Navigator's and Radar Navigator's Information Letter [Typed Memorandum]

Format is approximately 8 inches by 10.5 inches, with three holes punched in the left side. This document contains 2 pages, one sheet printed on both sides. This memorandum, issued 1 May 1964, shows some wear and soiling. Item 6 on the front side is penciled through. This type of operational communication within the SAC organization rarely survives. The author,Lt. Colonel, USAF was Chief of the Bomb/Nav Branch of the 456th Strategic Aerospace Wing (SAC), Headquarters located at Beale Air Force Base in California It was address to all B-52G Navigators and Radar Navigators. The 456th Bombardment Wing is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 14th Air Division of Strategic Air Command at Beale Air Force Base, California, where it was inactivated on 30 September 1975. The wing was redesignated the 456th Strategic Aerospace Wing and was activated at Beale Air Force Base, California in February 1963. It flew Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers and Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker air refueling aircraft, and also commanded a HGM-25A Titan I squadron until 1965. Although it operated no intercontinental ballistic missiles after then, it was not until July 1972 that the wing was redesignated the 456th Bombardment Wing. The wing was inactivated in September 1975 and its personnel, equipment, and mission transferred to the 17th Bombardment Wing, which moved to Beale on paper from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. This letter noted that for the AGM-28, the :High Pressure Warning Light: had been disconnected but one could 'press-to-test' this light. The author, Frank S. Vrablick served in the US Air Force for 24 years as a Radar Navigator Bombardier, retiring in 1966 as a Lt. Col. Chief of Bomb Nav. After retirement he earned a BA at the University of Omaha. The North American Aviation AGM-28 Hound Dog was a supersonic, turbojet-propelled, nuclear armed, air-launched cruise missile developed in 1959 for the United States Air Force. It was primarily designed to be capable of attacking Soviet ground-based air defense sites prior to a potential air attack by B-52 Stratofortress long range bombers during the Cold War. The Hound Dog was first given the designation B-77, then redesignated GAM-77, and finally AGM-28. The Hound Dog continued to be deployed for a total of 15 years until its replacement by newer missiles, including the AGM-69 SRAM and then the AGM-86 ALCM. Single sheet, typed on both sides Presumed to be one of only a few multiple copies produced for distribution, with a reproduced signature of the author.…