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== My Personal History With APS, Part 1  ==
== My Personal History With APS, Part 1  ==


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=== Early Life  ===
=== Early Life  ===
== My Personal History With APS, Part 1 ==


By William F. Croswell, Life Fellow, Part 1
<p>I served as APS Historian for a number of years. Since my professional career spans 56 years, I knew many of the pioneers.Therefore, I am writing this personal history in their honor. </p>
 
<p>[[Image:Croswell001.jpg|thumb|left|Figure 1, Bill and Jean Croswell's wedding, Thanksgiving Day 1952]] </p>


=== Early Life ===
<p>I graduated from Virginia Military Institute in June of 1952, B.S.E.E., and got married on the following Thanksgiving Day. During my senior year in the power curriculum, I was fortunate to take a course in microwave measurements taught by a new young professor. After combat training nearly every day from September 1950 to early 1952, I was transferred to the Air Force ROTC and given the opportunity to apply for graduate school when the Korean War was over. (In 1950 we were given the option to stay in school until graduation. We were commissioned in the spring 1952). I applied to Ohio State University since I had read about the Antenna Laboratory. At graduation in June, nearly everyone had received orders, except me. At home in Hampton, Virginia I received orders to report which were cancelled the next day. This continued until August 1952, when I received orders to report to Wright Field. There, the general in charge of the Air University Command briefed the assembled classes. The Air Force Institute of Technology ( AFIT ) was being created for Air Force officers to earn graduate degrees. The EE degrees were in EM Fields and Microwaves and Controls. There were other classes in aeronautical and mechanical engineering. Our professors in engineering were recalled reserve officers from WWII and were primarily from Cal Tech, Stanford, and MIT. Our physics professors were from the same schools and also some were Germans brought over after WWII. One of our microwave professors was Dr. Heil<ref>Oskar Heil (1908-1994) was a German engineer who, with his wife Agnesa, wrote a paper describing an early form of velocity modulation(Zeitschrift fur Physik , vol. 5,p.752,1935). Velocity modulation is vital to the operation of the klystron tube,which was developed before and during World War II for radar and other applications. Heil emigrated to the U.S. after the war. </ref>, who invented velocity modulation. In our original briefing the general stated that if any of us flunked a course, we would be shipped to Korea where the fighting was. On my first quiz, I received a 35 grade. I thought that I would not last long. Then I found out that a 35 was a B and 40 was an A. This was standard for all of our courses, the quizzes and exams were designed to be so difficult it was not possible to complete one in the time allotted. In addition, our course load was usually about 20 hours or more a quarter. I rarely went to sleep before 2 a.m. any night. In addition to courses in microwaves, EM theory, and advanced mathematics, and particle physics, the Air Force got Bell Telephone Laboratories to publish a book on transistors by Shockley and his research staff<ref>W. Shockley and staff, “The Transistor”, Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc.for Western Electric Co. Inc., New York, N.Y.</ref>. A number of transistors were purchased and a number of my classmates wrote their thesis on circuits they designed. We also had a course on the matrix analysis approach to electronic circuit analysis including both tubes and transistors. One of my classmates designed a ferrite isolator. I spent my thesis time trying to optimize multilayer radome design. I was partially successful, but much of my time was spent adjusting extra fans to cool the large number of tubes in the computer I used. In the spring of 1954, the accreditation board of about 8 professors from the Midwest came in. I was selected as one of the students to be interviewed. After the six quarters of work at AFIT this was not a problem for me. We were accredited! </p>


I served as APS Historian for a number of years. Since my professional career spans 56 years, I knew many of the pioneers.Therefore, I am writing this personal history in their honor.
<p>After graduating from AFIT I was assigned to the Radome Branch, of the Electronic Components Laboratory at Wright Field. It was located next to the building where AFIT was located. My assignment was that of Project Officer. I was responsible for radome design through production for a number of aircraft and missiles . At that time there were several hundred young officers with technical graduate degrees assigned to various technical areas such as aircraft structures, jet engines, navigation systems, etc. We were given signature authority for the approval of drawings through production by the General in charge of Wright Field. The head of the Radome branch was Fred Behrens who started the radome activity with R.E.Long as captains in the Army Air Corp in 1944 in the old systems laboratory at Wright Field. </p>


[[Image:Croswell001.jpg|thumb|left|Figure 1, Bill and Jean Croswell's wedding, Thanksgiving Day 1952]]
<p>In 1954 the radome field had progressed markedly in fabrication techniques and design from WWII days, although there were still serious problems in There were hundreds of engineers engaged in radome R&amp;D in addition to the hundreds working at aircraft companies. </p>


I graduated from Virginia Military Institute in June of 1952, B.S.E.E., and got married on the following Thanksgiving Day. During my senior year in the power curriculum, I was fortunate to take a course in microwave measurements taught by a new young professor. After combat training nearly every day from September 1950 to early 1952, I was transferred to the Air Force ROTC and given the opportunity to apply for graduate school when the Korean War was over. (In 1950 we were given the option to stay in school until graduation. We were commissioned in the spring 1952). I applied to Ohio State University since I had read about the Antenna Laboratory. At graduation in June, nearly everyone had received orders, except me. At home in Hampton, Virginia I received orders to report which were cancelled the next day. This continued until August 1952, when I received orders to report to Wright Field. There, the general in charge of the Air University Command briefed the assembled classes. The Air Force Institute of Technology ( AFIT ) was being created for Air Force officers to earn graduate degrees. The EE degrees were in EM Fields and Microwaves and Controls. There were other classes in aeronautical and mechanical engineering. Our professors in engineering were recalled reserve officers from WWII and were primarily from Cal Tech, Stanford, and MIT. Our physics professors were from the same schools and also some were Germans brought over after WWII. One of our microwave professors was Dr. Heil<ref>Oskar Heil (1908-1994) was a German engineer who, with his wife Agnesa, wrote a paper describing an early form of velocity modulation(Zeitschrift fur Physik , vol. 5,p.752,1935). Velocity modulation is vital to the operation of the klystron tube,which was developed before and during World War II for radar and other applications. Heil emigrated to the U.S. after the war. </ref>, who invented velocity modulation. In our original briefing the general stated that if any of us flunked a course, we would be shipped to Korea where the fighting was. On my first quiz, I received a 35 grade. I thought that I would not last long. Then I found out that a 35 was a B and 40 was an A. This was standard for all of our courses, the quizzes and exams were designed to be so difficult it was not possible to complete one in the time allotted. In addition, our course load was usually about 20 hours or more a quarter. I rarely went to sleep before 2 a.m. any night. In addition to courses in microwaves, EM theory, and advanced mathematics, and particle physics, the Air Force got Bell Telephone Laboratories to publish a book on transistors by Shockley and his research staff<ref>W. Shockley and staff, “The Transistor”, Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc.for Western Electric Co. Inc., New York, N.Y.</ref>. A number of transistors were purchased and a number of my classmates wrote their thesis on circuits they designed. We also had a course on the matrix analysis approach to electronic circuit analysis including both tubes and transistors. One of my classmates designed a ferrite isolator. I spent my thesis time trying to optimize multilayer radome design. I was partially successful, but much of my time was spent adjusting extra fans to cool the large number of tubes in the computer I used. In the spring of 1954, the accreditation board of about 8 professors from the Midwest came in. I was selected as one of the students to be interviewed. After the six quarters of work at AFIT this was not a problem for me. We were accredited!
=== F-102A  ===


After graduating from AFIT I was assigned to the Radome Branch, of the Electronic Components Laboratory at Wright Field. It was located next to the building where AFIT was located. My assignment was that of Project Officer. I was responsible  for  radome design through production for a number of aircraft and missiles . At that time there were several hundred young officers with technical graduate degrees assigned to various technical areas such as aircraft structures, jet engines, navigation systems, etc. We were given signature authority for the approval of drawings through production by the General in charge of Wright Field. The head of the Radome branch was Fred Behrens who started the radome activity with R.E.Long as captains in the Army Air Corp in 1944 in the old systems laboratory at Wright Field.
<p>[[Image:Croswell002.jpg|thumb|right|Figure 2, F-102A Interceptor. Provided by the USAF History Office.]] </p>


In 1954 the radome field had progressed markedly in fabrication techniques and design from WWII days, although there were still serious problems in There were hundreds of engineers engaged in radome R&D in addition to the hundreds working at aircraft companies.
<p>One of the first projects I was assigned was the F-102A, built by General Dynamics in San Diego.The aircraft ,that I was assigned to first flew in early 1954. The nose radome was built by Hughes Aircraft Company in Culver City. I went up to Hughes and met the head of the Microwave Lab, Dr. Lester Van Atta<ref>Lester Van Atta. After obtaining his physics PhD. at Princeton  in 1931,he joined the MIT Radiation Lab., moving to Naval Research Laboratory after 1945. From 1950 to 1962 he was with Hughes Aircraft Company, and was later employed by Lockheed and NASA before his retirement in 1973.</ref>. Dr. Van Atta took me to the radome manufacturing area, introduced me to the design and manufacturing engineers and showed me the tooling for the F102A radome. This radome which was about 6 feet long and 3 feet in diameter and was laid up on tooling that was made using numerical machining. This technique has been used in many applications over the years. Dr. Van Atta told me that aeronautical engineers had been changing the nose shape in an attempt to solve the problem of achieving supersonic flight. This problem was solved at NACA Langley Research Center using the “area rule“ determined in extensive tests of models in the transonic wind tunnel by R.T. Whitcomb<ref>Richard T. Whitcomb (1921-) developed the “ Whitcomb area rule “ in 1952, a principle first applied to the F-102 that enabled it to break the sound barrier.</ref>, a NACA engineer who, in later years when NACA became NASA, was one of my early graduate students. The nose shape was then fixed and the radome placed in production. I was at San Diego one time to witness supersonic flight of a F-102 A. Dr. Van Atta at Hughes introduced me one day to a new Ph. D. engineer from the University of Illinois, Dr. R.C. Hansen, who was in the antenna section. </p>


=== F-102A ===
<p>[[Image:Croswell003.jpg|thumb|left|Figure 3, Falcon Missile. Provided by the USAF History Office.]] </p>


[[Image:Croswell002.jpg|thumb|right|Croswell002.jpg|Figure 2, F-102A Interceptor. Provided by the USAF History Office.]]
<p>In 1948 Dr. Van Atta convinced the IRE, later the IEEE, to form a group to be called the Professional Group on Antennas and Propagation (PGAP). The first President and member of PGAP was Dr. Van Atta. (Please review the APS history to obtain detailed information.) I joined PGAP in 1957 where I met many of our pioneering members. In addition to the F-102A , Hughes also was building the Falcon missile. </p>


