Dick, Listers,
Back in the early 60's, I was fresh out of school and went to work for
Texas Instruments in Dallas. We were just starting the development of the
"SHRIKE" missile. It was an air to ground radar seeker. (No Classified
Material Content) There were two prototype missals built for testing and
sent over at White Sands. There was a trailer setup with a long piece of
waveguide run out into the desert to a radar antenna that was the designated
target. The report that came back said, that the first missile fired, was a
little off center-target but managed to blow a piece out of the antenna's
reflector (the big umbrella shaped back side). What no one realized was that
a piece of the horn (the part that the signal comes out of) was also
damaged. When the second missile was fired it headed for the antenna for a
while and then turned toward the trailer. The damaged antenna had a bad vswr
and was reflecting more signal back down the waveguide than was coming out
of the horn. The result was the missile locked onto the trailer and there
was a mad scramble by everyone in the trailer to get out the back door
before the missile hit. Thank goodness that the missiles in those days
weren't all that fast. Needless to say the test was scored a "success" in
spite of the fact that the trailer was blown apart. Luckily no one was hurt.
Cullen Bennett
Tempe, Arizona USA
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