From: skunk-works-digest-owner@mail.orst.edu To: skunk-works-digest@mail.orst.edu Subject: Skunk Works Digest V5 #278 Reply-To: skunk-works-digest@mail.orst.edu Errors-To: skunk-works-digest-owner@mail.orst.edu Precedence: bulk Skunk Works Digest Wednesday, 24 May 1995 Volume 05 : Number 278 In this issue: RE: Hollywood -- and Skunk Works planes 'The Woodpecker' U-2 designation question Woodpecker's, Russian & American Re: U-2 designation question More Edwards trivia Re: U-2 designation question [none] Re: More Edwards trivia See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the skunk-works or skunk-works-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mary Shafer Date: Tue, 23 May 1995 13:24:51 -0400 (EDT) Subject: RE: Hollywood -- and Skunk Works planes Just a piece of trivia--Edwards AFB is named after Capt. Glenn Edwards, co-pilot of the YB-49 when it crashed. The pilot was a Capt. Forbes or a Capt. Fitzgerald (I can never remember which, but those are the two main eponymous roads on base--actually, that's not true, as Rosamond was named after the daughter of a railroad VP, but you know what I mean). The base was named after Edwards because he was a Californian and there was another base with a name close to the pilot's already. Before the naming, this was Muroc, which came from the last name of one of the first settlers, Corum. The USPS wouldn't let them name it Corum as there was a Coram already, so they spelled it backwards. OK, three pieces of trivia or maybe four, depending on how you count. Regards, Mary Mary Shafer DoD #0362 KotFR shafer@ursa-major.spdcc.com URL http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/People/Shafer/mary.html Some days it don't come easy/And some days it don't come hard Some days it don't come at all/And these are the days that never end.... ------------------------------ From: "Terry Colvin" Date: Tue, 23 May 95 13:03:57 EST Subject: 'The Woodpecker' Hi y'all! I'm new to this list, so forgive me if this has been gone over before! I'm looking for information about the so-called 'Woodpecker' signal that used to be (or maybe still is, for all I know) transmitted from the erstwhile USSR. I think it may fall within the remit of this list... Apparently, it was a shortwave signal that could be picked up on a radio as a repetitive beat - hence the name. It was a supposed to be the most powerful transmission in the world, hundreds of times moreso than any normal radio transmission, and could only be received outside of the USSR. No reason was known was such an expensive and apparently pointless venture, though it was thought that it may have been some sort of experimental 'electronic warfare' directed primarily at the US to somehow influence the mental state of its citizens. Supposedly, the only place in the world where the signal could not be received was within the territory of the USSR, as it was directed specifically abroad. Anyone know anything about this? Any info gratefully received! Yours, Michelle ------------------------------ From: APHOENIX@CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU Date: Tue, 23 May 1995 16:06:27 -0700 (MST) Subject: U-2 designation question I am an Electrical Engineering Junior at the U of Arizona and invloved in the AFROTC program there. A few weeks ago, I got into a discussion with one of our instructors (one Major Lewis) as to the meaning of the 'U' in U-2. I have always been under the impression that the U designation means utility and that it was applied to the U-2 as misinformation. He insists that the U prefix is used only for recon aircraft. If anyone could give me a good explanation as to who is right I would be very apprecitive. Thanks! Tony Tony R. Phoenix in Tucson, Az | Scientists study the world as Univ of Arizona, Electrical Engineering | it is. Engineers create the world Internet: aphoenix@vms.ccit.arizona edu | that has never been. USWestNet - (520)323-3776 | ------------------------------ From: "I am the NRA." Date: Tue, 23 May 95 19:19:58 EDT Subject: Woodpecker's, Russian & American >I'm new to this list, so forgive me if this has been gone over before! Not recetnly. >I'm looking for information about the so-called 'Woodpecker' signal that >used to be (or maybe still is, for all I know) I think not. Heard it a few times in the past. >transmitted from the erstwhile USSR. I think it may fall within the remit of >this list... Marginally so, at best. >Apparently, it was a shortwave signal that could be picked up on a radio >as a repetitive beat - hence the name. Yep. >It was a supposed to be the most powerful transmission in the world, hundreds >of times moreso than any normal radio transmission, Maybe. I have not heard that claim/ And one cna play funny games with the peak versus average power numbers, making a pulse output like this