A CV880 story and some
info about
one of Delta’s most
famed pilots,
Capt. “Pre” Ball.
February 10, 2022AviationAirliner
Delta Air Lines’
Convair 880-22-M, N8802E, Delta Queen, retracting its landing gear on takeoff
from Atlanta, 15 April 1972. (RuthAS)
10 February 1960: Delta Air Lines’
Superintendant of Flight Operations, Captain Thomas Prioleau Ball, Jr., made
the delivery flight of Delta’s first Convair 880 jet airliner, Ship 902,
named Delta Queen,
FAA registration N8802E, from San Diego, California, to Miami, Florida. Other
members of the flight crew were Captain James H. Longino, co-pilot, and First
Officer Richard E. Tidwell, flight engineer.
Newspapers reported that Delta Queen‘s wheels started
rolling on the runway at San Diego’s Lindbergh Field (SAN) at 10:11:46 a.m.,
Pacific Standard Time (18:11:46 UTC). The airplane took of and climbed to its
cross-country cruising altitude of 33,000 feet (10,058 meters). The Convair 880
landed at Miami International Airport (MIA) at 4:42:08 p.m., Eastern Standard
Time (21:42:08 UTC). The official flight time was 3 hours, 31 minutes, 54
seconds, for an average speed of 641.77 miles per hour (1,032.83 kilometers per
hour) over the 2,266 mile (3,647 kilometers) route. This was a new United
States National Record for Speed Over a Commercial Airline Route. The 880 cut
27 minutes, 1 second, off the time of an Eastern Air Lines Douglas DC-8B over
the same route, 4 January 1960.
Miss San Diego,
Leona McCurdy, christens Delta
Queen with water collected from rivers around the Delta Air
Lines system. (Delta Air Lines)
The airplane was 129 feet, 4
inches (39.421 meters) long with a wingspan of 120 feet (36.576 meters) and
overall height of 36 feet, 3.75 inches (11.068 meters). The 880 had an empty
weight of 94,000 pounds (42,638 kilograms) and maximum takeoff weight was
191,000 pounds (86,636 kilograms).
The Convair 880-22-M was powered by
four General Electric CJ805-3B turbojet engines. The CJ805-3B is a
single-shaft, axial-flow turbojet with a 17-stage compressor section and
3-stage turbine, based on the military J79. The engine has a maximum continuous
power rating of 9,800 pounds of thrust (43.593 kilonewtons) at Sea Level, and
11,650 pounds (51.822 kilonewtons) for Takeoff. The CJ805-3B is 9 feet, 2.4
inches (2.804 meters) long, 3 feet, 3.9 inches (1.013 meters) wide and 4 feet,
0.8 inches (1.240 meters) high. It weighs 2,875 pounds (1,304 kilograms).
The 880-22-M had a cruise speed of
0.82 Mach (556 miles per hour/895 kilometers per hour) at 30,000 feet (9,144
meters). The service ceiling was 41,000 feet (12,497 meters). Maximum range was
5,056 miles (8,137 kilometers).
The Convair Division of General
Dynamics built 65 Convair 880 airliners at San Diego, California, between 1959
and 1962. Delta Air Lines retired its last one in January 1974.
Delta Queen,
Convair 880-22-M N8802E. (Delta Air Lines)
Captain Thomas P.
Ball
Thomas Prioleau (“Pre”) Ball, Jr.,
was a legendary airline captain. He was born 6 September 1906 at Norfolk,
Virginia, the second son of Thomas Prioleau Ball, a bookkeeper, and Agnes Mae
Bell Ball. He grew up in Florida. Ball learned to fly in 1928, soloing in a World
War I Curtiss “Jenny” biplane.
Thomas P. Ball, Jr., married Miss
Theresa Augusta Daniel at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Jacksonville,
Florida, 27 December 1930. They would have to sons, Thomas Prioleaux Ball III
and Espy Daniel Ball.
Ball worked as a station manager
for Delta Air Lines at Charleston, South Carolina, and was hired as a copilot
by the airline in 1936.
Soon after the United States
entered World War II, Ball was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S.
Army Air Corps. By the end of the war, he had risen to the rank of colonel,
serving as the Chief of the Prevention and Investigation Division of the Army’s
Office of Flying Safety.
