Challenger Ch 3: The US Air Force Academy Library, Special Collection; How do you define Amazing? How do you Remember the Great Escape?

As I previously mentioned, my research into the Challenger Disaster has been aided by a Clark-Yudkin Research Fellowship from the US Air Force Academy Library, Special Collections.  As I used their resources this week, let me tell you about a kid in a candy shop.

First, you may ask, is why would this Library have anything related to asbestos?  The answer is you never know until you look.  In my case, I was looking for information on the Air Force Dyna-Soar rocket program from the 1950s and early 1960s which, rumor had it, was (1) the first man carrying rocket program and (2) may have been the original use of the field joint design with the O-rings and asbestos containing putty.   You need to remember that NASA used a lot of the Air Force previous technical designs as a cost savings move.  My “hearsay” information was that this joint design migrated from Dyna-Soar, to Titan (another Air Force rocket program, although I believe that eventually the Air Force decided to use Titan boosters with the Dyna-Soar), to the Space Shuttle.  One of my goals for the Thesis and article is to track down the original design and then identify all of the relevant changes through January 28, 1986 when that field joint failed.

By the way, did I tell you that of the four original bidders for the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters, one proposed a single unit design that would not have used any field joints?  No field joints, then no explosion; it is that simple.  This information isn’t from the Library, but comes from a different source.  If you want to know why that design was rejected, let me know and I will point you in the direction of the book which discusses the Solid Rocket Booster bidding program in detail.

Here are the stars.  Chris on the left, Mike next, Kathy, and then Ruth.  Chris is a UCCS Masters of History graduate who works in the Special Collections.  Mike is a 2020 US Air Force graduate (thank you for your service) who has also been granted a Clark-Yudkin Research Fellowship for his Masters of History (Military History) Thesis being undertaken at the University of Southern Mississippi.  Kathy is an Academy graduate (thank you for your service) and is the Director of the Clark-Yudkin Research Fellowship and Treasurer of The Friends of the Air Force Academy Library, a nonprofit organization that supports the Clark Special Collections.  Ruth is the most amazing librarian who ensures that the Special Collections stays organized and are properly indexed.

Let’s get back to asbestos.  The Special Collections is named for General Albert P. Clark who was involved in the Great Escape from Stalag Luft III; and, yes, the tunnel was short of the tree line.  Clark was not one of the escapees as he was transferred by the Nazis just prior to the prisoners going out the tunnel to a different camp and him being too tall in any event.  However, the material from the escape on display are awe inspiring. This is a picture of General Clark:

Below is a picture of the tunnel:

Below are the playing cards which needed the back wetted to disclose a map.

Reverse threading was invented so that the Germans could not find the compasses in the cuff links.

Below is from the Great Escape Movie showing Steve McQueen, who died of asbestos cancer.

It was really weird for me to be at the U.S. Air Force Academy Library, Special Collections researching rockets for my asbestos related work, and running head on head into the Great Escape, in which the Founder of the Special Collections participated and the star of the resulting movie (Steve McQueen was the highest paid actor in 1974) died from asbestos exposure.

Oh, by the way, this guy made it. He was one of three escapees not to be captured. The first 50 of the escapees that were captured, as many of you know from the movie, were shot by the Nazis in retaliation. Going through the collection and remembering that voluntary sacrifice of those Prisoners of War, makes everyday feel like Memorial Day.

Back to my research on Dyna-Soar as I search for the origination of the design which included asbestos-containing putty.

So, after about ½ a day of play and work, I came across a magazine published from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s entitled Missiles and Rockets: The Weekly of Space Systems Engineering.  In particular, I found only one edition, and that dated March 30, 1964.  In this edition, tucked into the lower-left corner of page 11, I found the following golden nugget:

Homerun!!!!  So, now that I know that an Air Force report was issued in 1964 discussing the technology payoffs from Dyna-Soar for future programs, I need to find that report to see if the field joint and putty are discussed.  If I am lucky, I have hit on a trail of research that is over 55 years old and, otherwise, potentially lost to history.  To find this report, I plan to enlist the help of Kathy and anyone else with Air Force contacts, with the high likelihood that, if it still exists, my best bet is Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.  Wish me luck.

If you have any feedback or thoughts, either leave a comment or email me at TheAsbestosBlog@gmail.com