One of the first projects I was assigned was the F-102A, built by General Dynamics in San Diego.The aircraft ,that I was assigned to first flew in early 1954. The nose radome was built by Hughes Aircraft Company in Culver City. I went up to Hughes and met the head of the Microwave Lab, Dr. Lester Van Atta<ref>Lester Van Atta. After obtaining his physics PhD. at Princeton in 1931,he joined the MIT Radiation Lab., moving to Naval Research Laboratory after 1945. From 1950 to 1962 he was with Hughes Aircraft Company, and was later employed by Lockheed and NASA before his retirement in 1973.</ref>. Dr. Van Atta took me to the radome manufacturing area, introduced me to the design and manufacturing engineers and showed me the tooling for the F102A  radome. This radome which was about 6 feet long and 3 feet in diameter and was laid up on tooling that was made using numerical machining. This technique has been used in many applications over the years. Dr. Van Atta told me that aeronautical engineers had been changing the nose shape in an attempt to solve the problem of achieving supersonic flight. This problem was solved at NACA Langley Research Center using the “area rule“ determined in extensive tests of models in the transonic wind tunnel by R.T. Whitcomb<ref>Richard T. Whitcomb (1921-) developed the “ Whitcomb area rule “ in 1952, a principle first applied to the F-102 that enabled it to break the sound barrier.</ref>, a NACA engineer who, in later  years when NACA became NASA, was one of my early graduate students. The nose shape was then fixed and the radome placed in production. I was at San Diego one time to witness supersonic flight of a F-102 A. Dr. Van Atta at Hughes introduced me one day to a new Ph. D. engineer from the University of Illinois, Dr. R.C. Hansen, who was in the antenna section.
=== Falcon Missile ===


[[Image:Croswell003.jpg|thumb|left|Figure 3, Falcon Missile. Provided by the USAF History Office.]]
<p>The technical problem there was that the radome was in the near field of the small conical scan receiving dish. The tracking error from the radome fed back as an outside loop to the input to the control system. This problem required a number of years to solve. The major problem was the lack of large memory, fast , electronic computers. A present day notebook computer would be more than enough to solve the problem. Therefore, the problem was solved using extensive experiments with dielectric inserts in the radome. </p>


In 1948 Dr. Van Atta convinced the IRE, later the IEEE, to form a group to be called the Professional Group on Antennas and Propagation (PGAP). The first President and member of PGAP was Dr. Van Atta. (Please review the APS history to obtain detailed information.) I joined PGAP in 1957 where I met many of our pioneering members.
=== Bomarc Missile ===
In addition to the F-102A , Hughes also was building the Falcon missile.


=== Falcon Missile ===
<p>[[Image:Croswell004.jpg|thumb|right|Figure 4, Bomarc Missile. Provided by the USAF History Office.]] </p>


The technical problem there was that the radome was in the near field of the small conical scan receiving dish. The tracking error from the radome fed back as an outside loop to the input to the control system. This problem required a number of years to solve. The major problem was the lack of large memory, fast , electronic computers. A present day notebook computer would be more than enough to solve the problem. Therefore, the problem was solved using extensive experiments with dielectric inserts in the radome.
<p>Another project I had was the Bomarc Missile being designed and built at the Boeing Co. in Seattle. The engineer responsible for the radomes was Dr. Mel Kofoid<ref>Dr. Mel Kofoid. Professor University of Oregon. Director of the design and fabrication of Bomarc Radomes, Boeing Aircraft Co.</ref>, a former professor at a university in Oregon. The basic design for this radome, which was about 7 feet long and about 3 to 4 feet in diameter at its base, was a solid fiberglass laminate that was electrically 1/ 2 wavelength in the dielectric in thickness at the center radar frequency. In order to meet the tracking specifications the radome had to be fabricated to an accuracy of one or two mils (thousandths of an inch). In order to solve this very difficult manufacturing problem, a very complex method was employed. First the basic radome was built so that the radome thickness was slightly thinner than required. Dr. Kofoid then designed and built some very novel test tooling. The first device was a microwave interferometer using two approximately one wavelength horns. Using this special tooling, the insertion phase of the radome was measured in wavelength increments spatially which involved thousands of measurements. This data was reduced and the number of mils of fiberglass laminate necessary at a given location to correct the radome to a 1/2 wavelength determined. Adapting the special RF tooling, a given patch location was determined and 1 mil thick, wavelength-square pieces of impregnated fiber glass were placed on the surface as required to reach the1/2 wavelength thickness in the dielectric. After attaching these thousands of patches the radome was then cured as required. While this complex manufacturing methodology did work, the Bomarc missles could be built much faster than the radomes could. </p>


=== Bomarc Missile ===
<p>In order to solve this schedule problem , Boeing put out a procurement request in order to increase the radome production rate. A small operation in Seattle suggested that Boeing use a new method they had patented, called “fiberglass filament winding." Boeing bought the small company and its patent. Using 1 or 2 mil diameter glass fiber coated with resin the 1/2 wavelength in the dielectric radome was built quickly and very accurately, thus solving the schedule problem. Among other articles, solid propellant rocket motor casings are built using filament winding, along with other types of hardware. </p>


[[Image:Croswell004.jpg|thumb|right|Figure 4, Bomarc Missile. Provided by the USAF History Office.]]
=== B-66  ===


Another project I had was the Bomarc Missile being designed and built at the Boeing Co. in Seattle. The engineer responsible for the radomes was Dr. Mel Kofoid<ref>Dr. Mel Kofoid. Professor University of Oregon. Director of the design and fabrication of Bomarc Radomes, Boeing Aircraft Co.</ref>, a former professor at a university in Oregon. The basic design for this radome, which was about 7 feet long and about 3 to 4 feet in diameter at its base, was a solid fiberglass laminate that was electrically 1/ 2 wavelength in the dielectric in thickness at the center radar frequency. In order to meet the tracking specifications the radome had to be fabricated to an accuracy of one or two mils (thousandths of an inch). In order to solve this very difficult manufacturing problem, a very complex method was employed. First the basic radome was built so that the radome thickness was slightly thinner than required. Dr. Kofoid then designed and built some very novel test tooling. The first device was a microwave interferometer using two approximately one wavelength horns.  Using this special tooling, the insertion phase of the radome was measured in wavelength increments spatially which involved  thousands of measurements. This data was reduced and the number of mils of fiberglass laminate necessary at a given location to correct the radome to a 1/2 wavelength determined.  Adapting the special RF tooling, a given patch location was determined and 1 mil thick, wavelength-square pieces of impregnated fiber glass were placed on the surface as required to reach the1/2 wavelength thickness in the dielectric. After attaching these thousands of patches the radome was then cured as required. While this complex manufacturing methodology did work, the Bomarc missles could be built much faster than the radomes could.
<p>[[Image:Croswell005.jpg|thumb|left|Figure 5, B-66Provided by the USAF History Office.]] </p>
   
In order to solve this schedule problem , Boeing put out a procurement request in order to increase the radome production rate. A small operation in Seattle suggested that Boeing use a new method they had patented, called “fiberglass filament winding." Boeing bought the small company and its patent. Using 1 or 2 mil diameter glass fiber coated with resin the 1/2 wavelength in the dielectric radome was built quickly and very accurately, thus solving the schedule problem. Among other articles, solid propellant rocket motor casings are built using filament winding, along with other types of hardware.


=== B-66 ===
<p>After returning from one of many trips as project officer, I received a message from the deputy commander of Wright Field to report immediately to his office. Upon reporting to the Brig. General’s office I found out he was very disturbed. He asked my why I had rejected the production drawings for the nose radome on the Douglas B-66 as shown in Figure 5. </p>


[[Image:Croswell005.jpg|thumb|left|Figure 5, B-66. Provided by the USAF History Office.]]
<p>I told the general that the measured data on the first five production radomes did not meet transmission specifications, unlike the prototype radome. I also stated that the engineers responsible for the radome at Douglas Long Beach had informed me that they did not understand why the production radomes were not working properly. The general told me that since the nose radome is a structural part, the lead airplane in the production line could not be rolled out the hanger and therefore production would stop in several weeks. When that happened nearly 20,000 people would be out of work. He told me to go home and pack and report to the control tower the next morning. A T-33 would fly me to Douglas Long Beach. He also told me not to come home until the problem was solved. My wife asked me when I was coming home. I told her that I really did not know. </p>


After returning from one of many trips as project officer, I received a message from the deputy commander of Wright Field to report immediately to his office. Upon reporting to the Brig. General’s  office I found out he was very disturbed. He asked my why I had rejected the production drawings for the nose radome on the Douglas B-66 as shown in Figure 5.
<p>Upon landing at Douglas, Long Beach, a guard escorted me to Mr. Douglas Jr’s office. The USAF’s Plant Representative’s office was closed because it was Columbus Day. I spoke with Mr. Douglas about the B-66 nose radome problem. He told me I could call him at any time and would receive any help I needed. The guard escorted me to the engineering area. The antenna and radome group was in a walled off area in a very large drafting room with many engineers. At the door to this room were two heavily armed guards. I was checked in and went inside. The antenna and radome engineers met me. I asked them why the guards were there. They told me they were not allowed to go home (imagine that happening now). Cots were brought in the evening, and food catered from the best restaurants was brought in. Mr. Douglas had a car available for me and I was taken to a hotel when we stopped work at night. I was picked up at 7 am and taken to the plant. After about 4 days we had retested the 5 production radomes. All of the radomes tested different. However all of them failed to meet specifications. The radome was designed using two fiberglass skins with a rectangular “fluted“ core. The openings of the core ran from the base of the radome to the nose tip. Hot gases from the jet engines were coupled to the flutes to de-ice the radome when required. After the testing I called Mr. Douglas and asked permission to cut up the radomes and inspect the inside. (The radomes cost about $40k-$50K apiece. Now days this would be $400K-$500K.) Inside the first production radomes we found metal filings, screws, bolts, nuts, and washers. It turns out there had been labor trouble in the plastics shops, and a number of workers had been fired. After working continuously breathing the fumes for a while, a number of people start to lose it. (In those days safety practices were in crude shape.) I asked that they rotate workers out of plastics shops every several days to prevent this problem from occurring again. Upon returning back to Wright Field, I wrote a one page memo to the deputy commander stating that the problem was solved and that I had approved the production drawing. I never received a reply. I went back to solving the next dozen problems on my desk. </p>


