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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 2248.PDF
584 FLIGHT, 7 October 1960 More from San Francisco BY KENNETH OWEN—and OTHERS Illustrated with '"Flight'" Photographs UNVEILING MINUTEMAN: TOP-RANK BRIEFINGS THE Minuteman unveiling ceremony [briefly reported lastweek—Ed.] took place just outside the main entrance tothe civic auditorium, where the convention was being held. A band played, the patient crowd of onlookers complied with themaster of ceremonies' request to "Please hold your applause till all 17 of our honoured guests have been introduced," and thepolice reinforcements waited in vain for the nuclear disarma- ment demonstrators who were expected but who boycotted theproceedings. Finally, Gen Thomas D. White, USAF Chief of Staff, declaredthe missile well and truly unveiled, the protective wrapping fluttered to the ground, and there was Minuteman—or reason-able facsimile thereof—pointing up at about 45° with a red navigation light affixed to its nosecone. The band broke in withan appropriate piece of conquering-hero-type music, the missile began to raise itself agonizingly slowly to its proper verticalposition, and we all disappeared indoors to sample the champagne (courtesy Western Airlines) at the Aerospace Panorama PreviewReception. To one raised on the sober exhibits of the SBAC show atFarnborough this was highly educational. One might have expected the high standard of exuberant display architecture andthe skilled and glossy publicity routines, but not the Moon Girl in silver tights who was charmingly dispensing pieces of greenchesse on the Honeywell stand. She was Jean Elverum, Miss Minnesota 1960, and the delectable cheese came from a 5001bCheddar specially prepared by Bongards Creamery, Bongards, Minnesota. On behalf of the Caterpillar Tractor Co, a blonde in red anda brunette in black were offering yellow flowers for the button- holes of all who passed by. The Great Ideas Program of theUniversity of Chicago was presenting Great Books of the Western World, Featuring The Syntopicon—at $750 the set. On the GreatIdeas bookshelves was Shakespeare I and Shakespeare II. Lear attracted attention with what might have been titled The UnknownPolitical Missile, a welded framework which certainly wouldn't get off the launch pad but which had a message for those whosought one. Seeking messages was difficult in some cases because of thelanguage problem. Ramo Wooldridge obliged with an explanation of their Intellectronics Micromanifesto, but one still had to copewith a three-dimensional Iconorama (Ling-Temco), Imaginuity (Beech), and an oxyhemograph (General Motors), not to mentionthe Syntopican. BE SOCIABLE, a sign demanded, HAVE A PEPSI. Sociability was seen to be in even greater demand later on, whenthe champagne ran out. I declined to purchase the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and watched instead a slapstick comedy film shown byNorth American concerning the epic adventures ("Their hearts sing with the joy known only to those who fly") of the GeigerTigers, a hypothetical F-86D squadron. The Panorama also included a number of exhibits depictingaircraft, engines and missiles. The outdoor section, of which the Minuteman now formed apart, contained a Hound Dog, Thor-Able ("Bring the kids and walk right through," invited the USAF sergeant acting as barkerat the foot of the steps); a Titan, a Titan liquid-oxygen tank (you could walk right through this with the kids, too); the Bell X-1Bresearch aircraft; the familiar wooden mock-up of an X-15; a scale model of a "proposed space missile satellite" by Raytheon;and engines including the first-stage Titan XLR87-AJ-1 by Aero- jet-General. On the next day, the Minuteman was joined by asecond Minuteman—or reasonable facsimile thereof—in a cutaway transporter/erector. But back to the convention. Brig-Gen Richard D. Curtin, Director of the Office of Missileand Satellite Systems, spoke on military space aspects, and in particular of the Midas early-warning satellite, Samos surveillancesatellite, Transit navigation satellite and Advent communications satellite:— "The Midas, already in flight status, will increase our national alertstatus by extending our BMEWS (Ballistic Missile Early Warning System) 15 minutes' warning time to about 25 to 30 min, since theMidas will detect the exhaust of missile engines immediately after launch and flash instantaneous warning to our control centers in theUnited States. "The Samos will provide us with world-wide surveillance and anability to know more about the happenings of the world and the people in it. It will provide a tremendous boost to our deterrent posture."The Transit program will provide our ships and aircraft a much improved navigational accuracy—and in the Advent program we shallobtain great advances in communications, the heart and great need of military and civilian operations alike. . . . "We have already learned much about space as we have worked withNASA on their programs, as well as our own Discoverer and Midas programs. Perhaps not the least of what we have learned is that as timegoes on, the necessary differences in method between the civilian/ scientific approach and the military approach are becoming moreapparent. "For instance, in the Midas early-warning system, the military willneed a number of satellites in orbit constantly and properly spaced to cover the globe. The need to replace an inoperative satellite with anactive one will call for spit-second timing in launch and control tech- niques, as opposed to the more leisurely launch requirements of thespace exploration program. "Another difference will be found in the military need for largernumbers of boosters and stages (as in the Midas system). The main- tenance of constant surveillance and warning will require many satellitesin orbit. This, if space operations are to be economically feasible, the military must develop booster recovery techniques for repeat use ofboosters and it must develop simpler and cheaper boosters. "Still another great need for military systems is that of extremereliability and long operation of its payloads. We are shooting for on-orbit lifetimes of a year for some of our systems."Then, too, our military space systems will be operated by military officers and men on station 24 hours a day, and the need to train andre-train large numbers of personnel is a problem that the scientific 'single shot' experimenters need not face." Deputizing for Gen Thomas S. Power, Maj-Gen David Wadereported for Strategic Air Command on "the broadening spectrum of aerospace weapons in the Command's deterrent counter-force."In the course of his speech he said:— "The dominant tool in our arsenal today is the B-52 with a payloadyield exceeding that of all World War II bombers and a bombing accuracy measured in feet. Increased penetrating ability for the B-52is being supplied by multiple installations of the Hound Dog air- launched missile. This nuclear delivery system can be used to destrovstrategic targets or to degrade ground-based defense systems. "In the coming years the G and H models of this plane will acquire aneven stronger punch with the installation of the Skybolt air-launched ballistic missile. Skybolt's ability to lash out at targets more than athousand miles away at speeds up to 5,000 m.p.h. will reinforce still further our confidence in the B-52's penetrating ability. "Our first supersonic bomber, the B-58, has won its spurs in thisyear's bombing competition as a replacement for part of the B-47 force. Looking beyond the B-58, we are pressing the development of the The outdoor section, with Thor-Able ("bring the kids and walk right through"), Minuteman and Titan
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