30 June 1961 - The Black Vault

liquid fuels.
Development of segmented solid rocket motors
\.,as another example of h1ghlights and achievements at the
Directorate of Rocket Propulsion. The Directorate was one of
the or1ginators of the segmented solid rocket motor J and
furnished technical direction for succe5srul f1rIng of a
25 ton sub-scale motor 5 I~y 1961 at the AeroJet-Oeneral
Corporation test facility 1n Sacramento J California.
Problem Area::>
Although Category I andlI .a1rcraft performance J stability
and control J and syste~s evaluation test1ng remained relatively
constant, category testing generated a requirement for engineers
to be assigned to a program earlier and later in the development
cycle particularly inaero.s.pace vehicle test programs. This
coupled ~'Il th increasingly complex systems \dtlch required mO,l"e
engineers for longer periods created eng1neer shortages 1n all
fields,8
Delay 1n receipt of aircraft (an F-lO/~A 8....nd an F-I04B)
for the Aerospace Research Pilot Course of the USAF Exper1­
mental Flight Test Pilot School prevented installing ot special
instrumentation prior to start of the course. Vitally needed
training aides such as analog space s1mulators, human centr-ifugcs,
reac tlon centrol simulators, and variable stab11ity
aircraft were not available at the AFPTC for use by the H.hool
~n its f i rst Aerospace Research Pilot Course.
8. 2d Ina, F1'FE to F'fi:H, 18 Jul 61 J to L,tr F'I'FPA, 10 .Jul 61J
Subj: AFFTC An.'1ual I"rog.re~s Report (RGS: AFSC - U-36) .
2 - 9