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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0267.PDF
f^IGHT, 3 March 1961 Missiles and Spaceflight . . . JUPITERS IN TURKEY On February 8 the Turkish foreign ministry announced that fivedys previously the Soviet Government had delivered a note enquiring into Turkish plans for IRBM deployment. As a membero: NATO, Turkey was naturally approached by the US Govern- ment some three to four years ago, when it became time for thedeployment of the American IRBMs Jupiter and Thor to be considered. It has long been common knowledge that the deposedMenderes Government agreed in December 1957 for Jupiters to be supplied to the Turkish Army, and plans to put this into effect havebeen in hand for more than two years. But it is significant that, when questioned on the topic last year, the new Premier, GenGursel, gave a somewhat evasive reply. Jupiter is a mobile weapon, originally developed by and for theUS Army, but turned over to the US Air Force by the Wilson Memorandum of November 1957. Although Strategic Air Com-mand squadrons have been named as being equipped with the missile, none appears to have reached field deployment, and theonly effective Jupiter units appear to be a squadron of the Italian Air Force and the expected battalion (or more) of the TurkishArmy. Both forces are, of course, fully committed to NATO, and could not be used unilaterally by their own governments. SOVIET ROCKETS STUDY ECLIPSE A number of geophysical rockets were launched simultaneously inthe zone of the total solar eclipse in Russia on February 15. After the separation of an "automatic station" from each, accordingto the news agency Tass, an electro-mechanical system was switched on to stabilize the attitude of the stations.Photographs, radiation intensity measurements and spectro- graphic measurements of the solar corona were taken. Resultswere telemetered to Earth, and the photographs and spectrograms were recovered by parachute. In addition, meteorological rockets were launched before, dur-ing and after the eclipse with the object of investigating the state of the stratosphere and determining the effect of solar radiationon changes of air temperature in the atmosphere. 271 Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co's Research Division is engaged in thedevelopment of solid-propellant rocket case liners moulded in heat- insulating synthetic rubber. No attempt was made to recover the 3001b data capsule of the USAFDiscoverer 20 satellite launched on February 17. Originally scheduled for February 21, the recovery attempt was cancelled because of a defectin the equipment. Mr Kennedy's US Navy Secretary, Mr Connally, has announcedcompletion of contracts for the five additional Polaris submarines required to bring the total number authorized up to 19. Three havejoined the fleet, four more launched and four more are under construction. A white rat named Hector was recovered in apparently good healthafter a flight to a height of 150km (93 miles') in a Veronique rocket launched from the French rocket base at Hamaguir in the Saharaon February 22. Physiological data were telemetered to the ground during the flight. Boeing announced last month that Central Aircraft ManufacturingCo, of Downsview, has signed a contract to assist in the installation of Bomarc missiles at RCAF North Bay, Ontario. The company is jointlyowned by D.H. Canada, Canadian Aviation Electronics and Ferranti- Packard Electric. According to an American admiral, sunken acoustic buoys have beenfound off both the east and west coasts of the United States. These markers are reportedly nuclear-powered, apparently with isotopescapable of producing power for some 50 years or more. They are believed to have been placed in position by Soviet submarines and fishing vesselsin order to assist in positioning missile-launching submarines. Selection of the Project Mercury astronaut to make the first mannedballistic flight down the Atlantic Missile Range from Cape Canaveral will be made from a short-list of three of the seven men. They are Lt-ColJohn Glenn of the Marines, Capt Virgil Grissom of the Air Force, and Cdr Alan Shepard of the Navy. This was announced by the ProjectMercury director, Mr Robert Gilruth, on February 21. United Technology Corp announced last month that the thirdand last NASA feasibility firing of conical segmented solid-propellant rocket motors was completely successful. The motor differed from thefirst two in having bolted flange joints, and it was rated at 15,0001b for 50sec. UTC state that it will test much larger engines of similar designin the very near future. A photograph of the first of these motors appeared on page 5 of our January 6 issue. First Satellite Launch by All-Solid Scout Launch preparations at Wal- lops Island, Virginia, for the Explorer 9 firing of February 76 are depicted in these photo- graphs. This occasion was the first in which the National Aero- nautics and Space Administra- tion's four-stage, all-solid Scout was used to place a satel- lite in orbit. Left, Scout No 4 and payload undergo final checks on the launch pad; right, hangar testing of the complete vehicle (note folded balloon inside cylindrical con- tainer); below right, payload and final stage on spin balance table. The launch was reported and the inflated satellite illus- trated in last week's issue
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