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CONTENTSFLIGHT JOURNAL | APRIL 2014

C O V E R S T O R Y

12 | Improbable SurvivorFw 190: The rarest of the rare flies againBy Rachel Morris

FEATURES 28 | DoolittleThe first 80 yearsBy Barrett Tillman

42 | Wolfpack AssassinConfessions of a MiG killerBy Lieutenant Colonel Everett T. Raspberry, USAF (Ret.), as told to and written by James P. Busha

54 | Last Flight From PolebrookA tale of luck and perseveranceBy Author Name

COLUMNS6 | Flight Journal Contributors

8 | Editorial

10 | Airdrop

11 | On the Web

24 | Aviation InsiderWarbirds: Do They Have a Future?By Thomas McKelvey Cleaver

36 | GalleryPre-war Beauty: Hawker DemonBy Luigino Caliaro 40 | Iconic FirepowerProximity Fuzes: The Game-Changing Genie Was Out of the BottleBy Frederick A. Johnsen

52 | Modern ClassicsF-15 Eagle: 40 Years and Still LethalBy Barrett Tillman

64 | Flight Gear

66 | TailviewSpitfires for the MassesBy Rachel Morris

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AUGUST 2010 5

THIS PAGE: e two-place Spitfires of Boultbee Flight Academy present a golden opportunity to those wishing to taste a time long gone from a legendary cockpit. Having been set up for training, the second seat in two-place Spitfires has complete controls. ON THE COVER: John Dibbs is one of the lucky few to be granted an air-to-air photo session with Flying Heritage Collections White A. Well-known warbird pilot and restorer, Steve Hinton, is at the controls of the sole-flying, original Fw 190.

FLIGHT JOURNAL (USPS 015-447; ISSN 1095-1075) is published bimonthly by Air Age Inc., 88 Danbury Rd., Wilton, CT 06897 USA. Copyright 2013, all rights reserved. Periodicals postage permit paid at Wilton, CT, and additional offices. Canadian Post Publications Mail Agreement no. 40008153. SUBSCRIPTIONS AND BACK ISSUES: In U.S., call (800) 442-1871; Canada and elsewhere, call (386) 246-3323; fax (386) 447-2321, or go to FlightJournal.com. U.S., $29 (1 yr.); Canada, $34 including GST (1 yr.); international, $39 (1 yr.). All international orders must be prepaid in U.S. funds; Visa, MC, Discover and AmEx accepted. EDITORIAL: Send correspondence to Editors, Flight Journal, 88 Danbury Rd., Wilton, CT 06897 USA. Email: [email protected]. We welcome all editorial submissions, but assume no responsibility for the loss or damage of unsolicited material. All material contained herein is protected under the terms of U.S. copyright laws. Reproduction in any form, including electronic media, is expressly prohibited without the publishers written permission. Copyright 2013 Air Age Inc. All Rights Reserved. ADVERTISING: Send advertising materials to Advertising Dept., Flight Journal, 88 Danbury Rd., Wilton, CT 06897 USA; (203) 431-9000; fax (203) 529-3010. Email: [email protected]. CHANGE OF ADDRESS: To ensure that you dont miss any issues, send your new address to Flight Journal, P.O. Box 420235, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235 USA, six weeks before you move. Please include address label from a recent issue, or print the information exactly as shown on the label. For faster service, go to FlightJournal.com, and click on the customer service link. POSTMASTER: Please send Form 3579 to Flight Journal, P.O. Box 420235, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235 USA.

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EditorialEditor-in-Chief Budd DavissonExecutive Editor Debra CleghornEditor Gerry YarrishDeputy Managing Editor Katherine PierpontCopyeditor Suzanne Saunders

Contributing EditorsWalter Boyne, James P. Busha, Ted Carlson, Robert S. DeGroat, John Dibbs, Robert F. Dorr, Jim Farmer, Paul Gillcrist, Phil Haun, Randy Jolly, Geoffrey P. Jones, Ron Kaplan, Peter Lert, Rick Llinares, John Lowery, George Marrett, Peter Mersky, Dan Patterson, Steve Pace, Stan Piet, Alfred Price, Warren Thompson, Barrett Tillman, David Truby, Barnaby Wainfan

artCreative Director Betty K. NeroArt Director Kevin Monahan

digital mEdiaWeb Producer Holly Hansen

produCtionProduction Assistant Paul Streeto

adVErtisingAdvertising Director Mitch Brian 203.529.4609 Senior Account Executive Ben Halladay 203.529.4628Account Executive Al Struna 203.529.4655Sales Assistant Tracey Terenzi 203.529.4637Email [email protected]

ConsumEr marKEtingThe Media Source, a division of Source Interlink Companies, Inc.

marKEting & EVEntsAssociate Creative Director Leslie CostaEvent Manager Emil DeFrancesco

publishingGroup Publishers Louis DeFrancesco Jr., Yvonne M. DeFrancesco

88 Danbury Road, Wilton, CT 06897 USA

how to rEaCh usEmail [email protected] FlightJournal.comEditorial offices (203) 431-9000Customer service (800) 442-1871FlightJournal.com/cs

April 2014 | Volume 20, No. 2

Magazine Publishers of America

Printed in the U.S.A.

Barrett TillmanDoolittle: The First 80 YearsThe thing I enjoy most about what I do is not just meeting memorable people but getting to know them. Eventually Ill compile an anthology of the personality profiles Ive written, as were fast running out of 20th century flying legends. But

among those Ive been privileged to know more than somewhat, Jimmy Doolittle remains among the foremost. Heres a condensation of my interview for his 80th birthday program in 1983.

William CaverleeLast Flight from PolebrookRussell A. Brown is my neighbor in Monroe, Louisiana. For a number of years, before we became friends, I had heard of his exploits in World War II. One day, I introduced myself and we began talking about his experiences, at first casually

leaning against his pickup later in his living room with tape recorder and notebook. I didnt have to travel across the country to interview a war hero. I only had to walk down the street.

Thomas McKelvey Cleaver Aviation Insider: Warbirds: Do They Have a Future?In 2001, I took a friend from New Zealand to Chino. Ed Maloney was with us for the day, introduced only as, This is Ed. As we drove away, my friend was sad he hadnt met Ed Maloney. I replied, Who do you

think you were with all day? That was Ed Maloney?! I thought he was one of the volunteers! A perfect description of the man Ive been fortunate to be friends with these past 30 years. Proof that one person can indeed change the world.

Rachel Morris and John Dibbs Improbable SurvivorRachel: Flying Heritage Collections Fw 190 is fascinating as a type and a restoration. Of

particular interest to me is the airframes remarkable design, especially that of the original BMW 801 engine the worlds only operational example, marking this fighter out as entirely unique. John: When I first saw this airframe in 1989, it was pivotal in shaping my career. It sat in a hangar, an untouched artifact fresh from the Russian forest, a direct link with WW II. Paul Allen and his teams vision to return this historic piece to the air with such authenticity is truly inspiring.

James P. BushaWolfpack AssassinWhen I interviewed Lt. Colonel Everett T. Razz Raspberry about his Phantom days while serving with the Triple Nickel Squadron the 555th in Vietnam, he spoke about flying the Phantom with a love/hate attitude. Although he loved

flying the F-4 and found it very maneuverable, he hated the fact that a bunch of meddling politicians who had no prior experience as fighter pilots took the bite out of the dog. With no guns and only missiles at his disposal, old-fashioned dogfighting became a thing of the past.

contributors

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editorial

This issue of Flight Journal could be seen as a tribute to survivors, both mechanical and human with one of each being stand-out examples: Jimmy Doolittle represents the flesh and blood variety while Fw 190 A5/U3 White A the mechanical.

Within aviation, the name Doolittle is almost always linked with Raid. Frankly, its a little disappointing that one of the most accomplished pilots in history is known for only one act of innovation and bravery, when both attributes were keynotes of his entire existence. He quite literally went where no man went before time after time and were still beholden to him for the many advances he personally brought to aviation. Thankfully, our own Barrett Tillman was fortunate to do an in-depth interview with him in 1983 (he passed in September 1993 at 97 years of age) and were presenting the interview almost in its entirety. Youll be amazed at the extent of his accomplishments: if the Doolittle Raid had never hap-pened, he would still be one of aviations biggest heroes.

And then there is Fw 190 Werk No. 0151227: It is the sole flying, original Fw 190 of any variety in the world and we have Paul Allen and the Flying Heritage Collection in Everett, Washington, to thank for putting this survivor back in the air. Equally as important, we have the FHC to thank for allowing John Dibbs to work his photographic magic while capturing the airplane in the air. His photos and Rachel Morriss words give us visual and textual information that hasnt been avail-able for nearly 70 years.

William Caverlee joins the FJ editorial crew with his Last Flight from Polebrook. Here we experience not only what its like to be a target (B-17 on a bombing run), but also the feel-ing of stepping out into the cold air and trusting a parachute to save your life. Then, as if that isnt enough, we get to wan-der through the dark with Lt. Russell Brown avoiding Germans for several days before finally being nabbed.

