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 On this day in engineering history, Col. Joe Duckworth made the first meterological flight into a hurricane. Duckworth, a colonel in the U.S. Army Air Corps (now the Air Force), flew an AT-6 Texan directly into the Surprise Hurricane of July 27, 1943. Although Duckworth's historic flight was intentional, it began as a bet at Bryan Field, after British pilots who watched the evacuation of the AT-6 Texan questioned the aircraft's construction. In response, Col. Duckworth flew directly into the eye of the storm with the trainer and his navigator. He would later make the flight a second time, this time with the base weather officer onboard. Once Duckworth and his navigators were able to show that hurricane reconnaissance flights were plausible, the beginning of modern-day hurricane hunting was born.
The AT-6 Texan that Col. Duckworth flew was a single- engine aircraft manufactured by North American Aviation. It was designed to train fighter pilots in the U.S armed forces during World War II. Based on the North American NA-16 prototype, the AT-6 Texas also saw action during the Korean War, when these aircraft were designated T-6 Mosquitoes. Today, AT-6 Texans can be seen regularly at air shows. They've also been featured in movies, sometimes representing other aircraft such as Mitsubishi Zeroes.
Today, American hurricane hunters work for the U.S. Air Force (USAF), the U. S. Navy (USN), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA). Based in Biloxi, Mississippi, the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron uses specially- instrumented WC-130J aircraft to fly into the storms to collect weather data. Although satellites are used extensively to forecast storms before they form, many aspects of hurricanes can be measured only by the squadron's self-described "hurricane hunters". To predict the storm's intensity and path, the interior barometric pressure and accurate wind speed and direction must be collected directly from the storm. "Hurricane hunter" planes directly penetrate the eye of the hurricane several times during one mission.
Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_hunter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1943_Surprise_Hurricane
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-6_Texan
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/iwx/program_areas/wxhisttdy/index.php?url=Jul27
http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/almanac/arc2003/alm03jul.htm
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Re: July 27, 1943 – The First Meterological Flight into a Hurricane