I told the general that the measured data on the first five production radomes did not meet transmission specifications, unlike the prototype radome. I also stated that the engineers responsible for the radome at Douglas Long Beach had informed me that they did not understand why the production radomes were not working properly. The general told me that since the nose radome is a structural part, the lead airplane in the production line could not be rolled out the hanger and therefore production would stop in several weeks. When that happened nearly 20,000 people would be out of work. He told me to go home and pack and report to the control tower the next morning. A T-33 would fly me to Douglas Long Beach. He also told me not to come home until the problem was solved. My wife asked me when I was coming home. I told her that I really did not know.
=== Other Aircraft Projects  ===


Upon landing at Douglas, Long Beach, a guard escorted me to Mr. Douglas Jr’s office. The USAF’s Plant Representative’s office was closed because it was Columbus Day. I spoke with Mr. Douglas about the B-66 nose radome problem. He told me I could call him at any time and would receive any help I needed. The guard escorted me to the engineering area. The antenna and radome group was in a walled off area in a very large drafting room with many engineers. At the door to this room were two heavily armed guards. I was checked in and went inside. The antenna and radome engineers met me. I asked them why the guards were there. They told me they were not allowed to go home (imagine that happening now). Cots were brought in the evening, and food catered from the best restaurants was brought in.  Mr. Douglas had a car available for me and I was taken to a hotel when we stopped work at night. I was picked up at 7 am and taken to the plant. After about 4 days we had retested the 5 production radomes. All of the radomes tested different. However all of them failed to meet specifications. The radome was designed using two fiberglass skins with a rectangular “fluted“ core. The openings  of the core ran from the base of the radome to the nose tip. Hot gases from the jet engines were coupled to the flutes to de-ice the radome when required. After the testing I called Mr. Douglas and asked permission to cut up the radomes and inspect the inside. (The radomes cost about $40k-$50K apiece. Now days this would be $400K-$500K.) Inside the first production radomes we found metal filings, screws, bolts, nuts, and washers. It turns out there had been labor trouble in the plastics shops, and a number of workers had been fired. After working continuously breathing the fumes for a while, a number of people start to lose it. (In those days safety practices were in crude shape.) I asked that they rotate workers out of plastics shops every several days to prevent this problem from occurring again.
<p>There were other airplane projects including the F-103 and F-109 which were cancelled due to technical difficulties. My last aircraft project was the B-52. This aircraft was already in production. The radome problems had to do with the aircraft that dropped the first H bomb. After performing the sling shot maneuver the B-52 went into the opposite direction under full combat power. When the H-Bomb exploded the thermal burst damaged the radomes under the aircraft by burning and imploding all the radomes. The aircraft and crew made it back safely. Work on new radomes was still ongoing when I left active duty. </p>
Upon returning back to Wright Field, I wrote a one page memo  to the deputy commander stating that the problem was solved and that I had approved the production drawing. I never received a reply. I went back to solving the next dozen problems on my desk.  


=== Other Aircraft Projects ===
=== Radome R&amp;D  ===


There were other airplane projects including the F-103 and F-109 which were cancelled due to technical difficulties. My last aircraft project was the B-52. This aircraft was already in production. The radome problems had to do with the aircraft that dropped the first H bomb. After performing the sling shot maneuver the B-52 went into the opposite direction under full combat power. When the H-Bomb exploded the thermal burst damaged the radomes under the aircraft by burning and imploding all the radomes. The aircraft and crew made it back safely. Work on new radomes was still ongoing when I left active duty.
<p>In addition to the aircraft and missile projects I was assigned a number of radome R&amp;D projects from the dozens sponsored by Wright Field alone. I remember going to Menlo Park , California to see John Damonte<ref>John B. Damonte worked at Dalmo Victor in Menlo Park, California near SRI for 26 years from 1950 – 1966 . He was antenna designer for the Apollo Service Module antennas including the 5 foot S-band steerable dish (operating in the supersonic flow from the control jets).He also worked on the E-21 14.5’ Rotodome for Grumman. After that he went to work at Lockheed, Sunnyvale until he retired in 1991. John has served the IEEE as secretary-treasurer and President of APS and region 6 IEEE director.</ref> at Dalmo Victor. John had developed a swept frequency reflectometer using a long horn with a one wavelength aperture at the center frequency. This horn was placed at a given location on the radome and the reflection phase determined to estimate the radome thickness. This device was developed to determine radome performance when mounted on the aircraft. I later met John Damonte a number of years later when he was on PGAP Adcom. Another person I met in Menlo Park in the 50’s was Dr. E.M.T. Jones<ref>E.M.T Jones  received his PhD. from Stanford University. He joined Stanford Research Institute and worked with Leo Young. He coauthored with G. Mattei and L. Young the “bible“ of microwave filter design, ”Microwave Filters, Impedance-Matching Networks, and Coupling Structures“ which is still in print.</ref> at the Stanford Research Institute. I had been asked to go by and discuss a potential R&amp;D project. Dr. Jones wanted to finish his analysis of an array of cavities where each cavity had a circular hole in the bottom and top and was filled with dielectric. This was the first metalized radome. I went home and wrote a statement of work and had contracts issue an RFP. I evaluated the proposals and awarded SRI the contract. The analysis was evaluated using a long horn with an aperture large enough to contain a number of cavity apertures in the transverse direction. This was a common method used at the time to evaluate large phased arrays. </p>


=== Radome R&D ===
<p>In addition to small companies and groups in the large aircraft companies, there were two universities that had extensive antenna laboratories. One was the University of Illinois and the other the Ohio State University. These two universities had a direct connection in their staffs, namely Bill Everitt<ref>Dr. W.L. Everitt received his PhD. from Ohio State University. At the end of World War II , he became the Head of the Department of Electrical  Engineering at the University of Illinois. From 1949 to 1968 he was Dean of the College of Engineering.</ref> and Ed Jordan<ref>Dr. E.C. Jordan became Director of the Antenna Laboratory in 1952, until he became Head of EE in 1954.</ref>. Ed Jordan was an early operator of the University of Alberta radio station in 1928 when he started his education. In 1933 he built a studio amplifier which, for the first time, incorporated AGC in a broadcast amplifier. An oscillograph study of the effects of the effects of this control became the subject of his Master’s thesis. Due to his personal hearing problem he also devised his own hearing aid. He ultimately obtained a post at Ohio State University, worked with Dr. Bill Everitt and wrote his Ph. D. thesis on “Acoustic Models of Radio Antennas“ in 1937. When World War II started Dr. Everitt went to Washington and Ed became very busy teaching microwave and EM courses and consulting in the antenna field. He subsequently moved to the University of Illinois as a professor with Bill Everett as Department Chairman. After a similar busy teaching and research schedule he became Department Chairman in 1954. A number of professors joined the department staff including Ray Duhamel<ref>Dr. Ray Duhamel received his Ph. D. at UI while working in the Antenna laboratory. His early work included log-periodic antennas.</ref> ,John Dyson<ref>Dr. John Dyson received his Ph. D. from UI. He published several of his early papers on logarithmic spiral antennas.</ref>, Paul Mays<ref>Dr. Paul E Mayes received his Ph. D. from UI. He published early work on spiral antennas. Paul supplied me a description of the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign ( UIUC) Antenna Symposium held at Allerton. This paper, entitled FIFTY YEARS OF ANTENNAS MIDST CORN AND SOYBEANS, summarizes many antenna ideas and lists many papers of the last 50 years. This meeting is still being held nunder the direction of Dr. Dan Schaubert of the  Antenna Laboratory University of Massachusetts.</ref>, Y.T. Lo<ref>Dr. Y.T.Lo received his Ph. D. from UIUC. Dr. Lo has published and worked on microstrip antennas over many years.</ref>, and Vic Rumsey<ref>Dr. Victor H. Rumsey was the director of the OSU Antenna Laboratory in 1948 and left the lab in 1954 to join the Antenna laboratory at the UIUC as Director. He is widely known as the developer of “reaction theory “ and wrote a number of papers on that subject. At Illinois he developed several principles for the realization of "frequency –independent” antennas. In 1957 he moved to the University of California at Berekeley and later to UC, San Diego.</ref>. My branch hired some of these staff members of the Antenna Laboratory as consultants . </p>


