Bird of Paradise (aircraft)
| Bird of Paradise | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Fokker C-2 Bird of Paradise | |
| Type | Atlantic-Fokker C-2 |
| Manufacturer | Atlantic Aircraft Corporation |
| Serial | 26-202 |
| First flight | 1927 |
| Owners and operators | United States Army Air Corps |
| In service | 1927-1930 |
| Fate | Intentionally destroyed in 1944 while in storage at Wright Field |
The Bird of Paradise was a military airplane used by the United States Army Air Corps in 1927 to experiment with the application of radio beacon aids in air navigation. On June 28–29, 1927, the Bird of Paradise, crewed by 1st Lt. Lester J. Maitland and 1st Lt. Albert F. Hegenberger, completed the first flight over the Pacific Ocean from the mainland, California, to Hawaii. For this feat the crew received the Mackay Trophy.
The Bird of Paradise was one of three Atlantic-Fokker C-2 trimotor transport planes developed for the Air Corps from the civilian Fokker F.VIIa/3m airliner design. Its two-ton carrying capacity gave it the ability to carry sufficient fuel for the 2,500 miles (4,000 km) flight and its three motors provided an acceptable safety factor in the event one engine failed. Moreover, although modified for the long distance flight, the C-2 was a widely used standard design, demonstrating the practicality of flying long distances.
Although the recognition accorded Maitland and Hegenberger was less in comparison with the extensive adulation given to Charles Lindbergh for his transatlantic flight only five weeks earlier, their feat was arguably more significant from a navigational standpoint.
Planning for a transoceanic flight began in February 1919 at McCook Field in Dayton, Ohio, by members of the Air Service, the immediate forerunner of the Air Corps. 2nd Lt. Albert F. Hegenberger, an MIT-trained aeronautical engineer assigned to the Air Service Engineering Division, established the Instrument Branch to study ideas in air navigation (or avigation, as it was referred to at that time), and produce "new developments in compasses, airspeed meters, driftmeters, sextants, and maps." Hegenberger educated himself in over-water flight by attending a U.S. Navy course in navigation at Pensacola, Florida, that included flights over the Gulf of Mexico practicing dead reckoning and celestial navigation.
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