Fun On this date in history...

If I may...

ALSO ON MAY 25th:

In 1521, the Diet of Worms ended when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, issued the Edict of Worms, declaring Martin Luther an outlaw.

In 1787, the Constitutional Convention began at the Pennsylvania State House (later called Independence Hall) in Philadelphia after enough delegates had shown up for a quorum.

In 1810, Argentina began its revolt against Spanish rule with the forming of the Primera Junta in Buenos Aires.

In 1895, playwright Oscar Wilde was convicted of a morals charge in London; he was sentenced to two years in prison.

In 1934, the comedy mystery “The Thin Man”, starring William Powell and Myrna Loy was released in the U.S.

In 1935, Babe Ruth hit his final homerun, his 714th, for the Boston Braves in a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, and set a record that would stand for 39 years. (The Pirates won the game, 11-7.)

In 1944, actor/director/Muppeteer Frank Oz was born in Hereford, Herefordshire, England.

In 1946, the thriller “The Stranger” directed by and starring Orson Welles, and featuring Edward G. Robinson and Loretta Young, was released in the U.S.

In 1953, the first public television station in the United States officially began broadcasting as KUHT from the campus of the University of Houston.

In 1959, the U.S. Supreme Court, in State Athletic Commission v. Dorsey, struck down a Louisiana law prohibiting interracial boxing matches. (The case had been brought by Joseph Dorsey Jr., a black professional boxer.)

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy told a joint session of Congress: "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth."

In 1965, Muhammad Ali knocked out Sonny Liston in the first round of their world heavyweight title rematch in Lewiston, ME.

In 1968, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis was dedicated by Vice President Hubert Humphrey and Interior Secretary Stewart Udall.

In 1972, the Hitchcock thriller “Frenzy” premiered in London.

In 1973, Carole King gave a free concert in New York's Central Park for what was, at the time, the largest music audience ever to gather there: 100,000 people.

In 1977, “Star Wars” (later known as “Star Wars: Episode IV- A New Hope”) was released in the U.S. It was somewhat successful.

In 1979, 273 people died when an American Airlines DC-10 crashed just after takeoff from Chicago's O'Hare Airport.

Also in 1979, six-year-old Etan Patz disappeared while on his way to a school bus stop in lower Manhattan.

In addition in 1979, the sci-fi/horror movie “Alien” was released in the U.S.

In 1983, “Star Wars: Episode VI- Return of the Jedi” was released in the U.S. It was also somewhat successful.

In 1985, more than 11,000 people were killed as a cyclone and tidal surge devastated Bangladesh.

In 1992, Jay Leno took over the "Tonight Show," replacing Johnny Carson. Leno's first guest was Billy Crystal.

In 2007, the United States Postal Service released souvenir sheets of stamps commemorating the 30th anniversary of the release of “Star Wars”. Your humble correspondent received one at Celebration IV, and still has it.

In 2012, the unmanned SpaceX craft Dragon became the first commercial spacecraft to successfully rendezvous with the International Space Station.

In 2018, Ireland voted to repeal the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland, prohibiting abortion in all but a few cases, choosing to replace it with the Thirty-Sixth Amendment, allowing it.

 

26 May 1909: The creation of Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the rigid airship LZ-5 made its first flight at Lake Constance (Bodensee).
This was an experimental airship, 442 feet (136 meters) long, with a diameter of 42 feet (13 meters). Powered by two Daimler engines producing 105 horsepower each, it was capable of 30 miles per hour. The structure of the airship was a framework built of a light alloy covered with a fabric skin. Buoyancy was provided by hydrogen gas stored inside the envelope.
LZ-5 was purchased by the army and renamed ZII. It was destroyed in a storm 24 April 1910.

26 May 1923: 1st Lieutenant Harrison Gage Crocker, Air Service, United States Army, made the first South-to-North non-stop flight across the United States when he flew from the Gulf of Mexico to the U.S./Canada border near Gordon, Ontario.
Lieutenant Crocker’s airplane was a modified DH-4B-1-S, serial number A.S. 22-353. This was the same airplane flown by Lieutenant James H. Doolittle on an East-to-West Transcontinental flight, 4 September 1922.
Due to the heavy load, a long smooth airfield was necessary for the takeoff. Ellington Field, Houston, Texas, was selected, though it was farther south than other locations near the Gulf coastline.
Lieutenant Crocker took off from Ellington Field at 5:20 a.m., Central Time (0920 UTC) and turned toward the Gulf of Mexico. On reaching the Gulf, Crocker turned to the North, climbed to 1,800 feet (550 meters) at a speed of 97 miles per hour (156.1 kilometers per hour). Throughout the flight, he encountered low clouds and fog and rainstorms. He flew over, under, or through the clouds, depending on the circumstances. The storms forced him to deviate from his planned course several times.
According to Lieutenant Crocker’s report of the flight,
“The Canadian Border was touched about one mile from Gordon, Ontario, across from Trenton, Mich. at 4:49 p.m. central time, taking 11 hours and 29 minutes from Gulf to Border. The main tank supply gave out at 4:55 central time and the reserve was used for 20 minutes. Both mentally and physically fatigued, a landing at Selfridge Field was made at 5:15 p.m., making 11 hours and 55 minutes in the air.”

26 May 1942: The prototype Northrop XP-61-NO Black Widow, 41-19509, made its first flight at Northrop Field, Hawthorne, California, with free-lance test pilot Vance Breese at the controls. (Breese had taken the North American Aviation NA-73X, prototype of the Mustang, for its first flight, 20 October 1940.)
The first American airplane designed specifically as a night fighter, the XP-61 was the same size as a medium bomber: 48 feet, 11.2 inches (14.915 meters) long with a wingspan of 66 feet (20.117 meters).
The P-61 got its nickname, Black Widow, from the glossy black paint scheme that scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) had determined was the best camouflage for a night fighter. Over 700 P-61s were built, with 36 built as the F-15 photo reconnaissance variant. They served in both the Pacific and European Theaters during World War II, and were also used during the Korean War. After the war, the radar-equipped fighter was used for thunderstorm penetration research.

26 May 1961: The Firefly, the Blériot Trophy-winning Convair B-58A-10-CF Hustler, serial number 59-2451, assigned to the 43rd Bombardment Wing, Carswell Air Force Base, Fort Worth, Texas, set a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Record for Speed Over a Recognized Course by flying from Washington, D.C. to Paris in 3 hours, 39 minutes, 49 seconds, for an average speed of 1,687.69 kilometers per hour (1,048.68 miles per hour).
During the same flight, the B-58 flew the New York to Paris segment in 3 hours, 14 minutes, 44.53 seconds, at an average speed of 1,753.16 kilometers per hour (1,089.36 miles per hour). Just 34 years earlier, it took Charles Lindbergh 33 and a half hours to fly the same distance.
The aircrew, Major William R. Payne, Aircraft Commander, Captain William L. Polhemus, Navigator, and Captain Raymond R. Wagener, Defensive Systems Officer, won the Harmon and Mackay Trophies for this flight.
On 3 June 1961, while enroute home, The Firefly crashed only 5 miles from Paris, killing the Blériot Trophy-winning aircrew, Major Elmer E. Murphy, Major Eugene Moses, and First Lieutenant David F. Dickerson. The B-58 was totally destroyed.
The Convair Division of General Dynamics built 116 B-58s at Forth Worth, Texas. The first XB-58 flew on 11 November 1956. Production aircraft entered service with the Strategic Air Command in 1960 and were retired in 1970. Only eight aircraft remain in existence.

 

Born on May 26th

Our fave Grand Moff: Peter Cushing
and the wonderful Ms. Pamela Grier

 

If I may...

ALSO ON MAY 26th:

In 1830, The Indian Removal Act was passed by the U.S. Congress; it was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson two days later.

In 1864, Montana was organized as a U.S. territory.

In 1865, Confederate forces west of the Mississippi surrendered in New Orleans.

In 1868, the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson ended with his acquittal on the remaining charges.

In 1886, actor/singer/entertainer Al Jolson was born in Seredzius, Kovno Governorate in what is now Lithuania.

In 1896, Nicholas II became the last Tsar of Imperial Russia.

In 1897, the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker was published by Archibald Constable & Company.

In 1907, actor/producer/director John Wayne was born in Winterset, IA.

In 1912, actor Jay Silverheels, best-known for playing Tonto on “The Lone Ranger” TV series, was born in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.

In 1913, Actors' Equity Association was organized by a group of actors at the Pabst Grand Circle Hotel in New York.

In 1923, actor James Arness was born in Minneapolis, MN. His career would later include facing giant ants beneath Los Angeles, and facing scores of outlaws in Dodge City.

Also in 1923, the first 24 Hours of Le Mans was held; it would later be run annually in June.

In 1938, the House Un-American Activities Committee was established by Congress.

In 1940, Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of some 338,000 Allied troops from Dunkirk, France, began during World War II.

In 1942, the U.S. War Department formally established the Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS).

Also in 1942, the Tule Lake Segregation Center for Japanese-American wartime internees opened in northern California.

In 1944, the Sherlock Holmes movie “The Scarlet Claw”, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, was released in the U.S.

In 1950, the sci-fi movie “Rocketship X-M” premiered in New York City.

In 1951, astronaut/physicist Sally Ride was born in Los Angeles.

In 1954, explosions rocked the aircraft carrier USS Bennington off Rhode Island, killing 103 sailors. (The initial blast was blamed on leaking catapult fluid ignited by the flames of a jet.)

In 1960, U.N. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge accused the Soviets of hiding a microphone inside a wood carving of the Great Seal of the United States that had been presented to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.

In 1969, the Apollo 10 astronauts returned to Earth after a successful eight-day dress rehearsal for the first manned moon landing.

In 1970, the sequel “Beneath the Planet of the Apes” was released in the U.S.

In 1971, the Western spoof “Support Your Local Gunfighter” premiered in New York City,

In 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in Moscow. (The U.S. withdrew from the treaty in 2002.)

