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Aero Commander 500 family

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The Aero Commander 500 family is a series of light-twin piston-engined and turboprop aircraft originally built by the Aero Design and Engineering Company in the late 1940s, renamed the Aero Commander company in 1950, and later a division of Rockwell International in 1965. Final production occurred under the Gulfstream Aerospace name. The initial production version was the 200 mph (320 km/h; 170 kn), seven-seat Aero Commander 520. An improved version, the 500S, manufactured after 1967, is known as the Shrike Commander. Larger variants are known by numerous model names and designations, ranging up to the 330 mph (530 km/h; 290 kn), 11-seat Model 695B/Jetprop 1000B turboprop.[1] As of recent, the Aero Commander is known as the Twin Commander.

Aero Commander twins
690C Jetprop 1000
General information
TypeUtility and business aircraft
National originUnited States
ManufacturerAero Design and Engineering Company
Aero Commander
Rockwell-Standard Corporation
North American Rockwell
Rockwell International
Gulfstream Aerospace
StatusActive
Number built~2,902 (1951 piston-engined, 951 turboprops)
History
Manufactured1951–1986
Introduction dateOctober 1952
First flight23 April 1948 (Model L3085)

Design and development

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The first model, the five-seat 520, was certified in January 1952 with two 260 HP Lycoming GO-435s

The idea for the Commander light business twin was conceived by Ted Smith, a project engineer at the Douglas Aircraft Company.[2] Working part-time after hours throughout 1944, a group of A-20 engineers formed the Aero Design and Engineering Company to design and build the proposed aircraft with a layout similar to their A-20 bomber.[2][3] Originally, the new company was going to build three pre-production aircraft, but as the first aircraft was being built, they decided to build just one prototype.[2] The final configuration was completed in July 1946 and was designated the Model L3805.[2]

Registered NX1946, the prototype first flew on 23 April 1948.[2] The L3805 accommodated up to five people and was powered by two Lycoming O-435-A piston engines.,[1] it was an all-metal high-wing monoplane with retractable undercarriage using components from a Vultee BT-13 Valiant. The market segment planned for this aircraft to be sold to small feeder airliner firms and was originally designed to carry seven passengers, but instead found use in the private business aircraft and military market.[4] Walter Beech test flew the aircraft in 1949 and expressed interest in buying the project, but passed on it, to instead develop the Beechcraft Twin Bonanza. Fairchild Aircraft also evaluated the prototype at its Hagerstown, Maryland, headquarters.[3]

The prototype flew successfully and the company leased, at no cost, a new 26,000 square feet (2,400 m2) factory at Bethany near Oklahoma City to build a production version, certified on 30 June 1950. Nearly 10,000 hours of redesign work went into the model, including more powerful Lycoming GO-435-C2 engines, with a combined rating of 520 horsepower (390 kW). The production model was named the Commander 520. The first Commander 520 was rolled out of the new factory in August 1951. Serial number 1 was used as a demonstrator, then sold in October 1952 to the Asahi Shimbun Press Company of Tokyo.[citation needed]

Operational history

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Special mission cabin for the NOAA

In military service it was initially designated the L-26, though in 1962 this was changed to U-4 for the United States Air Force and U-9 for the United States Army.

Under ownership of Rockwell in the 1960s, World War II pilot R. A. "Bob" Hoover demonstrated the Shrike Commander 500S for decades in a variety of "managed energy" routines, including single-engine and engine-out aerobatics.[5][6] His Shrike Commander is displayed in the colors of his last sponsor, Evergreen International Aviation, at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Bob Odegaard continued the tradition in 2012, flying a 1975 Shrike 500S in a Bob Hoover tribute routine.[7]

One U-4B became a presidential transport aircraft for Dwight D. Eisenhower between 1956 and 1960.[citation needed] This was the smallest "Air Force One", and the first to wear the now-familiar blue-and-white livery.[citation needed] This aircraft is now owned by the Commemorative Air Force.[8]

As of 2004 Shrike Commanders remained in service with the United States Customs Service, United States Coast Guard, and United States Forest Service.[1]

