SHORAN
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SHORAN is an acronym for SHOrt RAnge Navigation, a type of electronic navigation and bombing system with a precision radar beacon used in the B-26 and B-29 bomber aircraft during the Korean War.
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[edit] Origin
In 1938 RCA engineer Stuart William Seeley, while attempting to remove "ghost" signals from an experimental television system, realized that he could measure distances by time differences in radio reception. In summer 1940, Seeley proposed building SHORAN for the Army Air Force. Contract was awarded 9 months later, and SHORAN given its first military flight tests in August 1942. First procurement was spring 1944, with initial combat operations in northern Italy on December 11, 1944.
During the system's development, Seeley and Van Dyck flew to England to describe the system to American and British air force personnel. There they observed the Oboe, which could guide only a single aircraft, unlike Shoran which could guide multiple. On the return flight, nearly all information on Shoran was lost in a plane crash, and Seeley was forced to recreate the records from his own memory. He received a Magellanic award for his work in 1960.[1]
[edit] Structure
SHORAN, which operates at 300 MHz, requires an airborne AN/APN3 set and two AN/CPN2 or 2A ground stations. The equipment onboard the aircraft includes a transmitter, a receiver, an operator's console and a K-1A model bombing computer. The transmitter sends pulses to one of the ground stations and the system calculates the range in statute miles by clocking the elapsed time between transmitter pulse and the returned signal. The system was intended for use in navigation, but it became obvious that it would work well for blind targeting during bombing runs in poor visibility. The setup made up of the K-1A bombing computer combined with the navigation system was the first SHORAN. The SHORAN system is designed so that as the aircraft faces the target, the low-frequency station should be on the left, and the high-frequency station is on the right. This allows the computer to triangulate the two stations and the target.
[edit] Limitations
The limitations of SHORAN included:
- A maximum range of 300 statute miles and a clear radio path
- No more than 20 aircraft may contact a pair of stations at once
- Complex parameter calculations made prior to flight cannot be changed during the bomb run
- Station angle must be between 30 degrees and 150 degrees, and the exact geographical position of each of the two ground stations and the target must be known
- The 100 mile ambiguity must be recognized and taken into account
- There are only four possible approaches to any one target, all predefined by the geometry of the system
- Because the system is line-of-sight limited, the plane must fly at altitudes above 14,000 feet and sometimes as high as 16,000 feet, depending on local geography. These altitudes are not easily made by a fully-loaded bomber. The engines are worked to capacity.
- Only stationary targets can be attacked
- The use of statute miles instead of nautical miles may be confusing in some situations
[edit] High Tech Bombing in Korea
Little new top-of-the-line technology was used in Korea, but SHORAN was an exception. B-26 planes were first equipped with the system in January, 1951, and first carried it into battle the following month.
Some problems immediately recognized were that ground stations tended to be too far from the targets, the ground and aircraft equipment was not maintained properly, few technicians knew how to work the equipment, and operators were too unfamiliar with Korean geography to use the system to the fullest extent.
Changes were made and by June of 1951 ground stations were located in more useful areas, such as islands and mountaintops, and training of operators and technicians familiarized them with the system. By November 1952 these changes had developed SHORAN into a reliable accurate blind-bombing system which was used by B-29 and B-26 aircraft for the remainder of the war.
[edit] References
- "Shoran - A Precision Five Hundred Mile Yardstick", Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 105, no. 4 (Aug. 15, 1961), pages 447-451.
- SHORAN history
