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A demonstration ride.

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DEPARTMENTS 5 MAILBAG 6 BRIEFING 10 AVIATORS Richard “Steve” Ritchie was the Air Force’s only ace pilot during the Vietnam War—and its last one, too. By Douglas G. Adler

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Soviet Il-2s dive to attack a Nazi column during the 1943 Battle of Kursk.

A family-owned British air museum gives its prize Avro Lancaster a new lease on life. By Angela Youngman

features 26 The Luftwaffe’s Lost Cause Germany required reliable air support to win 1943’s pivotal Battle of Kursk, but a depleted Luftwaffe soon gave the Soviets the edge. By Dan Zamansky

36 The War Hawk and the Pelican Inventor, explorer and Wright brothers contemporary Hugh Willoughby made his own unique mark on early aviation. by David Boehnlein

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Divers in the Adriatic Sea examine wreckage of a B-24 that disappeared during a mission in 1945.

44 A Baptism by Fire In the 1950s, a squad of agricultural pilots from Willows, California, learned how to battle forest fires from the air. By Ted Atlas

52 The Father of Aerial Bombardment The airplane was still a relatively new phenomenon when U.S. Army Lieutenant Myron Crissy realized that it promised the ultimate high ground. By Daniel J. Demers

60 Lost and Found Almost 70 years after an American B-24 vanished, its trail led to a mysterious wreck at the bottom of the Adriatic Sea. By Jeannette Gutierrez

ON THE COVER: Hans-Ulrich Rudel demonstrates the tankbusting abilities of his Ju-87G Stuka during the Battle of Kursk in July 1943. Cover illustration by Adam Tooby.

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: AKG IMAGES/RIA NOVOSTI; ©KARIS YOUNGMAN; COURTESY OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MARTIN COUNTY/ELLIOTT MUSEUM; STEFANO CARESSA

14 16 EXTREMES The massive Douglas XB-19, once the world’s largest aircraft and an American cultural icon, has since faded into obscurity. By Robert Guttman

18 PortfoLIo World War I posters capitalize on the perceived glory of the air war.

24 LETTER FROM AVIATION HISTORY 66 REVIEWS 70 FLIGHT TEST 72 AERO ARTIFACT

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An ex-Navy P-3 fights a fire in 2008.

Aviation History

Online

You’ll find much more from Aviation History on the web’s leading history resource: historynet.com

Myth of the Tankbuster Luftwaffe legend Hans-Ulrich Rudel claimed to have destroyed 519 Soviet tanks, most of them while piloting a cannon-armed Junkers Ju-87G “tankbuster.” Hero of the Soviet Union Aleksandr Yefimov reportedly took out 126 German tanks in his Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik. But a close examination of the historical record reveals that ground-attack aircraft in World War II were not as successful against armor as is commonly believed.

Firebombers! Flying on the Edge to Fight Fires

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TOM HUNTINGTON EDITOR LARRY PORGES SENIOR EDITOR JON GUTTMAN RESEARCH DIRECTOR STEPHAN WILKINSON CONTRIBUTING EDITOR ARTHUR H. SANFELICI EDITOR EMERITUS BRIAN WALKER GROUP ART DIRECTOR MELISSA A. WINN DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY PAUL FISHER ART DIRECTOR GUY ACETO PHOTO EDITOR DANA B. SHOAF MANAGING EDITOR, PRINT CLAIRE BARRETT NEWS AND SOCIAL EDITOR

Since 1955, when pilots of the Willows Flying Service first cut a hole in a Stearman and dropped 170 gallons of water onto a California forest fire, a wide variety of aircraft have been converted to fight Western wildfires. TBM Avengers and PBY-5A amphibians were among the first of many U.S. warbirds adapted as firefighting tankers, while converted 747-400s and DC-10s have ushered in the more recent era of the megatanker—even though firefighting doctrine increasingly favors controlled, accurate drops from small, single-engine air tankers.

