[Congressional Record: May 10, 2011 (Senate)]
[Page S2833-S2835]
REMEMBERING VERNARD WEBB
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to a
Kentuckian who for much of his life was
[[Page S2834]]
content to remain an unsung hero. But let there be no doubt now that
Mr. Vernard Hughes Webb, who passed away last year, leaves behind a
legacy of great accomplishment and service to his Nation. You see, for
many years, Mr. Webb was a pioneer in secret reconnaissance and
satellite technology that was crucial to America's efforts in the Cold
War. He was one of the developers on the top secret CORONA project, a
spy satellite effort, and was awarded a medal of achievement for his
life's work by the Vice President of the United States.
Mr. Webb was born and raised in Letcher County, KY, and became the
first in his family to go to college, graduating from Berea College in
1940. The day after the Pearl Harbor attack, he joined the Army Air
Corps. Becoming a bombardier on a B-17, he flew 30 combat missions over
Europe during World War II.
Later in the war, Mr. Webb developed the crucial idea that would
change the course of not only his career, but perhaps his country as
well. Assigned to a combat mapping squadron that was tasked with taking
reconnaissance pictures over the Philippines, he came up with an idea
to greatly increase the accuracy and efficiency of the cameras.
Mr. Webb ran his idea past his Air Force superiors, and in their
infinite wisdom, they said no. So Mr. Webb did it anyway. He spent his
own money to create a new camera. And when Vernard's superiors finally
realized the worth of his invention, they asked him to implement it
across the Air Force.
Vernard Webb eventually rose to the rank of major and became one of
this country's leading developers of cameras and aircraft for
surveillance purposes. He and his colleagues were in a race with the
Soviets. By the 1950s, Vernard realized that his technology could be
used not just in airplanes, but in satellites.
In 1958, Mr. Webb was assigned to the CORONA project, America's first
efforts to develop a spy satellite. In 1960 the project accomplished
its first success, gaining valuable intelligence on the Soviet Union
and China. But for all those years Mr. Webb could only tell his friends
and even his wife that he was an unimportant bureaucrat or engineer.
In 1995 the CIA declassified many documents pertaining to the CORONA
project, and only then were Mr. Webb's accomplishments made clear.
Around that same time, Vice President Al Gore declared that ``the
CORONA project represents a crucial development in aiding the national
security efforts of the United States.''
Vernard Webb passed away last Veterans Day. I extend my greatest
condolences to his wife Katie Louis Webb, their children and
grandchildren, other members of the Webb family and friends for their
loss.
It is only fitting that after a lifetime of service to his country,
most of it under a cloak of secrecy that preventing him from receiving
the gratitude that he so richly deserved, that Mr. Vernard Webb will be
interred at Arlington National Cemetery later this month with full
military honors.
And I know my colleagues will join me in extending to the Webb family
this Senate's thanks and appreciation for Vernard Webb's sacrifice and
service.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that an article illustrating
Mr. Webb's heroic life and career be printed in today's Record.
There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[From the Berea College Magazine, Summer 1996]
The Secret's Out: Webb was a Space Pioneer
A year ago, Vernard Webb could have gone to prison for
telling you about his coffee table.
The piece of furniture, which resembles a kettle drum with
a glass top, is made of gold-plated titanium.
Thirty years ago, during the height of the Cold War, the
table was the shell for a spy satellite used by the Air Force
and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to peek behind the
Iron Curtain. It is one of four such satellite ``buckets''
still in existence. The other three are in the Smithsonian
institution.
For decades, Webb, a member of Berea's Class of 1940, could
only pass himself off as a pencil-pusher for the Air Force,
or an engineer with the Environmental Protection Agency. But
by no means was Webb telling the whole truth and nothing but
the truth.
Webb's wife, Katie Lou Chambers Webb, class of 1942, had
her suspicions. After three decades of relocation from one
Air Force Base to another and her husband's extended official
trips to places he wouldn't identify, she was certain that
whatever the government had him working on was very
important.
Then, in late 1995, the CIA declassified tens of thousands
of documents and it was evident. Webb was a major player in
the top secret CORONA project, America's first spy satellite
program, from 1957 until 1972. Webb, in fact, is a pioneer in
reconnaissance and satellite technology.
Before the CIA's declassification of CORONA documents in
August 1995, Webb and other members of the CORONA team were
called to the Pentagon for a medal presentation ceremony
which itself was classified. He was awarded a medal of
achievement by Vice President Al Gore and CIA officials.
However, no citation accompanies the medal, since the mission
for which he was being honored was still top secret at the
time.
``We were not allowed to even speak with our spouses about
the classified projects,'' Webb said. ``It was for their own
protection, if anything else.''
