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| Color Artist Cover Page provided by Elwin Dewey |
Welcome to our Metrology Home Page. For those visitors who are unfamiliar with the term Metrology; it can be described as the exacting science of measurement. To simplify understanding a bit further; it's the process of comparing test devices used for many purposes against established measurement accuracy known as standards. Without precise and exacting measurements for each piece part of a final product there can be no assurance that a complex assembly such as a missile, a supersonic aircraft or a ground communication system will perform its designed and intended mission.
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| Color Artist Cover Page provided by Elwin Dewey |
The Air Force had long
been involved in calibrating tools and test equipment to assure their accuracy.
However, no centralized system existed in the early 1950s to ensure that the
standards used to calibrate equipment were based upon universal and accurate
primary standards of measurement.
With the on coming technology age of the missile
and higher flying than sound aircraft the importance of such a calibration
accuracy became increasingly apparent. Although, Newark Air Force Base,
home for the Aerospace Guidance and Metrology Center, got its start in the early
1960s, the Metrology Program got its roots at Dayton Air Force Depot (AFD)
located in Dayton, Ohio in the early 1950s.
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| USAF Primary Reference System for maintaining precise time & time interval. |
This is a story in
itself, which we have attempted to briefly cover in series of text and photos to
follow by clicking the first ICON . . DAFD . . The Beginning. Some
of the photographs, due to their age and source, are not 100 percent, for which
we apologize in advance, but are so important to an understanding of this early
DAFD Metrology legacy.
In 1956 the Air Force Logistics Command
began to search for a location to maintain an increasing inventory of inertial
navigation systems being used on missile and aircraft systems. Because of
very exacting environmental stability characteristics the search involved all of
the eight specialized depots (at that time), rocky mountain areas and
underground mines throughout the U.S. Then in late 1957 it was discovered
that an already existing Air Force owned plant located in Heath, Ohio appeared
suitable to accomplish this specialized inertial repair and test mission.
The plant known as AF Plant 48 had been built for the AF Heavy Press Program which
was canceled in July 1953. The plant was constructed to house heavy
forging presses which required massive concrete foundations poured 65 or more
feet underground. As it turned out this unusual unoccupied plant in Heath
Ohio became the future home as a single source for maintaining inertial
navigation systems as well as a new home for management of the Air Force
Calibration Program. Highlights and illustrations of this unusual
facility can be reviewed by clicking on ICON . . . The Quietest Place in the
World.
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| DAFD Mobile Calibration Van. Used to provide Calibration support to A.F. Bases during 1950s |
In February 1959 the excess Air Force Plant #48
was redesignated the Heath Maintenance Annex and in March responsibility
for managing the operation was assigned to Dayton AFD. Although that
seemed to be the beginning for many, the battle raged for over a year for
Military Construction Funds to modify the plant for Inertial Systems work and to
build a new Underground Calibration Standards Laboratory. Finally,
in February 1961 Congress approved the funding and the Directorate of Heath
Operations was established. While construction proceeded to get the plant
and the new laboratory completed planning and hiring continued at Dayton AFD.
In the meantime the Defense Supply Agency acquired the Dayton AFD real estate
and in January 1962 the Heath Project Organization was forced to temporarily
relocate to Sherwood Forest, Wright Patterson AFB. Then, with
modifications and construction partially completed, of what now had been named
the Heath Maintenance Annex, responsibility for management and operation
was transferred from the now defunct Dayton AFD to the Middletown Air
Material Area, Olmsted AFB located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Then
finally in April 1962 the Heath Directorate, headed by Col. Tom Lawton, began
their entourage of people, equipment and supplies into the Heath facility.
In June 1962 the installation became known officially as the 2802nd Inertial
Guidance and Calibration Group and a new home for the Air Force Metrology
and Calibration Program; eventually known as the "METCAL"
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| Microwave Lab |
Now with that a matter of background when you
click on the ICON . . . Metcal . . . you will find a brief
description of as well as illustrations of "Metcal", its
objectives and just how it was designed to operate. Also, thanks to the
new technology of the Web when you visit this segment of our page you will be in
for a surprise. We'll take you on a guided tour four floors underground of
the most modern and precise calibration laboratory known to exist in the free
world.
There were many accomplishments by the Directorate of
Metrology throughout the years which had a major world wide significance.
Certainly, the limits of this page will only permit acknowledgment of but a few.
So when you click on the ICON . . . "Accomplishments" . . .
you'll find a brief resume with illustrations considered of major import during
a period of National Emergency.
As a wrap up, in September 1996 pursuant to the
Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990 the Air Force decided to make Newark
Air Force Base a pilot site for the Governments Privatization In-Place
Program (PIP). Under PIP a private company operates the Air Force
"METCAL" program as well as the laboratory facilities with its own
work force. The last ICON entitled "Govt/AF Partners"
has been reserved for related input by the designated corporate sponsor of the
Metrology Home Page.
Finally, as we have acknowledged in the case of
the IG Systems and IG Engineering Home Page introductions, the material for the
Metrology Home Page will be introduced on an incremental basis. So when
you click on an ICON segment and see the notice posted "To Be
Added" you will know that the selected material for the segment is in
work and will be added ASAP. We suggest that you visit the site frequently
as new material, illustrations and photos will be added.
Now, you can begin the Metrology Story by
clicking on DAFD .. The Beginning.
Reporters: Earl Browning, Chauncey Delaney, Elwin Dewey, Earl Paazig, Sandy Santos
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