A BIT OF HISTORY: "...The U.S. Navy's Role in Continental Air Defense..." http://www.nwc.navy.mil/press/review/1999/summer/art5%2Dsu9.htm [30MAY2003]

In 1944, the Navy launched the first program for the development of airborne early warning radar and aircraft, thereby taking the lead in this vital technology. Lincoln Laboratory (then known as the Radiation Laboratory), working closely with the Naval Research Laboratory NAS Anacostia, Washington, D.C., developed an airborne radar and a radio link to transmit radar video to displays in a ship's combat information center (CIC). This system was installed in TBM torpedo bombers (designated the TBM-3W, the W standing for airborne early warning). By the time flight trials began in January 1945, however, the Navy had concluded that the video link did not permit the TBM-3W to operate at the ranges from its carrier task force necessary for early warning. The solution was to place the CIC in the aircraft. Commander Lucien F. "Red" Dodson proposed mounting the APS-20, a one-megawatt air search radar, in a large, long-range, land-based aircraft. Commander Dodson was placed in command of VPB-101, based at NAS Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, and development efforts began, using two Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress test beds already in the Navy inventory.

For its first land-based airborne early warning aircraft, the Navy in 1945 purchased twenty new B-17Gs and modified each to the PB-1W configuration by sealing shut its bomb bay, removing the armament, and mounting an APS-20 air search radar in a large dome beneath the fuselage. The first PB-1Ws were delivered to VPB-101 in the spring of 1946; the Navy was to purchase a total of thirty-one. The PB-1W was a delight to fly, being much lighter than the original B-17G, but its lack of cabin pressurization made it cold and uncomfortable for the men operating the radar and tracking systems. In late 1946 VPB-101 was moved to NAS Quonset Point, Rhode Island, and redesignated Airborne Early Warning Development Squadron Four (VX-4). VX-4 moved from NAS Quonset Point, Rhode Island to NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, in July 1948; "Pax River," as it was commonly known, became the center of Navy airborne early warning for the next seventeen years. Lessons learned from flying the PB-1W were applied to development of the Lockheed PO-1W (a redesigned Lockheed 749 Constellation airliner later designated WV-1), which first flew in 1949, and to the highly successful Lockheed WV-2 (based on the famous L-1049G Super Constellation), which was first delivered to the Navy in 1954.

A BIT OF HISTORY: "...1945: Airborne Early Warning Radar..." http://www.nwc.navy.mil/press/Review/1999/summer/art5-su9.htm [13FEB2000]

The Navy had gained significant experience in air defense during World War II. In the battles of Coral Sea and Midway and in several other engagements, the Navy had learned hard lessons on how to defend carrier task forces. These lessons had led to important developments in air search radar, combat direction systems, and air-intercept-control procedures. The Navy's bitter experience with Japanese kamikaze suicide planes late in the war had generated intense interest in the development of radar systems for long-range detection of low-flying aircraft. The Navy had deployed radar picket destroyers late in the war but had concluded that airborne surveillance platforms were necessary for extended detection ranges.

In 1944, the Navy launched the first program for the development of airborne early warning radar and aircraft, thereby taking the lead in this vital technology. Lincoln Laboratory (then known as the Radiation Laboratory), working closely with the Naval Research Laboratory at NAS Anacostia, Washington, D.C., developed an airborne radar and a radio link to transmit radar video to displays in a ship's combat information center (CIC). This system was installed in TBM torpedo bombers (designated the TBM-3W, the W standing for airborne early warning). By the time flight trials began in January 1945, however, the Navy had concluded that the video link did not permit the TBM-3W to operate at the ranges from its carrier task force necessary for early warning. The solution was to place the CIC in the aircraft. Commander Lucien F. "Red" Dodson proposed mounting the APS-20, a one-megawatt air search radar, in a large, long-range, land-based aircraft. Commander Dodson was placed in command of Patrol Bomber Squadron 101 (VPB-101), based at NAS Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, and development efforts began, using two Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress test beds already in the Navy inventory.

For its first land-based airborne early warning aircraft, the Navy in 1945 purchased twenty new B-17Gs and modified each to the PB-1W configuration by sealing shut its bomb bay, removing the armament, and mounting an APS-20 air search radar in a large dome beneath the fuselage. The first PB-1Ws were delivered to VPB-101 in the spring of 1946; the Navy was to purchase a total of thirty-one. The PB-1W was a delight to fly, being much lighter than the original B-17G, but its lack of cabin pressurization made it cold and uncomfortable for the men operating the radar and tracking systems. In late 1946 VPB-101 was moved to NAS Quonset Point, Rhode Island, and redesignated Airborne Early Warning Development Squadron Four (VX-4). VX-4 moved from NAS Quonset Point, Rhode Island to NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, in July 1948; NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, as it was commonly known, became the center of Navy airborne early warning for the next seventeen years. Lessons learned from flying the PB-1W were applied to development of the Lockheed PO-1W (a redesigned Lockheed 749 Constellation airliner later designated WV-1), which first flew in 1949, and to the highly successful Lockheed WV-2 (based on the famous L-1049G Super Constellation), which was first delivered to the Navy in 1954..." [23MAY2001]

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Circa Unknown
Can you identify the Month and or Year?

A BIT OF HISTORY: "...VX-4 History Circa 1968 - Artwork and Former Commanding Officers..." Contributed by SMITH, PH2 Baron dr.baronsmith@yahoo.com [28MAR2005]

A BIT OF HISTORY: "...VX-4 NAS Point Mugu, California was redesignated (VX-9) AIR TEST AND EVALUATION SQUADRON when merged with VX-5..." Contributed by AMH3 David Osborne HCS-5 dungan.james.k.@naspm.navy.mil

A BIT OF HISTORY: "...Crushed...crushed...crushed. Once again the PB-1W is ignored in Naval Aviation History. The PB-1W was a vital patrol aircraft which served the Navy between 1945 and 1956 in the following squadrons: VX-4, VW-1, VW-2, VPW-1, VP-51, VC-11, and VPB-101. Yet it is virtually ignored on this page and in most accounts of Naval aviation. It was vital in the development of land-based airborne radar and instrumental in the deployment of airborne-early warning. The PB-1W was also used for ASW through the late forties and early fifties. I think it's a shame that the hundreds (thousands?) of aviatiors and ground crew which kept these airplanes going are so often ignored. There is a book on the Navy B-17: "B-17 In Blue" by yours truly. Check out http://www.aerovintage.com/b17.htm..." Contributed by Scott Thompson SThompson@aerovintage.com

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"VX-4 Summary Page"

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