featured aircraft - war eagles air museum
TRANSCRIPT
1 www.war-eagles-air-museum.com
From the Director
W e’ll always be primarily an
aviation museum. However,
we’re starting to emphasize
our automobile collection more. Thanks
to the knowledge and hard work of Carl
Wright, our 1954 MG-TF, 1960 Nash
Rambler, 1935 Auburn Boattail Speed-
ster, 1929 Ford Model A, 1970 Jaguar E-
Type and 1956 Cadillac are now running.
We were proud to show them off at our
recent car show. We’ll bring more of our
cars “up to speed,” and we’re looking for
volunteers to take them for spins around
the ramp. Also, we’re re-starting our old
Crew Chief program for the aircraft and
cars. Volunteer Crew Chiefs will help us
maintain the appearance and functionali-
ty of our collection. If you’re interested,
let anyone at the Museum know.
The Museum has always been hard
to find, but three new hangars and a haz-
ardous material facility recently erected
around us now almost completely hide us
from the airport entrance road. To help
visitors find us, we installed prominent
new signs on the hangar. Also, age final-
ly caught up with our 25-year-old plumb-
ing, and we’re replacing much of it. “An-
dy the Plumber” has become a familiar
figure around these parts. These upgrades
have cost nearly $5,000. We tell you this
to inform you about what’s going on, and
to let you know that we’re seeking spon-
sors for projects like this. If you’d like to
help us accomplish some of the exciting
things we have planned, please call me.
Bob Dockendorf
Inside This Issue From the Director ....................... 1
Featured Aircraft ........................ 1
Editorial ...................................... 2
The Aviation Media Shelf ........... 6
Membership Application ............. 7
Tom Lea’s Aviation Artwork ....... 7
Car Clubs Meet at Museum ....... 8
The Newsletter of the War Eagles Air Museum
Third Quarter (Jul - Sep) 2012
Volume 25, Number 3
Featured Aircraft (Continued on Page 2)
Featured Aircraft
A lmost everyone has heard of the
Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey. The
infamous $60-million vertical-
takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) tilt-rotor re-
cently entered service with the U.S. Mar-
ine Corps and Air Force after 26 years of
development. What most people don’t
know is that the U.S. had a VTOL trans-
port that could carry as many troops and
nearly as much cargo as the Osprey, at
higher speed, for longer range and at less
cost—and that this airplane could have
been in service almost 50 years ago!
Almost 50 years ago, the Vought-Hiller-
Ryan XC-142A vertical-takeoff-and-landing
tilt-wing transport proved the military value
of VTOL technology. Today, Bell-Boeing’s
V-22 Osprey cannot match the performance
the XC-142A demonstrated so long ago.
2 www.war-eagles-air-museum.com
Editorial I
f you’ve been reading Plane Talk for
a while, you’re going to notice some
changes in future issues. Over the
last 10 years or so, War Eagles Air Mu-
seum’s quarterly membership publication
has morphed from a fairly chatty “news-
paper” filled with information about local
events, Museum volunteer and staff pro-
files, new exhibits, reports on ongoing
projects, aviation humor, and so on, into
a strictly aviation- and military history-
oriented publication. In many previous
issues, the “Featured Aircraft” article and
Robert Haynes’ “Historical Perspectives”
column took up virtually all of the space,
leaving little room for current news items
and upcoming Museum-related events.
That’s about to change, as we dial back
the aviation technology and history con-
tent of Plane Talk in favor of more cov-
erage of what’s going on at the Museum.
This is all part of our new strategy to
increase the Museum’s physical and on-
line presence and, hopefully, to boost the
number of people who visit us. We plan
to host many more events, such as “mov-
ie nights” and car shows, and we’ll parti-
cipate in more activities, in partnership
with other local museums, clubs and org-
anizations, which we hope will make us
better known to potential visitors. Our
Facebook page is one way we’re dissemi-
nating current, up-to-date information on
what’s happening at the Museum. While
it won’t have the same immediacy, since
we’ll continue to publish it every three
months, Plane Talk will be another.
Plane Talk—The Newsletter of the War Eagles Air Museum Third Quarter 2012
Plane Talk Published quarterly by:
War Eagles Air Museum
8012 Airport Road
Santa Teresa, New Mexico 88008
(575) 589-2000
Author/Executive Editor: Terry Sunday
Senior Associate Editor: Frank Harrison
Associate Editor: Kathy Sunday
and turboprops did not exist at the time.
