1 Happy 13th Birthday Radomes!

A FRM A , I NC/ R ADOMES QUARTERLY P UBLICATION
Fall 2011
Volume X, Issue 1
Fortresses for Air Defense!
Ever get assigned to a long-range radar site like
the one depicted at right? It‘s doubtful, but there is
a story behind the artist‘s concept.
The artwork at the left appeared on the cover of the
February 1949 Modern Mechanix. The artist and
author was magazine regular Frank Tinsley, who
regularly addressed issues of defense in the nuclear era. Here, in part, is his write-up:
CAN we avert an atomic Pearl Harbor?
Yes we can, with rubber bubbles!
For a string of giant rubber bubbles, housing radar sentries, hidden in the icy peaks of
America‘s northemmost mountains, could be
our first line of defense against an A-bomb
attack. The secret of these amazing rubber
fortresses is the new Radome, a revolutionary shelter of rubber and glass textile, developed by the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory
for the Air Force research center at Red
Bank, N.J.
These radar outposts could be the modern
equivalent of the frontier forts of Indian days.
Miles apart in practically impassable wilderness, each must be well-hidden, selfcontained fortress, capable of guarding its
precious equipment securely against any
sneak attack. And sudden assault is just as
sure as death and taxes. For if war comes
again, the blinding of an enemy‘s eyes will
be the first step before wholesale atomic
destruction!
In further describing the ―fortress,‖ Tinsley stated
the majority would have to be buried beneath rock
(Continued on page 5)
Happy 13th Birthday Radomes!
We’ve been in operation with the Online Air Defense Radar Museum since October
1998. Thanks very much to all of our contributors and members!
Bravo Zulu—Job Well Done!
Your Radomes Web Crew & Staff
1
Reunions & Coming Events
Jul 2012—RSV Worldwide Reunion in Wisconsin. See
page 3.
High PRF!
2-5 Aug 2012—Air Force joint AEW&C/Connie reunion
17-19 Oct 2011—758th AC&WS/RADS of Neah Bay AFS,
planned for Colorado Springs, Crowne Plaza is the host
hotel. Details to follow, in the meantime contact Jack
Kerr, AEW&C Reunion Planner, at [email protected]
for further information.
WA. Reunion in Pigeon Forge, TN, at the Inn on the
River. Rooms are $99 a night and the special rate is
available from 10 to 16 October for those arriving early.
For more details contact Bruce Broderson (770)6322696, Norman Wine (304)387-0295 or Bob McLeod,
[email protected].
17-18 Aug 2012—739th AC&WS, Wadena AFS, in Wadena. For information and details contact Jim
White, Box 334, Wadena, MN 56482
or (218)631-3211, [email protected].
19-23 Oct 2011—601st Tactical Control Squadron Association, Germany, in Oklahoma City. Contact Hap
Haggard at [email protected] for information.
14-22 Sept 2012—Hof Reunion Association, fourth return visit to Hof,
20-23 Oct 2011—2011 Texas Tower Reunion at the new
Cape Cod Irish Village in Yarmouth, MA. All rooms on
the first floor and the motel has a heated swimming pool,
reserve three nights and get the fourth night free! Contact ―Old Bob‖ Walker, USAF Texas Towers Association
national president, at [email protected].
Germany. Welcome to all who served in Hof from 1945
to 1975, including vets of the 602 nd, 603rd and 606th
AC&WSs as well as the 6910th Security Group, 6912th
and 6915th Radio Squadron (Mobile). Information at
http://www.hofreunion.com, for additional gouge contact
Jim Riggin at [email protected] or [email protected].
23-26 Oct 2011 – First annual Keesler AFB Alumni &
Friends (KAFBAV) reunion, in Biloxi, for all who
Sept 2012—637th AC&WS/RADS, planned reunion in the
New Orleans-Biloxi-Gulfport area. For further information contact Mike Murray, [email protected].
served at Keesler, all years, all career fields, military and
civilian. If you believe you‘ll be able to attend, please go
to the database in the alumni and veterans website –
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KAFBAV/ - and enter
your data in the Probable Attendee List (sign into the
website, click on ―database‖ on the left menu bar, then
click on ―First Annual KAFBAV Reunion‖). For further
information or assistance, contact Lowell Woodworth at
[email protected].
