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"On glide path, on course" is a phrase from apprentice and journeyman controllers alike that most Naval Aviators hear time and time again. In many cases, those were reassuring words when the weather was obscured with zero visibility and fog, no other precision approach landing (PAL) aids were available, fuel was low or no suitable divert fields were within range.
Cutting a path through fog, rain and snow, the ground controlled approach (GCA) has long been the Navy and Marine Corps'PAL system. Whether ashore, afloat or in the Marine's austere expeditionary environment, the talk-down approach has been the standard by which we train, man and equip our controllers to meet the warfighter mission.
PAST
The naval air traffic control (ATC) community serves with great pride and a rich history. Since Naval Aviation's earliest days, ATC has functioned as a critical element of the Naval Aviation mission. Invariably, the evolution of ATC parallels the evolution of the aircraft.
On 22 December 1942, Ens. Bruce Griffin soaped over the windshield of an SNJ Texan Navy trainer so he was unable to see forward out of the windscreen. Griffin took off from NAS Quonset Point, R.I., and made the first blind landing using GCA MK-1. Lt. Evan Aurand was in the tower and brought Griffin in, making him the first true GCA controller. Nine days later on 1 January 1943, GCA was called into emergency use for the first time when a snowstorm closed Quonset Point approximately 30 minutes before the arrival of a flight of PBY Catalinas.
In May 1943, Navy operational personnel successfully field tested the laboratory model of the GCA system developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Radiation Laboratory. Shortly thereafter, the CNO approved GCA as the Navy's standard talk-down approach control system and field training of GCA crews commenced at NAS Gainesville, Ga.
Specialist yeoman, quartermaster and radarman ratings were trained in an eight-week course where each student controlled approximately 150 live approaches using the AN/MPN-1 radar and SNB aircraft. The specialist yeoman rating represented control tower operators and was used from 1943 through 1948.
When initially commissioned, GCA was a mobile system capable of deploying to support tactical operations, as well as remaining at fixed locations. Advantages of the system included its...