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Show PROGRESS-LEADER, Castle Dale, Utah Thursday, November 28, 1963 AT RADAR SITE-Willis G. Diener, left front, conducts the tour of the radar or ROD area of the complex. The radar unit above the crowd is used in tracking the first stage of the Athena missile iafter it is fired. Missile launch site hosts i __ Green River Residents Approximately 200 Green River residents were on hand Saturday, to be taken on a conduced tour of the Green River test complex just east of the city. Military and civil service personnel acted as hosts for 'the tour, and gave 'briefings at the various stops. Major Vincent J. Gilbert, commanding officer a the installation and host for the day, welcomed the assembled guests, and introduced the individuals offering briefings at the sepa-\ rate operations areas. While enroute from the park in Green River to the first stop .at fhe test complex, a host in | each bus gave the visitors some background inf ormat ion on White Sands Missile-Range, the parent organizatom of the Green River test complex. Of interest in this information was the fact that it was on this area in New ! Mexico that the firs* atomic jbomb was detonated. i The range as it is known to-1 day, actually came into existence j in 1945, when a group of scien-| tists were given the job of dev- eloping the science of missilery for the United States. The first missiles actually tested there, were captured V-2 German rockets. About 100 of these were fired at White Sands. White Sands is one of three missile ranges in the United States, the others 'being the Atlantic range located at Cape Canaveral, and the Pacific range, located at Point Mugu, Calif. White Sands is the only overland range, and has some 4,000 square miles of area in which a missile may be impacted and data collected. The Green River 'Complex is merely an extension of this range. The test complex includes four divisions,, including the launch area, the ROD or radar area, the missile assembly area of the Atlantic Research, and the 'base support area. The tour first went to the ROD (Range Operations Directorate) area, where Willis G. Diener, assistant project engineer with RCA, explained the workings there. Located he-re are the missile flight safety of- ficer, whose responsibility it la to push the destruct signal should! a malfunction occur; the range controller's office, the nerve center of the range; communications van, for both ground communlcat ion and ground to air. An important installation at this point is the radar units. An iMPQ-12 tracking radar, a modl-ification of those used during World War H, is used to track the first stage of the missile. This furnishes information to the plotting room, which is the heart of the radar operation. Here all information from tracking radars are fed to this point, and is plotted automatically on a map so that the flight can be followed with accuracy. Also located at this site is a new FPS-16 -radar unit, which is a prime source of data. Developed exclusively for missile use, it will provide position information, record the path of the missile, and will, via telephone microwave, send position information to White Sands. This unit will track the second stage of the missile. Surveillance radars -are- also located here to insure the safety of small aircraft that may be flying near the area of the missile's flight. From this point the tour traveled to the eontonement, or base support area. Included here are fhe fire station; with two complete crews, on a 24-hour, 7-day j schedule (available to the com-! munity of Green River in emergency) ; engineering building; transportation building, with complete maintenance shops; storage buildings, and a post signal building. At present the post is equipped with 200 telephone lines, with the possibility of installing 600 more if expansion is needed. j There are also 57 trailers, including 30 bachelor officers quarters, one mess hall consisting of seven trailers combinedr, one laundry trailer, one rest room trailer, and 24 office trailers. Mess hall facilities were a necessity to handle the meal time rush, without a loss of man, hours in traveling. j Bendix Corporation is the prime contractor for the sup-, port facilities. Northland Camps provided the trailers and will perform maintenance. Pinkerton Securities Service wiU provide all security through the -complete range. From the support area, the group traveled past the assembly complex, located in the old Union Carbide buillings. This area is operated by Atlantic Research Corporation, prime project contractor. Beyond the assembly iarea, the buses passed eight storage magazines, the meteorological site, or weather station, and then on to the launch area. i-i.t Oiiis point a bxiO*.i*ig "vv'as made by Major Edward Ochs, air force liason officer, on the facilities there. Buildings included here are the blockhouse, from which the' launch will be controlled, and three launch pads. Each pad is enclosed in a movable housing which is mounted on rails. From the blockhouse, all controls can be actuated, and personnel can watch on four TV monitor cameras which can be 'brained oni the launch pad from various1 angles. , - Majo-r Ochs also gave a little! background on the Athena mis-; sil-e that will be tested at thei Green River site. He stated that the first stage of the missile is a Thiokol motor; the second stage is either a Hercules or a Thiokol motor, and also the fourth stage is a Hercules motor. The third stage will be an Aerojet motor. |