29 Sept-03 Oct 2012—502nd Tactical Control Group
(605th, 606th, 607th and 608th AC&WSs) and associated
units, in Branson, MO, at the Grand Plaza Hotel. Contact
Bill
A yl wa r d
( 7 0 3 ) 7 1 5 - 04 4 8 ,
wa yl [email protected].
28 Oct-02 Nov 2012—Keesler AFB Alumni & Veterans
Reunion, in Biloxi, for all who served at Keesler (or
05-08 Nov 2011—Sampson AFB, 3650th
Military Training Wing, all person-
serves there now): students, instructors, permanent
party, civilian and military plus friends and family. For
information
contact
Lowell W oodworth,
[email protected].
nel, in Fayetteville, NC. For more information contact Walt Steesy,
[email protected], or (507)5324204.
11-14 Jul 2013—The 753rd Veterans of Sault Ste Marie
AFS, MI, invite all radar site veterans, in Sault Ste
Marie. For additional information contact George Tay-
Constant Bearing
lor, [email protected].
13-20 May 2012—Salute to Veterans Cruise to Alaska,
all radar site veterans welcome! For further information,
contact Beverly Poitrast, [email protected].
Announcements
st
16-21 May 2012—871
AC&WS, Villatobas AS, Spain.
Reunion in Fresno, for further information please contact
Larry
―Bo‖
[email protected].
Bohannon,
The Lackland AFB/37th Training Wing
History Office has established a website and
lkbohan-
is looking for BMT graduation photos from every
flight since the base was established. To check
and see if you photo is there, go to the web site
at www.bmtflightphotos.af.mil and check the
year you graduated.
22-24 Jun 2012—664th AC&WS/RADS, Bellefontaine
AFS, OH, at the site of the former base. Please contact reunion chairman Larry Lewis at (937)592-6787,
If you have your picture and it is not yet posted, you
can send it to the historian office at 37TRW/HO, 2320
Carswell Ave (Bldg 7065/Room 2), Lackland AFB, TX
katenlarry@embarqmailcom, [email protected] or
drop him a line at 1715 Cty Rd 10, Bellefontaine, OH
43311.
2
78236-5155 OR send a good
quality scan via eMail to: [email protected]. If
you mail a photo, make sure you
include information about the
photo and return instructions.
766th RADS (SAGE), Caswell AFS, 19611965—Anyone interested in holding a
reunion for the aforementioned years,
possibly here in Las Vegas (I know of
two others living here who were stationed there during those years) or in
the Limestone area (my preference).
Please contact me at [email protected].
875th AC&WS, Rosas AS, Spain. We who were there from
1960 to 1965 had one of the richest experiences the
USAF ever offered. I was stationed at Rosas from 1960
to 1964 and am opening the door to anyone who shared
those years to show interest in reuniting with old friends.
Contact Wayne Grover, USAF(Ret) at au-
[email protected]; I‘ll set it up if we have enough
people interested. Adios por ahora.
RSV Worldwide Reunion in Wisconsin
July 2012 in Eau
Claire, WI
We believe this can be one of our better reunions; we‘re especially interested in the Eau Claire area for our host hotel location.
In addition to activities in the Eau Claire vicinity, we‘re looking
at two day-tours: one east to the Highground Veterans Memorial
in Neillsville (www.thehighground.org) and one west to the former Osceola AFS, now owned by the Lutheran Church.
Murphy Dome AFS, AK
744 th AC&W S
Which site is this?
If enough desire, we‘ll consider adding another day tor a tour
of the former Antigo AFS, WI.
AFRMA, Inc/Radomes, The Air Defense Radar Veterans‘ Association, is
a member-supported non-profit corporation.