In addition to the aircraft and missile projects I was assigned a number of radome R&D projects from the dozens sponsored by Wright Field alone. I remember going to Menlo Park , California to see John Damonte<ref>John B. Damonte worked at Dalmo Victor in Menlo Park, California near SRI for 26 years from 1950 – 1966 . He was antenna designer for the Apollo Service Module antennas including the 5 foot S-band steerable dish (operating in the supersonic flow from the control jets).He also worked on the E-21 14.5’ Rotodome for Grumman. After that he went to work at Lockheed, Sunnyvale until he retired in 1991. John has served the IEEE as secretary-treasurer and President of APS and region 6 IEEE director.</ref> at Dalmo Victor. John had developed a swept frequency reflectometer using a long horn with a one wavelength aperture at the center frequency. This horn was placed at a given location on the radome and the reflection phase determined to estimate the radome thickness. This device was developed to determine radome performance when mounted on the aircraft. I later met John Damonte a number of years later when he was on PGAP Adcom. Another person I met in Menlo Park in the 50’s was Dr. E.M.T. Jones<ref>E.M.T Jones  received his PhD. from Stanford University. He joined Stanford Research Institute and worked with Leo Young. He coauthored with G. Mattei and L. Young the “bible“ of microwave filter design, ”Microwave Filters, Impedance-Matching Networks, and Coupling Structures“ which is still in print.</ref> at the Stanford Research Institute. I had been asked to go by and discuss a potential R&D project. Dr. Jones wanted to finish his analysis of an array of cavities where each cavity had a circular hole in the bottom and top and was filled with dielectric. This was the first metalized radome. I went home and wrote a statement of work and had contracts issue an RFP. I evaluated the proposals and awarded SRI the contract. The analysis was evaluated using a long horn with an aperture large enough to contain a number of cavity apertures in the transverse direction. This was a common method used at the time to evaluate large phased arrays.
<p>I was assigned to monitor contracts at the Ohio State University Antenna Laboratory. Dr. Tom Tice<ref>Dr. Thomas E. Tice received his Ph. D. at Ohio State University. His supervising professor was Dr. John Kraus. When Dr. Rumsey left the OSU Antenna Laboratory in 1954, Tom Tice became the new director. I went to Columbus  as a Radome Project Officer and asked Tom to edit a Radome Handbook and to start a Radome Symposium at OSU. He did. The handbook was called  “Techniques For Airborne Radome Design” and was put together by McGraw–Hill. After completion the manuscript was submitted for approval and subsequently classified. It was declassified in 1961, long after Tom left OSU. Tom Tice left OSU in about 1960 and became a professor at Arizona State University. He retired in the late 1990’s and joined the Navy Research Lab in San Diego until recent years when he moved back to Phoenix.</ref> was the director of the Antenna Laboratory. Dr. Vic Rumsey was the previous director, however, he transferred to the University of Illinois a year before. Dr. Tice was working on the radome contracts along with Dr. Jack Richmond<ref>Dr. Jack Richmond received his PhD at OSU in 1955. He spent his early research years on radome theory and wrote part of the radome handbook for Tom Tice. In the 1960’s he later developed the basic Moment Method independently of Roger Harrington in about the same time frame.</ref>. This was also when I met Dr C.T. Tai<ref>Dr. C.T. Tai received his Ph. D. from Harvard University in the late 1940’s. He was one of the first students of R.W.P. King. He went to Menlo Park after Harvard to work at Stanford Research Institute and joined the Antenna Laboratory at Ohio State University in the early 1950’s. One of his continuing interests was dyadic Green’s Function solutions. Typical was a problem consisting of a dipole surrounded by a spherical dipole. Later on, he became interested in moving media. In the late 1950’s Chen-To moved to the University of Michigan where he was a Professor and a member of the Radiation Laboratory led by Ralph Hiatt. Chen-To was a very good one-on-one basketball player. He bought John Kraus‘ family home in Ann Arbor.</ref> who was working on a problem of spherical radomes. Dr. John Kraus<ref>Dr. John Kraus obtained his Ph. D. in physics at the University of Michigan in 1933, conducted research in nuclear physics, degaussed navy ships during WWII  and joined OSU after the war.  He wrote his book on antennas in 1950. Then he wrote books on electromagnetics and radio astronomy. He designed and built the Big Ear, a very large radio astronomy facility in southeast Ohio. He was a full Professor and taught a heavy load of antenna and electromagnetic courses in the EE department while the Big Ear was being designed and constructed by himself and his students. ( “Big Ear“ is the title of a book written in 1976 by John Kraus about the radio astronomy facility ).</ref> was Tom Tice’s Ph. D. advisor. Dr. Tice introduced me to Dr. Kraus and he introduced me to his books ”Electromagnetic Theory“ and “Antennas“. These books were so well written I was able to master them on my own at night or on long airplane trips. (In those days it took about 12 hours from Chicago to Los Angeles and 16 hours from Chicago to Seattle). Dr. Kraus was another example of the early pioneer in the antenna field. He became interested in amateur radio as a boy and continued this interest throughout most of his life. Although his degrees were in physics, (he was involved in early nuclear physics research at the University of Michigan), his antenna designs were primarily related to amateur radio for many years prior to his interest in radio astronomy. It is interesting to note while at Michigan in the 1930’s he established radio contact with his colleagues in California. Due to funding limitations, these radio meetings were a crucial part of nuclear research of the staffs at several major universities. Dr. Kraus’ major contribution to the World War II effort was directing the project to degauss ships so that they were immune to magnetic mines. </p>


In addition to small companies and groups in the large aircraft companies, there were two universities that had extensive antenna laboratories. One was the University of Illinois and the other the Ohio State University. These two universities had a direct connection in their  staffs, namely Bill Everitt<ref>Dr. W.L. Everitt received his PhD. from Ohio State University. At the end of World War II , he became the Head of the Department of Electrical  Engineering at the University of Illinois. From 1949 to 1968 he was Dean of the College of Engineering.</ref> and Ed Jordan<ref>Dr. E.C. Jordan became Director of the Antenna Laboratory in 1952, until he became Head of EE in 1954.</ref>. Ed Jordan was an early operator of the University of Alberta radio station in 1928 when he started his education. In 1933 he built a studio amplifier which, for the first time, incorporated AGC in a broadcast amplifier. An oscillograph study of the effects of the effects of this control became the subject of his Master’s thesis. Due to his personal hearing problem he also devised his own hearing aid. He ultimately obtained a post at Ohio State University, worked with Dr. Bill Everitt and wrote his Ph. D. thesis on “Acoustic Models of Radio Antennas“ in 1937. When World War II started Dr. Everitt went to Washington and Ed became very busy teaching microwave and EM courses and consulting in the antenna field. He subsequently moved to the University of Illinois as a professor with Bill Everett as Department Chairman. After a similar busy teaching and research schedule he became Department Chairman in 1954. A number of professors joined the department staff including Ray Duhamel<ref>Dr. Ray Duhamel received his Ph. D. at UI while working in the Antenna laboratory. His early work included log-periodic antennas.</ref> ,John Dyson<ref>Dr. John Dyson received his Ph. D. from UI. He published several of his early papers on logarithmic spiral antennas.</ref>, Paul  Mays<ref>Dr. Paul E Mayes received his Ph. D. from UI. He published early work on spiral antennas. Paul supplied me a description of the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign ( UIUC) Antenna Symposium held at Allerton. This paper, entitled FIFTY YEARS OF ANTENNAS MIDST CORN AND SOYBEANS, summarizes many antenna ideas and lists many papers of the last 50 years. This meeting is still being held nunder the direction of Dr. Dan Schaubert of the  Antenna Laboratory University of Massachusetts.</ref>, Y.T. Lo<ref>Dr. Y.T.Lo received his Ph. D. from UIUC. Dr. Lo has published and worked on microstrip antennas over many years.</ref>, and Vic Rumsey<ref>Dr. Victor H. Rumsey was the director of the OSU Antenna Laboratory in 1948 and left the lab in 1954 to join the Antenna laboratory at the UIUC as Director. He is widely known as the developer of “reaction theory “ and wrote a number of papers on that subject. At Illinois he developed several principles for the realization of "frequency –independent” antennas. In 1957 he moved to the University of California at Berekeley and later to UC, San Diego.</ref>. My branch hired some of these staff members of the Antenna Laboratory as  consultants .
<p>In 1955 there were two notable new projects. First, I was asked to organize a Radome Symposium. I decided to have this at Ohio State University with Dr. Tom Tice as Technical Chairman. This meeting was held there for a few years. The radome symposia were well attended. The same year it was decided to write a comprehensive report on the design of aircraft radomes. The report entitled “Techniques for Airborne Radome Design” was published by WADC as WADC Technical Report 57-67. Dr. Tice was editor-in chief and the report was prepared by the Technical Writing Service of the Mc Graw- Hill Book Company, Inc. I was task manager and one of the consulting editors. This document was originally intended to be published by McGraw-Hill, but upon review it was classified. The report was declassified in 1961. By then Tom Tice and I were gone to other places. </p>


I was assigned to monitor contracts at the Ohio State University Antenna Laboratory. Dr. Tom Tice<ref>Dr. Thomas E. Tice received his Ph. D. at Ohio State University. His supervising professor was Dr. John Kraus. When Dr. Rumsey left the OSU Antenna Laboratory in 1954, Tom Tice became the new director. I went to Columbus  as a Radome Project Officer and asked Tom to edit a Radome Handbook and to start a Radome Symposium at OSU. He did. The handbook was called  “Techniques For Airborne Radome Design” and was put together by McGraw–Hill. After completion the manuscript was submitted for approval and subsequently classified. It was declassified in 1961, long after Tom left OSU. Tom Tice left OSU in about 1960 and became a professor at Arizona State University. He retired in the late 1990’s and joined the Navy Research Lab in San Diego until recent years when he moved back to Phoenix.</ref> was the director of the Antenna Laboratory. Dr. Vic Rumsey was the previous  director, however, he transferred to the University of Illinois a year before. Dr. Tice was working on the radome contracts along with  Dr. Jack  Richmond<ref>Dr. Jack Richmond received his PhD at OSU in 1955. He spent his early research years on radome theory and wrote part of the radome handbook for Tom Tice. In the 1960’s he later developed the basic Moment Method independently of Roger Harrington in about the same time frame.</ref>. This was also when I met Dr C.T. Tai<ref>Dr. C.T. Tai received his Ph. D. from Harvard University in the late 1940’s. He was one of the first students of R.W.P. King.  He went to Menlo Park after Harvard to work at Stanford Research Institute and joined the Antenna Laboratory at Ohio State University in the early 1950’s. One of his continuing interests was dyadic Green’s Function solutions. Typical was a problem consisting of a dipole surrounded by a spherical dipole. Later on, he became interested in moving media. In the late 1950’s Chen-To moved to the University of Michigan where he was a Professor and a member of the Radiation Laboratory led by Ralph Hiatt. Chen-To was a very good one-on-one basketball player. He bought John Kraus‘ family home in Ann Arbor.</ref> who was working on a problem of spherical radomes. Dr. John Kraus<ref>Dr. John Kraus obtained his Ph. D. in physics at the University of Michigan in 1933, conducted research in nuclear physics, degaussed navy ships during WWII  and joined OSU after the war.  He wrote his book on antennas in 1950. Then he wrote books on electromagnetics and radio astronomy. He designed and built the Big Ear, a very large radio astronomy facility in southeast Ohio. He was a full Professor and taught a heavy load of antenna and electromagnetic courses in the EE department while the Big Ear was being designed and constructed by himself and his students. ( “Big Ear“ is the title of a book written in 1976 by John Kraus about the radio astronomy facility ).</ref> was Tom Tice’s Ph. D. advisor. Dr. Tice introduced me to Dr. Kraus and he introduced  me to his books ”Electromagnetic Theory“ and “Antennas“.  These books were so well written I was able to master them on my own at night or on long airplane trips. (In those days it took about 12 hours from Chicago to Los Angeles and 16 hours from Chicago to Seattle). Dr. Kraus was another example of the early pioneer in the antenna field. He became interested in amateur radio as a boy and continued this interest throughout most of his life. Although his degrees were in physics, (he was involved in early nuclear physics research at the University of Michigan), his antenna designs were primarily related to amateur radio for many years prior to his interest in radio astronomy. It is interesting to note while at Michigan in the 1930’s he established radio contact with his colleagues  in California. Due to funding limitations, these radio meetings were a crucial part of nuclear research of the staffs at several major universities. Dr. Kraus’ major contribution to the World War II effort was directing the project to degauss ships so that they were immune to magnetic mines.
<p>During the same period of time, two interesting meetings occurred. Bill Cumming of Cumming, Inc. stopped by and briefed us on his work on loaded foams. The branch awarded him several contracts to develop materials for aircraft radomes. Another visitor was Searcy Hollis who stopped by to demonstrate a new log recorder by a new small company named Scientific-Atlanta. </p>


