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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 1237.PDF
FLIGHT, 1 May 1959 U.S. MISSILE TOUR . . Surprising as it may seem, we actually saw Strategic Air Com-mand's war plans during our visit to the command post. The fact that they were in the form of red-banded reels of magnetic tapeon a shelf in the computer room, and so hardly intelligible in detail, is an academic point. It was in the computer room that we cameto appreciate fully the extent to which the entire war operation has been planned and programmed—and would, if necessary, beexecuted—on an automatic basis. The data-processing equipment consists of an I.B.M. 704 com-puter which electronically stores all information—such as the status of aircraft and missiles, crews, bases, war plans and supplies—concerning the S.A.C. force. If the Command went to war the progress of the strike force would be recorded by means of punchedcards, and would be compared with the appropriate war plan. New information would be processed automatically in the mini-mum time. Target damage would also be assessed and any re-planning necessary would be carried out automatically. Aneven more efficient system, including the installation and inter- connection with Ofifutt of computer equipment at each of theCommand's numbered air force headquarters, is planned for the near future. In the meantime, in the computer room in the head-quarters command post, a Chinese abacus, mounted in a red glass- fronted box on top of a data processing machine, is available foruse in emergency. In the control centre which contains the red telephone, one ofthe four television screens was showing a commercial programme (something "tastes like meat, smells like meat") as we entered.Here again as much as possible is planned and programmed in advance—the messages that would be sent should S.A.C. mountan attack have been prepared in advance and are ready for trans- mission. The four television screens would normally receive (1)the central weather, (2) Colorado Springs, (3) a picture showing persons approaching the entrance to the underground post, and(4) a national programme or the command-post closed circuit. Communications of all types—local and long-distance telephone,teletype, and television—is the key to the entire operation of this room. For the immediate future, a new missile planning facility knownas the target trajectory centre is to be completed this year as a basement addition to the underground command post. Thisshould extend into the ICBM era the phenomenal thoroughness and efficiency of planning which is apparent in the existingS.A.C. headquarters facility at Offutt. Our walk through the com- mand post convinced most of the British Press group—far moreeffectively than the propaganda package presented earlier—that the S.A.C. deterrent was indeed something which should deter.If there was such a thing as an effective deterrent, this was it. The final scheduled visit on our U.S. tour, on Monday. April 20,was to the Air Force Missile Test Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Test Center is a unit of Air Research and Develop-ment Command and is not in fact confined to the launching area and supporting facilities at Cape Canaveral. Headquarters are atPatrick Air Force Base and the entire operation includes Cape Canaveral, 12 subsidiary telemetry and camera sites in Florida,and the 11 island stations of the Atlantic Missile Range. Unlike Vandenberg, Cape Canaveral is exclusively a research anddevelopment facility and its launch pads are not operational installations. 598 Left, a pre-launch picture of the Polaris test vehicle whose firing on April 20 was witnessed at Cape Canaveral by the author. Sixth in the current series of firings, this was the most successful Polaris launch to date Commander of the Air Force Missile Test Center, Patrick A.F.B., Florida, since July 1954, Maj-Gen. Donald N. Yates was previously Director of Research and Development at U.S.A.F. Headquarters, Washington Commander of the Air Force Missile Test Center is Maj-Gen.D. N. Yates, from whom we received an outline of the organization of the unit. The commander's job is basically threefold, compris-ing the operation of the base, the operation of the 5,000-mile Atlantic missile range, and the co-ordination of missile testprojects. Operation of the range is the responsibility of Pan AmericanWorld Airways, who have subcontracted R.C.A. to handle instru- mentation and data reduction. The overall range operation isdivided into two aspects, devoted respectively to current operation and future development. The third above-mentioned function ofthe Center includes not only co-ordination between the various agencies conducting tests—such as NASA, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy,U.S.A.F. Ballistic Missile Division and Wright Air Development Center—but also the preparation of future plans and requirements,and the supervision and evaluation of U.S.A.F. missile tests. Most missiles follow the same broad programme of research anddevelopment firings at Cape Canaveral. Tests to examine the integrity of the basic vehicle and its propulsion are followed bythose which concentrate on particular aspects such as guidance, control and nose-cone re-entry. Only towards the end of a pro-gramme are firings of the complete missile made. In the case of Titan and Polaris missiles at the Cape, research and developmentis the sole purpose of the firings. On all other types (Thor, Jupiter, Atlas, Mace, Bomarc and Snark) operational launch training isalso included. With the emphasis on research and development testing, and onthe use of complex instrumentation on each launch, countdown times at Cape Canaveral tend to be long. "Live" range times areshort, however, and Gen. Yates estimated that approximately five times as many firings as at present could be handled on currenttypes of missiles. Space projects such as Mercury and Dyna-Soar will doubtlesscall upon the prediction, location and recovery facilities of Cape Canaveral and the Atlantic Missile Range in the not-too-distantfuture—indeed, the planning for this has already begun. Also included in the Center's future planning are new launch facilities,on sites already selected, for Pershing and Minuteman missiles and for Centaur space rocket vehicles (Flight, March 13). From Gen. Yates' headquarters at Patrick A.F.B., we drovealong the 12-mile strip of land, separated from the Florida main- land by the Banana and Indian rivers, which leads to the CapeCanaveral launch area. The impact of the missilemen on the development of the Cocoa Beach area soon became evident, as wepassed the Sea Missile, Polaris, Vanguard and Astrocraft Motels, the Celestial Trailer Court, and the employment offices for Martin,Avco, Douglas and Lockheed which formed part of small local shopping centres. For those wishing to buy property in thisfast-expanding region, there was Missile Realty, Inc. From the elevated news observation post at Cape_ Canaveral welooked across at the row of missile launch towers fringing the line of the coast—the unique skyline of a space-age laboratory. To theleft, or north, of the Cape lighthouse were the Atlas and Titan ICBM sites; near the lighthouse was the launch area for cruise-type missiles such as Snark, Bomarc and Mace; and to the south rose the gantries for Vanguard and for Thor and Jupiter IRBMs. We visited first Complex 17A, one of the Thor launching pads,and from here were able to witness, by way of a bonus addition to our programme, that morning's Polaris launch. This was the28th test vehicle firing since the Polaris programme began, and the sixth in the current series of vehicles having the size and shapeof the operational Polaris. The primary object of the test was to evaluate the performance of the first and second stage solid-propellant motors, the separation of these two stages, and flight control reaction. According to subsequent reports, this firing was highly success-ful, all primary objectives being achieved with a range of almost 500 miles. Of the previous five launches in the current Polarisprogramme, three of the vehicles were exploded by range safety officials because of malfunction, one exploded on its own, andanother came down in the Atlantic after a flight of only 40 miles. (To be concluded)
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