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Inertial Engineering, as described in the following functional description, experienced several name and organization changes between Base opening in 1962 and Base closing in 1996. It began in 1962 in two organizations as Quality Engineering, a branch level organization in the Quality Control Division (and in the Quality Control and Engineering Division in 1964), and as Shops Engineering, initially distributed and later a branch in the Production Division. These were combined to become Service Engineering as a branch in the Service Engineering Division in 1966 and as a division in the Directorate of Service Engineering in 1969. Subsequently, it became Inertial Engineering as a division in the Directorate of Inertial Engineering in 1976, and finally Product Engineering as a division in the Directorate of Maintenance in 1988 and two branches in the Product divisions of the Directorate of Maintenance in 1991. Selected events and accomplishments of all these organizations, as extracted from the Base On Target newspaper, the Base annual History document and/or recollections of the assigned engineers will be presented. For simplicity, prepared text, as in the following description, will refer to the total effort as that of Inertial Engineering.
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The Inertial Engineering function was to provide a full range of engineering support services for a wide variety of inertial guidance/navigation systems and components used by the United States Air Force, Army and Navy. These services included direct engineering support to the Directorate of Maintenance Depot Repair and Test Operations as well as the Inventory and System Managers at the Air Logistic Centers and the Users in the Operational Commands. The Inertial Engineers provided input to the acquisition process for new inertial equipment to assure that maintainability and reliability "Lessons Learned" were seriously considered by the buyer as well as the manufacturer. The Center's (AGMC) professional staff of engineers were experienced in the solution of a wide range of complex problems related to the repair and test of inertial systems and components.
These engineers and their support staff developed a proud history in their 34 years of service to the United States during those Cold War Years. Their achievements included significant improvement in methods and procedures resulting in lower costs and immense savings for the United States Defense Department. Their ingenuity, computerized Reliability programs, and involvement with the field users of inertial equipped weapon systems throughout the world, resulted in better performance data and a means to improve systems, components, test equipment, and inertial system technology.
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There were hundreds, possibly thousands, of engineering projects successfully completed during those 34 years of operation. Also, thanks to the Center's Incentive Program known as "Value Engineering", millions of dollars of savings and cost avoidance were validated.
A number of major projects were accomplished in conjunction with other engineering research organizations. Organizations such as the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Holloman AFB Inertial Test Facility, and the Wright Patterson Engineering Lab, are but a few. A good example of a joint project is the G-200 (gyro) Bearing Technology Improvement Program conducted by the Center in conjunction with the C.S. Draper Lab in 1973. The savings to the Air Force that resulted from this project were determined to be over 4 million dollars for a three year period of application.
Over the years there were also a number of special engineering projects accomplished in collaboration with the Inventory and System Managers as well as with Field Service representatives of Litton, Autonetics, Kearfott and other Inertial System manufacturers.
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There are many more major projects; too many to include for your review in this initial Inertial Engineering Home Page. Therefore, a few of the more prominent engineering projects and/or accomplishments that were performed in the early 1960s and 1970s have been selected. These will be added to incrementally, as other projects are selected and pertinent material and graphics are completed. You are encouraged to visit the site often, since new engineering projects and accomplishments performed throughout the years will be added periodically.
With this background information, you are invited to browse and relive old memories, or become acquainted with engineering for the first time as the case may be.
When you click on the Inertial Engineering ICON your review will begin.
Reporter: Bill Parker
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