The companies usually built only one of
each, which limited flight test time. Thus,
these aircraft could not provide any indi-
cation of VTOL’s operational suitability
in the “real world.” Nor could they ad-
dress the military utility of VTOL, since
they did not have the equipment or capa-
bilities needed to perform realistic mili-
tary missions. Such operational suitabili-
ty testing was the focus of the next round
of VTOL aircraft, one of which is this is-
sue’s Featured Aircraft—the XC-142A.
In early 1959, the Department of De-
fense (DoD) formed a committee to eval-
uate the state-of-the-art of VTOL aircraft
technology, and to look at how the mili-
tary services could use VTOL aircraft.
The committee concluded that the servi-
ces could use VTOL aircraft, and that the
Air Force, Army and Navy requirements
matched best in the light transport area.
The committee recommended a VTOL
transport program be set up. The services
formed a group to examine the needs of
each and come up with joint operational
requirements that satisfied all three. The-
oretically, an aircraft designed to meet
the requirements would support military
utility evaluations while having useful
transport capabilities, the idea being that
From 1945 to 1960, the U.S. military
services spent more than $142.5 million
on more than 50 VTOL research aircraft.
These were basically testbeds to demon-
strate feasibility. No operational require-
ments for VTOL aircraft existed at the
time, so none was ever slated for produc-
tion. Their major contribution was the in-
vestigation of virtually every conceivable
vertical lift concept. These aircraft have
faded into obscurity, but a quick survey
of them reveals the variety of methods
they used to achieve VTOL flight.
For example, the Navy’s turboprop
Convair XFY-1 and Lockheed XFV-1
Pogo tail-sitters first flew in the 1950s.
McDonnell’s XV-1 Convertiplane was
an Army/Air Force compound helicopter
with a jet-powered rotor and fixed wings.
Bell’s Army-sponsored XV-3 tilt-rotor,
which first flew in 1955, was very similar
to the Osprey, with articulated rotors in
tilting pods on the wingtips. Bell’s X-14,
built for the Air Force, used thrust divert-
ers behind two horizontally mounted tur-
bojets to direct the jet exhaust downward
for vertical lift. Using company funds,
Bell also built the diminutive ATV (Air
Test Vehicle), cobbled together from off-
the-shelf parts of other aircraft, that fea-
tured two swiveling jet engines for verti-
cal and horizontal thrust. By 1958, Ryan
had tested the deflected-slipstream Army/
Navy VZ-3RY Vertiplane and the Air
Force X-13 Vertijet, a tail-sitter similar to
the Pogo but with a turbojet engine. Boe-
ing-Vertol used a tilting wing on its twin-
propeller Army/Navy VZ-2, which first
flew in 1958. Finally, Hiller’s Air-Force-
funded X-18, the largest VTOL aircraft
of its time, used two turboprop engines
(salvaged from the Pogo program) on a
tilting wing. It first flew late in 1959.
These aircraft showed there was no
“best” VTOL approach. All the designs
more-or-less worked, and they all provid-
ed valuable performance data, especially
on stability and control during transition
between vertical and horizontal flight.
But they all had several shortcomings.
Most used existing parts where possible,
so they were not optimized for VTOL.
High-performance, lightweight turbojets
Featured Aircraft (Continued from page 1)
The Hiller X-18 accumulated many hours
of flight test data that provided much of the
technical foundation for the XC-142A.
3 www.war-eagles-air-museum.com
contractor should build it. The Navy de-
manded a tilting ducted prop design. The
Army wanted a tilt-wing. The Air Force
flip-flopped. When the Air Force and Ar-
my finally agreed, the Navy representa-
tive walked out in a huff.
Despite the internecine friction, the
Military Selection Board recommended
procurement of the Vought-Hiller-Ryan
VHR-447, a four-engine tilt-wing design.
Program management responsibility went
from BuWeps to the Tri-Service VTOL
Systems Program Office (SPO), at Aero-
nautical Systems Division, Wright-Pat-
terson Air Force Base, Ohio. Seeing itself
possibly shut out of the proceedings, the
Navy reluctantly agreed to join the pro-
gram, but never really got on board.
On January 5, 1962, DoD awarded
the Vought Aeronautics Division of the
LTV Aerospace Corporation a contract to
deliver five XC-142A VTOL transports.
