Social Economic and Political Forum For The 21st Century

"Little Known History of the B-52 Offensive Weapons System During the Cold War Years"

B-52 Menu Item 3: From Paper Design to Packaged Design

The first stages of the life-cycle of any system are the design and development stages. Before IBM formally established a 'Military Products Division', it established the IBM Airborne Computer Laboratory (ACL) that set up shop at the Broome County Airport in Binghamton, NY to work those stages.

The first proto-type production items of the bombing and navigation computer subsystem were installed in a commercial aircraft, by the IBM-ACL at Broome County airport facilities, and operationally flight tested - to make sure all the pieces worked together according to required performance specifications. Any problems or anomalies were fed back to the engineering staff who would design changes, if required, into the affected items as they were going through the production line.

The Perkin-Elmer design was a paper design. The IBM task was to package this paper design into the modular units that became the 'little black boxes' of the bomb-nav computer system.

Functions that had to be performed mechanically were packaged into little black boxes.

Functions that had to be performed electronically, using vacuum tubes, were packaged into what became known as 'beer' cans. Actually, these were off-the-super-market-shelf cans known as No.1, No.2, No. 3 (etc.) size cans for canned fruits and vegetables, and so on. Why force design of new tooling for can sizes when existing tooling for existing can sizes existed (by companies who manufactured them) to support the 'beer can' production?

Inter-connection between the 'beer cans' that housed the electronic circuits to drive the servo-mechanisms of the black boxes was provided by relay frames. Inter-connect cables plugged into the rear of frames that also provided relays for timing contact switches. Drop cables from the front of these relay frames connected to the 'beer cans'. Blowers provided air flow around the 'beer cans' to keep them cool.

Where pre-production and prototype testing of the integrated system was performed at the Broome County airport in Binghamton, NY, operational flight test was performed by the B-47 jet bomber at Air Force facilities in Lake Charles, LA. IBM engineers assigned to Airborne Computer Laboratory operations at Broome County Airport in Binghamton, NY and Air Force facilities at Lake Charles, LA, were the first contingent of IBM Field Service Engineers for the B-52 bombing and navigation computer system.

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