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Commemorative Air Force

@caf1957

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The CAF is dedicated to Honoring American Military Aviation. It has 11,000 members, 165 airplanes, 60 units located in 25 states.

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Before there was a Miracle on the Hudson, there was a miracle in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

On October 16, 1956, Pan American World Airways Flight 6, a Boeing 377 Stratocruiser named "Clipper Sovereign of the Skies", was flying from Honolulu to San Francisco when mechanical failures left it unable to reach land.

The trouble began when the No. 1 engine's propeller ran out of control and could not be feathered to reduce drag. The propeller continued windmilling even after the engine seized. Minutes later, the crew discovered that the No. 4 engine was also losing power. It continued operating at reduced power for a time before failing completely.

The tremendous drag from the windmilling propeller, combined with the loss of power from No. 4, reduced the airplane's calculated remaining range to just 750 miles. Unfortunately, Flight 6 was nearly halfway across the Pacific, with more than 1,000 miles separating it from either Honolulu or San Francisco. Captain Richard Ogg faced an extraordinary decision.

Fortunately, the aircraft was near the Coast Guard cutter USCGC Pontchartrain (WHEC-70), stationed in the Pacific to provide weather reports and emergency assistance to transoceanic flights.

Rather than risk running out of fuel far from help, Ogg spent approximately four and a half hours circling the cutter, burning off fuel and waiting for daylight. The lighter airplane would be easier to ditch, and daylight would give everyone a better chance of surviving. The Coast Guard crew prepared for the rescue and laid a trail of foam across the water to help guide the approaching aircraft.

At 6:15 a.m., Ogg brought the massive Stratocruiser down onto the Pacific. The impact tore away its tail, but the aircraft remained afloat long enough for all 24 passengers and seven crew members to escape into life rafts.

Within minutes, all 31 people were safely aboard Pontchartrain. Just 20 minutes after touching down, the airliner disappeared beneath the waves. by @caf1957

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2 hours ago

Before she carried passengers, @cafairbasearizona’s B-17G Sentimental Journey spent years fighting forest fires. Her working life continued long after the job she was built to do.

Built by Douglas Aircraft in Long Beach, California, she was delivered to the U.S. Army Air Forces in March 1945 and assigned to the Pacific Theater. She did not see combat in World War II. Afterward, she served in air-sea rescue and nuclear testing support before being converted into a fire bomber.

In 1978, Sentimental Journey was donated to the Commemorative Air Force. Arizona volunteers later undertook an extensive restoration, rewiring the aircraft, reinstalling turrets, and restoring crew stations to bring back her wartime configuration.

Today, volunteers at CAF Airbase Arizona in Mesa maintain and fly her, giving visitors a chance to explore a B-17 and experience flight aboard one. The narrow passageways, crew positions, and sound of four radial engines help explain what serving aboard these bombers demanded.

Her bomb bay doors also carry signatures from people who flew, crewed, and built aircraft during World War II. Those names give visitors something else to look for: the people behind the airplane.

Have you toured or flown aboard Sentimental Journey? Tag us in your photos. We'd love to see them!

📷 @cegaviation by @caf1957

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8 hours ago

Flying season may be nearing its end, but there are still plenty of CAF events coming up in the next couple of weeks. You can always see ALL of our upcoming events at: commemorativeairforce.com/events

Oct 17 • Skyfiesta Air Races in Las Cruces, NM
Oct 17 • Hangar Hangout in Houston, TX
Oct 17 • Corsicana Airshow in Corsicana, TX
Oct 17 • Ride the JRB in Corsicana, TX
Oct 17 • Ride the Helldiver in Corsicana, TX
Oct 17 • See the AT-6 and BT-13 in Corsicana, TX
Oct 17 • Moonlight Swing Gala in Peachtree City, GA
Oct 17-18 • See Tora! Tora! Tora! in Las Cruces, NM
Oct 23-25 • Ride the B-24, B-29 and friends in Tulsa, OK
Oct 24 • Ride the LT-6 and T-34 in Gainesville, GA
Oct 24 • Ride the P-51 and SBD in Athens, GA
Oct 24 • Music City 1940s Swing Dance in Lebanon, TN
Oct 24-25 • See Tora! Tora! Tora! in Wichita, KS
Oct 24-26 • Amigo Airsho in El Paso, TX

📸 Ken Cross by @caf1957

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Are you a WWII, Korea, or Vietnam reenactor? We want you and your gear at Aviation Discovery Fest on November 6 & 7. Complete the form at https://aviationdiscoveryfest.org/living-history/

Even if you're not a reenactor, you can find out what it's all about at ADF, and you can see over two dozen warbirds, ground vehicles and more while you're at it! by @caf1957

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You probably know about the Luftwaffe’s fighter aces, bomber groups and transport units. But you may never have heard of Kampfgeschwader 200, or KG 200, one of the strangest and most secretive flying units of World War II.

