Model Aircrafts and Ships

February 01 1981 - Donald Wills Douglas, Sr., American aircraft manufacturer died (b. 1892)

Douglas Wills Douglas, Sr. was born on the 6^th of April 1892 in Brooklyn, New York. He was the second son of an assistant cashier of the National Park Bank. He started his education at Trinity Chapel School in New York City. At the age of 17, he entered the US Naval Academy where he spent much of his time building and testing model airplanes but in 1912 he left the Naval Academy and look for aeronautical engineering works.

Donald Wills Douglas, Sr.

Donald Douglas later realized that he needed to learn more about it and so he completed a four-year bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in only two years and he was immediately hired as an assistant professor in aeronautics in MIT due to his academic performance.

Work History:

1915 – Consultant to the Connecticut Aircraft Co.

August 1915 – Joined Glenn L. Martin Co. as chief engineer.

1916 – Served briefly as chief civilian aeronautical engineer for the Army Signal Corps Aviation Section in Washington, D.C.
- Chief Engineer in charge of building the MB-1 twin-engine bomber for the US Army.

1920 – He worked as a laborer, hoeing potatoes, and washing cars.
- Davis-Douglas Co. was formed

1921 – Davis lost interest and sold out the company to Douglas and the Douglas Co. was founded.

The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace manufacturer. It was founded in July 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas Sr. The Company was most famous for their Douglas Commercial much known as the DC series of commercial aircraft which includes the DC-3, a transport aircraft where the C-47 Skytrain was developed from.

Douglas DC-3

In 1967, due to quality and cash flow problems plus the combined shortages due to the Vietnam War, Douglas agrees to a merger with McDonnell Aircraft Corporation and form the McDonnell Douglas. In 1997, the McDonnell Douglas merged with Boeing.

Some Aircrafts built by Douglas Aircraft Company:

TBD-1 Devastator

A Torpedo Bomber used by the United States Navy.

A-26 Invader

A-1H Skyraider

It was an attack aircraft used by the US Navy.

Douglas DC-6B

It was a piston-powered airliner and transport aircraft.

C-124 Globemaster

A-4 Skyhawk

It was an attack aircraft used by the US Navy.

“It was a trauma and a great loss.”

Pacoima Junior High School after the Crash

On the 31^st January 1957, on the final functional test flight of the new airliner Douglas DC-7B (N8210H) aircraft before it was delivered to Continental Airlines and Northrop F-89D Scorpion on a similar test flight took off. Both performed their individual tests at an altitude of 25,000 feet in clear skies over the San Fernando Valley when a high-speed, near head on midair collision occurred.

Douglas DC-7B: American Airlines

The Douglas DC-7B was a variant of DC-7, an airliner/transport aircraft. The DC-7 and DC-7B was identical except for the increased fuel capacity in extended engine nacelles that extended the flight range of the later variant.

Northrop F-89D Scorpion

The Northrop F-89 Scorpion was a jet powered all weather interceptors. Its variant F-89D was the main production version with removed cannon and new Hughes E-6 fire control system with AN/APG-40 radar and an AN/APA-84 computer.

The midair collision results to the loss of all the Douglas DC-7B crew, 1 of 2 occupants of F-89D, and 3 junior high school students on the ground. The Douglas DC-7B crews are the pilot William Carr, 36; co-pilot Archie R. Twitchell, 50, a veteran flier and a part-time actor and appeared in over 70 films which include “I Wanted Wings” and “Among the Living”; the flight engineer Waldo B. Adams, 42; and the radio operator Roy Nakazama, 29. And the three dead boys are Ronnie Brann, Bob Zallan, and Evan Elsner.

The probable cause of the crash was said to be the high rate of near head on closure at high altitude, together with physiological limitations that resulted in a minimum avoidance opportunity during which the pilots didn’t see each other’s aircraft.

The midair collision and the outrage over the deaths led to the construction of a hospital in Pacoima and a ban on military operations over the Valley.

George Herbert Walker Bush was born on the 12^th of June 1924 in their Victorian house in Massachusetts to Senator Prescott Bush and Dorothy Walker Bush. He began his formal education at the Greenwich Country Day School in Greenwich where his family moved shortly after his birth.

In 1936, he attended Phillips Academy and there he held a large number of leadership positions which includes being the captain of both the varsity baseball and soccer teams.