A single 560F was operated by the Belgian Air Force as the personal transport of the late king Baudouin of Belgium from 1961 to 1973.[9]

According to the July 1, 1968, Frontier Airlines system timetable, series 500 aircraft were being operated on scheduled passenger flights by Combs Aviation on behalf of Frontier via a contract agreement with service to several smaller communities in Montana and Wyoming at this time.[10][11]

The unpressurized, long-fuselage 680FL was operated as a small package freighter by Combs Freightair in the 1970s and 1980s, and by Suburban Air Freight in the 1980s and 1990s. The aircraft was popular with pilots, because it was extremely "pilot friendly" and with its 380 hp (280 kW) supercharged engines did well in icing meteorological conditions. A number are still operated on contracts for cargo and fire control applications, as their piston engines offer good fuel specifics at low altitudes and longer loiter times. Suburban retired their last 680FLs in the first half of 2024.

Wing spar fatigue

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Beginning in June 1991, senior engineers met with FAA officials to discuss concerns over the Aero Commander's main wing spar, which was believed to be susceptible to stress fatigue and subsequent cracking, and was believed to have resulted in a number of fatal crashes.[12] From approximately 1961 to 1993, 24 aircraft crashed when spar failures caused the loss of the wing in flight.[12] 35 more spars were found cracked during inspections.[12]

Single-engine safety

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In 1950, when the developers were working to satisfy Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA) regulations for certification of the 500, they chose a novel method of demonstrating its single-engine safety and performance: they removed one of the two-bladed propellers, secured it in the aft cabin, and flew from Bethany to Washington, D.C., on one engine. There they met with CAA personnel, then replaced the propeller and returned to Oklahoma in the conventional manner. The flight received nationwide coverage in the press.[13][14]

In 1979, the National Transportation Safety Board reviewed light-twin engine-failure accidents, involving the 24 most popular model-groups of light twins between 1972 and 1976. They found that the piston-engined twin-Commanders had averaged slightly over 3.4 engine-failure accidents per hundred-thousand hours, the second worst number of all aircraft under review.[15][16] The most engine failures were suffered by the small-engine versions of the Piper Apache, at 6.9 failures per hundred thousand hours; the third-worst, the Beechcraft Travel Air, averaged 2.9 failures; the average for all models was only 1.6.[15][16]

Countering the statistical evidence, Rockwell demonstration pilot Bob Hoover's famous airshow stunt routine, with the Shrike Commander, included a full aerobatic routine performed first with both engines, then with one engine out (and the critical engine, at that), then both engines out, and gliding. Then in his final airshow performance, in a supreme demonstration of conservation of momentum, he did all that, then landed the Shrike Commander dead stick (engines off), coasted the airplane down the runway then from the runway down the taxiway and silently let the craft roll slowly to a full stop right in front of the crowd.[17][18][19]

The turboprop twin-Commanders—with much more powerful engines (and most with longer bodies, allowing greater rudder leverage, critical for single-engine control[14][20]) – came out on the opposite end of the rankings, with one of the lowest rates of engine-failure accidents of all "light" twins examined, at only 0.4 per hundred-thousand hours.[15]

