•

Table of Contents

Preface i

Introduction 1

Establishment of the NACA Muroc Flight Test Unit 1

Women's Involvement from 1946 to the Early 1950s 4

Working Environment Change in the Early 1950s 16

Women Authors from 1949 to 1960 20

Work Environment Changes in the 1960s 20

Women in Technical Areas from 1960s to Present.. 22

Notes 25

Appendix A: 10th Anniversary - Supersonic Flight X-Press 29

Appendix B: Data Reduction and Instrumentation Before Digital Computers 45

Appendix C: Women in the Engineering Field 65

Appendix D: Number of Women by Job Cotegory, 1960 to 1995 69

Index 71

List of Figures 74

List of Tables 75

Cover photo: NASA Photo E212, group photograph of women bysnowman, late 1948.

Design and layout: Steven Lighthill, Visual Information Specialist,Dryden Flight Research Center.

11

wear dresses (or skirts) and shoes withheels and hose. Slacks were permissibleonly for velY rare occasions. This unwrit­ten dress code made it more difficult to dotasks that were easy for the men, such asclimbing a ladder to examine the pressureorifices on the top surface of a wing.Today, casual slacks and jeans are asacceptable as more formal dress.

Social attitudes restricted non-workactivities as well. One woman, whograduated from college in the late 1950s,told me how concern about reputation hadadversely affected her non-work activities.She, her boyfriend and another couplewho were also dating wanted to go on acamping trip. But, there was no marriedcouple who could act as chaperones. Shedecided the trip would be too great a riskto her reputation and did not go. Sheregretted that decision and wished that shehad gone camping. The other woman (nota NASA employee) did go. The womantelling me was considered by all to be verystaid and proper. I don't know anyonewho could have conceived of her doinganything wild and foolish. By the late1970s to early 1980s, the attitudes haddefinitely changed. I remember one storyabout a young woman of that time whoworked at NASA for a few years. The stOlYconcerned her and her boyfriend who wasa skydiver. On this particular dive, he wasattempting to hit a marked ground target.To provide added incentive for him, shestripped and lay in the center of the target.I never heard how close he actually cameto the target. I don't even know for surethat the story was true. However, becauseI knew her, I believe the stOlY. Anotherchange in social attitude concerns womenworking after marriage. During the earlyyears, most women who married whenthey were working were expected to quittheir jobs soon after, and most did. Thatisn't true today.

Determining the women who workedat Dryden prior to 1963 was not easy. Iused the library card catalog of Drydenauthors to find the women authors and co­authors of technical reports. I also usedavailable organizational charts, photo­graphs, old telephone directories, the 1954Yearbook published by the Air Force ofthe people who worked at Edwards (with

individual photographs by organization),old issues of the Dryden in-house newslet­ter and the memories of people whoworked here during that time. I apologizeto any of the women I may have omitted.The additional information resources from1963 to the present included my memoriesand the memories of those still working atDryden.

I would like to thank all the peoplewho shared their memories and experi­ences with me. In particular, I would liketo thank Mary V. Little Kuhl, Mary (Tut)Hedgepeth, Betty Scott Love, Walter C.

Williams and Terry J. Larson for theirmemories of the early days at Dryden andto thank Edwin J. Saltzman and LannieDean Webb for sharing their memories andkeepsakes from earlier days. Other peoplewho were especially helpful in filling ingaps were Thomas R. Sisk, Johnnye GreenSisk, Gene 1. Waltman, Lawrence J.Schilling, Albert E. Kuhl, Wilson E.Vandiver, Cleo M. Maxwell, Paul F. Harney,John W. Smith, Roy G. Bryant, Erma J.Cox, Elizabeth W. Davis, Donald E.Borchers and the Dryden History Commit­tee.

Sheryll Goecke PowersDlyden Flight Research CenterJune 1996

Barstow

+ Fremont Peak

,##' .-' .....

___ -~ (, ~ Searles

\ I Lake, - - (dry)

China

China LakeNavel

WeaponsCenter

40km

obtain research data in the transonic Machnumber region (Mach 0.7 to 1.3). The datawere needed to build the next generationof aircraft. This decision was made be­cause the wind tunnels at that time couldnot reliably obtain the data needed fortransonic and supersonic speeds. Also, theinterim "short-cut" flight programs of thattime, which included air drops of weightedmodels, launches of models from rockets,and test models mounted on aircraftwings, could not provide all the neededinformation.

Certain requirements for the flight testarea had to be met. One was that the areahad to be remote for safety reasons, whichincluded increased landing site availabilityfor the pilot and lessened risk from crashesfor the general public. A remote areawould also reduce unwanted observation.As is common with most aeronauticaladvances, there was concern aboutprotecting this research and technologyfrom foreign observers. Another require-

North

1

Willow Springs

I I I

10 20 30

Establishment of the NACAMuroc Flight Test Unit

14

In the early-to-mid 1940s, theNational Advisory Committee forAeronautics (NACA), Army AirForces, and Navy decided to buildand flight test aircraft that could

Women have been involved with flightresearch at NASA Dryden Flight ResearchCenter since its inception as the site forflight research on advanced, high-speedaircraft. The first research involved tran­sonic aircraft, including the X-I, the firstpiloted aircraft to exceed the speed ofsound (exceed a Mach number of 1.0).The working environment for the womenin the engineering field was influenced byseveral factors. One factor was the growthof Dryden from 13 or 14 employees (2 ofthem women) at the end of 19461 to theDecember 1995 size of approximately 450employees. Other factors include the effectof World War II on the availability ofengineers and the advent of digital com­puters. This monograph describes theworking and living environment for thewomen during the late 1940s and early1950s. The number of women engineers,their work and the airplanes they workedon from 1960 to December 1995 are alsodiscussed. In order to better understandthe labor intensive data gathering andanalysis procedures before the age ofdigital computers, typical instrumentationused on the X-series aircraft from the X-Ithrough the X-15 is shown. The datareduction technique to obtain the Machnumber position error curve for the X-Iaircraft, used to document thehistoric first flight to exceed thespeed of sound, is discussed. AMach number and altitude plot froman X-15 flight is also shown. Theauthor, employed at Dryden since1963, used available records alongwith memory to document thenumber of women in engineering atDryden, comment about observedtrends, and make personal observa­tions.

Figure 1. Location of Muroc (Edwards c~~:t~

Air Force Base since December of 1949)with respect to Los Angeles. The names androad numbers are for the present time. Notethat 40 Km is approximately 25 miles.

Introduction

1

tt A brief discussion ofthe flight testing of theX-I aircraft at Muroc isfound in Appendix A,which includes a copy ofa special edition of theX-PRESS, a publicationby and for the employ­ees of the NACA HighSpeed Flight Station, asDlyden was thendesignated. The special(or "extra") edition,dated 14 October 1957,was for the 10thanniversary of the firstsupersonic flight.

t Edwards was namedfor Captain GlenEdwards 0918-1948),who was killed in thecrash of a Northrop YB­49 Flying Wing.

North1

Rogers Lake(Dry)

•North /Base --../ •

the X-I and D-558-1 aircraft included thetypical flight test studies of wing pressuredistributions, lift and drag, stability andcontrol, and handling qualities. Additionaltesting on the X-I included the effects oftwo different wing thickness-to-chordratios (8% and 10%) and the first use ofrocket reaction control jets, which are nowused to provide control on all spacecraftincluding the space shuttle. Additionaltesting on the D-558-1 Skystreak aircraftincluded determining the effectiveness ofwing vortex generators in improvingstability and control and handling qualities.Another version of the D-558 series aircraft(D-558-2) was the 35° leading-edgesweptback-wing Skyrocket aircraft. TheSkyrocket was used to test the effective­ness of a sweptback-wing aircraft in thetransonic and supersonic flight regimes.One Skyrocket aircraft was powered byboth a turbojet engine and a rocket engineand took off under its own power fromthe ground. An all-rocket engine Skyrocketaircraft was air-launched from a B-29. Thethird version of the Skyrocket aircraft wasalso air-launched from a B-29 but had botha turbojet engine and a rocket engine.

In the fall of 1946, NACA Langleybegan sending people to Muroc. The test

Distances (approximate values)

Longest north-south dimension for Rogers Lake: 10 milesSmallest east-west dimension for Rogers Lake: 2 milesStraight line distance between North and South Bases: 6 miles

Dryden FlightResearch Center \

•

ment was that the test area have goodflying conditions (few cloudy days)because previous NACA Langley flight testshad demonstrated the difficulty in visuallytracking aircraft in cloudy skies. Theprevious flight tests had also shown thatthese new test aircraft needed longrunways for takeoff and landing.

The air-launched X-Itt· seriesaircraft were flight tested from1946 to 1958 and the D-558 seriesaircraft from 1947 to 1956. Theturbojet engine D-558 Skystreak(D-558-1) aircraft took off under itsown power from the ground.Investigations conducted on both

These needs led to the selection ofMuroc Army Airfield, which became MurocAir Force Base in February of 1948 andwas renamed Edwardst Air Force Base inDecember of 1949, as the site for the flighttests. Muroc, in the Mojave desert, met theremote location, good flying conditions,and long runways requirements. Inaddition to the concrete runways, the drylakebeds at Muroc provided large, naturallanding areas. Muroc had two additionaladvantages. One was that the Army AirForces, with which the NACA was work­ing, had established Muroc as a wartimecenter for advanced aircraft testing. Theother was the proximity of Muroc to theleading aircraft industries in the LosAngeles area (fig. 1). The employees at theMuroc test site were to conduct flight testsand analyze the data for the rocket­powered XS-1 and the jet-powered androcket-powered D-558 series of aircraft. 2

The primary purpose of the initial testswas to determine whether the straight­wing XS-1 aircraft and the straight-wing, turbojet-powered D-558Skystreak aircraft were controllablethrough the transonic flight regime.The XS-1 aircraft designation, shortfor Experimental Sonic-I, wasrenamed the X-Ion 11 June 1948.3

Figure 2. Sketch of Rogers Lake (Dry).Dryden Flight Research Center has been atthe location shown since 1954. Presently,the primary flight test area (hangers andsupport buildings) for Edwards Air ForceBase is between the main runway andDFRC.

2

Table 1. - Muroc/Dryden Name Changes

The history of the establishment of theNACA Muroc site from its beginning in1946 to 1981 has previously been docu­mented.4 From 1946 to the present, thename for the Muroc site changed severaltimes. Table 1 shows the different names

NameNACA Muroc unittttNACA Muroc Flight Test Unit5

NACA High-Speed Flight Research Station (HSFRS)NACA High-Speed Flight Station (HSFS)NASA High-Speed Flight Station (HSFS)NASA Flight Research Center (FRC)NASA Hugh L. Dryden Flight Research Center(DFRC, Dryden)NASA Ames Research Center, Dryden Flight ResearchFacility (DFRF, Dryden)NASA Hugh L. Dryden Flight Research Center(DFRC, Dryden)

t The NACA High SpeedFlight Research Station, asthe later Dryden FlightResearch Center (DFRC)was then designated,moved to its present loca­tion in 1954. By the late1950s, the base flight testactivities, formerly con­ducted at the South Base,moved to between themain runway and DFRC.In the late 1950s, two ofthe South Base hangerswere moved to the mainbase. The South Base isstill occasionally used. Forinstance, the Northrop B­2 was being flight testedat South Base when theselines were written.

tt Rogers Dry Lake has anirregular, rectangularshape with the longest di­mension of approximately10 miles in the north-southdirection and the smallesteast-west dimension beingapproximately 2 milesacross. The present mainbase's paved runway isapproximately 2 milesnorth of the South Base.The dimensions and dis­tances were obtained froman aerial-view map of thebase compiled in March1979 that shows the run­ways, facilities along thewestern shore of thelakebed, and other promi­nent features such as hills,main roads, railroadtracks, and a precisionimpact (bombing) range.Maps like these were usedto plot the radar track ofan airplane. This partiCll­lar map, 30" X 30" with ascale of 1 to 36,000,showed only part ofEdwards Air Force Base.

ttt This was not an offi­cial name.

*There are no knownsources for the number ofcontractor support peoplein 1965 but there weren'tmany-probably less than50 but possibly as manyas 100.

facility location was at the South Baset (fig.2) which was located on the western sideof Rogers Dry Lake. tt A contingent of fivemen arrived on 30 September 1946. Sixmore men arrived two days before the firstglide flight at Muroc of the XS-1 aircraft on11 October 1946. The first two women,Roxanah B. Yancey and Isabell K. Martin,arrived in December of 1946. The teamnow consisted primarily of engineers,computers (people who computed), andinstrument and telemetry technicians. Thecomputers, following the standard practiceof the day, were the two women. In theFederal government's scientific community,almost without exception, the computerswere women.

In early September of 1947, NACAdecided that the unit at Muroc (nowcomprised of 27 persons) would functionas a permanent facility. The faCility, calledthe NACA Muroc Flight Test Unit, wasmanaged by NACA Langley. On 14 Octo­ber 1947, the XS-1 aircraft on its ninthpowered flight at Muroc became the firstpiloted aircraft to fly faster than the speedof sound. This historic flight was followedon 25 November 1947 by the first NACAflight of the D-558-1 aircraft. These flightsmeant that the people at the NACA Murocsite were now officially involved in theflight testing of both the XS-1 and theD-558 series aircraft.

Date30 September 19467 September 194714 November 19491 July 19541 October 195827 September 195926 March 1976

1 October 1981

1 March 1994

and the dates of change. Note that on 1October 1958, NACA became the NationalAeronautics and Space Administration(NASA). The formation of NASA fromNACA was a result of the launch of thefirst earth satellite, Sputnik 1, on 4 October1957 by the Union of Soviet SocialistRepublics (U.S.S.R.). In addition to theNACA responsibilities, NASA had responsi­bility for the civilian space program.

The name changes during the earlyyears, particularly 1946 to 1954, were anindication of the increasing number ofboth programs and people at the Murocsite. The maximum number of civil servicepersonnel working at Muroc/Dryden wasin the mid-1960s (669 in 1965).6 In mid­1996, there were approximately 450 civilservice employees and approximately thatmany contractor support personnel.* Thename changes also reflect the increasingautonomy of the Muroc site. The threefactors of increased programs, people andautonomy directly affected the workingenvironment for the women in the engi­neering field.

The discussion that follows concernsthe changes in the environment for thewomen in the engineering field at Muroc/Dryden. Only the NACA/NASA civil servicewomen are discussed; records were notavailable for women who worked forcontractors. During the early days atMuroc/Dryden, until about 1954, thewomen who worked as computers weretreated as junior engineers both in thetasks they were assigned and in theirworking relationship with the male engi­neers. The data gathering and analysis

3

procedures before the age of digitalcomputers was labor intensive. To providea better understanding of the labor in­volved, typical instrumentation used onthe X-series aircraft from the X-I throughthe X-1St is shown in Appendix B. Alsodiscussed in Appendix B is the datareduction technique for the Mach numberposition error curve for the historic firstflight to exceed the speed of sound withthe X-I aircraft. A Mach number andaltitude plot from an X-IS flight is alsoshown.

Women's Involvement from 1946 tothe Early 1950s

The women and probably many of themen sent from Langley had volunteeredfor the assignments at the Muroc site. Thelength of the assignments varied consider­ably, anywhere from four months to twoyears with one year being the mostcommon. Some of the engineers wereborrowed on contract for one or two yearsfrom the other NACA laboratories (Amesor Lewis). The first two women (the

computers) assigned to the Muroc site canbe seen in the group photograph taken inlate 1946 (fig. 3). The policy at Langley atthat time was to hire women with mathdegrees to be computers. Roxanah Yancey,who had a math degree, remained at theMuroc site until her retirement in 1973.Isabell Martin, who also had a mathdegree, had left the Muroc site by early1947.

By October of 1947, 27 persons wereworking at the Muroc site. The groupphotograph (fig. 4) shows 24 persons, 4of them women. Roxanah Yancey, PhyllisRogers Actis and Dorothy Clift Hugheswere the woman computers at that time.Naomi Wimmer was secretary to Walter(Walt) Williams, head of the NACA MurocFlight Test Unit. An interesting aside is that2 persons (Gerald Truszynski and ClydeBailey) were not in the original photo­graph. Images from other photographswere pasted in to obtain this second groupphotograph. The original negatives arenot available for either of these groupphotographs.

t This was a rocket­powered aircraft thatwas air-launched from aB-52 airplane. Therewere three X-IS aircraftflown between 1959 and1968. The X-IS extendedpiloted f1ight to amaximum Mach numberof 6.67 (4520 mph) andto a maximum altitude of354,200 feet. It was thefirst aircraft to usethrusters for pitch, yaw,and roll control on thefringes of the atmo­sphere. Data collectedfrom the various studies,including heating,materials, pressures,stability, and f1ightcontrol, were importantin the development ofspacecraft as well astoday's operationalaircraft. Besides Hallion,On the Frontier, pp. 101­129, Milton O. Thomp­son, At the Edge ofSpace:The X-i5 Flight Program(Washington, D,C.:Smithsonian InstitutionPress, 1992) and WendellH. Stillwell, X-i5Research Results(Washington, D.C.:NASA sp-60, 1965)provide furtherinformation on thishypersonic aircraft andthe f1ight researchconducted with it.

4

Figure 3. Group photograph in front of the XS-1 and the B-29 (carrier airplane for the XS-1), late1946. Standing from left to right: Charles Forsyth, Cloyce Matheny, Beverly Porter Brown, JohnGardner, De E. Beeler, Roxanah Yancey, Walter Williams, Isabell Martin, and William (Bill) Aiken.Kneeling from left to right: Clyde Bailey, William Hampton, George Minalga, Joel R. (Bob) Bakerand LeRoy Proctor, Jr. (NASA Photo E21428)

Figure 4. Group photograph in front of the B-29, October 1947. Standing left to right: CharlesHamilton, Milton McLaughlin, Joseph Vensel, Herbert Hoover, Roxanah Yancey, Hubert Drake,Phyllis Rogers Actis, Howard Lilly, Naomi C. Wimmer, Frank Hughes, Dorothy Clift Hughes,Arthur William (Bill) Vernon, Gerald Truszynski, Walter Williams, Clyde Bailey and HaroldGoodman. Kneeling from left to right: LeRoy Proctor, Jr., Donald Borchers, Harold Nemecek,Elmer Bigg, John Gardner, De E. Beeler, John Mayer and Eugene Beckwith. (NASA PhotoE21431)

The number of people at the NACA Murocsite almost doubled each year from 1947 to1950. There were 40 persons in May of1948, 60 in January of 1949, and 132 inJanuary of 1950. The group photographtaken in 1950 (fig. 5) shows that the

number of women had increased signifi­cantly from the four of 1947.

Until 1957, the single women and mencould live in NACA dormitories on thebase. The original dormitories, at least for

Figure 5. Group photograph in front of the NACA building, 1950. Roxanah Yancey is in the firstrow of women, third from the right. (NASA Photo E21429)

5

6

the women, were makeshift facilities.From December of 1946 to the spring of1949, the women's dormitory appears tohave been a series of different buildings.The following quotationt mentionsseveral of the women's living areas:

Upon arriving at Muroc in Decem­ber 1946, Roxie began at KeroseneFlats (so named because of theheating method) what was to be anomadic existence. From Kero­sene Flats, she went to housingopened in the hospital area by theAir Force-then to the Air Forcenurses' quarters, made available toCivil Service personnel for alimited time-next, to the "GuestHouse" for three days-and for 5years, to the NACA Women'sDorm.

One of the buildings used by thewomen in the spring of 1949 was the RedCross building at the South Base. Thisbuilding was near the hangar NACA useduntil late 1948 (remembered as beingapproximately 500 ft away). The mencould live in the Bachelor Officer Quarters(BOQ) but faced the possibility of beingdisplaced by military men who needed aroom for a night or more.