For further information, to volunteer or to advise of your desire
to attend and participate, contact Lowell G. Woodworth,
[email protected].
Our mission is to preserve the history of the defense of North America
from enemy bomber or missile attack during the Cold War period.
Memberships are open to U.S. and Canadian citizens, veterans and non
-veterans alike.
Reunions and Upcoming Events
Headquarters: AFRMA,
Baltimore, OH 43105.
Reunions/Events: Generally all previously
assigned or currently assigned military/civilian personnel
or members are invited. Check with appropriate contact
person (or visit their web site) concerning spouses/
dependents, latest updates and other details. Data is
subject to change without notice.
Inc/Radomes,
9976
Stoudertown
Rd.,
All
Newsletter: Echoes: 1225 Dunloe Rd, Manchester, MO 63021
All Units Not Listed -
Echoes is the official newsletter of Radomes, Inc. Entire contents is
copyrighted under U.S. law and all rights are reserved. Echoes is
published four times each calendar year (Winter, Spring, Summer and
Fall). Submissions for possible publication (without monitory
compensation) may sent to the editor at the above address. Send
electronic submissions to: [email protected]. Echoes is grateful for
all submissions.
Check with these on-line sources:
http://www.radomes.org
http://www.vets.org/AirForce.htm
http://www.thewall-usa.com/reunion/
http://www.usaf.com/reunions.htm
http://www.reunionsmag.com/military_reunions.html
Radomes, Inc. founders, Gene McManus and Tom Page.
Editor, ―Ranger Mark‖ Morgan
Masthead, Warren Carman.
©copyright 2011 AFRMA, Inc/Radomes. All rights reserved.
3
“Seriously, my tour was the most remote…”
ered knowing that if you screwed up it was the next bunch that
suffered. I heard tales of one site that was existing on green hotdogs and god knows how old beer for almost a month before resupply.
Ed Note: Continuing a theme from last month, the debate continues...
Condition of airstrip—having a hard strip ensured a better
chance of frequent mail delivery and DEROS on time, a major
morale factor. At Campion we were fortunate enough to be able
to trade movies with the alert crews weekly so the guys got twice
as many films.
I believe Havre is a strong contender for the most remote. One
had to drive to Great Falls for a good night out, though the town of
Havre did have many bars. I was always taught it was the only
controlled tour in CONUS.
Was sent TDY to Opheim which wasn't much less remote.
Small town just outside gate, but Glasgow quite a distance.
Weather also a mitigating factor in sense of remoteness.
ORI/IG/Tac Evals—It seemed that once you failed one of
these you entered into a spiral of doom. Ninety days later you
could expect a retest, so the commander/Ops officer went into a
blitz mode getting ready for the eval. I actually encountered one
site where the ops troops (all but two) failed every written test and
only killed 7 of 16 targets in the live phase. Many of the operators
walked out of the test laughing.
- ―mkpxids‖
Opheim AFS (really, it’s out there…) Source: Radomes
Commander AAC had us (Tac Eval) on the carpet because the
NCC commander complained that the eval was rigged. Fortunately, we had given the same written tests at King Salmon three
weeks before where everybody passed. Reason the flying phase
went down the tubes is that the WAO (a rated Sup) flushed his six
fighters at first target appearance and had all six in turnaround at
the same time.
My first guess is Shemya, which is about 1500 miles from Anchorage. A not-so-close second site could be Kotzebue, 500
miles northwest of Anchorage.
- Bill Peterson
Home Contact—We had five-minute morale calls and access
to MARS. Mr. Gore hadn't invented the internet yet.
I spent four years in Alaska beginning in 1968. First three years
were in the Exercise and Eval shop at AAC and the fourth was at
Campion. During that time I visited many of the sites and found
several factors that contributed to decent morale or lack of it:
Cooks—A good cook was essential to morale. I recall visiting
sites where the ice cream was never eaten because the cooks
didn't know how to make it properly. Enough to say, Campion had
great ice cream. I was told the secret was to use hot water with
the powder.
