TICKETS ARE NOW AVAILABLE
FOR OUR SECOND ANNUAL SPRING GALA:
SAT., MAY 14TH 2011 AT THE VE CLUB

Renown Astronomer Derrick Pitts to Provide Comments on Importance of Science Education

Program will also feature Special Q&A Session
with Retired Naval Corpsman
who Helped Train Mercury Astronauts

We are happy to announce that Derrick Pitts, the Chief Astronomer and Director of the Fels Planetarium at the Franklin Institute will be providing comments at our event. Derrick’s father worked at NADC and inspired Derrick’s interest in space and science at a young age. Derrick is well known in the Philadelphia region for his work on WHYY and WXPN-FM an is recognized nationally for his many appearances on show like The Today Show, Good Morning America, and Newton’s Apple. We are thrilled to welcome Derrick to our event.

In addition, retired Naval Corpsman Art Guntner will be featured in a special Q&A session. In what promises to be an extraordinary oral history, Art will recount his days in the Navy where one of his assignments was as an Aerospace Medicine Technician at the Johnsville Centrifuge. While stationed at Johnsville, Art flew over 350 simulations in the centrifuge and was personally involved in briefing and training the Mercury Astronauts.  

Our Second Annual Spring Gala will be held on Saturday, May 14 from 6 to 11 PM at the VE Club at 130 Davisville Road in Warminster, PA. Tickets are $60 each and include your choice of Filet Mignon or Salmon. Tables of 8 are available. Tickets can be purchased by contacting nadcmuseum@comcast.net or by calling 267-250-8841. We look forward to seeing you at this very special event.

Renown Astronomer Derrick Pitts will speak at the Second Annual Spring Gala

c1960, Art Guntner (left) assists John Glenn after a flight in the Johnsville Centrifuge

The Johnsville Centrifuge & Science Museum will reopen on April 17th and will be open on the first and third Sunday of each month between 1 and 3:30 PM.  We look forward to this year as we commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Alan Shepard’s historic flight in May and take part in the year long celebration of Warminster’s tricentennial.  Looking forward to next February, we will commemorate the 50th anniversary of John Glenn’s orbital mission.  The Bucks County connection is cannot be understated as the American astronauts endured grueling training sessions on the world famous Johnsville Centrifuge right here in Warminster, PA until just before their missions.

We also have an exhibit of the Mercury Program currently on display at the Warminster Township Parks and Recreation office at 1101 Little Lane in Warminster as part of our own contribution to 100 years of Naval Aviation and Warminster’s Tricentennial.  The exhibit tells the story of the technology and people behind our nation’s early space exploration efforts as well as marking President Kennedy’s speech that put Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins on a trajectory to where no man had gone before.  It also commemorates the service members, workers and contractors who played a part in our success as a nation by contributing their services at the Naval Air Development Center.  Stop in and check it out when you are in the area.

Plans are underway for our Second Annual Spring Gala which will be held on Saturday, May 14 at the VE Club.  Details are on our home page at www.nadcmuseum.org.  We hope you come out to for a fun night to support us.  We look forward to seeing all of our friends at the Gala and at the museum as we kick off another great season.    

Finally, we recently were granted approval from the Smithsonian Institute to bring the original gondola that was used for training the Mercury astronauts back to Warminster.   We’ll have more details on the move soon.

Retired Navy Corpsman Art Guntner made a trip to the Johnsville Centrifuge and Science Museum in Warminster, PA from his home in Inwood, West Virginia not knowing what he would find in the building where he worked as an Aerospace Medicine Technician (AMT) in the early 1960s. What he found was that the largest and most powerful human centrifuge ever built was still standing. Although it hasn’t run for more than a decade and the copper sheeting that once lined the 125 foot diameter chamber has long been removed, seeing the giant machine where he helped to train the Mercury astronauts brought back a flood of memories.

Art Guntner was born and raised in the mining town of Morgantown, West Virginia and is the son of Kathleen and Frank G. Guntner. The Guntner family is steeped in military service, his step-father was in the Army at the end of WWI, his father was a Marine in the Pacific in WWII, and his uncle Charles M. Blaney from Westover, West Virginia, fought on Iwo Jima and was present for the flag raising on Suribachi. A younger uncle, Robert Blaney, retired as an Air Force Master Sargeant.

