RBS Express

Not to be confused with SAC's "Mobile Minuteman" train in 1960 (Operation Big Star test).

RBS Express sites

1961 Mar 1 (1st): Milan, Tennessee[1]
1961 (11th RBS): Rhame, North Dakota[2]
tbd: Bowman, North Dakota[3]
1961: McAlester, Oklahoma[4]
1961 December (#2): Hawthorne, Nevada[5]
1962 January: Greenville, Texas[6]
1962 April: Athens, Georgia [7]
1962 May: Jalapa, South Carolina[8][9]
1962 June: Barksdale AFB, Louisiana [10]
1963 Jan: Worthington, Minnesota [11]
1963 Mar-May: Deeth, Nevada[12]
1963 (# "III"): Jalapa, South Carolina[13][14]
1963 May-Jun (1st): depot[15]
1963 June (1st): Minnesota [16]
tbd: Corsicana, Texas[17]
1964 Jan: Emhouse, Texas [18]
1964 Jan-Mar: Thoreau, New Mexico[2]
tbd: Crane, Indiana[3]
1964 Sep: Moulton, Iowa [19]
1965: Scott City, Kansas[2]
1965 Apr-Sep: Newport, Arkansas (3rd time)[20][21]
1966 Oct: Wendell, Idaho [22]
1966-67:[23] Rion, South Carolina[24]
1968 February (w/ MSQ-39): Wellsville, Missouri[24]
1968 May: Naicom, Saskatchewan[25][26]
1968-9: Ritzville, Washington[27]
1969: Lawen, Oregon[24]
1970 May: Saskatoon, Canada[28][29]
1970-1: "Green River Site", Utah[30]

RBS Express railroad trains were 3 mobile United States Air Force radar stations for 1CEVG Radar Bomb Scoring (RBS) of Strategic Air Command bomber crews beginning in March 1961.[31][32] Electronic equipment included the "MSQ-39, TLQ-11, MPS-9, and the IFF/SIF for the MSQ-39"[33] along with support railcars ("work train"), and the trains were temporarily used at various rail sites (e.g., sidings) with the radar antennas emplaced using hoists built onto flatcars.[34] Pulled by a "contracted locomotive" that left the train at the site[35] (e.g., for 45 days),[1] and a North American B-25 Mitchell was used for calibration of the radar station.[36]

Each train used "existing U.S. Army stock" from Ogden General Depot,[6] and each train's 21 cars (17 support and 4 radar cars) included "a generator car, two box cars (one for radar equipment maintenance, and one for support maintenance) [a] dining car, two day-room cars, supply cars, admin car, and 4 [crew sleeping cars]."[35] Depot maintenance for the trains was at the Tooele Army Depot[37] southwest of Salt Lake City ("Army Rail Shops").[15] Major Eugene R. Butler was the 1st commander of the "First RBS Express",[38] and each 1CEVG squadron's detachments manned a train[2] (after the 1965 discontinuation of RBS squadrons,[39] RBS detachments continued operating trains.) Butler's command had 60 11th RBS airmen: 15 from the Joplin Bomb Plot and others from the bomb plots at La Junta CO, Bismarck ND, Minneapolis MN, Salt Lake City UT, St Louis MO, and Little Rock AR.[1]

