RBS Express

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.[26] Electronic equipment included the "MSQ-39, TLQ-11, MPS-9, and the IFF/SIF for the MSQ-39"[27] 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.[28] Pulled by a "contracted locomotive" that left the train at the site[29] (e.g., for 45 days),[1] and a North American B-25 Mitchell was used for calibration of the radar station.[30]

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]
1962 June: Barksdale AFB, Louisiana [9]
1963 Jan: Worthington, Minnesota [10]
1963 Mar-May: Deeth, Nevada[11]
1963 (# "III"): Jalapa, South Carolina[12]
1963 May-Jun (1st): depot[13]
1963 June (1st): Minnesota [14]
tbd: Corsicana, Texas[15]
1964 Jan: Emhouse, Texas [16]
1964 Jan-Mar: Thoreau, New Mexico[2]
tbd: Crane, Indiana[3]
1964 Sep: Moulton, Iowa [17]
1965: Scott City, Kansas[2]
1965 Apr-Sep: Newport, Arkansas (3rd time)[18]
1966 Oct: Wendell, Idaho [19]
1966-67:[20] Rion, South Carolina[21]
1968 February (w/ MSQ-39): Wellsville, Missouri[21]
1968 May: Naicom, Saskatchewan[22]
1968-9: Ritzville, Washington[23]
1969: Lawen, Oregon[21]
1970 May: Saskatoon, Canada[24]


1970-1: "Green River Site", Utah[25]

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]."[29] Depot maintenance for the trains was at the Tooele Army Depot[31] southwest of Salt Lake City ("Army Rail Shops").[13] Major Eugene R. Butler was the 1st commander of the "First RBS Express",[32] and each 1CEVG squadron's detachments manned a train[2] (after the 1965 discontinuation of RBS squadrons,[33] 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
acquisition radar on railcar

