The four Wright Cyclone engines roared into life as Model 299 gathered speed like an aluminium avalanche. With a grace that belied her size, the Flying Fortress’s nose lifted and she rose into the clear Ohio skies. At 300 feet, Model 299 stopped flying.
The Breezer - the joyride for a curious mind: A weekly newsletter from Steve Winduss at the Batting the Breeze podcast. Spend a few minutes with me discovering historical snippets and fascinating facts related to the forthcoming week. Add to that occasional updates relating to the podcast, a touch of humour and a dash of "lots more".26th October 2025.
Happy Sunday Reader! One of my sons has been bouncing around Europe this past week. Being a little nerdy about such matters, he was quietly pleased to find that the Boeing leg of his journey would be in a 737-800 and not one of the troubled 737 MAX series.
It’s that MAX suffix which put The Boeing Company into a tail-spin in 2018 when their new automated MCAS system brought down Lion Air Flight 610 over the Java Sea.
The shocking news that the primary reason for the accident was insufficient pilot training on MCAS was compounded when a second 737 MAX fell out of the sky in an almost identical manner only six months later - Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302.
A total of 346 people lost their lives across the two accidents.
As a result of these tragedies and of a further door panel blowout on an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX earlier this year, Boeing’s 737 MAX production is currently under the watchful eye of the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
I noticed that this week the FAA granted Boeing a licence to produce more 737 MAXs per month, up from 38 to 42. I guess their assessment of progress would be, ‘cautiously optimistic’.
Global airline safety is actually in great shape. Recent statistics released by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) show that the average fatality rate in the United States for air travel between 2018 to 2022 was 0.003 deaths per 100 million miles.
By contrast, the US Department of Transportation reports that over a similar period, the fatality rate by car was 1.26 deaths per 100 million miles.
In other words, based on these statistics, you are 420 times more likely to die in a car than in a plane.
Ployer Peter Hill was born on 24 October 1894 in Newburyport, Massachusetts. By 1894, the railroads had been around for a few decades, electric streetcars were replacing horse-drawn systems and the Wright Brothers were running a bicycle repair shop out of Dayton, Ohio.
In 1917, America entered World War I. Peter was 22 years old and recently graduated from Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, with a BSc in civil engineering. Drawn by the romance of flying and an attraction to danger, he signed up for the newest branch of military service - The Air Service.
Major Ployer Peter Hill, 2008.
Learning to fly a plane in 1917 comprised watching someone else do it, then having a go yourself and hoping for the best.
Parachutes weren’t an option as they were bulky. In any case, the military leadership suspected that a pilot might be too keen to abandon his aircraft. To navigate, you followed roads and railways. If you got lost, you landed the plane in a field, climbed out and asked a farmer for directions.
Peter survived training, literally. Some trainee pilots did not. As it turned out, the war ended before Peter saw combat, robbing him of a chance to find out if “Excusez-moi monsieur, ou èst le front?” was an effective combat strategy. Still, he’d developed a taste for the uniform and decided to stay on.
The 1920s and 1930s were halcyon years for aviation. Charles Lindbergh completed the first nonstop solo transatlantic flight in May 1927, while Amelia Earhart had achieved the same feat five years later to the day.
The fragile contraptions of wood and canvas gave way to more sophisticated flying machines made from steel tubing, sheet iron and, later, aluminium alloys.
By 1935, Peter Hill had become one of the Air Corps’ most respected test pilots. He was a ‘steady pair of hands’ and employed a methodical approach to flying, critical assets for a test pilot.
In the early 1930s, the US Army Air Corps needed a new high-specification bomber - one that could carry a substantial bomb load over long distances. They needed a fortress in the sky - a Flying Fortress.
And so the Model 299 prototype was born. She was streets ahead of the competition; four engines, bristling with machine guns, fast, powerful and - if you like that kind of thing - beautiful.
She was also a Boeing.
The Boeing Airplane Company was setting the standard for all-metal aircraft. The Boeing 247 had been introduced in 1933 and the Model 299, soon to be the B-17 Flying Fortress, would broadcast the company’s ambition for the future of flight.
Boeing XB-17 Model 299 Flying Fortress, 1935.
Major Peter Hill was selected for the Army’s evaluation flight. He arrived early morning at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, 90 years ago this Thursday, 30 October 1935. The air was crisp, the skies clear.
