4648 Sp. Sq., Gunter AFB Al., 744Th AC&W Sq., Murphy Dome Ak. The best people I`ve ever worked with.

962nd AEW&C Sqdn 1955-1958, Otis AFB, Mass

My Dad was assigned to the 872 AC&W Squadron from 1961 to 1964. I would be glad to here from anyone who was stationed there at during that time. Also any dependents who were there at the time.

James Hill who was at Cape Newenham please contact me,your address is wrong now on this site,all Alaska remote Veternans go to www.msnusers.com/capenewenham and join the free website, not just for cape Vets.

Best tour of duty I ever had, best beer in the world. Munich,can`t say enough about Havana, Dolly Bars. Dom Cafe in Friesing, second home.

retired af scope dope,airborn,sage,and manuel also bmews.

RET. CMSGT. AFSC 30390, 30 YRS. RARAR AND COMPUTERS. TAUGHT SCHOOL AT KESSLER AC&W RADARS AND COMPUTERS. NOW LIVING IN DUNCAN,OK 73533

FROM THE NY TIMES: WASHINGTON The commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks is expected to offer sharp criticism of the Pentagon`s domestic air-defense command in the panel`s final report and will suggest that quicker military action on that morning might have prevented a hijacked passenger jet from crashing into the Pentagon itself, according to commission officials. . The performance of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, and its failure to protect Washington and New York City from attack on Sept. 11 will be a focus of the remaining public hearings of the 10-member commission, which is in the final weeks of its investigation. . Commission officials said interim reports that were expected to be released at the hearings would suggest that NORAD had time on Sept. 11 to launch jet fighters that could have intercepted and possibly shot down American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. local time, more than 50 minutes after the first hijacked plane struck the World Trade Center in New York. A total of 184 people died in the Pentagon attack, including 59 aboard the hijacked plane. . The commission is trying to establish a timeline of how and when military pilots reporting to NORAD were informed on Sept. 11 that President George W. Bush had given the extraordinary order allowing them to shoot down passenger planes. NORAD officers have said previously that they did not learn of the order until about 10:10 a.m., a few minutes after the last of the four hijacked jets crashed into a field in rural Pennsylvania. But White House officials have suggested that the order was made earlier in the morning and should have been communicated immediately to pilots. . The commission has repeatedly complained that NORAD, a joint U.S.-Canadian military command created at the height of the cold war in 1958 to defend air space over North America from Soviet missiles and bombers, has been uncooperative in the panel`s investigation. . In November, the commission issued a subpoena to the Pentagon after learning that a variety of pertinent documents, tapes and other evidence from NORAD had not been turned over to the panel. The only other federal agency subpoenaed by the commission was the Federal Aviation Administration, which is under scrutiny by the panel for air-safety lapses related to its communications with NORAD on Sept. 11. . A spokesman for NORAD`s headquarters in Colorado Springs, Lieutenant Colonel Roberto Garza, insisted that NORAD had fully cooperated with the commission, although he said he could not discuss issues that are now before the panel. `If we speak, we speak to the commission,` he said. . Senior military commanders have said that NORAD may have been slow to act on Sept. 11 because of the command`s traditional cold-war-era focus on threats that originated from outside America, not on a terrorist strike carried out within U.S. borders. Before Sept. 11, they noted, fighter pilots had no authority to shoot down a passenger plane. . But their defense of NORAD`s actions became more difficult this month with the disclosure that NORAD planners had specifically weighed the possibility well before Sept. 11 that passenger planes might be used as missiles against domestic targets. . The disclosure came in the form of a newly unearthed 2001 memo showing that in April of that year, NORAD considered an exercise in which military commanders would weigh how to respond to an attack in which terrorists flew a hijacked plane into the Pentagon, precisely what happened five months later. . The chairman of the Sept. 11 commission, Thomas Kean, a former Republican governor of New Jersey, said in an interview that NORAD`s actions would be closely scrutinized at hearings next month in New York City, which will focus on the government`s emergency response system, and at a final round of public hearings in Washington in June. . `Even with our subpoenas, NORAD has been slow to act on our document requests, and that`s why we haven`t talked particularly about NORAD in our earlier hearings,` Kean said. `Now we will.` . Other commission officials said investigators were focusing on the actions of NORAD during a two-hour period on Sept. 11 after 8:20 a.m., when the Federal Aviation Administration got its first clue that a passenger plane had been hijacked; the electronic transponder on American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston to Los Angeles had been switched off. . The officials said the commission wants to know why, by NORAD`s own timeline, it took 44 minutes after that same American Airlines plane crashed into the World Trade Center in New York for NORAD to launch jet fighters in the vicinity of Washington. . By the time three F-16 jet fighters were airborne from Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, about 105 miles, or 170 kilometers, from Washington, American Airlines Flight 77 was only seven minutes from plunging into the Pentagon. . Jet fighters stationed at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, which is only a few miles outside Washington and is the home base of Air Force One, were not scrambled despite urgent telephone pleas that morning from the Secret Service for help in defending the White House. . Defense Department officials have suggested since Sept. 11 that if NORAD pilots had received the order in time, they would have tried to shoot down American Airlines 77, a Boeing 757 that had been bound to Los Angeles from Washington, as far from the capital as possible and over an unpopulated area. . NORAD`s mission has been overhauled since Sept. 11, and its commanders have now been told to focus intently on the possibility of more domestic terrorist threats from the air. .

