M61 Vulcan

The M61 Vulcan is a hydraulically or pneumatically driven, six-barrel, air-cooled, electrically fired Gatling-style rotary cannon which fires 20 mm rounds at an extremely high rate (typically 6,000 rounds per minute). The M61 and its derivatives have been the principal cannon armament of United States military fixed-wing aircraft for fifty years.

The M61 was originally produced by General Electric, and after several mergers and acquisitions is currently produced by General Dynamics.

Development

At the end of World War II, the United States Army began to consider new directions for future military aircraft guns. The higher speeds of jet-powered fighter aircraft meant that achieving an effective number of hits would be extremely difficult without a much higher volume of fire. While captured German designs (principally the Mauser MG 213C) showed the potential of the single-barrel revolver cannon, the practical rate of fire of such a design was still limited by ammunition feed and barrel wear concerns. The Army wanted something better, combining extremely high rate of fire with exceptional reliability. In 1947, the Air Force became a separate branch of the military. The new Air Force made a request for a new aircraft gun. A lesson of World War II air combat was that German, Italian and Japanese fighters could attack American aircraft from long range with their cannon main armament. American fighters with .50 cal main armament, such as the P-51 and P-47, had to be close with the enemy in order to hit and damage enemy aircraft. The 20mm Hispano carried by the P-38, while formidable against propeller driven planes, was deemed a relatively low velocity weapon in the age of jets, while other cannon were notoriously unreliable.

WPGU

WPGU 107.1 is a fully commercial student-run college radio station located at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It is operational 24-7, broadcasting alternative music and other programming throughout Champaign-Urbana and surrounding communities. It is owned by the Illini Media Company.

History

WPGU is named for the "Parade Ground Units", where the station was originally located. When the Parade Ground Units were demolished in the early 1960s to make room for the "six pack" dorms, WPGU moved into the basement of Weston Hall. It remained there until 1995, when the station moved off-campus to 52 E. Green Street. In 2006, WPGU along with the other Illini Media outlets (Daily Illini newspaper, Technograph engineering journal, Illio yearbook) moved to a new building at 512 E. Green Street, Champaign.

WPGU began as an experimental radio station by engineering students at the University of Illinois. It was not broadcast, but aired via carrier AM into the dorms. If you had a radio plugged into an electrical outlet, WPGU showed up on 640 AM. After an initial technical problem, WPGU went "on the air" on December 7, 1953, for three hours. It played an hour of jazz, an hour of classical music and an hour of news. WPGU joined the then Illini Publishing Company in 1964 and procured an FCC license for FM broadcasting. FM broadcasting began on April 17, 1967. WPGU began broadcasting in stereo in 1972 (with student disc jockey Ted LeBlang at the controls at 6:00pm on April 16, 1972), and the first song broadcast in stereo was "We Can Be Together (Unedited Version)" by Jefferson Airplane from their "Volunteers" album. In 1973 the station began broadcasting 24 hours a day.