\ WV 2]Ta 1940, nearly a year after construction of the vessels from which it was meant to operate ceased. In most respects the Ar-231â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s design was fairly conventional for a singleengine, single-seat, twinĂ&#x2020;WI\ XIZI[WT UWVWXTIVM <PM \IQT Ă&#x2026;V _I[ ]V][]ITTa low and the elevator stuck out behind the rudder, both features dictated by the subâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s limited stowage space. What set it jarringly apart from the crowd, however, was its wing KWVĂ&#x2026;O]ZI\QWV 1V IV Mâ&#x20AC;ŤŮşâ&#x20AC;ŹWZ\ \W facilitate folding, the designers mounted the center sec\QWV I\ IV LMOZMM IVOTM with the left wing higher than the right. In addition, the left wing was rigged with a noticeable dihedral angle, whereas the right wing was ITUW[\ Ă&#x2020;I\ <PM _QVO[ _MZM deliberately designed that way in order to allow one to fold beneath the other to save space. Aradoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s engineers went out of their way to produce an airplane that would be easy to assemble. In fact, the Ar-231 reportedly could be deployed in as little as six minutes. The resulting Ă&#x2020;WI\XTIVM PW_M^MZ TWWSML as though it had been assembled incorrectly or had been involved in a nasty accident. Powered by a 160-hp Hirth engine, the Ar-231 had a _QVO[XIV WN NMM\ _I[ feet long and weighed only 2,200 pounds. Maximum speed was listed as 106 mph
rotary recon platform The Focke-Achgelis Fa-330 was launched from a U-boatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s conning tower (right). Today a surviving example is on display at the National Air and Space Museum (above).
and range as 311 miles. Since \PM Ă&#x2020;WI\XTIVM PIL I PIZL time getting airborne with a full fuel load in normal sea conditions, range under actual operational conditions would undoubtedly have been far less. Flight testing continued through 1941, and six prototypes were produced. As UQOP\ JM M`XMK\ML \PM Ă&#x2020;WI\planeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s handling characteristics, both in the air and on the water, were less than stellar. The Ar-231 proved to be unstable, underpowered and Ă&#x2020;QU[a 1\ _I[ QVKIXIJTM WN \ISQVO Wâ&#x20AC;Ť Ůşâ&#x20AC;ŹQV IVa\PQVO rougher than the smoothest sea conditions unless a few weighty items were removedâ&#x20AC;Śsuch as the radio and much of the fuel! In spite of its shortcomings, the Ar-231 got a reprieve from oblivion in May 1942, when two of the six prototypes went to sea in the new surface raider Stier. The proven and much-preferred )ZILW )Z ! Ă&#x2020;WI\XTIVM _I[ \WW TIZOM \W Ă&#x2026;\ QV\W \PM KWVverted cargo shipâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hatches,
leaving the Ar-231 as the only available alternative. They proved so useless, however, that Stierâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s captain, Horst Gerlach, regretted taking them along. When Stier fell victim to its last prey, the Liberty ship Stephen Hopkins, on September 27, 1942, both Arados went down with it. No U-boat ever took an Ar-231 to sea. Undeterred, the RLM came up with an even more improbable alternative to serve as the submarinerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s aerial observation platform: the Focke-Achgelis .I <PM \QVa XW]VL gyrocopter was designed to be towed behind a surfaced submarine at the end of a NWW\ \M\PMZ TQSM I ZW\IZa wing kite. The idea was that one of the crew would go up
in the little helicopter to scan the horizon for potential victims. If he spotted an enemy ship or aircraft, the tether would be immediately cut and the sub would crashdive. In a scene reminiscent of the fate of the Zeppelin observer in Howard Hughesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; NIUW][ Ă&#x2026;TU Hellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Angels, the hapless U-boat lookout would be left to auto-rotate into the sea, to be picked up later by his comrades, or not, as fortune decreed. Not surprisingly, the U-boat crews exhibited no more enthusiasm for the Fa-330 than they had for the Ar-231. Fortunately for them, new developments in air and surface search radar made all those aerial observation posts redundant.
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Photo courtesy PAL-V
We check out the futuristic PAL-V flying car, check in with the new LAT_56 carry-on bag, test drive the Dark Knight from East Coast Defender and more. NOVEMBER 2018
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The PAL-V converts from car to aircraft in less than 10 minutes.
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STYLE AIRCRAFT
Earned Wings
Photos courtesy PAL-V
The PAL-V has a maximum range of 250-300 miles and parks neatly in your standard garage.
The Jetsons’ idea of the future has arrived. Enter the PAL-V, a unique automobile that in five to 10 minutes converts to a dual-engine gyroplane, or back again. Developed in the Netherlands, the PAL-V is FAA certified and can take of in as litle as a chip shot and is capable of landing on an area equivalent to a tennis court. Airborne, it cruises at speeds of 30 to 112 mph while absorbing only 20 percent of the turbulence of a fixedwing airplane. On the ground, it zips along at up to 100 mph. The maker claims it’s easy to fly and is “the safest gyroplane ever built.” Unlike most fixed-wing airplanes, it cannot stall and the PAL-V supports safe landing even in the very unlikely event that both engines fail. Yes, you’ll still need a pilot’s license to fly it, but this one conveniently parks in your garage. Be the first on your block to pre-order one for $351,205. pal-v.com
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Photo courtesy ECD
STYLE
DESIGN
Bespoke Rover Starting with a Land Rover Defender or a Range Rover Classic vehicle, East Coast Defender builds custom rugged road warriors from its 30,000-square-foot facility in Kissimmee, Fla. The company’s latest, Project Dark Knight, is a hand-crafted Defender 110 with black eggshell finish and a full exterior roll cage. Power comes via an LC9 5.3-liter, 320-hp V8 engine with a six-speed automatic transmission. The rig rolls on polished Wolfrace Vermont 20-inch wheels and BFGoodrich tires. Up front, there’s a Warn winch with LED spotlights. Inside, the customizing continues with a Momo Gotham steering wheel, Corbeau Trailcat seats, push-to-start ignition, USB charging ports and a premium Sony Infotainment system. For additional info visit eastcoastdefender.com
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The East Coast Defender Project Dark Knight started out as a Land Rover Defender 110. Photographed at the Kissimmee Air Museum in Florida.
WATCH
Good Timing The new Porsche Design 42mm 1919 Chronotimer Flyback with brown calfskin band is a lightweight, COSC-certified titanium watch based on minimalist design. Prof. F.A. Porsche once said, “If you analyze the function of an object, its form often becomes obvious.” $6,350, porsche-design.us
STYLE TRAVEL
Custom Carry-On
Photos courtesy LAT_56º
Designed in conjunction with Savile Row tailors, the LAT_56° Red-Eye featuring a patented suit packing system is the best carry-on for those three-day business jetaways. Roll and store your Sunday best in meeting-ready condition using the custom textile garment bag and torso-shaped hanger. On this portmanteau’s B-side, there’s enough space for shirts and ties, shoes, underwear, Dopp kit and other essentials. A clever sleeve strap lets you connect it over your rolling luggage handle. The LAT_56° Red-Eye Carry-On Garment Bag, $349, lat56.com
The LAT_56º Red-Eye’s patented suit storage system hanger nestles here to keep your suit wrinkle-free.
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LETTER FROM AvIATION HISTORY
GREAT WARS
aerial melee British Airco DH.9A bombers close up their formation to defend against attacking German Fokker Dr.Is and D.VIIs, in a painting by landscape artist Horace Davis.
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ow long does it take us to learn the lessons of past wars? A century ago, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, World War I ended with the signing of the armistice between the Allies and Germany. In hindsight, it seems almost laughable that at the time some considered it â&#x20AC;&#x153;the war to end all wars.â&#x20AC;? The Great War spurred the development of aviation technology and witnessed many aerial QVVW^I\QWV[ QVKT]LQVO \PM Ă&#x2026;Z[\ JWUJIZLUMV\ WN a capital city from an airplane (story, P. 10). The hand-dropped explosives did little damage to Paris, but demonstrated the powerful psychologQKIT Mâ&#x20AC;ŤŮşâ&#x20AC;ŹMK\ WN \MZZWZ JWUJQVO <PM =VQ\ML ;\I\M[ late to the Allied party, found itself behind the technological curve, and scrambled to develop suitable airplanes for this new kind of war. Less than 15 years after the Wright brothers achieved the first powered, controlled, heavier-than-air Ă&#x2020;QOP\[ \PM = ; _I[ KWUXMTTML \W ZMTa WV \PM \ITMV\[ WN *ZQ\ Q[P M`XI\[ \W LM^MTWX \PM Ă&#x2026;Z[\ QVLQO enous American scout plane (P. 60). Once more late to the party in World War II IUQL š)UMZQKI .QZ[\Âş Q[WTI\QWVQ[U \PM = ; again found itself lagging in aviation technology. Although American aircraft companies quickly ramped up development and production of new _IZXTIVM[ *ZQ\IQV /MZUIVa IVL 2IXIV ITT Ă&#x2026;MTLML better aircraft early in the war. The Germans, in particular, pushed technological boundaries, [WUM\QUM[ _Q\P [QOVQĂ&#x2026;KIV\ JZMIS\PZW]OP[ I[ _Q\P \PM QV\ZWL]K\QWV WN \PM Ă&#x2026;Z[\ WXMZI\QWVIT RM\ Ă&#x2026;OP\MZ \PM 5M[[MZ[KPUQ\\ 5M Ă&#x2020;W_V Ja )LWTN /IT TIVL
8 IVL W\PMZ \QUM[ _Q\P ]VY]ITQĂ&#x2026;ML NIQT]ZM[ []KP I[ \PMQZ I\\MUX\ \W LM^MTWX = JWI\¡KIZZQML IQZKZIN\ 8 <PM 2IXI VM[M Ă&#x2026;MTLML 5Q\[]JQ[PQÂź[ ^I]V\ML ) 5 BMZW Ă&#x2026;OP\MZ IVL TWVO ZIVOM / 5 *M\\a JWUJMZ 8 J]\ JW\P []â&#x20AC;ŤŮşâ&#x20AC;ŹMZML NZWU I TIKS of protection for fuel and aircrews. 7V \PM 3WZMIV XMVQV[]TI Ă&#x2026;^M aMIZ[ IN\MZ \PM MVL WN \PM _IZ QV -]ZWXM \PM = ; WVKM IOIQV _MV\ \W _IZ ]VXZMXIZML LM\MK\ I XI\\MZV PMZM' ;WTLQMZ[ IVL IQZUMV [MV\ \W ;W]\P 3WZMI QV 2]VM ! \W stop the North Korean invasion lacked adequate equipment and supplies. The nascent Republic of Korea air force consisted of a handful of novice XQTW\[ Ă&#x2020;aQVO \ZIQVQVO IQZKZIN\ ;MV\ \W WZOIVQbM IVL train the ROK pilots, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Flying Parsonâ&#x20AC;? Dean Hess NW]VL []KKM[[ Ja TMILQVO NZWU \PM NZWV\ 8 Which brings us to the Vietnam War, a military IVL XWTQ\QKIT Y]IOUQZM WN \PM Ă&#x2026;Z[\ WZLMZ 7N \PM many lessons unlearned in that war, the restrictive rules of engagement foisted on military leaders by politicians were perhaps the most onerous. These TML \W KW]V\TM[[ IMZQIT Ă&#x2026;I[KW[ QV _PQKP )UMZQKIV[ put their lives on the line while following questionable tactics for dubious strategic gains. In one MIZTa _IZ M`IUXTM = ; Ă&#x2026;OP\MZ JWUJMZ[ \IZOM\ML two surface-to-air missile sites that turned out to PIZJWZ VW ;)5[ 8 1V \WLIaÂź[ ^WTI\QTM _WZTL KTQUI\M _M _W]TL LW well to heed the lessons of past warsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the dangers of isolationism, blind nationalism, appeasement, lack of preparedness and politicians who fancy themselves military strategists. If the next world KWVĂ&#x2020;QK\ [\IZ\[ _Q\P \PM X][P WN I J]\\WV Q\ KW]TL well be the real war to end all wars.
IWM ART 3071
BY CARL VON WODTKE
JET GENERAL Piloting a Messerschmitt Me-262A-1 on April 26, 1945, Lieutenant General Adolf Galland looks for his next victim among a ďŹ&#x201A;ight of Ninth Air Force Martin B-26C Marauders, in a Jack Fellows illustration.
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LEGENDARY GERMAN FIGHTER ACE ADOLF GALLAND FOUGHT ALLIED PILOTS IN THE AIR AND INEPT NAZI LEADERS ON THE GROUND BY BARRETT TILLMAN
PREVIOUS SPREAD: ©2018 JACK FELLOWS, ASAA; OPPOSITE: NATIONAL ARCHIVES; ABOVE: COURTESY OF WOLFGANG MUEHLBAUER
His Messerschmitt 109s bearing the incongruous Mickey Mouse emblem became iconic images for generations of historians, artists and modelers. Yet those were superficial manifestations of his personality; the man beneath the image was far more intriguing. Galland was born into a western German family of French descent in March 1912. His father was fortunate to survive World War I, losing seven brothers between 1914 and 1918. The second of four sons, Adolf Jr. was enamored with aviation from childhood. He joined a glider club and soloed at 17, calling the experience “the most important moment of my life.” As he summarized, “The saying that the gods demand sweat and tears before they grant success has no truer application than in the sport of gliding.” Galland’s success led to qualification for Lufthansa, the national airline, in 1932. He was among 18 pilots accepted from 4,000 applicants. However, the budding airman’s career seemed to careen toward expulsion from flight school after a particularly bad landing and a collision between two friends while Galland led an unauthorized formation flight. At that point, expecting the worst, he applied to Ger many’s small army and was accepted, but Lufthansa refused to let him go. “The incident was soon forgotten and I breathed freely again,” he said. After a brief stint piloting flying boats, in 1933 Galland was recruited into a clandestine program designed to build a new German air force. His detachment went to Italy for military flight training before returning to Lufthansa. The instrument experience he gained flying transports later proved invaluable.
In October 1935 Galland crashed severely in a Focke-Wulf Fw-44 trainer. Comatose for three days, with a fractured skull and nose, he returned to flight status with the help of a friendly flight surgeon. But Galland suffered another serious wreck a year later, revealing an eye injury from the previous episode. He passed the subsequent examination by memorizing the eye chart. Welcoming a shot at combat, in 1937 Galland joined the Condor Legion, which Adolf Hitler had dispatched to support Spanish Generalissimo Francisco Franco’s Nationalists against Republican forces. There Galland logged some 300 ground-support missions in 10 months, largely flying Heinkel He-51 biplanes. Before leaving Spain he flew the new Messerschmitt Bf-109, checked out by Werner Mölders, the Condor Legion’s most successful fighter pilot, with 14 victories to his credit. Spain had marked a transition in combat aviation, from open-cockpit biplanes to all-metal monoplanes. Decades later Galland joked, “In open cockpits sometimes you could not only hear the enemy—sometimes you could smell him!” Upon his return from Spain in 1938, Galland spent several months in the air ministry, helping formulate doctrine for what would become the Blitzkrieg. It was a significant assignment for one so junior, reflecting the leadership’s confidence in Galland and his expertise at close air support. With that background, Galland led dozens of close-support missions in Henschel Hs-123 biplanes in Poland at the start of WWII. However, a cloud with a golden lining emerged when Galland developed rheumatism. Unable to withstand the cold of the Henschels’ open cockpits, he trans-
GALLAND JOKED, “IN OPEN COCKPITS SOMETIMES YOU COULD NOT ONLY HEAR THE ENEMY— SOMETIMES YOU COULD SMELL HIM!” ICONIC FIGHTER Galland prepares for a mission in his Me-109E, which sports a telescopic gunsight and his signature emblem of a weapontoting, cigar-smoking Mickey Mouse.
