The Widowmakers Read online

  The Widowmakers

  Edward C. Jones

  The Widowmakers

  Copyright © March 21, 2012 by Edward C. Jones

  All photographs courtesy Wikipedia Creative Commons license unless otherwise stated.

  Visit the author’s blog at www.onebuckbooks.us

  Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey

  AV-8B Harrier II "Jump Jet"

  K-19 Soviet Nuclear Ballistic Missile Submarine

  Lockheed F-104 Starfighter

  Martin B26 Marauder

  Suzuki TL-1000S high-performance sport bike

  Prologue

  The term “widowmaker” refers to someone, or something, that makes widows. One common use of the term has been to refer to vehicles- mostly military- that have or had a high tendency of killing their occupants, thereby creating widows in the process. That class of vehicles is precisely what this book is about. I’ve researched the background stories behind each entry in this collection of widowmakers, and collected the fascinating details about why each of these vehicles falls in the “widowmaker” class. I hope that you enjoy reading these details as much as I’ve enjoyed researching and writing about these “widowmakers.”

  -Ed Jones

  Table of Contents

  1. Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey

  2. AV-8B Harrier II “Jump Jet”

  3. K-19 Soviet Nuclear Ballistic Missile Submarine

  7. Lockheed F-104 Starfighter

  5. Martin B-26 Marauder

  6. Suzuki TL-1000S Motorcycle

  Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey

  A V-22 Osprey flies over Florida’s Emerald Coast. (Source: Wikipedia Commons)

  The V 22 Osprey almost didn't make inclusion in this book as a widow maker, even though a squadron of Marines gave it that name nearly two decades ago. The Osprey of today is certainly not the Osprey that was in production back in the early 1990s. And after four tragic crashes, multiple groundings of the fleet, and a major redesign of the aircraft based on lessons learned, the Osprey is currently flying missions in Afghanistan as part of the U.S. Marine Corps' operational fleet. However, there's no denying that a deep cost, in terms of dollars spent and in the sacrifice of lives lost, was paid to make the V 22 Osprey what it has become today: a certified combat-ready vertical / short takeoff and landing aircraft.

  During the past 30 years, the U.S. military has spent over 30 billion dollars, and has lost 30 lives, in its development and implementation of the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey. The Osprey is a twin engine, tilt rotor vertical short takeoff and landing aircraft. Part helicopter and part airplane, the Osprey was designed from the outset to combine the takeoff-anyplace, land-anywhere flexibility of the helicopter with the speed and range of a more conventional turboprop airplane. Driven by the U.S. Marine Corps' desire to replace its aging CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters with a more flexible troop transport, the United States Department of Defense in 1993 awarded a development contract for a tilt rotor aircraft to two companies simultaneously: Bell Helicopter, and Boeing's Rotorcraft Systems Division. The result of this contract was the V-22 Osprey, a revolutionary tilt wing aircraft with jet powered rotors that could take off and land like a helicopter, then rotate its rotors while in flight in order to fly like a turboprop airplane, at 2 to 3 times the speed of a conventional troop transport helicopter.

  The V-22 Osprey’s first developmental test flight took place in March of 1989. Indicative of the problems encountered during the Osprey's development is the fact that production versions of the Osprey did not reach any squadron of Marines until mid-2007, a full 18 years later. Defenders of the program point out that, after major redesigns and technical improvements, the Osprey has now proven itself as one of the safer aircraft in the U.S. military arsenal. Detractors, however, argue that after spending more than $30,000,000,000 on the program, the continuing high maintenance costs behind the Osprey make the bird not worth its cost, particularly during tight economic times.

  The Osprey indeed offered high hopes when the project was conceived. Looking for all the world like a stubby propeller aircraft with its propellers pointing in the wrong direction- directly upwards- the Osprey lifts directly into the air, like a helicopter. Once airborne, the massive rotors tilt forward and the aircraft transitions to fixed wing mode, behaving like a conventional airplane. During its decades of development, the Osprey suffered a series of crashes that gave the bird its ‘widowmaker’ reputation for years, and nearly killed off the entire project. During testing from 1991 through 2000, there were four major crashes involving the Osprey:

  • In June of 1991, a pre-production Osprey crashed while hovering just above the ground at a Boeing test facility in New Castle, Delaware, when its left nacelle struck the runway while hovering just 15 feet in the air. An investigation revealed a miswired flight control system to be the cause.

