BAK-9
A series of photographs taken circa 1961 at the US Navy auxiliary field in Woodbine, NJ. Woodbine was one of two auxiliary fields (Woodbine, Millville which formed a triangle with NAS Atlantic City) used by the Navy with the primary field located at NAS Atlantic City. EW Bliss leased two runways located in a triangle at Woodbine. One was used for Aircraft Arresting System development and the second for Aircraft Launching development. From this effort, the BAK-9 (Barrier Arrestor Kit) aircraft arrestment system was born in addition to the creation of the Grand Order of Tape Dragons.
From John Strance:
The development was an extreme departure from previous efforts by a number of companies and was extremely effective. The work started in about 1956 and involved travel to many Air Force facilities, Commands, Bases, Navy Test facilities and extensive testing at the Woodbine NJ test site. By 1967 when we were transferred to Boston the Air Force had committed to over 400 machines. In travels to many Air Force bases we used to inquire about the number of engagements and realized the number of planes and pilots saved was increasing rapidly. It is most gratifying to hear the Air force state the BAK-9 has saved thousands of planes and pilots.
The development of the BAK-9 aircraft arresting system began about 1956 and took three or so years to ramp up. John Sherman Strance was the lead engineer for the EW Bliss company and engineers Bob Cruger and Jack Byrne were also instrumental in the development of the system which is still in use today at military and joint operated airfields around the world. John Strance captured the B&W images using a Kodak camera and Plus-X pan film.
The development of the Aircraft Launching Systems was done on a different runway, also at Woodbine. The majority of the work was done by only a handful of people ranging from all the engineering, fabrication, concrete work to mundane tasks such as sweeping the surfaces.
Read MoreFrom John Strance:
The development was an extreme departure from previous efforts by a number of companies and was extremely effective. The work started in about 1956 and involved travel to many Air Force facilities, Commands, Bases, Navy Test facilities and extensive testing at the Woodbine NJ test site. By 1967 when we were transferred to Boston the Air Force had committed to over 400 machines. In travels to many Air Force bases we used to inquire about the number of engagements and realized the number of planes and pilots saved was increasing rapidly. It is most gratifying to hear the Air force state the BAK-9 has saved thousands of planes and pilots.
The development of the BAK-9 aircraft arresting system began about 1956 and took three or so years to ramp up. John Sherman Strance was the lead engineer for the EW Bliss company and engineers Bob Cruger and Jack Byrne were also instrumental in the development of the system which is still in use today at military and joint operated airfields around the world. John Strance captured the B&W images using a Kodak camera and Plus-X pan film.
The development of the Aircraft Launching Systems was done on a different runway, also at Woodbine. The majority of the work was done by only a handful of people ranging from all the engineering, fabrication, concrete work to mundane tasks such as sweeping the surfaces.