In 1955 there were two notable new projects. First, I was asked to organize a Radome Symposium. I decided to have this at Ohio State University with Dr. Tom Tice as Technical Chairman. This meeting was held there for a few years. The radome symposia were well attended. The same year it was decided to write a comprehensive report on the design of aircraft radomes. The report entitled “Techniques for Airborne Radome Design” was published by WADC as WADC Technical Report 57-67. Dr. Tice was editor-in chief and the report was prepared by the Technical Writing Service of the Mc Graw- Hill Book Company, Inc. I was task manager and one of the consulting editors. This document was originally intended to be published by McGraw-Hill, but upon review it was classified. The report was declassified in 1961. By then Tom Tice and I were gone to other places.
<p>In the spring of 1957, I was discharged from active duty and took a job at the Ohio State University as a research associate at the Antenna Laboratory working for Dr. Tom Tice and Dr. Jack Richmond. I also took courses to obtain a Ph. D. Since we had taken many courses at AFIT, I only needed 36 or so hours. During the first six months, I worked on editing the radome handbook. I met with Dr. Tice nearly every morning. I also went to New York with him to the McGraw-Hill Book Company to review final figures and text. As stated before, when we turned in the book draft, it was classified. By the time it was unclassified, both Dr. Tice and I were no longer available to convert this report into book form. Next, at the Antenna Laboratory, my time was devoted to scattering and phased array problems. I learned a lot working with Jack Richmond and other staff members. I remember there were regular times set aside to learn advanced EM theory, sometimes on Saturday mornings. This was done by reviewing Stratton’s book<ref>Dr. J.A. Stratton. B.S. and M.S. EE MIT 1923 snd 1925. Dr. of Science,Technische Hochschule of Zurich, Switzerland in 1927. Chancellor of MIT in 1956. Technical interests include EM theory. Wrote classic book on Electromagnetic Theory.</ref> one chapter at a time. Different students were assigned to lecture a chapter each day. There were ample staff members reviewing the lecture. That is how I met many of them. </p>


During the same period of time, two interesting meetings occurred. Bill Cumming of Cumming, Inc. stopped by and briefed us on his work on loaded foams. The branch awarded him several contracts to develop materials for aircraft radomes. Another visitor was Searcy Hollis who stopped by to demonstrate a new log recorder by a new small company named Scientific-Atlanta.
<p>Dr. Bob Cosgriff<ref>Dr. Robert Cosgriff. Received Ph. D. in EE from Ohio State University in the late 1940’s. Joined the Antenna Laboratory and started the terrain scattering program. The results of that work is summarized in the book “Terrain Scattering Properties for Sensor Design” by R.L.Cosgriff, W.H. Peake, and R.C. Taylor. Dr. Cosgriff left OSU in the late 1950’s to become the Department Chairman of EE at the University of Kentucky.</ref>, Bob Taylor<ref>R.C.Taylor. Bob Taylor came back from the Korean War after flying in jets off of carriers as a radar officer, obtained his M.S.E.E degree from OSU and joined the  Antenna Laboratory as a full time employee. He started working with Bob Cosgriff and built the instruments used to measure terrain scattering and performed many of the field measurements.</ref> and Bill Peake<ref>Dr. W.H.Peake. Dr. Peake performed the rough surface scattering analysis for the team. He also performed remote sensing analysis. He obtained his Ph. D. from OSU in the early 1960’s. He later left OSU and became the EE Department Chairman at the University of Maine.</ref> were making scattering measurements of terrain. Leon Peters<ref>Dr. Leon Peters, Jr. was a research leader at the Antenna Laboratory in the area of scattering and radar cross section. He received his Ph. D. in Electrical Engineering from OSU in the 1960’s. He became the Director of the Electroscience Laboratory later. (The Antenna Laboratory changed to the Electroscience Laboratory.) Dr. Peters developed the field of Ground Penetrating Radar.</ref> and Ed Kennaugh<ref>Dr. E.M.Kennaugh was a research leader at the Antenna Laboratory in the fields of EM scattering, radar cross section and scale model measurements of antennas on aircraft. He received his Ph. D. in E.E. in the 1960’s from OSU. He also became Director of the Electroscience Laboratory.</ref> were concentrating on RCS analysis and measurements. Dr. Wayne Masters<ref>Dr. Wayne Masters received his PhD in E.E. from OSU in 1957. His Ph. D. thesis was related to traveling wave antennas used in TV broadcast stations. He left OSU and started an antenna business in Washington , D.C. in the early 1960’s.</ref> was inventing the new television antenna placed on the top of towers. There were many others including Dr. Curt Levis<ref>Dr. Curt Levis received  his Ph. D. in EE from OSU in the 1950’s. His man research interest was in the field of propagation. He became the Director of the Antenna Laboratory in the 1960’s. He changed the name to the Electroscience Laboratory in 1967.</ref>, and Dr. C.H. Walters<ref>Dr. C.H.Walter received his Ph. D. in EE from OSU in 1957. His main research interest was traveling wave antennas. He published a book entitled “Traveling Wave Antennas” (McGraw-Hill). He became Director of the Antenna Laboratory and in the 1960’s moved to TRW, San Diego to head their Antenna Group on Aircraft Antennas.</ref>. I joined PGAP in 1958 so 2008 marks my 50th year of membership. </p>


In the spring of 1957, I was discharged from active duty and took a job at the Ohio State University as a research associate at the Antenna Laboratory working for Dr. Tom Tice and Dr. Jack Richmond. I also took courses to obtain a Ph. D. Since we had taken many courses at AFIT, I only needed 36 or so hours. During the first six months, I worked on editing the radome handbook. I met with Dr. Tice nearly every morning. I also went to New York with him to the McGraw-Hill Book Company to review final figures and text. As stated before, when we turned in the book draft, it was classified. By the time it was unclassified, both Dr. Tice and I were no longer available to convert this report into book form. Next, at the Antenna Laboratory, my time was devoted to scattering and phased array problems. I learned a lot working with Jack Richmond and other staff members. I remember there were regular times set aside to learn advanced EM theory, sometimes on Saturday mornings. This was done by reviewing Stratton’s book<ref>Dr. J.A. Stratton. B.S. and M.S. EE MIT 1923 snd 1925. Dr. of Science,Technische Hochschule of Zurich, Switzerland in 1927. Chancellor of MIT in 1956. Technical interests include EM theory. Wrote classic book on Electromagnetic Theory.</ref> one chapter at a time. Different students were assigned to lecture a chapter each day. There were ample staff members reviewing the lecture. That is how I met many of them.
<p>Another laboratory that started in that period was the branch or division at the Air Force Cambridge Research Center that was headed by Ralph Hiatt<ref>Ralph Hiatt at the time headed up the Antenna Group at the Air Force Cambridge Research Center. I first met him at the Ipswich field station. Ralph later moved to the University of Michigan Radiation Laboratory as Director.</ref>. This branch over a period of years has been prominent in electromagnetics. In those years the staff I knew were Walter Rotman<ref>Walter Rotman graduated from MIT and joined AFCRL in the late 1950’s. He is best known for his development of the Rotman Lens. In later years he ran a reentry physics program and developed plasma diagnostics antennas.</ref>, Phil Blacksmith<ref>Phil Blacksmith went to AFIT in my class of 1954. At AFCRL he was head of a group studying spherical reflector antennas. The Cornell University group contracted with AFCRL with Phil as the leader to build the first 305-m spherical reflector at Arecibo. There were  a number of upgrades to this reflector. Phil has received many awards for his work.</ref>, Carl Sletten<ref>Carl Sletten received his B.S. in physics from University of Wisconsin in 1947 and a M.A. from Harvard in 1949. He became a Director of the Microwave Physics Lab at AFCRL. His main interest was antenna design particularly in the areas of scanning techniques, proximity coupled arrays, and beamforming.</ref>, and Allen Schell<ref>Dr. Allen Schell received his S.B and S.M degrees in 1956 and PhD degree in 1961, all from M.I.T. Dr. Schell coauthored a paper with Carl Sletten at the first Electronic Scanning Symposium held at AFCRL in April,1958. Dr. Schell became head of AFCRL in the mid 1970’s and later became the Chief Scientist of the Air Force Materials Command.</ref>, among others. </p>


Dr. Bob Cosgriff<ref>Dr. Robert Cosgriff. Received Ph. D. in EE from Ohio State University in the late 1940’s. Joined the Antenna Laboratory and started the terrain scattering program. The results of that work is summarized in the book “Terrain Scattering Properties for Sensor Design” by R.L.Cosgriff, W.H. Peake, and R.C. Taylor. Dr. Cosgriff left OSU in the late 1950’s to become the Department Chairman of EE at the University of Kentucky.</ref>, Bob Taylor<ref>R.C.Taylor. Bob Taylor came back from the Korean War after flying in jets off of carriers as a radar officer, obtained his M.S.E.E degree from OSU and joined the  Antenna Laboratory as a full time employee. He started working with Bob Cosgriff and built the instruments used to measure terrain scattering and performed many of the field measurements.</ref> and Bill Peake<ref>Dr. W.H.Peake. Dr. Peake performed the rough surface scattering analysis for the team. He also performed remote sensing analysis. He obtained his Ph. D. from OSU in the early 1960’s. He later left OSU and became the EE Department Chairman at the University of Maine.</ref> were making scattering measurements of terrain. Leon Peters<ref>Dr. Leon Peters, Jr. was a research leader at the Antenna Laboratory in the area of scattering and radar cross section. He received his Ph. D. in Electrical Engineering from OSU in the 1960’s. He became the Director of the Electroscience Laboratory later. (The Antenna Laboratory changed to the Electroscience Laboratory.) Dr. Peters developed the field of Ground Penetrating Radar.</ref> and Ed Kennaugh<ref>Dr. E.M.Kennaugh was a research leader at the Antenna Laboratory in the fields of EM scattering, radar cross section and scale model measurements of antennas on aircraft. He received his Ph. D. in E.E. in the 1960’s from OSU. He also became Director of the Electroscience Laboratory.</ref> were concentrating on RCS analysis and measurements. Dr. Wayne Masters<ref>Dr. Wayne Masters received his PhD in E.E. from OSU in 1957. His Ph. D. thesis was related to traveling wave antennas used in TV broadcast stations. He left OSU and started an antenna business in Washington , D.C. in the early 1960’s.</ref> was inventing the new television antenna placed on the top of towers. There were many others including Dr. Curt Levis<ref>Dr. Curt Levis received  his Ph. D. in EE from OSU in the 1950’s. His man research interest was in the field of propagation. He became the Director of the Antenna Laboratory in the 1960’s. He changed the name to the Electroscience Laboratory in 1967.</ref>, and Dr. C.H. Walters<ref>Dr. C.H.Walter received his Ph. D. in EE from OSU in 1957. His main research interest was traveling wave antennas. He published a book entitled “Traveling Wave Antennas” (McGraw-Hill). He became Director of the Antenna Laboratory and in the 1960’s moved to TRW, San Diego to head their Antenna Group on Aircraft Antennas.</ref>. I joined PGAP in 1958 so 2008 marks my 50th year of membership.
<p>My father died in the spring of 1958. When I was at home, several of his friends who were aerodynamic engineers asked me to interview at NACA Langley Research Center, soon to become NASA. The work was interesting including antennas for rockets, the Mercury Program, reentry physics, etc. When I returned to Columbus, Dr. Tice called me in and informed me that the E.E. Department had changed its requirements for the Ph. D. Primarily, a course of 15 hours in solid-state physics was now required along with a departmental exam of electrical engineering subjects in general. This was added to the existing requirements of four take home exams in physics, mathematics, and two E.E. major subjects, and two language exams. This basically added three more years to the expected one to two years that Tom and I had originally discussed. I received an offer from NASA in July and moved in August,1958. </p>