By 1948, the unsatisfactory conditionsof the original dormitories and the workfacilities were seriously affecting moraleand making it difficult to recruit people. Adormitory was considered essential in therecruiting of single women (and importantin the recruiting of single men) because ofthe remote location of the work site. Thenearest town of any size was approxi­mately 30 miles away. There was not apublic transportation system, and most ofthe women did not own cars. (Some, likeRoxanah Yancey, learned to drive aftercoming to Muroc.) Some of the women didlive off the base and were riders incarpools from Mojave or Willow Springs(approximately 9 miles west ofRosamond). Figure 1 shows these townlocations.

The women who lived on base wereallowed after-hours and weekend use of aNACA vehicle, a Dodge carryall, whichthey named the Gray Ghost.The carryall

had been loaned to the Muroc site by theAmes Laboratoly. The Gray Ghost appar­ently was a basic transportation vehicle; inother words, it was better than no car atall. Figure 6 is a photograph of RoxanahYancey with the Gray Ghost. The livingconditions at Muroc were bleak and thefollowing three quotations give a feelingfor the living and working conditions in1947 and 1948. The first quotation is fromAppendix A:

Muroc in 1947... a land ofplentiful sunshine, warm dry air,the wide open spaces withunlimited visibility and ceilingconditions. Muroc in 1947... awind-swept, flat desert area withwinds reaching 50 mph creatingdust and sandstorms that reduceboth visibility and ceiling condi­tions to 400 feet. An area capableof producing temperatures from 5°F to 115° F. Muroc in 1947...manbuilt structures that provideda bare minimum in living comfortby any standards of the day.tt

The second quotation is from RichardHallion's On the Frontier7 :

Muroc Air Force Base in early1948 was not only remote, it wasbleak. In December 1947, NACA'swork came to a standstill aspersonnel scrambled away tocelebrate the holidays in moreappealing sections of the country.Indeed, one reason for theimpressive amount of work thatgot done might have been socio­logical: there was little else to do.Even by automobile, a trip to LosAngeles was a chore; without one,the remaining choice was theafternoon Stage Linesttt bus thatleft Muroc for Los Angeles atabout 5 p.m. The voyager had tospend the night in Los Angelesand take another bus back thenext evening. Word about thediscomforts of Muroc soon spreadwithin the NACA labs, makingrecruitment very difficult.

The third quotation was actually madeabout the living conditions in the summer

t This is from AppendixA in the Personalitiessection of the 10thanniversmy X-PRESS.This includes briefprofiles of each of the 10people who were atMuroc for the firstsupersonic flight in 1947and were still working atthe High Speed FlightStation in 1957. Roxierefers to RoxanahYancey, the only womanin the group of 10. Briefjob descriptionsaccompany the profilesfor the 9 men.

tt This was written byDe E. Beeler andcontinues with adiscussion of theimportance of the X-Iaircraft tests as thereason the peoplestayed. He also refers tothe housing facilities in alater paragraph as"equivalent to high-typestables."

ttt The actual name wasthe Trona Stage. Therou te for this busoriginated in Trona,which is near DeathValley (between ChinaLake Naval WeaponsCenter and the north­west edge of SearlesLake shown in fig. 1),and ended at theGreyhound Bus stationin Los Angeles. Thefollowing day, the buswould return to Trona,according to therecollections of MaryLittle Kuhl on 5 April1994.

t The tests involvedremoving the propellerfrom the P-51, towing itto between 25,000 and30,000 feet with a P-61(twin-engine BlackWidow), cutting loose atthe desired altitude, andthen diving to a glidelanding. Engineerscompared the data fromthese full-scale tests withdata from a P-51 wind­tunnel model (with nopropellers).

tt Tut Hedgepeth, awoman computer,remembered her startingsalary in 1948 as being$2,300 (interview on 28October 1992). WaltWilliams, head of theMuroc unit, rememberedhis starting salary as$2,000 in 1940, with asubsequent raise to$2,600. By the late1940s, he was earning$3,200 (interview on 17September 1993).

Figure 6. Roxanah Yancey with the NACA Dodge carryall named the Gray Ghost, late 19405 orearly 19505. (NASA Photo E96 4340331)

of 1944 when NACA Ames Laboratory(near San Francisco, California) wasconducting tests on the P-51 Mustangairplanet :

A place in which these daring testscould be made in privacy wasdesired, and the Army offered theuse of its Muroc Flight Test Basein southern California. This is anisolated military reservation in theMohave Desert [sicJ-a remote,treeless, desolate terrain whichoffered a landing field about fivemiles in diameter.s

Perhaps the memories from these testswere the reason recruits for Muroc came

primarily from the NACA Langley (Hamp­ton, Virginia) and Lewis Laboratories(Cleveland, Ohio).

Another factor that increased therecruiting difficulties was that during thesummer of 1947 Langley decided toestablish the test team permanently as theMuroc Flight Test Unit. This meant the staffno longer received the $3 to $4 per diemas employees on temporary duty. Thosewho chose to leave were paid for theirreturn to Langley.9 To put the per diemamount in perspective, assume an annualsalary of $2,400.tt The $2,400 per yearwould be an average of $200 per month.For a 30-day month, the $3 per diemwould be $90 extra and the $4 per diem

7

Figure 7. Aerial views of the women's dormitory at the south base. (a. above) July 1951; women'sdormitory with respect to NACA site (NASA Photo E499). (b. below) Late 1949 or early 1950showing the area around the women's dormitory.

8

would be $120 extra. This amount wouldindeed be a significant supplement to anincome.

The NACA decided that in order torecruit people to work at the Muroc site, itwas necessary to improve the dormitoriesand the work facilities. The NACA AmesLaboratory provided personnel, includingmodel makers, to support the constructionwork on the new dormitories and otherNACA Muroc facilities (existing buildings

being modified). The shops and offices werecompleted in November of 1948 and thedormitories in the spring of 1949. An aerialphotograph taken in 1951 [fig. 7 (a)] showsthe location of the NACA work site withrespect to the women's dormitory. TheNACA work site was at this location fromlate 1948 until mid-1954. Note how close thework site is to the runway.t Figure 7 (b)shows a closer view of the women's dormi­tory.tt While the women's dormitory re­mained at the South Base, the men's dormi-

t The runway is 30degrees from being in aneast-west direction.Usmg the standardconvention of northbeing 0 degrees andsouth at 180 degrees, theeast end of the runwayis 60 degrees from thenorth and the west end,240 degrees from thenorth. The hangars areon the nOi th side of therunway.

it Some of the photo­graphs used in thisdocument came fromotigmal NACA negativesand some were fromcopies of photographs111e NACA Photo Log, anegative summalY,includes negative number,a few descriptive words,name of person requestingthe photograph, datewhen the photograph wastaken and date completed.The elate completedcorresponds to when thepnnts were available.Some of the earlynegatives listed in theNACA photo Log havedisappeared The otiginalnegative for this photo­graph was probably from aseties of five aerial viewnegatives, none of whichare m the negative fIle.These negatives did nothave dates for when thephotographs were taken,but the completion elatesfor the negatives precedingand following the aetialview negatives were 8June 1950 and 26 July1950, respectively.

tIn 1953 and 1954, themen's dormitOly cost $3.69evelY two weeks for adouble room and $6.00 fora single room. Thedormitory cost, which wasdeducted from the bi­weekly paycheck, alsoincluded janitor service.For comparison, a onebedroom, one batlu'oomapartment with a kitchenand a living room rentedfor $75 to $100 per monthin Lrncaster in 1956.(Recollections of TerryL'uson on 11 May 1994.)The women's dormitory in1952 and 1953, which hadonly single rooms, cost$3.46 weekly ($6.92 everytwo weeks). Thedormitory cost, whichincluded maid (janitor)service, was deductedfrom the paycheck. In1954, the starting salary foran engineer graduatingfrom college witll abachelor degree was$3410. (Recollections ofHarriet Srnitll on 13 June1996)

tory was at the North Base (fig. 2), anapproximately 8 mile drive. The men'sdormitory, because of its distance from thebase eating areas, had a kitchen and a cookto prepare meals. t

The one-story, two-wing women'sdormitory had room for 10 and was near thebase cafeteria, chapel, and theater (fig. 7).One wing had four rooms and the other had

(a) Front door entrance. (NASA Photo E9643403-8)

six rooms. Each wing had a bathroom. Thebathroom in the six-room wing had twoshower stalls; the one in the four-room winghad one shower stall. The communal livingarea included a kitchen, complete with stoveand refrigerator; a living room that alsocontained the dining room table; and alaundry room containing one washingmachine and one dryer. Each of the womenhad an evaporative cooler in her room.

(b) Parking area and exterior side view. GrayGhost (Dodge carryall) in background. Evapora­tive coolers are mounted at windows. (NASAPhoto E96 43403-7)

(f) View of kitchen stove. (NASA Photo E49)(e) Washer and dryer in laundry room. (NASAPhoto E51)

Figure 8. Interior and exterior views of women's dormitory, 1949 or early 1950s.

9

Because the humidity is usually low, theevaporative coolers were quite effective inproviding cooling. However, they madethe room and everything in it very dampwhich is why they are also called swampcoolers. Figure 8t shows exterior andinterior views of the NACA woman'sdormitory. The front porch [fig. 8 (a)] facedthe street. The evaporative coolers areseen in Figure 8 (b). Note the Gray Ghostin the background. The minimallandscap­ing seen in the photographs was typicalfor the South Base at that time. The mostextensive landscaping, a few trees andsome grass, was for the base headquarters[fig. 7 (a)]. A bedroom, the dining area, thelaundry room and the kitchen stove areshown in Figures 8 (c) through 8 CD,respectively. Note the fire extinguisher bythe kitchen stove [fig. 8 (D] and by thefront door [fig. 8 (a)].

The late 1940s saw increased flightactivity, and more women computers (self­dubbed the Muroc Computers) wereneeded at the NACA Muroc Flight TestUnit. A call went out to the NACA Langley,Lewis and Ames laboratories for more

women computers. In response to thatcall, Lilly Ann Bajus, Dorothy (Dottie)Crawford and Gertrude (Trudy) Wilkenfrom Lewis and Angel Dunn, Mary (Tut)Hedgepeth, Mary Little and Beverly Smithfrom Langley came to NACA Muroc. Figure9 shows some of these woman in a groupphotograph taken at the work site in late1948tt (probably November or December).The women computers in the photographare Roxanah Yancey, Mary (Tut)Hedgepeth, Dorothy Crawford Roth,Dorothy Clift Hughes, Lilly Ann Bajus,Gertrude (Trudy) Wilken Valentine, AngelDunn and Emily Stephens. Also photo­graphed were Jane Collons who worked inprocurement, and Leona Corbett who, atleast when she first came, was secretary tothe head of the unit at Muroc, Walter(Walt) Williams.

Most of the women who worked atthe NACA Muroc site in the late 1940s hadleft by the early 1950s. Three women­Roxanah, Mary Little and Leona-remainedworking at the NACA site until theirretirements. Leona was working in thepersonnel branch (head of the Civil

t The photographs infigures 6 and 8 werecopied from photo­graphs belonging toMalY Little Kuhl.

tt There was no date inthe NACA Photo Lognegative files, but thenegative was one of 115listed without datesbetween negatives datedas taken 13 October1949 and 13 December1949. The 1949 datedoes not agree withwhat some of thewomen remembered.Some of those in thephotograph were not atMuroc in 1949. The mostcredible recollection (ofMary Little Kuhl on 20November 1992) placedthe snow as occurringduring 1948. Eventhough the winters in thearea are cold, bigsnows-indeed, anysnow-are infrequent(years apart) andremembered for a longtime.

10

Figure 9. Group photograph of women by snowman, late 1948. Standing left to right: Mary (Tut)Hedgepeth, Lilly Ann Bajus, Roxanah Yancey, Emily Stephens, Jane Collons, Leona Corbett andAngel Dunn. Kneeling left to right: Dorothy Crawford Roth, Dorothy Clift Hughes and Gertrude(Trudy) Wilken Valentine. Walter Williams is looking out the door. (NASA Photo E212)

I MalY is mentioned inthe profile for RichardPayne in the PERSON­ALITIES section of the10th anniversaly X­PRESS in Appendix A.

Ii" These comments arefrom recollections of TutHedgepeth on 28October 1992. Toprovide a feeling forliving expenses, WaltWilliams recalled on 17September 1993 not onlythe salary figures givenin the note on page 7but the fact that in 1949he bought a newOldsmobile model 98 for$2,800. He considered aLincoln Continental, butit cost $3,000. Heremembers thinking "thatwas a lot for a car." Bypicking up his new carin Michigan, he saved$300. Terry Larsonrecalled on 11 May 1994that his starting salary in1953 after his graduationfrom college was $3,500.At that time, gasolinecost 28 to 29 cents pergallon, bread was 15cents per loaf, bowling25 cents a line andmovies also cost aquarter.

Service Board of Examiners) when sheretired in late 1966. There were manyreasons the women left. Two returned totheir former worksite (Emily to Langleyand Lilly Ann to Lewis). Some left whenthey had children. For example, Mary M.Payne, also a woman computer from 1948to 1951, came to NACA Muroc as a brideand quit work when her first child wasborn.I Some of the women married menwho worked at NACA Muroc or in thelocal area and left when their husbandsdid. One interesting stOly about thisconcerns Beverly Smith. It seems that thewomen previewed the records of any newarrivals. Beverly was around 5 ft 9 in. to 5ft 10 in. tall. One of the new arrivals wasLarry Smith, who was single and 6 ft 2 in.tall. The women decided he should be theone for Beverly to marry, and, as it hap­pened, she did marry him.

Some women came to work at theMuroc site because their husbands did.Two of these women were Angel Dunnand Mary (Tut) Hedgepeth, both fromNACA Langley. Angel and her husband leftthe NACA Muroc unit after a few years.Tut arrived in November of 1948 with herhusband, who started and worked forseveral years in the photography lab at the

NACA Muroc unit. Tut left the NACAMuroc unit in 1953 to work for the AirForce on the base. She started work atNACA Langley in 1948 for an annual salaryof $2300 after graduation from college.Ii"Her father said that was more money thanhe had ever earned in a year (but he didput three daughters through college).

Recruiting visits and word of mouthwere also useful in finding woman com­puters. Beverly Swanson Cothren, whoworked at Langley, was recruited byRoxanah Yancey in 1949. When she firstcame, there was so much work that for thefirst six weeks she also worked weekends.Employees were also sought from theCalifornia colleges and from the local area.Harriet DeVries Smith began working withthe women computers in the summer of1952 as a co-op student. following arecruiting visit by De E. Beeler, one of theearly Muroc employees mentioned inAppendix A. After graduation she returnedas an engineer. She had some problemsbeing accepted as an engineer for a yearor two because of her previous work withthe women computers. One of the menengineers, in particular, wanted her tocontinue to work as a woman computer.Word of mouth was how Betty Love, who

a. Viewed from the runway direction, late 1940s. (NASA Photo E51 503)

Figure 10. Aerial views of NACA site at the south base.

11

Figure 10b. Viewed from buildings to runway, July 1951. (NASA Photo E501)

12

lived in the local area, heard of positionsfor woman computers. She applied andbegan working as a woman computer in1952.1°

Figure 10 shows two aerial views ofthe NACA Muroc site. Figure 10 (a), aphotograph taken in the late 1940s, showsthe site from the runway direction. Figure10 (b), which was taken in 1951,t shows

the NACA work site from a differentdirection. The photograph shows thepaved runway ending at the edge ofRogers Dry Lake.tt Note that the airplanesat the Republic hangar had to taxi on theroad to get to the runway.

Figures 7, 8 (a), 8 (b) and 10 alsoshow the desert vegetation and indicatehow different the climate was for thepeople from the east coast. The climateand the remote location were an unpleas­ant surprise to many people. In addition,family and old friends had often been leftbehind. Many people only stayed for theirdefined tour of duty (such as 4 months or2 years). In fact, the first reaction of a newarrival was often to begin working on aplan to leave the area as soon as possible.One of the pilots, Herbert Hoover, would

fly to the NACA Muroc unit only when hewas scheduled to pilot the X-I. Betweentest flights, he would fly a C-47 aircraftback to Langley (a 2 day trip each way of6 to 7 hours each day).l1

The aircraft being tested, such as theX-I and the D-558, were at the leadingedge of technology. The information anddata obtained from these aircraft would

significantly affect the future of aviation.For some, working on these aircraft wasreason enough to stay. One example ofthe leading-edge data obtained is thenoseboom pressure traces (fig. 11) fromthe historic flight of the X-I airplane flownby Charles E. Yeager on 14 October 1947.These pressure traces are a record of theMach jump from the first piloted airplaneflight to exceed the speed of sound(exceed a Mach number of 1). The abruptchange in the pressure traces means thatthe bow shock wave of the aircraft haspassed over the flush static pressureorifices on the noseboom and that theairplane is traveling faster than a Machnumber of I.ttt

Translating film traces, such as thosein Figure 11, into usable engineering data

t Figures 7 (a) and 10(b) are from a sequenceof nine aerial photo­graphs taken, accordingto the NACA Photo Log,on 12 July 1951.

tt The Rogers DIylakebed is part of therunway system (withRosamond Dry Lake alsoavailable for landings butprimarily as a backup).The paved runways arepreferred because thelakebed is velY dusty.Occasionally, there hasactually been enoughrain that the Rogerslakebed has been wetand unusable. Someflight programs, such asthat for the X-15, couldonly land on Rogerslakehed. When heavyrain precluded its use,the programs weredelayed until thelakehed dried out.

ttt The pressure tracesare for the impactpressure, qc, and thestatic pressure, p. Thetotal head pressure, PT,is the sum of thesepressures (PT~qc + p).PT remains unaffectedby the passage of theshock. The impactpressure is the pressuredifferential between thestatic pressure and thetotal pressure. Thus,when the static pressure"jumps," the impactpressure will "jump" anequal amount (the samepressure change) in theopposite direction. Theamount of movement ofthe two traces isdifferent because ofsensitivity differences(amount of pressurechange per inch of'movement) between thetwo traces. Afterapplying calibrations(discussed in AppendixB), the change inpressure for the twotraces is equal andopposite.

was one of the tasks of the womencomputers. Other tasks included plottingcalibration cUIVes and data and calculatingfor the fuel usage, weight and balance,and center of gravity position for theairplanes. Translating the traces on theoscillograph film into usable data requiredconsiderable effort. Figure 12 shows a rollof a photo-sensitive paper copy of theoscillograph film, and two of the tools

used in the data analysis process, a filmscale and a slide rule. The horizontal traceson the oscillograph film were eitherreference traces or data traces. The verticallines were the time scale. A film scale wasused to read the difference (delta) betweena data trace and its reference trace at thedesired time. This process was commonlyreferred to as reading the film. The engi­neering value for each delta was then read

--------/150 160

Static pressure ------

_3~_165

Figure 11. XS-1 and film pressure traces from first airplane flight to exceed the speed of sound.Flown by Charles Yeager on 14 October 1947.

Figure 12. Engineers (left to right) Jack Fischel, Arthur Gardner and John Rogers with a copy ofan oscillograph film, film scale and slide rule, about 1950. (NASA Photo E92 11191-2)

13

a. Mechanical calculators, Fridens, are seen on desks on the left side. Woman at center deskwith lamp is reading film traces. Clockwise from desk on right side: Roxanah Yancey, GeraldineMayer, Mary (Tut) Hedgepeth, Emily Stephens, John Mayer, Gertrude (Trudy) Valentine, andDorothy Clift Hughes. (NASA Photo E53)

Figure 13. Two views of women computers at work, spring 1949.

14

from the corresponding calibration plot.After the engineering values were ob­tained, the desired parameters werecalculated using the appropriate tools(slide rule, mechanical calculator, standardatmosphere tables, sine and cosine tables,etc.). This procedure is discussed in moredetail in Appendix B where the dataworkup and plot are presented for theindicated and corrected Mach numbercomparison from the flights leading to andincluding the first piloted flight to exceedthe speed of sound.