  • In July of 1992, the right engine on another pre-production Osprey failed, causing the aircraft to fall into the Potomac River near Quantico Marine Base in full view of an audience of congressmen and other government officials. An investigation revealed that flammable liquids had collected in the right engine, causing a fire and subsequent engine failure. All seven soldiers aboard the aircraft were killed, and the incident caused the grounding of the fleet for 22 months after the accident.

  • In April of 2000, an Osprey loaded with 19 Marines simulating a rescue operation attempted a landing at Marana Regional Northwest Airport in Arizona. The right rotor entered a vortex ring state, and the Osprey stalled, rolled over, and crashed. All nineteen aboard were killed in the crash.

  • In December of 2000, an Osprey experienced a catastrophic failure of its hydraulic system and fell 1600 feet into a forest near Jacksonville, North Carolina, killing all four Marines on board. After this crash, the corps grounded its fleet of eight Ospreys, the second grounding of the fleet to take place during the year 2000.

  After the fourth crash, the Pentagon grounded the entire fleet, and ordered an exhaustive review of the Osprey program by outside industry experts. The panel of experts hired by the Pentagon reached the conclusion that the Osprey's basic tilt rotor design was sound, but that engineering and manufacturing mistakes had combined to create an aircraft that was a nightmare to fly, and a nightmare to maintain. Included among the panel's list of issues were a hydraulics system prone to failure, major bugs in the computer software that controlled the tilt wing rotors, and human ignorance of a possible flight condition known as vortex ring state. All helicopters are subject to vortex ring state, and the condition was the cause of the Marana, Arizona tragedy.

  After the Pentagon's review of the program very nearly killed off the entire project, the Bell-Boeing team made major changes to correct the engineering flaws. And Marine Corps' test pilots greatly expanded the corps knowledge base of how tilt rotor aircraft function within a vortex ring state condition, flying over 2000 hours in testing operations. Following that, the corps took a small fleet of eight redesigned aircraft into what is known as an ‘operational evaluation.’ The squadron that was specially assigned to this fleet of aircraft flew 170 simulated missions encompassing more than 750 hours of flying time. They flew a number of flights throughout the desert and mountainous areas of California and Nevada, to simulate the conditions the Marine Corps would encounter in Afghanistan and Iraq. And the squadron used aircraft carriers based out of the San Diego naval air station to imitate conditions that would be found when trying to operate from amphibious assault ships. After all of this extensive testing, the Osprey appears to have finally shed its "widowmaker" reputation. "Over the last three to four years, we have gotten rid of all the myths, all the bad things people said about this airplane," said Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Michael Hough, Deputy Commandant for Aviation, as quoted in an article by Co
pley News Service (July 15, 2005). When asked what he would say to the families of those who died in the Osprey crashes, Hough said, "they didn't die in vain, they died proving this airplane will work. We are going to make good on what they did for this country."

  Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey

  General characteristics

  • Crew: Four (pilot, copilot and two flight engineers/crew chiefs)

  • Capacity:

  • 24 troops (seated), 32 troops (floor loaded), or

  • 20,000 lb (9,070 kg) of internal cargo, or up to 15,000 lb (6,800 kg) of external cargo (dual hook)

  • 1× Growler light internally transportable ground vehicle

  • Length: 57 ft 4 in (17.5 m)

  • Rotor diameter: 38 ft 0 in (11.6 m)

  • Wingspan: 45 ft 10 in (14 m)

  • Width with rotors: 84 ft 7 in (25.8 m)

  • Height: 22 ft 1 in/6.73 m; overall with nacelles vertical (17 ft 11 in/5.5 m; at top of tailfins)

  • Disc area: 2,268 ft² (212 m²)

  • Wing area: 301.4 ft² (28 m²)

  • Empty weight: 33,140 lb (15,032 kg)

  • Loaded weight: 47,500 lb (21,500 kg)

  • Max. takeoff weight: 60,500 lb (27,400 kg)

  • Powerplant: 2 × Rolls-Royce Allison T406/AE 1107C-Liberty turboshafts, 6,150 hp (4,590 kW) each

