Page:Aeronautics and Astronautics Chronology 1915-1960.pdf/30

 Continuing with the text revision:

During August: German aircraft launched the first HS-293 radio-controlled glide bomb against a British ship in the Bay of Biscay, marking the beginning of guided-missile warfare.

September 1: Between May 1940 and this date, the United States produced 123,000 airplanes and 349,000 airplane motors.

During September: Rocket Development Branch created in Army Ordnance to direct and coordinate development on rockets.


 * U.S. Bell Airacomet first flown in England at Moreton Valence, resulting from an exchange for the first production model of a Meteor Mk I (EE210) sent to the United States.

Late September: Aberdeen Ballistic Research Laboratories' study entitled "Development of Long-Range Rocket Projectile" was submitted by the Army to the National Defense Research Committee. The project was accepted by NDRC.

October 2: First U.S. military rocket-powered airplane, the Rocket Ram, was tested as a glider by John Myers. It was equipped with an Aerojet XCAL-200 engine, using monoethylaniline as fuel.

October 8: First afterburner for turbojet engines in America built at NACA Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory.

October 10: USAAF demonstrated television control of a drone aircraft.

October 15: Details of the gyro fluxgate compass, giving accurate readings despite violent aircraft movements, were made public by Bendix Aviation.

During October: Division 5 of NDRC suggested to AAF the appointment of a general officer to coordinate the entire AAF guided-missile program.


 * Army General Staff created a new Weapons Division to coordinate research and development studies and plans among the Army and other divisions.


 * Navy BuOrd established a facility for testing rocket motors at the Naval Gun Factory, Washington, D.C.

November 8: Secretary of the Navy approved Naval Ordnance Test Station to be located on the west coast and to be under the cognizance of BuOrd. In December, its site was selected at Inyokern, China Lake, Calif.

November 30: Department of Aviation Medicine and Physiological Research was authorized at NAMC Philadelphia.

During November: Gen. H. H. Arnold, Chief of Air Staff, directed and authorized emphasis on research, development, and procurement of guided missiles, in response to known German advances.


 * Theodore von Karman submitted a proposal to Army Ordnance for developing long-range surface-to-surface missiles.


 * In response to military characteristics established by the Coast Artillery Board for a radio-controlled antiaircraft projectile, Frankford Arsenal conceived a guided-missile system based on existing fire-control knowledge.

December 24: The first major Eighth Air Force assault on German V-weapon sites was made when 670 B-17s and B-24s bombed the Pas de Calais area.

During December: The rocket aircraft research program was conceived by NACA's John Stack, to investigate the flight characteristics of an airplane flying beyond the speed of sound or Mach 1.


 * First turbojet light bomber flight, the German Arado Ar-234B, powered by two Junkers 004 engines.

During 1943: First jet-propelled rotor helicopter flown, the Austrian Doblhoff No. 1.

During 1942-43: Cal Tech studied pumping of liquid rocket propellants, particularly nitric acid, resulting in a successful design in 1945, which was set aside for future use due to the decision to concentrate on gas-pressurized fuel systems.

January 1: At the request of Army Ordnance, Cal Tech's rocket laboratory started a research and development program on long-range missiles, called Project ORDCIT, which resulted in the development of Private "A" and Corporal missiles.

January 8: First flight of Lockheed XP-80 at Muroc, powered by a British Halford turbojet engine, the first U.S. airplane designed from the beginning for turbojet propulsion. Rushed through development in 145 days by Lockheed's Clarence L. ("Kelley") Johnson, the P-80 was not distributed to tactical units until December 1945.

January 11: First U.S. combat use of forward-firing rockets made by Navy TBF-1Cs against a German submarine.

February 28: First firing of Nazi Germany's Wasserfall antiaircraft missile.

During February: Army Ordnance and AAF initiated development of a surface-to-air high-altitude supersonic guided missile, which subsequently became XSAM-A-7 Nike I.

March 16: At a seminar at NACA Langley Laboratory, attended by AF, Navy, and NACA personnel, NACA proposed the development of a jet-propelled transonic research airplane. This proposal ultimately led to the X-1 research airplane project.

During March: First operation of a turbojet engine in an altitude facility was conducted at NACA Lewis Laboratory during tests of the P-59 propulsion system, making major contributions to U.S. turbojet engine development.

May 9: First flight of an aircraft modified to demonstrate high-lift boundary layer control made by Lt. Col. R. E. Horner, a project initiated in May 1942 by USAAF contract.

May 10: Bell helicopter made an indoor demonstration flight at Buffalo, N.Y., Floyd Carlson as pilot.

May 28-June 1: U.S. Navy airships K-123 and K-130 completed the first nonrigid transatlantic crossing from Boston to Port Lyautey, via Newfoundland and the Azores.

May 31: First launching of the experimental VB-7 vertical bomb, incorporating television.

June 13: The first German V-1s fired in anger, launched from France against England with 4 of the 11 striking London.

During June: Remains of a V-2 which impacted in Sweden were flown to England for Allied analysis.

July 5: The MX-324, the first U.S. military rocket-powered plane built by Northrop, was flown by test pilot Harry Crosby, at Harper Dry Lake, Calif.

July 29: First successful test of the Pelican guided missile; two of four launched were hits against a target ship 44 miles offshore from NAS New York.

During July: Robert R. Gilruth of the Langley Flight Research Division, prompted by the need for an experimental method of gathering aerodynamic data at transonic speeds, conceived the wing-flow method.


 * First positive identification of German turbojet interceptors used against Allied bombers.


 * RAF formed first Meteor jet squadrons for use against V-1s.

Summer 1944: German "Reichenberg" program began for the use of manned V-1s air-launched from He-111s for suicide missions; test flights were made at Peenemünde.

August 4: The first Aphrodite mission (radio-controlled aircraft carrying 20,000 pounds of TNT) was flown against rocket sites in the Pas de Calais area.

45
 * Meteor EE 216 became the first British jet fighter to destroy an enemy aircraft, by tipping a German V-1 Flying Bomb with a wingtip.