Tom Drake

And why would the government charge me, right, as they did. But in the military, including our own, there is equipment still to this day or versions of it, upgrades, that are incredibly sensitive. You would not want that to fall into the wrong hands by any means. We're talking the very leading edge of how do you collect, store, analyze, pick up, transmit equipment.

And why would the government charge me, right, as they did. But in the military, including our own, there is equipment still to this day or versions of it, upgrades, that are incredibly sensitive. You would not want that to fall into the wrong hands by any means. We're talking the very leading edge of how do you collect, store, analyze, pick up, transmit equipment.

I'll give you one example though, without going into all the details, just to give you a sense of, we had to be able to operate on our own. We had, we had satellite, well it was early satellite, you got to remember the whole global positioning GPS, right? It was just beginning to emerge.

I'll give you one example though, without going into all the details, just to give you a sense of, we had to be able to operate on our own. We had, we had satellite, well it was early satellite, you got to remember the whole global positioning GPS, right? It was just beginning to emerge.

I'll give you one example though, without going into all the details, just to give you a sense of, we had to be able to operate on our own. We had, we had satellite, well it was early satellite, you got to remember the whole global positioning GPS, right? It was just beginning to emerge.

Right. So our primary radio, which is still by the way, you know, like ham operators, it's all HF. Oh, okay. HF, super long distance. So HF was always our, if primary means of communication, that's how you would communicate because no matter what was going on, even with atmospherics, even in terms of like stratosphere, you could still get a message out and it could be picked up.

Right. So our primary radio, which is still by the way, you know, like ham operators, it's all HF. Oh, okay. HF, super long distance. So HF was always our, if primary means of communication, that's how you would communicate because no matter what was going on, even with atmospherics, even in terms of like stratosphere, you could still get a message out and it could be picked up.

Right. So our primary radio, which is still by the way, you know, like ham operators, it's all HF. Oh, okay. HF, super long distance. So HF was always our, if primary means of communication, that's how you would communicate because no matter what was going on, even with atmospherics, even in terms of like stratosphere, you could still get a message out and it could be picked up.

So there were specialized ground stations all over the world that even though we had ones that were designated, that could then communicate with you. But we had to know where we were because of shoot-down attempts, force-down attempts in years past because of the sensitive of the missions I flew on. How do you know where you are? And you also had to keep track of where they thought you were. They.

So there were specialized ground stations all over the world that even though we had ones that were designated, that could then communicate with you. But we had to know where we were because of shoot-down attempts, force-down attempts in years past because of the sensitive of the missions I flew on. How do you know where you are? And you also had to keep track of where they thought you were. They.

So there were specialized ground stations all over the world that even though we had ones that were designated, that could then communicate with you. But we had to know where we were because of shoot-down attempts, force-down attempts in years past because of the sensitive of the missions I flew on. How do you know where you are? And you also had to keep track of where they thought you were. They.

I'll put they in quotes. So we had a special nav system. Interesting. Called the LN-20. Okay. Amazing system. The accuracy, I am not kidding you, is so accurate. Assuming you put in the correct longs, and we're talking way down to within 25 feet accuracy. 25 feet.

I'll put they in quotes. So we had a special nav system. Interesting. Called the LN-20. Okay. Amazing system. The accuracy, I am not kidding you, is so accurate. Assuming you put in the correct longs, and we're talking way down to within 25 feet accuracy. 25 feet.

I'll put they in quotes. So we had a special nav system. Interesting. Called the LN-20. Okay. Amazing system. The accuracy, I am not kidding you, is so accurate. Assuming you put in the correct longs, and we're talking way down to within 25 feet accuracy. 25 feet.

Late 70s, early 80s. Wow.

Late 70s, early 80s. Wow.

Late 70s, early 80s. Wow.

Once we knew, and assuming there was no failures, there was always, we had no-go criteria, both on the ground, it sometimes would happen, even in the air, going to our, what they call the sac-sensitive area, or even in, and then if there were certain types of reactions, there were threshold at which we would have to abort. I was on a couple of those missions. Not pleasant.

Once we knew, and assuming there was no failures, there was always, we had no-go criteria, both on the ground, it sometimes would happen, even in the air, going to our, what they call the sac-sensitive area, or even in, and then if there were certain types of reactions, there were threshold at which we would have to abort. I was on a couple of those missions. Not pleasant.

Once we knew, and assuming there was no failures, there was always, we had no-go criteria, both on the ground, it sometimes would happen, even in the air, going to our, what they call the sac-sensitive area, or even in, and then if there were certain types of reactions, there were threshold at which we would have to abort. I was on a couple of those missions. Not pleasant.