Pan American Airways Guided Missile Range Division (PAA GMRD) was a distinct division of

Pan American World Airways Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...

in the period 1950-1980, responsible as prime contractor of the U.S. Air Force

Eastern Test Range The Eastern Range (ER) is an American rocket range (Spaceport) that supports missile and rocket launches from the two major launch heads located at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida. The range ha ...

, based out of

Patrick Air Force Base Patrick may refer to: *Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name *Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People *Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint *Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick or ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. It was responsible for providing operations and maintenance for the Eastern Test Range, but subcontracted operation and maintenance of electronic equipment, such as missile tracking

radars Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, ...

on the test range tracking ships and stations to the

Missile Test Project {{Use dmy dates, date=May 2022 The Missile Test Project (MTP) was a U.S. Air Force program operated by RCA Service Company ( RCAS) from Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, under the direction of prime contractor Pan American Guided Missiles Research Di ...

RCA Service Company {{unreferenced, date=September 2018 RCA Service Company (RCAS) was headquartered at Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and was a division of RCA created to service appliances and equipment manufactured by RCA. RCAS was divided into three major groups: * RCA ...

(RCAS). PAA GMRD operated under the direction of the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

, and retained operational offices within Patrick Air Force Base at what was then called the Tech Lab and at Building 423, and had administrative offices in

Cocoa Beach Cocoa Beach is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. The population was 11,539 at the 2018 United States Census. It is part of the Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. History The first non-native s ...

, at 750 South Orlando Avenue. Operational and technical personnel requiring travel to downrange sites boarded U.S. Air Force

Military Air Transport Service The Military Air Transport Service (MATS) is an inactive Department of Defense Unified Command. Activated on 1 June 1948, MATS was a consolidation of the United States Navy's Naval Air Transport Service (NATS) and the United States Air Force's ...

(MATS) aircraft at Hangar 800 on Patrick Air Force Base. Travel by propeller-driven MATS planes was slow at the time. For example, travel by MATS to the

South Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe and ...

tracking site at

Ascension Island Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island, 7°56′ south of the Equator in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is about from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America. It is governed as part of the British Overseas Territory o ...

required three days of travel: Patrick Air Force Base to

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

, with an overnight stay, then on to

Recife That it may shine on all ( Matthew 5:15) , image_map = Brazil Pernambuco Recife location map.svg , mapsize = 250px , map_caption = Location in the state of Pernambuco , pushpin_map = Brazil#South A ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, with another overnight stay, and then, finally, the flight from Recife to Ascension Island. If traveling personnel were assigned to a tracking vessel awaiting their arrival in the Ascension Island area, it was necessary to then travel from

Clarence Bay Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island, 7°56′ south of the Equator in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is about from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America. It is governed as part of the British Overseas Territory of ...

at Ascension Island to the vessel by means of motor

whaleboat A whaleboat is a type of open boat that was used for catching whales, or a boat of similar design that retained the name when used for a different purpose. Some whaleboats were used from whaling ships. Other whaleboats would operate from the sh ...

barge Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

, or other type of small craft, depending on boat schedule and sea condition. Personnel returning from downrange passed through customs at the same hangar.

External links

Satellite Applications to Marine Geodesy

Acronyms: GMRD
Defunct companies based in Florida Guided missiles Pan Am

Further reading

See also

External links