The White Falcon - 18.02.1961, Blaðsíða 5

Saturday, February 18, 1961
WHITE FALCON
5
KEY PUNCH
As an introduction to modern punch-card data control, students from
the Commercial College in Reykjavik were recently given a tour
through the Air Force statistical machine room at the Iteflavik Air-
port. One of them is shown at the keyboard of a machine which
translates letters of the alphabet, numbers, and other forms of in-
formation to holes in cards. Afterwards the students watched the
various ways in which machines use these cards to offer quick,
accurate and labor-saving accounting of Air Force men, money and
materials. Students later visited night college classes at the base
and watched a tournament basketball game at the field house.
Aerospace Advance
General White Hails IVlinuteman
Test As Most Significant Yet
USAF Chief-of-Staff, Gen. Thomas D. White, described
the successful test flight of the solid-fuel MINUTEMAN
missile Feb. 1, as “one of the most significant steps this
nation has ever taken towards''"'
gaining intercontinental missile
supremacy in the critical years
just ahead.”
General White said the succes-
ful launching, the first time out,
“will lead to having the MINUTE-
MAN operational at least a year
earlier than was at first thought
possible.”
“The Strategic Air Command
is working closely with the Air
Research and Development Com-
mand and the Air Material Com-
mand to establish operational
MINUTEMAN squadrons at the
earliest possible date,” he added.
It was stressed that the brand
new ICBM was flexible, that it
could be dispersed underground
in hardened launch sites, on mo-
bile railcars—a flexibility that
would offer a potential enemy a
virtually impossible problem. Not
only must he (the enemy) locate
each of these sites, but he must
then expend a number of weapons
for each MINUTEMAN he at-
tempts to knock out,” he explain-
ed.
The USAF chief also lauded
the MINUTEMAN for its simpli-
city of manufacture, maintenance
and operations. General White
said this missile “can be provided
in large numbers at much lower
cost than any other strategic mis-
sile system.”
The MINUTEMAN, a compact
second generation, solid fuel mis-
sile, was tested under different
methods than those employed on
earlier ICBM’s. For one thing,
its components and ground tests
have been running concurrently.
For another, the missile was test-
fired as a complete unit initially,
without compromising the ac-
quisition of essential flight data.
Simultaneous flight testing of all
components both accelerates de-
velopment effort and reduces
cost.
Type: Intercontinental Ballistic
Missile (SM-80)
Speed: Over 15,000 mph.
Range: Over 6,300 statute miles.
Height: About 60 feet.
Diameter: About six feet.
Launch weight: In the 60,000
to 70,000 lb. class.
Power system: Solid propellant
rocket engines in each of these
stages.
Guidance system: All inertial.
Warhead: Nuclear.
Status: In development for SAC
deployment by 1962.
AFI Helps MATS
Set Fly Safety
Record In 1960
history), A‘PCS, Air Forces Ice-
land, the 1254th (which flies the
President and high government
officials), the 1707th (which
trains Air Force pilots and crews
for MATS operations), and the
1405th Air Base Wing which
operates Scott AFB, Ill.
Col. Heston McDonnell, MATS
chief of Flying Safety, said the
1960 record is especially remark-
able because, “During 1960
MATS’ big cargo aircraft flew
millions of miles not planned at
the beginning. These included the
massive mercy airlift to Chile
after earthquakes killed and in-
jured thousands, and the long,
demanding airlift of troops and
supplies to the Congo following
In MATS Units
Air Forces Iceland was one of the six flying units that
helped MATS smash its own flying safety record in 1960
and set an all-time low of 1.45 accidents per 100.000 flying
hours. ^
In contributing its part, AFI
recorded not one single accident.
MATS set two other new safety
records in doing it, despite its
most strenuous flying year since
the 1948 Berlin Airlift.
Six of its 10 flying units had
no flying accidents at all during
the entire year, and the entire
934-plane MATS command had
four accident-free months during
the year (one month was the
former record).
