1982-Contin ued

7 July In a change of command ceremony, Mr.

Walter Wagner became the Naval Air Systems

Command's first civilian project manager. Mr. Wagner

relieved Captain John E. Hock, Jr., as project manager

for the E-2/C-2 airborne tactical data system.

13 July Lieutenant Commander Barbara Allen

Rainey, the first woman to be designated a Naval

Aviator, was killed in an aircraft accident during a

training flight. She was an instructor with VT-3 when

the accident occurred.

UNITED STATES NAVAL AVIATION 1910-1995

337

2 August The XV-IS, Bell Helicopter's experimental

vertical lift aircraft, piloted by Navy test pilot

Lieutenant Commander John Ball and Bell's test pilot

Dorman Cannon, conducted its first at-sea shipboard

landings and takeoffs on Tripoli. A tilt-rotor aircraft,

the XV-IS had a conventional fixed wing, with engines

and rotors mounted on the wingtips, which were

capable of swiveling to provide either vertical or hori-

zontal flight.

5 August The Naval Air Test Center successfully

completed tests on the first aircraft tire made

entirely of guayule natural rubber. The Goodyear

tire was mounted on

the right main landing

gear of an F-4J

Phantom II and sub-

jected to a series of

maximum gross weight

takeoffs and landings.

Maximum weight for

the test aircraft was

56,000 pounds.

Barbara Allen in the early days of her career.

30 July Ensign Jannine Weiss became the first enlist-

ed woman to receive her wings and commission

under the new Limited Duty Officer Aviator Program.

31 July The last Guided Missile Unit was disestab-

lished after 29 years of service. GMU-41 was estab-

lished on 11 May 1953, with a varied mission. It pro-

vided missile training and technical support to ships

and squadrons, and supported units involved in test

and evaluation of missiles and associated equipment

in the fleet environment.

8 August The Chief

of Naval Operations

established the first

NAVPRO outside the

U.S. in Melbourne,

Australia. The new

NAVPRO's duty would

be to administer U.S.

contracts with Australian

companies that were

involved in building the

F/ A-18 for the Royal

Australian Air Force.

24 September Naval

Air Systems Command

awarded to McDonnell

Douglas, teamed with

British Aerospace and

Sperry, a pre-full-scale

development contract for the VTXTS. The VTXTS was

designed around the British Aerospace Hawk with

appropriate simulators, academics, a training manage-

ment system, and support equipment.

30 September Acting as executive agent for a tri-

service program, NAVAIR signed a $400,000 contract

with the Gila River Indian Community of Sacaton,

Ariz., to research, develop and establish a prototype

domestic guayule rubber industry in the United States.

If successful, this industry would reduce U.S. depen-