posted 05-27-2019 06:14 AM               

Space Cover #516: A Dyna-Soar Dig

So Space Cover of the Week 514 generated some Dyna-Soar related correspondence between fellow cS'er Al Hallonquist (albatron) and myself. I brought up the above postcard that has puzzled me for years. It was meter-marked at the General Dynamics (ex Convair) plant in San Diego, California on July 13, 1963, about 5 months before the termination of the Dyna-Soar Program. And it carries the autographs of Dyna-Soar pilot selectees (top-to-bottom) James A. Wood, Henry Gordon, William J. (Pete) Knight, Russell L. Rogers, Albert H. Crews, and M. O. (Milt) Thompson.

Now, I would love to think that those pilots visited the plant that day, and some astute employee collected their signatures on this card. However, I can find no reference to a General Dynamics plant visit for the Dyna-Soar pilots. Al queried Al Crews who could not recall such a visit (albeit 50-some years ago). And the only ties that I can identify between General Dynamics (Convair) and Dyna-Soar was that Convair bid on Dyna-Soar and lost in 1959, and that Convair's Atlas-Centaur launch vehicle was under consideration for Dyna-Soar in 1959 and early 1960, but both of those ties were long dead by the time this card was postmarked.

So, do any of you have any kind of record of a General Dynamics (Convair) tie-in to Dyna-Soar? Maybe a subcontract? Any other thoughts?

Otherwise I'll just have to conclude that the card doesn't really have any tie to Dyna-Soar except that it was used to collect pilot signatures. Not that I'm complaining...

posted 05-27-2019 06:57 AM               

But there is a direct relationship to the postcard theme with GD's Convair division and the military's (USAF) Dyna-Soar program.

Prime contractor, Boeing, at first during the 1950's did favor an Atlas-Centaur launch vehicle for the 5-ton X-20 vehicle. The Air Force had requested from 8 aerospace companies a feasibility design study and GD's Convair Division was one of them, and a primary player as well.

Convair, owned and operated by Atlas rocket company General Dynamics Astronautics in San Diego, CA, was a strong competitor for the new manned space program since Boeing did favor an Atlas-Centaur combination.

Of course, in the long run, the military and Boeing decided to go with a newer upcoming Titan IIIC launch vehicle, which had more lift capabilities at the time and was more Air Force regulated and controlled for such a military operation.