Transpo 72
Encyclopedia
U.S. International Transportation Exposition, better known as Transpo '72, was a trade show held on 300 acres (1.2 km²) of land at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C.
for nine days from May 27 to June 4, 1972. The $10 million event, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation, was a showcase for all sorts of transportation-related technologies. Over a million visitors flocked to the show from all over the world. According to the Wall Street Journal, it was "the biggest show the government has put on since World War II."
Transpo hosted the world's largest air show
, all of the new widebody airliners, high-speed trains and demonstrations of the latest automated guideway transit
systems. In addition to featuring futuristic technology "Flying trains, square dancing helicopters and the fantasy of a wonderland," according to a news release, Transpo '72 covered all current modes of transportation as well. General Manager William J. Bird explained, "We want to emphasize totally integrated systems in our future transportation..."
The event was officially opened by the second U.S. Secretary of Transportation, John A. Volpe
.
, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Rivers had visited the Paris Air Show
on occasion; at the time, there were a "ring" of three major air shows in Europe that took turns hosting, Farnborough, Paris and Hanover. Visitors from around the would could come to the show where sales teams from the aviation firms were ready to sign deals for their latest products. Rivers lamented the fact that there was no similar industry-based show in the U.S. Rivers started planning a U.S. version of the air/trade show, and selected Washington as a natural location due to the density of military contacts and the presence of the recently expanded Dulles Airport. Rivers went to Congress with a request for $750,000 in funding.
However, this was during an era of rapid shifts within the aviation industry. The winding-down of major purchases to feed the Vietnam War
and Project Apollo
was forcing the major aerospace firms to seek ways to diversify, and the government was actively funding a number of mass transit projects in partnership with them. Rivers changed the focus to be a show about any form of transit, not just aircraft, and the size and cost started to increase. He won an initial appropriation of $3 million for the show, but had to return to Congress for another $2 million to keep it on track as its scale rapidly increased. Critics, notably William Proxmire
, attacked the event and claimed that the actual costs would be closer to $10 million when industry input was considered.
By the time the show was ready it had expanded greatly, including not only displays but industry meetings, open seminars and hosts of presentations large and small. The official program was 80 pages. Pre-show estimates of visitors ranged about the 1 million mark or larger. Final attendance was put at 1.25 million.
, the "Dash 80"
, arrived at the airport on its way to becoming an exhibit at the Smithsonian. The same day, BOAC
announced its first official order for five Concorde
s. Douglas Aircraft, Lockheed
and Boeing
all used the show as a sales platform for their latest designs, the DC-10, L-1011 and 747
. Douglas and Lockheed had recently started deliveries, and flew in production versions of their aircraft for the show directly from the assembly line. Numerous military aircraft also arrived, including the C-5 Galaxy
.
Airbus Industrie arrived at the show to promote their A300, claiming that the longer-ranged A-300B-4 variant would present strong competition in the U.S. domestic market due to operating costs being 5 to 7% lower than the L-1011 and DC-10 trijets. Noting that the original contract that led to the trijets had called for a twin-engine aircraft, Ken Gordon of Airbus North America claimed that the original specification still needed to be filled. The third engine of these gave them the ETOPS performance needed for trans-Atlantic flights, but were unneeded for short ranges, which the 300 could meet with lower operational costs. Douglas and Lockheed used the show to pitch two-engine versions of their three-engine designs to compete with the A300.
Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry
had been trying to develop a shorter-range airliner they called the "YX" for some time, but had backed away from talks with Boeing after the value of the Yen fluctuated. Lockheed announced that they were going to approach Japan and the government-owned Air Canada
to develop a two-engined version of the L-1011 as a way of filling both the "YX" needs as well as for domestic flights within Canada. The "BiStar" was 30 feet (9.1 m) shorter, had new wings and tail, and was powered by two upgraded RB-211-X
engines, which Lockheed was already developing for the extended-range L-1011-2.
Douglas, recently purchased by McDonnell, had also been pitching a two-engine version of the DC-10, which combined the body of the -10 with the wings of the -30, along with the upgraded CF6-50 engine. Interest had been tepid when the idea was first floated, but with Lockheed's and Airbus' aggressive moves they once again brought the idea forward. Boeing was coy on the topic of a smaller 747, but suggested they were instead looking at an entirely new design, a "long thin" aircraft similar to a enlarged twin-engine 707. In the end, Japan Air Lines' YX needs were filled with 747-100SR, for "short range", which added passenger capacity at the cost of range. Boeing's "long, thin" design would emerge as the Boeing 757
, the only one of the proposed twins to actually ship.
