 |
| Commando Solo/via Military.Com |
Jeff: The use of U.S. military aircraft for clandestine radio broadcasting was cloaked in secrecy for a period that spanned some 60 years. Today in Wavescan, Ray Robinson brings us the fascinating story of “The Flight of the Blue Eagle”.
Ray: Thanks, Jeff. It all began back in 1962 during the Kennedy era and the Cuban Missile Crisis. During the crisis, a large cargo plane operated by the United States Navy was hurriedly stowed with broadcasting equipment and flown over the waters separating Florida and Cuba.
For these inaugural broadcasts, a radio receiver in the cargo plane took an off-air program feed from the new Voice of America medium wave station at Marathon in Florida. The ground-based VOA channel was 1180 kHz, and the airplane re-transmitted this programming on 1040 kHz. Interestingly, the 50 kW transmitter in Marathon, Florida isn’t mentioned in the WRTH until the 1964 edition, although it is known to have been operational since at least 1962.
Since that historic, though unannounced, beginning, airplanes have been used for local broadcasting in the medium wave, FM, TV and shortwave bands, while flying over at least a dozen different countries.
Two years later, in the summer of 1964, a series of mysterious radio broadcasts were heard by DXers living in the central coastal areas along the Atlantic seaboard of the United States. These broadcasts were first noted on the shortwave channel 19100 kHz, and later on 532 kHz at the extreme low end of the medium wave band with identification announcements as “The Blue Eagle”. Programming consisted of their own presentation of popular music, and sometimes a relay of local medium wave stations such as WLDB and WMID in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Subsequent information revealed the fact that these broadcasts from “The Blue Eagle” were actually test broadcasts from a DC-6 airplane ahead of potential transfer to Vietnam for use as an aerial broadcast unit. It should be noted that the Blue Eagle is a symbol of the United States Navy.
Now here in Wavescan, we did briefly mention this topic some 24 years ago back in 2001, and after that program aired, we received a response from Steve Robbins in the USA who said he was one of the engineers who designed, fabricated, and operated what he referred to as “Project Jenny”. Here is his summary:
1962: The two original C-118 aircraft were based out of NAS Patuxent River in Maryland and the electronic equipment was temporarily installed in the two aircraft, numbered 611 & 429. These two planes carried radio relays from Voice of America for listeners in Cuba.
1965: The electronic equipment was re-installed in two Super Constellation aircraft and a second round of test broadcasts were made over the DC Maryland areas with identification announcements as “Blue Eagle”. Steve Robbins was on this aircraft at the time.
1966: Four Blue Eagle aircraft were flown out to Vietnam, where they relayed programming in English & Vietnamese. When the 50 kW VOA medium wave station at Hue in central Vietnam was raided and captured by the North Vietnamese, Blue Eagle took over the relay of VOA programming on the same channel, 760 kHz.
After the Vietnam War, the broadcast equipment was removed from the older aircraft and fitted into new aircraft of the same type, Super Constellations, and they were re-designated as “Coronet Solo”. Several years later again, new and updated aircraft were commissioned and they have been on the air over Serbia, Afghanistan and Libya as “Commando Solo”.
And that’s the end of what Steve Robbins was able to tell us. But from our own research, it appears that a total of six Lockheed Super Constellation C130 aircraft were fitted out with similar equipment in the 1960’s for the purpose of aerial broadcasting, and from 1968 on they were operated by the 193rd Operations Wing of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard. In 2003, new EC130-J Constellation aircraft replaced the original 30 year old planes, though the same electronic equipment was transferred from the old planes into the new.
Each of the radio broadcasting airplanes contained a bevy of electronic equipment, including three 10 kW broadcast transmitters for use in the medium wave and FM bands. Some planes were also equipped with 2 kW TV transmitters and/or shortwave transmitters. Electric power for all of the onboard electronic equipment was generated by four generators driven by the propeller engines on the aircraft.
Although the original test broadcasts identified on air as "The Blue Eagle", this radio broadcasting network of six Constellations came to be known collectively as “Commando Solo”. On each occasion of active deployment, the on-air identification used was changed to meet local circumstances.
When flying over Vietnam during the Vietnam War, the Blue Eagles identified as “AFRTS, the American Forces Radio TV Network”. In Vietnamese, their programming identified as VPMF, “The Voice of Patriotic Militiamen's Front”.
In 1994 during the United Nations-backed invasion of Haiti in an attempt to restore democracy, radio programming from the U.S. aircraft was identified in French as “Radio Democracy”. While flying over Serbia and Bosnia, the identification was "Radio Allied Voice", and in the Gulf War, it was "Voice of the Gulf".
The mission of the Air Wing was to win the hearts and minds of adversaries and to provide vital information to allies, refugees and victims in times of crisis.
In the early 2000’s, Commando Solo was pressed into service again over Afghanistan. During that mission, the United States began a series of radio broadcasts to the people of Afghanistan, using a total of seven different airplanes for the purpose. According to a report from BBC Monitoring, these broadcasts were first heard on October 14, 2001, just one month after “9/11”.
Those airplane broadcasts were heard in Afghanistan on two medium wave channels, 864 and 1107 kHz, which were the channels previously used by Radio Afghanistan in Kandahar and Kabul. The broadcasts were in alternating languages, Dari and Pashto – the two official languages of Afghanistan. The program feed to the airplanes could be heard on 8700 kHz shortwave in upper sideband mode, though it was not disclosed where that transmitter was located.
These planes have also flown on active broadcast missions over several other countries, including the Dominican Republic, Panama, Grenada, Somalia, Iraq and Libya.
Here’s an off-air recording of a broadcast made to the people and military forces of Libya, recorded on July 13, 2011. It alternated between English and Arabic, but we’ve removed most of the Arabic.
Very few QSLs have been issued for these unique broadcasts, though at least three QSLs are known.
QSLs from American "Blue Eagles" and "Command Solo" Planes
• C. M. Stanbury, USA, 1962, 1040 kHz, flying over Cuba, ID as VOA, VOA QSL card
• Terry Krueger, Florida, 1994, 1035 kHz, flying over Haiti, ID as "Democracy," QSL letter
• Clive Rooms, England, 1999, 1270 kHz, flying over the Balkans, ID as "Allied Voice," QSL letter
The final broadcast of Commando Solo came on September 17, 2022, just before the EC-130J’s were decommissioned at the Community Days Air Show at Lancaster Airport in Lititz, PA. A final flight was made, and the final broadcast was transmitted to the ground and played at the Air Show. In the transmission, the Wing thanked the local community for their support over the years, before broadcasting the Santo and Johnny song, ‘Sleepwalk’. The transmission ended with the phrase “Commando Solo, music off.”
Back to you, Jeff.
%20(GVH).JPG)
.jpg)
.jpg)
