One of those authors was the JSC customer that we visited about the weakened RCC leading edge.
I am a busy guy with a business to run. However, I still have my notes archived including the notes from that meeting.
Someday, I will write a book about what I know.
By the way, if anyone has a geiger counter, I was told that there is a nuke reactor buried under the old runway at the Downey plant.
One day in 1983 or so, I was chatting with one of the old timers from North American.
He said, “I think everyone else on the team is dead now. I am probably the only one who knows.”
“What?” I asked.
He then told me, “Back in the late 40s, every aircraft company wanted to have a nuclear reactor. We got a contract from the government and set up a small reactor. When the government suddenly canceled the program in 1949, we dug a hole under the runway and buried it in concrete. Almost nobody knew because the program was classified”.
I think it is a car sales lot now. This would be South of Stewart & Gray and East of Lakewood in Downey. The old runways ran diagonal across the back of the lot. They used to build and fly Consolidated Vultee aircraft out of there as well as North American aircraft later.
I have a geiger counter but no time to go search for it.
The land belonged to the USAF before it got deeded to the City of Downey, IIRC.
I guess that now I am the Old Timer, hah!
The Downey location is where we visited the Space Shuttle Inspiration while doing some location scouting for a motion picture. We also went up to the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, where I took a number of location shots. I think I still have those somewhere in storage.
For the information about the nuclear reactor at Downey, see the Water Boiler Neutron Source at:
Atomics International
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Atomics International was a division of the North American Aviation company (later acquired by the Rockwell International company) which engaged principally in the early development of nuclear technology and nuclear reactors for both commercial and government applications. Atomics International was responsible for a number of accomplishments relating to nuclear energy: design, construction and operation of the first nuclear reactor in California (1952),[1] the first nuclear reactor to produce power for a commercial power grid in the United States (1957)[2] and the first nuclear reactor launched into outer space by the United States (1965).[3]
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Company history
Following World War II, the potential of nuclear power captured the interest of the United States Government and the general public. In 1948, North American Aviation created an internal organization called the Atomic Energy Research Department to manage its government and commercial nuclear research and development activities. The Atomic Energy Research Department designed, constructed and operated a 5 watt thermal aqueous homogeneous reactor at Downey, California, which on April 21, 1952 became the first nuclear reactor to operate in the State of California.[5] In 1955, the AERD was renamed the Atomics International division of North American Aviation.
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Downey Facility
The Atomic Energy Research Development Group began operations in the North American Aviation plant located on Lakewood Drive in Downey, California. They performed basic research and constructed at least one aqueous homogeneous reactor named the Water Boiler Neutron Source. The four watt reactor was shut down and moved to the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in December 1955.[12] The reactor-related facilities were examined and determined to be free of residual radioactivity and reused as general office space. The Downey facility was transferred to the City of Downey and the buildings subsequently demolished and replaced with a variety of commercial buildings.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomics_International#Downey_Facility