Small designs at the show included several smaller jets, notably the North American debut of the Fokker F.28, several business jets including the IAI Commodore
(soon to be known as the Westwind), British Aerospace BAe 125
, and the propeller-powered Fairchild Hiller FH-227
, Britten-Norman Trislander
and DeHavilland Twin Otter.
NASA
and the FAA also had a major presence at the show, demonstrating their efforts to lower the noise and pollution of air travel. One major program at that time was the microwave landing system
, which would allow aircraft to approach from much wider angles and avoid stacking them up over a single approach vector, spreading out the sound. They also demonstrated new engine technologies and stated that the widely used JT8D fleet would be smoke-free by 1972. A combination of these technologies, along with supercritical wings, composites and artificially stable control systems would improve fuel economy of future airliners by 60%.
Major avionics firms also attended in force. Goodyear
brought their STARAN computer, originally developed for missile interception and similar duties, but now being pitched as an air traffic control
(ATC) system that would optionally use a computer-generated voice to automatically send traffic advisories to pilots. Plessey
was showing their ACR 430 radar for smaller airfields, and with Lockheed they were demonstrating their then-incomplete automated ATC system based on a Lockheed MAC 16 minicomputer.
(AGT) systems as a solution to providing mass transit in smaller cities and suburbs of larger ones. At the same time, aerospace companies in the U.S. were suffering from a lack of projects as the Vietnam War
wound down and the Project Apollo
buildout was completed. Groups within the government and industry saw the AGT efforts as a perfect opportunity to diversify. By the time Transpo was being planned, the Urban Mass Transit Administration (UMTA), predecessor of the Federal Transit Administration
(FTA), had invested $12 million in AGT research and the companies another $45 million.
In 1970 the UMTA felt it was time to move from experiments to prototype installations, and arranged funding for three major installations. One of these would emerge as the Vought Airtrans, another as the Morgantown PRT, and finally the third block of funds provided four companies $1.5 million each to bring their AGT developments to Transpo '72. Carlos Villarreal, administrator of the UMTA, stated that Transpo "marks UMTA's entry into the space age of mass transportation."
The four chosen systems were the Bendix Dashaveyor, the Ford ACT
, TTI Hovair (a spin-off of General Motors
) and the Rohr ROMAG, represented by its former rubber-wheeled prototype, the Monocab. Boeing and Vought also showed cars from their larger systems, Boeing's version of the Alden staRRcar
being installed in Morgantown, and the Vought Airtrans being installed at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Ford would later install a small ACT deployment at a shopping mall in Dearborn, and Dashaveyor would win a contest for the Toronto Zoo Domain Ride
, but further sales were not forthcoming. Their plans to use Transpo as a way to excite mayors into buying the AGT systems failed, a disappointment to both the UMTA and Congress.
Car companies at the show were sober in their assessments of the future of AGT systems. GM showed a movie about the future of transit in Detroit which clearly put the car in first place. Henry Ford II
said that only a "limited portion" of the Highway Trust Fund should be used for public transportation, and then only for research into "new transportation concepts."
(DOT) was funding a number of studies into high-speed trains under the Federal Railroad Administration
(FRA) group. One of these projects was the UAC TurboTrain, which had recently entered service with Canadian National Railways, only to be pulled from service shortly after due to a wide variety of minor problems. One of the two three-car TurboTrain prototypes built for the DOT visited Transpo.
However, the DOT was more interested in really high speed trains, and had been funding several developments along these lines for some time. In order to expedite these developments, they had recently selected a parcel of land outside Pueblo, Colorado
to form the Transportation Technology Center
(TTC) as a test site. They planned on using the TTC to lower the cost of all-up testing of advanced designs, as well as guaranteeing that all the participants would have a level playing field. Several U.S. companies were in the process of building hovertrain
systems based on technology licensed from the French Aerotrain
project, known under the U.S. term "Tracked Air-Cushion Vehicle", or "TACV".
Several models of proposed developments were shown at Transpo. These included models of Garrett AiResearch
's wheeled linear induction motor
(LIM) testbed vehicle, drawings of Grumman Aircraft's and General Electric
's TACV proposals, and a full-sized mock-up of a futuristic Rohr design. Three of the four designs eventually won contracts and were built to varying degrees at the TTC; Garrett's wheeled vehicle started testing under jet power before the LIM reaction plate was later installed, Grumman's vehicle was given an extensive 22 miles (35.4 km) track, but ran out of funding before the planned LIM reaction plate could be installed, and Rohr's vehicle was the last to arrive and received the least build-out with only a mile and a half of LIM-equipped track. Like the PRT systems, none of the TACV proposals would ever see commercial development.