In 1981, 14 people were killed when a Marine jet crashed onto the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz off Florida.

In 1995, producer/director/animator Friz Freling, best-known for his work with the Warner Bros. Cartoon unit, died in Los Angeles at age 88.

In 1998, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Ellis Island, the historic gateway for millions of immigrants, was mainly in the state of New Jersey, not New York.

In 2004, Terry Nichols was found guilty of 161 state murder charges for helping to carry out the Oklahoma City bombing.

In 2017, gunmen opened fire on buses carrying Coptic Christians in Minya Governorate, Egypt, killing at least 28 people and wounding dozens more. Later that day, The Egyptian Air Force struck militant camps in eastern Libya in retaliation.

In 2018, astronaut/engineer/artist Alan L. Bean, LM Pilot for the Apollo 12 mission and Commander of the Skylab 3 mission, died in Houston, TX at age 86.

 

21-27 May 1911:
The Paris–Madrid Race began at Issy-les-Moulineaux, in the southwest of Paris, France, 21 May 1911. The race was sponsored by Le Petit Parisien, a French newspaper. More than 300,000 spectators had arrived to watch the event.
The first competitor, “Andre Beaumont” (a pseudonym for Lieutenant Jean Louis Conneau of the French Navy), took off at 5:10 a.m. in a Blériot-Gnome. Roland Garros (soon to become history's first fighter pilot), also flying a Blériot-Gnome, followed at 5:15 a.m. Several more airplanes departed, at approximately 5-minute intervals.
Jules Charles Toussaint Védrines, flying a Morane monoplane, took off at 6:20 a.m. He was unable to control the airplane and had to lay down on a wing to steer it away from the crowds. He landed but the airplane was damaged. Rather than repair the Morane, he decided to fly the race with another airplane of the same type, as the rules allowed.
At 6:30 a.m., Louis Émile Train, with a passenger, M. Bonnier, took off in an airplane of his own design. The airplane’s Gnome rotary engine was not operating properly and Train immediately turned back toward the area specified as the airfield. (This open area was surrounded by a massive crowd of spectators who continually encroached on the open space.)
As he was about to land, a troop of French cavalry (cuirrassiers) crossed directly in front of him. Train pulled up, but his engine failed. The airplane stalled and crashed just beyond the cavalry. Unseen by Train, a group of officials was on the other side of the troop, and a number of them were struck by the airplane.
M. Henri Maurice Berteaux, France’s Minister of War, was killed. Prime Minister Antoine Emmanuel Ernest Monis, Henri Deutsch de le Muerthe and several others were severely injured.
A judicial inquiry was immediately held. Train was completely exonerated. Witnesses later said that just prior to the crash, M. Berteaux had commented that the group had moved too far into the field and suggested that they should move back for safety.
Because of the accident, further flights were cancelled, with starts to resume to following day. Only Roland Garros completed the first leg of the race the first day, 400 kilometers (249 miles), with his Blériot XI, arriving at Angoulême after a flight of 4 hours, 52 minutes. Other racers stopped at intermediate points. One of these airplanes was damaged on takeoff, another delayed by weather, and a third withdrew from the race when he learned of the accident at Issy.
On the second day of the Paris-Madrid Race, Jules Védrines, flying Morane No. 14, was the first to take off. Airborne at 4:11 a.m., he arrived at Angoulême at 7:54:16 a.m. after a flight of 3 hours, 43 minutes. His official time, however, included the actual flight time for his first attempt on Sunday, and a 30 minute penalty for not successfully starting on the first day of the race. His official time was 4 hours, 24 minutes, 7 seconds, which was still faster than Garros’ time. In third place was M. Gibert, who had remained at Pont Levoy overnight. He arrived at Angoulême at 10:54:58 a.m., Monday, for an official time of 29 hours, 24 minutes, 53 seconds.
On Tuesday, Gibert took off at 5:12 a.m., with Garros following at 5:19:02 a.m. Védrines, who should have started at 5:00 a.m., waited more than two hours for mist to clear. Even so, Védrines was the first to complete the second leg, arriving at San Sebastián on the shore of the Bay of Biscay at 10:56:15 a.m., having flown the 353 kilometers (219 miles) non-stop in 3 hours, 41 minutes, 57 seconds.
Roland Garros made an intermediate fueling stop and was delayed more than two hours. He arrived at San Sebastián at 11:25:36 a.m. Gibert had been delayed by engine trouble at Bayonne, and did not land at San Sebastián until 6:52:22 p.m., Tuesday evening.
The aviators rested at San Sebastián, continuing the final leg of the race on Thursday.
The start for the third leg was scheduled for 5:00 a.m., but weather caused another delay. Gibert took off at 6:24 a.m. and crossed the start line at 6:28:35 a.m. He flew out over the Bay of Biscay and quickly disappeared from sight. Garros took off at 7:12 a.m., and Védrines at 7:17 a.m.
Védrines landed at Quintanapalla, but because of the rough field, slightly damaged his Morane. Temporary repairs were made and he flew the 14 kilometers (8.7 miles) to Burgos. He requested permission for the race committee to wait until Friday morning before continuing to allow time for permanent repairs to be made. His request was granted.
Shortly after departing San Sebastián, Garros’ Blériot-Gnome suffered engine trouble, forcing him to land at Usurbil. He took off, but was forced to land again at Andoain. He then returned to San Sebastián. He also proposed restarting the following day after obtaining a new propeller.
Gibert landed at Olasagutia, damaging his airplane. He was also delayed until Friday.
At 5:20 a.m., Friday, Védrines took off from Burgos. He crossed the Sierra de Guadarrama. one of the mountain ranges of the Pyrenees, flying through Somosierra Pass. (The pass has an elevation of 1,434 meters/4,705 feet.) It was here that his Morane was repeatedly attacked by an eagle, forcing to take evasive maneuvers. The duel in the air went of for more than five minutes before the airplane escaped. (Gibert had a similar encounter.)
At 8:06 a.m., Védrines landed at Getafe Aerodrome. He was met by representatives of the Real Aero Club de España and Señor de la Torre, Governor of Madrid. Védrines was commanded to attend King Alfonso at the Palace, where he was engaged in a lengthy conversation with the monarch. He was awarded the Cross of the Order of Alfonso XII.
Jules Védrines’ official time for the 462 kilometers (287 miles) from San Sebastián to Madrid was 27 hours, 5 minutes 41 seconds. This resulted in a race total of 37 hours, 26 minutes, 12 seconds.
The prize for the winner was 100,000 francs. The second place finisher won 30,000 francs, and third, 15,000 francs (approximately equivalent to £4,000, £1,200 and £600.)

27 May 1919: NC-4, designating number A2294, one of three United States Navy Curtiss NC flying boats, arrived at the harbor of Lisbon, Portugal, becoming the first airplane to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
NC-4 was under the command of Lieutenant Commander Albert Cushing Read, United States Navy, who also served as navigator. The pilots were First Lieutenant Elmer Fowler Stone, United States Coast Guard, and Lieutenant (j.g.) Walter T. Hinton, U.S. Navy. Lieutenant James L. Breese, USN and Chief Machinist Mate Eugene S. Rhoads, USN, were the engineers. Ensign Herbert C. Rodd, USN, was the radio operator.
Aboard the other aircraft were several officers who would rise to high rank in the Navy: Commander John Henry Towers would later command the Pacific Fleet; Lieutenant Marc A. Mitscher commanded the Fast Carrier Task Force during World War II, and later commanded the Atlantic Fleet. Lieutenant Patrick N.L. Bellinger commanded Patrol Wing 2 at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, and would go on to command Naval Air Forces, Atlantic Fleet.
Three Curtiss flying boats, NC-1 (A2291), NC-3 (A2293) and NC-4 (A2294), under the command of Commander Towers in NC-3, departed Naval Air Station Rockaway, New York City, New York, United States of America, at 10:00 a.m., 8 May 1919, and flew to NAS Chatham, Massachusetts.
During the flight, NC-4 developed an oil leak from the center pusher engine, so it was shut down. This slowed the airplane but it was still able to continue. In mid-afternoon, however, the center tractor engine suffered a failed connecting rod. With only two engines operating, NC-4 was forced down at sea, approximately 80 miles (129 kilometers) from Chatham. The sea was calm and the flying boat taxied the remaining distance on the water. It arrived there at 7:00 a.m., 9 May.
At the air station, the failed engine was replaced with a 300 horsepower Liberty L12, the only spare engine available. NC flying boats were normally equipped with 400 horsepower engines. The leaking engine was repaired.
Delayed several days by weather, NC-4 departed NAS Chatham at 9:15 a.m., 14 May, and flew to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in the Canadian Maritimes, landing there at 1:07 p.m. Continuing on to Newfoundland that day would have had them arriving after dark.
NC-4 took off from the waters of Halifax the following morning at 11:47 a.m., and arrived at Trepassey Bay, Newfoundland, at 5:41 p.m., rendezvousing with the aircraft tender USS Aroostook (CM-3). NC-1 and NC-3 had arrived two days earlier.
All three airplanes were serviced from the tender. The temporary 300 horsepower Liberty engine which had been installed on NC-4 was replaced with a correct 400 horsepower engine.
The three Curtiss flying boats took off from Trepassey Bay at 6:00 p.m. on the evening of 16 May and headed across the Atlantic Ocean to the Azores.
NC-1 and NC-3 were both forced down by rain, heavy clouds and thick fog about 200 miles short of their destination. NC-1 was damaged and unable to continue. The crew was rescued by a Greek freighter and the airplane taken in tow, but it sank several days later. NC-3 drifted for two days on surface of the Atlantic, and coming within sight of land, two engines were started and the airplane taxied into the harbor at Ponta Delgada, Ilha de São Miguel.
NC-4 deviated from its planned course and landed at Horta, on Faial Island, at 1:23 p.m., 17 May. Weather kept NC-4 at Horta for the next few days, until at 8:45 a.m. on the 20th, it took off and flew to Ponta Delgado, landing there just two hours later.
Again, NC-4 was forced to remain in harbor waiting for favorable weather. On 27 May, it was good enough to resume the journey, and the crew once again took off, this time en route to Lisbon, Portugal.
At 8:01 p.m., 27 May 1919, NC-4 touched down on the Tagus Estuary, Lisbon, Portugal, and became the very first airplane to complete a flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
NC-4 had a maximum speed of 85 miles per hour (137 kilometers per hour), a service ceiling of 4,500 feet (1,372 meters) and range of 1,470 miles (2,366 kilometers).
NC-4 was restored by the Smithsonian Institution during the early 1960s and remains a part of its collection, though it is on long term loan to the National Museum of Naval Aviation, Pensacola, Florida.