Served in 292X0 field (crypto ops) with 633rd ACWRON at Wheelus & Benghazi, Libya, 56-58; 753rd ACWRON at Sault Ste Marie, MI, 58; 623rd ACWRON at Naha & Okino, Okinawa, 58-60. Am attempting to locate Doug Wisener (sp) who served with me at Wheelus. As I recall, he was from a small town located somewhere in southeast corner of state of MO. Would also be glad to hear from anyone else... especially former members of 633rd ACWRON.

AC&W assignments: 607 AC&W, K6 Korea (1955-56) 635 AC&W, McChord AFB, WA (1956-59) 405th FW Cont. Cen, Clark, PI (1960-62) SAGE, Beale, AFB, CA (1962-63) Sage, Ft. Custer, MI (1963-65)

Old AC&W - First Assignment 1967 at Kume Shima (Treefrog), then to Bergstrom AFB and the 727th, moved to McConnell in 1969 as part of the 82nd TCF, Left there for Japan and the AOCC and the CAF at 5th AF. Then back to the states and FL at the Controller traing school as a T4/2 operator. Then (thank the Lord) to Tin City for a year then my longest stateside assignemnt to McChord and the SAGE Facility there then it was back to Japan for four more years. Last assignment was to North Bay, Ont., Canada in 1982? Retired in 87.

