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sweeps of the radar revealed countless thunderstorms percolating in great spiraling bands. Their mission was to collect as much information as possible and relay it back to the Navy's Fleet Weather Center and the National Hurricane Center. Crucial information about the storm's wind speeds, direction, sea state, and air pressure had to be gathered for the purpose of forecasting the storm's path. Once inside the eye, the Crew's navigator would fix its location and direction. If the winds were of sufficient velocity, the tropical storm would be named according to a list prepared in advance by the National Hurricane Center.

Hurricane penetrations had become a routine event for the aircraft's seasoned crew. Most were veterans of several hurricane investigations and had logged hundreds of hours in routine flight operations. The rules for penetrating a hurricane have been established from experience and common-sense: fly towards the eyewall between the bands of protesting thunderstorms, penetrate the eyewall, maneuver the aircraft into a circular pattern inside the eye. Remain inside the eye until all the measurements and navigation fixes are made, relay the information by radio, and then reverse the procedure by flying out through the eyewall again. Of course, the diameter of the eye was an important factor to consider; too small an eye and the aircraft wouldn't be able to safely maneuver in a circling pattern. Successive penetrations, at different altitudes or from a different direction would add to the information about the storm and help determine its strength, direction and potential danger to the millions of people living in coastal areas.

Penetrating this particular tropical storm, however, turned out to be less that routine. First, the crew fought to conquer the eyewall's winds, unexpectedly exceeding 200 MPH. At full power, the Super Connie's engines could only muster a top speed of around 190 MPH. For a short period of time, which must have seemed like an eternity to the pilot and crew, the aircraft was flying backward, or as the navigator put it "Negative Groundspeed!" Imagine riding in a roller coaster backwards. Nevertheless, the powerful aircraft eventually triumphed, penetrating the eyewall with only a few bumps and bruises from loose pieces of equipment being shaken from their mounts. Inside the eye of the storm, the air pressure was recorded at an extreme low of 901 millibars. A storm this powerful hadn't been recorded since 1935.

During the brief respite

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