27 May 1943:
The KING has been graciously pleased to confer the VICTORIA CROSS on the undermentioned officer in recognition of most conspicuous bravery:
Acting Wing Commander Guy Penrose GIBSON, D.S.O., D.F.C. (39438), Reserve of Air Force Officers, No. 617 Squadron: —
This officer served as a night bomber pilot at the beginning of the war and quickly established a reputation as an outstanding operational pilot. In addition to taking the fullest possible share in all normal operations, he made single-handed attacks during his “rest” nights on such highly defended objectives as the German battleship Tirpitz, then completing in Wilhelmshaven.
When his tour of operational duty was concluded, he asked for a further operational posting and went to a night-fighter unit instead of being posted for instructional duties. In the course of his second operational tour, he destroyed at least three enemy bombers and contributed much to the raising and development of new night-fighter formations.
After a short period in a training unit, he again volunteered for operational duties and returned to night bombers. Both as an operational pilot and as leader of his squadron, he achieved outstandingly successful results and his personal courage knew no bounds. Berlin, Cologne, Danzig, Gdynia, Genoa, Le Creusot, Milan, Nuremberg and Stuttgart were among the targets he attacked by day and by night.
On the conclusion of his third operational tour, Wing Commander Gibson pressed strongly to be allowed to remain on operations and he was selected to command a squadron then forming for special tasks. Under his inspiring leadership, this squadron has now executed one of the most devastating attacks of the war—the breaching of the Moehne and Eder dams.
The task was fraught with danger and difficulty. Wing Commander Gibson personally made the initial attack on the Moehne dam. Descending to within a few feet of the water and taking the full brunt of the antiaircraft defences, he delivered his attack with great accuracy. Afterwards he circled very low for 30 minutes, drawing the enemy fire on himself in order to leave as free a run as possible to the following aircraft which were attacking the dam in turn.
Wing Commander Gibson then led the remainder of his force to the Eder dam where, with complete disregard for his own safety, he repeated his tactics and once more drew on himself the enemy fire so that the attack could be successfully developed.
Wing Commander Gibson has completed over 170 sorties, involving more than 600 hours operational flying. Throughout his operational career, prolonged exceptionally at his own request, he has shown leadership, determination and valour of the highest order.
—The London Gazette
The Victoria Cross ranks with the George Cross as the United Kingdom’s highest award for gallantry.
The first British medal to be created for bravery, the Victoria Cross was instituted in 1856, with the first recipients being personnel honored for their gallantry during the Crimean War.
The bronze cross pattée, which bears the inscription “FOR VALOUR,” is cast from the metal of Russian guns captured at Sevastopol during the Crimean campaign. The Victoria Cross is awarded “for most conspicuous bravery, or some daring or pre-eminent act of valour or self-sacrifice, or extreme devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy.”

27 May 1958: At Lambert Field, St. Louis, Missouri, McDonnell Aircraft Corporation’s Chief Test Pilot (and future company president) Robert C. Little made the first flight of the YF4H-1 prototype. The twin-engine Mach 2+ airplane was the first pre-production model of a new U.S. Navy fleet defense interceptor that would be developed into the legendary F-4 Phantom II fighter bomber.
The flight lasted 22 minutes. Little had planned to go supersonic but a leak in a pressurized hydraulic line caused him to leave the landing gear extended as a precaution, should the back-up hydraulic system also have a problem. This limited the maximum speed of the prototype to 370 knots (426 kilometers per hour). A post-flight inspection found foreign-object damage to the starboard engine.
The initial U.S. Air Force variant was the F-110A Spectre (F-4C Phantom II). McDonnell Douglas delivered its last Phantom II, an F-4E-67-MC, on 25 October 1979. In 21 years, the company had built 5,057 Phantom IIs.
After 11 test flights at St. Louis, Bob Little flew the YF4H-1 west to Edwards Air Force Base in the high desert of southern California where more detailed flight testing and evaluation took place.
On 21 October 1959, a failure of an engine access door led to a cascading series of problems which resulted in the loss of the airplane and death of the pilot, Gerald “Zeke” Huelsbeck.

 

28 May 1935: Bayerische Flugzeugwerke Aktiengesellschaft (BFW) test pilot Hans-Dietrich Knoetzsch took the prototype Bf 109 V1 fighter, civil registration D-IABI, on its first flight at Haunstetten, near Augsburg, Germany. The duration of the flight was twenty minutes.
The new fighter was designed by Wilhelm Emil Messerschmitt, Walter Rethel and Robert Lusser. It was a light weight, single-seat, single-engine, low-wing monoplane with retractable landing gear.
The prototype Bf 109 was revealed to the public when D-IABI flew at the Games of the XI Olympiad (the 1936 Summer Olympics, held at Berlin, Germany).
The Bf 109 (also known as the Me 109, following Willy Messerschmitt’s acquisition of BFW) was produced from 1937 to 1945. Total production was 33,894 aircraft, which amounted to 57% of total fighter production for Germany. Seven plants produced the Bf 109 during World War II.
Ironically, this bulwark of the Nazi regime was also the first type of fighter that the new state of Israel was able to purchase in 1948, and they flew many missions with the six-pointed star of David insignia instead of the swastika.

28 May 1971: At 12:08 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (16:08 UTC), a twin-engine Aero Commander 680E, N601JJ, flying through rain and fog, crashed into 3,056-foot (931 meter) Brush Mountain, approximately 16 miles (26 kilometers) west-northwest of Roanoke, Virginia. The point of impact was about 400 feet (122 meters) below the mountain’s summit. All six persons on board were killed. The wreckage burned.
Witnesses had seen the airplane flying in and out of clouds at very low altitude, and at one point attempting a landing on a highway.
One of the passengers aboard the Aero Commander was 45-year-old Audie Leon Murphy, recipient of the Medal of Honor and the most highly-decorated American soldier of World War II. Other passengers were Claude Crosby, Kim Dodey, Jack Littleton and Raymond Prater, business associates of Murphy.
The Aero Commander was flown by Herman Levelle Butler of El Paso, Texas. Born in Louisiana, 30 December 1927, Butler had served as a seaman 2nd class in the United States Navy during World War II. He held a private pilot certificate with ratings for single- and multi-engine airplanes. Significantly, he was not instrument rated. Butler had flown more than 8,000 hours, but the Aero Commander was new to him. He only had 6 hours in type.
The National Transportation Safety Board investigated the 28 May 1971 crash. It determined that the probable cause of the accident was:
“. . . the pilot’s attempt to continue visual flight into adverse weather conditions at an altitude too low to clear the mountainous terrain. The board also finds that the pilot attempted to continue flight into instrument weather conditions which were beyond his operational capabilities.”
During a military career that spanned two wars, Major Audie Leon Murphy, United States Army, was awarded the Medal of Honor; Distinguished Service Cross; Silver Star with bronze oak leaf cluster (two awards); Legion of Merit; Bronze Star with “V” Device and bronze oak leaf cluster (two awards); Purple Heart with two bronze oak leaf clusters (three awards); Presidential Unit Citation with oak leaf cluster (two awards); Good Conduct Medal; American Campaign Medal; European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with one silver star, four bronze stars and one arrowhead device (nine campaigns); World War II Victory Medal; Army of Occupation Medal; Armed Forces Reserve Medal; Combat Infantryman Badge; Marksman Badge with Rifle Component Bar; Expert Badge with Bayonet Component Bar.
Audie Murphy’s Medal of Honor citation reads as follows:
WAR DEPARTMENT
Washington 25, D.C., 9 August 1945
General Orders No. 65
MEDAL OF HONOR – Award
Section 1
I. MEDAL OF HONOR. – By direction of the President, under the provisions of the act of Congress approved 9 July 1918 (WD Bul. 43, 1918), a Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty was awarded by the War Department in the name of Congress to the following-named officer:
Second Lieutenant Audie L. Murphy, 01692509, 15th Infantry, Army of the United States, on 26 January 1945, near Holtzwihr, France, commanded Company B, which was attacked by six tanks and waves of infantry. Lieutenant Murphy ordered his men to withdraw to a prepared position in a woods while he remained forward at his command post and continued to give fire directions to the artillery by telephone. Behind him to his right one of our tank destroyers received a direct hit and began to burn. It’s crew withdrew to the woods. Lieutenant Murphy continued to direct artillery fire which killed large numbers of the advancing enemy infantry. With the enemy tanks abreast of his position, Lieutenant Murphy climbed on the burning tank destroyer which was in danger of blowing up any instant and employed its .50 caliber machine gun against the enemy. He was alone and exposed to the German fire from three sides, but his deadly fire killed dozens of Germans and caused their infantry attack to waver. The enemy tanks, losing infantry support, began to fall back. For an hour the Germans tried every available weapon to eliminate Lieutenant Murphy, but he continued to hold his position and wiped out a squad which was trying to creep up unnoticed on his right flank. Germans reached as close as 10 yards only to be mowed down by his fire. He received a leg wound but ignored it and continued the single-handed fight until his ammunition was exhausted. He then made his way to his company, refused medical attention, and organized the company in a counterattack which forced the Germans to withdraw. His directing of artillery fire wiped out many of the enemy; he personally killed or wounded about 50. Lieutenant Murphy’s indomitable courage and his refusal to give an inch of ground saved his company from possible encirclement and destruction and enabled it to hold the woods which had been the enemy’s objective.
BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR:
OFFICIAL:
EDWARD F. WITSELL G.C. MARSHALL
Major General Chief of Staff
Acting for the Adjutant General