Another Great Adventure By Linda Bottoms Bass In February of 2004, Bobbie received an e-mail from a military friend with information about a reunion for Radar Site Personal that was being held in Biloxi, Mississippi, March 28th through April 1st and wanted to know if we planned to attend. Without hesitation we both agreed we wanted to go just to see how many military friends would be there that we would remember. Plans and road maps were made ready and our room was reserved for six nights just two miles from the host hotel. We called our life long friends, Bea and Stanley Hite to see if they wanted to meet us and asked Bobbie’s sister, Jeanette and her husband, Jasper, if they wanted to ride down with us. They had never been to Biloxi and were excited about going. When we arrived at Jeanette’s house and I opened the trunk of the car, I made a statement we would have to drive two cars down, as there wasn’t enough room for four people’s clothing. Well, old brainy here came up with a solution and solved the problem. We all did a redneck packing thing and put part of our clothing in Wal-Mart plastic bags. What a sight while unloading at the motel we were staying. Blue Wal-Mart bags everywhere. We were told that there would be an auction on Tuesday night following a day of golf for the men. Trying to think what we could take that someone might bid upon, we decided to make a few things, which including a Key to the City of Long Beach, Mississippi. We went on line to see who the Mayor of Long Beach was and to our surprise the Mayor was Robert Earl Bass, Jr. Well! That was just my cup of tea so to speak, since I was doing research on the Bass Family Tree. As you all know, I’m not bashful, so I called Robert and told him what I was doing and would be in his area soon. He seemed as tickled as I was and told me his Great, Great Grandfather, Wade D. Bass, was born in North Carolina and with futher searching I found he was born in Halifax County, NC in 1873-1874 and migrated to Louisiana, then to Long Beach, Mississippi. I haven’t made the connection to our Bass side yet, but hopefully I will soon. On Monday night the 28th of March everyone was gathered for the opening of the reunion and presentation of the key. Since I had never seen Robert Bass, I didn’t know whom to look. In a few minutes two men and a lady walked in and I poked Bobbie in his side and said that’s a Bass standing there. He asked which one and I pointed as discreetly as I could. Bobbie said how’d you know? I told him to look at the way Robert was standing and the shape of his nose. Sure enough when Robert Bass was introduced I was tickled I had picked the correct one. After Robert had presented the Key to the City he asked if Bobbie and Linda Bass were in the audience. We raised our hands and he proceeded to tell the story about me calling him. He then gave me a book written by a cousin on the history of Long Beach and I gave him information on the Bass Family Tree as far back as I had gotten. I have a picture of Bobbie and Robert I will include in the book. We saw Bob Thomas and his wife, Betty, from Lenoir, Tennessee. Bobbie hadn’t seen Bob since Viet Nam 1961-1962 and J. B. and Dagmar Armstrong from Oklahoma, whom we hadn’t seen since Luke Air Force Base, Phoenix Arizona 1966-1968. Another couple, Jay and Earlene Tumey, from Aurora, Colorado couldn’t make it due to Jay being in an auto accident two weeks earlier. We surely missed seeing Jay and Earlene. The last time we saw them was in the fall of 2000 in Asheville, North Carolina. On Tuesday night the auction was held. Many wonderful things had been donated, including two gorgeous hand-made quilts, a beautiful throw with the Radar Site Emblem on it, a tatted lace bedspread or tablecloth, paintings, pen and ink drawings, lovely glass crystal vases, things we had made from our work-shop and many more things to numerous to list. One thing I must mention was the golf ball dogs that had been made and Bobbie bought eight of them. They are so cute. All seemed to have fun and lots of money was raised to donate to a local charity. On Wednesday, three Trailway busses loaded up and headed to New Orleans, or Naw’lings, as the local call it. I was disappointed to see it still looked the same as it did in 1957, run down and still nasty looking, though some of the buildings were getting new paint jobs, which may help some. The French Quarters during the daytime were terrible and all I could remember from 1957 were all the “ladies” of the night in flimsy attire hanging over their balconies drumming up business. And this time I wasn’t in a locked vehicle, but walking the streets in broad daylight, it was still scary. The smell of different food odors did nothing to help cover the stench of the streets and smells coming from the muddy Mississippi River. One thing I did notice that wasn’t there in 1957 was the horse and buggies. Such scraggly looking beast of burden they were. Poor things they had large leather bags hanging under their tails on their back legs to catch their dropping and you could see where the bags were rubbing their legs raw. I felt so sorry for them. Our bus driver was Al Ellis and he did a wonderful job pointing out things of interest to keep us from getting bored. In Gulfport, he told us this was the town that Robin Roberts, who is on Good Morning American, was born and grew up. She drove a school bus while attending high school. He pointed out all the shrimp boats, which were dock and would go out in months with “R’s” in then to harvest the shrimp. In New Orleans, he pointed out the house where Marlon Brando said his famous line, “Stella, you’re killing me,” from the movie Street Car Named Desire. We asked him about the long narrow shotgun houses we saw. He said they were made this way as to save money on taxes. The narrower the house the less taxes the owner would have to pay, but the house could be as long as the owner wanted. I think one could’ve spit out a window into the window next door. As the old saying goes, if a neighbor sneezed, the other neighbor would bless him. On Thursday, the guys played golf again and naturally the ladies did the shopping thing. I told Jeanette we couldn’t buy much as we wouldn’t have room to put it in the car. Well, as you all know ladies and their shopping sprees, many things were bought and then the dilemma where to store our hooch began. As Scarlet said in Gone With the Wind, I’ll think about that tomorrow, which I did. Thursday night arriving at the banquet I was in a state of shock. Where were the husky, lean, muscle bound and sharp looking men in blue uniforms I remembered so well back in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s? Where were the crew cut hair-dos that were so popular? I saw some with baldheads and some that had comb-overs to cover what they could of their baldness. Most had salt and pepper colored hair and some had hearing aids and most wore glasses. Some had to use canes, but thank God, all could get around just fine. I saw one gentleman in a wheelchair, bless his heart. He didn’t want to miss out on his reunion. A lot had not practiced their push back from the table or as someone laugh and made a commented, too much beer intake. There were some who were great candidates for being Santa Claus. I saw two men who had on fatigue shirts with insignias on them. One gentleman told me that when he tried on one of his old shirts and it wouldn’t fit, his children bought him a new one just for the reunion. I thought that was so sweet of them. Many men wore caps with their radar site insignias and wore them proudly. Some had Viet Nam on them with medals. Now, the ladies were something else. Some were dressed to the nines and a lot like myself went in comfortable clothing and shoes. Many looked the same, though more mature with the passing of time. Some like myself had potbellies from having babies and natural blonde hair. NOT! They carried themselves proudly and still had straight backs like we had as younger women. We were proud of our men folk and heaven help us, we would do it all over again, if asked to do so. Many pulled out pictures of their children, grandchildren and a few had pictures of their great-grandchildren. For once I didn’t take any pictures with me, but you better believe I got my two cents worth in about all my children! While we consumed a delicious meal, the emcee for the evening was telling jokes. What struck me funny was a lot of the jokes were from the Internet. I knew the ending before he got to the punch line. Somewhere in the room a round of laughter was heard and I told Bobbie that if I didn’t know my cousin, Jimmy Bottoms, wasn’t there, I could have sworn that was his laugh. You know the kind of laughter I mean? The kind that starts at the bottom of the belly and just rolls right on up and out the mouth. I soon saw the man and he didn’t look anything like Jimmy. After many hugs, smiles with tears in the eyes and running down the cheeks, fond farewells were said, plans to meet again at the next reunion and promises made to keep in touch, the evening ended. What a treat to see friends of long ago and making new friends for years to come. Early Friday morning, the packing of the car was resumed and believe it or not everything had a place in the trunk, blue Wal-Mart shopping bags included and what didn’t fit, such as Jeanette’s dining room table center piece, was placed in the middle of the back seat on a pillow. As for me, being in the drivers seat, I had plenty of room. My three passengers slept most of the 475 miles back to Rock Springs, Georgia. I can hardly wait for another great adventure with the love of my life…..