Appendix B also includes a briefdiscussion about the film recorder system,the tools used by the women computersand engineers, and a time history plotshowing the altitude, velocity, dynamicpressure, and Mach number for an X-ISairplane flight. The X-IS was the last X­series airplane to use oscillograph film forthe primary data recording system. TheX-IS was also the first X-series airplane touse a pulse code modulation (PCM)system for the data recording system. t

The engineers did some film reading,calculations, and plotting, but most of thiswork was done by the computers. Thistedious and time-consuming work required

a great deal of patience. Men were notthought to have the patience to do thiswork, so almost all computers werewomen. The following quotation brieflydescribes the work involved in readingfilm.

Though equipment changed overthe years and most computerseventually found themselvesprogramming and operatingelectronic computers, as well asdoing other data processing tasks,being a computer initially meantlong hours with a slide rule,hunched over illuminated lightboxes measuring line traces fromgrainy and obscure strips ofoscillograph film. Computerssuffered terrible eyestrain andthose who didn't begin by wear­ing glasses did so after a fewyears. 12

The quotation mistakenly mentions a sliderule; in fact, a film scale with markeddivisions to 0.02 inches was used to readthe film. However, slide rules and alsomechanical calculators were used fordoing calculations before the days ofdigital computers.tt

t The checkout flights for therCM system were flown onone of the 1'-104 aircraft atDryden. When the systemwas deemed ready, it was in­stalled in the X-15 #3 aircraft.The first X-15 flight with therCM system occurred on 26April 1967. Unfortunately, on15 November 1967 (theeighth flight using the rCMsystem), the X-15 #3 aircraftwas destroyed in an accidentthat also resulted in the deathof the pilot. In a rCM system,the signal for a measurement,for example from a pressuretransducer or a thermo­couple, is sampled and thenencoded into a binary num­ber whose value is propor­tional to the amplitude of thesignal. The measurementsfrom several transducers areobtained by taking a samplefrom each transducer in se­quence and encoding themeasurement from eachtransducer in the same se­quence. The encoded signalsare sent in a sequel stream(say, pressure 1, pressure 2,temperature 1, pressure 3,temperature 2, etc.) in whichthe signals in each sequen­tial stream have a commonsampling rate per second.Some commonly used sam­pling rates are 20 samples persecond (sps), 40 sps, and 200sps. The sequel output of therCM system could be sent toa tape recorder on the air­plane or radioed to a groundstation, or both. The outputsignal from the PCM is thenseparated into the individualmeasurements and translatedinto engineering units, for ex­ample pressures or tempera­tures. A rCM system for asmall aircraft typicallyhandles 50 to 200 measure­ments while a PCM systemfor a large aircraft couldhandle from 400 to 2,000measurements. For detailsabout PCM systems, see o.J. Strock, Telemetry ComputerSystems, the New Generation(Instrument Society ofAmerica, 1988).

tt The calculators used wereFriden automatic calculators.The users named the calcu­lators "Galloping Gerties" be­cause of their motion whenin use. Note the pads underthem in Figure 13. Thesepads were supposed to cush­ion the motion.

Figure 13b. Note cover on Friden calculator. Left side, front to back, Mary (Tut) Hedgepeth, JohnMayer and Emily Stephens. Right side, front to back. Lilly Ann Bajus, Roxanah Yancey/Gertrude(Trudy) Valentine (behind Roxanah) and Ilene Alexander. (NASA Photo E54)

t Both a calibration plot and atime history plot are shown inAppendix B. The time historyplot is for an X-IS tlight.

tt There was no date in theDryden negative files but thesewere 2 of the 67 negatives listedwithout dates between thenegatives dated as taken 10October 1949 and 13 October1949. 111e October date doesnot agree with the memoriesof the women. 111ey said it wastaken earlier in 1949. Themond1 and year of the daendaron the wall in Figure 13 (b) isnot legible. However, me cal­endar is for a 3(klay mond1 d1atbegan on a Friday and endson a Saturday. For 1949, thistUlTIS out to be April. 111e dom­ing is consistent with the latespring or early summer, so Idecided to date d1e photographas spring. 111e work environ­ment for d1e women comput­ers was tightly controlled. 111ewomen were expected to beat their desks working withvery little time allowed forbreaks. One accepted breakwas to get coffee, which re­quired walking through thehanger. Some of the womenwho weren't coffee drinkersbecame coffee drinkers afterstarting work because going forcolfee gave them a chance toget away li'om their desks. Forspecial events, such as d1e land­ing of X-planes, they were al­lowed to open the blinds at thewindow and watch the land­ing. Going outside to watch dIeevent was considered too longa break. (Recollections ofBeverly Cothren, HarTiet Smithand Betty Love on 13June 1996about the work envoronment.)The work environment for themen may have also been tighdycontrolled but I suspect d1erewas much more leeway fromsome of the tales I have heardof the early days.

ttt I could not find the nega­tive for d1is photograph. An at­tempt to enlarge d1e area of thenegative used for the photo­graph in Figure 13 (b) wasunsuccessful; the Drydenphoto lab was unable to makea legible print from such anenlargement. The women inthe smaller photograph wereidentified (left to right) as TealHildebrand (secretary at theWestern Coordination office ofthe NACA in Los Angeles),Dorothy Crawtilrd Roth, TrudyWilken Valentine, Lilly AnnBajus, Jane Collons, EmilyStephens (probably) and MaryPayne.

Other sources of eyestrain wereplotting and reading values from plots; forexample, calibration of X-IS time histOlyplots.t The X-IS time history plots wereused by engineers and probably some ofthe woman computers to obtain the Machnumber, velocity, altitude, and dynamicpressure for the required times. Figure 13shows two views of "Muroc computers" atwork during what appears to have beenthe spring of 1949.tt Figure 13 (a) showsthe calculators on the left side of the

desks. The two women at the center desksin the back are working with film. Trudy isreading film traces from a photosensitivepaper copy of the film. Dorothy is lookingat a roll of film, probably to find the timesegment she wants to read. Figure 13 (b)shows Lilly Ann working with the datasheets used to record the numbers fromfilm deflection to final value. Note theassortment of curves on Roxanah's deskand the cover on the Friden automaticcalculator. As well as looking nice, thecovers helped protect the Fridens fromsand that blew into the buildings through

any available opening during high windsor sandstorms. Also note the photographson the support beam. The middle photo­graph shows seven women in slacks andwearing parachutes.ttt They were probablydressed to ride in the airplane (probably aDouglas DC-3) behind them in the photo­graph.

The working environment for thewomen computers during the early days atthe Muroc site was influenced by several

factors. Two of these were the smallnumbers of people working there and theremote location. The small numbers meantthat evelyone was well-known by all inthe group. This familiatity fostered a strongteam spirit that resulted in people helpingwherever they were needed. The remotelocation strengthened this team spiritbecause the activities after work involvedthe same people.

Another factor that strongly influencedthe work environment for the womancomputers during the mid-to-late 1940s

15

was a consequence of World War II (WWII). In November of 1942, NACA Langleyannounced that women would be hiredfor "vital war work" and hold jobs formerlyonly held by men. 13 During the war,women college students were encouragedto enter engineering. The followingquotation, from an Iowa State Universityalumni newspaper, was entitled "WW IIPropels Women Into Engineering." TheAmes mentioned is the location of IowaState College (presently Iowa State Univer­sity).

"Nearly half of the students enrolledin the college's aeronautical engi­neering department in 1943 werewomen. They were part of a uniquetraining program sponsored byCurtiss Wright Corporation, anaircraft manufacturer. "In 10 monthstime, we had been 'spoon fed' theequivalent of two years of engineer­ing, so that we would be able toreplace the junior engineers thatwere being drafted to serve in WWII," said Jean (Nickerson) Pattersonof Clinton, Iowa. "We were there forsuch a shOlt time that you maynever have heard of us."

The 97 women came to Ames from22 states to be among the 711"Curtiss Wright EngineeringCadettes" studying on seven cam­puses. Most were college juniors,majoring in evelything from chemis­tly to alt. For 40 hours each week,they attended classes and labs in

math, mechanics, aerodynamics,aircraft structures, drafting, andmanufacturing materials and pro­cesses. After completing the training,they worked for Curtiss Wright in St.Louis, Dayton, or Buffalo. Theprogram had an immense impact ontheir lives, Patterson said. Followingthe war, many completed theirdegrees and most "used some formof their Curtiss Wright training intheir professionallives."14

A photograph included with the alticleshows two women welding with a captionsaying, "As palt of their lO-month waltimetraining program, the Curtiss Wright Cadettesmastered the welding torch in preparationfor work as junior engineers in the aircraftindustry."

The tasks for the woman computers atthe NACA Muroc site were certainly differentfrom those of the CUltiss Wright Cadettes,but both groups were working as juniorengineers. This meant that the computersworked closely with the engineers and wereoften co-authors on technical reports. Thisworking environment existed until the early1950s.

Working Environment Change in theEarly 19505

Several changes occurred in the early1950s that affected the working environ­ment for the women. The changes weregood for the Muroc unit but not necessar­ily for the women, especially the women

16

Figure 14. NACA's X-series fleet in the late 1940s or early 1950s (from left): Douglas D-558-2Skyrocket, Douglas D-558-1 Skystreak, Bell X-5, Bell X-1, Convair XF-92A, Northrop X-4. (NASAPhoto E145)

t The X-5, flight testedfi'om 1952 to 1955, wasthe first aircraft to have avariable sweep wing.The wing sweep couldbe varied from 20 to 59degrees. In addition, thewings translated (movedfore and aft) to keep thecenter of gravity andaerodynamic center inthe proper relationship.The XF-92A, flight testedin 1953, was a deltawing airplane, and theX-4, flight tested from1950 to 1953, was asemi-tailless aircraft.

computers. These changes, discussed inmore detail in the following paragraphs,were the increase in number of aircraftbeing tested, organizational changes,autonomy from Langley, the move to alarger building and the increase in scienceand engineering graduates because of theGI Bill.

The increase in the number of aircraftbeing tested directly translated into a needfor more people. Figure 14 shows theaircraft being tested in the late 1940s orearly 1950s. The Xes painted on the sides

there were no women in the groundsupport crews. The computers, researchengineers, and administration, reproduc­tion and library personnel were in thebuilding seen on the right that is con­nected by a walkway to the hangar. Figure10 shows this building labeled as theNACA Office Building. The machine shopwas in the narrow building (actually alean-to) attached to the hangar on the leftside. The instrumentation people were in abuilding across the street, and Figure 7 (a)shows the site where the radar peoplewere located.

Figure 15. Flight support required for 0-558-2 air launch flight, taken 17 January 1954. 0-558-2(white airplane in front), two F-86 chase aircraft and 8-29 (carrier aircraft). Scott Crossfield, 0­558-2 pilot, standing at nose of 0-558-2. (NASA Photo E1152)

of the aircraft (all except the Bell X-5; mostnoticeable on the Bell X-I, XF-92A and X­4) in the photograph were used for one ofthe experiments to photographicallydocument the attitude during landing. t

After the flight, the attitude of the aircraftduring landing was determined from thephotographs. Figure 15 shows the aircraftand ground crew support needed for oneflight on the air-launched D-558-2 airplane.It is interesting to note (and not easilyseen) that each of the F-86 aircraft has aman sitting in the cockpit. Also note that

The increase in people (because of thenumber of aircraft being tested) changedthe small, intimate group working environ­ment and led to less interaction betweenthe women computers and the engineers.(In May 1948 there were approximately 40people; in July 1954, 250 people, and in1960,408 people.) This change can beinferred from organizational charts for1948, 1954 and 1960.15

The organization chart from FebrualY 1to July 1, 1948 shows R. Yancey as the

17

Head Computer reporting to the Head ofEngineering. The Project Engineers foreach of the six airplane projects alsoreported to the Head of Engineering. Eachof the six airplane projects have separate"boxes" with the names of the projectengineer, engineer, and computers as­signed to the project. Several of the boxes,especially for the computers, do not havenames. Computers D. Clift and M. M.Payne were assigned to the X-I #1 aircraft,P. Rogers to the X-I #2, and H. Wall to theD-558-1 #2 aircraft. By the early to mid­1950s, the women computers beganworking in a computer group that wassupervised by Roxanah Yancey. Theorganization chart for July 1954 shows"boxes" for the different functions but nonames. The computers, now in an organi­zation called Computing Service, consti­tuted a separate function in the ResearchDivision. The Research Division alsoincluded the Stability and Control Branch,

NATlONAL 1,PYlE,ony CO),\),I!'CTEEfOR /.EHOr<A'JTIC5

Loads Branch, and Performance Branch.The next organizational chart is for July1960. The Research Division still eXisted,but the computers were now in theSimulation and Computation Branch of theData Systems Division. Thus, the changefor the computers from 1948 to 1960 wasfrom working directly with the engineersto forming a service organization in adifferent division.

Another change, which also had asignificant effect on the working environ­ment for the women in the engineeringfield, was that in March 1954, the NACAHigh-Speed Flight Research Station(HSFRS) became the NACA High-SpeedFlight Station (HSFS). The HSFS was nowautonomous, which meant that Langleywas no longer responsible for manage­ment or staffing. This autonomy resulted ina change in the technical background ofthe women in the computer group. Most

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Edwards, CalilOl-nia.

HOUSE WARMING

National Advisory Committeefor Aeronautics

High-Speed Flight Station

Edward" California

Jlltle 26, 1954

Front and back coverof announcement.(Ilford print)

NATIONAL ADVlSOR'i COMMIT'l'.ld::: FUH AJ::HONAU'l'lCS

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18

Figure 16. Announce­ment for HouseWarming Party heldJune 26, 1954 fornew building.

Don S',van a:lu his O.:-ch~..,tr,l 'I,ill pLly lc>r dallClng inthe Hilllgar in the en~liEg fIom \J:l)C p. m, to 1:00:1., ll",

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Figure 17. Group photograph in front of the new building, main base, 1954. (NASA PhotoE33718)

of the women assigned from Langley hadmath degrees. Most of the computers hiredfrom the local area by the HSFRS and theHSFS did not have college degrees. Thischange led to the working assignmentsbecoming more routine.

Also in June 1954, the HSFS personnel(now numbering 250 people) and air­planes moved from the South Base into anew, larger building on the main base.This structure, Building 4800, has beenadded to over the years and is still in use.To celebrate the move into the newbuilding, a housewarming party, includinga band for dancing, was held in one of thetwo hangars of the new complex. Figure16 shows an announcement for the party.This document was an approximately 8- by10-inch sheet that was folded to make anoutside cover and two inside pages. Theupper left shows the front and back of thecover and the lower right shows the insidetwo pages. Figure 17 shows a groupphotograph taken in 1954 in front of thenew building. As can be seen by compar­ing Figures 5 and 17, the new building wasconsiderably larger than the old one. Theincrease in office space meant that thewomen computers and engineers no

longer sat close to each other, or in otherwords, were separated from each other.

The last change that occurred duringthe late 1940s and early 1950s resultedfrom the end of World War II in 1945 andthe introduction of the GI Bill. The GI Bill,passed shortly after the armistice, paid thetuition for the GIs who wanted to attendcollege. The GIs also received somemoney for liVing expenses. When theybegan graduating, men with science andengineering degrees were available forhire. The shortage of men with scienceand engineering degrees no longer eXisted,so the need for women to work as juniorengineers was no longer there.

The end result of these changes wasthat the interaction between the womencomputers and engineers decreased. Thewomen computers had depended on theengineers to provide the opportunity to beco-authors. In effect, the engineers pro­vided guidance and direction for thewomen's careers. The decreasing interac­tion between the women computers andthe engineers meant that, in general, thisguidance and direction no longer existed;that the women computers were no longer

19

20

co-authors on reports; and that there werefewer opportunities for women, even withdegrees, to work in the technical engineer­ing areas. The status of the womencomputers had changed from being, ineffect, junior engineers who workedclosely with the engineers to being part ofa service organization with almost nodirect interaction with the engineers.Because of the difference in the task, thewomen computers who began workingafter 1954 are not included in the discus­sions here. All the women computerslisted as co-authors of reports beganworking at Muroc in 1952 or earlier.

Women Authors from 1949 to 1960

From 1950 to 1960, four womenengineers worked at the Muroc unit. Twoof them, Joan Childs Dahlen and HarrietDeVries Smith, were authors of NACAreports. Two of them, Anne Baldwin andBertha Ryan began working in the unitaround 1960. Anne worked only a shorttime at the unit (probably from late 1959or early 1960 until early 1962) and was notan author on a report. Bertha worked atthe unit from 1960 until 1966 - 1967 andproduced two reports. Joan Childs was thefirst woman to write a technical report atthe Muroc site. The report, NACA RML52K13b, published in 1953, was about thestability characteristics of the Bell X-5airplane16 Joan Childs, who had anengineering degree, started as a computer.When Walt Williams (chief of the NACAunit at Muroc) learned about her engineer­ing degree, he began the process to haveher reclassified. Because of his efforts, shewas classified as an engineer and assignedto the engineering group.17 She was at theMuroc site approximately two to threeyears, married an engineer, TheodoreDahlen, who also worked at the Murocsite, and left when he did. Harriet DeVriesbegan working at the Muroc site in thesummer of 1952 as a co-op student.t Aftergraduation from college, she returned asan engineer and worked in the engineer­ing field until 1983 when she transferred toa congressional staff position.

The women computers were co­authors on reports primarily from 1948 to1952. During this period, 11 were co­authors. In 1957 and 1958, three more

woman computers were co-authors. Thereports from 1948 to 1958 were aboutexperiments on the X-I, X-3,tt X-5, D-558,and B-52 airplanes. The number ofcomputers as co-authors was determinedby looking through a card file of reportsby Muroc/Dryden authors. The computerswere always the last author listed onmultiple author reports (usually two orthree authors). During the period from1946 to 1954, there were 29 womancomputers whom I was able to identify.HIAppendix C contains the names of thewomen identified as being computers andco-authors from 1946 to 1954.

Work Environment Changes in the1960s

The next change in the hiring and jobrequirements for women occurred duringthe early-to-mid-1960s. This change wascaused by the development of digitalcomputers and the need for people withcollege degrees to program them. One ofthe new people hired to work with thedigital computers (at that time changingfrom an IBM 650 dlUm computer to anIBM 704 that used vacuum tubes) was awoman, Beverly Strickland (Klein). Herprimary duties appear to have beencomputer programming, which initiallyrequired a degree. The digital computerswith their capacity for rapid data reductionbegan to replace the hand calculations.During the early years of the digitalcomputers, most engineers relied oncomputer programmers to write the datareduction programs required to calculatethe desired parameters. Two womenprogrammers, Constance Eaton (Harney)and Elsie McGowan, were hired duringthis time.

Onboard magnetic tape recordingsystems began to be used in the late1960s. The oscillograph film recordingsystems were soon replaced by theseonboard magnetic tape recording systems)The work done by the women computerswas no longer needed and their jobseventually changed to lUnning the com­puter programs written by other people.Four of the women computers moved toother jobs. Mary Little, who had a mathdegree, became chief of the programmingand data processing branch. Three of the

t The co-op program forengineering students is,as the name wouldsuggest, a cooperativework-study programbetween the NACA or(later) NASA anddifferent universities.Engineering studentsalternate between workperiods at a NASA(NACA until October1958) site and theircourse work at theuniversity.

tt The X-3, flight testedfrom 1954 to 1956, had alow-aspect-ratio, thinwing.

ttt Some women stayedonly a few months. I didnot tty to identify them.

*However, theoscillographs were stillused for years on someindividual experiments.

t Katharine wassometimes called Kayand Roxanah sometimescalled Roxie, especiallyby friends near their ageand time at Dryden, Iusually called them bytheir full names,Katharine and Roxanah,however.

