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92 so u R c e s o f we a p o n sy s T e m s In n o v a T Io n In T h e depaR TmenT o f defense
ratories focused on the design of ground-based and airborne radio and radar
antennas and the development of more sensitive detection systems capable of
evading enemy countermeasures. 74
Cambridge’s geophysics directorate studied the composition and behavior
of the atmosphere, focusing specifically on the effects of severe weather, air
composition, turbulence, temperature, ionization, and solar radiation on the
performance of jet aircraft and electronic communication and guidance systems
operating at high altitudes. Most of this work—about two-thirds of the directorate’s
annual expenditures in 1953—was outsourced to private-sector organizations,
with the remainder conducted in-house at Cambridge. One of the major R&D
programs underway in the directorate’s atmospheric physics laboratory explored
the gaseous composition of the upper atmosphere to predict the effects of higher
aircraft speeds and altitude ranges on engine performance, airframe durability,
and pilot health and safety. Meanwhile, researchers working in the ionospheric
physics research laboratory studied aurora effects in the arctic region, and the
extent to which they disrupted (through scattering and absorption) long-distance
radio transmissions. At very high frequencies (VHF), however, auroras behaved
like large reflectors, making transmission possible. Consequently, the laboratory’s
primary effort in the 1950s focused on the development of techniques to predict
the occurrences of auroral phenomena “to permit the use of lightweight, longdistance,
high-frequency sets for communication.” 75
The hardware end of the Air Research and Development Command’s
electronics R&D program was handled by the Rome Air Development Center
in New York State. Like the Cambridge Research Center, Rome traced its
roots to the wartime Watson Laboratories in New Jersey. In 1950, the entire
operation at Red Bank (except for the staff and equipment that had transferred
to Cambridge five years earlier) moved to Griffiss Air Force Base, which had
been established in 1941 to serve as a maintenance depot for the Army Air
Forces. From this core organization at Rome emerged the Air Force’s groundbased
avionics program, which included the development and procurement
of integrated equipment for navigation, communication, direction finding,
missile guidance, electronic countermeasures, and airborne identification. Rome
added the procurement function was added to Rome in 1951, when the Air
at Cambridge studied the properties of silicon to determine its suitability as a replacement material for
germanium in semiconductors. At the time, germanium-based materials dominated the commercial
semiconductor market. See Miller, “Solid-State Electronics Trend Goes On in Plant and Laboratory,” 237.
74 “Cambridge Advances Art of Air War,” Aviation Week 66 (3 June 1957): 105. On SAGE and
Cambridge’s collaboration with MIT, see Johnson, The United States Air Force and the Culture of Innovation,
chap. 4; and Hughes, Rescuing Prometheus, chap. 2.
75 Stone, “Cambridge’s Bailiwick: Earth, Sky, and Sea,” 232–36, 240 (quote on 240). Studies of the
ionosphere at Cambridge diversified into the field of plasma physics in the early 1960s. A new laboratory
was constructed on-site at Hanscom Air Force Base to house facilities for plasma production, diagnosis, and
interaction experiments. Researchers studied the properties and behavior of the plasma sheath surrounding
the nose cones of missiles and spacecraft during re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere. Special attention
focused on determining optimum radio frequencies capable of penetrating the sheath. Other studies
explored the use of plasmas for space-vehicle propulsion and electronic applications. “OAR Upgraded, Up-
Funded for Research,” Missiles and Rockets 10 (26 March 1962): 123; “New Plasma Lab,” Missiles and
Rockets 9 (13 November 1961): 28.