Joining the Army the day after Pearl Harbor (Dec. 8, 1941),
Webb went into what was then the Army Air Corps. Because he
had been a photographer for the Berea College student
newspaper and listed ``photography'' as one of his skills on
a military questionnaire, it was assumed that Webb would be
capable with any sort of optical instrument, such as bomb
sights and some navigational equipment. He was assigned as a
bombardier on a B-17 and flew 30 combat missions over Europe,
bombing Axis petroleum sites, mostly in Germany, and dropping
supplies to the French Resistance.
Late in the war, Webb was assigned to a combat mapping
squadron flying reconnaissance missions from the Philippines.
While stationed there, he came up with an innovation that
would help shape the remainder of his career.
``We used large cameras mounted in planes that were once
used as bombers,'' he said. ``On a typical mission, somewhere
between 30 and 40 percent of the film that was used on these
cameras would be useless, because we had failed to photograph
the target correctly.
``It occurred to me that if one of our cameras were mounted
to a Norden bomb sight, it would greatly increase the
accuracy of the camera and the efficiency of the equipment.
There was a great similarity between the bomb sight and the
control of aerial cameras. They both operated on the same
principles. The variable on the operation of both was the
ratio between the velocity of the airplane and its height
above the ground. I thought it would be convenient to combine
the two.''
Webb's proposal was found unorthodox by Air Force officials
and permission to make the camera-bomb sight combination was
denied. Still, Webb was convinced it was a good idea.
``I circumvented the red tape by buying a Norden bombsight
with my own money,'' he said. ``The U.S. government had given
the Philippine government some Norden sights, and I was able
to purchase one of them from the Philippine Air Force. I then
mounted the camera on the sight, and we started flying
missions with this device. The combination proved to be a
`natural.' ''
While the average reconnaissance mission had an accuracy of
photographing a specific site ``on target'' only 60 to 70
percent at that time, an inspector general took notice of the
consistent 100 percent success rate of the flights using
Webb's camera-bomb sight combination.
``The Air Force officials were always looking at air crew
effectiveness,'' he recalled. ``When they saw that we had no
rejected aerial photography for a period of months, they
began to look into the reasons why. I showed them how we had
used the camera and they earmarked me to introduce that
technology to the rest of the Air Force.
``I was then transferred to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
in Dayton, Ohio, where a team of engineers had been working
for almost a year to come up with something like the camera-
bomb sight combination I had put together. They ended up
scrapping their entire project as a result.''
The official testing of Webb's invention was conducted at
Rainey Air Force Base near Wichita, Kan. The Air Force's top
test pilot, Chuck Yeager, was assigned to try out the camera
system in an RB-50 observation plane and the results were,
according to Webb, outstanding. And the die was cast for his
career.
``For the next 40 years or so of my career, I would be
associated with the reconnaissance efforts of the U.S. Air
Force and the Central Intelligence Agency,'' he said.
The following years saw Webb on various projects
surrounding the development of cameras and aircraft for
surveillance purposes. The RB-36, U-2 and SR-171 spy planes
used by the Air Force were fitted with cameras designed by
Webb and his team, who were headquartered at Wright-Patterson
Air Force Base until the late 1950s.
``The U.S. Air Force continued to develop faster, higher-
flying aircraft, which was in response to the development of
faster and more accurate anti-aircraft weapons and fighter
aircraft developed by the Soviets. It was in the early 1950s
that we began to consider certain theories on using orbiting
satellites as a platform for reconnaissance work,'' Webb
said.
[[Page S2835]]
``But we had some big hurdles to jump before we got that
far.''
``There were four Air Force officers, Lt. Col. Charles Hoy,
Capt. Bernard Quinn, Capt. Louis E. Watson and I [Webb was a
major], stationed at Wright-Patterson, who met to analyze
what would be the future of our efforts. I had been flying
the high-altitude tests on the RB-36, up to 55,000 feet, and
we knew that we would have to fly higher and higher altitudes
due to the increased capability of Soviet lighter aircraft.
``We knew the answer to our problem would be the altitude
of the aircraft or source of observation. We analyzed what
problems would result if we could attain an observation point
above the atmosphere. These, we narrowed down to three key
areas.
``First, we knew that we needed to build better cameras.
Our ground resolution couldn't be accurate if we took the
cameras we were using then to a much higher altitude. Next,
we needed better film with a much higher resolution. Third,
we needed a better means to process the film. The
administration at Wright-Pat in those days was dominated by
civilian engineers, who didn't take kindly to such
suggestions from Air Force officers.''
In a historic move, Webb and the three officers maneuvered
themselves toward reassignment at the Air Force's Air
Research Development Command in Baltimore. The office was
administered by Gen. Marvin Dent, who supervised contracted
development of reconnaissance systems for the Air Force and
was a much more sympathetic listener to Webb and his
associates.
``We were able to write the specifications for photographic
systems the Air Force required of the industrial contractors
then managing the projects at Wright-Pat,'' Webb recalled.
