The White Falcon - 18.02.1961, Blaðsíða 7

Saturday, February 18, 1961
WHITE FALCON
7
Bolte Plan Is Given
If the recommendations recently submitted to the Department
of Defense by the “Bolte Committee” are adopted, the Air Force
will gain 1,600 colonel and 4,800 lieutenant colonel spaces, but
would have to give up 800 major slots.
This is just one of 21 major recommendations made by a com-
mittee headed by Gen. Charles L. Bolte, USA (Ret.), which just
concluded a five-month study to equalize promotion opportunity
and personnel rules for U.S. military officers.
Established in the summer of 1960, the committee consisted
of two general and flag officers of each service. In presenting its
report, the board stressed the point that the proposed changes
“are not experimental, as each is based upon a law or practice
fully tested in one or more of the Armed Forces.”
Key recommendations in the report, expected to be sent to
Congress as a proposed new law this spring, would:
° Provide a single active duty promotion system for each
service with each officer’s permanent promotion following from
and conditioned upon a temporary promotin.
° IPermit retirements only in grades served in for at least
six months.
° Establish a one-star rank for the Navy with selection re-
quired for promotion to two-star rank.
° Provide all the services with authority for a full four-year
scholarship ROTC program similar to the Navy’s Holloway program.
° Authorize the appointment of “limited duty” officers in all
services.
° Authorize below zone promotions in varying percentages
to each grade above captain, and limited to officers who have
completed specified periods in grade.
° Provide a mandatory retirement for officers at age 62,
except for certain three and four-star officers who may be re-
tained unti 64.
0 Extend the Army and Air Force system of administrative
separation of officers for cause to the Navy and Marine Corps.
° Extend most of the laws governing male officers to female
officers, and make the few remaining differences between male
and female officer personnel laws uniform among women of all
services.
° Authorize the service secretaries to order retired officers
to active duty at any time without their consent, and provide that
such officers shall no count against service strengths.
° Provide uniform laws active duty and retirement grades
of band leaders.
° Establish a special wartime promotion system.
Points specifically emphasized by the committee:
° Officers of the reserve components not on active duty are
not affected by the proposals.
° No officer would suffer a reduction in grade or pay on
active duty as a result o the committee’s recommendation.
° Certain of the proposals would be applicable only to officers
appointed after the effective date of implementing legislation.
Decoration For Bravery Awarded
Two Members of MATS Command
Radar Unit
Versality
To Increase
MATS’s Airways and Air Corn-
Air Force’s “eyes, ears, and
munications Service (AACS), the
voice,” is modernizing its Ground
Control Approach (GCA) units.
GCA is used to direct the path
of aircraft in the vicinity of an
air field and over a predetermin-
ed glidepath for a safe approach
4;o the runway, regardless of
weather conditions.
Named “Project Bright Eye,”
Named ‘^Project Bright Eye,”
the massive modernization task
includes several modifications
around the world. The actual
modification work is being per-
formed by 16 two-man teams
from the Gilfillan Corp., a Cali-
fornia firm under Air Force con-
tract .
When complete the alterations
will increase the versatility of
every such radar unit in the Air
Force.
Actual work began on the pro-
ject last June. The entire job is
slated for completion in Decemb-
er of this year.
This project is another step
forward in providing the finest
ai rtraffic contro lservice in the
world to American military pilots.
B-52 Becomes
Missile Craft
Preparatory compatibility tests
have begun to mate the 1,000
mile range Skybolt rocket with
the 10,000 mile plus B-52H inter-
continental bomber.
Two of the giant eight-jet en-
gine B-52 bombers, adapted to
become airborne missile launch-
ers, rolled off production lines in
early January at the Boeing Air-
plane plant in Wichita, Kan.
Four of the large Skybolt mis-
siles, two under each wing in
pylon mounts, were fitted on the
aircraft.