Formed officially in February 1944 under Lt. Col. Werner Baumbach, KG 200 became the Luftwaffe’s catch-all special operations unit. Its missions included long-range reconnaissance, inserting and supplying intelligence agents behind Allied lines, electronic warfare, experimental weapons work and other operations that did not fit neatly into conventional Luftwaffe units. Its existence and activities were kept secret even from much of the German air force.

KG 200 operated familiar German types including the Ju 52, Ju 88, Ju 188, He 111, Ju 290 and Arado Ar 232, but it also made use of captured Allied aircraft. Captured B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators were among the aircraft flown with German markings, particularly when their range or familiar silhouette offered advantages for special missions. Captured Allied aircraft were also evaluated by the Luftwaffe and, in some cases, made available to KG 200 for operational use.

Some missions were almost cinematic. KG 200 crews flew at night to drop agents and supplies deep behind Allied lines. One branch was involved in preparations for Operation Zeppelin, an extraordinary 1944 German plan to insert two Soviet agents near Moscow with the intention of assassinating Joseph Stalin. An Arado Ar 232 was used to deliver them into Soviet territory, although the assassination attempt never came close to succeeding.

The unit was also connected with some of Germany’s increasingly desperate late-war projects. Elements supported Mistel composite aircraft, radar-jamming and pathfinder operations, while personnel associated with KG 200 trained volunteers for extremely hazardous “self-sacrifice” missions using aircraft such as the piloted Reichenberg version of the V-1. Despite the popular comparison with Japanese kamikazes, the German concept did not necessarily require the pilot to die, and no entire KG 200 formation was dedicated solely to suicide missions. by @caf1957

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For Chuck Yeager, October 14 became something of a personal date with the sound barrier.

It began on October 14, 1947, when the 24-year-old Air Force captain climbed into the Bell X-1 and became the first pilot to fly faster than sound. Dropped from a modified B-29 over California’s Mojave Desert, Yeager took the rocket-powered X-1 to Mach 1.06 at about 43,000 feet. The historic flight lasted only about 14 minutes from release to landing.

Thirty years later, on October 14, 1977, Yeager returned to Edwards Air Force Base and did it again, this time flying a Lockheed F-104 Starfighter to Mach 1.5.

On October 14, 1982, Yeager celebrated the 35th anniversary by flying the single-place Northrop F-20 out to Mach 1.45. The F-20 was a privately funded prototype that never entered production, but Northrop hired Yeager as a spokesman for the Tigershark program, and part of that role included flying and publicly endorsing the aircraft.

Then came the 50th anniversary in 1997. At age 74, Yeager flew an F-15D Eagle through Mach 1 over Edwards while another aviation legend, Bob Hoover, flew chase in an F-16. There was a wonderful bit of symmetry to that flight: Hoover had also been Yeager’s chase pilot during the original X-1 mission 50 years earlier. The flight was timed so that the sonic boom reached the crowd gathered below during the anniversary celebration.

He even did it on the 64th anniversary in 2011, reaching Mach 1.3 in the back of an F-16 at Edwards Air Force Base flown by Brig. Gen. Robert C. Nolan II, Air Force Flight Test Center commander.

Yeager still wasn’t finished.

On October 14, 2012, the 65th anniversary of his historic flight, the 89-year-old Yeager climbed into the back seat of an F-15D from the 65th Aggressor Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base. With Capt. David Vincent at the controls, the Eagle climbed to 45,000 feet over Edwards and went supersonic at 10:24 a.m., once again marking the anniversary in the most Yeager-like way possible.

Six October 14s. Six trips through Mach 1. And 65 years between the first and last. by @caf1957

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3 days ago

On 13 October 1954, Royal Navy Lt. Bruce D. Macfarlane survived one of the most extraordinary escapes in aviation history, becoming the first pilot known to successfully eject from an aircraft while underwater!