The program seemed to be getting off the
ground. But the DoD’s goal of buying an
aircraft suitable for all three services re-
mained unmet. Inter-service rivalries and
roles-and-missions disputes raged at the
time; none of the services was about to
put up with real or imagined infringe-
ments by the others. Thus the Air Force
continued to fund Curtiss-Wright to fin-
ish its X-19 tilt-prop, the Navy pursued
Bell’s ducted-prop X-22A, and the Army
proceeded with Lockheed’s augmented-
jet-ejector XV-4A Hummingbird and Ry-
an’s fan-in-wing XV-5A Vertifan. The
Army’s projects were just small technol-
ogy demonstrators—the X-19 and X-22A
were thinly disguised, small-scale VTOL
transports, each built solely for its own
military sponsor. The Air Force and Na-
vy gave lip service to “Tri-Service,” and
each contributed money to the XC-142A,
but each also funded its own aircraft at
the same time. The idea of saving taxpay-
er money by cooperating on a joint proj-
ect fell victim to selfish parochialism.
Vought managed the other contract-
ors and built the main fuselage, wing and
landing gear. The remaining work went
to Hiller and Ryan in amounts proporti-
onal to their contributions to the propo-
sal. Hiller built the complex power trans-
mission system (drawing on its X-18 ex-
perience), the tail propeller, the ailerons
the services would buy a few aircraft,
assess their operational suitability in field
trials, and then, if the tests were success-
ful, move it right into production. By Oc-
tober 1960, the group had finalized the
preliminary requirements for what soon
became the Tri-Service VTOL transport.
The Air Force, Army and Navy each
contributed $1 million (paltry by today’s
standards) to start the program, under the
overall management of the Navy Bureau
of Weapons (BuWeps). BuWeps imme-
diately ran into problems writing the Re-
quest for Proposal (RFP), because it had
no flying qualities requirements for such
an aircraft. DoD had separate fixed-wing
aircraft and helicopter specifications, but
none for a flying machine that could be
both. BuWeps finally hedged, referenced
both specs and distributed the RFP to in-
dustry on February 1, 1961, with a two-
month turnaround time. The RFP called
for construction of five test aircraft, with
no guarantee of production (although Bu-
Weps tacitly dangled the carrot of a big
production contract before the bidders).
The RFP’s requirements were so
tough that even experienced aircraft com-
panies found them hard to meet, but 15
firms rose to the challenge—Douglas,
Boeing-Vertol, Boeing-Wichita, Bell, Si-
korsky, North American, and teams of
Bell-Lockheed, Grumman-Kaman, Mc-
Donnell-Canadair and Vought-Hiller-Ry-
an. DoD had hoped to select a contractor
quickly, but inter-service squabbles de-
layed the decision. The services fought
over the type of aircraft to buy and which
Third Quarter 2012 Plane Talk—The Newsletter of the War Eagles Air Museum
and flaps. Ryan took care of the aft fuse-
lage, tail assembly and nacelles.
The XC-142A was the world’s big-
gest VTOL aircraft until Dornier’s all-jet
Do.31E3 flew in Germany in July 1967.
It could carry 32 troops, 24 litter patients
or 8,000 pounds of cargo. Its cabin was
the same size as a Boeing-Vertol CH-1B
Chinook helicopter’s, with a similar inte-
gral cargo door and loading ramp. The
hydraulically actuated wing tilted from
zero to 100 degrees relative to the fuse-
lage, its slight backward tilt allowing the
XC-142A to hover in a 20-knot tailwind.
It had full-span slats and flaps, with the
outer flap segments acting as ailerons. A
horizontal tail propeller controlled pitch
during hovering and transition flight.
Power came from four 2,850-horse-
power General Electric T64-GE-1 turbo-
prop engines. Cross-shafts, clutches and
gearboxes connected the engines togeth-
er, so if an engine failed, all four 15.5-
foot-diameter Hamilton Standard propel-
lers kept turning1. Another shaft drove
the tail propeller. Imagine the complexity
of this “mechanical nightmare”—and it
was all mechanical, not computerized.
Remember, this was back when NASA’s
Featured Aircraft (Continued on page 4)
Vought/Hiller/Ryan XC-142A General Characteristics
Powerplants
Four (4) 2,850-horse-power General Electric T64-GE-1 turboprops
Maximum speed 479 miles per hour
Service Ceiling 25,000 feet
Length 58 feet 1½ inches
Wingspan 67 feet 6 inches
Ferry Range 3,800 miles
Weight (empty) 23,045 pounds
Weight (VTOL) 37,474 pounds
1 In cruising flight, the pilot could shut down the two outboard engines to save fuel, while the cross-
shafts drove all four propellers.
