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The United States Air Force and Latin American Research*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

David Bushnell
David Bushnell*
Affiliation:
Department of History, University of Florida, Gainesville
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Extract

In the vast maze of official United States programs for technical cooperation with Latin America, one of those that have attracted least attention is the support of Latin American scientific research by the United States Air Force. The program is a small one, not only as compared with the total research effort supported by the Air Force at home and abroad but also as compared with the total array of United States scientific and technical assistance to Latin America. It is not, in fact, an “assistance” program at all in the usual sense: it is, rather, a program in which Latin Americans assist the United States and simply receive payment for services rendered.

The assistance in question is not in any way directly related to the development of new weapons or to actual military activities; it operates on the level of basic and applied research, and is concerned only with increasing the general store of scientific knowledge on which future advances in non-military as well as military technology must ultimately rest.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Inter-American Studies , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , April 1965 , pp. 161 - 178
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 1965

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Footnotes

*

Author's Note: Although the author was formerly Chief of the Historical Division, Office of Aerospace Research, and had written a larger report on this same topic as part of his duties, the present article was prepared only after he left government service. Responsibility for all statements contained in it therefore his own, not that of the U.S. Air Force. D.B.

References

1 On the European Office of Aerospace Research see, for example, H. J. Lewis, “How Our Air Force Supports Basic Research in Europe,” Science CXXXI (January 1, 1960), 15-20; also Historical Division, Office of Aerospace Research, History of the Office of Aerospace Research, January-June 1962, pp. 15-54.

2 Hanrahan, James S. and Bushnell, David, Space Biology (New York, 1960), pp. 20–23 Google Scholar; letter to the author from Mr. Green Peyton, Chief Historian, Aerospace Medical Division, Brooks Air Force Base, Texas', August 1, 1962. Unless otherwise specified, all unpublished materials cited in footnotes are to be found in the unclassified archives of the Historical Division, Office of Aerospace Research, in Washington, D. C.

3 Alberto Giesecke M., “El Instituto Geofísico del Perú,” Ciencia Interamericana, May-June 1962, pp. 3-5. Until about three years ago, the Instituto was known officially as Instituto Geofísico de Huancayo, and in practice it is’ often still referred to by the old name.

4 Ibid., p. 7; interview with Mr. Henry L. Mackie, Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories, by the author, August 8, 1963.

5 Department of Defense (DD) Form 613, Project 5631, January 1, 1961, p. 81; DD Form 613, Project 5631, January 1, 1962, p. 58; DD Form 613, Project 8601, January 1, 1963, p. 13; DD Form 613, Project 8627, November 22, 1960, p. 28; Office of Aerospace Research, Basic Research Resumes 1961-1962 (Washington, 1962), pp. 313, 326, 343.

6 DD Form 613, Project 8627, November 22, 1960, p. 29.

7 Giesecke, “El Instituto Geofísico del Perú,” Ciencia Interamericana, May-June 1962, p. 8; P. Meyer, E. N. Parker, and J. A. Simpson, “The Solar Cosmic Rays of February 1956 and Their Propagation through Interplanetary Space.” Physical Review, CIV (November 1, 1956) 770, 781.

8 Harris, F. B. and Escobar, Ismael, “Directional Intensities of Positive and Negative Mesons in Atmosphere,” Physical Review, CIV, (October 15, 1956), 542–544.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

9 Compare the article by Giesecke, cited above, with Ismael Escobar V., “El Laboratorio de Física Cósmica de Chacaltaya,” Ciencia Interamericana, November-December 1961, pp. 3-8.

10 Letter from Escobar to Dr. William J. Otting, AFOSR Director of Physical Sciences', January 16, 1957.

11 Letter from Associate Director P. T. Demos, Laboratory for Nuclear Science, M.I.T., to AFOSR, October 16, 1957, with attached note of same date from Prof. Bruno Rossi to Demos. Escobar himself, it should be added, was an M.I.T. graduate.

