Veteran 10-29-2020
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A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER ABOUT VETERANS ISSUES, ORGANIZATIONS, EVENTS AND OUR MILITARY HEROES VOL. 8/ISSUE 52 THURSDAY • OCTOBER 29, 2020 35 CENTS A man made by war JAMES BOND AUTHOR IAN FLEMING WROTE FROM HIS INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCES STORY ON PAGE 7 2 • OCTOBER 29, 2020 • VETERAN VOICE On Oct. 21, 1960, the first flight of the E-2A occurred out of Bethpage, New York. Five years later, on Oct. 19, 1965, the U.S. Navy conducted its first E-2 deployment. Source: U.S. Navy photo Navy marks anniversary of iconic plane's first flight DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE “Oct. 21, 1960 was the first flight of the to the important role it serves for the Car- E-2 and was flown by test pilot Tom At- rier Strike Group. While the U.S. Navy celebrated its tridge,” said France, who added that from “The E-2 continues its long history of 245th birthday this October, the Airborne the first test to today, the E-2 community deploying and providing mission critical Command & Control Logistics Commu- is involved in three major transitions. “We capabilities to the fleet,” said France, who nity on Oct. 21 marked a longevity mile- are just over 50 percent complete with added that the capabilities of a command stone, the 60th anniversary of the maiden transitioning squadrons from the E-2C to & control platform are significantly ad- E-2 flight. While the U.S. Navy celebrat- the E-2D, as well as moving from E-2D vanced with the advent of the E-2D. ed its 245th birthday this October, the to E-2D aerial refueling and the mission The technological advancements of the Airborne Command & Control Logistics systems going from DSSC 2 to DSSC 3. E-2D expand the tactical capabilities of Community marked a longevity mile- An E-2D with Aerial Refueling and DSSC the aircraft within its preexisting mission stone: the 60th anniversary of the maiden 3 will provide persistence on station with set. The APY-9 radar enables detection of E-2 flight, Oct. 21. tremendous mission capability.” smaller contacts and at greater ranges, On Oct. 21, 1960, the first flight of the while the weapons system suite quickly E-2A occurred out of Bethpage, New Evolution of Air Wing processes and relays this information to York. Five years later, on Oct. 19, 1965, the Carrier Strike Group. As part of the Air Wing of the Future, the U.S. Navy conducted its first E-2 de- Meier discussed how the advancements the E-2D will maximize the offensive pow- ployment. in the E-2 community to the E-2D Aeri- er of the Carrier Air Wing. “For 60 years, the E-2 has been the eye al Refueling serves as an example of the “The radar, radios and datalinks have in the sky for the U.S. Navy,” said Capt. true strength of carrier aviation and the improved significantly over the years, and Michael France, Commander, Airborne evolution of the Air Wing. with each new generation, such as the Command & Control Logistics Wing, who “When we talk about the evolution of E-2D, the Navy has successfully learned has flown more than 4,700 hours flying the Air Wing and what makes a Carrier how to leverage those advanced capabil- 25 different aircraft. “The E-2 has contin- Air Wing so relevant is the fact that it ities to our asymmetric advantage,” said ued to manage the airspace in both times brings its own airborne early warning, it France. of peace and in times of conflict, and we brings its own airborne electronic attack, France added that having the capability are grateful for every pilot, maintainer, it brings its own organic refueling ca- to exploit Hawkeye radar technology for and aircrew who have supported this pability, and a whole host of long-range earlier and precise detection is a game community.” detection and command and control,” changer. said Meier. The E-2 community supports a variety The all-weather, carrier-based platform Test pilot of mission sets, including Airborne Early has continued to increase its capability Warning, battle management command over the past six decades with the intro- During an interview, Rear Adm. John and control, strike and intercept control, duction of the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye Meier, Commander, Naval Air Force At- maritime domain awareness, border and in 2010. Typically, on any given deploy- lantic on the admiral’s All Things Naval coastline protection, air traffic control, ment the E-2 is the first to launch and Aviation podcast, France discussed the search and rescue coordination, and hu- the last to recover on the flight deck due test pilot who flew the first E-2. manitarian