Arlie E. Judd Interview, 27 February 2001
‹‹ Interview Index
1 /
2 /
3 /
4 /
5 /
6 /
7 /
8 /
9 /
10 /
11 /
12 /
13 /
14 /
15 /
16 /
17 /
18 /
19 /
20 /
21 /
22 /
23
| locked on to it, then it would automatically control the signal strength, and it would lock on and track the target, and it even had what they call a leading edge tracking capability. If they'd a launched a missile from the target, it would, they said—I never done it, but I mean they said it would track the leading edge. It would actually track the missile rather than the aircraft, so it would pick up the leading edge coming towards you. | ||
| INT: | Yeah. Oh, interesting. | |
| AJ: | It was very sensitive I know that. | |
| INT: | But I mean, so, as a gunner, that's all you needed to direct your firer power? That's giving you all the information you need to know exactly where that object is off the B-52? | |
| AJ: | It would tell you the range and azimuth of the target and the elevation. The scope face was scribed so that you know exactly the range and the azimuth in degrees, and you didn't know what the elevation was unless there was a way to tell the elevation, but most people wouldn't fool with that. If you knew what your antenna was doing when it scanned up and when it scanned down, it would make a slight movement of the radar beam, and if you knew what the beam was doing, you'd know what the antenna was doing when it moved to the left it was looking down, and when it moved up, the scan would move to the right just a little bit and you could tell whether your target was above or below, and that was pretty damn important. | |
| INT: | Well that's interesting. So you really knew how to read that? | |
| AJ: | Yes. | |
| INT: | Where were you [located in the aircraft]? | |
| AJ: | Okay, in the aircraft as you come up on the upper deck—you had a lower deck and an upper deck, and you come up to the upper deck, and the pilot's would have to turn to the left and the EW and gunner would turn to the right and their seats sit side by side, and you're looking at the bulkhead— | |
| INT: | So you're back-to-back to the pilot, essentially? | |
| AJ: | Yes. The EW and the gunner were about this far apart looking aft. All of his equipment was set up—his scope was set up to position just like mine was. | |
| INT: | And then, so there's a hallway where you could see the window up front? |
‹‹ Previous Page — Next Page ››
14