After the War, Ball returned to
Delta Air Lines as a captain and soon became the chief pilot, dedicated to the
meticulous training of the company’s pilots. In 1969, Ball became Delta’s Vice
President of Flight Operations. On 25 May 1970, Ball was aboard Delta Flight
199, a Convair 880 under the command of Captain Harris B. Wynn, when it was
hijacked to Cuba.
Four U.S. National Speed Records
which were set by Captain Ball remain current. In addition to the record set
with the Convair 880, on 6 November 1948, Ball flew a Delta Air Lines Douglas
DC-6 from Los Angeles, California, to Charleston, South Carolina, in 6 hours,
24 minutes, 32 seconds, at an average speed of 344.19 miles per hour (553.92
kilometers per hour). On 18 March 1954, he flew a Douglas DC-7 from Los Angeles
to Jacksonville, Florida, in 05:29:33, averaging 392.25 miles per hour (631.27
kilometers per hour). Finally, on 24 February 1962, Captain Ball flew a Douglas
DC-8 from Miami, Florida, to Atlanta, Georgia, in 01:28:11, for an average of
406.1 miles per hour (653.56 kilometers per hour).
After making the delivery flight
of the company’s first Boeing 747, Ball grounded himself when he noticed a
deterioration in his eyesight. Thomas Prioleau Ball retired from Delta in 1971.
He passed away in 2006 at the age of 99 years.
Convair 880-22-M N8802E, Delta Queen, (c/n 7) remained
in service with Delta Air Lines until 1973 when it was sold to Boeing as part
of exchange for an order of new Boeing 727-200 airliners. It was then sold to
Transexecutive Aviation in 1974 and reregistered as N55NW. In 1976, the 880
flew as a charter airliner for Bahama World. It was then converted to a cargo
freighter operating in the Caribbean. In 1979 the Convair was transferred to
Groth Air Service, Inc., Castalia, Iowa, and assigned a new FAA registration,
N880SR. The record-setting airliner was damaged beyond repair in a fire at
Licenciado Benito Juarez International Airport, Mexico City, in May 1983.
© 2019, Bryan R. Swopes
+++++
Thomas Prioleau "Pre"
Ball, record setting Hall of Fame pilot, father, grandfather, great-grandfather
and ex-Vice President of Delta Airlines, died quietly on February 23, 2006 at
the age of 99.
"Pre" was born in
Norfolk, VA. on September 6, 1906. He grew up and learned to fly in
Jacksonville, FL where, in 1928, he soloed in a WWI Jenny biplane. During his
early years as a barnstorming acrobatic pilot he met and married Teresa Daniel
of Americus, GA, his beloved wife of 75 years. Tia, as she was known to the
family, preceded him in death by six months. He served as the Charleston, SC
airport manger, flight instructor/charter pilot and owner of Hawthorne Flying
Service until being hired as one of the first pilots for Delta Airlines in July
of 1935.
During WWII, he rose from 2nd
Lt. to Colonel in the Army Air Corps in less than three years and served on the
Air Staff as Division Chief in the Office of flying Safety. Following the war,
he returned to Delta Airlines where he flew as a Captain and became the Chief
Pilot. He developed the Delta flying safety program that became the model for
other airlines. He set seven transcontinental speed records, four of which have
never been broken.
He pioneered the Category II
instrument landing system and flew the first such approach into the Atlanta
airport. "Pre" became vice-President of Operations and later retired
in 1971.
He was so loved and respected by
his pilots that they presented him a new BMW sports car at his retirement. He
and his wife moved to San Antonio in 1995. Following his induction into the
Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame in April of 2005, he walked to the podium and
made his acceptance speech at the age of 98.
Captain Ball is survived by two
sons, M/Gen. Dr. Thomas Prioleau "Pre" Ball Jr. and wife, Patty of
San Antonio, TX. and Dr. Espy Daniel Ball and wife, Kathleen of Tampa, Florida;
a nephew, Ken Daniel of Washington, DC; six grandchildren, Teresa Boyer and
husband, Tracy, Patricia Veley and husband, Rick, Elizabeth Medley and husband,
Dr. Christopher Medley, and L/Col. Thomas P. "Pre" Ball III and wife,
Julie, all of San Antonio. Also, Susan Ball and husband, John Brandolino of
Arlington, VA, and Clair Lane and husband, Pat, of Gaithersburg, MD. Surviving
also are seventeen great-grandchildren, Brad and Michael Gaultney, Kelly and
Ryan Boyer, Rick, Daniel, and Matthew Veley, Amy, Christopher, and Weston
Medley, Thomas P. "Prio" Ball IV and Jason Ball, all of San Antonio;
Evan and Alexander Brandolino and Julia, Faith, and Sophie Lane of
Gaithersburg, MD.