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GLORY DAYS Top (from left): Werner Mölders, Luftwaffe chief Hermann Göring and Galland confer during the Battle of Britain. Above: The ace steps from his Me-109, in a cover photo from a German illustrated newspaper.
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ermany’s ill-fated effort to bomb Britain into a negotiated settlement floundered on the rocks of reality in the summer of 1940. The Luftwaffe, built primarily as an army support organization, lacked the strategic punch and reach to destroy British industry. Consequently, the Battle of Britain centered on Germany’s effort to defeat RAF Fighter Command over southeastern England. A doctrinal dispute quickly arose. Alarmed by bomber losses, Luftwaffe chief Hermann Göring, a WWI ace, ordered his Messerschmitts to fly close enough to the Heinkels and Dorniers for the crews to see the friendly fighters. Galland recognized the folly of Göring’s bomber close-escort requirement. “We fighter pilots certainly preferred the ‘free chase’ during the approach and over the target area,” he said.
TOP LEFT: SUEDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG/ALAMY; BOTTOM LEFT: JOHN FROST NEWSPAPERS/ALAMY; RIGHT: ©THE MILITARY GALLERY, OJAI, CALIF.; ABOVE RIGHT: PAUL BRIDEN/ALAMY
ferred to fighters. Ever the hunter, he was posted to Jagdge schwader 27 (JG.27) in February 1940, serving with that fighter wing for four months. On June 12 he claimed his first three kills, all Hawker Hurricanes, over Belgium, with two confirmed by Royal Air Force records. Years later he theorized that the third could have been Belgian. “I took this all quite naturally, as a matter of course, for there was nothing special about it,” Galland reflected. “I had not felt any excitement, and I was not even particularly elated by my success; that only came much later, when we had to deal with much tougher adversaries, when each relentless aerial combat was a question of ‘You or me.’” Already promoted to captain, Galland transferred to JG.26 in June, and was credited with 14 victories when the Battle of Britain began in July. By then he was a major commanding the wing’s III Gruppe.
“This in fact gives the greatest relief and the best protection for the bomber force, though not perhaps a direct sense of security. A compromise between the two possibilities was ‘extended protection’ in which the fighters still flew in visible contact with the bombers, but were allowed to attack any enemy fighter which drew near the main force. “In addition, we introduced ‘fighter reception’: fighter squadrons or wings which sometimes went right up to the English coast to meet the often broken-up and battered bomber formations on their return, protecting them from pursuing enemy fighters.” The twin-engine Messerschmitt 110 was intended to provide long-range escort to the bombers. Galland summarized: “Our protective role should have been allotted to the more suitable Me 110, a machine specially created for the tasks which fighters were not up to on account of their small radius. But soon it was clear that the Me 110 was even less suited than the 109.” Seeking better results, Göring replaced most of his WWI comrades with new blood in tactical commands. Galland assumed leadership of JG.26 in August, and before year end he was a lieutenant colonel. By then the RAF advantages were well known. Comparing British and German situational awareness, he noted: “We had to rely on our human eyes. The British fighter pilots could rely on the radar eye, which was far more reliable and had a longer range. When we made contact with the enemy, our briefings were already three hours old; the British only as many seconds old—the time it took to assess the latest position by means of radar to the transmission of attacking orders from Fighter Command to the airborne force.” Still, by the end of October, Galland had run up his victory tally to 49. Of the 37 credited to him during that period, about 27 appear credible based on British losses. Galland feuded with Göring for most of the war. As he told historian Colin Heaton: “Göring had many problems, but he was basically an intelligent man and well educated. He had many weak points…and he was always under pressure from Hitler, yet he never contradicted him or corrected him on any point. This weakness increased as the war dragged on, along with his drug addiction, until he was nothing. As far as our Luftwaffe was concerned, he was even less and should have been replaced.” The action continued over the English Channel after the Battle of Britain, often with multiple daily combats. On June 21, 1941, Galland was shot down twice. First attacking Bristol Blenheim bombers, he was caught from behind and forced to crash-land in occupied France. Several hours later, flying his spare Messerschmitt, he scrambled again and outfought a Supermarine Spitfire. But
while watching it splash, he was jumped again and shot down. He barely escaped the flaming 109 in time to pull his ripcord. Returning to his French base from the hospital, he learned that his 70th victory had earned him the Oak Leaves to the Knight’s Cross—the third ever awarded. Occasionally JG.26 clashed with the RAF’s Tangmere Wing, commanded by the legendary Douglas Bader. On August 21 the legless British ace was downed over France in a confusing combat that may have involved friendly fire. Galland hosted his opposite number before Bader entered prison camp, beginning an enduring relationship. Much has been made of Galland’s rivalry with JG.51 commander Werner Mölders, though they were friends. Their careers were inextricably linked, even in death. When Mölders was killed in an accident on November 22, 1941, Galland succeeded him as Inspector of Fighters. To Galland, the year was an unmitigated disaster. Germany had attacked the Soviet Union in June, and less than six months later declared war on the United States. With more strategic grasp than his masters, the ace recognized the war’s inevitable outcome, but could only continue doing what he knew best. Galland was promoted to full colonel in Decem-
MEMORABLE MISSION On June 21, 1941, Galland tears through a formation of Bristol Blenheims, downing one. Robert Taylor’s painting also shows the Supermarine Spitfires that subsequently forced him to crash-land.
ber, retaining that rank for a year. When Göring approved the position for flag rank in late 1942, Galland became Generalmajor, an Allied one-star equivalent. Thus, at 30, he was Germany’s youngest general, rising to Generalleutnant in late 1944. Meanwhile, in January 1942 Galland received the Diamonds to the Knight’s Cross, acknowledging his 96 victories. He was only the second Diamonds recipient, Mölders having been the first. Just 25 more were authorized during the war. Galland’s organizational and command talents were soon evident. In February 1942 the German navy required air cover for the “breakout” of the battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, which with cruiser Prinz Eugen ran the British gantlet in the spectacular “Channel Dash.” Operating within easy reach of land-based airpower, the Kriegsmarine force with six destroyers and dozens of smaller escorts escaped from Brest on the French coast to German ports. Galland’s Operation Thunderbolt was a resounding tactical success, with Luftflotte 3 protecting the ships during the three-day transit. Both battleships sustained damage from mines but safely reached port. In exchange for 22 German aircraft downed, the British lost more than 40, including all six attacking Fairey Swordfish torpedo planes.
IN LATE 1942, AT AGE 30, GALLAND BECAME GERMANY’S YOUNGEST GENERAL.
RARE HONOR Galland was the second Luftwaffe pilot, after Mölders, to be awarded the Knight’s Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds (above).
CHANGING FORTUNES Top: Galland talks with Adolf Hitler, who saved the ace from Göring’s wrath. Above: An Me-262A-1 flown by Eduard Schallmoser of Jagdverband 44 awaits its next mission at München-Riem.
Galland was already well known to Hitler, who lauded the operation’s success. Reflecting on the Führer, Galland said, “I don’t think anyone ever really knew Adolf Hitler. I was not very impressed with him. The first time I met him was after Spain when we were summoned to the Reichschancellery. There was Hitler, short, gray-faced and not very strong, and he spoke with a crisp language. This impression was strengthened every year I knew him as his mistakes mounted and cost German lives, the mistakes that Göring should have brought to his attention.” Thereafter Galland traveled extensively, keeping his finger on the pulse of the Luftwaffe’s fighter force in Russia, Italy and North Africa. Occasionally he cadged unauthorized missions in Fw-190s, though his claims against U.S. bombers remain obscure. n May 1944 the U.S. Eighth and Ninth air forces lost almost 550 aircraft over Europe, while the RAF wrote off nearly 1,000. But the momentum clearly belonged to the Allies. “The British and American tactical air forces, successfully extending their attempts to interrupt the bringing up of German reserves deep into France, made any move by daylight almost impossible,” Galland recalled. “In June alone they destroyed 551 locomotives.” He cited a panzer division commander’s report: “The Allies have total air supremacy. They bomb and shoot at anything which moves, even single vehicles and persons. Our territory is under constant observation. The
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feeling of being powerless against the enemy’s aircraft has a paralyzing effect.” The Luftwaffe seldom launched more than 250 daily fighter sorties during the Normandy campaign—a losing effort. “Wherever our fighters appeared, the Americans hurled themselves at them,” said Galland. “They went over to lowlevel attacks on our airfields. Nowhere were we safe; we had to skulk on our own bases. During takeoff, assembling, climbing, and approaching the bombers, once in contact, on our way back, during landing, and ever after that the American fighters attacked with overwhelming superiority.” Around the same time as the D-Day landings, the Luftwaffe debuted the world’s most advanced aircraft. When Galland first flew the jet-powered Messerschmitt 262 in early 1943 he famously reported, “It was as though the angels were pushing.” But technical and bureaucratic delays kept the jet sidelined past the point where its stunning performance could have made a difference. While the revolutionary Me-262 went operational in July 1944, Galland opposed Hitler’s insistence on using it as a fast bomber. The fighter chief believed that it was best employed slaying bombers, but he was ignored for too long to have a significant impact against them. Increasingly, Galland fought a two-front war: against the Allies in the air and against the Nazi hierarchy on the ground. His distressingly blunt honesty earned him powerful enemies at court. At length Galland’s resistance to Göring ended predictably: He was dismissed as chief of fighters and placed under house arrest, pending final disposition. The Reichsmarschall added with grim satisfaction that the order had come from Hitler. At that point Galland’s lengthy relationship with armaments minister Albert Speer paid dividends. Much later Galland learned that Speer had intervened with Hitler, fearing that Göring wanted the deposed general executed. When Speer described the situation, Hitler was enraged at the usurpation of his name, ordering Galland immediately released. Subsequently the general received an apology from the Führer, and a long monologue from Göring. To his satisfaction, Galland was sent to southern Germany to form a jet fighter unit as an overqualified two-star wing commander. Jagdverband 44 attracted many of Galland’s outcast friends, including senior officer standouts Johannes Steinhoff and Günther Lützow. Despite possessing more 262s, the Luftwaffe had no hope of offsetting immense Allied numbers merely with technology. In its four months of existence, JV.44 claimed 40 to 50 shootdowns—seven by the fighter general. Contemporaries such as Steinhoff noted that Galland’s strengths tended to conceal his errors. Perhaps the most notable was his half-hearted
OPPOSITE: (TOP) ULLSTEIN BILD VIA GETTY IMAGES, (BOTTOM): COURTESY OF WOLFGANG MUEHLBAUER; ABOVE LEFT: KEYSTONE/HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES: ABOVE RIGHT: ULLSTEIN BILD VIA GETTY IMAGES
effort to establish a fighter leaders’ school in 1943, a concession to increasing attrition among senior pilots. The concept died, in part because Galland’s own career had showed the stairway to the stars. Innate ability plus extensive experience had groomed him for ever-higher command levels, yet apparently it did not occur to him that others might not fare as well. Galland recognized the growing proportion of operational to combat losses, especially to weatherrelated accidents. However, he lacked the ability to correct it. The problem was twofold: a declining fuel supply and the need to shove replacement aircrews through abbreviated training that necessarily skimped on instrument flying. Still, the jet pilots kept flying as long as kerosene and ammunition lasted. After scoring his 104th victory on April 26, 1945, Galland made a rookie’s mistake—watching a B-26 Marauder crash instead of immediately checking his tail. Lieutenant James Finnegan, a Ninth Air Force P-47 Thunderbolt pilot, jumped the vulnerable jet and ventilated it. Galland got the failing 262 back to base, landing amid a Thunderbolt rainstorm. He abandoned his “Turbo,” receiving a leg wound in the process. Galland’s war was over, his world in ruins. He had lost two of his three brothers and scores of cherished friends such as Mölders and Lützow, and had seen Steinhoff severely burned in a jet crash. ollowing surrender to U.S. forces, Galland and other senior Luftwaffe officers were interrogated at facilities in Britain and Germany. Galland spent two years in captivity, including a session with recent adversaries. Major Richard Petersen, a triple ace of the 357th Fighter Group, recalled, “Galland was damned smart and easy to talk to, once you got past the accent. I enjoyed getting to know him.” Galland’s former RAF rival, Wing Commander Robert Stanford Tuck, also participated in the interrogations, saying, “Mostly we just fed him cigars and wine.” Lacking other options after his release, Galland worked as a forester and hunter on an estate in northern Germany. In 1948 he seized an opportunity to return to aviation when former FockeWulf engineer Kurt Tank invited him to join an enterprise in Argentina. Galland, who spoke Spanish from his Condor Legion days, called it one of the happiest periods of his life. He remained in Argentina until 1955, when he returned to Germany to pursue a business career. Galland’s classic memoir, The First and the Last,
“WHEREVER OUR FIGHTERS APPEARED, THE AMERICANS HURLED THEMSELVES AT THEM.... NOWHERE WERE WE SAFE.”
BEST OF ENEMIES Left: RAF ace Robert Stanford Tuck shows a Spitfire model to Galland during a Battle of Britain reunion in Zurich in 1969. Right: Galland chats with U.S. Air Force pilots at Cologne’s Flying Day of Nations in June 1956.
was published in 1954 and widely translated, selling millions of copies worldwide. With a foreword by Douglas Bader, the book made the German ace an international celebrity and the recipient of hundreds of speaking invitations. Meanwhile, Galland married three times, producing a son and daughter with his second wife. He met his last wife, Heidi Horn, via a flying club; they wed in 1984. Galland traveled widely, becoming a social lion in Europe and America. During a California trip in 1979, historian Henry Sakaida introduced him to Jim Finnegan, who had shot down Galland during his last combat in April 1945. The former “Jug” pilot explained that the jet credited as damaged was his only claim of the war. Galland sought to update The First and the Last, and found a sympathetic publisher in America. In 1986 Doug Champlin’s fighter aircraft museum in Mesa, Ariz., published the ultimate edition in combination with the photographic biography A Pilot’s Life. By then Galland’s health was beginning to fade. Slowly his ability to travel degraded, and eventually he became bedridden. On February 9, 1996, he died at home in Oberwinter overlooking the Rhine, not quite 84. Galland’s casket was borne by six Bundesluftwaffe wing commanders. As described by his biographer, David Baker, the elegy was delivered by Anton Weiler, president of the German Fighter Pilots Association: “He did not know the word lethargy. He left the slow ones behind. He was realistic but idealistic. He enjoyed resistance because it was a challenge. Self-confident, straightforward and at times impatient; always ahead of others and sometimes ahead of himself, he went a long way.” As publisher at Champlin Fighter Museum Press, Barrett Tillman produced the final version of The First and the Last. His partnership with Adolf Galland afforded much of the perspective in this article. Additional reading: Adolf Galland: The Authorised Biography, by David Baker.
