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1) The publisher's note provides background on how the Stimson radar book came to be published in multiple editions over several decades. The first edition was conceived and produced in the 1980s by Hughes Aircraft Company for technical audiences. 2) When demand grew for a reprint of the popular first edition in the 1990s, the printing plates were damaged, appearing to end its publication. However, interest in obtaining copies remained strong. 3) A second edition was made possible through the efforts of the founder of SciTech Publishing, who obtained rights from Hughes and George Stimson to produce a revised color edition. It was a successful update of the original. 4) Following Stimson's passing, SciTech recruited radar experts Hugh Griffith

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59 views2 pages

Pnote

1) The publisher's note provides background on how the Stimson radar book came to be published in multiple editions over several decades. The first edition was conceived and produced in the 1980s by Hughes Aircraft Company for technical audiences. 2) When demand grew for a reprint of the popular first edition in the 1990s, the printing plates were damaged, appearing to end its publication. However, interest in obtaining copies remained strong. 3) A second edition was made possible through the efforts of the founder of SciTech Publishing, who obtained rights from Hughes and George Stimson to produce a revised color edition. It was a successful update of the original. 4) Following Stimson's passing, SciTech recruited radar experts Hugh Griffith

Uploaded by

Susana Rojas
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Publishers Note

That there was a Stimson2 and now a Stimson3 has been a series of coincidences and serendipity. Most know the book was conceived at Hughes Aircraft Company by the Radar
System Groups President as a private publication, given away or sold at a nominal charge to
Hughes customers and friends, mostly within the Department of Defense. George Stimson
was Manager of Special Publications Projects and was given the task of pulling together a radar
book that most people with a technical background could understand. No doubt Stimson had
earned his reputation as a fine writer, but his zeal for clear graphics and meticulous formatting
of pages emerged with this book. The radar engineers and advertising department of industry
giant Hughes 65,000 employees at the time were put at his disposal, and Stimson took
full advantage of these resources. Its release in 1983 underscored Hughes leadership in radar,
but it was never publicly promoted and sold; it did not even carry an ISBN, a requirement in
the book trade for retail sales. Eventually the book was made available to those who wanted a copy, but only directly from
Hughes, for the sum of $50.00.
With over 20,000 copies in circulation, tragedy struck in 1992. Reprinting was halted when a fire set off the sprinkler system
in the hangar that housed the film printing plates. The plates were ruined, so no more books could be made. The coffee
table book of radar appeared to have died, but its legendary reputation lived on. Lucky owners put their books under lock
and key, lest they walk away.
The second edition came about when editorial advisor Joe Brewer called from his Westinghouse (now Northrop Grumman)
office in Baltimore. Joe reported his radar colleagues were always raving about this greatest technical book ever published
but that it was no longer available. Might I consider obtaining the rights from Hughes to put it back into print, if just in a black
and white edition? Joe Brewer is the unsung hero of the Stimson revival.
Two trips to Hughes showed me they would support a reprinting, but at the second meeting George Stimson, retired since
1987, was brought in for his opinions and advice. He stunned the gathering with two pronouncements: 1) he had been working on a revision for years and 2) he had been promised all rights to any future editions. Hughes, then in a due diligence
acquisition period with Raytheon, capitulated. A dead book was a mere annoyance to the lawyers and management.
Right off Stimson declared he was not interested in either a reissue or a black and white version, and he demanded first class
graphics to accompany his updates. SciTech, being a fledgling company with shallow pockets, sought one or more publishing partners while Stimson waited, but nobody else, whether commercial publisher or professional association, wanted the
financial risk of a full color book, either. This all changed with two fortuitous events. First, Hughes offered to send me two file
drawers packed with letters from companies and individuals that typically began, If this book ever becomes available again,
we would like X copies. Secondly, we hired a printers representative to check the damaged printing plates to see if anything
was salvageable for use in a revision. The report was that the film was in perfect condition! The deep secret, unbeknownst
even to Stimson, was that Hughes had fabricated the fire story in order to end the bothersome small orders in checks and
money orders that nobody wanted to handle.
George Stimson relied upon a small subset of his contacts still at Hughes/Raytheon, plus his own research, to accomplish
the revision. SciTech supplied a very talented artist for new figures and page layout, a former Jet Propulsion Lab graphics
artist, Shyam Reyes. Much was picked up from the first edition so that it was a hybrid of the timeless fundamentals of early
chapters and what Stimson termed advanced concepts in the later new chapters. The revision proved to be a monumental
success, even though material that had been termed advanced was fast becoming operational and commonplace in modern
aircraft. Our radar authors and advisors would later comment, Its an exceptional book but still built upon the technology
of the 1980s.
xvii

xviii

Publishers note

Stimsons advancing age and death in 2009 left a vacuum in revision planning. The making of the 3rd edition set the challenge of finding the leadership and authorship to see it through. Who would have Georges drive, knowledge, and genius?
Perhaps no one person, but I had met a rising radar star named Hugh Griffiths many years previously and had published a
bistatic radar book he had co-edited with Nick Willis. Moreover, Hugh has been editor of the journal IET Radar, Sonar, and
Navigation for over 15 years, Chair of the IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Societys Radar Systems Panel, and was then
President of the Society itself. Most importantly, he really wanted the challenge. We were fortunate to pick up Hughs good
friend Chris Baker at Ohio State (and frequent consultant to Wright-Patterson AFB). I had also been fortunate to befriend and
publish books by electronic warfare guru Dave Adamy, so Dave was enlisted to oversee the major updating and expansion
of the EW section. Hugh, Chris, and Dave enlisted additional contributors from industry, military, and academia. All understood the Stimson tutorial level and the importance of graphics to support and illuminate the text. Like Stimson at Hughes,
our subject experts were numerous and diverse, both the contributors and over 55 volunteer reviewers. How fortunate it was,
also, to track down artist Shyam Reyes to render new art and a fresh page design. In our own way, we very nearly replicated
the support team that had been put at George Stimsons disposal for the first edition. Can 65 editors, authors, and reviewers
work together harmoniously to equal one George Stimson? Perhaps not, but we have given it our best effort and invite your
comments and criticisms for refinements to future printings and editions. Thanks to the IET, a co-publisher of the 2nd Edition
and now parent to SciTech Publishing, for supporting our efforts to keep the dream alive.
Dudley Kay
Founder of SciTech Publishing
Senior Commissioning Editor, SciTech Publishing An Imprint of the IET

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