Another laboratory that started in that period was the branch or division at the Air Force Cambridge Research Center that was headed by Ralph Hiatt<ref>Ralph Hiatt at the time headed up the Antenna Group at the Air Force Cambridge Research Center. I first met him at the Ipswich field station. Ralph later moved to the University of Michigan Radiation Laboratory as Director.</ref>. This branch over a period of years has been prominent in electromagnetics. In those years the staff I knew were Walter Rotman<ref>Walter Rotman graduated from MIT and joined AFCRL in the late 1950’s. He is best known for his development of the Rotman Lens. In later years he ran a reentry physics program and developed plasma diagnostics antennas.</ref>, Phil Blacksmith<ref>Phil Blacksmith went to AFIT in my class of 1954. At AFCRL he was head of a group studying spherical reflector antennas. The Cornell University group contracted with AFCRL with Phil as the leader to build the first 305-m spherical reflector at Arecibo. There were  a number of upgrades to this reflector. Phil has received many awards for his work.</ref>, Carl Sletten<ref>Carl Sletten received his B.S. in physics from University of Wisconsin in 1947 and a M.A. from Harvard in 1949. He became a Director of the Microwave Physics Lab at AFCRL. His main interest was antenna design particularly in the areas of scanning techniques, proximity coupled arrays, and beamforming.</ref>, and Allen Schell<ref>Dr. Allen Schell received his S.B and S.M degrees in 1956 and PhD degree in 1961, all from M.I.T. Dr. Schell coauthored a paper with Carl Sletten at the first Electronic Scanning Symposium held at AFCRL in April,1958. Dr. Schell became head of AFCRL in the mid 1970’s and later became the Chief Scientist of the Air Force Materials Command.</ref>, among others.
<p>In [[First-Hand:My Personal History With APS, Part 2a|Part II of this history]] I will discuss my NASA career and my extensive work with PGAP and its many members that I came to know. In addition, to spacecraft and aircraft antennas my work at NASA included plasma physics, the development of the application of GTD and the Moment Method, and extensive work in remote sensing. During this time period, I served on APS Adcom, and served as associate editor and editor of the APS Transactions. </p>


My father died in the spring of 1958. When I was at home, several of his friends who were aerodynamic engineers asked me to interview at NACA Langley Research Center, soon to become NASA. The work was interesting including antennas for rockets, the Mercury Program, reentry physics, etc. When I returned to Columbus, Dr. Tice called me in and informed me that the E.E. Department had changed its requirements for the Ph. D. Primarily, a course of 15 hours in solid-state physics was now required along with a departmental exam of electrical engineering subjects in general. This was added to the existing requirements of four take home exams in physics, mathematics, and two E.E. major subjects, and two language exams. This basically added three more years to the expected one to two years that Tom and I had originally discussed. I received an offer from NASA in July and moved in August,1958.
== References ==


In Part II of this history I will discuss my NASA career and my extensive work with PGAP and its many members that I came to know. In addition, to spacecraft and aircraft antennas my work at NASA included plasma physics, the development of the application of GTD and the Moment Method, and extensive work in remote sensing. During this time period, I served on APS Adcom, and served as associate editor and editor of the APS Transactions.
<p><references /></p>


=== References ===
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Revision as of 19:16, 30 July 2014

50 year members.jpg

My Personal History With APS, Part 1

By William F. Croswell, Life Fellow, Part 1

Early Life

I served as APS Historian for a number of years. Since my professional career spans 56 years, I knew many of the pioneers.Therefore, I am writing this personal history in their honor.

Figure 1, Bill and Jean Croswell's wedding, Thanksgiving Day 1952

I graduated from Virginia Military Institute in June of 1952, B.S.E.E., and got married on the following Thanksgiving Day. During my senior year in the power curriculum, I was fortunate to take a course in microwave measurements taught by a new young professor. After combat training nearly every day from September 1950 to early 1952, I was transferred to the Air Force ROTC and given the opportunity to apply for graduate school when the Korean War was over. (In 1950 we were given the option to stay in school until graduation. We were commissioned in the spring 1952). I applied to Ohio State University since I had read about the Antenna Laboratory. At graduation in June, nearly everyone had received orders, except me. At home in Hampton, Virginia I received orders to report which were cancelled the next day. This continued until August 1952, when I received orders to report to Wright Field. There, the general in charge of the Air University Command briefed the assembled classes. The Air Force Institute of Technology ( AFIT ) was being created for Air Force officers to earn graduate degrees. The EE degrees were in EM Fields and Microwaves and Controls. There were other classes in aeronautical and mechanical engineering. Our professors in engineering were recalled reserve officers from WWII and were primarily from Cal Tech, Stanford, and MIT. Our physics professors were from the same schools and also some were Germans brought over after WWII. One of our microwave professors was Dr. Heil[1], who invented velocity modulation. In our original briefing the general stated that if any of us flunked a course, we would be shipped to Korea where the fighting was. On my first quiz, I received a 35 grade. I thought that I would not last long. Then I found out that a 35 was a B and 40 was an A. This was standard for all of our courses, the quizzes and exams were designed to be so difficult it was not possible to complete one in the time allotted. In addition, our course load was usually about 20 hours or more a quarter. I rarely went to sleep before 2 a.m. any night. In addition to courses in microwaves, EM theory, and advanced mathematics, and particle physics, the Air Force got Bell Telephone Laboratories to publish a book on transistors by Shockley and his research staff[2]. A number of transistors were purchased and a number of my classmates wrote their thesis on circuits they designed. We also had a course on the matrix analysis approach to electronic circuit analysis including both tubes and transistors. One of my classmates designed a ferrite isolator. I spent my thesis time trying to optimize multilayer radome design. I was partially successful, but much of my time was spent adjusting extra fans to cool the large number of tubes in the computer I used. In the spring of 1954, the accreditation board of about 8 professors from the Midwest came in. I was selected as one of the students to be interviewed. After the six quarters of work at AFIT this was not a problem for me. We were accredited!

After graduating from AFIT I was assigned to the Radome Branch, of the Electronic Components Laboratory at Wright Field. It was located next to the building where AFIT was located. My assignment was that of Project Officer. I was responsible for radome design through production for a number of aircraft and missiles . At that time there were several hundred young officers with technical graduate degrees assigned to various technical areas such as aircraft structures, jet engines, navigation systems, etc. We were given signature authority for the approval of drawings through production by the General in charge of Wright Field. The head of the Radome branch was Fred Behrens who started the radome activity with R.E.Long as captains in the Army Air Corp in 1944 in the old systems laboratory at Wright Field.

In 1954 the radome field had progressed markedly in fabrication techniques and design from WWII days, although there were still serious problems in There were hundreds of engineers engaged in radome R&D in addition to the hundreds working at aircraft companies.

F-102A

Figure 2, F-102A Interceptor. Provided by the USAF History Office.

One of the first projects I was assigned was the F-102A, built by General Dynamics in San Diego.The aircraft ,that I was assigned to first flew in early 1954. The nose radome was built by Hughes Aircraft Company in Culver City. I went up to Hughes and met the head of the Microwave Lab, Dr. Lester Van Atta[3]. Dr. Van Atta took me to the radome manufacturing area, introduced me to the design and manufacturing engineers and showed me the tooling for the F102A radome. This radome which was about 6 feet long and 3 feet in diameter and was laid up on tooling that was made using numerical machining. This technique has been used in many applications over the years. Dr. Van Atta told me that aeronautical engineers had been changing the nose shape in an attempt to solve the problem of achieving supersonic flight. This problem was solved at NACA Langley Research Center using the “area rule“ determined in extensive tests of models in the transonic wind tunnel by R.T. Whitcomb[4], a NACA engineer who, in later years when NACA became NASA, was one of my early graduate students. The nose shape was then fixed and the radome placed in production. I was at San Diego one time to witness supersonic flight of a F-102 A. Dr. Van Atta at Hughes introduced me one day to a new Ph. D. engineer from the University of Illinois, Dr. R.C. Hansen, who was in the antenna section.

Figure 3, Falcon Missile. Provided by the USAF History Office.

In 1948 Dr. Van Atta convinced the IRE, later the IEEE, to form a group to be called the Professional Group on Antennas and Propagation (PGAP). The first President and member of PGAP was Dr. Van Atta. (Please review the APS history to obtain detailed information.) I joined PGAP in 1957 where I met many of our pioneering members. In addition to the F-102A , Hughes also was building the Falcon missile.

Falcon Missile

The technical problem there was that the radome was in the near field of the small conical scan receiving dish. The tracking error from the radome fed back as an outside loop to the input to the control system. This problem required a number of years to solve. The major problem was the lack of large memory, fast , electronic computers. A present day notebook computer would be more than enough to solve the problem. Therefore, the problem was solved using extensive experiments with dielectric inserts in the radome.

Bomarc Missile

Figure 4, Bomarc Missile. Provided by the USAF History Office.

Another project I had was the Bomarc Missile being designed and built at the Boeing Co. in Seattle. The engineer responsible for the radomes was Dr. Mel Kofoid[5], a former professor at a university in Oregon. The basic design for this radome, which was about 7 feet long and about 3 to 4 feet in diameter at its base, was a solid fiberglass laminate that was electrically 1/ 2 wavelength in the dielectric in thickness at the center radar frequency. In order to meet the tracking specifications the radome had to be fabricated to an accuracy of one or two mils (thousandths of an inch). In order to solve this very difficult manufacturing problem, a very complex method was employed. First the basic radome was built so that the radome thickness was slightly thinner than required. Dr. Kofoid then designed and built some very novel test tooling. The first device was a microwave interferometer using two approximately one wavelength horns. Using this special tooling, the insertion phase of the radome was measured in wavelength increments spatially which involved thousands of measurements. This data was reduced and the number of mils of fiberglass laminate necessary at a given location to correct the radome to a 1/2 wavelength determined. Adapting the special RF tooling, a given patch location was determined and 1 mil thick, wavelength-square pieces of impregnated fiber glass were placed on the surface as required to reach the1/2 wavelength thickness in the dielectric. After attaching these thousands of patches the radome was then cured as required. While this complex manufacturing methodology did work, the Bomarc missles could be built much faster than the radomes could.