RADAR MAINTENANCE JUST GOT MORE DANGEROUS... Robot plane drops bomb in test; Another step for remote-control warfighting; The Associated Press; 4:46 p.m. ET April 19, 2004 LOS ANGELES - A robotic plane deliberately dropped a bomb near a truck at Edwards Air Force Base on Sunday, marking another step forward for technology the U.S. military hopes will one day replace human pilots on dangerous combat missions. Under human supervision but without human piloting, a prototype of the Boeing Co.’s X-45 took off from the desert base, opened its bomb bay doors, dropped a 250-pound (114-kilogram) Small Smart Bomb and then landed. The inert bomb struck within inches of the truck it was supposed to hit, Boeing said, adding that had the bomb contained explosives, the target would have been destroyed. “It’s absolutely a huge step forward for us. It shows the capability of an unmanned airplane to carry weapons,” said Rob Horton, Boeing’s chief operator for the mission. “From the video, you see the weapon going down and a huge cloud of dust and the truck shaking around.” The X-45A was preprogrammed with the target coordinates and used the satellite-based Global Positioning System to adjust its course. Horton, who was sitting 80 miles (130 kilometers) from the target, authorized the drone to drop the bomb, which was released from 35,000 feet (10,670 meters) as the plane flew at 442 mph (700 kilometers per hour). The military sees such aircraft taking part in its most dangerous missions, such as bombing enemy radar and surface-to-air missile batteries, in order to clear the path for human pilots. The Y-shaped, tailless plane has a 34-foot (10.4-meter) wingspan and weighs 8,000 pounds (3,600 kilograms) empty. It is the first drone designed specifically to carry weapons into combat. Other robotic planes, including the Predator spy drone currently being used in Afghanistan, have been modified to carry weapons. Boeing hopes to build hundreds of the X-45 planes, which would cost $10 million to $15 million each.

