MIT Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

MIT's Building 20: The Magical Incubator Story, Anecdote, or Reminiscence

The Loran Group

Gray C. Trembly

I was at Radiation Laboratory from June 13, 1942 to July 1946. We were the Loran Group located in the Hood Building, corner of Albany Street and Mass Ave. The Loran Group was considered by the rest of the lab to be operating at D.C. (we were at 1950 KHZ whereas the Lab was at 10 centimeters, later at 3 cm (10,000 MHZ). When the war ended, Rad Lab shut down but some people remained to help publish the Radiation Lab series books. We were transferred to Building 20 (3rd floor, wing D, I think). The Loran people who didn't go to industry went to Harvard where Jack Pierce continued research and oversaw the extension of the Loran system to 180 KHZ and then to 100 KHZ (Loran C, still operating).

I went with the Lorch Group, then to Lincoln Lab, then to Gwen-Knight company (1420 MHZ) then to Raytheon, then retired.

Sorry to see Building 20 go; sorry you need so much money. When I went to Lincoln Lab, my first task was to modify a Ground Station Loran Timer, so I went to the library to get the instruction manual. I learned that I could not get it until my clearance came through. This was amusing as I had helped to write the book.

P.S. Do you know how many original Radiation Members are still alive? I know of 5 Loran Group members, four of them in California.