Location—Close-in sites like Fire island and Murphy had huge
swings in morale. Seems to me that access to civilization was a
major factor. Being close tended to torque off the troops whose
wife/girl wasn't located in Anchorage or Fairbanks, while being
able to get off site periodically helped guys morale.
Commander, Ops officer, First shirt, NCOIC ops and
maintenance—Nothing worse than having a bad one, if several
you were doomed.
- Dick Klement
King Salmon also had some major morale swings with all of the
fishermen swamping the base in the summer. The fact that the
overall commander was also the airbase commander probably
wasn't a big help to the radar guys.
Of the NGCI's Kotz and Yukon always seemed to do well, followed by Tat and Spar. Indian Mountain appeared to have been
abandoned by God; more incidents there than at all the other
sites combined. I got there as ‘Kleet was closing so don't have a
clue. The site out on the island whose name escapes (St Lawrence?) me had some major morale hits before closing; the last
one i remember was a suicide. Haven't much info on the NSS's
except Tin City which was in the absolute middle of nowhere but
seemed to have it's stuff together in ‗72.
Radomes Obituaries
Indian Mountain AFS. Source: Radomes
George Pittelkau, age 82, 5 October 2011 in Canby,
OR, following a long illness. A longtime member of the
25th Air Division Recall Group, George served in the Air
Force for 21 years, including Korea and Vietnam. After
retiring in 1972, George worked for Columbia Helicopters
and the FAA, prior to his second retirement in 2002. He is
survived by his childhood sweetheart and wife of 62 years
Genevieve, three daughters, a sister, six grandchildren
and two nephews.
Cool Barge—Sites with good morale tended to have had a
great group of people in the year proceeding their arrival. Remember that you ordered supplies a year before they were deliv-
4
We Get Letters…(and occasionally send them…)
Gene—
I am SO HAPPY to see this museum happening. I have
been bitching for 40 years to every military museum I have
been in, that they don‘t show anything about the people
who ―keep ‗em flying.‖
While our museum is needed and long overdue, I wish
there were something for the ground crews that patched up
the warbirds and kept them in action. The movies show
just enough to know they were there, but nothing of the
strain of the mission and the dedication of those guys. Far
as I‘m concerned, they are as important to the end of WWII
as the bomb!
If you hear of anyone doing that for the mechanics, let
me know. I‘ll gladly send a few shekels their way.
Thanks again,
- John Stenstrom
(and guess what followed…):
Thursday, August 18, 2011 9:20 PM
From: Gene McManus
To: [email protected]
Subject: Cold War Scrapbook, ―Air Force,‖ August 2011
When I opened my newest copy of Air Force (August
2011) to the "Cold War Scrapbook", I got truly excited. We
don't see much about the Cold War defense efforts these
days. But I ended up very disappointed when I found that
there was not one photo or even a word about the hundreds of aircraft control & warning and SAGE radar stations
in North America that provided early warning, and intercept
control against attacking manned bombers. Indeed, on
page 72 there is a photo of a pair of F-102s with the caption "... to replace F-89s in providing air defense and early
warning. ...". Interceptors did not provide "early warning",
defense, yes, but the "early warning" was provided by long
range radars and troops on the ground, or in AEW&C Constellation aircraft who directed the interceptors to their targets.
John—
We‘re pretty excited too. We have a l-o-n-g way to go,
however. Still, I‘m optimistic about the project.
BTW, the Air Force Assn‘s magazine Air Force just did a
fairly long article about the Cold War. I haven‘t read it yet,
just looked at the photos. Lots of airplane pix, including
interceptors, but nothing about those of us who did the intercept vectors, early warning or anything else about us
ground grunts. I intend to compose a letter to them after I
read the article and get all my facts in a row.
