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temperature hydraulic fluids from polyphenal ethers.
17 March 1958. An experiment testing the behavior of crews under conditions of long confinement was concluded at Wright Air Development Center as five Air Force officers ended a 5-day simulated space flight.
1958 May. Centrifuge tests at Wright Field proved that even the unprotected human body could withstand extremely high positive accelerations. Test subjects were not harmed after exposure to 5g forces for 20 minutes.
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1958 August. Wright Field experimenters began an intensive program of weightlessness tests in a C-131B aircraft. By the end of 1958, nearly 400 zero-g parabolas (equivalent to 79 minutes of weightlessness) had already been flown.
1958. Wright Field studies of single crystal filaments, popularly known as "whisker" phenomena, began to yield significant results.
1959 early.Studies dating back to 1950 at Wright Field resulted in  the development of a theory of molecular electronics. This theory promised tremendous advancements in the capacity, reliability, and reduced size of electronic components.
16 August 1960. Capt. Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr., W-PAFB, descended from a balloon from a height of 102,800 feet over the New Mexico desert in a parachute. Kittinger plummeted from the highest altitude obtained by a human in a nonpowered flight in free fall for four minutes attaining a velocity of 614 mph. At 18,000 feet, his chute opened automatically. For this, and earlier work, Capt. Kittinger received the IAS John Jeffries Award given annually to the person who contributes most to the advancement of aerospace medicine.
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9 April 1963. The first standardized Cargo On/Off Loading System was installed. The system, which permitted palletization and tiedown of cargo prior to arrival of aircraft at the terminals, increases the speed of on/off loading operations.
FY 1961. The feasibility of the Liquid Air Cycle Engine (LACE) concept for potential use in a variety of advanced boosters was proved both at Wright Field and at contractor's facility.
FY 1961. A unique method of providing thermal protection for windscreens on re-entry vehicles was developed in the Applications Laboratory at Wright Field. Without a protective system, transparent materials lose their structural qualities and begin to glow at temperatures over 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit, making vision outside a vehicle impossible. The laboratory postulated that vision was possible through a circular heat shield perforated with holes or slots, if such a shield were rotated at the proper speed. Feasibility of the concept was demonstrated with a model consisting of a Transite disc with slots, which had cooling gas injected between the disc and a conventional Pyrex window.
1961. February. The Laminar Flow Control Program managed by Wright Field advanced from an applied research project to the advanced systems category.
FY 1962. The Applications Laboratory and the X-15 system program office at Wright Field cooperated in developing ceramic coatings that provided high temperature oxidation resistance in the thrust chamber of the XLR-99 rocket engine used on the X-15 aircraft.
FY 1962. An experimental, all-weather landing system, developed under an applied research program jointly sponsored by Wright Field's Flight Control Laboratory, and the FAA, successfully completed its initial qualifying round of flight tests in mid-1962.
1962. February. The inside-out magnetron principle was demonstrated at Wright Field in a model electron tube. 1963. Wright Field announced development of a new graphite which was highly resistant to oxidation and heat, and which had good flexibility and excellent machinability.
1963. A Materials Laboratory chemist of Wright Field developed an elastomer which resisted high temperatures and oxidation up to 800 degrees Fahrenheit, 200 degrees higher than any previous elastomer.
1963. Under Wright Field management, a major step was made toward modernizing the air lift capability of the United States. On 22 August 1963, the first C-141 transport was delivered for testing. The first flight of that aircraft was made on 17 December 1963.
1963. Wright Field was managing two prototype programs aimed at investigating the tilting propeller principle in Vertical and Short Take-Off and Landing aircraft. One of these, the Curtiss-Wright X-19, was flight tested initially in December 1963.
1963. Wright Field scientists developed a continuous wave LASER system "pumped" by a tungsten bulb.
1964. Refractory materials and coatings fundamental to advance propulsion systems and aerospace vehicles were developed to protect refractory metals including columbium, molybdenum, tantalum, and tungsten against oxidation at extremely high temperatures.
1964. Wright Field's Materials Laboratory achieved a break-through which could drastically reduce the structural weight of missiles and other high performance systems.
1964. October. Wright Field's F-111 bi-service fighter program reached a significant milestone in this period. On 15 October 1964, the first F-111A aircraft rolled out. The initial flight followed on 21 December 1964. This unique airplane had a variable wing sweep which not only provided low take-of and landing speeds, but also permitted continuous flight in the mach 2.5 range at operational altitudes.
1964 September-October. One of Wright Field's more spectacular programs was the huge XB-70 aircraft. Its first flight took place on 21 September 1964.
1964 late. In the area of electromagnetic propulsion, the Wright Field Aero Propulsion Laboratory fabricated and tested an experimental valve which would be used to inject propellant into an accelerator.
1964 July. The Materials and Flight Dynamics Laboratories at Wright Field sponsored the development of an Expandable Space Structure.
1964 November. Wright Field's ASSET program was an applied research investigation aimed at increasing the knowledge of lifting bodies and glide re-entry. The entire ASSET vehicle served as a testbed which, after rocketing into a suborbital path, glided back to earth.