Reminiscences of an Apollo Instructor
By Thoral "Gill" Gilland

Without a doubt, my work as an Apollo instructor was the pinnacle of my
career and I would be hard pressed to identify any one of my experiences
as the most interesting. Because of the program's unique nature, and
the fascinating people involved, each work assignment was like a new
adventure.

Outstanding public support is one of the things that made the work so
interesting. It was the dawn of the space age and the idea of sending a
man to the moon, and bringing him home safely, fascinated the public.
Apollo instructors were popular guest speakers at that time because
their messages sounded like science fiction come true.

Understandably, speaking assignments were less stressful than system
briefings at Cape Canaveral in Florida or the Manned Spacecraft Center
near Houston (now Johnson Spacecraft Center). Each Apollo mission
required a spacecraft of a slightly different engineering configuration
because objectives of each mission were different. When presenting
briefings to the flight crews (astronauts) and their backup engineering
personnel it was a matter of efficient utilization of time to address
subjects pertinent to the specific spacecraft involved and nothing
more. That, of course, required intense preparation while speaking
assignments were less demanding.

Besides, Apollo instructors were specialized in certain areas of the
spacecraft so generally two instructors with two different specialties
were sent out on speaking assignments. I remember one instructor very
well who, from time to time, became my working partner because our
specialties and our personalities complemented each other so well.
Unfortunately, I saw his name on the "deceased" list when John Winton
first told me about this Web page and I experienced an empty feeling.

His name was Walter Lowe, he was a veteran pilot of the Korean War and I
liked his jovial personality. A native son of the San Diego area, his
stories about growing up clearly identified him as a "red-blooded
American boy." For example, one of his tales was about parking with his
girl friend, on a bluff overlooking a bay, "Watching the submarine
races."

He had a unique way of explaining G-forces and audiences were fascinated
by his presentations. Props he used for demonstrations were simple and
extremely effective: a toy balloon, with about a cup of water inside.
For whatever reason, I remember one of our programs more than the
others. Walt was making his usual presentation by bouncing the balloon
while explaining the turmoil that what went on inside crewmembers during
a launch. Then, in keeping with his normal routine, he handed the
balloon to a man in the audience, who took it, bounced it a few times
and commented, "I always thought I wanted to be an astronaut, but I just
changed my mind."

Learning of Walt's demise reminded me of the last time we worked
together. Our assignment was "watch duty" in the Public Relations'
"News Room" during the Apollo 11 mission and this is, perhaps, the most
vivid memory I have of my very good friend. We made ourselves available
to anyone who wanted clarification of the spacecraft, the mission, or
any combination, and several news reporters stopped by for informal
briefings. Of course, we were also ready to assist in any way we could
in the event of a problem with the mission.

I was also reminded of memorabilia in my files that I had forgotten. It
is a handwritten log of the Apollo 11 mission, compiled by Walter Lowe
and myself, which are notes we took to write our report. There are many
logs of that mission, most of which are more accurate than the one we
kept, but this is one of my personal "Reminiscences of an Apollo
Instructor."

In the interest of brevity, I will only reproduce one page of my
souvenir, which contains a sketch that typifies Walter Lowe's style.
True to form, if he did not have a training aid for a particular
occasion, he improvised. In this instance, he was apparently explaining
something, perhaps to a news reporter, who knows?