RE: My entry of 1/29

In retrospect, maybe the Coast Guard planes weren't squatty seaplanes, but just squatty planes. By squatty I mean the fuselage was shaped like the Nina, the Pinta or the Santa Maria, without the masts. They were gray, had a black radar nose cone, an orange tail and I think an orange stripe encircking the center of the aircraft. Does anyone recognize that description?

Larry:

Re: US Coast Guard ASR Aircraft I believe they were built by Grumman and were named Widgeon and Goose. The AF nominclator was HU-16s known as DUCK BUTT A/C.

G.Wickert

Regarding the Coast Guard acft at Keesler....I remember daily searches after thunderstorms using the twin engine Grumman Albatross. The aircraft would be on standby at the Back Bay end of the runway with engines running awaiting the storm to pass.

Coast Guard amphibious aircraft:
I was in the 3382 School Squadron at Keesler in 1964. Our barracks were in the Triangle area right next to the flightline, and I watched an untold number of takeoffs and landings from my room on the top floor. The aircraft would wind up their engines at one end of the runway, and it seemed they barely cleared the trees at the other end. I also recall us all being confined to the dayroom while sitting through a hurricane, and seeing huge lighting bolts striking the power poles as the storm approached.

I remember the Air Rescue SA 16 could land on water and Ice a real plush aircraft inside had a chance to fly in one they were in Ger. back in the 50s 12th Air Rescue used them out of Sembach AFB back in 53 there was a driving range at Keesler near one of the app. runways we would drive golf balls and try to hit the T 6s that cadets were flying of course optical illusion but hought we came close

Luke 26th? Luke AFB?

Coast Guard Gooney Birds? C47's? I think the CG planes I saw at Keesler, were the fat squatty Seaplanes, albeit they were on the tarmac. Were they chasing hurricanes back then? (50's)

i was ac&w radar repair from jan. 1965 to june 1966.-i lived in a barrarcks-------one being charlie lavendar.
dale houston was in charge of air police---------had great times at nco club----randy beck in supply was a good friend.
i got assigned to thailand in july 1966------stationed in a jungle outpost. returned to us in aug 1967 and was discharged. currently live in minnesota still stay in touch with randy beck in washington state.send an e-mail if you remember.

Back in the days of the QA99 or QA175 scopes we were 273XXX verticle plotting boards, grease pencils and writing backwords, what is 276XXX ?? and by the way we had a saying when remote in Iceland the word for Bailout was "Get Me The ---- out of here"

Quite an interesting site.......

Lackland basic December 3,1957
Keesler 273xx January- March 1958
Charleston AFS,765th, Maine April 1958- August 1959
Anderson AFB, Mt Santa Rosa, 852nd, Guam,M.I. August 1959-August 1960
Fortuna AFS,780th, North Dakota August 1960- August 1961
Minot AFB, Minot, (Support Base)North Dakota August 1961, Released from active duty COG
December 3,1963 Honorable Discharge

I was the Mailman at sparrevhon AFS, Mar 1981-1982. I was the only military member living at bottom camp at that time. RCA managed the site.

If I were/was still on active duty, I'd be in my 56th year of service. I might very well be the The Senior NCO of The Air Force, or whatever that title is.

What if there were two of us with the same date of rank? Would we serve jointly, or take turns? Would we have to fight a duel, or just flip a coin?

What are the benefits? Free lunch at the Pentagon? A mylar uniform that glows in the dark? Just thinking about it scares me. I don't envy the person who currently holds that rank.

Hmmmm..... free girl scout cookies? An aide de camp? A personal Seguay? (Spelling?)

Speaking of Iceland, there are numerous news articles yesterday and today about yesterday's collapse of the Icelandic government due to the worldwide economic crisis. Iceland had already declared bankrupcy several months ago. As we already know, the four AN/FPS-117 radar stations in Iceland were transferred to the Icelandic government over a year ago, and NATO has maintained data-ties to those sites. Recently, NORAD/NORTHCOM officials requested that HQ Air Combat Command (ACC) provide data-ties for Iceland to their operations center. Interestingly, just last week, The Iceland Ambassador to the U.S. met with General Renuart seeking support. What's the Danish word for "bailout"?

As for my opinion which means 0 I found that as a whole the Icelandic govt. were a bunch pains in the - - - when I was there

Bailoutsky?

276xx all the way baby! I like the web site. I was at Luke 26th call sign J001-

In Iceland, if the wind speed and/or wind chill exceeded certain values, we had to check in with the switchboard before leaving a building. We would give the operator our destination (mess hall, work, barracks, etc.) and then call the switchboard again when we arrived at our destination. The wind could get strong enough to blow you off your feet. As I recall, we had ropes strung on posts between buildings to be used as handholds. One stormy night, one of the troops "disappeared" after leaving the NCO club. The whole site was put on alert to search for him. He was found drunk and passed out in a loft in the carpentry shop.

