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Brig. Gen. William H. Best, Jr., Commander radars over the hump: U.S. Air Force Weather Service recollections ol the first Scott Air Force Base, 111. 62225 weather radar network' Introduction time some of Ryde's first work on attenuation and back- Thank you, Mr. Changnon, ladies and gentlemen. It is scattering by hydrometeors was complete, but it had a pleasure for me to be with you this evening. I feel very not been released beyond various development groups much at home at this conference because of its im- and a few defense agencies. It was widely known that portance to my organization. As many of you know, the radar showed weather phenomena, but the theoretical Air Force Weather Service, in providing environmental background was lacking, and we didn't really know service to the Army and Air Force, is deeply involved what we were seeing. Despite these handicaps, Air in the practice of applied radar meteorology. Of our Weather Service meteorologists in the China-Burma- 6 different radars, we own and operate 116 storm de- India theater established that first weather radar net- tection sets and 43 cloud detection systems. The $18 work, and, in 1945, led the world in applying radar to million worldwide network constitutes one of the largest operational weather analysis and forecasting. in the world. To say, therefore, that the Air Weather Service is The world's first weather radar network interested in weather radar and vitally concerned with The story starts in the summer of 1944, when B-25 air- the outcome of weather radar conferences is clearly craft of the 2nd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron were an understatement. These conferences and the research modified to carry the "radio set" AN/APQ-13. This early presented at them are our lifeblood. Since we have no radar was originally installed to assist the B-25s in navi- charter nor resources for research, we depend on your gating, but it was soon realized that the APQ-13 could work to enhance our capability. We need operationally sense weather, and thereafter the "Q-13" officially had useful research results. So far, each of the 15 conferences a dual role as both a navigational instrument and a has yielded some work of this kind, and we in the storm detector. Air Weather Service have been able to make good use To give you a rough idea of the kind of business the of this research in our operational network. 2nd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron was in at the Talking in this way about the respective roles and time, let me mention that the airborne meteorologists importance to one another of the researcher and the in that squadron were officially called "forecaster-gun- operator leads me to my subject tonight, what I think ners." The weather version of the B-25, although lightly is an interesting story of early practitioners of radar armed in comparison to the B-25 bomber, nevertheless meteorology—a small group of enthusiastic professionals carried one twin 50-caliber and four single 50-caliber who advanced the state of the art by the diligence and machine guns—this plus a number of dropsondes, be- insight with which they applied it. lieve it or not, which, in a pinch, could be hurled out As scientists we must be concerned with the rigorous, of the aircraft to the confusion and consternation of theoretical development of a discipline. But in our the enemy. preoccupation we sometimes forget how often the first When the 2nd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron operational applications predated theoretical findings; acquired its APQ-13 radars, it was stateside undergoing how often, in other words, the practitioner has found training. In the fall of 1944, under the command of that he must push ahead before the path is cleared and Lt. Col. Jim Baker, the unit proceeded to Guskara, surveyed for him by the research scientist. India, just north of Calcutta, and was placed under the This was the case at the time of this story, during operational control of our 10th Weather Region, head- World War II, when the Air Weather Service estab- quartered at Barrackpore. lished the world's first weather radar network. At that The 10th Weather Region was, at the time, a rather overtasked unit (Fig. 1). It had the responsibility for 1 An address delivered at the banquet of the Fifteenth observing, analyzing, and forecasting the weather Conference on Radar Meteorology, American Meteorological throughout the entire China-Burma-India theater from Society, 11 October 1972, Urbana, 111. Ceylon in the south to Chengtu, China, in the north. Bulletin American Meteorological Society 205 Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/06/21 06:03 PM UTC Vol. 54, No. 3, March 1973 It operated fixed and mobile weather stations through- out that vast area and ran three