Radio age research, manufacturing, communications, broadcasting, television (1941)

is now being reclaimed from the sooty terns—those birds who used to strafe our Army tractors during the war—and eventually Ascension will become the final tracking station on the range. Plans call for tripling the present program capabilities over the next two years. The work-load now is about 250 tests a month. Only a small percentage, of course, are actual missile firings. The rest are simulated flights to check a missile's guidance system or some of its other features. Tracked by Many Devices The "birds" are fired out over the Atlantic Ocean, and tracked by camera, radar, telemetry and other means along a range of islands stretching southeastward across the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic and a corner of Puerto Rico. Some idea of the importance of electronics in missile tracking may be gained from the fact that more than 100,000 electron tubes are used on the test range. They are a vital part of communications, timing, position- measuring and other equipment. To assure that all this electronic gear will function properly, it is necessary that the radio frequency bands be clear of outside interference. "You can't take any chances on having a 'ham' radio operator in Daytona Beach cut in at a critical time," one engineer explained. It is the job of the Interference Control Unit to detect, analyze and locate any electromagnetic radiation developing in the channels assigned for missile opera- tion. This requires a close watch and a cool head, and the engineers and technicians handling the assignment take their work seriously. But in between missile firings, they have found a highly practical application for their specialty. By monitoring the ignition radiation of the coffee truck, they are able to get a head-start on their fellow workers and beat them to the front door of the building for first coffee service every day! Tracking Long-Range Missiles RCA's job at the Missile Test Center has two main aspects. The first is recording the "raw" flight test data. The second is processing this data into a form readily usable by the missile contractor's engineers. From the moment a missile leaves the launching pad, electronic and optical devices record its speed, flight path, altitude, rate of climb, fuel consumption and other key factors. The missile's take-off is recorded by as many as seventy-five special cameras, some of them no further than twelve feet from the launching point. These close-up cameras, of course, are operated by remote (U. S. Air Force Photo) Fixed motion-picture camera equipped with telescopic lens records missile flight at Patrick Air Force Base. control. With telescopic lenses and super-sensitive film, they can follow the missile to an altitude of about twenty miles and pinpoint its position with startling accuracy. Every once in a while there is a "camera casualty"—the violence of the launching is so great that it demolishes the equipment. Huge radars at the launching site begin tracking the missile. Then as it moves down-range each station, in turn, takes over the job. Never is a missile out of range of one or more radars during its flight. Inside the missile, a small radio transmitter sends back information about the flight to telemetry stations where tape recorders make a permanent record. On a single missile flight, telemetry has furnished more than 400 separate pieces of information on details like air speed, engine RPM, gyroposition and so on. The radar and other information on the missile's flight is funneled into the main Operations Room at the launching point. Radar data can be read instantly on large automatic plotting boards. The information flow- ing into the Operations Room keeps the Safety Officer posted on where the missile is and how it is behaving at all times. If it should veer off its precisely planned course and become dangerous, the Safety Officer can press a red "Destruct" button that will end the flight immediately. This Command Destruct System, as it is called, is a pre- caution against a missile's suddenly taking a right turn and landing in the swimming pool of the swank Ameri- cana Hotel in Miami Beach. RADIO AGE