``A meeting was called by the Air Force to speak with
industry representatives in Cincinnati regarding the Air
Force's needs. Gen. Dent gave the keynote speech. He
basically told industry representatives that the current
technology being used for reconnaissance was becoming quickly
outmoded and he strongly suggested that they work with our
group of officers in developing future reconnaissance
projects.''
The speech by Dent, made in 1955, led to the development by
Air Force-contracted private industry of the first
spacecraft-based cameras.
``Within a week of the General's speech, we were visited by
representatives of three different contractors,'' Webb said.
``One was a representative of Fairchild Camera and Instrument
Corporation, another was from Eastman Kodak and the third was
one of the most brilliant optical designers this country has
ever produced, Dr. James Baker. Fairchild said they could
build the camera, Kodak would handle the processing and Baker
would design the lenses required.
``These individuals had done their homework and told us
they were confident that they could build a photographic
system that could meet our specifications. We had the camera
system from them in a year.''
The photographic equipment, which was originally designed
for the U-2 spy plane, was meant to operate at an altitude of
approximately 84,000 feet. The camera system designed by the
Fairchild-Kodak-Baker partnership had a 24-inch lens and a
better resolution than any other visual reconnaissance system
used at that time. However, the Soviet development of
satellite technology would change the nature of Webb's work
forever.
``When we originally had the Fairchild camera developed, we
were still thinking airplanes,'' Webb recalled. ``But, the
development of Sputnik forced us to take the resulting
technology into space. When the Soviets successfully orbited
Sputnik, the first satellite in 1957, most of America was
horrified that we no longer had a technological edge in the
Cold War. With my team, we were exhilarated that it had been
proven a satellite could be successfully orbited. It gave us
an additional step toward our research goals.''
Webb and his co-workers already had an interest in
utilizing a space-based camera system for observation. Using
some foresight, Webb was able to get transferred to a unit
dedicated to guided missile research and incorporated what he
learned there into the great body of reconnaissance knowledge
he already possessed.
``I was no longer influenced by people who knew only
airplanes,'' he said. ``We were now looking at using a camera
system that needed to produce high-quality photos from an
orbit of 100 miles, instead of 85,000 feet. But the
development of the Fairchild camera laid the groundwork for
what we would be using later on. The lens we used with the
CORONA system was a slight variation of Dr. Baker's 24-inch
lens used on the U-2.''
The CORONA program began in 1955 with numerous experiments
at a classified site near Palo Alto, California. Webb was
assigned to the program, the United States' first efforts at
using a spy satellite, in the fall of 1958. ``Our program's
cover name, which was operated under scientific pretenses,
was Discoverer,'' Webb said. ``We already had a lot of
ballistic information that had been done by the guided
missile people at Lockheed, the primary contractor of the
program.''
The early months of the CORONA program were frustrating for
Webb and the Lockheed team. Rocket failures, camera problems
and film difficulties all combined to serve as an expensive
tutor for the group. The CORONA system consisted of a large
orbiting camera, which would be linked to a ``bucket''
containing approximately 4,000 feet of film. After receiving
radio commands from Webb and his associates, the satellite
was designed to photograph designated areas with the film
spooling back into the bucket. The bucket would then detach
from the camera and plunge back through Earth's atmosphere
where it would be recovered by aircraft upon a parachute
reentry.
On August 18, 1960, the first fully successful CORONA
mission was accomplished, with the satellite photographing
areas in the Soviet Union and China. An American flag, stowed
in the satellite's bucket, was presented to President Dwight
D. Eisenhower in a secret White House ceremony later that
month.
The White House, however, was even more pleased with the
photographs obtained by CORONA. ``That single mission
obtained more photos from behind the Iron Curtain than all
the combined U-2 missions flown up to that time,'' Webb said.
``It was considered an outstanding success, and we were in
business.''
The CORONA project was utilized successfully during the
Cuban Missile Crisis, most of the Vietnam War and an
important period of the Cold War. Portions of the project's
development and results are still classified, but many of the
spy photos have been made available to the public on the
Internet by the CIA and Air Force.
``The CORONA project represents a crucial development in
aiding the national security efforts of the United States,''
said Vice President Gore in a ceremony held at the Pentagon
last year.
Originally from Letcher County, Ky., Webb credits Berea for
getting him on track for what he considers a fascinating
career. ``At Berea they taught me to work. They gave me the
discipline I needed to do well,'' Webb said.
Oh, and just how did Webb get his ``coffee table,'' anyway?
``When they changed the design of the satellite and no longer
needed these, a crate arrived at my office,'' Webb
remembered.
``When I saw what was in it, I called my supervisor and
asked why it had been sent to me. He said, `We have been
given an order from the highest possible authority that the
bucket is yours to keep. Your efforts have been appreciated.
Now, don`t ask any more questions.' And he hung up.''
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