In June 1942 after graduating from Phillips Academy, he joined the US Navy and became a naval aviator on his 18^th birthday. On the 9^th of June 1943, he was commissioned and ensign in the US Naval Reserve at Corpus Christi, Texas and it made him the youngest naval aviator to that date. He piloted one of four Grumman TBM Avenger on one of his mission. In September 1945, he was honorably discharged from the service and he then entered Yale University.

TBF (TMB) Avenger

Soon after graduating from Yale University he became involved in politics. On the 3^rd of January 1967 to 1971 he was a member of the US House of Representatives from 7^th District of Texas. In 1971 to 1973, he became the 10^th US Ambassador to the United Nations. On the 30^th of January 1976, he became the 11^th Director of Central Intelligence Agency. On the 20^th of January 1981, he became the 43^rd Vice President of the United States with Ronald Reagan as the President. And on the 20^th of January 1989 he became the 41^st President of the United States with Dan Quayle as his Vice President.

CIA, Vice President, President Plaques

After his term, he retired to be with his wife at their home in Houston with a presidential office nearby. Since 1992, he made many public appearances and even more when his son became the President.

He was awarded the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award by former First Lady Nancy Reagan. And in 1993, he was awarded an honorary knighthood (GCB) by Queen Elizabeth II.

He was also present on various ceremonies during the construction of the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77), the last Nimitz class supercarrier of the US Navy that was named after him.

USS George H. W. Bush CVN-77

January 30 1862 - The first American ironclad warship, the USS Monitor is launched.

USS Monitor: The First Ironclad Warship

The USS Monitor was the first ironclad warship commissioned by the US Navy. It was ordered on the 4^th of October 1861 by the US Navy. It was launched on the 30^th of January 1862 and commissioned on the 25^th of February 1862.

The USS Monitor was most famous for her participation in the first ever naval battle between two ironclad warships on the 9^th of March 1862. It was the first in a long line of Monitor class warships of the United States and the term monitor describes a broad class of European harbor defense craft.

The USS Monitor has a displacement of 987 tons; length of 172 feet; beam of 41 feet and 6 inches; draught of 10 feet and 6 inches; speed of 8 knots; and armed with two 11 inches Dahlgren smoothbores.

The USS Monitor was well suited for river combat and it features made her highly unseaworthy in rough waters which led to its early loss when it encountered a heavy storm. She was swamped by high waves while under tow by Rhode Island. On the 31^st of December 1862 it sank in the Atlantic Ocean and 16 out of its 62 crewmen were lost in the storm.

Check out USS Monitor Model Ship at http://www.warplanes.com/

January 29 1944 – USS Missouri the last battleship commissioned by the US Navy is launched.

USS Missouri Battleship

The USS Missouri (BB-63) was also known as the Mighty Mo or Big Mo. It was a US Navy battleship and the third ship of the US Navy to be named in honor of the US state of Missouri.

The USS Missouri was the last battleship built by the United States. It was ordered on the 12^th of June 1940 and laid down on the 6^th of January 1941. On the 29^th of January 1944, the Missouri was launched at New York Naval Shipyard in Brooklyn, New York and commissioned on the 11^th of June. It was the third of the Iowa class but the fourth and final battleship commissioned by the US.

The USS Missouri (BB-63) has the length of 887 feet and 2 inches; beam of 108 feet and 2 inches; draft of 28 feet and 9 inches; and displacement of 45,000 tons. It was armed with (1943) nine 16-inch/50 caliber Mark 7 guns; twenty 5-inch/38 caliber Mark 12 guns; eighty 40mm/70 caliber anti-aircraft guns; and forty-nine 20mm/70 calibers anti aircraft guns.

USS Missiouri: US Navy

The USS Missouri was best known as the site where General Douglas MacArthur officially accepted the surrender of Japan which ends the Second World War on the 2^nd of September 1945.

The USS Missouri was decommissioned on the 31^st of March 1992 at Long Beach, California. It remained part of the reserve fleet until January 12, 1995 when it was struck from the Naval Vessel Register. On the 4^th of May 1998 a donation contract was signed and the historic battleship was said to be transferred to the nonprofit USS Missouri Memorial Association (MMA). And on the 23^rd of May she was towed from Bremerton to the Port of Astoria, Oregon for cleaning and then towed across the eastern Pacific and docked at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor on the 22^nd of June. And on the 29^th of January 199, she was opened as a museum operated by the MMA.