28 May 1987: At 12:21 p.m., 18-year-old Mathias Rust, a pilot with just 50 flight hours’ experience, took off from Malmi Airport, Helsinki, Finland, aboard a rented Reims Aviation F172P Skyhawk II, D-ECJB. At 6:43 p.m., he landed the Skyhawk inside Krásnaya Plóshchaď (Red Square), Moscow, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Rust was prosecuted for entering Soviet air space without authorization and “malicious hooligansim” and sentenced to four years in a labor camp. After 14 months, he was released in August 1988 and returned to Germany.
In November 1989, while performing community service (in place of military service) at a hospital in Hamburg, Germany, Mathias Rust attacked an 18-year-old student nurse with a switchblade knife after she rejected his attempts to kiss her. Miss Stefanie Walura suffered multiple stab wounds and barely survived. (Rust’s defense attorney acknowledged that Miss Walura would have died had the stabbing not occurred inside a hospital.) Rust was convicted of attempted manslaughter and sentenced to 30 months in prison. (The prosecution reduced the original attempted murder charge because of the defense assertion that Rust suffered from “diminished capacity” as a result of his treatment in the Soviet prison. Even so, prosecutors recommended an eight year prison sentence.)
Rust was released after serving only 15 months. (A civil court ordered Rust to pay damages to Miss Walura equivalent to $23,500 U.S. dollars—approximately 39,785.5 DM at June 1991 exchange rates.) Prosecutors later appealed the prison sentence as being too lenient.
In 2001, Rust was convicted of theft, and in 2005, fraud. In both cases he was sentenced to pay a fine.
Over 44,000 Cessna 172s have been built, more than any other airplane type.
D-ECJB, which was a rental aircraft, was flown back to Germany. It changed ownership several times before being purchased and taken to Japan where it was on outdoor display for twenty years. The Skyhawk was located and purchased by the German Museum of Technology, returned to Germany and restored by the museum’s technical staff. Today it is on display at the Deutsches Technikmuseum, Berlin.

 

If I may...

ALSO ON MAY 27th:

In 1896, 255 people were killed when a tornado struck St. Louis, MO, and East St. Louis, IL.

In 1911, actor/author Vincent Price was born in St. Louis, MO.

In 1922, actor/author/singer Sir Christopher Lee, CBE, CStJ was born in Belgravia, London, England.

In 1927, the Ford Motor Company ceased manufacture of the Ford Model T and began to retool plants to make the Ford Model A.

In 1929, Charles A. Lindbergh Jr. married Anne Morrow in Englewood, NJ.

In 1930, the 1,046 foot-tall (319 m) Chrysler Building in New York City, the tallest man-made structure at the time, opened to the public.

In 1933, the Chicago World's Fair, celebrating "A Century of Progress," officially opened.

Also in 1933, Walt Disney's Academy Award-winning animated short "The Three Little Pigs" was released.

In 1934, author/screenwriter Harlan Ellison was born in Cleveland, OH.

In 1935, the U.S. Supreme Court, in “Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States”, unanimously struck down the National Industrial Recovery Act, a key component of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "New Deal" legislative program.

Also in 1935, actress/model Lee Meriwether was born in Los Angeles.

In 1936, the Cunard liner RMS Queen Mary left England on its maiden voyage to New York.

In 1937, the newly completed Golden Gate Bridge connecting San Francisco and Marin County, CA, was opened to pedestrian traffic (vehicles began crossing the next day).

In 1940, in “The Le Paradis Massacre”, 99 soldiers from a Royal Norfolk Regiment unit were shot after surrendering to German troops; two survived.

In 1941, the British Royal Navy sank the German battleship Bismarck off France, with a loss of some 2,000 lives, three days after the Bismarck sank the HMS Hood.

In 1942, Navy Cook 3rd Class Doris "Dorie" Miller became the first African-American to receive the Navy Cross for his "extraordinary courage and disregard for his own personal safety" during Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor.

In 1953, the science-fiction movie “It Came From Outer Space” premiered in Los Angeles. Starring Richard Carlson, Barbara Rush and Russell Johnson, it was initially presented in 3-D, and was based on a story treatment by Ray Bradbury.

In 1954, the disaster drama “The High and the Mighty”, starring John Wayne, premiered in Los Angeles.

In 1957, the Crickets' first record "That'll Be the Day," with lead singer Buddy Holly, was released by Brunswick records. It was the group's first and only chart-topper.

In 1962, a dump fire in Centralia, PA, ignited a blaze in underground coal deposits that continues to burn to this day.

In 1964, independent India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, died in New Delhi at age 74.

In 1967, on “Doctor Who”, part two of “Evil of the Daleks” was broadcast on BBC 1. It featured the first appearance of Deborah Watling as Victoria Waterfield.

In 1968, after 48 years as coach of the Chicago Bears, George Halas retired.

In 1969, actor/producer Jeffrey Hunter died in Los Angeles at age 42.

In 1977, the action comedy “Smokey and the Bandit”, starring Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jerry Reed and Jackie Gleason, was released in the U.S.

In 1981, scientist/parapsychologist/author Kit Pedler, co-creator of the Cybermen, died in Kent, England at age 53.

In 1985, in Beijing, representatives of Britain and China exchanged instruments of ratification for an accord returning Hong Kong to Chinese control in 1997.

In 1995, actor Christopher Reeve was left paralyzed when he was thrown from his horse during a jumping event in Charlottesville, VA.

In 1996, the “Doctor Who” TV-movie starring Paul McGann was broadcast on BBC 1. It included a dedication to the recently-deceased Jon Pertwee.

In 2016, Barack Obama became the first president of United States to visit Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and meet with survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

In 2017, British Airways canceled all flights from Heathrow and Gatwick airports amid a "major IT system failure" that caused severe disruption to flight operations worldwide.

 

If I may...

ALSO ON MAY 28th:

In 1533, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, declared the marriage of England's King Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn valid.

In 1754, in the first engagement of the French & Indian War, Virginia militia under the 22-year-old Lieutenant Colonel George Washington defeated a French reconnaissance party in the Battle of Jumonville Glen, in what is now Fayette County in southwestern PA.

In 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, which relocated Native Americans.

In 1892, the Sierra Club was organized in San Francisco.

In 1908, author/journalist Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, was born in Mayfair, London, England.

In 1912, the Senate Commerce Committee issued its report on the Titanic disaster that cited a "state of absolute unpreparedness," improperly tested safety equipment and an "indifference to danger" as some of the causes of an "unnecessary tragedy."

In 1929, actor Shane Rimmer was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. His long career includes roles in three James Bond movies, providing the voice of Scott Tracey in “Thunderbirds”, and asking Luke if he wanted a new R2 unit.

In 1934, the Dionne quintuplets — Annette, Cecile, Emilie, Marie and Yvonne — were born to Elzire Dionne at the family farm in Ontario, Canada.

In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt pushed a button in Washington signaling that vehicular traffic could begin crossing the just-opened Golden Gate Bridge in California.

Also in 1937, Neville Chamberlain became prime minister of Britain, following the resignation of Stanley Baldwin.

In 1940, during World War II, the Belgian army surrendered to invading German forces.

In 1942, in retaliation for the assassination attempt on high-ranking Nazi Reinhard Heydrich, Nazis in Czechoslovakia killed over 1,800 people.

In 1951, the British radio comedy program “The Goon Show” was broadcast on the BBC for the first time.

In 1954, the Alfred Hitchcock thriller “Dial M for Murder” premiered in New York City.

In 1957, National League club owners voted to allow the Brooklyn Dodgers to move to Los Angeles and that the New York Giants could move to San Francisco.

In 1959, the U.S. Army launched Able, a rhesus monkey, and Baker, a squirrel monkey, aboard a Jupiter missile for a suborbital flight which both primates survived.

In 1961, Amnesty International had its beginnings with the publication of an article in the British newspaper The Observer, "The Forgotten Prisoners."

In 1977, 165 people were killed when fire raced through the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Kentucky. Singer/actor John Davidson escaped the fire, then stayed to help the victims.

In 1985, David Jacobsen, director of the American University Hospital in Beirut, Lebanon, was abducted by pro-Iranian kidnappers (he was freed 17 months later).

In 1996, U.S. President Bill Clinton’s former business partners in the Whitewater land deal, Jim McDougal and Susan McDougal, and the Governor of Arkansas Jim Guy Tucker, were convicted of fraud.

In 1998, comedian/actor Phil Hartman of "Saturday Night Live" and "NewsRadio" fame was shot to death at his home in Encino, CA, by his wife, Brynn, who then killed herself.

In 1999, in Milan, Italy, after 22 years of restoration work, Leonard da Vinci’s masterpiece “The Last Supper” was put back on display.

In 2002, the last steel girder was removed from the original World Trade Center site. Cleanup duties officially ended with closing ceremonies at Ground Zero in Manhattan.

In 2017, at least 126 people were confirmed dead, with 97 missing and over 100,000 displaced, after mudslides and floods caused by heavy rain in Sri Lanka.

Also in 2017, Takuma Sato became the first Japanese driver to win the Indianapolis 500.

In 2019, a man stabbed two people to death and wounded 17 others, including 16 children, in Kawasaki, Japan, before committing suicide.

