Warbird Information Exchange

Grissom, White and Chaffee...

On Jan. 27, 1967 America lost you.

Rest In Peace

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The only reasons the airplanes matter is what the veterans did with them... and why.

Thank you for remembering! If you didn't live through it, like some of us, you sure won't see this story on, say, the "History Channel".

Sure don't want to waste time educating new generations.

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"There are old pilots and bold pilots but few old, bold pilots."

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Dave

grissom was raked over the coals when his capsule was lost. the media of course was contributory. i loved it when they found it........ he was probably saying told ya so!! vindication!!

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

TAPS
================
Day is done
Gone the sun
From the lakes
From the hills
From the sky

All is well,
safely rest.
God is nigh.

Fading light
Dims the sight
And a star
Gems the sky,
Gleaning bright

From afar,
Drawing nigh,
Falls the night.

Thanks and praise,
For our days,
Neath the sun,
Neath the stars,
Neath the sky,

As we go,
This we know,
God is nigh.
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R.I.P.
Command Pilot Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Senior Pilot Ed White and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee.

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Fly Fast Make Noise!

We have a local hospital here in St Petersburg (FL) named in memory of, Edward White Hospital. A portrait of him hangs in the lobby. Great tribute to a fallen hero.

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Aviation Illustration Website
http://shepartstudio.com/illustration/

We have been out to the Apollo 1 pad a few times and it's like stepping back in time. The pad, original fire bricks and sub concrete tower base are all still there. The rail tracks are still inplace along with the blast fences sitting off to the side on the tracks. There is a small
keosk(?) off to the corner that has the bio of each astronaut and the story of the accident.

Two small plaques are on the tower base, one official and the other seems to be left by a civilian at some point. Once in awhile there will be some flowers under one of the plaques.

The launch pad is on the AF side of the Cape, at one time NASA would bring the tour bus out to the pad but that has stopped.

I remember it well. Will never forget those three Brave Souls. What a sad day.They were our pioneers of the day and should be remembered always.
May God Bless the USA.

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*When you meet a Veteran shake his or her hand and thank them. They earned your freedom*

Wow. That was two days before my 8th birthday. As a boy, I was absolutely fascinated with the space program. Books, magazines, newspaper clippings, photos, posters, models. . . I had it all. I was crushed when I learned of the deaths of Grissom, White, and Chaffee. Such a tragedy. Those were sad days. Despite that terrible setback, the Apollo program pushed ahead and ultimately achieved glorious success. From their place in Heaven, I'm sure the fallen three were smiling from ear to ear and beaming with pride as Neil Armstrong stepped off that LEM and onto the surface of the moon. At least that's what I choose to believe.

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Dean Hemphill, K5DH
Port Charlotte, Florida

I pass by Grissom AFB every few days. I still hope that NASA decides to display the Apollo I command module someday, as simply, it is what the family of the crew wants, rather to letting it sit in storage.
From what I gathered From Gene Kranz, "Most of the NASA guys didn't buy that story that Gus saw some water trickle in and got nervous and blew the hatch. We believed that his story was true that it just blew. Later in testing we proved that the hatch could indeed just blow. The media really blew it out of proportion." I find it interesting that even the USAF test pilots that were not huge fans of NASA pilots by any means didn't even buy into it. Yeager himself defended Grissom.
The story that NASA didn't punish Grissom seems true as he was on Apollo I. I always liked some lines from From the Earth to the Moon on the subject.




Gus Grissom: How are we going to get to the moon if we can't talk between two or three buildings?

Clinton Anderson: Colonel a moment ago you mentioned, "You had to know Gus". Tell us a little about the men.

Frank Borman then describes Gus is a very nice way, then says this about the others. "Ed White was a veteran pilot and a famous rumor has made it's way through mission control that during an EVA Ed White stayed outside the capsul longer than he was told to. That would mean that he would have disobeyed an order. It;s a great story, but that would mean Ed ignored an order. Not going to happen. Ed's a West Point man. He was one of my best friends.
Roger Chaffee I didn't know very well but I know he was the youngest of the astronauts. I did hear a great story about him that sums up his character. Roger was on a tour of the McDonnell Douglas plant and was talking to all of the engineers and VIP's there when he noticed some men standing in the corner. These men were the men that made the machines that made the spacecraft. No one ever spent any time talking to them. Roger went over and talked to them and made them feel like the most important part of the mission.

Clinton Anderson: [at the senate inquiry following the Apollo 1 fire] Colonel, what caused the fire? I'm not talking about wires and oxygen. It seems that some people think that NASA pressured North American to meet unrealistic and arbitrary deadlines and that in turn North American allowed safety to be compromised.
Frank Borman: I won't deny there's been pressure to meet deadlines, but safety has never been intentionally compromised.
Clinton Anderson: Then what caused the fire?
Frank Borman: A failure of imagination. We've always known there was the possibility of fire in a spacecraft. But the fear was that it would happen in space, when you're 180 miles from terra firma and the nearest fire station. That was the worry. No one ever imagined it could happen on the ground. If anyone had thought of it, the test would've been classified as hazardous. But it wasn't. We just didn't think of it. Now who's fault is that? Well, it's North American's fault. It's NASA's fault. It's the fault of every person who ever worked on Apollo. It's my fault. I didn't think the test was hazardous. No one did. I wish to God we had.

Clinton Anderson: Now, before we all go home, is there any statement you personally would like to make?

Frank Borman: I think I'm safe in speaking for all the astronauts when I say that we're confident in our management, we're confident in our training, in our engineering, and in ourselves. The real question is, are you confident in us?

Clinton Anderson: What do you think we should do, Colonel?

Frank Borman: I think you should stop this witch hunt and let us go to the Moon.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

"You know what Astronaut means, right? Star Voyager"

"Star Voyager Gus Grissom...yeah, I kinda like the sound of that!"

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Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives, and I decline......

"Virgil I Grissom"

Grissom:"That's Gus sir"

"Excuse me? Gus?"

Grissom: "No one calls me Virgil"

"Oh alright, he can be Gus"

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0W9bQ2J ... tube_gdata

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

The mini-series "From the Earth To the Moon" (that clip) was based on the book "A Man on the Moon" by Andrew Chaikin. If you liked the mini-series (HBO back in about 1998), you'll love the book. I have to say that it is one of the most treasured books that I own, and if anyone has even the most passing interest in space flight or the Apollo program, it is an honest-to-God MUST READ book. Very technical, but written in a first-hand manner that is an amazing read, told through the words of the Apollo astronauts themselves. I have probably read it half a dozen times, and each time I start reading it, I find myself learning something new that I forgot or missed the time before, and it becomes one of those endurance tests because I don't want to put it down.

Probably in the top three of all the books that I have ever read...and that's a lot.

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Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives, and I decline......