12 DD Form 614, Project 9774, April 1, 1959, p. 27.

13 “AFOSR Research Program in South America,” unsigned and undated (April 1959?) ms. report.

14 Giesecke, “El Instituto Geofísico del Perú,” Ciencia Interamericana, May-June 1962, p. 8; DD Form 613, Project 9774, April 1, 1959, p. 33; DD Form 613, Project 9774, February 1, 1962, attachment 2, p. 6.

15 Interview with Dr. Harvey E. Savely, AFOSR Director of Life Sciences, by the author, July 18, 1963; Herman I. Chinn, “Survey of Biosciences Research in Souti America,” in AFOSR, Weekly Activity Report. December 16, 1958.

16 National Academy of Sciences-Air Research and Development Command Study Group, A Report by the Committee on General Sciences Relating to Long-Range Scientific and Technical Trends of Interest to the United States Air Force (Washington, 1958), p. 10.

17 Harvey E. Savely, “Special Report on Electric Fishes,” in AFOSR, Weekly Activity Report, September 11, 1959. See also Carlos Chagas and Antonio Paes de Carvalho, eds., Bioelectrogenesis: A Comparative Survey of Its Mechanisms With Particular Emphasis on Electric Fishes (Amsterdam, 1961).

18 DD Form 613, Project 9777, April 1, 1960, pp. 23, 54.

19 Interview with Dr. Savely by the author, July 18, 1963; Savely, “Brain Mechanisms and Learning,” AFOSR Weekly Activity Report, September 18, 1959; DD Form 613, Project 9777, April 1, 1959, pp. 4, 14, 24, 54; DD Form 613, Project 9777, April 1, 1960, pp. 3, 20.

20 DD Form 613, Project 9783, January 16, 1961, p. 30.

21 Samuel S. Steinberg, “La enseñanza de la ingeniería aeronáutica en Brasil,” Ciencia Interarfiericana, January-February 1961, pp. 3-6.

22 Form 613, Project 9777, April 1, 1960, p. 78.

23 E. D. P. De Robertis, W. W. Nowinski, and Francisco A. Saez, General Cytology (3rd ed., Philadelphia, 1960).

24 DD Form 613, Project 9777, April 1, 1960, p. 79; DD Form 613, Project 9777, February 1, 1963, attachment 1. p. 86.

25 J. Y. Lettvin, et al., “What the Frog's Eye Tells the Frog's Brain,” Proceedings of the IRE, XLV1I, (November 1959), 1940-1951.

26 Harvey E. Savely, “Biological Pattern Recognition,” in Office of Aerospace Research, OAR Research Review, July 2, 1963; DD Form 613, Project 9777, April 1, 1960, p. 99.

27 Harvey E. Savely, “Visual System of the Octopus,” Office of Aerospace Research, OAR Weekly Activity Report, April 7, 1961.

28 Harvey E. Savely, “What the Eye Tells the Brain,” OAR Research Review, December 17, 1962.

29 AFOSR Office of Information, news release 6-60-2; DD Form 613, Project 9777, March 1, 1961, pp. 17, 21; Robert V. Brown, “There Are None So Blind as Those Who Will Not See,” OAR Research Review, May 21, 1962.

30 DD Form 613, Project 9777, February 1, 1963, attachment 1, pp. 20, 22, 35; interview with Dr. Savely, by the author, July 18, 1963. Specifically, it was the mechanism of habituation in the cockroach that formed one of the objects of study under the Luco grant.

31 DD Form 613, Project 9777, March 1, 1961, p. 87; interview with Dr. Savely, by the author, July 18, 1963.

32 DD Form 613, Project 9777, February 1, 1963, attachment 1, p. 15.

33 DD Form 613, Project 9763, February 1, 1963, p . 61.

34 William S. Rodney, “Some of the Physics Research in Brazil and Argentina,” OAR Weekly Activity Report, June 30, 1961.

35 DD Form 613, Project 9750, February 1, 1962, attachment 1, p. 21.

36 Grant 61-67, in files of AFOSR Directorate of Physical Sciences.

37 Undated research proposal by Dr. Rolando V. García, Universidad de Buenos Aires, in files of AFOSR Directorate of Physical Sciences. See also OAR Office of Information news release 7-62-4.