Variants

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  •  
    Certified from 1954, the seven-seat 560 is powered by two 270–295 hp (201–220 kW) Lycoming GO-480s.
  •  
    From 1955, the 680 has Supercharged 340–380 hp (250–280 kW) Lycoming GSO-480s.
  •  
    From 1958, the lighter 500 is powered by two 250–290 hp (190–220 kW) Lycoming O-540s or Continental IO-470s.
  •  
    From 1963, the stretched 680-FL offered up to eleven seats.
  •  
    It gained two 575 hp (429 kW) AiResearch TPE-331 turboprops from the 680-T in 1965.
  •  
    From 1971, the heavier 690 has a larger wing and more powerful 717.5–748 hp (535–558 kW) TPE-331s.
  •  
    From 1979, the final 695 Jetprop 980/1000 is powered by 733–820 hp (547–611 kW) TPE-331s.
Type certificate data sheet 6A1[21] and 2A4[22]
model name approved TC engines power MTOW ceiling seats fuel built[a]
L.3805 1
520 1952-01-31 6A1 2× GO-435-C2/C2B 2× 260 5500-5700 5 145 150
560 1954-05-28 6A1 2× GO-480-B/B1C 2× 270 6000 7 145 80
more powerful 520 with increased weight and swept tail, revised wing, landing gear, fuselage, vertical tail, and primary control system
560A 1955-07-01 6A1 2× GO-480-D/C/G 2× 275 6000 7 156
560 with longer fuselage, revised engine installation, wing, landing gear, fuel and oil systems
560E 1957-02-21 6A1 2× GO-480-C/G 2× 295 6500 7 223 93
560A with Larger wings and greater payload[a], revised engine installation, wing, wheel and brake installation, fuel system with outboard tanks, and landing gear location
560F 1961-02-08 2A4 2× IGO-540-B 2× 350 7500 7 223
680F with unsupercharged engine and reduced gross weight
360 2× 180 4 1
Lightened 560E[a]
500 1958-07-24 6A1 2× O-540-A2B 2× 250 6000 7 156 101
560E with decreased gross weight, powerplants, and 560A landing gear
500A Aero Commander 1960-04-07 6A1 2× IO-470-M 2× 260 6000 7 156 99
500 with new nacelles,[a] fuel injection engine and new landing gear
500B 1960-07-13 6A1 2× IO-540-B/E 2× 290 6750 7 156 217
500A with fuel injection[a]
500U Shrike Commander 1964-12-11 6A1 2× IO-540-E 2× 290 6750 7 156 56
500B with pointed nose and squared off tail[a]
500S Shrike Commander 1968-03-15 6A1 2× IO-540-E 2× 290 6750 7 156 316
500U with minor changes[23][page needed]
680 Super L-26C → U-4B[b]
L-26C → U-9C[c]		 1955-10-14 2A4 2× GSO-480-A1A6 2× 340 7000 7 223 254
supercharged 560A [a]
680E 1958-06-19 2A4 2× GSO-480-B1A6 2× 340 7500 7 223 100
680 with Lightened 560E/560A type undercarriage[a], extended wing and increased maximum weight
720 AltiCruiser 1958-12-05 2A4 2× GSO-480-B1A6 2× 340 7500 6 223 13
Pressurized 680-E, structural modifications to the fuselage, extended wing and increased maximum weight
680F 1960-08-23 2A4 2× IGSO-540-B 2× 380 8000 7 223 126
680E with fuel injection engine, new nacelles, new main gear and increased maximum weight
680FP 2× 380 223 26
Pressurized 680F[a]
680FL Grand Commander 1963-05-24 2A4 2× IGSO-540-B 2× 380 7000-8500 11 223 157
680F with larger tail, 2 built for the US Army as the RL-26D → RU-9D with SLAR, Courser Commander after 1967;[a] stretched
680FL(P) Grand Commander 1964-10-08 2A4 2× IGSO-540-B1A/B1C 2× 380 8500 11 223 37
pressurized 680FL
680T Turbo Commander 1965-09-15 2A4 2× TPE-331-43 2× 575 8950 25,000 ft 11 286.5 56
680FL/P turboprop[a]
680V Turbo Commander 1967-06-13 2A4 2× TPE-331-43 2× 575 9400 25,000 ft 11 286.5 36
680T with slightly improved cargo capacity[a]
680W Turbo II Commander 1968-02-05 2A4 2× TPE-331-43BL 2× 575 9400 25,000 ft 11 286.5 46
680V with pointed nose. squared off fin, one panoramic and two small cabin windows and weather radar [a]
681 Hawk Commander 1969-03-20 2A4 2× TPE-331-43BL 2× 575 9400 25,000 ft 11 286.5 43
680W with improved pressurisation, air conditioning system and nose[a]
681B Turbo Commander 25,000 ft 29
Marketing designation for economy version of the 681[a]
685 Commander 1971-09-17 2A4 2× GTSIO-520-F/K 2× 435 9000 25,000 ft 9 256-322 66
690 powered by piston engines[a]
690 Commander 690 1971-07-19 2A4 2× TPE-331-5 2× 717.5 10250 25,000 ft 11 384 79
681 with new wing centre section and engines moved further outboard[a]
690A Commander 690A 1973-04-25 2A4 2× TPE-331-5 2× 717.5 10250 31,000 ft 11 384 245
690 with changed flightdeck layout and increased pressurisation[a]
690B Commander 690B 1976-10-05 2A4 2× TPE-331-5 2× 717.5 10325 31,000 ft 10 384 217
690A with improved soundproofing and internal lavatory[a]
690C Jetprop 840 1979-09-07 2A4 2× TPE-331-5 2× 717.5 10325 31,000 ft 11 384 136
690B with increased wingspan, wet wing fuel tanks and winglets[a]
690D Jetprop 900 1981-12-02 2A4 2× TPE 331-5 2× 748 10700 31,000 ft 11 425-474 42
690C with internal rear cabin extension, improved pressurisation and five square cabin windows[a]
695 Jetprop 980 1979-11-01 2A4 2× TPE-331-10 2× 733 10325 31,000 ft 11 425-474 84
more powerful 690C[a]
695A Jetprop 1000 1981-04-30 2A4 2× TPE-331-10 2× 820 11200 35,000 ft 11 474 101
more powerful 690D with higher takeoff weight, built for the NOAA[a]
695B Jetprop 1000B 1984-02-15 2A4 2× TPE-331-10 2× 820 11750 35,000 ft 11 474 6
695A with minor changes[a]