H The primary testinvolved an anti-mistingfuel additive that wassupposed to eliminaterapid burning followingan airplane crash, TheBoeing 720 was flownby remote control duringthe controlled impact(crash) demonstrationflight. The large fireballand burning after thecrash demonstrated thatthe anti-misting fuel wasnot as effective as hadbeen expected,

ttt ERAST is a programfor remotely pilotedaircraft that tests aircraftintended ultimately tooperate at altitudes up to100,000 feet forenvironmental samplingmissions of a week ormore,

former women computers, RoxanahYancey, Katharine Armistead,t and BettyScott Love, moved to engineering positionsat this time, Roxanah had a math degree,Katharine a degree in education, and Bettydid not have a degree. The remainingwomen computers eventually quit, retired,or were reassigned to other jobs.

Roxanah and Betty had a relativelyeasy transition to the engineering field;Katharine did not. By relatively easytransition, I mean that they seemed happywith their work and their promotions.Katharine seemed frustrated, had a difficulttime getting promoted, and never didreach the same promotion level asRoxanah or Betty. Some of Katharine'sdifficulties may have been due to the lackof a strong mentor. Toward the end of hercareer, Katharine was the lead author on areport. Being a lead author was a source ofpride for her.

The next change in the hiring and jobrequirements for women was also related todigital computers. As the digital computersbecame more powerful, they were used torun the airplane simulators. The earlysimulators were based on analog systems,and the programs used to drive them weremaintained and run by men. The program­ming function for the analog computers was

literally wired by the programmers into thedesired configuration. Analog circuit dia­grams were used to plan the wiring configu­ration, which used circuit components suchas resistors, capacitors or diodes to obtainthe desired response. Examples of desiredresponses are summing, integrating, andmultiplying. However, the programmingfunction for the digital computers operatedusing lines of code. Initially, these lines ofcode were entered into the computer byusing computer cards, Each computer cardC7 3/8 by 3 1/4 inches) had one line of code(maximum 80 characters) that was enteredon the card with a keypunch machine. Thekeyboard for the keypunch was similar to atypewriter keyboard. A digital programcontained several hundred to a thousand ormore lines of code. As digital computersbegan to replace the analog systems, womenwere hired to run and maintain simulationprograms. Martha Evans was the first womanhired to work with the simulation programs,Hybrid analog-digital simulations were usedfor a few years (for example, the X-15-2simulation). The first all-digital simulationwas for the 3/8-scale F-15 Remotely PilotedResearch Vehicle (RPRV). Computer simula­tion programs require much attention todetail and this need provided an opening forwomen to work in the simulation area.Women were more easily accepted in anyengineering position where the chief require-

Table 2. Number of Women In Technical Fields and Airplane Projects from 1960s toDecember 1995

Period Number

1960 -1969 14

1970 - 1979 17

1980 - 1989 26

1990 -1993 26

March 1994 24

December 1995 21

Major Aircraft Projects

Lifting bodies (M2-F2, HL-10), Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV), X-15,XB-70 Valkyrie (Mach 3 bomber design)

F-111 Integrated Propulsion Control System (IPCS), F-111 Transonic AirCraftTechnology (TACT), F-8 Digital Fly-by-Wire (DFBW), F-8 Supercritical Wing,Highly Maneuverable Aircraft Technology Remotely Piloted Research Vehicle(HiMAT RPRV), KC-135 Winglets, Lifting bodies (M2-F3, HL-10, X-24A, X-24B),3/8-scale F-15 (RPRV), Shuttle Orbiter approach and landing tests, YF-12Blackbird (Mach 3+, evolved into SR-71)

Boeing 720 Controlled Impact Demonstration (CIDtt), F-111 Mission AdaptiveWing (MAW), F-111 TACT, F-15 Highly Integrated Digital Electronic Controls(HIDEC), F-16 XL Supersonic Laminar Flow Control (SLFC), F-18 High AlphaResearch Vehicle (HARV), HiMat RPRV, X-29 (forward swept wing)

CV-990 Landing Systems Research Aircraft, F-15 HIDEC, F-16 XL SLFC, F-18HARV, X-29, SR-71 Blackbird, X-31 Enhanced Fighter Maneuverability program

CV-990 Landing Systems Research Aircraft, F-15 Advanced Control Tech­nology for Integrated Vehicles (ACTIVE), F-16 XL SLFC, F-18 HARV,F-18 Systems Research Aircraft (SRA), SR-71, X-31

F-15 ACTIVE, Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology(ERASTttt) program, F-16 XL SLFC, F-18 HARV, F-18 SRA, SR-71

21

Figure 18. Airplanes in hanger in late 1966. From front to rear: left side, lifting bodies HL-10, M2­F2, M2-F1; F-4; F-5D; F-104; and DC-3; right side, X-15-1 , X-15-3, and X-15-2. (NASA PhotoEC661461)

22

ment was attention to detail. The attitudethat women were best suited for work thatrequired attention to detail was also foundin other scientific fields. An example of thisis provided by the following quotation:"Until the second half of this century, maleastronomers (with a few exceptions)generally assumed that their female col­leagues were better at tedious data inspec­tion than at creative thinking."18

Women in Technical Areas from 1960sto Present

The women computers of the late 1940sand early 1950s worked closely with theengineers, almost as though they werejunior engineers. By the early 1960s, thisworking relationship, with four exceptions,no longer existed. These four woman (threeretired in 1973, one in 1979) are included inTable 2 in the numbers of woment from1960 to December 1995. The 24 women forMarch 1994 represent 13% of the engineer­ing work force and the 21 women forDecember 1995 represent 12%. The majoraircraft projects (alphabetical listing) arealso included in table 2.

Some of the airplanes mentioned inTable 2 are seen in the group airplanephotographs of Figures 18 to 20. Figure 18shows the airplanes in the hangar beingworked on by the aircraft maintenancecrews in late 1966. This figure, like Figure

15, shows no women working on theplanes.

In the 1970s, women began workingon the aircraft maintenance crews (usuallyonly one or two women). Presently threewomen (two, mechanics; one in avionics)work on these crews. In general, thewomen had great difficulty fitting in anduntil the mid- to late 1980s, none contin­ued to work on the crews. (One changedto a job she liked better, one went tocollege, but most left because of a difficultworking environment.) One obviousdifficulty for these women was working ina traditional male job. Another was thatwhile most men develop their mechanicalskills at an early age, many women do not.This means that using even simple tools,such as pliers or a screwdriver, is notsecond nature to many women. Thosewomen with limited mechanical skills hadan especially difficult time. Most womenbegan working on the aircraft maintenancecrews because the upward mobilityprogramstt of the late 1970s gave them anopportunity to move from lower payingclerical jobs to higher paying aircraftmaintenance crew jobs.

Appendix D shows the type of workand the number of women in each type ofwork. Of the 24 women working in thetechnical field in March 1994, 13 were inthe engineering disciplines, 3 were in

t From 1963 to thepresent, I have personalknowledge of thewomen who worked intechnical fields atDryden. Discussionswith coworkers ensuredI hadn't forgottenanyone. I arrived atdates by asking thewomen who were stillhere when those whohad left came to Dryden,from my own and mycoworkers memoriesabout when womenwere at Dryden, andfrom Frank William (Bill)Burcham's collection ofDryden telephone booksfrom 1966 to thepresent.

tt The purpose of theupward mobilityprograms was to providelower paid employeeswith positions that hadcareer developmentopportunities into higherpaying jobs. Theapplicants did not haveto meet standardrequirements for the jobbecause they were toreceive on-the-jobtraining.

Figure 19. Airplanes on ramp, 1988. From front to back and left to right: X-29, AD-1, PA-30,HiMAT, F-104, F-8 DFBW, F-16AFTI, T-38, F-18, F-18, F-111 MAW, F-15, Rotor SystemsResearch Aircraft, B-52, Jetstar and 747 shuttle carrier aircraft. (NASA Photo EC88 0042-1)

airplane simulation, 4 were in programmanagement (l was the acting deputychief for the division responsible forprogram management and 1 was also aflight test engineer on the SR-71 crew), 3

were in nondisciplinary management, and1 was deputy chief of the division respon­sible for computer systems, flight controlrooms, and information networks. ByDecember 1995, the numbers of women

Figure 20. Airplanes on ramp, 1990. Front to back and left to right: F-18 HARV, X-29, F-15, F-16XL SLFC, 3 F-18 support aircraft, T-38, F-104, B-52, Pegasus, SR-71 and 747 shuttle carrieraircraft. (NASA Photo EC90 280-1)

23

24

working in the technical field had de­creased to 21. The deputy chief of thedivision responsible for computer systems,flight control rooms, and informationnetworks, Connie Harney, had retired andthe acting deputy chief for programmanagement had returned to her formerposition. of the 21 women working in thetechnical field in December 1995, 11 werein the engineering disciplines, 1 was inairplane simulation, 3 were in programmanagement (l, Marta Bolm-Meyer,continues as a flight test engineer on theSR-71 crew), and 6 were in nondisciplinalYmanagement.

Appendix C contains the names of thewomen who worked at NASA Drydenfrom 1960 to December 1995. It wasdifficult to determine the period whenwomen had worked at Dlyden. Whatadded to the problem for the women from1946 to 1954 was that women oftenchange their last name after marriage.Sometimes, what seemed to be twodifferent women were actually the sameperson. From 1960 on, the name changeswere not a problem for me. The namechanges could certainly be confusing forsomebody who did not personally knowmost of these women. Because of this, Ihave included the names found as authorsor in documentst that included the womenworking at Dlyden. As a point of interest,six of the women presently working atDryden in the technical field were in itsco-op program. Throughout the years,quite a few women have been in the co­op program, but I do not know thenumber. Some of the co-ops, both womenand men, were authors or co-authors onreports. Being an author depended onseveral factors, including the policy at thattime about co-ops being authors and theavailability of a suitable project during theco-op period. The only women co-opsincluded in Appendix C are those whoreturned to work as engineers. An excep­tion to this is the women co-ops who wereauthors but who did not return as engi­neers. These women are included in afootnote to Appendix C.

t These documentsincluded the 1954 AirForce yearbook forEdwards, old Dlydentelephone directories.and the Dryden in-housenewspaper, the X-Press.

Notes

1 The number of employees at Muroc from September 1946 to the end of 1946 is not easily determined. Theedition of the in-house newsletter, the X-PRESS (as the X-Press was then designated), published for the 10thAnniversaly of the first flight to exceed the speed of sound, indicates that 13 persons arrived at Muroc on 30September 1946. However, an anonymous, undated chronology whose last entry was was January 1954 statesthat the group started with five men on 30 September 1946 and that the first two women employees arrived inDecember 1946. To further add to the confusion, the X-PRESS for the 25th anniversary of the first flight toexceed the speed of sound states that the X-I was shipped to Muroc accompanied by 14 employees and showsa photograph of 14 employees. (The photograph's date was not given in the title but was given as late 1946 ina Dryden historical photograph display. The original negative is not in the Dryden negative files.) The title forthe photograph says that 8 (including the 2 women) of the original 14 Muroc employees are in the photograph.The amount of travel between Muroc and Langley during this period makes it difficult to determine who andhow many persons were at Muroc at any given time, but Richard P. Hallion, On the Frontier: Flight Research atDryden, 1946-1981 (Washington, D.C.: NASA SP-4303, 1984), p. 9, accepts the facts stated in the anonymouschronology, that the first 13 employees arrived in three separate increments between 30 September 1946 andDecember of that year.

2 More discussion of the flight tests of these two series of aircraft is found in Hallion, On the Frontier, pp. 6-85and 285-314, and in Richard P. Hallion, Supersonic Flight: Breaking the Sound Barrier, The Story of the Bell X-1and Douglas D-558 (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1972).

3 The "XS" became "X" after June 11, 1948, as a result of a change in Air Force designation policy. The fouraircraft series, XS-1, XS-2, XS-3, and XS-4, affected by this change became X-I, X-2, X-3, and X-4 after this date.See Hallion, On the Frontier, pp. 30-31. For the definition for the acronym "XS," see Hallion, Supersonic Flight,p.41.

4 Hallion, On the Frontier.

5 The original team of people were sent to Muroc to participate in the XS-1 and D-558 research programs. Astime passed, it became apparent that these research programs would last a long time. In addition, other pro­grams were starting and more programs were being considered. Then, on 2 September 1947, Hugh LatimerDryden became the NACA's director of research. Among his first actions was a directive that made the NACAMuroc unit a permanent facility on 7 September 1947, known as the NACA Muroc Flight Test Unit and managedby the Langley Memorial Aeronautical LaboratolY. See Hallion, On the Frontier, p. 14.

6 See Hallion, On the Frontier, p. 273.

7 Hallion, On the Frontier, p. 23. He credited the comment about the stage line to an intelview with Katharine(Kay) H. Armistead. Katharine (originally from Langley) was one of the people who had concerns aboutmaking her career at Muroc. She returned to the Langley area for approximately two years and then came backto Muroc. She stayed the second time until her retirement, whereupon she returned to the Langley area to benear her family.

8 See George W. Gray, Frontiers ofFlight: The Story ofNACA Research (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1948), pp.57-60.

9 See Hallion, On the Frontier, p. 23.

10 Recollections of Beverly Cothren, Harriet Smith and Betty Love on 13 June 1996. An interesting aspect of thewoman computer jobs concerns a man, Terry Larson, who graduated from a California college in Los Angelesand was looking for a job in the early 1950s. His uncle who worked for the state employment office knew thata position was posted for a computer at Muroc. Terry (holding a degree in meteorology with a minor in math­ematics) applied. His application was accepted but not for the computer group. He was placed in an engineer­ing job. (Recollections of Teny Larson on 14 June 1996.)

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26

11 Interview, author with Walt Williams, 17 September 1993. The shortest stay I heard about concerned anengineer from an area with many trees and much grass (east or mid-west) who had just graduated from college.This story was usually told to new engineers from green areas (such as Iowa) when they commented abouthow different the desert was from home. Nobody ever remembered his name and they weren't sure of the datebut it was sometime in the 1950s. The young man reported to work in the morning, was given a tour andshown where he would be sitting. By noon, he had gone to personnel, quit his job and was on his way home.

12 See Hallion, On the Frontier, p. 11. Hallion attributed this quotation to an interview with KatherineArmistead.

13 See M. D. Keller, "A Hist01Y of the Langley Research Center, 1917-1947" (Ann Arbor, Michigan: UniversityMicrofilms, 1968), p. 253. For another discussion of women at Langley during the war, see James R. Hansen,Engineer in Charge: A History o/the Langley Aeronautical Laboratory, 1917-1958 (Washington, D.C.: NASA SP­4303, 1984), pp. 262-265.

14 See Marston Muses, "WW II Propels Women into Engineering," The College o/Engineering Alumni News, Fall1993, Iowa State University, p. 3.

15 See Hallion, On the Frontier, pp. 262-265.

16 Joan M. Childs, Flight Measurements o/the Stability Characteristics o/the Bell X-5 Research Airplane inSideslips at 59° Sweepback (Washington, D.C.: NACA RM L52K13b, 1953).

17 According to the recollections of Mary Little Kuhl on 29 October 1992.

18 Marcia Bartusiak, "Focal Point: Shifting the gender spotlight," Sky & Telescope (May 1994): 6-7.

Appendixes

27

28

Appendix A: 10th Anniversary - Supersonic Flight X-PRESS

-r Carmelita (Lita) washead of the editorialoffice when I startedworking at Dryden in1963. Helen, whoestablished the office in1952, was probably thehead of it until she leftin 1960.

tt The IS-year pin articlealso mentioned a stagdinner party held tohonor the three men.The article states that thepresentation of thesepins raised the total ofIS-year pin holders to 9.The only woman in the9 was Helen Foley. Itseems too bad thatHelen would have beenexcluded from the partysimply because of hergender.

The X-PRESS began as a publicationfor the employees of the NACA High­Speed Flight Station (HSFS). A copy(Volume 2, Issue 3) that was publishedMay 17, 1957, still exists. The volumenumber indicates that the X-PRESS was firstpublished in 1956. Interpreting the issuenumber is a little confusing because of thepublishing comment in the credit block. Inthe credit block is the statement "Publishedbi-weekly for employees of NACA High­Speed Flight Station." Possibly at this time,the X-PRESS was just beginning to be aregular publication. Other information inthis credit block is: Managing Editor, HelenFoley; Editor, Carmelita Holleman; Repro­duction, Walter McIver and Jack Corbin;and Photographers, Robert Rhine and JohnBostain.

Helen Foley was a former womancomputer who established the libraly andeditorial office and Carmelita Holleman I

worked in the editorial office. For severalyears, the editorial office was responsiblefor publishing the X-PRESS. Sometime inthe late 1950s or early 1960s, the PublicAffairs Office began assuming responsibil­ity for the publishing. The publishing cyclehas varied from every two weeks tomonthly, with some hiatuses.

The content has also changed over theyears. The 17 May 1957 edition containedannouncements and articles of localinterest such as Armed Forces Day atEdwards, a Red Cross drive, new hires,safety comments, a reminder to vote in thelocal school board election, most-sick­leave race, flight lines (comments aboutbirths, marriages, a talk given in Lancaster,and reserve unit duty), and a write-upabout three men receiving 15-year servicepins.tt The present X-PRESS contains somearticles and announcements similar tothese, but it also contains more generalinterest articles such as NASA news fromelsewhere and brief summaries of recentflight activities.

The X-PRESS shown was an extraedition published for the 10th anniversaryof the first flight to exceed the speed ofsound (Mach 1). This X-PRESS includes a

brief background of the X-I program,articles by Walter C. Williams (Chief, HighSpeed Flight Station) and De E. Beeler(Chief, Research Division), a Los AnglesTimes announcement about breaking thesound barrier, some photographs from thelate 1940s and short biographies of 10people. These were people who hadstarted at Muroc in 1946 or 1947 (somewere involved with the XS-l program) andwho were still working at HSFS in October1957. All 14 pages of the extra edition areshown below. Note that they contain someerrors and anachronisms, such as referringto the Army Air Forces as the Air Forcebefore the latter was officially so desig­nated in September 1947, but the informa­tion contained in this document is largelycorrect and provides an interesting reflec­tion of people's memories 10 years afterthe event.

29

g:..-.

NACA HSFS Edwards CaliforniaExtra Edition

THE X-I STORYOctober 14 1957

IN THE DISPLAY IN THE LOBBY OF THE NACA HIGH-SPEED FLIGHT STATION AREMODELS OF SOME OF THE COONTRY ,S MOST NOTABLE RESEARCH AIRPLANE6. THEREIS AN XF-92A, X-3, x-4, X-2, X-5, D-558, PHASE I AND PHASE II, AND THEMOST FAMOUS OF THEM ALL, THE X-l. TEN YEARS AGO - ON OCTOBER 14, 1947 ­THE X-l-l BECAME THE FIRST AIRPLA1'lE TO PIERCE THE SONIC BARRIER, A FEATDUPLICATED SHORTLY AF'IER BY THE X-l-2. TODAY THE X-l-l HOLDS AN HONOREDSPOT IN THE SMITHSONIAN IN~TI'l'UTION, AND X-l-2 HAS BEEN MODIFIED AND RE­NAMED THE X-lEo STILL IN AC'I'IVE STA'lUS ON THE HSFS FLIGHT LINE ARE THEX-1B AND Tlffi X-lEo

IN THESE TEN YEARS THE NAME OF THE NACA INSTALLATION Kr MUROC HAS BEENCHANGED FROM THE ORIGINAL MUROC FLIGHT TEST UNIT TO THE PRESENT HIGH­SPEED FLIGHT STATION; 11'5 PERSONNEL HAS INCREASED FROM 27 TO 300; AND. IN1954, ITS FACILITY EXPANDED FROM 2 ROOMS AND HANGAR SPACE SHARED WITH THEAIR FORCE IN 1946 TO A MODE:RN 'I'WO-3TORY BUILDING FLANKED ON EITHER SIDEBY SPACIOUS HANGARS.