Future compatibility tests will
be made during the next few
years over the Atlantic Missile
Testing Range to wed the two
systems, said Skybolt system pro-
grammers at Wright Air Devel-
opment Division at Dayton, Ohio.
When operational in the next
few years, the B-52H and the
Skybolt wil lgive USAF a potent
and flexible striking force.
The Skybolt with its solid fuel
propellant can travel to targets
1000 miles away, far from enemy
defended skies. It can be launched
at multiple targets, streaks at
hypersonic speed and is subject
to recall.
Twins Are Pin-Ups
In Fund Capmaign
Paula and Patricia Webber,
eight-year-old twin daughters of
Air Force Capt. and Mrs. Robert
F. Webber, have been chosen 1961
poster girls in the National East-
er Seal fund raising drive spon-
sored by the National Society for
Crippled Children and Adults.
Captain Webber is assigned to
the 9th Tactical Reconnaissance
Sq., Shaw AFB, S. C., as an
electronic warfare officer.
The twins will headline the 1961
Easter Seal Campaign, Mar. 2
through Apr. 2, Easter Sunday,
with appearances at the White
House, on network TV and radio,
and other public appearances.
Hq MATS, (MNS), - - Two
MATSmen who voluntarily en-
dangered their own lives to save
others will soon be decorated for
bravery, a MATS personnel spok-
esman announced this week.
Headquarters USAF approved
recommendations to award the
Airman’s Medal, fourth highest
peacetime award of the Air Force,
to SSgt Waldemar O. Jaworowski
and A1C Lester Beluah for their
heroic deeds.
Sergeant Jaworowski, of the
1298th Air Transport Squadron,
Washington National Airport,
was servicing a C-121 Super-
Constellation from an oxygen cart
when a sudden exposion envelop-
ed the cart in flames and ignited
his clothing. Disregarding his
own plight he mounted a tug and
pulled the flaming cart clear of
the plane. After being assured of
Jet Flights Set
More than 1,600 members of
the Armed Forces will fly to and
from the Pacific area in Boeing
707 jets operated by commercial
airlines.
Making the announcement,
MATS said the jet transport con-
tract was part of a series of 10
contracts awarded to various
American airlines during the
months of January and Febru-
ary, providing transportation to
4,730 passengers and airlift to
1,910 tons of cargo.
the aircraft’s safety he extinguis-
hed his burning clothes.
Airman Beulah, an Air Police-
man at Dover AFB, Del., appar-
ently had the safety and welfare
of his fellow man foremost in his
mind. Driving to work one morn-
ing, he spotted smoke and fames
pouring from a dwelling near the
highway. The airman immediately
rushed into the blazing house and
led a man and woman to safety
outside. Then he rushed back in-
side and carried an elderly, panic
stricken man out.
The Airman’s Medal is the Air
Force equivalent of the Soldier’s
Medal, given during peacetime
for heroic deeds at the risk of
one’s own life.
SAM Gets Jet Stars
Five hundred mile-an-hour util-
ity transport, C-140 Jet Stars,
are on order to modernize the
1254th Air Transport Wing, based
at Washington, D. C.
Two of the competition winning
administrative and utility jet
transports are slated for delivery
to Special Air Missions during
the Fall of 1961. The other four
will be delivered to SAM in 1962.
Earlier, USAF purchased five
other C-140s for use as flying
electronic laboratories for Air-
ways and Air Communications
Service for operational service in
1962.
USAF Proves
Leadership In
Aerospace Age
The Soviet-Free World competition for military aero-
space supremacy has given urgency to the Air Force’s
efforts to advance in aerospace achievements.
USAF development of ICBMs^
has been a singularly successful
accomplishment. The Atlas be-
came operational in 1959 after
five years of intensive effort.
The Titan, now near the end of
its test phase, will become opera-
tional this year. Minuteman, to
be a “mass produced” ICBM, will
begin deployment in moving rail-
road cars and in underground
sites in 1962.
