Page:Aeronautics and Astronautics Chronology 1915-1960.pdf/29

 July 18: German Me-262 turbojet fighter flown on a spectacular flight test, concluding a series begun in May.

During July: First U.S.-designed jet engine successfully demonstrated at Langley Laboratory, the NACA Jeep, which was never flown but proved invaluable for continued NACA research on gas-turbine jet propulsion.


 * 9-inch supersonic tunnel providing airspeeds up to mach 2.5 put into operation at Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory.

September 21: Boeing XB-29 Superfortress made its first flight, an indispensable aircraft in the Pacific campaign of World War II.

During September: After completion of liquid-fuel JATO device for AAF and Navy, Robert H. Goddard worked on liquid-fuel engines of variable thrust while Director of Research in Jet Propulsion at Annapolis until his death in August 1945.

October 1: First U.S. jet-propelled aircraft flight, by an Airacomet Bell XP-59A (powered by two 1-16 engines developed by General Electric from the British Whittle prototype), made at Muroc Dry Lake, Calif., with Robert Stanley as pilot.

October 2: Maj. J. G. Kearby reached an effective, simulated altitude of 60,200 feet in Aeromedical Laboratory altitude chamber at Wright Field, as part of an investigation of "full pressure" suits.

October 3: First successful launch and flight of 5½-ton German A-4 rocket (V-2) at Peenemünde, which traveled 120 miles.

October 22: Westinghouse Electric authorized to construct two 19A axial-flow turbojet powerplants, thereby initiating fabrication of the first practical jet engine wholly American in design.

December 2: First nuclear chain reaction successfully accomplished at the University of Chicago.

December 5: Edward R. Sharp was appointed Manager of the NACA Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory at Cleveland.

During December: AAF conducted first flight tests of a full-pressure altitude flight suit at Eglin Field, Fla.

During 1942: Aerosol bomb for disinsectation of aircraft developed at Aero Medical Laboratory by Lt. William N. Sullivan, subsequently adapted for use in foxholes, bomb shelters, barracks, and other dwellings.

January 8: First aircraft takeoff in the United States with a permanently installed JATO rocket powerplant, an A-20A at Muroc Army Air Base, Calif.

January 27: First American bomber raid on Germany by USAAF against Wilhelmshaven.

January 28: Dr. Hugh L. Dryden, Chief of the Mechanics and Sound Division of the National Bureau of Standards, elected president of the IAS.

During January: Lockheed C-69 Constellation first flown, a successful postwar transport with a pressurized cabin.

February 17: 10th German A-4 (V-2) rocket traveled 121.8 miles after launch from Peenemünde.

During February: Navy Engineering Experiment Station Annapolis completed development of a rocket engine for the Pelican radio-controlled pilotless aircraft (never used operationally).

March 5: Fifth prototype of the Gloster Meteor, developed from the first British jet aircraft, first flew, powered by Halford H-1 turbojet engines, forerunners of the De Havilland Goblin.

During March: First turbojet engine developed from an American design by Westinghouse, the X19A, was completed. It was the precursor of the J30, J34, J40, J46, and J54 engines.

April 2: Research building of the AAF School of Aviation Medicine opened officially, housing 27 officers and 35 civilian staff members, and 4 altitude decompression chambers.

April 11: California Rocket Society tested the first hybrid rocket design in the United States, using oxygen and carbon.

April 15: Prime Minister Winston Churchill of England was informed of reports on German experiments with long-range rockets.

May 22: German Messerschmitt Me-262 turbojet fighter prototype flight tested at Rechlin. Test flights continued during the year on the interceptor type, while series production did not begin until spring of 1944.

During May: A PBY Catalina, fitted with two liquid-propellant JATO rockets developed at Annapolis, took off with a 20 percent reduction in run. Liquid-propellant JATO was abandoned by the Navy in 1944.

May-June: Germans operationally test-fired over 100 V-2's from Blizna, Poland, launching 10 on one day, only a small number of which were fully successful.

June 24: Lt. Col. W. R. Lovelace, AAF Aeromedical Laboratory, made a world record parachute jump from 40,200 feet at Ephrata, Wash.

Mid-1943: Navy initiated development of FR "Fireball" fighter, the only U.S. jet-and-propeller-engine fighter produced in any quantity before the end of the war. Developed by Ryan, the prototype was accepted in October 1944 and production authorized in December 1944.

July 5: First turbojet engine completed for the Navy, the Westinghouse 19A, completed its 100-hour endurance test.

July 7: Adolf Hitler gave the German V-2 program the highest military priority.

July 19: Naval Aircraft Factory authorized to develop the Gorgon, an aerial ram or air-to-air missile powered by a turbojet engine and equipped with radio control and a homing device. The Gorgon was later expanded into a broad program embracing turbojet, ramjet, pulsejet, and rocket propulsion, and a variety of structures and guidance systems.

July 24 - August 3: German city of Hamburg subjected to a series of massive RAF attacks, totaling 3,000 planes, which exploited the first use of "chaff" or "window" to saturate radar early warning and resulting in a severe "firestorm."

During July: Naval Air Material Center established at Johnsville, Pa., to include Naval Air Factory, Naval Aircraft Modification Unit, and Naval Air Experimental Station.


 * Serious training of units for field employment of V-2 begun at Peenemünde. In January 1944, operational command of V-2 operations given to Gen. Richard Metz, leaving Gen. Dornberger in charge of V-2 development.


 * Jet propulsion static test laboratory constructed at NACA Laboratory in Cleveland, and full studies of jet propulsion for the Army and Navy were underway by the fall.

Summer 1943: Messerschmitt Me-163B rocket interceptor powered by Walther "hot" engine successfully flown at Bremen, Augsburg, and near Leipzig, Germany. Over 300 Me-163B's were produced by Junkers by the end of 1944.

August 7: German turbojet fighter, a Messerschmitt Me-262, demonstrated before Adolf Hitler in East Prussia.

August 17: AAF Schweinfurt-Regensburg deep-penetration daylight raid by 376 B-17's, with heavy loss of 60 bombers.

August 17-18: Royal Air Force attacked Germany's Peenemünde Rocket Research Center, causing heavy damage and delaying V-weapon program by weeks or months.

During August: Navy initiated development of McDonnell Phantom XFD-1 fighter, the first pure-jet aircraft developed for the USN. 44