  Performance

  • Maximum speed: 275 knots (509 km/h, 316 mph) at sea level / 305 kn (565 km/h; 351 mph) at 15,000 ft (4,600 m)

  • Cruise speed: 241 knots (277 mph, 446 km/h) at sea level

  • Range: 879 nmi (1,011 mi, 1,627 km)

  • Combat radius: 390 nmi (426 mi, 722 km)

  • Ferry range: 1,940 nmi (2,230 mi, 3,590 km) with auxiliary internal tanks

  • Service ceiling: 25,000 ft (7,620 m)

  • Rate of climb: 2,320 ft/min (11.8 m/s)

  • Disc loading: 20.9 lb/ft² at 47,500 lb GW (102.23 kg/m²)

  Power/mass: 0.259 hp/lb (427 W/kg)

  Osprey parked with rotors in partial tilt configuration. (Photo courtesy American Helicopter Museum.)

  US Marine Corps paratroopers parachute from a V-22 Osprey (photo source: U.S. Marine Corps)

  AV-8B Harrier II "Jump Jet"

  An AV-8B Harrier II jet hovers prior to landing at a USMC base.

  “Difficult, but honest.” –words used by Marine Corps Lt. Col. Peter E. Young to describe the AV-8B Harrier fighter jet.

  On a clear day back in 1998, Veteran Marine Corps pilot Lieutenant Colonel Peter E. Young was just above 14,000 feet while at the controls of his AV-8B Harrier II fighter jet when disaster struck-- the jet's single engine suddenly quit. Young tried twice to restart the engine, with no success. Radioing his wingman, as the sophisticated attack jet fell below 10,000 feet, Young called out "I'm losing control of this thing... I've got zero hydraulics, I've got nothing. I'm getting out of this thing... get out of my way!"

  As the jet passed below the 7,500 foot level still high above the California Desert, Lieutenant Colonel Young pulled the ejection handle. But as his ejection seat shot out of the plane's cockpit, the seat also malfunctioned, rotating out of position. As Young's parachute deployed above him, the harness straps twisted violently against his helmet, killing the 42 year old lieutenant colonel and father of two instantly by breaking his neck. The aircraft that an entire Marine Corps squadron had dubbed the "widowmaker" had just created another widow.

  The AV-8B Harrier jump jet, made by McDonnell Douglas (and through a merger now part of Boeing) is a second generation V/STOL (vertical/short takeoff and landing) attack fighter aircraft. Capable yet incredibly complex, the problem-plagued aircraft was based on the original British Harrier Siddley Hawker. The McDonnell Douglas AV-8B was an extensive redesign of the Hawker Siddley Harrier, as the American military forces considered the original Harrier to be lacking both in terms of payload capacity and range. In the 1980s, under contract to the U.S. Navy, McDonnell Douglas modified the original Harrier design with new wings, modified exhaust nozzles, a beefed up engine, and numerous other refinements.

  The AV-8B Harrier II, despite its major advancements, kept the basic layout of the original Hawker Siddley Harrier, having stubby, shoulder mounted wings and a horizontal stabilizer tail. Powered by a single Rolls Royce turbofan engine, the Harrier's main claim to fame lay in its four synchronized exhaust nozzles, two at the front and and two at the rear, that can pivot from a conventional aft-facing direction to a downwards position, giving the jet its ability to hover or even lift off from a stationary position. The AV-8B Harrier II was also the first combat aircraft to make extensive use of carbon fiber composite materials, with over ¼ of the aircraft's total weight attributed to composites.

  Despite its successful use in numerous conflicts including the Persian Gulf war, Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, and Operation Odyssey Dawn in Libya, the Harrier family of attack aircraft had a viciously high accident rate- three times that of the Marine Corps' other attack fighter, the F/A 18 Hornet. According to a Los Angeles Times article of December 13, 2002, 45 Marines lost their lives in 143 noncombat accidents since the Marine Corps began using variants of the Harrier. Over 1/3 of the entire fleet has been lost to accidents.