Macfarlane was flying a Westland Wyvern S.4 of 813 Naval Air Squadron from HMS Albion (R07) in the Mediterranean. The Wyvern was a massive carrier-based strike aircraft powered by a 3,500-horsepower Armstrong Siddeley Python turboprop driving contra-rotating propellers. It was powerful, fast and, at that point in its career, still hiding a dangerous flaw.

The Wyvern's fuel system had to pump fuel from the wings some six feet forward to the turboprop engine. Unforunately, as Albion’s catapult hurled the Wyvern down the deck, the sudden acceleration caused fuel in the engine supply system to move away from the Python rather than toward it, starving it of fuel at precisely the worst possible moment.

The engine flamed out just as Macfarlane left the deck, and the Wyvern dropped into the Mediterranean directly ahead of Albion. The carrier, unable to stop or turn in time, passed over the aircraft and cut the wreck apart beneath her hull with Macfarlane still inside.

Now submerged in a rapidly sinking aircraft, Macfarlane jettisoned the canopy and reached for his Martin-Baker ejection handle. His first pull apparently did nothing. He pulled again, and this time the seat fired.

Macfarlane was blasted out of the wreckage while completely underwater, into the violently disturbed water beneath and behind the carrier. He then found himself being dragged downward by his parachute gear. He managed to free himself, discarded his dinghy pack, inflated his life jacket and finally reached the surface. According to one detailed reconstruction, less than two minutes had passed since the Wyvern left Albion’s deck.

Macfarlane’s escape became the first recorded successful underwater aircraft ejection. The incident also demonstrated something ejection-seat designers had never intended to prove: that the system could function while submerged. The Admiralty subsequently studied underwater escape more closely, helping inform later naval ejection-seat development. by @caf1957

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3 days ago

On 13 October 1930, an aircraft took to the air for the first time that would become one of the most recognizable transports ever built: the Junkers Ju 52.

But the Ju 52 that flew that day was not yet the famous three-engine “Tante Ju” most of us picture. The original Ju 52/1m was a large single-engine transport designed primarily to haul freight. Only a handful were built. Junkers soon realized that the basic airframe had greater potential, and in 1932 the three-engine Ju 52/3m appeared. That was the version that made aviation history.

Deutsche Luft Hansa received its first Ju 52 in 1932, and the rugged 17-passenger trimotor soon became one of the airline's most important aircraft. Ju 52s connected Berlin with London, Paris, Rome and destinations beyond Europe, while other airlines flew them across Europe, Africa, Asia and South America. Its corrugated-metal construction was hardly sleek, but the aircraft was dependable, forgiving and capable of operating from relatively primitive airfields. Luft Hansa ultimately operated more than 200 of them.

The qualities that made the Ju 52 useful to airlines also made it invaluable as a military transport. Thousands served with the Luftwaffe, carrying troops, paratroopers, ammunition, fuel, and supplies from Norway and North Africa to the Eastern Front. Early military Ju 52s were even pressed into service as bombers, but transport became the aircraft's defining wartime role. It was the Luftwaffe's workhorse, performing much the same basic job that the C-47 Skytrain performed for the Allies.

That comparison is especially interesting because the Ju 52 and Douglas DC-3 came from the same generation of aviation, but represented different stages of it. The Ju 52/3m first flew in 1932; the DC-3 followed in 1935. Both began as passenger aircraft and became indispensable military transports, but the smoother, faster, and more efficient DC-3 represented the next major step in airliner design. The DC-3 would ultimately enjoy a much longer and more widespread postwar career. by @caf1957

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Greatness in aviation and aerospace is often shaped by the same forces: ambition, risk, resilience, triumph, and failure. In this episode of CAF Warbird Tube, we explore those shared themes with author Dr. Jan Davis and her book Air Born: Two Generations in Flight.

In the book, she connects her experiences as a Space Shuttle astronaut with the wartime service of her father, B-17 pilot Ben Smotherman. Shot down over Holland in 1943 and held as a prisoner of war for 21 months, Smotherman's experiences left a lasting legacy that Davis came to understand more deeply while researching his Wartime Log. Davis shares the remarkable parallels she discovered between her father's combat missions and her own journeys into space.

To watch LIVE on Wednesday, October 14 at 7pm Central, register at our link in bio. by @caf1957

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When the filmmakers behind the new feature film JIMMY set out to tell the story of actor and World War II bomber pilot Jimmy Stewart, the CAF helped provide historical research and support to the production.

It’s one example of how the resources of the world’s largest flying museum can extend far beyond the flight line.

