DSS-41 Station Directors

The Department of Supply appointed Bill Mettyear (who was later involved in development of the JINDALEE Over the Horizon Radar) as the first Station Director of DSIF-41 (later known as DSS-41).

In 1965, he was succeeded by Dennis Willshire and, in 1967, by Don Cocks.

Photos of Bill Mettyear

Bill Mettyear (left) at DSS-41, with the Antenna visible through the Servo window. Undated photo.

Scan: Bill Mettyear Jr.

Bill Mettyear (seated) at DSS-41.

At right is Dick Fahnestock, JPL Representative in Adelaide.

(Can anyone identify the other gentlemen? Contact.)

Photo dated 3rd February 1964. Ranger 6 was launched on 30th January, and impacted the Moon at 0942 UTC on 2nd February.

It is unknown if the date on the back of this photo is the date it was taken, or the date it was processed at WRE Salisbury, so it is possible (and quite likely) this was taken during the Ranger 6 mission.

Ranger 6 impacted the Moon as planned, but failure of the power supply meant the TV cameras could not activate.

Scan: Bill Mettyear Jr.

Bill Mettyear, left, at DSS-41. In the centre is Dick Fahnestock, JPL Representative in Adelaide. At right is John Haselar, the technical lead at DSS-41.

Photo dated 26th July 1964.

This is immediately before the launch of Ranger 7 on 28th July 1964. Ranger 7 was the first American spacecraft successfully to transmit close up images of the Lunar surface back to Earth.

Scan: Bill Mettyear Jr.

Bill Mettyear at DSS-41.

Photo dated 26th July 1964.

This is immediately before the launch of Ranger 7 on 28th July 1964.

Scan: Bill Mettyear Jr.

Bill Mettyear, foreground, at DSS-41.

The man on the right appears to be Dick Fahnestock, JPL Representative in Adelaide.

Undated.

Scan: Bill Mettyear Jr.

In this 26 June 1963 photo taken at WRE Salisbury, Bill Mettyear is in the middle row, 4th from the right.

Second from the right in the back row is Lewis Wainwright, recently begun as Station Director at Carnarvon.

Occasion for the photo is unknown.

Scan: Bill Mettyear Jr.

Dennis Willshire

Dennis Willshire was StaDir from 9th August 1965 until early October 1967, when he transferred to Orroral Valley after the departure of Tom Reid.

Prior to his appointment at Island Lagoon, Dennis was OiC, Telemetry Section, at the Woomera Missile Range. (He followed in the steps of Tom Reid, who had also been OiC Telemetry Section at Woomera, and who preceded Dennis as Station Director at Orroral Valley.)

________

Dennis recorded a fascinating audio memoir of his time at Island Lagoon, paying tribute to the highly skilled and dedicated staff with whom he worked. It’s a 26 minute (12.7MB) mp3 file. No date.

Transferred from the original cassette by Colin Mackellar. With grateful thanks to Glen Nagle and the Tidbinbilla archives.

Don Cocks

Don Cocks, centre, was Station Director from September 1967 until Island Lagoon closed in 1972.

Don had previously been in charge of the DSS41 Instrumentation section.

Scan and image repair by Colin Mackellar. Photo thanks to Don Cocks via John Heath.

Contributor David Stokes found a faded copy of the photograph in an opportunity shop in Melbourne (!).

The handwritten text on the back of that copy notes:

From left:

1. A. Harrison – Company Senior Rep., Space Track Pty. Ltd.

2. Alan Perriman – Dept of Supply, Section Leader, RF and Antenna.

3. Tony Legg – Dept of Supply, Experimental Officer 3, Section Leader of Data and Instrumentation.

4. Don Cocks, Station Director.

5. Robert Cotton, Dept of Supply, Asst Admin Officer.

6. Peter Trost, Dept of Supply, Experimental Officer 3, Section Leader, Operations.

7. Frank Williams, Space Track Pty. Ltd, Site Engineer.

John Heath writes, “it would have been taken sometime between April and October 1968 as Alan Perriman was at Island Lagoon only over that period.”

Don Cocks, detail from the scan by John Heath of the 1971 staff photo.