My family was stationed at the 694th Radar Squadron in Lewsitown, MT from 1963-1966. I served as a medic during this time. We would like to thank you for the wealth of information available on your website; it was good to look over the pictures and reminisce about days gone by. Time has not been kind to the 694th, but the Montana scenery remains beautiful.

We would enjoy hearing from anyone who was stationed at the 694th during the time we were there. Please feel free to contact us at the e-mail address above.

Great website! Thanks to the hosts for assembling the great wealth of information!

If anyone has any additional information on the Bainbridge, Ohio Gap Filler site, I would greatly appreciate it if were passed onto me. I have an interest in the history of the site. It is now a commercial communication tower site, and I am one of the occupants of it. Please contact me at: coppelshwn (at) eurekanet.com Many thanks!

Regarding the Iceland bankruptcy situation: A couple of years ago, NATO turned over control of the four long-range radar stations to the Icelandic government for air-traffic control purposes, with data feeds continuing to go to NATO. Now that the government there is claiming bankruptcy, one has to wonder what is to become of those radar sites there. Will NATO step in and resume operation of the radar stations, or pay the Icelanders to keep the radars turning, or just close them down?

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Perhaps the US should bail out Iceland. Might be another Seward's folly, and look how that turned out. :-)

I had the honor of workng the FPS-20 as an airman at Port Austin Air Force Station in the late 1980s before switching over to the guard. We were the 754th RADS squadron and had only about 80 people on the site: 1 firmeman, 1 cop. Now I'm no longer sure if it was the FPS-20 or some variant, but I'm sure someone else here would know. I Palaced chased out of the unit right when we noticed they were closing it, and also because all my airmen buddies were getting married to local girls, and I knew i needed to get a degree before settling down. It was a nice place with some good people.
Major Thomas Liepins
Oklahoma Air National Guard
t_lieps@yahoo.com

Fellow Vets...

I still have free hotel room coupons for Laughlin, Nevada if anyone is interested. As I have said in previous posts, I gain no benefit from giving these coupons out. This is NOT a time-share scam. I have coupons from one hotel good until December 24 and from another one good until January 31. If you are traveling to or from California or the Southwest along I-40 during the holidays, these coupons can save you some money. E-mail me directly with your address if you want one or more coupons and I'll drop them in the mail. Pass this info on to other vets.

I have a small stack of Radomes membership renewals to do this morning, as I have most mornings. We are beginning to see more and more annual renewals changing to Lifetime memberships, as members pass their 10-year anniversaries with Radomes. I've processed two of these already this morning. To all of you who are supporting us with your memberships, and especially to those very longtime members who are becoming Lifetime members, I want to say Thank You Very Much!. - Gene

It seems that the President of Iceland has offered to sell the abandoned Keflavik air base to the Russians. It probably won't happen, but if it did, to those of us who served in Iceland during the Cold War, it would be a real kick in the ass. For more information on this story, go to: http://www.usradarsitesiceland.org/uploads/news/kidn213516741.pdf

Was stationed in Iceland 1958/59 found Icelandic goverment treatment not very good to US service personel in fact they treated us like crap, the one tme that I went to the city of Rek. was on way home after 12 months on a mountain only aloud in city once had to get off streets by 10 PM and had to be in uniform they treated us as if we had the plague. I only hope things changed after I left, other then the inmportance of the Island to the defense of USA I do not have much of a good feeling for that place

John & Carl,

Re Iceland without comment.
_____________________________________________________________________

Business Week---"Iceland goes bankrupt"
Posted by: Michael Mandel on October 10

That’s an amazing sentence: Iceland goes bankrupt. But that’s exactly what happened yesterday (see BW piece here. See NY Times piece here). That’s a clear sign that the global financial crisis is entering a new and vastly more dangerous phase, where we are paying the price of the lack of a global financial regulator and global central bank.

What ‘bankrupt’ means is just that: The country cannot pay back its external debts, and the Icelandic currency, the krona, has become essentially valueless in the rest of the world. That means the country can no longer pay for imports.