- Gene McManus
There were tens of thousands of young U.S. Air Force
men, and a few women, manning these sometimes very
remote and isolated stations. We provided the possibility
of turning an attack primarily from the Soviet Union with
radar stations of the DEW Line from the Aleutian Islands
across northern Alaska, northern Canada to Greenland; the
Pinetree Line across the northern tier of the United States
(Continued on page 7)
Fortresses! (Continued from page 1)
and concrete, with only the ―balloon dome‖-protected radar antenna and helicopter platforms above ground. Below ground,
―comfortable, air-conditioned living quarters for its technical experts and guards. Unusually complete recreational facilities
will help cut down the morale problems inevitable in such a confined life...at frequent intervals, the men will take turns going
on short furloughs to Alaskan and Canadian cities in order to prevent ‗cabin fever‘ and thus keep the garrison on its toes.‖
The associated artwork depicting a network employing these radar fortresses shows a command center perched somewhere in the Midwest (the location‘s roughly in the vicinity of Wichita), linked to perimeter radar sites at Cape Flattery, W A;
Cape Mendocino and Point Concepcion, CA; Key West, FL; Savannah, GA; Cape Hatteras, NC; and Cape Cod, MA; with
additional sites placed on islands in the Atlantic and Pacific, the Caribbean, Central America, Canada and stretching from
the Aleutians to Greenland. You can call up the entire article with graphics online at http://blog.modermechanix.com/
category/war/page/14/.
Francis X.T. ―Frank‖ Tinsley was born in Manhattan on 29 November 1899. In 1917, he went to work as an apprentice
artist in the Research Department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City but Uncle Sam came calling within
the year; he spent World War I as a draftsman in the Design Section of the War Department. Postwar, he freelanced as an
artist and started selling cover and story illustrations for magazines such Action Stories, Air Stories, Bill Barnes‘ Air Trails,
George Bruce‘s Contact, North West Stories, Sky Birds and War Birds. By the 1950s, he primarily wrote and illustrated for
Modern Mechanix. In 1954, Tinsley and wife Emily moved to Old Saybrook, CT, where he served as chairman of the Planning Commission, Director of the Chamber of Commerce, and as founding president of the Old Saybrook Historical Society.
Frank Tinsley died of a heart attack on 23 June 1965, at age 65.
And the radar network he proposed? Obviously, Air Defense Command expanded substantially following the 1950 invasion of South Korea by North Korea, but even in the most mountainous, remote parts of North America, the sites never
quite looked like this one...But they would‘ve been interesting, eh?
5
Transitions in Southern California
ARSR-4 upgrades also occurred at all the US border
sites, to include Mt Laguna, Mill Valley, Ajo, etc. These
became Joint Surveillance facilities—maintained by the
FAA, but used jointly for ATC and Air Defense. NORAD
also established UHF/VHF comms at these facilities for
interceptor control. Once the ARSR-4 program was complete (around 2000...), the WADS "disconnected" from
older radars, like San Pedro.
Ed Note: The following came off the AFRSV boards. It relates a
recent exchange on the relationship between a couple of radar
sites in Southern California and modifications to the sites over the
past several years.
I never knew
that San Clemente
Island (SCI) had
an AFS until I read
about it in this
group. The height
of the radar on
SCI
would
be
about the same as San Clemente Island AFS’s (670th AC&WS)
San Pedro (SP). cantonment area. The radar site was downIt‘s about 65 miles island to the west. Source: Radomes.
south of SP and
70 miles west of San Diego.
After 9-11, NORAD greatly extended our radar coverage
for Homeland Defense, by integrating a majority of the legacy, interior radars. Gone was the NORAD Cold War mentality of only looking outside our borders, so we tapped into
as many interior FAA sites (many former AFSs), as logistically possible. That required an upgraded NORAD mission
system for the ADS—a political quagmire story for another
time. NORAD did reconnect to the San Pedro radar, post
9/11.
Current status:
I have just finished
leading
negotiations of
an
agreement
between
Air
Combat Command, the Navy
and FAA, that
gives NORAD
operational control of the SCI The ARSR-4 on San Clemente Island. Bruce
radar (USN and Robie photo, via Radomes.