The Birth, Life and Death of a B-24 Liberator

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DAVID MCNEW/GETTY IMAGES

Movie star Gloria Swanson personally signed B-24H no. 42-52117 as it rolled off Michigan’s Willow Run assembly line in 1943. Later named Two Ton Tessie from Nashville, Tenn., the B-24 flew 30 bombing missions in Europe with the Fifteenth Air Force before being shot down over Austria on May 29, 1944. The crew survived, but Tessie’s run ended that day. Still, the Liberator’s career typified the stellar service of countless Allied bombers in the European theater.

Mailbag

EYEWITNESS

HISTORYNET ARCHVIES

Your story in the March 2007 issue (and a mention in Stephan Wilkinson’s article about the P-80 Shooting Star in January 2022) about Richard Bong brought back all my images and bad memories. You see, I saw him die. Bong’s P-80 flew over my house in North Hollywood, California, and crashed about a quarter mile, or less, away. My bad memories are of him being dragged behind his plane, because his opened parachute was snagged on the plane’s tail. His plane whistled past my house, coming in from the northeast, about 250-300 feet high. His figure was distinctly visible and I saw both arms and both legs. His arms were loose and his hands weren’t clutching anything. His head was lowered onto his chest. > > His plane was in a leftwing-down attitude, so I saw the tops of both wings and the top of the plane. The cockpit canopy was open. It continued past and exploded directly over the high-tension electrical towers in the large vacant field just south of my house. The field was very large and was a play area for kids. We flew gliders and rubber-band model airplanes there. I remember running to the crash site and walking around in awe. There were parts of smoldering airplane everywhere. I don’t remember seeing any large parts, just pieces. I saw where Major Bong’s body was, but I was scared to go closer. Several kids and adults did, and a small group of people gathered around his body. I heard several boys remarking about his many ribbons, attached to his uniform, showing through his burned flight suit. I remember being fascinated by the front landing gear, knowing it to be the nose gear as it had a landing light. It was very hot when I touched it. The area smelled hot due to small grass fires and weeds burning.

After a short time, we were being yelled at by people telling us to “go home” and “don’t touch anything.” Some kids took “souvenirs,” and I assume some adults did, too. A day or two later, military authorities were going door to door, collecting the airplane parts that had been taken. My father, William B. Whetsone, worked at Lockheed as a foreman on the P-38 assembly line. He told me it was Major “Dick” Bong whom I saw crash. Major Bong’s name was very familiar to my friends and me as we were all airplane enthusiasts (I still am) and this crash and its results brought life and death, and the spirit of adventure in the air, to a sobering reality. William G. Whetsone Fountain Valley, Ca.

INTERNATIONAL SERVICE In your article about the Shooting Star [January], you mention that in the mid1950s the United States sold several P-80s to Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay, but that the only time those planes were used in anger was when they made low level,

next-time-I’ll-shoot passes in Peru. Allow me to make a correction on this. Nicaragua acquired six Shooting Stars around this same time, and they were used during the civil war that toppled the Somoza regime in July 1979. Some of these planes did fire in anger, strafing and dropping bombs on rebel positions. I am from Nicaragua, was there during this war and personally saw those attacks being carried out. These planes were left in Nicaragua when the rebel Sandinistas took over, but they did not use them because they acquired Mi-24 attack helicopters from the Soviet Union. Arturo Altamirano Miami, Florida Thanks for writing. Those airplanes were actually AT-33 Shooting Stars, the attack variant of the two-seater trainer version of the P-80. The U.S. sold four of them to Nicaragua in 1961. -Ed.

“R” FOR RACER I read with great interest Stephan Wilkinson’s article about the P-80 Shooting Star. On page 34 you mention the P-80R. That airplane is in the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, where I volunteer as a docent and tell visitors the story of that airplane breaking the speed record. I have, however, been guessing at what the “R” stands for. I have suggested it stands for “Race,” since I’m quite sure there were not enough models to go from P-80A to R, and then I

your article said they called her Racey. Perhaps that is what the R stood for? Frank Alfter Colonel, USAF (Ret) Beavercreek, OH We queried contributing editor Stephan Wilkinson about your question, and he responded that the “R” in P-80R certainly stood for Race/Racer/Racey, but there is no document he’s aware œv̅>ÌëiVˆwiÃ܅ˆV…ܜÀ` Ü>úœvwVˆ>°»7i̅ˆ˜Ž you’re safe in saying the R stood for Racer. -Ed.

