The Hurricane Hunters
Monday May 26, 2008
Hurricane season begins on June 1. As this date approaches each year, the 53rd Reconnaissance Squadron "Hurricane Hunters" at Keesler Air Force Base, MS remain vigilant about tropical-weather threats.
It all started in 1944 as a barroom dare, when two Army Air Corps pilots challenged each other to fly through a tropical storm. On July 27, 1943, Maj. Joe Duckworth flew a propeller-driven, single-engine North American AT-6 "Texan" trainer into the eye of a tropical storm. Duckworth flew into the eye of that storm twice that day, once with a navigator and again with a weather officer. These were generally considered to be the first airborne attempts to obtain data for use in plotting the position of a tropical cyclone as it approached land. Duckworth's pioneering efforts paved the way for further flights into tropical cyclones. (Official USAF Photo)
It all started in 1944 as a barroom dare, when two Army Air Corps pilots challenged each other to fly through a tropical storm. On July 27, 1943, Maj. Joe Duckworth flew a propeller-driven, single-engine North American AT-6 "Texan" trainer into the eye of a tropical storm. Duckworth flew into the eye of that storm twice that day, once with a navigator and again with a weather officer. These were generally considered to be the first airborne attempts to obtain data for use in plotting the position of a tropical cyclone as it approached land. Duckworth's pioneering efforts paved the way for further flights into tropical cyclones. (Official USAF Photo)
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