EW History from the Dixie Crow Chapter: QRC-335
Shelly Simmons of the Dixie Crow Chapter shares the development of the EW Pod at Robins AFB in the early 1960s. During that time, Shelly was selected to be the Program Manager (Crew Chief) to coordinate with Westinghouse in Baltimore, MD in the development of the first pod to be brought into the Air Force inventory (the QRC-335).
The SAM threat was evolving so quickly during that period that the development of a robust ECM pod for force protection was warranted. We had to make continuous changes to the pod to both increase reliability and maintain currency with the evolving threat. The rapidity with which the pod was being altered meant that we could not stock list the pod or the peculiar items.The non stock listed peculiar items were stocked, stored and issued by a commercial facility. Later as the program matured, we were able to develop the pod to the point that we could standardize the pod and the equipment. The QRC-335 was the forerunner to the ALQ-101 and ALQ-105.
At that time, Shelly had six (6) people working for him: an engineer, equipment technician, production manager specialist, item manager specialist, material manager specialist, and a secretary. In a very few years, as the pods and internal equipment were built and shipped throughout USAF, they were required to expand the employee base. Their office was located in the Directorate of Material Management (DMM), Airborne Radar and EW Division. Shelly’s job required a Top Secret clearance to manage the EW Equipment, work with Westinghouse, and visit the overseas Air Force bases.
In 1968, as events in Southeast Asia continued to escalate, things became very busy for them. Shelly’s office was greatly involved in delivering pods and EW equipment. In the early part of that year Col. Floyd Dixon, our Division Chief (deceased), Shelly, and a cadre of technicians traveled to USAF bases in Thailand to advise ground crews on the installation of the pods on F-4 and F-105 aircraft for operations over North Vietnam. They also spent some time at Tan Son Nhut, Republic of Vietnam. They met with the pilots to discuss the capabilities of the EW pods and talked with them concerning their experiences during the missions over North Vietnam. They conducted frank discussions with Wild Weasel pilots and Electronic Warfare Officers (back seaters) concerning SAM (Surface to Air Missile) engagements and the viability of our ECM (Electronic Counter Measures) pod. While listening to the recordings of the conversations of the EWOs and pilots during actual combat missions, they were amazed at their calmness; almost as if they were enjoying a relaxing afternoon fishing rather than dueling with SAM missiles.
During this period, Shelly’s office also made several trips to Germany to educate aircrews and maintenance personnel concerning the capability of the pods. The USA sold some pods to Germany. For some reason, the German Air Force was suspicious that the pods they received were not of the same configuration and capability as our US pods. At one point, Shelly was requested to join several people from the Pentagon on an emergency trip (over a weekend) to Germany to reassure our allies. We were successful. They were happy and so were we.
Shelly retired from Civil Service at Robins after 36 years. He has remained a member of the Association of Old Crows and has stayed in touch with movements in Electronic Warfare. Shelly has been a representative of U.S. Dynamics Corp. (USD) of Long Island, NY at Robins AFB and other places in Georgia for 20 years. For many years, USD has repaired, developed and produced items, subsystems and systems for Robins AFB. They have been involved with all of the EW pods and Electronic Warfare equipment along with other Avionics and Electronic equipment for over 40 years.
Shelly incorporated some slides onto a disk showing the various stages in the production of the QRC-335 pod starting with Heat Sink (which provided many challenges due to the extreme low and high altitudes encountered during a typical mission – fluid loss/freezing, etc.). Lisa has the disk and will make it available to anyone interested.
Thank you Shelly for sharing! If anyone has pieces of history such as this to share please drop Lisa a note at lisa.fruge@baesystems.com so that we may share with everyone.