The CAF works with filmmakers, documentary producers, television programs, publishers, journalists, educators and other organizations looking to tell compelling stories about military aviation history. Depending on the project, that can include access to historic aircraft, filming locations, archival and visual resources, subject-matter experts, historical research and technical assistance.

With more than 180 historic military aircraft and thousands of members, pilots, maintainers, historians and volunteers across the country, the CAF represents an extraordinary living resource for anyone trying to bring aviation history to life accurately and authentically.

If you’re developing a film, documentary, educational project or other production involving historic military aviation, consider working with the Commemorative Air Force.

History doesn’t have to remain on the page. We can help you bring it to life.

JIMMY, which explores how Jimmy Stewart’s World War II service helped shape the man and actor he became, arrives in theaters November 6.

Be sure to check out the @jimmystewartmovie. by @caf1957

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On 12 October 1954, one of America’s most remarkable fighter pilots and test pilots was killed pushing a new airplane to its limits.

George S. Welch was NAA’s chief engineering test pilot when he took F-100A Super Sabre 52-5764 into a Mach 1.55 dive over the Mojave Desert. The test called for a hard 7.3-G pullout to verify the fighter’s structural limits. Instead, the aircraft encountered inertial roll coupling, departed controlled flight, and broke apart. Welch survived the initial breakup and ejection, but died while being flown to the hospital at Edwards Air Force Base.

Welch first became famous on December 7, 1941. He and fellow 2LT Kenneth Taylor raced to Haleiwa Field, climbed into their P-40s, and took off against the Japanese attack on Oahu. Welch was credited with four aerial victories that morning and later received the Distinguished Service Cross. He would go on to fly P-39 Airacobras and P-38 Lightnings in the Southwest Pacific, ultimately receiving credit for 16 enemy aircraft destroyed before malaria ended his combat tour.

In 1944, Welch left active military service and joined North American Aviation as a test pilot. He made the first flight of the XP-86, prototype of the F-86 Sabre, on October 1, 1947, and later made first flights in several other North American fighters.

Welch also became part of one of aviation history’s enduring debates. Some witnesses later claimed that during early XP-86 testing he exceeded Mach 1 before Chuck Yeager’s historic Bell X-1 flight on October 14, 1947. NASA’s historical review, however, notes that no surviving test data proves the claim. Official records show Welch reaching Mach .93 in November 1947, while the XP-86 was conclusively flown supersonically after receiving a more powerful engine in April 1948.

By 1953, Welch was testing another revolutionary North American fighter, the F-100 Super Sabre, the Air Force’s first operational fighter capable of sustained supersonic flight. An Air Force publication from 1954 credited Welch as the first man to fly the F-100 supersonically in level flight. by @caf1957

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5 days ago

Before Tom Skerritt became the seasoned Navy fighter pilot instructor “Viper” in Top Gun, he had already spent four years wearing a real military uniform in the US Air Force.

Thomas Roy Skerritt was born August 25, 1933, in Detroit. Growing up during the Depression, he developed an early interest in the arts, but after graduating from Mackenzie High School in 1951, he chose a very different path. Inspired in part by his older brother, who had served as a P-51 pilot during WWII, the 18-year-old Skerritt enlisted in the USAF.

Skerritt hoped he might get the opportunity to fly, but lacked the mathematics background necessary for pilot training. Instead, the Air Force made him a classification specialist, essentially helping determine where airmen with particular skills were needed and assigning them accordingly. Most of his enlistment was spent at Bergstrom Air Force Base in Austin, TX, although he spent time in Reno, Nevada, and at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois. While at Bergstrom, he did manage to get a taste of flying through an on-base flying club.

He served from 1951 to 1955, during the Korean War era, although Skerritt himself was not sent to Korea.

Skerritt has said the service helped teach him focus and discipline, qualities that would prove useful when he eventually turned toward acting. After leaving the Air Force, he used his G.I. Bill benefits to continue his education, attending schools including Wayne State University and eventually UCLA.

His film debut came in the 1962 Korean War drama War Hunt, a movie that also marked an early screen appearance for Robert Redford. From there Skerritt built one of Hollywood's most recognizable character-actor careers. He played Duke Forrest in Robert Altman's M*A*S*H, Captain Dallas in Alien, Commander Mike “Viper” Metcalf in Top Gun, and appeared in such films as The Turning Point, Steel Magnolias, A River Runs Through It and Contact. Television audiences also knew him as Sheriff Jimmy Brock in Picket Fences, a performance that earned him the 1993 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. by @caf1957

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