  The choice of the Harrier as part of the Marine Corps flight arsenal matched the long range vision of the Marine Corps, which is to have aircraft that combine the best traits of both a fixed wing jet and a helicopter. In this respect, the design demands of the Marine Corps differ radically from that of the Navy, Air Force, and Army. Both the AV-8B Harrier II and the problem plagued V-22 Osprey also detailed in this book are offshoots of this same vision. And given this stated mission of the Marine Corps, it's no surprise that the corps loved the looks of the Harrier when they first saw it at a British Air show in the late 1960s. With its distinctive, swept stubby wings, and four adjustable nozzles, the Harrier is admittedly a technological masterpiece-- when it is working. The single Rolls Royce turbofan engine can generate nearly 24,000 pounds of thrust directed to move up four adjustable nozzles to produce a blast of hot air that can lift the aircraft off the ground to a stationary hovering position. Technically marvelous but also incredibly unstable, the first generation Harriers had an annoying habit of flipping over and crashing themselves into the ground. The redesigned McDonnell Douglas version provided stability improvements, but the Harrier still had twice the accident rate of the U.S. Air force F-16 Falcon, an attack jet similar in size and capability.

  Interestingly, in over three decades of use, the well-known capability of the Harrier to take off vertically has never once been used in combat. The Harrier has demonstrated this capability in air shows, in training maneuvers, and notably in the movie "True Lies" where Arnold Schwarzenegger takes control of a Harrier while saving Miami from a terrorist threat. The vertical short takeoff and landing capability of the Harrier made for a technologically complex machine, and the four synchronized nozzles actually increased its vulnerability in a battlefield situation, as the heat producing nozzles became clear targets for heat-seeking missiles fired by opposing forces. During the Persian Gulf war, five Harriers were shot down and two pilots lost their lives, a loss rate that was more than twice that of the other main U.S. forces’ combat jets. In the L.A. Times article, Franklin C. " Chuck" Spivey, an evaluator of tactical aircraft for the Pentagon, stated "It's the most vulnerable plane that's in service today. You can't hit that thing without hitting something important."

  The AV-8B Harrier is no longer in production, scheduled for eventual replacement by the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a next generation project for America's combined military forces operating well into the 21st century. (The short takeoff and landing variant of the F-35 is being developed with a single large downwards-facing turbofan under the belly of the aircraft to provide the lifting forces needed for short takeoff and landing operations, hopefully without the technical complexities that have plagued both the AV-8B Harrier and the V-22 Osprey.)

  AV-8B Harrier “Jump Jet”
– Specifications

  General characteristics

  Crew: 1 pilot

  Length: 46 ft 4 in (14.12 m)

  Wingspan: 30 ft 4 in (9.25 m)

  Height: 11 ft 8 in (3.55 m)

  Wing area: 243.4 ft² (22.61 m²)

  Airfoil: supercritical airfoil

  Empty weight: 13,968 lb (6,340 kg)

  Loaded weight: 22,950 lb (10,410 kg)

  Max. takeoff weight:

  Rolling: 31,000 lb (14,100 kg)

  Vertical: 20,755 lb (9,415 kg)

  Powerplant: 1 × Rolls-Royce F402-RR-408 (Mk 107) vectored-thrust turbofan, 23,500 lbf (105 kN)

  Performance

  Maximum speed: Mach 1.0 (585 knots, 673 mph, 1,083 km/h)

  Range: 1,200 nmi (1,400 mi, 2,200 km)

  Combat radius: 300 nmi (350 mi, 556 km)

  Ferry range: 1,800 nmi (2,100 mi, 3,300 km)

  Rate of climb: 14,700 ft/min (4,485 m/min)

  Wing loading: 94.29 lb/ft² (460.4 kg/m²)

  Armament

  Guns: 1× General Dynamics GAU-12 Equalizer 25 mm (0.984 in) 5-barreled gatling cannon mounted under-fuselage in the left pod, with 300 rounds of ammunition in the right pod

  Hardpoints: 6× under-wing pylon stations holding up to 13,200 lb (5,988 kg) of payload:

  Rockets: 4× LAU-5003 rocket pods (each with 19× CRV7 70 mm rockets)

  Missiles: (Air-to-air missiles 4× AIM-9 Sidewinder or similar-sized infrared-guided missiles; 6× AIM-120 AMRAAM (on radar equipped AV-8B Plus variants); (Air-to-surface missiles:) 6× AGM-65 Maverick; or 2× AGM-84 Harpoon; or 2× AGM-88 HARM