Flashing ahead to Vietnam, where aerial victories were few and far between, Jim Busha gives us the story of Phantom pi-lot, Everett Raspberry (Lt. Colonel, USAF, Ret.) who got two. Through his words, we get a feeling for what dogfighting was like in that era. Better yet, as a participant on the famous Bolo mission, in which Phantoms, masquerading as an F-105 bombing flight, lured MiGs off the ground en masse, we gain insight into the most frantic fur-ball of the entire VN war.

A central part of Flight Journal has always been the presen-tation of modern photography of restored warbirds, which brings us back to survivors. The warbird community has grown and matured, but few have been there from the very beginning right after the war as Ed Maloney has. Through Tom Cleaver, Ed gives us a unique view of how warbird collecting started, what it takes to form a viable aviation museum (his Planes of Fame Museum is over half a century old) and what kinds of pitfalls await warbird collectors and pilots in the future.

Dig in! Were certain youll find things interesting, informa-tive and maybe even confounding. Enjoy!

From Raider One to an Unlikely Survivor by budd davisson

an eternally classic image from scott slocum: big friend, little friend(b-17 and P-51 owned by the caf; P-51 Gunfighter - 55th fighter Group;b-17 Texas Raiders - 381st bomber Group).

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write to us!Email letters [email protected]

Mail your letters to Flight Journal Air Age Media88 Danbury RoadWilton, CT 06897 USA We welcome your comments and suggestions. Letters may be edited for brevity and clarity.

Cockle-warming issueGentlemen, I salute you! A cracking issue that warms the cockles of an old (well, 60 anyway) Limeys heart. Superb bit of history on Ensign Eric Lingard, super story on The Banshee Wail P-40s, and to top it all off, a great One of a Kind profile of the XB47D. If only Flight Journal came out every week! Sure, I know it would mean a heck of a lot more work for you guys but just think of how happy it would make your readers. In the meantime, Ill just have to eagerly wait for the next issue to arrive on my doorstep, courtesy of my (64-year-old) brother in the States. Con-gratulations on continuing to provide the No. 1 aviation journal. Believe me, youre leading the formation! Finally, on the subject of composite-powered planes, could you possibly whip up a fresh story on the Douglas XB-42A Mixmaster for us sometime soon?Brian Weatherley, Ashford, Kent, UK

Its nice to know were warming cockles (what is a cockle, anyway?) on the other side of the pond. And because of you, an XB-42A piece is in the works. Thanks. BD

Golden Age racers rule!I enjoyed very much you article on the Caudron C.460 racer in the December 2013 issue. I was im-pressed once more by the research capabilities of your writers.

I grew up in Cleveland, and was highly inter-ested in the planes and pilots that participated in

the Air Races each Labor Day weekend. Roscoe Turner, Tony Levier, Steve Wittman, Art Chester and others were heroes to me. Their airplanes, sometimes homebuilt, always innovative and of-ten beautiful, were remarkable. Could you pub-lish an article on pre-war racing planes and their pilots? It was a fascinating era. John M. Bailey

Im with you, John: I LOVE Golden Age racers. So much so, that a friend and I designed and built a 450hp full-sized replica of the Wedell-Williams 44. Its in the Wedell-Williams Museum in Paterson, LA. BD

Mustang tail radarI was intrigued to learn from Thomas Cleavers A Swim in the North Sea in the February 2014 edition that the P-51 had a tail-mounted radar. I do not recall anyone else even mentioning this in other dissertations about the wonders of this remarkable plane. It might make sense to do a piece on this? Did any other fighters use similar equipment; how did it work and what did it dis-play; was the technology carried over and used in Korea by the USAF or the SAAF; by the Israelis (in the 1948 war), and are there any units in muse-ums that the public can view?

I always enjoy the publication as much for the detail as well as such esoteric discoveries!Colin Cohen

From author Tom Cleaver:The P-51D-25 (appeared Fall 1944) mounted a tail-warning radar in the vertical fin you can see them with a little V antenna sticking out to either side above the serial that little hatch on the left side is where it was. Gave a warning hoot in the cockpit if anything showed up in an area 5 degrees to either side of dead astern. Lots of guys didnt like it because it didnt distinguish between good guys and bad guys.

why No Yamamoto in P-38 special? I was at Barnes & Noble and saw your magazine with a P-38 on the cover. My father worked at Lockheed in the skunk works on the P-38,

Is that a Wildcat or a Wildcat? From stem to stern, great articles! Page 54 photo looks more like an F4F-4/FM-1 than an FM-2 I can see the bulge of the cowling scoop! I really enjoy the photos: the P-47 shot page 3 really turned me on! I really look forward to receiving your magazine, and only wish I could make the reading last longer than a day or so!Robert Taylor

Sharp eye! The Navy sent us the photo and they missed that detail too. Another giveaway is that the leading edge of the rudder counterbalance looks shallow. BD

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APRIL 2014 11

ON THE WEB | FLIGHTJOURNAL.COM

Flight Journal in the Electronic Age is month, Flight Journal readers are the winners, when it comes to stuff being lost in our attic. Until John Dibbs offered us his fantastic photos of the Flying Heritage Collections one-of-a-kind, original flying Fw 190A, wed never poked around in our archives to see what we had in the way of Focke-Wulf drawings. And you wont believe what we stumbled across: an absolutely pristine, amazingly well-detailed FOUR-view drawing of the Butcher Bird by Bjorn Karlstrom. Download our FREE PDF from FlightJournal.com and you can blow this up big enough to cover a door without losing detail. Its beautiful! Enjoy!

And dont forget to visit FlightJournal.com or register for our monthly e-newsletter and check us out on Facebook!

readers are the winners, when it comes

FREE DOWNLOAD

P-80, U-2 and the YF-12A among other aircraft. He was the lead engineer under Kelly Johnson on the project. I was privi-leged to go to a P-38 pilots reunion back in the 1970s, there I met Rex Barber and Thomas Landsver, the two pilots who shot down Admiral Yamamoto April 18, 1942.

I loved reading the stories about the P-38 as my father died in 1959 when I was only eight years old, so these sto-ries mean a great deal to me. That said, I have to wonder why the greatest mission of the P-38 (shooting down Yamamoto) was omitted from your January issue?Richard Wardall

We purposely avoided the Yamamoto mis-sion because it has been written and re-written many times and we were trying to present entirely fresh material. BD

Bf or Me: AAC vs. AAFI have subscribed to about 100 maga-zines, starting with True - The Mans Mag-azine in 1955, and have read many more hundreds of magazines purchased at the newsstand. Flight Journal is at, or very near, the top of the list, as my favorite, for many reasons.

I do have one bone to pick about your

otherwise excellent magazine, and that is the fact that two or three times, in each issue, the air arm of the U.S. Army is referred to as the Army Air Corps (AAC) during the time we were in the war. In June 1941, the name was changed to the Army Air Forces (AAF), and remained that until it was changed to the U.S. Air Force after the war. Therefore, it was the AAF for us, from December 7, 1941, to V-J Day, in 1945.

Another problem that pops up all the time is calling the ME-109 a Bf-109. It stopped being a Bf-109 when Willie M. started producing it in, I believe, 1935. Every single pilot who ever flew this plane called it an Me-109, including Gun-ther Rall (275 aerial victories), Gerhard Barkhorn (301 aerial victories), and Erich Bubi Hartmann (352 aerial victories).

Please accept my criticism in the spirit in which it is given: I admire and respect the truth and precision when discussing anything, especially history. Thank you very much.Richard Gearon

Richard: The Bf/Me controversy pops up all the time, but the scholarly types tell us that only aircraft designed after July 11, 1938, when Messerschmitt AG was officially

formed, were officially designated Me. Prior to that it was Baverische Flugzeugwerke, Bf. The first to wear Me was the Me 210. Those designed before include the 108 and 109. That having been said, even official German documents use both Bf and Me sometimes on the same page. Plus pilots on both sides referred to it as the Me more often than not. We tend to use Bf more often just to make ourselves feel more scholarly. See letters in FlightJournal.com for more info.

As for the USAAC versus USAAF: youre right about the date. However, MANY war-time officers were officially commissioned in the USAAC and were told its because they had so much USAAC paperwork left that they used it until it was gone. However, we should be using USAAF. Sorry. BD

Have Mustang, Will TravelOne of the better cowboy TV shows of the 1960s was Have Gun Will Travelstarring Richard Boone as Paladin. The picture of Lt. Lamb scowling out of his Mustang is a dead ringer for Paladin. Per-haps Lambs card could read Have Mus-tang Will Travel, Wire Lamb at the 78th.Jim Dax

Funny: we thought exactly the same thing when we saw the photo. BD

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In 1989, the forests east of Leningrad gave up a ghostly relic of the fierce fighting that scarred the Russian landscape in the latter years of World War II: a Focke-Wulf 190 A5/U3 was found that had been force landed in 1943, amongst once-tiny saplings that grew to hide the airframe from view. Aside from its bent propeller, Fw 190 Werk Nummer 1227 remained remarkably intact. e Balkenkreuz on the fuselage and black Swastika on its tail stood out defiantly against the march of time and surrounding greenery. e pilots leather flying helmet still rested on the seat, where he had carefully placed it before setting off on foot. Even the fighters tires still contained their wartime air.

