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The Great American Space Race:
Issues in the Challenger Disaster

By all accounts Hawley Bowlus was a fine young man, clean cut, right thinking, willing to work hard. He was in nineteen twenty-seven the factory manager of the Ryan Aircraft Company in San Diego. He worked closely with Donald A. Hall, chief and only engineer, on the building of the Spirit of St. Louis, Charles A. Lindbergh's experimental plane. Hall comments on the particularly close nature of the working group and the constant personal availability of the pilot as the design was realized under conditions of considerable pressure in the competition with other would-be aviators- including Richard E. Byrd - all seekers after the Orteig Prize for the first New York to Paris flight.

Examination of the Lindbergh file suggests that despite the intense competitive pressure to build the plane quickly, most avoidable risks were considered and fairly delt [[dealt]] with. The preparations of a possible forced ocean landing were minimal - it is a moot point whether this represented denial, foolhardiness, or the realization that any ocean landing would offer little chance of survival, particularly since the flight was being made well North (because Lindbergh chose a great circle route) of the shipping lanes where the plane might be spotted. In the matter of design integrity of the plane itself, the choice of the Wright J-5 Whirlwind engine, the calculation and provision for fuel needs, the choice of simple but crucial instruments- all were characterized by careful thinking and direct uneqivocal dealing with substantive, pragmatic issues. In fact, according to the pilot, one major miscalculation might have been his estimate of his ability to stay awake for the thirty-three hour flight.

What is clear about the process of working out the design of the Spirit of St. Louis is 1) close open communication among all relevant parties, 2) explicit refusal to take short cuts of material or workmanship once design parameters had been set, 3) the high level of workmanship, 4) extensive pre-flight

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