Check out USS Missouri Model Ship at http://www.warplanes.com/

Francis Stanley “Gabby” Gabreski: Top American Fighter Ace

January 28 1919 – Francis Gabreski, American fighter pilot.

Francis Stanley “Gabby” Gabreski

Francis Stanley “Gabby” Gabreski was born today, 28^th of January 1919. He was the top American fighter ace in Europe during the Second World War, a jet fighter ace in Korea, and a career officer in the US Air Force with more than 26 years in the service.

Curtiss P-40 AVG Flying Tiger

Spitfire Mk IX

During his Royal Air Force (RAF) duty, he flew the new Spitfire Mark IX. And Gabreski learned during his duty with RAF that he had to keep calm during a mission. In his career with US Air Force, he became the commander of his former unit, the 56^th Fighter Group and he flew F-80 Shooting Stars.

Gabreski died on the 31^st of January 2002 of an apparent heart attack. He is buried in Calverton National Cemetery along with his wife Kay.

Leonid Kostyantynovych Kadenyuk: The First Astronaut of Ukraine

January 28 1951 – Leonid Kadenyuk, Ukrainian cosmonaut.

Leonid Kostyantynovych Kadenyuk

Leonid Kostyantynovych Kadenyuk was the first and only astronaut of independent Ukraine as of 2005. He holds the rank of Ukrainian Air Force Major General. He has been a career Soviet military pilot and cosmonaut since 1976. He started his service with the Soviet Air Force and later with the Cosmonaut Group. He remained in the Russian Space Forces and adopted Russian citizenship due to the break-up of the Soviet Union.

STS-87Mission

In 1995, he returned to his homeland and volunteered to take part of the first Ukrainian space mission. In 1997, he made his flight on NASA’s Space Shuttle Columbia as part of the international mission STS-87. The mission duration was 15 days, 16 hours, 35 minutes, and 01 seconds.

Space Shuttle Columbia

January 28 1946 - Bluenose, Canada's greatest sailing ship, founders on a Haitian reef.

The Bluenose was a Canadian schooner from Nova Scotia. It was launched on the 26^th of March 1921. It was a celebrated racing ship and a symbol of the province. It was financed by Captain Angus Walters and four Halifax businessmen.

The Bluenose soon proved that she is an excellent sailing vessel as she cleverly won the 1921 Canadian trials over seven other competing schooners. Another two races were held in late October and both were won by the Bluenose and she brings the International Fishermen’s Trophy back home.

Bluenose

January 25 1990 – Avianca Flight 52 crashes, killing 73 passengers.

The Avianca Flight 52 was a regularly scheduled flight from Bogotá to New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport.

Boeing 707-320: Pan Am

On the 25^th of January 1990, the aircraft performing the Avianca Flight 52 was a Boeing 707-321B and it was registered as HK-2016, crashed in Cove Neck in New York. The cause of the crashed was fuel starvation and pilot error. This results to the killings of 73 passengers and crew on board, and injured 85 others.

Douglas DC-3 Crashed

January 25 2001 - A 50-year-old Douglas DC-3 crashes near Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela killing 24.

Douglas DC-3: United Airlines

The Douglas DC-3 was an airliner and transport aircraft. It was generally regarded as one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made due to its lasting impact on the airline industry and during the Second World War.

On the 25^th of January 2001, Rutaca Flight 224 crashed near the Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela. The aircraft performing this flight was the Douglas DC-3 and it has 24 people on board and that includes the 20 European tourists. There was no survivors on the said crashed. And the identities and nationalities of the passengers weren’t immediately known together with the cause of the crash.

January 24 1888 – a German aircraft designer and manufacturer Ernst Heinkel was born.

Ernst Heinkel was born in Grunbach, Germany on the 24^th of January 1988. He started as an apprentice machinist at a foundry. He became interested with aviation through his fascination with zeppelins, a type of rigid airships.

In 1909, he attended an international airshow in Frankfurt am Main. In 1910, he built his first aircraft but unfortunately it crashed and burned. Still he did not loose confidence but rather he continue his work and then he became chief designer for the Albatros Aircraft Company located in Berlin just before the beginning of the First World War.

