The White Falcon - 18.02.1961, Blaðsíða 6

6
WHITE FALCON
Saturday, February 18, 1961
FRIENDSHIP TOKENS
Icelandic and American Girl Scout officials exchange an Icelandic
flag and the book “Island of Ice and Fire” in observance of Inter-
national Friendship Day and the 100th anniversary of the birth of
Daisy Juliette Lowe, founder of Girl Scouting in the U. S. Shown are
Mrs. Mary Lillibridge, chairmtn of the Girl Scouts of America at
Keflavik Airport; Mrs. Bobbie Stevenson; Miss Sigridur Larusdottir;
Mrs. Mary Lillibridge, chairman of the Girl Scouts of America at
land; Mrs. Borghildur Fenger, international secretary, North Atlantic
Council; and Mrs. Audur Gardarsdottir.
Space Flight Chimp
Judged Good Actor;
They Call Him ‘Ham’
AFNS — America’s astronaut
program for a manned flight into
space took a giant step forward
following the successful space
flight of “Ham”, the chimpanzee.
Ham’s now historic accomplish-
ments were going 155 miles high,
travelling over 5,000 mph, streak-
ing 420 miles down the South At-
lantic Missile testing range, and
most important surviving and
performing the tests required of
him without a bobble.
Behind this performance lies a
cageful of hard animal training
work at Holloman AFB, N. M.,
where “Ham” and other chimps
have been trained for the human
being simulating space flights. _
Chimpanzees are important to
space research because they are
physiologically and anatomically
closer to man than gorillas and
other anthropoid apes. While the
chimp’s brain averages only half
that of man, the chimpanzee is
in relative proportion to man and
its sensory capacities have been
evaluated as close. Moreover,
socioligists have found chimps in
intelligence equal to and surpas-
sing-young children up to the age
of three, when child and chimp
have been raised together.
With this approximation of the
human astronaut, the chimp also
answered the space question:
Would a living creature be able
to mainpulate the necessary con-
trols while in space flight? Ham
did, and it’s presumed his human
counterpart will do even better
in this category. Ham and other
chimps were trained on a modi-
fied Pavlov reflex reaction syst-
em. Ham had to move levers to
answer various light signals to
fhwart electric shock punishments.
His correct moves were rewarded
in the form of banana coated pills.
The human astronaut would be
left, of course, with his thinking
intelligence .... sans shocks and
banana pills. USAF veterinarians
who work with the chimps at Hol-
loman AFB are selected for the
program not only for their tech-
nical competence but also for
their natural love of animals.
Only the young chimps — the
cream of the crop — are tabbed
for space flights. And USAF
specialists find they are lovable
animals.
In the case of “Ham,” he is
destined to go down in history as
the first chimp space-voyageer,
though the TV chimp “Mister
Muggs” undoubtedly made more
bananas for lesser achievement.
Air Force Orders Six C-140
Jet Transports For MATS;
First Delivery For September
The Air Force has ordered six off-the-shelf C-140 jet
transports for use by the Military Air Transport Service
from the Lockheed Aircraft Corp. The first one is to be
delivered in September, the sec-'®'
ond in October and the remainder
in 1962.
The Air Force purchased five
C-140 aircraft last September for
use by MATS’ Airways and Air
Communications Service. The
first of these is scheduled to go
into operation in 1962 at Robins
AFB, Ga. They will be used as
high-flying electronic laboratories
to check the accuracy and relia-
bility of United States military
navigational aids and air traffic
control facilities throughout the
world.
The six new MATS’ aircraft on
order will be assigned to the 1254-
th Air Transport Wing at Wash-
ington, D. C., as special mission
aircraft replacing propeller-driv-
en Convair C-131s.
A letter contract for $3.4 mil-
lion was signed Dec. 30 by the
Air Material Command which
buys equipment for the Air Force.
The total cost for the six aircraft
is expected to be $9.4 million.
The aircraft are standard C-
140 “JetStars”, winner of a com-
petition for multi-jet training
purposes and to serve administra-
tive and utility requirements.
They carry eight passengers and
two crew members at altitudes
up to 45,000 feet. Speed is the
500 mph. class. Range is approxi-
mately 1,900 miles. Four 3,000-
pound-thrust Pratt & Whitney
JT 12-A-6 jet engines are fixed
to the fuselage near the tail. The
News Continued From Page 1
Bondsmen...
