(Walt BJ) wrote:

Radio range - bad thing was it took about 20 minutes to shoot the
approach, and jet fighters, including T33, had to start early to make
one. Also it was very susceptible to atmospheric electrics,. The
static was really a problem during storms. Of course it was always a
non-precision approach with the station located several miles minimum
from the field. Most precise approach possible was when a range leg
centered the runway. Otherwise you let down to minimum altitude and
flew time and distance to the missed approach point, hoping a lot. At
Big Spring Texas (Webb AFB) you went 'missed approach' promptly on
time because the final approach heading neatly bisected 'Bust Your
Ass' Hill. It was also a circling approach there because (ISTR) the
inbound heading was about 45 degrees from runway 17.

Speaking of that, the following entry in Dad's log:

8 Feb 59 -- Pilot involved in Minor Aircraft Accident. Due to
windshield icing the Pilot, 1/Lt. Royce K. Kortbain, AO 3038717
landed T-33A Type Aircraft 35 feet to the right of the Runway.
1/Lt. Robert A. Marron, AO 3065592 was flying as Co-Pilot.

I never even saw an ILS approach until I came back from Okinawa about
3 years after graduation from Big Springs. First real WX ILS was at
LAX; I'd made two (2) under the hood prior to that. But ILS is very
very good. Saved my butt from an icy night on the ice cap up at Thule
- saw the runway about 25 feet up through a dense snow shower. Nearest
alternate was Alert, 400 miles away - and of course we never had
enough fuel left in our F102s to get there.
Walt BJ

Anyone ever flown an NDB approach via an old fashioned
loop antenna? (For the readers unfamiliar with the terminology,
NDB means "Non Directional Beacon" which is usually a
low-freq signal emanating from a commercial AM radio station
or transmitter on the ground.)

On newer aircraft, the pilot tunes in an NDB station simply by
turning a dial in the cockpit, but many older (WW2-era) aircraft
required the pilot to crank a lever that physically rotated a loop
antenna mounted on top of, or beneath the fuselage so as to
pick up the NDB or radio station on the ground.

The Japanese planes that attacked Pearl Harbor homed in on
their targets via loop antennas tuned a commercial radio station
(imagine listening to peaceful Hawaiian music while plummeting
straight down at the USS Arizona with a 1,760-pound armor-piercing
bomb!)

-Mike Marron