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ONE LAST DUTY TO PERFORM Lieutenant Den Sudo emerges from the cockpit of his Mitsubishi G6M1-L—a “wingtip escort” heavy fighter variant of the G4M1 “Betty” bomber converted to a transport— at Ie Shima on August 19, 1945. The white-painted airplane carried officials charged with arranging details of the Japanese surrender.
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MITSUBISHI’S G4M BOMBER WENT BY MANY NAMES, BUT PERHAPS THE MOST APPROPRIATE WOULD HAVE BEEN “FLAMING COFFIN” BY STEPHAN WILKINSON
DESTINED TO DIE Pearl Harbor planner Isoroku Yamamoto (above) advocated for the land-based attack bomber that became the G4M1 (top), and later was killed in one.
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Betty was actually a waitress in Pennsylvania. A member of the three-man intelligence team that picked the names thus immortalized a onenight stand. The Japanese might have thought that amusing, but they called the Mitsubishi G4M Rikko, truncating their phrase for “land-based attack bomber.” (The G4M’s predecessor, the Mitsubishi G3M “Nell,” was also called Rikko.) The Rikko was Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto’s idea, abetted by the young, air-minded naval officers in his orbit. Yamamoto was a smart guy, even though he only got a C+ for his two years of English studies at Harvard from 1919 to 1921. Rather than pull all-nighters, he spent a lot of time in Cambridge playing poker. He beat his affluent opponents like borrowed mules, then used his con-
siderable winnings to finance a summer of travel around the United States, learning as much as he could about the overconfident gunslinger he would outdraw at Pearl Harbor two decades later. The old-timers in the Imperial Japanese Navy were battleship queens, and it was thanks to them that Japan constructed two expensive but supremely useless super-battleships, Yamato and Musashi, both sunk before their crews even knew the way to the wardroom. Yamamoto’s idea, however, was not to build more ships—you could buy a thousand airplanes for the cost of a warship, he once said—but to build a land-based bomber with huge range and great speed that could quickly fly far out to sea and fight naval battles, either defending the fleet’s capital ships or attacking the enemy. In 1936 Japan renounced the 1922 Washington
PREVIOUS SPREAD: FREDERICK HILL COLLECTION/U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY VIA JACK FELLOWS; OPPOSITE TOP: AVIATION HISTORY COLLECTION/ALAMY; OPPOSITE BOTTOM & ABOVE RIGHT: U.S. NAVY
Naval Treaty, which had stipulated that the capitalship-building ratio between the U.S., Britain and Japan should be 5:5:3. The Japanese thought that was unfair, and Yamamoto’s desire to build a fleet of very-long-range torpedo bombers—no aircraft carriers needed—was in part a way to circumvent the Washington treaty: If we can’t build floating warships, let’s build flying warships. Yamamoto’s weapon of choice was the torpedo, and the Betty was first and foremost a torpedo bomber, carrying a single 1,890-pound Type 91 tin fish—the world’s most accurate and powerful aerial torpedo right up until the end of the war. The Type 91 had been designed specifically for the Hawaii attack and Pearl Harbor’s shallow water, though there it was carried by singleengine, carrier-launched Nakajima B5N2 Kates. The Type 91 was a remarkable torpedo that could be dropped at speeds in excess of 230 mph. It was propelled by a tiny radial engine fueled by kerosene and compressed air, and had a surprisingly sophisticated automatic roll-control mechanism. It carried a huge explosive charge, and bore large wooden tailfins that stabilized it in flight and broke away when the torpedo entered the water. The Rikko assignment went straight to Mitsubishi, which had already paid its bomber-building dues with the G2M and G3M. The Nell was the scourge of China, ranging far and wide during the Sino-Japanese war that preceded WWII. So the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service laid down the parameters of what would become the Betty by basically saying, “Build a better Nell. Same engines, same twin-engine configuration, same size, give it some guns…just make it a lot faster and longer-legged.” The IJNAS requirements were a top speed of 247 mph, a maximum range of almost 3,000 statute miles and a loaded range of 2,300 miles. Mitsubishi said the bomber would need four engines to accomplish that, but the IJNAS insisted on a twin-engine configuration. Fortunately for the Betty’s engineering team, Mitsu came up with a new 1,530-hp, 14-cylinder, twin-row radial with half again as much grunt as its predecessor had offered. The Betty design would work. Some sources claim that Japan bought the original Douglas DC-4 prototype, the unsuccessful triple-tail design called the DC-4E, to serve as a model for a four-engine G4M. Imperial Japanese Airways did in fact purchase the DC-4E in late 1939 and immediately handed it over to Nakajima, which was ordered to produce a four-engine heavy bomber, the G5N, based on the Douglas design. Douglas couldn’t have played its hand better if it had tried. The DC-4E design proved to be so bad that the company started over again, producing the successful DC-4 airliner. Nakajima had no such opportunity with the G5N, which turned out to be underpowered and overly complex.
YAMAMOTO’S IDEA WAS TO BUILD A LANDBASED BOMBER WITH HUGE RANGE AND GREAT SPEED THAT COULD QUICKLY FLY FAR OUT TO SEA AND FIGHT NAVAL BATTLES.
KAMIKAZE CARRIER Crewmen relax near their G4M2e and its attached Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka rocket plane before attacking the approaching U.S. Navy in March 1945.
hough the Betty was initially laid out by engineer Joji Hattori, the lead designer was Kiro Honjo, a good friend of Zero fighter designer Jiro Horikoshi. Honjo had studied bomber design at the Junkers works in Germany, and was responsible for the G3M. He took over work on the Betty after returning from a fact-finding trip to the U.S. in 1938. Before serial production of the Betty began in 1940, Mitsubishi was ordered to first create a G4M heavy fighter variant designated the G6M1. G3Ms attacked in large vee formations of 27 aircraft stacked in nine mini-vees of three aircraft each, a formation-flying nightmare. The two rearmost and outermost Nells were, no surprise, found to suffer the highest casualties from opposing fighters. So why not fill those positions with dedicated gunships? The Japanese called them “wingtip escorts,” assumedly so-named from their position in the main formation, and they were gunned up with extra 20mm cannons in place of light machine guns. The U.S. Army Air Forces would later try the same thing with its YB-40s, which were B-17s carrying 18 or even more .50-caliber guns, flying as formation escorts. Both the YB-40 and the G6M1 were failures because they were too heavy to keep up with companion bombers that had dropped their ordnance. Mitsubishi also learned that the heavy cannons compromised the Betty’s handling. Physically, the G4M’s salient feature was a fat but graceful fuselage quite unlike the tapering configuration of typical WWII medium bombers. Honjo gave the Betty a full complement of guns in waist, dorsal-turret, nose and tail positions, and the roomy fuselage was intended to give the airplane’s seven-man crew (later reduced to five when it became increasingly difficult to recruit aircrew) space to move around during long flights and to fill multiple positions. Honjo apparently also decided that an untapered fuselage ending in a large tail-gunner’s station made sense aerodynamically. Whether his engineering team found it aesthetically pleasing is open to question. They called the design the “snail,” sometimes translated as “slug.”
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TECH NOTES
MITSUBISHI G4M1 MODEL 11 COMMANDER’S SEAT AILERON
EQUIPMENT RACKS
EXHAUST PIPES
PILOTS’ SEATS
TYPE 92 7.7MM MACHINE GUN
NAVIGATOR’S TABLE
GUNNER’S SEAT
D/F LOOP
DORSAL GUNNER’S POSITION
SPECIFICATIONS ENGINES Two 1,530-hp Mitsubishi MK4A-11 Kasei 14-cylinder radials driving Hamilton Standard (licensed Sumitomo) constant-speed, variable-pitch propellers WINGSPAN 81 feet 7¾ inches WING AREA 840.9 square feet LENGTH 65 feet 6¼ inches HEIGHT 16 feet 1 inch EMPTY WEIGHT 14,860 lbs. MAXIMUM WEIGHT 28,350 lbs. MAXIMUM SPEED 265 mph CRUISING SPEED
AERIAL MAST
196 mph CLIMB RATE
SPINNER
TYPE 90 BOMBSIGHT
1,800 feet per minute CEILING
PITOT TUBE
27,890 feet RANGE 1,771 miles (normal)
BOMBARDIER’S SEAT
3,132 miles (maximum) CREW 7
NAVIGATOR’S SEAT MAIN WHEEL DOOR
TYPE 92 7.7MM MACHINE GUN
ARMAMENT Four Type 92 7.7mm machine guns, one each in nose, dorsal and two beam positions One Type 99 20mm automatic cannon in tail One 1,764-lb. bomb, four 551-lb. bombs or one 1,892-lb. Type 91 Kai-3 torpedo
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HAMILTON STANDARD (LICENSED SUMITOMO) CONSTANT-SPEED, VARIABLE-PITCH PROPELLER
TAILFIN STRUCTURE
RUDDER
ELEVATOR
RUDDER TAB
TYPE 92 7.7MM MACHINE GUN
TYPE 99 20MM CANNON
ELEVATOR TAB
TAIL GUNNERâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S SEAT WALKWAY CREW HATCH NON-RETRACTABLE TAILWHEEL
FLAP SECTION
FUEL TANKS
REAR MAIN SPAR
ILLUSTRATION BY STEVE KARP
FRONT MAIN SPAR
MITSUBISHI MK4A-11 KASEI 14-CYLINDER RADIAL ENGINE
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SNOOPER The G4M1’s long range made it an effective reconnaissance platform—provided enemy fighters didn’t spot it. Recon Rikko usually had the bomb bay doors in place for greater speed (they were often removed for bombing or torpedo missions).
SLAUGHTER IN THE SOLOMONS Flying at wavetop level, torpedo-armed G4M1s attack U.S. Navy ships off Guadalcanal on August 8, 1942. Of 23 Bettys that set out from Rabaul that day, only five returned.
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The Japanese more genially nicknamed the Betty “Hamaki” (cigar), and many sources have assumed this was a reference to the airplane’s flammability when struck by enemy fire. In fact it was another moniker based on its shape, chosen long before G4Ms began igniting frequently enough for Americans to call them Zippos. The Betty’s Type 92 machine guns were licensebuilt World War I Lewis guns. Drum-fed from an archaic 47-round pancake magazine atop the gun, the Lewis had a long history of aviation use. It was the first gun ever fired from an airplane, a Wright Model B Flyer, in 1912. With a relatively slow rate of fire and rifle-caliber (7.7mm) ammunition, the hand-held Type 92 wasn’t about to frighten away .50-caliber Browning-equipped Grumman F4F Wildcats, to say nothing of F6F Hellcats and F4U Corsairs. The tail gun was a 20mm cannon, though a relatively ineffective one. Hand held and operating through a 20-degree arc, it required a pursuing
fighter to voluntarily position itself within the cannon’s tiny field of fire, though this limitation was removed in later versions of the Betty. But none of this mattered, because the Betty had a fatal flaw, and Kiro Honjo knew it. In order to achieve the G4M’s great range and performance, he was forced to equip it with the largest possible fuel tanks and to forego rubberized self-sealing protection for them. Nor did he provide armor for the crew. (His friend Horikoshi seems to have taken the technique to heart in designing the Zero.) The Betty’s wet wings were its tanks, with fuel cells neatly defined by the main spar and a secondary spar forward of it, the ends sealed by solid wing ribs. There was no self-sealing mechanism, which would have required a 1¼-inch-thick soft rubber layer weighing about 660 pounds, either inside or outside the fuel tanks, substantially reducing the tanks’ capacity. After 663 Bettys had been manufactured (some 2,400 would ultimately be built), Mitsubishi began to fireproof the wings by applying a thick self-sealing layer on the outside of the lower wing skins. This maintained the internal fuel capacity but adversely affected the airplane’s aerodynamics. The rubber mat shaved about 6 mph from the G4M’s speed and reduced range by almost 200 miles. Had they tried putting a matching mat on the exterior top of the wing tanks as well, the airplane probably would never have gotten off the ground. The final version of the Betty, the G4M4, had an entirely new laminar-flow wing with integrally self-sealing fuel tanks. The benefits of laminar flow were probably illusory on Bettys, since IJNAS aircraft of all types had paint jobs that ranged from beater-bad to junkyard special, peeling and flaking in a manner that would have tripped any incipi-
OPPOSITE TOP: AVIATION HISTORY COLLECTION/ALAMY; OPPOSITE BOTTOM & BOTTOM RIGHT: U.S. NAVY; TOP RIGHT: U.S. NAVY/THE LIFE PICTURE COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES
ent laminar airflow. For years it was assumed that the Japanese simply didn’t know how to make good paint, but the reason was even more basic. Mitsubishi aircraft were delivered to combat units in natural metal and spray-painted with camouflage in the field…without the benefit of primer. The Betty was the product of excellent engineering pushed to the limit and then slightly beyond, to meet requirements created not by aviators but by military bureaucrats. Those procurement officers were aware of the airplane’s main flaw but chose to accept it, dooming many crews. None of this mattered during the Sino-Japanese campaign, when Bettys were escorted by the new, long-range A6M2 Zero. Nor was it a factor during the early days of WWII, when Bettys ranged virtually unopposed against the Philippines, Australia and, in their greatest single victory, against the Royal Navy. The British had assembled a Singapore-based task force around the battlecruiser Repulse and the battleship Prince of Wales, with which they intended to protect their Southeast Asian territories. Airpower proponent Billy Mitchell might have told them this was a dumb idea, having demonstrated in the early 1920s what bombers could do to capital ships. The day of big-gun ships was over, though the world’s navies didn’t yet know it. Nobody is sure how many torpedoes hit the two British battlewagons, but three days after Pearl Harbor, wave after wave of Bettys achieved at least nine Type 91 hits and possibly as many as 21. It was the first time that aircraft alone had sunk fully maneuverable capital ships at sea. In one stroke, it totally removed the Royal Navy from any effective role in the Pacific War. or the Betty, however, it was all downhill from there. The next time the Mitsubishi bombers attacked Allied ships, on February 20, 1942, they were after the U.S. carrier Lexington and its task force. Fifteen of the 17 unescorted Bettys were shot down. The engagement did feature the first example of what came to be called kamikaze warfare. One Betty on a bomb run against Lexington had an engine shot entirely off its mounts, by Lieutenant Butch O’Hare of ORD fame, and then did its best to crash into the carrier. It missed, but it has been written that the entire corps of Rikko pilots, aware that they were riding fiery mounts, had agreed to seek out a target to crash into if their airplane was terminally damaged. One highly regarded Japanese book about Bettys in combat is titled Wings of Flame. (Perhaps something is lost—or gained—in translation.) Betty crews carried no parachutes, since bailing out wasn’t an option. In August 1942, during the Guadalcanal campaign and this time escorted by fighters, 18 out of 23 attacking Bettys were shot down—the single
worst G4M loss during the entire campaign. More than 100 Bettys were lost over Guadalcanal. The G4M air wings eventually learned that daytime missions against well-defended U.S. ships would result in unacceptable losses. The Mitsubishis were large, ponderous targets and needed to follow stable courses during torpedo runs. Anti-aircraft guns decimated them. The Japanese had become outstanding night pilots during the Sino-Japanese war, when they flew 500-mile missions in darkness purely by dead reckoning, sometimes serving as navigation lead ships for their own fighter escorts. Now they revived the technique with night torpedo missions against U.S. ships that were essentially blind. It worked for a while, but increasingly inexperienced G4M crews and the chaos of night attacks rendered even these desperate measures ineffective. Amid it all came one of the Betty’s most notorious flights: the mission to carry Admiral Yamamoto on an inspection tour of the Solomon Islands in
EASY PREY Top: A G4M2 “snooper” falls victim to a Navy patrol plane. Above: Crewmen on the destroyer USS Ellet observe the wreckage of a Betty that crashed during the August 8 attack.
