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Project CADILLAC: AEW and the US Navy (Part Three)

1050L 24 Oct 1944. USS St. LO (CVE 63) is under heavy air attack. After successfully fending off the superior surface force of VADM Takeo Kurita’s Center Force, “Taffy 3″ is now defending against a surprise air attack that has lasted some 40 minutes already. One of the features of this attack is the use…

Project CADILLAC: AEW And the US Navy (Part Two)

Project CADILLAC (Part II)   As we celebrate the E-2 Hawkeye’s 50th anniversary, we continue here with Part  Two of the Project CADILLAC series.   Project CADILLAC was more than just a program to develop radar; it would develop an entire AEW system — Radar, IFF, relay equipment, shipboard receivers, and airborne platform. Such an undertaking…

Project CADILLAC: AEW and the US Navy (Part One)

Project CADILLAC (Part I) Ed note: Everything has a beginning and that beginning is usually quite humble compared to present conditions.  Consider, a small spring at the headwaters of the Madison River in Montana is the source of the mighty Missouri River which itself empties into ol’ man river — the Mississippi, all of which…

Reflections on the E-2 Hawkeye’s 50th Anniversary
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Reflections on the E-2 Hawkeye’s 50th Anniversary

This Thursday, 21 October 2010, marks the 50th anniversary of the first flight of the first purpose built AEW aircraft, the E-2 Hawkeye (actually, it was the YW2F-1).  Designed around the radar, rather than adapting an existing airframe, the Hawkeye symbolized function over form – from the 24ft “rotodome” prominently perched over the fuselage, to…

Project CADILLAC: The Beginning of AEW in the US Navy (Part III)
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Project CADILLAC: The Beginning of AEW in the US Navy (Part III)

1050L 24 Oct 1944. USS St. Lo (CVE-63) is under heavy air attack. After successfully fending off the superior surface force of VADM Takeo Kurita’s Center Force, “Taffy 3” is now defending against a surprise air attack that has lasted some 40 minutes already. One of the features of this attack is the use of…

Project CADILLAC: The Beginning of AEW in the US Navy (Part II)
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Project CADILLAC: The Beginning of AEW in the US Navy (Part II)

Project CADILLAC (Part II)         Project Cadillac was more than just a program to develop radar – it would develop an entire AEW system — Radar, IFF, relay equipment, shipboard receivers, and airborne platform. Such an undertaking would be ambitious enough in peacetime, at the height of a critical stage in the…

Project CADILLAC: The Beginning of AEW in the US Navy
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Project CADILLAC: The Beginning of AEW in the US Navy

Project CADILLAC (Part I) Ed note: Everything has a beginning and that beginning is usually quite humble compared to present conditions.  Consider, a small spring at the headwaters of the Madison River in Montana is the source of the mighty Missouri River which itself empties into ol’ man river — the Mississippi, all of which…