These records were set even
though MATS participated in the
massive Congo Airlift, the mercy
airlift to Chile following earth-
quakes and BIG SLAM/PUERTO
PINE, the largest peacetime air-
lift exercise ever held.
Lt. Gen. Joe W. Kelly, MATS
commander, said there were no
passenger fatalities or injuries
for the second consecutive year,
and only 14 major flying acci-
dents in the entire 934-plane com-
mand.
The record low rate of 1.45
accidents per 100,000 flying hours
in 1960 reduced the 1959 rate of
I. 95 by more than 25 per cent.
(100,000 hours is equivalent to
II. 4 years in the air). This is
the eighth consecutive year
MATS’ flying safety has improv-
ed.
MATS accident rate is based
on flying activities of the total
command. These include, besides
strategic airlift operations, the
flying activities of: Air Rescue
Service (ARS), Air Weather Ser-
vice (AWS), Airways and Air
Communications Service (AACS),
Air Photographic and Charting
Service (ADCS), the 1254th Air
Transport Wing at Washington,
D. C., Air Forces Iceland, 1707th
Air Transport Wing at Tinker
AFB, Okla., and combat readiness
training programs at all MATS
bases.
MATS 10 flying units totalled
965,777 hours in the air during
1960. Their aircraft include four
types of big cargo and troop car-
rying planes, hurricane-hunting
converted bombers, helicopters,
amphibians, twin-engined aero-
medical evacuation planes and
three big jet aircraft.
The six flying units which re-
ported no accidents at all were:
ARS (for the first time in its
political strife there.”
He said these were in addition
to the planned airlifts which in-
cluded BIG SLAM/PUERTO
PINE, a two-week-long exercise
with the Army to Puerto Rico and
back, and Operation Deep Freeze,
the long haul to the South Pole.
Besides these, MATS aircraft con-
tinued supporting America’s oth-
er defense forces, resupplying
stations throughout the world,
and moving military men and
supplies to and from overseas
bases.
MATS chief of Flying Safety
credited the outstanding flying
record to a three-fold MATS de-
mand: professional flying ability
of pilots and aircrews, top-quality
support and maintenance of the
huge MATS aircraft and the per-
sonal emphasis placed on flying
training and safety by command-
ers at all levels.
Chief Pilots Become
A Title Of The Past
Chief Pilots will soon be a thing of the past in all
MATS Air Transport, Troop Carrier and specialized flying
units, MATS headquarters announced this week.
Chief Pilot Sections in all'®'
MATS flying units will be re
designated as Aircrew Standard-
ization Sections in a forthcoming
revision of MATS Regulation 20-
5.
Section chiefs, and standardiza-
tion board members in flying
units, will be responsible for moni-
toring activities of all aircrew
members with respect to training
standards, proficiency, selection
and employment. The Board will
also recommend crew and flight
procedures for aircraft models
assigned to the unit.
An innovation in the MR 20-5
is the proviso that Aircrew Stand-
ardization Section personnel will
be assigned this function on a
primary duty basis.
Standardization boards accord-
ing to MR 20-1, will include:
Aircrew Standardization Chief,
Navigator, Traffic Officer, Flight
Operations Officer, Aircraft
Maintenance Officer, Aerial Re-
connaissance Weather Officer,
Airborne Weather Officer, Flight
Surgeon, Flight Traffic Special-
ist or Loadmaster, Radio Opera-
tor and the Personnel Officer.
The revised MATS regulation,
expected to be released to the
field in early March, outlines all
the pertinent facts on the re-
designation of the chief pilot.
Under the revamped idea, flying
activities of all aircrew members
will be monitored by the section.
At MATS Headquarters, the
Chief Pilots Division, DCS/Oper-
ations was redesignated as the
Aircrew Standardization Division
last week.
Radar Eyes Brighten
Airways and Air Communica-
tions Service (AACS) plans to
complete its world-wide modern-
ization of Ground Control Ap-
proach (GCA) by the end of 1961.
Modifications of existing GCA
units, “Project Bright Eye”, be-
gan in June 1960 by sixteen civil-
ian contract teams and is schedul-
ed for completion by December
of this year.
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11