Operators

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Islamic Republic of Iran Army Aviation 690A
 
Argentine Air Force 500U

Government operators

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  United States
  Indonesia

Military operators

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  Algeria
  Angola
  Argentina
  Bahamas
  Benin
  Bolivia
  Burkina Faso
  Colombia
  Costa Rica
  Cuba
  Dominican Republic
  Greece
  Guatemala
  Honduras
  Indonesia
  Iran
  Ivory Coast
  Kenya
  Kingdom of Laos
  Republic of Korea
  Mexico
  Nicaragua
  Niger
  Pakistan
  Panama
  Philippines
  Thailand
  United States
  Venezuela

Civil operators

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  Samoa

Notable accidents

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  • On 19 June 1964 Senator Ted Kennedy was a passenger in an Aero Commander 680 airplane flying in bad weather from Washington, D.C., to Massachusetts. It crashed into an apple orchard in the western Massachusetts town of Southampton on the final approach to the Barnes Municipal Airport near Westfield.[60][61] The pilot and Edward Moss, one of Kennedy's aides, were killed.[62] Kennedy suffered a severe back injury, a punctured lung, broken ribs and internal bleeding.[63]
  • World War II hero and actor Audie Murphy died in an Aero Commander 680 crash while flying as a passenger on 28 May 1971. The aircraft was flying in bad weather at night and was on approach to Roanoke, Virginia when it flew into the side of Brush Mountain outside Blacksburg, Virginia, West of Roanoke. Four others and the pilot were also killed.[64]
  • On 11 August 2002 photographer Galen Rowell, his wife Barbara Cushman Rowell, pilot Tom Reid and Reid's friend Carol McAffee were killed in an Aero Commander 690 crash near Eastern Sierra Regional Airport in Bishop, California.[65]
  • On Sunday 2 October 1994, an Aero Commander 690 operated by Seaview Air as flight CD111 departed for from Williamtown, NSW, on a flight to Lord Howe Island. Eight passengers, including honeymooners and a family with two children, boarded the single-pilot aircraft. 30 minutes after departure a distress call was made by the pilot with no future communications made. Only some minor wreckage was ever recovered. During the investigation a number of safety breaches by the operator were discovered including regular operations with overweight aircraft, inaccessible safety equipment & illegal regular public transport operations when the operator was only approved to operate charter flights. The incident was a significant one to occur in Australia & lead to a $20 million royal commission which resulted into fundamental changes to the governing aviation body in Australia. [66]