British Rail
also attended, bringing with them a full-sized mockup of the Advanced Passenger Train
, at that point still powered by a gas turbine
before its conversion to electric power. In another part of the British pavilion was a display by Tracked Hovercraft
, which was starting tests on its track near Cambridge
that year. The French exhibit included both the Aerotrain and recent developments of SNCF
s high-speed efforts, which would emerge as the TGV
.
and tram
s for existing mass transit networks. Three major projects were ongoing, the US Standard Light Rail Vehicle
(LRV), the SOAC, the "State-of-the-Art Car", a prototype subway car that included all of the most modern features, and the Transbus
urban mass transit bus.
Many of these were being worked on with Boeing Vertol, who showed both the prototype SOAC car and the design of their LRV. Similar vehicles were also being developed by other aviation firms, especially Rohr. Rohr was showing their own subway cars that were being produced for BART and the initial models of their proposals for the Washington Metro
, as well as Transbus designs from their recently purchased Flxible
bus division, who were working on what would emerge a few years later as the Flxible Metro
.
The government's funding of the aerospace firms to present at Transpo led Pullman
to pull out of the show, complaining that the government was "playing wasteful politics by needlessly fostering the entry of companies from the depressed aerospace industry into the rail transit equipment business."
Motor Coach Industries
(MCI), a Canadian and U.S. bus manufacturer controlled by Greyhound Lines
, used the show to introduce their MC-8 "Crusader" motorcoach, an intercity coach. The model became so popular with both large and small bus operators that General Motors
lost its position as the major manufacturer of such buses in North America
, exiting the market entirely in 1980, two years after MCI updated the product with its MC-9 model.
(FHWA) was a major participant, including sponsorship of the "International Vehicle and Highway Safety Conference," featuring discussions on international cooperation in vehicle and highway safety. A major attraction at Transpo 72 was a consolidated International Experimental Safety Vehicle Exhibit at which twelve different experimental safety vehicles were displayed.
, the Navy's Blue Angels
and the Royal Air Force
's Red Arrows
performed dramatic aerial acrobatics. Tragically, on the last day of the show, the Thunderbirds experienced their first fatal crash at an air show. Major Joe Howard, flying Thunderbird 3 (Phantom F-4E s/n# 66-0321) experienced a loss of power during a vertical maneuver. Although Howard ejected as the aircraft fell back to earth from about 1500 feet (457.2 m) tail first and descended under a good canopy, winds blew him into the blazing crash site.
Another death occurred one day earlier during a sport plane pylon race, when during a turn about a pylon a trailing aircraft's wing and propeller hit the right wing tip of a leading aircraft. The right wing immediately sheared off the fuselage, and the damaged aircraft crashed almost instantly, killing the pilot.The pilot was Hugh C. Alexander of Louisville, GA USA. He was a professional Air Racer.
The third, and first chronologically, death was the pilot of a kite, i.e., a variety of hang glider.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
for nine days from May 27 to June 4, 1972. The $10 million event, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation, was a showcase for all sorts of transportation-related technologies. Over a million visitors flocked to the show from all over the world. According to the Wall Street Journal, it was "the biggest show the government has put on since World War II."
Transpo hosted the world's largest air show
Air show
An air show is an event at which aviators display their flying skills and the capabilities of their aircraft to spectators in aerobatics. Air shows without aerobatic displays, having only aircraft displayed parked on the ground, are called "static air shows"....
, all of the new widebody airliners, high-speed trains and demonstrations of the latest automated guideway transit
Automated guideway transit
Automated guideway transit is a fully automated, driverless, grade-separated transit system in which vehicles are automatically guided along a "guideway". The vehicles are often rubber tired, but other systems including steel wheels, air cushion and maglev systems have also been used in experiments...
systems. In addition to featuring futuristic technology "Flying trains, square dancing helicopters and the fantasy of a wonderland," according to a news release, Transpo '72 covered all current modes of transportation as well. General Manager William J. Bird explained, "We want to emphasize totally integrated systems in our future transportation..."
The event was officially opened by the second U.S. Secretary of Transportation, John A. Volpe
John A. Volpe
John Anthony Volpe was the 61st and 63rd Governor of Massachusetts and a U.S. Secretary of Transportation.-Early life and education:Volpe was born in 1908 in Wakefield, Massachusetts. He was the son of Italian immigrants Vito and Filomena , who had come from Abruzzo to Boston's North End in 1905;...
.
Background
Transpo was the idea of L. Mendel RiversL. Mendel Rivers
Lucius Mendel Rivers was a Democratic U.S. Representative from South Carolina, representing the Charleston based 1st congressional district for nearly thirty years...
, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Rivers had visited the Paris Air Show
Paris Air Show
The Paris Air Show is the world's oldest and largest air show. Established in 1909, it is currently held every odd year at Le Bourget Airport in north Paris, France...
on occasion; at the time, there were a "ring" of three major air shows in Europe that took turns hosting, Farnborough, Paris and Hanover. Visitors from around the would could come to the show where sales teams from the aviation firms were ready to sign deals for their latest products. Rivers lamented the fact that there was no similar industry-based show in the U.S. Rivers started planning a U.S. version of the air/trade show, and selected Washington as a natural location due to the density of military contacts and the presence of the recently expanded Dulles Airport. Rivers went to Congress with a request for $750,000 in funding.
However, this was during an era of rapid shifts within the aviation industry. The winding-down of major purchases to feed the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
and Project Apollo
Project Apollo
The Apollo program was the spaceflight effort carried out by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration , that landed the first humans on Earth's Moon. Conceived during the Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Apollo began in earnest after President John F...
was forcing the major aerospace firms to seek ways to diversify, and the government was actively funding a number of mass transit projects in partnership with them. Rivers changed the focus to be a show about any form of transit, not just aircraft, and the size and cost started to increase. He won an initial appropriation of $3 million for the show, but had to return to Congress for another $2 million to keep it on track as its scale rapidly increased. Critics, notably William Proxmire
William Proxmire
Edward William Proxmire was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a United States Senator from Wisconsin from 1957 to 1989.-Personal life:...
, attacked the event and claimed that the actual costs would be closer to $10 million when industry input was considered.
By the time the show was ready it had expanded greatly, including not only displays but industry meetings, open seminars and hosts of presentations large and small. The official program was 80 pages. Pre-show estimates of visitors ranged about the 1 million mark or larger. Final attendance was put at 1.25 million.
Aircraft
The show included displays from major aviation firms showing their latest aircraft. On the first day, the prototype Boeing 707Boeing 707
The Boeing 707 is a four-engine narrow-body commercial passenger jet airliner developed by Boeing in the early 1950s. Its name is most commonly pronounced as "Seven Oh Seven". The first airline to operate the 707 was Pan American World Airways, inaugurating the type's first commercial flight on...
, the "Dash 80"
Boeing 367-80
The Boeing 367-80, or "Dash 80" as it was called within Boeing, is an American prototype jet transport built to demonstrate the advantages of jet aircraft for passenger transport over piston-engine airliners....
, arrived at the airport on its way to becoming an exhibit at the Smithsonian. The same day, BOAC
Boac
Boac may refer to:* Boac, Marinduque, a municipality in the Southern Philippines* Boac , an American rapper* British Overseas Airways Corporation, a former British state-owned airline...
announced its first official order for five Concorde
Concorde
Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde was a turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner, a supersonic transport . It was a product of an Anglo-French government treaty, combining the manufacturing efforts of Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation...
s. Douglas Aircraft, Lockheed
Lockheed Corporation
The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace company. Lockheed was founded in 1912 and later merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin in 1995.-Origins:...
and Boeing
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
all used the show as a sales platform for their latest designs, the DC-10, L-1011 and 747
Boeing 747
The Boeing 747 is a wide-body commercial airliner and cargo transport, often referred to by its original nickname, Jumbo Jet, or Queen of the Skies. It is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first wide-body ever produced...
. Douglas and Lockheed had recently started deliveries, and flew in production versions of their aircraft for the show directly from the assembly line. Numerous military aircraft also arrived, including the C-5 Galaxy
C-5 Galaxy
The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy is a large military transport aircraft built by Lockheed. It provides the United States Air Force with a heavy intercontinental-range strategic airlift capability, one that can carry outsize and oversize cargos, including all air-certifiable cargo. The Galaxy has many...
.
Airbus Industrie arrived at the show to promote their A300, claiming that the longer-ranged A-300B-4 variant would present strong competition in the U.S. domestic market due to operating costs being 5 to 7% lower than the L-1011 and DC-10 trijets. Noting that the original contract that led to the trijets had called for a twin-engine aircraft, Ken Gordon of Airbus North America claimed that the original specification still needed to be filled. The third engine of these gave them the ETOPS performance needed for trans-Atlantic flights, but were unneeded for short ranges, which the 300 could meet with lower operational costs. Douglas and Lockheed used the show to pitch two-engine versions of their three-engine designs to compete with the A300.
Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry
Ministry of International Trade and Industry
The Ministry of International Trade and Industry was one of the most powerful agencies of the Government of Japan. At the height of its influence, it effectively ran much of Japanese industrial policy, funding research and directing investment...
had been trying to develop a shorter-range airliner they called the "YX" for some time, but had backed away from talks with Boeing after the value of the Yen fluctuated. Lockheed announced that they were going to approach Japan and the government-owned Air Canada
Air Canada
Air Canada is the flag carrier and largest airline of Canada. The airline, founded in 1936, provides scheduled and charter air transport for passengers and cargo to 178 destinations worldwide. It is the world's tenth largest passenger airline by number of destinations, and the airline is a...
to develop a two-engined version of the L-1011 as a way of filling both the "YX" needs as well as for domestic flights within Canada. The "BiStar" was 30 feet (9.1 m) shorter, had new wings and tail, and was powered by two upgraded RB-211-X
Rolls-Royce RB211
The Rolls-Royce RB211 is a family of high-bypass turbofan engines made by Rolls-Royce plc and capable of generating 37,400 to 60,600 pounds-force thrust. Originally developed for the Lockheed L-1011 , it entered service in 1972 and was the only engine to power this aircraft type...
engines, which Lockheed was already developing for the extended-range L-1011-2.
Douglas, recently purchased by McDonnell, had also been pitching a two-engine version of the DC-10, which combined the body of the -10 with the wings of the -30, along with the upgraded CF6-50 engine. Interest had been tepid when the idea was first floated, but with Lockheed's and Airbus' aggressive moves they once again brought the idea forward. Boeing was coy on the topic of a smaller 747, but suggested they were instead looking at an entirely new design, a "long thin" aircraft similar to a enlarged twin-engine 707. In the end, Japan Air Lines' YX needs were filled with 747-100SR, for "short range", which added passenger capacity at the cost of range. Boeing's "long, thin" design would emerge as the Boeing 757
Boeing 757
The Boeing 757 is a mid-size, narrow-body twin-engine jet airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Passenger versions of the twinjet have a capacity of 186 to 289 persons and a maximum range of , depending on variant and cabin configuration...
, the only one of the proposed twins to actually ship.
Small designs at the show included several smaller jets, notably the North American debut of the Fokker F.28, several business jets including the IAI Commodore
IAI Westwind
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Frawley, Gerald. "IAI Westwind". The International Directory of Civil Aircraft 1997/98. Fyshwick ACT: Aerospace Publications, 1997. ISBN 1-875671-26-9....
(soon to be known as the Westwind), British Aerospace BAe 125
British Aerospace BAe 125
The British Aerospace 125 is a twin-engined mid-size corporate jet, with newer variants now marketed as the Hawker 800. It was known as the Hawker Siddeley HS.125 until 1977...
, and the propeller-powered Fairchild Hiller FH-227
Fairchild Hiller FH-227
The Fairchild F-27 and Fairchild Hiller FH-227 were versions of the Fokker F27 Friendship twin-engined turboprop passenger aircraft manufactured under license by Fairchild Hiller in the United States...
, Britten-Norman Trislander
Britten-Norman Trislander
*LIAT*Montserrat Air Services*Air Queensland*Eagle Airways*Aero Services*Cayman Airways*TAVINA*Vision Air*Bali Int. Air Service*Trans Jamaican Airlines*Aero Cozumel*Great Barrier Airlines*Aero Taxi Intl*Aviones de Panama...
and DeHavilland Twin Otter.
NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
and the FAA also had a major presence at the show, demonstrating their efforts to lower the noise and pollution of air travel. One major program at that time was the microwave landing system
Microwave landing system
A microwave landing system is an all-weather, precision landing system originally intended to replace or supplement instrument landing systems...
, which would allow aircraft to approach from much wider angles and avoid stacking them up over a single approach vector, spreading out the sound. They also demonstrated new engine technologies and stated that the widely used JT8D fleet would be smoke-free by 1972. A combination of these technologies, along with supercritical wings, composites and artificially stable control systems would improve fuel economy of future airliners by 60%.
Major avionics firms also attended in force. Goodyear
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company was founded in 1898 by Frank Seiberling. Goodyear manufactures tires for automobiles, commercial trucks, light trucks, SUVs, race cars, airplanes, farm equipment and heavy earth-mover machinery....
brought their STARAN computer, originally developed for missile interception and similar duties, but now being pitched as an air traffic control
Air traffic control
Air traffic control is a service provided by ground-based controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and in the air. The primary purpose of ATC systems worldwide is to separate aircraft to prevent collisions, to organize and expedite the flow of traffic, and to provide information and other...