References
  1. "U.S. To Use Trains For Radar 'Targets'". The Evening Independent. February 19, 1961. Retrieved 2012-09-24.
  2. "Combat Evaluation Group - A place for CEVG'ers and Range Rats to Meet (Yahoo newsgroup)". January 9, 2000.    Citations in chronological order:
    • johnd584 (November 26, 2004). "Message 11827". 11th RBS express set up in Rhame ND and Capt Reeves from Bismarck was the commander in summer of 1961 or 62
    • Reyburn, David W (November 29, 2004). "Re: Re: [Combat Evaluation Group] Re: RBS Express". train in Deeth, Nevada in April 1, 1963…train in Igloo, S.D. the middle of August 1963 and was there until we moved the train to Vaughn, N.M. the first of Oct. 1963…Train at Creston, WY the first of April…left for the Train Nov 12, 1964 for Moulton, Iowa…train and moved it to Scott City, KS…Left the train About February 25, 1965… train in Oberlin, LA in the middle of August 1965
    • McAfee, Emerson R. "tbd". train. … Several of us…volunteered to go to Lake City in 1964… And we had all kinds of volunteers for Mayfield, KY
    • Withers, Daniel A (February 17, 2005). "Message 13073". Closing Deeth (literally), we relocated to the New Mexico garden spot of Vaughn.
    • McAfee, Emerson R (August 6, 2005). "Re: Greetings!". I was at Det. 8 Richmond from Jun 63-Apr 72. I also made trips to Browns IL but we were the ones who moved it from Mauk GA to Browns so I was only at Browns for about a week
    • Hirsch, Ken (August 6, 2005). "Message tbd". I was stationed at Detachment 3, Statesboro, GA from Oct. 1963 - Sept. 1966. Tours on the RBS Express were at…Browns, IL; Jonesboro, AR; Train on display in Philadelphia, PA; Mount Pleasant, TN and Port Henry, NY (2 tours - I liked it up there!).
    • Avery, Jim (August 8, 2005). "Message 15844". We actually moved the train from Lake City, SC to Browns, IL. (The train moved from Mauk, GA to Thoreau, NM).
    • Ross, Don (August 30, 2007). "Sqdns, Det 4 and Germany" (Yahoo newsgroup). Retrieved 2012-07-09. three RBS Express trains. One per sqdn
    • Skinner, Don (July 31, 2010). "Memories/1CEG". Retrieved 2012-09-24. I spent the first 3 months of 1964 on RBS Express at Thoreau, NM as maintenance man
  3. Roush, Dick (May 5, 2001). "3903rd Radar Bomb Scoring Group" (Web Bulletin Board). KoreanWar.org. Retrieved 2012-05-20. 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. July 12, 1961. Retrieved 2012-07-08.
  5. "Hawthorne "Bombed" Daily". Nevada State Journal. December 14, 1961. Retrieved 2012-06-20.
  6. "Bombers To Descend Near Alto Series of Mock Air Attacks". The Cherokeean. Rusk, Texas. December 28, 1961. Retrieved 2012-07-09. 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. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OlRDAAAAIBAJ&sjid=oa0MAAAAIBAJ&pg=1371,2794902&dq=bomb-scoring&hl=en
    https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PVRDAAAAIBAJ&sjid=oa0MAAAAIBAJ&pg=2765,3033845&dq=bomb-scoring&hl=en
  9. http://www.crenshawlocomotiveworks.com/rrvrhs/RRNewsletterNovember2010.pdf%5B%5D
  10. "Hendricks Pioneer - Google News Archive Search".
  11. http://drbilltellsancestorstories.blogspot.com/2012/02/those-places-thursday-rbs-express-62-63.html see also Nevada State Journal, May 12, 1963
  12. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=P1RDAAAAIBAJ&sjid=oa0MAAAAIBAJ&pg=1195,3207164&dq=bomb-scoring&hl=en
    https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=RVRDAAAAIBAJ&sjid=oa0MAAAAIBAJ&pg=3708,3634789&dq=bomb-scoring-unit&hl=en
  13. Livingood, Jay. "Rail Bomb 'Scorer' Gets Overhaul At Hill Air Base". The Deseret News. Retrieved 2012-07-08.
  14. "The Deseret News - Google News Archive Search".
  15. Google. Google. Retrieved on 2013-09-18.
  16. "SAC Bomber Missions Planned Over This Area". Wood County Democrat. January 2, 1964 – via Google News.
  17. "The Telegraph-Herald - Google News Archive Search".
  18. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=EGMvAAAAIBAJ&sjid=My4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=1447,852687&dq=bomb-scoring&hl=en
    https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JvpXAAAAIBAJ&sjid=oPYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4651,2717497&dq=bomb-scoring&hl=en
  19. "Lewiston Morning Tribune - Google News Archive Search".
  20. http://www.scrm.org/Newsletter18-Apr2012.pdf
  21. Burke, Charles. "Charlie's Military Memories". MCI.net. Retrieved 2012-07-08.
  22. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=BC5gAAAAIBAJ&sjid=m28NAAAAIBAJ&pg=7240,880975&dq=bomb-scoring&hl=en
    https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JzFgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tW8NAAAAIBAJ&pg=7118,19127&dq=bomb-scoring&hl=en
  23. "Spokane Daily Chronicle - Google News Archive Search".
  24. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=TS5gAAAAIBAJ&sjid=n28NAAAAIBAJ&pg=881,299628&dq=bomb-scoring&hl=en
    https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3ulUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=kDwNAAAAIBAJ&pg=1713,305900&dq=bomb-scoring&hl=en
  25. Finding of No Department of Defense Actions Indicated: …Milford Radar Bomb Scoring Site (PDF) (Report). CorpsFUDS.org. Retrieved 2012-07-08.
  26. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0XsvAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jkgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4071,2676530&dq=bomb-scoring&hl=en
    https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=UPscAAAAIBAJ&sjid=HpoEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5728,2205319&dq=bomb-scoring&hl=en
  27. Kalie, C. "The RBS Express…". Archived from the original on 2015-06-18. Retrieved 2012-07-16. 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
  28. The RBS Express SFP1324. 1365th Photo Sq. Retrieved 2012-05-17. idea..born in 1960 … USAX 357645:50 …USAX 357046:10 … [grain silo near siding]6:57
  29. "In regards to the SAC radar bomb scoring squadron mounted on railroad cars" (PDF). MobileRadar.org. 22 Feb 2007. Retrieved 30 Aug 2010.
  30. Tails Through Time: December 2009. Aviationtrivia.blogspot.com. Retrieved on 2013-09-18.
  31. "The Tooele Army Depot". UtahRails.net. August 5, 2011. Retrieved 2012-07-08.
  32. Kershaw, Marcia (December 8, 1961). "Bomb Scoring Squadron To Be Moved To Mississippi Base in February". Joplin Globe. Archived from the original on November 30, 2012. Retrieved 2012-07-07. 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
  33. "Chapter II: Personnel". 1st Combat Evaluation Group (SAC): April-June 1966 (DocStoc.com image) (Report). Volume I. Retrieved 2012-07-14. (partial transcription at 1stCombatEvaluationGroup.com) Archived 2013-06-06 at the Wayback Machine
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