The family would like to express
deep appreciation to Mr. and Mrs. Dana Jones of College Park, GA for their
decades of friendship and close support, and to Yolanda Gonzales and Maria
Hernandez, his dedicated caregivers in his last months of life.
Mr. Ball will be buried with his
wife, Teresa in College Park, GA. In lieu of flowers, a donation may be sent to
the Thomas P. "Pre" Ball and Teresa Ball Memorial Fund of the Georgia
Aviation Hall of Fame, P. O. Box 8427, Warner Robins, GA. 31095 or a charity of
one's choice.
++++
This gentleman lived quite a life. Rest in peace, Captain
Ball.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Luke's Episcopal
Church, 11 St. Luke's Lane, San Antonio, Texas, for Capt. Thomas Prioleau
"Pre" Ball, who died Feb. 23. The record-setting Georgia Aviation
Hall of Fame pilot and former Delta vice president-Operations was 99. Capt.
Ball will be buried with his wife Teresa in College Park, Ga.
Capt. Ball developed the Delta flying safety program that became the model for
other airlines. He set seven transcontinental speed records, four of which have
never been broken. He pioneered the Category II and Cat III
instrument landing systems used first by Delta at what is now
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. He became vice president of
Operations and later retired from Delta in 1971. He was so loved and respected
by his pilots that they presented him a new BMW sports car at his retirement.
"Pre Ball was part of the airline business long before it was an industry
and part of Delta from the days when, as he once recalled, he could land a
plane in Monroe to see the company's entire staff – all five of them – standing
by the fence," said Jerry Grinstein, chief executive officer. "Pre
was part of a long, unbroken chain of Delta people who have – and will again –
see this company safely through hard times to a stronger, better future. He
will be sorely missed by us all."
Capt. Ball grew up and learned to fly in Jacksonville, Fla., where, in 1928, he
soloed in a WWI Jenny biplane. He served as the Charleston, S.C., airport
manager, flight instructor/charter pilot and owner of Hawthorne Flying Service,
until being hired as one of the first Delta pilots in July of 1935. During
WWII he rose from second lieutenant to colonel in the Army Air Corps in
less than three years and served on the Air Staff as division chief in the
Office of Flying Safety. Following the war, he returned to Delta where he flew
as a captain and became the chief pilot.
"Captain "Pre" Ball set the standard for all of us at Delta to
follow," said Gary Beck, senior vice president-Flight Ops and chief pilot.
"His pioneering spirit led to one of the industry's earliest flight safety
programs and established Delta as the first to implement special category instrument
approach for landings during inclement weather in Atlanta - achievements we
benefit from still today. Without question, Pre's achievements and legacy will
live on."
Capt. Ball is survived by two sons, Maj. Gen. (Dr.) Thomas Prioleau
"Pre" Ball Jr. of San Antonio, Texas, and Dr. Espy Daniel Ball of
Tampa, Florida; a nephew Ken Daniel of Washington, D.C.; and six grandchildren
and 17 great-grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, a donation may be sent to the Thomas P. "Pre"
Ball and Teresa Ball Memorial Fund of the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame, P.O.
Box 8427, Warner Robins GA 31095, or to a charity of choice. You are
invited to sign the guestbook at www.porterloring.com.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
To all of my pilot friends. I've seen this
before and no matter how far back in history we go, the bonds of being an
aviator touch each of us. We've been there and done that. I wish we could do it
again.
Tony P
Life is Good
In God We Trust
I'm with you, Colonel Bob. Never thought I was a hero either. But then
it's been said, "There are no atheists in foxhole during an artillery
attack."
Same goes for inside a
Severe Thunderstorm!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgkqWsGGUwY
I share the sentiment of the clip - I am
not a hero, but I have known a few, and have worked with a few, and I have
flown with a few and you all wander through my dreams every now and then….
Cheers!
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