The acronym JACSPAC stands for Joint Airways Communications System Pacific Ocean Areas. I've tried several times but I can't make the initials spell JACSPAC, at least not in that order. *UPDATE: Dave at the Radio Heritage Foundation solved the Acronym puzzle: Joint Airways Communications Systems PACific. It was a WWII project, an array of radio navigation points. It was operated by the AACS (Army Airways Communications System.) Hard dates are hard to come by but AACS was founded in 1938 and was renamed the Air Force Communications Service (AFCS) in 1961. In 1979 it changed to Air Force Communications Command (AFCC.) It exists today under that acronym. Their alumni association has a website here.
Stations in the network included: WZJ (Hickam), KVM (Honolulu), WYVK (Christmas Is.), WYVA (Canton Is.) WVJW (Penrhyn Is.), WVJD (Aitutaki Is.), WVNE (Tarawa), WYVB (Nandi), ZKV (Tongatabu Is.), NXO (Bora Bora Is.), WYVM (Guadalcanal Is.) WYVQ (Espiritu Santo Is.) WYVC (Tontouta Airdrome), ZLG (Norfolk Is.), WYVE (Bougainville Is.) WXXT (Finschhafan N.G.) VZMO (Los Negros Is.) WZPS (Morotai Is.) WZPT (Biak Is.) ...and dozens of others. Stations noted in their Time Tick Schedule included: NPM (Honolulu), NPG (San Francisco), NSS (Washington), WTO (Brisbane), WXXU (Manila), and WWV (Washington DC)
The best part is that starting on page 26 the previous owner of the maps made hand corrections in quill pen where certain navigation beacons were inoperative, on other frequencies, or using other station IDs. Enjoy.
You can download all 67 MB
Hello Jose
ReplyDeleteWhat a great find! Thanks for taking the time to scan it and share it.
It actually has a lot of interest because, although it's October 1945 [and the Pacific situation was fluid in the 1943-44 period as well], it neatly sums up where US facilities were located. It then details several call-sign series which will help clear up confusion between these stations and AFRS broadcast stations. The beacons on the AM dial are especially interesting, because these frequencies and locations I think may match up with the unidentified AFRS stations which appeared on the night of the Japanese surrender and were monitored in Australia and NZ.
I think some of these simply switched over to AFRS shortwave feeds and dropped their normal tones. In addition, many of the airfields included also list the local AFRS outlet by call and frequency, which helps us again match data we hold and might correct some errors we have for their AM frequencies. A great find.. and again, very gracious of you to scan, share and tell us about them!
Found this site last night while looking for RNAV Beacon info.
ReplyDeleteThanks very much for posting that JACSPAC publication,it'sareal 'gold mine' for any one interested in trans-Pacific flying
in the 1940's. I plan on resurrecting my old CFS2(Pacific) install so that I can fly all of the old MATS missions again. I think the JACSPAC might be usefull.
I did post the link to your site in a thread dealing with beacons at:
( http://www.sas19.com/main/index.php ),
hopefully they'll be interested.
Thank you for posting that link. Those are the exact kind of people that might be able to share some stories about those stations.
ReplyDeleteHello all--I believe I found a photo from my mom of a sign at one of the stations. It says "WYVQ - AACS radio station." If you'd like to see it to confirm, please posta comment here to let me know! Joyce
ReplyDeleteYES PLEASE!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHi Jose,
ReplyDeleteThe link to your download is no longer working. Any chance you can get it back up or you can email it to me?
Regards,
James.
Yeah, just comment your email with a "please don't post" and I'll email it.
Delete