DOUGLAS XB-19A 27 June 1941 ...

[Mark Allen M]

Interesting video ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwTm-CZli0g

16mm color film, DOUGLAS XB-19A is seen here on its initial test flight from Clover Field to March Field being flown by Major Stanley M. Umstead on June 27 1941, in attendance were any officials and military dignitaries to watch the initial flight of this behemoth including Hollywood moguel Howard Hughes and documentary and educational film producer Paul Hoefler toward the end.

The Douglas XB-19 was the largest bomber aircraft built for the United States Army Air Forces until 1946. It was originally given the designation XBLR-2 (XBLR denoting "Experimental Bomber Long Range").
The normal combat crew of the XB-19 was 16, which included a pilot, co-pilot, aircraft commander, navigator, flight engineer, radio operator, bombardier, a gunner operating the nose power turret, a gunner who operated 0.30-inch guns pointing from each side of the nose compartment, a gunner operating the forward dorsal power turret, an upper rear dorsal turret gunner, two waist gunners, a belly gunner, a tail gunner, and a gunner seated below the stabilizer operating 0.30-inch guns firing from either side of the aircraft. However, an additional crew consisting of 2 flight mechanics and six relief crewmembers could be carried in a special compartment installed in the fuselage above the bomb bay with eight seats and six bunks. Passages in the lower wing gave mechanics direct access to the engines while the aircraft was in flight. The XB-19 even had a complete galley for the inflight preparation of hot meals.
Over three years behind the original schedule, the first flight of the XB-19 took place from Clover Field in Santa Monica on June 27, 1941 with a crew of seven captained by Major Stanley M. Umstead. On its first flight, it was flown to March Field and turned over to the Army for evaluation. Such was the degree of popular enthusiasm aroused by the XB-19 that President Franklin Roosevelt himself telegraphed congratulations to Donald Douglas for this achievement.

[Michel Lemieux]

Nice bounce on landing!!!!

Tks for sharing Mark!

[jdvoss]

As a point of interest the initial flight of the B-19 carried a number of Commorative letters documenting this first flight. I have one of these letters addressed to me ( I was 3 months old at the time) and "witnessed" the event but in reality I probably slept thru it all. Also, this flight also marked the last time that domestic mail was carried by army aircraft.

JDVoss
www.fuselagecodes.com