Carl is right about Iceland in the 50s and 60s. Many of the locals hated Americans and there was a large Communist Party there. Every May Day, they would march on the main gate at the Keflavik base. They did severely restrict our presence in their cities. Only a small percentage of us could be on leave in the cities at any given time, we had to be in uniform at all times, and there was a curfew. For that reason, I, and many of my fellow GIs, had no desire to go off base. I only went once, and that was to walk to a nearby fishing village to do some fishing. I understand their attitude changed in later years and they became friendlier to Americans. The Icelanders had and still do have a democratic form of government and I like to think that my presence there during the Cold War had something to do with preserving their freedom as much as it helped preserve ours in the US. That's why if they ever sold the base to the Russians, I would take it as a personal insult.

I was stationed at Campion AFS from Sept 1971 thru Sept 1972. I would enjoy hearing from anyone who was in the Comm. group at this time.

Well, maybe I'm just subconciously smarter than I think I am.

My wife pointed out there was still the Sunday afternoon program I might watch on the military channel, so we checked it's daily line up.

It just wasn't on Comcast in the Houston area. Again, Drats!

It's long overdue that the "privilege" to salute the flag was given to veterans. I especially appreciated the wording describing the fact that the salute was for veterans who were "not in uniform." Not in uniform...??? Let's see---20 years of age, waist size 32---need I say more!!

Edward...Every member of Radomes stands on your shoulders...Thank you.

I have the same sentiments as Jeff and Chuck, except I'm a mere 73 years "OLD"!

My stepfather, a retired USAF Colonel, is 89 and still kicking. He was a navigator on a B-17, flying missions over Germany during WW2.

To Tom Page...

Well, I tried to watch the Texas Tower documentary on The History Channel, but no joy. Here in the Houston, TX are, Comcast Cable shows The History Channel on 58 and HD241, but no shows, round the clock on those channels, even remotely close to that story. Drats!

Make that area, not are. :(

Make that area, not are. :(

Tom..

MY GOD! I really need to have my head examined. I read your email again and it was the military channel, not the history channel. Dumb. Really dumb.

All. Please don't be too hasty to agree.

Gene and John. Info understood.

Coincidentally, I just received a book about Sampson AFB. I took basic there in 53. The book pointed out the base used The Sabres as the name for their basketball team, and that was the base logo, or some such, but in fact, the aircraft drawing they were using was that of another aircraft.

I don't see anything here about radar in the aleutians during the ww2, I was a maintenance man for a SCR 270 radar set locted at Kettle Cape Umnak Alaska for a year and then another year at Nikolski on Umnak.
The army found me training infantry men at Camp Croft S.C. some time in the middle of 1942.
When I enlisted in the army in 1938 at 18 years I wanted to go to the signal corp at Monmouth N.J. but the army needed infantry men so they sent me to c co 26th infantry regiment of the 1st division.
I was discharged oct 1945

Ed aka shedosky, if my math is correct, you are 88 years young. I'm a mere 71. It's good to hear from a WW2 vet. Thank you for your service during that time. Tell us some stories about the radar you worked on in the Aleutians.

John
That computes.

The Bubble Check pictures are not photos. They were artwork done by the late Bob Fortmuller and contributed to Radomes several years ago. Photos were used in the artwork, but none is pure photographs. - Gene

And, in case anyone is wondering, Bob Fortmuller's "Bubble Check" rendering used the vintage Westinghouse photograph of the prototype AN/FPS-27 search radar tower at Crystal Springs AFS, MS (Z-195). Bob was stationed there in the early 1960s.

A friend referred me to your website and it was quite a surprise. I served in the 660th Radar Squadron at Mac Dill AFB in Tampa from 1962-1965. It is difficult to believe the equipment is now long gone. Thanks for the photos for I had not returned since 1965 and had no photographs. It has been a long time.

