1969-Contin ued

numbers, included a grand total of 177,000 with

28,500 officers of whom 15,200 were HTA pilots.

Enlisted men numbered 147,700 of whom 27 were

pilots. Respective figures for Marine Aviation were:

72,500; 9,600; 5,600; 62,800, and 5.

14 July The first A-7E Corsair II assigned to an

operational squadron was delivered to VA-I22, the

A-7 West Coast training squadron at NAS Lemoore,

Calif. The A-7E version of the Vought Corsair II

incorporates heads-up-display (HUD) and Project

Map Display (PMDS) whereby vital information from

flight and navigation instruments are projected into

the pilots normal field of vision, thereby permitting

him to concentrate on his mission without looking

down at instruments. Service use of this equipment

culminated a development effort of more than 15

years duration.

24 July Apollo 11 Astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, ex-

USN, Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., USAF, and Michael Collins,

USAF, were recovered by HS-4 off Hornet after the

first moon landing during which Armstrong and Aldrin

walked on the moon, 20-21 July. The first person to

set foot on the moon was a naval aviator, Neil

Armstrong.

1 August The Naval Air Systems Command issued a

contract to Lockheed Aircraft Corporation for develop-

ment of the S-3A, a carrier based antisubmarine war-

fare plane designed for all weather operation and

equipped with modern detection and data processing

equipment. It was scheduled to replace the S-2

Tracker in the seventies.

17 August Hurricane Camille swept into the Gulf

Coast near Gulfport, Miss., leaving many people

homeless and causing heavy property damage. Naval

Aviation performed emergency assistance and HT-8

received a letter from the president praising it for ser-

vices rendered during the disaster.

31 August Two LC-130s of VXE-6 arrived at

McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, six weeks in advance of

the opening of Operation Deep Freeze 70. Among the

passengers were Rear Admiral David F. Welch,

Commander Naval Support Force, Antarctica, and

seven scientists.

1 September The Naval Aviation Integrated Logistic

Support Center, Patuxent River, Md., was established

to provide intensified logistics management for Naval

Aviation.

UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995

269

8 September As part of Project Birdseye, the Arctic

ice-survey mission initiated in March 1962 to gather

ice-flow information for the Naval Oceanographic

Office, VXN-8 provided ice surveillance for SS

Manhattan during the ship's historic voyage from the

East Coast of the United States to Alaska through the

ice-packed Northwest Passage.

30 September CVSG-57 was disestablished followed

by the disestablishment of CVW-lO on 28 November

and CVSG-52 on 15 December.

22 October The Naval Air Systems Command and

the United Kingdom executed a Memorandum of

Agreement whereby the Hawker-Siddely Harrier, a

vertical take-off and landing aircraft, could be pur-

chased. A subsequent Letter of Offer covered pro-

curement of 12 aircraft with initial delivery in

January 1971. The Harrier, U.S. designation AV-8A,

was being procured for operational use by the

Marine Corps as a result of interest generated in

September 1968 when Marine Aviators Colonel

Pilots converting to the AV-8A learn new vocabulary