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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 1402.PDF
funruitt e/iu <JI c kali HSL-i anti-submarine helicopter. 1AST year's report on the National Air Show, entitled "Offto Philadelphia" (Flight, September 16 and 23, 1955),•J began with the Associate Editor's choice adjectives, "Ex- communication; banishment; deportation," the invoking of PaddyLeary's philosophy and the fervent hope that Philadelphia better be good. This year the assignment fell upon me, and he left mewith only one adjective, exile, and the philosophy of Horace Greely, "Go West, young man," to draw upon. I am extremely sorry I cannot report that in the going WestI flew from Miami to Oklahoma City; my long experience in aircraft and airlines has taught me that you go by air when you'vetime to spare. As I wanted to be at the scene of the Show at least two days before it officially started, to get the best photographs*of the participating aircraft as they arrived, I gassed my Judson- supercharged Model 113 Volkswagen to capacity at 6 p.m. onAugust 27 and 32 hours later I was looking for accommodation in Oklahoma City, 1,578 miles distant. (In Texas the thermo-meter inside the VW touched 122 deg F; but that's another story.) As it is each year, rehearsals were held during the two dayspreceding the actual start of the Air Show. These days are also utilized to the setting up of the indoor and outdoor static displays,seating arrangements for the public and—most important—the beverage-cooler in the working Press tent. They are also the bestdays for the photographers who haunt the taxi strips in hopes of getting clear views of the participating aircraft before they arecluttered with platforms and humanity. The plan to permit sonic booms during the show was emphatic-ally withdrawn after rehearsal "booming" had created a great deal of damage at the Will Rogers Airport terminal building, wherewindows and ceilings were shattered. Residents of Oklahoma City, too, were thrown into near panic; it was hinted that many, hearingthe bangs for the first time, thought that an Indian uprising (with atomic weapons) was taking place. Calm was restored when localnewspapers and radio stations assured the populace that sonic booms had been outlawed by the C.A.A. under the threat ofcancelling the Air Show if the Military did not forbid its pilots to fly past Mach 1. Three new trophies were announced this year. North AmericanAircraft, Douglas and McDonnell each offered to sponsor an event which featured their aircraft being used in a speed dash overyearly selected courses. Since the Navy could not find a way to bring one of its carriers into Oklahoma City (as they had been ableto do at Philadelphia last year), they had the carrier Shangri-La cruising off the Pacific Coast from California to Oregon, launchingaircraft for a dash for Oklahoma City each day. The first launch on the first day of the show (September 1) consisted of four FJ-3Fury fighters of Navy Fighter Squadron 24, and two A3D-1 Skywarriors of Navy Heavy Attack Squadron 1, in a dash from thelaunching site just off San Diego to Oklahoma City, a distance of 1,195 statute miles. The winner of the North American trophywas Lt. (jg) D. K. Grosshuesch, who averaged 537.84 m.p.h. The A3D-1 Skywarriors of this first launch did not compete for theDouglas Trophy; out to illustrate the range and speed of the Skywarrior, they flew from the carrier to Oklahoma City andreturned without refuelling. *Some appeared in last week's issue; others are here—Ed. 554 FLIGHT BY HAROLD G. MARTIN The second launch on the second day of the show was for theMcDonnell Trophy. Four McDonnell F3H-2N Demon fighters from Navy Fighter Squadron 124 were on their way to OklahomaCity from somewhere off the California coast near San Francisco, a distance of 1,434 miles. Only two of the four arrived at Okla-homa City. The winner was Lt. (jg) Ralph Carson, whose average speed was 566.007 m.p.h. Four F2H-4 Banshee fighters werealso launched on the second day, but they did not compete for the McDonnell Trophy. These four Banshees flew the entire distancein diamond formation and averaged 479.04 m.p.h. for the distance, which speaks fairly well for the Banshee's performance. Third launch on the last day of the show (September 3) was oftwo Douglas A3D-1 Skywarriors, airborne off the coast of Oregon and flying 1,660 statute miles to Oklahoma City. The winner ofthis trophy was Captain J. T. Blackburn of Navy Heavy Attack Wing 1, who averaged 606.557 m.p.h. for the flight. The Bendix Trophy Race was won this year by the Air Force'sCapt. M. J. Fernandez, Jr. in a North American F-100C Super Sabre. The course was from George Air Force Base, California,to Oklahoma City, a distance of 1,120 miles, and it was covered by Fernandez at an average speed of 666.661 m.p.h. The recordof last year's Bendix Race was 616.208 m.p.h., also set in an F-100C. This year's General Electric Trophy race course was fromKindley A.F.B. in Bermuda to Oklahoma City, a distance of 1,900 miles, and the trophy was won by Capt. D. O. Peterson in a BoeingB-47E, which set a new record of 601.187 m.p.h. for the course. Other B-47s of Strategic Air Command made notable flights fromfar-off points on the globe. On September 1, three B-47Es arrived in Oklahoma City after flying non-stop from a base in England;and on September 3, another three arrived after a non-stop flight from a North African base. The Allison Trophy is now awarded to winners of groundcrews competing in the quick changing of Allison engines in F-80 and T-33 aircraft. This year's winners again came from WebbA.F.B. Texas, their time being 8 min 18.8 sec as against Webb's 1955 winning record of 11 min 32.2 sec. The winning team was ledby S/Sgt. E. F. Bleckler. This year the Thompson Trophy was awarded to the loneentry, Cdr. Robert W. ("Duke") Windsor, U.S.N., who flew the Chance Vought F8U-1 Crusader to a new national speed "record"of 1,015.428 m.p.h. over a 1,525 km high-altitude course near the Naval Ordnance Test Station, China Lake, California. It wasstrongly hinted that Cdr. Windsor was ordered, by the security hounds caged at the Pentagon, to hold the Crusaders speed toa fraction over 1,000 m.p.h.; but the American aircraft industry seemed to be satisfied that at last one production aircraft couldbe claimed to be able to fly at a speed slightly over the 1,000 m.p.h. mark. All these trophy events must be recorded and reported, eventhough by this time they must be old hat to all interested parties. They are part of the yearly Show events and cannot be overlooked.However, the static and fly-by displays are by far the meatiest part of the shows and the ever-present rivalry between the U.S.military Services tends to make each year's displays more interest- ing. This time the indoor static displays were a slight disappoint-ment to the group of perambulating perennials (scribes, photo- graphers, et al), who missed "the solitary crazy Englishman"(those were the words he used in last year's Air Show report), as they watched the sun rise over Oklahoma on opening morning.All agreed there was little doubt he must be feeling kind of unhappy, sloshing about in the dew that fell on the FarnboroughShow and that he would have given his last package of Sailors to be basking in the 90-degree dawn sunlight right there inOklahoma. The gates were opened to the public at 8.30 a.m., and as theyswarmed into the display areas where the aircraft were parked one could see the awed looks on their faces as they beheld the size ofsome of the largest machines in the world. The big boys supplied by the Air Force this year included the Convair XC-99, BoeingKC-97G, Convair B-36H, Boeing B-47E-60-LM, Lockheed RC-121D, Fairchild C-123A, Lockheed C-131A and a spankingnew Martin B-57E that someone had apparently placed amongst these giants just for the hell of it. The B-57E was new to most ofus and we noted that it was the target tug version of the Canberra which we had heard was being built but had not seen before. Itwas painted a bright orange colour on topsides and bright silver underside; but except for the tow-cable tubes that extended frombeneath the bomb bay to the rearmost part of the fuselage, the B-57E offered very little visible change. Also amongst thesegiants was parked the only two commercial aircraft displayed at
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