NOT THE FIRST I read with interest the “Milestones” entry in the March issue. I would like to point out that Linda Finch was not the first woman to re-create and successfully complete Amelia Earhart’s 1937 attempt to circumnavigate the globe. In 1967, just 30 years after Earhart’s attempt, Ann Holtgren Pellegreno made the first successful re-creation of the world flight. Flying a Lockheed 10A, a sister ship to Earhart’s aircraft, she completed the flight, which included dropping a memorial wreath on Howland Island. Ann wrote a book documenting her flight entitled World Flight: The Earhart Trail. Dave Jackson Peoria, Il. You are correct! In our defense, we did not say that Finch was the wÀÃÌ woman ̜Ài‡VÀi>Ìi >À…>À̽Ãyˆ}…Ì] but Pellegreno’s historic yˆ}…ÌViÀÌ>ˆ˜Þ`iÃiÀÛi`> mention. -Ed.

SEND LETTERS TO:

Aviation History Editor, HISTORYNET 901 North Glebe Road, 5th Floor, Arlington, VA 22203 OR EMAIL TO [email protected] (Letters may be edited)

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road trip The fuselage of B-52 Stratofortress nicknamed Damage Inc. II travels from Arizona to a Boeing facility in Oklahoma. There it will be reunited with its left wing and used as a mock-up for Air Force-led modernization efforts on the B-52 fleet.

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n January 3, 2022, people in Arizona witnessed a unique spectacle. A Boeing B-52H Stratofortress, or at least its 160-footlong fuselage, was hitting the road. The bomber in question, B-52H 61-0009, known as Damage Inc. II, had served the U.S. Air

Force actively from 1961 to September 25, 2008, when it was retired to the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. Then it was recalled to duty to help develop a new generation of B-52s. The B-52J “Centuryfortress” program will see the installation of new sensors, communi-

cations equipment, avionics, defensive countermeasures and Rolls-Royce engines in the remaining 76 B-52s to QUXZW^M\PMQZM‫ٻ‬KQMVKaIVL sustainability until at least the year 2050. Damage Inc. II will serve as an “integration model” for the research and development of the B-52J and the hypersonic weapons initiative

TOP: U.S. AIR FORCE; INSET: RAMÓN C. PURCELL/BONEYARD SAFARI

A B-52 Becomes a Road Warrior

TOP: THE WOLFSONIAN–FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY; BELOW: DAVID WADDINGTON/FOX PHOTOS/GETTY IMAGES

that will arm it. In accordance with the Air Force’s $2.8-million contact to aero[XIKMMVOQVMMZQVOÅZU2. Taylor in Maryland, the fuselage and left wing will serve that purpose in Oklahoma City, while the right wing and horizonal stabilizer will go to McFarland Research & Development in Kansas for the B-52H Aircraft Structural Integrity Program. “As new weapons are developed and come on hand, we can use it to see how the weapons attach, what needs to change, and QN \PMaÅ\WV\PMIQZKZIN\º explained Colonel Louis Ruscetta, B-52 senior materiel leader with the Bombers Directorate. “This is an asset that will help us integrate LQ‫ٺ‬MZMV\Q\MU[WV\W\PMIQZcraft quicker. An additional JMVMÅ\Q[\PMKW[\\WUIQV\IQV IUWKS]XQ[NIQZTaTW_º The bomber began its RW]ZVMaQV2]TaI\ the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, where it underwent four months of disassembly. From there, the parts, including the fuselage, were transported cross country, with Worldwide Aircraft Recovery overseeing the project and Ball & Son handling the actual moving. With the still-gigantic parts \ISQVO]X\_WTIVM[WN \ZI‫ٻ‬K the transports had to halt frequently to allow wide-eyed drivers to pass. Navigating some turns and underpasses left only inches to spare. The fuselage reached its destina\QWVQV7STIPWUIWV2IV]IZa IN\MZIUQTMRW]ZVMa Long as it was, the road trip was still much cheaper than getting the bomber back into \PMIQZNWZI[QVOTMTI[\ÆQOP\ would have been. Jon Guttman

Bird’s-eye view The Wolfsonian-FIU exhibit is all about perspective, whether the view is from an airplane window or from the top of a tall building.