In order to solve this schedule problem , Boeing put out a procurement request in order to increase the radome production rate. A small operation in Seattle suggested that Boeing use a new method they had patented, called “fiberglass filament winding." Boeing bought the small company and its patent. Using 1 or 2 mil diameter glass fiber coated with resin the 1/2 wavelength in the dielectric radome was built quickly and very accurately, thus solving the schedule problem. Among other articles, solid propellant rocket motor casings are built using filament winding, along with other types of hardware.

B-66

Figure 5, B-66. Provided by the USAF History Office.

After returning from one of many trips as project officer, I received a message from the deputy commander of Wright Field to report immediately to his office. Upon reporting to the Brig. General’s office I found out he was very disturbed. He asked my why I had rejected the production drawings for the nose radome on the Douglas B-66 as shown in Figure 5.

I told the general that the measured data on the first five production radomes did not meet transmission specifications, unlike the prototype radome. I also stated that the engineers responsible for the radome at Douglas Long Beach had informed me that they did not understand why the production radomes were not working properly. The general told me that since the nose radome is a structural part, the lead airplane in the production line could not be rolled out the hanger and therefore production would stop in several weeks. When that happened nearly 20,000 people would be out of work. He told me to go home and pack and report to the control tower the next morning. A T-33 would fly me to Douglas Long Beach. He also told me not to come home until the problem was solved. My wife asked me when I was coming home. I told her that I really did not know.

Upon landing at Douglas, Long Beach, a guard escorted me to Mr. Douglas Jr’s office. The USAF’s Plant Representative’s office was closed because it was Columbus Day. I spoke with Mr. Douglas about the B-66 nose radome problem. He told me I could call him at any time and would receive any help I needed. The guard escorted me to the engineering area. The antenna and radome group was in a walled off area in a very large drafting room with many engineers. At the door to this room were two heavily armed guards. I was checked in and went inside. The antenna and radome engineers met me. I asked them why the guards were there. They told me they were not allowed to go home (imagine that happening now). Cots were brought in the evening, and food catered from the best restaurants was brought in. Mr. Douglas had a car available for me and I was taken to a hotel when we stopped work at night. I was picked up at 7 am and taken to the plant. After about 4 days we had retested the 5 production radomes. All of the radomes tested different. However all of them failed to meet specifications. The radome was designed using two fiberglass skins with a rectangular “fluted“ core. The openings of the core ran from the base of the radome to the nose tip. Hot gases from the jet engines were coupled to the flutes to de-ice the radome when required. After the testing I called Mr. Douglas and asked permission to cut up the radomes and inspect the inside. (The radomes cost about $40k-$50K apiece. Now days this would be $400K-$500K.) Inside the first production radomes we found metal filings, screws, bolts, nuts, and washers. It turns out there had been labor trouble in the plastics shops, and a number of workers had been fired. After working continuously breathing the fumes for a while, a number of people start to lose it. (In those days safety practices were in crude shape.) I asked that they rotate workers out of plastics shops every several days to prevent this problem from occurring again. Upon returning back to Wright Field, I wrote a one page memo to the deputy commander stating that the problem was solved and that I had approved the production drawing. I never received a reply. I went back to solving the next dozen problems on my desk.

Other Aircraft Projects

There were other airplane projects including the F-103 and F-109 which were cancelled due to technical difficulties. My last aircraft project was the B-52. This aircraft was already in production. The radome problems had to do with the aircraft that dropped the first H bomb. After performing the sling shot maneuver the B-52 went into the opposite direction under full combat power. When the H-Bomb exploded the thermal burst damaged the radomes under the aircraft by burning and imploding all the radomes. The aircraft and crew made it back safely. Work on new radomes was still ongoing when I left active duty.

Radome R&D

In addition to the aircraft and missile projects I was assigned a number of radome R&D projects from the dozens sponsored by Wright Field alone. I remember going to Menlo Park , California to see John Damonte[6] at Dalmo Victor. John had developed a swept frequency reflectometer using a long horn with a one wavelength aperture at the center frequency. This horn was placed at a given location on the radome and the reflection phase determined to estimate the radome thickness. This device was developed to determine radome performance when mounted on the aircraft. I later met John Damonte a number of years later when he was on PGAP Adcom. Another person I met in Menlo Park in the 50’s was Dr. E.M.T. Jones[7] at the Stanford Research Institute. I had been asked to go by and discuss a potential R&D project. Dr. Jones wanted to finish his analysis of an array of cavities where each cavity had a circular hole in the bottom and top and was filled with dielectric. This was the first metalized radome. I went home and wrote a statement of work and had contracts issue an RFP. I evaluated the proposals and awarded SRI the contract. The analysis was evaluated using a long horn with an aperture large enough to contain a number of cavity apertures in the transverse direction. This was a common method used at the time to evaluate large phased arrays.

In addition to small companies and groups in the large aircraft companies, there were two universities that had extensive antenna laboratories. One was the University of Illinois and the other the Ohio State University. These two universities had a direct connection in their staffs, namely Bill Everitt[8] and Ed Jordan[9]. Ed Jordan was an early operator of the University of Alberta radio station in 1928 when he started his education. In 1933 he built a studio amplifier which, for the first time, incorporated AGC in a broadcast amplifier. An oscillograph study of the effects of the effects of this control became the subject of his Master’s thesis. Due to his personal hearing problem he also devised his own hearing aid. He ultimately obtained a post at Ohio State University, worked with Dr. Bill Everitt and wrote his Ph. D. thesis on “Acoustic Models of Radio Antennas“ in 1937. When World War II started Dr. Everitt went to Washington and Ed became very busy teaching microwave and EM courses and consulting in the antenna field. He subsequently moved to the University of Illinois as a professor with Bill Everett as Department Chairman. After a similar busy teaching and research schedule he became Department Chairman in 1954. A number of professors joined the department staff including Ray Duhamel[10] ,John Dyson[11], Paul Mays[12], Y.T. Lo[13], and Vic Rumsey[14]. My branch hired some of these staff members of the Antenna Laboratory as consultants .

I was assigned to monitor contracts at the Ohio State University Antenna Laboratory. Dr. Tom Tice[15] was the director of the Antenna Laboratory. Dr. Vic Rumsey was the previous director, however, he transferred to the University of Illinois a year before. Dr. Tice was working on the radome contracts along with Dr. Jack Richmond[16]. This was also when I met Dr C.T. Tai[17] who was working on a problem of spherical radomes. Dr. John Kraus[18] was Tom Tice’s Ph. D. advisor. Dr. Tice introduced me to Dr. Kraus and he introduced me to his books ”Electromagnetic Theory“ and “Antennas“. These books were so well written I was able to master them on my own at night or on long airplane trips. (In those days it took about 12 hours from Chicago to Los Angeles and 16 hours from Chicago to Seattle). Dr. Kraus was another example of the early pioneer in the antenna field. He became interested in amateur radio as a boy and continued this interest throughout most of his life. Although his degrees were in physics, (he was involved in early nuclear physics research at the University of Michigan), his antenna designs were primarily related to amateur radio for many years prior to his interest in radio astronomy. It is interesting to note while at Michigan in the 1930’s he established radio contact with his colleagues in California. Due to funding limitations, these radio meetings were a crucial part of nuclear research of the staffs at several major universities. Dr. Kraus’ major contribution to the World War II effort was directing the project to degauss ships so that they were immune to magnetic mines.

In 1955 there were two notable new projects. First, I was asked to organize a Radome Symposium. I decided to have this at Ohio State University with Dr. Tom Tice as Technical Chairman. This meeting was held there for a few years. The radome symposia were well attended. The same year it was decided to write a comprehensive report on the design of aircraft radomes. The report entitled “Techniques for Airborne Radome Design” was published by WADC as WADC Technical Report 57-67. Dr. Tice was editor-in chief and the report was prepared by the Technical Writing Service of the Mc Graw- Hill Book Company, Inc. I was task manager and one of the consulting editors. This document was originally intended to be published by McGraw-Hill, but upon review it was classified. The report was declassified in 1961. By then Tom Tice and I were gone to other places.

During the same period of time, two interesting meetings occurred. Bill Cumming of Cumming, Inc. stopped by and briefed us on his work on loaded foams. The branch awarded him several contracts to develop materials for aircraft radomes. Another visitor was Searcy Hollis who stopped by to demonstrate a new log recorder by a new small company named Scientific-Atlanta.

In the spring of 1957, I was discharged from active duty and took a job at the Ohio State University as a research associate at the Antenna Laboratory working for Dr. Tom Tice and Dr. Jack Richmond. I also took courses to obtain a Ph. D. Since we had taken many courses at AFIT, I only needed 36 or so hours. During the first six months, I worked on editing the radome handbook. I met with Dr. Tice nearly every morning. I also went to New York with him to the McGraw-Hill Book Company to review final figures and text. As stated before, when we turned in the book draft, it was classified. By the time it was unclassified, both Dr. Tice and I were no longer available to convert this report into book form. Next, at the Antenna Laboratory, my time was devoted to scattering and phased array problems. I learned a lot working with Jack Richmond and other staff members. I remember there were regular times set aside to learn advanced EM theory, sometimes on Saturday mornings. This was done by reviewing Stratton’s book[19] one chapter at a time. Different students were assigned to lecture a chapter each day. There were ample staff members reviewing the lecture. That is how I met many of them.

Dr. Bob Cosgriff[20], Bob Taylor[21] and Bill Peake[22] were making scattering measurements of terrain. Leon Peters[23] and Ed Kennaugh[24] were concentrating on RCS analysis and measurements. Dr. Wayne Masters[25] was inventing the new television antenna placed on the top of towers. There were many others including Dr. Curt Levis[26], and Dr. C.H. Walters[27]. I joined PGAP in 1958 so 2008 marks my 50th year of membership.

Another laboratory that started in that period was the branch or division at the Air Force Cambridge Research Center that was headed by Ralph Hiatt[28]. This branch over a period of years has been prominent in electromagnetics. In those years the staff I knew were Walter Rotman[29], Phil Blacksmith[30], Carl Sletten[31], and Allen Schell[32], among others.