(ATC) system that would optionally use a computer-generated voice to automatically send traffic advisories to pilots. Plessey
Plessey
The Plessey Company plc was a British-based international electronics, defence and telecommunications company. It originated in 1917, growing and diversifying into electronics. It expanded after the second world war by acquisition of companies and formed overseas companies...
was showing their ACR 430 radar for smaller airfields, and with Lockheed they were demonstrating their then-incomplete automated ATC system based on a Lockheed MAC 16 minicomputer.
AGT systems
During the 1960s the government had spent an increasing amount of development funding on automated guideway transitAutomated guideway transit
Automated guideway transit is a fully automated, driverless, grade-separated transit system in which vehicles are automatically guided along a "guideway". The vehicles are often rubber tired, but other systems including steel wheels, air cushion and maglev systems have also been used in experiments...
(AGT) systems as a solution to providing mass transit in smaller cities and suburbs of larger ones. At the same time, aerospace companies in the U.S. were suffering from a lack of projects as the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
wound down and the Project Apollo
Project Apollo
The Apollo program was the spaceflight effort carried out by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration , that landed the first humans on Earth's Moon. Conceived during the Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Apollo began in earnest after President John F...
buildout was completed. Groups within the government and industry saw the AGT efforts as a perfect opportunity to diversify. By the time Transpo was being planned, the Urban Mass Transit Administration (UMTA), predecessor of the Federal Transit Administration
Federal Transit Administration
The Federal Transit Administration is an agency within the United States Department of Transportation that provides financial and technical assistance to local public transit systems. The FTA is one of ten modal administrations within the DOT...
(FTA), had invested $12 million in AGT research and the companies another $45 million.
In 1970 the UMTA felt it was time to move from experiments to prototype installations, and arranged funding for three major installations. One of these would emerge as the Vought Airtrans, another as the Morgantown PRT, and finally the third block of funds provided four companies $1.5 million each to bring their AGT developments to Transpo '72. Carlos Villarreal, administrator of the UMTA, stated that Transpo "marks UMTA's entry into the space age of mass transportation."
The four chosen systems were the Bendix Dashaveyor, the Ford ACT
Ford ACT
Ford's ACT, short for Automatically Controlled Transportation or Activity Center Transit, was a people mover system developed during the 1970s. One interesting feature of the ACT is that it allowed bi-directional travel on a single rail—cars passed each other by switching onto short bypass lanes on...
, TTI Hovair (a spin-off of General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
) and the Rohr ROMAG, represented by its former rubber-wheeled prototype, the Monocab. Boeing and Vought also showed cars from their larger systems, Boeing's version of the Alden staRRcar
Alden staRRcar
The Alden staRRcar, for "Self-Transport Road and Rail Car", was a design for a personal rapid transit system designed by William Alden in the 1960s...
being installed in Morgantown, and the Vought Airtrans being installed at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Ford would later install a small ACT deployment at a shopping mall in Dearborn, and Dashaveyor would win a contest for the Toronto Zoo Domain Ride
Toronto Zoo Domain Ride
The Toronto Zoo Domain Ride was an automated guideway transit service used to carry visitors between sections, or "domains", of the Toronto Zoo...
, but further sales were not forthcoming. Their plans to use Transpo as a way to excite mayors into buying the AGT systems failed, a disappointment to both the UMTA and Congress.
Car companies at the show were sober in their assessments of the future of AGT systems. GM showed a movie about the future of transit in Detroit which clearly put the car in first place. Henry Ford II
Henry Ford II
Henry Ford II , commonly known as "HF2" and "Hank the Deuce", was the son of Edsel Ford and grandson of Henry Ford...
said that only a "limited portion" of the Highway Trust Fund should be used for public transportation, and then only for research into "new transportation concepts."
High-speed rail
As part of the High Speed Ground Transportation Act of 1965, the newly formed United States Department of TransportationUnited States Department of Transportation
The United States Department of Transportation is a federal Cabinet department of the United States government concerned with transportation. It was established by an act of Congress on October 15, 1966, and began operation on April 1, 1967...
(DOT) was funding a number of studies into high-speed trains under the Federal Railroad Administration
Federal Railroad Administration
The Federal Railroad Administration is an agency in the United States Department of Transportation. The agency was created by the Department of Transportation Act of 1966...
(FRA) group. One of these projects was the UAC TurboTrain, which had recently entered service with Canadian National Railways, only to be pulled from service shortly after due to a wide variety of minor problems. One of the two three-car TurboTrain prototypes built for the DOT visited Transpo.
However, the DOT was more interested in really high speed trains, and had been funding several developments along these lines for some time. In order to expedite these developments, they had recently selected a parcel of land outside Pueblo, Colorado
Pueblo, Colorado
Pueblo is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Pueblo County, Colorado, United States. The population was 106,595 in 2010 census, making it the 246th most populous city in the United States....
to form the Transportation Technology Center
Transportation Technology Center
The Transportation Technology Center, or TTC, is a railroad testing and training facility located northeast of Pueblo, Colorado. It originated as the Department of Transportation's High Speed Ground Test Center as a site to test several hovertrain concepts...
