AWACS aircraft

Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 46. Chapters: Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye, Boeing E-3 Sentry, Antonov An-72, Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star, Ilyushin Il-76, Avro Shackleton, List of AWACS aircraft operators, Boeing 737 AEW&C, Boeing E-767, Airborne Surveillance Platform, Northrop Grumman E-10 MC2A, Embraer R-99, Beriev A-50, Tupolev Tu-126, Grumman E-1 Tracer, Yakovlev Yak-44, KJ-2000, Vought XS2U, Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program, Antonov An-71, Saab 340 AEW&C, KJ-1 AEWC. Excerpt: The Lockheed EC-121 Warning Star was a United States Navy and United States Air Force airborne early warning radar surveillance aircraft. A military version of the Lockheed Constellation, it was designed to serve as an airborne early warning system to supplement the Distant Early Warning Line, using two large radomes, a vertical dome above and a horizontal one below the fuselage. EC-121s were also used for intelligence gathering (SIGINT). It was introduced in 1954 and retired from service in 1978, although a single specially modified EW aircraft remained in service with the U.S. Navy until 1982. The US Navy versions when initially procured were designated WV-1 (PO-1W), WV-2, and WV-3. Warning Stars of the U.S. Air Force served during the Vietnam War as both electronic sensor monitors and as a forerunner to the Boeing E-3 Sentry AWACS. U.S. Air Force aircrews adopted the civil nickname, "Connie" (diminutive of Constellation) as reference, while naval aircrews used the term "Willie Victor" based on a slang version of the phonetic alphabet and the naval version of the aircraft's pre-1962 designation of WV-1, WV-2 or WV-3. The second PO-1W prototype at NAS Barbers Point in 1952. The third production WV-2 in flight in 1954.Since 1943 the Lockheed Constellation had been in USAAF service as the C-69. The use of the Constellation by the US Navy for patrol and airborne early warning duties was first investigated in 1949, when the Navy acquired two Lockheed L-749s. First flown on 9 June 1949, the PO-1W carried large, long-range radars in massive radomes above and below the fuselage. As the radomes produced considerable more side area, the fins of the PO-1W had to be increased. After the PO-1W, which was redesignated WV-1 in 1952, had proved that it was possible to operate large radars on aircraft, the US Navy ordered the WV-2 based on the L-1049 Super Constellation. The WV-1s were later transferred to the Federal Aviation Agency in 1958-1959. The WV-2/EC-121D was initially fi