In Albatros, he designed the Albatros B-II. It was an unarmed reconnaissance biplane during the First World War. He left the Albatros and he designed several seaplanes for Hansa-Brandenburg Company in 1914. Later he was appointed as head designer in a re-established Caspar-Werke but left due to a dispute on ownership of a design.

In 1922, Heinkel established the Heinkel-Flugzeugwerke company. He looked for overseas contracts and so some of his seaplane designs are being licence-built in Sweden.

Heinkel He 111

Adolf Hitler came to power and the designs of Heinkel’s firm formed a vital part of the Luftwaffe’s growing strength that leads up to the Second World War. The design includes Heinkel He 59, a trainer, transport, ambulance, torpedo bomber type of aircraft; Heinkel He 115, a three seats torpedo bomber aircraft; and the Heinkel He 111, medium bomber and perhaps the most famous symbol of the German side of the Battle of Britain.

On the 30^th of January 1958, Ernst Heinkel died in Stuttgart, Germany.

January 22 1992 – Space Shuttle program: STS-42 Mission - Dr. Roberta Bondar becomes the first Canadian woman in space.

Mission STS-42 Insignia

The Space Shuttle mission STS-42 was a flight of Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off an hour late of the schedule due to weather constraints on the 22^nd of January 1992. The STS-42 main mission was to study the effects of microgravity on a variety of organisms. The duration of the mission was 8 days, 1 hour, 14 minutes, and 44 seconds.

The STS-42 crew includes West Germany’s first astronaut, Ulf Merbold; and Canada’s first woman astronaut, Roberta Bondar. The mission of the STS-42 required the around-the-clock monitoring experiments and so they are divided into a red and a blue team.

Blue Team

Ronald J. Grabe – Commander

Stephen S. Oswald – Pilot

Norman E. Thagard – Mission Specialist 1

Roberta L. Bondar – Payload Specialist 1

Red Team

David C. Hilmers – Mission Specialist 2

William F. Readdy – Mission Specialist 3

Ulf Merbold – Payload Specialist 2

Space Shuttle Discovery

The STS-42 was a flight of the Space Shuttle Discovery and the first of two flights of it. The Space Shuttle Discovery has an Orbiter Vehicle Designation of OV-103. It was one of the three currently operational spacecraft in the Space Shuttle fleet of NASA. It was the third operational orbiter and the oldest orbiter in the service. It performed research and International Space Station (ISS) assembly missions.

January 22 1973 - A chartered Boeing 707 exploded in flames upon landing at Kano Airport, Nigeria killing 176.

Boeing 707 (Pan American World Airways)

The Boeing 707 was a four-engine commercial passenger jet airliner. It dominated passenger air transport in 1960s. It was based on an aircraft known as 367-80. It was called the Dash 80 within Boeing.

On the 22^nd of January 1973, the Boeing 707 encountered an accident. The Boeing 707 operated by Royal Jordanian Airlines had been chartered by Nigeria Airways to fly pilgrims back to Jeddah to Lagos. Due to bad weather at Lagos, the crew was forced to divert to Kano Airport, Nigeria. Unfortunately, the right main gear leg collapsed after touchdown as it hit a depression in the runway. It turned 180 degrees and skidded off the side of the runway, caught fire, and exploded. This accident result to the killing of 176 people onboard.

Commercial Service of Concorde

January 21 1976 - Commercial service of Concorde begins with London-Bahrain and Paris-Rio routes.

Concorde: British Airways

The Concorde was a supersonic airliner type of aircraft. It was the more successful of the only two supersonic passenger airliners that operated commercially. Its primary users are the British Airways, the largest airline and flag carrier of the United Kingdom; and the Air France, one of the largest airlines in the world.

Concorde: Air France

Its maiden flight was on the 2^nd of March 1969 and it was piloted by Andre Turcat. It was introduced commercially on the 21^st of January 1976. It flew regular transatlantic flights from London Heathrow and Paris Charles de Gaulle to New York JFK and Washington Dulles.

Concorde set many other records but as a result of the type’s only crash on the 25^th of July 2000, world economic effects arising from the 9/11 attacks, its operations has been ceased. And on the 26^th of November 2003, its last flight occurred.

