Page:Aeronautics and Astronautics Chronology 1915-1960.pdf/33

 November 7: Bell Aircraft Corp. announced successful test flights of a jet-propelled P-59 by remote control; television was used to read the instruments.

During November: The Guided Missiles Committee of the Joint Committee on New Weapons and Equipment (JNW) drafted the Dewey Report on "A National Program for Guided Missiles."

December 8: The first USAAF jet fighter unit, the 412th Fighter Group, received its first Lockheed P-80 aircraft at March Field, Calif.

December 9: The first Stratovision flight test was made at Middle River, Md., by Westinghouse Electric Corp. and Glenn L. Martin Co. Telecasts were made from the airplane flying in the stratosphere.

December 14: The AAF contracted with Bell for the development of three supersonic flight research aircraft, powered by liquid rockets. Designated XS-2, and later X-2.

December 17: The Rocket-Sonde Research Branch was constituted in the Naval Research Laboratory to conduct scientific exploration of the upper atmosphere.

December 19: President Truman submitted his plan to Congress for the unification of the armed services.

During December: The Office of Deputy Chief of Air Staff for Research and Development was created in Hq. USAAF, headed by Maj. Gen. C. E. LeMay.


 * More than 100 German rocket scientists and engineers, who had agreed to come to the United States under Project Paperclip, arrived at Fort Bliss, Tex.


 * The Navy BuAer awarded a contract to Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory at Cal Tech to conduct research whose findings were to be used in formulating policy for a projected high-altitude earth satellite vehicle.

During 1945: Abe Silverstein of Lewis Laboratory made a basic application of ramjet technology to the problem of afterburner design, leading to the first full-scale afterburner tests.


 * New wind tunnels were placed under construction at NACA's Ames Laboratory at Moffett Field, Langley Laboratory at Hampton, Va., and the Propulsion Laboratory at Cleveland, to attain speeds of 1,400, 1,800, and 2,600 mph with various sized throats.


 * The German Heinkel He-162 Salamander or "Volksjaeger" jet fighter appeared operationally, while the prototype of a heavy jet bomber appeared in the Junkers Ju-287 (four-engine) with auxiliary take-off rockets, sweptforward wings, speed over 550 mph, and a bomb load of 8,800 pounds.

End of 1945: The increase in speed of reciprocating-engined fighter aircraft by 300 to 400 mph between World War I and World War II (speed being only one military criterion) was estimated to be 75 percent gain because of increased horsepower, 25 percent from aerodynamic improvement.


 * Dr. Jerome C. Hunsaker pointed out that U.S. aeronautical research effort during World War II was based upon a short-range policy of about 90 percent for specific development problems applied to help win the war and 10 percent on basic research to gain needed knowledge. The national research effort has "concentrated on the improvement of aircraft in the production program."

January 2: Special investigation of high-temperature aluminum alloys was begun by J. C. McGee, a Wright Field engineer, which led by June 1947 to a useful alloy known as "ML," named after the Materials Laboratory.

January 10: An Army R-5, demonstrated by C. A. Moeller and D. D. Viner, set an unofficial world helicopter record by climbing to 21,000 feet at Stratford, Conn.

January 16: The U.S. upper atmosphere research program was initiated with captured German V-2 rockets. A V-2 panel of representatives from various interested agencies was created, leading to the launch of more than 60 V-2's. The Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University then developed the medium-altitude rocket Aerobee, while the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) focused on the high-altitude rocket first called Neptune, later Viking.

January 19: The first glide flight of the AAF-NACA XS-1 rocket research airplane (No. 1 of the original three X-l's built) was conducted by Jack Woolams, a Bell Aircraft test pilot, at Pinecastle Army Air Base, Fla.

January 26: The Army announced the creation of the First Experimental Guided Missiles Group to develop and test rocket missiles at Eglin Field, Fla.


 * The Naval Aviation Ordnance Test Station was established at NAAS Chincoteague to develop aviation ordnance and guided missiles.

During January: The first missile was launched at the Naval Air Facility, Point Mugu, Calif., a KVW-1 Loon, the USN name for the AAF robot bomb (JB-2) modeled on the German V-1.

February 8: The AAF disclosed the development of a plane with automatic devices to preset takeoff, flight, and landing, requiring minimal pilot intervention except for monitoring the equipment.

February 19: S. Paul Johnston was appointed Director of the IAS to replace Lester D. Gardner, who retired after 15 years of service.

March 7: The BuAer Committee for Evaluating the Feasibility of Space Rocketry (CEFSR) met with AAF representatives to discuss a joint satellite development program based on the BuAer proposal, leading to the subsequent Project Rand report and Navy CEFSR proposal presented to the RDB, Committee on Guided Missiles, Technical Evaluation Group in March 1948.

March 11: The first successful operation of an afterburner at altitude conditions in America was conducted in the Lewis Altitude Wind Tunnel and reported by Fleming and Dietz.

March 12: The Chief of Naval Operations directed that several guided missiles, including Glomb, Gorgon II-C, and Little Joe, be discontinued, while others like Loon, Bat, Kingfisher, Bumblebee, and Lark were to be continued as high-priority missile developments.

March 15: The first American-assembled V-2 was static fired at White Sands Proving Ground.

March 22: The first American rocket to escape Earth's atmosphere, the JPL-Ordnance Wac, reached a 50-mile height after its launch from WSPG.

During March: Fleet Adm. William D. Leahy sent a memorandum to the Secretaries of the War and Navy Departments on a national program for the development of guided missiles.


 * The AAF established Project Rand as a separate department of Douglas Aircraft Co. plant at Santa Monica, Calif., to study supersonic aircraft, missiles, and earth satellites.


 * The Navy successfully flight tested the XSAM Talos surface-to-air guided missile.


 * The USAAF initiated a program on ballistic missile defense, contracting for the study of an interceptor weapon to cope with V-2-type missiles and, later, for defense against true ICBMs.

April 1: Bell Aircraft Corp. contracted with the AAF (under Project MX-776) to produce a 100-mile guided missile (later designated the Rascal).

April 16: The first flight test of an American-assembled V-2 rocket was launched by the Army at White Sands Proving Ground, N. Mex., with subsequent firings in July setting new altitude and velocity records.

April 17: The Army Ground Forces submitted a summary of its guided missile program, focusing on antiaircraft, assault, antiship, and air-launched close sup 52