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Air Force Space and Missile Pioneer: Mr. Franklin R. Collbohm (Inducted 1989)
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AFSPC 30th Anniversary: Pioneer Franklin R Collbohm
Posted 9/12/2012 Updated 9/15/2012
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Air Force Space Command Public Affairs
9/12/2012 - PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- As we celebrate Air Force Space Command's 30th Anniversary we recognize individuals who played a significant role in the history of the Air Force space and missile programs - our Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers ...
Mr. Franklin R. Collbohm (inducted in 1989) directed the RAND Corporation from its inception in 1946 as Project RAND, until his retirement as president in 1967.
During World War II, he was a member of a team that studied ways to improve the effectiveness of the B-29. The team was unique because of the unprecedented level of interaction between the military and technical civilian personnel. Inspired, Collbohm became an influential advocate of the need to establish a think tank to provide a continual flow of sophisticated advice on the need for certain weapons systems and the feasibility of their development. Collbohm proposed Douglas Aircraft house a civilian group that would assist in planning for future weapons development. This group subsequently became the RAND Corporation.
Much of RAND's most important work focused on space programs. In February 1947, RAND issued a report which first recognized the potential of satellites to perform reconnaissance missions. Another indicated earth-orbiting satellites could serve as weather-observation platforms. RAND played a role in the development of communications satellites and pioneered such areas as space power systems, trajectory calculation, launch reliability, and orbit stabilization. RAND's Project Feedback generated the U.S. military space program and led to the development of the early warning infrared Midas satellites, the Samos series of Air Force spy satellites, and the Discoverer satellites, the first to go into orbit and return their payloads to earth.
In 1956, RAND proposed using a recoverable payload to accomplish photo reconnaissance missions employing an Atlas booster plus a solid rocket, together with a vertical strip camera. As a result, the Air Force issued its plan for full-scale development of advanced photo reconnaissance satellites.
Franklin R. Collbohm passed away on 12 February 1990 at the age of eighty-three.
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