My father died in the spring of 1958. When I was at home, several of his friends who were aerodynamic engineers asked me to interview at NACA Langley Research Center, soon to become NASA. The work was interesting including antennas for rockets, the Mercury Program, reentry physics, etc. When I returned to Columbus, Dr. Tice called me in and informed me that the E.E. Department had changed its requirements for the Ph. D. Primarily, a course of 15 hours in solid-state physics was now required along with a departmental exam of electrical engineering subjects in general. This was added to the existing requirements of four take home exams in physics, mathematics, and two E.E. major subjects, and two language exams. This basically added three more years to the expected one to two years that Tom and I had originally discussed. I received an offer from NASA in July and moved in August,1958.

In Part II of this history I will discuss my NASA career and my extensive work with PGAP and its many members that I came to know. In addition, to spacecraft and aircraft antennas my work at NASA included plasma physics, the development of the application of GTD and the Moment Method, and extensive work in remote sensing. During this time period, I served on APS Adcom, and served as associate editor and editor of the APS Transactions.

References

  1. Oskar Heil (1908-1994) was a German engineer who, with his wife Agnesa, wrote a paper describing an early form of velocity modulation(Zeitschrift fur Physik , vol. 5,p.752,1935). Velocity modulation is vital to the operation of the klystron tube,which was developed before and during World War II for radar and other applications. Heil emigrated to the U.S. after the war.
  2. W. Shockley and staff, “The Transistor”, Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc.for Western Electric Co. Inc., New York, N.Y.
  3. Lester Van Atta. After obtaining his physics PhD. at Princeton in 1931,he joined the MIT Radiation Lab., moving to Naval Research Laboratory after 1945. From 1950 to 1962 he was with Hughes Aircraft Company, and was later employed by Lockheed and NASA before his retirement in 1973.
  4. Richard T. Whitcomb (1921-) developed the “ Whitcomb area rule “ in 1952, a principle first applied to the F-102 that enabled it to break the sound barrier.
  5. Dr. Mel Kofoid. Professor University of Oregon. Director of the design and fabrication of Bomarc Radomes, Boeing Aircraft Co.
  6. John B. Damonte worked at Dalmo Victor in Menlo Park, California near SRI for 26 years from 1950 – 1966 . He was antenna designer for the Apollo Service Module antennas including the 5 foot S-band steerable dish (operating in the supersonic flow from the control jets).He also worked on the E-21 14.5’ Rotodome for Grumman. After that he went to work at Lockheed, Sunnyvale until he retired in 1991. John has served the IEEE as secretary-treasurer and President of APS and region 6 IEEE director.
  7. E.M.T Jones received his PhD. from Stanford University. He joined Stanford Research Institute and worked with Leo Young. He coauthored with G. Mattei and L. Young the “bible“ of microwave filter design, ”Microwave Filters, Impedance-Matching Networks, and Coupling Structures“ which is still in print.
  8. Dr. W.L. Everitt received his PhD. from Ohio State University. At the end of World War II , he became the Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Illinois. From 1949 to 1968 he was Dean of the College of Engineering.
  9. Dr. E.C. Jordan became Director of the Antenna Laboratory in 1952, until he became Head of EE in 1954.
  10. Dr. Ray Duhamel received his Ph. D. at UI while working in the Antenna laboratory. His early work included log-periodic antennas.
  11. Dr. John Dyson received his Ph. D. from UI. He published several of his early papers on logarithmic spiral antennas.
  12. Dr. Paul E Mayes received his Ph. D. from UI. He published early work on spiral antennas. Paul supplied me a description of the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign ( UIUC) Antenna Symposium held at Allerton. This paper, entitled FIFTY YEARS OF ANTENNAS MIDST CORN AND SOYBEANS, summarizes many antenna ideas and lists many papers of the last 50 years. This meeting is still being held nunder the direction of Dr. Dan Schaubert of the Antenna Laboratory University of Massachusetts.
  13. Dr. Y.T.Lo received his Ph. D. from UIUC. Dr. Lo has published and worked on microstrip antennas over many years.
  14. Dr. Victor H. Rumsey was the director of the OSU Antenna Laboratory in 1948 and left the lab in 1954 to join the Antenna laboratory at the UIUC as Director. He is widely known as the developer of “reaction theory “ and wrote a number of papers on that subject. At Illinois he developed several principles for the realization of "frequency –independent” antennas. In 1957 he moved to the University of California at Berekeley and later to UC, San Diego.
  15. Dr. Thomas E. Tice received his Ph. D. at Ohio State University. His supervising professor was Dr. John Kraus. When Dr. Rumsey left the OSU Antenna Laboratory in 1954, Tom Tice became the new director. I went to Columbus as a Radome Project Officer and asked Tom to edit a Radome Handbook and to start a Radome Symposium at OSU. He did. The handbook was called “Techniques For Airborne Radome Design” and was put together by McGraw–Hill. After completion the manuscript was submitted for approval and subsequently classified. It was declassified in 1961, long after Tom left OSU. Tom Tice left OSU in about 1960 and became a professor at Arizona State University. He retired in the late 1990’s and joined the Navy Research Lab in San Diego until recent years when he moved back to Phoenix.
  16. Dr. Jack Richmond received his PhD at OSU in 1955. He spent his early research years on radome theory and wrote part of the radome handbook for Tom Tice. In the 1960’s he later developed the basic Moment Method independently of Roger Harrington in about the same time frame.
  17. Dr. C.T. Tai received his Ph. D. from Harvard University in the late 1940’s. He was one of the first students of R.W.P. King. He went to Menlo Park after Harvard to work at Stanford Research Institute and joined the Antenna Laboratory at Ohio State University in the early 1950’s. One of his continuing interests was dyadic Green’s Function solutions. Typical was a problem consisting of a dipole surrounded by a spherical dipole. Later on, he became interested in moving media. In the late 1950’s Chen-To moved to the University of Michigan where he was a Professor and a member of the Radiation Laboratory led by Ralph Hiatt. Chen-To was a very good one-on-one basketball player. He bought John Kraus‘ family home in Ann Arbor.
  18. Dr. John Kraus obtained his Ph. D. in physics at the University of Michigan in 1933, conducted research in nuclear physics, degaussed navy ships during WWII and joined OSU after the war. He wrote his book on antennas in 1950. Then he wrote books on electromagnetics and radio astronomy. He designed and built the Big Ear, a very large radio astronomy facility in southeast Ohio. He was a full Professor and taught a heavy load of antenna and electromagnetic courses in the EE department while the Big Ear was being designed and constructed by himself and his students. ( “Big Ear“ is the title of a book written in 1976 by John Kraus about the radio astronomy facility ).
  19. Dr. J.A. Stratton. B.S. and M.S. EE MIT 1923 snd 1925. Dr. of Science,Technische Hochschule of Zurich, Switzerland in 1927. Chancellor of MIT in 1956. Technical interests include EM theory. Wrote classic book on Electromagnetic Theory.
  20. Dr. Robert Cosgriff. Received Ph. D. in EE from Ohio State University in the late 1940’s. Joined the Antenna Laboratory and started the terrain scattering program. The results of that work is summarized in the book “Terrain Scattering Properties for Sensor Design” by R.L.Cosgriff, W.H. Peake, and R.C. Taylor. Dr. Cosgriff left OSU in the late 1950’s to become the Department Chairman of EE at the University of Kentucky.
  21. R.C.Taylor. Bob Taylor came back from the Korean War after flying in jets off of carriers as a radar officer, obtained his M.S.E.E degree from OSU and joined the Antenna Laboratory as a full time employee. He started working with Bob Cosgriff and built the instruments used to measure terrain scattering and performed many of the field measurements.
  22. Dr. W.H.Peake. Dr. Peake performed the rough surface scattering analysis for the team. He also performed remote sensing analysis. He obtained his Ph. D. from OSU in the early 1960’s. He later left OSU and became the EE Department Chairman at the University of Maine.
  23. Dr. Leon Peters, Jr. was a research leader at the Antenna Laboratory in the area of scattering and radar cross section. He received his Ph. D. in Electrical Engineering from OSU in the 1960’s. He became the Director of the Electroscience Laboratory later. (The Antenna Laboratory changed to the Electroscience Laboratory.) Dr. Peters developed the field of Ground Penetrating Radar.
  24. Dr. E.M.Kennaugh was a research leader at the Antenna Laboratory in the fields of EM scattering, radar cross section and scale model measurements of antennas on aircraft. He received his Ph. D. in E.E. in the 1960’s from OSU. He also became Director of the Electroscience Laboratory.
  25. Dr. Wayne Masters received his PhD in E.E. from OSU in 1957. His Ph. D. thesis was related to traveling wave antennas used in TV broadcast stations. He left OSU and started an antenna business in Washington , D.C. in the early 1960’s.
  26. Dr. Curt Levis received his Ph. D. in EE from OSU in the 1950’s. His man research interest was in the field of propagation. He became the Director of the Antenna Laboratory in the 1960’s. He changed the name to the Electroscience Laboratory in 1967.
  27. Dr. C.H.Walter received his Ph. D. in EE from OSU in 1957. His main research interest was traveling wave antennas. He published a book entitled “Traveling Wave Antennas” (McGraw-Hill). He became Director of the Antenna Laboratory and in the 1960’s moved to TRW, San Diego to head their Antenna Group on Aircraft Antennas.
  28. Ralph Hiatt at the time headed up the Antenna Group at the Air Force Cambridge Research Center. I first met him at the Ipswich field station. Ralph later moved to the University of Michigan Radiation Laboratory as Director.
  29. Walter Rotman graduated from MIT and joined AFCRL in the late 1950’s. He is best known for his development of the Rotman Lens. In later years he ran a reentry physics program and developed plasma diagnostics antennas.
  30. Phil Blacksmith went to AFIT in my class of 1954. At AFCRL he was head of a group studying spherical reflector antennas. The Cornell University group contracted with AFCRL with Phil as the leader to build the first 305-m spherical reflector at Arecibo. There were a number of upgrades to this reflector. Phil has received many awards for his work.
  31. Carl Sletten received his B.S. in physics from University of Wisconsin in 1947 and a M.A. from Harvard in 1949. He became a Director of the Microwave Physics Lab at AFCRL. His main interest was antenna design particularly in the areas of scanning techniques, proximity coupled arrays, and beamforming.
  32. Dr. Allen Schell received his S.B and S.M degrees in 1956 and PhD degree in 1961, all from M.I.T. Dr. Schell coauthored a paper with Carl Sletten at the first Electronic Scanning Symposium held at AFCRL in April,1958. Dr. Schell became head of AFCRL in the mid 1970’s and later became the Chief Scientist of the Air Force Materials Command.