 

29 May 1940: Vought-Sikorsky Aircraft Division test pilot Lyman A. Bullard, Jr. took the U.S. Navy’s new prototype fighter, the XF4U-1, Bu. No. 1443, for its first flight at the Bridgeport Municipal Airport, Bridgeport, Connecticut. Designed by Rex Buren Beisel, the prototype would be developed into the famous F4U Corsair.
The XF4U-1 was first powered by an experimental air-cooled, supercharged, 2,804.4-cubic-inch-displacement (45.956 liters) Pratt & Whitney R-2800 X-2 (Double Wasp A2-G), and then an R-2800 X-4 (Double Wasp SSA5-G), both two-row 18-cylinder radial engines. This was the most powerful engine and largest propeller used on any single engine fighter up to that time. The size of the propeller was responsible for the Corsair’s most distinctive feature: the inverted gull wing. The width of the wing (chord) limited the length of the main landing gear struts. By placing the gear at the bend, the necessary propeller clearance was gained. The angle at which the wing met the fuselage was also aerodynamically cleaner.
On 11 July 1940, the XF4U-1 was low on fuel. Rather than returning to Bridgeport, test pilot Boone Tarleton Guyton made a precautionary landing on a golf course at Norwich, Connecticut. The grass was wet from rain and the prototype ran into the surrounding trees. Guyton was not injured, but 1443 was seriously damaged. Vought-Sikorsky repaired it and it returned to flight testing about two months later.
A total of 12,571 Corsairs were manufactured the Vought-Sikorsky Aircraft Division (F4U-1), Goodyear Aircraft Corporation (FG-1D) and Brewster Aeronautical Corporation (F3A-1). The Corsair served the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps in World War II and the Korean War. Corsairs also served in other countries’ armed forces. Its last known use in combat was in Central America in 1969.

29 May 1947: At 1930 hours, Mountain Daylight Time, a Hermes II two-stage, liquid-fueled rocket was launched from Launch Complex 33 at southern end of the White Sands Proving Grounds, east of Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Earlier in the day, a launch attempt failed when the first stage engine failed to produce thrust. Repairs were made and the second attempt succeeded—sort of. . .
The plan was for the rocket to arc toward the north, heading for the far end of the proving grounds. Instead, the Hermes II arced to the SOUTH.
The Range Safety Officer was prevented from sending a DESTRUCT signal when a program scientist physically restrained him. The rocket peaked at 35 nautical miles (65 kilometers), passed over Fort Bliss and El Paso, and after about five minutes of flight, hit the ground about one-half mile from the Buena Vista Airport in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.
At impact, the rocket dug a crater 50 feet (15.2 meters) across and 24 feet (7.3 meters) deep. The explosion shook buildings in El Paso and 25 miles (40 kilometers) away in Fabens, Texas. The rocket barely missed a powder magazine where mining companies were storing dynamite and other explosives.
Fortunately, there were no injuries, and property damage was minor.
Hermes II was the world’s first multi-stage rocket. Developed from the German V-2 rocket (Vergeltungswaffen 2), it was intended to serve as a test bed for ramjet development. The upper stage had a broad wing for flight tests of a split-wing two-dimensional ducted-airfoil ramjet. (For this launch the ramjet was not operational.)

29 May 1951: Pan American World Airways Captain Charles F. Blair, Jr., flew a modified North American Aviation P-51C-10-NT Mustang, NX12012, Excalibur III, from Bardufoss, Norway to Fairbanks, Alaska, via the North Pole. He flew the 3,260 miles (5,246.5 kilometers) non-stop in 10 hours, 27 minutes.
After departing Bardufoss at 3:58 p.m., Captain Blair flew north along the E. 20° meridian until crossing the North Pole at an altitude of 22,000 feet (6,706 meters), then south along the W. 160° meridian until reaching N. 70° latitude, and then southeast to Fairbanks.
During the transpolar flight, the Mustang was subjected to air temperatures as low as -25 °F. (-31.6 °C.).
Captain Blair navigated by using a system of pre-plotted sun lines calculated by Captain Phillip Van Horns Weems, U.S. Navy (Ret.), as a magnetic compass was useless near the Pole and there were no radio navigation aids available.
Blair was presented the Harmon International Trophy by President Harry S. Truman, in a ceremony at the White House, 18 November 1952. The Harmon awards are for “the most outstanding international achievements in the art and/or science of aeronautics for the previous year, with the art of flying receiving first consideration.”
While serving as a USAF reserve officer, Charlie Blair continued his civilian career as an airline pilot for United Airlines, American Overseas Airlines, and then with Pan American.
Captain Blair was married to actress Maureen O’Hara, whom he had met during one of his 1,575 transatlantic crossings.
In 1952, Pan American World Airways donated Excalibur III to the Smithsonian Institution. Today, completely restored, it is on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.

29 May 1963: Lockheed Test Pilot Anthony W. “Tony” LeVier and his 18-year-old daughter, Toniann LeVier, flew the company’s two-place TF-104G Starfighter demonstrator, FAA registration N104L, from Air Force Plant 42, Palmdale, California, to Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. They made fuel stops at Kirkland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton Ohio.
The Oxnard Press Courier reported:
PALMDALE, Calif. — Toni Ann LeVier, 18, recently earned the title of World’s Fastest Teen-ager after a scorching Mach 2 (twice the speed of sound) flight in the front cockpit of a Talley Corporation equipped TF-104G Super Starfighter.
The back-seat driver of the Lockheed aircraft A.W. (Tony) LeVier, her father.
Director of flying operations for Lockheed-California Company, Tony took Toni for a double crack at the sound barrier in the supersonic corridor near Edwards Air Force Base…
The teen-age fledgling flier handled the TF-104G controls during the Mach 2 dash.
Flying the stub-wing fighter was a giant step for Toni, who holds a student pilot’s license.
She started flying lessons in January and has 35 hours in a Beechcraft Musketeer light plane, whose docile 140-m.p.h. speed is about one-tenth that of the TF-104G.
A student at John Muir High School in Pasadena, the pert Mach 2 Miss offered this reaction to the flight:
“I’m still tingling. That sudden surge of power made me feel like we were taking off for outer space, but it’s just as easy to fly as a light plane.”
The company-owned TF-104G they flew is being assigned to Andrews AFB near Washington for a series of demonstrations to U.S. Air Force officials.
Toni volunteered to help Pop ferry the airplane on the cross-country hop.
They plan to leave Friday morning. Stops are scheduled at USAF bases at Albuquerque, Oklahoma City (where they will remain overnight after a noon arrival), and at Dayton, Ohio.
Toni is no stranger to military bases.
She was named “Miss Starfighter” by F-104 pilots of the 479th Tactical Fighter Wing, George AFB, Calif., for Armed Forces Week.
at Andrews AFB Saturday the LeViers will turn the 1500-m.p.h Super Starfighter over to a Lockheed Demonstration team.
Then — for Toni — it’s back to flying a school desk.
— Oxnard Press Courier, Tuesday, 4 June 1963
Today, Mrs. LeVier-Almaz works as a massage therapist. She and her husband live in Aptos.
N104L is the same aircraft in which Jackie Cochran set a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) speed record of 1,273.12 miles per hour (2,048.88 kilometers per hour) over a 15/25 kilometer straight course, 12 April 1963. 1,203.94 miles per hour over a 100 kilometer closed circuit on 1 May 1963.
N104L, originally registered N90500, was retained by Lockheed for use as a customer demonstrator to various foreign governments. In 1965 Lockheed sold N104L to the Koninklijke Luchtmacht (the Royal Netherlands Air Force), where it served as D-5702 until 1980. It next went to the Türk Hava Kuvvetleri (Turkish Air Force), identified as 4-702. The record-setting Starfighter was retired in 1989 and after several years in storage, was scrapped.
But its memory lives on, thanks to MST3K.

 

30 May 1912: Wilbur Wright, co-inventor with his brother Orville of the Wright Flyer, the first powered, controllable, heavier-than-air vehicle, died at the family home in Dayton, Ohio, of typhoid fever.
His father wrote:
“May 30, 1912
“This morning at 3:15, Wilbur passed away, aged 45 years, 1 month, and 14 days.
“A short life, full of consequences.
“An unfailing intellect, imperturbable temper, great self-reliance and as great modesty, seeing the right clearly, pursuing it steadfastly, he lived and died.”
— Bishop Milton Wright

30 May 1942: The Boeing B-17F Flying Fortress makes its first flight. B-17F-1-BO 41-24340 was the first of a new series of the famous World War II bomber. While visually similar to the B-17E, it had more than 400 improvements based on early wartime experience with the B-17D and B-17E.
Only three B-17F Flying Fortresses remain in existence. One of them is the famous Memphis Belle.

30 May 1949: While testing a radical “flying wing” aircraft, the Rolls-Royce Nene-powered Armstrong Whitworth A.W.52, TS363, test pilot John Oliver (“Jo”) Lancaster, D.F.C., encountered severe pitch oscillations in a 320 mile per hour (515 kilometer per hour) dive. Lancaster feared the aircraft would disintegrate.
In the very first use of the Martin-Baker Mk1 ejection seat in an actual emergency, Lancaster fired the seat and was safely thrown clear of the aircraft. He parachuted to safety and was uninjured. The aircraft was destroyed.
The Martin-Baker MK1 was developed by Bernard Ignatius (“Benny”) Lynch, B.E.M., a ground fitter for Martin-Baker Aircraft Co., Ltd., who tested it himself, ejecting from a test aircraft at 420 miles per hour (676 kilometers per hour) and 12,000 feet (3,658 meters). He eventually made more than 30 ejections. Lynch was awarded the British Empire Medal in the King’s 1948 New Year Honours.
The seat was launched with a two cartridge ejection gun, with an initial velocity of 60 feet per second (18.3 meters per second). After rising 24 feet (7.3 meters), a static line fired a drogue gun, deploying a 24-inch (0.61 meter) drogue parachute to stabilize the seat. The static line also actuated the seat’s oxygen supply. The pilot manually released himself from the seat, and opened his parachute by pulling the rip cord.
As of 30 May 2020, 7,620 airmen worldwide have been saved by Martin-Baker ejection seats. 69 of these were with the Mk1.