FAA no longer
utilize the primary data).
IMO, this alone would make it a more suitable radar site
because it extends the ―view‘ by 60 miles or so beyond SP.
I realize that logistics would be a lot more expensive than
SP, since SP was probably tied into the public power grid
and supply and others support were only minutes away at
Fort MacArthur.
I understand that the FAA still has a presence on SCI to
this day. Why was it moved?
- Mike Nelson
751st RADS, Mt Laguna AFS, 1974-1977
The legacy ARSR-1E radar at San Pedro (aka Los Angeles LRR), is part of a Service Life Extension Program to
retrofit aging "interior" radars with state-of-the-art technologies. SLEP is intended to provide a necessary surveillance
solution that will augment the NORAD, Homeland Security
and FAA missions well into the future. To the operations
community, the greatest value added will be the dynamic
automation and improved capabilities of primary radar data
detection and processing. The FAA will continue to maintain both SCI and San Pedro radars.
San Pedro Hill AFS (670th RADS) Source: Radomes.
Hi Mike—
You can find some great radar photos from my site visits,
on my website. SCI, Pedro, Laguna in particular are found
in the "west coast" album. You might enjoy (or shed a tear
over) the present day pics of what was once a thriving Mt
Laguna AFS, at: http://boondogsworld.phanfare.
com/2261723.
I've never heard that SCI radar was moved to San Pedro.
I'm very involved in the operations, maintenance and inspection of our west coast radars, so perhaps I can clarify
a few things.
The SCI radar was upgraded to an ARSR-4 system in the
late 90s. At that time, the US Navy owned/used the radar
to support the island ranges. I negotiated an agreement
with the USN to bring the radar into the Western Air Defense Sector (WADS) for our NORAD/ANG Homeland Defense mission. Pre-9-11, it was used for supplementary air
sovereignty coverage.
Thanks for your service!
- Bruce Robie (callsign ―Boondog‖)
SMSgt (Ret), ―276,‖ 1979-2003
National Airspace System Defense Mgr
Western Air Defense Sector
6
News (Continued from page 8)
surveillance radar at an undisclosed Turkish military site by
year‘s end. The radar will link to Navy‘s BMD-capable Aegis ships that will operate in the Mediterranean Sea as part
of the US Phased Adaptive Approach BMD architecture
that will help protect Europe.
New
NORAD/NORTHCOM
Commander: On 3 August
2011, Gen Charles J. ―Chuck‖
Jacoby, Jr, US Army, relieved
ADM James A. ―Sandy‖ Winnifeld, Jr., as the commander of
U.S. Northern Command and
North American Aerospace Defense Command. Notably, the
selection made General Jacoby
the first Army officer to command USNORTHCOM and
NORAD.
Both Poland and Romania already have agreed to host
US missile interceptor sites later this decade as part of the
PAA./
The Raytheon AN/TPY-2 is transportable by air, ship and
rail and deploys with its command and control interface, a
radar support trailer, generators and supply containers. It
can perform autonomously or as cued by other sensors.
The Japanese Air Self Defense Force deployed its first
TPY-2 at Shariki, Aomori Prefecture in June 2006 (AFM
Update, 6 Sept 11; Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance).
General Jacoby‘s command experience including combat
as Commander, A/2/325th Infantry, 82nd Airborne Division
during Operation Urgent Fury, the invasion of Grenada;
Commanding General, US Army Alaska; and Commanding
General, I Corps/Commanding General, Multi-National
Corps-Iraq. The Detroit native and 1978 graduate of the
US Military Academy has held numerous other light infantry
and staff positions, including an assignment as Assistant
Professor, Department of History at West Point. His assignment immediately prior to NORTHCOM/NORAD was at
the Pentagon as Director of Strategic Plans & Policy (J-5).