Specifications (Rockwell Aero Commander 500S)

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3-view line drawing of the Aero Commander L-26B

Data from Jane's all the world's aircraft 1976–77.[67]

General characteristics

  • Crew: Two
  • Capacity: four passengers
  • Length: 36 ft 9.75 in (11.22 m)
  • Wingspan: 49 ft 0.5 in (14.95 m)
  • Height: 14 ft 6 in (4.42 m)
  • Wing area: 255 sq ft (23.69 m2)
  • Aspect ratio: 9.45:1
  • Airfoil: NACA 23012 modified
  • Empty weight: 4,635 lb (2,102 kg)
  • Max takeoff weight: 6,750 lb (3,062 kg)
  • Powerplant: 2 × Lycoming IO-540-E1B5 air-cooled flat-six piston engines, 290 hp (216 kW) each

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 215 mph (346 km/h, 187 kn) at sea level (TAS)
  • Cruise speed: 203 mph (326 km/h, 176 kn) at 9,000 ft (2,750 m), 75% power, TAS
  • Stall speed: 68 mph (109 km/h, 59 kn) flaps and landing gear down, CAS
  • Minimum control speed: 75 mph (121 km/h, 65 kn)
  • Range: 1,078 mi (1,735 km, 936 nmi)
  • Service ceiling: 19,400 ft (5,913 m)
  • Rate of climb: 1,340 ft/min (6.8 m/s)