THE XS-l PROJECT

In 1944 contracts were let for construction of the first two research airplanes. BellAircraft Corp. began design of the X-1 (originally known as Project MX653 and later as XS-1)under Air Force sponsorship, /lnd the Douglas Aircraft Co. about the same time undertook con­struction of the D-558, sponsored by the Navy. The first of these was to be powered by ar,)cket motor; the second, by a turbojet engine.

First to reach the flil~lt-cest stage was the X-l, of which two originally were constructed.The fuselage lines were adapted from the basic shape of a 0.50 calibre bullet. St.raight '.dngs,·..ith thick, tapered aluminum skin, were provided to insure enough structural strength to '.dth­stand the loads expected at the altitudes and speeds programmed. The strength factor wasspecified at 18g, instead of 12g then required for fighters. One set of ..ings had a thicknessof 10 percent, much less than anything then flying; the second set ..as only 8 percent thick.

The pOder plant of the X-l ..as a fou.r -barrel rocket engine developed by Reaction Motors,Inc., under Navy cuntract. Each rocket barrel produced 1,500 pounds of thrust, for a totalengine thrust c.f 6,000 pou.nds .

30

In tbe

.- .. - - '~.'-. ,-'

fall .r 1.9)1), before the rucket engine was ready, the airframe of the X-l "as1 ; Ie":, Bel.1. eng i 'lee r:3 pr'YI,,)sed ea.r ryine the airplane aloft in a "mother

_L! fl.:-: '...ji,"!l;i_~~. pU'...'c'r. In l,hts ',.jay ~.~'}(:.' genera1 air1nl()rLhlness of the.. ,;.,- ~ 'ct' ',hr. ,:,,;(:-,- ml.'t>:~,·,'aB :,:c!trple:(.Iti. rrhese t~8tp v:ere crjndl..i.cted

c~, T' 'J:~' ~~L-;fLo F lJ.!'·! '::':1, a:ld ll. F~:' _:'I.:P rr";~;f.'1 thE' Lar:t!r~e.y LH1).(Jra' II'Y.1 ,f:' .' J ',:id::; ,;1' LrIU',_-'lJ_'i:el~ nti ,_!r i_~firr.i.ed "tlY lJ-:e X- t!.~j(:

,'I .-,L; I'll t.I~('Ln; ,piC hU.t".> t,(;t'"' I: :: rl~'c ,; t L r,Y;!.:"';'

F 1 L.,'t;i!~ the ,;ucc"S;-,fl'c [Slide tests it waG decided that, in the inl.p!'E',·j if' rr.Cl.Z!.::lt.ll'.

., ~'. ':,. f ·t' the pilot, p \'riered fligh ts :3hc\uld be made in the vi'~ini ty col' the la.ri:e:.n ,Viii j , ,d,; ,:

,"c. :,,' art·a. The dl'!.ce ·...Ul,; the Air F'.rce installation on the edge cf Ro(.(crs DrJ :"'1}"':' ',' '.'i"~! " D(':;l't'~.·f Cal [('"rnia, 1u1O)ol~ then as MurJi~ and row as Echmrds Ai!" F'Jr,.-,e Bn.l"·.

Aft.· r i "s t.al1al. in ,l' the R. M. I. en[;ine at Bell Aircraft I s Niagara Falls p Jan I, llie

:': r;i t ,1' t. .," X-I re,;eil.r,~h ai, rplanes ·ri8.S taken to Edwards early in Oc:tober 19Jj(. The pre vlulls

11 ll' h, 13 ctit~lnt'E'rs, lnstnunent technicians, and technical observers, all from Lanc;ley, ,jere

-l ..;; ,;nated the NACA Muroc Flight Test Unit. On September 30 they began work at the desert

l:!'Ge. The first successful rocket-po\fered flight ',eTaS made December 9 by Chalmers ll. ("Slick")

::: itil ln, ,~<:mpany tes t piLlt. By ,June 194'7 performance up to a Mach number (Of O. [l was fully

If-r.'' nstl'aled by Bell Aircraft pilots in a series of 21 po·.,rered flights.

On June 30, at a meeting at Writ;ht-Patterson Air Force Base the Air Force and NACA agreed

t divide re~~p0nsibilities. Each agency was tCJ use one of the X-l airplanes in complementary

fll!~hl programs. The Air Furce objective 'o'as to exploit the airplane's maximum performance iL

as feo' fli(~hts as were rE'asonable, consistent ....ith safety. The NACA program was nccessarity

III r,~ exLel:.;: '!e: te· acquire the desired detailed informati m. The NACA group, now permanently

assigned at Ed'"ards, was to furnish engineering and instrumentatiun assistance to the Air Force

gre'up, ·....hile the air launching of the NAcA airplane "us to be handled by the Air Force.

The Air Force received its X-l in August 194[; mechanical difficulties delayed flights of

the Gth(:r model by the NACA until after the first of the year. The historic first supersonic

flight.as made on October 1)+, 191n, by then Capt. Charles E. Yeager, USAF. On March 4, 1948,

NACA piLot Herbert Hc,over became the first civilian to fLy faster than sound.

'The foll<..)'"ing quotation from Maj. Gen. Albert Bcyd, 113AF, hilllBelf one of t,he first to fly

super:;onj.cally, is given as A. swnmation,-f the effectiveness of 1:he couperati ve program:

"The combination of talents served t·,,-) purposes. First, the accelerated USAF program per­

mitted a rapid expluration of the capabilities of the X-l to the highest Gpeed attained; and,

,;econr11y, the deta1lerl r:ACA pragram pro'!:! (lee the comprehensive data needed to develop complete

envelopes of aircraft performa.nce \lhich might reveal unsatisfactory flight characteristics at

scme intermediate puint.. When considered separately, ea:~h program was a notable contribution

to flight research, however, when combined, the results stand as a monumental tribute to

both the USAF and IlACA since the sonic barrier m;mster was not only completely licked, but a

blOi,·-by-blo·.' account of i t8 defeat was recor'Jed 1':)1' future use.

"The end results of high-speed flight-research programs conducted jointly made available

to aircraft designers, for the first time in the history of flight testing, sorely needed

information which served a dual purpose. The rapid but sketchy USAF portion of the program

supplied answers 'rihich wenL toward determining the mili tary applicability of a research air­

craft, whereas the lengthy but detailed NACA program confirmed or refuted wind-tunnel data

and at the same time provided information which would permit aircraft designers to avoid

dangerous flight characteristics in future military and civilian aircraft of a more advanced

design."

THE BA.CKGROUlIDby Walter C. Williams

In order to describe the events leading up to the first supersonic flight in the X-l by

then Air Force Capt. Charles E. Yeager, perhaps it is most important to give the tempo, or mood,

01' the time.

In this Jay of Russian satellites, Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles, bombers and fight­

ers l..hat fly at Mach numbers of 2 or better, Jet transports that will carryover 100 people at

speeds higher than had been explored at the time of the X-l flight, it is difficult even for

those directly concerned to picture the state of the art as it was then. Up to the inception

of the research airplane program, flying as far as we knew had been limited to Mach numbers of

0.8 on a reasonably consistent and safe basis, with a few excursions above 0.8 which in most

cases led to serious difficulties of one sort or another--control, buffeting, even loss of the

uirplane, This, then, was the field we were setting out to explore.

2

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32

D1Jr~::;,z; the uc~eptCir:I,:,:e tests '-::f the X-I, the speed '..iP.. S l~;.d~... e!': tc .b Milel: tJi.:J'nber, a liy;;,:­;, se:. be~8.use it was felt that rJ':' manufaeturer sh_:ul,; te f'orcetj t~, I:£tlat~flr:tee sat.~6~a~~~,;'ry

~;:l.r·H.:·~e~·lst.i'_~s in the relatively unexpll~red are~i ab'J'Je . ',-- . r:r~~~tri.i:!~ :.~ie 2:_ a::~·:·ept_rL:.~c ~~est

"::r:~h s, A. Ma.·~h number ,f :").E), :-.r perr..ap~ a li",tl.e bet.ter, ...'tlf reHcLef'~. The r ..<~ke;~ ent;ine~":-:~_et': ...·aE preyed be a reasoHable p;,)w"er p2.fl.!lt. I~~ ''':,.)u::'t; te ·,.;ell 7'~< pl::int ,.;\11. here that L'our

:,ACA /,o;::-',:'~p, <J.1 ..>ng witJ, ',he Air Force Fltgh'c 'jest gr.'.lp an,j :.he :T.lu;uflJ.cturer, '.rflS in run.ny '.rays':ery l_,nely group anc1 was alone in :!.ts belief' Uw.t this prc;jecl w'.:l]'; sueccE:::. I de not ..'ish

imply that"e cUd n(:,L have the proper back] ng. 1"-:p management of all con~err.ed gave their"h,lehear"ecl support t..:, the program; ho·...ever, at t.he c')r.:.emporary level anc intermediate super­vis"or] level there were many tiismal predicti')nl3, such I3.S:

"The program will f,)ld ri ght after the firs c p')werer} n 1ght as soun tiS the airplanebl,'::ws up."

"The drag is too higb, you can't even get t.he speeds.""From what we knO\l, the airplane will come ccJmpletely apart a lit.tle above 0.) I-!ach

number. "

These and other similar comments were common. But, it m.ight be said, like the bumble bee,·,.e ·.ent ahead. In addition to these kn:)"n fears [md '~cllunen \.6, Er.gland, wlK) ha,} been attemptingsuch tes ting, had lost the DH-lOFJ in Lransonic 1'11 gh t, 1<..1111 ng the pilot. Thi s led the &i tisbto adopt a policy of model tes tine: and possi bly remote guidance fur the airplanes before they·.uald ever a-Gtempt manned supersonic flight. 1'his, ·..ithnutluestion, set their effort back anunmeasured m.unber of years. These things were fl.11 h811ging hea ':y 'lver Gur heads.

we '.ere enthusiastic, there is little question. The Air Force group--Yeager, Ridley--werevery, very enthusi astie. We were just beginning know e!.i~h c)the". just begi.Y'ining to \oIorlt to-gether. There had to be a balance bet'.ee:: complete enthusi~tB!r. an,: the har:!, cul<:J facts, :deknew and felt that if this program shoul(l fail the whole resear'cl't r:d rplane progrurn would fail,the whole aeronautical effort would be set back. Su, ,~ur p:',)blem became cne of maintaining thenecessary balance between enthusiasm and eagerness eC: get the J~)b cornpleteci wi I,.)] a sc:ienU,ficapproach that would assure success of the program. This ~'as 11"(,' )mpl.lshed.

To say that we went ahead completely ()n :Jur co'n ",ould be fuolish. 'we har:! some info.rmation-­acceptance tests showed that lo.... -speed wi.nd-tunnej. tests gave fl.l1 accurate pred:!.ction of the be­havior characteristic!" Df the airplane. We had some trans:mic tunnel data up 'to abcut 0.85 Machnumber that showed things would be reasonably satisfactory. We also had data from the thenne....ly developed wing-flow method, where models were placed in the high-speed flo.... over a subsonicairplane's wing. These data, however, ended at 0.93 ~mch n~ber with various pertinent quanti­ties showing abrupt changes for limits. With tbis information on hand, ana knowing the resultsof acceptance t.ests, the joint Air Force-NACA program \las started.

As has been pointed out, there were t1oiO airplanes involved: the Air Force airplane to ex­ploit the speed potential of the airplane in as short a time as consistent with safety, and theNACA program to provide the detailed information. Actually, an exploratory program, as we havelearned, is the first phase in testing of any airplillle. The Air Force airplane was ready forflight first, and so began the systematic step-by-step approach to the problem of flying atspeeds faster than anyone had flown before, or, to be "corny", thus began the conquest of thesound barrier. Small incremental increases in Mach number were made, making pull-ups at themaximum Mach number to aid in predicting what the characteristics might be at somewhat higherMach numbers in level flight. The stabilizer effectiveness ....as checked in flying the airplane;runs were made at several stabilizer settings; actual pull-ups were made using the stabilizer.In the second flight a Mach number of 0.89 was successfully reached in powered flight, after~hich five or six maneuvering flights were conducted around a Mach number of 0.90 to evaluatetrends in elevator and stabilizer effectiveness, wing and balancing horizontal-tail loads, andbuffeting. On the eighthflight (October 10, 1947) an indicated Mach number of 0.94 was reachedin flight; however, after the flight indicators were corrected for the influence of the air­plane' s pressure field it was found that the true Mach number was apprOXimately 1. The tabulat­ed data showed 0.997. It wasn't felt that it was a clear-cut case of a sonic flight. It ....as:'nly a mat tel' of repeating the previous fligh1f but to a slightly higher speed--this ....as done onOctober 14 in flight number nine to a Mach number of 1.06. In this flight, the no.... typicalJump in the airspeed and altitude readings occurred, caused by the bow wave passing over thestatic-pressure holes. There was then little doubt that highly publicized and feared "sonicbarrier" had been breached. -3-

33

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36

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39

PERSONALITIES

FJ"l.nces, HJld three children-­EHe:l, 12--1n A,lgust 1947·:: 'LHi !. D,'j ·.JIll i 1 Dc t·.;·ber .1 '}4!', J

..~l1C:·1 1.hey rnwlive in

',. .

:i? : :::::.. ." ..... .

De became associated with the research alrple.n;~Ogram io1945 In the Langley Aircraft Loads D1.vision and was assigned tQMuroc in January 1947 as ;(-1 proJect engineer in charge Qf tM '.....aircraft 1000s program.»>? • > ......) .../)

After 11 'ling in BOR"D"':Ba'rraclt8 at Muro¥ abQut sixmonthli#he moved '..1th J;:;:hn May~iof Langlew to a ranc$ apartment on .ROll/.unond Dry La1¥. ('o'ithtrees, flo~rs, graes.:fand two lakes).F:'un: ROSI.unrmd he returned to Muroc and ~ "B", where he lived..,1 th W'iF" pi l()t Howard Lilly. He later moved to the MCA Men '8

Darm '1:,d resided there until 1952 'ol.tl,en he began const~t19t\ ofht~s pl"esent home in Lancaster. ::}: ::;:;( ::; .. :::.: :"::;

In 1952 De \Jas marrietl to the fo~ir Florence Deacon. T'fte:fhave v..,) 4, an~tDe Elroy{ II,

'tJ hi:; .. iff',J3, :J,rl i ~"';"l:-J

a Vp r;'t ':n..L" .. J

JOSEPH R. VENSEL

WALTER C. WILLIAMs

As assistant head of the Langley Flight Research Divisionstability and control section, Walt's direct contact with theXS-l program began shortly after its initiation in 1945, whenhe worked with Milt Davidson (Langley) to coordinate testrequirements among Bell, the Air Force, and NACA. From Januaryto March of 1946, Walt acted as t~CA project engineer ~lngpreliminary glide flights of the XS-l the~being made at Pine­castle MB (Rogers Dry Lake was flooded). >Whenl as a result ot?these tests, it '"as determined that an air 1aurith operation waetfeasible, and that all further testing should be performed at ...

~;~~' ~~~a:~o~~:s~~r~~~ ~f:~\~1::~t a:~t~o~~_~~t~~~~~, :.::.:.::.:.::.:.::.::.:.:.:.:Charles, the follo'o'ing month, after:an ~tment .was.. folJ.ll4::1~:

Palm~;~e months later the WilliamEllmd~~it¢ tJ iJli.~Jlii:::·.;!:••••••·:project in Mojave, and in 1949 moved to 5060~e~. on the Base. ......:••:: ••::.::In 1951 they purchased a home in Lancaster, i~i wMch they are .:.:::.::::: .:.residing 'o'ith Charles Manning, now 15, Howard Lee, 9, ~~d

Elizabeth Anne, 5.

.ke ;.I"nnSl'en'ed l'1'c::: Lewis Lul.".1'at ..)r;," to MuJ:'cc in April1)117 as :~hier .,.:' 1'1 tght)perati:ns L,)' NACA' 8 fledgling MurocF~ight, TeHt l;rdL. In Lhe days when pr()pellant "leaks" werero': af~'; i n;~ the 8m:).;.l Pl'Jj e:" grj·..lp, U.l.! vic:e f.md encouragemen t were[:..l,;n.ys ;' .~dJ. r;i'~ f.:'Jrr: .~ .t:'.

-11-

40

GERALD M. 'l'RU.)ZYli~;f8:

CLYDE G. BAILEY

.~)Cl'\:ji."e .r:Rr'[~,rlr;,el.f'ir 11 l.L:L.:tc' ·tr".e--ncy.~.,

1':,(' Li,!·ef.:~· c";aYi; --LLi., fc~,r J" ,'lCi.irr.:,· ·,h(' :J...CA ~...~'::r.C'n' [) D~~'T'Ir: ../if".e~" r~ L-ye"iI' r(':";·:C:;~i'C •. ·;:t.er~'J· . ;'.lS:r.ii~J H',xle rJ':)'~' lives

-In t' ;!'!:E.'r:ji~:L' .t\.I;re::;., 'i. : t.y ,.... t:l r' I- :~e rTC-~cr:t.. B;,~se.

r-<'

F\' ~~\\ 1\. \

.~

\.(\

;f-

,Terry' c; ,.)C'j,jl:1al assc,da,.) ,':l '"i ·:.h the XS-l project began inUil, 'I\u'i r,,; the lr:i \.i al dr,lps C f' U',e X:3 -1 airp:.ane at. Pinecast1e;\n~:y Air Base, F],ri cia, ,.here he ',as ,~oncerned ',.i th set:ing up aI Tund radar '.e, ~cc",)r~i 1.he clr.)ps. After transfer e,f thl;' project

Murco j n l;i4lJ, he again cau8h c up 'wi th it in Maret 1947 as theinstrumentatiUll prvject ell',;ir:eer. After living for some time atM:>Jave Naval Housing, he flnd hIs ,,:ife, Helen, moved tc Lancasterin 1')1.'), A:er;:; t.he,y <;C',I res:de. TI:ey have t·,,>') children--JoanMarie, 2 1/2, and Carl Gen~ld, IU m:·nrhs.

~r FCJ;c:e, the X-l li'<'-.·_~· ',;:1.:-:- :j 1"J1'-::: !;t:: ·(:r~r!·:r"L~~Y asslgn-r:H~'Jl-· '_r.1t:it l~Jl.s hH.ll rlt>: .1;'1: 't Ije~':r:tct;C'~"~; -~!p:tr tJ'·;Sl:

!:p .. n a,l'r~l"':L<. at f·:;).r,_,,~ I:~ De'~c--::;ter F{;x1c OCC(t"L n,tKer,:<~ene ?lCtt.. E (s.,. T1G111t:'r: l)e'''!.\J~:(~ ,f ",,!.(~ ;:e:: . ni~ :;le~J~(;.(i w'hat ¥i'as

t, r;L·"~":ne n 2-year ~i.l~-:-V_W,);' py':~"fe.r~-~e. Fr,;-m l\f'l',,:;seL€ Fl::1.ts, st:e\-.ent h,~.uGing \)pcLc·i 11. t~le :'~:)spi t r.Ll :.:.:"e~-~ 1\)' ;'Le A:.~· }"J!"ce--L:IL':l ti)1:he fJ.,ir Fr':~p r:'lr~;e::,l ~~lrJ.~··e:~:-" :~ojJ..(;(: .',-.l·r~,·~lrtt:;.e t,; (;1v11

\.. t:e "a1.lc:-::. Hcu::;e ll

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42

CHARLES M. HAMILTON

"Mac", u f~rmer Bell employee, was assigned to the MX-653Pn,jeet early in 1945 as ere\" chief. In February 1946 the airplane'"':CUi flown to Pinecastle MB, Florida, under B-29 No. 800, ""hereglide tests were conducted by Jack Wollams, chief test pilot forBell Aircraft. Here, NACA'ers Walt Williams, Jerry Truszynski,and Norm Hayes ,joined the project for operation of instrumentationand radar 'Ihieh Mac operated in flight.

After successful glide tests, the airplane was returned tothe Bell plant for installaUon of the rocket powerplant and wa.sredesignated the XS-l. After several successful ground runs, theproject was flOwn to Muroc, arriving on October 21, 1946.

