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Aviation History
1967
1967 - 0693.PDF
International, 27 April 1967 677 orbit around the Earth," the newspaper said- It asked whether the United States could claim to be respecting the space treaty while the Air Force action con- tinued. Australian Anti-Missile Tests AMERICAN ANTI-MISSILE EQUIPMENT is now installed in the Central Australian Desert. Adapted Redstone rockets are being fired down range from a launch pad near the dry salt pan of Lake Hart. The anti-missile programme is known as Project Sparta—Special Anti-missile Research Tests, Australia. Nosecones fired back into the atmosphere at high speed by the three-stage Redstone rockets glow red under frictional heating, leaving unmistakable trails readily detectable by radar and infra-red tracking equipment on the ground. According to sources in the Australian capital, American tracking stations in the Central and South Pacific have been using Russian rockets for anti-missile target practice. The rockets are fired from Russia's Tyura Tam cosmodrome, east of the Aral Sea, Kazakhstan, and are aimed to impact in the Central Pacific. The latest test firings designed to prove a new Soviet space booster were conducted between November 20 and December 13 last year. US tracking stations on various Pacific Islands keep close watch on these activi- ties. Not far away is America's main anti-missile test centre on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Powerful search radars have recently been installed for forthcoming tests of the new American close-range Sprint anti-missile missile designed to destroy an incoming warhead within 20 miles of its target The long-range anti-missile missile Nike- Zeus is also tested there. The Russian rockets, which take more than 30min to reach the Pacific, have made ideal practice targets for American radar operators. F-111B Setback SECOND CRASH in the F-lll develop- ment programme occurred last Friday, April 21, when an F-111B naval inter- cepter prototype crashed on take-off from Grumman's Peconic River airfield on Long Island. The two occupants were Wiled. The aircraft was one of five FlllBs completed. The previous F-l 11 crash occurred on January 19 at Edwards AFB and involvedan -A model, which crashed on land- "|g after—it is reported—failure of the Pilots to bring the wings to their most wrward position, and an attempt to land with 50° sweep. One of the two men killed. Canberras in Vietnam Action in\^ALIAN CANBERRAS went into action Anriftnam f°r the first time Iast SundaV' RAAC four davs after arriving from £A* Butterworth, Malaysia. Six of 2on>s ei 8ht aircraft struck VietSbng y dumps and a base camp in the Maj 0. Tbune, OC of 338 Sqd, RNorAF, lifts his FSB off the Bentwaters runway (above) an instant before his F-5A wingman. Maj Thune led his squadron on a working visit to Britain earlier this month, as recounted below. The picture below shows a standard F-5A, now well established in Norwegian service Mekong Delta, about 100 miles south west of Saigon. They operated from their permanent base at Phan Rang. The RAAF bombers are now expected to see virtually daily action over South Viet- nam, but it is extremely unlikely that they will take part in strikes over North Vietnam. The newly assigned HMAS Hobart guided-missile destroyer saw her first action last week, with a conventional naval bombardment of North Vietnamese coastal installations. At the same time it was announced that New Zealand's commitments in Vietnam would increase, with the dispatch of an infantry com- pany and a joint-services medical team to join the artillery battery sent there last year. Utility Transport Order Increased THE US ARMY PRODUCTION ORDER placed last October for Beech U-21A twin- turboprop utility aircraft has been extended to cover a further 40 aircraft, at an additional cost of over S7.8 mil- lion. The number to be delivered now stands at 88. The U-21A has two Pratt & Whitney PT6A-2P engines, identical to those in the King Air civil executive transport, seats up to ten equipped men, and can also be used as a casualty-evacuation or cargo aircraft. Gross weight is 9,6501b. Norwegian F-5s Visit Britain THE FIRST OPERATIONAL NORTHROP F-5s to be seen in Britain left RAF Bent- waters on April 21 after operating there for 11 days. Five F-5As and one two- seat F-5B of 338 Sqn, RNorAF, normally based at Orland, were led by the squadron OC, Major Oernule Thune, on an intensive gunnery and bombing train- ing session, using North Sea and East Coast ranges. Practice interceptions of Bentwaters' resident F-4C Phantoms, of 81st Tactical Fighter Wing, USAF, were also flown and each flew three sorties daily. A return visit by 81st TF Wing has been arranged for next month. The USAF AC-47 "Dragonships" operational in Vietnam are being equipped with new GE 7.62mm Minigun modules. Rounds of ammunition are electrically advanced through the cylindrical mounting, which stores more ammunition and is more quickly loaded than the earlier Minigun pods adapted for installation in the AC-47. Spent shells are collected in the container on the right. A first-hand report of a Dragonship sortie was published in '"Flight" for January 26
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