[Milsurplus] Interesting Findings ---

[Cletus W Whitaker]

de WB2CPN    2002.03.19

There are some loose ends left hanging.  The VHF Range referred to in the Accident
Report was a VAR, Visual/Aurial which put out two opposing visual courses with
patterns similar to the Clearance pattern radiated by the common ILS Localizer. 
The VAR also put out two opposing "A" and "N" courses similar to the course produced
by the old LF ranges.  The courses were approximately 90 degrees apart, and there
wasn't a lot of flexibility as there was with the LF Ranges.  The Visual Omni Range,
VOR, as we know it was yet to come.

I was USAF during the Airlift, and stationed in the German village of Volkenrode which
is near Braunschweig in what was the British Zone.  We had a LF Beacon which guided 
aircraft on their way westbound from Berlin.  When they reached the "OV" LF Beacon at
Braunschweig they could turn North toward Fassberg and Celle, or South toward Rhein
Main.  Later on, and with CAA supervision, we installed the one and only VAR I ever
saw.  The aural course was aimed toward Berlin, while the visual course was aimed
northward where it intercepted the Fassberg-Berlin corridor.  The eastbound pilot
would report the time of the ARN-5 needle's crossing, and compare that with the time
reported by the aircraft in front and the aircraft behind.  Spacing upon arrival at
Berlin was crucial.  We installed a CAA ILS Localizer, again with CAA supervision,
at Wolfenbuttle which is a few miles south of Brunschweig.  It was aimed southeast so
as to intersect the Fulda-Berlin corridor and help with spacing the aircraft.  I've
worked on a lot of ILS systems starting with the SCS-51 and ending with MRN-7 and
MRN-8, but the one at Wolfenbuttle was the only one I ever saw that didn't have a 
Glide Slope to keep it company.  

Tow comments; The accident report doesn't really indicate if the pilot was 
approaching Denver on the same track as one of the VAR courses, but the way they bad
mouth the pilot it appears(?) he was.  Second, he was at 15,000 feet according to 
the IFR clearance.  How about alertness and oxygen at that altitude.  USAF had some
rules when I was carried aloft.  I think crew had to go on oxygen at 13,000 feet. 
Passengers in C-124, C-54 and C-47 had to live with it, but I've never been to
15,000 feet in one of those airplanes.

The time span between the introduction of the VAR and the introduction of the VOR
was so short that it's possible that military pilots never really heard of VHF
Ranges until the VOR became widespread.

73