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WEAPONS OF MASS DESPERATION Above: Americans examine an Ohka captured on Okinawa in April 1945. Below: Several G4Ms, plus an assortment of standard and experimental Japanese aircraft, lie idle at Yokosuka on September 6, 1945.
April 1943. The admiral’s own noted punctuality doomed him, for the two G4Ms carrying him and his aides intersected perfectly with 16 P-38 Lightnings sent on a precise mission to intercept him over Bougainville, and Yamamoto died in the very airplane that he had helped create. One of the Betty’s last combat assignments was to carry torpedo-shaped Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka single-seat kamikaze rocket planes to within striking distance of U.S. fleets. Striking distance meant 20 miles or less, thanks to the Ohka’s tiny load of rocket fuel, and Betty pilots too often pulled the release handle early. Some ships never knew they had been attacked, since the Ohkas glided into the Pacific before even coming within sight. The rocket planes were heavy—more than
4,700 pounds—so the overloaded Bettys carrying them were particularly vulnerable to fighter interception. The first Betty/Ohka strike, toward U.S. aircraft carriers off Kyushu in March 1945, consisted of 18 Bettys escorted by 30 Zeros. Within 20 minutes, Hellcats had shot down all 18 bombers. Only one U.S. ship, the destroyer Mannert L. Abele, was ever sunk by an Ohka, and it cost six out of the eight attacking Bettys. The Betty’s swan song would have involved a fleet of some 60 troop-carrying G4Ms (their roomy fuselages made them particularly appropriate for this) that were to simultaneously land on Guam, Saipan and Tinian. They would disgorge hundreds of commandos dressed in USAAF uniforms. In the confusion, the Japanese troops were to destroy as many B-29s as possible and then head into the jungles to continue fighting as guerrillas. One specially detailed Betty crew was even assigned to seize a Superfortress and fly it back to Japan. The atomic bombs put an end to this sideshow. Bettys flew on the opening day of WWII, and they helped close out the war as well. A G4M1 and a G6M1-L, whitewashed and given greencross insignia, carried a group of Japanese officers assigned the job of arranging the details of surrender negotiations. The August 19, 1945, mission is often characterized as having “carried Japan’s surrender delegation,” but the officers aboard had no such function; the surrender was actually ratified on September 2.
FINAL FLIGHT Lieutenant Sudo taxis his converted Betty after flying in from Kisarazu on August 19.
OPPOSITE PHOTOS: NATIONAL ARCHIVES; ABOVE: FREDERICK HILL COLLECTION/ U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY VIA JACK FELLOWS; ABOVE RIGHT: U.S. NAVY
NOT A SINGLE BETTY SURVIVES AS ANYTHING MORE THAN A BATTERED, PARTIAL HULK. The “white Bettys” flew from Japan to Ie Shima, a small Okinawan island, where the Japanese were transferred to a C-54 and carried on to Manila to meet with Douglas MacArthur and his staff. Homeward bound, the Bettys were appropriately snakebit. One ran off the runway during takeoff from Ie Shima and damaged its landing gear; the other ran out of fuel and ditched short of its destination in Japan. Not a single Betty survives as anything more than a battered, partial hulk—a situation unique among warbirds built in such numbers and active in so much combat. After the war, the USAAF was test-flying at least one Betty that had been captured in the Philippines, one of four or five fly-
TRANSFER OF POWER Members of the Japanese delegation debark from their aircraft and prepare to board a C-54 for a flight to Manila, where they will receive instructions concerning the surrender and American occupation.
able G4Ms that the U.S. liberated. Their fate is unknown, though the cockpit and nose of one, plus the tailcone, ended up in storage at the National Air and Space Museum. The only Betty remnant in Japan is owned by a wealthy automotive importer/exporter, Nobuo Harada. It currently consists of a fully restored fuselage, much of it fabricated by Harada’s restorers, in a museum near Tokyo. Another hulk is in the collection of Australia’s Darwin Aviation Museum. One of the best-known Betty carcasses was on display for years at the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, Calif. It was recovered from New Guinea in 1991 by warbird salvager Bruce Fenstermaker, in a joint venture with the Santa Monica Museum of Flying. The deal with Santa Monica somehow got derailed and the hulk was instead acquired by Ed Mahoney, who put in on display in Chino—a wrecked fuselage, inboard wings, engines and nacelle—as a jungle diorama. In November 2015, billionaire Paul Allen bought the wreck for his Flying Heritage and Combat Armor Museum in Seattle. Judging by what Allen has done with other such acquisitions, it is possible that this Betty will someday fly again. Almost certainly it will eventually be fully restored and placed on display. Contributing editor Stephan Wilkinson recommends for further reading: Mitsubishi G4M Betty, by Martin Ferkl, and Mitsubishi Type 1 Rikko ‘Betty’ Units of World War 2, by Osamu Tagaya.
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DEVOUT WARRIOR Major Dean Hess straps in his North American F-51D to lead the Republic of Koreaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nascent air force against the invading North Koreans.
ORDAINED MINISTER DEAN HESS DEALT DEATH FROM THE SKY AS A FIGHTER-BOMBER PILOT, BUT NEVER LOST HIS HUMANITY BY DON BEDWELL
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to see the bomb plunge into a neighboring sevenstory building, followed by an explosion. “I wondered whether I had killed anyone,” he recalled in his autobiography, Battle Hymn, “but I was more concerned whether I had fulfilled my mission.” Weeks later, touring the occupied city in a jeep, he was stunned to learn that the building he struck had served as a school for orphans, and that a number of them had been killed during his attack. He looked up at the gutted structure, “trying to keep my eyes away from the black hole where my bomb had hit,” he wrote. “But it seemed to stare at me like some malevolent eye.” Images of that bomb damage, burned into his memory, would trouble him for the rest of his life. But in another war six years later, it would also help motivate him to play a key role in saving hundreds of war-orphaned children half a world away in Korea.
PREVIOUS SPREAD: U.S. AIR FORCE; ALL PHOTOS THIS SPREAD: COURTESY OF THE HESS FAMILY
HEAVEN CAN WAIT On December 7, 1941, Hess suprised his parishioners with the news that he would be joining the war effort as a pilot. Here he poses with a BoeingStearman PT-13 during flight training.
Born and raised in Marietta, Ohio, Hess had been trying to save souls since he began preaching at the age of 16. Yet in December 1944 his mission was to destroy Nazi forces in support of Allied troops advancing into the Reich. Kaiserslautern, an important industrial city, had already been worked over by Allied bombers, making it difficult to find inviting targets. Hess and flight leader Bill Myers had ventured away from their squadron to check out the city’s railroad marshaling yards. Amid bursts of flak, they were rewarded by the sight of two trains in the yards. After a strafing run with their .50-caliber machine guns, Hess followed his leader down to deliver the 1,000-pound bombs they carried under each wing. His first bomb launched cleanly and speared toward a locomotive below. The second was slow to release. Pulling out of his dive, Hess glanced back through his bubble canopy in time
ike so many youngsters of his era, 9-year-old Dean Hess was inspired by Charles Lindbergh’s solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927. Hess mowed lawns and delivered newspapers to earn the $2 required to take a brief flight from a nearby airfield. Surprised by the exhilaration he felt as the Piper Cub soared through the sky, he landed convinced that aviation would play a role in his life. Young Dean embraced another commitment: to Marietta’s Disciples of Christ Church, where a minister challenged the devout 16-year-old to preach at a service. Hess stumbled through the sermon, vowing to do better the next time. He felt a calling to preach, and wanted to attend college to help advance himself into the ministry. But he struggled to raise money, often working seven days a week pumping gas. A coworker introduced Dean to his sister, Mary Lorentz, and the two fell in love. The youth finally scraped together $86 to begin classes at Marietta College. The college offered a surprising bonus: a federally subsidized pilot training program. So, with an instructor in the front seat, Hess was soon soaring again from the airfield. Years later he would tell a writer for Life magazine
A BARGAIN MADE Upon receiving his commission, Hess (right) married Mary Lorentz at Napier Field in Alabama on September 6, 1942. Below: Hess instructs trainees at Napier Field next to a North American AT-6 Texan.
that “the sensation of flight brought me many times closer to God.” After graduation in June 1941 and his ordination as a minister, Hess found that flying could transport him more quickly to the widely scattered churches whose congregations began hiring him to preach. He became an airborne “circuit rider,” visiting Ohio churches not on horseback but at the controls of a rented lightplane. Hess took a factory job in Cleveland to pay off his debts and lay a financial foundation for his future with Mary. Their marriage, and his life’s mission as a man of the cloth, seemed within reach. Yet at an evening service at the Hanover church on Sunday, December 7, 1941, he told astonished parishioners that he wouldn’t be preaching to them again for a long time. At a time when so many young men would be enlisting to defend their country, he couldn’t accept deferment as a chaplain. He was joining the war effort as a fighter pilot. Hess completed advanced training at Napier Field in Dothan, Ala., where he and Mary wed immediately after the ceremony commissioning him as an officer. A ring from the post exchange cost him $60 but, as he told her later, “It was the greatest bargain I ever made.”
AS A MINISTER HESS HAD TOLD PARISHIONERS THAT KILLING WAS A GRAVE SIN, SO HE WAS SURPRISED TO DISCOVER THAT HE WAS VERY GOOD AT IT.
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His natural flying skills helped keep him at Napier as a flight instructor for two years. When officers learned he was also an ordained minister, he was designated acting chaplain. In that role he learned that, thousands of miles from the battlefront, he was still close to the tragedy of war. Twice he had to tell young wives that their husbands had died in training crashes. Having signed on for hazardous duty, Hess was eventually assigned to the Ninth Air Force in France, supporting U.S. Army divisions pushing the Wehrmacht back into Germany after D-Day. To his dismay, he found the squadron’s flight line at St. Nazier monopolized by P-47Ds, which he had never flown. Hurriedly quizzing moreexperienced airmen and reading everything he could find about the rugged, heavily armed Thunderbolts, he fended off efforts to return him to England for further training. Soon Hess joined the seasoned pilots attacking German ground units. As a minister he had told parishioners that killing was a grave sin, so he was surprised to discover that he was very good at it. German soldiers, he explained, “bobbed up before my guns with unaccountable persistence.” In the absence of a regular chaplain, Hess agreed to conduct services for the enlisted men and, later, for his fellow officers. Inevitably some dubbed him the “Flying Parson.” With Allied troops closing in on Berlin in the spring of 1945, Hess returned to Ohio with a Distinguished Flying Cross to await redeployment to the Pacific. But the Japanese surrender freed
him to resume civilian life. His determination to further his education took the family to Athens’ Ohio University, where he received a master’s degree in June 1947. He then moved on to Ohio State to begin work on his doctorate. In the spring of 1950, he was invited back into service, offered a major’s rank and eventually rotation to Japan. It was a difficult decision because this time he was leaving not only Mary but also sons Larry and Edward (a third son, Ronald, would join the family in 1956). Still, with trouble brewing in Asia, he was soon saying goodbye to his family at New York’s LaGuardia Airport as he departed for Japan and threats of a new war. n June 25,1950, Communist North Korea Premier Kim Il Sung unleashed nine divisions, supported by Soviet-supplied heavy armor, into the Republic of Korea (ROK) in a surprise effort to subjugate the U.S. ally. South Korea’s military, armed with largely obsolete weaponry and virtually no air support, melted southward. The outgunned ROK forces and equally unprepared U.S. Army troops who were rushed in from Japan to help were pushed relentlessly down the peninsula. Major Hess accepted an unexpected offer to command and upgrade the nascent ROK air force, a base support unit equipped primarily with aging trainers. His challenge was to transform the unit’s pilots and maintenance personnel into a lethal air wing. Hess was ordered to Taegu, south of the ROK capital of Seoul, in advance of Ameri-
PHOTOS: U.S. AIR FORCE
can volunteers who would help train the South Korean pilots to attack ground targets in 10 World War II–vintage North American F-51D Mustangs. Hess and his volunteers flew a C-47 from a Japanese base to Taegu on July 4, carrying any equipment and supplies they could beg, borrow or “midnight requisition” to support the mission. The Taegu base would be the first of seven they improvised and occupied during the next six months as the war ebbed and flowed along the peninsula. When the major’s personal Mustang arrived from Japan, he asked an artistic crewman to paint “By Faith I Fly” on the engine cowling in Korean characters. In Europe he had labeled his P-47D with a similar message in Latin (Per Fidem Volo) to show clearly that, amid all the killing, the Flying Parson retained his faith. Hess’ American volunteers took pride in their assignment, but they would pay a heavy price for their efforts. Of the 10 American pilot officers who volunteered to serve with the training unit, seven were killed during the first year of war. The unit would also lose several ROK pilots, including a veteran who had flown Zeros for Japan against U.S. aviators in WWII. The pilot, who had been checked out in the F-51 only once, didn’t realize it couldn’t maneuver as nimbly as the Zero. Unable to pull out during a low-level attack maneuver, he plowed into the ground near his target. Although the American instructors were under orders to serve solely as advisers, Hess quickly determined that the only way they could train the pilots, who spoke little English, was to accom-
pany them on raids. He won official approval, and excited support from the pilots, for what he called “on the job training.” Just seven days after Hess flew into Taegu, a lookout reported that a massive North Korean convoy was moving southward toward a mountain pass held by Army troops. Air support was urgently required, and U.S. Air Force units in Japan couldn’t get through the severe weather in time to help. With heavy rains drenching a wide area, Hess and one volunteer, a Lieutenant Timberlake, took off in F-51s loaded with bombs, rockets and machine gun rounds. They soon came upon a North Korean armored division snaking its way down a narrow mountain road, intent on destroying the U.S. 25th Infantry Division. Hess signaled Timberlake to attack the rear end of the convoy while he bombed the lead vehicles, halting traffic. “We buttoned them up with bomb craters and knocked-out vehicles at either end,” Hess said. As the weather cleared, the pilots circled, awaiting reinforcements. Only after their ROK colleagues began arriving from Taegu, followed by Air Force F-80s, F-82s and B-26s from Japan, did the pair head back to Taegu to refuel and reload for two more attacks on the convoy. By the time Hess headed home for the day, the convoy was a smoking ruin. An Air Force assessment tallied 117 trucks, 38 T-34 tanks and seven half-tracks destroyed and “countless enemy dead.” Earle E. Partridge, commanding general of the Fifth Air Force, described the action as “a turning point of the war.” As enemy forces continued to advance down the peninsula, Hess’ unit relocated to Chinhae in the shrinking Pusan Perimeter. Hess and a handful of volunteers flew mission after mission to slow the North Koreans, with the major flying as many as six different F-51s in a single day, strafing and bombing the invaders and then returning to base for a freshly armed fighter. “The man walks on water,” observed Lieutenant Ernest Craigwell, a
“BY FAITH I FLY” Hess’ personal motto was emblazoned in Korean characters on the cowling of his F-51 Mustang (opposite). Ground crewmen carry Hess from his fighter (above) after he flew his 100th Korean War combat mission.