seem large. >and could only be received outside of the USSR. Not having been INSIDE the USSR at the time i cannot say for certain. However there is no known way to make it NOT heard in the USSR if the power was large. Shortwave (any radio) does not work that way. >No reason was known was such an expensive and apparently pointless venture, A most excellent reason is known and was known. Its called OTH-B, for short. Over The Horizon Backscatter RADAR. Conventional (microwave) radar cannot "see" much beyond the horizon. By using SW frequencies (which "bend") one can get radar coverage beyond the horizon. Nice for defense purposes. (NB: I am keeping this to a simple level) >though it was thought that it may have been some sort of experimental >'electronic warfare' Yep. radar is one form of electronic warfare. >directed primarily at the US to somehow influence the mental state of its >citizens. Unlikely. >Supposedly, the only place in the world where the signal could not be received >was within the territory of the USSR, as it was directed specifically abroad. SW can be aimed, but not that precisely. It would be "new physics" of a very high order to find that this was true. Given the number of .su (errrr. .ru) sites on the net, it would be easy to check this with an inquiry into rec.radio.sw or wherever. >Anyone know anything about this? As above and below. OTH technology was first employed in some very specialized ways, not well publicized to this day in the West in the mid 50s. Who Did It first i dunno. The Russian's brought the woodpecker on line in the 60s or early 70s. The US built a few equivalent systems (other than the specialized ones from the mid '50s). The closest US equivalent (whose name escapes me) would have been a rong of 6(?) sites on both coasts, giving basically transoceanic coverage outward. The US Woodpecker was not exactly secret, as there were public tours of the sigtes, two of which i was on. The prototype, if you will, had a control point in Bangor, ME, Transmitter in (brainfade), down-east along the coast, receiver in (really) Moscow, ME. They had about a 90 degree look angle. While we were at the control point, the played back the presentation of tracking of AF1 and its accompanying a/c OVER LONDON ENGLAND, taken from that station in Maine. BUT. Coverage was dependent on ionospheric conditions and never really achieved the full full area/full time coverage needed. I believe none of the other sites ever went live. They said that the US used higher pulse rates, sounding more like a chain saw than a woodpecker. Australia has developed the techniques at Jindalee (I can ramble on some more, but we may be drifting off charter...) regards dwp ------------------------------ From: megazone@world.std.com (MegaZone) Date: Tue, 23 May 1995 20:07:21 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: U-2 designation question Once upon a time APHOENIX@CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU shaped the electrons to say... >U-2. I have always been under the impression that the U designation means >utility and that it was applied to the U-2 as misinformation. He insists >that the U prefix is used only for recon aircraft. U is for utility, same as in UH-1 Iroquois (Huey) or UH-60 Blackhawk. R is used for recon, SR-71, TR-1 (now U2-Rs again), RA-5 Vigilante... - -- megazone@world.std.com (508) 752-2164 MegaZone's Waste Of Time Moderator: anime fanfic archive, ftp.std.com /archives/anime-fan-works; rec.arts.anime.stories - Maintainer: Ani Difranco Mailing List - Mail to majordomo@world.std.com with 'subscribe ani-difranco' in the body. ------------------------------ From: Kathryn & Andreas Gehrs-Pahl Date: Tue, 23 May 1995 23:31:28 -0400 (EDT) Subject: More Edwards trivia Here is some more Edwards AFB trivia. The base is located in the Antelope Valley, part of the Mojave Desert in southwest California and includes the Rogers (originally Rodriguez) Dry Lake. The little settlement there, established 1910 by the brothers Corum and their families, was named Muroc (because Coram, CA, already existed, and the proposed name Corum was too similar to Coram for the US Post Office Department). The vast Edwards AFB complex includes also the Rosamond Dry Lake, southwest of the Rogers Dry Lake. Rogers Dry Lake was first used by the USAAC as a bombing and gunnery range in September 1933. It still comprises several ranges, including the West Range, the East Range and the PB-6 Range for weapons testing. In December 1941 the USAAF established a permanent training base, at the west side of the Rogers Dry Lake, originally named Muroc Army Air Base (AAB) on 07/23/1943, and renamed Muroc Army Air Field (AAF) on 11/08/1943, which is now usually known as South Base. At the north end of the Rogers Dry Lake, a special test site was