4 www.war-eagles-air-museum.com
Plane Talk—The Newsletter of the War Eagles Air Museum Third Quarter 2012
lines’ ardor, and a civil version was never
more than a tantalizing pipe dream.
The XC-142A program was complex
and convoluted. Here’s a short summary
of what happened...
No. 1 first flew on March 26, 1965
(it was the third to fly). In May 1966, it
left Dallas for Cat II testing at Edwards
Air Force Base, California. During the
ferry flight, it refueled in El Paso, where,
in a crowd-pleasing display, it hovered
for 10 minutes before landing.
On October 7, 1966, after becoming
the first XC-142A to notch 100 flights,
No. 1 flew nonstop from Edwards back
to Dallas. Air rescue testing with dum-
mies at nearby Mountain Creek Lake
soon began, culminating in the “rescue”
of Vought security guard John Narra-
more from a raft in the lake while pilot
John Omvig hovered No. 1 at 125 feet.
On its 149th flight, on May 10, 1967,
No. 1 crashed in heavily wooded marsh-
land near Mountain Creek Lake, killing
the contractor crew of Stuart Madison,
Charles Jester and John Omvig. The test
plan for the fatal flight involved a rapid
descent to simulate a profile that would
minimize exposure to ground gunfire. At
low altitude, the aircraft pitched over, hit
the ground and burned. Investigation re-
vealed that the tail propeller control sys-
tem had failed.
No. 2 was the first XC-142A to fly,
the first to hover and the first to transition
between vertical and horizontal flight. It
had its share of accidents. On March 21,
1965, while flying low-and-slow at the
Apollo spacecraft were about to fly to the
moon with less onboard computing pow-
er than in a modern digital watch.
The flight control system was even
more complicated. It was a clever mecha-
nical design—without computers. In hor-
izontal flight, the controls operated in the
usual way. In hovering, it was different—
the tail propeller controlled pitch, the
outboard flaps controlled yaw, and differ-
ential engine thrust handled roll. So far,
so good. The challenge was to make the
airplane behave during transitions be-
tween vertical and horizontal flight. The
key was a mechanical integrator that sent
the pilot’s stick and rudder inputs to the
appropriate flight controls as a function
of wing tilt. It was “transparent” (using
the term as it was originally intended),
requiring no extra pilot thoughts or ac-
tions. For example, during transitions,
roll control came from both the outboard
flaps and differential thrust in proportion
to the angle of the wing. Even when this
complex, sensitive mechanical control
system worked properly, the XC-142A
was still a handful for its pilot to fly2.
By early 1963, with the design well
in hand and fabrication underway, seri-
ous funding problems caused Vought to
slip the first flight date from March to
July 1964, because there was no money
to pay for overtime labor. On the positive
side, January 1964 saw the first wing-fu-
selage mating. By that June, XC-142As 1
and 2 were complete, and 3, 4 and 5 were
coming along nicely.
XC-142A No. 1 rolled out at the
Vought plant in Dallas on June 17, 1964,
and went through its paces under the blue
Texas sky, demonstrating a full 100-de-
gree wing tilt cycle. Flight testing started
immediately. The test plan had two pha-
ses—Category (Cat) I, contractor tests, to
prove airworthiness, and Cat II, military
tests, to evaluate operational suitability.
Featured Aircraft (Continued from page 3)
The No. 2 XC-142A was the first to
fly, on September 29, 1964, at the skilled
hands of Vought’s chief test pilot John
Konrad and senior test pilot Stuart Madi-
son. They took off conventionally, using
only 1,700 feet of runway, with the en-
gines at 60% power. On the 38-minute
hop, they climbed to 10,000 feet, hit 175
miles per hour and landed with a rollout
of just 1,000 feet. The Tri-Service Tilt-
wing’s maiden flight was a big success.
No. 2 flew Cat I tests at Dallas into
early 1965, when No. 3 joined it after its
first flight on December 11, 1964. No. 2
performed the program’s first hover on
December 29, 1964, and the first conver-
sion from vertical to horizontal flight and
back again on January 11, 1965. The test
card for this flight was simple: “(1) Lift
to hover, (2) Do it, (3) Undo it.” Madison
did it and undid it in No. 2 twice with no
problems. Later, he did it and undid it a
third time in No. 3. On that flight, the
landing gear would not extend. He set the
aircraft down on its belly so gently that
the only damage was bent radio antennas
and a few dents in the main gear pods.
