Lockheed EC-121R Batcat
The versatility of the Lockheed Constellation airframe led to a number of modifications done by both the US Navy and the USAF, which generally shared the same EC-121 designation despite their different roles. Navy aircraft included the WV-2Q (EC-121M) electronic intelligence and WV-3 (WC-121N) weather reconnaissance aircraft. These lacked the radar domes of the WV-2/EC-121K and, in the case of the EC-121M, flew clandestine missions along the borders of the Eastern Bloc.
The USAF also modified a small number of Constellations into specialized variants, mostly testbeds identical to the standard EC-121D that tested the QRC-248 (“Quick Look”) and Rivet Gym (EC-121M) setups. Four were also briefly modified during the Cuban Missile Crisis as EC-121Q Gold Diggers, which tracked U-2 missions over Cuba. The largest number of modified Constellations, however, was the EC-121R, codenamed Batcat. Classified until the early 1980s, Batcat EC-121s were ex-Navy WV-2s and WV-3s supplied to the USAF and stripped off their radar domes. 25 Batcats were sent to Thailand, flying with the 553rd Reconnaissance Wing at Korat RTAFB, Thailand. Batcat’s role was to monitor and coordinate Operation Igloo White, the electronic surveillance of the Ho Chi Minh Trail from North Vietnam, through Laos and Cambodia, to the South.
Igloo White was the brainchild of Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, who envisioned an “electronic fence” around South Vietnam, which would save on manpower (and money). Using sensors dropped by USAF and US Navy aircraft, the sensors would bury themselves in the ground around known traffic points along the Trail. These sensors would then detect truck traffic and other manmade sounds, relay the signals to Batcats on station, which in turn would relay them to American forward air controllers, who would call in airstrikes.
While Igloo White had its uses and was on occasion very successful, halting Trail traffic was more effectively done by the FACs themselves or by US/South Vietnamese Special Forces on the Trail itself. Batcat missions lasted eighteen hours, requiring the aircraft to have better air conditioning than the standard EC-121. The project was wound down with the American pullout beginning in 1970, with the Batcats supplemented by QU-22 “Baby Bat” two-man aircraft, and ended for good in December 1971. Two Batcats were lost in fatal accidents during the war; the 28 survivors were later scrapped.
The EC-121R can be instantly identified not only by its lack of radar domes, but also its Southeast Asia camouflage of two shades of green and brown over white; Batcats were the only Constellations to receive camouflage schemes. Due to its clandestine nature, recognition markings on Batcats was limited to its bureau number on the tail.
Lockheed EC-121R Batcat
The versatility of the Lockheed Constellation airframe led to a number of modifications done by both the US Navy and the USAF, which generally shared the same EC-121 designation despite their different roles. Navy aircraft included the WV-2Q (EC-121M) electronic intelligence and WV-3 (WC-121N) weather reconnaissance aircraft. These lacked the radar domes of the WV-2/EC-121K and, in the case of the EC-121M, flew clandestine missions along the borders of the Eastern Bloc.
The USAF also modified a small number of Constellations into specialized variants, mostly testbeds identical to the standard EC-121D that tested the QRC-248 (“Quick Look”) and Rivet Gym (EC-121M) setups. Four were also briefly modified during the Cuban Missile Crisis as EC-121Q Gold Diggers, which tracked U-2 missions over Cuba. The largest number of modified Constellations, however, was the EC-121R, codenamed Batcat. Classified until the early 1980s, Batcat EC-121s were ex-Navy WV-2s and WV-3s supplied to the USAF and stripped off their radar domes. 25 Batcats were sent to Thailand, flying with the 553rd Reconnaissance Wing at Korat RTAFB, Thailand. Batcat’s role was to monitor and coordinate Operation Igloo White, the electronic surveillance of the Ho Chi Minh Trail from North Vietnam, through Laos and Cambodia, to the South.
Igloo White was the brainchild of Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, who envisioned an “electronic fence” around South Vietnam, which would save on manpower (and money). Using sensors dropped by USAF and US Navy aircraft, the sensors would bury themselves in the ground around known traffic points along the Trail. These sensors would then detect truck traffic and other manmade sounds, relay the signals to Batcats on station, which in turn would relay them to American forward air controllers, who would call in airstrikes.
While Igloo White had its uses and was on occasion very successful, halting Trail traffic was more effectively done by the FACs themselves or by US/South Vietnamese Special Forces on the Trail itself. Batcat missions lasted eighteen hours, requiring the aircraft to have better air conditioning than the standard EC-121. The project was wound down with the American pullout beginning in 1970, with the Batcats supplemented by QU-22 “Baby Bat” two-man aircraft, and ended for good in December 1971. Two Batcats were lost in fatal accidents during the war; the 28 survivors were later scrapped.
The EC-121R can be instantly identified not only by its lack of radar domes, but also its Southeast Asia camouflage of two shades of green and brown over white; Batcats were the only Constellations to receive camouflage schemes. Due to its clandestine nature, recognition markings on Batcats was limited to its bureau number on the tail.