Air Quotes

AIR POWER MAY EITHER END WAR OR END CIVILIZATION. –WINSTON CHURCHILL, 1933

Exhibit merges Airplanes and skyscrapers

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orn in Miami in 1939, Mitchell Wolfson Jr. is an expert on design, architecture and the decorative arts, with a particular penchant for exploring their impact on the human condition. Wolfson was attracted to artistic expressions dating from the late industrial revolution in 1885 until 1950, and from an early age he began collecting whatever objets d’arts captured his fancy. He had acquired more than 180,000 by 1985, when he bought the Washington Storage Company facility in the heart of Miami Beach’s Art Deco District. In 1992 “Micky” Wolfson hired architect Mark Hampton to renovate the building and convert it into a museum and research center to interpret and display the emotional and psychological persuasiveness of art and design. The museum opened to the public in 1995 and in 1997 became part of Florida International University (FIU). The latest exhibition at The Wolfsonian–FIU, “Aerial Vision” combines two new perspectives on viewing the earth offered by the advent of multistory buildings and airplanes. Skyscrapers completely changed the urban landscape, not only by accommodating more business and living space, but also by providing an unprecedented look at the earth from an upper-story window or a topfloor restaurant. At about the same time, the development of the airplane offered an even wider view, the sky literally being the limit. Both were then seen as harbingers of a leap forward in human progress and as such inspired a vast outpouring of artwork. “Aerial Vision” is on display at The Wolfsonian–FIU, 1001 Washington Avenue, Miami, Florida, through April 24, 2022. Jon Guttman

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BRIEFING

Memorial for a Tragedy

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MILESTONES

Collision Course

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merican newlyweds Christopher and Mary Yule were coming to the end of their French honeymoon on April 7, 1922. The couple, both employees of a Boston confectioner, had sailed to Europe from New York after their February wedding and were en route to London on their way home. Even though they had already booked train and boat tickets for the crossing to Britain, the Yules at the last moment decided QV[\MIL\WÆaIKZW[[\PM-VOTQ[P+PIVVMT)TWVO with a French passenger, a Monsieur Bouriez, they boarded a Farman Goliath biplane at Paris’ Le Bourget Airport and [M\\TMLQVI[\PMXQTW\2MIV5QZM\WWSW‫ٺ‬WV/ZIVL[-`XZM[[ Aériens’ daily noon service to Croydon, South London. A mechanic sat with the pilot, bringing the airplane’s occuXIVKa\WÅ^M Meanwhile, a British de Havilland D.H. 18A biplane from +ZWaLWV_I[ÆaQVO[W]\PQV\W.ZIVKMPMILQVO\W4M*W]ZOM\ on a scheduled mail run. At the controls was Robin E. Duke, a Royal Air Force lieutenant and also a “composer of some reputation,” as the Associated Press described him. Also on board was a cabin boy, Edward Hesterman. The weather over northern France was miserable, with drizbTMIVLNWOWJ[K]ZQVO^Q[QJQTQ\a*W\PIQZXTIVM[_MZMÆaQVOKTW[M to the ground, following a railroad track to stay on course. At about 1:15 p.m., near the town of Thieuloy-Saint-Antoine, 70

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commemoration Local citizens gather for the unveiling of a monument to the crash of a wartime C-47 in Bavaria.