30 May 1958: Douglas Aircraft Company Flight Operations Manager and engineering test pilot Arnold G. Heimerdinger, with co-pilot William M. Magruder and systems engineer Paul H. Patten, were scheduled to take off from Long Beach Airport (LGB) on the coast of southern California, at 10:00 a.m., to make the first flight of the new Douglas DC-8 jet airliner, c/n 45252, FAA registration N8008D.
The Douglas DC-8 Jetliner is a commercial airliner, a contemporary of the Boeing 707 and Convair 880. It was operated by a flight crew of three and could carry up to 177 passengers. N8008D was originally powered by four Pratt & Whitney JT3C-6 turbojet engines, the same engines which powered its Boeing rival.
The DC-8-10 series had a cruising speed of 0.82 Mach (542 miles per hour/872 kilometers per hour) at 35,000 feet (10,668 meters). Its maximum range was 5,092 miles (8,195 kilometers).
On 21 August 1961, a Douglas DC-8-43, N9604Z, c/n 45623, Line Number 130, flown by Chief Test Pilot William Magruder, Paul Patten, Joseph Tomich and Richard Edwards, climbed to 50,090 feet (15,267 meters) near Edwards Air Force Base. Magruder put the DC-8 into a dive, and the airplane reached Mach 1.012 (668 miles per hour/1,075 kilometers per hour) while descending through 41,088 feet (12,524 meters). The airliner maintained this supersonic speed for 16 seconds.
This was the first time that a civil airliner had “broken the Sound Barrier.” An Air Force F-100 Super Sabre and F-104 Starfighter were chase planes for this flight. Reportedly, the F-104 was flown by the legendary test pilot, Colonel Chuck Yeager.

 

If I may...

ALSO ON MAY 29th:

In 1660, Charles II was restored to the throne of England, Scotland and Ireland.

In 1736, lawyer/politician Patrick Henry was born in Hanover County, VA.

In 1765, Patrick Henry denounced the Stamp Act before Virginia's House of Burgesses.

In 1780, during the Revolutionary War, at the Battle of Waxhaws, the British continued attacking after the Continentals laid down their arms, killing 113 and critically wounding all but 53 that remained.

In 1790, Rhode Island became the 13th original colony to ratify the United States Constitution.

In 1848, Wisconsin became the 30th state of the union.

In 1903, actor/comedian Bob “Ken’s Really Reaching to Try and Put a Joke Here” Hope was born in Eltham, London, England.

In 1905, actor/author/director Sebastian Shaw, the original Anakin Skywalker, was born in Holt, Norfolk, England.

In 1911, the first running of the Indianapolis 500 took place. Ray Harroun won the race.

In 1913, the ballet "Le Sacre du printemps" (The Rite of Spring), with music by Igor Stravinsky and choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky, had its chaotic world premiere in Paris.

In 1917, John F. Kennedy, 35th president of the U.S., was born in Brookline, MA.

In 1922, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that organized baseball was a sport, not subject to antitrust laws.

In 1932, World War I veterans began arriving in Washington D.C. to demand cash bonuses they weren't scheduled to receive until 1945.

In 1942, Bing Crosby, the Ken Darby Singers and John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra recorded Irving Berlin’s "White Christmas”, the best-selling single in history.

In 1943, Norman Rockwell's portrait of "Rosie the Riveter" appeared on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post.

In 1953, Mount Everest was conquered as Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tensing Norgay of Nepal became the first climbers to reach the summit.

In 1961, a couple in Paynesville, WV became the first recipients of food stamps under a pilot program created by President John F. Kennedy.

In 1962, Buck (John) O'Neil became the first black coach in major league baseball when he accepted the job with the Chicago Cubs.

In 1964, the Arab League met in East Jerusalem to discuss the Palestinian question, leading to the formation of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

In 1973, Tom Bradley was elected the first black mayor of Los Angeles, defeating incumbent Sam Yorty.

In 1985, 39 people were killed at the European Cup Final in Brussels, Belgium, when rioting broke out and a wall separating British and Italian soccer fans collapsed.

In 1987, a jury in Los Angeles found "Twilight Zone" movie director John Landis and four associates innocent of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of actor Vic Morrow and two children.

In 1988, President Ronald Reagan began his first visit to the Soviet Union when he arrived in Moscow for a superpower summit with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

In 1990, the Russian Parliament elected Boris Yeltsin as president of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.

In 1995, Margaret Chase Smith, the first woman to serve in both the House and the Senate, died in Skowhegan, ME, at age 97.

In 1999, Space Shuttle Discovery completed the first docking with the International Space Station.

In 2004, the National World War II Memorial was dedicated in Washington D.C.

In 2012, a 5.8-magnitude earthquake hit northern Italy near Bologna, killing at least 24 people.

 

If I may...

ALSO ON MAY 30th:

In 1431, Joan of Arc, condemned as a heretic, was burned at the stake in Rouen, France.

In 1536, King Henry VIII of England married Jane Seymour, a lady-in-waiting to his first two wives.

In 1814, the first Treaty of Paris was signed, ending war between France and the Sixth Coalition (the United Kingdom, Russia, Austria, Sweden, Portugal and Prussia).

In 1842, John Francis attempted to murder Queen Victoria as she drove down Constitution Hill in London with Prince Albert.

In 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act became law establishing the U.S. territories of Kansas and Nebraska.

In 1868, Decoration Day (the predecessor of the modern Memorial Day) was observed in the United States for the first time.

In 1883, 12 people were trampled to death in a stampede sparked by a rumor that the recently opened Brooklyn Bridge was in danger of collapsing.

In 1908, actor/highly prolific voice artist Mel Blanc was born in San Francisco, CA.

In 1909, musician/bandleader Benny Goodman was born in Chicago, IL.

In 1922, the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. was dedicated in a ceremony attended by President Warren G. Harding, Chief Justice William Howard Taft and Robert Todd Lincoln.

In 1934, pilot/cosmonaut Alexey Leonov, the first man to walk in space, was born in Listvyanka, West Siberian Krai, USSR.

In 1935, Babe Ruth played in his last major league baseball game for the Boston Braves, leaving after the first inning of the first of a double-header against the Philadelphia Phillies, who won both games (Ruth announced his retirement three days later).

In 1936, actor Keir Dullea was born in Cleveland, OH. His command of USS Discovery would come later.

In 1937, ten people were killed when police fired on steelworkers demonstrating near the Republic Steel plant in South Chicago.

In 1943, during World War II, American troops secured the Aleutian island of Attu from Japanese forces.

In 1953, actor Colm Meany was born in Dublin, Ireland. His Star Fleet commission would come later.

In 1957, the Western “Gunfight at the OK Corral”, starring Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster, was released in the U.S. It also featured DeForest Kelley’s second of three trips to said corral.

In 1958, unidentified American service members killed in World War II and the Korean War were interred in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.

In 1961, the long-time Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo was assassinated in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

In 1962, Benjamin Britten's “War Requiem” had its world premiere at the new Coventry Cathedral in England.

In 1966, Surveyor 1, the first US spacecraft to land on an extraterrestrial body was launched.

In 1968, The Beatles began recording the "White Album."

In 1969, the movie “The Castle of Fu Manchu”, starring Christopher Lee, premiered in West Germany. It would later be remembered for being one of the few movies to nearly break Joel & the ‘bots.

In 1971, the American space probe Mariner 9 blasted off from Cape Kennedy on a journey to Mars.

In 1972, in Tel Aviv, Israel, members of the Japanese Red Army carried out the Lod Airport massacre, killing 24 people and injuring 78 others.

In 1980, Pope John Paul II arrived in France on the first visit there by the head of the Roman Catholic Church since the early 19th century.

In 1989, in Beijing, China, the 33-foot high “Goddess of Democracy” statue was unveiled in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators.

In 1996, Britain's Prince Andrew and the former Sarah Ferguson were granted an uncontested decree ending their 10-year marriage.

In 2012, former Liberian president Charles Taylor was sentenced to 50 years in prison for his role in atrocities committed during the Sierra Leone Civil War.

In 2020, the Crew Dragon Demo-2 launched from the Kennedy Space Center, becoming the first crewed rocket to launch from the United States since 2011. A joint effort by NASA and SpaceX, it was crewed by spacecraft commander Douglas Hurley and joint-operations commander Robert Behnken.

 

31 May 1928: At 8:48 a.m., Captain Charles Edward Kingsford Smith, M.C., late of the Royal Air Force, with his three companions, took off from Oakland Field on the San Francisco Bay, aboard Southern Cross, a Fokker F.VIIb/3m three-engine monoplane, U.S. civil registration NC1985. Their immediate destination was Wheeler Field, Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, and from there, to Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, via Suva, on the island of Viti Levu, Fiji. The airplane’s crew was Kingsford Smith, pilot; Charles Ulm, co-pilot, Harry Lyon, navigator; and James Warren, radio operator.
Southern Cross had been salvaged after a crash in Alaska. It was rebuilt using the wings and fuselage of two different Fokkers—an F.VIIa and an F.VIIb—and was powered by three air-cooled, normally-aspirated 787.26-cubic-inch-displacement (12.901 liter) Wright Aeronautical Corporation Model J-5 Whirlwind 9-cylinder radial engines, rated at 220 horsepower, each, at 2,000 r.p.m. This is the same type of engine Charles Lindbergh used to cross the Atlantic in his Spirit of St Louis.
The expense of repairing the airplane took most of Kingsford Smith’s money, so he sold the airplane to Allan Hancock, owner of Rancho La Brea Oil Company, and founder of Santa Maria Airport and Allan Hancock College. Hancock loaned Southern Cross back to Kingsford Smith for the Trans-Pacific flight.
The first leg of the flight to Wheeler Field was 2,408 miles (3,875 kilometers). The elapsed time was 27 hours, 27 minutes.
After resting in Hawaii, the crew took off on the second leg to Suva, Fiji, a distance of 3,144 miles (5,060 kilometers). Southern Cross landed at Albert Park. It was the very first airplane to land at Fiji. This was the longest leg and took 34 hours, 33 minutes.
The final leg to Brisbane covered 1,795 miles (2,888 kilometers) and took 21 hours, 35 minutes. They landed at Eagle Farm Airport in Brisbane, at 10:50 a.m., 9 June 1928. 25,000 people were there to see their arrival. This was the first Trans-Pacific flight from the mainland United States to Australia.
Following its arrival in Australia, the Fokker was re-registered G-AUSU, and later changed to VH-USU. After several other historic flights, Kingsford Smith gave Southern Cross to the government of Australia to be placed in a museum. It was stored for many years but is now on display at the Kingsford Smith Memorial at Brisbane Airport.
Kingsford Smith was invested Knight Bachelor in 1932. He continued his adventurous flights. On 8 November 1935, while flying Lady Southern Cross, a Lockheed Altair, from Allahabad, India, to Singapore, Sir Charles and co-pilot Tommy Pethybridge disappeared over the Andaman Sea.

