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Additional TRADIC commentary,
based on material supplied by Homer Coonce and Maury Irvine.
1. The TRADIC (Transistor
Digital Computer) Phase Two Program, also called TRADIC
flyable-research-model program, or “Flyable TRADIC”, was authorized in 1954
by the U.S. Air Force. The contract
authorized the development and delivery of two systems and associated test
equipment.
2. One of the Flyable
TRADIC units, along with all associated components of the bombing and radar
equipment necessary for operation, was maintained “on the ground” as a test
vehicle. (See top photo, right).
3. The other Flyable
TRADIC unit was installed in a C-131B aircraft (lower photo), with initial
test flights conducted at the New Castle
County airport, Delaware [2]. The result was the first airborne
transistor digital bombing and navigation system.
4. The entire purpose of the TRADIC
project was to develop the transistor computer technology to the point where
an actual military spec computer could be manufactured and installed in an
actual combat plane and used as the control unit for a bombing and navigation
system. Maury Irvine’s excellent 2001 article [3]
provides an authoritative account of the various TRADIC computers.
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