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April 1960 Popular Electronics
 Table
of Contents
Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles
from
Popular Electronics,
published October 1954 - April 1985. All copyrights are hereby acknowledged.
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Equipment Trailer nearest in photo, Maintenance trailer inline
and connected to the rear, RAPCON separate and to the right. ASR & IFF antennas
toward center of trailer, PAR Elevation antenna nearest. (circa 1979-82)
This is cool. I saw a U.S. Air Force recruitment advertisement in a 1960 edition
of Popular Electronics magazine pitching careers as radar operators (air
traffic control) and technicians (maintenance). The picture has the dual-display
glide path and elevation sweeps from the MPN/13/14 radar system that I worked on
in the late 1970s - early 1980s. A photo I took circa 1980 of our unit based at
Robins AFB, Georgia, is shown below. The precision approach radar (PAR) operated
at x-band (10 GHz) with an operational range of 10 nautical miles.
B&W photo of PAR display showing Elevation display at top
and Azimuth display on bottom. Yes, it is in dire need of alignment.
The azimuth and elevation antennas were mechanically swept with motors that changed
the geometry of a waveguide having dipole stubs along its length. The entire PAR
system was built with vacuum tubes and chassis using point-to-point wiring. Sweep
patterns on the CRT were aligned using an iterative procedure to adjust linearity,
x-y position, outline, size, course line and glide slope centerlines, etc. It could
be quite frustrating until you got the hang of it. Unlike the airport surveillance
radar (ASR) portion of the system which was used for flight path vectoring and aircraft
separation while at cruising and transition altitudes, the PAR was used to guide
aircraft down nearly to the ground in "blind landings." Air traffic controllers
were in constant contact with the pilots giving them corrections as needed to stay
centered on the line. I don't recall the decision height for USAF airplanes, but
for civilian aviation in Instrument Flight Rules (IFR), it can be as low as 50 feet
- that is not much time to stop a landing approach and transition to a missed approach
maneuver.
"Zero-five-seven... you are fifty feet above glide path... increase your rate
of descent... you are now on course, on glide path... over touchdown point...take
over visually for landing and contact tower."
YOU MAY HANDLE A SITUATION LIKE THIS... If you measure up to the Aerospace Team
The man in command of this situation is an Air Force Ground Control Approach
Radar Technician. And those "blips" on the glide paths of his radar screen represent
an aircraft coming down blind through bad weather. This is the kind of man whose
dependable skill and calm judgment make him a key member of the Aerospace Team...
he is the kind of man who can meet the qualifications of the U. S. Air Force.
Are you that man? As trained and experienced Air Force technician, you will have
an opportunity to build a career for yourself in the Aerospace Age - the age of
air and space travel. Such a career offers you valuable training and education,
steady advancement and an assured future. If you are the kind of young man who could
learn to handle situations of increasing responsibilities, we of the Air Force would
like to talk to you.
If you are interested, just clip and mail this coupon.
U.S. AIR FORCE
There's a place for tomorrow's leaders on the Aerospace Team
Posted May 22, 2023
(updated from original post
on 9/25/2012)
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