(TTC) as a test site. They planned on using the TTC to lower the cost of all-up testing of advanced designs, as well as guaranteeing that all the participants would have a level playing field. Several U.S. companies were in the process of building hovertrain
Hovertrain
A hovertrain is a type of high-speed train that replaces conventional steel wheels with hovercraft lift pads, and the conventional railway bed with a paved road-like surface, known as the "track" or "guideway"...
systems based on technology licensed from the French Aerotrain
Aerotrain
Aerotrain may refer to:* Aerotrain , a passenger train built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division* Aérotrain, a hovercraft train developed in France* AeroTrain, a manufacturer of aircraft systems training equipment...
project, known under the U.S. term "Tracked Air-Cushion Vehicle", or "TACV".
Several models of proposed developments were shown at Transpo. These included models of Garrett AiResearch
Garrett AiResearch
Garrett AiResearch was a manufacturer of turboprop engines and turbochargers, and a pioneer in numerous aerospace technologies. It was previously known as Aircraft Tool and Supply Company, Garrett Supply Company, AiResearch Manufacturing Company, or simply AiResearch...
's wheeled linear induction motor
Linear induction motor
A linear induction motor is an AC asynchronous linear motor that works by the same general principles as other induction motors but which has been designed to directly produce motion in a straight line....
(LIM) testbed vehicle, drawings of Grumman Aircraft's and General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
's TACV proposals, and a full-sized mock-up of a futuristic Rohr design. Three of the four designs eventually won contracts and were built to varying degrees at the TTC; Garrett's wheeled vehicle started testing under jet power before the LIM reaction plate was later installed, Grumman's vehicle was given an extensive 22 miles (35.4 km) track, but ran out of funding before the planned LIM reaction plate could be installed, and Rohr's vehicle was the last to arrive and received the least build-out with only a mile and a half of LIM-equipped track. Like the PRT systems, none of the TACV proposals would ever see commercial development.
British Rail
British Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...
also attended, bringing with them a full-sized mockup of the Advanced Passenger Train
Advanced Passenger Train
The Advanced Passenger Train was an experimental tilting High Speed Train developed by British Rail during the 1970s and early 1980s....
, at that point still powered by a gas turbine
Gas turbine
A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of internal combustion engine. It has an upstream rotating compressor coupled to a downstream turbine, and a combustion chamber in-between....
before its conversion to electric power. In another part of the British pavilion was a display by Tracked Hovercraft
Tracked Hovercraft
Tracked Hovercraft was an experimental high speed train developed in the United Kingdom during the 1960s. It combined two British inventions, the hovercraft and linear induction motor, in an effort to produce a train system that would provide 250 mph inter-city service with lowered capital...
, which was starting tests on its track near Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
that year. The French exhibit included both the Aerotrain and recent developments of SNCF
SNCF
The SNCF , is France's national state-owned railway company. SNCF operates the country's national rail services, including the TGV, France's high-speed rail network...
s high-speed efforts, which would emerge as the TGV
TGV
The TGV is France's high-speed rail service, currently operated by SNCF Voyages, the long-distance rail branch of SNCF, the French national rail operator....
.
Mass transit
Although much of the show was organized to highlight the US's high-tech efforts, the UMTA was also involved in a number of more "down to earth" projects, including the selection of new bussesBus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
and tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
s for existing mass transit networks. Three major projects were ongoing, the US Standard Light Rail Vehicle
US Standard Light Rail Vehicle
The US Standard Light Rail Vehicle was an attempt at a standardized light rail vehicle promoted by the United States Urban Mass Transportation Administration and built by Boeing Vertol in the 1970s...
(LRV), the SOAC, the "State-of-the-Art Car", a prototype subway car that included all of the most modern features, and the Transbus
Transbus
The Transbus design was begun in the 1970s by the U.S. Urban Mass Transit Administration to produce a modern looking mass transit bus design. General Motors, Flxible, and AM General each produced a Transbus design, although only GM's bore any resemblance to the actual production coach . Flxible's...
urban mass transit bus.
Many of these were being worked on with Boeing Vertol, who showed both the prototype SOAC car and the design of their LRV. Similar vehicles were also being developed by other aviation firms, especially Rohr. Rohr was showing their own subway cars that were being produced for BART and the initial models of their proposals for the Washington Metro
Washington Metro
The Washington Metro, commonly called Metro, and unofficially Metrorail, is the rapid transit system in Washington, D.C., United States, and its surrounding suburbs. It is administered by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority , which also operates Metrobus service under the Metro name...