Perfect flying weather.
The Major conducted his pre-flight walk-around of the Model 299, accompanied by Boeing’s chief test pilot, Leslie Tower. They discussed the quirks and nuances of the new aircraft. This would be a straightforward flight. Taking off, a few basic manoeuvres and landing.
The pilots boarded the plane and strapped in. At 14:30, after the usual pre-flight checks, Hill pushed the throttles forward. The four Wright Cyclone engines roared into life as Model 299 gathered speed like an aluminium avalanche. With a grace that belied her size, the Flying Fortress’s nose lifted and she rose into the clear Ohio skies.
At 300 feet, Model 299 stopped flying.
Without any notice, she had stalled and fallen from the sky. Model 299 crashed to the ground and exploded into flames.
The co-pilot, test observer and mechanic on the flight survived with minor injuries. Peter Hill and Leslie Tower would die a short while later.
It was a tragic day, not only taking the lives of two great American pilots but almost bringing down Boeing as well. The prototype they had bet the company on was now a dejected, smouldering wreck on the unforgiving Wright Field.
Major Peter Hill’s Model 299 Flying Fortress on fire after crashing at Wright Field, 30 October 1935.
But what had happened to cause such a catastrophic outcome in a plane flown by two of the Air Corps’ most distinguished pilots?
When Peter Hill and Leslie Tower had been carrying out the pre-flight visual inspection of the plane, discussing those quirks and nuances, they had talked about the new sophisticated controls on board. There were engine controls, flap settings, trim adjustments and - crucially - a new ‘gust lock system’.
The gust lock system was designed to prevent the plane’s control surfaces from unwanted movement while it is stationary. Think of it as a parking brake for wings and tails.
Previously, a gust lock might consist of old tyres laid across the wings, or perhaps ropes anchoring them to the ground to restrict movement in strong winds.
Now the gust lock system was controlled from inside the cockpit. It was an extra something for the pilot to remember before takeoff.
The cause of the accident was devastating. Peter Hill had simply forgotten to turn off the gust lock before takeoff. As he pulled back on the yoke and the plane gained altitude, the corresponding action to adjust the elevators and ailerons was blocked.
The plane was unflyable.
Model 299 only took seconds to stall. As Leslie Tower lay dying in his hospital bed, he confirmed that he had realised the error but couldn’t release the gust lock in time.
At the inquest, the investigators confirmed the cause of the accident. However, they didn’t lay blame on Peter Hill. They concluded that the Model 299 had taken aviation beyond the point when pilots could fly from memory. She was too complex. There were too many controls, too many things to forget under pressure.
Major Peter Hill’s destroyed Model 299 Flying Fortress, Wright Field, 30 October 1935.
Out of this tragedy was born a procedure that is still the centre-piece of aviation safety today. The pre-flight checklist. Sounds simple, but such a checklist hadn’t existed prior to this moment.
Today, whether you fly in a 4-seater Cessna Skyhawk or a 550-seater Airbus A380, your safety depends on the pre-flight checklist.
A checklist doesn’t differentiate between age, intelligence or experience. It is a recognition of the limitations of the human memory.
If Major Peter Hill had used a checklist, he would have turned off the gust lock and the test flight would have most-likely been uneventful and quickly forgotten.
Our safety in the skies today is largely a consequence of Major Peter Hill’s fateful error in 1935.
Footnote The Model 299 entered production in 1937 as the B-17 Flying Fortress. Over 12,000 were built, and she became one of the most successful aircraft of World War II.
Out of Curiosity
If anyone believes they are too senior, too experienced or just too clever to need a checklist at some point in their life, then I would suggest reading “The Checklist Manifesto” by Atul Gawande.
Gawande was born in Brooklyn, New York City, 5 November 1965, thirty years after Major Hill’s fatal crash. He is a surgeon, professor at Harvard University and a New York Times best-selling author.
One of Gawande’s many achievements has been to solve the problem of rising complications in surgery worldwide. Sixteen years ago, he demonstrated that introducing checklists in surgery could reduce deaths by more than 40%.
He first worked with Boeing to understand the methodology of checklists and adapted the concept for surgery.
Despite resistance from surgeons who believed they were above such checklists, the practice eventually received acceptance and has been widely adopted worldwide since 2009.