We mailed our 2008 tax return about a week ago. I used the same sophisticated tax program I used last year. It's called #2 pencil, yellow tablet and wife check. She only found three errors on my part. Not bad, ey? Now if the IRS will agree with our calculations, we're A-OK.

I remember when the radome for our FPS-20 in Ajo, Arizona would indent during high winds, we'd have to hoist someone up on a rope, with a plumbers friend. He would straddle the dent, push the plunger against the radome to create a suction, then pull outward. He'd sometimes have to stand that way for hours until the winds abated. It sure made your back sore, but we avoided a lot of red time.

High wind gusts could also push in inflated radomes. When the wind gust subsided, the radome would pop back out, shaking the whole radar tower. I encountered that problem one night in Iceland while working alone. Wind gust were over 90mph. Needless to say, this 19 year old airman was very close to having to change his underwear that night.

If my memory serves me right, in Iceland (1959)if we had a faze 3 wind alert we would evac. ops. and leave 2 oper. & 1 maint. troop , after I left the bubble burst (blew down) that is when the SQ. 667th left the Langanese penn. and move elsewhere somewhere south of our location in NE Iceland that was after I left in nov 59

Carl: When the 667th AC&W Sq. departed Langanes AS (H-2) in 1961, it relocated to the newly reopened radar site at Hofn AS (H-3) in SE Iceland. Hofn AS was originally home to the 933rd AC&W Sq. which deactivated in 1960, as also did Latrar AS (H-4), home to the 934th AC&W Sq.

The definition of surveillance has changed since "our time."

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Air Force soon will fly commercial planes outfitted with surveillance technologies that can help troops in Iraq or Afghanistan detect mines, explosives and other enemy efforts, a senior service official said Friday. Air Force Brig. Gen. Blair Hansen detailed previously classified plans to reconfigure used and new Hawker Beechcraft Corp. aircraft under a nearly $1 billion contract to support surveillance and reconnaissance operations in both U.S.-led wars and beyond. The first two King Air 350 planes are slated to begin flights by April.

As a Radomes member, I thought some of you folks might find it interesting that my longtime dentist here in Knoxville, Tenn., Dr. John Webber, served in the USAF shortly after graduating from the University of Tennessee dental school in the late 1960s. Part of his service included traveling -- usually by air -- to 16 radar sites in Alaska, where a medic at the station would be his assistant during dental procedures. "One time I was a medic's assistant" at one of the sites, Dr. Webber said. "Someone had been severely cut by a chain saw," the dentist explained, so he assisted as the medic sewed the fellow up. Maybe someone out there remembers the incident.

Was the rotary coupler for the FPS-24 removed from the top of the antenna base? I recall that the rotary coupler must have been from 6 to 8 feet long and almost 36 inches in diameter. The coupler was probably no more than 400 to 500 pounds. I don’t think the rotary coupler was visible or accessible from within the FPS-24 tower on the 5th floor balcony. However, I think there were test points on the balcony to make electrical continuity measurements. The power for the hazard lights on the antenna sail passed through the rotary coupler. When the hazard lights did not work, investigations followed and a failure with the rotary coupler was indicated. This was one reason to replace it. Replacement was done during DLM in Jan 66. After removal of the rotary coupler, the brushes that made contact with the slip rings were found to be worn out. After the failure of the 3rd radome in 68, hazard-warning lights were essential until the FPS-24 was removed and replaced by the FPS-27. This is a description of an event that happened over 40 years ago – do I have any of this correct?

Note: At Mt Hebo AFS the FPS-24 antenna had been damaged by snow and ice, and the collapses of radomes #1 and #2 prior to the rotary coupler events described above. Did these or other issues contribute to the rotary coupler failure? The Apr 66 Radar Eval and the subsequent bearing replacement in May 66 could not have been causes for the FPS-24 rotary coupler replacement. The FPS-24 antenna had only 9918 hours of rotation by May 66 (not many hours since installation in 61.

Steve Weatherly
Radar Maintenance Officer
Mt Hebo AFS
65-67

In case you missed it, we have a new Commander in Chief.

94th ada gp mcc borfink bunker germany 72-75

For those of you that were in AFTAC(99125) see website: http://www.aftacalumni.org/membership.html

How will the USAF be represented in the Inaugural Parade? I presume, whoever they are, they'll be wearing full Artic gear. Brrrrrrrrrrr!

HI all fellow radar personnel, i was staion at Cape Newingham 1973 to jan 1974 would love to here from other peopel who were there and or when i was there!!

I was stationed at Naknek for the summer of 1953 arriving in May and rotating in Oct. From the 705th AC&W to the765th in Charleston, Maine. I was a "short timer" after spending the winter at McKinley R&R center. I would be interested to hear from any other "scope dopes" that might read this..