SURVIVORSURVIVORSURVIVORImprobable

Fw 190: The Rarest of The Rare Flies AgainBY RACHEL MORRIS PHOTOS BY JOHN DIBBS/PLANEPICTURE.COM

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Only the decayed fabric surfaces and saplings growing through the wing confirmed that this aircraft had lain undisturbed on the marshy forest floor for decades. e year following its discovery saw the Iron Curtain crumble and Leningrad become St. Petersburg once more. In 1991, the Fw 190 was removed from the ex-Soviet Bloc and taken to England for restoration. Purchased by collector Paul G. Allen in 1999, this incredibly rare aircraft has now been returned to airworthy condition and is a star exhibit at the Flying Heritage Collection in Everett, Washington, just north of Seattle. It is now the sole, totally original example of the type still flying.

Although the approximately 20,000 Fw 190s produced were one of the Luftwaffes mainstays during the war, they disappeared quickly

after the war leaving the Flying Heritage Collections White A as

the sole flying example.



Improbable SurvIvor

The pioneering design presents challengesThe Allies first observed the unfamiliar silhou-ette of the Fw 190 over France in August 1941. It soon proved itself superior in all but turn ra-dius to the RAFs frontline fighter, the Spitfire Mk V. Kurt Tank, Technical Director at Focke-Wulf, abandoned the accepted norms of fighter design to develop a radial engine fighter that would be-come his most famous creation. Tank wanted to build a rugged dependable aircraft that decreased the pilots workload. He considered the Spitfire and Bf 109 fighters as delicate racehorses: high-performance machines that needed much atten-tion and correct conditions to ensure good per-formance. The Fw 190 would be a Dienstpferd a cavalry horse: a tough all rounder, well suited to the hard environs of the battlefield. His fighter would be christened Wrger, or Shrike in English. Thanks to its murderous feeding habits, the Shrike

is known as the Butcher Bird, and this nickname stuck with the Fw 190. Only a very small number of the 20,000 Fw 190s manufactured survive in Museums today.

In keeping with other aircraft at the Flying His-tory Collection, Fw 190 Wk Nr 1227 has been restored to authentic wartime condition. Jason

Muszala, Aircraft Maintenance Manager at FHC, explains the Collections impressive ethos: We really try to stick with exactly how it was. Thats the allure, and thats what Mr. Allen wants: an actual artifact, a piece of history, rather than something that can just go fly. Whilst Jason finds working on the Focke-Wulf rewarding, the Collections unique approach inevitably pres-ents difficulties on such a rare type: The biggest challenge is that theres no other place to gather information, and nothing else to base it against. Were forging new territory and, as we put hours on the airplane, we document everything.

BMW 801 restoration To create his Dientspferd, Tanks design featured many radical developments, the most prominent being the BMW radial engine. Inline engines, perceived to create the least drag, had become the standard for fighter aircraft. Tank was in-

spired by the U.S. Navys use of radials and be-lieved any such issues could be surmounted with proper streamlining and installation. Not having to compete for already stretched supplies of the inline DB 601 (used on the Bf 109) was an addi-tional benefit. Early on in development, BMWs new 801 powerplant was incorporated into the

No room was wasted. Everything is compact and fits perfectly. Every bit of space, whether its a component or

the air system or just the way things flow is utilized."One of White As stablemates in JG54 landing at Siverskaya near Leningrad on the Russian Front during the winter of 1942. Wearing temporary winter camo, the Luftwaffe were taught to land on snow-packed runways by the "friendly" White Russian forces during the winter months.


APRIL 2014 15

design. At FHC, Jason explains how their large engine is tightly cowled: No room was wasted. Everything is compact and fits perfectly. Every bit of space, whether its a component or the air sys-tem or just the way things flow is utilized.

Mike Nixon of Vintage V-12s in Tehachapi, California, refurbished FHCs 801. The units were not expected to last more than a few hundred hours in combat conditions, and Jason explains the Focke-Wulf manuals they have do not specify information like Time Before Overhaul. Mike has advised they treat it like any other large radial, watching for internal wear and tear on cylinders and bearings. Jason says, We take oil analysis ev-ery three or four hours and look for the different minerals or aspects that come up in the oil, to try and learn whats going on inside. But its all kind of experimental right now.

The 801 incorporated a revolutionary engine management system called the Kommandgert, or command unit. This inbuilt electro-mechanical computer automatically controls the mixture,

Feldwebel Paul Rtz to FHC Owner Paul Allen:The Saga of White A Manufactured in April 1943, this Fw 190 was the 415th A5 variant constructed from batch 0150812 at the Bremen factory of Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau GmbH. Given the Werk Nummer 0151227, the airframe was modified in the factory to carry an ETC501 bomb rack in place of the usual wing-mounted 20mm cannons, making its final designation A5/U3 (the U signifying a conversion kit, or Umrst-Bausatz). The aircraft was delivered to the Eastern front airbase of Siwerskaya (Siversky) to join the ranks of I. and II Gruppen of Jagdeschwader 54 Grnherz (Greenhearts).

On July 19, 1943, 24-year-old Feldwebel Paul Rtz of 4./JG54 took off from the airfield with a 550-pound bomb strapped underneath his aircraft. Wk Nr 1227 now carried the unusual marking White A. Colored numbers usually identified Luftwaffe Squadrons. Research suggests that 4./JG54 used letters during the summer months of 1943 whilst acting as a semi-autonomous specialist ground attack unit, later reverting back to the normal number system.

Rtz and his wingman headed north across enemy lines to the Voibakalo (Voybokalo) region east of Leningrad on a free-fire mission. The aircraft attacked an armored train, and 1227 reportedly suffered flak damage. No such damage was discovered on the airframe, and it seems the Fw 190 suffered a catastrophic engine failure that forced Paul Rtz to land the aircraft wheels up on marshy ground.

After coming to a stop, Rtz removed the clock from the aircraft, placed his flying helmet on the seat and took the first aid kit from the rear compartment before setting off on foot towards German territory. The Russians captured him and he would remain their prisoner until his repatriation to West Germany in 1949. He passed away in 1989, the same year the aircraft was located. During the restoration, an abnormal blockage was found in the engines oil lines, which would have caused it to seize. German factories frequently used slave labor, and it seems that rather than falling to enemy fire, Rtzs Fw 190 was brought down by an act of sabotage on the production line.

Found in unbelievably intact condition, the small saplings that the aircraft had crashed in grew to be a forest, shielding it from view until recovered in 1989.



Improbable SurvIvor

Steve Hinton, White As test pilot, reports the aircraft is well balanced with light controls and excellent systems.

"At that time, pilots had four levers to get everything running right, but they put it all into one so the command unit did all the thinking

for the pilot.


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propeller pitch, boost and magneto timing leav-ing the pilot to operate only the throttle. Trou-bleshooting the unit, and ensuring its correctly timed and indexed with the propeller is critical for the FHC team. The unit has its own separate oil system and pump, and the oil reservoir is in the engine mount: It runs its own brain so to speak, and then outputs to the fuel, propeller, boost, everything from there. According to Ja-son, this is the Fw 190s most interesting feature: At that time, pilots had four levers to get every-thing running right, but they put it all into one so the command unit did all the thinking for the pilot.

Early prototypes of the Fw 190 suffered major overheating issues, which nearly ended Tanks project. Installation of a 12-bladed fan at the front of the engine to cool the twin rows of cyl-inder heads finally solved this problem. Another example of Tanks clever use of space is the annu-lar oil cooler, which sits behind armor plating in the forward ring. An ingenious system was devel-oped to return the air from the fan to the cooler: The fan pressurizes the engine compartment to force the air counter-intuitively through the oil cooler. The fan is geared with the engine and prop together but turns at a greater speed than the prop. It pushes the air in the same direction, forward to aft, but the cowl flaps limit the air that can escape, which in turn pressurizes the air and forces it forward through the oil cooler. So

the actual airflow pattern for the oil cooler is not forward to aft as you look at the aircraft, its aft to forward. It then slips out of a tiny ring right on the nose. The FHC engineers came across one possible oversight in the engines design: In the nose case where the pressure fan is, they dont have an oil seal there. So every time you shut the engine down, you get oil that runs out the front. If youre not familiar with the airplane, its pretty alarming you think youve got a full-on oil

Many of the 190s systems were state of the art for the time, both simple to operate and build. However, had components like the landing gear been missing, restoration would have been much more difficult.

Far too often warbird restorers have to start with a severely corroded hulk that has been picked over by locals so many important parts are missing. The FHCs Fw 190A5/U3 was missing only its clock and the canopy, which was presumably jettisoned before crash landing.