38 “List of USAF Contracts and Grants in Latin America from FY 59-FY 63,” submitted by Lt. Col. V. K. Goodwin, Directorate of Plans, OAR, to Dr. John K. Rouleau, Dept. of State, August 1, 1963. These efforts were distributed geographically as follows: Argentina 2, Bolivia 1, Brazil 4, Chile 5, Mexico 1, Peru 3, Uruguay 2. The life sciences accounted for 11, the physical sciences 6, and mathematics 1.

39 History of the Office of Aerospace Research I (January-June 1962), 20. Some of these were listed as active only because they had not been formally closed out — not because work w.as still in progress.

40 Komons, Nick A. and Bushnell, David, The Air Force and Nuclear Physics (Washington, 1963), pp. 98–102 Google Scholar; DD Form 613, Project 9774, February 1, 1962, attachment 2, pp. 7, 9; interview with Dr. Lloyd Wood, Director of Physical Sciences, AFOSR, by the author, July 25, 1963.

41 Letter from Dr. Knox Millsaps, Executive Director, AFOSR, to Commander of Air Research and Development Command, February 2, 1961; memorandum from Col. Robert G. Ellis, Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff/Plans, Air Force Research Division, to Chief of Staff, Air Force Research Division, February 20, 1961; letter from Maj. Gen. Daniel E. Hooks, Commander of Air Force Research Division, to Headquarters Air Research and Development Command, March 8, 1961; letter from Maj. Gen. Hooks, Commander, OAR, to Headquarters United States Air Force, May 9, 1961.

42 Memorandum from Dr. Harold Brown, Director of Defense Research and Engineering, to Assistant Secretaries for Research and Development of Army, Navy, and Air Force, December 6, 1961.

43 Memorandum from Col. Robert G. Ellis, Director of Plans, OAR, to Maj. Gen. Hooks and other staff officials, January 5, 1962; interview with Lt. Col. Vaughn K. Goodwin, Chief of Research Planning Division, OAR, by the author, July 19, 1963.

44 Memorandum from Col. Ellis to Chief of Staff, OAR, and other staff officials, February 13, 1962; letter from Maj. Gen. Hooks to Headquarters Un'ted Sta'es Air Force, February 21, 1962; letter from Col. Robert P. Klein, Deputy Assisnnt for Foreign Developments, Headquarters United States Air Force, to OAR, April 20, 1962; OAR Special Order G-20, June 5, 1962.

45 News release 919-62, June 5, 1962.

46 Memorandum from Lt. Col. Goodwin to Deputy Chief of Staff/Plans and Programs, OAR, April 11, 1962.

47 OAR, “Operation Plan for LAOAR,” June 25, 1962; letter from Col. Charles Carson, Deputy Commander, OAR, to Director of Administrative Services, Air Force Systems Command, August 29, 1962; OAR Regulation 23-8, March 6, 1964.

48 Lt. Col. Charles J. Lyness, Commander, LAOAR, “LAOAR Activity Report for August 1962.”

49 Lt. Col. LynesS, “LAOAR and Latin American Research,” report of March 1964, pp. 3-4, 6.

50 Ibid., p. 5.

51 DRO, Monthly Activity Report, March 1963, pp. 7-8.

52 Ibid., September 1963, p. 9, and March 1964, p. 7.

53 Ibid., January 1964, p. 7.

54 Ibid., March 1964, p. 7.

55 Ibid., October 1963, p. 8. No other new country was added, although a proposal —which was declined—did come from the Universidad del Valle, Colombia, in the life science field (ibid., February 1964, p. 10).