Passenger Trains > Shooting down the "Golden State"

Just had an interesting phone conversation with a friend who served in the U.S. Army out in Ft. Bliss TX
for 2 years starting in 1967.  He served his time in a Hawk anti-aircraft missile battery.
He related they would go out in the north section of the base and set up with missiles having no fuel and no
warhead.  It had a simulator attached so they could practice target acquisitions. The system used two
types of radar.
They would practice "shooting down" certain Continental and Frontier Airline flights to and from Albuquerque
and Denver.
One day, a crewman said, "What's that silvery flash over there near the horizon?"  They locked onto the target
going 105 mph and "shot it down."  Turns out it was the Golden State.

[I researched Hawk missiles a bit.  The early versions were unreliable at acquiring targets too low and tracking objects 
  less than about 80-90 mph.]

 

PVSfan Wrote:
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[I researched Hawk missiles a bit.  The early versions were unreliable at acquiring targets too low and tracking objects 
  less than about 80-90 mph.]

It was harder to track objects moving slower?

Interesting story - glad the the airliners and railroads did not have missle lock warnings, lol.  At least, not then...

Technology always marching on - I guess it not be an issue targeting todays modern SLOWER trains...

/Mitch

I think my friend said the accuracy of measuring speeds below a certain value was more uncertain and thus
created a lower probability of hitting a target.

The early radars had real problems dealing with "ground clutter", i.e. all the stuff on the ground that generate radar returns.
Real easy for a target to get lost in that mess. Which is why high speed low level became the perferred way to get past air defence sites.

On the civilian side of radar, the FAA controllers at Oakland told me they could see trains moving across the edge of the bay between Alviso and Newark as raw screen returns (airplane returns were enhanced by their transponders). Their radar was set to only show return targets moving faster than 40 MPH. The antenna was on the oposite shorline not too far away from the Coast Sub. This was in the '80s and I'm not sure if the radar is more sophisticated now.

Jim B

There have been plenty shooting solutions on cruise ships too lol

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