The volume and complexity of what we know has exceeded our individual ability to deliver its benefits correctly, safely or reliably. ATUL GAWANDE, The Checklist Manifesto
Friend of the Batting the Breeze podcast and five-time Commander of the Space Shuttle Jim Wetherbee (pilot) runs through landing checklists on the Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-113 in 2002. If you’d like to listen to my conversation with Jim talking about his first-ever Space Shuttle flight, check out Beyond Gravity.
Dates with History
Thursday…
Henry VII of England was crowned at Westminster Abbey 540 years ago this Thursday, 30 October 1485. The Tudor dynasty had begun.
Henry Tudor was the most unlikely of kings. His tenuous claim to the throne came through his great-great-grandfather, John of Gaunt, who in turn was a son of Edward III.
The claim was all the weaker because Henry’s line evolved from John of Gaunt’s illegitimate relationship with Kathryn Swynford. John of Gaunt eventually made the situation respectable by marrying Kathryn, his third wife, though the horse had already bolted from that particular stable.
Henry’s moment came at Bosworth Field in 1485. The Lancastrian Tudor defeated the Yorkist Richard III and promptly crowned himself king.
The Battle of Bosworth, 1485; painting by British artist Abraham Cooper, 1790. The scene captures the intensity and violence of the final charge, with Richard III at the centre engaging the future Henry VII.
Henry’s marriage to Elizabeth of York in 1486 signalled an end of the War of the Roses and paved the way for a long period of peace and stability in England.
When Henry VII died in 1509, the crown passed to his son Henry VIII, a king whose appetite for wives, monasteries and absolute power would become legendary.
In order to marry his second wife, Anne Boleyn, Henry forced through the Act of Supremacy and declared himself the ‘Supreme Head of the Church of England’.
The act was passed on 3 November 1534. A thousand-year relationship with the Roman Catholic Church was ended because the king wanted a divorce and Rome said ‘no’.
All future monarchs (with one or two exceptions) would now also be head of the Church of England.
Last week, King Charles III visited Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican. This was a momentous occasion because it was the first time in nearly five centuries (i.e. since the 1534 Act of Supremacy) that a reigning British monarch had prayed publicly with a Pope.
Saturday...
When George Washington became the first President of the United States in 1789, New York was the nation’s capital. In 1790, Washington signed the Residence Act into federal law, which established the location of a new permanent national capital on the Potomac River.
The core of the new capital would take ten years to construct and be named Washington D.C.: ‘Washington’ recognised America’s first president, and ‘D.C.’, the ‘District of Columbia’, reflected its status as a federal territory. Columbia was an 18th-century personification of America in deference to Christopher Columbus (in the way that Britain is sometimes poetically referred to as Britannia).
The plans for Washington D.C. included the Capitol and the President’s House, an official residence and principal workplace for all future presidents.
US President No. 2, John Adams, and his wife Abigail, became the first residents of the President’s House 225 years ago this Saturday, 1 November 1800.
John and Abigail Adams, painted by Gilbert Stuart, c1800-1815.
Out of Curiosity John Adams was born 290 years ago this Thursday, 30 October 1735.
At some point in the 19th century, the President’s House became known as the Executive Mansion. However, in 1901, the 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, decided that the name didn’t distinguish the residence from the many other executive mansions occupied by state governors, so it needed to be changed. The building had been (literally) whitewashed from the outset, and the press had consistently referred to the Executive Mansion as the ‘white house’.
If you can’t beat them, join them. So, on 17 October 1901, the Executive Mansion officially became the White House.
Daguerrotype of the south front of the White House, 1846, during the administration of James Polk. This is the earliest known photograph of the White House.
By the Way
Manhattan-born author Robert Caro started writing about President Lyndon Johnson in March 1975. For the next fifty years, Caro would devote himself almost exclusively to writing about the life and times of Johnson.
To date, the prolific author has written a staggering 1.5 million words about LBJ and is still working on his fifth and final volume. That represents the equivalent of writing War and Peace three times over.
Three years ago, I read one of Caro’s books that wasn’t about Lyndon Johnson - a rare beast indeed. It is called ‘Working’ and is a fascinating exposé into his writing style and methods. His most striking comment was that…
…he writes all his first drafts by pen!
Through the pen, he feels a greater connection with his subject. The process slows him down, forcing him to consider every word carefully.