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HELPING HAND Top: Hess briefs South Korean pilots prior to a mission. Above: The “Flying Parson” (right) and chaplain Lt. Col. Russell Blaisdell visit orphans they helped save on Cheju Island.
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Tuskegee Airman veteran who joined Hess’ command in June 1950 and went on to earn the Medal of Honor flying jet fighters in Vietnam. In one solo action, Hess helped an isolated 18-man American patrol claw its way back to friendly lines. Diving time and again with guns blazing, he cleared a path for the soldiers to fight their way to safety. For that day’s work, he was awarded a Silver Star. Even Communist radio propagandist “Seoul City Sue” gave him unintended praise when she denounced him as the “Barbarian of Chinhae.” While Hess was targeting Communist troops moving south toward the war zone, a liaison pilot called his attention to a group moving down the main highway. Because of the hazy conditions, Hess requested and received assurance that they were enemy troops. Diving at more than 300 mph, he fired one short burst before he saw women and children diving for cover in a roadside ditch. “Those were refugees!” he shouted at the liaison pilot. Memories of Kaiserslautern flooded back, but it was too late to recall his bullets.
bruptly, the tide of war turned in Korea. In September 1950 U.N. forces regained the initiative, recapturing Seoul and pursuing the North Koreans across the 38th Parallel toward their border with China. But although General Douglas MacArthur assured President Harry Truman that there was “very little” chance of Chinese intervention, and memorably promised his soldiers they would be home for Christmas, swarms of Chinese troops attacked across the border in a devastating November blitz. With his squadron operating near the border, Hess promptly directed a raid that destroyed 40 invading vehicles in half an hour. Yet it was a hollow victory in the face of the Chinese surge, which wiped out some U.N. units and forced the 1st Marine Division into a desperate fighting retreat from the Chosin Reservoir. The U.N. forces eventually fell back to a line near the 38th Parallel, where they were able to halt the Chinese advance. The rapidly changing front gave Korean civilians little opportunity to flee cities left vulnerable when U.N. troops were forced to retreat. Parentless children foraged amid the ruins. Allied units, including Hess’, began sharing food and other essentials with the ragged tots. When U.N. troops initially recaptured Seoul in 1950, they had transported displaced children to a local orphanage. But with Communist troops besieging the capital again, Fifth Air Force chaplain Russell L. Blaisdell warned Hess against sending more children to that orphanage. The chaplain sought a new sanctuary for the homeless boys and girls, and Hess suggested Cheju (now Jeju) Island off the southern Korean peninsula, where ROK air force pilots’ families were already being sheltered. Hess thought a nearly deserted agricultural school on the island might temporarily house the orphans. The two hurriedly collaborated on a plan to transport orphans to the island. Blaisdell commandeered enough military trucks to deliver almost a thousand orphans and 80 orphanage staff to the seaport at Inchon. But a promised Korean navy LST never arrived to ferry the group to Cheju, leaving the children shivering on the docks in bitter cold. “Everything was in readiness at Cheju Island,” Hess recounted, “but now the gate to safety was banging shut.” The following day, December 20, orphans and adults who had been trucked back to Seoul’s Kimpo Airport were waiting, near despair, when a distant rumble grew into a roar that filled the winter sky. Responding to Hess’ urgent appeals, General Partridge had dispatched 15 C-54 Skymasters from Japan to Kimpo carrying doctors and nurses with blankets and medicine. The children were hurriedly treated and the fleet thundered off to Cheju in an airlift that war correspondents promptly labeled “Operation Kiddy Car.” Volunteers were mobilized on Cheju to help the
FRIENDS AND FAMILY Above: Hess chats with South Korean President Syngman Rhee after being awarded that nation’s highest military honor. Above right: The former fighter leader reunites with some of the pilots he fought alongside. Left: Hess holds his adopted daughter Marilyn.
OPPOSITE PHOTOS & TOP LEFT: U.S. AIR FORCE; TOP RIGHT & ABOVE RIGHT: COURTESY OF THE HESS FAMILY
children when they arrived. “I never thought I’d feel a greater thrill of gratitude or relief,” Hess observed, “than when I saw the last ragged little figure disappear inside the last plane.” ith the Korean War in a standoff and newly elected President Dwight Eisenhower eager to end the carnage, an uneasy armistice finally halted the killing in July 1953 and reestablished the border roughly along the 38th Parallel. Lieutenant Colonel Hess and his surviving U.S. volunteers had relinquished their responsibilities to officers of the upgraded ROK air force, which had become autonomous from the USAF in January 1952. Hess had reluctantly left his ROK command in June 1951 for reassignment after 250 missions, miraculously spared injury. President Syngman Rhee presented him with Korea’s highest military award. From his ROK pilots Hess accepted a sword once owned by one of their countrymen
who had died in combat. Then he visited the Cheju orphanage for tearful goodbyes from the children and staff before he returned to the States. After a leave in Ohio, Hess reported for duty as the Fifth Air Force’s information officer in Texas, one of numerous assignments that would take him, Mary and their sons to posts across the country. Besides continuing his support for the Cheju Island facility, Hess led fundraising efforts for a new Orphans Home of Korea in Seoul. He and Mary contributed thousands of dollars in royalties from his 1956 memoir Battle Hymn and the movie of the same name, starring Rock Hudson as Hess. Hess flew an F-51 in the film and served as technical adviser. Hess returned to Seoul in 1960 on a very special mission: to pick up an orphan, about five years old, that he and Mary were adopting. The Hess family embraced the girl, whom they named Marilyn. Though proud of her Korean heritage, she would quickly master English and grow up as a typical American teen. Returning home to Ohio, Hess served at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base until his retirement as a full colonel in 1969. His flight helmet and Korean military medal remain on display at the adjacent National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. After military retirement he taught for five years at a local high school. Mary died in 1996. Two years after Hess died at 97 on March 2, 2015, South Koreans dedicated a towering memorial on Jeju Island to the colonel who had risked so much to protect their independence and save their children. The ceremony at the Jeju Aerospace Museum drew some 200 government and military officials, war veterans and former orphans. An understated inscription on the monument sums up in just three lines Hess’ contribution to the people of the Republic of Korea: Hero of the Korean War Godfather of the ROK Air Force Father of War Orphans. Veteran journalist and aviation writer Don Bedwell is the author of Silverbird: The American Airlines Story. Further reading: Hess’ Battle Hymn.
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LOADED FOR BEAR A Republic F-105D carries a full conventional bombload approaching 7 tons. On July 27, 1965, an F-105 strike force targeted two SA-2 missile sites with a mixed bag of napalm and cluster munitions.
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THE FIRST ATTACK AGAINST NORTH VIETNAMESE SA-2 MISSILE SITES DEVOLVED INTO A DEBACLE OF DUMMY TARGETS AND DOWNED AIRCRAFT, BUT IT FORCED MILITARY LEADERS TO FIND WAYS TO COUNTER THE NEW THREAT BY MARK CARLSON
THUNDERING THUDS F-105D Thunderchiefs of the 563rd Tactical Fighter Squadron depart Tan Son Nhut Air Base for a North Vietnamese target during Operation Rolling Thunder.
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The White House established a 10-mile radius around the North Vietnamese capital of Hanoi as off limits to American air power. In addition, a 30-mile radius was put under White House control, so that only President Johnson had the authority to order air operations within that area. On July 24, 1965, four U.S. Air Force McDonnell F-4C Phantoms took part in an airstrike against the Dien Ben Phu munitions storage depot and the Lang Chi munitions factory west of Hanoi. The Phantoms dropped their ordnance and withdrew to provide MiG suppression for the Republic
F-105D Thunderchief fighter-bombers that followed. One of those F-105s was piloted by Captain Victor Vizcarra of the 80th Tactical Fighter Squadron. “As we started climbing out of the area after our single pass at the target, our mission commander informed the Phantoms that we were departing,” Vizcarra recalled. “We all remained on the same frequency as we climbed and headed south. Suddenly we heard a call from the F-4s. ‘What the hell was that?’ one of them said.” Leopard Lead called for his Phantom flight to check in. Leopards Three and Four responded, but
PREVIOUS SPREAD & OPPOSITE: U.S. AIR FORCE; TOP RIGHT: GETTY IMAGES; BOTTOM RIGHT: COURTESY OF VIC VIZCARRA
Two was never heard from, having been blotted out of the sky by a surface-to-air missile (SAM). The blast had also damaged the other three Phantoms in the flight. They were the first victims in Vietnam of the soon-to-be-infamous SA-2. Known to its Soviet builders as the S-75 Dvina, the SA-2 had come as a rude shock to NATO in the early 1960s. Although the United States was aware the Soviet Union had developed an antiaircraft missile, the SA-2 exploded onto the world stage by shooting down Francis Gary Powers’ Lockheed U-2 spyplane at an altitude of 70,000 feet. Thirty-five feet long and carrying a 440-pound warhead, the SA-2— launched by a solid-fuel booster and featuring a liquid-fueled second stage—streaked to its target at 2,500 mph. The warhead’s lethal radius was more than 220 feet wide at low altitude and much wider at high altitude, rendering it extremely dangerous to any American plane. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara was anxious to avoid escalating the war by provoking Soviet and Chinese involvement. He convinced Johnson that caution was key to keeping the war under control. However, McNamara’s forte was strategy, not tactics, and his advice ignored the grim realities of modern warfare. While the U.S. proceeded cautiously, the North Vietnamese were determined to use whatever means they had at their disposal to achieve victory. The North recognized and exploited the sanctuary provided by the White House’s overly restrictive rules of engagement. McNamara had convinced Johnson to list certain North Vietnamese targets as off limits, including Soviet ships off-loading cargo in Haiphong Harbor, so the entire seaport could not be attacked. Incredibly, the list also included SAM batteries. In April five SAM sites had been discovered under construction within the restricted zone. This was just a month after the initiation of Rolling Thunder, and came as a great shock to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) in the Pentagon. They were adamant that the sites be destroyed before they could be completed, but McNamara convinced the president to keep them off limits. Three times between May and July, the JCS asked the White House to allow the Air Force and Navy to bomb the sites, but each time they were turned down. After the loss of the F-4C on July 24, the Joint Chiefs again urged Johnson to authorize a strike against all known SA-2 positions, which had also been discovered outside the 30-mile exclusion zone. This was no small matter to the pilots flying missions over North Vietnam. Up to that point, F-4 and F-105 fighter-bombers had been able to avoid anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) by flying at altitudes above the range of the Soviet-made ZPU-23 and 37mm guns.
At last the Pentagon prevailed. President Johnson gave the order: “Take them out.” The mission was assigned to tactical fighter squadrons based in Thailand flying the F-105 “Thud,” the fastest nuclear-capable fighterbomber in the world, able to carry 7 tons of ordnance. But even as the planning for the mission, code-named Operation Spring High, progressed, the voice of doom in Washington was still trying to prevent escalating the conflict. McNamara’s view was that only the two SAM sites that had actually fired on the Phantoms should be targeted. He contended that the other sites had Russian advisers working with the North Vietnamese Army (NVA), and if they were killed it might incur the wrath of the Soviet Union. Again Johnson gave in.
OPPOSING FORCES Top: North Vietnamese soldiers prepare a Soviet-supplied SA-2 surface-to-air missile for action. Above: Operation Spring High participant Captain Victor Vizcarra poses with his F-105 “Thud.”
n the morning of July 27, the pilots of four tactical fighter squadrons awoke to find their mission objectives changed. They would only attack SAM Sites 6 and 7. This required last-minute planning and delayed the mission into the afternoon. “So the prior night’s flight planning went up in smoke, and we were left scrambling at the last-minute requirements,” said Vizcarra. The 12th and 357th Tactical Fighter squadrons, flying out of Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, would attack SAM Site 6, while the 80th and 563rd squadrons, out of Takhli, would hit Site 7. Each squadron’s F-105s would be organized in three four-plane flights. The Korat flights were named for trees: Pepper, Willow, Redwood, Cedar, Chestnut and Dogwood. The Takhli flights bore auto names: Healy, Austin, Hudson, Valiant, Rambler and Corvette. In all, 48 F-105s were to participate in the strike, with some targeting the missiles, launchers and command radar vans while others bombed support facilities and barracks. But even this bifurcated mission was limited in scope: None of the Thuds were assigned to attack the anti-aircraft guns protecting the missile sites.
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THE THUD PILOTS DIDN’T KNOW THAT THE NVA HAD MOVED ALL AVAILABLE ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUNS CLOSE TO THE SAM SITES.
“END OF THE WORLD” Captain Marty Case (above) was part of the strike force that attacked SAM Site 7 from Takhli Air Base (below). Case said, “I didn’t think any of us could make it through that alive.”
