Buzzer wrote:

On Wed, 06 Aug 2003 19:40:46 GMT, Ed Rasimus
wrote:

Buzzer wrote:

The APS-107D was an excellent, versatile system.

Let me see, for comparison sake, would you prefer to ride in my pit
downtown with an APS-107D or in an E-model with an APR-36/37,
particularly if we are going to be hunting and killing SAM sites? Do
you like colored lights better than a clear vector scope display and
TDU? Better launch detection than the AS (Azimuth Sector) light and
sequence logic of the 36/37?

In the 1 1/2 year period between the introduction in SEA of the
APS-107D and the APR-36/37 which would you have preferred? The APS-54,
Vector 4, pre-qual/qual APR-25/26 or APS-107D? Especially if you knew
the APS-107D detected missile launch the same way as the year and a
half in the future APR-36/37?

OK, if the 107 is the only game in town, which means "pre-E model"
then you've got to go with it. The APR-25/26 was a reasonable system,
but subject to a lot of false signals and definitely capable of being
saturated. But, once the E comes along with the 36/37, the
ideosyncracies of the 107 make it a lousy choice.

We're talking debriefing hundreds of crews. A small percentage
complained at first and wished for their old APR-25/26. Over time the
complaints went down and some even liked the system...

"some even liked" is a long way from your first "an excellent,
versatile system." I'm certain that with more experience with the 107
I would have felt more comfortable, but in only a handful of combat
rides in the D, I felt totally naked. I badly wanted my E-model back.

The 36/37 became so reliable for me, that I could tell my backseater
"true or false" just based on the audio, without going to the display.

When we got the ALR-46 installed in the Spring of '73, we weren't
going high threat anymore, but the system looked great. The only scary
part was when the tech reps were asking us to do F-4 to F-4 locks on
each other, with and without pods operating to see what the display
did. I couldn't help but wondering that if they didn't know for sure
what our own radars would do, how could we have confidence that they
knew what the enemy radar would show?


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (ret)
***"When Thunder Rolled:
*** An F-105 Pilot Over N. Vietnam"
*** from Smithsonian Books
ISBN: 1588341038