assistance. VETERAN VOICE • OCTOBER 29, 2020 • 3 SPY ON THE SKY Axis aircraft couldn’t slip past the Southern Signal Corps MPs raise the Patrick McCallister FOR VETERAN VOICE flag at Camp [email protected] Murphy, home of the Southern Signal Corps What the soldiers were doing at Camp School. The Murphy near Stuart was top secret. So school played secret they were prohibited from saying a a pivotal role word outside the camp that we now regu- in American larly hear on the 6 o’clock news. victory in World Early in World War II the Luftwaffe War II. But demonstrated that air dominance was the the members new military high ground. The crushing of the Army Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor came Signal Corps not from battleships. It came from the Electronics Training Group aircraft carriers. America needed a new couldn’t utter a kind of soldier and sailor who could level word of it. the aerial battlefield. Military commanders knew just where to turn. Before the CIA, NSA and even OSS, there was the USASC, the Army Signal Corps. The corps had pioneered intel- ligence gathering and transmission to military commanders in the 1860s. From the start the Signal Corps embraced cutting-edge tech such as the portable Beardslee Telegraph. Before America’s entry into World War II, the Signal Corps recruited brilliant minds at top universities. In June of 1942 they gathered in Martin County to test, per- fect, then literally write the book on the word that must TOPnot be said. SECRET Radio detection and ranging These days if one drops “radio detection and ranging” into conversation it’d con- Photo courtesy fuse people. These days we freely use an of the State acronym that was once spoken in hush Library and among generals, admirals and intelli- Archives of gence chiefs looking over their shoulders Florida — radar. It was the secret weapon that effectively won the Battle of Britain and for the telemobiloscope. He touted it as After the war airplane technology rap- America was going to perfect it. a way to improve shipping safety. After idly improved. In the 1920s that was no a public demonstration a journalist at big deal to the British military. Come the A curious discovery Amsterdam’s De Telegraaf noted the 1930s, that was fast changing and minds telemobiloscope, which couldn’t yet deter- were beginning to consider the terrifying The fact radio waves bounce off solid mine object distances, might be handy for prospect of massive aerial bombardment objects had been known since Heinrich warfare. by swift planes rather than lumbering Hertz noticed it in the 1880s. When Alex- Oh, and the Wright Flyer had just made zeppelins. In 1935 Watson-Watt wrote a ander Popov was working on a system of the first controlled, sustained flight of a report to the Air Ministry with a practical wireless communication for the Russian heavier-than-air aircraft in December of idea for nullifying the surprise element navy in the 1890s, he noted an interfer- 1903. Aerial warfare was on its way. planes possessed with radio detection ence beat caused by a third vessel pass- and ranging, RADAR. ing near two testing ships. He made a Robert Watson-Watt note in a report this observation could be The race to RADAR developed to spot distant and obscured In 1916, as the Great War raged, Rob- ships. ert Watson-Watt got a job at the War He wasn’t alone. Other nations were on And the scientific curiosity sat for about Office to look into using radio waves to the hunt for RADAR, even if they had dif- a decade. Another man noticed it, too, accurately detect thunderstorms. No one ferent terms for it. It was the cloak-and- apparently independently of Popov: Ger- apparently had thought about using the dagger intrigue of the day. The one who man Christian Huelsmeyer. same radio tech to detect the German perfected it could suppress the power zeppelins that were bombing Britain airplanes gave enemies, while maximizing The telemobiloscope with near impunity. Upstart air defenses the power of their own. couldn’t reach the zeppelins in time to In 1904 Huelsmeyer took out a patent stop or catch them. See SIGNAL page 8 4 • OCTOBER 29, 2020 • VETERAN VOICE Letter to the EDITOR combat the opioid epidemic. But there is still more work to be done, Combating and I wo n’t stop fighting until we turn the tide in our fight against opioids. Check out this new video to learn more the opioid about our efforts to combat the opioid crisis: shorturl.at/cCNO9 crisis To learn more about my work on your behalf, please visit my website at mast. To the Editor: house.gov. Did you know that 1-in-2 Americans It is an honor to represent you in Con- know someone who has been affected by gress.