External image
image icon acquisition radar on railcar
  1. ^ a b c "U.S. To Use Trains For Radar 'Targets'". The Evening Independent. 19 February 1961. Retrieved 24 September 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference Yahoo was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Roush, Dick (5 May 2001). "3903rd Radar Bomb Scoring Group" (Web Bulletin Board). KoreanWar.org. Retrieved 20 May 2012. Served…from October 1957 to June 1962. …Keesler AFB for tech school, then…at Los Angeles RBS site
  4. ^ "One Altus Crew To Fly State Radar Mission". The Altus Times-Democrat. 12 July 1961. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  5. ^ "Hawthorne "Bombed" Daily". Nevada State Journal. 14 December 1961. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
  6. ^ a b "Bombers To Descend Near Alto Series of Mock Air Attacks". The Cherokeean. Rusk, Texas. 28 December 1961. Retrieved 9 July 2012. At the target area near Greenville, radar bomb scoring equipment mounted on an Air Force train
  7. ^ "The Newberry Observer - Google News Archive Search".
  8. ^ "The Newberry Observer - Google News Archive Search".
  9. ^ "The Newberry Observer - Google News Archive Search".
  10. ^ http://www.crenshawlocomotiveworks.com/rrvrhs/RRNewsletterNovember2010.pdf[permanent dead link]
  11. ^ "Hendricks Pioneer - Google News Archive Search".
  12. ^ http://drbilltellsancestorstories.blogspot.com/2012/02/those-places-thursday-rbs-express-62-63.html see also Nevada State Journal, May 12, 1963
  13. ^ "The Newberry Observer - Google News Archive Search".
  14. ^ "The Newberry Observer - Google News Archive Search".
  15. ^ a b Livingood, Jay. "Rail Bomb 'Scorer' Gets Overhaul At Hill Air Base". The Deseret News. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  16. ^ "The Deseret News - Google News Archive Search".
  17. ^ Google. Google. Retrieved on 2013-09-18.
  18. ^ "SAC Bomber Missions Planned Over This Area". Wood County Democrat. 2 January 1964 – via Google News.
  19. ^ "The Telegraph-Herald - Google News Archive Search".
  20. ^ "Southeast Weekly Bulletin - Google News Archive Search".
  21. ^ "Spokane Daily Chronicle - Google News Archive Search".
  22. ^ "Lewiston Morning Tribune - Google News Archive Search".
  23. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 April 2013. Retrieved 27 September 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  24. ^ a b c Burke, Charles. "Charlie's Military Memories". MCI.net. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  25. ^ "The Phoenix - Google News Archive Search".
  26. ^ "The Phoenix - Google News Archive Search".
  27. ^ "Spokane Daily Chronicle - Google News Archive Search".
  28. ^ "The Phoenix - Google News Archive Search".
  29. ^ "The Leader-Post - Google News Archive Search".
  30. ^ Finding of No Department of Defense Actions Indicated: …Milford Radar Bomb Scoring Site (PDF) (Report). CorpsFUDS.org. Retrieved 8 July 2012.[permanent dead link]
  31. ^ "The Deseret News - Google News Archive Search".
  32. ^ "The Tuscaloosa News - Google News Archive Search".
  33. ^ Kalie, C. "The RBS Express…". Archived from the original on 18 June 2015. Retrieved 16 July 2012. one of the…trains was parked near Hawthorne, Nevada in June 1960. [sic] Here you see the support cars on the left. Moving to the right, there is the MSQ-39, TLQ-11, MPS-9, and the IFF/SIF for the MSQ-39
  34. ^ Cite error: The named reference RBSexpress was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  35. ^ a b [who?]"In regards to the SAC radar bomb scoring squadron mounted on railroad cars" (PDF). MobileRadar.org. 22 February 2007. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  36. ^ Tails Through Time: December 2009. Aviationtrivia.blogspot.com. Retrieved on 2013-09-18.
  37. ^ "The Tooele Army Depot". UtahRails.net. 5 August 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  38. ^ Kershaw, Marcia (8 December 1961). "Bomb Scoring Squadron To Be Moved To Mississippi Base in February". Joplin Globe. Archived from the original on 30 November 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2012. Detachment 2 was moved here from Oklahoma City under command of Major Eugene R. Butler with 35 men and officers and has grown to a strength of 72 Personnel … have manned the First a train carrying complete radar bomb scoring equipment for the purpose of scoring SAC bomber at remote locations … Major Butler was the first commander of the First RBS Express
  39. ^ Cite error: The named reference VolumeI was invoked but never defined (see the help page).