At that time rental hou!:ling was almost nonexistent on thedesert, but weeks of hundng finally got Ma,c's famiJythe Labitte Ranch 40 miles '"est of the BasEi!\

On completion of Bell's flight demonstra.tion TIY·Og·rAm.employed by NACA on August 12, 1947, andand flight crew member on ~·ther flight

Mac, his Wife, Alice, andPatricia, 8, --later lived at WilloWwhich time their Californ;~ baby; MaryHospital. In 1950 Mac's femily builtLancaster.

JOHN W. RUSSELL

Jack I S association -....i th the desert began in 1942, -when asa mechanic for Bell Aircraft uf Buffalo, New York, he was as­signed to the highly secret P-59 jet project at Muroc. Withhis wife, Ruth, he set up his residence in the (then) "wilder­ness" of Tenth Street ''''est in Lancaster.

During his second Muroc assignment in 1946 (on the XS-1project), he, his wife, illlU sur., John Jr., lived in Willow3prings in a settlement made up principally of Bell personnel.

In August 191fT, Jack -"'as employed by the Air Force as crewchief on the XS-1 and partiel,pated in the airplane's deliveryto the 3mithsoni.an Institution. He joined the NAeA as an air­craft mechanic on the X-I project in .January 1950.

Jack and his family, which no .... also includes Jimmy, 9,reside in Rosamond.

-13-

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44

Appendix B: Data Reduction and Instrumentation Before Digital Computers

This appendix is divided into fourmain sections. The first deals with theoscillograph film recorder system; thesecond, with the procedure used to readthe film; the third with tools used inreading the film and producing the finalplots; and the fourth is a time histOly plotand event log for an X-IS aircraft flight.

Oscillograph Film Recorder System

The recorder system shown in FigureB-1 is representative of those used on theX-I aircraft. The system has an overalllength of 13 inches and weighs 125pounds. The system consists of two majorparts (fig. B-2). The circular part (55-inch

Figure B-1. Photograph of oscillograph filmrecorder system used to record flow direction.The ruler is in inches. (NASA Photo EC9342307-1)

Figure B-2. Oscillograph recorder systemshown disassembled with a roll of processedfilm. (NASA Photo EC93 42307-7)

diameter and a depth of 45 inches)contained the film drum. The rectangularpart (approximately 5 inches at cuberegion) contained the "instrument." Therecorder system shown in Figures B-1 andB-2 is a flow-direction recorder (note theDR prefix in the legend stenciled on theside of the recorder) that is used tomeasure the angle of attack and the angleof sideslip of an aircraft. Obviously, thedata that were recorded depended on the"instrument." The processed film shown inFigure B-2 as an example is actually froma pressure recorder system.

The outer cases of the instrumentswere usually limited to a few standardconfigurations because of space andmounting limitations on the aircraft andbecause of the need to fit, or interfacewith, one of the standard film recordercases. For some experiments, the record­ers on the aircraft could be located in acontrolled temperature environmentcompartment. This compartment wouldminimize temperature effects on therecorder.

Figure B-3 shows the internal compo­nents of a temperature-compensated

Figure B-3. Photograph of mirror assemblyelement (left) and diaphragm element (right)used in a temperature-compensated airspeedrecorder. (NASA Photo E3588)

. airspeed recorder. The componentsinclude two major elements: the rectangu­lar shape contains the mirror system, andthe circular shape contains a corrugateddiaphragm surrounded by an airtightcapsule. The capsule usee! in the airspeedrecorder was a temperature-compensated

45

II The photograph ofthe mirror assembly (fig.B-3), the schematics(figs. 13-4 and 13-5), andthe descriptions for theschematics were in anotebook compiledearlier (perhaps in the1960s) by an instrumen­tation engineer(probably Don Veatch).As people retired, thenotebooks (at least twovolumes) remainedbehind. The one usedhere was in thepossession of Wilson E.Vandiver, who hadreceived it from DonVeatch when Donretired. Cleo M. Maxwell,who was one of the X-15aircraft programinstrumentationengineers, was also veryhelpful in providinginformation about theoscillograph filmrecorder systems.(Discussions with Wilson7 Janmuy 1994 and 28June 1995 and with Cleo7 January 1994.)

-1- The impact and staticpressures were obtainedusing a device called apitot-static tube (alsocalled a pitot-static head)that is specially designedfor airspeed measure­ments. The staticpressure from the pitot­static tube couldadditionally be used inthe operation of analtimeter (whichindicated altitude).

Figure B-4. Sche­matic showing thedifferent parts of themirror and diaphragmelements of thetemperature-compen­sated airspeedrecorder seen inFigure B-3 (differen­tial pressure mea­sured). (Ilford print)

Figure B-5. Sche­matic showing thedifferent parts of themirror and diaphragmelements of atemperature-compen­sated altimeterrecorder (absolutepressure measured).(Ilford print)

\\MIRROR~

BIMETAL PosrnONS

ABOVE ROOM TEMP.

ROOM TEMP.BELOW ROOM TEMP.

RErERENCE

deflection images are measured. Theseimages are recorded on the film in the filmrecorder. A bimetal lever arm is located ontop of the diaphragm to compensate fortemperature changes.

tion determines which of the four pivotedmirrors is used. A fixed mirror (referencemirror) is also mounted inside the capsuleto provide a reference from which the

Figure B-5 shows the schematictt forthe internal components of a temperature­compensated altimeter recorder. This

t

DIAPHRAGM

--~ STATIC CONNECTIONPRESSURE CONNECTON-_

Figure B-4 shows a schematic identify­ing the different parts of the airspeedrecorder. The pressure connection (con­nected to impact pressure) is applied tothe inside of the diaphragm, and the staticconnection (connected to static pressure)is applied to the inside of the capsulesurrounding the diaphragm. The unsup­ported end of the diaphragm moves

differential low-pressure capsule. Theairspeed recorder used the differencebetween an impact pressure and a staticpressure to measure the aircraft velocity.t

MIRROR STAFF -K--j~~=.(~~

JEWELED PIVOTS-l- -'l.-/:.x:..,,=',\l\.\

RECORD MIRRORS

TAIL

-- MERCOID EVACUATEO DIAPHRAGM

....,~~':Sr/'E-J.589

E-3?95

almost linearly with respect to the differ­ence in pressure applied across it. Thedeflection of the diaphragm is transmittedto a pivoted mirror that reflects a beam oflight through a lens embedded in thecapsule front plate. The amount of deflec-

recorder was an absolute pressure re­corder. Again, the interior consists of twomajor elements: the rectangular shapecontains the mirror elements, and thecircular shape contains an evacuatedcorrugated diaphragm surrounded by an

46

t The width for the 2­inch film actuallymeasured 2.5 inches,and for the 6-inch film,6.5 inches. I did nothave a 12-inch film tomeasure.

ailtight capsule. The pressure connection(connected to the aircraft static pressure) isapplied to the inside of the capsulesurrounding the diaphragm. One end ofthe diaphragm is attached to the capsuleand the other end is free to move with thevariation of absolute pressure. The freeend of the diaphragm moves a pivoted

element is constructed from an alloy thathas vety little change in its modulus ofelasticity (stretch or shrinkage) withchanges in temperature.

Both of these recorder systemsmeasured only one parameter (onemeasuring the difference between two

(a) 12-cell pressure manometer; no film drum.Ruler is in inches. (NASA Photo EC94 42599-1 )

mirror that reflects a beam of light througha lens embedded in the capsule frontplate. The amount of deflection of thediaphragm determines which of the fourpivoted mirrors is used. A fixed mirror(reference mirror) is also mounted insidethe capsule to provide a reference fromwhich the deflection images are measured.These images are recorded on the film inthe film drum. The diaphragm used in this

(b) 24-cell pressure manometer with film drum.Ruler is in inches. (NASA Photo E855)

Figure B-6. Oscillograph recorder systems thatmeasure several parameters.

(c) 24-cell pressure manometer; no film drum.Ruler is in inches. (NASA Photo E856)

pressures and the other, an absolutepressure) and both recorder systems used2-inch wide film. Some film recordersystems used larger film (for example6-inches widet or 12-inches wide) andsome recorder systems measured morethan one parameter. Figure B-6 showsexamples of two pressure manometersystems that measured 12 and 24 param­eters. A 36-cell pressure manometer (notshown in the figure) was also used.

The 12-cell manometer [fig. B-6 (a)]was used to measure one absolute pres­sure and eleven differential pressures. Thedifferential pressures are connected to themanifold tube shown supported by the

47

48

triangular-shaped brackets. The samepressure source that 'feeds' the manifoldalso feeds the absolute pressure cell.Therefore, the differential pressures(ranged for plus and minus) would ineffect be measured with respect to thepressure for the absolute pressure cell.

The 24-cell manometer [figs. B-6(b)and (c)] appears to measure onlydifferential pressures. Figure B6 (c) showsthe manometer with the film drum re­moved. A slit, or opening, can be seenbetween the support rails for the filmdrum. This glass-covered opening waswhere the light was reflected from themirrors to the film.

Figure B-7. Filmstrips used to aid inidentification of filmtraces. (NASA PhotoEC93 42307-35)

The multicell systems discussed hereworked on the same principal as thesingle-cell recorders (figs. B-3, B-4 andB-5); but, these systems measured 12 or 24differential pressures at one time. For thedifferential cells, the pressure measuredwas the difference between a reference

pressure and the individual pressure. t Thereference pressure was measured with anabsolute pressure instrument similar to thesystem shown in Figure B-5. In Figure B-6(a), the P in the p-16-12 notation stands forpressure, the 16 means the instrument wasidentified as number 16 (each instrumenthad an identification number), and the 12means the instrument has 12 cells. Theinstrument identification number was 6 forthe 24-cell pressure manometer [figs. B-6(b) and (c)].

The systems that measured more thanone parameter also had more than onereference trace. The distance between theparameter trace and the reference trace

was translated into engineering values (forexample, pressure, velocity, or angles) byusing calibration curves. A system thatmeasured 12 parameters would have 4reference traces. Each of these 12 param­eter traces was associated with a referencetrace. For example, the traces for param-

t These manometersoperated on a principlesimilar to that ofmechanical andelectronic scanningvalves. Each cell of thell1an0111cter wasrecorded in sequence.In other words, thepressure difference wasrecorded for cell 1, thencell 2, then cell 3, and soforth until the final cellwas reached. Then thesequence would startover with cell 1. Eachtrace was displacedhorizontally (at least, thatwas the plan) from thepreceding trace and, inaddition, there was asmall hreak in the tracebetween each cell. Soonce the position for thetrace from cell 1 waslocated, one merely hadto number the othertraces and keep track ofthem for the rest of thefilm. As will be discussedlater, labeling the traceswas the first of manysteps leading to the finaldata plots.

t This film showing thefirst Mach number jumpwas rediscovered byaccident. In the 1970s,Edwin]. Saltzmanordered some storedboxes from the storagewarehouse in the LosAngeles area. Hediscovered the filmwhen looking through abox that was sent bymistake. He believed itwas a film from the firstpiloted flight to exceedthe speed of sound. Byreading the film andanalyzing the data, heconfirmed his suspicion.The film he found isnow in the SmithsonianInstitution's National Airand Space Museum.

tt Discussions withLannie Dean Webb andCleo Maxwell on 5 July1994.

eters 1 through 4 would be associated withreference trace 1 and the trace for param­eter 5 would be associated with referencetrace 2. The film used as an example inthe next section measured two parameters(impact pressure and static pressure) andhad two reference traces.

Film Reading Procedure

After the films for the flight wereprocessed, they were laid out and markedso that each film had the start time (timeequal to zero) on the correct timing mark.For the X-I aircraft, this effort involvedfilm from eight film recorders for typicalflight times of from 10 to 15 minutes. Afterthe zero time was identified, each film hadthe times marked on the film (for example,every two seconds), and the traces wereidentified. Marking the traces with the

The film strip shown in Figure BooS willbe used to describe the film readingprocedure. This film strip shows the Machjump from the first piloted flight to exceedthe speed of sound.t The leading edge(left edge) of each timer mark is used toidentify a specific time. The time is inseconds, with the zero time being whenall the film recorders were simultaneouslystarted by a switch turned on by the pilot.This switch actually turned on all theinstrumentation, including the film record­ers and the single common timing de­vice. tt The single common timer devicegenerated the time signals used by therecorders. Each recorder had a "channel,"or light source, that was triggered by themaster signal from the common timerdevice. Thus, the system was designed sothat each recorder made its own timingmarks on the film.

F"'==/"':o#"''!J=~'':'~':;;;;::':i'':':~'-'::'''''' ..·..·;3'0..· .

/'

.. __ _._ ~.;;.133 iii . •....

Figure B-8. Film strip from an absolute pressure recorder used to measure an impact pressureand a pressure static.Time (145,150, etc.) is in seconds. The numeral 3 means trace is from thethird mirror for the impact pressure trace. The 5H means trace is from the fifth mirror of the staticpressure trace. (NASA Photo E38438) (See figure 11, p. 13, for details)

appropriate labels required skill andknowledge. Some people would use a rollof film from an earlier flight to aid inidentifying the traces. Another method wasto use a short strip of the film from an areawhere the different traces could be easilyidentified, such as when the X-I aircraftbegan its climb after launch. Figure B-7shows examples of short film strips usedfor identifying the traces from X-IA flights.I was not able to identify all the notationson the film strips. The notations P-9-4,0-2S-4W, P-3-4, 0-26-4W, and SR-3-11Nidentify the recorder (or instrument). The"A.S." on recorder P-9-4 stands for AirSpeed and "AIr" is altitude. The "Rt. F.","Rt. R.", "Lt. F.", and "Lt. R." on the hori­zontal tail strip (0-26-4W) mean right flap,right rudder, left flap and left rudder. The"Ref." identifies the reference trace. Themeanings for the other markings ("A", "B","F.D.", "RS.B", "F.S.S.", "R.S.S.", "F.S.B." and"P.P.") are unknown.

For parameters that needed more thanone mirror, the trace identification re­quired another step. The mirror also hadto be identified. The numeral "3" writtenabove the impact pressure trace in FigureBooS signifies that this trace is caused by asource light beam reflected off the thirdmirror. Similarly, the "5H" written near thestatic pressure trace represents the fifth(and last) mirror for the static pressurerecord.

Once the time and the traces wereidentified, the film was read. This readingwas done by measuring the deflection, ordistance, from the reference trace to therespective pressure trace. The distance wasmeasured normal to the reference tracewith a transparent scale (known as a filmscale) that was calibrated in 0.02-inchincrements. If the traces were very sharp,an experienced film reader could define(interpolate) a deflection to the nearest

49

50

0.005 inch. When the trace was not sharp,the reading could be made to the nearest0.01 inch. A light box and a magnifyingglass [fig. B-9 (a)] were often used to assistin reading the film. Another method used

to read film, beginning in 1953, involved atelereader machine. Figure B-9 (b) shows atelereader being demonstrated by DeloresSutphin. The technique was to set a zerothen move the crosshairs to the data pointto be read.t A foot pedal, visible under herright foot, was used to "read" the numbers.Originally, a second person would recordthe numbers from dials located to the rightof Ms. Sutphin. Sometime later, the num­bers were printed on a typewriter con­nected to the telereader. The typewriterseen in this photograph was not connectedto the telereader. In the 1960s, the record­ing procedure was more automated. Atypewriter and a card-punch machine wereconnected to the telereader. When the footpedal was pressed, the numbers wereprinted by the typewriter and computercards were punched. One problem withthe telereader concerned the film. Oftenthe film was copied to photosensitivepaper. The photosensitive paper wouldchange size with changes in temperature.Because the light source in the telereaderheated the photosensitive paper, thereadings would have to be adjusted for

heating effects. Reading the film with thetelereader, at least before it became moreautomated, was probably not any fasterthan using a film scale. I never used atelereader; however, I suspect it was

Figure 8-9. Twomethods used to readfilm.

Figure 8-9 (a) (left).Film shown on alightbox. The lightboxand magnifying glasswere sometimes usedto aid in reading the filmwith a film scale (lyingon Iightbox). The valuesread from the film werewritten on the datasheet. (NASA PhotoEC93 42307-6)

Figure 8-9 (b) (below).Delores Sutphindemonstrating the useof a telereader machineto read film. No film wasbeing read for thisdemonstration.' (NASAPhoto E1 006)

slower and that placing the crosshairsrequired much patience, but at least somethought it was more fun using thetelereader to read film. tt

t Discussions with JohnW. Smith and Richard E.Klein on 16 September1993 and Mary LittleKuhl on 19 April 1994.

tt Film in the telereaderwas read in a dark,isolated room. Thedarkness improved thecontrast for reading thefilm traces but alsoearned the room thename "mole hole."(Recollections of BettyLove on 13 June 1996.)

t The zero readings wereobtained before and afterthe flight (as near aspractically possible to thetakeoff' and landing) for a"known" value. Ifnecessary, the "zero"deflection would then beadjusted so that the valueread !i'om the calibrationcurve was the same asthe "known" value. Thedifference was always theaverage of the preflightand postflight valuesunless one of them wasunavailable. Thisdifference was thenapplied to the valuesread from the film.

::::::::::: : .

::::: t :.:. :::::~~~~:::::.::: :::::::::: :::::::::

::::.::.::

...............; .::.::.:.:::.:::.:::.:::.: .

:.., ::::::

Figure 8-10. Example data sheet showing hand recorded film defiections.(NASA Photo EC9342307-37)

a five mirror calibration plot. Mirror 1 is onthe left, and mirror 5 is on the right. Thisplot is the calibration curvett that wouldbe used for the static pressure trace shownin Figure B-8 [Mp' on the sheet shown inFigures. B-9 (a) and B-lOJ. The data sheetsshown in Figure B-9 (a) were compiledfrom the film shown in Figures B-2 andB-8. The Mqc' (column labeled "1") andthe Mp' (column labeled "4") headingsrefer to the impact pressure trace and the

As the film was read (at least beforethe computer age), the deflections at thedesired times were written on a sheet.Figure B-lO shows a representative sheet.The mirror number for those traces withmore than one mirror was also recorded.After the film was read, the film readingswere adjusted for preflight and postflightzero readings. t Then the zero-correctedreadings were used with a calibration plotto obtain the pressure. Figure B-ll shows

tt Because an instrumentwas calibrated severaltimes during a flightprogram, each calibrationplot was only used fordesignated flights. Thisplot for film deflectionversus absolute pressurewas dated 31 December1947. The plot areameasured 13 by 30inches and film deflectionin inches ranged, bottomto top, from -0.8 to 1.8and absolute pressure ininches of mercury, left toright, from 31 to 1 (alsosee note p. 6l). Thiscalibration was run fortemperatures of 00 and800 Fahrenheit. Increas­ing and decreasingpressure values weretaken at approximatelythe same deflections.Thus values for a givendeflection were near thesame point on the paper.Rather than overlap, thesymbols were offset fromthe Clave and linesdrawn to the actualvalue. The non-sensitivetraee clllve, seen crossingthe mirror curves, aidedin mirror identification asa mirror went off-scale,or out of its calibratedpressure range, and thenext mirror traceappeared on the film.[The non-sensitive tracewas also referred to ascoarse or follow-on trace;discussions with Lannie(Dean) Webb, EdwinSaltzman and Roy G.Bryant on 21 January1997.]

51

Figure 8-11. Five mirror calibration plot used for static pressure trace seen in Figures 8-7 and 8­8. (NASA Photo EC93 42307-28)

52

static pressure trace, respectively. The zerocorrections were not available when thisdata was analyzed in the 1970s and so

none were applied to these data. t Thecolumn labeled "3" shows the conversionof the impact pressure from inches ofwater to inches of mercury (static pressureis in inches of mercury). The "#3" abovethe column labeled "I" indicates mirror 3and the "#5" above the column labeled "4"indicates mirror 5. These readings were afirst step in analyzing the data.