See also

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References

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x [citation needed]
  2. ^ 2 built for the US Air Force
  3. ^ 4 built for the US Army
  1. ^ a b c "Rockwell U-9A Aero Commander". March Field Air Museum. Archived from the original on 18 August 2007. Retrieved 1 August 2007.
  2. ^ a b c d e Collman, B.J. (May–June 1973). "The Aero Commander Twins". Air-Britain Digest. 15 (3): 79–86.
  3. ^ a b Williams, Nicholis M (Spring 1990). "The Aero Commander 520". AAHS Journal.
  4. ^ "What's New in Aviation: Feederliner Makes Debut". Popular Science. Vol. 153, no. 2. August 1948. p. 90.
  5. ^ "Shrike Commander". Flying. July 1972. pp. 72–73, 76.
  6. ^ Collins, Richard L. (January 1999). "Grand Renaissance: The rebirth of the tough bird". Flying. Vol. 126, no. 1. pp. 80–83.
  7. ^ "missing". Sport Aviation: 30. June 2011.
  8. ^ "President Eisenhower's Twin-Engine Air Force One". Ike's Bird. Archived from the original on 27 October 2020.
  9. ^ "Aerocommander 560f". Archived from the original on 17 February 2010.
  10. ^ "fl6807-1 JPG file".
  11. ^ "fl6807-4 JPG file".
  12. ^ a b c Swift, S. J. (1 May 1995), The Aero Commander chronicle (PDF), Civil Aviation Safety Authority, retrieved 1 August 2007
  13. ^ Harris, Richard. "The Aero Commander Line – A short history". Archived from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
  14. ^ a b Smith, Thomas Motley (1981). Multiengine Airplane Rating: A Guide to the FAA Oral and Flight Tests. Pan American Navigation Service. ISBN 0-87219-003-X. OCLC 7958067.
  15. ^ a b c "Special Study: "Light Twin-Engine Aircraft Accidents Following Engine Failures, 1972–1976 NTSB-AAS-79-2" (PDF). Washington, D.C.: National Transportation Safety Board. 1979. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
  16. ^ a b Ibold, Ken, ed. (2001). Aviation Consumer's Used Aircraft Guide. Vol. 2 (9 ed.). Greenwich, Connecticut: Belvoir Publications.
  17. ^ Cochrane, Dorothy (20 February 2014). "Robert A_ "Bob" Hoover, The Greatest Stick and Rudder Man, is Honored in Hollywood". Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Washington, D.C. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
  18. ^ "Bob Hoover flies west". GeneralAviationNews.com. 25 October 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
  19. ^ "Bob Hoover's Last Air Show". 15 June 2015 – via YouTube.
  20. ^ "Checkout in a Multiengine Airplane". Flight Training Handbook Advisory Circular 61-21A. Federal Aviation Administration.
  21. ^ "Type Certificate data sheet No. 6A1" (PDF). FAA. 25 September 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 June 2022. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  22. ^ "Type Certificate data sheet No. 2A4" (PDF). FAA. 25 September 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 November 2016.
  23. ^ Simpson 1995
  24. ^ "TxDPS – Aircraft History". dps.texas.gov. Archived from the original on 28 August 2018. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  25. ^ Seymour, Paul (28 December 2018). "AERO COMMANDER 560A, P-2001 / 310-73, INDONESIAN POLICE / POLISI". abpic.co.uk. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
  26. ^ Flight International 29 November 1986, p. 32
  27. ^ Flight International 29 November 1986, p. 33
  28. ^ Andrade 1982, p. 12
  29. ^ Andrade 1982, p. 13
  30. ^ "Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) – Air Wing". LA MILITARY. 9 April 2016.
  31. ^ Andrade 1982, p. 26
  32. ^ Flight International 29 November 1986, p. 37
  33. ^ Flight International 29 November 1986, p. 39
  34. ^ "World Air Forces 2022". FlightGlobal. 2022. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  35. ^ "División de Aviación Asalto Aéreo incorpora nuevo avión Turbo Commander 690D". webinfomil.com. 10 March 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  36. ^ Hagedorn 1993, p. 128
  37. ^ Hagedorn 1993, p. 18
  38. ^ Flight International 29 November 1986, p. 49
  39. ^ Andrade 1982, p. 94
  40. ^ Hagedorn 1993, p. 55
  41. ^ a b "World Air Forces 2021". FlightGlobal. 4 December 2020. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  42. ^ Andrade 1982, p. 106
  43. ^ Andrade 1982, p. 107
  44. ^ Andrade 1982, p. 109
  45. ^ Andrade 1982, p. 110
  46. ^ Andrade 1982, p. 126
  47. ^ Andrade 1982, p. 141
  48. ^ "Royal Lao Air Force Aircraft Types". aeroflight.co.uk. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  49. ^ Andrade 1982, p. 143
  50. ^ Andrade 1982, p. 156
  51. ^ Hagedorn 1993, p. 42
  52. ^ Andrade 1982, p. 167
  53. ^ Andrade 1982, p. 172
  54. ^ Andrade 1982, p. 173
  55. ^ Hagedorn 1993, p. 120
  56. ^ "World Air Forces 2013" (PDF). Flightglobal Insight. 2013. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  57. ^ Flight International 29 November 1986, p. 92
  58. ^ a b Andrade 1979, p. 134
  59. ^ "When in Samoa, fly with Talofa and its Twin Commanders". Flight Levels Online. 21 (3). 2016.
  60. ^ "Teddy's Ordeal". Time. 26 June 1964. Archived from the original on 4 February 2013. Retrieved 23 May 2008.
  61. ^ "The Luck of the Kennedys". Check-Six.com. 8 May 2008. Archived from the original on 1 February 2009. Retrieved 24 February 2009.
  62. ^ "John F. Kennedy Jr. – Timeline: Misfortunes of a Family". CNN. July 1999. Archived from the original on 23 March 2008. Retrieved 23 May 2008.
  63. ^ Swidey, Neil (16 February 2009). "Chapter 2: The Youngest Brother: Turbulence and tragedies eclipse early triumphs". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 22 February 2009. Retrieved 24 February 2009.
  64. ^ "Biography for Audie Murphy". IMDb. 1 August 2007. Retrieved 1 August 2007.
  65. ^ Delgado, Ray (12 August 2002). "Galen Rowell 1940–2002". San Francisco Chronicle. Hearst Communications Inc. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  66. ^ "INVESTIGATION REPORT 9402804 Rockwell Commander 690B VH-SVQ en route Williamtown to Lord Howe Island New South Wales 2 October 1994" (PDF). Bureau of Air Safety Investigation. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
  67. ^ Taylor 1976, pp. 346–347

Bibliography

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