, as well as Transbus designs from their recently purchased Flxible
Flxible
The Flxible Co. was a motorcycle sidecar, funeral car, ambulance, intercity coach and transit bus manufacturing company based in the United States that was founded in 1913, and which closed in 1996.-History:In 1913, Hugo H. Young and Carl F...
bus division, who were working on what would emerge a few years later as the Flxible Metro
Flxible Metro
The Flxible Metro is a transit bus that was manufactured by the Flxible Corporation from 1978 until 1996. From 1978 until 1983, when Flxible was owned by Grumman, the model was known as the Grumman 870, with a Grumman nameplate.-History:...
.
The government's funding of the aerospace firms to present at Transpo led Pullman
Pullman Company
The Pullman Palace Car Company, founded by George Pullman, manufactured railroad cars in the mid-to-late 19th century through the early decades of the 20th century, during the boom of railroads in the United States. Pullman developed the sleeping car which carried his name into the 1980s...
to pull out of the show, complaining that the government was "playing wasteful politics by needlessly fostering the entry of companies from the depressed aerospace industry into the rail transit equipment business."
Motor Coach Industries
Motor Coach Industries
Motor Coach Industries International Inc. is an American bus manufacturer based in Schaumburg, Illinois, and is a leading participant in the North American coach bus industry. It has various operating subsidiaries:...
(MCI), a Canadian and U.S. bus manufacturer controlled by Greyhound Lines
Greyhound Lines
Greyhound Lines, Inc., based in Dallas, Texas, is an intercity common carrier of passengers by bus serving over 3,700 destinations in the United States, Canada and Mexico, operating under the well-known logo of a leaping greyhound. It was founded in Hibbing, Minnesota, USA, in 1914 and...
, used the show to introduce their MC-8 "Crusader" motorcoach, an intercity coach. The model became so popular with both large and small bus operators that General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
lost its position as the major manufacturer of such buses in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, exiting the market entirely in 1980, two years after MCI updated the product with its MC-9 model.
Vehicle safety
The U.S. Federal Highway AdministrationFederal Highway Administration
The Federal Highway Administration is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two "programs," the Federal-aid Highway Program and the Federal Lands Highway Program...
(FHWA) was a major participant, including sponsorship of the "International Vehicle and Highway Safety Conference," featuring discussions on international cooperation in vehicle and highway safety. A major attraction at Transpo 72 was a consolidated International Experimental Safety Vehicle Exhibit at which twelve different experimental safety vehicles were displayed.
Air show, fatal accident
Overhead, jet fighters of the U.S. Air Force ThunderbirdsU.S. Air Force Thunderbirds
The Thunderbirds are the air demonstration squadron of the U.S. Air Force , based at Nellis AFB in Las Vegas, Nevada. The squadron tours the United States and much of the world, performing aerobatic formation and solo flying in specially marked USAF jet aircraft...
, the Navy's Blue Angels
Blue Angels
The United States Navy's Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, popularly known as the Blue Angels, was formed in 1946 and is currently the oldest formal flying aerobatic team...
and the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
's Red Arrows
Red Arrows
The Red Arrows, officially known as the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, is the aerobatics display team of the Royal Air Force based at RAF Scampton, but due to move to RAF Waddington in 2011...
performed dramatic aerial acrobatics. Tragically, on the last day of the show, the Thunderbirds experienced their first fatal crash at an air show. Major Joe Howard, flying Thunderbird 3 (Phantom F-4E s/n# 66-0321) experienced a loss of power during a vertical maneuver. Although Howard ejected as the aircraft fell back to earth from about 1500 feet (457.2 m) tail first and descended under a good canopy, winds blew him into the blazing crash site.
Another death occurred one day earlier during a sport plane pylon race, when during a turn about a pylon a trailing aircraft's wing and propeller hit the right wing tip of a leading aircraft. The right wing immediately sheared off the fuselage, and the damaged aircraft crashed almost instantly, killing the pilot.The pilot was Hugh C. Alexander of Louisville, GA USA. He was a professional Air Racer.
The third, and first chronologically, death was the pilot of a kite, i.e., a variety of hang glider.
Records
A balloon release of 100,000 balloons at Transpo 72 was the first balloon release to be included in the Guinness Book of World Records.Further reading
- John Volpe, "Streamliners Without Wheels", Popular Science, December 1969, pg. 51-55, 184
External links
- "Transpo '72: How we'll keep 'em moving", Popular Mechanics , April 1972
- TRANSPO '72, photo album