JUST A WORD TO BE ON THE ALERT FOR... A VIRUS CALLED "ANTIVIRUS 2009".
THIS THING HAS SPREAD EVERYWHERE AND IS A VERY BAD CORRUPTER.IF IT COMES ON UR PC DONT CLICK THE X. THAT JUST CAUSES MORE VIRUS.
MALWAREBYTS'-ANTI MALWARE WILL REMOVE IT.MICROSOFT HAS ALREADY FILED A SUIT AGAINST "JOHN DOE" AND IS SEARCHING FOR HIM.

Happy New Year to everyone! Once again it's time for our periodic plea: Wanted -- YEARBOOKS for the various Air Divisions (Defense) and Air Divisions (SAGE). These yearbooks were mainly published in the mid / late 1950s and early 1960s by the various numbered Air Divisions within the Air Defense Command (ADC). They are great sources of valuable information and photographs from yesteryear which can greatly enhance the contents of your Online Air-Defense Radar Museum. So, if you and/or anyone you know have any copies of these yearbooks, please, consider lending, donating, or selling them to Radomes, Inc. We promise they will find a good home with us -- and their contents will be saved for prosperity. If you do not want to part with your treasured keepsakes now, perhaps you would consider willing your yearbooks (and other related radar memorabilia) to Radomes, Inc., after you have PCS`ed to that great Headquarters in the sky? In any case, please help us to preserve the history and the memory of our little piece of the Air Force so it`s not forgotten. Please contact us and let us know if you have such yearbooks (we have borrowed a few in the past -- many thanks to those who entrusted us to copy the contents). Thank you all very much in advance!

Sincerely,
Your Radomes Crew

Another periodic plea: WANTED -- PHOTOGRAPHS (vintage and recent). Please look through your photo collections, and see if you have photos that will complement what we already display. This includes newspaper clippings, magazine articles, ADC and air-division periodicals, site welcome brochures, and the like. Also, please consider visiting your local library, museum, newspaper office, historical society, and similar places where photos might be archived. We are always on the lookout for those great shots of the long-range radar stations, gap-filler radar stations, GATR sites, BOMARC missile sites, SAGE blockhouses, manual control centers, etc. If you can help, please contact either Gene or myself. Thank you! -- Tom

John:
There was a least one squadron of Heated/Air conditioned barracks and that was the 3391st: re-habbed WW-II barracks. It's where the base drill team was quartered and was located behind chow hall row. The barracks were painted yellow. I was a member of the drill team (for awhile) and remember it quite well. Also, the barracks had 2 man rooms with a NICE latrine, single showers and private johns. AC&W Radar Maintenance, Keesler July 61/June 62

John,I went through Keesler in 61-62 and lived near Chow Hall Row in one of those old WWII wooden, two story, open bay barracks. For several months, we unsuccessfully tried to get permission to move our metal wall lockers back against the walls in order to lessen the load on the center of the floor. During one of our Saturday Barracks Inspections, while we were standing at attention, a physically big Colonal walked down the center of the second story floor and hit a "soft spot" which temporarily sank about a half inch. Needless to say, before the weekend was over Civil Engineers were in taking measurements and making load caculations and a reccomendation that we move our wall lockers to the walls. Except for being proud that we were "roughing it" and not "candy asses living in Air Conditioned rooms(with less than 20 other guys) in the New Barraks in the Triangle Area, WE WERE ENVIOUS OF YOU GUYS.

To the person who posted about living near Chow Hall Row (it wasn't my posting)...The barracks in the Triangle Area were NOT air conditioned (at least not when I lived there). We had three-man rooms. There were large roof-mounted fans that helped keep the place somewhat bearable in the hot months, but I distinctly remember sleeping in my underwear without any coverings, not even a sheet. The only places I can remember being air-conditioned were the classrooms in Alley Hall and Wolf Hall and the movie theater on the main base. Some of the office areas and medical and dental facilities had AC as well. For ther most part, I remember the high humidity and always having sweaty clothes to contend with.

i was stationed at 693rd radar sq dauphin island afs ala from 1964 to 1965. would like to hear from anyone stationed during that time. i worked in the base power plant afsc 54350 i was a a2c at that time. look forward to hearing from you.

thanks
johnnie

I agree that it's difficult to see the Triangle area being demolished. When I was there in '64-'65 (3399th), the Triangle was still referred to as "the country club" by those in the wood barracks.

I noticed a reference in the report about proximity to the flight line. I remember Coast Guard Goonies making a lot of noise during take off but I have not found any references to CG operations out of KAFB. Does anyone have any info on this?

Thanks for this opportunity to wish everyone a happy and prosperous new year [2009] an air defense radar veteran