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Moreover, higher headquarters had the F-105s approaching the target in a “fingertip formation,” arranged in a manner that resembled the left hand’s extended fingertips. Lead was the middle finger, while 2 was the index. Planes 3 and 4 were the ring and little fingers. The formation was completely ill-suited for a low-level, high-speed attack on a fixed site protected by AAA. “When we read it [the mission plan], we couldn’t believe it,” recalled Vizcarra. “What were those guys at headquarters smoking? They had each flight attacking the targets in fingertip formation. What did they think this was, an airshow? One hit could wipe out the whole flight. Four big F-105s flying close together—nothing like making oneself a bigger target.” The SAM sites were about 450 miles away from the Thailand bases. Both forces would refuel from orbiting KC-135 tankers and head into North Vietnam. The Korat force would approach SAM Site 6 from the south, while the Takhli force would fly southeast down the Red River valley. Their weapons loads varied. For the Takhli force, each F-105 in the first flight carried two SUU-7/A CBU-2 anti-personnel bomblet dispensers for “soft” targets, while the second and third flights were loaded with four BLU-27 napalm canisters. Timing was critical. Each flight was to be about 150 seconds, or about 20 miles, behind the one preceding it. This would keep the following planes from being hit by exploding ordnance from the previous attack. Vizcarra was Rambler 2, with Major Art Mearn as Rambler Lead. The time over target for the two SAM sites was identical. “With us approaching from the northwest down the Red River to hit Site 7 and the Korat group’s simultaneous attack on
Site 6, less than three miles to the south, the danger of midair collisions was very real,” said Vizcarra. As Rambler 2, he was off Mearn’s right wing, while Captains Jim Hayes (Rambler 3) and Giles Gainer (Rambler 4) were on the left. “Art told me that as soon as we released our bombs he would call that I had the lead and make a hard right turn to avoid the Korat force coming off Site 6,” he recalled. The prescribed fingertip formation was still a serious concern, so the flight leaders chose to make the target run in a loose, flexible fingertip formation. This spread the F-105s out to minimize the chance of a single hit damaging more than one plane, and gave them some room to maneuver. What the Thud pilots didn’t know was that the NVA had moved all available anti-aircraft guns close to the SAM sites. The Americans would be flying into one of the most heavily defended targets in North Vietnam. t was after noon by the time Operation Spring High began. Two aborts from the Korat squadrons reduced the strike force to 46 planes. After refueling they crossed Laos at 17,000 feet, then entered enemy territory and descended to 100 feet. The rolling North Vietnamese countryside echoed with the sound of heavily laden Thunderchiefs roaring overhead at 500 mph. Approaching the Red River, the Americans saw heavy AAA crisscrossing the valley ahead. They descended below 50 feet to avoid the deadly web of fire, their F-105s churning up rooster tails of mud and spray over the rice paddies. An RB-66 reconnaissance plane monitored the SAM radar emissions, calling “Bluebells are singing” when
OPPOSITE ABOVE: COURTESY OF MARTY CASE; BELOW & ABOVE RIGHT: U.S. AIR FORCE; RIGHT: FROM THUD PILOT, BY VICTOR VIZCARRA
INBOUND TO TARGET An F-105D refuels from a KC-135 tanker en route to North Vietnam. Left: This top-secret photo of Site 7 was provided to each mission pilot.
PHOTOS: XXX XXXXXXX
enemy radar was activated and “Bluebells are silent” when it was temporarily turned off. As the F-105s streaked deeper into enemy territory, NVA early-warning radars tracked them until they were lost in the ground clutter. With the fast-moving Thuds skimming the ground, the NVA gunners were hampered by the high berms surrounding their emplacements. Nonetheless, they unleashed a hail of AAA fire as the Americans bore in, filling the air with a deadly curtain of hot steel. Captain Marty Case, in Hudson 4, was part of the third flight assigned to Site 7. “We took triple-A fire about 14 miles out,” he said. “We were so low that the gunners couldn’t depress their guns low enough to hit us, so most of it went over us. As we got closer to the SAM site it was just flames and smoke and triple-A going across—it looked like the end of the world to me. I didn’t think any of us could make it through that alive.” Captain Kile Berg, Hudson 2, was hit during the approach. “The gunners were trying to hit the lead but we were going so fast they hit the number 2,” Case recalled. “Kile made it to the target, but as we were on the escape route, I looked ahead and his entire airplane from the intakes back was a mass of flames. It looked like a meteor with a needle sticking out.” Berg managed to safely eject but was captured by the NVA. He spent seven years as a POW. Captain Jack Redmond, in Valiant 4, remembered a close call as they approached the target: “I was on the left, outboard of Valiant 3, watching to my right when all of a sudden these other planes zipped past us at our altitude. We were only about 50 feet up. They were the Korat planes coming off Site 6.” With a combined speed of almost 1,000 knots, the eight planes blew past one another in the blink of an eye. While the Korat force hammered Site 6, the Takhli force moved in. The first three flights dropped canister bombs and napalm on the site. There was a lull of two minutes before the next
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SAM Site 7 SAM Site 6
OPERATION SPRING HIGH JULY 27, 1965 flight of four F-105s came in to drop their ordnance. Valiant Lead Major Phil Call, fourth in the attack stream, misjudged his approach and saw that they were aimed not at their target—the enemy support base north of the missile battery—but at the SAM site itself. The entire area was burning fiercely from the first three attacks. Major Call radioed his flight that they were off target, to which Valiant 2, Captain John Atkinson, re-
“IT WAS A TRAP” Captain Jack Redmond (above) saw the dummy SAMs and realized, “They knew we were coming.” A four-ship flight of F-105Ds (right) returns from a mission.
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sponded, “Well don’t make another pass!” The four pilots released their cluster munitions a few seconds before passing over Site 7. The SUU-7/As dispensed scores of CBU-2 bomblets, each with the explosive force of a large hand grenade. The bomblets dispersed over a wide area, tearing swaths among enemy troops and vehicles. But as Valiant flight passed over the site, Redmond was stunned and angered to see that the SA-2 missiles they had come to destroy were dummies. “They knew we were coming and set up all those triple-A batteries at the site,” he said. “It was a trap.” Vizcarra’s Rambler flight was the first to hit the support facilities half a mile north of the main site. “I had my eye on Rambler Lead’s starboard wing as we moved into the target area,” he said. “I hardly ever looked ahead, but when I did, I saw two columns of black smoke rising from numerous fires. All across the valley were the triple-A gun positions. The 37mm shells looked like orange golf balls when they came at me. They exploded into black puffs and I saw the black shrapnel spreading out. Art said, ‘Rambler Lead, 3, 2, 1, pickle!’ Then we all released.” Rambler and Corvette’s F-105s each carried four BLU-27 napalm canisters filled with jellied gasoline. Their effect on the enemy was horrific as huge fireballs erupted into the sky and tons of burning napalm immolated men, vehicles and fuel. In seconds Rambler was clear of the AAA guns but not out of danger. The Korat force, which had a longer lag time between flights, was still coming off their target. Vizcarra, as ordered by his lead, pulled up into a hard right bank to get out of the area. The others followed. The NVA’s 23mm and 37mm guns, not targeted by the strike, were lethal at close range. They shot down four F-105s in the target area, and more than half of the remaining Thuds suffered damage from groundfire. Pepper 2, Captain Bill Barthelelmess, was hit over Site 6. He managed to reach Thailand, but his controls failed on approach to an emergency field. He collided with Pepper Lead, Major Jack Farr, and both pilots were killed.
MAP: PAUL FISHER; OPPOSITE ABOVE: COURTESY OF JACK REDMOND; OPPOSITE: U.S. AIR FORCE; ABOVE: SOVFOTO/GETTY IMAGES
On later reflection, Vizcarra considered himself lucky to have survived the mission. Of the 12 flights, five planes in the number 2 position were lost. “Valiant Lead and 2 were ordered to tank off and return to the target area to cover the searchand-rescue forces,” Redmond said. “I know others were sent back, but Valiant 3 and I were ordered back to base.” One of the downed pilots, Captain Frank Tullo, Dogwood 2, was found and rescued. fter the 40 remaining F-105s landed, the pilots were debriefed. Slowly a hard and cruel truth emerged: Both SAM sites were devoid of missiles and equipment. The NVA had substituted white-painted bundles of bamboo for the SA-2s. More than 130 AAA guns had been assembled in anticipation of an airstrike. Spring High had destroyed two worthless targets for the loss of six planes and five men. Vizcarra, who wrote of his experiences in his book Thud Pilot, said: “Spring High was a historic mission. It was the first time in history of an attack against a SAM site. If we had known the site was a trap, we would never have sent the force out. We attacked at low level, which was based on exaggerated assumptions of the SAM’s capabilities. I’m not sure we would have done much better even if we had been able to plan the mission without higher headquarters intervention. We had a lot to learn, and you sometimes have to do the wrong thing to know it was wrong.” Despite the losses suffered by the F-105 squadrons during the operation, the hard-won lessons of Spring High were the genesis of a highly successful campaign against the SAMs in North
SLOWLY A HARD AND CRUEL TRUTH EMERGED: BOTH SAM SITES WERE DEVOID OF MISSILES AND EQUIPMENT.
LOW-TECH KILLERS The pilots participating in Operation Spring High encountered no SAMs but did take plenty of anti-aircraft fire from guns like this 37mm cannon.
Vietnam. Brigadier General Kenneth “K.C.” Dempster headed up an Air Staff anti-SAM task force involving the Air Force, Navy and defense contractors to develop countermeasures against the deadly missiles. Radar homing and warning receivers were installed in F-105s in December 1965, alerting pilots to the presence and location of any radar emissions. The Navy’s Shrike missile, which homed in on a SAM site’s radar emissions, was given the highest priority. In all, 46 recommendations made by the task force were accepted by the Air Force and put into production, resulting in the famous “Wild Weasel” SAM killers. The Weasels were designed from the outset to hunt down and destroy SAM missile batteries, opening the way for airstrikes into enemy territory. The first modified two-seat North American F-100F Super Sabres arrived in Thailand in November 1965, and successfully destroyed a SAM site on December 22. QRC-160 jamming pods began arriving in theater in September 1966. For the first time, American fighters could self-jam SAM radars and render them ineffective. By then the number of known SA-2 sites had risen to 18, with another 18 suspected sites. As the Weasels took a toll on the SAM sites, the life expectancy of U.S. airmen rose dramatically. But the hard truth is it took a defeat to make that victory possible. Frequent contributor Mark Carlson is the author of The Marines’ Lost Squadron: The Odyssey of VMF-422. Recommended reading: Vizcarra’s Thud Pilot; and Thud Ridge, by Jack Broughton.
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A CENTURY IN THE MAKING The Ithaca Aviation Heritage Foundation plans to fly this restored Thomas-Morse S-4B on September 29 to celebrate the scout plane’s 100th birthday.
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AMERICAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S FIRST INDIGENOUS SCOUT PLANE WAS CONCEIVED BY AN ENGLISHMAN AND BORROWED HEAVILY FROM EUROPEAN DESIGNS BY MARK C. WILKINS
WINGLESS WONDERS S-4B fuselages await their wings at the Thomas-Morse Aircraft Co. in Ithaca, N.Y. William Thomas (inset) and his brother Oliver founded the company.
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That deficiency and the desire for a practical American-made fighter served as the primary motivation for the development and fast-tracked production of the Thomas-Morse Scout. The “Tommy,” as it was nicknamed, became the first modern American fighter, despite the fact it was designed by an Englishman, Benjamin Douglas Thomas of JN-4 “Jenny” fame (see “Genesis of the Jenny,” July 2017). William T. Thomas and his brother Oliver W.
Thomas (no relation to B.D.) were British subjects born in Argentina. William worked for Curtiss as an engineer from 1908 to 1909, then left to set up his own shop in 1910 with his brother in a barn in Hammondsport, N.Y. The Thomas Brothers Company recruited Curtiss employee Walter Johnson, another self-starter who had taught himself to fly, to serve as a mechanic, test pilot and flight instructor. In 1912 the company produced the Thomas
PREVIOUS SPREAD: ITHACA AVIATION HERITAGE FOUNDATION/DAN POLANGELI; ALL PHOTOS THIS SPREAD: COURTESY OF STEUBEN COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
TA biplane, which was somewhat successful as an exhibition flier and even won a few races. That year the brothers also established the affiliated Thomas School of Aviation at Conesus Lake in New York, famed for its rock-bottom prices (on rainy days student pilots could work off tuition in the shop). In 1913 they changed the name to Thomas Brothers Aeroplane Company, and in 1914 moved to Ithaca, N.Y. B.D. Thomas had parted company with Glenn Curtiss by then, and decided to join them. Once on board, B.D. designed a series of T-2 tractor biplanes for Britain’s Royal Naval Air Service, which were fitted with floats and sold to the U.S. Navy as the SH-4. In January 1917 the company recapitalized by merging with the Morse Chain Co., thus becoming the Thomas-Morse Aircraft Co., still based in Ithaca. With war tearing Europe apart and the increasing possibility of U.S. involvement, Thomas-Morse sought to design an intermediate trainer/scout that would make the transition to high-performance fighters smoother for the American pilots, thus resulting in fewer casualties due to training accidents. The result was the successful S-4 Scout biplane trainer. The elegant though outdated French Nieuport 28 influenced the S-4’s design. Both featured long tail moments and Gnome engines, and the S-4B would borrow the torque-tube and bellcrank ailerons featured on the Nieuport 11 through 27 and on Germany’s Halberstadts. The S-4 also
borrowed from Sopwith aircraft—especially the wings, which were similar in construction and shape to Camel and Pup wings, although the Tommy had ailerons only on the upper wing to slow down the roll rate for fledgling pilots. The S-4 Scout was a trim little single-seat biplane that was originally powered by a 100-hp Gnome monosoupape 9B rotary engine. In June 1917, on its first flight, the Tommy attained a speed of 95 mph. After building 52 Tommies, however, Thomas-Morse substituted the more reliable 80-hp Le Rhône 9C. The initial Army order was for six prototypes. On October 3, 1917, 100 improved S-4Bs were ordered, plus an additional 25 aircraft for Britain. The Tommy could be easily converted into a seaplane, given the U.S. Navy designation S-5. It was identical to the S-4B save for its floats, which reduced the top speed to 90 mph. After testing at the naval air station on Dinner Key, off Miami, Fla., the Navy ordered six S-5s. On January 18, 1918, the War Department
IMPORTED TALENT Top: British-born B.D. Thomas (center) stands with two test pilots and one of the S-4Bs he designed. Above: A Tommy sits outside the Thomas brothers’ aviation school.
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FLEXIBLE FLIER Above right: One of six S-5 floatplanes delivered to the U.S. Navy in 1917 prepares for takeoff at Naval Air Station Dinner Key in Florida. Below: Armed with a Marlin machine gun, this S-4C served as an advanced fighter trainer during World War I. Inset: A pinbacked Thomas-Morse company badge.