Improbable SurvIvor

Above: The cockpit of the Fw 190, as opposed to other WW II cockpits, featured a rearward sloped seat allowing the pilot to better tolerate G-forces while getting him further down in the fuselage for better head-on protection. Left: The relatively complete paint on 1227, as found, allowed exact duplication. Right: The original data plate escaped souvenir hunters. Below: With most of the paint intact, all placards were easy to replace.


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leak or somethings busted. That was surprising to me the first time it happened!

To simplify battlefield maintenance, the engine follows the Kraftei installation concept used on several Luftwaffe types. Everything that makes the engine run is in a pod forward of the firewall known as the Power Egg. It was designed to run until it wouldnt work anymore. Then they just pulled the entire engine off and stuck a new one on. Whilst saving time in combat conditions, the Power Egg was not designed for modern engi-neers who lack replacement units. Jason and his team must work on the engines internal parts so usually simple procedures can become difficult tasks: You can get all the panels off and in 15 minutes, the entire engine is accessible. But to work on the different components is challenging. For example, the magneto is a two-day project. Its a process of removing the spinner, then the propeller, then the forward ring, and then the oil cooler, and oil tank and then youre finally able to get to the magneto.

The new technology Jason says the narrow cockpit is also challenging to work in, as a third or more of the aircrafts com-ponents terminate there. The rest of the airframe poses no such difficulties: You can have the en-tire airplane opened up for an annual or condi-tion inspection in an hour. In another departure from regular aircraft design, Tank installed elec-trically powered systems to operate the undercar-riage and armaments. He believed electrics would be more reliable and less vulnerable to combat damage than traditional hydraulic systems. He also eliminated the wear and eventual lag associ-ated with cables and pulleys by using pushrods and bearings to operate the flight controls. As Jason explains, Everything is unique about the Focke-Wulf. It was pretty advanced for its time and they did a lot of forward thinking.

Jason considers working on the Collections Fw 190 an engineering dream come true: Where else am I going to get to know the intricacies of an authentic Focke-Wulf 190 with a BMW 801? Im insanely privileged to work on some of these airplanes. Another person in a unique position is Flying Heritage Collection pilot Steve Hinton who flew the aircraft for the photo sortie and later talked through its flying characteristics. Like Jason, Steve holds the aircrafts design in high regard, Technology has a lot to do with my impression of airplanes and this is a very well-engineered design. It was a big jump as far as Im concerned and you can see why it sparked a lot of change. Steve says he appreciates why the Al-lied pilots who flew captured Fw 190s were so im-pressed; It was an airplane that made us aware of the developments the Germans were making. The Bearcat has been said to come from it. When they looked at the 190, it opened their eyes to a few things on how to build an ultimate airplane.

The Flying Heritage Collection The Flying Heritage Collection houses the aircraft and wartime artifacts of Paul G. Allen. Best known as co-founder of Microsoft, Allen began preserving important and iconic types in 1998, fueled by his passion for aviation and history. The Collections aircraft are restored to the highest degree of authenticity and returned to their rightful place in the sky. This mission for historical accuracy has created a unique airworthy stable, which includes historic types from the U.S., UK, Germany, Russia, and Japan. Alongside the aircraft are homefront exhibitions to illustrate the wartime stories of the five nations. The collection resides in a 51,000 square-foot hangar, on the southeastern corner of Paine Field in Everett, Washington. Open to the public since 2004, FHC recommends 1-2 hours to enjoy a self-guided tour through the hangar, with their staff and volunteers on hand to answer any questions. Please note that exhibits are sometimes absent from the Collection for flying commitments or maintenance.

The Collection is open seven days a week, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., from Memorial Day to Labor Day, and Tuesday to Sunday the rest of the year (closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas). For more information, please visit flyingheritage.com.

The author and photographer would like to thank Paul Allen, Adrian Hunt, Liz Davidson, Jason Muszala and Steve Hinton. Tim Ellison flew the camera ship.

To avoid the ground accidents that dogged the Bf 109, Tank gave the Fw 190 a wide-set, inward-retracting undercarriage to provide better stabil-ity on rough battlefield airstrips. This configura-tion makes the aircraft seem large on the ground, but Steve points out its actually quite small: Its got a large wingspan and a lot of wing area, but its a narrow fuselage narrower than a Spitfire. When youre inside the cockpit, the layout is tighter than a Pitts Special and everything is right in front of you. Tank used the latest technology to create a one-piece Perspex bubble canopy to improve all around visibility. Steve says the front windscreen is only six or seven inches tall when looking straight ahead, much like an air race plane, but The view to the side is excellent and youre protected by the airframe because youre

sitting down low. Whilst obscuring the pilots view on the ground, the big radial up front also gave an extra layer of protection in combat. Tales were told of aircraft limping home having had one or even two cylinders shot away by enemy fire.

Bringing it to life againThanks to the Kommandgert, start-up is a simple process: You prime the engine, hit the starter, and it starts. You taxi out and warm it up. The only checks you give are the ignition system and the propeller pitch. Like all German airplanes, it has a little clock that tells you what the propeller is doing. As you advance the throttle, it governs one way, retard the throttle and it unwinds the other way, so you know the automatic function is working. He mentions that the rudder is not very responsive on takeoff until the aircraft gains speed: Of course its heavy, its got all the guns in it too. But once the rudder becomes effective then it feels like a normal airplane. It doesnt ac-celerate very well. You could put the throttle up



Improbable SurvIvor

rudder had fixed tabs that were only adjusted on initial test flights, leaving the pilot in control of elevator trim only. Steve confirms the FHC air-craft requires some trim change after takeoff, but barely any in flight. On the in-cockpit experience he says, The engine vibrates a lot and the ex-haust stacks are uneven, so its not got a smooth sound to it, unless the power is way back. But its real easy moving the flight controls and the airplane is very responsive. If youre used to a hot rod, with the vibrations and that oily smell in the cockpit like some of the fighters give you, then its an easy airplane to fly. In contrast to the notoriously tricky Bf 109, landing the Fw 190 is straightforward: The undercarriage struts are real hard, so you get tire bounce on landing, but it rolls out good.

When photographed, the FHC Fw 190 had completed 7.5 hours of flight. Steve explains

real quick and it just crawls along. Most of these fighters, when you power them up, accelerate really hard and push you back in the seat in a nice tail low takeoff. This airplane uses a lot of runway. But you take off, put the gear and flaps up, and once youve got the speed to 300kph (186mph) it climbs really good. The landing gear is operated electrically by pushing a button, taking about eight seconds to go up. Small indi-cator rods protruding from the top of the wing (which disappear as the wheels retract) and cock-pit lights provide visual confirmation of the un-dercarriage position to the pilot.

To improve the pilots experience further, Tanks design team simplified the cockpit layout, made the controls light to operate and installed a reclining seat to lessen the likelihood of black-ing out in high-G maneuvers. They also reduced the necessity for trim change. The ailerons and

The single letter on the fuselage rather than the more standard numeric system employed by the Luftwaffe indicates that this machine was part of a specialized ground attach unit within JG54, as was White A.

The low seating position of the pilot is evident in Norbert Hannings aircraft as is the bomb rack that is similar to what was mounted on White A in its bomber role.


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When Grumman test pilots flew a captured Fw 190A in England they were impressed by its performance and overall handling. This greatly affected their design of the F8F Bearcat, as this planform view attests.

Most of these fighters, when you power them up, accelerate really

hard and push you back in the seat in a nice tail low takeoff. This airplane

uses a lot of runway.



Improbable SurvIvor

Survivors: The Remaining Fw 190sPeacetime is hard on warplanes. Surviving combat aircraft usually are melted down for components, especially those on the losing side. Certainly its true of some 20,000 Focke Wulf 190s as perhaps 25 remain intact today.

Like all warbirds, no list of 190s is entirely current or complete. Plus, some on the list are airplanes in name only, having been dredged from underwater or severely crashed so may never be restored.

Most surviving 190s are A models, trailed by fighter-bomber F variants. Certainly the best-known surviving Dora with the liquid-cooled Jumo engine is the late Doug Champlins Yellow 10, now owned by the Flying Heritage Collection in Everett, Washington. FHC also has an A model that often is airborne on fly days at Paine Field.

Presently, about 15 examples exist in the U.S. That figure includes the only remaining example of 50 Ta 152 long wing versions, which is held by the National Air and Space Museum. Four more are known in Germany, three in Britain, and at least five elsewhere in Europe, including current restorations. One is reported in Russia.

The Wrger population increased somewhat with reproductions from Flugwerk, which built 21 kits. Depending on model type, they were adapted to radial or liquid-cooled engines.

