Originally Posted by
Mike71
No - it means airfield elevation, lighted, hard surface, runway length as I recall.
TACAN stations are set up via channels, not frequencies - easy to use. Look at an IFR chart and you will see paired TACAN / VOR stations and the TACAN channel will be shown as well as the VOR frequency (TACAN is UHF).
This is a very old chart, as you can see the use of LF radio ranges with their 4-leg beacons in the area, one beacon near Bronson, another near Pensacola (civil). I don't see any VOR/TACAN on this chart. Too bad the legend isn't available - it would be considerably different than a VFR chart today. From all the frequencies in the various boxes, the use of enroute supplements and other resources had not been developed to a high degree.
The various frequencies are apparently arranged in a standard order and indicate that the various frequencies are at least monitored; 121.5 and 243.0 are the standard VHF/UHF guard frequencies as an example. In this period the military was using both VHF and UHF frequencies for voice comms, UHF particularly in jets, and there were a lot of different type planes, lots of different NAVCOMM arrangements, etc.
I am curious about the box for Saufley, versus the box for Forest Sherman (the main Navy base in the area - "Mainside" in the common lingo). Saufley has GCA and DF capability (key your mike on command and a DF operator gets a bearing on you). Mainside Pensacola was much more sophisticated, I'm sure they would have had GCA but it isn't shown - maybe just assumed.
Bookmarks