established, named the Materiel Center Flight Test Site in 1942, and was renamed the Muroc Flight Test Base in 1944. This part of Edwards AFB is now generally known as North Base and used for 'secret' testing. Both facilities were combined to the Muroc AAF on 04/15/1946, and later renamed Muroc Air Force Base (AFB) on 02/12/1948, when the USAF evolved from the USAAF. During the late 1940s and into the early 1950s, a third base was built, now usually known as Main Base, adjacent to the north of the South Base. The Main Base comprises two main entities, a military component: a) the Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC), including the Air Force Test Pilots School (AFTPS), which reports to the Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) -- originally Air Force Systems Command (AFSC) -- and belongs to the USAF; and a civilian component: b) the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) had technicians from the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory (of Hampton, VA) at Muroc as early as September 1946. This evolved into the NACA High Speed Flight Research Station (HSFRS) on 11/14/1949 and was renamed the NACA High Speed Flight Station (HSFS) on 06/26/1954, moving to the new Main Base facilities. After NACA became the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on 10/01/1958, the HSFC was renamed NASA Flight Research Center (FRC) on 09/27/1959, until it became the Hugh L. Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC) on 03/26/1976. It was again renamed on 10/01/1981 as the Hugh L. Dryden Flight Research Facility (DFRF), when it was consolidated with the Ames Research Center (ARC) located at NAS Moffett Field, CA. Just recently (when ?) it was renamed the Hugh L. Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC). The whole test complex was renamed Edwards AFB on 01/27/1950, after Capt. Glen W. Edwards, the copilot of the YB-49, which crashed on 06/05/1948 near the then Muroc AFB. The 5 member crew on this flight, who were all killed, were: Pilot: Maj. Daniel H. Forbes Jr. Copilot: Capt. Glen W. Edwards (of Lincoln, CA) Bombardier/Navigator: 1st Lt. Edward L. Swindell and two civilians: Clare C. Lesser C. H. LaFountain This information was compiled from various sources, of which some differ considerably in dates and other subjects. Any additional information and corrections are very welcome, especially from Mary Shafer or Peter Merlin. - -- Andreas - --- --- Andreas & Kathryn Gehrs-Pahl E-Mail: schnars@ais.org 313 West Court St. #305 or: gpahl@raptor.csc.flint.umich.edu Flint, MI 48502-1239 Tel: (810) 238-8469 WWW URL: http://www.umcc.umich.edu/~schnars/ - --- --- ------------------------------ From: Kathryn & Andreas Gehrs-Pahl Date: Tue, 23 May 1995 23:47:25 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: U-2 designation question Tony, Tell your Major to read a little bit in USAF regulations. One of them (Department od Defense Publication 4120.15-L "Mission, Design, and Series System" (MDS)) describes the current tri-service joint designation system used (also) for aircraft. The U in U-2 is the Basic Mission or Vehicle Type symbol (in this case the Mission symbol) and stands for Utility. There is currently no mission symbol for Reconnaissance aircraft, because there were no dedicated reconnaissance aircraft build since the U-2 and SR-71, both predating the Joint Designation System. The Modified Mission Symbol for the surveillance, intelligence gathering, and reconnaissance missions is R, like in RF-4C, RU-21J, etc. The Utility category was introduced in 1952 and replaced in 1962 the L (for Liaison) category, which itself had replaced the O (for Observation) category in 1942. Also some other aircraft in the C (for Cargo) and A (for Amphibian) category were redesignated in the U series, which is still in use today (1995). Aircraft in the U- series were: (Note: not all aircraft previously designated L-x were redesignated to U-x, due to losses and modification before 1962.) U-1 - Otter, de Havilland Canada DHC-3, 6 YU-1 (ex YC-137), 184 U-1A, 16 U-1B (ex UC-1) U-2 - 'Dragon Lady', Lockheed, 50 U-2/U-2A, 5 U-2D, 49 U-2R (including ex TR-1/ER-2) U-3 - 'Blue Canoe', Cessna Model 310, 160 U-3A (ex L-27A), 35 U-3B (ex L-27B) U-4 - Aero Commander Model 560 and Model 680, 13 U-4A (ex USAF L-26B), 2 U-4B (ex USAF L-26C) U-5 - Twin Courier, Helio Model H.500, 2 U-5A U-6 - Beaver, de Havilland DHC-2, 968 U-6A (ex L-20A) U-7 - Super Cub, Piper, 584 U-7A (ex L-21B) U-8 - Seminole, Beechcraft Model D50 Twin Bonanza and Model 65 Queen Air, 178 U-8D (ex L-23D), 20 RU-8D (ex RL-23D), 6 U-8E (ex L-23E), 89+ U-8F (79 ex L-23F), 2 U-8G (ex L-23E), plus some other U-9 - Aero Commander Model 560 and 680, 3 YU-9A (ex YL-26), 1 U-9B (ex Army L-26B), 4 U-9C (ex Army L-26C), 2 RU-9D (ex RL-26D), 1 