Perhaps the best compilation is the Preserved Axis Aircraft site preservedaxisaircraft.com. Barrett Tillman

their primary mission was to build a safe aircraft, So we havent explored its performance and I havent had a chance to really push the airplane around. The history books describe the 190 as a breakthrough airplane. Theres no doubt about it: its a fighter, with beautiful ailerons and light as a feather rudder. It floats round the sky, in-stead of boring a hole through it like some air-planes. Dogged by performance problems at high altitude, the Fw 190 would never remove the requirement for the Me 109. Regardless, Tank had developed a truly versatile aircraft that be-came an excellent day fighter, fighter-bomber and ground attack plane. Used on every German front, many of the Luftwaffes highest-scoring Ex-perten had great success on the type. Steve can see the advantage afforded to them by Tanks capable Butcher Bird, and to him that means hats off to the Thunderbolt guys who could do a good job against the Focke Wulf.

The Fw 190s BMW 801 has a single power lever that controls manifold pressure, mixture, propeller pitch and magneto timing through an early form of electronic control system. This greatly simplifies flying the aircraft and lightens the pilots load.


Drop in and see us.Fly into Kissimmee Gateway Airport for the ultimate in aviation history thrills. Check out our warbird museum, and watch a Luftwaffe fighter restoration in progress. Then strap into a T-6 Texan

for an adventure flight, or conquer the sky in a P-51 Mustangor sit side by side with a friend in an open cockpit biplane and see the sites of Orlando. Do you have what it takes? Find out at

www.kissimmeeairport.com/rec.htm

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AVIATION INSIDER

WARBIRDS: Do They Have a Future?Ed Maloney on Warbird Collecting

BY THOMAS MCKELVEY CLEAVER

With the prices of restorable warbirds escalating out of sight and new restorations taking to the air almost daily, we often lose sight

of the fact that at one time, most of those airplanes were cast off as junk. There were few museums and almost no private collectors who tracked historic aircraft down and saved them. Today, just the reverse is true with private collections popping up around the globe. Knowing that wasnt always the case, we thought it apropos to talk to one of the pioneers of the warbird community, Ed Maloney, owner/creator of Planes of Fame Air Museum, about his views on the changes hes seen and the future of warbirds.

Planes of Fame is one of the oldest pri-vately owned air museums in the world, having opened its doors to the public in April 1957. After a peripatetic exis-tence at several locations in southern California, the museum finally settled at Chino airport in 1967. Even then, the existence of the museum was problem-atic, and many of the aircraft on display were little more than salvaged airplanes sitting in open fields. Among the first to be restored to flight status was an F6F-5 Hellcat in 1972, followed by a Curtiss-built P-47G Thunderbolt that is still one of only a small handful of razorback Thunderbolts in existence. Along the way, the only Nakajima Ki-84 Frank was restored in the late 1960s.The A6M5a Model 52 Zero was restored to flying condition in the late 1970s, the only completely original Zero left in the world still powered by a Sakae engine. In 1965, the museums flyable North American O-47 was used as a substitute to finish the final flying scene of Flight of the Phoenix following the crash of The Phoenix in which Paul Mantz was killed. Over the years, airplanes from the museum have appeared in the mov-ies Midway and Pearl Harbor, and even in

Here in one photo some of Maloneys efforts at saving aviation history can be seen: e P-26 was found abandoned in Guatamala in 58, the Seversky AT-12 lay in damaged, derelict form in New Mexico, the Mustang was one of several brought out of central America and the Sabre was donated.

Ed Maloney, the chairman of the board of U.S. warbird collectors: we know of no private individual who has been at it longer or in a more productive fashion. In the process

of overcoming obstacles, he has saved dozens of ultra-rare aircraft from destruction warbirds and otherwise.

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Warbirds: do They Have a Future?Ed Maloney on Warbird Collecting

car commercials. Other jewels of the collection include a

P-51A Mustang that was restored to flight status in 1980, the first Allison-powered Mustang to be restored to fly. A 12-year restoration saw the first flight of the Northrop N9MB in 1993. It is one of only two original Northrop flying wings left in the world, and the only one that flies.

Another long-term project, the resto-ration of the thirteenth Bell YP-59A Ai-racomet, Americas first jet, is nearing completion and with luck, it will take to the sky again sometime in the next year, powered by original I-16 engines. Other flyable one-of-a-kinds to be seen at the museum include one of two Boeing P-26As left (and the only one that flies) and the last Seversky fight-er, a two-seat development of the P-35. Static exhibits include the only Mitsubishi J2M3 Raid-en (Jack) fighter and a Yokosuka D4Y3 Suisei (Judy) dive bomber.

The Essential ManThroughout the community of warbird restorers, Planes of Fame founder Ed Maloney is seen as the Essential Man, with-out whose work there might not be any restored warbirds in the skies. His work in assembling the collection goes back to the years immediately following World War II, which he had been just too young in which to partici-pate.

I got started in collecting air-planes after the war, when I re-alized they were just taking all the airplanes and breaking them up, melting them down. Here at Chino, there was Cal-Aero, which had been a major training base. They brought in hundreds of airplanes, everything from BT-13s to B-17s and B-24s and everything in be-tween, and just smelted them down. There was no attempt to save anything! Here, Southern California had been the capital of American aviation, and it was all disappearing.

When we started, there wasnt an aviation museum west of the Missis-sippi. Even the Air Force museum didnt exist. Theyd had one before the war, but theyd closed it down and had lost most of the collection.

Our first location was in Claremont, right off old Route 66 in 1957. There

werent a lot of freeways in California yet, and we were able to get a good lo-cation near a highway that we could afford. We were lucky we were near Norton Air Force Base and there were people who wanted to come look at the airplanes, even in the shape they were in then, that kept us going.

There are people who think we got government support, but we never did. Weve never had a sponsor beyond the donations people have given us because they believed in what we were doing. Of course, companies have given us air-

planes, weve gotten them from other locations as they were getting rid of them. But just because the airplane was free didnt mean it was cheap. We had to hire a crew to disassemble it, rent a crane to lift it onto a truck that we had rented to haul it away, pay for storage, sometimes for years. Many times over the years, I cashed in my insurance, took loans against it, took out a second mort-gage on the house.

Beginning in the late 1980s, air muse-ums saw a growth spurt, though many eventually closed their doors in the ear-ly years of this century as their owners

found themselves unable to meet the expenses of such an operation.

You have to understand that an air museum is like starting any other busi-ness. You have to have a sponsor, or some kind of financing nowadays, and you have to be prepared to put more money into it until it catches on. Very often, people get in over their head. A guy will buy an old airplane and decide he wants to start a museum, he realizes he needs more airplanes and he might get in over his head getting hold of them and not be able to make payments on

the loans hes taken out. Theres also the problem

that you can decide to go look-ing for an airplane in Russia that can be restored, or out in the Pacific, and if you dont know what youre doing youll end up losing money and be-ing taken advantage of. Doug Champlin bought a number of Oscars out of Russia several years ago, he was assured they were in good enough con-dition to be restorable, and when he opened the crates he had a load of scrap. Ive gone to Russia to investigate obtain-ing an airplane, and very often what you see when you get there is not what you were told would be there. The sad truth is, there are a lot of marginal people looking to make a score off what they think are rich Americans, and you cant trust them. You have to know who youre dealing with, and what youre getting. You have to see it and make the deal for that item right there on the spot, watch them crate it up, and then have someone shepherd it all the way back to be sure

you get what you bought. Theres also the problem of government corruption when it comes to paying for an export li-cense, being sure that the bill of sale you have is legally binding and acceptable as proof of ownership. If you dont know what youre doing, you will be sold a bill of goods, as they say.

In places like New Guinea, you have to deal with levels of government from the local government where the wreck is located, the regional government, the national government on up. And just be-cause you have met the requirements of one, that doesnt mean youve met the

you can decide to go looking for an airplane in russia that can be

restored, or out in the pacific, and if you dont know what youre doing

youll end up losing money and being taken advantage of.

Survivor formation: the only flying P-12 (found abandon early in Maloneys career) with their P-26. The photo plane was the only flying North Ameri-can O-47. Finding aircraft such as these today is highly unlikely but, we hope, not impossible.



AviAtion insider

requirements of the next one up. When Dave Tallichet got the B-17E Swamp Ghost out of there, he had to get all kinds of licenses to bring in the equip-ment to lift it out of its location, and there were only certain companies there who were dependable. He got it to the port, it was crated on the dock to leave, and suddenly the government seized it and told him he hadnt gotten all the

proper approvals he basically paid for it twice to get it out of the country.

Continuing the missionThe fact is, there arent any more cheap old airplanes. There arent any fighters sitting in a barn, there arent any wrecks a farmer bought after the war. There arent any Central American air forces getting rid of old World War II airplanes. Even way back when they were getting rid of those kinds of airplanes, the Central Americans had an idea of the value of the airplanes they were scrapping, so none of

them were ever really inexpensive. Again, even when the airplane wasnt real ex-pensive, getting it out of its location, and getting it shipped here was never cheap.

Many argue today that the aircraft of World War II are simply too rare and too valuable to put them at risk of loss by flying them.

To me, airplanes are meant to fly. Im pretty certain that if we werent flying

them, there wouldnt be so much inter-est in them as there is nowadays.

