The History of Crows

60 Years Later – The Unique Founding of the Association of Old Crows (AOC)

In this episode of History of Crows, we look back at the founding of the AOC to celebrate embarking on its 60th year. The necessity of EW for mission success and saving lives in 21st-century warfare is primarily due to a small cadre of EW operators from WWII and the Korean War. They wanted to form a group to foster and preserve the art of electronic warfare and commemorate fittingly fellow Crows' memory. Who were these early pioneers in EW who established the AOC? Why was forming an association so crucial to advocating for EW? And, of course, why did they call themselves the "Old Crows?"   To help with this journey and answer these questions, narrator Ken Miller is joined by Lifetime Achievement Awardee, AOC Silver Medal Winner, Technology Hall of Fame Inductee, and long-time Old Crow, Paul Westcott. To learn more about today's topics or to stay updated on EMSO and EW developments, visit crows.org [http://crows.org/].

HOC Spotlight: Women in EW

In celebration of women’s history month, this episode of History of Crows, honors the contributions of three women whose discoveries, inventions, and insights made a lasting impact on electromagnetic spectrum operations and, in some cases, helped turn the tides of war: Florence Violet McKenzie, Joan Curran, and Hedy LaMarr.  To help us tell these stories, we turn to Author David Duffy and Author Kimberly Moravec. The guest narrator is Ms. Shelley Frost, the first woman Executive Director of the Association of Old Crows. While we celebrate these and other women's achievements during Women’s History Month, we must also acknowledge that women in Electronic Warfare have faced significant barriers in their careers, even barriers to simply be considered equal members of society. This episode is dedicated to all women of Electronic Warfare – past, present, and future.

Honoring Women in EW

In celebration of women’s history month, this episode of History of Crows, honors the contributions of three women whose discoveries, inventions, and insights made a lasting impact on electromagnetic spectrum operations and, in some cases, helped turn the tides of war: Florence Violet McKenzie, Joan Curran, and Hedy LaMarr.  To help us tell these stories, we turn to Author David Duffy and Author Kimberly Moravec. The guest narrator is Ms. Shelley Frost, the first woman Executive Director of the Association of Old Crows. While we celebrate these and other women's achievements during Women’s History Month, we must also acknowledge that women in Electronic Warfare have faced significant barriers in their careers, even barriers to simply be considered equal members of society. This episode is dedicated to all women of Electronic Warfare – past, present, and future.

Radar Hunters in the Pacific

The History of Crows’ is back with more stories about the world of electromagnetic spectrum operations (EMSO). The roots of electronic warfare lie in radar countermeasures–specifically, radar countermeasures in World War Two. We tend to hear more about the aerial radar countermeasure operations in the European campaign. But these operations were used elsewhere, especially in the Pacific theater. In today’s episode, we tell how Japanese radar advancement and the Radio Countermeasure impacted war in the Pacific during WWII.  To help us share these stories, we turn to Mr. Trent Telenko. He is the Section 22 Special Interest Group list admin and social media outreach. Mr. Telenko’s career and expertise includes 33 years as a DCMA Quality auditor, Team lead & staff specialist for aircraft electronics, simulators, missile launchers and drones. His writings have covered electronic warfare and defense intelligence in the Pacific, including Section 22 Special Interest Group aka ‘SIG’, which was responsible for mapping the Australian, New Zealand and American archives for Section 22 materials. To learn more about the AOC and this podcast, visit www.crows.org/podcast

Codebreakers

In this episode, we continue our look into the world of Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations (EMSO) through the first large-scale use of radar and Electromagnetic Warfare (EW) in WWII. The episode shares how the began collecting radio transmissions and turning these signals into tactical intelligence. And that’s where we begin today, at Bletchley Park, the home of Britain’s top-secret code breakers. The episode also covers the important role that EW played in the Battle of Hamburg and Berlin and how it paved the way for Allied Forces on D-Day. To help us understand these historical battles we turn to Mr. John Stubbington. He graduated from the Royal Air Force (RAF) Technical College in 1961 before his career in EW and Defense Intelligence. He was the Engineer Flight Commander with No.51 Squadron, operating Comet, and Canberra aircraft. He then worked with RAF Bomber Command during the days of the V-Force before becoming responsible for ECM Development with the Bomber Command Development Unit. We also return to historian Dr. Phil Judkins from Leeds University and hear from the National Cryptologic Museum [https://www.nsa.gov/about/cryptologic-heritage/museum/] in the U.S. Thank you to our episode sponsor, BAE Systems [http://www.baesystems.com/ew], for sponsoring this episode. Ms. Wilcox's participation in this podcast is for informational purposes only and does not imply an endorsement of any product, service, or enterprise