I've changed the Skreened entry from F-94 to F-89. My bad - getting too old to remember designations, I guess. In a day or two, I'll be moving the Skreened link to our BX pages. - Gene

Re Skreened. I looked at it. Aside from the difference in aircraft, the planes aren't really doing what I'd call a bubble check. Their distance from the bubbles makes them appear to be landing on a base runway, near the base located AC&W Squadron towers, ey?

No pocket tees? I carry my glasses, a magnifying glass, my cell phone, a pen, a pencil, a penlight, my checkbook, and time to time miscellaneous such as my arthritis glove, all in the left pocket of my tee or polo shirt. Too bad pocket protectors are impossible to find these days, as for that matter, are dependable small penlights. When I was working full time, I used to carry an extendable pointer. Of course, back then, a cell phone wouldn't fit in a tee shirt pocket. :)

Of course, I'm a bit of a curmudgeon, so take everything I say with a grain of salt. Think green. Make that low sodium sea salt, which you can pick up on the soon to be sandy beaches at the North Pole. Santa will have to modify his wardrobe.

To Larry Jackson...

I doubt if the bubble check photos used on the Tee shirts are photos of an actual bubble check. Instead, a photo of planes were probably superimposed on the photo of some radar towers using photo enhancement software. Once photos are digitized, you can do almost anything with them.

I was stationed at Mt Hebo AFS from 8/66 until 2/70. Other than a cross training back at Keesler and a TDY tour in Viet Nam, I was on the mountain most of my military time. I was on duty in 1968 when we evacuated the security area due to the dome on the 24 tower coming apart. I participated in the shoveling experiences in the housing area and worked in many different areas on the mountain when we would be short of personnel. I was a 27350 radar ops until cross training into 27332 as counter measures specialist. I have many very good, very scary and very sad memories of the site. I also drove the contract bus from Tillamook to the top of the mountain as a part time job in my off hours. I often worked the "Mid" shift and the skies were clear when I went to work. During the shift we could get the "Hebo Snow" (snow blowing across the site rather than down on the site) and then rain and the skies would be blue again when the shift ended. I also played on the squadron basketball team under Lt. Price and softball team under SSgt Love. Col Reil was the commander when I arrived and Lt Col. Warren was the commander when I left. I returned to the mountain in 2003 and was shocked that the housing area and site facilities were gone. I took my wife and 2 friends with me and all the way from Portland I explained some of the things we would see. You can imagine what I felt when I passed the old housing area spot and the then arrived at the top of the hill. I have thoroughly enjoyed the photos of the site and the memories they have awakened. Thank you everyone that has provided the data, photos and memories.

I just checked, our site rosters are intact. I looked at the Mill Valley roster in particular, and it's fine. - Gene

I noticed that the SKREENED website has a large amount of leftist-oriented T-shirt themes available for sale on its web site. It strikes me as funny that a veterans web site would have a link to them.

I agree with Carl Wenberg, those F-94s are in fact, F-89s. We had them in Iceland in 1962. They were replaced later that year with F-102s. Google F-89 for additional F-89 photos and compare them to the ones on the Tee shirts.

I am looking for any information about Airman 3/c Paul Jordan, who served with me on Sado Shima, in Supply, in 1954-55.

I flew regular missions as a comm/nav tech on EC121H s out of Otis AFB for 18 months - 1962 to 1964.

You'll notice a small "SCKREENED" logo in the upper left navigation bar, above. Clicking this will take you to a web store "http://skreened.com/radomes" where you'll find a few of the late Bob Fortmuller's "Bubble Check" designs you can get on T-shirs, and other items of clothing. We get a small commission on sales from these items. More will be coming, but Bob's pictures seemed to be a natural starting place. - Gene

Just checked out Bob Fortmullers tshirts on the Bubble check "skreened "page shows two Arcraft making a Bubble Check they list the A/C as F 94s it has been a few years but they sure do look like F 89s )Scorpions) had many a Bubble check by F 89s while in Iceland, that being said the sreening is great!

