Page:Aeronautics and Astronautics Chronology 1915-1960.pdf/34

 port, and long-range strategic guides missiles.

April 19: Project MX-774 inaugurated by AAF with Consolidated-Vultee to study rocket capabilities with an ICBM as a final objective.

April 22: Glenn L. Martin Co. contracted with the AAF to produce (under Project MX-771) a surface-to-surface guided missile (later designated the Matador).


 * U.S. Weather Bureau in cooperation with Army, Navy, NACA, Air Transport Association, and several universities, began series of flights into thunderstorms with pilotless P-61 "Black Widows" and piloted sailplanes to obtain scientific data.

May 8: Chief of Naval Operations directed BuAer to make preliminary investigation of earth satellite vehicle, such an investigation to "contribute to the advancement of knowledge in the field of guided missiles, communications, meteorology, and other technical fields with military applications."

May 16: AAF established an Institute of Technology at Wright Field to graduate 350 officers annually.

May 17: Original design and development of Aerobee sounding rocket begun when contract was given to Aerojet Engineering Corp.


 * First flight of Douglas XB-43, light jet-propelled bomber.

May 28: AAF initiated study of use of atomic propulsion for aircraft, Project NEPA.

May 29: War Department Equipment Board concluded in its report that missiles would play a prominent role in future warfare. It established requirements for seven types of missiles, including a strategic ground-to-ground missile for use at ranges from 150 to several thousand miles.

June 6: Joint Army-Navy Research and Development Board created for purpose of coordinating all activities of joint interest in fields of aeronautics, atomic energy, electronics, geographical exploration, geophysical sciences, and guided missiles.

June H: Navy established Naval Ordnance Missile Test Center at WSPG.

June 11: First meeting of the AAF Scientific Advisory Board met in the Pentagon, chaired by Theodore von Karman.

June 19: NACA Langley's PARD launched first successful control-surface research vehicle at Wallops Island for evaluating controllability with a roll rate transmitter and Doppler radar.


 * AAF contracted with Sverdrup & Parcel, Inc., for study utility and cost requirements, and site surveys for both an AAF Air Engineering Development Center, and a NACA National Scientific Research Center.

June 24: Office of Naval Research approved program for high-altitude manned flight, Project Helios, based upon concept presented by Jean Piccard in February for using clustered plastic balloons.

During June: First U.S. airborne infrared tests by US AAF.

July 6: Antiaircraft and Guided Missile Center activated at Fort Bliss, Tex.

July 9: Subcommittee of the Guided Missiles Committee of the JCS recommended that location be sought for a long-range missile proving ground.

July 21: First U.S. all turbojet to operate from an aircraft carrier, a McDonnell XFD-1 "Phantom" from the U.S.S. Franklin D. Roosevelt.

August 2: National Air Museum was established under the Smithsonian Institution by act of Congress.

August 6: Two unmanned B-17 drones flown from Hilo, Hawaii, to Muroc, Calif.

August 8: First flight of the XB-36, the development of which had begun in 1941.

August 17: Sergeant Lambert of Wright Field, Ohio, became the first person in the United States to be ejected from an airplane by means of emergency escape equipment (ejected from a P-61 airplane traveling 302 miles per hour at an altitude of 7,800 feet).

August 26: Army Ground Forces informed Chief of Staff that development of certain missiles had reached a point where an assignment of operational responsibility was possible.

September 17: Experimental booster for Nike R&D system first tested at WSPG.

September 30: 13 engineers, instrument technicians, and technical observers were ordered TDY from Langley Laboratory to the Air Force test facility at Muroc, Calif., to assist in the X-l flight research program. Named as the NACA Muroc Flight Test Unit, this group under Walter Williams was the origin of the NASA Flight Research Center at Edwards, Calif.

October 1: Naval Air Missile Test Center, Point Mugu, Calif., was established to conduct tests and evaluations of guided missiles and components.


 * Navy Lockheed PV-2, Truculent Turtle, set a record of nonstop long-distance flight, completing an 11,236-mile trip from Perth, Australia, to Columbus, Ohio, in 55 hours 15 minutes.

October 7: First of three XS-1 (later X-1) rocket research airplanes moved from Bell Aircraft's Niagara Falls plant to Muroc, Calif.

October 11: First glide flight of XS-1 (No. 2) by Chalmers Goodlin, Bell test pilot, at Muroc, Calif.

October 24: V-2 rocket No. 13 launched from WSPG carried camera which took motion pictures of the earth at approximately 65 miles altitude (pictures covered 40,000 square miles).

During October: Army Ordnance initiated Bumper Project for development leading to a two-stage rocket test vehicle, which resulted in use of JPL WAC Corporal as second stage of a V-2.

During Fall: Reaction Motors began design and development of rocket engine for the Navy Viking sounding rocket.

During November: First snow from a natural cloud produced by V. Schaefer of General Electric, the experiment carried out by means of dry-ice pellets dropped from a plane over Greylock Mountain, Mass.

December 8: First successful powered (RMI XLR-11 rocket engine) flight of an XS-1, flown by Chalmers Goodlin, Bell test pilot, reached a speed of 550 mph. This was first U.S. aircraft designed for supersonic speeds.

December 11: Space biological research program was initiated at Holloman AFB, N. Mex., by the National Institutes of Health.


 * Velocity and altitude record for single-stage rocket (3,600 mph and 116 miles altitude) made by V-2 at WSPG.

During 1946: Signal Corps by radio-echo transmissions between the Earth and the Moon, proved radio transmission across space was feasible with moderate power.


 * Jet Propulsion Laboratory under Army Ordnance contract developed the field of solid-propellant rocketry such as castable propellants, case bonding techniques, and radial burning techniques.


 * Daniel Guggenheim Medal for 15M6 awarded to Frank Whittle for development of jet propulsion engines.


 * Program of transonic and hypersonic free-flight research on ramjet and rocket-propelled test vehicles launched from piloted aircraft inaugurated at NACA Lewis Laboratory.


 * Commandant of the School of Aviation Medicine, Col. H. G. Armstrong, and the AAF Air Surgeon, Brig. Gen. M. C. Grow, proposed establishment of aeromedical center for research and teaching.


 * Office of Naval Research contracted with General Mills for construction of a cluster of 100 plastic balloons for high altitude atmosphere research (Project Helios).

During 1946-47: Transonic bump technique—using floor- or wall-mounted airfoil surface in subsonic wind tunnel to get transonic flow—developed in 7- by 10-foot wind tunnel at NACA Langley Labora 54