92, who remembered the crash and had shared their recollections of it with Bittmann. Ironically, the C-47 was a combat survivor, accepted by the U.S. Army Air Forces in April 1944 and assigned to the 100th Troop Carrier Squadron, 441st Troop Carrier Group of the Ninth Air Force. On D-Day it transported paratroopers of the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment to a drop zone VMIZ;IQV\M5vZMjOTQ[MQV.ZIVKMIVL\PMVM`\LIa\W_ML a glider with men from the 82nd Airborne Division for another drop. Transferred to the 30th Air Depot Group at Illesheim in Germany after the war, it was loaned to the 344th Bombardment Group at Schleissheim just before its fatal mission. Guenter Braun aftermath Airplane wreckage is strewn across the French countryside after two airplanes collided in 1922.

miles north of Paris, witnesses saw both airplanes suddenly emerge from the fog at a height of 500 feet, heading directly toward each other. As the New York Times reported, “Those watching had no time to think before a sinister crash resounded through the air” and the two airplanes “crashed burning to the earth.” All seven people aboard both airplanes _MZMSQTTMLQV\PMÅZ[\M^MZUQLIQZKWTTQ[QWVJM\_MMV\_W commercial airliners. A few eyewitnesses reported that the D.H. 18A had strayed W‫\ٺ‬PMOMVMZITTaIKKMX\MLÆQOP\XI\PIVL_I[ÆaQVO\WWNIZ to the left. Later that month, France, Britain and the Low +W]V\ZQM[M[\IJTQ[PMLLMÅVMLIQZZW]\M[IVLZ]TML\PI\IQZplanes should always pass each other to the right. As London’s Guardian newspaper reported, “Thus, even in conditions of XWWZ^Q[QJQTQ\a_PMV\_WXQTW\[ÆaQVOQVWXXW[Q\MLQZMK\QWV[ were following their land-line closely, the fact that each of \PMU_I[ÆaQVO_MTTI_Ia\W\PMZQOP\WN Q\_W]TLXZM^MV\IVa risk of such a collision as that which occurred at Thieuloy St. Antoine”—a collision that took seven lives one hundred years ago in April.

TOP PHOTOS COURTESY OF PETER BITTMANN; BELOW: HISTORYNET ARCHIVES

n November 1, 1945, the crew of a Douglas C-47A on IÆQOP\NZWU:).*W^QVO\WV in England to Schleissheim )QZÅMTLVWZ\PWN 5]VQKPIXXIZently lost its bearings in bad weather. Thirty people were aboard—four crewmembers and 26 soldiers returning to their base I\\PMIQZÅMTL)\IZW]VL"\PI\ morning the airplane should have been near Augsburg along the Lech River. In fact, it was near Karlsruhe and the Rhine. After following the river south for about 30 miles, the pilot, Lieutenant Bahne H. Andressen of Iowa, made a left turn and climbed back into the clouds. Within minutes the airplane plowed into the top of Mount Bernstein in Bavaria’s Black Forest, cutting a swathe through the trees that remains visible today. All four crewmembers died; four XI[[MVOMZ[UIVIOML\WM`Q\\PMJ]ZVQVO_ZMKS Local historian Peter Bittmann grew up hearing stories about the incident and decided to create a memorial for the crash site. He had hoped to unveil the marker on the accident’s 75th anniversary but COVID-19 forced a delay until October 27, 2021. The small group assembled for the ceremony included two citizens from local villages, aged 90 and

Teen becomes youngest woman to circle the world

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made it,” cried 19-year-old Zara Rutherford after her plane touched down at Kortrijk-Wevelgem airport in Belgium on January 20, 2022. She had ample reason for PMZM`KQ\MUMV\:]\PMZNWZLPILR][\ÆW_VUQTM[ SUW^MZKW]V\ZQM[IVLÅ^MKWV\QVMV\[\WJZMIS\_W Guinness World Records as the youngest women to circumVI^QOI\M\PMOTWJMIVL\PMÅZ[\_WUIV\WLW[WQVIUQKZWTQOP\ IQZKZIN\*]\I[8PQTMI[.WOOTMIZVMLQV2]TM[>MZVM¼[ VW^MT Around the World in 80 Days, traveling around the planet is not so easy. TILQ^W[\WS;PM_I[IT[WLMVQMLXMZUQ[[QWV\WÆaW^MZ+PQVIIVLVIZZW_TaI^WQLML[\ZIaQVOQV\W North Korean airspace.