You arent going to get eight or nine thousand people to come out on a week-end to see airplanes jut sitting there. If they arent going to fly, the people wont come.

That said, we try to be extremely care-ful with what we have, but the truth is, we are dealing with airframes that are now over 70 years old, and even the most minor part can break, and when it does it has to be found somewhere, or a new part made. If it happens on the ground,

theres little worry about the airplane, but if it happens in flight, it can lead to a crash. Our P-47 crashed and was rebuilt. The O-47 crashed almost 30 years ago, and it is being rebuilt and should be back in the air in the next five years.

Weve always tried to connect the airplanes to the people who flew them. Over the years I was fortunate to meet many of them. Bud Mahurin was an ear-

ly supporter who conducted flight tests for us on the P-26 and the Ki-84. Tony LeVier used to come out. Weve had a long-running monthly event where an airplane is flown after those who might have designed them, built them, flown them in combat spoke to the audience about their experience. Thats becoming more difficult now since were losing so many of them every month. But people continue to be interested, and as long as that continues, well be able to keep the doors open and continue the mission of keeping them flying.

there arent any more cheap old airplanes. there arent any fighters sitting in a barn, there arent any wrecks a farmer bought after the war.

The Museums Northrop N9MB flying wing was one of four 1/3-scale flying models Northrop built in 1944 to test concepts for their XB-35 flying wing aircraft. Maloney procured the dete-riorated, all-wood aircraft from the Air Force in the 1950s.


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The complete airman, Lt. Gen. Jimmy Doolittle as commander of the 8th Air Force in 1944. The aircraft probably is an Avro Anson. (Photo courtesy of author via National Museum of the U.S. Air Force)

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Doolittle

J immy Doolittle today is still fit and active. He shuns taking the elevator to his seventh-floor office on Wilshire Boulevard, and exercises regularly, keeping in shape for World War III, he jokes. He remains an active hunter and fisherman, and strongly advocates organized sports, particularly gymnastics, as helpful to potential aviators. I think that anything which is inclined to develop your reflexes, to speed up your timing, and improve balance is good, he says, and boxing and tumbling are two of those things.

Doolittles only noticeable problem from his lengthy career is diminished hearing, the inevitable result of some 10,000

hours in the cockpit. He jokes, We old aviators are entitled to a few ailments. Considering that he was an active pilot for over 30 years and survived three emergency parachute jumps and a mid-air collision, his ailments are few indeed.

His conversation is fluid and articulate, spiced with the ter-minology of a bygone era. He refers to aeroplanes and ac-robatics and, occasionally, motors instead of engines. He speaks knowledgeably and at length on any phase of aviation one cares to discuss, always the Complete Aviator.

Jimmy Doolittle traces his interest in flying to a specific event: the 1910 International Air Meet at Old Dominguez Field near Los Angeles, the first such event in the United States. Im-

The FirsT eighTy yearsI n t e r v i e w w i t h a L e g e n d

As an airman who made more than his share of history, it was appropriate to gain Jimmy Doolittles thoughts on the first 80 years. So, in 1976, I was commissioned to interview him for the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerces birthday program. In his life from 1896 to 1993, General Jimmy saw nearly

the entire spectrum of aviation, and what follows is repeated mostly as I wrote it.BY Barrett tillman

Posing with one of the two U.S. navy Curtiss r3C-2 entries to the 1925 Schneider trophy race held at Bay Shore Park outside Baltimore in October lt. James H. Doolittle piloted the army air Services separate Curtiss entry (#3) to a winning speed of 232.5mph, further capturing the air Services mackay trophy. (Photo courtesy of Stan Piet)



Jimmy Doolittle

pressed with what he saw, young Doolittle built a glider from Popular Mechanics plans in 1912 and attempted to fly it twice with something less than success.

When the United States entered World War I in 1917, Doolittle enlisted in the Aviation Section of the Army Signal Corps. That Christmas Eve he married Josephine Daniels and completed flight training early in the new year. Recognized as an outstanding talent, Second Lieutenant Doolittle was retained in the U.S. for the duration, teach-ing aerial gunnery and tactics.

Racing and recordsFour years later, Doolittle came to national prom-inence when he made the first transcontinental

crossing in less than 24 hours. That was on Sep-tember 4, 1922, when he flew a DH-4 from Pablo Beach, Florida, to San Diego, California, with one refueling stop at Kelly Field, Texas, in an elapsed time of 22 hours, 35 minutes. It says something of his future career that the cross-country re-mains one of Doolittles lesser accomplishments.

The next year, Lieutenant Doolittle was one of the first junior officers selected to begin studies

at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He al-ready had an engineering background in mining an interest acquired in Alaska as a boyand he did supremely well. In less than three years of graduate work, he earned both a masters degree and a doctor of science in aeronautical engineer-ing. Back on duty in 1925, Doolittle experienced his first racing triumph in the Schneider Cup by winning for the U.S. Army in a borrowed Navy aircraftthe float-equipped Curtiss R3C-2, which he piloted around the course at 232mph. For that achievement he won the coveted McKay trophy.

Racing was now in his blood, and Doolittle won the 1931 Bendix Trophy in the Laird Super Solution by flying from Los Angeles to Cleveland in nine hours and 10 minutes, then continued to

Newark, setting another transcontinental record of 11 hours, 16 minutes.

Jimmy Doolittles best-known race victorythe one that most firmly placed him in the public mind as a hot pilotwas in September of 1932 when he won the prestigious Thompson Trophy in the sensational Granville Brothers Gee Bee R-1 at an average 252mph. Subsequently, he captured the land speed record in the Gee Bee at 294mph.

Doolittle won the 1932 Thompson Trophy and set a world record with the Iconic 1932 Gee Bee R-1. He said flying the unstable racer was "like balancing a pencil or an ice cream cone on the tip of your finger." (Photo courtesy of Joe Gertler)

And, as a popular figure with whom non-aviation people readily identified, Doolittle realized that the cause of aviation could only be harmed were he to be killed.


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Having won the big three the Schneider, Bendix, and Thompson Doolittle astonished the aviation world in 1935 when he announced his retirement from racing. Today he says, A lot of people thought the old man was getting to be an old fogie, and he didnt want anyone else to do it if he didnt. But there was considerably more to it. Jimmy and Jo Doolittle had two boys who deserved a fathers attention, but nearly as important was Jimmys recognition that air rac-ing was approaching the end of its significant contributions to aeronautical science. And, as a popular figure with whom non-aviation people readily identified, Doolittle realized that the cause of aviation could only be harmed were he to be killed.

At that point Jimmy Doolittle might have re-tired completely from aviation and been assured of a prominent place in history. His race victories, his technical and research contributions were all of value to advancing mans knowledge of aero-nautics. One of the more sensational occurred in May of 1926 when Doolittle had done what many engineers and pilots considered impossi-

ble: the first outside loop. Significantly, it was the mans competitive naturenot limited merely to racingwhich prompted the achievement.

During the 1920, Doolittle appeared regularly at the National Air Races and other events with Lieutenant Alford Williams of the Navy and Captain Lawson Sanderson of the Marine Corps. The trio frequently engaged in organized and informal aerobatic competition, and Doolittle was constantly looking for an edge. One day I thought that if I could just have some stunt they hadnt done, maybe I could win with one unique maneuver, he recalls. The stunt that came to mind, of course, was the outside loop.

Doolittle continues, I took a Curtiss Hawk P-1 biplane up to about 10,000 feet and pushed the nose under, and then I kept pushing it under further until I had pushed it all the way around. To my amazement I found I had done an outside loop. So I came down and saw one of the chaps I had flown a great deal with, Lt. James Troy Hutchinson, who was also a test pilot at old Mc-Cook Field in Ohio.

Doolittle told Hutchinson, I want you to

Doolittle fueling the Laird Super Solution prior to the first Bendix Trophy race in 1931, winning a then-staggering $7,500 Depression-era prize. He made a gear-up crash landing in it the next year, leading him to switch to the Gee Bee in 1932. (Photo courtesy of Joe Gertler)



Jimmy Doolittle

watch a certain part of the sky and see if you see something unusual. Doolittle then took off again, climbed to altitude and repeated the ma-neuver. Hutchinson was thrilled when Doolittle landed, exclaiming, Theres no doubt about it, you did an outside loop. The two fliers were hopeful of keeping the news secret until Doolittle could spring it on his competition at a major air-

show, but before long Major General Mason M. Patrick, chief of the Air Service, issued an order that no more outside loops be executed. The ma-neuver was considered too risky, even for skilled pilots.

However, some three years later when Doo-little had recently completed the blind flying tests at Mitchel Field, Patrick requested him to represent the Army at the Cleveland National Air Races. Doolittle decided he could get around the order against outside loops by doing only the first half, and rolling out at the bottomessen-tially an inverted Immelmann. My Curtiss had a profound change in it, Doolittle explains. It had the radiator moved from the nose and put in the middle of the upper wing. I took it up to do the normal acrobatics I would do to get my hand

back, as I had done very little acrobatics in the previous two years.

