"Togetherness"

[LARSSON at vax1.mankato.msus.edu]

OK, for those who asked, here are salient points to the Pynchon AEROSPACE
SAFETY article.  I'm not reproducing the whole thing, both for the sake
of my fingers and copyright.

Thomas H. [sic!] Pynchon.  "Togetherness."  AEROSPACE SAFETY 16:12 (Dec. 
1960).  6-8.

AS was published by the U.S. Dept. of Defense, Dept. of the Air Force.

The opening paragraph begins:
"Airlifting the IM-99A missile, like marriage, demans a certain amount of
'togetherness' between Air Force and contractor.[. . . ] Let's look at a
few of the safety hazards that have to be taken into account when
Bomarcs are shipped. . . . 
[Note: my ellipses are in brackets.  The ones at the end of the paragraph
above are P's own!]

The rest of the article is concerned with the possibilities of accidents
in transporting missiles--some excerpts:

"As long as there have been near accidents, it's better to use them as a guide
for future safety than to pretend they never happened.
	"As this article goes to press, the safety record of Bomarc airlifts
can be summed up in four words: so far, so good.  You may recall, however,
the optimist who jumped off the top of a New York office building.  He was
heard to yell the same thing as he passed the 20th floor: so far, so good."

Goes on to detail cases of near misses where the accident was avoided by
redundant systems and by sheer luck.

The article concludes with these words:
"There has never been a tragedy on any Bomarc airlift.  Yet."


Some stylistic flourishes seem typical of TRP, but others are just cliche 
transitional phrases.  The overall tone of skepticism is certainly in keeping
as well.  Not a terribly revealing article, but of some interest.

Don Larsson, Mankato State U (MN)