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William C. Reed
In 1956 I was working for General Precision Laboratory in Pleasantville, New
York. Prior to this I had been an Air Force radar maintenance instructor at
Keesler Field Biloxi, Ms for several years, worked on B-47 K-Bombing/Nav Systems
in Wichita, Ks for Combat Crew Training, and spent two years at Sperry Gyroscope
in Long Island teaching field engineers the K-Bombing System. In 1955 I
conducted several factory training courses on Doppler Navigation Systems at
Keesler for the Air Force.
In the spring of 1956 I was involved in a special classified demonstration of
Doppler Radar Navigation for a group of Airline Executives from Pan Am and
Northwest Airlines. Things did not go well at first but I managed to get things
corrected and the demonstration was a success. It took all day to get to Dayton
from Westchester, NY, as our ground speed in the DC-3 was about 75 Knots. With
my background as an instructor I filled the time with an explanation of what was
happening. Shortly after this flight I was transferred to Applications
Engineering.
I had only been in the new position a few days when my supervisor became ill and
I was summoned to the Vice Presidents office. There I met the VP for the first
time and he asked me to prepare a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a new
lightweight Doppler Radar and a track computer, which we were developing. I
asked what it was for and he said he could not tell me. I asked how fast he
needed it and he said “Immediately”. I advised him that the new track
computer was many months from a prototype and was not available. He said he had
to have something immediately. I inquired about the mission and he replied that
he could not say. I asked if it was a single pilot operation and he said yes. I
went to the black board and blocked out a system using an existing AN/ASN-6
Latitude & Longitude Position Computer combined with the Lightweight
Doppler. The ASN-6 usually accepted an input from the aircraft’s True Airspeed
System (TAS) as well as from the Doppler that measured Ground Speed & Drift
Angle. When the Doppler was supplying good information the ASN-6 used the TAS
input to compute wind information that could be available if the Doppler stopped
supplying Ground Speed. The VP informed me that the aircraft would not have a
TAS system. I suggested that we could make a small dial where the pilot could
insert TAS after computing it from the Indicated Airspeed information. This
would provide a back up when the Doppler was inoperative. After a devils
advocate examination the VP said “OK, we will do it your way but do me one
favor. Write down the reasons we are doing this so we will remember why it is
this way”.
Several weeks later I was asked to come to a meeting with a company officer.
There I was introduced to Dick Bissell. They informed me that Dick was with the
CIA. I asked what that was and they informed me that it was our new Intelligence
Agency. I was then told that I had been selected to be the only liaison with
Lockheed’s Skunk Works on a new program for a high altitude aircraft that was
going to over fly the Soviet Union. I was told not to tell anyone about the
project. The racks for the system would be delivered to our VP’s garage and
returned to Lockheed with the boxes in place. Every drawing that went to
Lockheed was to be checked by me and would not be accepted by Lockheed if it did
not have my signature.
I coordinated with Lockheed in Burbank on power, radome, wiring, etc. and the
first system was completed a short time thereafter. I frequently had meetings
with the CIA in Washington during this period at various locations, as Langley
had not been completed. I was therefore not surprised to be told to go to a
remote corner of Burbank Airport and wait to be let in a gate. After waiting a
short time a car drove up and opened the gate and waived me through. The dirt
road ended at an old GI building and I went inside. No one asked me who I was. I
just remained quiet and after some time was told to get onboard the C-54 outside
the building. We flew for a while and landed at the Ranch. There they checked
our credentials.
The first test of our system was scheduled for the following day.
The next morning I met the test pilot from Lockheed and we chatted about the
system during his preflight conditioning. The test flight was a short run to a
position in South Los Angeles that we had selected. Everything worked well
during the test.
I do not recall how many of these systems we provided but I always believed they
were to be in the aircraft that would over fly the Soviets. The CIA seemed
satisfied that all was well and I worked with them on quite a few other aircraft
programs during the 50’s & 60’s.
I returned to the Ranch on other occasions for discussions but do not remember
specifics. I do recall seeing one of the U-2’s that had reportedly spun in
from altitude after the pilot lost his oxygen. It was in a hanger for
examination.
I do remember being told to go to a barn in a cotton field near Bakersfield.
