248

UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995

1962-Contin ued

12 April The F4H-l made a clean sweep of world

time-to-climb records as Lieutenant Commander Del

W. Nordberg piloted a Phantom II at Point Mugu,

Calif., on a climb to 30,000 meters in 371.43 seconds.

Speed attained was better than 3 miles per minute,

straight up.

30 April The Naval Air Research and Development

Activities Command was disestablished and responsi-

bility for overall management and coordination of the

aeronautical research and development activities in the

Third and Fourth Naval Districts was returned to the

Bureau of Naval Weapons.

10 May A Sparrow III fired from an F4H-l scored a

direct hit in a head-on attack on a Regulus II missile

while both were at supersonic speed. The intercep-

tion, made in the test range of the Naval Air Missile

Center at Point Mugu, Calif., was the first successful

head-on attack made by an air-launched weapon on a

surface launched guided missile.

22 May The Navy's first space satellite command,

the Navy Astronautics Group, was established at the

Pacific Missile Range Headquarters, Point Mugu, Calif.,

under command of Commander James C. Quillen, Jr.

In addition to its other duties, the new command was

given responsibility for operating the Transit

Navigational System being developed by the Navy for

the Department of Defense.

24 May Lieutenant Commander M. Scott

Carpenter in Aurora 7 was launched into orbit from

Cape Canaveral, Fla., on the second U.S. manned

orbital flight. Upon completing three orbits he

returned to earth, landing in the Atlantic 200 miles

beyond the planned impact area. He was located

by a Navy P2V, assisted by para-rescue men,

dropped from an Air Force RC-54 and, after almost

three hours in the water, picked up by an HSS heli-

copter from Intrepid and returned safely to the car-

rier. His capsule was retrieved by John R. Pierce

(DD 753).

29 May Vice Admiral Patrick N. 1. Bellinger, USN

(Ret.), died in Clifton Forge, Va. His long and distin-

guished career as Naval Aviator No.8 began on 26

November 1912 when he reported for flight training at

Annapolis, Md., and ended with his retirement 1

October 1947 while serving on the General Board. As

one of the pioneers in Naval Aviation, he conducted

many experiments, scored a number of "firsts" and

made several record flights.

1 June The final report on the titanium alloy sheet

rolling program was issued by the Materials Advisory

Board of the National Research Council, thereby termi-

nating this program as a formally organized effort.

Achievements of the program during the six years

included acquiring metallurgical and engineering data

for a number of titanium alloys and familiarizing the

aerospace industry with their properties and methods

of fabrication. High strength, heat-treated sheet alloys

developed under this program were soon utilized in a

number of aircraft including the A-7, later models of

the F-4, the Air Force SR-71 and in deep submergence

vehicles used in oceanographic research. The success

of this effort also led to the establishment of a similar

refractory metal sheet rolling program to develop met-

als for use at extremely high temperatures.

1'1

,.

A-7 attack plane carries bombs and missiles NH69970

26 June The 1,500-mile-range Polaris A-2 missile

became operational as Ethan Allan (SSBN 608) depart-

ed Charleston, S.c. carrying 16 of the A-2 missiles.

29 June A Polaris missile was fired 1,400 miles

down range from Cape Canaveral, Fla., carrying the

new bullet-nose shape to be used in the A-3 advanced

Polaris. The first flight model of the A-3 was success-

fully fired from the same base on 7 August 1962.

1 July The commands Fleet Air Patuxent and Naval

Air Bases, Potomac River Naval Command were estab-

lished and assigned as additional duty to Commander

Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River, Md.

1 August Squadrons of the Naval Air Reserve that

had been called up in October 1961, were released to

inactive duty, reducing the strength of the naval air

operating forces by 18 squadrons and 3,995 officers

and men.