The only thing that matters is on this page. ROBERT CARO
Robert Caro was born 90 years ago this Thursday, 30 October 1935, the same day that Major Peter Hill’s Flying Fortress crashed at Wright Field, Dayton.
Robert Caro, 2012.
Talk to me...
Some of you signed up for The Breezer through platforms where you couldn't leave your first name. So, when I send out the newsletter each week, it feels like writing a personal letter to someone without putting their name at the top of the page. It's not doing my OCD any good at all! If I haven't opened this newsletter with your name, feel free to drop me an email at steve@battingthebreeze.com; just enter your first name in the Subject and send. (If you want to tell me any more about yourself at the same time that would be amazing too.) Thanks, Steve
Question of the Week
He was born in 1885 in Hailey, Idaho, USA.
He championed the Imagist poetry movement (in simple terms, encouraging clear language and images without unnecessarily complicated words or ideas).
His most recognised poetry is the epic ‘The Cantos’.
He mentored writers such as T.S. Eliot, James Joyce and Robert Frost.
During World War II, he controversially supported Benito Mussolini’s Fascist regime, broadcasting propaganda for Italy.
Who was he?
And Finally…
Jean Shrimpton was born in Buckinghamshire, England in 1942. By 1965, she had established herself as the defining fashion model of the swinging sixties, featuring in the top publications of the day; Vanity Fair, Elle, Vogue and even Newsweek and Time.
Sixty years ago this Thursday, 30 October 1965, Jean arrived at the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Australia for Derby Day. The Derby served as the traditional curtain-raiser for the prestigious Melbourne Cup, graced over the years by iconic horses such as Archer, Makybe Diva and the immortal chestnut gelding, Phar Lap.
What happened next scandalised a nation.
As Jean stepped onto the manicured lawns of Flemington, there was a stunned silence. Then gasps. She was wearing a simple white dress. It was well-tailored and elegant. However…
…the hemline of the dress sat four inches above Shrimpton’s knee. No hat. No gloves. No stockings. No apology. In 1965, while London was swinging, conservative Australia definitely wasn’t.
Sorry about the low-resolution image, but I wanted to show you how shocking Jean Shrimpton’s white dress was at Flemington on 30 October 1965.
The crowd were apoplectic. The newspapers growled their disapproval. One commentator described it as “the most shocking thing to happen to Australian racing”.
Jean Shrimpton carried on regardless.
Within months, hemlines had risen across Australia. The Shrimpton Look had arrived Down Under.
Thank you for joining me. Have a great week!
Steve
HOST & CHIEF STORY HUNTER
P:S: Incidentally, I am always keen to receive your feedback to help me continuously improve this newsletter and the podcast. Just hit reply to this email and...... let it rip! I respond to every email that I receive.
The mystery poet from Hailey, Idaho was Ezra Pound.
Pound was attracted to Mussolini’s power and strong leadership, believing that fascism could solve the economic and political problems of the world.
This attraction, which started in the early 1930s, became more a fixation after Pound met Mussolini in 1933.
Ezra Pound, 1913, National Portrait Gallery, London.
Pound was arrested on charges of treason by American forces in Italy in 1945, just after the War in Europe was over.
During his detention, Pound suffered a mental breakdown and was considered unfit for trial. He was confined for 12 years at St Elizabeth’s hospital, Washington D.C.
A campaign by fellow writers and friends led to his release in 1958, after which he returned to Italy and lived the remainder of his life in obscurity.
Ezra Pound was born 140 years ago this Thursday, 30 October 1885. He died in 1972, aged 87.
ATTRIBUTIONS
Model 299 destroyed: U.S. Air Force, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Model 299 on fire: U.S. Air Force, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Model 299: U.S. Air Force, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Major Ployer Peter Hill: en:User:Jon Holly at en.wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Space Shuttle Endeavour checklists: NARA & DVIDS Public Domain Archive. Robert Caro: Larry D. Moore, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Battle of Bosworth: Abraham Cooper, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. John and Abigail Adams: Abigail Adams: Gilbert Stuart, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; John Adams: Gilbert Stuart, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. White House: John Plumbe, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Joan of Arc: Eugène Lenepveu, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Jean Shrimpton: Australian Broadcast Corporation, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Ezra Pound: Alvin Langdon Coburn, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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