242

UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995

1961-Continued

dures and flight instructions which were peculiar to

the HSS-l and complemented the more technical

information contained in the HSS-l Flight Manual (or

handbook). As the NATOPS system developed,

NATOPS Flight Manuals were issued which consolidat-

ed flight and operating instructions with the handbook

information, the first being that for the F9F-8T dated

15 December 1963. Further publications included the

NATOPS Manual, which contained generalized instruc-

tions covering air operations, and other manuals deal-

ing with such subjects as carrier operations, air refuel-

ing, instrument flight, and landing signal officer

procedures.

18 July The first of a series of 10 unguided rocket

launches was made at Naval Missile Center, Point

Mugu, Calif., to develop an economical research rock-

et using a standard booster. Called Sparro-air, the

rocket was designed and built at Point Mugu by com-

bining two Sparrow air-to-air missile rocket motors. It

was launched from an F4D Skyray to an altitude of 64

miles.

21 July Captain Virgil 1. Grissom, USAF, the second

American man-in-space, completed a 15 minute, 118

mile high flight 303 miles down the Atlantic Missile

Range. Premature blowoff of the hatch cover caused

flooding of the capsule and made its recovery impossi-

ble, but Grissom was picked up from the water by a

second helicopter and delivered safely to Randolph.

3 August The Director of Defense Research and

Engineering approved revisions to the tri-Service

Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) program where-

by administrative responsibility for a tilting wing air-

craft (later developed as the XC-142) was transferred

from the Navy to the Air Force but with the three ser-

vices continuing to share the cost equally.

26 August Iwo jima was commissioned at

Bremerton, Wash., Captain T. D. Harris commanding.

First of the amphibious assault ships to be designed

and built as such, the new ship was 602 feet overall,

of 17,000 tons standard displacement, and equipped to

operate a helicopter squadron and an embarked

detachment of Marine combat troops in the "vertical

envelopment" concept of amphibious assault.

28 August The Naval Ordnance Test Station, China

Lake, Calif., reported on tests of Snakeye I mechanical

retardation devices which were being developed to

permit low altitude bombing with the MK 80 family of

low drag bombs. Four designs of retarders (two made

by Douglas and two by NOTS) had been tested in

flight, on the station's rocket powered test sled, or in

the wind tunnel. One of Douglas' designs had shown

sufficient promise that a contract had been issued for

a number of experimental and prototype units.

28 August Lieutenant Hunt Hardisty, pilot, and

Lieutenant Earl H. DeEsch, RIO, flew an F4H Phantom

II over the 3-kilometer course at Holloman AFB, N.

Mex., and averaged 902.769 mph for a new low alti-

tude world speed record.

11 September Task Force 135, commanded by Rear

Admiral F. 1. Brush, composed of Shangri-La and

Antietam, two destroyers, an attack transport and two

fleet tugs, was ordered to the Galveston-Freeport area

of Texas for disaster relief operations in the wake of

Hurricane Carla.

1 October In response to the call of the president as

a result of renewed tension over the divided city of

Berlin, units of the Naval Reserve, including five patrol

and 13 carrier antisubmarine squadrons of the Naval

Air Reserve, reported for active duty.

16 October The Astronautics Operations Division,

Op-54, with mission, functions and personnel, was

transferred from the Office of DCNO (Air) to Op-76 of

the Office of DCNO (Development).

23 October The Polaris A-2 was fired from under-

water for the first time as Ethan Allen (SSBN 608) fired

it 1,500 miles down the Atlantic Missile Range.

31 October Fleet Airship Wing One and ZP-l and ZP-

3, the last operating units of the LTA branch of Naval

Aviation, were disestablished at NAS Lakehurst, N.J.

6 November Antietam left British Honduras for

Pensacola after 4 days of relief operations following

hurricane Hattie. Helicopters, from VT-8 and HMR(L)-

264, carried over 57 tons of food, water and medical

supplies and transported medical and other relief per-

sonnel to the people in Belize, Stann Creek and other

points hit by the hurricane.

22 November Lieutenant Colonel Robert B.

Robinson, USMC, flying an F4H-l Phantom II, set a

world speed record, averaging 1606.3 mph in two runs

over the 15 to 25-kilometer course at Edwards AFB,

Calif.

25 November The nuclear-powered Enterprise was

commissioned at Newport News, Va., Captain Vincent

P. DePoix commanding.