Spurred by these successes, Vought
quickly demonstrated the aircraft to sev-
eral major US airlines, and started talking
to the FAA about approval of a civil ver-
sion. These demonstrations wowed the
airlines, who foresaw using VTOL air-
craft for short-haul, high-density routes,
such as from Boston Common to the Pan
Am Building in New York City. Issues of
costs, fares and the risks of operations in
metropolitan areas finally cooled the air-
2 If your eyes glaze over at this aeronautical en-gineering digression, just think of it this way: the
XC-142A successfully flew like both a convention-
al airplane and a helicopter solely under the control of the pilot and some rods, gears and levers. It was
an impressive accomplishment for its day.
In this pre-Photoshop paste-up photo-
montage, XC-142A number 3 takes off verti-
cally, starts forward and transitions to hori-
zontal flight, with the wing tilting through
about a 90-degree angle.
The No. 1 XC-142A transitions from ver-
tical to horizontal flight at Vought’s Dallas
facility. Note the angle of the all-moving tail,
the ramps that smoothed airflow around the
wing pivot and the deflected flaps.
5 www.war-eagles-air-museum.com
factory, it oscillated sharply before hit-
ting the ground hard. None of the crew-
men were injured, but the wingtips, ailer-
ons and outboard engine tailpipes were
damaged. It turned out that the deflected
propwash produced erratic aerodynamic
disturbances and loss of directional con-
trol. Seven months later, a propeller went
into flat pitch right at touchdown, result-
ing in a hard landing and damage to the
landing gear and wing. Authorization for
repair was not forthcoming, since money
was very tight. But, after an accident
damaged the fuselage of No. 3 in January
1966, the Air Force told Vought to put
No. 3’s undamaged wing on No. 2.
On August 16, 1966, No. 2 joined 1,
4 and 5 at Edwards. The change of venue
didn’t end its jinx, however. On one of its
first flights, the pilot had to make an
emergency conventional landing, during
which the brakes caught fire. Then an
engine gearbox failed—on the ground,
fortunately—because of a weak support
shaft. Vought designed a fix and modi-
fied the gearboxes of all the aircraft.
No. 2 then had no problems for more
than a year. One of its most impressive
accomplishments during that time was a
three-ship test, with Nos. 4 and 5, called
a tactical field demonstration. Many mili-
tary and Government representatives wit-
nessed the highly successful test, which
showed conclusively that the XC-142A
excelled in performing realistic military
missions, such as assault landings, cargo
drops, transporting troops and more.
On October 9, 1967, while testing a
flight control system change, No. 2 land-
ed hard and sustained major damage, al-
though with no injuries to the crew. This
time there was no money to repair it. The
last flight of No. 2—the 488th of the pro-
gram—was the last of any XC-142A. It
seems fitting that the same aircraft that
made the first flight nearly three years
earlier also made the last.
The brief career of No. 3 began with
its first flight on December 11, 1964. It
was the first XC-142A to be flown by a
full military crew. On August 6, 1965, it
flew to Edwards by way of Tucson. On
January 3, 1966, having made only 14
flights, it suffered major fuselage damage
in a hard landing. After transplanting its
Third Quarter 2012 Plane Talk—The Newsletter of the War Eagles Air Museum
wing onto No. 2 and cannibalizing other
parts, the Air Force junked what was left.
If any XC-142A can be said to have
enjoyed a distinguished career, it would
have to be No. 4, which flew for nearly
two years with no major problems. It was
the only remaining flightworthy aircraft
at the end of the program and is the only
example of the breed in existence today.
No. 4 first flew on June 17, 1965.
Some of the things it accomplished in-
cluded VTOL operations on wet runways
and at night, off-runway operations, land-
ings on a rubberized membrane, use of
forward-area landing mats and dozens of
cargo and personnel pickups and drops.
By early 1967, an XC-142A trip to
the Paris Air Show, a long-time gleam in
Vought’s corporate eye, was in the off-
ing. No. 4 got the nod for the job, and
received a new, stunning red, white and
blue paint job with American flags and
bold “United States of America” letter-
ing. On April 26, the spruced-up machine
flew to Florida and landed on the carrier
USS Saratoga, which sailed for Europe
and arrived off Spain on May 10. A short
hop took it to the Navy base at Rota on
its way to Paris. Meanwhile, back in Dal-
las, No. 1 had just crashed, and the fleet
was grounded. When the grounding was
lifted on May 17, No. 4 was cleared for
conventional flight only. With a new tail
prop control system installed in Paris, it
was cleared for full vertical operations.
