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Aviation History
1962
1962 - 0411.PDF
FLIGHT International, 15 March 1962 411 Missiles and Spaceflight JOHN GLENN'S FLIGHT Beginning on page 414 in this issue is Lt-Col John H. Glenn's own story of his three-orbit flight around the Earth in Mercury spacecraft Friendship 7 on February 20. This is the first instalment of a two-part article. WILL AEROPLANES BE SHOT DOWN? This is an appropriate issue in which to discuss very briefly the lethality of existing surface-to-air guided weapons. It is extremely difficult to achieve an objective assessment; there are very few people in possession of accurate quantitative data, and those that are invariably grind a very strong axe for one side or the other and so cannot be regarded as impartial. It is possible to collect evidence for both views. Aircraft are safe Our American contemporary Aviation Week wrote in a leading article on May 16, 1960, "Mr Khrushchev's most blatant lie is his statement that the U-2 was hit by a Red Army anti-aircraft missile at an altitude of 65,000ft . . . the fact is that Powers' U-2 had an engine flameout at the altitude that it and other U-2 aircraft cruised safely beyond the reach of the Soviet air defense system." Coming more up to date, the Memorandum by the UK Secretary of State for Air to accompany the 1962-63 Air Estimates states, "The V-force . . . bombers fly fast and high. They are equipped with the latest electronic devices to counter enemy defences ... the performance of the V-bomber as now equipped ensures that they would reach their target and inflict devastating injury on an enemy." Switching from the highest to the lowest altitudes, few readers need reminding how much play has been made, particularly by the Royal Navy and Blackburn Aircraft, of the ability of the Buccaneer to approach its target "under the radar"; and the same ability is surely an essential for the continued existence of the TSR.2. Aircraft are vulnerable The view expressed by Aviation Week's Editor, and quoted earlier, has never been officially challenged, for it is probably very popular with Strategic Air Command; but the implication of the findings of the board of enquiry which The second Saturn launch vehicle arrived at Cape Canaveral on February 27 aboard this special barge after a 2,200-mile, ten-day journey from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, over three rivers, the Gulf of Mexico, the Florida Straits, the Atlantic Ocean and inland waterways. The rocket is scheduled to be launched in about two months' time Released for publication on March 2, this photograph Is the first to show a test vehicle in the Polaris A-2 series being launched from a submerged submarine (presumably down the Atlantic Missile Range). Longer than the A-1 missile by 30in, the A-2 family have an announced range of 1,500 n.m. interviewed Capt Powers (see final paragraph on page 417) speaks for itself. As this journal accepted at the time, there is no technical reason for refusing to believe that an aeroplane at 65,000 or 68,000ft can be intercepted by a missile. Even Nike Ajax, fully operational with the US Army in 1953, is officially credited with a ceiling of 12 miles, and Nike Hercules, operational since early 1958, has often demonstrated its ability to intercept difficult targets (such as another Nike Hercules) at heights over 100,000ft. With reference to the belief that an aeroplane is safe at very low level, it is pertinent to remember the existence of the Hawk system, which as long ago as July 2, 1958, destroyed by impact a 600 m.p.h. Shooting Star flying at 400ft. Hawk has since destroyed a Little John missile, 14ft 6in long, 12in in diameter (no wings) flying at over 1,000 m.p.h. Several American surface-launched missiles have successfully destroyed exceedingly small subsonic and supersonic targets (with or without radar transponders or heat sources) at various heights from 70ft to over 125,000ft. Published evidence appears to favour the missile. NASA LAUNCH-PAD AT VANDENBERG The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration has acquired a Thor Agena B launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, for use with satellites requiring a polar orbit. Conversion of the Air Force pad will provide the first major launch faculty to support NASA's Agena B programme on the west coast of the USA. It is sited on a concrete pad which originally was the first Thor IRBM pad at Vandenberg, and includes an ex-Army Redstone mobile servicing tower which was transported in sections by rail from Cape Canaveral. The first of NASA's polar-orbiting satellites to be launched at the new site will be Echo 2, a 135ft diameter inflatable passive communications satellite which should be launched before Septem ber 1, 1962. Others this year will include the joint US/Canadian swept-frequency ionospheric topside sounder and a Nimbus meteorological satellite; later launches will include those of further Nimbus craft and a polar orbiting geophysical observatory (POGO). CORNISH CONFERENCE "Unanimity of view on the complex technical problems involved in the Project Relay and Telstar satellite experiments, and in preparing plans for the tests to be carried out later in the year" was reached at a meeting of the NASA ground station committee for commu nication satellites, held in Falmouth, Cornwall on February 27-28. A GPO announcement stated:— "The meeting, which was held under the chairmanship of Mr L. Jaffe, Director of Communication Satellite Systems, NASA, was attended by representatives of all organizations participating in the space communication experiments. Those attending included Capt C. F. Booth, General Post Office, United Kingdom; Mr R.
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