NU-9D (ex NL-26D) U-10 - Super Courier, Helio Model H.295 and Model H.395, 39 U-10A (3 ex L-28A), 57 U-10B, 36 U-10D U-11 - Aztec, Piper Model 23-250, 20 U-11A (ex UO-1) U-12 - not used ? U-13 - not used ? U-14 - not used ? U-15 - not used ? U-16 - Albatross, Grumman Model G.64 and G.164, 170 HU-16A (ex SA-16A), 118+ HU-16B (ex SA-16B), 53 HU-16C (ex UF-1), 1+ LU-16C (ex UF-1L), 5 TU-16C (ex UF-1T), 68 HU-16D (51 ex UF-2S), 71 HU-16E (34 ex UF-1G and 37 ex UF-2G) U-17 - Cessna Model 180 and Model 185 Skywagon, 262 U-17A, 205 U-17B, 7 U-17C U-18 - Navion, Ryan (and North American) NA.154, 83 U-18A (ex L-17A), 163 U-18B (ex L-17B), 35 U-18C (ex L-17C) U-19 - Sentinel, Stinson, some U-19A (out of 2006 ex L-5), 1 U-19B (ex L-5G) U-20 - Cessna Model 195, 63 U-20A (ex LC-126C), 5 U-20B (ex LC-126B) U-21 - King Air, Beechcraft Model 65-A90, Model A100 and Model A200, 141 U-21A, 3 U-21B, 2 RU-21C, 16 RU-21D, 5 U-21F, 3 RU-21J U-22 - Beechcraft, Bonanza, 6 YQU-22A, 1 YAU-22A, 27 QU-22B U-23 - Pacemaker, Fairchild Hiller (Pilatus PC-6 Turbo Porter), 36 AU-23A U-24 - Stallion, Helio Model H.550A, 15 AU-24A U-25 - Huron, Beechcraft Model Super King Air 200, 20 U-25A (US Army, redesignated C-12A) U-25 - Guardian, Dassault Falcon 20G-MRS, 41 HU-25A (USCG) U-26 - Cessna Model 206 Super Skywagon, 1 U-26A U-27 - Cessna Caravan I, unofficial designation There were quite a few U-series aircraft modified for surveillance, intelligence gathering, and reconnaissance missions, like the RU-8, RU-9, RU-21, and QU-22 versions (and somewhat also the HU-16 and HU-25). But the main purpose of Utility aircraft was light utility transport, training, and liaison missions. - -- Andreas - --- --- Andreas & Kathryn Gehrs-Pahl E-Mail: schnars@ais.org 313 West Court St. #305 or: gpahl@raptor.csc.flint.umich.edu Flint, MI 48502-1239 Tel: (810) 238-8469 WWW URL: http://www.umcc.umich.edu/~schnars/ - --- --- ------------------------------ From: stas@Sirius.com (Stas Rutkowski) Date: Tue, 23 May 95 23:05:44 -0700 Subject: [none] 5/23/95 Stas Rutkowski 1730 19th Ave. San Francisco, CA 94122 stas@sirius.com http://www.sirius.com/~stas/ To whom it may concern, My name is Stas Rutkowski and I live and work in San Francisco California. I am a Computer artist, HTML programmer and I create World Wide Web pages for Sirius Solution Web publishing. I probable got your E-mail address from one of the many internet sources on Ufology. I have always had an interest in Ufology and abductions. I even have reason, make that reasons to believe that I have been abducted myself over the coarse of my life. I am contacting you for many reasons: #1 If you know of any group in the San Francisco Bay area that deal with this sort of thing please contact me and let me know how I can reach them. #2 I feel like I am becoming very well read on the subject and would like to do this for a living. How is this done? #3 I have some evidence that I have been abducted but I am confused what to do? I wonder if all the reading is seeping into my head and allowing me to put together a false probable truths about all of this. Either way at this point I need to know. I would like to go for hypnotic regression but don't know who to trust and if they could do a proper session without experience in this area. Please help if you can! Thanks ------------------------------ From: kuryakin@arn.net (Illya Kuryakin) Date: Wed, 24 May 1995 01:46:49 -0500 Subject: Re: More Edwards trivia +The whole test complex was renamed Edwards AFB on 01/27/1950, after Capt. +Glen W. Edwards, the copilot of the YB-49, which crashed on 06/05/1948 near +the then Muroc AFB. The 5 member crew on this flight, who were all killed, +were: Pilot: Maj. Daniel H. Forbes Jr. + Copilot: Capt. Glen W. Edwards (of Lincoln, CA) + Bombardier/Navigator: 1st Lt. Edward L. Swindell + and two civilians: Clare C. Lesser + C. H. LaFountain Duh... why was it named after the Copilot and one of the others (like the pilot)? Rick kuryakin@arn.net Illya Kuryakin "HA!!" U.N.C.L.E. Network Services Ruby kuryakin@arn.net Galactic Gumshoe It's hotter than Heater in Hooker, and hotter than Hooker in Hellmouth. ------------------------------ End of Skunk Works Digest V5 #278 ********************************* To subscribe to skunk-works-digest, send the command: subscribe skunk-works-digest in the body of a message to "majordomo@mail.orst.edu". If you want to subscribe something other than the account the mail is coming from, such as a local redistribution list, then append that address to the "subscribe" command; for example, to subscribe "local-skunk-works": subscribe skunk-works-digest local-skunk-works@your.domain.net To unsubscribe, send mail to the same address, with the command: unsubscribe skunk-works-digest in the body. 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