FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0079.PDF
FLIGHT, 20 January 1961 77 Tallest tower at the Cape: no less than 310ft high, this service tower will be used for the testing of the 7.5 million pounds thrust Saturn rocket at Cape Canaveral, Florida re-entering nosecones wascompleted last month. Known as OperationLookout and conducted in association with the USAdvanced Research Pro- jects Agency, the workinvolved two CF-100 air- craft fitted with specialwing-pod instruments de- signed by the CanadianArmament Research and Development Establish-ment. The nosecones underinvestigation were those of missiles launched downthe Atlantic Missile Range from Cape Canaveral. Themission of the CF-lOOs was, in effect, to photo-graph the nosecones as they re-entered the denselayers of the atmosphere. After preliminary on-the-spot examination, the records obtained were sent to the Research and Development Centre for analysis. Valu-able data were obtained on 90 per cent of the missions flown. At Ascension Island the project scientist was Dr Guy Giroux and theair detachment was commanded by Fit Lt Murray Sweetman; while Dr Cameron Cumming was programme scientist atCARDE. EUROPEAN PROGRAMME COSTS Speaking in Copenhagen on January 13, the Minister of Aviation,Mr Peter Thorneycroft, said that the total cost of the proposed European space programme would be about £70 million over fiveyears. The proposed Danish share of this was about £1.5m. He said that it was intended to operate the project with a policycommittee based in continental Europe and a technical executive committee in London. The Minister also said: "The opportunity is there now. Europecannot come back in five years and regret not taking the chance. It will be too late then." FRENCH/US JOINT SATELLITE Negotiations are under way between the US National Aero-nautics and Space Administration and the French Commission for Spatial and Scientific Research aimed at a joint scientificsatellite programme similar to that already agreed between the USA and Britain. Talks have been held in Paris and inWashington, but the discussions have reached only a preliminary stage at present. SEACATS FOR GERMANY After a series of negotiations lasting almost 30 months, it wasfinally announced in Bonn on January 11 that the Federal German Government will purchase an evaluation and trials quantity ofSeacat surface-to-air missiles. The final series of talks—which also embraced the Hawker P.I 127, as noted on page 72—involvedMr Peter Thorneycroft, Minister of Aviation; Sir Christopher Steel, our ambassador; Sir Steuart Mitchell, controller, guidedI weapons and electronics, MoA; and Mr Dennis Haviland, a deputy I under-secretary, MoA. On the German side were Dr VolkmarHopf, a state secretary in the Defence Ministry; Gen Heusinger, chief of staff of the Bundeswehr; Lt-Gen Kammhuber, Luftwaffechief of staff; and Dr Theodor Benecke, German delegate to Agard; defence Minister Strauss was indisposed. In a statement issued late on January 11 it was stated that "Thegovernments of the United Kingdom and the Federal German Kepubhc hold the same views on new weapons for defence againstlow-flymg aircraft. The British Government intend to expand the tripartite co-operation existing in this field between France, Italy,and the Federal Republic, by participating in this joint effort and thus^ giving it a broader basis" [this statement is commented upon"i the news item "New British Missiles."—Ed], ^eacats have already been sold to Australia, New Zealand and Sweden, and several other countries appreciate that it is the onlyguided weapon which they could economically purchase and fit into existing vessels. In the case of Germany, however, the Sea-cats are not for existing craft, but for multi-purpose ships of which even the design is still not finalized. The Brussels Treaty limitsGerman naval craft to 3,000 tons, but the Federal Government has announced its desire to build a class of 6,000-ton ships for useagainst submarines and aircraft. Seacat would be partnered by a larger missile as primary armament. NEW SATELLITE-TRACKING CAMERA A high-performance camera for recording satellite positions isbeing developed by the Royal Radar Establishment, Malvern. On view in model and diagram form at the Physical SocietyExhibition in London this week, the new instrument will employ a Schmidt optical system of 24in aperture and 24in focal length,and will have a flat field of approximately 10° X7°. The large aperture of the system, and its high optical quality,should enable satellites of ninth or tenth magnitude to be recorded. Absolute accuracy in position is estimated as ± 2sec of arc