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placed an order for 400 improved S-4C models. Besides using the Nieuport’s torque-tube system instead of cables for aileron control, the C model’s ailerons and elevators were reduced in area and provision was made for a .30-caliber Marlin machine gun, synchronized to fire through the propeller (though not all aircraft were delivered so equipped). A total of 447 S-4Cs were built. The S-4C was of standard construction with a wire-braced, wooden-frame fuselage, covered in fabric and with a round upper decking. Its wooden interplane struts were braced by wire, with the center section struts slightly splayed outward. The wings were staggered, with a semicircular cutout in the trailing edge of the upper wing to improve visibility. The top wing was flat and the lower wing had slight dihedral (similar to Camels and Nieuports). Wooden struts formed the undercarriage legs, and the wheels were sprung with rubber bungee cords. The engine was partially enclosed by a circular cowling, which was faired into the flat-sided fuselage by triangular cheek cowls simi-
lar to those on the Fokker Dr.I triplane. The Tommy’s controls proved problematic in flight, and the airplane was very tail heavy. The pilot had to constantly push forward on the control stick to keep the aircraft level, as there was no provision for trim control. The roll rate was sluggish, and the torque of the rotary engine made it difficult to loop. Takeoffs were tricky until enough speed built up to allow rudder control. In order to land, the pilot had to “blip” the engine (cut ignition) to reduce power. According to the late Frank Tallman, who flew the Tommy as a stunt pilot in the 1960s and ’70s, “An incipient ground loop was part of the Scout’s characteristics, primarily because of the landing gear’s location almost under the engine.” Tallman noted that the Tommy had a roomy cockpit—“big enough to swing a cat in”—and that visibility was better than in a Camel. He said the ailerons felt heavy on takeoff and that while flying you “Had the feeling that the plane was going to leave you control-less…[you] never feel secure.” Tallman
OPPOSITE TOP: U.S. NAVY; INSET: HERITAGE AUCTIONS, DALLAS; LEFT: NATIONAL ARCHIVES; ABOVE RIGHT: MIKE LOCKHART; ILLUSTRATION BY STEVE KARP
allowed that he “Never felt like rolling or looping the Tommy, and I didn’t care who knew it.” After World War I, the Army Air Service sold surplus Tommies to civilian flying schools, sportsman pilots and ex-military fliers. Some were still being used in the mid-1930s for Hollywood WWI aviation films. A Tommy even shows up in the final dogfight segment of the 1975 movie The Great Waldo Pepper, in which Axel Olsen was charged with setting the plane on fire and simulating a jump to his death. Roger Freeman—president, pilot and vintage aircraft builder/restorer of the Old Kingsbury Aerodrome in Texas—worked with Tallman on the set of Waldo Pepper when he was just 18. Freeman is fond of Tommies and currently flies two of them at Old Kingsbury. He said he likes the airplanes because of what they represent, not how they fly. His dad, Ernie Freeman, had a Tommy in pieces in their garage that they restored together when Roger was younger, so his ties to the aircraft run deep. Freeman cautioned that as long as the Tommy is kept within its parameters it flies fine. He noted that the little airplane will get off the ground well before you think it should, and that the pronounced engine torque is challenging. The knife-like steel portion of the tailskid is extremely important to keep the airplane straight during takeoffs and landings—without it ground loops are frequent. Freeman confines his aerobatics in the Tommy to steep wingovers. In New York, there is an S-4B at Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome and at the Ithaca Aviation Heritage Foundation, where they have restored a locally built 1918 example. The IAHF said their Tommy “embodies the spirit of technological innovation that always has run deep in the culture of Ithaca and Tompkins County.” The Tompkins Center for History and Culture will be the IAHF Tommy’s permanent home, and at press time they planned to hold a flight demonstration on September 29. Mark C. Wilkins is a historian, writer and museum professional who specializes in World War I aviation. He is a writer and aerial effects producer for a Lafayette Escadrille documentary film currently in production (see thelafayetteescadrille.org).
VINTAGE AIRCRAFT BUILDER ROGER FREEMAN SAID HE LIKES THE TOMMIES FOR WHAT THEY REPRESENT, NOT HOW THEY FLY.
TECH NOTES THOMAS-MORSE S-4C SCOUT
SPECIFICATIONS
WINGSPAN: 26 feet 6 inches LENGTH: 19 feet 10 inches HEIGHT: 8 feet 1 inch EMPTY WEIGHT: 935 pounds GROSS WEIGHT: 1,330 pounds MAXIMUM SPEED: 97 mph RANGE: 250 miles SERVICE CEILING: 16,000 feet AIRBORNE TOMMY Old Rhinebeck’s S-4B, believed to be the last example produced, flies over the New York countryside. The Scout is now on static display at the aerodrome.
FUEL CAPACITY: 27 gallons ENGINE: 100-hp 9-cylinder Gnome 9B or 80-hp Le Rhône 9C rotary ARMAMENT: One synchronized .30-caliber Marlin machine gun (optional)
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REvIEWS
TESTBEDS, MOTHERSHIPS & PARASITES Astonishing Aircraft From the Golden Age of Flight Test
by Frederick A. Johnsen, Specialty Press, 2018, $32.95.
?PMV I^QI\QWV MV\P][QI[\[ LQ[K][[ \PM subject of motherships and testbeds, one of the images that normally comes to mind is of the classic mating of the sleek X-15 rocket plane with the XaTWV MY]QXXML * JWUJMZ & > To be sure, that iconic coupling takes its rightful place in this thematic book focusing on the aircraft that MVIJTML ÆQOP\ \M[\QVO L]ZQVO \PM XZWTQÅK XW[\·?WZTL ?IZ II era. Author Fred Johnsen, who brings a wealth of knowledge from his years at Edwards Air Force Base, has also highlighted all sorts of odd-looking combinations that speak to the unbridled creativity of the aerospace
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engineering community. Among the madcap conÅO]ZI\QWV[ XQK\]ZML QV \PM book is a General Electric \]ZJWRM\ Å\\ML QV\W I * I\ the bomber’s waist, with the air inlet placed humpbackstyle over the wing and with exhaust vented out the former tail gun turret position. Equally peculiar, a couple WN * [ _MZM UWLQÅML _Q\P a huge turboprop engine housed in elongated noses
NWZ QVÆQOP\ \M[\QVO WN \PM new propulsive technology. These strange but productive pairings were periodically balanced, in the aesthetic sense at least, when elegant experimental craft such as the perfectly proportioned ,W]OTI[ , ;SaZWKSM\ _I[ RWQVML \W I 8 * ; \PM = ; 6I^a¼[ ^MZ[QWV WN \PM * ! ;]XMZNWZ\ZM[[ \W MVIJTM the rocket plane’s highaltitude release.
In its wide-ranging scope, the book describes what it took to “lift the lifting bodies,” with kudos to brave test pilots like Milt Thompson and mothership commanders like Fitzhugh “Fitz” Fulton, while another chapter showcases a samXTQVO WN ;KITML +WUXW[Q\M[¼ purpose-built motherships, launch platforms for a new generation of spacecraft. This is a breathtakingly beautiful and learned compilation of unusual aircraft that belongs on the shelf of aspiring designers or any aviation-minded reader who appreciates the boundlessness of imagination. Philip Handleman
NASA
SKYROCKET RELEASE A Boeing P2B-1S mothership drops a Douglas D-558-2, one of three built for the U.S. Navy, on November 30, 1956.
THE ESCAPE ARTISTs A Band of Daredevil Pilots and the Greatest Prison Breakout of WWI Ja 6MIT *I[KWUJ# 0W]OP\WV 5Qâ&#x20AC;ŤŮźâ&#x20AC;ŹQV 0IZKW]Z\# Most readers of this magazine are probably familiar with such celebrated World War II prisoner of war escapes as the breakouts from Colditz Prison and Stalag Luft III. But few are likely aware of the equally dramatic mass escape from Germanyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Holzminden prison camp during World War I. The British Royal Air Force Wâ&#x20AC;ŤŮťâ&#x20AC;ŹKMZ[ _PW X]TTML Wâ&#x20AC;Ť\ Ůşâ&#x20AC;ŹPI\ LIZQVO M`XTWQ\ LQL [W NWZ \PM same reasons as their WWII counterparts in the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Great
Escapeâ&#x20AC;? from Stalag Luft III: to create havoc for the enemy behind the lines, and to try to get back into the war. Today, military personnel are routinely instructed in escape and evasion techniques in the event they are K]\ Wâ&#x20AC;Ť Ůşâ&#x20AC;ŹJMPQVL MVMUa TQVM[ or captured. Many RAF airmen even received lectures on such techniques during WWII, though troops got no such instruction during WWI. Those who planned IVL M`MK]\ML \PM UI[[
escape from Holzminden PIL \W Ă&#x2026;O]ZM Q\ ITT W]\ NWZ themselves. Nevertheless, the Holzminden escapees were considerably more successful than the POWs in Stalag Luft III, since 10 out of the 39
who broke out actually made it home (only three of 76 prisoners ultimately reached freedom in the Great Escape). Indeed, some of those who escaped from Holzminden subsequently lectured WWII RAF airmen on how they had done it, so that the younger generation might XZWĂ&#x2026;\ NZWU \PMQZ M`XMZQMVKM[ In The Escape Artists, Neal Bascomb recounts a tale of courage and resourcefulness every bit as suspenseful as the /ZMI\ -[KIXM <PQ[ M`KQ\QVO and fast-paced story is sure to be a must for those interested in the history of the Great ?IZ°WZ M^MV \PM VM`\ _IZ Robert Guttman
RACE TO HAWAII
the shadow tiger
The 1927 Dole Air Derby and the Thrilling First Flights That Opened the 3DFLĂ&#x17E;F Ja 2I[WV :aIV +PQKIOW :M^QM_ 8ZM[[ !!
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Everyone knows about Charles Lindberghâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s immortal transatlantic Ă&#x2020;QOP\ J]\ NM_ ZMUMUJMZ \PI\ ! also featured several pioneering Ă&#x2020;QOP\[ IKZW[[ IVW\PMZ WKMIV \W Hawaii. Capitalizing on the worldwide thrill at Lindberghâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s success, 0I_IQQ XQVMIXXTM \aKWWV 2IUM[ ,WTM IVVW]VKML I XZQbM NWZ \PM Ă&#x2026;Z[\ VWV[\WX Ă&#x2020;QOP\ NZWU +ITQNWZVQI \W 0WVWT]T] The route was shorter (2,400 miles versus 3,600), but harder. 6W IQZXTIVM Ă&#x2020;aQVO MI[\ _QTT UQ[[ -]ZWXM J]\ ZMIKPQVO \PM KWUXIZI\Q^MTa \QVa 0I_IQQIV IZKPQXMTIOW IN\MZ I TWVO Ă&#x2020;QOP\ W^MZ featureless water strained 1920s navigation technology. ) .WSSMZ \ZQUW\WZ UILM \PM Ă&#x2026;Z[\ VWV[\WX \W 0I_IQQ TIVLQVO QV 2]VM ! [Q` _MMS[ JMNWZM \PM ,WTM )QZ ,MZJaÂź[ Wâ&#x20AC;ŤŮťâ&#x20AC;ŹKQIT departure date. No prize money changed hands because the Ă&#x2020;QMZ[ _MZM = ; )ZUa IQZUMV *]\ _I[ I TW\ WN UWVMa QV ! ) [UITT IZUa WN XQTW\[ [QOVML ]X IVL I]\PWZ 2I[WV :aIV LMTQ^MZ[ PIQZ ZIQ[QVO IKKW]V\[ WN \PM QUJZWOTQW \PI\ NWTTW_ML 7N MV\ZQM[ [M^MV dropped out, mostly from mechanical problems and accidents. Of the eight airplanes that left Oakland in August, two succeeded in reaching Hawaii, two disappeared and four turned back. One of the four tried again and disappeared. <MV LMI\P[ QV I LMZJa _PW[M _QVVMZ[ _MZM VW\ M^MV \PM Ă&#x2026;Z[\ to reach Hawaii was not what Dole had in mind, and newspapers that had enthusiastically covered the competition published scornful editorials. Readers will wonder why such a bizarre event has largely vanished from history, but they will appreciate Ryanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s industrious research and lucid writing, which bring it to life. Mike Oppenheim
Like most such well-known aviation subjects, there would seem to be nothing new to write about World War IIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s perennially popular â&#x20AC;&#x153;Flying Tigers,â&#x20AC;? the American Volunteer Group (AVG). This new self-published book, however, opens a window on the pre-AVG story of how Claire Chennault, under the auspices of Chiang Kai-shek, came to recruit IVL Ă&#x2026;VITTa [\IVL ]X \PM M` XI\ZQW\ KWTTMK\QWV WN XQTW\[ IVL ground crewmen. Starting on December 20, 1941, the group [I_ [Q` UWV\P[ WN QV\MV[M KWUJI\ JMNWZM Q\[ IJ[WZX\QWV QV\W \PM U.S. Fourteenth Air Force as the 23rd Fighter Group. =[QVO I Ă&#x2026;VM KWTTMK\QWV WN XPW\W[ UIX[ IVL ZIZM KWV\MUXWrary letters and other correspondence, the authors immerse readers in this period when so many factions were not only Ă&#x2026;OP\QVO \PM 2IXIVM[M J]\ IT[W \PMU[MT^M[ +W I]\PWZ ?QTTQIU 5K,WVITL 111 Q[ \PM [WV WN š*QTTaÂş 5K,WVITL 2Z _PW Ă&#x2020;M_ Boeing P-12s alongside Chennault in his aerobatic team L]JJML š<PZMM 5MV WV I .TaQVO <ZIXMbM Âş 5K,WVITL 2Z followed the retired Army Air Corps aviator when he reported to Chiang Kai-shek as the then-warlordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s military adviser in 1937. Barbara Evenson also conducted research and helped _ZQ\M \PM \M`\ I[ _MTT I[ LM[QOVML \PM TIaW]\ 1\Âź[ IV ]V][]IT concept and presentation. The only criticism I would make Q[ \PM JWWS LMĂ&#x2026;VQ\MTa VMML[ IV QVLM` \W QVKZMI[M Q\[ ]\QTQ\a I[ I research tool. Todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s publishing industry might have produced a vol]UM _Q\P VW_ LM ZQOM]Z KWTWZ XZWĂ&#x2026;TM[ IVL PIZL \W Ă&#x2026;VL KWTWZ photos, but The Shadow Tiger Q[ IV M`KQ\QVO VM_ TWWS I\ WVM WN aviationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most storied groups of military aviators. Peter Mersky
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REvIEWS THE TUSKEGEE AIRMEN CHRONOLOGY A Detailed Timeline of the Red Tails and Other Black Pilots of World War II by Daniel L. Haulman, New South Books, 2017, $25.95. As a historian at the Air Force Historical Research Agency since the early 1980s, Daniel Haulman PI[ \ISMV N]TT IL^IV\IOM WN \PM _MIT\P WN Wâ&#x20AC;ŤŮťâ&#x20AC;ŹKQIT )QZ .WZKM ]VQ\ PQ[\WZQM[ I\ PQ[ Ă&#x2026;VOMZ\QX[ \W JMKWUM a leading authority on the serviceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pioneering African American pilots known as the Tuskegee Airmen. In his latest publication on the famed ?WZTL ?IZ 11 Ă&#x2020;QMZ[ PM XZW^QLM[ IV W^MZ^QM_ WN their story by chronologically listing key milestones in illuminating snippets. Most entries run from 1940 through 1949, the years when the allJTIKS UQTQ\IZa Ă&#x2020;QOP\ XZWOZIU _I[ KWVKMQ^ML Ja a reluctant government acting under public pressure and ultimately disbanded upon implementation of a presidential desegregation order. As a result of the authorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s extensive research, the book brims with important details that make for a fascinating read. Almost from the start the pace is quick, with crisp entries describing the struggle to establish the unprecedented program at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, followed by V]UMZW][ NIK\[ IJW]\ \PM KWUJI\ UQ[[QWV[ Ă&#x2020;W_V Ja \PM !!\P
Pursuit Squadron and the later 332nd Fighter Group. Their performance was not perfect, but the unitâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s overall record for protecting bombers was better than that of other Fifteenth )QZ .WZKM Ă&#x2026;OP\MZ OZW]X[ Taken as a whole, these abbreviated entries make clear that the courageous aviators who fought for liberty abroad while being denied its fruits at home achieved an indisputable double victory. By recounting the Tuskegee Airmenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s heroism in this unique way, the author has created an essential primer that will serve as a valuable reference for years to come. Philip Handleman
THE LOST PILOTS
C-130 HERCULES
The Spectacular Rise and Scandalous Fall of Aviationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Golden Couple by Corey Mead, Flatiron Books, 2018, $27.99.