separate weather cen- ters. In the rosters of the 10th Weather Region can be found many familiar names (Fig. 2), including Dick Ellsworth, after whom Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, is named; Dr. Bob Fletcher, the Air Weather Service's distinguished and recently retired Chief Scien- tist; Gordon E. Dunn, who was on loan from the U.S. Weather Bureau to the weather center at Barrackpore, India; J. J. George, now Director of Meteorology for Eastern Air Lines; and Don Martin, now Professor of Meteorology at Saint Louis University. The 2nd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron operated south to India, the Bay of Bengal, Burma and the Indo- china peninsula, and east to China, providing wea- FIG. 2. Officer personnel, Hq., 10th Weather Region— ther data in these areas and also weather scouting for December 1944. Front row (left to right): Capt. Hums, Lt. frequent flights "over the hump" into China. Lewis, Lt. Montgomery, Capt. Porter, Lt. Rado, Lt. Poland, The B-25s' APQ-13 radars worked so well for storm Lt. Ellis, Capt. Martin. Back row (left to right): Maj. Cald- well, Maj. Benefiel, Maj. Crawford, Maj. Dillow, Col. Ells- detection that the guys decided to try them on the worth, Lt. Col. George, Maj. Wagner, Maj. Albaugh, Mr. ground (Fig. 3). One of the APQ-13s at Guskara was Dunn, Mr. Fletcher, Lt. Vick. (USAF photo reproduced from modified slightly so it could be mounted in an upright the 10th Weather Region Historical Report, December 1944.) position; a 35-ft wooden tower was constructed; the APQ-13 antenna was placed atop this tower the power Synoptic analysis methods proved of little use in was hooked up; and the set was declared operational. identifying these nor'westers. And so 2nd Weather Re- Now this station at Guskara was established not sim- connaissance Squadron aircraft had been directed to ply out of scientific curiosity nor just as an experiment. maintain an airborne watch. This proved quite expen- Quite the contrary. From the very first, this installation sive in terms of money, flying hours, and crew time. was intended to solve one of the 10th Weather Region's Ground-based radar proved to be the right answer. toughest forecasting problems, namely, providing warn- With it, forecasters could watch these storms form and ings of the violent, convective nor'westers, the intense, begin moving. From this advance information, fore- fast-moving, squall line-type systems consisting of violent casters were able to issue warnings with enough lead thunderstorms, high winds, and hail, that were peculiar time to be useful. Flying operations could be halted to the provinces of Bengal, Orissa, and Assam during or diverted. Aircraft on the ramp could be hangered or the transition season between the monsoons. These tied down, and other protective measures could be taken. This radar warning service proved an overwhelm- storms caused considerable damage and greatly dis- ing success—so much so that the B-25 aircraft reconnais- rupted air and ground operations whenever they oc- sance efforts were soon suspended, and the aircraft curred. Consequently, they were of great concern to were released to perform other jobs. U.S. forces in the Ganges valley. Our historical records give us an idea of how radar was used in analysis and forecasting at Guskara. We had a FIG. 3. Tower of APQ-13 radar in position at Chabua, July 1945. (USAF photo reproduced from the 2nd Weather FIG. 1. China-Burma-India Theater, 10th Weather Region. Reconnaissance Squadron Historical Report, July 1945.) 206 Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/06/21 06:03 PM UTC Bulletin American Meteorological Society six-man radar staff there, more radar people than any works, which, of course, is a story all its own. Since these Air Weather Service station has today. There were four early times, as all of us know, radar meteorology has so-called "radar weather officers," including the Project grown very rapidly, and its growth has in turn led to Director, Lt. Harold T. Neal. These men were assisted advances in other areas of meteorology. by two enlisted maintenance technicians. Each day, the We in the Air Weather Service are proud to have radar was turned on shortly after noon and kept opera- been associated with radar meteorology and its applica- tional until all echoes had dissipated. As soon as echoes tions from the first—from APQ-13s on the banks of appeared on the scope, the radar staff began to take the Ganges; through CPS-9s, the world's first weather routine hourly observations of echo location, coverage, radar; through FPS-77s deployed worldwide; and on movement, and intensity. When storms became ominous to a digital weather radar system for which we are or began to move toward the station, the frequency of now laying the groundwork. We are convinced of the observing was increased to half-hourly.