The biennial Paris Air Show was the
premier showcase for military and com-
mercial aircraft of manufacturers from all
over the world, and the 1967 show was a
huge success. No. 4 went through its pa-
ces in two exciting 12-minute demonstra-
tions. Meanwhile, Vought’s representa-
tives went all-out to rekindle airline inter-
est in a commercial version, even coming
up with the catchy name “Downtowner,”
but the XC-142A program ended soon af-
ter No. 4 returned to Dallas. Only one of
the several VTOL aircraft exhibited in
Paris had a bright future—the small Brit-
ish Hawker-Siddeley P.1127, which later
became justly famous as the Harrier.
No. 5 first flew on March 19, 1966,
and chalked up some significant accom-
plishments in its short but active career.
Its main claim to fame was its Navy ship-
board flights. In May, it made 50 short
and vertical takeoffs and landings on the
deck of the training aircraft carrier USS
Bennington cruising off San Diego. An
Army pilot with no experience in carrier
operations also flew some tests. No. 5
operated at sea again in November and
December 1966, flying from the USS Og-
den and the USS Yorktown. Sadly, on De-
cember 28 at Edwards, it slammed into a
hangar door while taxiing and banged up
the nose section, thus ending its career.
XC-142A No. 5 lands on the carrier USS
Bennington on May 18, 1966, with the wing
tilted up to an intermediate position.
Despite the accidents that wrecked
four of the five XC-142As, the test pro-
gram showed that a VTOL cargo aircraft
had real military utility. The problems it
experienced were the types common in
development programs. So why did the
XC-142A not go into production? The
reason is simple—money. At the time,
Vietnam was sapping America’s resour-
ces at the highest level since World War
II. President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered
the Defense Department to cut its budget.
The fiscal environment in Washington
simply could not support a major VTOL
production program. Also, some military
leaders still considered VTOL “not ready
for prime time.” Thus, the lofty goals of
the Tri-Service tilt-wing remained unmet,
and development of a later VTOL trans-
port started anew, resulting in the costly,
problem-plagued Bell-Boeing V-22 Os-
prey. The only remaining example of the
airplane that demonstrated it could do the
same job almost five decades ago—the
No. 4 XC-142A—is in the Museum of
the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, still
resplendent in its “Paris Paint.”
6 www.war-eagles-air-museum.com
Plane Talk—The Newsletter of the War Eagles Air Museum Third Quarter 2012
North American AT-6 Texan advanced
trainers, but most of the aerial scenes in-
volve PT-17 Stearman primary trainers.
Virtually all American World War II pi-
lots, whether ultimately assigned to fight-
ers, bombers or transports (and many for-
eign pilots also, as Thunder Birds accur-
ately depicts) had their first flying experi-
ences in these venerable blue-and-yellow
biplanes. Scenes of these graceful aircraft
soaring over the desert are stunning. And
they’re the real thing—there are no spe-
cial effects here. Other than a few close-
up shots of the pilots in the cockpits, the
aerial action really happens as shown.
In all, Thunder Birds is a feel-good
film made when the worst war in history
raged in Europe and Asia, and when Am-
erica seemed isolated, alone and not cer-
tain to prevail over the enemy. Viewers
at the time surely were inspired by its
scenes of tight formations of dozens of
aircraft and by its depictions of the fresh
young kids who signed up in droves to
answer their nations’ needs. The breadth
and depth of America’s wartime mobili-
zation is on full view in Thunder Birds,
and even today’s jaded, cynical viewers
can get a thrill seeing so many of these
historic aircraft in flight. With so few of
them flying today, it’s worth it for the
aviation buff to see this film just for these
scenes. Check it out if you’re interested
in classic aircraft, military flight training
or 1940s-vintage Hollywood stars.
Only the Wing by Russell Lee
M any students of World War II
German aviation technology
know about the pure “flying
wing” aircraft built by brothers Reimar
and Walter Horten. Their designs were
intended to reduce an aircraft to its most
fundamental element, a concept called, in
German, Nurflügel—‟only [the] wing.”
Horten aircraft mostly flew well without
such conventional appurtenances as a fu-
selage, horizontal and vertical stabilizers,
elevator and rudder.
