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Aviation History
1969
1969 - 2472.PDF
116 FLIGHT International, 24 July 1969 The Vimy burnt The Vickers Vimy replica seen at Manchester last week after the fire which damaged the wings (see this page). The aircraft is to be rebuilt WORLD NEWS . . . said Mr Shaffer, made it ". . . quite likely that the whole air traffic route structure will have to be reconfigured to take maximum advantage of area navi gation, at least above a certain flight level." Equipment was already available to permit significant increases in system capacity without endless additions to the controller staff. Defence Administration Minister Mr Roy Hattersley was last week appointed Minister of Defence for Administration in succession to the late Mr Gerald Reynolds, who died last month. MP for Sparkbrook, Birmingham, Mr Hattersley was formerly Parliamen tary Under-Secretary, Department of Employment and Productivity. The Yimy Damaged Fire damaged the replica of the Vickers Vimy bomber, built by BAC and Rolls-Royce employees, while it was parked on display at Manchester Airport on July 14. Started by the sun reflected on to the fabric from a polished engine cowling, the flames spread in a 15sec blaze from the port lower wing up to and across the top wing. The rest of the air craft was substantially undamaged. The Vimy is to be repaired—much of the wing structure will have to be rebuilt —and Manchester Corporation is launch ing an appeal to enable this to be done. University Honours Sir James Martin Queens University, Belfast, has con ferred an honorary degree of Doctor of Science on Sir James Martin, of ejection- seat fame, "in recognition of outstanding services to engineering and air safety." Pageantry at Old Warden Next Sunday, July 27, the Shuttle- worth Collection is staging what looks like being the most ambitious flying programme yet held at Old Warden. Appropriately called "a military air pageant," it will have as its theme the development of Service aircraft from the Bristol Boxkite of 1910 to the Mc Donnell Phantom of today. The RAF and Royal Navy are co-operating. Gates will open at 11 a.m. and the flying programme will run from 2 p.m. to 4.45 p.m. Admission is fl for adults and 10s for children. Old Warden Aerodrome is two miles to the west of Biggleswade, Beds, where it is signposted from the Al. "ONE SMALL STEP FOR MAN" (continued from page 114) from Washington, exchanged greetings with the two men (who stood stiffly to attention beside Old Glory), addressing them as Neil and Buzz, but apparently forgetting driver Mike upstairs. A certain amount of apprehension was beginning to show in the Houston con troller's voice. Partly as a result of the long period between donning the por table life-support system and starting EVA, the operation was already running some 30min late. The back-packs, which had been operating since 0329 BST, had consumables for 4hr, and it was begin ning to be evident that either an exten sion of EVA or a change of programme would be needed. By 0527 BST one of the main functions of EVA—the deploy ment of the two main items in the EASEP (early Apollo scientific experi ments package) was under way. These experiments, comprising a laser reflec tor and a passive seismometer, were carried by Aldrin from their storage bay in the LM out on to the surface to be set up there. Significantly, there was still no mention of fatigue or difficulty in moving around. By 0537 BST the laser reflector was deployed, but considerable levelling diffi culties with the seismometer ate into the precious EVA time and Houston was becoming decidedly edgy. Finally Mis sion Control said it would like to extend the excursion by 15min. Did the crew mind? Evidently the crew didn't. Although the contingency sample had been collected and some 201b of bulk sample secured (it was not clear whether this was 201b by Earth or Moon weight), the documented samples were still to be obtained. Signals from the laser had already been recorded in California. The laser reflector was also checked out from Earth. At 0547 BST Aldrin collected a core- tube sample at a depth of about 6in. "It almost looks wet," was his comment. Time was rapidly running out. "Neil, after you've got the core tubes and solar wind [experiment], anything you can throw in the box will be acceptable" came the plaintive cry from Houston. The dignified academic selection of rocks degenerated into a scramble. At 0558 BST Aldrin was mounting the ladder, after 2hr 30min operation of his life-support system. At 0600 BST camera magazines and sample boxes were being loaded aboard Eagle by means of the pulley system. By 0612 Armstrong was back in Eagle, and the hatch was closed. The first operation was to pressurise the spacecraft, after which the astronauts went through the tiring process of remov ing their fhermal-meteoroid garments. A checkout of the spacecraft was followed by a meal, after which Armstrong and Aldrin settled down for a rest. Accom modation in the LM is severely limited; Armstrong slung a hammock over the base of the ascent-stage engine, while Aldrin curled up on the floor. After a 7hr doze the two men began preparations for countdown. Luna 15 continued to provide interest; Jodrell Bank reported that the signals from the Russian spacecraft had ceased at 1655 BST. It was surmised that the craft had crashed or landed on the Moon at 300 m.p.h., in the region of the Sea of Crises some 400 miles from the Apollo 11 landing site. The countdown continued. At 1845 BST Houston came on with a reassuring: "Everything looks good." The two astronauts were now too busy to admire the view as the last minutes of the first manned landing mission to the Moon ticked by. The 3,5001b ascent engine ignited. Eagle lifted from its launch pad —the silent descent stage. "Beautiful," was Houston's comment. Two minutes later the spacecraft was at 9,000ft and heart-rates (which had peaked at 94 for Armstrong and 120 for Aldrin) began to subside. The flight-path was good. "Eagle—Houston: You're right down the track," from Mission Control. At 1901 BST the engine was shut down, with Eagle at a height of 60,666ft (in a 9.1 n.m. by 47.2 n.m. orbit), travel ling at 5,537ft/sec and some 166 n.m. from Site 2. Some 5,0001b of fuel had been burned to put Eagle back in Moon orbit. As we went to press, just after injec tion of the LM into orbit, both this spacecraft and the command module (which was coming round the Moon on its 25th revolution) were reported to be in good condition, and the docking was successfully accomplished. The conclud ing stages of the flight will be reported in Flight next week. Launch and early stages: pages 150-152
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