Talk:Project Magnet (USN)

Project Magnet additional Data
My father was the Chief Petty Officer on this project. That is his plane. I was on it briefly when I was little before he took off. You had to access it through a door in its belly by climbing up a ladder. He is the one that painted the Roadrunner and Wyly Coyote. He had to get special permission from Warner Brothers to do it. When asked why he choose those characters he said he had three young daughters and did not want them to see a pin up girl on his plane. I have a letter from NOAA about his contributions to the project. I was told they corrected the longitude and latitude on the maps that were used at the time. Before there were calculators. Dad was very smart and skipped three grades in school. He could do those complicated math problems like the NASA ladies. In the letter from NOAA they said they still use the calculations today they were so accurate. He died from a heart condition in 1976. His name is Ray Neal Pickens. Mom said there was a whole crew working on the project with him. 2603:8081:8700:C609:C8E:E8A4:450D:588B (talk) 00:06, 22 November 2022 (UTC)