Served USAF 68-72 Mostly SAGE sites, Baudette AFS [LRR and BUIC 111 site]Minnesota and Duluth AB 23 NORAD REGION. I spent some time at Clark AB, 605 TCS, 5th TAC, RPI.

I was with the 656th Radar Squadron from April 65 til April 68. I worked on the ANFST2B.

Looking for old friends from 1955 who served at the 719th AC&W Sq, Sparrevohn, Alaska. Almost 50 years ago. Anyone still left from that era?

My dad was with 1st combat eval group Det 9 stationed in St George Utah in 1969. Cannot find info, can you help?

Sweetwater, TX 683rd AC&W `66,`67. I check this site from time to time to see if any old friends have logged in. Great site...I appreciate the hard work that goes into this kind of ongoing project.

This is really an interesting site and brings back many memories. Tom and Gene, thanks for all of your effort in putting this together. I was at the 709th ACWRON, Ft. Yukon Ak., 10/63-10/64; and at 787th ACWRON, Chandler Mn., 11/64-06/66. I stopped by the 787th about 3 yrs ago and found it completely razed, even off base housing was a cornfield! I was really disappointed. Any of you guyz from 709th or 787th out there, give me a holler!

Great site, found a couple of names from the old squadron at Selfridge, wish I had found this site earlier.

Great site! Brings back a lot of memories. Wintered over at Fort Yukon 709th AC&W 72-73. Looking to get ahold of some ole friends. I worked in the orderly room and an auxillary fireman, also played drums in a little band called the Unfortunate Few. Just a few of us snowbound GIs trying to have a little fun. Greg Shettlesworth and Moses `Doug` Douglas were the guitar players. If anyone has recall of this, feel free to shoot me an e-mail at this address. Would be great to hear from some of you all. Big thanks to the webmaster for this site.

If indeed some form of air defense surveillance comes to pass, be it blimp, air or satellite-borne, I would hope in tribute to its forebears that some of the old unit names and emblems be used again. The B-1B and B-2 are precedents, to name only two.

I was stationed in Birkenfeld Germany, 615th AC&W Squadron from 1965 to 1968.

I was stationed at the 734th AC&W Sq, Djenane Krater, Morocco. I have established a web site for this radar site (aka: Site 3). It is located at the following URL: http://www.geocities.com/site_3_morocco/

was at indain mtn ak 708th ac&w 70-71

Arrived at Finland AFS Minnesota in August of 65. Served as Superintendent of Radio Maintenance and as Site Training NCO for Maintenance. Ran NCO Club for the year I was there as and additional Duty. I left in 1966 for Vandenberg AFB. Maj Vic Hoffaker was Commander when I arrived. CMS Russel Cook was Maintenance Superintendent. Really enjoyed my North Woods assignment.

This is a very interesting project. Keep up the good work. Hi to anybody that was at Baudette and Duluth,MN. SGT. Moren, Scope Dope

Just returned from GT Lakes Radar Reunion - Biloxi. 264 attendees. Great event. Received personal tour Keesler-radical chg YIPE!. Main entrance -a landscaped boulevard. BX=Wal-mart size. Allee, Dolan, Thompson,Brian Halls still there. Significant portion of Triangle rebuilt. Tiangle barracks like condos now. 3394 still there w/new identity. 2nd runway gone-repl/w hangars etc. Training now includes C-130 & C-21. Will submit some photos when avail. Banquet attendees included former instructors & school Commander. Banquet menu did not include SOS! P.S. Base is at risk of shutdown in 2005.

So, you`re the real Freddie Smith

Stationed at Klamath AFS, 777 Radar Sq Jan 63 - Dec 65. Worked at the Transmitter site.