I second James Souzas comment. Where did the site rosters go.

I clicked on the SKREENED box and it got me nowhere, even with my pop-up blocker de-activated. A small box appeared on the right to sign in or create an account but there was no info available on how to do it. Clicking on SEARCH produced nothing. I was originally reluctant about clicking on the box until I saw Gene's note. I thought that the site might have been hacked.

John,
I had the same problem.
Copy and paste this URL into the address line above:
http://skreened.com/radomes
It'll "Getter Done" as Larry the Cable Guy says.

Thanks for you website. It was very enjoyable.
I was an ATW in CIC on WV-2's at Argentia and Keflavik early 1960's.

It is my sad duty to again inform the group of another passing of our
own. United States Air Force Chief Master Sergeant (Retired)
Austin "Perk" Perkins passed away at 1 AM November 16, 2008.

CMSgt Perkins was my friend, travel companion and my boss while on inspection tours while I was stationed at 26 Air Division, Luke AFB, AZ during the seventies. I have heard that Sergeant Perkins served as glider pilot durning the landing on D-Day in Europe. His outstanding service to the United States of America should long be remembered.

Sergeant Perkins served the 26 AD General Officer as the Air Divison ranking NCO. I have been attending reunions of 26 AD personnel for thirty years and I think that Sergeant Perkins was in attendance at all of them. He was a likeable and always ready to help, laugh and kind to all. I believe CMSgt Perkins was 86 years old. He will surely be missed.

Robert Fisher
SMSgt, USAF, (Retired)

Served at 666th AC&W Station, Mill Valley, CA from Dec 1953 to Aug 1955. What happened to an older website where you could check the roster list for familiar names?

Bob,
I sent mine in several years ago...don't remember how long it took to get it posted but January seems too long. I would send it in again. They probably lost it. It's the Air Force, remember?

I received an e-mail note this morning from Chuck Zimmaro (DPOCEANDVR_AT_aol.com) with the following information re the 1-hour documentary on the Texas Tower No. 4 (TT-4) disaster, a show that originally aired on The History Channel:

To all those who have The Military Channel, "Doomed, Tower at Sea," will be shown on the following days and times.

Saturday, November 22, 2008 @ 10:38 P.M.
Sunday, November 23, 2008 @ 4:38 A.M.
Sunday, November 23, 2008 @ 10:38 A.M.
Sunday, November 23, 2008 @ 4:38 P.M.

Any Buglers out there? If you can play TAPS, be sure to voluteer your services to "Bugles Across America". There are so many miltary funerals that all the branches are having difficulty supplying live buglers. They frequently use "canned" Taps, or a recording. I (and a lot of others) feel this is tacky and disrespectful to out Vets and their familes. Join "Bugles Across America" and help alleviate this situation. Here is the website:
http://www.buglesacrossamerica.org/bugles.php

Check it out and offer your services if you can do it!

I sure am glad to find this site. Thoroughy enjoyed it. I am a former AN/FST2 and FYQ47 Tech. I intend to return often.
Thank you.

Has anyone sent in their Basic Military Training Squadron photo to Lackland and had it successfully posted on their website? If so, how long did it take? I sent mine in sometime in January and it still is not posted. Here's the website address:
http://www.bmtflightphotos.af.mil/

Bob....I submitted mine a number of years ago and then it took a couple of months for it to be posted. The process was a bit more primitive than now. But, it took about half as long as long as you described. I submitted it in the form of a JPEG on a CD. I had merged the multiple scans into one image and done a lot of cleanup on the image prior to submitting it.

Jeff - likely true. The old guy who from out local VFW who was out every year, and BTW did a dozen other tasks for the local post, hasn't been around that I've seen.

Re; Veterans selling poppies
Location might be a factor; there are many military installations in the Puget Sound area of Washington State where I live, so we have loads of vets and some were selling poppies here. I also noticed veterans selling poppies in San Antonio this October when we were there for our 637th reunion.

