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Author
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Topic: Mercury flights' chase plane pilots
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Explorer1
Member Posts: 237
From: Los Angeles, CA, USA
Registered: Apr 2019
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posted 04-27-2020 10:14 PM
  
Who flew chase plane assignments for all of the manned Mercury missions? Were one or two chase planes assigned? And were there any chase plane assignments flown by any of the Mercury 7 on unmanned Mercury launches? |
oly
Member Posts: 1111
From: Perth, Western Australia
Registered: Apr 2015
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posted 04-28-2020 05:06 AM
Gordon Cooper flew chase on Gus Grissom's Liberty Bell 7 launch in an F-106 because "we wanted to get some pictures of the high-Q phase." |
Skylon
Member Posts: 294
From:
Registered: Sep 2010
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posted 04-28-2020 07:17 AM
Deke Slayton's autobiography states that Wally Schirra and Scott Carpenter flew chase planes for Alan Shepard's Mercury-Redstone 3. As far as unmanned, Mercury-Atlas 3 I believe, which exploded, was "chased" by Gus Grissom. From the vantage point of observers on the ground, it was pretty dramatic because it looked like Grissom's plane had been engulfed in the Atlas rocket's explosion. How close he was, I have seen conflicting accounts of. |
Philip
Member Posts: 6070
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 04-28-2020 01:11 PM
Did NASA already receive T-38 jets?I remember an image of Wally Schirra next to a T-38 Talon but the jet was still in USAF livery. When did these T-38s first appear in NASA logo colors? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 44947
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 04-28-2020 01:38 PM
NASA purchased its first fleet of 25 T-38 jets in 1964, which is the earliest a NASA livery would have been introduced. Prior to that, NASA used Talons on loan from the Air Force. |
Colin Anderton
Member Posts: 202
From: Great Britain
Registered: Jan 2005
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posted 04-29-2020 04:28 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Skylon:
...Wally Schirra and Scott Carpenter flew chase planes for Alan Shepard's Mercury-Redstone 3.
This is confirmed by Schirra himself, who states this during his commentary on the 1969 album "Flight To The Moon," which he narrated. |
oly
Member Posts: 1111
From: Perth, Western Australia
Registered: Apr 2015
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posted 04-29-2020 05:30 PM
Carpenter also confirms this in both of his oral history project interviews. So Wally Schirra and I were given some Air Force airplanes (F-102s) to chase Al's flight. |
MOL
Member Posts: 123
From: Los Angeles, CA
Registered: Oct 2004
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posted 11-03-2020 02:27 PM
Were any Mercury astronauts available to fly chase on any of the manned Atlas launches? |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3509
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 11-03-2020 06:16 PM
I think they were at remote tracking stations during those flights. |
oly
Member Posts: 1111
From: Perth, Western Australia
Registered: Apr 2015
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posted 11-04-2020 04:08 AM
Good question. |
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