Talk:May 1961

Corrected various errors in May 4 entry for balloon flight
Previous content, inserted here, had several errors:

"After setting a new record for highest altitude reached by a balloon, Lt. Comm. Victor A. Prather was killed, and Commander Malcolm Ross injured. The two U.S. Navy officers had ascended to 113,500 feet (34,600 meters) over the Gulf of Mexico, but then had to make a forced landing. The aircraft carrier USS Antietam came to the rescue of the downed craft, but Prather slipped and fell from a sling as he was being lifted into a helicopter."

Changes:
 * The flight including the landing actually went flawlessly until an unrehearsed retrieval by helicopter.
 * There was no forced landing.
 * Altitude recorded by the flight was 113,740 feet.
 * Ross slipped but caught himself in the sling, and was transported to the ship uninjured.
 * Prather wrapped the sling around his arm, but slipped out of it and drowned after his flight suit flooded.

Comments: The flight plan specified pickup by boat, not by helicopter. The helicopter crew acting on their own without orders lowered the sling to affect a helicopter pickup. When the sling was lowered, Cmd Malcolm Ross assumed that the mission crew had called for a change in plan, so he and Prather proceeded with the unrehearsed helicopter retrieval. This information was detailed to me by my father, Alfred Mikesell, who spoke in length with Malcolm Ross less than a month after the accident occurred. I detailed the discussion with my father in Talk for the Victor Prather article. Catrachos (talk) 22:43, 16 March 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
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I have just modified 3 external links on May 1961. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive http://www.webcitation.org/66gWxn1fa?url=http://www.toonopedia.com/apt_3g.htm to http://www.toonopedia.com/apt_3g.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110611185725/http://www.lavuelta.com/05/ingles/historia/61infor.asp?a=1961&s=infor&t=infor&e=1 to http://www.lavuelta.com/05/ingles/historia/61infor.asp?a=1961&s=infor&t=infor&e=1
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20121601501700/http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/1302/lost_in_space.html to http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/1302/lost_in_space.html

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External links modified (January 2018)
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I have just modified 2 external links on May 1961. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110725093258/http://www.jacksoncountychamber.com/area-information/attractions/44-russell-cave-national-monument to http://www.jacksoncountychamber.com/area-information/attractions/44-russell-cave-national-monument
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20101028175738/http://gianttiger.com/en/about_gt/history/index.php to http://www.gianttiger.com/en/about_gt/history/index.php

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