USS Nautilus (SSN-571) Launched

The USS Nautilus (SSN-571) was the first operational nuclear-powered submarine in the world. It was also the first vessel to complete a submerged transit across the North Pole.

The Congress of the United States authorized the construction of a nuclear-powered submarine for the US Navy in July 1951. And on the 12^th of December 1951 the name of the submarine was announced by the US Department of Navy as the Nautilus and it will carry the hull number SSN-571.

On the 21^st of January 1954, it was christened and launched into the Thames River in Connecticut. It was sponsored by Mamie Eisenhower, wife of the former General and President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

January 18 1969 – United Airlines Flight 266 crashes into Santa Monica Bay resulting in the loss of all 32 passengers and six crew members.

The Flight 266 was scheduled to flight from Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles, California to General Mitchell International Airport, Milwaukee, Wisconsin via Stapleton International Airport, Denver Colorado. It has a total of 38 people on board as they are 32 passengers and 6 crews.

Approximately four minutes after takeoff, 11.5 west of LAX, it crashed into Santa Monica Bay, Pacific Ocean. The incident caused to the loss of the 38 people on board, all the passengers and crews. The incident was due to mechanical failure when two minutes into its flight, a fire warning in no.1 engine was reported by the pilot and shut it down. It departed with inoperable generators and afterwards the remaining generator overloaded and also shut down that result to the loss of electrical power.

United Airlines Aircraft: Douglas DC-3

During that time battery powered back up source was not required on commercial aircraft but because of the accident the Federal Aviation Administration require all transport category aircraft to have backup instrumentation installed and powered by independent source of the generators.

Other Events of January 18

1919 – World War I: The Paris Peace Conference opens in Versailles, France.

World War I Aircraft: Nieuport 17 (Allied)

The Paris Peace Conference was a conference organized by the victors of the First World War to negotiate the peace treaties between the Allied and Associated Powers and the defeated Central Powers.

It was opened in the Palace of Versailles in France on the 18^th of January 1919 and it was attended by participants from 25 nations.

T-38 Talon: replaced after the infamous incident Diamond Crash that killed four members of the team’s six demonstration pilots.

1982 - U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds: "Diamond Crash" kills four team members.

Martin 4-0-4: Eastern had the largest fleet with 60 type in operation

1991 - Eastern Air Lines goes out of business after 62 years, citing financial problems.

Palomares Hydrogen Bombs Incident

January 17 1966 – A B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, dropping four 70-kiloton hydrogen bombs near the town of Palomares and another one into the sea in the Palomares hydrogen bombs incident.The B-52G Bomber of the US Air Force Strategic Air Command runs into a KC-135 Stratotanker during mid-air refueling over the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Spain.

Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm

“The great duel, the mother of all battles has begun. The dawn of victory nears as this great showdown begins.”- Saddam Hussein

January 17 1991 – Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm begins early in the morning. Iraq fires 8 Scud missiles into Israel in an unsuccessful bid to provoke Israeli retaliation.

The massive air campaign codenamed Operation Desert Storm was launched by the coalition the day after the deadline set in Resolution. It began when eight (8) United States AH-64 Apache helicopter and two (2) MH-53 Pave Low helicopters destroyed Iraqi radar sites near the Iraqi-Saudi Arabian border.

Space Shuttle Columbia Takes OFF: Mission STS-107

The Final mission for the Space Shuttle Columbia carried a crew of seven astronauts:

Rick Husband: Commander

William C. McCool: Pilot

David M. Brown: Mission Specialist

Kalpana Chawla: Flight Engineer

Michael P. Anderson: Payload Commander

Laurel B. Clark: Mission Specialist

Ilan Ramon: Payload Specialist

The STS-107 was a multi-disciplinary microgravity and Earth science research mission with a multitude of international scientific investigations conducted continuously during 16 days in orbit.

On the 1^st of February 2003, morning, the shuttle re-entered the atmosphere after a 16 day orbit (scientific mission). Unfortunately, Space Shuttle Columbia disaster occurred that resulted with the loss of all seven crew minutes before concluding its 28^th mission.

According to investigations, the loss of the Columbia was caused by a piece of foam known as the Left Bipod Foam Ramp that broke off during launch and damaged the thermal protection system components on the left wing of the Shuttle orbiter and caused extensive heat build up.