Photographer races clock to honor last few World War I vets

(CNN) -- Photographer David DeJonge plans to capture a vanishing bit of history Tuesday on a trip to Arlington National Cemetery near Washington.
There he hopes to photograph 107-year-old Frank Buckles---one of the few men still alive who fought in World War I. Buckles will lay a wreath at the grave of Gen. John J. "Black Jack" Pershing, who led U.S. forces in Europe in World War I.
The visit comes 90 years to the day after the end of World War I, an occasion that led to Veteran's Day in the United States and Armistice Day in other nations. For DeJonge, it's a poignant reminder that time is running out in his quest to find and photograph the few surviving veterans of the war, which raged from 1914 to 1918.
He has raced the clock for the last two years to photograph the dwindling number of surviving World War I veterans, a mission he embraces with a keen appreciation for the ticking clock: Eight of 12 veterans he has photographed in the last two years are now dead.
"It's a tragic loss - a tragic loss for the project and for global history," he said. "These are the last breaths of the last souls who witnessed one of the most horrific wars this world has ever known.
DeJonge knows of only 10 living veterans worldwide who fought during World War I.

Happy Veterans Day to us. :)

I forgot to mention. We're having a Veterans Day Parade in Houston, TX, titled The Heroes Day Parade. It begins at 11:45 AM, but it's not televised. That's unfortunate. If you live in the Houston area think about attending. Rain is predicted. A local newsman said it will simply add to the somber feeling of the day. I know we're honoring all veterans and especially those who gave their lives, but I think it was a less than somber day on the 11th hour, of the 11th day of the 11th month, when WWI came to end and the Armistice began. The war that ended all wars.

The US observed Armistice Day until October 8, 1954, when the name was changed to Veterans Day, to honor all veterans. I was on active duty at the time.

Jim,Roe Everett, and all the others that are not with us anymore, you were the real heros my brothers.

Today is Rememberance Day in Canada. Watching hockey the past week, I've noticed that almost everyone in Canada is wearing a poppy in his/her lapel. This is very apparent, and something we don't see much here. Thanks fellow vets, US and Canadian!

Gene,
I believe the reason for the decline in "poppies" offered for sale in the US is that the average member of the local VFW is (was) a WWII vet. As we all know, they are now in their 80's. I haven't seen any vets selling poppies in my home town (Coral Springs, FL) for several years.

Enjoyed visit. Aloha

Nice job. Spent 20+ years in AC&W, SAGE, 407L, 412l, 1AFIG, ETC.

Jerry Lyons,
CMSgt, USAF,
Retired

Looking for troops out there that took basic training at Sampson AFB 1950-56 we have a great org. have a wonderful museum at Sampson State Park NY many former Sampson troops have signed up , if interested in any more info feel free to contact me or check out our page www.sampsonvets.com

OK here's the deal. How do I unsubscribe from this Yahoo Group which I never subscribed to in the first place: USAFRadarSitesVeterans@yahoogroups.com.

I know this subject has been addressed in this forum before.

As always, thanks in advance

Jim

For JimE

Go to: USAFRadarSitesVeterans-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

Mr. Page...I must stand up for those few (me included)"Radomes" members who operated the equipment back in the day---suggesting that we would tell a "tall one???"---NEVER!!!

So, Jeff, you operated WEATHER radars??? Tell me about that! :-)

Okay, I finally get it. All that time I was looking for weather and all I could find was these little "blip type things" moving around on my scope. No wonder maintenance would get mad at me when I kept calling them!!

