In 1930, aviation pioneer Louis Charles Joseph Blériot established the Blériot Trophy, to be awarded to an aviator who demonstrated flight at a speed of 1,242.742 mph for 30 minutes. Three decades later, on this day in1961, a USAF Convair B-58A-10-CF Hustler, The Firefly, did just that. Flown by a crew consisting of Aircraft Commander, Major Elmer E. Murphy, Navigator, Major Eugene Moses, and Defensive Systems Officer, First Lieutenant David F. Dickerson, the Mach 2+ Strategic Air Command bomber flew from New York to Paris in 30 minutes, 43 seconds. Their average speed was 1,302.07 mph. The marble trophy was presented to the B-58 crew by Alice Védères Blériot, widow of Louis Blériot, at Paris, France, May 27. It is on permanent display at the McDermott Library of the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Tragically, on 3 June 1961, the Blériot Trophy-winning crew of Murphy, Moses and Dickerson departed Le Bourget Airport for the return trip to America. The B-58 crashed five miles from the airport. All three men were killed and the aircraft totally destroyed.
No comments:
Post a Comment