Letters (Continued from page 5)
and Canada, and literally hundreds of stations within the
Continental United States. We were under the command
of the Air Defense Command, later Aerospace Defense
Command and finally NORAD as we endlessly searched
the skies with our long-range ground radar. Few people,
even the parents of those stationed there, new little of the
tasks of these airmen. Many of the sites were very remote,
their appearance giving away little of their missions to the
few outsiders who saw them. Most sites had no aircraft or
runways, and were manned by only some 130 or so troops.
There was nothing remarkable about the appearance of
these sites to the neighbors.
In a September interview with the Colorado Springs Gazette, General Jacoby that while he doesn‘t wear wings, his
previous joint assignments—including joint command—
involved commanding airmen, sailors, soldiers and Marines
and. His chief concern remains terrorist attacks; ―we are
constantly gaming what‘s the next step and the step beyond,‖ he commented (Tom Roeder, ―NorthCom‘s new
Army boss says terrorism is top concern,‖ The (Colorado
Springs) Gazette, 23 September 2011).
The Air Force Radar Museum Association (not affiliated
with the U.S. Air Force or any other government agency) is
a not-for-profit Ohio corporation whose sole purpose is to
document the air defense mission in the National Air Defense Radar Museum. The Museum is being established
in the former AN/FPS-26 tower at the former 664th AC&W/
Radar Squadron at Bellefontaine, Ohio. It is our mission to
educate the citizens who know little or nothing of need for
air defense, much less about our mission as Airmen. Memberships in the AFRMA are now open.
Turkey
Agrees
to
Host US Missile Defense Radar: The State
Department last week
announced that Turkey
will host a ballistic missile defense radar in
support of NATO‘s efforts to defend its European member states
from attack.
More information can
www.radomes.org/afrma.
be
found
at
Thanks for listening,
- Gene McManus
Looking
for
a
Christmas present
for that radar guy
on your shopping
list…?
―The United States welcomes Turkey decision,‖ said
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland in a Sept
2 release.
Stars and Stripes reported that the United States hoeps
to set up an AN/TPY-2 transportable X-band phased-array
7
http://
Radomes, Inc.
The Air Defense Radar Veterans’ Association
9976 Stoudertown Road
Baltimore, OH 43105
Which site is this?
(Search inside for answer.)
Radomes News
Never Forget...
Gary Jacobs recently submitted the following on the
Radomes guestbook:
Below (New York Times,
Thurs, 8 September) is referenced a remarkable audio
document having to do with
air defense. I was taken by
how by simply switching off
transponders the system
was flummoxed. No stealth
needed, I gather. Listen to these voices -- the confused,
the scared, the calm and determined.
The 9/11 Tapes: The Story in the Air: A selection of
audio recordings from the Federal Aviation Administration
(F.A.A.), North American Aerospace Defense Command
(Norad) and American Airlines from the morning of Sept.
11, 2001.
The recordings, some of which have been published previously, are being released in a multimedia report originally
intended to be part of the Sept. 11 Commission‘s 2004 report (read the article for directions on how to play the audio).
www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/09/08/nyregion/911tapes.html?scp=1&sq=9/11%20tapes&st=cse.
Source: Brookings.edu
Keeping Orbital
Operations Safe:
The Air Force's
Phased
Array
Warning System
radars, known as
Pave PAWS, earlier this month
played an important role in preventing the evacuation of the International
Space Station.
Data from their monitoring of a roughly six-inch chunk of
debris on a near-collision course with the station allowed
the station's three-member crew to remain on board and
not have to leave out of safety concerns using Russia's
Soyuz capsule. With the help of Pave PAWS tracking
data, the Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg
AFB, Calif., determined that the debris piece would harmlessly pass by ISS on April 5, much to the crew's relief.
The Pave PAWS radars are located at Beale AFB, Calif.,
and Cape Cod AFS, Mass. The piece of debris causing this
scare resulted from China's irresponsible shoot down of a
Chinese weather satellite in January 2007. (Cape Cod report via Diana Barth; AFM Update)
(Continued on page 7)
86