Upon arrival I learned that Lockheed had moved the U-2 operations there. I was
asked what was the maximum altitude our Frequency Tracker Unit would work. I
advised them that 44,000 feet was the absolute limit as we had tested it in the
altitude chamber. The engineers advised me that they had a different payload for
an aircraft and that our Frequency Tracker would have to go to non-pressurized
area. I asked them if they could “Bag it” as I had seen them do for other
equipment. They said, “ yes, but you require cooling air (Blower in rear of
unit).” I asked if they could run hoses between the pressure area and the bag.
This would essentially extend the pressurized area. They said that might work.
It was about 5:00pm. I left for my hotel and returned the next morning. The unit
in question was a large “full ATR” box with over 200 wires and cables in the
rear as well as the cooling connectors. Knowing how competent these Lockheed
Engineers were, I fully expected to see the entire plan on drawings. What blew
me away was that the two engineers said, “It works great, we electrically
tested it an hour ago”. I was in the aerospace electronics industry for over
40 years and worked with every aircraft manufacturer in the free world. I have
never seen a group of more competent people than that bunch at Lockheed. Talk
about a CAN DO attitude!!
We understood at the time that Latitude & Longitude was not an easy
navigation solution for a single pilot. What was really needed was a “Track
Computer” which would provide the pilot with simple left right and distance to
go information. That was under development at the time and would eventually be
available as the AN/ASN-25 Dual Track Computer and would be used in PACAF’s
F-100’s and many other applications. It is unfortunate that it was not ready
for the U-2.
The PC-212 Doppler radar in the U-2 would eventually become the AN/APN-102. This
system just provided Ground Speed & Drift Angle with an accuracy of 0.2% of
actual speed. The Ground Speed & Drift Indicator was located on the lower
left of the instrument panel. The control box and the ASN-6 were located on the
side panel along with the dial for inserting True Airspeed. These could not have
been easy for the pilot to use but space was at a premium. I do not recall if
the Lat/Long information from the ASN-6 was sent to the Perkin Elmer camera’s
to annotate film as was often done in recon aircraft.
At the same time as I was involved with the U-2, I was liaison with Martin
Aircraft on the B-57D. This was an USAF program to achieve high altitude
operations. I was at Turner AFB for the initial flight test of the Doppler
System. We were communicating with the pilot as he climbed to an altitude in the
vicinity of 60,000 feet. The pilot was reporting Ground Speed & Drift angle
at 1000-foot intervals when he suddenly said, “It stopped working as speed
decreased by more than 100 knots”. I requested that he go back down 1000 feet,
which he did. He then reported that the speed was working again. I requested
that he go back up 1000 feet and he did. He again reported that it had suddenly
dropped 100 knots. The Colonel in charge took the mike and told the pilot that
they had always known that there were jet streams up there and now they had
something that would tell them what was happening. I later asked the CIA why the
B-57D program was continuing since the U-2 was already operational above 70,000.
His reply was security. If they cancelled the program it would send a message
that something else was already working.
The Doppler radar systems in most of the world’s aircraft were eventually
replaced by Inertial Systems and still later by GPS. Having been involved in
this early technology I am amazed today that I can know and see on a color map
where I am in my car with an accuracy of 8 feet.
I traveled the world in commercial airplanes for 40 years flying as much as
150,000 miles per year. As tiring as that was for me, especially trips to
Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, etc. I never forgot what it must have been like
for those U-2 pilots. I was traveling in first class much of the time and could
walk around, sleep, watch movies, eat, and not worry about someone shooting at
me. They spent over an hour laced up and on Oxygen before launch, and then
strapped in that tiny cockpit for up to 9 hours. I have the greatest admiration
of every one of them that entered that dangerous realm on the edge of space. It
was certainly dangerous enough without someone trying to shoot them down. My hat
is off for all of them and especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
They are truly heroes of the cold war.
In late 1959 or early 1960 Dick Bissell showed me a photo taken with the U-2
camera. He asked me what I saw. I examined the photo and after a few seconds
replied that there was an aircraft pointed at the camera. He said look again. I
did and after a more complete examination I replied, “my god there is a
missile between the aircraft and the camera”. At this Bissell said, “They
are really trying and we’re going to have to stop this stuff soon”. It
wasn’t soon enough for Powers.