636thAC&WS
– Excerpts
from command histories
8 Dec 49 – The 636th AC&WS
transferred from Kirtland AFB, NM to McChord AFB Without Personnel or Equipment
(WOPE) and formally transferred from Twelfth Air Force to Fourth Air
Force. The squadron was initially
assigned the 500 area of McChord with headquarters in Bldg 512.[1]
1 Jan 50 – The squadron historian noted the
636th started the New Year without a commander, personnel or
equipment.[2]
3 Feb 50 – AN/CPS-4 shipped from Hoquiam to
McChord AFB for use by the 636th AC&WS.[3]
8 Mar 50 – The squadron received its first
equipment, the CPS-4 height-finder. No
power units were available so the squadron couldn’t test the unit or place it
into operation; in the interim, 636th personnel put up a Jamesway
shelter at one end of operations building 1308 to house the equipment when it
arrived.[4]
Jun 50 – Lashup site L-32 operational at McChord AFB under the 636th
AC&WS, equipped with the CPS-4 and an AN/CPS-5.[5]
Dec 50 – In
its end of the year summary, the 25th Air Division stated the 636th
AC&WS:
-
Moved
its orderly room to Bldg 421 “near the barracks area” late in the year. The squadron also occupied Bldgs 306, 317,
1302 and 1304 through much of the year.
-
The
Operations Building, No. 1308, was designated the “Division Training
Center.” The mission originally
belonged to the 638th AC&WS but because of that unit’s prior
commitments the responsibility passed to the 636th:
It then became their responsibility to
receive and train the accelerated basics and recallees, most of whom were
unfamiliar with the AC&W work, to a semi-skilled state. In addition, a limited number of airmen who
had already been assigned to the Division were sent to the 636th
AC&W Squadron for the purpose of helping them find new skills.
McChord AFB proved to be a very fortunate
location for this training program. In
addition to the erection of the AN/CPS-6B at that station, the base conducts a
training program for Air Police, Transportation personnel, Food Service
specialties, coupled with a strong information and education program...
The program was implemented by sending all
incoming basics, plus a number of personnel permanently assigned to units of
the division. This plan of assigning
airmen already assigned to Division units is to uncover talent that might be
present in these individuals overlooked by the hurried assignments of the
influx period.
This training center not only gives
elementary military training and orientation of AC&W work, but trains
airmen in specific AFSC’s such as communications technicians, radar operators,
radar mechanics, and equipment maintenance.[6]
Jun 51 – Lashup site L-32 inactivated, local operations passed to site P-1
at McChord AFB under the 635th AC&WS.[7]
27 Jun 51 – The 636th AC&WS departed McChord AFB for Condon, OR (P-32).[8]
[1] HQ Fourth AF GO-104 dtd 7 December 1949, cited in 505th Aircraft Control and Warning Group Historical Data December,1949; Robert Mueller, Air Force Bases, Volume I – Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982 (Washington, D.C.: Office of Air Force History, 1989), pg. 394.
[2] History (S/DECL-per DOD DIR 5200.30, by
USAFHR, n.d.) 505th ACWGP. Monthly Historical Data, January –
1950.
[3] History (S/DECL-Deputy Secretary of Defense Memo dtd
12 Apr 74, by AFSHRC, 7 Mar 80), 25th Air Division (Defense)
Historical Data (Monthly Edition), 1 February 1950-28 February 1950 .
[4]
History (S/DECL- Deputy Secretary of Defense
Memo dtd 12 Apr 74, by AFSHRC, 7 Mar 80), 25th Air Division
(Defense) Historical Data (Monthly Edition), 1 March 1950-31 March 1950.
[5] Historical Data of the Aerospace Defense Command (U), 1946-1973 (Ent AFB, CO: Aerospace Defense Command, n.d.), pg. 39.
[6] History (S/DECL-AF/IGSPB ltr dtd 13 Dec 73, by AFSHRC 7 Mar 80), 25th Air Division (Defense), Everett, Washington, Quarterly Historical Data, 1 October 1950-31 December 1950, Chapter 4, “Training,” pp 52-53.
[7] Historical Data, pg. 39.
[8] Mueller, Air Force Bases, pg. 394; Historical Data, pg. 125.