Feeling accustomed to aerobatics again, he pushed under into the first half of an outside loop. But the negative load was too much for the modified wings, which promptly folded. I merely pulled my safety belt, flipped out and came down, Doolittle says laconically of his first

emergency parachute jump. (He had previously jumped for fun.)

Advancing the causeThe previous two years, which had prevented much aerobatic flying, were devoted to some-thing much more significant. The Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Advancement of Aeronautics had established the Full Flight Labora-tory at Mitchel Field with the aim of developing blind-flying equip-ment and procedures. Doolittle still considers it the most impor-tant thing I did, ever, because it made the airplane a transporta-tion vehicle 24 hours a day, in al-most any weather.

Ironically, a Navy officer ob-tained Doolittle a two-year leave from the Army to participate in the pioneering project. Captain Emory S. Land was in charge of Guggenheims aviation activities, and had become well acquainted with Doolittles reputation as test pilot and engineer. Though Land drew criticism from some Navy colleagues for going outside the circle for a pilot, as Doolittle ex-

plains it, Lands choice was clearly the proper one in view of the experiments ultimate success.

Two very important instruments were devel-oped, Doolittle recalls. One of them was the artificial horizon and the other was the direction-al gyroscope. After starting the operation, I felt those two instruments were needed: they were not available at that time. So I went to Elmer Sperry, Sr., and told him what I wanted and drew a picture. The drawing was of one instrument to serve both purposes, but Sperry explained that it would be more complex to manufacture than if each instrument were made separately. So he put his son Elmer on the job and very quickly I had a directional gyroscope and an artificial ho-rizon.

Another Army pilot, Lt. Ben Kelsey, also was

Doolittle campaigned the famous Lockheed Orion 9c special, "Shelllightning" to represent Shell Petroleum as manager of the aviation department, with his assistant manager and fellow racer, Jimmy Haizlip, in the early 1930s. (Photo courtesy of Joe Gertler)

"Not a great deal was known about fuels in those days, except that some were better than others He could always win a race if he had California gasoline

shipped in. He didnt know why, he just knew that motors could pull more power without detonating if he used California gasoline."


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assigned to the Full Flight Lab and generally rode with Doolittle as safety pilot, as Doolittle usually was under the hood practicing with instruments. Recalling those days, Doolittle says, Elmer Sperry, Jr., and Ben Kelsey probably spent more time at my house than they did at theirs because I lived on Mitchel Field where the experiments were being carried out.

On September 24, 1929, the lengthy experi-ment was put to the test. On the day of the test, we had a very dense ground fog, Doolittle ex-plains. I said, Well, weve got what were look-ing for, a dense fog, so wheel out the aeroplane and Ill make a flight.

The aircraft was a Consolidated NY-2 Navy trainer, chosen because of its stability and low landing speed. In three sentenc-es Jimmy Doolittle describes one of the most important flights ever made: I didnt go under the hood because I couldnt see anything anyhow. So I went out and took off, flew around and landed in a zero-zero fog. I tax-ied up to the line and called Mr. Guggenheim.

The senior Guggenheim rushed to Mitchel Field for a demonstration, but by the time he arrived the fog had started to disperse. I requested permis-sion to make the flight solo with the hood up because I had just done it solo, Doolittle says. But Mr. Guggenheim replied, No, its a little later in the morning now; there might be other air-planes up there. If youre alone and under the hood there may be a collision. Besides, if you dont have an observer how will people know you stayed under the hood? That settled it. Ben Kelsey flew in the front seat as lookout, but did not touch the controls.

Doolittle took off under the hood and 10 minutes later returned for another instrument landing. He wasnt particularly excit-ed. I had done it so many times before in simu-lation that there was no elation at all. I had been practicing for over a year.

Doolittle left the Army in 1930 to join Shell Pe-troleum in St. Louis as its aviation manger. Four years later, he played a crucial role in bringing high-octane fuel into existence by using his influ-ence with the Army and with Shell. It would have tremendous impact in the future, particularly for military applications, but at the time there were several problems with producing 100-octane fuel.

Doolittle recalls, Not a great deal was known about fuels in those days, except that some were

better than others. A chap named Lt. Harold Har-ris, a chief test pilot at old McCook Field, was very cunning. He knew something the rest of us didnt know. He could always win a race if he had California gasoline shipped in. He didnt know why, he just knew that motors could pull more power without detonating if he used California gasoline, so he was winning all the races.

As Shells aviation manger, Doolittle partici-pated in experiments at the Wood River, Illinois, laboratory. But there was an impasse. The engine manufacturers saw no point in building engines capable of using better fuel as long as the petro-leum companies wouldnt produce high-octane gas. I was the catalyst, Doolittle explains. I got Shell Oil to agree to make the better fuel if

I could sell it. Then I went to Wright Field and explained that we could start the ball rolling by making a better fuel before there was an engine to use it if they would see that the engines were made. So the impasse was broken, and the first such fuel the Shell Oil Company made was sold at a loss (it cost about $2.40 a gallon) until they could get the facilities necessary to make it more economically.

Wartime leaderDoolittle considers the original investment im-mensely worthwhile, as the improved fuel had a profound effect in WW II. As commander of the Eighth Air Force, General Doolittle realized that

Shell purchased this new Lockheed Vega for Jimmy, their new aviation department manager, in January 1930. He crashed it in February, and here they are, a few months later, after $10,000 in repairs to the $25,000 airplane, represting Shell at the 1930 National Air Races. (Photo courtesy of Joe Gertler)



Jimmy Doolittle

we had better fuel than the Germans, and were able through that better fuel to have a little more performance out of our engines.

One is hard-pressed to think of any other air commander in history who had personally done as much for his countrys war effort. Doolittle already had the nations highest award for valor when he took command of the 8th Air Force in January 1944, though he insisted that he didnt deserve it. But the strategic influence of the 1942 Tokyo raid upon the Pacific War was all out of proportion to the damage inflicted. Goaded by the 16 B-25s launched from the carrier Hornet against the Home Islands on April 18, 1942, the Japanese Navy plunged ahead into the decisive Battle of Midway in June. Determined to destroy the U.S. Pacific Fleet carrier threat, the Imperial Navy lost four flattops and never regained the

initiative. The Doolittle Raid went into legend

as one of the few bright spots of the first five months of the war, and news-papers gleefully headlined, Doolittle dood it!

Doolittles next combat assign-ments were North Africa and Italy where he commanded the 12th and 15th Air Forces before moving to Eng-land. As CO of the Eighth, Doolittle had originated the instrument flying equipment and procedures that his 41 bomb groups and 15 fighter groups employed to penetrate the thick Brit-ish weather. He had played a key role in bringing into being the fuel that took them to their targets and back, the same fuel that gave a performance edge to U.S. fighters in combat. And besides being the leader of the larg-est numbered air force of the United States, he may very well have been the best pilot in it. His airmen respected him at least as much for his skill and achievements as for his rank. To most of them he was Jimmy Doolittle, hot pilot, more than General Doolittle, the only reserve officer to command an air force in WW II.

The great planesJimmy Doolittle has flown many of the great and near-great airplanes in the history of powered flight, and it is notable that his favorites all predate the Second World War. He becomes philosophical when discussing air-planes, and begins, When an aero-plane takes a pilot where hes going and brings him back, and does it re-peatedly, he develops a certain attach-ment for it. And when that aeroplane does that over a long period of time,

it can have some basic faults, but that pilot no longer sees them. He becomes a part of the aero-plane. In the olden days you sometimes wore an airplane rather than flew it, and I guess of the aeroplanes that were easy to fly, and easy to han-dle, two of my favorites certainly were the Cur-tiss P-1, which I demonstrated in Europe, South America, and China, and came to know very well. And the little Travel Air Mystery Ship was another very lovely aeroplane to fly. They flew like point-ing your finger.

You come to think of aeroplanes as forgiving and unforgiving. A forgiving aeroplane is one which corrects a fault if you make it. An unforgiv-ing aeroplane is one that amplifies a fault. Now, among the medium bombers, the B-25 was a very forgiving aeroplane. The B-26 was an unforgiving aeroplane. Of all the unforgiving aeroplanes, the

Lt. Col. Doolittle poses for a USS Hornet photographer with some of his B-25 crews while attaching a donated Japanese medal to one of the 500 lb. HE bombs soon to be dropped on Tokyo. (Photo courtesy of Stan Piet)


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most unforgiving that I ever flew was the little Gee Bee. It was unstable directionally and it was unstable longitudinally. You had to be constantly conscious of that. With the Gee Bee you had to keep your feet on the rudder at all times, and your hand on the stick at all times. If you let go of the stick, it flipped off in a corner and the aero-plane did tricks.

How does Jimmy Doolittle think of the sen-sational Granville Brothers R-1 some 40 years later? I was very grateful when I returned it to Springfield, got out, tipped my hat to it and went away, he laughs.

