Banner Graphic, Volume 16, Number 142, Greencastle, Putnam County, 27 January 1986 — Page 3

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McDonnell Douglas Corp. has offered this design as the possible shape of an aerospace plane that one day could cross the United

Across the U.S. in 12 minutes? c. 1986 N.Y. Times News Service LOS ANGELES So far just a gleam in the eyes of some engineers, a design for an airplane that could fly coast to coast in about 12 minutes is beginning to take shape, according to Government and industry sources. No one knows if the plane will fly, and by all accounts it is years and billions of dollars away from production. But many aeronautical experts say that it appears technically feasible and that it could revolutionize military and civilian transportation. The aerospace plane, as it has become known, would resemble the space shuttle in its speed and ability to use rocket propulsion. But it would take off and land at airports like a regular plane and would use outside air in its engines during part of the flight, freeing it from carrying vast supplies of liquid oxygen, as the shuttle must. It would probably be about the size of a Boeing 727. “The reaction of almost everyone exposed to it is extreme interest,” said George A. Keyworth 2d, the outgoing White House science adviser and a strong backer of the project. “I think you’ll see a strong multi-agency push. I think you’ll see research accelerating dramatically over the next two to three years, and a rapid thrust to get a prototype flying at the turn of the decade.” Keyworth announced Friday that he would be leaving his White House post at the end of the year. In an interview before that announcement, Keyworth said he was confident that “we will be proceeding in a major way in fiscal 1987,” which begins next fall. However, a major obstacle may be congressional funding at a time when federal budgets are being closely scrutinized. The military is extremely tight-lipped about the project, and most military contractors say they have been ordered not to discuss the project. Nevertheless, a top Pentagon research official, Maj. Gen. Donald J. Kutyna, said last month that the military had decided to go ahead with a SSOO million program to design the plane. His announcement seemed to catch the administration by surprise, and officials in the White House and the Defense Department said that the program still depended on receiving funding from Congress. The aerospace plane, which is also commonly called the trans-atmospheric vehicle, has been on the drawing board in one form or another for more than two decades. Some conceived it as a rocketpropelled plane that would ride piggyback on a jet to a high altitude, and then take off on its own. Today, however, the most common design is for a single unit with an engine that could convert from conventional air-breathing systems while in normal flying altitudes to rocket propulsion once air became too thin to use. “It would be able to shift gears, in effect, like a car,” said William J.D. Escher, a program manager in the Madison, Wis. ; office of the Astronautics Corp. of America, a company working on several contracts relating to propulsion in an aerospace plane. The engine would probably use liquid hydrogen for fuel, he said. The space shuttle also uses liquid hydrogen, but in addition burns vast amounts of liquid oxygen. Because it must carry its own oxygen supply, instead of breathing air, the shuttle has two rockets that it dumps before it returns to earth. Enthusiasts say that the aerospace plane would not be only far more flexible than the shuttle, because of its ability to take off from air strips, but also be able to launch satellites for only about 1 percent of the present cost. After takeoff, the plane would cruise at much higher altitudes than conventional aircraft. It would also have the ability to go into a low earth orbit, some experts say.

States in about 12 minutes. Experts agree the plane is years and billions of dollars from becoming reality. (N.Y Times drawing)

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'69 Dodge sedan for SB.BB

Bargains abound amid used U.S. Army merchandise sold at auction

FORT BELVOIR, Va. (AP) nous Army warehouse on a recent frigid morning, six previously used porcelain wash basins were knocked down at auction for $2 for the lot. That winning $2 bid might be regarded as a final step in the multibillion dollar military procurement policy. It was recorded after the civilian auctioneer, Mary Jane Booth, rejected previous bids of 50 cents, $1 and $1.20 for identical lots of six porcelain wash basins. The $2 winner drew chuckles and a patter of applause from the ranks of about 30 bidders hunched on metal folding chairs in a corner of the quonset hut-style warehouse, separated from racks of Army disposables by a shield of movable screens. The bidders, an obviously serious lot, sipped coffee and soft drinks and ignored the chill while poring over the fine print of the sales catalogue and its matter-of-fact descriptions ranging from item No. 1 motion picture sound projectors to item No. 228 one 1980 Dodge carryall van of which the catalogue said: “Vehicle has been wrecked.” It is all part of the millions of dollars in used merchandize the Army sells each year.

At this Ft. Belvoir sale, auctioneer Booth, in a clear and firm voice, went briskly down the list and through the routine. “We are accepting bids on Item No. 93,” she declared. Item No. 93 was a lot of four dressers in “various styles and finishes.” Pencils scribbled and bid cards flashed in concentrated silence. “Any more bids?” the auctioneer demanded. She waits a second or two and declared, “Bidding is closed.” The successful bidder was announced. The bid: $67.30. And on, through the 400 pounds of bedspreads, the parcel post scales, the children’s bicycles, the videocorder, the radios, television sets, the 500 pounds of sweat shirts and sweat pants, the flight gloves, the mismatched army boots, the package tying machines, the lawn mowers. Five barber chairs, stacked in a snow-covered heap outside the warehouse near a line of surplus buses, were sold for $30.58.

January 27,1986, The Putnam County Banner Graphic

Nine security cabinets with combination locks fetched $30.58. An IBM Selectric typewriter was sold for $56.01. A hulking heavy steel “environmental chamber” went for sll.ll. And a “little wonder” hedge trimmer brought $1.99. The interest appeared to quicken when the bidding reached the automobiles and they were quickly disposed of at prices as low as SB.BB for a 1969 two-door Dodge sedan to $350.55 for a 1977 two-door Chrysler Cordoba. There are no bidding wars. The highest accepted bid in each round wins the item being auctioned. A penny higher than the nearest competion makes all the difference. Many of the surplus wares were once procured for the Army by military buyers. But some of the items being auctioned, including many of the vehicles and most of the bicycles, were abandoned on military property. “This is more fun than going to Atlantic City,” said a bearded bidder in a heavy jacket. “Quiet,” called someone trying to concentrate.