(Continued from Page 1.)
a gift from the Hringsins Com-
mittee.
At Keflavik, the “USAFE
Band” played a Sunday afternoon
concert in the Viking Service
Club, before an audience of more
than 600 U.S. and Icelandic
people.
The “USAFE Band’s” tour of
Iceland was summed up by Lions
Club President Mr. Josef Bjorns-
son as the “best American activ-
ity that had taken place in Ice-
land’s capital for four years.”
Since 1945, the “USAFE Band”
has been playing in both the large
and small cities of Europe. So
far the group has performed in
23 countries.
Conductor of the band, Captain
Gabriel, is a graduate of Ithaca
College of Music, located in New
York state. During IVorld War II,
the captain served as a combat
infantryman, earning the Bronze
Star for valor.
Scholarship...
(Continued from Page 1.)
automatically notify the individ-
uals of their scholarship status or
if not awarded one will send them
applications.
High School Seniors—To receive
a scholarship or loan they must
have taken the NMSQT during
their junior years as there is no
provision for special testing. Sen-
iors who did not take the test
as juniors must have applied and
be scheduled to take the NMSQT
on March 7 and at that time indi-
cate their interest in a loan.
Students now in college—Stu-
dents currently enrolled in college
are not eligible for these scholar-
ships. However, they may apply
for a loan for this fall. If they
have never taken the NMSQT the
only requirement is that they
must have a recommendation from
their college officials. Necessary
application forms may be obtain-
ed by writing directly to the
NMSC, 1580 Sherman Ave., Ev-
anston, Ill.
Mr. Pat Johnson, acting high
school principal, reports that
many Air Force families are in-
terested in the scholarship and
loan program and that six juniors
and one senior are scheduled to
take the NMSQT here on March
7.
Cadets Stymied
The Air Force Academy base-
ball team is quite aware that it
hardly is the season to warm up
for baseball. With wintry blasts
still blowing out of the Colorado
Rockies, the Falcons have schedul-
ed their first baseball games of
the season in sunny California.
The team will play a double-
header at San Diego State April
1 and another doubleheader April
8 at San Jose State.
AEROSPACE EVENT
Feb. 6, 1958—The USAF suc-
cessfully launched its first Titan
ICBM.
aircraft are built at Lockheed’s
Marietta, Ga., plant.
Modernization of the 1254th
Air Transport Wing with small
jet aircraft has been under con-
sideration for two years. The
wing currently operates three
VC-137 jets, the military version
of the Boeing 707, in addition to
C-118s, C-121s and* C-131s.
Academy Relaxes
Vision Standard
In order to tap every possible
source for talent to meet its ever
changing needs, the Air Force
has relaxed its medical standards
to permit applicants with less
than perfect vision to compete for
appointment in the Air Force
Academy.
In a letter to members of Con-
gress, and other agencies author-
ized to appoint cadets to the Aca-
demy, the Air Force announced
the following modification in the
medical standards for the class
entering in June 1961:
° Distant and near vision in
both eyes changed from 20/50 to
20/100 without glasses, correctable
to 20/20 with glasses.
° Refractive error permitted in
moderate excess over former re-
quirement.
The adjustment was made, the
letter said, in response to “The
most recent evaluation which in-
dicates that adjustment of the
medical standards would be in the
best interest of the Air Force by
providing greater flexibility in
the selection of candidates with
aptitudes predictive of later suc-
cess in Air Force career fields.”
The letter invited addressees to
submit the names of applicants
previously tripped up on the old
vision standards for reconsidera-
tion.
Basic requirements for en-
trance into the Air Force Aca-
demy include: U. S. citizenship;
unmarried; a high moral charact-
er; physically qualified and at
least 17 but not past 22d birth-
day by July 1 of the year of
entry.
SAC Is Alert
B-52 bomber crews are now fly-
ing as routine round-the-clock
training missions, a percentage of
the force being constantly air-
borne. SAC Commander, General
Thomas S. Powers, said this train-
ing program is in keeping with
U. S. national policy to have
maximum reflex capability in the
event of attack.
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