Iconorama Explained

Iconorama was a Cold War electronic projection system for graphic presentation ("stylized display using an etched plate to produce symbols")^[1] developed by the firm Fenske, Fedrick and Miller. The Iconorama was ordered by the United States Air Force in 1959.^[2]

The mechanism used a rear projection display, showing both a map overlay from a fixed lantern slide and dynamically updated data from a mechanical plotter.^{[3] [4] [5]} The mechanism for etching the slide is somewhat similar to an Etch A Sketch. The display can draw lines and characters, but cannot erase them individually. The unit was used in the IBM 473L Command and Control System's Large Panel Display Subsystem (e.g., at the National Military Command Center and the Alternate Military Command Center). Advertised in 1961 by Temco Aircraft Corp. (already a subsidiary of Ling-Temco Electronics, Inc.),^[6] the system used "a coated slide...one inch square" that was scribed "by a moving stylus" to make traces (e.g., for paths of attacking bombers). The unit was used by the Strategic Air Command, in the Marine Technical Data System and at the Air Force Command Post, Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center, Pacific Missile Range, Point Mugu Calif.; the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico; the Atlantic Missile Range at Cape Canaveral, Fla., and the Naval Research Laboratory. NORAD's Combined Operations Center at the Chidlaw Building and BMEWS Central Computer and Display Facility at Ent AFB used Iconorama,^[7] and in 1971 an Iconorama was still being used by NORAD for BMEWS.

External links

• Web site: The ICONORAMA in the Federal Warning Centre at CFS Carp / CEGHQ. davescoldwarecanada.com. . - A Canadian perspective on the Iconorama (includes simulation of Iconorama at The Diefenbunker Museum in Carp, Ontario)
• Iconorama advertisements from July 1959 issue of Air Force and Space Digest magazine (scroll down) – via Google Books

Notes and References

1. Web site: Advanced Naval Tactical Command and Control Study, Final Report Phase One Volume V Technology Part 1. Informatics, Inc.. 2014-10-24.
2. News: July 11, 1959 . AF orders 'instant' plotting displays ("Iconorama") . AF Times . Iconorama shows almost instantly the positions of aircraft thousands of miles away [with] Traces made by the planes being tracked are scribed on a coated slide by a moving stylus. … The slide plot measures only one inch square, yet overall error of the projected display is said to be about one part in 1,000. ... Leasing contracts for the Iconorama system, made by Fenske, Fedrick and Miller, Inc., Los Angeles, call for installation to 'be completed at NORAD by July, 1960, and at SAC by October, 1959. Iconorama units already have been installed and operated at the Pacific Missile Range, Point Mugu Calif.; the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico; the Atlantic Missile Range at Cape Canaveral, Fla., and the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D. C.. (also available at newspapers.com)
3. US. 2859659 . Data Plotting and Indicating Device. Nov 11, 1958. Sep 12, 1955 . Jack R Fedrick. Donald M Fenske, Robert N Miller. Fenske Fedrick & Miller Inc.
4. Book: A Catalog of Large Display Systems, Devices and Techniques. May 1962. Traffic Control Research Branch, Federal Aviation Agency. 13.
5. News: Popular Mechanics. March 1960 . "TV Screen" Plots Aircraft Thousands of Miles Away .
6. https://archive.org/stream/missilesrockets8196unse#page/n829/mode/2up Missiles and Rockets
7. NORAD Historical Summary 1964 (Jul–Dec) "NORAD SPADAT center ... for an interim BMEWS central computer and display facility at NORAD Headquarters in October 1959. ... It included Fenske, Fedeick and Miller Company Iconorama display equipment"