New 637th Electronic Systems Squadron patch from 637th AC&W patch
Some of you may remember that I sent out a question a couple/three years ago about my being approached by the newly designated 637th Electonic Sysytems Squadron, which was standing up at Hanscom AFB and which wanted to use some of the features of our old 637th AC&W insignia. He liked the idea of the new 637th adopting something of the old 637th patch design. I put out several emails to some of the guys on the 637th Site Roster of the Radar Museum, and received back many enthusiastic replies, which I forwarded to the 637th ES Squadron point of contact. He repied that the preliminary design had been approved, wth the final design up for approval and release. He would let me know when the patch would be made available to their squadron, and would provide it to us so we could see what they ended up with. We then lost contact with one other, and I never learned whether or not the patch design had ever been aqdopted and released for use.
I decided the other day to attempt to learn the outcome, so I cantacted our pal and Radar Museum researcher Mark Morgan, former Historian at the Western Air Defense Sector at McChord, and currently a civilian Historian at Scott AFB. He got me the name of the historian of the Electronic Systems Center at Hanscom AFB. We made contact just the other day and he informed me that the design had just been released, so he sent me the image and its description, which I can forward if anyone is inerested.
The only similarity I see between the two are that both designs incorporate the world globe.
Anyway, it's always satifying to get 'the rest of the story', so I thought I'd pass it on. It was kind of cool to know someone had seen our 637th AC&W information on the Radar Museum, and wanted to create a connection with the two squadron patches.

Dick Konizeski Othello AFS 1967-68
303X2, AN/FPS-26

Well, that TV show on "The History Channel" tonight regarding UFOs over Brookfield did not include the video I thought. That video is available on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcMhidDp54k. My apolgies to anyone who wasted his time watching.

I did find one thing "interesting," though. The so-called UFOlogist reportedly interviewed a radar operator in Holland, MI, in 2000. If I heard correctly, the radar operator claimed he tracked the UFO using a weather radar, slewing back and forth, viwing it with the radar's range-height indicator. Since when do weather radars have those capabilities? I must be missing something. Either that, or that radar operator was telling a wild one. (I suspect the latter.)

My sources came through: The Tempelhof AN/FPS-117v5 radar indeed is remaining at the old airport location.

This is a heads-up about a TV show on "The History Channel" (THC) this week. Normally, I would not post a message regarding a TV show about UFOs, whether the show was on THC or otherwise. However, I am pretty sure that this particular THC episode (listed below) is the one with shots of the former Brookfield AFS / Brookfield Gap-Filler Annex with the GFA radar tower / radome still extant. That former radar site is located in Trumbull County, Ohio. I believe the time slot shown is for EST; consult your local listing for times in your area. Enjoy!

____________________________________________________

Wednesday, November 5, 2008
____________________________________________________

10-11pm -- UFO Hunters - UFO Emergency
Police tapes, video, and the testimony of a radar operator suggest
something very strange was seen over Ohio in 1994; Holland, Michigan
in 1994; and Millstadt, Illinois in 2000. On December 14, 1994 police
departments in Trumbull County, Ohio and surrounding areas start
getting 911 calls of strange lights in the sky. Police in multiple
jurisdictions report seeing strange objects, even chasing them.
Sergeant Toby Meloro of the Liberty Township Police Department was one of the first to respond. The tapes of Meloro's stunning conversation with a police operator as he sees the object are featured in the show, along with an interview with Meloro himself, who says the object he saw looked like a large, pulsating light. For the first time, a National Weather Service radar operator comes forward to describe the radar signatures he saw that night. Says Jack Bushong, "I've never seen anything move so fast."

By the way, the Brookfield video is also found on YouTube, and we show a few stills on our "Brookfield, OH" [GFA] page.

Brian....I trust you are aware that Templehof closed as of October 30, 2008. Farewell...

I spent ten years Staioned at Tempelhof on 3 different tours. Started our as a Long Range Radar Tech 30352 and ended up as Maintenance Supt 30100 on my last tour. I am well aware of what we shouln't do as well as what was actually done in regards to using radar coverage over 200 miles. We didn't shut it off whenever it sweept over the east zones. Jack Armstrong

Re Hank's comment below: Per news reports, Tempelhof Airport indeed closed as stated. However, the modern-day AN/FPS-117v5 radar *might* be remaining at that location. I will attempt to find out from my sources.