This month in Edwards history

  • Published
  • By Dr. Stephanie Smith
  • AFFTC History Office
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Dec. 2, 1941 - Curtiss test pilot J. Harvey Gray completed the first flight of the company's CW-24B from the lake bed near what is now North Base. A pusher-prop design with swept wings and nose-mounted canards, the CW-24B was a flying mockup concept demonstrator for the Curtiss XP-55 Ascender which was later built but, like all of the wartime pusher-prop designs, never entered production.

Dec. 5, 1941 - The second unmanned GM A-1 Bug was launched from a wheeled dolly on a track laid out on the lakebed near what is now North Base and flew for nearly three minutes. Though brief, this was the A-1's first successful flight. Three days later one of the vehicles completed a flight lasting one hour and 35 minutes. The radio-controlled A-1 was designed to carry a 500 lb bomb for 400 miles at speeds up to 200 mph. If put into production, the A-1 would have been the world's first cruise missile.

Dec. 15, 1943 - Bell test pilot Jack Woolams established an unofficial U.S. altitude record when he climbed to 47,600 feet in a prototype YP-59A Airacomet.

Dec. 8, 1949 - The Department of the Air Force issued General Order No. 105 redesignating Muroc Air Force Base as Edwards Air Force Base in honor of Capt Glen W. Edwards. Edwards had been one of those killed in the June 1948 crash of the YB-49 Flying Wing prototype bomber, and the only one with a connection to California. The plaque unveiled at the dedication ceremony eulogized him as: "A pioneer of the Flying Wing in western skies / With courage and daring unrecognized by himself."

Dec. 9, 1952 - Republic's Russell M. "Rusty" Roth became the first pilot to exceed Mach 1 in level flight while flying a combat-type aircraft, as he piloted the dual-powered (both jet and rocket) XF-91 Thunderceptor to a speed of Mach 1.07 after igniting the airplane's XLR11-RM-9 rocket booster engine.

Dec. 12, 1953 - Maj. Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager shattered Scott Crossfield's recent record in the Douglas D-558-II Skyrocket when he piloted the Bell X 1A to a speed of Mach 2.44 (1,650 mph) in level flight at an altitude of 74,700 feet. It was on this flight that Yeager first encountered inertia coupling (then called "high-speed instability") as, shortly after attaining top speed, the craft tumbled violently out of control. As the X-1A was literally tumbling about all three axes simultaneously, it plummeted for more than 40,000 feet before Yeager somehow managed to recover to level flight and bring it in for a safe deadstick landing on Rogers Dry Lake.

Dec. 26, 1956 - Convair chief test pilot Richard L. "Dick" Johnson completed the first flight of the YF-106A Delta Dart at Edwards AFB, taking the delta-winged interceptor prototype to Mach 1.9 at 57,000 ft.

Dec. 1, 1958 - The AFFTC assumed management responsibility for the Hurricane Supersonic Research Site. The facility had been constructed in 1955 atop Hurricane Mesa, in Utah, by the Wright Air Development Center for use in testing ejection seats. The facility, operated by Coleman Engineering, Inc., consisted of a 12,000 ft rocket sled track which terminated at the edge of a 1,500 ft precipice which was instrumented for use as a free-flight test range.

Dec. 18, 1959 - The seven astronauts selected for the Mercury space program completed three weeks of zero-gravity training at the NASA flight research center. Much of this consisted of parabolic flights in two-place F-100Fs which exposed them to brief episodes of weightlessness.

Dec. 10, 1963 - USAF Test Pilot School commandant Col. Chuck Yeager was injured after ejecting from an NF 104A. The airplane was a modified F-104 with a rocket booster and a reaction control system that enabled it to be flown at altitudes above the measurable atmosphere. After reaching an altitude of 101,595 feet while flying a zoom profile, the aircraft departed controlled flight and went into a flat spin. Yeager stayed with it until he finally ejected at 8,500 feet. Though he suffered burns when the rocket ejection seat impacted his helmet, this was the first successful ejection ever made with a full pressure suit.

Dec. 20, 1968 - After being postponed several times, Maj. William J. "Pete" Knight was sitting in the cockpit of the X-15 no. 1 under the wing of the B-52 launch aircraft hoping to complete the 200th and final flight of the research program. The flight was canceled, however, due to a rare snow storm. In all, Major Knight made a total of ten attempts at a 200th flight. Funding for the program was allowed to expire as of December 31, 1968.

Dec. 14, 1986 - The Voyager, an ultra-long-range special-purpose aircraft designed by Burt Rutan, took off on an attempt to fly around the world without landing or refueling. The heavily laden aircraft used more than 14,000 ft of the 15,000-ft main runway before it lifted into the air. Nine days later, his brother Dick and Jeana Yeager landed the airplane on Rogers Dry Lake after completing the first non-stop, unrefueled flight around the world. The Voyager had stayed in the air for nine days, three minutes and 44 seconds.

Dec. 17, 1993 - During the course of a Talon Sword sortie, the Advanced Fighter Technology Integration (AFTI) F-16 received high- and low-resolution images from an orbiting intelligence satellite. This was the first time that a tactical platform (either aircraft or ground vehicle) received real-time intelligence imagery, and it offered the promise that attack aircraft in the future would be able to receive near real-time information about target status and threats.

Dec. 16, 1994 - The C-17 Combined Test Force completed the Engineering and Manufacturing Development flight test program for the new heavy-lift transport after 1,134 flight test missions totaling 4,096 flight hours.

Dec. 16, 2000 - The X-35C, the Navy version of the Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter demonstrator, made its first flight. The aircraft, built to evaluate aircraft carrier approach handling characteristics, made a 27-minute flight from Palmdale to Edwards AFB, where the testing was to be conducted. The X-35C had a large wing and control surfaces for the Navy application.

Dec 22, 2003 - Two guided missile launches at two different ranges were completed in one day, a first for the F-22 Combined Test Force. In the first mission, Raptor 4005 launched a radar-guided medium-range AIM-120C AMRAM against a low-altitude drone in a complex look-down engagement. In the second, Raptor 4007 launched a short-range heat-seeking AIM-9 in a rear aspect shot against a Navy drone flying over the Pacific Ocean. The drone was downed by a direct hit.

Dec. 6, 2005 - During a ten-second ground firing test, the Airborne Laser's megawatt-class chemical laser passed a major milestone when it transmitted enough energy to destroy a ballistic missile during the boost phase of its flight. The COIL laser had been fired more than 70 times, with shots of progressively longer duration since ground testing began on 10 November.

Dec. 15, 2006 - Flight testing of synthetic Fischer-Tropsch fuel reached a major milestone when a B-52H flew a successful 6.1-hour sortie using only the alternative fuel blend in all eight engines. The sortie was piloted by AFFTC Commander Maj. Gen. Curt Bedke, who flew a variety of mission elements and flight profiles.

Dec. 11, 2010 - AF-03, the newest F-35A Lighting II Joint Strike Fighter, arrived at Edwards AFB from Fort Worth, Texas, for developmental test and evaluation. Outfitted with avionics and sensors, AF-03 was the first mission-systems aircraft to join the test fleet. (AF-01 and AF-02 had arrived at Edwards in May 2010.) Two days later, the aircraft completed its first test flight.