Chapter 3USAF ARDF Personnel All personnel assigned to the TEWS require SECRET clearance. "Front end" crew members must be cleared for access to at least TOP SECRET information. Because each navigator must work very closely with "back end" Security Service personnel, he, as they, must have a Special Security Investigation Required (SSIR) clearance. The formal training and clearances requirements do not reveal all the intangible aspects of turning the TEWS into combat organizations. The history of their immediate headquarters, the 460th TRW, describes the situation.
of a flying combat organization presented an enormous combat readiness training situation. This is especially true (in this case)... with prototype ARDF electronics equipment..." The high experience level and maturity of the crew members undoubledly helped to surmount problems implicit in such an operation. The initial complement of crew members in the 360th TEWS was 80 percent field grade officers drawn from a variety of Air Force Assignments, including command of SAC units and aircraft, supervisory roles in research and development activities, and staff positions in the Pentagon. Their average age was 40, and the educational backgrounds of the initial assignees included one law degree, 18 master degrees and 36 bachelor degrees. This maturity and experience level was continued in all three TEWS. By the close of this reporting period, there were 4 PhD's 43 master degree holders, and 171 officers with at least a bachelor's degree participating throughout the three TEWS. More than 50 percent of the assigned crew members were in the field grades, the majority of whom were lieutenant colonels and colonels. Recently, however, a large number of Pilot training graduates have begun to come into each of the TEWS. These lieutenants had won their wings almost entirely in jet trainers. Adjusting well to the EC-47, they log up to 1000 combat hours in one year. The impact of the overall maturity and experience level may be seen in the safety record of the EC-47 operation. For the two-year period of this study, the EC-47 crews have flown 109,339 hours without accident (excluding the two combat losses discussed in Chapter IV).
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