The Atlas and Thor, both USAF
developed, have boosted most of
the Nation’s successful military
and non-military space vehicles to
date. Thor has boosted more suc-
cessful payloads than all other
US boosters combined.
The combination of the Atlas
with the Agena-B rocket gives
the Air Force a launching vehicle
for future satellite systems of
substantial size, carrying either
men or instruments.
During the past ten years the
Air Force became the Nation’s
primary high-thrust propulsion
developer. Rocket engines develop-
ed from initial Air Force con-
tracts with North American Avia-
tion are used in the Thor, Atlas,
Jupiter, and Redstone ballistic
missiles. A version of the North
American Aviation Rocketdyne
engine is being clustered to boost
NASA’s Saturn vehicle.
As of September 1959, the of-
ficial responsibility for launch
and development of military space
boosters was assigned by the De-
partment of Defense to the Air
Force. Also, much of the launch
capability for the civil space pro-
gram, directed by NASA, rests
with the Air Force.
The world was given a glimpse
of the breadth of Air Force aero-
space competency in a few days
in August 1960. During that
period Maj. Robert M. White and
NASA test pilot Joe Walker, fly-
ing the experimental aerospace-
craft, X-15, broke previous speed
and altitude records near the out-
er fringe of the atmosphere. On
separate flights the X-15 attained
an altitude of 136,500 feet and a
speed of 2,196 mph.
Air Force Capt. Joseph Kitt-
inger Jr. ascened to a new alti-
tude for balloons, some 102,800
feet, and parachuted from the
gondola in making a test of value
to aerospace pilots.
Also during this period the
first capsule was recovered from
a satellite, Discoverer XIII, which
had been sent into orbit from
Vandenberg AFB, Calif., by a
Thor-Agena booster. Within a
week of this recovery, a C-119
crew made the first mid-air
snatch of a space capsule, drop-
ped from Discoverer XIV. (This
feet was repeated in November
and again in December.) Then
the communication satellite, Echo
I, was launched for NASA, and
an Atlas was flown over a dis-
tance of 7,000 miles.
These are just a sprinkling of
the actual accomplishments that
the Air Force has made in aero-
space, but they are proof positive
that the Air Force has earned its
right to be recognized as the
major aerospace force for Nation-
al Security.
Fitness Standards Adopted
It is going to be a bit more difficult to qualify as a new
enlistee or inductee in any of the four branches of the Armed
Forces following the recent adoption of a new code of medical
fitness standards.
The revised standards are the product of the first comprehensive
overhaul of medical fitness criteria since the end of WW II. They
reflect advances in medical science and examination techniques,
and are designed to minimize the number of persons who must be
separated for medical reasons early in their military service.
High on the list of disqualifying factors is vision. Persons
unable to distinguish between vivid red and green are unacceptable
for mlitary service. Reason: Many highly complex weapon systems
make extensive use of color-coded controls.
Inability to read newspaper print at 14 inches is cause for
rejection, as is mandatory use of contact lenses.
But individuals with a history of certain kinds of heart surgery
who have no residual complications may be accepted.
Cause for rejection are conditions which interfere with march-
ing, running, jumping or weight-bearing. For example, abnormalities
of the feet which prevent wearing of military footgear, and ab-
normalities of the hand which cause inability to clench the fist,
pick up a pin or needle, or grasp an object are new causes for
rejection.
The new code was developed by the Army’s Office of the
Surgeon General in consultation with medical officers of the other
services. Standards established in the code apply to all services
and include criteria for admission to flying training, the service
academies, commissioned or enlisted status, women as well as men,
and retention in the military service.
★ * ★
AEROSPACE EVENT
Feb. 8, 1958—The USAF instituted systems management of
its ballistic missile early-warning system, when it contracted with
RCA to manage existing communications facilties, including DEW
Line and SAGE. The system is designed to provide maximum early
warning to NORAD, SAC and civil defense agencies.