EXTENDED-RANGE AIRCRAFT TRACKING

As part of the evaluation of the Madre radar system at the Chesapeake Bay Annex of the Naval Research Laboratory, data on a number of controlled over-the-horizon aircraft flights have been taken. Of particular interest is a flight which took place on 29 November 1962. The plane was a P3V similar to the commercial Electra and it was flying at an altitude of 24,000 ft from Lajes, Azores, to Norfolk, Virginia. The radar operated at 18.036 mc with 4.6 mw peak power. The plane was tracked over a great circle ground range from 1978 naut mi to 1391 naut mi. Radar cross-section measurements of the plane are included in this report, as well as an idealized treatment of the four-path over-the-horizon case.