The data sheets in Figure B-12 aresummary tabulations from the four flightsthat were used to obtain the Mach numbererror curve (position error curve) shown inFigure B-13. These sheets were copiesmade by Roxanah Yancey from the originalsheets. As can be seen, a number ofcalculations were needed before the finalanswers were obtained. The sheets allhave the data in the same order, but onlythe sheets for flight 5 [figs. B-12 (a) and(b)] have numbers above the columns.Because these were summary sheets, thefilm deflections and zero corrections werenot included. The columns labeled "3" and"5" in Figures B-12 (a) and (b) correspondto the columns labeled "5" and "3,"respectively, for the data sheet in FigureB-I0.tt The "prime" (for example, P'H) was

used to identify the parameter as anindicated value, which means the param­eter has not been corrected for compress-

ibility effects.ttt HRadar, in feet, was ageometrical altitude obtained from a radartrack of the airplane. Both the staticpressures (P parameters) and impactpressures (qc parameters) are in inches ofmercury. PH was obtained from a pressuresurvey that related the geometrical altitudeto a static pressure. The static pressure andaltitude relationship was found by radar­tracking a B-29 airplane that towed aNACA standard trailing static-pressurebomb.* The X-I airplane was tracked byradar through the same geometric-altituderange as that previously flown by the B-29airplane. The geometrical altitude of theX-I airplane was then used to determinePH- M' (column 7) was obtained fromtablesH using the values in column 6, andM (column 10) was obtained from a tableusing the values in column 9. Figure B-12(b) shows the equations for the parametersin columns 4, 8, and 11. The P' in thedenominator of column 6 is the P'H valuein column 3 and the P in the denominatorof column 9 is the PH value in column 2.

The data sheets (figs. B-I0 and B-12)indicate the effort required to obtain thedata plot shown in Figure B-13. The values

t These data were usedto identify the film, andalthough desirable, thezeros were not necessaryto identify the film.

tt These values fromfigure B-lO are fromflight 9 and correspondto the values for flight 9in Figures B-12 (e) andCD. The values in thetwo figures are different(for example, the valuesfor time 147.4) becausezero corrections werenot applied to the filmdeflections in figure B­10.

ttt Compressibility is theproperty of air by virtueof which the densityincreases with increasein pressure. Thisproperty is manifested atspeeds approaching thatof sound and higher. Inpractical terms,compressibility meansthat the density changesin the air can no longerbe neglected and thatcorrections must beapplied to thesepressures.

*Harold R. Goodmanand Roxanah B. Yancey,The Static-Pressure Errorof Wing and FuselageAirspeed Installations ofthe X-I A irplanes inTransonic Flight(Washington, D.C.:NACA RM L9G22, 1949).

H One such table isfound in: Ames ResearchStaff, Equations, Tables,and Charts for Compress­ibility Flow (Washington,D.C.: NACA TR-1135,1953), This replacedNACA TN-1428 from1947.

Figure B-12 (a) Flight 5, 12 September 1947. (NASA Photo EC93 42307-29)

Figure B-12. Data sheets used to obtain Mach number error curve from flights leading to andincluding first piloted aircraft, XS-1 #1, to exceed the speed of sound.

plotted from the data sheets of Figure B-12are the Mach number, M, from column 10and the Mach number error, ~M/M, fromcolumn 12. The plotted data show thevariation of the error in Mach number as afunction of the corrected Mach number(often referred to as the true Mach num­ber). The abrupt change in the data values

at a Mach number of 1 is called the Machjump. A positive ~M/M means the cor­rected (or true) Mach number is largerthan indicated Mach number and anegative ~M/M means indicated Machnumber is larger than the corrected Machnumber. The data show that for Machnumbers from 0.88 to approximately 1.02,

53

Figure 8-12 (b) Flight 5,12 September 1947, concluded. (NASA Photo EC93 42307-32)

rThe fold hoe 10 thiSplot eXists bec,wse theplottmg paper was 11 by17 mches (the "hoed"p,l1t be109 10 by 15mches) Aoy plot pagethat was large! than8 1/2 by 11 mcheswould eventually befolded to fit 10 an 8 1/2by 11 Inch stOlage areasuch as a notebook ormanilla folder

54

the indicated Mach number (the Machnumber seen during the flight) was indicat­ing the aircraft speed was slower than itactually was. For Mach numbers greaterthan approximately 1.02, the indicatedMach number was indicating the aircraftspeed was faster then it actually was.

The Mach number error curve (positionerror curve) in Figure B-13t was used incalibrating the nose boom of the X-I. The

curve obtained from the data of X-I flights5,7, and 8 [figs. B-12 (a) through (d)] wasused to determine what the indicatedMach number had to be in order for theairplane to be flown at a Mach numbergreater than 1. Flight 9 extended thecalibration to Mach numbers greater than1. Thus, Figure B-13 represents theposition error curve for the "buildup"flights and the first flight to exceed thesound barrier.

Figure 8-12 (c) Flight 7,8 October 1947. (NASA Photo EC93 42307-30)

Figure B-14 is a composite showingthe data sheets, calibration curve, finalCUlve, and some of the tools used inplotting. The 8 1/2-inch wide by II-inchlong data sheets give an idea of the size ofthe calibration curve plot. By the time thefinal plots were obtained, the personworking with the data was very familiarwith and knowledgeable about every datapoint. The digital computers of today havecertainly eliminated the time-consuming

and tedious workup of the data, but theyhave also eliminated the extremely closefamiliarity that the engineer used to havewith the data.

Film Reading and Plotting Tools

Figure B-15 shows a sample of thetools used by the women computers andthe engineers. Standard issue equipmentfor the women computers was a lightbox,

55

Figure 8-12 (d) Flight 8,10 October 1947. (NASA Photo EC93 42307-31)

t RecollectIOns of BettyScott Love, 3 August1994

tt The film scales werepUlchased In lots fromthe Dietzgen CompanyA serious attempt wasmade to have all filmscales bought from thesame lot In ordel toavoId uncertainty orarguments about "non­sancttoned" scales

56

Friden automatic calculator, eraser shield,magnifying glass, symbol maker, film scale,and triangles. t The magnifying glass [fig.B-15 (a)] and the film scale [fig. B-15 (b)]were used extensively in film reading.Some people even used makeshift standsto hold the magnifying glass at the rightheight above the film so their hands couldbe free to position the film scale andrecord the deflections. tt The magnifyingglass was also useful in reading data pointsfrom calibration curves or other plots.

Because equipment, such as the magnify­ing glass and the film scale, was difficult toacquire, people would put their name orother identification on it. Some of theequipment, at least in the early days, evenhad to be checked out. The box for themagnifying glass has NACA Muroc Com­puter #3 written on it [fig. B-15 (a)]. Thename on the handle of the magnifyingglass, Roxanah Yancey, was added some­time later. The film scales were also tightlycontrolled. When I first started working, I

t I don't know what theycost, but I do know itwas not easy to have apersonal film scale.

Figure 8-12 (e) Flight 9,14 October 1947. (NASA Photo EC93 42307-34)

had to borrow a film scale because theywere too expensive for everyone to haveone. t Most of the film could easily be readwith a 6-inch scale, so that was thecommon size. Some of the film was wideenough to require a 12-inch scale. In orderto save money, 12-inch scales weresometimes bought and cut in half to maketwo 6-inch scales because a 12-inch scalewas cheaper than buying two 6-inchscales. The film scale shown in Figure B-15(b) is half of a 12-inch scale.

Other equipment, such as the tem­plates used to make symbols around datapoints (symbol makers) were also tightlycontrolled. Figure B-15 (b) shows the twosizes of symbol makers used most often.The light one shown in the figure was aclear, or transparent, plastic. The dark onesin the figure were also a transparent plasticbut were an orange color. Sometimes aplot would be inked, and the tape on thesymbol maker with the larger holes was tohelp keep the ink from smearing (at least

57

Figure 8-12 (f) Flight 9,14 October 1947, concluded. (NASA Photo EC93 42307-33)

t The smaller curveswere commonly calledFrench curves and thelarger ones (over 12mches) were called shipClllves. However, someconSIder the moreintricate curves FrenchCUlves and the flowingones, ship CUlves Someconsidel that a curvewah a flowing shape,regardless of SIze, was aship CUlve. This lastdefimtion is supportedby the label m a box ofcurves that was used bythe women computersThe label for theCopenhagen ShipCUlves showed flowingcurves from 2 to 20inches in length.

58

in theory it would do this; for some of us,it was extremely difficult to keep ink fromsmearing).

The symbol makers were distributedby people in the report editing office. Thefirst set of symbol makers was easy toobtain. Subsequent sets were harder to get.They didn't take names, but they didremember if you asked for more symbolmakers very often. Because the symbolmakers were flat, they made good page

markers; however, their flatness also madethem difficult to find in reports or underlayers of paper. Some people preferred theclear symbol makers for plotting, but theorange ones were easier to find.

Figures B-15 Cb), Cc) and Cd) show thetriangles and curves used in plotting. t Thetriangles were primarily used as tracingguides when drawing the axis lines and indetermining the slope lines for the data.The curves were used as tracing guides for

I The ship curves usedby the womcn comput­CIS were kept m a box atRoxanah Yancey's deskWhen a computerneeded a curve, sheborrowcd and thenreturned It Theengineels usuallyborrowed flOm eachother Some engmeerswele bette I at borrowmgthan returmng

Figure 8-13. Mach number position error curve from the XS-1 #1 data; hand plotted by RoxanahYancey in 1947. (NASA Photo EC93 42307-39)

Figure 8-14. Exampledata sheets, calibra­tion curve and toolsused to obtain thefinal Mach numbercurve. (NASA PhotoEC9342307-5)

the faired lines that connected the datapoints. Figure B-16 shows the wideassortment of curves in making the timehistolY plots from an X-15 aircraft flight.The data lines in these plots clearlyillustrate that one curve would not beenough to make all the required changesin direction and slope. Because the datafor a particular parameter, such as Machnumber, would have a similar shape foreach flight, certain curves would be betterthan others for connecting the data points.This fact resulted in people having a

preference for certain curves and puttingtheir names on them. Figure B-17 showsidentifying inscriptions on a triangle and acurve. These inscriptions and othermarkings helped recover the curves incase they were borrowed.t The triangleshown in Figure B-17 is the same oneshown in Figure B-15 Cb). The triangle wasleft by Roxanah Yancey when she retiredCher name is on the triangle but not visiblein the photograph). I know she left it ingood condition. Subsequent owners didnot treat it as carefully as she did.

59

Figure 8-15 (a)Magnifying glass.Note labels on box,NACA MurocComputer #3, and onhandle, RoxanahYancey. (NASA PhotoEC9342307-9)

Figure 8-15 (b) Leftto right: three symbolmakers, film scaleand triangle. (NASAPhoto EC93 42307­10)

Figure 8-15 (d) Large curves (11 inches orlonger). (NASA Photo EC93 42307-11)

60

Figure 8-15 (c) Small curves (7.25 inches orshorter) and triangle. (NASA Photo EC9342307-12)

Figure 8-15. Some of the tools used by the computers and engineers.

Figure B-16. X-15 time history plot with curves used for the data lines. Flight log (8.5 by 11inches) shown for size comparison. (NASA Photo EC93 42307-8)

t This X-15 time historyplot, including all the labelsexternal to the plotting area,measures approximately 29by 29 inches. The originalplot used 10 x 10 to thesquare centimeter paper.This photograph is from anozalid copy. The Ozalidprocess used a sensitizedpaper developed by usinga heat process and ammo­nia. Ozalid copies had darkblue lines and text on a lightblue background. The dark­ness of the lines and thebackground could be var­ied in the reproduction pro­cess. The ozalid copiescould be made with indi­vidual sheets in the stan­dard 81/2 by 11 and 11 by17 sizes or could use rollsof paper for larger non-stan­dard sizes such as this copy.Orange carbon-rype paper(which only left a coatingon the back of the original)was used on the axes, text,curves and data points. Thecoating could either be ap­plied as the plot was madeor the plot could be re­traced afterwards. Changeswere difficult to make to aplot after the orange coat­ing was applied. The outerlayer of the orange coatingcould be scraped off butyou usually had to scrapeoff some of the paper itselfto completely remove thecoating. The orange coat­ing required extra effort butsignificantly improved thecontrast for data curves,text, drawings, etc. Theozalid copies were eithergiven to other people to useor were employed as work­ing copies. By using theozalid copies as workingcopies, changes to the origi­nal figures were minimized.The copy processes used inthe 1940s included whatlooked like a blueprintcopy. The curves, datapoints, gridline and textshowed as white on a bluebackground. The photo­graph of the calibrationcurve in figure B-11 wasfrom a 'blueprint' copy. Thecalibration CUlve was plot­ted on paper with 10 by 10grid lines to the half-inchsquare. People often hadpreferences for either thecentimeter or half-inch pa­per. The squares weresmaller on the centimeterpaper, which provided alarger range for your axisscale than was possiblewith the half-inch paper.

X-15 Time History and Event Log

Figure B-18 shows the X-IS plot inmore detail. This plot is a time historyfrom launch to landing of the velocity,altitude, Mach number, and dynamicpressure.t A plot of these parameters was

Figure B-17. Close­up of curve andtriangle showinginscriptions. NACAComputer #18 oncurve and NACAMuroc computers ontriangle.

made for each flight beginning approxi­mately with flight 19 of the program andwas the official record for that flight.(There was a total of 199 flights in theprogram.) Prior to the X-IS program, theX-airplane programs were mainly one­discipline (or at least limited-discipline)

61

Figure 8-18. X-15-3 time history plot of velocity, altitude, Mach number and dynamic pressurefrom launch to touchdown for flight on 14 September 1966. Note the altitude has a double scale.(NASA Photo EC93 42307-27)

t A discussion of thetechniques andinstrumentation used togenerate the X-IS timehistory plots is found in:Lannie D. Wcbb,Characteristics aild useo/X-i5 Air-Data Seilsors(Washington, D.C.: NASATN D-4597, 196m

t1 Two B-52 mothershipscarried the X-IS aloft forlaunch from under thewing. Figures 19 and 20show B-52 airplanenumber 008 and Figurc18 shows the three X-ISaircraft. B-52 number003 was the other launchaircraft; it was retired atthe end of the X-ISprogram.

62

studies. The people working in thatdiscipline would do their own version ofthe X-15 time history plot, at least until thecalibrations needed to generate thesecurves were established. After that, thecalculations for obtaining these valueswere routine enough that the womencomputers would generate the curves.However, the X-15 changed this. Theexperiments on the aircraft included manydisciplines, and a common, or official, setof values was needed. In addition, obtain­ing these values was more complex thanbefore. The altitude and Mach numberflight envelope for the X-15 ranged from amaximum altitude of 354,200 ft to thealtitude at touchdown and for Machnumbers up to 6.70 (4520 mph). This flightenvelope required the integration of datafrom onboard sensors, radiosonde bal­loons, and radar tracking. t The result was

that an engineering group was formedwhose task was to create these plots foreach flight.

When Mach number or any of theseparameters were needed to analyze datafrom a flight, the value was read from thetime-history plot for the desired time. Forexample, for a film time of 300 seconds,Mach number, altitude, velocity, anddynamic pressure are 4.82, 253,000 feet (ft),4540 feet per second (fps) and 3 poundsper square foot (psD, respectively. Corre­sponding values at 400 seconds are 5.12,126,000 ft, 5198 fps, and 130 psf. As canseen in Figure B-18, the time scale showstwo different times. One is the film timewhich starts at 100 seconds. The zero filmtime (not shown) is when the film recorderswere started. The second time scale showsthe time in seconds from launch.tt The

t Scale from 0 to 6000fps.

tt Scale from 0 to 6.

ttt Scale from 0 to 1200psI'.

Figure 8-19. Event log for X-15-3 flight on 14 September 1966. (NASA Photo EC9342307-36)

scales for velocity (the data curve marked"v")t and altitude (the data curve marked"h") are on the left side. Note that altitudehas a double scale, 0 to 140,000 ft and140,000 ft to 260,000 ft. The altitude is theheight above sea level, which is why thetouchdown altitude is 2275 ft, the heightabove sea level of the dly lakebed runwayat Edwards. The scales for Mach number(the data curve marked "M")tt and dy­namic pressure (the data curve marked"q")ttt are on the right side.

Figure B-19 shows the event log forthis flight. Not surprisingly, the sheet issomewhat cryptic to someone not familiarwith the X-15 program. For instance, thetime 1047.25 is usually written 10:47.25.Some of the abbreviations are: APU­Auxiliary Power Unit; JPL - Jet PropulsionLaboratOlY; S.B. - Speed Brake; BCS ­Ballistic Control System; and SAS - StabilityAugmentation System. A good discussionof the development of the X-15 aircraftand the first 5 years of the flight program

63

64

has been previously published. t Anotherbook about the X-15 program was writtenby former X-15 pilot Milt Thompson. ttWritten primarily from a pilot's perspec­tive, this book contains many details aboutthe X-15 program, the pilots who flew theX-15, and information about each of theflights. Two other papers about the X-15program were also written by a formerX-15 pilot.ttt The first X-15 (glide) flightwas 8 June 1959, and the last flight was 24October 1968. Snow in December of 1968prevented what would have been the200th X-15 flight. Funding for the programended in December of 1968.

t Wendell H. Stillwell, X­15 Research Results witha Selected Bibliography(Washington, D.C.: NASASP-60, 1965).

tt Milton O. Thompson,At the Edge ofSpace: TheX-15 Flight Program(Washington, D.C.,Smithsonian InstitutionPress, 1992).

ttt William H. Dana, "AHistory of the X-15Program," Thirty-FirstSymposium Proceedingsof the Society ofExperimental Test Pilots,September 23-26, 1987,and "The X-15 Air­plane-Lessons Learned"(Washington, D.C.:AIAA-93-0309, 1993).

Appendix C: Woment in the Engineering Field

Women Who Worked as Computers (1946 -1954)Period

t These are the names Iheard or that I found ina card catalog forDryden authors, in the1954 Air Force yearbookfor Edwards, in Drydentelephone directories, orin the Dryden in-housenewsletter, the X-Press.

Names are as theyexisted at the time. Forexample, all referencesto me would be asShelyll Goecke until1975. From then on,references are either toShelyll Powers or SheryllGoecke Powers.

Name

Phyllis Rogers Actis

Ilene Alexander

Katharine H. Armistead

Lilly Ann Bajus

Rozalia M. Bandish

Beverly Jane SwansonCothren

Joan M. Childs Dahlen

Angel H. Dunn

Helen N. Foley

Mary (Tut) W. Hedgepeth

Dorothy C. Clift Hughes

Sometime before October 1947 to early 1950s

1948 to mid-1949

1950; 1952 to retirement in 1979 (at Langley between 1950and 1952); co-author on 1 report in 1957, 1 in 1958, and leadauthor in 1973

Probably late 1940s to early 1950s

Probably late 1940s early 1950s; co-author on report in 1951

Probably late 1940s to early 1950s; co-author as Swanson onreport in 1950

Probably late 1940s to early 1950s, sale author as Childs onreport in 1953

Probably late 1940s to early 1950s, co-author on report in 1952

1950 to 1960 (Began as women computer but in 1952 estab­lished library and editorial office and served as head of thatoffice.)

November 1948 to 1953

Sometime before October 1947 to probably mid 1949; co­author as Clift on 2 reports in 1948

MalY V. Little (married 1949 to retirement in 1973, co-author on report in 1958Albert E. Kuhl after retiring)

Betty J. Scott Love

Isabell K. Martin

Geraldine C. Mayer

Mary M. Payne

Mary Pierce

Marion Pittman

Dorothy Crawford Roth

Lucille E. Sanford

1952 to retirement in 1973, co-author as Scott on a report in1957, 1961 and 1963; co-author as Love in 1967 and 1971

December 1946; left by April 1947

Probably late 1940s to early 1950s; co-author on report in 1950

1948 to early 1951; co-author on report in 1950

Probably late 1940s to early 1950s; co-author on repolt in 1950

Probably early 1950s

April 1947 to early 1949

October 1953 to retirement in June 1973

Johnnye cn c. Green Sisk 1950 or 1951 to 1955; 1956 to 1959

Emily Stephens

Beverly Smith

Probably late 1940s to mid 1949

Probably late 1940s to early 1950s

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Women from 1960 to December 1995(December 1995 indicated as present under Period)

J. Delores Sutphin

Peggy 1. Sutphin(sister to Delores)

Gertrude (Trudy) V.