Reimar Horten started building all-
wing aircraft as a teenager. Like many
young Germans in the 1930s, he had a
passion for gliders and sailplanes, which
were about the only types of aircraft the
Versailles Treaty permitted German man-
ufacturers to produce. Reimar believed
all-wing aircraft were far more efficient
than conventional designs, and would fly
better in the sailplane competitions that
were of great interest to him and Walter.
Unschooled in the principles of aircraft
design until much later in his life, young
Reimar nevertheless created remarkable
aircraft that flew well and had few vices.
His most famous design was the jet-pow-
ered H-IX, three prototypes of which the
Luftwaffe tested. It handily outperformed
Messerschmitt’s Me.262 jet fighter. The
“jet wing” was a brief departure from the
Horten brothers’ real love, sailplanes.
Russell Lee’s history of the Horten
brothers and the aircraft they built in Hit-
ler’s Germany and, later, in Argentina
(more than 65 aircraft of 27 different de-
signs) is comprehensive and highly read-
able. It also covers in detail a big aerody-
namic problem of tailless aircraft—“ad-
verse yaw,” which is the tendency of an
aircraft to turn, or “yaw,” in the opposite
direction than the pilot intends when she
or he moves the control stick to turn. All
aircraft have adverse yaw, but, in con-
ventional designs, pilots correct for it by
using the rudder. All-wing aircraft have
no rudder, so other techniques are need-
ed, including drag flaps, Friese ailerons
and differential aileron gearing. If you’re
interested in such engineering minutia,
Only the Wing should be just your cup of
tea, and would make a great addition to
the bookshelf of any aviation enthusiast,
especially those interested in esoteric as-
pects of the field.
Thunder Birds (DVD)
T hunder Birds would never win an
Academy Award. This short (78-
minute) 1942 film, released just a
few months after the Pearl Harbor attack
plunged America into war, is simply a
decent piece of propaganda that may
have inspired young viewers to join the
U.S. Army Air Corps. Director William
Wellman filmed Thunder Birds at a real
USAAC flight training base in Arizona,
and the harsh desert scenery is awesome
in Technicolor. Preston Foster stars as
Steve Britt, a hard-as-nails civilian flight
instructor with a heart of gold. John Sut-
ton gives a low-key performance as Roy-
al Air Force student pilot Peter Stack-
house, whose fear of flying threatens to
wash him out of the program. The lovely
Gene Tierney is Kay, the woman they
both love. You can imagine the romantic
triangle that ensues…
As with many films of this type, a lot
of peripheral activities surround the flight
sequences. Talking, horseback riding,
barn-dancing and barbecue eating take up
at least half of the film. But the aerial ac-
tion makes up for its brevity with great
quality. There are a few shots of Vultee
BT-13 Valiant basic trainers (known dis-
paragingly as the “Vultee Vibrator”) and
Editor’s Note: We are unable to pub-
lish Robert Haynes’ “Historical Per-
spectives” column in this issue. In-
stead, we hope you enjoy these media
reviews that should be of interest to
many aviation enthusiasts.
The Aviation Media Shelf
Movies at the Museum
D o you enjoy classic aviation
movies? Have you lost track
of how many times you’ve
seen Twelve O'clock High? This Fall,
when it’s cool and dark in the early
evening, join us at the Museum for
our new monthly aviation film series.
We won’t reveal the titles now, but
you’re sure to enjoy them, plus some
extra special features. Call or check
our Facebook page for details.
7 www.war-eagles-air-museum.com
Third Quarter 2012 Plane Talk—The Newsletter of the War Eagles Air Museum
Membership Application War Eagles Air Museum
War Eagles Air Museum memberships are tax-deductible to the extent provided by law, and include the following privileges:
Free admission to the Museum and all exhibits.
Free admission to all special events.
10% general admission discounts for all guests of Member.
10% discount on all Member purchases in the Gift Shop.
To become a Member of the War Eagles Air Museum, please fill in the information requested below and note the category of mem-
bership you desire. Mail this form, along with a check payable to “War Eagles Air Museum” for the annual fee shown, to:
War Eagles Air Museum
8012 Airport Road
Santa Teresa, NM 88008
NAME (Please print) ____________________________________________ ADDRESS ___________________________________________________ CITY _________________________ STATE _____ ZIP _____________ TELEPHONE (Optional) _________________________ E-MAIL ADDRESS (Optional) _____________________________________ Will be kept private and used only for War Eagles Air Museum mailings.
