remetlita abt et aU ek dea, “nee. * ree UD me ee CMR a ae. 9 whether the equator shifts with the solar cycle, as has been suggested. Previous measurements, made by LASL scientists, indicated that the equator does not shift. Flights out of Sydney in the southern wintertime period were desirable for two reasons: of (1) There is a calculated region continuous photoelectron en- hancement south of Sydney which represents the nearest equivalent situation in the Southern Hemis- phere to that occurring over the Labrador-Puerto Rico route during the northern winter. LASL scientists have conducted similar missions over this latter route. twee ‘ 1 OOD ew. ae -? (2) The relative orientation of magnetic field lines and the sun permits a systematic survey of conjugate sunlight effects as a function of latitude with a minimum of perturbations from other effects over an area accessible from Sydney. The plane used in the mission is a specially-instrumented NC-135 (modified Boeing 707 jet) hown and maintained for the Atomic Energy Commission by the U.S. Air Force. This plane, and two other similar ones, have been used for several scientific expeditions in the past several years. The aircraft are op- erated out of Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque. LASL personnel involved in the experiment, in addition to Glass, included Robert W. Peterson, J-16 alternate group leader; Walter P. Wolff, J-8; Richard L. Wakefield, J-16; L. Dick Tatro, J-16; John H. Wolcott, J-16; Lucien M. Black, J-16; Edward I. Hall, J-8; William F. Carlson, J-17; Dwight Stephen- son, J-8 assistant group leader; and Jim Wells, J-1. A scientific group from Sandia Laboratories in Albuquerque also participated in the mission, conducting a number of experiments similar to those of LASL'’s. a8 A Instruments to be used in an airborne mission are checked out in a faboratery workshop by J-16 personnel Dick Tatro, Group Leader Neel Glass, Lucien Black, Richard Wakefield, and Alternate Group Leader Robert Peterson. 13