but, by"smoothing" the measurements from a number of positions, a relative accuracy of ±0.25sec should be obtained. Absoluteaccuracy in time depends on the accuracy with which GMT is measured, but relative accuracy is ± 0.1 millisec. Also shown at the exhibition was an RRE camera which hasbeen regularly used for satellite tracking. With a 36in focal length and 6in aperture, this instrument has a field of 14° X 14°, On arecorded satellite track of good quality, individual positions should be obtained to ±3sec of arc with a timing accuracy of 1 millisec.Smoothing the measurements gives an accuracy better than lsec of arc. Sensitivity of the camera is limited by the aperture, andonly satellites of fourth or fifth magnitude, or better, can be recorded. "Two Polaris submarines now are stationed in the Atlantic and eachstays there for 60 or more days at a time," according to Rear Admiral Charles B. Martell of the Office of the Chief of US Naval Operations,speaking on January 12. Admiral Martell called the Moon "the most reliable satellite" andsaid that the US Navy used it regularly for communications between Washington and Honolulu. "Recently there was a solar storm of suchintensity," he said, "that communications via the Moon were the only thing available between the two points." A Nike-Cajun two-stage sounding rocket was fired from the ItalianAir Force base at Rerdasdefoeu, Sardinia, to a height of about 105 miles on the night of January 12-13. This was the first launching in aco-operative research programme in association with the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration. On the night of January 13 "an object with missile characteristicscoming out of Russia which might be either a space shot or a rocket fired into Russia's Pacific tesiing range" was detected bv a USAF radarstation on Shemya Island, off the coast of Alaska. The object was tracked for six minutes on a south-easterly heading. According to our American contemporary Missiles and Rockets, onedivision of the Belgian army is to be equipped with the Entac wire-guided anti-tank missile. Developed by the French national DEFA establish-ment, Entac was described in our November 4 issue. On January 12 a B-52G made a 6hr flight from Wichita carrying fourdummy Skvbolts. The mock-ups were aerodynamically and ballistically correct, and are being used to prove the stresses experienced by the pylon,which is fully instrumented. On the opposite page will be found a photo- graph of dummy missiles on the first B-52H. The US Army announced on January 9 that Northrop's RadioplaneDivision had been awarded a second contract for RP-76 target drones; 770 are being bought, the first contract having been for 700, as outlinedin our December 23 issue. Recently an RP-76 travelling at Ml.15 at 55,000ft was hit by a Nike-Hercules at McGregor Range. Both heightand speed are a record for an Army battery during annual service practice. The US Navy is giving some thought to using low-frequency radiotransmissions from a space vehicle to communicate with its submarines while they are under water. Low-frequency radio based on the shorehas been employed to communicate with submarines while they are under water and the results are encouraging, although great transmittingpower is required. A satellite with very long, streaming antennae might be used. On January 10 a Polaris A-2 was successfully fired approximately1,600 miles down the Atlantic Missile Range from a shore pad at Cape Canaveral. Design range is 1,500 n.m., and the 30ft 6in missile isscheduled to become operational next year. Conversely, a Polaris A-l failed after a satisfactory underwater launch from the Robert E. Lee onthe following day. After correctly starting its 1,100-mile trajectory, it suddenly turned downwards while under first-stage power, and wasdestroyed in flight by the range safety officer at Cape Canaveral. Following negotiations between the US State Department and BritishGovernment, it has been announced in Washington that American ASW systems are to be developed at an underwater ranee to be constructedoff the Bahamas. To be known as Autec (Atlantic Underwater Testing and Evaluation Centre), the new facility will cost some $100m (£35.7m).It will include a land base on Great Exuma, which was one of the areas leased from Britain for 99 years in 1940 in exchange for Americandestroyers. Autec will include facilities for various detection, tracking and communications systems, and for the complete evaluation of theASW missile. The most advanced such weapon is Subroc, which has a range too great for any existing underwater range.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