Taking the broad view of the past 80 years Doo-little observes, I was born in 1896, and prior to

1900, technological progress had been relatively slow. In my lifetime weve seen the automobile, the aeroplane and space exploration, radio and television, and any number of machines which make our daily life easier. I do not know what is going to happen in the next 80 years, but Im sure of this: it will be even more interesting and more startling and more useful than what has happened in the last 80. The curve of technologi-cal progress is not slowing down; it is exponen-tial.

General Jimmy retains the test pilots traits of thoroughness and unceasing search for excellence. It is as obvious in the supremely well-ordered ar-rangement of his basement workshop as in his opinion of Americas future: I think that today,

as in my day and as in my great-grandfathers day, there are some people who strive for excellence. And in that striving for excellence, we give our all, we do our best. And that, I think, is what you call toughness. If so, Jimmy Doolittle is as tough as they come, for he has always been known as one who never settled for less, whether piloting a race plane, developing an entirely new facet of aero-nautics, or directing the worlds largest air force in the worlds largest war. One wonders, however, how this exceptional man would content himself if he were entering aviation today.

I would be more interested today in the tech-nical field than in the strictly flying field, he says. When I went into aviation in 1917, my

interest in the technical was minimal and my in-terest in flying was predominant. I dont know whether the change in outlook has been in the times or in me. But I am sure at this time I would be interested in piloting as a means to under-standing the tool a little better. My great interest would be in improving the tool.

It is obvious, of course, that is exactly what he has done: improved the tool at least as much as anyone else and far more than most. Jimmy Doolittle may very well be the greatest all-around aviator of all time. Certainly in the Golden Age of aviation, when a galaxy of geniuses of design and artists of flying abounded, Jimmy Doolittles star has shone as bright as any, and

Longer than them all.

After V-E Day in May 1945, some of Doolittle's 8th AF bomb groups went stateside for transition to the B-29. Doolittle arrived on Okinawa in late July in his personal B-17G, Boops, to establish Mighty 8th headquarters, but none of the former ETO groups saw Pacific combat. (Photo courtesy of Stan Piet)

Of all the unforgiving aeroplanes, the most unforgiving that I ever flew was the little Gee Bee. It was unstable directionally and it was unstable longitudinally.



GALLERY

e Hawker Demon of 1933 was was one of a series of similar 1930s British fighters and light bombers all powered by the Rolls-Royce Kestrel supercharged V-12 of 485hp. is gave each the sensual nose characteristic of liquid-cooled engines. Only one Demon (built under contract by Boulton Paul Aircraft) is airworthy and consumed 35,000 man hours while being restored by Sky Sport Engineering. It is operated by Demon Display, LTD in the UK.

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GALLERY

Pre-war Beauty:Hawker DemonBY LUIGINO CALIARO

e Hawker Demon was a two-seat fighter developed from the highly appreciated Hawker Hart light bomber. e Demon, which first flew in February 1933, was very similar to the Hart externally, but was powered by the supercharged Kestrel IIS V12 (precursor of the mighty Merlin), which gave it better performance at high altitudes than the Hart. e Demon was the first two-seat fighter operated by the Royal Air Force after World War I, and was the last two-seat biplane fighter manufactured in significant numbers. It was soon outclassed by the new generation of monoplane fighters entering service in the mid to late 1930s.

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The Demon was built by both Hawker and Boulton Paul Aircraft. It entered full service in 1933 with No 23 Squadron.

A total of 305 Demons were built, most for the RAF with 64 sold to the Royal Australian Air Force. Beginning in 1936, aircraft from Boulton Paul were equipped with a hydraulically operated shield in the aft cockpit and were known as Turret Demons. The shield was needed because the high speed of the aircraft was such that the rear gunner had difficulty maneuvering the gun against the slipstream. In response, the Demon was given a basic Frazer-Nash turret. It consisted of a protective shield, hydraulically powered, which greatly improved the rear gunners accuracy. However, when the turret was pointed to the side, it introduced enough yaw that it badly affected the accuracy of the two forward fixed guns.

The Demon equipped seven regular squadrons and five squadrons of the Auxiliary Air Force. Four RAF squadrons served overseas, as in 1935 Nos. 23 and 41 Sqn. went to Middle East and Nos. 64 and 74 Sqns. were formed at Heliopolis, Greece, and Malta, to support the Abyssinian crisis of 1935-1936. The Demon remained in front line service until late 1938. A handful were still in service through the early 1940s with the RAF in secondary roles and in bombing and gunnery schools.

Demon Displays iconic DemonThe only Demon currently flying is privately operated by Demon Display Ltd. in the UK and is a regular performer on the British airshow circuit.

Demon K8203 was among the last 37 built by Boulton Paul Aircraft Ltd. of Wolverhampton and was delivered to No. 1 Aircraft Servicing Unit on October 27, 1937. Initially assigned to No. 64 Squadron at RAF Church Fenton, it was transferred to 25 Sqn. at RAF Hawkinge in mid-1938.

Replaced by the Gladiator, the Demon was assigned to No. 9

Maintenance Unit at RAF Cosford and No. 9 Air Observers School (later renamed No. 9 Bombing & Gunnery School) at RAF Penrhos in Wales. That was K8203s last operational station until it was struck off inventory on September 28, 1940, and became a ground training aid for No 1 Service Flying Training School at RAF Netheravon. K8023 was finally disposed while with No. 413 (Aldershot) Squadron of the Air Training Corps, during 1943. Luckily, the Demons rear fuselage survived in storage at RAF Museum depot at Cardington, and was sold to civilian hands in 1991. SkySport Engineering Ltd. restored it to flying condition, and after more then 35,000 man hours and 18 long years, Demon K8023 returned to the sky on June 23, 2009 piloted by Stuart Goldspink. It was painted in the color scheme it wore while serving with No. 64 Squadron at RAF Church Fenton in 1937.

Being liquid cooled, the Kestra V-12 depends on a variety of radiators to keep both the coolant and oil under specific limits.

The pilot has two Vickers .303 machine guns under his command.

They are synchronized to fire through the propeller.

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Above: Demonstration pilot, Stuart Goldspink, prepares to take the Demon up for another airshow performance. e aircraft performs all over the UK. Below: e fully compound-curved cowling was handformed as was the long exhaust. e connecting dog for a truck-mounted Hucks starter can be seen at the tip of the spinner.

SpecificationsEngine: Rolls-Royce Kestrel IISHorsepower: 485Maximum speed: 182mph at 13,000 feetCeiling: 27,500 feetEndurance: 2 hours 30 minutesWingpan: 37 feet, 3 inchesLength: 29 feet, 7 inchesArmament: A single rear .303 in Lewis Gun with two .303 in Vickers machine guns in the nose

e rear gunner mans a .303 Lewis machine gun that is fed via a double-stack pan magazine holding 97 rounds. It fires at

550 rounds per minute.

Most British aircraft began using hoop-type grips during WW I. ey also are often jointed in the middle to give aileron control.

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IconIc FIrepower

Proximity FuzesThe Game-Changing Genie Was Out of the Bottle By Frederick A. Johnsen

PProximity fuzes vexed AAF General Hap Arnold during World War II. The Unit-ed Sates had them, the Germans were working on them, and the prospects for heavy bomber formations were not good if Germany perfected theirs. Before proximity fuzes, the problem facing an-tiaircraft gunners at long range was to estimate distance and altitude for pre-set fuzes, and to place enough rounds in the sky where a warplane was expected to pass. Proximity fuzes changed all that; they exploded, as the name implies, when in proximity to the target.

Initially a Navy-oriented research project that piggybacked on pioneering British developments, the first Ameri-can proximity fuzes in combat were fired from shipboard antiaircraft guns in January 1943. The cruiser USS Helena did the honors, successfully defending itself against Japanese Aichi 99 Val dive-bombers by hurling proximity-fuzed antiaircraft artillery rounds at the onrushing aircraft. Warfare changed dra-matically that day with no fanfare as the Americans strove to keep their successful invention secret for as long as possible.

Major challengeThe proximity fuzes used miniaturized and ruggedized radio transmitters that sensed proximity and relative motion to an object such as an aircraft in flight and detonated within lethal distance of the target. Any duds tumbled down to the bottom of the sea, taking the secret of their mechanism with them. Some-times the Navy even broadcast spurious radio signals in an effort to conceal the detectable hum emitted by proximity-fuzed shells, lest the technology be re-vealed to enemy listening posts. Even the name given to the first proximity fuzes called VT fuzes was vague to help keep the secret. VT stood for Vari-able Time fuze, and did not reveal its proximity-detonating capabilities.

In the era of vacuum tube radio tech-nology, the Sylvania company became the go-to source for ruggedized tubes that could withstand the extreme g-

electrolyte and electrode materials until the round was fired, with the impact of firing breaking ampoules of electrolyte. The fuzes also would not arm until they had cleared the barrel of the antiair-craft gun a feature the developers ex-plained to nervous gunners.

Development of proximity fuzes in the U.S. ranged from early artillery shots in Virginia to the use of wooden towers at Kirtland Army Airfield in

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