Astronautics and Aeronautics, 1965 - NASA's History Office

ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS, 1965 41
January 29: C-141~ was certified as a commercial cargo jet. FAA Ad-
ministrator, Najeeb E. Halaby, said the Lockheed fanjet could “help
give civil freight transportation the kind of mobility that brings suc-
cess to the armed forces.” The plane could operate at 550 mph, and
needed only a 6,000-ft. runway. The certification climaxed an unusual
program in which the FAA, USAF, and industry had jointly developed,
produced, and tested the new craft.
(AP, NYT, 1/31/65, 27)
U.S. Army formally accepted the first two XV-jA V/Stol (Vertical/
Short Take-Off and Landing) lift-fan research aircraft at Edwards
AFB where they were being readied for a six-month Army flight evalua-
tion. Test pilots from NASA, USAF, USN, and the FAA would assist in
the evaluation. ( DOD Release 59-65)
January 30: COSMOS LIII. an unmanned satellite containing scientific
equipment for outer space research, was orbited by the Soviet
Union. Preliminary orbital data: period, 98.7 min.; apogee, 741 mi.
( 1,192 km.) ; perigee, 141 mi. (227 km.) ; inclination, 48.8’. Equipment
on board was operating normally.
ATSS-T Trans.)
(Tass, Pravda, 1/31/65, 4,
Funeral services for Sir Winston Churchill were televised live and by
delayed transmission from London via TELSTAR 11 communications
satellite. Churchill died on Jan. 24. Earlier in the week, pictures of
Sir Winston’s body lying in state in Westminster Hall had also been
transmitted live via TELSTAR 11. (NBC; CBS; lF“ash. Post, 1/27/65)
NASA Ames Research Center was conducting tests on a Douglas F5D
aircraft with a specially designed planform wing that might minimize
landing speeds for the proposed supersonic transport. A tornado-like
flow, called “vortex airflow,” and resulting from the sharp difference
between the low pressure on the top of the wing and the high pressure
on the underside, was generated along the ieading edges of the “3”-
shaped wing. Engineers said use of the sharply angled wings with
tornado effect on top had these advantages: (1) the tornadoes affected
air flow over the entire aircraft and eliminated turbulence that would
make other aircraft directionally unstable when coming in nose high
for a landing; (2) the tornadoes made it almost impossible for the
wings to lose their lift completely. Also, it was felt this wing shape
took maximum advantage of the cushioning effect produced in com-
pressing air between the underside of the wings and the ground which
would make it necessary to level off sharply at the last moment before
touching down.
Existence of this tornado-like flow along the leading edges of the
wing encouraged the belief that a supersonic airliner might be built
without resorting to variable-sweep wings.
In current design competition for supersonic transport under GOV-
ernment auspices, the Lockheed Aircraft Corp. had taken the first
approach. The Boeing Co. had a design with movable wings.
(ARC
Release 65-3; Witkin, NYT, 1/30/65)
An articIe published in The New Scientist reported that experts at the
Royal Radar Establishment at Malvern, England, believed that the
US. communications satellite ECHO 11-launched Jan. 25, 1964, and
still in orbit-had been pierced by its own launching canister shortly
after injection into orbit.