The importance of Bill Dana

Comedian Bill Dana was popular in the early 60's for his Jose' Jimenez
character, the reluctant space voyager who debuted on the Ed Sullivan show.
All accounts, including the reunion of the (then) surviving Mercury
astronauts shower the comedian with accollades from the Original 7. At one
one point, Wally Schirra fed Ed Sullivan's lines to Bill Dana who gave back
the 1960's appropriate replies. The astronauts, at one time, even
commissioned an oil painting of Jose' Jimenez in Mercury flight gear, as
"The Eighth Astronaut". In the more proper 1970's, Bill Dana dropped the
"Jose" monicker and used the voice for non-Mexican characters, as Jose' was
deemed a stereotype.

Why was Bill Dana so popular with the men who undertook such hazardous work?
I'm guessing the comic relief was part of it, but more likely, it heightened
the "cool" image so precious to the rocket jockeys. One of the problems
that helped whither Apollo was the idea that going into space was so easy-
even fun! "Why underwrite spaceflights that are restricted to a few guys
whn everyone and anyone can do it?" Since Jose' Jimenez made it so silly
and funny to go into space, then really serious people had shown it could be
done with finess.

Was Bill Dna's popularity amongst the Original 7 simply because it
heightened the image of cool? Did he hold the same popularity with the
"Next Nine" and succeeding astronaut classes? Other opinions?

On Mon, 24 Dec 2007 11:20:06 -0500, "R.Glueck"
wrote:

Comedian Bill Dana was popular in the early 60's for his Jose' Jimenez
character, the reluctant space voyager who debuted on the Ed Sullivan show.

And the real Bill Dana was flying lifting bodies and X-15s at Dryden.

Mary "I knew him well"
--
Mary Shafer Retired aerospace research engineer
We didn't just do weird stuff at Dryden, we wrote reports about it.
or
Visit my new blog at http://thedigitalknitter.blogspot.com/

Mary, the coincidence of names struck me as well! Those lifting bodies were
amazing things to fly. It took guts to be dropped from a high altitude B52,
and pray it was good enough to get you back to earth in one piece.

On Tue, 25 Dec 2007 12:34:51 -0500, "R.Glueck"
wrote:

Mary, the coincidence of names struck me as well! Those lifting bodies were
amazing things to fly. It took guts to be dropped from a high altitude B52,
and pray it was good enough to get you back to earth in one piece.

I think it was even braver to be towed above the lakebed by a Pontiac
convertible, myself. Much closer to the ground, where bad things
happen. It was pretty sure that the vehicle wouldn't come apart
around you in mid-air, after all.

The lifting body program, like so many Dryden programs, was an
incremental one that started with low speeds and lightweight vehicles
and worked its way up to high speeds and heavyweight vehicles. The
first lifting body was limited to automobile and Gooneybird speeds and
altitudes at launch. The high altitude launches from the NB-52B came
much later, for more advanced vehicles.

Mary "I really admired Milt Thompson"
--
Mary Shafer Retired aerospace research engineer
We didn't just do weird stuff at Dryden, we wrote reports about it.
or
Visit my new blog at http://thedigitalknitter.blogspot.com/

Reunite Gondwanaland (Mary Shafer) wrote:
I think it was even braver to be towed above the lakebed by a Pontiac
convertible, myself. Much closer to the ground, where bad things
happen. It was pretty sure that the vehicle wouldn't come apart
around you in mid-air, after all.

Looking at the M2-F1, it must have been amazing for the people in the
Pontiac to actually see it rise into the air, no matter what the math
and wind tunnel results said about its ability to fly. ;-)

Pat

On Wed, 26 Dec 2007 01:58:35 -0600, Pat Flannery
wrote:

Reunite Gondwanaland (Mary Shafer) wrote:
I think it was even braver to be towed above the lakebed by a Pontiac
convertible, myself. Much closer to the ground, where bad things
happen. It was pretty sure that the vehicle wouldn't come apart
around you in mid-air, after all.

Looking at the M2-F1, it must have been amazing for the people in the
Pontiac to actually see it rise into the air, no matter what the math
and wind tunnel results said about its ability to fly. ;-)

Amazing even for those with absolute belief in the laws of
aerodynamics, I'd think. Even more so for us non-aerodynamicists.

The part I always liked was the little kicker rocket motor at the
bottom of the boat tail, for emergency thrust at landing. I don't
even remember which of the lifting bodies had one and they didn't get
used very often at all, but I have always thought they were a cool
idea. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure they were ever fired in
anger, just in testing.

Mary "Simple pleasures for simple minds"
--
Mary Shafer Retired aerospace research engineer
We didn't just do weird stuff at Dryden, we wrote reports about it.
or
Visit my new blog at http://thedigitalknitter.blogspot.com/

"Reunite Gondwanaland (Mary Shafer)" wrote in
message ...
The part I always liked was the little kicker rocket motor at the
bottom of the boat tail, for emergency thrust at landing. I don't
even remember which of the lifting bodies had one and they didn't get
used very often at all, but I have always thought they were a cool
idea. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure they were ever fired in
anger, just in testing.

Sounds like one of those things that's so bad you never want to use it....
except when the alternative is even worse.

Sort of like an ejection seat. :-)



Mary "Simple pleasures for simple minds"
--
Mary Shafer Retired aerospace research engineer
We didn't just do weird stuff at Dryden, we wrote reports about it.
or
Visit my new blog at http://thedigitalknitter.blogspot.com/

--
Greg Moore
SQL Server DBA Consulting Remote and Onsite available!
Email: sql (at) greenms.com http://www.greenms.com/sqlserver.html

Yeah I had to do a "double take" the other day when I came across the name
of current NASA astronaut Jose Hernandez ... I mean what are the odds.
Would like to have been at the interview

"what is your name?"

"My name ... Jose Hernandez."



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

"Reunite Gondwanaland (Mary Shafer)" wrote in
message ...
On Mon, 24 Dec 2007 11:20:06 -0500, "R.Glueck"
wrote:

Comedian Bill Dana was popular in the early 60's for his Jose' Jimenez
character, the reluctant space voyager who debuted on the Ed Sullivan
show.

And the real Bill Dana was flying lifting bodies and X-15s at Dryden.

Yes, but did Jose Jiminez ever fly an X-15?

Scott Hedrick wrote:
Yes, but did Jose Jiminez ever fly an X-15?


"And then it was time to start the reentry."
"Reentry? Is it difficult?"
"Very difficult... it took four of them to force me into the cockpit for
my second flight." :-)

Pat