FIRST FLIGHT TEST
GIANT TROOP PLANE CARRIES 100 SOLDIERS NEW YORK, Nov. 23 Before a crowd of 100,000, the world’s largest land-based plane soared Into the air at San Diego, California, today on its first test flight. The plane; which is designed to carry 100 fully-equipped troops has six pusher, type engines, weighs 132 tons, and has a crew of nine. It was built by the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation and is known as CX99. The plane is 132 ft. long and its tail towers 57ft. into the air—about the same height as a five-storey building. It has a maximum range of 8000 miles, a top speed of 300 miles an hour and a ceiling of 30,000 ft. It is, however, smaller than Howard Hughes giant flying-boat which made a short flight recently and which weighs 200 tons. The flying-boat carries 700 soldiers and is 219 ft. long. After one hour aloft, the plane landed, according to observers, “as lightly as a feather.”
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Bibliographic details
Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22494, 25 November 1947, Page 5
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163FIRST FLIGHT TEST Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22494, 25 November 1947, Page 5
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