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"Hunter Killer" Efforts
in Korea: 1950 -- 1953 |
| Source: The History of US Electronic Warfare "The Renaissance Years, 1946 to 1964", Author: Alfred Price, copyright and published by the Association of Old Crows, first edition, first printing October 2, 1989, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 84-70798. IMPORTANT
NOTE: AIRCRAFT: Early Use of the "Hard Nosed" B-26 Invader: During 1952, a few B-26 Invader attack bombers were modified for the "radar hunting" role, carrying APA-24 direction-finding antennas and an APR-4 receiver. The planes flew with the 452nd Bomb Group based near Pusan in South Korea (footnote referred to: Streetly, Martin, "World Electronic Warfare Aircraft", p 48). According to one official US Air Force account these missions achieved little: "An effort to locate enemy radars with airborne direction finding equipment carried in B-26s, and test of B-26 . . . operations against them, were noteworthy for the meager results achieved. These efforts either ran into never-ending problems or triggered differing and unresolved debates over concepts of operations, or simply failed completely. (Footnote referred to: Pierson James, "Electronic Warfare in SEA, 1964 -1968") These words were taken from page 104 of the source document. Picture (among group between page 74 and 75 to be mailed) of a "hard nosed" B-26 #571 of the 426th Bomb Group fitted with an APA-24 direction-finding antenna in front of the cockpit. Caption noted according to Via Davis a few of these aircraft operated in the radar hunting role over North Korea, apparently with little success. F-82 Twin Mustang (night fighter): In an effort to get more accurate bearings and fixes on enemy radars, a two-seat F-82 Twin Mustang night fighter was custom-modified for the purpose. An APR-4 receiver and APA-6 pulse analyzer were wired into the plane's SCR-720 E band airborne intercept radar, using the latter's twenty-nine-inch diameter dish as a direction-finding antenna (when used in this way, the SCR-720 was inoperative as a radar). Although the APR-4 was to search for radars in the 100 to 200 MHz band, far below the E band at which the dish was designed to operate, the antenna promised bearing accuracies far better than those obtained using regular direction finders. The scheme was the brain child of Wally Bush, a Philco technical representative assigned to FEAF Headquarters, and is believed to have been the first attempt to use the wide aperture antenna of an airborne radar linked into an ELINT receiver to produce a high accuracy direction finder. After modification at the Tachikawa air depot in Japan, the F-82 started flying operational missions over North Korea during the winter of 1952 -- 53. By making a series of overflights of a radar at altitudes around 10,000 feet, the crew would home on the site from different directions: after landing the bearings were correlated to produce a fix. The initial operations highlighted a major shortcoming of the F-82 for this purpose. With the EWO working full time on the direction finder, the pilot had to fly and navigate the airplane. With the rudimentary navigation equipment carried by the F-82, it was often impossible to fix the plane's position with accuracy, especially at night (often the radar being investigated did not operate during the day) These words were taken from pages 104 and 105 of the source document. Later Use of the "Hard Nosed" B-26 Invader: The answer seemed to be to use a larger plane, a three-seat B-26 which could carry the SCR-720 antenna in a pod under the fuselage, plus a SHORAN equipment and a full-time navigator to provide the required fixing accuracy. A B-26 was modified at Tachikawa, then flown to Kimpo AFB near Seoul where it was assigned to the 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing. Lieutenant Jack Stevens flew as EWO on the modified attack plane: "Most of the missions were flown at night. Once I had identified the radar's signals, we would turn toward the site. I would get the pilot to kill the drift and we would home down the bearing. To get a fix on the radar we had to make several runs over it. The navigator would get a line of SHORAN fixes which he would plot out when we got back on the ground; where the tracks crossed that gave the position of the radar" Although the modified B-26 gave fixes on radars more accurate than those using regular direction finders, there were still many occasions when the follow-up photographic reconnaissance returned empty handed. The ability to fix radar sites with sufficient accuracy for a reconnaissance plane to take photographs of them on a first-pass run, would not be realized until a decade later. These words were taken from page 105 of the source document. MY PERSONAL COMMENTS REGARDING THE ABOVE: The research and subsequent documentation of the Association of Old Crows three volumes concerning the History of US Electronic Warfare is based primarily on Strategic Air Command (SAC) and Air Force Systems Command (AFSC) documents and subsequent interviews with SAC and AFSC active or retired Electronic Warfare Officers and professional electronic engineers. From WWII until Vietnam there are practically no references or comments by Tactical Air Command (TAC) EWOs, Commanders or Staff or the reference to TAC documents. Consequently, the documentation is considered lacking regarding the TAC side of the story. Then, in 1965 the situation changed due to the prominence and budget dollars to support TAC's Electronic Warfare mission. That part of the history recorded and mission played in the Vietnam War was based obtained primarily from SAC EWOs that were assigned to one TAC unit -- the B/E/B-66B/C/E. It appears from my research of the above source document that only the early use of the "Hard Nosed" B-26 Invader was the only time during Korea that an attack aircraft could be considered a "Hunter Killer" that had ordinance to take out a radar site. The later use of the F-82 "night interceptor" and "soft nosed" RB-26B "modified photo reconnaissance aircraft" did not have a true "strike" capability. Document prepared by: |
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