31 May 1955: Test Pilot Jacqueline Marie-Thérèse Suzanne Douet Auriol flew the Dassault MD.454 Mystère IV N to a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Record for Speed Over a 15/25 Kilometer Straight Course at Brétigny-sur-Orge, France. Her average speed of 1,151 kilometers per hour (715 miles per hour)—0.94 Mach—broke the previous record which had been set two years earlier by her friend, Jacqueline Cochran.
Jacqueline Auriol was awarded the Harmon International Trophy for 1955, the third of four that she would receive.
Jacqueline Auriol’s record-setting Dassault Mystère IV N 01 F-ZXRM is on display at the Conservatoire l’Air et l’Espace d’Acquitane, Bordeaux Merignac Airport, France.

 

29 May–1 June 1862: Thaddeus Sobieski Constantine Lowe, commanding the civilian Union Army Balloon Corps, relayed observations of enemy troop movements, both vocally and by telegraph, from the gondola of a hydrogen balloon which was moored on the north side of the Chickahominy River of eastern Virginia during the Battle of Seven Pines, which took place during the American Civil War (1861–1865).
Having been appointed Chief Aeronaut by President Lincoln, Lowe had previously performed aerial reconnaissance at the First Battle of Bull Run, 21 July 1861. He was also present at the battles of Sharpsburg and Fredericksburg.

1 June 1937: Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan finally continue their long-delayed global circumnavigation attempt.
The press was notified, the Electra refueled, and they departed Miami for Isla Grande Airport, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 903 nautical miles (1,039 miles/1,673 kilometers) across the Caribbean Sea, and their Flight Into History.
“I closed and fastened the hatch . . . Then I started the motors. The engines had already been well warmed so now after appraising for a moment their full-throated smooth song, I signaled to have the wheel chocks removed and we taxied to the end of the runway in the far southeast corner of the field. Thirty seconds later, with comforting ease, we were in the air and on our way.”
—Amelia Earhart
$80,000 to buy the Electra was provided by the Purdue Research Foundation from donations made by several individuals. George Palmer Putnam, Amelia’s husband, made the arrangements to order the airplane and in March 1936 gave Lockheed the authorization to proceed, with delivery requested in June. The modifications included four auxiliary fuel tanks in the passenger compartment, a navigator’s station to the rear of that, elimination of passenger windows, installation of a Sperry autopilot and various radio and navigation equipment and additional batteries. The Electra was not ready until mid-July.
Amelia Earhart test flew the new airplane at Burbank on 21 July with Lockheed test pilot Elmer C. McLeod. She accepted the Electra on her 39th birthday, 24 July 1936. It received civil certification NR16020. (The letter “R” indicates that because of modifications from the standard configuration, the airplane was restricted to carrying only members of the flight crew, although Earhart and her advisor, Paul Mantz, frequently violated this restriction.)
A detailed engineering report was prepared by a young Lockheed engineer named Clarence L. (“Kelly”) Johnson to provide data for the best takeoff, climb and cruise performance with the very heavily loaded airplane. The maximum speed for the Model 10E Special at Sea Level and maximum takeoff weight was 177 miles per hour (284.9 kilometers per hour), a reduction of 25 miles per hour (40.2 kilometers per hour) over the standard airplane. The maximum range was calculated to be 4,500 miles (7,242.1 kilometers) using 1,200 gallons (4,542.5 liters) of fuel.
Johnson would later design many of Lockheed’s most famous aircraft, such as the P-38 Lightning, U-2 "spyplane", SR-71A Blackbird Mach 3+ strategic reconnaissance airplane. As a student at the University of Michigan, he worked on the wind tunnel testing of the Lockheed Electra Model 10 and made recommendations that were incorporated into the production airplane.

1 June 1939: At Bremen, Germany, Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau AG chief test pilot Hans Sander took the first prototype of a new fighter, Fw 190 V1, W.Nr. 0001, registration D-OPZE, for its first flight.
The Fw 190 was designed as a fast, light-weight fighter with a powerful engine, easy to maintain under field conditions and able to absorb a reasonable amount of combat damage.
Focke-Wulf frequently named its airplanes after birds. The Fw 190 was known as the Würger, or Shrike. The Allies often referred to it as "Butcher Bird."
The Fw 190 was the most effective of Germany’s world War II fighters. More than 20,000 were built in 16 variants. The Focke-Wulf factory at Marienburg and the AGO Flugzeugwerke at Oschersleben were frequently attacked by Allied bombers.

1 June 1943: British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) Flight 777-A was a scheduled passenger flight from Lisboa-Portela de Sacavém Airport, in neutral Portugal, to Whitechurch Airport, England. The airplane was a Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V. (KLM Royal Dutch Airlines) Douglas DC-3-194 twin-engine, 21-passenger commercial airliner, serial number 1590, with British registration G-AGBB, named Ibis.
When Germany invaded Holland in May 1940, Ibis was flown to England and was then leased to BOAC. Once in England, it was re-registered G-AGBB. Although it remained a civil aircraft, Ibis was painted in the standard Royal Air Force dark green, dark brown and gray camouflage. The original KLM flight crew continued to fly the airliner for BOAC.
At about 12:45 p.m., a flight of eight Junkers Ju 88C fighters, which were patrolling the Bay of Biscay to protect transiting U-boats, encountered the camouflaged DC-3 and shot it down.
All those aboard, 13 passengers and 4 crew members, were killed. Actor, director and producer Leslie Howard, who portrayed “Ashley Wilkes” in the 1939 motion picture, “Gone With The Wind,” was one of the passengers who died.
Ibis had been attacked by German fighters on two previous occasions. On 15 November 1942 a Messerschmitt Bf-110 twin-engine fighter damaged it. On 19 April 1943, six Bf-110s attacked. Both times the DC-3 had been damaged but was able to land safely.

1 June 1964: At Edwards Air Force Base, Jackie Cochran flew a Lockheed F-104G Starfighter, serial number 62-12222, over a 100 kilometer (62.137 miles) closed circuit without payload, averaging 2,097.27 kilometers per hour (1,303.18 miles per hour). This new Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) speed record broke the one set a year earlier—2,038.70 kilometers per hour (1,266.79 miles per hour)—by Cochran’s friend and competitor, Jacqueline Auriol, who flew a Dassault Mirage IIIR delta-winged reconnaissance fighter at Istres, France.
Jackie Cochran set three speed records with this F-104 in May and June 1964. Under the Military Assistance Program, the U.S. Air Force transferred it to the Republic of China Air Force, where it was assigned number 4322. It crashed 17 July 1981. The pilot, Yan Shau-kuen, ejected.

At 0105 hours, 31 May 1967, two Sikorsky HH-3E Jolly Green Giant helicopters, 66-13280 and 66-13281, from the 48th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron, United States Air Force, took off from Floyd Bennett Field, New York, and flew non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean to the Paris Air Show. They arrived at Le Bourget at 1351 hours, 1 June.
The flight covered 4,271 miles (6873.5 kilometers) and took 30 hours, 46 minutes. Nine in-flight refuelings were required from Lockheed HC-130P Combat King tankers. The aircraft commanders were Major Herbert Zehnder and Major Donald B. Murras. Each helicopter had a crew of five.
Their course was close to the one Charles Lindbergh pioneered in 1927, and the helicopters were only slightly faster than the Spirit of St Louis.
Both Jolly Green Giants, serial numbers 66-13280 and 66-13281, were later assigned to the 37th Air Rescue and Recovery Squadron. Both were lost in combat during the Vietnam War.

 

1926 baby!

 

If I may...

ALSO ON MAY 31st:

In 1790, President George Washington signed into law the first U.S. copyright act.

In 1864, during the Civil War, at the Battle of Cold Harbor, the Army of Northern Virginia under Robert E. Lee engaged the Army of the Potomac under Ulysses S. Grant and George Meade.

In 1879, New York City's Madison Square Garden opened.

In 1889, some 2,200 people in Johnstown, PA, perished when the South Fork Dam holding back Lake Conemaugh collapsed, sending 20 million tons of water rushing through the town.

In 1894, actor/comedian Fred Allen was born in Cambridge, MA. The feud with Jack Benny would come later.

In 1908, actor Don Ameche was born in Kenosha, WI.

In 1910, the Union of South Africa was founded.

In 1914, composer Akira Ifukube, best-known for his work for the Toho kaiju movies, was born in Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan.

In 1916, at the Battle of Jutland, the British Grand Fleet under the command of John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe and David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty engaged the Imperial German Navy under the command of Reinhard Scheer and Franz von Hipper in the largest naval battle of World War I, which proved indecisive.

In 1922, actor Denholm Elliott was born in Ealing, Middlesex, England. His later career would include passing up a chance to find the Ark of the Covenant, and accepting a chance to find the Holy Grail.

In 1930, actor/director/producer/composer/politician Clint Eastwood was born in San Francisco, CA. His career has greatly improved since his first role as the forgetful lab assistant in “Revenge of the Creature”.

In 1934, actor Jim Hutton was born in Binghamton, NY. He’d later play Ellery Queen on TV; my Mom liked that show, and so did I.

In 1935, movie studio 20th Century Fox was created through a merger of the Fox Film Corp. and Twentieth Century Pictures.