Wilken Valentine

Helen 1. Wall

Julia B. Woodbridge

Roxanah B. Yancey

Around 1954

Around 1954

Probably late 1940s to early 1950s; co-author as Wilken onreport in 1950

Probably late 1940s to early 1950s; co-author on report in 1949

Probably late 1940s to early 1950s; co-author on report in 1950

December 1946 to retirement end of June 1973; co-author on5 reports in 1949, 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1974; lead author in1962 and 1973, sole author in 1964

t These women were inthe co-op program andreturned to Dryden aftergraduation from college.The year given is whenthey started in the co-opprogram with Dryden;the year of graduationcould be up to fouryears later. Women co­ops who were authorsbut did not return toDryden after graduationwere Diane DeMarco (atDryden in the early tomid-1970s), SandraThornberry Steers (atDryden in the early tomid-1970s), andMaureen O'Connor (atDlyden in the early19805).

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Bianca Trujillo Anderson 1979t to March 1995 (quit)

Katharine H. Armistead 1950; 1952 to retirement in 1979 (also see 1946 to 1954 listing)

Anne Baldwin Early 1960s; probably from 1960 to 1962 (quit)

Jennifer 1. Baer-Riedhart 1974 to present

Catherine Bahm 19931 to present (co-op; graduated 1995)

Lisa Jennett Bjarke 1979t to present

Carolyn E. Body End of July 1974 to mid July 1976 (died in glider accident)

Georgina Rodriguez Branco 1986 to present

Marta R. Bohn-Meyer 1979 to present

Dorothea Cohen 1988 to present

Doris A. Myers Dowden 1973 to 1980; 1989 to present

Darla D. Duke 1983 to medical retirement in 1987

Martha B. Evans 1975 to retirement in March 1995

Kimberly A. Ennix 1991 to present

Constance Eaton Harney 1965 to retirement in May 1994

Mary F. Shafer Iliff 1974 to present

Michele Leong Jarvis Fall 1994 to present (co-op 1990 and 1991)

Beverly Strickland Klein 1961 to end of 1973 (quit)

Donna 1. Knighton 1989 to present

Heather H. Lambert 1983 to 1991 (transferred to NASA Lewis)

t These women were inthe co-op program andreturned to Dlyden aftergraduation from college.The year given is whenthey started in the co-opprogram with Dryden;the year of graduationcould be up to fouryears later. Women co­ops who were authorsbut did not return toDryden after graduationwere Diane DeMarco (atDryden in the early tomid-1970s), SandraThornberry Steers (atDryden in the early tomid-1970s), andMaureen O'Connor (atDlyden in the early1980s).

Georgene MiltonbergerLaub

Jeanette H. Le

MalY V. Little

Betty J. Scott Love

Karen S. Green Mackall

Trindel A. Maine

Laurie Marshall

Elsie B. Mc Gowan

Darlene S.Mosser-Kerner

Cynthia Norman

Sheryll Goecke Powers

Cynthia M. Privoznik

Susan Jane Rashkin

Victoria A. Regenie

Carol A. Bauer Reukauf

Dianne Roux

Bertha M. Ryan

Patricia C. Seamount

Karla Shy

Harriet J. DeVriesStephenson Smith

Carol S. Tanner

Lura E. Kern Vernon

Roxanah B. Yancey

Fanny A. Zuniga

Mid 1960s, probably 1965 to early 1967 (transferred to NASAAmes)

1989 to present

1949 to retirement in 1973 (also see 1946 to 1954 listing)

1952 to retirement in 1973 (also see 1946 to 1954 listing)

1973t to present

1982 to present

1993 to present

1964 to retirement in March 1995

1989 to present

Fall 1994 to present

1963t to present

1981 to 1984 (transferred to Naval Weapons Center, ChinaLake, California)

1989 to 1991 (quit)

1983 to present

1971t to present

1966 to 1967 (quit)

1960 to late 1966 or early 1967 (transferred to NavalWeapons Center, China Lake, California)

1992 to March 1995 (quit)

Late summer 1994 to present

1952t to 1983 when she left to work as a congressional aide

Mid 1960s, probably 1964, to 1966

1989 to August 1994 (quit)

1946 to retirement in 1973 (also see 1946 to 1954 listing)

1989 to July 1994 (transferred to NASA Ames)

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Appendix D: Number of Women by Job Category from1960 to December 1995

EngineeringDisciplines

ComputerProgramming

AirplaneSimulation

Management

1960 - 1969, Total number of women = 14

10 (includes 3former womancomputers)

3 o 1 chief of Program­ming and DataProcessing Branch(former womancomputer)

1970 - 1979, Total number of women = 17

10 (2 former womancomputers retired1973 and 1 in 1979)

4 1 1 chief of Program­ming and DataProcessing Branch(Retired 1973,former womancomputer); 1 in pro­gram management

1980 - 1989, Total number of women = 26

15 (2 instrumentationengineers responsiblefor research instrumentationon airplane; 1 an operationsengineer responsible forflight readiness of airplane)

o 4 3 in programmanagement; 1chief of branchresponsible forcomputer systems,flight control rooms,and informationnetworks; 3 in non­disciplinary manage­ment positions

1990 - 1993, Total number of women = 26

14 (l an instrumentationengineer)

o 4 4 in programmanagement (l anacting deputy chieffor program man­agement division; 1also serves as aflight test engineeron the SR-71 crew);1deputy chief ofdivision responsiblefor computersystems, flightcontrol rooms, andinformation net­works (formerbranch chief); 3nondisciplinarymanagement

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March 1994, Total number of women = 24

13 (l an instrumentationengineer)

o 3 4 in program man­agement (l anacting deputy chieffor program man­agement division; 1also serves as aflight test engineeron the SR-71 crew);1 deputy chief ofdivision responsiblefor computersystems, t1ightcontrol rooms, andinformation net­works (formerbranch chieD; 3nondisciplinarymanagement

December 1995, Total number of women = 21

11 (2 are instrumenta­tion engineers)

o 1 3 in program man­agement (l alsoserves as a t1ighttest engineer on theSR-71 crew); 6 non­disciplinalYmanagement

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Notes: Co-ops not included in numbers. Numbers are maximum for time periods from1960-1969, 1970-1979, 1980-1989, and 1990-1993.

"Engineering discipline" refers to any of the airplane discipline studies, for ex­ample, propulsion, aerodynamics, stability and control, structures, etc.

"Program management" refers to general oversight of an airplane program such ascoordinating, scheduling, funding, working with any outside partners involvedwith the program, etc.

"Nondisciplinary management" includes non-supervisolY staff positions andpositions that function primarily as a focal point to coordinate requests betweenengineering groups.

Index

Actis, Phyllis Rogers: 4, 18Aikin, William: 4Ames Research Center: 3,7,8Armistead, Katharine H.: 21, 26n.Army Air Forces (AAF): 1

B-29: 2,4B-52: 4n.Bachelor Officer Quarters (BOQ): 6Bajus, Lilly Ann: 10, 11, 15Baldwin, Anne: 20Beeler, De E.: 4, 11Boeing 720: 21Bohn-Meyer, Marta: 24Building 4800: 19

C-47: 12Childs, Joan: (see Dahlen)Clift, Dorothy: (see Hughes)Collons, Jane: 10Computers, analog: 21Computers, digital: 14, 20, 21"Computers" (women); 3-21

Duties of: 12-21Controlled Impact Demonstration (CID) with Boeing 720: 21Cooperative work-study programs: i, 11, 20n.Corbett, Leona: 10-11Cothren, Beverly Swanson: 11Crawford, Dorothy: 10

D-558: 2, 3, 12, 17Dahlen, Joan Childs: 20Dahlen, Theodore: 20Data reduction: iData Systems Division: 18Dormitories: 5-6, 8-9Dryden Flight Research Center: passim

Earlier names: 3, 18Location: 1-2, 3n.Original employees: 1, 3, 4, 26n.

Dunn, Angel: 10

Eaton, Constance: (see Harney)Edwards Air Force Base: 2

Earlier name: 2Edwards, Capt. Glen: 2n.Evans, Martha: 21

F-15 Remotely Piloted Research Vehicle (RPRV): 21F-86: 17F-104: 14Frieden calculators: 14n, 15

Called "Galloping Gerties": 14n.

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Galloping Gerties: (see Frieden calculators)Gray Ghost (van): 6

Harney, Constance Eaton: 20, 24Hedgepeth, Mary (Tut): 7n., 10, 11Hoover, Herbert: 12Hughes, Dorothy Clift: 4, 10, 15, 18

Klein, Beverly Strickland: 20Kuhl, Mary Little: 6n., 10, 20

Langley Research Center: 2, 7Larson, Terry: 9n., lIn., 26n.Lewis Research Center: 7, 10Little, Mary: (see KuhDLove, Betty Scott: 11-12,21

Maintenance crews: 22Martin, Isabell K.: 3, 4Mc Gowan, Elsie: 20

National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA): 1,3National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA): 3Navy, U.S.: 1

P-51 Mustang: 7n.P-61 Black Widow: 7n.Payne, Mary M.: 11, 18Payne, Richard E.: lIn.Powers, Sheryll Goecke: iPressure traces: (see X-I)Pulse code modulation (PCM): 14

Recruiting difficulties: 7Report preparation: iResearch Division: 18Rogers, Phyllis: (see Actis)Rogers Dry Lake: 2-3, 12n.Rosamond Dry Lake: 12n.Roth, Dorothy Crawford: 10Ryan, Bertha: 20

Salaries: 7-8, lIn.Smith, Beverly: 10, 11Smith, Harriet DeVries: 9n., 11, 20Social attitudes about women: i-ii, 14, 21-22Sputnik: 3Stephens, Emily: 10, 11Strickland, Beverly: (see Klein)

Technical illustrators: iTrona Stage: 6n.

Upward mobility programs: 22

Valentine, Gertrude Wilken: 10, 15

X-I: 1,2,3, 12 (see also X5-l)Pressure traces: 12

X-3: 20n.x-4: 17n.X-5: 17n.X-IS: 4n., 14, 15,21XF-92A: 17n.XS-1 (see X-I): 2, 26n.X-Press: 2n., 6n.

Wall, Helen 1.: 18Wilken, Gertrude: 10 (see also Valentine)Williams, Walter c.: 4, 7n., lIn., 20Wimmer, Naomi: 4Work environment: 15n., 15-22

Yancey. Roxanah B.: 3, 4, 6, 10, 11, 15, 17-18, 21Yeager, Charles E.: 12

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List of Figures

Figure 1. Location of Muroc with respect to Los Angeles 1

Figure 2. Sketch of Rogers Lake (DIY) 2

Figure 3. Group photograph in front of the XS-1 and the B-29. (NASA Photo E21428) 4

Figure 4. Group photograph in front of the B-29, October 1947. (NASA Photo E21431) 5

Figure 5. Group photograph in front of the NACA building, 1950. (NASA Photo E21429) 5

Figure 6. Roxanah Yancey with the NACA Dodge carryall. (NASA Photo E96 4340331) 7

Figure 7. Aerial views of the women's dormitory at the south base.Figure 7a. July 1951; women's dormitory with respect to NACA site (NASA Photo E499) 8Figure 7b. Late 1949 or early 1950 showing the area around the women's dormitory 8

Figure 8. Interior and exterior views of women's dormitOlY, 1949 or early 1950s.Figure 8a. Front door entrance. (NASA Photo E96 43403-8) 9Figure 8b. Parking area and exterior side view. (NASA Photo E96 43403-7) 9Figure 8c. View of bedroom. (NASA Photo E52) : 9Figure 8d. View of dining area. (NASA Photo E50) 9Figure 8e. Washer and dryer in laundlY room. (NASA Photo E51) 9Figure 8f. View of kitchen stove. (NASA Photo E49) 9

Figure 9. Group photograph of women by snowman, late 1948. (NASA Photo E212) 10

Figure 10. Aerial views of NACA site at the south base.Figure lOa. Viewed from the runway direction, late 1940s. (NASA Photo E51 503) 11Figure lOb. Viewed from buildings to runway, July 1951. (NASA Photo E501) 12

Figure 11. XS-1 and film pressure traces from first airplane flight to exceed the speed of sound 13

Figure 12. Engineers with copies of an oscillograph film, film scale and slide rule, about 1950.(NASA Photo En 11191-2) 13

Figure 13. Two views of women computers at work, spring 1949.Figure 13a. (NASA Photo E53) 14Figure 13b. (NASA Photo E54) 15

Figure 14. NACA's X-series fleet in the late 1940s or early 1950s. (NASA Photo E145) 16

Figure 15. Flight support required for D-558-2 air launch flight, taken 17 January 1954. (NASA Photo E1152) 17

Figure 16. Announcement for House Warming Party held June 26, 1954 for new building 18

Figure 17. Group photograph in front of the new building, main base, 1954. (NASA Photo E33718) 19

Figure 18. Airplanes in hanger in late 1966. (NASA Photo Ec66 1461) 22

Figure 19. Airplanes on ramp, 1988. (NASA Photo EC88 0042-1) 23

Figure 20. Airplanes on ramp, 1990. (NASA Photo EC90 280-1) 23

Figure B-1. Photograph of oscillograph film recorder system used to record flow direction. The ruler is in inches.(NASA Photo EC93 42307-1) 45

Figure B-2. Oscillograph recorder system shown disassembled with a roll of processed film.(NASA Photo EC93 42307-7) 45

Figure B-3. Photograph of mirror assembly element and diaphragm element used in a temperature-compensated airspeedrecorder. (NASA Photo E3588) 45

Figure B-4. Schematic showing the different parts of the mirror and diaphragm elements of the temperature-compensatedairspeed recorder seen in Figure B-3 (differential pressure measured). (Ilford print) 46

Figure B-5. Schematic showing the different parts of the mirror and diaphragm elements of a temperature-compensatedaltimeter recorder (absolute pressure measured). (Ilford print) 46

Figure B-6. Oscillograph recorder systems that measure several parameters.(a) 12-cell pressure manometer; no film dmffi. Ruler is in inches. (NASA Photo EC94 42599-1) 47(b) 24-cell pressure manometer with film dmffi. Ruler is in inches. (NASA Photo E855) 47(c) 24-cell pressure manometer; no film dmffi. Ruler is in inches. (NASA Photo E856) 47

Figure B-7. Film strips used to aid in identification of film traces. (NASA Photo EC93 42307-35) 48

Figure B-8. Film strip from an absolute pressure recorde. (NASA Photo E38438) 49

Figure B-9. Two methods used to read film.Figure B-9 (a). Film shown on a lightbox. (NASA Photo EC93 42307-6) 50Figure B-9 (b). Delores Sutphin demonstrating the Lise of a telereader machine.. (NASA Photo ElO06) 50

Figure B-I0. Example data sheet showing hand recorded film deflections.(NASA Photo EC93 42307-37) 51

Figure B-l1. Five mirror calibration plot used for static pressure trace seen in Figures B-7 and B-8.(NASA Photo EC93 42307-28) 52

Figure B-12. Data sheets used to obtain Mach number error curve from flights leading to and including first piloted aircraft,XS-l #1, to exceed the speed of sound.

Figure B-12 (a) Flight 5, 12 September 1947. (NASA Photo EC93 42307-29) 53Figure B-12 (b) Flight 5, 12 September 1947, concluded. (NASA Photo EC93 42307-32) 54Figure B-12 (c) Flight 7, 8 October 1947. (NASA Photo EC93 42307-30) 55Figure B-12 (d) Flight 8, 10 October 1947. (NASA Photo EC93 42307-31) 56Figure B-12 (e) Flight 9, 14 October 1947. (NASA Photo EC93 42307-34) 57Figure B-12 CD Flight 9, 14 October 1947, concluded. (NASA Photo EC93 42307-33) 58

Figure B-13. Mach number position error curve from the XS-l #1 data (NASA Photo EC93 42307-39) 59

Figure B-14. Example data sheets, calibration curve and tools used to obtain the final Mach number curve.(NASA Photo EC93 42307-5) 59

Figure B-15. Some of the tools used by the computers and engineers.Figure B-15 (a) Magnifying glass. (NASA Photo EC93 42307-9) 60Figure B-15 (b) Left to right: three symbol makers, film scale and triangle. (NASA Photo EC93 42307-10) 60Figure B-15 (c) Small curves C7.25 inches or shorter) and triangle. (NASA Photo EC93 42307-12) 60Figure B-15 (d) Large curves (11 inches or longer). (NASA Photo EC93 42307-11) 60

Figure B-16. X-IS time histolY plot with curves used for the data lines.(NASA Photo EC93 42307-8) 61

Figure B-17. Close-up of curve and triangle showing inscriptions 61

Figure B-18. X-15-3 time histolY plot of velocity. (NASA Photo EC93 42307-27) 62

Figure B-19. Event log for X-15-3 flight on 14 September 1966. (NASA Photo EC9342307-36) 63

List of Tables

Table 1. Muroc/Dryden name changes 3

Table 2. Number of women in technical fields and airplane projects from 1960s to December 1995 21

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About the AuthorSheryll Goecke Powers began working at the NASA Flight Research Center at theend of May 1963 in a NASA-university work-study program for students. Aftergraduation, she returned to the Center, renamed in honor of Hugh 1. Dryden in1976, as an aerospace engineer and worked in the area of airplane drag and localflow st\Jdies. The labor-intensive data reduction techniques she used in the 1960swere the same as those used for the first X-plane programs. These techniques wereat first altered and then replaced by techniques that used the immense calculatingand processing capabilities of the digital computer. During her career, she haswritten and served as co-author on several NASA technical reports. Her two non­technical reports are "A Brief History of Women in the Engineering Field at Drydenfrom 1946 to November 1992" (Proceedings, the Society of Women Engineers 1993National Convention and Student Conference, Chicago, Illinois, June 21-27, 1993)and "A Biased Historical Perspective of Women in the Engineering Field at Drydenfrom 1946 to November 1992" (NASA CP-10134, 1994), which are both shorterversions of this study. Ms. Powers earned a BS in aerospace engineering from IowaState University in 1967 and an MS and Eng. Deg., also in aerospace engineering,from the University of Southern California in 1971 and 1976 respectively.

Monographs in Aerospace History

This is the sixth publication in a series of special studies prepared under the aus­pices of the NASA History Program. The Monographs in Aerospace History series isdesigned to proVide a wide variety of investigations relative to the history of aero­nautics and space. These publications are intended to be tightly focused in terms ofsubject, relatively short in length, and reproduced in inexpensive format to allowtimely and broad dissemination to researchers in aerospace history. Suggestions foradditional publications in the Monographs in Aerospace History series are welcomeand should be sent to Roger D. Launius, Chief Historian, Code ZH, National Aero­nautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC, 20546. Previous publications inthis series are:

Launius, Roger D. and Gillette, Aaron K. Compilers. Toward a History of the SpaceShuttle: An Annotated Bibliography. (Number 1, 1992)

Launius, Roger D. and Hunley, J. D. Compilers. An Annotated Bibliography of theApollo Program. (Number 2, 1994)

Launius, Roger D. Apollo: A Retrospective Analysis. (Number 3, 1994)

Hansen, James R. Enchanted Rendezvous: John C. Houbolt and the Genesis o.ltheLunar-Orbit Rendezvous Concept. (Number 4, 1995)

Gorn, Michael H. Hugh L. Dryden's Career in Aviation and Space. (Number 5, 1996)

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