Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories, Geophysics Research Directorate—1948–1966

Abstract

In October 1948, a few weeks after my marriage, I joined the Geophysics Research Directorate (GRD) of the Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories (AFCRL) as chief of the Weather Radar Branch. A comprehensive account of weather radar at GRD has been presented by Metcalf and Glover (9), so I shall not dwell on technical details. Suffice it to say that we covered many of the facets of the field during my 18-year tenure there. Members of the Weather Branch during that period included Vernon Plank, Wilbur Paulsen, Harold Banks, Ralph Donaldson, Edwin Kessler, Keith Browning, Albert Chmela, Ken Glover, Ken Hardy, Pio Petrocchi, Roger Lhermitte, Roland Boucher, and a number of key visitors (Plate 3). Although not a member of our staff, Raymond Wexler (Harry Wexler’s brother) spent most of his time at our laboratory (Plate 4).