A History by Martin W. Bowman, Pen & Sword Aviation, 2017, $39.95.
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British aviation historian Martin Bowman has produced an engaging retrospective on the long-lived and ubiquitous C-130 Hercules tactiKIT IQZTQN\MZ <PM Ă&#x2026;Z[\ WN \PM JWWSÂź[ 12 profusely illustrated chapters describes the airplaneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s development under the capable guidance of Lockheedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Art Flock and Willis Hawkins in response to an early 1950s U.S. Air Force requirement for a rugged medium-size transport to replace the laggardly Republic C-119 â&#x20AC;&#x153;Flying Boxcar.â&#x20AC;? No one could have imagined then that the straightfor_IZL LM[QOV WN I XT]UX N][MTIOM ]VLMZ I PQOP _QVO Ă&#x2026;\\ML _Q\P four turboprop engines would be thriving in multiple roles with numerous air forces around the world more than 60 years later. The aircraft came of age during the Vietnam War. Dramatic photos showing Herks in the swirl of combat include David Douglas Duncanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s horrifying image of a Marine KC-130F J]Z[\QVO QV\W Ă&#x2020;IUM[ _PQTM TIVLQVO I\ 3PM ;IVP ]VLMZ QV\MV[M MVMUa Ă&#x2026;ZM QV ! 1V \QUM \PM + XZW^ML \W JM I ^MZ[I\QTM platform with applications extending to medical evacuation, IQZJWZVM JI\\TMĂ&#x2026;MTL KWUUIVL IVL KWV\ZWT ZMN]MT QVO [MIZKP IVL ZM[K]M Ă&#x2020;IZM LZWXXQVO IVL [XMKQIT WXMZI\QWV[ Some key missions such as the successful 1976 Entebbe rescue and the failed 1980 Iran hostage rescue are covered, while other chapters are dedicated to gunship variants and the newest model, the C-130J. Sweeping in its scope, this book is an invaluIJTM ZMNMZMVKM WV WVM WN PQ[\WZaÂź[ UW[\ [QOVQĂ&#x2026;KIV\ \ZIV[XWZ\[ Philip Handleman
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
The Lost Pilots recounts a true story from aviationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;golden ageâ&#x20AC;? that reads like a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The protagonists are a pair of reckless jazz age lovers, exâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;Royal Air Force aviator William Lancaster and runaway Australian housewife Jesse Miller, both of whom were already married to other people. Together they KWVKMQ^ML IVL KIZZQML W]\ I LIZQVO ZMKWZL JZMISQVO Ă&#x2020;QOP\ NZWU London to Australia in 1928 that resulted in Miller becoming \PM Ă&#x2026;Z[\ _WUIV \W Ă&#x2020;a \W )][\ZITQI IVL KI\IX]T\ML JW\P WN \PMU to international celebrity. Unfortunately, they were unable to take advantage of their [PWZ\ TQ^ML NIUM L]M \W \PM MKWVWUQK Mâ&#x20AC;ŤŮşâ&#x20AC;ŹMK\[ WN \PM LQ[I[\ZW][ stock market crash of 1929. While Lancaster sought work in the aviation industry, Miller tried to write her memoirs with the aid of a handsome young ghostwriter named Haden Clarke. The result was a love triangle that culminated in the shooting death of Clarke, followed by a sensational murder trial. All of this turbulent melodrama concludes with a surprising and poignant ending that, like the rest of the story, [MMU[ UWZM TQSM ZWUIV\QK Ă&#x2026;K\QWV \PIV I [QUXTM IKKW]V\ WN historical facts. The Lost Pilots is the sort of book that would make a sensational movie. It also demonstrates that people in previous generations were no less â&#x20AC;&#x153;liberatedâ&#x20AC;? than they are today. Robert Guttman
pioneering pilots Tuskegee Airmen of the 332nd Fighter Group attend a brieďŹ ng in Italy.
RAF
ALWAYS AT WAR
The Birth of the World’s First Air Force by Richard Overy, W.W. Norton & Company, 2018, $26.95.
Organizational Culture in Strategic Air Command,1946–62 by Melvin G. Deaile, Naval Institute Press, 2018, $34.95.
In the centenary year of the _WZTL¼[ ÅZ[\ QVLMXMVLMV\ IQZ force, respected military historian Richard Overy delivers an impressive study on the origins of the British Royal Air Force. Overy reminds us that the quagmire of trench warfare in World War I prompted new thinking on means of attacking the enemy, and that when the German army air service began using airplanes to bomb London in 1917, Britain’s enraged populace sought relief and reciprocity. Amid argument and controversy, the existing Royal Naval Air Service and Royal Flying Corps were amalgamated into the single freestanding RAF air branch the following spring. >Q^QL XWZ\ZIQ\[ ÆM[P W]\ [\ZWVO _QTTML UMV []KP I[ 0]OP <ZMVKPIZL _PW[M JMTQMN[ [PIXML \PM ÆMLOTQVO UQTQ\IZa ÆaQVO organization. The hope that this new air arm would provide IV MٺMK\Q^M LMNMV[M WN \PM PWUMTIVL KIUM \W NZ]Q\QWV aMIZ[ later in dramatic fashion during the Battle of Britain. Yet as the I]\PWZ UISM[ KTMIZ QV Q\[ aMIZ[ WN ]VQV\MZZ]X\ML [MZ^QKM the RAF has projected its power mostly abroad as a bombing force and in support of the army. )T\PW]OP Q\[ ÅZ[\ [\MX[ []ٺMZML NZWU XM\\a ZQ^ITZQM[ [MML[ WN MٺMK\Q^M IQZ XW_MZ _MZM ZWW\ML QV \PM JQZ\P WN \PM :). 1V \PM aMIZ[ \PI\ NWTTW_ML IQZ NWZKM[ \PM _WZTL W^MZ _MZM QVÆ]MVKML by the British example. Overy’s treatise is nothing short of brilliant, a contribution to air power literature destined to live on in tandem with the service whose genesis it so cogently describes. Philip Handleman
1V \PM ! [ IVL MIZTa ¼ [ \PMZM was the U.S. Air Force and there was SAC—the Strategic Air Command. SAC was an air force within the Air Force. Its warriors viewed the rest of the USAF as little more than a ragtag militia, and their view was not so much condescending as it was the realization that only they were truly on a war footing day in and night out. The monomaniacal focus of General Curtis LeMay and his [\I_ ٺI[ ZM[XWV[QJTM NWZ UW[\ WN \PQ[ 4M5Ia _I[ I U]KP UWZM intelligent and sane individual than the usual clichéd image of a madman who wanted to bomb our enemies back to the stone age. Bell’s palsy prevented him from smiling, and the world read too much into that. Given the right resources, this book makes it clear that LeMay could have led any large American KWZXWZI\QWV VW\ R][\ ;)+ QV\W ]VZQ^ITML KWUUIVL WN Q\[ ÅMTL As just a small example, SAC operated within its own protected spaces—special fenced and guarded preserves. Legend has it that LeMay once ordered his driver to dash through a ;)+ IQZ JI[M OI\M \W \M[\ [MK]ZQ\a <PM O]IZL WV L]\a ÅZML I\ the car…and LeMay demoted him on the spot for missing. Though Always at War was authored by a former B-52 and B-2 combat pilot, don’t come to it expecting zoomy accounts of SAC missions. Instead, this well-written book shows how a corporate culture can be created out of shared rituals, symbols, narratives, objects, experiences, competitions and procedures. Stephan Wilkinson
CLASSICS FLIGHTS OF PASSAGE Reflections of a World War II Aviator by Samuel Hynes, 1988. Samuel Hynes entered World War II as a 19-yearold dreaming of glory in the air. Forty-three years after the war ended, while on the English faculty at Princeton, Hynes produced this lyrical, understated saga of his experiences as a U.S. Marine Corps torpedo bomber pilot. His memoir of those days is the dual story of soaring ITWN\ QV ZMUIZSIJTM ÆaQVO machines and experiencing the rites of passage from adolescence to manhood. Most of the book is about preparing for combat and, as it builds to its dramatic crescendo, Hynes experiences long periods of restlessness
and boredom. The mood alternates between the romantic and the mundane as he reveals with uncommon candor how he and the other young pilots in his TBM Avenger squadron lived out puerile impulses for alcohol and sex while yearning to strike a blow for the greater good. At last, their moment of truth—the “Test,” as he calls it—came at Ulithi and Okinawa in the closing months of the war. 0aVM[ ÆM_ UWZM \PIV combat missions, mainly in support of soldiers and Marines pressing against suicidal Japanese troops who at that late stage in the
war were obsessed not “with destroying, but with dying.” Death was all around him, and quite random—friend and foe alike perished in ways that seemed arbitrary. When the hard-fought victory was celebrated by a mass forma\QWV ÆaW^MZ PM IVL [Y]ILZWV
mates slow-rolled their tubby TBMs, later admitting it was “a stupid thing to do,” but with the war over, their “lives would never be daring and foolhardy again.” Once the Navy shipped him home, he traveled with his wartime bride, Liz, to Pensacola, Fla., to receive his discharge. At the naval air [\I\QWV _PMZM PQ[ ÆaQVO PIL begun, he spotted a BoeingStearman N2S “Yellow Peril” on the ramp and couldn’t resist taking the biplane trainer up for the last time, poignantly observing that it represented “the end of the adventure.” In sharing his adventure so honestly and eloquently, Samuel Hynes gave readers a timeless treasure of what it is like for young men to be at war. Philip Handleman
november 2018
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FLIGHT TEST
STARS IN THE SKY 1. Which Spanish Civil War ace brought his score to 10 as a major general in 1944? A. B. C. D.
Werner Mölders Georgy N. Zakharov Hans Trautloft Evgeny N. Stepanov
2. Which brigadier general took part in the first Eighth Air Force raid on Rouen on August 17, 1942?
Match the naval aircraft with its special characteristic. A. B. C. D. E. F. G. H. I. J.
Douglas T2D Mitsubishi 3MT5 North American AJ Savage Mitsubishi G3M Handley Page O/100 General Aircraft G.A.L.38 Fleet Shadower Grumman C-2A Greyhound Douglas EA-3B Skywarrior Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer Grumman E-1 Tracer
3. Which major general received the Gold Star of a Hero of the Soviet Union for “personal courage” leading the Ilyushin Il-2–equipped 1st Guards Assault Aviation Corps? A. B. C. D.
BIG IRON FOR THE NAVY Grumman C-2A Greyhound 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
Failed four-engine carrier-based patrol plane of 1940 Carrier-based cargo aircraft Four-engine land-based patrol bomber Heaviest operational carrier-based airplane First twin-engine aircraft to operate from a carrier First carrier-based nuclear bomber Twin-engine bomber built for Royal Naval Air Service U.S. Navy’s first airborne early warning aircraft First operational strategic bomber with torpedo capability 10. Failed twin-engine carrier attack plane, used as landbased trainer
James H. Doolittle Frank O’Driscoll Hunter Ira C. Eaker Curtis E. LeMay
Nelson Stepanyan Ivan G. Drachenko Anna Yegorova Vasili G. Ryazanov
4. Which World War II ace was credited with 24 aerial victories as a lieutenant general? A. B. C. D.
Evgeny Y. Savitsky Aleksandr I. Pokryshkin Vitaly N. Popkov Ivan N. Kozhedub
5. Who was the only admiral to participate in an aerial suicide mission on August 15, 1945? A. Isoroku Yamamoto B. Matome Ugaki C. Mitsuru Ushijima D. Chuichi Nagumo
ANSWERS: MYSTERY SHIP: Farner Werke C-3605 “Alpine Anteater.” Learn more about it at HistoryNet.com/aviation-history BIG IRON FOR THE NAVY: A.5, B.10, C.6, D.9, E.7, F.1, G.2, H.4, I.3, J.8 STARS IN THE SKY: 1.B, 2.C, 3.D, 4.A, 5.B 70
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TOP: AVPICS/ALAMY; BOTTOM: U.S. NAVY
Can you identify this turboprop target tug? See the answer below.
A. B. C. D.
33.5 hours, 41 hours, 29 hours, or 36.25 hours? For more, visit WWW.HISTORYNET.COM/ MAGAZINES/QUIZ
HistoryNet.com ANSWER: ON THE MORNING OF FRIDAY, MAY 20, 1927, “LUCKY LINDY” TOOK OFF FROM ROOSEVELT FIELD ON LONG ISLAND, BEGINNING A TREK ACROSS THE ATLANTIC OCEAN TOWARD PARIS, FRANCE. HE ARRIVED IN PARIS 33.5 HOURS LATER, TO A CHEERING CROWD OF MORE THAN 150,000.
AERO ARTIFACT borrowed hard hat Dean Hess’ flight helmet bore a United Nations emblem. Below: Hess holds the helmet next to his F-51 Mustang.
United Front ean Hess, who played a leading role in establishing and training the Republic of Korea IQZ NWZKM L]ZQVO \PM 3WZMIV ?IZ [\WZa 8 _WZM \PQ[ ÆQOP\ PMTUM\ MUJTIbWVML _Q\P I = 6 TWOW <PM /MV\M` 0 PMTUM\ WZQOQVITTa JMTWVOML \W I = ; 6I^a XQTW\ _PW KZI[P landed at one of the ROK air bases Hess helped set up. While hosting the shaken pilot, 0M[[ WٺMZML PQU I LZQVS \W KITU PQ[ VMZ^M[ IVL \ZQML WV \PM 6I^a PMTUM\ 6W\QVO Q\ Å\ U]KP JM\\MZ \PIV PQ[ \WW TIZOM )QZ .WZKM PMTUM\ 0M[[ KWV^QVKML \PM XQTW\ \W TM\ PQU PI^M Q\ IVL _WZM Q\ NWZ \PM ZMUIQVLMZ WN PQ[ \W]Z )\ [WUM XWQV\ I = 6 MUJTMU _I[ ILLML \W \PM PMTUM\ <WLIa Q\ Q[ WV LQ[XTIa I\ \PM 6I\QWVIT 5][M]U WN \PM = ; )QZ .WZKM QV ,Ia\WV 7PQW TOP: COURTESY OF DAWN SCHNEIDER; ABOVE: REPUBLIC OF KOREA AIR FORCE
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