In 1943, athlete/actor Joe Namath was born in Beaver Falls, PA. He’s best-known for his career as quarterback of the NY Jets, my brother Bri’s favorite NFL team.

In 1949, former State Department official and accused spy Alger Hiss went on trial in New York, charged with perjury (the jury deadlocked, but Hiss was convicted in a second trial).

In 1960, actor/writer/comedian Chris Elliott was born in New York City.

In 1961, South Africa became an independent republic as it withdrew from the British Commonwealth.

In 1962, former Nazi official Adolf Eichmann was hanged in Israel a few minutes before midnight for his role in the Holocaust.

In 1976, The Who got into the "Guinness Book of World Records" as the loudest rock band ever, when their concert at Charlton Athletic Grounds in England measured 120 decibels. That record has since been broken.

In 1977, the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, three years in the making, was completed.

In 1985, 88 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured when 41 tornadoes swept through parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York and Ontario, Canada, during an 8-hour period.

In 1990, President George H.W. Bush welcomed Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev to Washington for a summit meeting.

Also in 1990, the first regular episode of the sit-com "Seinfeld" was broadcast on NBC-TV.

In 1994, the United States announced it was no longer aiming long-range nuclear missiles at targets in the former Soviet Union.

In 2000, the reality TV show "Survivor" first debuted on CBS (the winner of the premiere series was Richard Hatch).

In 2005, breaking a silence of 30 years, former FBI official W. Mark Felt stepped forward as "Deep Throat," the secret Washington Post source during the Watergate scandal.

In 2008, on “Doctor Who”, “Silence in the Library” was broadcast on BBC 1. It featured the first appearance of Alex Kingston as River Song.

In 2014, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the only American soldier held prisoner in Afghanistan, was freed by the Taliban in exchange for five Afghan detainees from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. (Bergdahl, who'd gone missing in June 2009, later pled guilty to charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy.)

In 2017, a car bomb exploded in a crowded intersection in Kabul near the German embassy during rush hour, killing over 90 and injuring 463.

In 2019, a gunman opened fire and fatally shot 12 people while wounding five others at a municipal building in the Princess Anne area of Virgina Beach, VA before being shot dead by police officers responding to the scene.

 

If I may...

ALSO ON JUNE 1st:

In 1533, Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII, was crowned as Queen Consort of England.

In 1792, Kentucky became the 15th state of the union.

In 1796, Tennessee became the 16th state of the union.

In 1813, the mortally wounded commander of the USS Chesapeake, Capt. James Lawrence, gave the order, "Don't give up the ship" during a losing battle with the British frigate HMS Shannon in the War of 1812.

In 1868, James Buchanan, the 15th president of the U.S., died near Lancaster, PA, at age 77.

In 1925, Lou Gehrig began a streak of playing in 2,130 consecutive baseball games. The streak ended on May 2, 1939.

In 1926, actor/producer/singer/comedian Andy Griffith was born in Mt. Airy, NC.

In 1955, the romantic comedy "The Seven Year Itch," starring Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell, had its world premiere in New York.

In 1958, the Hammer Horror sequel “The Revenge of Frankenstein”, starring Peter Cushing, was released in the U.S.

In 1956, the Hitchcock thriller “The Man Who Knew Too Much”, starring James Stewart and Doris Day, went into wide release in the U.S.

In 1967, the Beatles album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” was released.

In 1968, author-lecturer Helen Keller, who'd earned a college degree despite being blind and deaf almost all of her life, died in Westport, CT, at age 87.

In 1979, director/production designer John Barry died in London of meningitis at age 43. He had collapsed on the set of “Star Wars: Episode V- The Empire Strikes Back”, where he was working as Second Unit Director, on May 31st, and died the following day.

In 1980, Cable News Network made its debut.

In 1981, the sequel “Superman II” premiered in New York City.

In 1984, the sequel “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock” was released in the U.S.

In 1987, production began on “Encounter at Farpoint”, the first episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation”.

In 1990, President George H.W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed the foundation of a landmark treaty for the first-ever cuts in strategic nuclear missiles and a pact to slash chemical weapons stockpiles.

Also in 1990, the science fiction movie “Total Recall”, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, was released in the U.S.

In 2009, Air France Flight 447, an Airbus A330 carrying 228 people from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean with the loss of everyone on board.

Also in 2009, Conan O'Brien debuted as the host of NBC's "Tonight Show." (In January 2010 he stepped down after a dispute with the network.)

In 2011, Space Shuttle Endeavour made its final landing after 25 flights.

In 2013, the BBC announced that Matt Smith would be leaving the role of the Doctor on “Doctor Who” following that year’s Christmas episode, “The Time of the Doctor”.

In 2015, a ship carrying 458 people capsized on the Yangtze river in China's Hubei province, killing 400 people.

 

2 June 1937: After an overnight stay at San Juan, Puerto Rico, Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan continued on Leg 6 of their around-the-world flight, to Caripito, Venezuela, approximately 611 miles (984 kilometers) southeast. They arrived at 1:18 p.m., local time.
“I rolled out of bed at a quarter of four in the morning, hoping to make a dawn take-off from San Juan, but actually the Electra did not lift her wheels from the runway until nearly seven o’clock, with the sun well above the horizon. . . I flew at 8,000 feet most of the way, bucking head winds of probably thirty miles an hour. . . The coast of Venezuela in the hazy distance was my first glimpse of South America. As we drew near I saw densely wooded mountains and between them wide valleys of open plains and jungle. I had never seen a jungle before. . . close-knit tropic jungles are in a pilot’s eyes about the least desirable of all possible landing places. . . A muddy river wound through the mountain pass we followed, a reddish-brown snake crawling among tight-packed greenery. A few miles inland lay the red-roofed town of Caripito, with squat oil tanks on the outskirts. There was a splendid airfield, with paved runways and a well-equipped hangar. It is managed jointly by Pan American Airways and the Standard Oil Company.“
—Amelia Earhart

2 June 1941: Great Britain had been at war with Germany for 21 months. Its need for military equipment far exceeded the capacity of British industry, so the Empire looked across the North Atlantic Ocean to its former colonies, the United States of America.
The Royal Air Force ordered 140 Liberator B Mk.II bombers from Consolidated Aircraft Corporation of San Diego, California. The Consolidated Model LB-30 was a variant of the U.S. Army Air Corps B-24 four-engine long-range heavy bomber, but was built expressly for the RAF and had no direct Air Corps equivalent.
AL503 was the first Liberator Mk.II. It had made its first flight 26 May 1941, and was ready to be turned over to the Royal Air Force.
AL503 crashed on its acceptance flight, 2 June 1941. The aircraft was destroyed and all five on board were killed.
The second Liberator Mk.II, AL504, became the personal transport of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who named it Commando. In 1944, the aircraft was modified to the single vertical fin configuration of the PB4Y-2 Privateer. Commando disappeared over the Atlantic in 1945.

2 June 1957: At 6:23 a.m., Central Daylight Time (11:23 UTC), Captain Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr., United States Air Force, lifted off from Richard E. Fleming Field (SGS), South Saint Paul, Minnesota, in the gondola of a helium balloon designed and built by Winzen Research Inc.
At 8:04 a.m. (13:04 UTC), Captain Kittinger reached a pressure altitude of 95,000 feet (28,956 meters). This was only 400 feet (122 meters) short of the balloon’s theoretical pressure ceiling. Using U.S. Weather Bureau data, the linear altitude of the balloon was calculated to have been 97,000 feet (29,566 meters).
The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) was not asked to certify this flight, so an official record was not set.
Project MANHIGH I was intended to test various equipment and human physiology in a near-space condition. Cosmic radiation was a particular concern. This was the first of many high-altitude research balloon flights that Kittinger would make.
“. . . A Winzen crew conducted the launching, as provided by the Man-High contract, in collaboration with members of the Aeromedical Field Laboratory and other units at Holloman. The 475th Air Base Squadron, Minneapolis, provided additional helicopter support. The vehicle was a two-million-cubic-foot plastic balloon, 172.6 feet in diameter, which quickly reached the planned ceiling altitude of 95,000 feet, setting a new record for manned balloons. Test specifications called for a twelve-hour flight. However, because of an oxygen leak (due to an improperly connected valve) and also certain communications difficulties, Colonel Stapp and Mr. Winzen decided that Captain Kittinger should come down after not quite two hours at altitude. The balloon pilot was not happy with the decision, replying by radio, “Come and get me.” But he did come down, and landed successfully at 1257 hours none the worse for his experience.“
— History of Research in Space Biology and Biodynamics, Part II, Chapter 3, NASA History Office, December 1958.
Kittinger landed next to a stream approximately 7 miles (11 kilometers) south-southwest of Alma, Minnesota. The total duration of his flight was 6 hours, 36 minutes. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the first of six he would receive during his career in the Air Force.
The gondola is 8 feet high and 3 feet in diameter (2.4 × 0.9 meters). It consisted of a cast aluminum section with 6 portholes which served as the primary load-bearing unit of the gondola. The rest of the gondola consisted of an aluminum alloy cylinder and two hemispherical end caps. The capsule was pressurized and filled with a 60-20-20 mixture of oxygen, nitrogen, and helium. The Project MANHIGH gondola is on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
Joe Kittinger flew three combat tours during the Vietnam War for a total of 483 combat missions. On 1 March 1972, flying a McDonnell Douglas F-4D Phantom II, he shot down an enemy Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21. He was himself shot down on 11 May 1972. He and his Weapons System Officer, 1st Lieutenant William J. Reich, were captured and spent 11 months at the Hanoi Hilton.
Joe Kittenger holds six Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) world records for distance set with balloons. Three are still current. In 2012, he was technical advisor for Felix Baumgartner as he set a new world record for the highest parachute jump from the Red Bull Stratos balloon and gondola.

 

- posted since we're likely not getting a WNBA season this year due to the Coronavirus and the NBA trying to figure out how to finish their own season because of it.

 

On this day in 1985 - 35 years ago - the tapes for the single "Money For Nothing" by English band Dire Straits was sent to mastering.