Guntner joined the Navy in 1958 and graduated from Aerospace Medicine School in 1960. Immediately after graduation he was sent to the Naval Air Development Center (NADC), Johnsville, PA; located just north of Philadelphia. NADC was home to the Aviation Medical Acceleration Laboratory (AMAL) where the largest human centrifuge in the world was located. The centrifuge was built in the late 1940’s to test the limits of human endurance under the high G forces that were produced by the new jet fighters being used by the military. However, by late 1959 and into the early 1960’s the focus of training and research at AMAL turned to preparing the men who would be the first American space explorers.

Given the full schedules of the Mercury astronauts, it was impractical for them to be present for early runs or “flights” on the centrifuge that were made to determine baseline performance. It fell to younger staff members like Guntner to serve as the test subjects for the initial simulations. Over the course of his time at Johnsville, Guntner estimates that he endured over 350 flights in the centrifuge, more than any other test subject. Some flights pushed him to as high as 15 Gs. By way of comparison, a driver in the Indianapolis 500 sustains 4 to 5 G’s in the turns, and astronauts rarely experience more than 6 Gs at liftoff and reentry.

Art Guntner exits the gondola of the Johnsville Centrifuge in 1960 after one of more than 350 simulations.

When the Mercury astronauts arrived for their training, it was Guntner who briefed them on the results of the early simulations, telling them what they could expect from the experiences they were about to undergo. As an AMT, part of his job was to place the bio-medical sensor on the astronauts and monitor functions like heart rate and breathing as they took their rides on “the wheel”.

Guntner was soon working on a first name basis with the Mercury Seven and recounted stories of working with John Glenn and Alan Shepard. He recalled one time when another flight surgeon insisted in placing the bio-med sensors on John Glenn. After half an hour of placing the sensors and another half an hour of getting suited up, when initial diagnostics were run, several of the sensors were not producing any readings. At that point an exasperated Glenn looked at Guntner and waved him into the preparation room saying simply, “Come on, Art, show him how it’s done!”

Art Guntner assists John Glenn after a flight in the Johnsville Centrifuge

He recalled another time when he was called in on short notice on a weekend to work with the astronauts. His wife had other commitments that day and it was too late for him to find a sitter for his two year old daughter, so he brought her to work with him. It was a long busy day operating with a skeleton staff, so it fell to Alan Sheppard and John Glenn to take turns on babysitting duty. Art says that it is something that his daughter still talks about to this day.

During his visit, Guntner shared his many photos that were taken of him with the astronauts. At the time, Guntner knew that he was involved in a very special program but remained focused on the work he was doing as “just a job that need to be done, and needed to be done to the best of my abilities.” Guntner also recalled some interactions he had with Ham, the chimp whose rocket ride preceded those of any humans.

In addition to his work with the astronauts, Guntner’s work at Johnsville included testing the design of G-suits and the configuration of the space capsules interior control panel under acceleration, and many other classified tests. After his time at the Centrifuge, Guntner qualified as aircrew in the H-34 Seahorse, WC-121 Constellation, the WP-3A Hurricane Hunters, then the H1-N, the H-2 and H-3 helicopters. Guntner was a CICO, (combat information control officer) for four years, flying hurricanes and winter storms over the north Atlantic. Eventually his career took him to NAS Jacksonville, FL and other bases before retirement in 1979. Looking back on a full Navy career, Guntner is proud of the opportunity that he had to serve his country, but it is his time working with the first Americans to fly into space that he will always be the most proud of.

2010: Art Guntner returns to Johnsville to share his stories about his experiences working with the Mercury Astronauts.

Did you or someone you know work at Johnsville?  If you’ve got stories, we’d love to hear them.  Contact us at stories@nadcmuseum.org

We are happy to be part of this years Scarecrow Contest at Peddlers Village in Lahaska. If you get a chance to visit Peddlers Village this fall, make sure to stop by and see “Neil Armstraw” on the main village green. You can vote for your favorite scarecrow up until September 30. Follow the link to http://www.buckshappening.com/scarecrow-contest-2010 and click on the box next to Neil Armstraw.

It has been 10 months since The Johnsville Centrifuge and Science Museum introduced its vision to the public. Our April open house, which featured Mercury Astronaut Scott Carpenter, was a great success and allowed us to present our goal of providing a first class science and engineering education center to the community. These plans have inspired dozens of volunteers to join us and prompted thousands of dollars in donations.