Membership Categories
Individual $15
Family $25
Participating $100
Supporting $500
Benefactor $1,000
Life $5,000
Dobie’s books Apache Gold and Yaqui
Silver and The Longhorns. In 1940, Tom
won a Rosenwald Fellowship that would
have provided him with a year of free-
dom to paint whatever he wanted, but he
turned it down after the Editor of Life in-
vited him to join the magazine’s staff as
an Accredited War Artist-Correspondent.
During World War II, Tom traveled over
100,000 miles as an eyewitness reporter
for Life. He went to many of the places
where American forces fought, including
the North Atlantic, the South Pacific and
China. Life published his first-person ar-
ticles and paintings between 1942 and
1945. He documented his experiences of
landing on Peleliu with the 7th Marines in
his 1945 book Peleliu Landing.
Tom Lea died on January 29, 2001.
His legacy includes hundreds of paint-
ings, sketches and literary works that re-
flect his fascination with the Southwest
and his involvement in chronicling the
greatest conflict of the 20th century.
Join us at War Eagles Air Museum
on October 14, 2012, for a special pro-
gram about Tom Lea’s aviation artwork,
presented by retired Marine Corps avia-
tor “Mac” Greeley, Jr. Then take a guid-
ed tour to see the actual types of aircraft
he painted, and learn about the thrill of
flying the Curtiss Warhawk from Eric
Mingledorff, former owner and restorer
of our P-40E. Call the Museum or check
our Facebook page for more details.
Tom Lea’s Aviation Artwork
T om Lea III was born in El Paso,
Texas, on July 11, 1907. He at-
tended the Art Institute of Chica-
go from 1924 until 1926. After graduat-
ing, he worked as a muralist and com-
mercial artist until 1933, when he moved
from Chicago to Santa Fe, New Mexico.
In Santa Fe, while working for the
Works Progress Administration, he did
illustrations for Santa Fe Magazine. Back
in El Paso in 1936, Tom became a well-
known muralist, and soon won commis-
sions to paint murals across the U.S., in-
cluding at the Benjamin Franklin Post
Office in Washington, D.C., the Federal
Courthouse in El Paso, the Burlington
Railroad Station in Lacrosse, Wisconsin,
and Post Offices in Pleasant Hill, Mis-
souri, and Odessa and Seymour, Texas.
In El Paso, Tom met book designer
Carl Hertzog and noted Texas writer J.
Frank Dobie. These friendships spawned
many collaborative projects, including
Detail from “Fighter in the Sky,” by Tom
Lea, oil on canvas, , 14¼” x 23¼”, January
1960. Image used by permission of the Tom
Lea Institute, El Paso, Texas.
8 www.war-eagles-air-museum.com
War Eagles Air Museum
Doña Ana County Airport at Santa Teresa 8012 Airport Road Santa Teresa, New Mexico 88008 (575) 589-2000
Car Club Show Draws a Big Crowd by Bob Dockendorf
W hat an incredible asset is the
War Eagles Air Museum! A
lot of great history is present
here, and it’s not just the airplanes. Auto-
mobiles are a big part of our collection
also. As a simple matter of demograph-
ics, far more people have a passion for
automobiles than have the knowledge, in-
terest and enthusiasm for aviation. It’s
fascinating to see, though, that, once car
enthusiasts are introduced to the excite-
ment of aviation, most of them develop a
greater interest in aircraft. In the past, I
think it would be fair to say that our clas-
sic and historic vehicles were true muse-
um pieces—they were well cared for cos-
metically, but many were not in running
condition. But that’s where the fun is—
getting behind the wheel, hearing the en-
gine and remembering the sights, sounds
participated. All of the attendees enjoyed
the cars, the wonderful, balmy afternoon
and each other’s company.
Thanks to meteorologist “Doppler
Dave” and our friends at KVIA-TV, the
event was well-advertised. A live-remote
weather broadcast brought lots of traffic
to the museum, and we had the best day
ever in our gift shop and admissions.
and smells of automobiles in their glory
days. On April 15, we hosted a car dis-
play involving several local car clubs,
which joined forces to meet at the Muse-
um and show off their rides. We had 75
cars show up, and, thanks to the tireless
efforts of Carl Wright, six of our own ve-
hicles were running in time for the event.
Cars as old as 1917 and as new as 2012
On April 15, 2012, War Eagles Air Museum hosted a gathering of more than 75 classic,
historic and exotic automobiles on the ramp. In addition to the lineup of Chevrolet Corvettes of
various model years in the first row, Ford Mustangs are well represented (check out the classic
‘65 in the back), as well as Ferraris, Lamborghinis and other rare and beautiful marques.