[GreenKeys] Routing Indicators

[Jim Haynes]

I was not in the comms end of the military, but I think in the USAF the
routing indicators started with RUE for locations toward the East in
the US and RUW for those toward the West.  I was at Edwards AFB in
California and think I recall RUWPBF as being our routing indicator.

As is so typical, the three US military services went in three different
directions with the pre-computer message switching systems.  The AF had
Western Union Plan 55, which may have been leased from W.U. but had
maintenance done in-house by airmen.  I tried to find documentation on
the system and all I was able to come up with was an OJT package (On
the Job Training) for instructing the maintenance guys.  The Army went
with a military nomenclatured system AN/FGC-30 built by Kleinschmidt
and Automatic Electric.  The Navy went to AT&T for what was called 82B1
switching system.

Plan 55 is pretty well documented in Western Union Technical Review, which
is available online.  82B1 got some articles in Bell Laboratories Record.
AN/FGC-30 was written up in some articles in the AIEE Transactions on
Communication and Electronics.  I presume there was some system for
gatewaying messages between the services' own systems.

W.U. Plan 59 for FAA was about the last of the non-computer switching 
systems.  The requirements at that time just about pushed old technology
to the limit.