The museum immediately began its work and cleared the building of debris and has undertaken its first major construction project by removing 42 tons of concrete from the ceiling. Dedicated researchers have uncovered many exciting facts about the center and their exploration of the building discovered a few significant artifacts such as some original Mercury era couches and the “Mayo Tank”. We have retained an architect and a model maker who have produced exciting ideas for the use of the space. We have partnered with many organizations such as the Bucks County Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Warminster Tricentennial Committee. We look forward to the months and years ahead as we forge our role as an integral part of the community.

We have discovered some of the extraordinary expenses involved in this and for all our successes we also experienced limitations this winter as we were unable to provide heat for our Sunday tours. I am very proud of our dedicated volunteers who endured cold temperatures while continuing to give of their time.

As is the case with many non-profit organizations, The Johnsville Centrifuge and Science Museum has been impacted by the current economic climate. We receive no federal or state funding, and are wholly reliant on revenue from attendance at museum events, contributions from the public at large and donations from local businesses. We certainly appreciate the generosity of our current supporters however we have reached a critical point in our short existence and are in danger of not fulfilling our goals. We are making an appeal to the public and local businesses to help us. We believe that the Johnsville Centrifuge and the legacy of NADC’s technological innovation is worth saving. From the reactions of visitors, we know it is important to the community as well. Contributions of any size are appreciated. We would also like to find major donors and local businesses that are able to take a leadership role and help us succeed in our mission of creating a world class museum to inspire our youth to pursue an education in science and technology. If you are able to help, please contact me personally at mmaguire@nadcmuseum.org or call me at 267-250-8841. Thank you.

Mike Maguire
President, Johnsville Centrifuge and Science Museum

P.S. We welcome the public to support us by attending our March 27th X-15 Event, our April 7th Apollo 13 40th Anniversary Event, or our May 7th Gala.

Special thanks go out to the Greater Bucks Mont Chamber of Commerce for inviting me to speak at their luncheon yesterday.  It is always exciting to share the mission of the museum with the local business community.  Afterwards, a gentleman approached me and told me that he used to farm the land on the other side of the railroad tracks from the base (where the industrial park along Louis Lane is now).  He still remembers the day the monkeys escaped from the animal wing and took up residence in his barn. He also told me that he remembers the noise of the riveting from the factory and the roar of the Brewster Buffaloes as they took off from the strip near the factory.  His sister was even a receptionist at Brewster.  

If you or a family member has stories from days working at Brewster or NADC/NAWC we’d love to hear them and get them on record as part of our oral history.  Please contact us at nadcmuseum@comcast.net.

As we were cleaning out some of the storage areas of the centrifuge building, we came across a trunk that held an old suit.  We’ve had a few people look at it and have had it on display for the past ten months or so.  We are still trying to make a positive determination on it’s age and what it was used for.  You will note that the suit has a nozzle on the chest in addition to the nozzles on the hands and feet of the suit.  As a result of the nozzles, we are pretty sure it was used for pressure or G load testing in the centrfuge.  However, we are trying to fix it to a year and/or specific program.   Are there any former employees or test pilots out there who may have any insight into what we have? 

I spoke to a local Rotary club this morning about the museum.  During the Q&A one of the members told about his experience as a volunteer test subject on the ejection tower in the 1950′s.  He told about how he had to pull a leather loop from above his head to initiate the explosive charge that was to shoot him up the tower.  The first time the charge did not fire, so they reset and it fired the second time.  After he explained more about what the experience was like to be propelled up the tower by a charge of TNT, I asked him how many times he volunteered for the job.  He simply said, ”Once.” 

Visit us on Sundays between 1 and 3:30 to learn more about the history of innovation at Johnsille.

We were honored to have Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter join us at our open house this past April.  He generously shared his memories of the early days of American space exploration and reminisced about the time he and his fellow Mercury astronauts spent training at Johnsville 50 years earlier.  As I understand it, when he got out of his car in front of the building he took a long look at the building and took his cell phone out of his pocket.  After hitting a speed dial number, he said to the person on the other end of the line, “John, you wouldn’t believe where I am.”   Yes, he was speaking to John Glenn, the only other surviving Mercury astronaut.  How cool is that? 

Mercury Astronaut Scott Carpetner returns to Johnsville to share his memories of the Mercury Program

Have you visited our Facebook page yet?  If not, head on over there now and become our friend.  We are constantly updating and you will be the first to hear all our wonderful news!  By the way, we also have a Twitter page.

Gondola